R-Patz and new blood top sexy poll

The obsession with Twilight and all things vampire has put new blood into a list of the world’s sexiest men.

Robert Pattinson and his co-stars in the hit movies and the stars of TV series The Vampire Diaries have overtaken heart-throbs such as Johnny Depp, David Beckham and Brad Pitt in the Glamour.com poll.

R-Patz, 24, who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise, retains his place at the top of the list. He is joined in the top five by werewolf-playing co-star Taylor Lautner, The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder and Twilight stars Xavier Samuel and Kellan Lutz – all new to the sexiest men list.

(source)

Kellan Lutz: We start fight training for Breaking Dawn in September

Photo/Men's Health

www.examiner.com: Kellan Lutz has been having a terrific (and busy!) year, but is looking forward to starting fight training for Breaking Dawn, the fourth installment in the Twilight saga.

“I believe we might start rehearsals in September – fight training – and then I think start production in November until March in Vancouver and Baton Rouge,” Lutz, 25, told OK! Aug. 10, 2010. “I love doing stunts, I love doing action movies.”

And he’s looking forward to filming in Vancouver so he can go snowboarding. “I love to snowboard, so it’s going to be good to be there in the winter,” he says. “I’m going to be in Vancouver in the wintertime when I can actually use Whistler big time. I’m a big snowboarding junkie.”

Lutz really enjoys the company of his Twilight co-stars, who are genuinely fun, down-to-earth people.

“We just have a really great group of actors who are real people who can just have fun,” says Lutz. “We have so many inside jokes now, and we don’t get sick of each other because these movies are only three to four months of shooting and then we’re off doing our own thing. And then we get excited to come back and it’s like a great family reunion.”

More HERE

Twilight about to eclipse ‘New Moon!’

www.hollywood.com: Another box office milestone in the “Twilight” saga is about to howl at the moon as Summit Entertainment’s “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” prepares to suck the life out of its predecessor’s revenue generating superiority.

$296,623,634 is the total final domestic box office for “New Moon.”  Through Tuesday, August 17 its successor, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” has a running total of $296,268,343 – a difference of $355,291.  Here is the breakdown: earlier this week “Eclipse” earned $214,712 on Monday, August 16 and $211,187 on Tuesday, August 17.

If we conservatively put Wednesday’s gross at $200,000 and another $200,000 on Thursday, the film will surpass its box office brethren this Thursday.  This is no small feat considering that “Eclipse” is the third film in the series, opened in the much more competitive summer movie season (the first two films opened in late November) and had a first weekend gross ($64.8 million) that was smaller than “New Moon’s” first day!

And even though these two films share much of the same cinematic DNA, their box office trajectory could not be more different.  Notably, “New Moon’s” theatrical run was super front loaded with a final domestic total that was just 2 times its opening weekend gross of $142,839,137 whereas “Eclipse’s” running total will be 4.5 times its $64.8 million weekend debut.

Ke$ha and Ashley Greene join the star-studded presenters list for the live show on September 12.

One is a teen pop phenomenon known for inducing Beatles-level hysteria in his fans, the other, a free-spirit Atlanta MC whose debut album suddenly shot to pop success. Now, Justin Bieber and B.o.B are set to hit the stage as performers at this year’s 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Bieber and B.o.B join already announced performers Kanye West, Drake and Florence and the Machine.

Four-time nominee Ke$ha and “Twilight” star Ashley Greene will also be among the night’s presenters when the show goes live on September 12 from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The night will mark the first VMA performances for both Bieber (who presented at last year’s ceremony) and B.o.B.

More HERE

Well, would you look at that. What do you think of Rob being the world’s sexiest man?

At first I was wondering what was Kellan talking about if there are no fights in Breaking Dawn, but then I remembered that he does get to fight and roll on the dirt a little. Emmett shows Bella how to fight! We finally get to see Kristen as Bella in full action mode. Oh, I can’t wait to see that. What did you think of the interview? What are you looking forward on seeing in Breaking Dawn?

What do you think of Ashley Greene being part of the VMA’s presenters? Will you be watching them? What other twilight cast member would you like to see?

What do you think of today’s twilight news? Join us in the discussion!

Did Scott Pilgrim Beat the World?

That is what we are here to find out. This is really a movie for someone who grew up in the late 80’s and the 90’s. it is full of subtle, and not so subtle pop culture references that few people outside of generation X will get.

The movie follows the story of the comic to a T, this is probably one of the most accurate comic book adaptations I’ve seen yet. More so even than Kick Ass in some regards.

The plot is relatively simple. 23 year old Scott Pilgrim is dating a teenager named Knives Chau, she’s a Chinese Catholic schoolgirl with the outfit and everything. Don’t worry, they don’t do it, they barely hold hands.

Cera plays Cera in every movie he’s in, except for Youth in Revolt, there he played Cera with a mustache. But surprisingly Cera works for the character. He isn’t who I would have cast for Scott, but he actually does a good job in the role. He owned the role, I’m honestly reaching for something to complain about for his performance.

The other lead was Mary Winstead as Ramona Flowers. She came across as very aloof and distant, more so than her comic book counterpart. I believe this to be because of the emotional baggage that she is carrying around. She was good, but this is probably the weakest performance I’ve seen her give. It didn’t feel like they used her to her full potential.

Read more HERE

Entire ‘Star Wars’ movie series to come to Blu-ray in 2011

The perfect time for someone to whip out one of these faux real lightsabers would be the unwrapping of the Blu-ray version of “Star Wars.” At Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, FL, that was the big news that George Lucas gave the crowd: that all six live-action “Star Wars” films will be released in 2011 on Blu-ray for the first time.

For those who have been forecasting the death of the optical disc, this alone could keep it alive for a while, no? There have been many pundits who say its only a matter of time (including us), what with the growth of streaming video. On the other hand, as we have also said, with bandwidth caps expected to become the norm across ISPs at some time in the future, who knows?

The press release that followed the announcement gave an approximate timeframe: Fall 2011. 2011 is the 35th Anniversary of the original film, now renamed “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.”

In addition to the Blu-ray announcement, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill joined Lucas onstage to debut a scene that had been cut from the “Return of the Jedi” episode.

Read more HERE

Jason Flemyng is Nightcrawler’s Dad in X-Men: First Class

Yet another British actor in Jason Flemyng, seen earlier this year in Clash of the Titans and in Matthew Vaughn’s latest movie Kick-Ass has joined the cast of X-Men: First Class as another mutant character. Flemyng will play Azazel, a demonic mutant who happens to be the father of Nightcrawler – the blue teleporting mutant who played a key role in X-Men 2.

In the books, Azazel impregnates Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men: First Class) and she gives birth to Nightcrawler, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of story arc involving their relationship in First Class. Azazel is very similar to Nightcrawler in that he can teleport as well but in the X-Men comics, he also possesses other powers such as the ability to shapeshift and fire bolts of energy. I would expect he’ll be de-powered quite a bit for the sake of the movie and be restricted to teleportation like his son.

Created by writer Chuck Austen and artist Sean Phillips, Azazel has an otherworldly history, which may or may not be a bit extreme for the X-Men prequel movie. In the comics, Azazel explains that back in biblical times the Neyaphem, demonic mutants such as he, fought with the Cheyarafim, angelic mutants who were far too zealous for their own good (think Angel but with an attitude). Azazel went around impregnating lots of women and eventually taking control of his children (including our very own Nightcrawler) and using them to open a portal to his dimension to release his demonic mutant brethren.

Read more HERE

Team Potter, forget Edward vs. Jacob

Sparkly vampires, teenage romance, Hollywood clichés … gag me.

For the past few years, ever since production of the first Twilight movie began, it seems every teenage girl feels the need to ramble on about the book-turned-movie, and quite frankly I’m sick of it.

Over this past summer, the pop-culture craze turned into an unhealthy obsession as young girls and their unenthused boyfriends lined up for the movie premiere of Eclipse, bickering over Team Edward versus Team Jacob.

Seriously, give me originality and adventure, like in the Harry Potter series, then I’ll be happy.

Really though, if the Twilight films were just bad movies, I wouldn’t complain. Unfortunately, I’ve had the misfortune of seeing many bad films in my day, but that series has gone way beyond just being bad.

The worst part about this whole debacle is that these insane Twilight fanatics think their sorry excuse for a film series is better than the glory that is Harry Potter.

Read more HERE

So what did you think about today’s movie news? Have you seen Scott Pilgrim VS the World yet, what did you think..is it like the comic? Are you excited to have the complete Star Wars series on Blu-Ray? Are you excited for the new X-Men movie, does the new back story seem interesting? Lastly, Team Potter or Team Twilight, which movie franchise is more exciting and entertaining?

Stephenie Meyer talks Edward Cullen making Bella wait for “happy time” and Does she think Eclipse sends a good message?

www.twifans.com:  Stephenie Meyer conjured up the morally ethical vampire, Edward Cullen. So who better to ask why? Why is he so good at keeping Bella’s virtue intact? Why is it so important – really?

Transcript
Q: I’m curious about Eclipse because at the point where…I love Eclipse because Edward becomes a lot more flirtatious, and you get to kinda see that.

SM: They have some moments, which are hard to do with fiction because everybody wants constant pacing. I tend to slow down. A lot of what my editors did was cut. Because I just wanna sit and “Let’s have a nice moment. Let’s have a happy time.”

Q: One of the most “nice moments” is when they’re in Edward’s room in bed, and he proposes, okay? There are lots of people that have asked questions, I’ve probably had 10 or 20 just within that one scene. But the one I want the answer to the most is: Edward at one point, he kind-of caves. Just a smidge. When he says “no, no, stop, we’re not doing this until we are married” — is it more out of a moral issue, or is it more out of “I want to make sure you keep up your end of the deal”?

SM: They’re equal parts. There are a couple of things. One is, Edward was born in 1901. And in his mind — he understands the world more clearly than we do. He hears everybody’s thoughts. But to him, this is kind of a…for him it’s a very disrespectful… And he can’t get away from the taboos of his youth. It would be wrong to take advantage of her, in his mind. And obviously, she has a completely different viewpoint. Her viewpoint of it is very modern. She knows that she is with him forever, and she doesn’t see his point. But he just comes from a different place. And I really like, every place I could put in, that would really date him. Because I like when he is…..109.

Twifans.com: Stephenie Meyer discusses why Edward Cullen wants to make Bella wait until marriage by twifans

More audio and transcriptions here

Taylor Lautner of ‘Twilight’ fame — images made of 500 pieces of candy

www.examiner.com: The star of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Taylor Lautner, along with TV star and designer Kim Kardashian have been turned into candy — their images, that is. According to a new report, both celebrities’ images have been created by an artist who used licorice to achieve the look. Is the an example of having reached a new level of fame?

As E! Online, the candy images are part of a new art program called We Like to Watch TV — an art program in San Francisco, California. Jason Mercier is the artist, along with partner Adam J. Ansell to come up with the idea and make it into a reality.

Vampires Suck vs. Twilight Saga

www.reelzchannel.com: New spoof movie Vampires Suck, from “the guys who couldn’t sit through another vampire movie” (aka the guys behind Disaster Movie and Epic Movie), looks set to either entertain or infuriate fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, as it attempts to poke fun at the movie phenomenon. For the Twihaters, aka disgruntled boyfriends and husbands, it may be an even better offering than David Slade’s addition for Eclipse.

We take a closer look at some of the scenes Vampires Suck parodies in its official trailer, which includes the all-important paper-cut scene from New Moon. Remember, Twilighters: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. No, really.

The Vampires Suck trailer starts as any Twilight Saga trailer should: with a sweeping view of what is supposed to be an aerial look at Forks, Washington. Even the score soundtrack is an exact homage to that found in Twilight — these producers sure know what they’re doing!

Oh, look! It’s the Twilight font, in all its silver shimmery goodness. Twilighters would recognize this writing anywhere — after all, it’s almost as iconic as the book cover. Add to that a dark, brooding black background, and you get the vampire picture.

More here

I’m really liking all of the interviews of the fan press junket that Stephenie had. We’ve been hearing so many great things What have you thought of them so far?

What did you think of the licorice Taylor?

What have you thought so far about the new Twilight spoof Vampires Suck? Would you be seeing it, just for fun?

‘Priest’ Panel Report: Comic-Con Vs. The Vampire Apocalypse!

splashpage.mtv.com: The panel for “Priest,” the first Tokyo Pop graphic novel to be given the film treatment, boasted exclusive footage of the post apocalyptic vampire movie, which features a pair of vampires from “True Blood” and “Twilight.”

Here’s a moment-by-moment report:

4:18
Director Scott Stewart takes the stage and asks the crowd to get out their 3D glasses as he introduced exclusive Comic-Con footage that will not be released elsewhere anytime soon.

4:22
Cam Gigandet, Stephen Moyer, Karl Urban, Maggie Q and Priest himself, Paul Bettany, join Stewart on stage. Urban’s introduction gets the biggest response.

4:23
Bettany said he had a “rapport” and a “shorthand” pretty immediately when they started working on “Legion.” He loved working on “Priest” with him especially because the budget was bigger which allowed for more “grandeur.”

More here

‘Priest’ Actor Cam Gigandet Says Post-Apocalyptic Vampire Western’s World ‘Is Unlike Any Other’

Director Scott Stewart has spoken highly of the “Twilight” and “True Blood” cast members he assembled for the adaptation of Hyung Min-Woo’s “Priest.” Together with his co-stars Maggie Q and Karl Urban at San Diego Comic-Con this week, Cam Gigandet returned the compliment, even if Stewart’s direction proved to be challenging on occasion.

More here

Watch the new vampire-killing Priest trailer that killed US

He’s the James Bond of the clergy. He’s got holy gadgets and badass moves (in slow-mo, no less) to spare. And the evil he’s up against is real evil. As in vampires. Not the sparkly kind. The monstrous kind. The kind who rip and shred and feast on blood and flesh. Audiences at the San Diego Comic-Con got to see him in action in a new trailer. Now you can see it, too.

(source)

Elizabeth Hurley Set to Play a Vampire

www.411mania.: Elizabeth Hurley’s been a vamp for sometime, so it’s only natural that eventually she would play a vampire. The actress is set to star in High Midnight, a vampire western directed by Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary). Hurley will join Vincent D’Onofrio (Brooklyn’s Finest), Taylor Nichols (Jurassic Park III), Emilio Rivera (Harsh Times), William Baldwin (Sliver), Thomas Kretschmann (Wanted), Ted Raimi (Drag Me to Hell) and Kevin Weisman (Alias) on the project, which has been in the works since 2008.

The film tells the tale of a broken-down sheriff forced to join forces with an obsessed Victorian vampire hunter to defeat an undead force consuming a small frontier town in 1892 New Mexico.

Teaser Trailer For Sci-Fi Thriller Monsters

spinoff.comicbookresources.com: Vertigo Films has released a teaser trailer for Monsters, the micro-budget sci-fi thriller from writer/director Gareth Edwards that’s being described as “the new District 9.”

The film, shot on location for less than $400,000, follows an American photojournalist and the daughter of his publisher (Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able) as they’re forced to travel through a quarantined “infected zone” in Mexico, where the U.S. and Mexican militaries struggle to contain alien life forms that have spread from a crashed NASA probe.

‘SAW’ 3D – First 8 Minutes Revealed

www.fearnet.com: Yes it’s true, Dr. Lawrence Gordon is back! A lucky group of Comic-Con attendees were the first to experience the first 8 minutes of SAW 3D and we have a full report below the break.

The screening kicked off with a repeat viewing of the newly released trailer (in 3D) followed by a presentation by the Guinness Book of World Records to SAW producers and Jigsaw himself Tobin Bell for being part of the most successful horror franchise. A brief Q/A with saw producers, Tobin Bell and SAW VI & VII director Kevin Greutert followed before we were shown the first 8 minutes of the film. The start of SAW 3D picks up immediately after the first SAW with Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) dragging himself across the floor (severed foot and all) until he gets to a steaming hot pipe which he uses to cauterize his wound while screaming in agony.

That Priest trailer really makes you want to go see it. Not to mention that we get to see Cam Gigandet and Stephen Moyer. Priest will be a thrilling vampire movie to wait for!

I really liked Monsters, it reminded me of Clover Field and it makes it interesting wanting to know what is attacking the human civilization (again ).

What did you think of the new movie trailers? Which movie are you waiting to see? What do you think of Elizabeth Hurley and her new vampire role?

This book could teach Hollywood to do superheroes right

(via io9.com) 

You might think superheroes are played out as heroic archetypes or sources of fresh stories. But you’d be wrong, and a new anthology, Masked, proves it. Anybody who writes superhero comics or movies, or just loves superheroes, should read it.

Spoiler warning!

Masked, edited by Lou Anders, is a really strong collection of stories that play with the idea of superheroes in clever, often fascinating ways. There’s a fair bit of metafictional commentary on the tropes of superhero stories, like costumes and secret identities and sidekicks — but it doesn’t ever become too self-referential or navel-gazey about it. The stories get dark, especially the first few outings in the book, but they’re dark in a thought-provoking way, not just angsty or “grim and gritty,” as dark superhero stories are prone to be.

I’m not always a fan of themed anthologies, because stories sometimes feel shoehorned in to fit the theme. The danger is that you’ll get a bunch of well-known authors who didn’t really have a Haunted Tree story they were dying to tell. But there’s a Haunted Tree anthology that wants them to contribute, so they’ll give it their best shot. And the result, often as not, is hit or miss.

The good thing about Masked, then, is that Anders gets stories from people who have a lot of experience with superheroes, or who obviously had a superhero story they wanted to write. The contributors include Secret Six writer Gail Simone, Incredible Hulk mastermind Peter David, X-Men: Dark Mirror author Marjorie Liu and comics veterans Bill Willingham and Mike Carey – as well as Paul Cornell, a regular Doctor Who writer and the new writer of Action Comics, which, by the way, just featured a rather striking David Tennant cameo:

Read more HERE

Is your novel set on an alternate Earth? You could win the Terry Pratchett Prize!

Do you have an unpublished novel set on Earth, but not this Earth? If you do, and it’s really awesome, you could win the Terry Pratchett Prize: Random House will pay you £20,000 to publish your novel next year.

You must live in the UK, Ireland, or the Commonwealth to enter, and Pratchett has written up a great description of what the book should focus on:

Anywhere but here, anywhen but now. Which means we are after stories set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time (see the illustration in almost every book about quantum theory).

We will be looking for books set at any time, perhaps today, perhaps in the Rome of today but in a world where 2000 years ago the crowd shouted for Jesus Christ to be spared, or where in 1962, John F Kennedy’s game of chicken with the Russians went horribly wrong.

Find out all the gory details on entering the contest via Terry Pratchett

Read more HERE

Medallion to Publish YA Titles by YA Writers

(via publisher’s weekly)

Medallion Press is venturing into unfamiliar territory, in announcing the launch of its new Ya-Ya line of fiction and nonfiction for young adult readers ages 13-18. Not only is the Ya-Ya line intended for teen readers, but the titles in the imprint will actually be written by teen authors.

“Helen Rosburg [Medallion's publisher] wanted to provide young adults with a voice, with the ability to tell stories to others in their age range,” explained Paul Ohlson, Medallion director of sales and marketing. “Instead of adults writing for young adults, young adults are writing for young adults.”

Medallion is currently seeking submissions for its new Ya-Ya line; submission guidelines are posted on the company’s Web site. The press has not yet announced how many Ya-Ya titles will be published each season, or when the first book in the new line will be released.

Read more HERE

Fiction review: ‘Memory Wall’ by Anthony Doerr

Most writers should want to be Anthony Doerr when they grow up — short story alchemist, novelist, travelogueur; anthologized, winner of literary awards, despite which his writing really is crazy good. “Memory Wall” is Doerr’s latest collection of stories, including “Village 113,” which earned his third O. Henry prize.

While Doerr’s novel “About Grace” explored humanity’s impotence against fate, “Memory Wall” investigates, through characters plagued by conflicting emotions, humanity’s impermanence — be it our bodies, minds, relationships, hopes, our memories.

Unwilling to evacuate her doomed and deserted village, labeled “113″ by dam project engineers, the seed keeper muses: “Every memory everyone has ever had will eventually be underwater.”

Doerr’s characters are fond of pronouncements, particularly regarding the question, “What’s the one permanent thing in the world?” “Nothingness is the permanent thing.” “Darkness … is the permanent thing. And silence.” Even: “a river never stops.”

These dictums aren’t original or insightful, which is to say, there’s no serviceable answer, which is to say, is there nothing we can hold on to, though we’re destined to lose everything?

Read more HERE

What did you think about today’s book news? What do you think about this new book ‘Masked’, can it really teach Hollywood? How cool is this new award/prize that Terry Pratchett is giving away? How does this ‘Memory Wall’ novel sound to you, will you read it?

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Author name: Marjorie M. Liu by Caro

List of books:
*novels

Dirk & Steele:
Book 1- Tiger Eye (2005)
Book 2- Shadow Touch (2006)
Book 3- The Read Heart of Jade (2006)
Book 4- Dark Dreamers (2006)
Book 5- Eye of Heaven (2006)
Book 6- Soul Song (2007)
Book 7- The Last Twilight (2008)
Book 8- The Wild Road (2008)
Book 9 – The Fire King (2009)

Hunter Kiss:
The Iron Hunt (2008)
Darkness Calls (2009)

*Anthologies
Inked (January, 2010)
Never After
Huntress
Hotter than Hell: Anthology (“Minotaur in Stone”)
Holidays are Hell: Anthology (“Six”)
My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon (anthology)
Companion Story – Hunter Kiss
Book 4 – Dark Dreamers

Standalone Novels
A Taste of Crimson – Book 2 in the Crimson City Series (2005)
X-Men: Dark Mirror (2005)

*Audio Books
The Iron Hunt
A Taste of Crimson

*Comics
NYX: No Way Home #1 – 6, Marvel Comics (2008-2009)

Dark Wolverine #75- present, co-written with Daniel Way. Marvel Comics (2009)

Link to their site/blog:
www.marjoriemliu.com
http://twitter.com/marjoriemliu
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marjorie_m_liu/
http://www.myspace.com/marjorieliu

Review about the author:

Born in Philadelphia, spending her formative years in Seattle and now resides in the Midwest. She is a 30 year old New York Times bestselling author who has written more than ten romance novels. Marjorie went to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, for her undergraduate studies, majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with a minor in Biomedical Ethics. After that Marjorie attended law school at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in May 2003. Even though she loved law school, she didn’t like being a lawyer and decided to become a writer.

Her first novels was Tiger Eye in 2005 and all of her books have received some of the highest ratings of 4 ½ stars by the Romantic Times.

Marjorie has studied and traveled extensively through Asia, and spent some time working at the US Embassy in Beijing. Loves to write, prove to herself that dreams do come true, poodles and cats.

Upcoming events:
A Wild Light due August 2010.

Are you a fan of Marjorie M. Liu’s work? What about her writing style do you like best, and what is your favorite novel of hers?

Come join us and discuss Marjorie M. Liu on our form HERE

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