I was making my way through the Zombie Serengeti (aka the Walmarts) yesterday, when I noticed the DVD version of Breaking Dawn (Part 2).
I bought one.
Hard as it is for me to believe, this is the last in the Twilight Saga movie franchise.
Our long national nightmare is over!
I suppose I will watch it soon. Probably next week.
Stay tuned!
Well, I’ve managed to survive the Twilight Saga movie series so far. Let’s see how I make out with the fourth installment, Breaking Dawn (Part 1)!
I have to tell you, I did not think I would make it this far into the series. I don’t know whether to be proud or ashamed.
OK, here goes (according to the DVD blurb)…
A marriage, honeymoon and the birth of a child bring unforeseen and shocking developments for Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) and those they love, including new complications for werewolf, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).
(Twi-hards’ dream wedding but where did Bella get that dress living out in the sticks?!)
Mayhem ensues when… Bella gets pregnant like right away… and is ready to deliver in a month or so, that is how fast the pregnancy is progressing. There are severe complications with the pregnancy. The wolf pack gets their fur in a knot because they believe the baby is probably going to be some abomination that won’t be able to control its appetite and will be a danger to all humans around it. They decide to kill the baby. Jacob leaves the pack to protect Bella. Lord knows why.
In this movie, Edward is even more insufferable than ever. Usually, it’s Bella who drives you crazy but in Breaking Dawn (Part 1), Edward gives her a run for her money. What a whiny pouting, long-faced loser. You almost feel sorry for Bella for having married such a spineless downer of a yutz. Almost.
So how was Breaking Dawn (Part 1) received. I am glad you asked!
RottenTomatoes.com gives it a 25% freshness rating, saying, “Slow, joyless, and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments, Breaking Dawn Part 1 may satisfy the Twilight faithful, but it’s strictly for fans of the franchise.”
Jeff Bayer at The Scorecard Review: Whatever momentum the third film had in this series, it’s gone. Once again, it’s an average soap opera.
Robert Roten at the Laramie Movie Scope: This slow-moving film has long periods of inaction and generates little suspense, making it the worst film in the “Twilight Saga” films so far.
But the reviews weren’t all bad…
Tom Long, Top Critic: There are a few reasons The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 is probably the best of the Twilight films.
Bruce Diones, at the New Yorker: This penultimate “Twilight” film is the best in the series so far. It’s languorous, romantic, moody, and, in the end, horrifying.
My two cents… Breaking Dawn (Part 1) solves a lot of the tension issues that make the Cullen/Swan couple such an enormous pain in the tush. Sex, Marriage, Vampirism… they all get settled. What we are left with is Edward and Bella as a married couple and sweet Lord almighty are they tedious. When Bella starts languishing during childbirth, becoming anorexic to the point of looking like a human skeleton, I was cheering for the baby to finish her off once and for all. Alas, it was not to be.
Breaking Dawn (Part 1) is a soapy melodrama. Twi-hards will love it. The whole wedding thing? I could almost see tweens, teens and Twi-hard moms alike drenching Kleenex like they were getting paid for it. I was starting to get used to things in the last movie but this one brings it all crashing down to earth. And was there anyone out there who didn’t know that the movie would end with a close-up of Bella’s new, red vampire eyes?
The bottom line… Breaking Dawn (Part 1) is My Big Fat Boring Vampire Wedding.
Now I figure that most of the angst-producing stuff that gets Edward to furrow his brow and look like he has gas… or that makes Bella… well… look exactly the same no matter what… is taken care of in this movie. Edward didn’t want to have sex and Bella did? They had sex. Bella didn’t want to get married and Edward did? They got married. Edward didn’t want to make Bella a vampire and she did? She’s a vampire.
Gee… I wonder what will happen in Breaking Dawn (Part 2) to make them feel all tortured about who they are and what they want and Lord oh Lord I hope Blade or Buffy or someone with a wooden stake shows up at the end of the next movie and takes care of them both!
Breaking Down (Part 2) opens in theatres November 16, 2012.
Last month, after years of putting it off, I began watching the Twilight Saga movies.
I’ve not read the books nor do I intend to read them.
This weekend, I watched the third in the Twilight Saga series, “Eclipse.”
Once again, I did not burst into flames nor did blood spurt from my eyes. I think I am building up a resistance.
OK, here goes (as per Jeremy Wheeler, at Rovi)…
The third film in the Twilight series explores a love triangle between Bella (Kristen Stewart), Edward (Robert Pattinson), and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) as the werewolf pack and the Cullen clan join together to fight a new breed of vampires. Melissa Rosenberg provides the screenplay for the Summit Entertainment adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novel, with director David Slade calling the shots behind the camera. Bryce Dallas Howard joins the cast as Victoria, the role originally played by Rachelle Lefevre in the first film.
Riveting stuff, eh?
(He’s getting sparkly!)
Bella Swan continues to act like an idiot, wanting to be turned into a vampyre but somehow balking at marrying the decaf cappuccino of vampyre fiction, Edward Cullen, and Edward Cullen continues to act like an idiot by not wanting to turn Bella into a vampyre but somehow wanting him and Bella to spend the rest of their lives together notwithstanding the fact that during the course of the last three movies, she has already become older than he is.
Mayhem ensues when… the Seattle murders catch the attention of the Volturi – the vampyre aristocracy and ruling class – who commanded that Edward turn Bella into a vampyre. See above paragraph as to why the two dimwits haven’t done this already. Oh and by the way, seriously ticked-off vampyre Victoria is très fromaged at Bella and tries to exact revenge on her for being responsible for the death of Victoria’s boyfriend (he’s killed in the first movie)
Reviews for Eclipse have generally been much more favourable than for the first two movies.
Lisa Kennedy at the Denver Post – “While the new Eclipse remains foremost a flick for devotees, it has sturdier pleasures and takes on its emotional ambitions with renewed dedication.”
Tim Martain at The Mercury – “Eclipse reinvigorates the Twilight saga, giving the fans what they want as well as being good enough to keep casual viewers interested.”
Katarina Vangopolous at MovieDex – “Eclipse surprises with (much needed) improvement; the first real blockbuster of the franchise.”
(I was cheering for Victoria [Bryce Dallas Howard] at this point! “Do it, Victoria! Do it!”)
To say Eclipse enjoyed only rave reviews is to toy with the truth.
Rafer Guzman at Newsday – “In a rare moment of insight, the teenage but immortal vampires in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse complain about being “frozen” in their lives, unable to “move forward.” So is everyone involved in this deathtrap of a franchise.”
Brian Orndorf (BrianOrndorf.com): “It’s interesting to see each film make Bella into an even bigger creep than previously imagined, with Eclipse turning the indecisive heroine into a mean-spirited provocateur unworthy of all the attention lavished on her.”
(Dakota Fanning as the delicious red-eyed Jane of the Volturi)
My two cents… Saying that Eclipse is the best film in ‘The Twilight Saga’ so far isn’t exactly lavishing praise on the movie. The fundamental flaw was and remains Bella Swan, both the character and Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of her. I can see teen girls swooning over the male characters every time they take off their shirts (which is rather often, really) and joining Team Edward or Team Jacob with the alacrity usually associated with American Civil War’s initial volunteers… but Bella isn’t a very nice or even interesting person. It becomes harder and harder for me to see why the other characters in the movie are so dippy about her, let alone audience members.
As for the story line and film production, it’s generally not bad, which I did not expect to find in the Twilight Saga.
Bottom line… Twilight fans will love it and the casual observers will not be put off by it. In fact, they might even become interested in sticking around for the next movie. And the next.
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Last week, after years of putting it off, I watched the movie “Twilight.”
This week, I watched the second in the Twilight Saga series, “New Moon.”
(New Moon – DVD cover)
Once again, I did not burst into flames nor did blood spurt from my eyes.
OK, here it goes (as per the DVD blurb)…
The romance between mortal Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) grows more intense as ancient secrets threaten to destroy them. When Edward leaves in an effort to keep Bella safe, she tests fate in increasingly reckless ways in order to glimpse her love once more. But when she’s saved from the brink by her friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lodner), Bella will uncover mysteries of the supernatural world that will put her in more peril then ever before.
Mayhem ensues when… Bella acts like a self-destructive idiot and the supernatural shit starts to hit the fan. As Michael Dequina of TheMovieReport.com observes, “Ostensible heroine Bella is such a weak, needy, pathetic co-dependent who stirs up so much sh*t for those she purportedly loves that it’s hard to muster much rooting interest for her.” Well put.
Simon Miraudo of Quickfliks goes further, describing New Moon as having “excruciatingly lazy storytelling, atrocious performances, listless direction and a core storyline that is both uninteresting and somewhat disturbing.”
RottenTomatoes.com gave it a 28% on the ‘freshness scale.’
My two cents… this movie moves at a glacial pace and is painfully long – a deadly combination in any movie. Add to it the downcast tone of the film and you get a long, slow downer. Who wouldn’t love that? Well, apparently, may do. Die-hard Twilight fans will not be disappointed because… well… they have a lot of emotional investment in the franchise already and bring a lot of enthusiasm with them. And New Moon gives them what they want… lots of torturous, self-centred teen angst. Lots of pining and yearning and sexless frustration. Lots of relentlessly shirtless hunky guys.
(The Volturi)
There is one tiny bit of fun that I thoroughly enjoyed. Dakota Fanning as the red-eyed Jane, a member of the Volturi… a kind of vampyre aristocracy that both rules and enforces the law. It’s rather a small part I but had a good time during those scenes.
Bottom line… This movie isn’t about vampyres and werewolves. It’s a ‘woe is me’ lament about the pain of abstinence because your mind is telling you “no, no, no” but your body is telling you “yes, yes, yes!” As for your heart… well… it’s way too busy being whipped and flogged while chained to the bed to care.
Next stop… The Twilight Saga: ECLIPSE! And may G-d have mercy on my soul.
I watched the much-anticipated Season 5 Finale of True Blood and I am still reeling!
Without giving a blow-by-blow description of each scene…
Oh, screw it… here’s a blow-by-blow description of each scene!!
And we’re off…
Opening (Fairy Field/Nightclub): Russell Edgington sees the invisible nightclub. Fairies blast him with light. He just laughs and pushes forward as Steve Newlin watches. Fairy light pushes Russell back… right onto the stake held by Eric Northman! Russell Edgington dies. Steve Newlin flees. Eric: “Well, that felt even better than I thought it would.”
Fairy Field: Sookie runs out of nightclub and onto field after Jason (who was knocked away by fairy light). Nora shows up. “What is that amazing smell?” Nora chases after Sookie. Eric catches Nora by hair and makes her swear not to feed on Sookie. Jason comes to but hallucinates seeing his mother, not Sookie.
Authority HQ: Bill outside Lilith’s shrine. A naked Sam Merlotte is brought in as Bill’s ‘breakfast.’ Sam says he and Luna are at the Authority only to find Luna’s daughter, Emma. Bill says Sam knows too much. Sam shifts into fly and disappears through ventilation duct.
Fangtasia: Pam tells Eric and Nora that the Authority has Pam. Eric hauls out all of the money hidden in a basement wall. Plans to go to the Authority to rescue Pam.
Sookie’s House: Sookie on couch talking with Jason while Jason’s hallucinating his parents sitting on either side of Sookie. Bill, Nora and Tara burst into the house. Eric tells Sookie that Bill was behind the True Blood factory bombings. Asks Sookie for help in rescuing Pam, Jessica and, if possible, Bill, since Sookie is the only one who might get through to Bill. Sookie says OK. Jason agrees to come along at the suggestion of his hallucinated father in order to kill as many vampyres as he can.
Authority HQ: Bill reprimands Security Team and orders them to scour building looking for mice, flies, cockroaches… anything that might be Sam and Luna… and kill them. Salome asks Bill if he has seen Chancellor Akinjide. Bill admits killing him and tells Salome that Lilith appeared to him. Bill lies and says Lilith told him that Salome was the chosen one and that he was to serve and protect Salome.
Authority Cells: Dozens of naked people being held as food for the Authority, including Luna and Emma (in wolf cub form). Sam appears, tells Luna that Bill is crazy and that if they come for her, she should shift and get out. Luna doesn’t want to leave Emma but Sam convinces her (vampyres don’t feed from wolves). He shifts into fly and leaves.
Authority Cells: Pam and Jessica discuss the rise of the fundamentalist Saguinista movement.
Jackson Herveaux’s Trailer: Alcide’s dad talks about how hard it is for parents to teach their kids how screwed up the world is. Alcide says he’s heard it all before. Emma’s grandmother Martha pulls up in her car with Rikki in the back seat screaming. Pack master JD Carson made Rikki drink vampyre blood (V). Rikki freaking out. Martha is afraid she may have OD’d.
Authority Air Vents: Sam flies through ventilation system, looks through ceiling vent and sees Bill in bed with Salome.
The Stake House: Jason and Sookie go to the anti-vampyre weapons shop to stock up on supplies. Jason continues to hallucinate that his parents are with him and encouraging him to kill all vampyres.
Jackson Herveaux’s Trailer: Rikki’s going through a bad reaction to the V. Criticizes Alcide for just leaving the pack without a word and not calling her. She tells how pack master JD forced to drink the blood. Alcide wants to fight JD but can’t while JD is on V. Too strong. Jackson has ‘special reserve’ of high quality V for Alcide.
Authority HQ: Sam the fly goes to Steve Newlin’s room and snoops around, then returns to the Cells to talk to Luna about a plan he has devised.
Merlotte’s: Lafayette makes cajun margaritas for Arlene and Holly. Andy and his very pregnant fairy girlfriend Morella enter. He sits her at a booth and she drinks a container of salt. Andy talks with Holly and confesses his two sexual incidents with Morella a week before. Just then, Morella’s ‘light breaks’ and she goes into labour.
Authority Private Chambers: Bill and Salome in bed. He calls her his beautiful prophet. They have sex.
Jason’s truck: Sookie says Bill’s not evil. Jason’s Dad says Sookie’s blinded by love. Jason and Sookie discuss their screwed up relationships with others. Eric lands on truck roof and tells them to pull over.
Merlotte’s: Morella on pool table in labour. Holly: “I do not believe I am midwifing for your pregnant girlfriend… that I just found out about!” Gives birth to a girl with no umbilical cord. Holly: “We’re not done!” as Morella continues labour pains.
Authority Cells: Steve Newlin and guards go to cell where Emma is kept. We realize that Steve Newlin is actually Luna. She takes Emma (still a wolf pup) and says she needs a little ‘play time.’ Leaves cells carrying Emma.
Authority Reception area: Receptionist talks with Newlin/Luna and notices he has lost his southern accent. Chancellor Rosalyn Harris arrives and makes Newlin help her on damage control re frat boys Newlin and Edgington killed.
Merlotte’s: Morella gives birth to another girl. The fourth child that night. Morella gets up like nothing happened and walks out leaving the 4 babies with Andy. Holly says to Andy, “You’re a dick!”
Pack HQ: Pack Master JD has a vampyre strung up with chains, cuts him and says, “Drinks on me!” Alcide and his dad, Jackson, come forward. Alcide and JD fight. Jackson and Martha make sure others stay out of the fight. Alcide kills JD. Pack acknowledges Alcide as new pack master. Alcide sets new rules for pack.
Authority Building exterior: Eric and Nora drive truck with Sookie, Jason and Tara tied and gagged in back. Guard calls it in and Bill allows them past the gate.
Authority Video Studio: Steve Newlin/Luna being prepared for broadcast. Chancellor Harris complains about how things are going to hell. She tells Newlin/Luna that he broadcasts live in 5 seconds. Being interviewed live on a news program, Newlin shifts into Luna on national television. Lafayette, watching the broadcast from Merlotte’s: “I did not see that shit coming.” Luna warns viewers the people are being held captive in a building somewhere in New Orleans. Chancellor Harris opens her mouth to say something. Sam the fly goes into her mouth, then shifts into human shape, bursting out of Harris. Luna looks like she’s about to faint.
Authority Board Room: Salome enters Lilith’s shrine. Bill sees her on security camera. Salome promises Lilith that vampyres will rightfully rule the Earth.
Authority Elevator: Jason, Sookie, Eric, Tara and Nora arm up. Eric gives signal to Tara to disable security cameras.
Lilith’s Shrine: Salome removes crystal vial of Lilith’s blood. Asks for guidance as she surrenders herself to Lilith.
Authority Reception: Elevator opens. Receptionist hits alarm button. Jason kills receptionist.
Lilith’s Shrine: Intercom – “Initiating Level Two Protocols!” Salome runs out of Shrine.
Reception Area: Eric & Nora run out of elevator. Jason shoots cameras and guards who enter. Level Two Protocol initiated. Lights go out. Tara and Sookie leave elevator.
Board Room: A dozen security guards enter. Eric and Nora hiding above near ceiling. They kill all the guards. Eric: “See what you’ve been missing… working for the fucking authority?”
Cells: Tara and Sookie find Jessica and Pam and tell them they are waiting for Eric and Nora to disarm and unlock everything.
Control Room: Nora and Eric work on disarming and unlocking everything.
Reception Area: Jason behind reception desk shooting vampyres.
Cells: Gates unlock. Sookie opens door for Jessica (because they’re silver). Tara burns hand opening cell for Pam. Pam & Tara kiss deeply. Jessica: “I KNEW IT!!”
Private Chambers: Bill and Salome discuss Salome drinking all of Lilith’s blood and how it might adversely affect Salome. Salome drinks from the vial.
Reception Area: Sookie, Tara, Pam and Jessica return. Jessica runs to Jason and tells him she loves him. Jason says he could never love a vampyre. Eric and Nora arrive. Everyone goes into elevator except Eric and Sookie who say they are going to find Bill.
Chambers: Salome is vomiting blood, convulsing, having bad reaction. Bill transferred Lilith’s blood to a bottle, added human blood spiked with silver. Salome: “Lilith… chose wisely.” Bill stakes Salome. Takes out bottle of Lilith’s blood. Eric and Sookie enter. Eric tells Bill that Lilith is a mad god and not to drink the blood. Bill reveals himself to be a True Believer in Lilith. He drinks Lilith’s blood. Has immediate bad reaction. He bleeds from the mouth and eyes and explodes. A reborn Bill Compton rises from the pool of dead Bill Compton’s blood. Eric screams, “Run!”
End Credits
But wait… there’s more!
THE END
A whole lot of people were bumped off this season, including trashy Werewolf Debbie [I'm gonna miss her!], Mike the Coroner, a whole bunch of Authority people (Guardian Roman, Chancellors Dieter, Alexander, Kibwe, and the adorable Molly who was the Authority tech girl), Junior the clerk at The Stake House, Lt Patrick Devins and a whole bunch of others – but not including Tara Thornton (who was killed earlier this season and brought back as a vampyre) and Hoyt who was glamoured and left for Alaska.
Season Finale Tally:
Dead: Russel Edgington, JD Carson, Chancellor Rosalyn Harris, Salome, Bill Compton,
Unknown: Resurrected Bill Compton
Well, I finally did it.
After having it sit on my computer shelf for almost a year, I finally slapped the DVD of Twilight into the old puter and fired it up.
As I did so, my Catholic school upbringing welled up inside me, bringing with it a half-forgotten snippet of prayer to my lips. “Libera Nos a Malo!” [1]
As you’ve probably pieced together by now, I did not burst into flames upon watching Twilight nor did blood spurt from my eyes.
It’s not a great movie. It is not really a good one, either. But I don’t think it deserves all the crap heaped on it over the last few years.
It’s not horrible. It is not wretched. It did not make me want to pull my head off.
It did make me frustrated and upset. Not because it is insipid and tiresome and BORING (which it is) but because of what it does to my beloved vampyre lore. That is what really kills me about Twilight. An entire generation of young people growing up with this decaffeinated espresso vampyre image.
(Toute la fang gang!)
Sparkling? Doesn’t feed from humans? 100 years old and still hasn’t gotten over the tortured teen angst thing.
Really? Seriously??
What’s the effen point!? Who wants a sanitized, toothless vampyre?
Apparently, lots of people! And that is the sad part of Twilight.
People who’ve drunk only orange-flavoured pop or eaten only margarine think they have an idea of what orange or butter taste like. But those of us who have tasted real freshly squeezed orange juice and real fresh butter can only shake our heads and pity them. They think they know.. but they SO don’t.
I guess that’s what Twilight made me feel most of all. Pity.
Yeah, I guess that’s it.
I don’t hate Twilight fans. I pity them. I feel sorry for them… for all those poor misguided souls who read the books and watch the movies and think they know what the world of vampyres is really like.
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[1] From the Pater Noster. A supplication to the Almighty to “Deliver Us from Evil!”
As a ‘bat fan’, I looked at the following headline with interest…
Seems that the hopeless romantics over at ScienceDaily.com have gotten into the spring spirit!
“There must be something in the warm breeze. A study on bats suggests that bats produce twice as many female babies as male ones in years when spring comes early. The earlier in the spring the births occur, the more likely the females are to survive and then reproduce a year later, as one-year olds, compared to later-born pups, according to Robert Barclay’s research published in PLoS ONE.”
(The Big Brown Bat, Eptesicus fuscus [1])
“The early-born females are able to reproduce as one year olds, whereas male pups can’t,” explains Barclay, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. “Thus, natural selection has favoured internal mechanisms that result in a skewed sex ratio because mothers that produce a daughter leave more offspring in the next generation than mothers who produce a son.” Barclay analyzed long-term data on the variation in offspring sex-ratio of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, a common North-American species that consumes insects.
(Is that a 4-bat pile-up or 5? [2])
“In this species, more eggs are fertilized than eventually result in babies, so there is some mechanism by which a female embryo is preferentially kept and male embryos are resorbed early in pregnancy,” says Barclay. But, he adds, the biochemistry behind the skewed sex ratio is unknown. In other words, female bats can choose to give birth to female baby bats… we just don’t know how they’re going it!
Well… a girl has to have SOME secrets! 
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[1] Brown bats have the ability to select the sex of their offspring, as they produce more female offspring in early springs. (Credit: Photo by Ken Bendiksen)
[2] Credit: Photo by Bull Snook.
Pam De Beaufort!
What a delicious part!!
The writers of the HBO television show True Blood really outdo themselves when it comes to providing dialogue for Pam, masterfully played by Kristin Bauer.
Here’s a bit of background on the character Pam for those who are not familiar with the program.
A former prostitute during her lifetime, Pam was ‘brought over’ (i.e. made a vampyre) by Eric Northman in the late 1800′s in London, England. She was released from Eric sometime in the early decades of 20th century. She has resided in the USA from the beginning of the last century. After the Great Revelation when vampyres came ‘out of the coffin,’ Eric called for Pam’s service in the newly founded Fangtasia bar in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Nowadays she serves him willfully and is his second-in-command. She has never sired a vampyre.
Here are some of the precious gems that True Blood’s writers have fall from her beautiful, smirking lips.
“I don’t know what it is about me that makes people think I want to hear their problems. Maybe I smile too much. Maybe I wear too much pink. But please remember I can rip your throat out if I need to. And also know that I am not a hooker. That was a long, long time ago.”
“I am so over Sookie and her precious fairy vagina and her unbelievably stupid name. F**k Sookie!”
“I’m gonna shove my fist up your ass and use you as a hand-warmer.”
“Did I miss something? Are we girls now? Did we join a book club and read some queer chick lit memoirs and are bound together by estrogen or sisterhood some other feminist drivel?”
“This is not just about your relationship, you infatuated tween. There’s a bigger picture.”
“Let’s go to the ladies room and stare at ourselves in the mirror.”
Each year, her character becomes stronger, more fleshed out and more interesting… and a lot more fun!
Can’t wait for True Blood Season Five, expected to premiere in June 2012.
Vampyre Fangs continues to be away for Passover.
Look for this award-losing blog to return this coming Monday April 16th!
Last year, I wrote how I broke down and bought the Twilight Saga movies.
They’re still sitting there on my computer table where I left them in September. Still unopened. Still in their original cellophane wrappers.
I feel like Pandora… or Bluebeard’s wife. I know I shouldn’t open them. I have a sinking feeling that they hold horrors untold… a sinister evil which has already been unleashed elsewhere upon the world. I’ve been told time and again that I should not… MUST NOT… allow the Darkness to spread.
And yet… despite the dire warnings of an immedicabile vulnus – an incurable wound, an irreparable injury – not only to my eyes and ears but to my very soul… I hear them calling to me. A faint yet clear siren’s call.
I close my eyes and breathe deeply. I have won another day.
But the box still waits… the locked door still beckons.
