Ignorance is British - but bad literature is for everyone

So the first part of this title is from an adventure Nasser had with one of the more agressive locals. Call it the credit crunch, or Christmas, or just the freakin' cold weather - any way I cut it, the guy was (and I wasn't actually there) just plain mean. In response to Nasser's suggestion that screaming obscenities and pushing at the crossing was 'ignorant', our friend responded (among other colourful comments) that it wasn't ignorance: it was British.

Oh well.

I've been reading - on wikipedia - the synopsis and such for Twilight, the spectacularly popular series of young adult novels by Stephanie Meyer - now film. My friend, who lectures in children's literature, had much criticism for it. Having read the wiki entry, found some reviews, and looked through the truly god-awful, teenage-angsty website of the film, I've decided that it is the worst thing I haven't seen or read in ages. It sounds absolutely bloody awful - the kind of awful that's intensified by the fact that I likely would have devoured them like candy when I was 13. And I don't mean awful from a high-brow, academic-white-tower viewpoint; I mean awful as in insulting, candy-coated nonsense that panders to kiddy-Gothic, celebrations of the undead as Byronic heroes. Honestly. Who falls for this crap?

She said, a Gothicist.

Yes, but there are few things more tiring than a teenager and few things more unimaginably horrible than an immortal teenager.

Not to mention the gender politics that apparently get played out in this book. I have no problem with abstinence; but vampires and marriage? Honestly. I feel that I must shake my head a lot in any discussion of this book. Is marriage still such an ideal that a relationship with a vampire can be okay'd provided marriage is on the table? Hmm...it's possible that I'm being a miserable git. Likely from reading too much of this fellow and enjoying too much this program.

Cos otherwise, what've I got to complain about? It's nearly the end of term, teaching finishes in two weeks (two weeks is a long long time...), I've got teaching lined up for next term, and a job application to finish - and Christmas is coming. None too shabby for the second week of December.