Jacob (Lautner) vs Edward (Pattinson) : Shirtless Battle

Shirtless seems to be one of the most buzzed about words in the upcoming New Moon Movie.

Just a few months ago, we saw the whole New Moon werewolf pack showing off their gym-ed up bodies:



Now, all you drooling fans can see Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) shirtless too!

I won't let you wait further, here are the pictures. The original shirtless Edward / Robert Pattinson picture had dots on the body (for the sparkling effect I'm guessing), so I've edited out so you won't get distracted. Jacob shirtless screens come from the New Moon Movie teaser/trailer:











SO WHO WINS THE SHIRTLESS BATTLE? Please vote on my poll below!



And leave a comment to explain your vote! :)

Also, if you haven't voted on my poll about the trailer, please do so:

http://www.profoundstupidity.net/2009/06/new-moon-teaser-now-up.html

I'm pleased to note that Team werewolves and team vampires are neck and neck (no pun intended) in the vote count. The werewolves are just trailing by 6 votes. Go to the link now and profess your loyalty!

Also, surprisingly enough, based on the current poll, more people are drooling over Jacob Black than they are Edward Cullen!. Could Robert Pattinson be losing his limelight?

"Jacob Black is hot! This teaser showed Jacob Black. Therefore, I like this teaser a lot!" got 41 votes, while "Sorry I couldn't tell, was distracted by Edward's hot-ness" got only 26 votes. Anyway, too soon to tell now, let's see how the polls go after a few more votes ;)

Till next Twilight post!

New Moon Teaser now Up!

YES! THE NEW MOON TEASER IS FINALLY UP! Watch it!

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD


Then vote and comment:



Personally, I am EXCITED for the New Moon movie! It's amazing to think that Taylor Lautner is only 17 years old, because in that short amount of time he was shown in the trailer, he looked beyond his years. I think he's going to really kick a*s in this new movie.

Can't wait to see the Bella / Jacob dynamics as well. And I'm interested to see how they're gonna pull off showing those small Edward flashback / hallucination scenes every now and then.

Woot!

Taylor as Jacob Black in New Moon Movie : Some things to be Excited about!

I had a less than warm response to Taylor Lautner as he filled in the shoes of my favorite Twilight character, Jacob Black, during the first Twilight movie. The long hair didn't quite fit him as much as it would have fit Steven Strait (my first choice). Then there was his very young age and overly boyish looks that made me doubt if he could pull of the growth spurt and sudden maturity towards New Moon.

If you entertained the same thoughts as I did at any point, here are some reasons why I am now 100% confident Taylor Lautner can pull of Jacob Black in the New Moon movie, and why he should be one of the top reasons why you should be excited and stoked for the upcoming movie!

First, an image to show Jacob Black then (Twilight) and now (New Moon). The transition is amazing! And I realized that I was stupid enough to be so hasty in my judgment that Taylor could never be Jacob in my eyes, when he actually acted the correct way back in the first movie - a little boy with not a care in the world, and a seemingly small role to the development of the story - just as how Stephenie Meyer herself portrayed the soon to be werewolf in her first book.



You can see just how many emotions are swirling inside the very persona (the eyes, the stance, the everything!) of Taylor Lautner on the right - emotions, frustrations, anxieties, realizations that had not been there on the left (just a happy unsure kid). If you didn't know, by the way, the picture above is the official poster of New Moon, which is also miles better than the Twilight poster, in my opinion!

I believe one of the most defining changes (among a whole lot of them) is his short hair. The short do really works better for Taylor Lautner, and I'm glad that in the New Moon book, Jacob Black does cut off his hair already so he can finally show his better hairdo :) Here are 5 pictures of Taylor Lautner as the short-haired Jacob Black (how he will look like in the New Moon movie) that will tickle anyone's fancy:



Definitely, this is a good sign that the New Moon movie will be great!

If this is not enough, here are other signs that the New Moon movie is gonna be great!

Alex Meraz is one person to watch out for in the New Moon movie. The first time I saw him I was immediately entranced by the intensity of his gaze and the fierceness of his face, that I was positive he would pull off the role of the not so level-headed Paul! And then of course I don't believe I have to state the obvious - he is HOT!

With regards to the progress of New Moon movie, Stephenie Meyer said, and I quote, that "Chris Weitz is brilliant" and "Kristen, Rob, and Taylor are beyond words" so we should expect a lot of great things from this 2nd installment of Twilight.

Finally, if you want exclusive New Moon teaser and on-the-set photos and exclusive photos of New Moon set - Jacob's House, Garage, etc, click on the corresponding links.

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I'm sure you guys are now drooling and waiting anxiously for the movie to show. Here are the current New Moon movie schedules as posted in IMDB. Look for your country to see when the New Moon movie will play (finally!) in your area.

Nov 18: Belgium, France
Nov 19: Australia, New Zealand, Slovakia
Nov 20: USA, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Turkey
Nov 26: Argentina, Czech Republic
Nov 27: UK, Estonia
Dec 10: South Korea
Dec 18: Hong Kong
Dec 31: Greece

Can't wait till November 2009? A month and a few days before the actual showing of New Moon on the movie theaters, a movie companion will be released featuring eye candies behind the scenes of New Moon. It's going to sell at $18.99 a pop.

Let me quote stepheniemeyer.com:

"New Moon: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion — a follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestselling Twilight companion, this lavishly illustrated paperback will give readers an exclusive behind-the-scene guide to the making of the movie, including full-color photos of the cast, locations, and sets, and much more. (October 6, 2009; $18.99)"

Update: The New Moon Cast is Finished!

The new moon characters have been cast and sadly none of the people I was rooting for got in, particularly Gaspard Ulliel. They opted to cast the role of Demetri to an unknown actor, by the name of Charlie Bewley, who, objectively speaking, actually looks like he can pull off the character.

The role of Volturi leader Caius was given to Jamie Cambpell Bower, who is no stranger to the dark genre, having starred in Sweeney Todd last 2007. Additional Trivia: He is set to play as Gellert Grindelwald in the Deathly Hallows movie. I'm not 100% sold on him being Caius, I'm afraid he might not exude an aura intimidating and "regal" enough, but I'm not going to judge him before I see how he does this coming November.

Mind-reader Aro, on the other hand, was given to Michael Sheen, and I am thoroughly confident he will pull off the role as perfectly as he has done in Underworld.

You can click on the link above to view the actual image of the cast as well as the rest of the actors playing as the Volturi cast.

American Idol: The Drama! Grave mistake of having 2 judges per performance, etc

This week's American Idol Season 8 shows were chock full of drama and happenings that I felt compelled to write a blog post about it.

For starters, the director had this queer idea of having only 2 judges give their thoughts on each performance. The judges would alternate per performance - simon/paula first then kara/randy, and so on. It was in response to the huge problem AI has had for ages - not finishing on time.

For one thing, I'm actually quite shocked that at this point of the game, they still have this problem. There are less performances to judge on now, and the video cuts between the instructor (this week was Quentin Tarantino - a huge shocker for me! I didn't know he had a lot of knowledge in musical coaching!) and the AI contestant were not too long-winded.

I realized, however, that it may be in part due to the addition of the fourth judge, Ms. Artistry herself, Kara.

I think that having only two judges judge per peformance was a HUGE mistake, and cost points against a few of the contestants, most notably Kris Allen, whose performance was absolutely brilliant and soulful, but who sadly got a bad review from Randy. Simon had to comment the day after that he loved Kris' performance but the damage had been done - luckily, Kris didn't get into bottom 3 because of this costly mistake.

If the AI director really wanted to save on time, he should, personally use this strategy instead:

1. Have Simon judge BEFORE all the other judges
2. Have the other 3 judges talk ONLY IF their opinion is different from Simon's or they have something substantial to add on to it. By substantial, I do NOT mean:
- mentioning the word ARTISTRY
- mentioning the word DOG
- commenting about the song rather than the performer (see paragraph below)
3. Lessen Paula's stuttering - I don't know how they're gonna do this, but it's going to be a huge time saver, IMO

In other news, I was so utterly CONFUSED about Paula's comments on Lil Rounds - instead of judging her vocals and/or performance (which I believe Simon commented on perfectly), she just said that the song was a beautiful one composed by . Huh?!

And then when Lil Rounds started defending herself (as she always does - seriously, it's getting very old and annoying already), Paula commends her and says something like "don't ever hold back" - which is needless to say, because Lil Rounds NEVER holds back on comments. If there is anything she is consistent on, it is her final say on her performance.

Meanwhile, Matt Giraud threw a less than perfect performance (but in my opinion, still a good performance none the less), and got cold reviews from Kara and Randy. I don't know if Simon and Paula would have helped him had they been given the chance to speak but Simon did say on the next day, when he performed again to plead for a save, that he wasn't as good that day as he was the day prior, so I'm guessing Simon might have somewhat liked Matt's initial stint.

The crowd was shouting for a save, the judges were discussing it longer than usual, and finally, Matt is given the only save the judges can give (Tears are shed, and the results episode became one of the most dramatic ones I've watched by far), putting Matt up in the book of AI world records as the first person to ever be saved AND as the most times saved by the judges, as he was also saved back in Wild Card round.

Which simply means that Matt has HUGE potential (believe me, try to listen to some of his studio versions, and you'd find out just HOW GREAT HE IS!). I only wish that he could be more consistent and choose better songs because it will be a dang shame if he didn't sail through to at least the top 4.

Simon ends the results night with a buzz kill, telling the contestants not to be so happy about Matt's save because 2 people were gonna go home next week and next week was going to be.... DISCO NIGHT.

Off the bat, I think Anoop is going to have the most trouble during this night, as I recall his Michael Jackson performance. I'm hoping Lil Rounds will be eliminated already, because she's really not listening to the judges and stepping up to the plate. I'm a bit afraid of how Kris is going to pull off Disco Night as well. I certainly hope he'll do good. He's got great talent so he should be able to do this right.

Can't wait for next week!

The Werewolves Cast of New Moon Movie have been Confirmed!

JUICY NEW MOON MOVIE UPDATE! They have now rounded up the final pack of Quileute wolves to be starring in the New Moon Movie, the second installment of Twilight.

And here they are:

Chaske Spencer, Bronson Pelletier, Alex Meraz, Kiowa Gordon and Tyson Houseman are the wolves playing in the Twilight Saga (New Moon) movie.

They are all of native American descent (yey!) and we're in good hands because the person responsible for casting these wolves is Rene Haynes, who is known for her Native Projects (ex. Dances with Wolves). Houseman was just discovered at an open casting call.

Here are their pictures!



The site doesn't say exactly who plays whom, but I'm betting my Twilight bracelet that Alex Meraz will play the role of Paul, the bad-tempered wolf. He just has the look perfect for that character. And I believe Chaske is the only one who can play the alpha wolf Sam Uley. Bronson and Kiowa can probably interchange roles. I'm honestly still unsure what role Tyson Houseman will get, I don't think he can be Quil because Quil is supposed super buff. Could he be Seth Clearwater perhaps?

I've also read rumors that Tinsel Korey will be playing Emily Young, Sam Uley's fiancee, but this is not confirmed in Stephenie Meyer's official site. This is her picture:



They've kept to their original news that Leah Clearwater won't be showing her face on the second movie. Does this mean that Vanessa Hudgens still has a chance? Possibly not, since she is not of full Native American descent (father is Irish+Native American / mother is Filipino+Spanish+Chinese). Anyway, we shall see after New Moon Movie is played and they start planning for Eclipse.

So, what are your thoughts on the New moon movie werewolf cast? :)

CONFIRMED! Dakota Fanning is now Volturi's Jane!

It's now confirmed! Dakota Fanning has earned the role as New Moon's Jane, the small vampire who creates illusions of pain. The rest of the Volturi has yet to be confirmed, but please try checking out my dream Volturi cast here.

Can't wait for November 2009 when the New Moon movie gets released!

Some New Moon Movie Treats and Updates (Bronston Pelletier)

We've got one confirmed cast for the Quileutes! It's Bronson Pelletier, a Plain Cree native originally from Askinootow First Nation. He's a pretty unknown actor, IMDB lists only two previous stints from him aside from Twilight - Renegadepress.com and Dinosapien. Here's a picture:





Here's another fan-made New Moon Trailer to whet your appetite. I must say I was also deeply impressed with this one:



Although I must give the maker of this video a few minus points for the misleading "New Moon Official Trailer 2009" title that was put up on Youtube. ;)

Finally, there are a lot of rumors stirring about Ashley Green (Alice Cullen) and Jackson Rathbone dating! Jackson (Jasper Hale) undeniably has a crush on her, which he himself stated here:



See this, too:


How true this Jackson - Alice relationship is I don't know. But they do make for a good offscreen, onscreen couple don't they?

http://www.whosdatedwho.com/celebrities/couples/profile/jackson-rathbone-and-ashley-greene.htm

However, and this is a big "however", I've also seen in another website that Ashley Greene is actually dating 90210 Ryan Eggold, so I'm quite confused myself. :P

Be part of the New Moon Movie Cast! + Dakota as Jane

Think you got what it takes to be one of the Quileutes? Or to be one of the vampires! Check out this link to learn more!

http://castingscoop.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-promised-you-new-moon-update-here-it.html

The link has confirmed that there will be casting auditions in LA and Vancouver.

If you want to be the next Leah Clearwater, or any of the other Quileutes, make sure you're of Native American descent. Be sure you study the role you wish to play to the letter. More tips are found in the link above. Good luck everyone!

***** EDIT MARCH 9, 2009: Dakota Fanning as Jane has been CONFIRMED! *****

As for other new moon movie updates, there seem to be nothing new that is substantial or confirmed yet, but I will be keeping you updated. I do have this inkling though that Dakota Fanning is this close to getting the Jane role, because of these two youtube videos:

1) her interview


2) she was spotted with Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz at her "Push" premier.


***** EDIT MARCH 9, 2009: Dakota Fanning as Jane has been CONFIRMED! *****

According to the IMDB site, the New Moon Movie will be released by November 20, 2009.

Please click here for my Volturi Dream Cast for New Moon.

And here if you haven't read Midnight Sun Twilight Book 5 yet.

Volturi Cast for New Moon Movie (My Dream Cast)

Below is my own dream cast for New Moon's Volturi, the head of the whole vampire clan. The Volturi is undeniably a crucial part of the Twilight series - at least the action/suspense aspect of the series. As such, I believe the success of the upcoming Twilight movies will hinge on how well the Volturi will act.

My dream cast is based on a lot of rumors and news snippets revolving around who will play who, as well as my own ideas on who should be considered.

I'm very hopeful that Chris Weitz will do a good job of casting. I was impressed with the execution of Golden Compass so I think he won't have any problems with making New Moon a dramatic and suspenseful watch.

Without further ado, here's my fan-made poster for the New Moon Movie. Please note that it's fan-made so there is no truth whatsoever to it. Enjoy!



I'm not quite sure who should play who yet, except for Dakota Fanning playing as Jane. If Gaspard Ulliel were to play as Alec, then Tom Felton is out of the picture. I don't think Tom can take on any of the other Volturi roles. I do think though that Gaspard Ulliel has the potential to play a role bigger than Alec. Whether he could be one of the Volturi leaders (Aro, Caius, Marcus) remains to be seen. I'm wondering if his age will be a hindrance to him being chosen as one of the leaders. I think he can also be a good fit for the role of Demetri as Demetri is described as being tall and lean, but again, I think it is a waste of Gaspard's talent and presence to cast him with such a small role. Stephen McHattie and Alan Rickman, should they be chosen, should, of course, be part of the group of Volturi leaders as well. I read in one site that Ben Barnes is being considered as Aro. Also a possible fit, though I'd choose Gaspard over him.

Thoughts?