Starring Elizabeth Mitchell (familiar as Juliet from “LOST” — and BLAST will be doing its best to get that question answered, by the way), Alan Tudyk (“Firefly,” “Dollhouse”), Morena Baccarin (“Firefly”) Morris Chestnut (“Boyz N the Hood”), and Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”).

Beware of Spoilers Beyond This Point

The pilot opens with sprawling overhead shots of cities with the provocative tag-lines: “Where were you when JFK was shot?” “Where were you on 9/11?” Then it finishes with “Where were you today?”

Shortly after, the sudden arrival of hovering alien motherships over Earth’s major cities triggers panic until the beautiful, otherworldly, and human-looking “Anna” (Baccarin) appears projected on the bellies of the massive ships (which are not as well rendered nor as cool-looking as the Galactica) and delivers a message. In gist, it’s “We come in peace” mixed in with “hey, Earth has something we need, but don’t worry we’ll be best friends with you and cure cancer and then be on our merry way.”

That certainly bodes well, doesn’t it?

We fast forward a few weeks to a point where humanity has largely welcomed and become enthralled with the “visitors” (“V”). This is the part that doesn’t ring quite true, even in context of this being a show about alien invasion. If giant alien spaceships that demonstrate clear superiority and just happen to electronically disable human jets that approach it, it seems difficult to believe that humanity as a whole would be, like, just so totally super excited to be, BFFs.

Thankfully, there are a few characters here and there who feel the same way. One of them is a doubting priest (Joel Gretsch) who questions the Vatican’s official position on the Vs (“we are all God’s creatures”) as well as one of his parishioners who staggers into the church, bleeding to death and begging the priest to deliver a package to a secret meeting.

Meanwhile Elizabeth Mitchell’s character, Erica Evans, is an FBI agent working with Alan Tudyk to uncover some kind of “sleeper cell” in a plot line that is very random and very unexplained. The lack of exposition is saved by the charismatic Dale Maddox, played by the always excellent Alan Tudyk (whose first appearance on screen prompted the biggest cheer of the night — Comic-Con is the natural environment for “Firefly” fans, after all).

The story moves along as V spokesman and leader apparent “Anna” encounters a middle-echelon broadcast reporter played by Scott Wolf. He asks her as she enters the UN if all the Vs are babes and she replies with, “You’re not so bad yourself.” The positive press coverage on her sense of humor inspires “Anna” in a very Big Brother-esque scene to announce to one of the other V’s that she chooses Wolf’s character Chad Decker to interview her.

One of the first hints of the Vs’ nefarious plots is revealed a few minutes before the interview is to take place. In short, Anna instructs Decker to ask only questions that cast a positive light on the visitors. When he tells her that it’s not a journalist’s job to spin, she threatens to cancel the interview and seduces the reporter with the promise of career advancement should he do as she asks. Decker casts away his scruples and relents.

The final act of the pilot culminates in Erica and Dale’s investigation leading them to some kind of warehouse. Erica enters first and discovers an anti-V rally, led by one guy who makes some very good points. He suggests that the Vs are reptilian-like creatures that cloned humans so as to appear human and asserts that the Vs’ reveal of themselves to Earthlings was merely the last stage in their plan to conquer the world.

Erica asks for proof and the doubting priest comes forward, bearing the bloody message given to him by his parishioner. Inside are photos of a mysterious terrorist suspect that Erica has been investigating and who she hasn’t been able to attach to any name or any of the many forged passports they found at a crime scene earlier. Just as the group of skeptics begin to put the pieces together — specifically that the man in the photograph is a V — they are attacked.

Shockingly, among these attackers is Dale Maddox, who tries to kill Erica until she manages to strike his head with a bar and discovers that the claim of the reptilian-like aliens wearing human skin is in fact the case.

The pilot ends with Erica and the priest, who both managed to survive the attack, realizing that they now need to form a resistance.

So what’s the verdict?

The potential for true drama and intrigue is definitely there. The interplay and politics of the Vs’ relationship with characters like Chad Decker and Erica’s V-obsessed teenage son could certainly be interesting and the gradual reveal of the Vs’ true intentions make for a promising story.

The bad?

For the most part the writing was predictable at best and flat at worst. Several of the characters suffer from LOST-imitation-itis, which is to say that the writers are clearly attempting to create a diverse ensemble each with a interesting to-be-revealed backstories but unfortunately fall short. Characters like Erica Evans’ son, the priest, Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut) are all plagued with dull and familiar dialogue (a possible exception being Nichols, who is at the end revealed as a “traitor” V, an alien who fights on the side of the humans) that serves to make them feel like filler characters.

On the other end, of course, is Morena Baccarin’s fantastic performance as “Anna.” She is unsettling and somehow nonthreatening at the same time. Creepy, yet pleasant. On the whole Baccarin is the standout performer and her character Anna is certainly one of the most intriguing and unique characters on the show.

Visually, the show is clearly a pilot — the CGI shots are uninspiring. The cinematography, on the other hand, was nicely done and on the whole the pilot was edited superbly. There were many moments of great storyline juxtaposition and parallels that really contributed a lot to the sense that there is a lot of story to be told with this premise.

In all, it earns a B rating. Certainly intriguing but ultimately hampered by its lackluster plotting and general predictability. Despite that, though, it is absolutely worth a try when it arrives on screen later this year.

It could be said that the hip world of the undead has moved from the zombie horde fad that populated the last few years back to the blood sucking, easily sexed-up vampire scene. With the “Twilight” movies and books being the new midnight release craze, “True Blood” getting the green light for season two, and the popularity of the “Underworld” series, blood suckers are in when it comes to creatures of the night.

Coming out in the middle of the vampire chic craze is the live action adaptation of the manga/animated series “Blood: The Last Vampire,” the story of a half vampire, half human girl named Saya and her quest to hunt down the demon known as Onigen, an ancient evil that is responsible for killing her father.

In order to do this, she teams with an organization simply known as “The Council,” a group of black tie spooks led by the rough voiced veteran known as Michal. Noticing a large vampire/demon infestation in Japan, the council has Saya go undercover at an American Air Force base in Tokyo where she befriends repressed military brat Alice McKee.

Despite the generic plot of the movie and the not so pristine run of anime-turned-live-action flicks, “Blood” is a surprisingly entertaining time. This is mostly because of how much the film embraces its style over its substance. The entire movie used a manga-like pacing and framing to get the effect of the crossover to work. The lighting is never natural; instead it’s either pitch dark, electric red, or perpetual twilight in order to fully push the current scene’s mood.

The story’s backdrop also allows for multiple visual options. Being that the main location for the story is an American military base, based in Japan, in the early Vietnam era, all these cues show up. The soundtrack rings with old rock and roll of Buddy Holly and The Surfaries. The military grunts are all eerily similar looking to give the sense that something is very wrong with the setting while the hippy youth gives a good comparison with their flared looks. Saya dawns the classic skirted Japanese school girl look throughout the movie while the setting moves to the mountain forests of Japan to give it a classic Samurai vengeance theme.

The acting in the movie varies. Gianna Jun, who stars as Saya, trips over a few of her more clichéd lines, but isn’t anything hard to watch. Alison Miler plays a decent sidekick in the Alice role, though the character herself is slightly useless to moving the plot along. The main baddie demon is played by the long legged Japanese model turned actress Koyuki, who moves cold and smooth through all her scenes, fitting her “devil with class” role.

The spooks of The Council take the movie, especially Liam Cunningham portraying the veteran Michal. Cunningham spits out every line in an unnatural scripted way, which would be a deterrent if he wasn’t supposed to be a faceless black tie agent bent on killing demons and keeping quiet about it. His robotic, gravelly voice fits his role like a glove and he may be one of the best black-tie agents seen in the theaters in quite sometime.

“Blood” suffers from its budget more than anything. The graphics are mostly cheap, Sci-Fi Channel original movie level, the fight scenes are mostly quick cuts and cheap tricks with light rather than anything impressive, and the poor blood effects are covered by the one line fix, “demon blood is different than human blood.” The demon forms of the vampires are terrible computer graphics which could have been left out without the film suffering at all.

All in all, “Blood: The Last Vampire” is a cool movie. Following in the steps of “Dick Tracey,” “Sin City” and “Watchmen,” it is a style-over-substance comic interpretation which may not change your view on life, but will get a few good wide eyed moments out of you.

You should be watching it, and here’s why:

1. The supernatural. Vampires have come out of the coffin. They walk among us (at night). They drink synthetic blood at our bars. They’re dating the girl next door. And they’re not alone: voodoo witchdoctors, psychic waitresses, and people who turn into animals are all regular cast members.

2. Bon Temps, Louisiana. When’s the last time you heard of a vampire story set in the deep South? New York City or Sunnydale, California, maybe. Transylvania, definitely. But Bon Temps, Louisiana? Shoot son, that’s what I call original! In a small town where everyone knows everyone, when strange things start happening around Merlotte’s Bar, rumors spread quicker than wildfire. Plus, the setting makes for plenty of Southern humor and Cajun accents.

3. The opening credits. Jace Everett’s country single “Bad Things” will have you singing along and getting down with your bad self every week.

4. Love Triangle meets unrequited love meets star-crossed lovers. A decent tragic romance is a hard thing to find. So when you get a triumvirate of tragic love archetypes all on the same show, you can’t take your eyes away. In summary: Bill and Sam both like Sookie, who is interested in both Bill and Sam, but then she chooses Bill, leaving Sam loveless and alone, and unfortunately Bill is a vampire and Sookie is a human so theirs is the ULTIMATE FORBIDDEN LOVE, mostly because he wants to EAT HER and she is BLONDE AND PLUCKY. Yeah. “It’s Complicated” on Facebook.

5. Beefcake. There are a lot of attractive men on this show, and a lot of shirtless scenes (it’s hot in Louisiana, ok?).

6. Cheesecake. Poor Anna Paquin. What a homely girl. And that Rutina Wesley… too bad about her face. All kidding aside, both leading ladies are strikingly beautiful. Paquin’s pouty lips and Wesley’s gorgeous gams could keep anyone (girls included) tuning in week after week.

7. Tara Thornton. From the moment she said, “This ain’t rude, this is uppity,” I knew it was love. Possibly the most honest (some would say foul-mouthed), confident (some would say cantankerous) young woman to ever grace the airwaves, Tara (Rutina Wesley) is Sookie’s best friend and confidant.

8. Jason Stackhouse’s clueless face. To look that devoid of intelligence, that often, to that degree of comedic effect, is pure acting genius.

9. Lafayette. Much of the show’s strength lies in its supporting cast, and Lafayette — a cross-dressing, drug-dealing, no-nonsense short order cook at Merlotte’s Bar — is no exception. If you see nothing else of “True Blood,” watch Lafayette’s AIDS burger monologue from the first season. You’ll think twice about stiffing your waitress.

10. Vampire Bill’s string quartet. Always just off-screen, but working hard during both steamy scenes and the scary bits, Bill’s string quartet is one of the best parts of the show. I’ve never seen these musicians, but I know they exist because of the haunting cello line that pops up whenever our leading vamp-man is on screen.

If this doesn’t convince you, try it for yourself. The next episode of “True Blood” airs this Sunday night on HBO, right after the sun goes down, 9 p.m.

Fans of “Twilight” know what this vague, reassuring statement means: The Cullens are currently living in Boston. There is no other way to explain this situation. Obviously no one is in danger because they would never feed on human blood, and in fact, they are actually protecting Boston Latin from bad vampires. After all, the Volturi (the evil vampire equivalent to the mob) is from Italy and might be interested in a school named “Boston Latin.” Obviously, the police are still way off track, looking to “goth” students as possible sources of the rumors. We know better. If you want to find the vampires – look to the wealthy, good looking students who keep to themselves.

For now, Cullen clan, you secret is safe with us.

On a side note, it is actually refreshing to see that students these days are becoming more creative, because honestly, rumors about vampires are way more exciting than teen pregnancy.

In the latest word on the series guaranteed to elicit delight, Borders will be offering an exclusive 2-disc DVD set this spring and holding midnight release parties at stores nationwide to push sales of the DVD, which comes out March 21.

The DVD set includes bonus special features, unique photo cards and special packaging.

The standard DVD/Blu-ray release will include audio commentary, trailers and promotional reels and extended and deleted scenes. The Borders-exclusive special edition will also feature over one hour of additional content produced by Borders, including:

• Cast interviews with Robert Pattinson (Edward), Kristen Stewart (Bella), Cam Gigandet (James), Edi Gathegi (Laurent) and Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria) that were recorded during Comic-Con in San Diego.
• Red-carpet footage from the global movie premiere in Los Angeles, including a never-before-seen segment that contains interviews with Kellan Lutz (Emmett); Ashley Greene (Alice); Nikki Reed (Rosalie) and the rock band Paramore, which contributed to the movie’s soundtrack.
• A re-edited version of the Borders Book Club episode that features author Stephenie Meyer discussing the phenomenon behind the “Twilight” saga.

The set will also include 10 photo cards with images of the cast.

It will sell for $29.99.

Borders will hold midnight release parties on March 20 for fans, with vampire-themed games and movie discussions.

If you haven’t heard of them, these three Brits are friends and musical collaborators with Rob Pattinson, who performed their songs “Never Think” (co-written by Pattinson and Bradley) and “Let Me Sign” (written by Foster and Long) on the soundtrack.

Eager to get closer to anything Rob, Twilighters have shifted their die-hard gaze towards these three and have accidently stumbled into some really genuinely good music. Now before you listen, be aware that these aren’t the typical musicians you’d expect to gain worldwide attention from a teen phenomenon. We’re talking Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Jeff Buckley inspired music – not anything like the Disney pop Jo Bros or Miley Cyrus hits blaring in teen girls’ ear buds across the country (thank goodness). What makes Twilight so different from most teen phenomenons, and what I believe gives these boys so much hope, is the huge presence of twenty-something, even thirty-something fans that might have already grown up on this type of music. Either way, needless to say, the guys don’t mind the sudden influx of new fans.

“It’s put me on the map that’s for sure,” Long said. “I used to play 5 gigs a week for like 2 people because I always thought it was important to get an education in music and play for like nobody and learn how to play. Now all of a sudden. . .”. Now all of a sudden he has gone from around 50 plays a day on Myspace to around 700, and has girls screaming at his gigs in London – one girl even ran up to kiss him before being asked to leave. Unphased by his new audience, Long described the change: “Well, it’s nice. It’s really nice playing to people but it can be a bit uncomfortable. . . it’s not at the stage like Rob has it, though.”

At this point, it’s a good thing they’ve all witnessed Robert’s rocket to fame and how wild fans can be. “They’re insane,” Long laughed, describing Twilight fans, “but they’re funny and I think they’re aware they’re like that, so they have a sense of humor. But they’re all nice people”. Marcus recognizes how many of his new fans are Twiligthers as well; something hard to hide when they have profile pictures of Rob. “It’s crazy. I get lots of messages every day, it’s quite funny.”

Joking about the vivacity of the Twilight fans, and claiming he would never have too many fans, Sam stated, “if I was to be chased down by fans, that would be a good thing. It would be fun – I reckon I can run faster than them”. The three musicians even have a livejournal community dedicated to them – “land of dreamers”.

Just a year ago, none of them (not even Rob) could have expected they’d be talking about being overwhelmed by fans. Sam, Marcus, and Rob all went to school together in London and met Bobby by playing different venues when he came to London to study and do his music as well. “He was one of the guys playing at an open mic,” Sam said about meeting Bobby, “we looked at each other from across the room, our eyes met . . . and the rest is history”.

While Marcus has been playing for years, both Sam and Bobby have had late starts into musician-dom, not learning the guitar until 17. “It was something that just felt kind of natural,” Bradley said about playing. Long seems to have had a similar beginning: “I was just this shy, lead guitar player in like, grungy bands. . .I only starting singing about a year and a half ago, two years ago”. And thank goodness he did.

Despite their modest start, all three have big plans for the future.

Sam Bradley is in the studio all this week in Vancouver recording and then off to Paris to finish production for the rest of the month where he will meet up with Foster and Long to do back-up vocals.

“I heard about that,” Bobby said in reference to the collaboration in Paris. He didn’t hear it from Sam. “Someone else on Myspace told me”. Oh the wonders of the modern world.

“I just say it out loud and assume he knows it” Sam joked, proving their communication to be only a little strained from Vancouver to London with the help of loyal fans. Fortunately, Sam did e-mail Marcus to ask, and he’s confirmed he’ll be on board if he can get there.

Set on a tight schedule, Bradley has basically a month to get everything done. “I’m so tired, it’s been really good. We’re getting some really good stuff,” Bradley said in reference to the recordings. In addition to Marcus Foster and Bobby Long, Sam’s regular band will be playing on the album, and his sister will be providing some vocals as well. “It’s a mash of people playing, basically . . . everyone connected means something”.

As far as what can be expected on his new album, he stated, “there are lots of new songs, there are also some that have been on the Myspace but they’re different – it’s more professional.” Sam also disclosed that one fan favorite, and Sam’s personal favorite, “Sea Blue” will be appearing on the new album.

While in France, Bradley will also be playing at Kord Unplugged, right in the heart of Paris on February 12^th. “It’s going to be really intimate and really, really sexy,” Sam promised of the gig.

Currently working on a demo, Bobby Long is planning a trip to the states in April. This will be a crucial trip for Bobby, considering a great majority of his listeners are from the US (remember, Twilight was biggest here). He’ll also have the chance to meet with industry people and record labels. Arriving in New York on April 12^th, he’ll be playing at the Lakeside Lounge April 13^th and Arlene’s Grocery on the 14^th. After that, he’ll be heading to Los Angeles, where he is still looking for venues: “we’re looking around, we have a few offers in LA but we’re looking for places to play on the 15^th 16^th and 17^th, so if anyone has any ideas. . .”.

If you do have any suggestions – feel free to leave them below in the comment box. Also, according to Sam, he “better be playing” in these gigs as well, so if you’re a fan it could be a great chance to see them both.

As far as New Moon goes, Bobby revealed that there were a few songs that he wrote with Marcus around the same time they wrote “Let Me Sign” that he thinks could be appropriate for the next Twilight installment, if they are asked to contribute.  Although they have talked about recording “Let Me Sign” themselves, Bobby and Marcus aren’t exactly how to work it out. “We don’t know whose album we’d put it on. Like, we kind of wrote songs together last year and that was one that we kind of gave to Rob. We preferred the other ones actually . . . maybe Rob can keep that one,” Marcus laughed.

Marcus, hoping to broaden his fan horizon from just Twilighters, will have another song featured in an upcoming movie. Starring Christopher Walken and Sharon Stone, the “Five Dollars a Day” soundtrack will include “Make it Easy”.  Foster also has an upcoming gig in Brighton on February 6^th, but has had his focus elsewhere for a while: “At the moment I’ve just been doing a lot of recording, and concentrating on that and also I’m trying to get a band together as well so I’ve been kind of waiting to get the right kind of group of people”. All this recording however, does mean he’ll have new songs to upload on his Myspace in the near future. This might come as bad news to all the fans that have grown to love the current songs listed there, but Marcus is excited about the change: “I’m actually quite tired of them at the moment, like, I’m looking forward to changing them in a week or so”.

This summer, all three are hoping to tour the states together. “We had this amazing plan at the start where it was going to be US and go to Vancouver and rehearse and then get a car and then just drive down to America,” Bobby said laughing before revealing the more practical reality: “we’re just trying to get visas”.

The styles of their music vary slightly, as is to be expected with individual endeavors, but their musical collaborations are seamless. Their personalities obviously contribute to their charm, with Sam’s humor, Bobby’s sweetness and Marcus’ general mystery, there’s a strong balance between all three that makes them fascinating to listen to. And then, of course, let’s not forget the accents.

Whether there is more Twilight action to be expected or not, Sam Bradley, Bobby Long, and Marcus Foster are at the dawn of their careers. All three were very adamant about how much they appreciate the support and love they receive from their fans, so if you want to help along the chance that they might be able to tour in your city this summer, the best way to help that along would be to show your support at Bobby’s gigs in New York and Los Angeles this Easter.

Be sure to check out their Myspace pages: 

Sam: www.myspace.com/sambradley06

Bobby: www.myspace.com/musicbobbylong

Marcus: www.myspace.com/marcusfoster

“Summit’s targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, New Moon, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen,” Summit and Hardwicke said in a joint statement. “Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for ‘New Moon.’”

“I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct ‘New Moon,’” said Hardwicke. “Directing ‘Twilight’ has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film.”

We’re not sure exactly why Hardwicke is out for the cash machine that is Twilight and its coming sequels.

“Catherine did an incredible job in helping us to launch the Twilight franchise and we thank her for all of her efforts and we very much hope to work with her on future Summit projects,” said Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production. “We as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created. We are able to pursue an aggressive time frame as we have the luxury of only adapting the novels into screenplays as opposed to having to create a storyline from scratch.”

Lutz and Gathegi play Emmett and Laurent in the film. The New England Fan Experience and the Boston Phoenix organized the event.

“Twilight” grossed over $70 million in its opening weekend, almost doubling the production costs for the film.

By the way: Because of a reporting error, Kellan Lutz’s name was spelled wrong.

Blast will have its review up by midnight with a second review to follow by our renown “Twilight” detractor, Kellen Rice.

Half are standing, and half are sitting. But they all look comfortable preparing to see their beloved “Edward” and have him possibly answer one of their own questions.

Scattered among the crowd you can see the lucky few people with their special “Twilight” t-shirts that signify that they will be one of the 500 who get to see Pattinson in person and get an exclusive poster signed by him.

The crowd this afternoon is tame compared to uncontrollable scenes reported in San Francisco and Chicago earlier.

This isn’t really the mob scene we were expecting, but it’s still early.

Blast met Pattinson this afternoon at a photo shoot in Boston and we’re here at the Square One Mall. Blast will bring you more, including a special TWILIGHT EXTRA issue of Blast Magazine featuring our Twilight coverage, movie review, interviews, photos and more!

Known to many as Adam Davies, the archenemy of Jeremy Piven’s character Ari Gold, Jordan Belfi joined the cast of Entourage in its first season. Over three years, he has become famous on the show for getting Ari fired from their agency and making life a living hell.

Now in season four, he returns to continue the never-ending hatred existence that has become Adam vs. Ari.

Since Belfi is loyal to his producers, Blast could not obtain juicy revelations about this season’s story line. All we can share is the polite, “great things to come,” quote. But Belfi did say that in the likeness of the first and second episodes (where a car race surged between Adam and Ari) there will be more action and continuous shock.

Now, back to Belfi.

Born and raised in Southern California, Belfi decided to take a route many actors leave behind and attended college before going to castings. In wanting a change of scenery he enrolled at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and studied film and theatre.

“I went to the snow because Wesleyan proved to be the school I wanted to attend. What I took away was pretty invaluable, not because of who I met but because of who I became. I wanted to go away and grow and I always had the sense that I’d come back to L.A., so I wanted to be out of my element,” said Belfi in a recent chat. “College helps form who you are, it gives you time to grow and it’s something you can bring to your work as an actor. I think bringing knowledge back to your work helps color things and inform the choices you make. It was very important to me.”

Now, as an accredited actor, Belfi is trying out different settings in front of the camera. Belfi has managed to act in major television shows, star in blockbusters and be part of independent film casts.

He has a recurring role in the popular vampire drama Moonlight, aside from his Entourage gig, and he has appeared in Smallville, Shark, Gilmore Girls and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This summer, production finished on the Touchtone Pictures sci-fi thriller “The Surrogates,” where Belfi performs opposite Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames.

As if that didn’t keep him busy, Belfi also finished work on the WWII-based, indie-drama “Christina,” which tells the story of an American soldier and what occurs when he brings his German lady love to the states.

Without being pretentious, Belfi is carving a path to act at various levels, while remaining under the radar. Like others who have acted in different mediums — Natalie Portman or James Franco — Belfi is obtaining new roles, playing them accordingly and taking time off afterward to do what he enjoys: backpacking.

Recently, he enjoyed a solo European tour where he stayed at hostels and traveled by train for what he called, “one of the great thrills of his life.” Although he could have stayed at swanky hotels and gotten the VIP service, he chose the normal way to backpack and even stayed at random people’s homes. As he put it, everything created a fantastic trip that kept him grounded and gave him a local’s perspective.

And it seems that he wants to remain grounded in every aspect.

“Entourage has been the best experience of my career it and took me to a whole new level. The prestige of HBO and the quality all around makes things feel like we’re making a movie every week, and in a way we really are making mini movies each week. To be surrounded by talented people, writers and directors is all I can ask for. I feel great to be working at all levels, from the biggest of the big, to small indie films, to hit TV shows,” Belfi said.

In “The Surrogates” Belfi will portray a crooked exec. The movie, based on a comic book series, is set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through remote-controlled artificial bodies (surrogate robots). After someone begins murdering these robot images, a cop (Willis) is forced to leave his home for the first time in years to investigate the crimes. Belfi plays the VP at the company that manufactures these robots.

“The experience, itself was great. This is a huge science fiction studio movie,” he said. “Working with [Bruce Willis] was the best part because someone you admire comes face to face and suddenly all the nerves go away, for a period you are just peers — actors working together. Working at that level was exciting.”

Belfi may choose to remain under the radar – acting and living a relatively Hollywood-free life – or become the next “it” star. Whatever ends up happening he said he wants to be noticed for one thing only.

“I think it’s simple: I just want to be known as a really good actor, in the end that’s the most important thing to me,” confessed the blue-eyed hunk.

Catch Belfi’s menace of a character on Entourage Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO. Watch Moonlight on Fridays at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene, who play Emmett and Alice Cullen will be at the convention.

Other special guests so far include Mike Welch (Mike Newton), The Bella Cullen Project, Evil Iguana Productions, and Kaleb Nation – the “Twilight Guy”.

Bailey Gauthier, or “NoMoreMarbles” on Youtube, is one of four partners making up the newly formed TwiCon Partners, LLC. Bailey and partner Becka Grapsy work with Becky Scoggins and Jordan Bressler, of BresslerScoggins Literary Management, a publicity and marketing firm. Bailey admits there are a lot of challenges in organizing a large convention.

“The hardest part about the convention getting started is just that it’s the first one and therefore there’s a lot of ‘first time’ stuff that’s got to be done that won’t necessarily be done for cons after this,” Gauthier said, “like building rapport in the industry and just over all having to set the foundation for future events. Not only with professionals involved but with the fandom as well.”

TwiCon has a 2,000 ticket sell-out limit, which they hope to reach. Considering the 6,000 screaming Twilight fans that swarmed Comic-Con in San Diego this past summer, selling out doesn’t seem unlikely when stars like Lutz and Greene are already being announced so far in advance. Even though other conventions might occur closer to home, it can be expected that a number of fans will pass those up and make the trek to Texas for Twicon.

“We are different just in sheer size,” Gauthier said. “There are events that are specifically fandom based, and then there are others that seem to be more geared toward getting autographs and meeting the stars. TwiCon brings both elements together, not only are we trying to line up an amazing special guest list of those involved with the movie, but we are also bringing together fandom icons as well, such as well-known Twilight inspired bands, fan sites, and bloggers.”

“We are fan-run but are managed by a professional firm, so we have a great blend in how we do things, with a balance of fan passion and professional organization,” Gauthier said.

For more information, or to register for Twicon, visit http://www.twicon.org.

According to the vampire flick’s producers at Summit Entertainment, the eagerly anticipated “Twilight” movie release date will be moved up from December 12.

“When Warner Bros. decided to move ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ to the summer of 2009, we saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months,” Summit said in the statement Friday. “We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible POTTER franchise for 2008, rather we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer’s incredible book series the film as soon possible from a programming perspective.”

While Summit declines all suggestion that they are trying to replace “Harry Potter” in the holiday season, it looks like “Twilight” is going to be the “it” kids movie of Christmas break. We at Blast speculate that it could soon be filling another big set of shoes that the witches and wizards have left empty … big screen, possibly three-dimensional shoes.

10 – The end of “Breaking Dawn”

“‘We have plenty of time to work on it,’ I reminded him.

‘Forever and forever and forever,’ he murmured.

‘That sounds exactly right to me.’

And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever.”

9 - Bella and Edward’s first ever kiss from “Twilight”

“I couldn’t breathe.

He hesitated – not in the normal way, the human way.

Not the way a man might hesitate before he kissed a woman, to gauge her reaction, to see how he would be received. Perhaps he would hesitate to prolong the moment, that ideal moment of anticipation, sometimes better than the kiss itself.

Edward hesitated to test himself, to see if this was safe, to make sure he was still in control of his need.

And then his cold, marble lips pressed very softly against mine.”

8 – Jacob imprints from “Breaking Dawn”

“My jerking came to a stop; heat flooded through me, stronger than before, but it was a new kind of heat – not a burning.

It was a glowing.

Everything inside me came undone as I stared at the tiny porcelain face of the half-vampire, half-human baby. [...] The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood.

It was the baby girl in the blond vampire’s arms that held me here now.”

7 – The cliff jump in “New Moon”

“I smiled and raised my arms straight out, as if I were going to dive, lifting my face into the rain. But it was too ingrained from years of swimming at the public pool – feet first, first time. I leaned forward, crouching to get more spring…

And I flung myself from the cliff.”

6 – Bella first sees Edward in “Twilight”

“It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. [...] The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.

[...]‘That’s Edward. He’s gorgeous, of course, but don’t waste your time. He doesn’t date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him.’ She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he’d turned her down.”

5 - The wedding from “Breaking Dawn”

“I didn’t realize I was crying until it was time to say the binding words.

‘I do,’ I managed to choke out in a nearly unintelligible whisper, blinking my eyes clear so I could see his face.

When it was his turn to speak, the words rang clear and victorious.

‘I do,’ he vowed.”

4 - Bella’s first kiss with Edward as a vampire in “Breaking Dawn”

“It was like he’d never kissed me – like this was our first kiss. And in truth, he’d never kissed me this way before.

It almost made me feel guilty. Surely I was in breach of the contract. I couldn’t be allowed to have this, too.”

3 - Bella punches Jacob in “Eclipse”

“Finally, he let go of my face and leaned away.

‘Are you done now?’ I asked in an expressionless voice.

‘Yes,’ he sighed. He started to smile, closing his eyes.

I pulled my arm back and then let it snap forward, punching him in the mouth with as much power as I could force out of my body.

There was a crunching sound.

‘Ow! OW!’ I screamed, frantically hopping up and down in agony while I clutched my hand to my chest. It was broken, I could feel it.

Jacob stared at me in shock. ‘Are you alright?’

‘No, dammit! You broke my hand!‘”

2 – The meadow scene from “Twilight”

“‘Isabella.’ He pronounced my full name carefully, then playfully ruffled my hair with his free hand. A shock ran through my body at his casual touch. ‘Bella, I couldn’t live with myself if I ever hurt you. You don’t know how it’s tortured me.’ [...] He lifted his glorious, agonized eyes to mine. ‘You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever.’”

1 – The tent scene from “Eclipse”

“‘Please!’ Edward hissed. ‘Do you mind!’

‘What?’ Jacob whispered back, his tone surprised.

‘Do you think you could attempt to control your thoughts?’ Edward’s low whisper was furious.

‘No one said you had to listen,’ Jacob muttered, defiant, yet still embarrassed. ‘Get out of my head.’

‘I wish I could. You have no idea how loud your little fantasies are. It’s like you’re shouting them at me.’

‘I’ll try to keep it down,’ Jacob whispered sarcastically.”

When asked what they could possibly be waiting for outside the entrance to the convention center’s massive Hall H entrance, the reply was unanimous.

“Twilight.”

They would wait 16 more hours.

“Twilight” was released in 2005, and has spawned two sequels: “New Moon” and “Eclipse.” Collectively, the series has sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide.

Taylor Lautner, who plays the character Jacob Black in the upcoming movie adaptation of the books said, “The fans are the driving force behind this thing.”

The series tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan, who meets the intriguing yet elusive Edward Cullen upon her arrival at Forks, Wash. Edward, as well as the rest of his family, turn out to be a secret coven of vegetarian vampires; they don’t kill humans. Bella and Edward’s inevitable love is doomed from the beginning as her being a human draws various “bad” vampires to come and kill her. In “New Moon”, a second love interest is introduced in the form of Jacob, Bella’s best friend who just happens to be a werewolf.

For the August 2 release of  “Breaking Dawn,” Meyer’s fourth and final book in the series, distributors have printed more than 3.2 million copies; more than half the copies of the rest of the series now in print, and a record first-printing for “Twilight” publishing company Little, Brown and Company.

“Breaking Dawn” will answer the big Twilight questions: Who will Bella choose, and will she become a vampire?

Meyer’s saga has become a cultural phenomenon, though this year is by far its biggest yet. In addition to the release of “Breaking Dawn”, a movie adaptation of the novel will be released December 12 starring Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattinson as Edward.

This year’s San Diego Comic-con hosted a special event Thursday to promote the upcoming film. Meyer, director Catherine Hardwicke, and some of the movie’s cast attended the panel. Waiting anxiously for them were thousands of screaming fans, though only about 6,500 were admitted to the hall.

“I saw the book as a film before I saw it as a book,” said Meyer of her excitement for the “Twilight” movie.

The Comic-con event was the first experience the cast had of the true intensity behind the “Twilight” fan base, and it was clear from their faces and the nervous hitch in their responses that none of them were prepared for the thousands of girls, women and even men who were screaming their hearts out for the characters that had captured their hearts.

“I fell in love with ["Twilight"] just like you guys did,” said Hardwicke to the audience. “I wanted to see Bella and Edward living, breathing. You know we tried to do the best we could [for the movie].”

Stewart said that, as a “sappy, sensitive girl”, she took the role of Bella to try to depict the “perfect-but-not-perfect-but-perfect-in-its-ideologicalness love” felt between Bella and Edward.

“Bella and I are really different if you get inside my head,” said Meyer, who said she gets just as frustrated with Bella’s decisions as the rest of her fans. “I’m actually a lot more like Edward.”

Meyer was able to confirm that a song by Muse; her favorite band and some of the inspiration behind the series, had been signed for the movie soundtrack, while Hardwicke confirmed that two songs written by Robert Pattinson will be included in the soundtrack of the movie, and that his spontaneous piano playing during filming might be used as Bella’s Lullaby.

The three “bad vampires” were a large part of the panel; Cam Gigandet as James, Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria and Edi Gathegi as Laurent.

“I wanted to be a part of [Bella's] world in every way I could,” said Lefevre. “If that meant I had to terrorize her than so be it.”

Trailers and clips of the film, especially the extended “ballet studio scene” aired at during the panel, show the movie version of “Twilight” focusing more on action than the novel did. This is good news for Gigandet, Lefevre and Gathegi because that means more screen time for them before their inevitable deaths. For Gigandet, his comes at the end of the first movie.

“We don’t actually die because you’re stuck with us on DVD forever,” joked Lefevre.

Fans have been initially hesitant about how the cast compares to the characters, and none have felt this sting more than now-”Twilight”-golden-boy Robert Pattinson.

“I just wanted to play [Edward] because he’s the hottest vampire in the world,” said Pattinson with a laugh, causing a deafening scream from the crown.

“[Vampires are hot] because that’s how I write them,” Meyer added, which turned the screaming into a deafening roar.

Although movie adaptations of “New Moon” and “Eclipse”, the second and third novels in the series, have not yet been confirmed, the idea that the “Twilight” fan base will not cause “Twilight” to be a box-office smash, regardless of the quality of the film, seems nearly impossible.

“I would love to be in [a sequel]. Love to,” said Gathegi .

“So would I,” said Gigandet wistfully.