Moms, teens and tweens (and me, of course) are biting their nails in anticipation of the Twilight film release on Friday, November 21st.

In a recent survey, Twilight was voted by Fandango moviegoers as the most anticipated film of the season.

As of 12:00 noon on October 31st, the film accounted for 51% of all daily ticket sales on Fandango, the nation’s leading moviegoer destination.

Twilight show times are expected to sell out quickly, based on a current Fandango survey of more than 5,000 moviegoers:

— 92% of respondents say they’ll see “Twilight” on opening weekend.
— 85% say they plan to see the film more than once.
— 56% are planning to see the movie with a group of friends.
— 97% have read the novel by Stephenie Meyer.
— 86% would be interested in visiting the locations where the movie
was filmed.
— 95% of the respondents to the survey are female.
— 42% of respondents are 25 or older; 58% are younger than 25.

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg indicated that she had to condense certain aspects of the popular story, while combining supporting characters and expanding upon story features not thoroughly described in the book. But hopefully, Rosenberg’s modifications will not detract from the integrity of Edward and Bella’s story.

Summit Entertainment has announced that they’ve acquired the rights to the sequels and has already hired Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to script New Moon (Book 2) and Eclipse (Book 3). As of yet, no screenwriter has been secured for Breaking Dawn (Book 4).

For those of you who can’t get enough of the Twilight trailer, watch it here:

And if you can’t get enough of vampires, check out the
Fandango website for a list of other unconventional vampire tales.

The fascination with superheroes is crossing comic book boundaries and leaping into fashion, music and pop culture.

Even music and retail icons like Christina Aguilera and Target know the value of channeling superhero popularity in their advertising.

In this Target commercial (that promotes the release of Christina Aguilera’s new best-of album, sold exclusively at Target), Aguilera borrows from the action-hero theme of her music video Keeps Getting Better dressed in various superhero outfits, with an animated comic-book style background.

The WWE RAW recently broadcast a Diva Costume Contest to celebrate Halloween.

In the true spirit of Halloween, the women wrestlers dressed in costume and then proceeded to beat each other up. Here are a few photos of their costumes and also a video clip from the broadcast.

I don’t think Joel Schumacher will ever be forgiven for putting nipples on the Batsuit. Nor will he ever live down the travesty that is the 1997 Batman and Robin movie.

This video is making its rounds on various blogs. Someone took all the worst scenes in Batman and Robin and made a brilliant compilation video. It’s hilarious! And truly shows how awful that movie is, especially compared to the recent Batman Begins and The Dark Knight films. It’s a full ten minutes in length, but well worth it.

Poor Joel Schumacher. Here’s a short clip of him actually apologizing for this film.

This is some extremely cool comic book news. Marvel just announced that “Spider-Man and acclaimed television personality Stephen Colbert will join forces in an all new eight-page story featured in the extra-sized AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #573!”

How totally bizarre, but I love it. We’ve blogged about Colbert before when he wore a Neil Young costume and sang with Crosby, Stills and Nash. I didn’t think that could be topped, but… swinging around with Spidey is about as good as it gets.

Marvel appears to be quite the fan of Colbert. In the Marvel Universe, Colbert is still a popular presidential candidate, even though in real life he was voted off the Democratic ballot last November.

Here’s a clip of the Colbert talking with Joe Quesada, the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics:

“You are polling incredibly high among super-humans and mutants.”
- Joe Quesada

Congratulations, Stephen Colbert. You are truly a hero among men. I hope Marvel ends up giving you a super power.

The Colbert/Spider-Man #573 will be released in October. In the meantime you can keep track of Stephen Colbert’s presidential campaign in the Marvel Universe HERE.

In closing, I just want to say that DC Comics seems to be missing the Colbert Boat. If they knew what was good for them, they’d be rushing to sign Colbert for a live-action Plastic Man movie. I think he’d be perfect. In the meantime, Colbert’s presidency in the Marvel Universe will just have to do.

Tina Fey

Sarah Palin

It’s rather remarkable how former SNL member Tina Fey and VP nominee Sarah Palin look so much alike.

Last weekend, Saturday Night Live had a huge ratings boost as Tina Fey returned to her old stomping grounds to appear as Sarah Palin.

Today, the New York Times is running an interesting story about the custom wig worn by Fey for this sketch.

Some interesting facts:

• The wig took 40-50 hours to make.
• SNL keeps a replica of Tina Fey’s skull on hand for making wigs.
• Required a team of wig makers, colorists and a pound of human hair.

Since the sketches aren’t approved until Wednesday night, it leaves very little time to get things ready for the Saturday show. According to Bettie Rogers, the show’s head of the hairstyling department, “The ladies who make the wigs work around the clock until Friday night, sometimes even late Saturday.”

Rogers describes Palin’s hairstyle as a “French twist with a ’60s bouffant kind of thing, and bangs. It’s darker at the nape of the neck, and shows transitions to a lot of different colors. We also have to go back and root it. We paint in darker colors right at the roots, to give it contrast.” [via NYT]

Wow, I had no idea how much work went into a wig for an SNL sketch. Bettie Rogers and her crew are true artists, it’s amazing.

Sarah Palin reportedly enjoyed the sketch, and even claims she once dressed as Tina Fey for Halloween. So far, no photos of her costume have surfaced, but I think it’s only a matter of time.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the SNL sketch of Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin. Enjoy!

Looks like another great year for Dragon*Con attendees. The 2008 convention in Atlanta, GA ended yesterday and tons of photos are appearing online.

You can browse Dragon*Con photo galleries Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.

I imagine most people have come home exhausted and are still trying to organize their photos. We’ll post more about Dragon*Con soon!

This is an interesting music video for the song Carmensita. Musician Devendra Banhart and his girlfriend, actress Natalie Portman, have a great time dancing and singing in their Bollywood-style costumes.

It’s definitely a parody of low-budget Bollywood films, with over the top acting, dancing, tongue-in-cheek subtitles, and brilliant costumes.

Check it out:

This is just too cool. Stephen Colbert dons a Neil Young costume and redefines the meaning of cosplay.

 
Crosby, Stills & Nash on the Colbert Report:

Do you like superheroes and supervillains? Are you a fan of musicals? Then wait no longer.

Head on over to www.drhorrible.com to view Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog!

It’s the story of a low-rent supervillain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.

This musical will be free to watch for one week only. After July 20th, 2008, the video will only be available for purchase on iTunes. A DVD packed full of fun extras will be released sometime in the near future.

For an additional back story of Capt. Hammer, be sure to check out his “Be Like Me!” Capt. Hammer online comic published by Dark Horse Comics.

And don’t forget to pick up your Dr. Horrible T-shirts!

So what are you waiting for? And be sure to tell your friends.

She calls her herself the Venetian Princess…and she’s made a name for herself by producing creative YouTube videos like Brangelina, Adopt Me Too. The talented and beautiful 23 year-old is a one woman show, writing, acting and singing in the videos that she also edits and produces special effects for.

Oh, and most impressively, she does all the costumes herself as well!

The Venetian Princess has 40 original videos on YouTube, seen by as many as 18 million viewers.

Take a look at one of her homemade videos and you’ll know why she’s gaining such popularity:

You can see a broader scope of this gal’s talent and imagination by visiting her YouTube Channel.

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, is about to debut his newest creation: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s a musical web series that will appear online in just a few weeks.

Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, the story is about the evil Dr. Horrible and his nemesis, Captain Hammer.

It looks totally funny! Check out the teaser trailer: