Teacher Uses “Twilight” To Enhance Biology Course

from: The Gainesville Times

When Bauck was deciding how to teach human biology, a course she’ll teach for the first time this fall, she wanted to find a way to interest the nonbiology majors.

“If you can engage students in the process a little bit and get them excited and keep the interest going, you have a better chance of delivering the material,” she said. “This is a challenging course with a lot of detailed and difficult content, and I want to engage them instead of droning on about the anatomy of the cell.”

“There is an actual biochemical basis to legends of vampires, which have been associated with a genetic mutation thought to have originated in Eastern Europe in the late 1700s,” Bauck included on her syllabus. “This inherited disorder — porphyria — resulted in an abnormal heme molecule, with symptoms of pale skin, extremely sensitivity to sunlight and brain disorders including odd behavior. Further, individuals affected by porphyria often drank animal blood, as it was thought to alleviate the symptoms.”

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“The Bad Mother’s Handbook” Now on DVD

US Fans of Robert Pattinson as the nerdy-yet-lovable Daniel Gale in the British series “The Bad Mother’s Handbook” can now watch it on DVD.  Purchase a copy at Amazon for $19.99 or rent it there for just $3.99. 

Source

Atmosphere of “Twilight” Echoed In Jewelry

from: moviematics.com

The signs and symbols of Twilight are strong reminders of the narrative’s power. Bella’s moonstone ring echoes the timeless “life” of the vampire and her engagement ring is reminiscent of the sparkling skin of Edward in the sunshine. Wolf rings evoke the strength and speed of Jacob and the other werewolves.

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Bid To Win “Twilight” Cast Signed Baseballs

Fans can bid to win a baseball signed by Jackson Rathbone , Ashley Greene, or Kellan Lutz as part of a fundraiser to benefit the Little League Urban Initiative.  Bidding ends on August 29th.  In addition to the “Twilight” cast members, there are balls for many other sports figures.  Check them out here. 

Source

Peter Facinelli To Appear At Mall In Sandusky, Ohio

from: The Morning Journal

Actor Peter Facinelli, who plays Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the “Twilight” series, will meet fans at the Sandusky Mall from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday. Photos and autographs will be available for $25 and $40, with proceeds going to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a charity that seeks a cure for childhood cancer. The mall is at 4314 Milan Road, Perkins Township.

Source

I love that teachers are getting more creative with their lessons and that they are willing to incorporate items from pop culture, such as “Twilight” into the curricululm.  “Traditional” lectures certainly do not hold a student’s attention and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that application of the subject matter helps a student retain the knowledge.  I think that tying biology lessons to elements from “Twilight” could certainly increase the amount of material learned and retained in that class.  If not, it would at the very least be more enjoyable to sit through than a traditional lecture.

Have you seen “The Bad Mother’s Handbook”?  I’d like to check out the DVD so that I can see it in a version other than the grainy, small-screened one on YouTube.

What do you think of today’s Twilight news?  Join us in the forum to share your thoughts.  We’d love to hear from you!

‘True’ love?

Source: bostonherald.com

Team werewolf.

As HBO’s “True Blood” reaches the midpoint of its season, this viewer wants to go on record as being totally down with the new resident furball.

Joe Manganiello as Alcide, protector to telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and occasional lycanthrope, has been the best addition to the series.

If only Sookie would notice.

Series creator and writer Alan Ball has dug a grave so deep that the Bill-Sookie romance seems doomed. Tonight’s episode (9 p.m. on HBO) marks a major turning point.

Good. Stake it, burn the remains and scatter the ashes.

Bill (Stephen Moyer) is not worthy of Sookie. Even beyond his hate sex with Lorena (Mariana Klaveno), his actions this season belie his courtly manners.

READ MORE HERE

Rutina Wesley, Kristin Bauer, Charlaine Harris True Blood Interviews

Source: movies.about.com

Here it is two weeks after Comic Con and I’m still not finished posting all my interviews. Give me another week and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be caught up. One of the best events to cover at the biggest gathering of comic book and movie fans didn’t even take place at the San Diego Convention Center. No, it was the off-site event – the annual Entertainment Weekly/Syfy Party – that was the most fun to cover, just due to the fact so many random celebs showed up that it made it totally worthwhile to stand on a red carpet for three hours catching interviews.

READ MORE HERE

What do you think of today’s tv news?

Join us in the forum to discuss!

Nikita Comic Con CW Video

By Clarissa at TV Overmind

When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who faked her execution and told her she was being given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. What they didn’t tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin. Ultimately, Nikita was betrayed and her dreams shattered by the only people she thought she could trust. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former bosses that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation.

The CW put together a video with footage from the WB booth and the Nikita panel at Comic Con. Nikita will premiere on Thursday, September 9 at 9:00 p.m. (following the premiere of the Vampire Diaries).

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SMALLVILLE (CW) Season 10 Trailer

via Daemons TV

Check out the trailer for the tenth and final season of Smallville which premieres on Friday, September 24 at 8pm on The CW.

I don’t know about you but I cannot wait for the final season of Smallville. Of course I’m going to be sad to see the show go, but at the same time, this last season promises to be epic.

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‘The Vampire Diaries’ Michael Trevino on Tyler’s rage, Uncle Mason, and nudity. Yes, nudity.

By Carina Adly MacKenzie at Zap2It

Where there are vampires, werewolves are rarely far behind, and “The Vampire Diaries” is no exception. When Zap2it got an exclusive sneak peek on location of Season 2 in Atlanta, I had the chance to take a little stroll around the Lockwood Mansion with Michael Trevino, the man behind Mystic Falls’ newest lycanthrope.

Trevino’s character, Tyler, is not only dealing with some animal instincts, but he’s grieving the death of his dad (and the town “alpha-douche”), Mayor Lockwood. “It’s just adding another layer to the top of his inner rage,” Trevino explains.

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NBC Buys ‘Zombies Vs. Vampires’ Spec

By Nellie Andreeva at Deadline

NBC has closed a deal for Zombies vs. Vampires, a spec script by Jake in Progress creator/executive producer Austin Winsberg. I hear NBC bought preemptively the project, produced by Warner Bros. TV and McG’s studio-based Wonderland production banner. Zombies vs. Vampires is described as a “fun buddy cop procedural.”

It is set in a world where zombies are a part of society, controllable with medication. The show’s two leads (one secretly a vampire) are cops assigned to a squad specifically formed to deal with “zombie crime”. Winsberg, McG and Peter Johnson are executive producing.

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Zombie Penny or Robot Penny: How can Felicia Day return in Dr. Horrible 2?

By Charlie Jane Anders at io9

When we got a moment to talk to Felicia Day at SDCC, she was full of excitement for the possibilities of bringing back Penny, Dr. Horrible’s tragic love interest. We suggested Zombie Penny, but she was more into Robot Penny.

“Okay, Zombie Penny. I like that one. I get a lot of pitches. I personally am a fan of Robot Penny, because I think that would be a cool make-up design, making me into a robot. I mean who knows? I’d probably still be dead in the ground. But probability is hopefully more than zero that I would be appearing in it.”

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I think Robot Penny makes more sense: Dr. Horrible could build her out of grief! I’m interested in Nikita, and since I’ll be watching Vampire Diaries anyway I’ll have to check it out.

What did you think of all the videos? What do you think of the Zombies vs Vampires show?

Ten of the best dragons in literature

John Mullan at The Guardian

Argonautica, by Apollonius of Rhodes This Greek epic poem tells the tale of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece. The fleece is guarded by an unsleeping dragon; Jason enlists the help of the sorceress Medea, who gives him a magic potion with which to spray the dragon. It falls asleep on the spot. But then our hero has to repay her . . .

The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien The ancient dragon Smaug lies amidst his wealth in his lair in the lonely mountain. He is not just fierce and fire-breathing, but cunning and witty too. Bilbo visits him with a company of brave but foolish dwarves and learns of the one weak spot on his jewel encrusted body. An archer does for the enraged dragon when he flies out to destroy a nearby town.

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Black Holes! Glamour! Ultra-Violent Reality TV! August Books Have It All

By Kelly Faircloth at io9

August brings some exciting new speculative fiction releases. We’ve got conclusions for the Hunger Games and Void trilogies, plus Regency magic and a sentient MMORPG. Here are the books you can’t miss out on this month.

The Evolutionary Void, Peter Hamilton (Del Rey) Sprawling, ambitious: Peter Hamilton’s Void Trilogy is an example par excellence of modern space opera. Hamilton posits the black hole at the center of our galaxy is home to a micro-universe. But it’s not just a abstraction—millions of believers avidly follow a Dreamer’s visions of life inside the void, and they’re convinced they’ve glimpsed paradise. The final volume in the series, The Evolutionary Void apparently picks up right where The Temporal Void left off.

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic) For dystopian young-adult book fans, there’s only one August release that counts: Mockingjay, the conclusion to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. Scholastic has kept a tight lid on any plot details, but here’s what we know: Tough-as-nails Katniss is still standing after two rounds of the games, and the Capitol wants her dead. They don’t care who they have to kill to get to her, either. She’s a threat, and no one around her is safe — not her family, friends, or even District 12.

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Parallel Universe: Extraordinary Heroines by Marcella Burnard

via Galaxy Express

Let’s start right off with my contrarian take on extraordinary characters: Make them ordinary. Make them vulnerable. Make them real. Then give the character a twist that makes you giggle like a maniac. Start there and then you can do just about anything.

In my first book, ENEMY WITHIN, Ari is a fencing master, a starship captain, a bit of a scientist and an all around wise-ass. She does stuff I think we can all agree no one person could possibly do with the physical limits of the human body and the temporal limits of a single life span. None of it makes her extraordinary. It’s fun. It helps move the plot, but the thing that makes Ari interesting and memorable is the kernel of truth at her core. She suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There’s a tiny scene where the hero walks into Ari’s cabin and she’s playing a sound file on her room speakers –the mating songs of amphibians from a world she’s visited. …Ari was interesting because she was an uber-capable woman whose emotional and mental lives had been utterly deconstructed and left in ruins.

Every one of us has strengths and weaknesses. Think through the heroes (male and female) of our world. Sometimes, we root for people based on that person’s strengths, but how much more intrigued are we by someone who has overcome weakness to achieve something? Remember the Olympic skater whose mother died the night before the woman was scheduled to skate? The skater wasn’t doing particularly well in the rankings, but that program she skated in her mother’s honor was a triumph that had the entire stadium on its feet for her. Why? Because every single human being watching could relate to the loss this woman had endured

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Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, and Monster Trucks: Natasha Rhodes’s Kayla Steele Saga Has It All…

by paulgoatallen at Barnes and Noble

Vampires, werewolves, avenging angels, a super sexy heroine, an apocalyptic storyline, nonstop action and adventure, monsters—and monster trucks!—Natasha Rhodes’s Kayla Steele saga (Dante’s Girl, The Last Angel, and the recently released Circus of Sins) has absolutely everything a paranormal fantasy reader might want… so why isn’t she a household name like Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, or Charlaine Harris?

That is precisely the question I was asking myself when I finished Natasha’s latest Kayla Steele novel, Circus of Sins. I know there is no such thing as the perfect read but this novel certainly came close. Heroine Kayla Steele is a character any reader can relate to—although she is a fledgling Hunter in an underground organization whose mission is to protect humankind from supernatural cabals, she is at heart a loner, an outsider, a searcher, seeking not only some kind of meaningful existential connection but also a place where she can be accepted for who she truly is. I love Kayla—and it’s not just because she has an aversion to wearing underwear—she’s courageous, vulnerable, smart, and has a terrific sense of humor, which I’ll talk more about later.

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I think some of the “dragons” on the list shouldn’t count. There aren’t technically dragons so much as pictures of dragons that the plot relies on. And had they been replaced with some other violent animal, it would have worked just as well. I think the list was trying to play into the popularity of The Girl with the Dragon tattoo a little too much. So they missed a few great dragons. And there are too many good books coming out! I need to be able to pause time so I can read them all!

Which dragons do you think should have been on the list? What new release are you looking forward to the most? What do you think makes a heroine likable?

Source: vanityfair

JOE MANGANIELLO PROMISES TO SEAL THE DEAL WITH SOOKIE

Joe Manganiello, who plays nice-guy werewolf Alcide Hervieux on True Blood, faced the daunting prospect of bringing to the screen a character already beloved by fans of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries novels.

Viewers haven’t yet seen much of the romance between Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse and Manganiello’s Alcide, which takes up much of the third book, Club Dead. But, as Manganiello tells us, more is on the way.

Mike Ryan: In the third book, Alcide and Sookie’s romantic relationship seems more advanced than it does in the series.

Joe Manganiello: Well, the way that it’s been depicted so far in the series is almost exactly in line with the way that the book is. Alcide is in all of the books from the third one on, so the relationship builds from there.

Read more here…

Source: ew

SAM TRAMMEL ON LENO

True Blood‘s Sam Trammell was the second guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday, following Betty White. After Leno showed a clip of Trammell’s shapeshifter Sam transforming from a dog into his naked human form, White cracked, “Oh, I wish I had a dog that could do that.”Trammell apologized to White that she had to see that. “Oh, I loved it,” she said.

Trammell then went on to describe the experience of having body makeup applied for those nude scenes. The makeup artist comes to his trailer for privacy, and he focuses on the surf videos he has playing to avoid thinking about the fact that a beautiful woman is rubbing his body. I’m calling it now: True Blood makeup artist — best job in Hollywood. Watch Trammell’s two-part interview (which also includes him recounting the comedy of having to kiss a good male friend in a play — well done, Tonight Show pre-interviewer).

Check out the video:

Read more here…

Source: tvovermind

TRUE BLOOD RATINGS HIT AN ALL TIME HIGH

The vampires on True Blood aren’t getting any warmer, but the ratings for HBO’s supernatural soap have boiled over.  True Blood hit a season high this weekend achieving 5.2 million warm blooded viewers.  Ironically, as Sookie clung to life in a coma, True Blood also went on to dominate the 18-49 year old demo for the night most coveted by advertisers – a hoot since HBO does not sell advertising during the program.

Various outlets have reported that it was Jersey Shore that actually won the most individual ‘sectors’, but the faux tanned ‘reality’ program was neck and neck with True Blood in total viewers, despite an availability advantage that arguably gives True Blood a win after handicapping.

Read more here…

Betty White is a trip! What a treat to have them both on. Did you get to see the show?

What did you think of today’s True Blood News?

Source: mtv

VAMPIRE DIARIES SCOOP

Yesterday, we gave you a delicious sneak peek into what’s going to happen when Damon (Ian Somerhalder) finds out it wasn’t Elena (Nina Dobrev) who he kissed in the season finale of “Vampire Diaries” (let’s just say it won’t be pretty!).

Of course, that was only the start (a pretty juicy one at that!) of our “VD” scoops straight out of Comic-Con 2010. After all, the finale left us with a lot of unanswered questions and high amongst them was whether or not Elena and Katherine would ever come face-to-face.

So, when we sat down with the cast, we made sure to ask … and lucky for us show writer Julie Plec gave us just the answer we were looking for.

Read more here…

Source: jsyk

WEREWOLVES COMING TO VAMPIRE DIARIES

It may be called The Vampire Diaries, but a new supernatural force is coming to town.

Last season, vampire haters trying to rid Mystic Falls of the undead used a device that caused so much pain, it made it impossible for any vampire to hide their identity. But Tyler Lockwood, Michael Trevino, showed the same reaction to the device, and he wasn’t a vampire. So what caused his unexplainable symptoms?

Read more here…

Source: animationmag

FUTURAMA MARATHON COMING ON LABOR DAY

If you missed any of the new, sixth season episodes of Futurama on Comedy Central this summer, don’t panic. The cabler will air a marathon of all the previously aired episodes, back to back, Saturday September 4 and Sunday September 5 from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Created by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening, Futurama first aired from 1999 until 2003 on FOX-TV. Comedy Central began airing the show again in January of 2008 and also premiered its direct-to-DVD movies. Thanks to the success of the toon in reruns and on DVD, Fox TV and Comedy Central began producing the show once again, and the new season of the series premiered on June 24, 2010.

Read more here…

With werewolves now being introduced into Vampire Diaries how will this effect the story lines?  Will the werewolves be friend or foe?

We know where Futurama fans will be Labor Day weekend! Thanks god for Tivo right? Are you a fan of the show?