Whew! I was wondering what to write about when I suddenly realized that the perfect story had fallen into my hands. How could I not have known? Am I such a self-involved Angeleno that I missed what was right in front of my face?

Speaking of what’s in front of your face, what is up with all the vampire love? Why are people so in love with the idea of vampires as lovers? Yeah, they have that whole “I’m a child of the night, immortal, pretty and pale” but what about the downside to dating the pointy-teethed suckers? First of all, they will always have cold feet and hands, which has got to make cuddling a bit annoying. Then, there’s that whole bloodsucking thing; I mean really? How are you going to build a life around those eating habits? Third, they live for freaking ever so this means that the vamp’s got to be broody like Angel or foolhardy like Lestat. What I mean is that they’re going to have ISSUES piled up like a Shel Silverstein garbage pile. You think you’ve got issues being an attractive teen or 20 something? Just check out the mess stewing behind your vampire lover’s pretty 100-year plus facade. Fourth, they’re demons. Don’t care how you coat it, twist it or magic it away; there’s a reason vampires stalk the night. Sure, they could be badboys with sweet hearts, but in the end, the majority of them probably would just want to rip out yours.

Have you figured out that I’m talking about Twilight?

Yesterday, while I wandered through Westwood al lado de UCLA, I discovered that the movie premiere of Twilight was in full swing. The tweens had come out in full force. A bus pulled over and let out a horde with signs! There was a girl wearing a cheerleader uniform with a “Team Jacob” embroidered on front. They were all pressed up at the edge of the sidewalk, squealing for “Edward! Edward!” Or whoever the actor who plays Edward is.

A girl and her boyfriend, who were not tweens or teens, walked by with vampire teeth.

A parking garage–for you must pay for parking in Westwood–had jacked up their price from $5 to $25 for the night.

Twilight has come to the city of angels!

So what does this have to do with the whole Los Angeles anatomy crap that AH and I like to post in this little blogspace? Well, I’ll tell you. As I mentioned, sometimes Angelenos are self-involved. We live in a very big, spaced out city full of spacy people who are running from point A to point B via a traffic-congested highway with ash in the air (or at least this week) and smog. We are hooked up to our GPS, blackberries and laptops, communicating a zillion things to a zillion different people. We may not walk but we move fast. Take for instance, a friend who’s just moved in to town from the Midwest. It’s only been a week and she feels run over by the fast pace that we drive at, talk at and think at.

So anyway, Angelenos move so fast that we miss things like Cordelia Chase from Buffy the Vampire Slayer once did when she went to visit a famous Hollywood director in Los Angeles. Even though she was a native of Sunnydale and personally knew the Slayer, Cordelia missed all the alarms that pointed out her “in” to Hollywood was actually a way to check “out” of life. And that’s kind of how I felt when I walked smack into the tweeny crowds at the Twilight premiere. I’ve lived in LA how many years? And how many times have I come across the whole 9-yards movie premiere?

Zero?

But why should I be surprised? Of course, it’s Westwood! Of course, it’s the perfect place for a premiere! And of course vampire love stories will always have a place in the hearts of Angelenos because this is LA. Where else could they hide so well?