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Coincidence?.....i think not....last time i trust a friend

Why we LOVE OR HATE Twilight

It's wrong to refer to Twilight as "polarising". We read time and again that there are two opposing camps, one of "Twi-hards" and one of "haters". Those of us in the latter don't hate the Twilight series. We're just completely indifferent. That said, when the wave of hype is this potent and often inescapable, we're driven to point out that it's not all that the fans have cracked it up to be. We do have to live with the fact that Twilight 3 will likely be the biggest movie of 2010. If we so much as whisper our disapproval at the endless media coverage lavished on the cast or the crowds driven wild by vamp-hysteria, the franchise's enormous DVD sales and box-office figures are thrown back at us by the devotees as if they somehow prove Twilight's critical worth.

Opposing view: Why we LOVE Twilight

Let's dispel the idea that popularity is directly related to quality. If this was the case, the Mr Blobby song would have been one of the finest musical creations of 1993. If the figures said it all, Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel was one of the ten greatest movies of 2009. The numbers are on your side, teens, but they don't prop up your assertion that Twilight is "da gr8est eva". So what's all the excitement for? Perhaps what frustrates us most is that the vampire myth is so painfully well trodden. It seems like only a week ago that every boy lusted after Buffy and every girl longed to jump into the coffin with Angel. Go back to the 80s and teenagers were going vamp-crazy for The Lost Boys. At least that one was funny. The Twilight kids are not seeing the brighter side. Fans complain that the phenomenon is stereotyped as "teen" but the raw angst and melancholy emitted by the cast is straight out of the "dog ate my homework" book of hating your parents and painting your fingernails black. Unsure of herself and her place in the world, Bella Swan is a character teens can relate to and there's nothing wrong with that. But the sheer misery of watching Kristen Stewart scowl her way through the performance is, frankly, painful. Why couldn't they feed her to the bad vampires and carry on playing vampire baseball? It was almost getting fun for a second there. But she's not the real motor behind the phenomenon is she? There's practically a drum roll when Robert Pattinson first walks into school as Edward Cullen, prompting swoons around the planet. He's a looker for sure. But is the screaming really necessary? Certainly his clunky lines aren't making us want to spend eternity with him: "I feel protective of you," he says between odd dramatic pauses. "You're my own personal brand of heroine," comes next. Then it's "I'm a sick, masochistic lion." He's hardly making the earth shift for us. That said, he's the best thing in the franchise. So it's a shame he barely appears in the second movie, being replaced for the most part by shirtless Taylor Lautner and his high-protein diet. The first movie is low on screen chemistry. The second is devoid of it. Was the midnight queuing outside the local DVD shop really worth a few lines of dire-logue (Bella: "I'm coming." Edward: "I don't want you to come,") and half an hour of Pattinson? Teenage fascination with deathly heroes isn't a new thing, especially if the undead in question are bedroom wall material. But this smacks of overnight phenomenon to the point that you worry for the careers of the young stars involved. Their talents don't deserve to be forever associated with a franchise that will go down as one of the tackier reincarnations of the tired vampire myth.

The Twilight Saga is one of the most loved movie series of recent years. It's also one of the most hated. As teenage girls spend hours watching their favourite teen angst love story/image searching Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner/dreaming of being bitten by a brooding vampire, movie buffs are cursing and criticising it until they're blue in the face. Being as objective as I can, Twilight is good. No, honestly. It's so good I watched the first movie three times in as many weeks. Initially I thought the hype surrounding it (and the new, sexy British actor Robert Pattinson) was a load of old hooey. However, when told by a very adamant friend of mine to watch the DVD, I did, and I was converted in the short space of a few hours. Forget the hundreds of thousands of fan girls. Forget the biased views spewing from the mostly-male movie critic world (film experts hate it because, well, it's not aimed at them).

Opposing view: Why we HATE Twilight

Twilight is a brilliant example of simple yet effective storytelling and interesting cinematography. Not only that, but its impressive soundtrack (Muse, Paramore and Linkin Park) adds to the overall feel of moody, teenage life and those excruciating feelings of love we all remember from our adolescence. Another enjoyable thing about the movie is the way our heroine Bella Swan is obsessed with a vampire who loves her but also really wants to suck at her arteries. She might have the kind of face you want to slap but you're still rooting for her all the way through. New Moon, while not as good as its predecessor (mostly because the focus shifts from sexy vampire Edward Cullen to the overly-muscular werewolf Jacob Black - I'm cheering for Team Cullen) is still one of the best films of 2009. The plot thickens and becomes more implausible with every passing minute, but that only adds to its appeal. Who wants reality anyway? On the plus side, there are more laughs in New Moon than in Twilight, and the music is just as impressive thanks to Muse reprising their role as Best Teen Soundtrack Contributors Ever. Oh, and the aforementioned fan girls get to see Taylor Lautner strut his stuff topless. As the release of the third instalment of The Twilight Saga approaches, I can already hear the tuts and sighs from critics around the world, cracking their knuckles before gleefully slating it. Their views are tainted by the media storm surrounding it, but surely anything that generates this much coverage and takes in that much money has to be pretty decent, right? Going back to basics, this is a straightforward love story set in a world where vampires and werewolves exist among humans. The people in it are good looking, and every scene is filled with so much teenage torment, you're desperate for someone to crack a smile. However, that's a good thing - people love to watch stories they can relate to, and blood-sucking creatures and hairy wolf-boys aside, this is a valid take on reality. I'm not saying Twilight needs to be loved by everyone. It just needs to be understood and respected for what it is - a coming of age romantic tale with some blood on the side.(my view)-As much as i want to crack open the truth here-i must not,but a can tell you that a agree,men/woman vampires in movies should not be sexed up by half undressed ect,but yet again,the movie industry thrives on people watching and buying them so........SEX/SEXINESS sells:( makes me sick

Easter Day 4th April

Airport worker 'abused scanner'

An airport worker allegedly caught ogling images of a female colleague in a full-body scanner faces the sack after being given a police warning for harassment. The Heathrow worker, named by The Sun newspaper as 25-year-old John Laker, allegedly made lewd remarks to colleague Jo Margetson, 29, after she entered an X-ray machine by mistake. She reported the matter to her bosses and to police. A spokeswoman for BAA, which runs Heathrow, said: "We treat any allegations of inappropriate behaviour or misuse of security equipment very seriously and these claims are investigated thoroughly. "If these claims are found to be substantiated, we will take appropriate action." The new full-body scanners are being rolled out across UK airports following the failed Christmas Day bomb plot to blow up a jet over Detroit in the US. Their introduction has been opposed by some groups who fear the revealing nature of the images the scanners provide could breach people's rights. The question of privacy was raised in a report on airport security by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. The committee said: "Having witnessed these full-body scanners working at first hand, we are confident that the privacy concerns that have been expressed in relation to these devices are overstated and that full body scanners are no more an invasion of privacy than manual 'pat-downs' or searches of bags." One of the bodies that has questioned the legality of scanners is the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Responding to the Home Affairs Committee report, the commission said: "We believe there is a risk that the way body scanning was introduced in UK airports breaches discrimination law, as well as breaching passengers' human right to privacy."(my view)-I told you this would happen first........then the kids

Teachers leave boy, 5, stranded in tree because of health and safety (then report passer-by who helped him down to police)

boy of five was left stranded in a tree at school because of a bizarre health and safety policy - which banned teachers from helping him down. The mischievous pupil climbed the 20ft tree at the end of morning break and refused to come down. But instead of helping him, staff followed guidelines and retreated inside the school building to ‘observe from a distance’ so the child would not get ‘distracted and fall’. The boy was only rescued when passer-by Kim Barrett, 38, noticed the child and helped him down herself.

Good Samaritan: Kim Barrett outside Manor School in Melksham, Wiltshire, where she rescued a pupil stranded in a tree after staff would not get him down

But instead of being thanked for her actions by the headteacher of the Manor School in Melksham, Wiltshire, she was reported to the police for trespassing. Miss Barrett, who lives in Melksham with her six-year-old daughter who attends a different school, said she is ‘surprised’ and ‘shocked’ by the school's policy. She said: ‘I stopped to ask him if he was OK, and it became clear that he'd been there since the end of playtime, which had been around half an hour earlier. ‘I was immediately concerned. I walked over to the school with the boy and was met by the associate head. ‘He didn't appear at all concerned, and was actually very patronising, patting me on the arm and asking me “what do you expect me to do, exactly, dear?” ‘When I said I thought it was a serious incident, he then said his only concern was me trespassing. ‘I was initially surprised that no one appeared to have missed this boy, no one could have known where he was because they could not have seen him from the school, and I was shocked at the way I was dealt with.’ The incident occurred on the morning of March 1 as Miss Barrett was walking home past the side entrance of 213-pupil The Manor Church of England Primary School. She claims that she walked around to the front of the school, onto the playing field and then helped the schoolboy down before taking him back to his class. But the school alleges that she ‘approached the school in an inappropriate way’ and asked her to leave the premises after she got into a row with staff over the boy's welfare. Later that evening a letter from headteacher Beverley Martin was posted through Miss Barrett’s door, explaining that the school had contacted police about the incident. The next morning she was visited by a PCSO who told her she had committed a trespassing offence by helping the young schoolboy down from the tree. Miss Barrett said: ‘I felt really angry because I felt I had saved the school and this boy from something that could have been far worse, and that instead of thanking me I was under investigation. ‘It was ridiculous. He was all on his own, there was no one near him and you couldn't see the school buildings from where he was. ‘Not only was he at least 6ft off the ground, but someone taller than me could easily have reached in from the pavement and plucked him off the branch.’ Headteacher Beverley Martin confirmed that the school's policy prevents staff going to the aid of children who have climbed trees. She said: ‘The safety of our pupils is our priority and we would like to make it clear that this child was being observed at all times during this very short incident. ‘Like other schools whose premises include wooded areas, our policy when a child climbs a tree, is for staff to observe the situation from a distance so the child does not get distracted and fall. ‘We would strongly urge members of the public not to climb over a padlocked gate to approach children as their motives are not clear to staff. ‘To protect children, we cannot assume that people who enter the school grounds without permission have innocent intentions and must act accordingly. ‘If people are concerned about a child's welfare then they should go to the reception and alert a member of staff, who will be happy to help. ‘I am sure these expectations are the same in every school and are centred on children's wellbeing.’ A letter sent to Miss Barrett by Wiltshire Council added: ‘You may well have acted initially out of concern for the safety of the child but any such concerns should have been raised with a member of staff. ‘You subsequently behaved in a verbally aggressive manner to a member of staff(my view)- With the nanny state watching and governmental rules,teachers ect are milking the rules so they do NOT have to do work or rescue a boy from a tree,if my kid was stuck up a tree and i was a teacher at said school and in the rules it said i can't help because of health and safety.....I'd say"FUCK YOU"i'm helping that kid because he could fall and die you moron