This is a new Eclipse set in Vancouver. So, here are your first look photos at this urban set! It’s definitely a city set… I’m thinking maybe a backstory… or possibly newborns.

So the ONE day I don’t bring my camera to work, I decide to check out an Eclipse set. I apologize in advance for the photos… they were taken with my Blackberry. I may go check out the set another day or a bit later… so stay tuned as I’ll have better photos. For those of you who follow my other Twilight blog posts, you know that normally my images are much higher quality.

Here they are setting up what I believe to be a rain machine. Water will come through the tube and then is dispersed through hundreds of little holes along the beam. You can see that the buildings look old and historic, and set the scene nicely for an urban set.

Here’s another shot. I believe filming will take place in the alleyway nearby. Lots of old props are being set up… very grunge, urban items like trash cans and garbage littering the  street. They were also seen painting graffiti and other enhancements to add to the set.

So that’s just a quick preview! Hopefully I have some better photos and a better set report soon. Enjoy! Please be respectful of the photos and of course the filming locations and the crew.

You can always follow me on Twitter for more updates, and I’ll let you know if I end up getting better photos.

What scene in Eclipse do you think this set is from?

It’s the new sets for Eclipse that I find truly exciting! Being a fan of the books and the movies, it’s always interesting to see how the scenes change from the books… as well as see what each Director’s style is from one movie of the Twilight Saga to another.

I had a chance to see a new set being filmed for Eclipse… the scene where the newborns arrive in Forks. It’s a picturesque scene, with mountains and water framing the background of the shot, and a sparse unoccupied beach for the newborns to arrive on… then they disappear into the forest. The vampire newborns looked absolutely chilling, and their rugged military-like outfits along with steely, determined glares just added to the mood. Filmed early in the morning, this scene was designed to look as if it had been shot at night, possibly just after dusk or just before dawn.

Riley (Xavier Samuel) and Bree (Jodelle Ferland) were on set as well as a number of newborn vampires we have NEVER seen before.

I’m always amazed at what a huge production it is to film just a few seconds for these movies. Second Unit Director EJ Foerster was on set, calm but directive… doing dozens of different takes for only a couple scenes. An amazing number of people involved plus tons of equipment and hours of filming from so many different angles just to get a 5 second shot… wow. Check out all the equipment on the shore, including the scuba diving gear and the dinghys. You can also see some of the shorter fake trees they used in the foreground on the beach.

There are two distinct scenes… scenes where the female newborn is talking to a male newborn, and the main scene (which they spent most of the time shooting) where there are three newborns including Riley coming out of the water onto the shore. They don’t come out of the water in the books, but I think it is a nice dramatic addition.

The water here was quite cool in temperature, so I’m not surprised at all to see the actors with thin wetsuits on under their costumes. They were also given small weights under their clothing to help keep them weighed down under the water before the “take”. I have my PADI scuba diving license so I was really curious about how they were using the divers for the filming. The scuba divers served two purposes: One, to give their extra regulator to the actors so they could breathe underwater when necessary… and two, to help give the actors cues and guide them to certain checkpoints when necessary.

HD video coming soon (tomorrow night… sorry guys, I got really sick tonight).

In this scene in the video (coming soon), you’ll see the Director ask them to go underwater (”Under water!), then he counts as they are rolling with the movie cameras “OK, Riley”… then the first actor emerges (my guess is they were using “Riley” as the code word, since the first actor that emerges is NOT Riley). Then the Director calls them out “2…. and 3″… and the other actor and then Riley emerges from the water. The vampires moved slowly, slinking through the water but very clearly with purpose.

You can see from the camera that it is going to be a very tight shot with how close some of the production members are standing in the water.

Several iterations of this shot continued, with different combinations of the newborn vampires in the water. They also tried different lighting setups, either with a white sheet to bounce water off in the water, or with a large spotlight shining through a diffuser straight at the actors. The camera rig was very flexible, above to move up down and really get around the actors in any angle necessary for the shot. The actors had very pale makeup on.

I also had my suspicions confirmed by one of the PAs that the entire scene was being shot with no sound. Music and effects were to be added later in post-production. Good thing — because an entire squad of geese started squawking their hearts out during the middle of several scenes. It was hilarious.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see Jodelle film any of her scenes (that’s not her in the water), but you can see her here grabbing some food. Her makeup was already done though, as you can see how pale she looks.

I absolutely loved visiting this set. It was one of the coolest I have seen in a while, at least since New Moon

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the video! You can always follow me on Twitter for more updates, or check here to see my other blog posts with Twilight cast members and live set filming.

Last night we went to see Jackson Rathbone and his band 100 Monkeys perform at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver. Hastings and Main isn’t the greatest area for young girls to be hanging out in an alley after midnight… but, I digress.

Jackson (”Japer”) and his band rocked out to a jam-packed venue of screaming fans, in front of some of his fellow cast mates and friends Nikki Reed (”Rosalie”), Elizabeth Reaser (”Esme”), Paris Latsis (Paris Hilton’s ex), and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.

Check out the HD video above to see Jackson and the 100 Monkeys perform an improvised song (with a suggestion of “Acorn” from the audience), and see Nikki and Paris get cozy as well as Elizabeth Reaser and Stephenie Meyer in the video.

It was a neat venue… I thought they did a nice job with the stage setup and the lighting. Shadows, vibrant coloured lighting, and tall dark angular shapes danced across a back screen as the band played to hundreds of photo flashes going off every minute for the duration of the show.

After two opening acts, the band was escorted on stage from an upstairs VIP room by more-than-necessary security and played for about an hour and a half.

Nikki, Paris, and Liz were there right at the start, watching with friends from a VIP booth overlooking the stage. Nikki and Paris were very close and “touchy touchy” during the evening, often leaning in close to talk and giggle, touch cheeks and discretely kiss (sadly, no picture but I saw it with my own eyes).

Jackson looked suave with his white fedora, skinny black tie, lightly pinstriped white shirt, and grunge jeans.

Band members often switched instruments, and Jackson played every instrument on stage over the course of the evening.

Here’s a look at the entire VIP booth that was there… recognize anyone else?

Liz looked like she was having a blast the whole time.

I love these silhouettes of Jackson against the show lighting.

Stephenie Meyer was also there, mingling with the crowd at first unnoticed, and then eventually escaped to the VIP booth once she was discovered, mobbed and flashed… *sigh* I love Stephenie. Getting to talk to her last year and take pictures with her definitely had Amy and I fangirling last year. (Check out my older Twilight-related blog posts)

Nikki, Paris, Liz, and Stephenie all left halfway through the show. I’m not sure why, that is pretty uncharacteristic of them… but I would guess that it had to do with the insanely hot and sticky temperatures inside the theatre. We were on the ground floor close to the concrete walls where it was cool, and we were sweating. Jackson and his band were dripping with sweat, and I would guess the VIP booth way up in the air was even hotter, forcing some of the cast members to leave a little early.

I love Liz’s sexy black thigh high boots (so hot this Fall, right?) and backless dress.. Nikki had on some cool shoes with a tunic adorned with a large sequined/studded flower and tights. Paris had a hat, wife beater (hmm, not so hot) and jeans. It was quite a climb to get from the booth to the backstage, so here are some fun shots of everyone climbing down to leave. They left through the backstage which tunneled through to the front door and took a taxi home. Some of my friends got a signature and photo with Liz in the front.

The end of the show consisted of us (and a few other girls and paps) waiting in the back alley to see them leave. Some friends got photos with Ben G from the band, and then shortly after Jackson exited the theatre quickly surrounded by 4 bodyguards (was that really necessary?) and hopped into a vehicle with Scott “The Scientist” (also played that night) and gave us a little smile before taking off. We were surprised that he didn’t stop to say hi to any of the fans, as Jackson is normally very fan-friendly.

Fun night, great performances, and neat to see the cast again. Sorry for the lateness of the post, we were out till 4 AM last night

You can always follow me on Twitter for more updates, or check here to see my other blog posts with Twilight cast members and live set filming. There are more photos on my Flickr as well that I didn’t post up here.

When Allan and I first started dating about 2.5 years ago, we spontaneously decided to go on a road trip to La Push, Washington. At the time, all Allan knew was that it was a fabled surfing destination. We really didn’t know anything else. So with a car, surfboards, camping gear, and a trusty old map (I didn’t have Google Maps on my phone back then), we set out for La Push with no plans, no accommodations, and no idea of where we were going to end up.

It was an exciting adventure, and was the first step towards us really getting to know each other, and figure out what it was like to travel together. It is funny when I look back on those times… how it was such a romantic trip… and I look at how we are together, today. I’m grateful that we are still adventuring together and exploring new places.

It was about a 7 hour drive down there. We took ferries, crossed many bridges, and eventually found our way to the right road.

La Push was a small fishing village at the time. Today if you go there, it’s completely Twilight-itized. When we visited 2 and a half years ago, we had never heard of Twilight and neither had the town it seemed. It’s funny that when I was reading the Twilight books I was relating many moments in the book to our experiences a couple years ago. I’m sure it would be a very different scene today.

We surfed (well, I surfed for the first time in my life), we stayed at the Quilete Reservation there, we explored the beaches and the forests…

We traveled up to Hurricane Ridge and saw snow at the lookouts and tons of deer, tried the mineral hot springs in the Olympic National Park, and went on many nature walks.

Allan and I considered that trip to be the mark of our relationship, so we still use the date of that trip as our anniversary. I have to admit I feel a bit sentimental looking back on these photos. It would be great to visit that region a few years from now, to see how it has changed and to share that special place again together.

There was a time, when being a nerd was not cool at all. These days, it seems like being a “nerd” or a “geek” is pretty socially acceptable. My whole life I’ve pretty much been a nerd of some sort, and while there were times when it made life hard… but mostly I am glad for it.

I think most people in the social media space, or bloggers, consider themselves to be nerds of some sort… I mean writing about yourself on the internet was pretty nerdy at one time! With Facebook, Twitter, etc… I think it is safe to say that it’s mainstream now.

There are many different kinds of nerds…

Computer Nerds: Programming geeks, internet geeks, forum geeks, hardware geeks etc…

Social Media Nerds: Bloggers, Facebook power users, Twits, Dating-site geeks, the social media nerds that join every social networking site…

Music Nerds: Piano geeks, musical geeks, musical theatre geeks, composers, DJs etc…

MacGyver Nerds: DIYers, LEGO geeks, Robotics geeks, A/V geeks, etc…

“Fandom” Nerds: Sports geeks, WoW guild members, Twi Hards, Star Wars geeks, Trekkies, etc…

Gaming Nerds: Board game geeks, Xbox, Playstation, PC… you name it…

Academic Nerds: Book nerds, Smart geeks, PhDers… etc…

—————

I think I’ve been a geek in just about every category there at some point in my life… I’m not really embarrassed of it anymore, but let’s face it… it used to be hard to be a nerd!

So, this blog post is for all the nerds out there! I want to explore some of my nerdy past, and I hope you share yours with me

—————

Let’s start backwards with those categories.

I’ve always been an Academic Nerd. When I was younger, I used to read a book a day. I spent most of my days in the school library. I was a Librarian’s Assistant at one point, haha. I still love reading even though I don’t have as much time for it anymore. I cared a lot about school. I studied a lot. I got straight As. I was made fun of in elementary school and high school like most nerds. I graduated from university with an Honours Business Administration degree from Ivey at Western. I generally preferred studying to partying.

I love Science World, the Planetarium, the Aquarium… anything science-y and geeky!

I played innertube waterpolo in university. Haha!

I’ve always been a Gaming Nerd. When I was little I used to play Pacman and Hangman on my old 486 computer. I played King’s Quest, Monkey Island, and all the old Sierra Adventure games. I played Math Blaster.

Eventually, I got an Xbox, and then an Xbox 360. I was part of an Xbox gaming clan for many years. Yes, I even went to Xbox gaming conventions. I pretty much played my Xbox 360 all through university, even when we’d have parties over at our place.

I love all kinds of games. Fighting games, shooters, music games, MMOs, RTS… you name it. The game I’m looking forward to most right now is Gears of War 3. I worked in the video game industry for several years.

I even got into shooting rifles because I loved gaming so much. No, not at animals or people. Just targets.

I love trivia games. I pretty much live for Cranium.

I dressed up as “Cortana” from Halo for Halloween.

I’m a bit of a “Fandom” Nerd too. I’m a big Twilight fan (a “Twi Hard”)… I set stalked, I blogged about it, I read Twilight sites every evening.

It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge Canucks fan since I was little.

I’m a bit of a Star Wars geek. I own Star Wars LEGO. I decorated our kitchen in university with Star Wars comic books.

Yes, I even visited the Star Wars store in Aberdeen, Washington. I think the store owner’s Carrie Fisher tattoo is pretty rad.

I thought getting a Star Wars 3D puzzle for Christmas was awesome.

I’m a bit of a MacGyver Nerd.  When I was little, my dad cut the telephone line to our modem in my room because I surfing the internet too much. I found his soldering iron in the garage and I soldered all the wires back together and got on the internet again.

I used to patch cables from my computer to an old TV and an old VCR to do old school video editing. Yes, I was even part of the Robotics club in high school. And yeah, I loved the LEGO Mindstorms kits and frequently built robots with my little brother.

Believe it or not, I was also kind of a Music Nerd. I played piano and went to piano theory classes. I got up to Grade 7 RCM in piano. I kinda hated it though. I was a big Musical Theatre geek too. I played dress up. I played silly roles for musicals in high school. I was a geek.

I consider myself to be a bit of a Social Media Nerd. I started a home grown blog (no Wordpress or anything like that back then) in 1998 when I was 14 and had my own photo blog for several years! I had a 6-digit ICQ number. I met my first boyfriend in a Yahoo! chat room when I was 12. That was kind of awkward. I still use IRC, and of course I’m on the mainstream social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc. I’m not as much of a power user anymore, but it’s still fun.

And last, but not least, I am definitely still a big Computer Nerd. My computer is still my most valued material possession in my life. Here’s a shot of the old computer I built when I was younger. I had a blast going and getting all the parts and putting it together myself. I still build my own computers (I need a picture of my new one!).

I buy shirts off ThinkGeek. Yeah, I have a “No, I will not fix your computer” shirt.

When I went to university, I actually hand-packed my hard drives for my carry-on so I could bring my desktop computer, instead of buying a computer on the East Coast or getting one of those new-fangled laptops

I thought visiting Microsoft was the coolest day of my life. Bill Gates is my hero.

I drove all the way to Portland to pick up a Zune when it launched! I love my Blackberry, and I own a ton of different gadgets and techie tools. I even owned a Palm LifeDrive at one point… haha. I’ve gone through 4 different sets of the Logitech diNovo Keyboard/Media Pad.

I usually have 25+ tabs open in my Firefox. I love video editing. I love PhotoShop. I used to design and build webpages and graphics for money. I used to FXP and I still FTP. I’ve been a member of several internet forums since I was 12 years old.

I’m a bit of a photography nerd too.

I met people from internet forums when I was only 14 years old. I still meet people from the internet and internet forums. Hopefully I get to meet all of you soon too!

—————

Phew! That post turned out longer than I meant it to. Guess I’m a bit geekier than I thought. I’m sure most of you reading this are pretty geeky yourselves. As you know, it can be hard, especially when growing up. But these days I think it’s easier to be a nerd and easier to be proud of it!

I’ve had my lunch stomped on, I’ve had people break my glasses, I’ve been called four-eyes, I’ve been called a bookworm, and I’ve definitely been made fun of for all my nerdy things throughout my life. I’m sure most of you can relate… it just makes us stronger! While I’ve had my share of self-esteem issues because of it… today, I feel very comfortable and strong in my own skin. I’m really thankful for all of those experiences growing up.

So let’s celebrate our nerdiness! Who else is a nerd? What kind of nerd are you? Please share your story!