San Diego Comic Con has officially started with the launch of Preview Night. Today, I got my badge as well as the Mighty Muggs Avengers set. The one exclusive I wanted, so things are off to a great start.

One of the maybe not so surprising things is that the line for the Twilight had already started. Actually, the line officially started on Sunday afternoon. That’s right angels. People started lining up Sunday to see a panel on Thursday at 11:15am. Interesting thing, first two people in line were dudes.

Here’s a look at Twilight fans. What are your thoughts? Would you wait out for three days for anything?

In celebration of Halloween coming, I thought I would talk about a new app that can make you sparkle like a Twilight Vampire. I Am a Vampire, is an app from gofothapps, that literally turns you into a vampire and then you can share that picture on your social networking sites.

To use the app, either take a picture or use a picture that is in a headshot style. The app can be used on one person or a group photo, but it’s best if the picture is straight on. Once the picture is selected, users can then select the eye color (from topaz, crimson or black) and then add fangs and sparkle.

To use the options, once you’ve selected the picture, you use your fingers on these circled areas to pinpoint where the eyes are and to add fangs. This function seems simple, but it actually was so ridiculously hard for me to use that I gave up and could not even add a picture of me using this app for this review. Adding sparkle adds it to such a wide area, I’m not even sure how you could just place it on a focused area.

Halloween is coming up and many of us would love to post pics of us as Vampires, but I have to recommend to save yourself a buck and skip this app. The controls are so poor, that you’ll only end up frustrated.

Warner Bros has announced today that Harry Potter Deathly Hallows will not be in 3D. The movie will be in 2D and in Imax.

Here is the official statement:
Warner Bros. Pictures has made the decision to release “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” in 2D, in both conventional and IMAX theaters, as we will not have a completed 3D version of the film within our release date window. Despite everyone’s best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality. We do not want to disappoint fans who have long anticipated the conclusion of this extraordinary journey, and to that end, we are releasing our film day-and-date on November 19, 2010, as planned. We, in alignment with our filmmakers, believe this is the best course to take in order to ensure that our audiences enjoy the consummate “Harry Potter” experience.

Producer David Heyman said, “For 10 years, we have worked alongside Alan Horn and the studio, whose priority has always been to preserve the integrity of Jo Rowling’s books as we have adapted them to the screen, and this decision reflects that commitment.”

Part 2 will be delivered in 2D, Imax and 3D. Yesterday the internet claimed that the posters for Deathly Hallows – Part 1 are very Twilight inspired.

Last night, I spent seven and a half hours in the company of Twilight. My local movie theatre had a marathon of the first two movies before a midnight screening of Eclipse, and since I’ve never been to a marathon before, or a midnight screening, I thought what the hell…why not? I’ve heard strange tales of the cosplayers and fandom eccentricities at these sessions, and it’s something that I want to experience. The only thing that’s been stopping me is that I never have company to one of these things – I’ve been told that you need to have someone with you to watch your stuff while you run off to the bathroom/restock snacks and drinks between movies. But to hell with that – if I can survive two hours of public transport to arrive at the theatre an hour early in order to claim a seat and then the next four hours of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King with one drink and a bag of candy, I can survive anything.

I went to the Twilight marathon in my sparkly pyjamas. It’s the middle of winter here in Australia, and the south-east of the country is going through a major cold snap. I am going to be comfortable! I wasn’t the only one in PJs; there was a girl in sweatpants and bright blue slippers, smoking outside the complex when I arrived. I came prepared with plenty of water, a sandwich, and other snacks already in my bag. I also came expecting some level of crazy – vampire cosplayers, people picking Team Jacob or Team Edward, maybe some people reading the latest book – The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner – as it is tangentially related to the plot of Eclipse. Instead? I had a helpful theatre staff member in an Eclipse t-shirt remind me to keep my tickets handy so I can get back into the session, no line-up outside the theatre, and found myself a reasonable seat near the back. I’m not going to complain! This was just a complete surprise to me.

Upon reflection, it really shouldn’t be so shocking. When I went to see the first Twilight movie, I scored myself a free preview screening. The audience was incredibly sane. There wasn’t a pair of fangs or glitter sparkle in sight. I missed the opening of the next movie (I chose to go to the midnight launch of Assassin’s Creed II – I regret nothing) and had another great audience. There was only a brief cheer at Edward’s first appearance in New Moon, and that was all. This second time around, Jacob got more cheers for being shirtless and making eyes at Bella.

But this was the midnight session. Of a marathon. All the things that I’d been warned about, all the things even the theatre staff talked to me about when I was buying the tickets to this thing, didn’t happen. It’s really weird start seeing reports about Twilight fans mobbing theatres around the world and the complete chaos of other midnight screenings after I had a completely civil night out. Maybe it’s the location of the cinema? Maybe it’s because it’s the middle of winter? Or Adelaide? I don’t know. I just don’t know. All I know is that Twilight doesn’t seem to be as big here as it is Elsewhere. It’s like we accept that it’s A Thing, and then just go about our business.

About the strangest things got during the night was after the first movie when I heard one woman say, “I could watch this seven thousand times,” and then she continued to say how her twenty-year-old daughter hadn’t seen New Moon yet. There was also someone talking about how people started to line up at about 9pm for the midnight screening and oh boy, we still had another movie to go before we got to that. I didn’t stick my nose out of the theatre to have a look as to whether the more ardent fans were turning up solely for the midnight session, so I might have missed something. But again, I’m not going to complain; my night was pleasant and drama-free. What was really nice to see was that there were some dads roped into chaperoning groups of teens. Not all the boyfriends were reluctant to be there. Compared to my first Twilight audience, this one definitely had more variety in both age and gender.

I got to watch all three movies back-to-back. Let me just say now, it’s…an interesting experience. I liked the first Twilight movie more than New Moon, and getting to watch them together basically confirmed my opinions as to why I didn’t like the second movie. In Twilight, Bella and Edward experience their horrifyingly awkward first love and the movie fully embraces that. The sequel may be a better movie from a technical aspect, but no matter how pretty it is, for me it can’t make up for just how sober it is by contrast to its predecessor. It’s fitting, but after the first hour of wallowing in Bella’s heartbreak and despair, it starts to grind.

Then there’s Eclipse, and it’s a breath of fresh air. Here’s why I think it’s awesome: it cuts out all of the bull. The plot of the book is there, it’s just not mired in being a direct translation of the story onto the screen. The prologue is Riley being attacked in Seattle, and there’s flashes throughout the entire movie about how the newborn army is growing and then is on the move to Forks. When it’s not shown directly, then people talk about it or watch it on news reports. So, the villain and his motives are basically all laid out from the start, and then there’s the big reveal, and it makes sense because it’s supported by previous goings on. Likewise, the heroes get all their motives laid out for you pretty quick – Jacob confesses to Bella that he loves her and just wants her to admit that she has feelings for him, that there’s some hope for him. Edward doesn’t want Bella to be a vampire just yet, but is determined to give her a chance to live a little before the inevitable is upon them. He and Jacob are at odds, because they’re both teenage boys and therefore boneheads at heart. And Bella? She’s actually faced with making a decision. She doesn’t spend all her time drowning in her Epic Love of Edward. She remains resolute that yes, she wants to be a vampire, but then options are laid out in front of her – by Jessica’s valedictorian speech about now is the time for making mistakes, for learning and living; by Rosalie’s flashback to how she became a vampire, how she wished she could grow old with Emmett and have children, and Bella shouldn’t be so eager to throw away the possibilities that might be later denied to her because she’s a vampire; and by Jacob basically offering her a life. Even Bella decides that, okay, she wants to experience some things before she dies, like…sex. And there’s making out in a giant Sparklebed (I kid you not) before Edward pulls the “wait until marriage!” card, but actually explains that he’s from a different era and here’s how it’d go down back then, complete with another askance for her hand in marriage. In the end, she has a little monologue about how everyone’s pulling at her in different directions about what she should do, but in the end she wants to make the decision that’s right for who she is, and that’s why she wants to get herself vampired. It’s clever how the events that unfold actually go toward Bella exploring what she wants for herself rather than have everything revolve around her. It makes her less passive and more of a character in her own right.

Stylistically, this is a pretty slick movie. The vampires are ethereal, and rather than having obviously terrible contact lenses, they have a strange inner glow to their eyes, as well the deathly pallor. I kept thinking that it was more to try and make them like china, as they’re more like broken ceramics when they’re injured; they crack, they break, they snap, they don’t gush blood or have broken bones. They’re like living stone. The effects on Victoria’s acrobatics is fantastic, and we finally get to see why she’s so dangerous. Likewise, we get to see the other vampires – both the Cullens and the newborns – actually get to be vampires. Not to be outdone, the werewolves are just great. I love their entrance to the final battle and watching them reduce vampires to chew toys.

This is how an angsty teen paranormal romance movie should go! I’m really surprised at how much I enjoyed this, because as far as fans go, I’m not even a good one. I’m just into Twilight for the laughs and mockery. I never went to this expecting it to be entertaining cinema. Instead, I came out confused and slightly freaked out because I think that Eclipse is the best out of the movies thus far.

My first thought was really? My second thought was that Meyer couldn’t have picked a more minor character. Bree said maybe four or five sentences in the book before the Volturi literally took her head off. Obviously though, it intrigued me enough to buy it, and I have to say I’m really glad I did.

Meyer took such a seemingly unimportant character and made her real. She had a name worth remembering, and her life as a newborn vampire was far more interesting than I would have thought possible. She was one of the few who had rational thought and some self-control, so she wasn’t this mindless killing machine that Jasper described all newborns as being. In fact, she was downright terrified of her newborn companions and had to fight nearly every day for her survival.

Bree also provided an unique view on what was really going on with the newborn army Victoria was creating. That, along with her feelings of friendship with a select few newborns, make her a character worth feeling for, loving, and sympathizing with her unfortunate fate. I knew she was going to die from the beginning, but I still became attached to her and felt sad when she died so violently.

The story also helps explain Bree’s odd behavior at the end of Eclipse, such as when she suddenly wails out, why she keeps staring at Edward, and why Edward says some rather unusual things to the Volturi. I immediately compared the two works regarding this interaction, and it’s amazing how much more insight you gain about a scene that at the time seemed so unimportant. Meyer did such a brilliant job entwining the two that I can’t help but wonder if she had this novella in mind all along.

Since this book is about an event in Eclipse, I do not recommend it for those who have not read all of the Twilight books through the third novel. It’s strictly for Twilight fans; newcomers will not be graced with learning really anything about the backstory. But for Twilight fans I whole-heartedly recommend it. It’s well written, it provides unique insights, and it’s very, very short at only 93 pages.

I still hope she writes another novella about one of the wolves.

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Artist: Young Kim
Publisher: Yen Press (US)
ISBN: 978-0759529434
Cover Price: $19.99 US / $22.99 CANADA
US Publication Date: March 2010
Book Description: 224 pages, black and white, color illustrations

Twilight is my guilty pressure. The books are okay, the movie is pretty bad, so why not give the graphic novel a try? It’s also a natural progression for the franchise. One thing you’ll notice right away is that the graphic novel is not a strict interpretation of the books or movies. That is a good thing. Young Kim’s artwork tells the story and is quite beautiful.

The graphic novel is pricey for a graphic novel at $19.99. The graphic novel is high quality. The cover is nice and the pages are a heavier stick that feels sort of glossy.

The main reason to get the graphic novel is to see a new interpretation of the story. Meyer stated that while she was working with Kim on the graphic novel it felt like she was falling in love with the Twilight characters and universe all over again. I definitely felt Kim’s artwork gave the story a new life. The story is the same, but some of the conversation is changed and definitely for the better. The Shojo manga style treatment helps to add drama to the scenes and occasionally color is used to emphasize the page.

If you read manga or graphic novels often, you may be annoyed by the lettering and placement of the word balloons. Many of them are poorly placed and are very large. It’s not consistent, but some are transparent while others aren’t.

Twilight: The Graphic novel may not be for everyone, but for fans of the series, it does provide an entertaining and sometimes better re-telling of the love story. Hopefully in future volumes of the graphic novel, we’ll see the better placement of the word balloons. I couldn’t find many sales for the graphic novel, but Barnes and Nobel gives members 20% off the hard cover. In the end, I recommend it to fans who want to dedicate an entire row of their bookshelf to Twilight.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (and no, it has nothing to do with the Second Life game) will be distributed in both digital and physical forms, but the latter costs $10, while the former…well, you can read it online. For free.

As a special “thank you” to her fans, “Bree Tanner” will be available as a read-only file for a month after its release, meaning no downloads allowed. (But we all know that won’t work.)

As an incentive to buy the novella, one dollar from each purchase goes directly to the Red Cross. So, if you’re the person who has to have the books lined up in a row on your bookshelf, at least you can feel good while doing it.

Just about every store has the following two versions available. They will have their own unique pricing and we’ll call that out in the list

o   Regular Widescreen DVD/Blu-ray version of The Twilight Saga: New Moon

o   The Twilight Saga: Special Edition DVD/Blu-ray

• 2 Discs of content

• Over  70 minutes of special features

• Revealing feature length commentary with Director Chris Weitz and Editor Peter Lambert

• 6-PART DOCUMENTARY (Part 1: Life After Twilight; Part 2: Chris Weitz takes the helm; Part 3: The Subtle Details; Part 4: Time to Shine; Part 5: Tricks of the Trade; Part 6: Ready for the World)

• Band Rehersal Footage with Muse; and Music videos from Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina, and MuteMath

Target

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $16.99/Blu-ray $19.99)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon 3 Disc Deluxe Edition (DVD $19.99/Blu-ray $24.99)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Target Exclusive bonus disc content: Deleted Scenes, Introducing the Volturi Featurette, Frame by Frame:From Stoyboard to Screen Featurette, Fandamonium: A Look at the Die Hard Fans, and The Beat Goes On: The Music of New Moon Featurette

o   Target Exclusive Bonus Collectible Film Cell – authentic reproduction of a cell from the filming of Twilight Saga: New Moon contained within a glossy foil. Each is individually numbered with gold foil lettering and measures approximately 5×7. Film Cell included will be one of 250 available collectible cells.

Walmart

o Twilight Saga: New Moon Walmart Ultimate Fan Edition/Twilight in Forks Documentary Bundle (DVD $29.96)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Walmart Exclusive: Lenticular Packaging

o   Walmart Exclusive:  7-minute sneak peek of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” with new interviews with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, as well as with series-creator Stephenie Meyer

o   “Twilight In Forks” – The definitive DVD documenting the town of Forks made famous by the “Twilight” books and movies.

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon  (The Ultimate Fan Edition (DVD $24.96/Blu-ray $29.96)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Walmart Exclusive:  Lenticular Packaging

o   Walmart Exclusive:   7-minute sneak peek of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” with New interviews with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, as well as with series-creator Stephenie Meyer.

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $17.00/Blu-ray $19.96)

Blockbuster

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $25.99)

Amazon.com

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $16.99/Blu-ray $19.99)

Barnes and Noble

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $23.99/Blu-ray $27.99)

o   The Twilight Saga: New Moon Barnes and Noble Collectors Edition (DVD $33.99/Blu-ray $39.99)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   B&N Exclusive:  New Moon Dreamcatcher Bag Clip, a metal dangle finished in antique brass that combines a circular dreamcatcher, a sculptural Wolf Pack-tattoo charm, a Wolf Pack jewelry tag, feathers, and crystals.
Borders

o   Twilight Saga: New Moon Special Edition (DVD $22.99/Blu-Ray $24.99)

o   The Twilight Saga: New Moon Borders Exclusive (DVD $29.99)

o   Special Edition PLUS:

o   Borders Exclusive:  Exclusive packaging

o   Borders Exclusive:  Includes exclusive medallion necklace on a silver chain—gold side features wolf-pack tattoo design, silver side shows the Cullen crest.

o   Borders Exclusive:  Over 25 minutes of previously unreleased EXTENDED SCENES such as Jake in Bella’s Room and Edward meeting the Volturi and many, many more! INTERVIEWS with cast members Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, the Cullen Family, the Wolf Pack, the Volturi and Director Chris Weitz; unrivaled RED-CARPET FOOTAGE from the movie premiere; front row seats to The Twilight Saga: New Moon WEBCAST.

Robert Pattinson is mostly known for his role as obssessed, stalker in the Twilight series. He also played Cedric in the Harry Potter movies. But really Twilight has been the role that has launched him into the spotlight. With that have come rumors of various relationships and critics wondering if Robert can really act. While fans may be in love with the handsome actor, one director thought that he already deserved a documentary of his own.

Speaking mostly with friends, and gossip columnists, Irene Antoniades tries to capture what makes Robert Pattinson so special. The documentary seems to early in his career as an actor and comes off as someone trying to capitalize on his fame. I sat and watched the hour and ten minute documentary from Netflix to see if Robsessed: Inside the life of Robert Pattinson actually has anything to offer fans of the glittery vampire.

The film plays less like a documentary and more like an E! Hollywood True Story. One of those flashy films where they find anyone that has ever had a little bit of contact with the person while using stock footage of the person. The film uses one video clip that Robert speaks in twice. In fact, repetition is something that is very consistent through this documentary. Whether it was the interviewees basically all saying the same thing, or the use of the same pictures over and over repetition is key in this documentary.

The documentary follows his path from acting in local theater to modeling then Harry Potter. It covers the few indie films he did and then dives into Twilight. Throughout the film we are treated to thoughts from magazine writers, paparazzi, celebrity hosts and fans. The experts talk about his love for music and that if it all ended tomorrow, the speculation that he may go back to his musical roots. The interviewees were all from the UK and held the belief that before Twilight no one glanced at him more than once. Their common consensus is that Americans fell in love with the brooding Brit first and then he exploded as a worldwide star.

The documentary gets a bit more interesting when they talk about his value or worth. Because you learn about Hollywood PR tricks and that many believe most of his worth is in his hair. Comic Con is brought up, but very briefly to show the explosion Twilight had on the scene.

In the end, this film could be cut in half and be a televised special. But few people make money off of that right? Robert Pattinson fans will already know most of the information that is covered repeatedly during the documentary, but then again, only the die-hard of Robert Pattinson (RPatz) fans will probably sit and watch this documentary. I recommend that die-hard fans rent the movie on Netflix just to pick up on perhaps one or two tidbits that you didn’t know before. I was disappointed to realize that I had already seen ninety percent of the pictures used in the film. The only thing I learned that was new is the local theater he participated in as a child. Will this documentary win over new fans? No, probably not. The documentary really just tries to appeal to it’s teen audience but will probably lose that audience in the lack of new information it provides. In an age where we are heavy in data from the Internet, a documentary about the young actor really has to bring something new to the table. Which sadly, Robsessed did not.

I came across the GetFugu app from a press release where they announced a partnership with Summit Entertainment to add Twilight Saga: New Moon to the GetFugu service.

Basically with the GetFugu app, users can get information on content in a few different ways. If they say the search term, take a picture of it or find products that are close to you. For New Moon, fans can take a picture of the Twilight: New Moon movie poster and get movie trailers, movie information, and locate the closest theater to where they are that the film is playing.

“We are thrilled to work with Summit Entertainment and to be a marketing partner in this phenomenon, and help moviegoers continue their experience beyond the theater,” said Michael Jay Solomon, Chairman of GetFugu. “The ‘Twilight’ fans will certainly find our technology fun and exciting as they interact with their iPhones and experience real-time flow of information on their favorite movie series.”

While the Twilight stuff is all well and good, GetFugu is actually an interesting app that is available for free for the iPhone, Android and coming to the Blackberry in 2010.

Here are a couple of videos about the service:

While the app itself has some promise, it still seems to be missing MANY logos. I tried the See It portion first and took pictures of Hello Kitty, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Twilight logos. It didn’t recognize any of them. I took three pictures of a Gelson’s Super Market logo and on the third try it found a link to their website.

Using Say It did not show better results. Hello Kitty again brought up nothing. While Toys R Us, brought up Caroline Video game. I also said Pizza which is used in their video example and it came up with nothing the first time, the second time it used my current location to find pizza places near me. That is an example why this app is so cool, but it definitely needs work. Starbucks also works and takes you to their website. Although I’d rather have the map come up with nearest Starbucks. It looks like you can’t choose what options or how you would like t see the results. The last word I tested was Twilight to see if the new partnership is working. Right away I get New Moon information with a nice background. Get access to the trailer, store and Summit Entertainment.

If GetFugu can get their asset database together, this app can be very useful. But until GetFugu can build that, it’s more of a hassle than typing into Google. Soon GetFugu will be rolling out a service that lets users add logos and earn money. I’m not sure why it’s tied into a GetFugu debit card, but they definitely need the help.

My recommendation is that GetFugu is one to watch, but may be too frustrating to use currently.