I recommend, from personal experience,
that you don't do it...
unless you're willing [and crazy enough} to sleep on concrete for four days
in order to get tickets to stand behind metal barricades lining the red carpet.
Don't go only four hours before the premiere.
It'll take you forever to find a parking spot.
You'll be at the very end of the line
and you'll wait for hours and you'll constantly be told by the event managers
that maybe they'll let you in.
My 12-yr-old sister, Ruth, and my sister-in-law Mayra.
At least our shirts were cool :)
The second tower on the left is where the theater is. That was how long the line was.
Then they'll tell you about a half hour before it starts that you've been waiting in vain
and that there's no more room.
But that you're welcome to find a spot with a million other fans along
the barricades lining the street where the actors/guests pull up in
their limos and fancy cars.
And you'll do it because you've waited so long
and want to catch a glimpse, just a glimpse of them,
the actors you've seen hundreds of times on screen,
in pictures, on magazine covers, on tv.
The cars start to arrive,
black-tinted windows rolled up so it's impossible to see who's in them.
The brave ones roll them down just for a peek.
A couple, like Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, and Alex Meraz,
wave to you and say nice things like,
"Hello!" and "Thank you!"
Others even take pictures of you.
Jackson Rathbone: Jasper
One of the werewolves; sorry I don't know which one.
And you wait,
knowing full well that the most anticipated-for actors will be last.
By then you've been pushed and prodded and have touched more body parts
not belonging to you than you've ever wanted to.
At least we got free vitamin and smart water...
A couple times Ruth & I stole away to walk to the front and see them setting up the red carpet. The fans {who got tickets to stand next to the carpet} were already in place a few hours before the premiere started.
You see Dakota Fanning, but she's too far away to take a picture.
There are other stars there, too.
Then more of the New Moon actors arrive on the scene.
Then...
you see him drive by in a non-tinted-windowed car,
wearing a tux and looking oh-so-Edwardly,
right hand hiding his smirk of a smile,
as if thinking, "Oh, boy, here we go again,"
and then thousands of girls are pointing and yelling,
"ROB! IT'S ROOOOOOOB!"
He gets out quick as lightning and is immediately surrounded by five bodyguards.
He walks over to sign autographs and his men are pushing the barricades back
as the fans are crying and reaching, and pushing.
He gets closer and closer and you can barely see him through the crowd,
but then, in the blink of an eye,
he's gone.
And you know that's as close as you'll get to any of them.
Then Taylor arrives, and it's the same thing.
And finally Kristen.
I didn't even get to see her.
I am too short.
I don't regret going, because at least I caught a glimpse, if only a glimpse.
I didn't get autographs or great pictures
and I didn't touch or talk to any of "them."
But this was the biggest premiere of the year,
with about ten thousand fans in attendance.
So I had low expectations and now I know NOT to do it again.
I do want to attend more premieres--smaller, more intimate ones.
Just not ones having anything to do with Twilight.
I'm a little New-Mooned out.
I was reminded of a valuable lesson:
that I should be "in the world but not of the world."
And that I love the books so much better than the movies.
