As the anticipation builds for the unveiling of the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 DVD, exclusive sneak peeks at the behind the scenes extras has been leaking out all over the internet. Since focus has been on Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) and their epically eternal love, its about time the wolf pack got their share of the lime light!

In this exclusive clip from Insidemovies.ew.com, we get a preview of the Twilight wolf pack in a featurette highlighting the battle with the Cullens. Among the extras in the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 DVD is a six-part documentary that chronicles every detail of the movie, including the disgustingly detailed work that went in to creating the climatic battle between the wolves and the Cullens. The choreography, special effects and stunts were all carefully thought out in order to make the scene look as realistic as possible for Twilight fans. Crew in the featurette talk about how the fight scene brings the wolves to the foreground of the story, “It’s really the first time that the wolves play a major part in a battle. You got the Cullens and you got the wolves, and I won’t say good guys and bad guys cause they’re both sorta good guys fighting each other so it’s a major story point. So the wolves characters just aren’t background animals.”

Others comment on the planning out of the battle, describing the scene as chaotic, and using chess pieces to lay out where wolves would be in relation to the vampires at any given moment. Director of Photography Guillermo Navarro says, “The secret to the visual effects is that things have to be well thought out. The visual effect has to belong naturally, and completely behave and belong in the frame as if it was there. In order to get that you have to know exactly what’s going to happen and what interactivity is going to take place. You cannot just wing it and fix that later.”

The best part by far is near the end of the clip where Jackson Rathbone (Jasper) talks about trying not to laugh while fending off ferocious beanbags standing in as wolves, “Hey it’s a bean bag – no it’s a scary wolf!” he says while trying to remain serious about the filming.

I am about to sacrifice myself to all the zealous Twihards out there as I`m sure they will come down on me with the wrath of Edward or Jacob – depending on who you like best – but I know its all for the greater good, so here goes. The best part about the Twilight Saga in its entirety has been the behind the scene look at the filming process, and of course the bloopers. You may now unleash the Twilight Madness in the comment section below. But of course, don’t forget, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray February 11^th just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Once upon a time, William Wallace went to pick a fight in the epic, Braveheart. Now an unlikely actress is caught channeling that warrior spirit. She’s Kristen Stewart and we have a brand new shot of her in action on the set of upcoming fantasy blockbuster, Snow White and the Hunstman. Don’t you just want to roar a battle cry!? I sure do.

The chaos of medieval costumes, flashing swords, heavy horses, colorful shields, and even the heat of fire, color this new photo which comes direct from the film’s official Facebook page. There at the photo’s center is K-Stew. She was looking much more posh in a recent photo shoot for Italian Vogue which we covered right here this week. Talk about versatility. The actress really does looks pretty right at home in the combat scene. Don’t you agree?

Snow White and the Hunstman doesn’t just remind this cinemaphile of Braveheart. It also brings to mind the recent Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland flick, as well as Lord of the Rings. Huntsman debuts June 1st. Snow White will fight to protect her land. The Hunstman will struggle to keep her alive and to train her. The wicked witch will try to remain fairest of them all. And the prince will have designs of his own. We’ve yet to hear much about the dwarves, but at least we know who will act them.

They are: Ian McShane, Johnny Harris, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Brian Gleeson, Ray Winstone, and Nick Frost.

Season 2 of Game of Thrones is not due to premiere until April, but two whole months seem like an awful long time for avid fans to wait. To ease the anticipation, or perhaps to heighten it, HBO has decided to release what amounts to a teaser to those of us awaiting the programs return.

Collider has kindly provided the audience with a collection of seventeen different photos from Game of Thrones season 2, which can also be seen below.  The site also provides a synopsis of season 2 which is as follows; Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plots, lust and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men…all will play the ‘Game of Thrones.’ Pretty exciting right? Although the synopsis doesn’t lend much to what will be happening in season 2 and the stills do little to quash the burning questions fans have for the next chapter in the series. While most of the bits of information out there lead you to believe that all out war will be hitting every land in this fictional world of Westeros, there is still more to look forward too.

With an already large cast, Game of Thrones Season 2 will be adding approxiately sixteen new faces although some of those will be in guest or recurring appearances. Among the new faces are Stephen Dillane (Perfect Sense), Nonso Anozie (RocknRolla), Jeyne Westerling, who amazingly enough is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter and had a bit role as a receptionist in Quantum of Solace. Another of the new cast members is Natalie Dormer whom everyone has most certainly seen in the Showtime series The Tudors playing the role of King Henry the IIIV`s second wife, Anne Boleyn. Although there are too many to mention, the additional cast will surely make an already fantastic show even more impressive.

As quickly as these characters are born, they will likely also perish. It would be wise not to become too attached to any particular person in this series as any die hard fan would surely know. The lesson was learned when Eddard Stark, who gave the impression of “main character” lost his head near the end of season 1. And, after the initial shock of Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) being pushed out of a castle window by Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) wears off, you learn quickly that anything can happen.

Well will all have to bide our time until Game of Thrones season 2 debuts on April 1^st. Until then we will have to rely on the newly released photos and teaser trailers to give us our Game of Thrones fix.

It’s been a long eight years filled with Vicodin, tape worms, seizures and it not being lupus, but the time has come for the world to say goodbye to Hugh Laurie and the brilliantly cantankerous character he breathed life into on Fox’s House. We’ve been aware the current eighth season could be the show’s last, but everyone involved, including creator David Shore, seemed split on whether they actually wanted things to end. Certainly fans have been divided, with some saying it was time to end the series while others claimed there were still many years left of stories to tell.

Judging by the statement from Laurie, Shore and executive producer Katie Jacob, which you can read at TVLine, they were in the group who felt the show could continue past this season. It was that belief that led to the creative decision to end the series before it ran out of steam completely. This is ultimately a bold decision to end a show that didn’t necessarily need to end. Now Shore and his writers can craft a proper ending to cap off the show’s eight season run. The only lingering question is if we’ll be seeing departed series regulars Lisa Edelstein and Olivia Wilde return for that finale episode.

How are fans of the series reacting to this news? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Personally, I stopped watching House during Season 6 and have felt no need to catch up. I’ve kept tabs on the stories that have been told since, so I might have to tune in for the series finale to see how it all shakes out.

If you mix one part True Blood Queen, one part Game of Thrones dwarf, and three parts Justin Long, amazingly, you get a new independent film. It’s called A Case of You, and you may actually enjoy getting infected.

Evan Rachel Wood, Vampire Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq of a certain spicy HBO series, and Peter Dinklage, who acts as Tyrion Lannister of Game of Thrones, will team up as cast members for A Case of You. Dinklage has also starred in Death at a Funeral, my favorite comedy of all time, TWICE, while Wood appears in The Conspirator, The Ides of March, and Mildred Pierce.

Why do the ingredients call for three parts Justin Long? Well, the He’s just Not That Into You actor is writing and producing the picture. He’ll also act in the lead role. His little brother, Christian, and friend Keir O’Donnell, have been helping with the script. Kat Coiro will direct with O’Donnell and Busy Phillips also co-starring.

The story unfolds when Long’s character, a young writer, lies on an online dating site, but has to keep up the falsities when the lady he targets actually likes him. Cheaters never prosper, but maybe our hero will be able to untangle the mess.

Glee’s own Lea Michele is in talks with director McG to reprise her role as Wendla Bergmann in the film adaptation of the Broadway Musical Spring Awakening. Michele, who originated the role in 2006 at the age of twenty was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in the play in the Outstanding Actress in a Musical category. Word on the street is that fans (of the musical as well as Glee) would love to see Michele return as Wendla in a feature-film.

Eonline.com reports that while they`re still in talks with Michele, McG has high hopes for her return, “I love Lea; we’ve talked about it,” McG said. “When I first got turned onto the show she was in it so it’s her voice that echoes in my heart. I really think she’s wonderful and we’ll see where it takes us.” Michele continues to work on Glee in the meantime, and McG hopes scheduling for the film will work around shooting dates for Glee.

The Broadway musical Spring Awakening is an adaptation itself. Originally a dramatic play written by German born Frank Wendekind in 1891, the musical version incorporates the popular music trend for young adults – alternative rock. Featuring music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater, Spring Awakening was able to reach individuals who knew nothing about theatre, as well as those well versed in the culture. “It actually harkens back to old-school Broadway, the 1930′s, 40′s and 50′s where the Broadway sound was the contemporary sound at the time.” The musical was nominated for eleven Tony Awards in 2007, winning eight of them in categories such as; Best Musical, Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Book (Steven Sater), Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), and Best Featured Actor (John Gallagher Jr.).

When developing the musical, creators stayed relatively close to the first play which is chalk full of controversial content. Most of the pivotal moments in the musical where taken directly from the the original writings. Wendekind`s play was banned for some time in Germany due to its frank portrayal of suicide, abortion, homosexuality and child abuse. The play criticizes the sexually-oppressive culture which was prevalent in turn of the century Germany. It gives a graphic dramatization of the fantasies Wendekind felt developed from that kind of cultural oppression.

Spring Awakening follows the story of young teenagers who just are beginning to hit puberty. The play takes you on a journey of sexual ignorance and discovery, pressures to succeed in school, the paths teens take to suicide, and the cause and effect of unplanned pregnancies. The entire play being told from the Teenagers point of view. The plot is a complex and diverse account of children transitioning to adulthood.

With its initial shock to Broadway audiences and critics, and cleaning up at the Tony’s, Spring Awakening will make for a gripping feature-film. Hopefully Lea Michele will be able to give the fans what they want and star as Wendla when Spring Awakening goes in to production.

Fans of actor Billy Connolly ought to dawn some kilts and really celebrate. The Scotsman, Braveheart, Boondock Saint, Brave voice actor, Last Samurai actor, and lover of Mrs. Brown, has just been added to the cast of The Hobbit and in what we hear is a very key role!

For the two-part adaptation of of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic, Connolly will play Dain Ironfoot, a character who THR quoted Jackson as calling, “the staunchest and toughest of Dwarves.” There will be battle scenes! That’s enough to make Lord of the Rings fans, and fans of the actor, get together and smile.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, visits theaters beginning on December 14th from Warner Bros./New Line and MGM. Part two, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, follows on December 13th, 2013. The cast includes Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman as young Bilbo Baggins, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom and Andy Serkis.

Here’s a bit of trivia. Dain Ironfoot is the cousin of Thorin Oakenshield.

As for Jackson, the Kiwi director was also the primary producer for The Adventures of Tintin, directed by Steven Spielberg, and also starring Andy Serkis. He’s been promoting West of Mephis, the documentary directed by Amy Berg, pretty heavily on his official Facebook page.

One of the best opportunities you can get is the chance to hear how an actor or actress views his or her character; how the perceive their on screen actions. We generally only get to see what’s on the surface, while the actor has to think about a character’s motivations and thoughts. Nina Dobrev, the star of the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, took the time to speak of her character, Elena, giving us a much-needed look into her current state of mind.

As we can see in the latest episode of Vampire Diaries, Elena attended an elegant ball put on by the Original family. Dobrev told EW.com (watch the video) Elena felt very uncomfortable in that situation, given that brothers Damon and Stefan, both of whom Elena has serious feelings for, also attended the ball. Having to dance with both of them has swept up some serious guilt inside Elena because she’s basically torn between the two. To top it off, her romantic entanglings are the least of her concerns as the three of them have to unit against a common foe.

Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf) and Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) were also asked of where their characters were headed. Posey explained his character, Scott, has matured and come to accept his new life as a werewolf and stands against the new Alpha, Derek, who is looking to create a new pack. Panjabi explores the relationship between her character, Kalinda, and Cary. The two of them have great chemistry together despite usually being at odds in court and find themselves being pushed closer together.

Move over regular moms, because CSI has just cast a former freaking Charlie’s Angel to play somebody’s mother. It doesn’t matter whom the child is, that person officially has a hot mom and everybody on the show now has the right to point it out. In fact, I will be sorely disappointed if nobody makes a MILF joke somewhere in the episode. It can be subtle; I just want it in there. Now, who is playing the mother and who is she the mother to? Let’s find out!

According to TV Guide, Jaclyn Smith, the longest running of all the Charlie’s Angels, has been cast to portray the mother to Wallace Langham’s David Hodges. This is just perfect, folks. The man with the habit of giving up way too much information than was asked of him will have his mother stop by for a surprise visit hopefully to reveal more information about his childhood than he would like revealed. Smith’s character will have the chance to meet all Hodges’ co-workers and you can bet it will be end in some form of hilarity. I’m predicting Hodges will feel a marginal amount of embarrassment by the episode’s end.

Unfortunately, no airdate for Smith’s episode was announced just yet. Aside from her time on Charlie’s Angels, Smith is known for her significant work on TV movies and mini-series, as well as appearing Season 3 and 4 of CBS’s The District. I think it’s kind of cool she doesn’t do a lot of regular series work.

“Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie” is the excruciatingly long name for tonight’s (Friday, Feb. 10) clown filled, shriek-inducing episode of Supernatural. I kid you not, if you do not like clowns then refrain from looking too closely at the promo images that are below. They are filled with the creepiest clowns that not even the oiliest, shirtless Sam could make less frightening. Of course if you have zero fear towards these make-up covered buffoons then by all means pull up the images and enjoy the sneak peek.

If you’ve been following the series as long as I have, you’ll remember the one thing Sam Winchester is afraid of is a gosh darn clown. Throw a machete-wielding vampire at him and he won’t break a sweat. Put him a room with a clown and it’s like he’s six again. And now, while investigating a Chuck E. Cheese-like pizza chain, Sam comes across more evil clowns then should be acceptable. And they have green hair. That’s not a good sign.

But don’t worry. There are more than just evil clowns roaming the streets. Apparently the town the Winchesters are visiting is causing everyone’s childhood fears to come to life. So what about Dean’s greatest fear as a kid? Why that would losing his dear brother, Sam. As you can see from the images, they are not together when Sam meets the clowns. So could Sam’s life be in danger? And just why is Dean chasing that weirdo in the fuzzy, yellow suit? Tune in to Supernatural to find out!

If your heart beats red and blue, with a Kryptonian “S” someplace in the middle, and ten seasons of Smallville on the CW network just weren’t enough, then get ready, because another season is soaring faster than a speeding bullet, right at you! Well. Kind of. Let’s just say you’ll have to read season 11, rather than sit around and watch it.

TV Guide blasted the terrific news for Smallville fans. Hunky actor Tom Welling was accustomed to drawing inspirations to play Clark Kent from the comics. Now his likeness will appear in a comic book. What an honor!

Chloe Sullivan did promise Clark in season 10 that there would “always be more adventures for another day.” She was right. On April 13th, DC Comics will deliver Smallville Season 11 in digital format and later on in print.

The story will begin for eager readers six months after the defeated of Darkseid. “It’s Clark’s first year as Superman,” says writer Bryan Q. Miller, who also worked as a writer on the TV series. Things will seem pretty sweet for Clark, who continues to work at the Daily Planet and save the world in his spare time. That is, until Lex Luthor makes his comic book come back! Worst of all is, Lex finally knows Clark’s secret. The comic will consist of at least 12 chapters.

Casting for pilot episodes is beginning to heat up as Networks scramble to add hot new shows to their fall line up. The CW is one step ahead of the curve as they cast Jessica Lucas as the lead in the pilot for the drama series Cult. The premise for the show is not a far departure from its regular programming which focuses on young adult dramas.

Deadline reports that the project is the brain child of writer Rockne S. O’Bannon who was also the creator of the Australian-American science fiction series Farscape. O’Bannon, in conjunction with Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage will be working with Warner Bros. TV developing the new project.

SUPERNATURAL’s Alona Tal Joins CULT

Cult is centred around Skye, played by Lucas. Skye is an inquisitive young production assistant who works on a popular television show which is also named “Cult” – it’s a show within a show. After a rash of disappearances and possible murders, Skye teams up with a journalist blogger in order to investigate fans of the show who Skye suspects might be recreating the crimes they’ve seen on the program in real life – not our real-life, but TV real-life. Someone is following the show a little to closely and its up to Skye with the help of the blogger to bring the criminal to justice.

Lucas is returning to the CW in the Cult series after making appearances in the 90210 remake as well as the disappointing Melrose Place reboot. Lucas is likely known mostly for her film credits which include Cloverfield and The Covenant.

Born and raised in Vancouver Canada (yay for Canadian actresses!), Lucas has been acting since she was seven years old. Receiving professional training with Children’s Theatre Arts, Lucas earned theatre credits in local productions such as Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Grease, and Cinderella. Her rise in Hollywood has not been an overly smooth one. In 2001 Lucas was cast as Bekka Lawrence on the Canadian teen drama Edgemont. The series ran for five seasons on CBC Television and dealt with normal teenage drama as well as some of the bigger issues such as racism and discrimination. After Edgemont, Lucas was cast in several short-lived or non-existant television programs such as 2030 CE, Life As We Know It and Secrets of a Small Town.

Despite the rocky start, Lucas has built up her resume with guest appearances in popular shows such as The L-Word and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In 2011 Lucas was cast as Haley in the feature-film Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, where she was able to showcase her singing and acting skills.  Cast as the female lead in Cult will serve as the next step in her acting career. Cult is due to begin shooting in the spring of 2012.

The release of the new teaser trailer for The Bourne Legacy is giving fans of the the original trilogy something to talk about. With the absence of the primary Bourne star Matt Damon, an obstacle some fans may not be able to get passed, the fourth instalment of the spy series is neither a direct continuation of the storyline from previous movies, nor is it a reboot of the franchise.

Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker and 28 Week Later) will take the place of Damon, not as Jason Bourne, but as new programmed assassin turned rogue, Aaron Cross. In the same fashion as Jason Bourne, Aaron Cross is inducted into the governments mysterious espionage program and turned into a highly-lethal human weapon. Also in the same vein of his predecessor, Aaron turns his back on the program he works for leaving agents like Pam Landy (Joan Allen) and Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) to track him down by any means necessary. The trailer, which can be seen below, teases audience with the statement, “Jason Bourne was the tip of the iceberg,” indicating that this new breed of super-spy may be even better than the original. Instead of Treadson, this spy is an Outcome agent, “he’s Treadstone without the inconsistency.” He’s so good, Jason Bourne didn’t even know he existed.

Bourne Legacy With Familiar Faces?

Renner is Hollywood’s latest go-to action star and the perfect replacement for Damon in the Bourne Franchise. His subdued acting style and expressive eyes really nails the “less is more” technique. Renner aside, the trailer makes the film look fantastic. The mix of quick cuts, epic fight scenes and shadowy government agents takes the best elements from the first three Bourne movies and continues them on through the fourth one. On a side note, those of you who did not like the shaky came style used in the second and third films (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) don’t have to worry about that in this film. Screenwriter Tony Gilroy has opted to return to steadier camera work which was used in the first Bourne movie, The Bourne Identity. The audience will be able to see what Renner is doing during the action sequences, which will be most appreciated!

The Bourne Legacy boasts a star-studded cast, not only with previous actors returning to reprise their roles, but with the addition of new actors such as the multi-talented Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz (The Mummy), as well as Oscar Isaac (Drive) and acting veteran, Stacy Keach.

Based on the books penned by Robert Ludlum, the series was a surprise hit for both men and women alike. This will not be just another vapid sequel created simply to make a quick buck, but rather one that lives up to the Bourne name. The new agent will likely give everyone just as much to talk about as the original did.

Look for The Bourne Legacy in theatres this August!

There isn’t any word yet on the official release date for one of Nickelodeon’s most anticipated series, Avatar: The Legend of Korra. With the lack of communication from Nickelodeon, it’s no wonder why hardcore fans are not happy.

Following the official Nickelodeon Twitter account @NickelodeonTV,  we can get a glimpse of how fans are clamouring for answers, with tweets such as; “Admit it…something is wrong with Korra. How could that random new show have a date, but Korra doesn’t yet…THROW US A BONE” and “Any chance you know more specifics on Korra’s release? Fall 2012?” Its pretty clear that fans are anxiously awaiting the next series of Avatar. By the way, the random new show is called Monsuno and is slated to premier on Nicktoons February 23^rd.

Nickelodeon is staying tight lipped about The Legend of Korra, responding with “Korra has a pretty elaborate plan in place. Can’t give out any info before the appropriate times, sorry.” and “The official date hasn’t been announced yet, all I can say is 2012 :X” Keeping fans on their toes seems to be the name of the game. So Nickelodeon is maintaining it’s silence as strong as Ba Sing Se.

The show which was originally set to premier in October 2011 was pushed back in order for an additional 14 episodes to be made; making fans even more restless. This has been ongoing since the teaser trailer for the animation The Legend of Korra was released online back in July. Even though some footage may have been leaked, fans got their hands on it and went completely nuts for more!

Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Legend of Korra – Metalbending Cops!

After the live action movie adaptation of beloved Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, failed to live up to many fans and box office expectations, it comes as no surprise that no sequel was announced. The new animated show will start with the new Avatar; Korra, taking place 70 years after the Aang storyline in a world where bending and technology have advanced. Korra will have already mastered Water, Earth and Fire bending leaving only Air bending to learn. In her quest to master Air bending, Korra moves to Republic City from the Southern Water Tribe, and begins her training with Tenzin, the son of Aang and Katara. Realizing that Republic City is crime filled, with a growing anti-bending revolution, Korra trains with Tenzin as well as dealing with the dangers at large. As the next chapter in Avatar is about to begin, Korra helps break the mold as a strong female lead in an action show.

We won’t know more until an official press release is issued for when we can expect the show to air. If this is their marketing strategy to keep us in suspense, then it’s working!

While in Metro World New’s Paris office Karl Lagerfeld, an outspoken designer gave his views on some of the top stories of the day. Amongst the topics Lagerfeld gave his opinion on were; the Queen’s jubilee, Women in Russia and M.I.A and her use of the middle finger. The topic that caused the most commotion however was Lana Del Rey and Adele.

According to Metro.us, when Lagerfeld was questioned about Del Rey he had this to say, “I prefer Adele and Florence Welch. But as a modern singer she is not bad. The thing at the moment is Adele. She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice. Lana Del Rey is not bad at all. She looks very much like a modern-time singer. In her photos she is beautiful. Is she a construct with all her implants? She’s not alone with implants.” This reponse caused a media frenzy. Calling Adele “a little too fat” made headlines worldwide.

Lagerfeld has since responded to the controversial statement by adding, “I’d like to say to Adele that I am your biggest admirer,” and insisting that the fat comment was taken out of context from how it was originally published. “I actually prefer Adele, she is my favorite singer and I am a great admirer of her. I lost over 30 kilos over 10 years ago and have kept it off. I know how it feels when the press is mean to you in regards to your appearance.”

While the media eats up stories such as this, the idea of what is thin and what is too fat has been heavily influenced by ads, magazines and Hollywood. Film and television stars are becoming younger, taller and thinner which greatly influences the average woman. The onslaught of messages about weight, diet and beauty tells ordinary women they are constantly in need of improvement. Even established movie stars can not escape the pressure to be thin. Stars like Jessica Simpson, Brittany Spears and Christina Aguilera have been badgered by magazines and the media for gaining ten pounds.

The image of the female body is everywhere and is used to sell everything from cars to soap, and the ever present images of painfully thin women has become the standard of beauty. Women learn to compare themselves and compete with these images as well as other women, judging themselves by the beauty industry’s standards.

Adele has been outspoken in defending her weight against mindless critics who focus on her body rather than her music. When it comes to body image she says, “I’ve seen people where it rules their lives, who want to be thinner or have bigger boobs, and how it wears them down, and I don’t want that in my life.” The singer is not without her insecurities but she opts not to spend time with those who point it out to her, adding that her life is full of drama and she doesn’t have time to worry about something as petty as what she looks like.

Child actor turned Hollywood A-Lister, Joseph Gordon-Levitt will make his directorial debut on a yet untitled feature-film comedy. Not only is Gordon-Levitt directing, he wrote the script and will also be starring in the comedy alongside Scarlett Johansson.

Gordon-Levitt has not given too many details regarding the film other than a brief description of it. The film is described as a sexy comedy about a modern-day Don Juan who is on a quest to become less of a “selfish dick.” Gordon-Levitt will be playing the role of the modern day Don Juan reports Deadline.com. Johansson will be playing one of the female leads in the movie, however there is a second female lead which has not been filled as of yet.

After enjoying success as a child actor, Gordon-Levitt, mostly known for the television series 3rd Rock From the Sun, decided to take a breaking after 3^rd Rock wrapped, citing burn-out as the reason. During his acting hiatus Gordon-Levitt attended Columbia University where he got a taste for directing. “I was a child actor for years and quit at 19, went to school awhile, and a big part of why I came back was that I ultimately wanted to make movies,” Gordon-Levitt said. “I spent a year working with Chris Nolan, Rian Johnson, Steven Spielberg, and I did my best to pay attention. I’ve also been making short films for a long time now, I’ve directed a ton of them, and that is a huge part of why I feel comfortable and confident in this.” Short films such as Sparks, and Destiny`s Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo were played in the festival circuit. The move to the directors chair comes after strong performances in films including The Lookout, Inception and 50/50.

Scarlett Johansson Sings with The Hulk

Despite writing several other scripts, Gordon-Levitt feels this is the first one that has come together, “This is the first time I finished a feature film I thought was good enough to make into a movie,” he said. “I’ve written others, including one mammothy huge sprawling thing that encompasses my entire point of view of everything since I was 20 years old.” Those efforts are in a drawer somewhere.” Gordon-Levitt also commented on the Don Juan role, stating that “people wouldn’t necessarily thought of me for,” but he is ready for the challenge of directing and starring in a film.

The untitled comedy will be financed by Nicolas Chartier’s Voltage Pictures, and produced by Ram Bergman Productions in association with Gordon-Levitt’s hitRecord Films. Now that financing for the film has been locked in, along with a hot co-star, Gordon-Levitt’s only dilemma these days is whether he will be able to keep his role in Quentin Tarantino’s slave-era drama Django Unchained. “It will be tricky schedule-wise, but I was honest with Quentin upfront,” Gordon-Levitt said. “He was so cool and encouraging. He said, ‘You strike me as the kind of guy who would want to direct,’ and I took that as high praise.”

Shooting for Gordon-Levitt’s film will start April 16^th.

I have some great news for all of you Supernatural fans out there. One of your favorite recurring cast members has signed up to be in one of the CW’s many upcoming pilots, the drama thriller Cult. Many of us know her as Jo Harvelle, the spunky young hunter who died too young in order to save the world from the approaching apocalypse, but her real name is Alona Tal. One of her best features is her face. It’s cute and innocent, and she knows how to use to her looks to her advantage before putting a knife to your throat. Tal can play a nice girl, but she’s just as good at being a bad ass.

She might have a chance to show off her tough side since she’ll be playing a cop on Cult. Well, she’s sort of playing a cop. According to Deadline, her actual role is an actress who is portraying an LAPD detective in a popular television series called Cult. That’s right folks, there’s a show within the show. The best part about this Cult show is the rabid fanbase. The series, brought to us by Warner Bros. TV and Fake Empire, focuses on Skye (Jessica Lucas), a production assistant on Cult who teams up with a journalist blogger to investigate a series of disappearances and a possible murder. It becomes clear the show’s crazy fans are re-creating the crimes they see on Cult.

GOSSIP GIRL Duo Forming a CULT?

This is a great example of some of the out-of-the-box pilots we’re getting this year. Usually only three or four pilots catch my interest, but there has been a string of really intriguing concepts all of a sudden. Cult is one such intriguing concept.

We reported earlier this week that ABC had found the lead for it’s new drama pilot, Last Resort, in Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher, and now it seems a second major character has been cast, this time with someone from the land down under. Australian actress Daisy Betts is the second cast member to be announced for the pilot, brought to us by executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield). Ryan will be sharing writing duties with Dead Like Me’s Karl Gajdusek.

As reported by TVLine, Betts will be playing a “gutsy lieutenant” taking orders from Braugher’s submarine captain, Marcus Chaplin. The two of them are crew members of a U.S. nuclear submarine. The entire crew becomes fugitives after refusing orders to launch their missiles. They take refuge on an island and declare themselves an independent nation, but with nukes. In my previous post about his pilot I expressed my severe interest in the potential this could have if picked up to series. As each piece falls into place, I become more invested in something I haven’t even seen yet. This is definitely one project to keep an eye (or two) firmly fixed on.

On top of her casting in Last Resort, Betts’ recent work includes an arc on Harry’s Law and the 2008 movie Shutter. If you haven’t heard of Betts before, don’t be ashamed. Being from Australia, most of her work just hasn’t been seen by American audiences. Now that she has this role locked down, hopefully we’ll be seeing more of her.

Jason Statham is well practiced at bringing the heat when it comes to action films. That could be why filmmakers have chosen him to redeliver a classic. The film is called Heat. It’s a remake. And Statham is ready to make it happen.

Don’t let the film’s name confuse you. This isn’t a remake of my favorite Michael Mann picture, the one that pitted De Niro against Pacino for the first time. No, we’re talking about the William Goldman directed 1986 crime-drama which starred Burt Reynolds. In fact, Statham will be taking what was once the Reynolds role. Goldman wrote the book on which his film was based and he’s an Oscar winner, too.

Statham will play a fellow called Mex. He’s muscle/ a capable bodyguard for hire in Las Vegas and a recovering gambler, but a good friend of his gets roughed up by a low level mafioso. When Mex intervenes he inadvertently open up a whole can of worms. He may lose his gig, his contacts, not to mention his life.

Brian De Palma will direct. His credits include Scarface, Carlito’s Way, Snake Eyes, and The Black Dahlia. Work will begin in France in late 2012 or early 2013. I wonder what Burt Reynolds thinks about all of this.

Statham is always busy. He appeared in another remake, The Mechanic. He lent his voice to Gnomeo & Juliet. Blitz is on instant download via Netflix. He appeared in Killer Elite and Safe and Parker should come out later this year. He also returns with The Expendables 2.

Even Academy Award winning actresses need maternity leave. After winning the gold for her role in Black Swan, actress Natalie Portman took some time off to have her first child. She’ll be back in action very soon and we have the report that two new roles are in her future.

Deadline announced Knight Of The Cups and Lawless with both feature performances from Portman.

Knight of the Cups will kick off filming this summer with a wonderful cast. Joining Portman are The Dark Knight’s Christian Bale, The Hobbit‘s Cate Blanchett and Immortals actress Isabel Lucas. She was the beautiful Athena! If you thought that cast was lovely, wait until you get a load of the actors in the second picture.

In Lawless, Portman joins Ryan Gosling, Bale, Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Haley Bennett! You’re probably wondering why Portman, Bale, and Blanchett are in both films. Well, I’ll tell you why. Both movies will come from director Terrence Malick. I guess he knows who he likes! Shooting for Lawless begins in the fall.

You might be familiar with Malick’s current contender for the Oscar for Best Picture. It’s called The Tree of Life and it stars Brad Pitt. This is the first time Portman has ever worked for the director, but perhaps, even after two films back to back, it won’t be the last! We’ll have to wait and see. When we learn more, so will you!

Because the world of Once Upon a Time can never have enough handsome men, the ABC series searched for the best possible candidate to play a simple stable boy. That’s what I love about fairy tales. You can be a poopsmith and you’d still have the looks of royalty. It’s a great way to see the world. Once Upon a Time is escapism at its finest and it is not at all ashamed of that. Having attractive men is a point of pride with fairy tale shows!

According to TVLine, the handsome man in question is Noah Bean, perhaps best known for his recurring role as the former CIA agent and presumed dead Ryan on the CW’s Nikita. On Once Upon a Time he’ll play the good-looking stable boy as previously mentioned. If his facial features weren’t enough to turn heads, it turns out the guy is also a big romantic, believing in the power of love making anything possible. I would love to see that played out literally. Like what if our stable boy here loved a girl so much that he could demolish kingdoms with a mere thought. Is love that powerful? Is it like magic, but way more extreme because it comes from within? Am I over thinking this? Yes.

Our lovely stable boy does his job in the royal manor, though which royalty he serves was left out. He could serve Snow White’s father, Prince Charming, King Midas, or whatever prince Cinderella married. There are too many royal families! Why aren’t they all at war?

If you can imagine pretending to be a vampire in love while your new and very fragile human bride lies dying because she’s carrying your baby, then you can also imagine how silly you would feel while going through the motions of biting her in several places to save her life. This is the intense climax of the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, part one, film, and for old friends and actors, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, sometimes they just had to laugh on the set. You can bet the most gruesome sequence from the film might also have required the most takes and now we have the proof in the form a really fun video.

In these clips you can see how ridiculous Pattinson feels, clamoring to save Stewart’s Bella, who hangs precariously near death. She’s sopping in blood, and yet, for a second, he breaks concentration and bursts into laughter. Likewise, Lautner’s werewolf Jacob, has to keep up a very angry demeanor while trying to perform CPR. He, too, has to laugh. It must have been especially tough for Stewart to just lie still as the fellas worked meticulously around her. If I were her, I would have been laughing more than Pattinson and Lautner combined!

Of course the film struck the world last November. Breaking Dawn, part one is available on DVD February 11th. Purchase a disk set with great featurettes just like this one! All your favorites reprise their roles and you’ll meet some new vampires, too. They’ll come into play even more this November with the release of Breaking Dawn, part two.

Though NBC’s hit reality talent show, The Voice, has only just started its second season, one of its judges, Christina Aguilera, has already been signed on for Season 3. On top of that, NBC is considering moving the third season up several months so it would air in the fall of this year as opposed to next year. The potential move is risky, as it would place the show in competition with Fox’s X Factor. I’m not saying they would air at the same time, you’d have to be pretty arrogant to do that I would think, but just being on around the same time might be enough to cause some trouble for either.

As for Aguilera’s contract renewal, The Wrap is claiming she’ll be making $10 million. That’s a large chunk of cash that not even the judges of X Factor make. There’s a possibility the actual amount is less than $10 million, but I wouldn’t expect an exact number to be announced. That’s just not classy. No solid word on whether the other judges, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton, would be returning, but the hope is to have all four of the original judges come back for the third season.

The Voice’s second season premiered after the Super Bowl, giving the show a boosted 36.7 million viewers and a 16.3 rating in the key demographic. The following episode that aired this Monday had a more typical viewer count with 17.7 million and 6.6 rating.

Will Jon Snow be mastering magic in the near future? You know him as Ghost’s master and the son of Ned on HBO’s Game of Thrones, but for actor Kit Harington, even more fantasy could envelope him future acting plans.

Before getting hard to work on the next season of swords and dragons, Harington may just join the cast of The Seventh Son. He’s in final negotiations now, according to Variety’s report. The project belongs to Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. So far, the cast members who have signed that dotted line to appear are Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander. Sergey Bodrov will direct.

The project was first titled The Spook’s Apprentice, but thankfully that name has changed. It previously sounded a little too close to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, to me. The Seventh Son has more of a mysterious air about it, I think. The film is adapted from the Joseph Delaney penned young adult series, which follows a young man who discovers he is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he can wield magic, and he learns all it thanks to a “spook”. His foes will be witches, ghosts, and more, in the 1700s era.

If Harington signs on, this will be his feature film debut.

Ever since Ryan Murphy revealed American Horror Story’s second season would feature a new setting with only a few of the first season’s cast returning, speculation has been flying around the Internet on who might sign on for Season 2. As luck would have it, Murphy finally let slip the name of an actress who will for certain play a role in the horror series second outing, one that will likely be completely different from who she played in Season 1.

TVLine reported Murphy’s confirmation that Jessica Lange, who played the religious and morally ambiguous Constance in the first season, would be back. He also mentioned he is in talks with four of Season 1’s cast to be in Season 2, and none of them are members of the Harmon family. This means that Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott and Taissa Farmiga are all not returning. I’m not surprised about Britton or McDermott, but Farmiga was a standout cast member and I’m sad she’s moving on to other projects. Now who could these other four be? Out of the remaining regulars it leaves only Evan Peters and Denis O’Hare, so that must mean at least two of the actors in talks were recurring or guest stars. Maybe Kate Mara or Zachary Quinto will come on. I’d be happy with that.

Murphy left us with one last nugget of information, this one regarding where Season 2 will be set. He said it will take place on the East Coast in a “horror institution.” Any ideas what that might mean?

I’m not typically a fan of online multiplayer modes in games. I’m not suited for it; I’m generally not very competitive, not very social, and I just find a well-designed single player scenario much more enjoyable than the frantic chaos of the typical online deathmatch. I’m also, at least where he genres that dominate that sort of gameplay, such as first-person shooters and fighting games, are concerned- just not that good, and I’m not particularly interested in spending time being stomped into dust over and over again by opponents I have no chance against.

(The sole exception to this being multiplayer in Red Faction: Guerrilla, where the destructible environments meant that I could partially compensate for my poor aim by exploiting the fact that ambushing opponents in crowded areas by unexpectedly smashing through a nearby wall with your sledgehammer and bursting through the gap like a sort of murderous Kool-Aid man was a viable strategy.)

So I was at best indifferent when I first heard that Mass Effect 3 would have online multiplayer. So much of what makes Mass Effect interesting is the story, the setting,g the way your choices can affect events and the world around you, and how they can have ramifications later- and multiplayer gameplay in most games is the antithesis of all that.

In addition to generally having no story, online multiplayer modes often have only a very tenuous connection to the universe of the game in general. You’ve got some guys in locations similar to those the story takes place in, probably with powers or abilities or equipment similar to the single-player protagonist, and they’re trying to kill each other for some reason. If the story of the game is about a large-scale conflict or war and not just one guy running around with a gun, the team-based multiplayer mode might present the two teams -or, if it’s co-op, the players and the AI- as soldiers from opposite sides of that conflict. (Medal of Honor, for instance, where one side plays the American-led Coalition forces and the other side is We’re-Not-Calling-Them-Al-Qaeda.) In addition, multiplayer modes typically take place in an environment more or less hermetically sealed off from the single-player game. At most, there may be cosmetic or gameplay rewards from multiplayer that can be used in single-player, such an alternate character costume or a special weapon, but this has no relevance to the universe or events of the single-player game.

Now, while it’s not my cup of tea, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the typical approach to multiplayer. It is, however, spectacularly ill-suited to a series like Mass Effect, which is why the announcement about multiplayer and Mass Effect 3 seemed so odd to me. However, I actually like where Bioware where is going with this.

The multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 is co-op, with a squad of four human players fighting hordes of enemies- pretty standard for a co-op mode in a shooter, in itself. What I like is the way this is being integrated into the story of the main game.

One of the new mechanics introduced into Mass Effect 3 is called the “Galaxy at War” system. Unlike the first two games, which involved what were- relative to the vast size of the Reaper threat as a whole- small skirmishes, the third game will be about full-scale war as the main Reaper fleet descends upon our galaxy. The galaxy at war system is supposed to reflect this, giving information on the state of the war and the effects the player’s actions as Commander Shepard are having on the larger struggle, showing the resources available to fight the Reaper threat, and influencing which of the game’s different possible endings the player will get based on how well or how badly the war goes.

The premise of the multiplayer mode is that the players are soldiers in this vast war, and the events of each co-op session are battles being fought in it around the galaxy. The interesting thing is that, rather than taking place in their own isolated bubble, these battles can actually have an effect on the main story. Games in multiplayer are treated as battles that actually happened in the war as it unfolds in your single-player campaign and influence the state of affairs in the Galaxy at War system- the more victories against the Reapers in multiplayer you win, the better the forces arrayed against the Reapers in the Galaxy at War will do.

I really like this idea. I love games where I can feel really immersed in the game’s world, the idea of multiplayer is a lot more appealing to me if it feels like the events it portrays are actually part of that world and matter to it. I assume that the effects of multiplayer on the main campaign are fairly modest- Bioware has said that it’s still possible to get any of the game’s different endings without ever touching it- but just the knowledge that there actually is an effect adds a lot for me by making it feel more like my character in multiplayer really will be fighting in the same war as Commander Sheppard in single-player, and that the adventures of Sheppard in the campaign are part of a much larger struggle. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Coming this Friday, February 9^th is a brand spanking new episode of the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, titled “Dangerous Liaisons,” that will feature some heavy shipping toward the pairing of Ian Somerhalder’s Damon and Nina Dobrev’s Elena. Don’t believe me? Check out the photo I used up above. You try and tell me they aren’t making smoldering eyes at each other. And if that isn’t enough, the video below features Stefan (Paul Wesley) acknowledging Elena’s romantic shift toward Damon.

Getting in to the video, we’re treated to a scene featuring Elena and the Salvatore brothers. It becomes quickly apparent Esther (Alice Evans) has invited Elena to some type of formal ball at Klaus’ (Joseph Morgan) mansion. Naturally everyone is suspicious of Esther’s motives since she so recently tried to get Elena killed. Still, Elena feels she should probably investigate Esther and see what she really wants, which we all know is stupid decision, but this is television. Let it go. Stefan is all for it, prompting Damon to state he misses when Stefan actually cared whether Elena died or not. Stefan volleys back, pointing out that particular duty has since passed on to Damon. Meow boys. Put the claws away.

All of Damon’s protests are reduced to drivel when Elena agrees to go to the ball. Completely submitting to his role as Elena Protector, Damon decides to go with her. Looks to me like regardless of what happens at the ball, the night will be filled with fun. I hope it’s a proper mix of good and bad fun.

Did you know that Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz actor Eli Roth was also a Hollywood director, producer and writer? Roth’s highest profile role was the one I just mentioned for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. He has a new project in the works and it just might call for some collaboration with young Miss Selena Gomez. She did say she wanted to focus on her acting as opposed to her music this year, after all.

The project is an “earthquake thriller”, said Deadline, with the working title, Aftershock. It was written by Roth with a little help from Nicolas Lopez and Guillermo Amoedo. It’s slated to become the English-language directorial debut for Nicolas Lopez, director of Que Pena Tu Vida and Que Pena Tu Boda, the highest-grossing films to come out of Chile in both 2010 and 2011.

Here’s to hoping that success translates into English with Aftershock. Inspired by a real-life 2010 earthquake that rocked Chile, the film would chronicle inmates housed in a remote insane asylum on an island and their escape, made possible by a quake. Roth will take the lead role, but interestingly enough, Gomez will do a cameo.

The songstress was in Chile performing a concert and stopped by to do some shooting for the film. Ariel Levy, Nicolas Martinez and Lorenza Izzo will also appear. A domestic deal is in the works.

From the writer and director of Rubber, absurdity meets levity meets love in Quentin Dupieux’s WRONG.  An office with a rain problem, socially uncomfortable speaking distances, a suspiciously Caucasian-looking “Master Chang,” a neighbor in denial, and most importantly, a man’s dog whose gone missing, WRONG comprises a wide array of strange characters, plot lines, and interpretations of reality that manage to simultaneously confuse and amuse.  But the confusion, as Dupieux intended, is a vital contributor to some of the film’s deadpan humor.

To be certain, WRONG is not for everybody.  In fact, it would be wrong if WRONG conformed to the tastes of the movie-going majority.  Dupieux says his purpose for making films is not financial support, but rather to provide an outlet to express his creative side – a very eccentric one I might add.

The film begins as Dolph Springer (Jack Plotnick) awakes in his suburban home, unable to find his dog, Paul.  It’s this void that sets the story in motion, as Dolph struggles to maintain his sanity through a plethora of illogical and inconceivable events, all the while remembering that Paul is missing and he needs locate him.  Before he knows it, a detective is involved (asking questions such as, “How does Paul feel about this chew toy?”) and Dolph finds himself practicing a form of dog telepathy (think: illustrations of dog with “third eye” in front of telescoping concentric circles that alternate between black and white) as instructed by a new piece of literature.

Social norms are not a particular strong suit of the film’s characters.  Dolph has a problem of literally distancing himself from others while in conversation.  Yet, his neighbor – the first to encounter and point-out Dolph’s odd proclivity for speaking from afar – is dealing with a much more ‘serious’ (and arguably funnier) issue than Dolph; he is in absolute denial of the fact that he is a…jogger.  And his vehement refusal to acknowledge this plain statement of fact – like the fervor of a highly polarized pro-life/choice champion – makes the situation even more hilarious.  By happenstance, I was sitting several seats from Quentin during the premiere and distinctly recall him in near-constant laughter (like much of the audience) as he enjoyed the scene.

Next came Victor (Eric Judor) and Emma (Alexis Dziena), Dolph’s gardener and love “interest”, respectively.  A mistaken pizza delivery puts the three characters in a bizarre love triangle that neither man wants to call his own – nor do they entirely understand Emma’s attachment to them.  Yet her inability to differentiate between Victor and Dolph (despite highly contrasted skin tones, for one) makes it more of a love “V”, with Emma at the bottom point and the two men at the top.  Dolph and Victor’s paths are thus moving infinitely away from one another, never intersecting – much like their dual relationships with Emma.

But my favorite character from WRONG is that of Mr. Chang, a dog guru of sorts played by William Fichtner.  Give credit to Fichtner for devising his character with, among other traits, a ponytail and accent, nuances Dupieux readily embraced and which strongly contribute to WRONG’s comedic tone.  Fichtner steals most every scene he’s in, evidence of his comedic timing and Dupieux’s disposition towards collaboration and acting on intuition.

Yet, for all the absurdity that reveals itself as comedy, WRONG can be too much at times.  Having necessarily suspended disbelief, I often found myself looking for more semblance of a story or cohesive set of events.  And while the director intentionally assemblies this ‘confusion,’ Dupieux would be better off selectively dispensing of some of the ludicrously edited sequences and beyond-any-belief mini storylines.

However, if the audience is disoriented by the story, they are living vicariously through Dolph, whose hardships and day-to-day woes put him in a more fragile and malleable state of mind.  Dupieux thus manifests Dolph’s psyche into the story, cinematography, and editing.  WRONG’s aforementioned oddities serve this purpose and, one could counter, make the film, not partially break it.  I’ll let you decide.

The Amazing Spider-Man comes to theaters on July 3rd. To say I was initially worried about this reboot coming too soon, and with a new lead actor, to boot, is an understatement. But instead of being the same old thing, this picture looks pretty sharp. You may agree after you scope out this fresh and quite official new trailer.

It helps that the character of Peter Parker is a bit of a nerd. He’s always been that way in the numerous incarnations of Spider-Man, but where Tobey Maguire was more of the loveable awkward guy with smarts, Andrew Garfield, who has a baby-face to begin with, personifies more the science nerd. But, not only is Parker smart, but he seems to be tangled in an intelligent web of intrigue as well. It appears to be an intelligent enough of a web to have me ready to give this comic book movie more of a chance to snuggle into a spot in my Marvel Comics loving heart.

We’ve got Denis Leary as not only a tough-to-talk-to father of Parker’s love interest, Gwen Stacy, but as also a high ranking cop who thinks Spider-Man is a menace who is in over his head. That’s a nice dynamic, but Parker’s foe is also The Lizard, a character born of science. The shots we see of this enemy look very cool; dare I say, much sharper than Sandman in the last Tobey Maguire film.

The last puzzle piece that make the film feel more interesting is the dynamic about Parker’s parents not being in the picture. There’s a mystery there and this time around, the wall crawler may actually investigate. When we have more details, of course, so will you!

The Syfy network competition and reality series, Face Off, has nothing to do with Nic Cage and John Travolta, but everything to do with the amazing artistry behind movie make-up. It recently kicked off a cool second season. Episode One entertained with a Wizard of Oz theme. Brea’s Wicked Witch of the West won the challenge. If you liked that one, wait until you hear about upcoming episodes and their guest judges. One may bring his phaser, set to stun of course.

EW made us all want to beam aboard when they shared the news that LeVar Burton of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, was enlisted to be a guest judge for Episode 7, codename: “Alien Interpreters”. This is what movie make up is all about, folks. If you’re not creating movie monsters, making aliens has to be as wonderful a challenge. That science fiction flavored episode debuts Feb. 22nd.

Also in the pipeline is Episode 5 and it’s “Dangerous Beauty” challenge. Talk about serious trauma. Contestants will have to make their subjects appear as if they’ve been the victims of a werewolf attack. Guest judges for that round are Vivica A. Fox and Sam Huntington of Being Human.

Burton’s final Trek flick was Star Trek: Nemesis and he later voiced Black Lightning for Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Maybe he’ll shed some light on what it was like to wear the visor and the contacts.

It seems like ABC’s Once Upon a Time is putting together an Alice in Wonderland themed episode and has already cast a member of the rock band, the Who, in one of the many iconic roles from the story. The episode will be titled “Hat Trick,” suggesting we’ll be seeing the Mad Hatter in the episode. Now, I know the immediate thing to think when you hear about an Alice episode is Alice will be the featured character of the week, but may I remind you that we’ve seen the backstory of Jiminy Cricket but not Pinocchio. I think it’s safe to say that the star of a particular fairy tale isn’t always the star of Once Upon a Time’s flashbacks. I’m thinking “Hat Trick” will likely feature the Mad Hatter.

But enough about that, we want to know which Who member is joining the cast and who he is playing! EW.com reported Roger Daltrey would be voicing the talking caterpillar. That seemed a little anti climactic, didn’t it? You were probably expecting me to say he would play the Mad Hatter since I talked about him so much earlier. Classic misdirection! Nope, Daltrey is simply voicing the caterpillar, and though it wasn’t said, I would assume he will not have a Storybrooke counterpart, making his performance entirely voice-driven.

Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are likely very excited to have Daltrey playing this part. They’ve said in the past that the Who’s 1975 rock opera Tommy was a large influence on Once Upon a Time.

Don’t you just love Alice? Stephenie Meyer’s character is brought to life by actress Ashley Greene in Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Though you’ll find Edward Cullen’s somewhat psychic sister on DVD and Blu-Ray when part one comes to DVD Feb. 11th, you’ll also find the pretty actress on LIVE! with Kelly. Actually, this particular episode, in which Greene takes some time to promote the upcoming DVD, is more like LIVE with guest host D.L. Hughley and Kelly.

We have the video for you to enjoy right now. See, you don’t even need a television. Greene showed off her legs in a Reed Krakoff dress. Her little longer than shoulder-length brown tresses were loose and bouncy, not at all like Alice’s shorter mane.

The interview is very funny and you’ll get some candid thoughts from the actress on the worldwide phenomenon. She says the cast has remained friends even after the cameras have stopped rolling. She’ll even reveal a secret skill. Greene knows the runway walk and performs it effortlessly, even in large, strappy heels.

Greene has three episodes of the series Pan Am on her acting resume and her upcoming film LOL: Laughing Out Loud boasts co-stars Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore. We’ll get even more Twilight when Breaking Dawn, part two, hits this November.

We have reached a sort of middle: the sixth part of The Kindly One’s thirteen parts. Thirteen, of course, being an odd number does not split evenly in two. Fans of Part 7 might find it more comfortably middle-ish, being for all intents and purposes the beginning of the second half, while fans of Part 6 might argue fervently and ferociously that their part is really the middle because it’s the end of the first half. Fans of Part 8 might then dispute the fans of Part 7 for the title of Beginning of the Second Half, invoking all sorts of ancient statutes requiring that second halves be shorter than first halves if the halves are not equal halves. 

So there you halve it: the halves and halve-nots.

Perhaps you’d rather I write about the half-time show at the Superbowl. My entire family watched it, most of my friends watched it, but I did not. Instead, I watched, for the umpteenth time, Fritz Lang’s marvelous movie The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, the second of three or the third of four films Lang made about the eponymous übermenschy crime lord. Its exact number within Lang’s Mabuse sequence depends on how you count the two parts of Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler, which were made together but originally released as separate films. Most people consider The Testament of Dr. Mabuse to be the second of three. And thus, it is the middle of the trilogy.

Speaking of trilogies, in Part 6 of The Kindly Ones, everything seems to come in threes.

What do all the threes (that is, half of six) mean? I could venture guesses and throw darts toward obvious answers, but there’s no need yet, here in the middle of things. Just note they’re there. (“There” is an anagram of “three”.)

In the middle of this middle-ish (not middling!) story sits another story, a tale told by one of the three old women, a tale told to her by her mother. Consumed with curiosity, I broke my own rules and looked up a reference, wondering if this story-within-the-story that felt so much like an old folktale was something Neil Gaiman had come up with himself, or, as all the best writers do, appropriated from elsewhere. It’s apparently a variation on a story in The Penguin Book of English Folk Tales, a book that I don’t happen to have, nor does my local library, so for now I’m going to have to continue on in ignorant bliss.

This middle chapter is a kind of pause, a tangent, a bit of a breather. The art is not by Marc Hempel, who has done the very distinctive and stylized work that makes up the majority of The Kindly Ones, but rather by Glyn Dillon, Charles Vess, and Dean Ornston. The story of Rose is depicted in a fairly traditional comic book style, similar to when we first met her in The Doll’s House. The story told to Rose, though — the folktale in the middle of the chapter — is in a wholly different style, more like an illustrated book, as befits it.

A chapter with, then, a good claim on being in the middle of The Kindly Ones stands distinct from the chapters around it in both its content and form; and in the middle of this chapter stands a story that is distinct in content and form from the rest of the story around it.

Stories within stories, forms within forms. We ought to be used to this now in The Sandman, but I’m a sucker for it all, these labyrinths of nested dolls.

Today I was delighted to learn, for instance, that when planning his early film Der var engang (Once Upon a Time), the great Danish film director Carl Theodor Dreyer wanted to try to keep costs down by building all the sets within each other: the largest set would be built first, then the next-largest inside it, and so on, until the smallest and most intimate set was built last. The plan fell apart when some of the actors had changes in their schedules, but it is nonetheless a lovely concept for a movie that is the story of a princess in a kingdom called Illyria.

It is a movie that is incomplete, and likely will remain incomplete forever. Nitrate film disintegrates if not stored in cool and dry conditions, safe from air. It also explodes. The oldest movies are like self-destructing messages in Mission: Impossible, or bombs, or books in the library of Alexandria. Most of what was ever filmed is gone. (Perhaps Dream’s library also has a media wing, a place where all those lost old movies live.)

Part 6 offers echoes with its nests. It’s full of panels that hark back. The last pages take us all the way back to the first Sandman story. 

The first Sandman feels so far away to me now. 

The people we were when we read that first issue no longer exist. But they leave traces. Like memories and stories and middle things, our past reading experiences nest inside us. They haunt each new word we read and shadow even the youngest stories.

And I expect that, like old nitrate film, those past stories are just waiting to explode.

<—Go back and read Sandman Meditations: The Kindly Ones part 5

Move on to Sandman Meditations:  The Kindly Ones part 7—>

Italian Vogue has got its claws on Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and Snow White and the Huntsman actress Kristen Stewart. She is looking hotter than ever in their very capable hands. Ready to preview the starlet’s lavish photo shoot? We’re so glad, because we have the video full of fashion, glamor, hair, make-up, and sultry stares.

I must say Kristen Stewart is looking more like the wicked queen in this shoot than any innocent princess. Her hair style has had its ups and downs in the media spotlight, but today I find it looks rather wonderful as a sexy mess. Her eyes look great in dark, dramatic shadow, and how about these dresses? Bella wouldn’t be caught dead in them, but thankfully, in this shoot, the actress portrays a more mature, more sophisticated persona.

Add some smoke, add a grimace, and…is that a cigarette? And the end result is a peek at what it must be like to endure several hours of careful scrutiny for an upscale shoot. Remember when Taylor Lautner championed in one of these, which featured a swimming pool? Which do you think turned out better?

If you need more K-Stew, you’ll get your wish when Snow White and the Huntsman debuts June 1st, when On the Road debuts sometime this year, and when Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, part two hits in November. Part one comes to video February 11th.