Girls and Goth do well at MTV Movie Awards 2009

We know there are a lot of people out in the web universe who cast doubt on the talents of the Cyrus family, especially Miley and, more recently, Trace. There seems to be some old-fashioned bias that believes pop music is “bad” because it is popular. The good news is the people who buy music – rather than criticise – make their choices plain.

For us, the fantastic song The Climb by Miley Cyrus (photo 1 with Taylor Lautner) was a welcome winner at the MTV Movie Awards for Best Song From A Movie. It is a soaring track, full of passion and emotion, and easily one of the better inspirational songs of recent years. Some try to dismiss it as “only” pop, but we say it is a perfect 3-minute song in the best traditions of great catchy tunes with its full flavour captured by a talented singer.

Speaking of talent, up-and-coming star Ashley Tisdale (photo 2) won Breakthrough Performance for her work in High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Not everyone who is “good” comes through the Disney training schemes, but so much young talent is just that – talented. We think it’s great if youngsters develop and polish that talent with the help of Disney or American Idol or the thousands of music, dance and drama organisations around the world.  

Every one of those avenues to success provide an environment for hard work – full stop. You may have talent and all sorts of other things in your favour, but the hard work can only be done by the hopeful star. The hours in the gym, or vocal lessons, or dance routines, will only pay off if they are backed up with regular, ongoing discipline. That is why we applaud the impressive young stars.

It was also great to see the Twilight film do so well in the awards, capturing an impressive list of “Bests” – especially the unexpected Best Fight (which Gigandet also won the previous year).

Best Movie – Twilight

Best Female Performance – Kristen Stewart for Twilight

Best Kiss – Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in Twilight

Best Fight – Robert Pattinson vs. Cam Gigandet in Twilight

Breakthrough Performance – Male – Robert Pattinson in Twilight

Twilight DVD release – various versions

Summit have created a range of versions of the first film in the Twilight Saga, providing 2-disc, 3-disc and Blu-ray versions.

The standard-issue 2-Disc Special Edition DVD comes with an impressive array of extras, headlined by an audio commentary with director Catherine Hardwicke and her two stars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.

A 3-disc exclusive edition DVD enhances the standard 2-disc Special Edition with a digital version of the film and a third disc of additional Twilight movie footage. The additions include great fan-centric extras like Edward’s piano performance, Pattinson and Stewart featurettes, Bella’s Lullaby remix video, and a conversation with Stephenie Meyer.

Twilight’s Blu-ray release contains all of the extra features found on the various DVD editions.

Second Twilight Saga movie New Moon is under way

Kristen Stewart has joined the cast and crew for the next film in the Twilight Saga following the huge success of the first. She has been around the world on a promotional tour and was frequently amazed at the scale of the interest of the fans.

in a recent interview, Kristen commented on the rising scale of the project. “We’re just starting prep on New Moon, and it’s almost like a more elaborate version of the first one. It’s getting bigger and bigger, which is great. I mean, it’s what we all hoped for.”

Production company Summit recently announced a release date of June 30, 2010, for Eclipse, the third book in the saga :: while some people think that date is too close to the New Moon release date in November, Kristen believes fans will appreciate a rapid schedule.

Kristen explained: “I think they should come out as soon as possible. I think it’s better that they’re coming out on top of each other. I think the stories are so directly attached to one another that it’s good that people aren’t going to have so much time in between to forget about it.”

In photos, Kristen often looks a bit rumpled – fantastic!

Dakota Fanning is ideal for a part in new Twilight movie, New Moon

Dakota Fanning, just hovering on her 15th birthday, is in the frame to join returning stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in the next Twilight movie, New Moon. The plan is for Dakota to play Jane, the petite yet powerful vampire with the special ability to inflict mental pain.

Reports suggest the young actress was invited to play the part, following her role in War of the Worlds and her likeness to the description of Jane: Botticelli angel-like face … and crimson irises. Dakota has said, “I’m a big fan of the cast. To join it would be a really great honor and I really hope that it works out.”

She added that playing an evil vampire would be “really cool” and it would probably be the “most fun part” – not surprising for a 15 year old to say!