Matched By Ally Condie: Teen Fiction For Twilight Fans

Happy 2011 to everyone and welcome back to my blog. I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus having been consumed with graduate school applications for the past few months but I am back and ready to share some exciting Twilight blogs with you this year. Also, keep checking back here as February gets closer and the filming of Breaking Dawn heads over here to Vancouver, BC.

This post is about a young adult (or teen fiction) novel I’m currently reading titled Matched by the talented Ally Condie. I have about 50 pages left of Matched still to read but couldn’t wait to jump on the blog and share it with you guys. If you loved the writing style and characterization of both The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games series, then this new young adult novel is a must read. Let me preface my review of Matched with these words of praise from the back of the hardcover itself:

“Matched is a page-turning, dystopian love story, written with the soul of a poet. Finally, a brave new world that readers from Twilight to The Hunger Games will claim as their own.” – Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness.

Matched tells the story of Cassia Reyes, a teenage girl living in a futuristic world of conformity, control, and uniformity according to the ways of The Officials who govern the society. Cassia, from the moments we are introduced to her, is evidently a free spirit waiting to break free of the constraints of her own existence – something she doesn’t fully become aware of until becoming closer to Ky, a mysterious boy she’s overlooked over the years. There’s also the added complication of her close relationship with Xander, someone she considers to be her best friend but who she is supposedly destined to be with. Matched essentially examines a social structure where young teens are placed into arranged relationships for the future benefits of the society.

The story of Matched follows Cassia through a progression towards self-discovery. Ally Condie really succeeds with this novel because she takes a fairly standard literary trope, that of a female heroine struggling against the world she’s situated within, and turns it into a futuristic whirlwind of emotion and angst. Condie’s novel reads with ease as we begin to truly care for Cassia and her genuine emotions and feelings. I love that she is such a kind and soulful character despite the fact she has grown up in a society that finds no value in individuality or softer qualities like emotional depth or questioning.

Throughout the novel we see Cassia break out of her shell and become someone who stands on her own two feet. She is truly brave in the face of adversity and faces opposition head on. In a lot of ways, Cassia’s quiet strength reminds me of Bella Swan in Twilight or Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. All three female heroines possess different traits and personalities, but they all have this powerful inner strength within them that readers can really appeal and relate to, especially young girls reading these novels. Cassia is definitely a literary role model worth examining – as she represents what might not be a very distant reality we will have to face in our own ever-increasing modern existence. Cassia is the kind of protagonist that represents not only present day struggles in society but also what may be to come in our own future.

As usual, I found myself reflecting on Twilight as I read Matched. I never try to do this intentionally, but I found myself picturing Kristen Stewart and hearing her voice when Cassia is present. There’s something about the subtle sensitivity that Kristen brings to her roles that I thought matched (no pun intended) well with the character of Cassia. It’s the same reason why I pictured her as Katniss from the opening pages of the first Hunger Games novel. I guess it’s unintentional, but Kristen keeps finding her way into my imagination as I’m introduced to these interesting, courageous, beautiful, and strong female leads. If Matched ever gets adapted into a film, you know who I’ll be rooting for to play the amazing and inventive character of Cassia.

Twilight fans – check out Matched. I can guarantee many of you will be hooked in the opening pages. There is a beautiful poetic quality to this book that mirrors the kind of writing exhibited by Stephenie Meyer with Twilight. Coming from an English literature background myself, I love to see literature and poetry infused in modern-day teen lit or young adult lit as it has been in Twilight. In Matched, you’ll experience the poetry of Dylan Thomas in a whole new light as it is brought back into a present day love story.

You can find Matched by Ally Condie at all major bookstores currently in hardcover format. It was released on November 30, 2010 and the sequel titled Crossed is expected to come out in the fall of 2011. If you happen to have read it already or read it after checking out this blog, please let me know what you thought about it!

Kristen would make the perfect Cassia Reyes.

Matched by Ally Condie at Amazon.com

Author Ally Condie’s Website

[Matched book cover is property of Ally Condie | Kristen Stewart picture found at All Kristen Stewart]

Twilight Tour Of Forks, Washington – Home Of The Twilight Saga

Re-cap of my Twilight trip to Forks, WA in October 2009.

Before the movies, before Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, the world of Twilight existed solely in the little logging town of Forks, Washington. This is the setting that author Stephenie Meyer chose for her saga, and where so much of the richly detailed text takes place. This elusive town of only about 3.000 residents has always fascinated me since I started reading The Twilight Saga, so in the spirit of celebrating New Moon, I decided to take a trip down to Forks, Washington in the fall of 2009.

My journey began with the drive from Vancouver to Keystone, Washington where I boarded a ferry to Port Townsend. From there I drove to Port Angeles where I stopped to take a peak at “Bella Italia,” the restaurant that Edward takes Bella to on what’s considering to be their first date. The restaurant serves Bella’s dinner of choice, mushroom ravioli, and has had over 5000 orders for the dish. Twilight author Stephenie Meyer even made a visit to the restaurant that she unknowingly made popular within her first novel.

From Port Angeles I carried on towards Forks on highway 101. Surrounded on one side by a constant wall of sky-high treetops and the serene Lake Crescent on the other, the winding drive into Forks truly did set up the atmosphere Meyer describes in her novels. Mountains dense will foliage lay in the distance beyond the lake, and cloud cover loomed overhead suggesting imminent rainfall. For a moment, I felt like Bella riding into Forks for the first time entering the unknown. The unspoiled landscape seemed so far away from the bustle of Vancouver that I’m used to. It literally felt like being transplanted into a different world.

The Twilight Tour:

Upon arriving in Forks, I headed through the main part of town to the Forks Visitor’s Center, a log cabin type building with a replica of Bella’s red Chevrolet truck waiting outside. A lady working at the Visitor’s Center gave me a “Forks Twilight Map” highlighted with various Twilight locations, a list of stores selling trinkets and merchandise, as well as a list of great restaurants in town. The Visitor’s Center was a wealthy source of information including some interesting books detailing the real-life settings of Twilight in Forks. While the town does offer guided Twilight tours through a company called “Dazzled By Twilight,” I decided to take the map and explore the town myself.

The first stop on the map was the Swan house where Bella and her dad Charlie live. The Forks version of the Swan residence was a beautiful little grey and white house located at the end of a side-street. A “Home of the Swans” sign was surrounded by a small garden at the front of the house. I’m sure everyone has a different perception of what each setting in the book looks like, and of course there are the defined settings within the films, but I found this cozy white house to be the perfect setting for Bella’s new life in Forks.

A short distance away was the Forks Community Hospital, where Dr. Carlisle Cullen (Edward’s dad) works within the world of Twilight. The hospital was very similar to the one in the original Twilight film, and I could immediately picture accident-prone Bella’s numerous hospital visits. In the parking lot, one of the doctors had a sign posted above their parking space that read “Dr. Cullen Vampire Parking Only.” It was nice to see that the people of Forks have embraced Twilight into their community and are happy to partake in the spirit of the franchise.

My next stop was Forks High School, a long red brick building with white frames and flag posts surrounded by a lot of greenery. While the appearance was slightly different in the movie, it definitely matched Meyer’s descriptions in my mind. The “Home of the Spartans” sign resided front and center in the middle of the green in front of the school’s entrance. This was a great location to see in person as much of Bella’s story begins when she enrolls as a student at Forks High School where she meets her school friends and the Cullen vampires.

The Forks Police Station was the next stop on the map. This is where Bella’s dad Chief Charlie Swan works. Inside the station was a display cabinet set up with Twilight memorabilia including a Forks Police uniform. Outside of the station there were authentic Forks Police cars, the exact vehicle Charlie drives around in throughout the saga.

Right behind the police station was the Forks designated location of the Cullen house. This location is actually the Miller Tree Inn Bed and Breakfast which claims to be the Cullen house in Forks. The gorgeous little inn was situated a little bit off the main road which reminded me of Meyer’s location – just out of town and off a winding road surrounded by dense foliage. A small path lead up some steps to the front porch where a message board read: “The Cullens are hiking in the rainforest. Our overnight guests will be cared for by the resident innkeepers as usual. Thanks, Esme.” There was also a passage from the novel in the front window detailing Bella’s perception of the Cullen residence. This was my favourite stop on the tour as it truly felt like the Cullen house had been brought to life complete with setting, atmosphere, and character.

Twilight Shopping In Forks:

On my second day in Forks, I decided to walk around the main streets and see what kind of merchandise and memorabilia was for sale. To put it lightly, there was no shortage of Twilight souvenirs. Many storefronts were decorated with intricate displays and boasted sales on Twilight paraphernalia. One of the main stores, “Dazzled By Twilight” is also run by the tour company. The couple that run the store and the tours had moved from Las Vegas to Forks and were embracing the Twilight lifestyle wholeheartedly. Their store was pretty big, full of everything from printed tees, hoodies, baseball jerseys and caps, to Twilight coffee mugs, shot glasses, jewelry boxes and replica jewelry. It was all a bit baffling to see so much Twilight in one store.

Across the street was “Jerry’s Lock and Key” which seemed to be a little tech shop but had hand-written signs in the window advertising great Twilight souvenirs. Twilight dream catchers, mouse pads, light switch frames, and printed photos were set up at the front of the store. I bought one of the hand-made key chains that featured pictures of various Twilight characters. The most interesting (and funny) souvenirs they had for sale were Twilight student i.d. cards for Forks High School and hospital i.d tags. I was a bit bemused by these items. I’m a Twilight nerd as much as the next person, but what actual use does one have for a Bella Swan i.d. card or a Carlisle Cullen hospital name tag? This may be taking Twilight fandom a bit far in my opinion, but then again, I traveled all the way to a logging town to see locations from a fictional story, so who am I to judge.

I visited some other neat shops that were less about the mainstream commercial products, and more about small trinkets or individually manufactured apparel. “The Chinook Pharmacy,” which claims to be “Bella’s Official First-Aid Station,” had lots of small souvenirs including pendants and sparkly t-shirts. I got a few postcards there as well as a replica of Bella’s charm bracelet given to her by best friend Jacob Black. The bracelet had the little wolf charm that Jacob carves for her, the diamond-like heart gemstone from Edward, as well as charms from the novel covers: the apple for Twilight, the feather for New Moon, and the chess piece for Breaking Dawn.

“Leppell’s Flower’s and Gifts” was a florist shop located near the high school which has become a small Twilight haven. The front windows were full of decorations as well as the owner’s own cat that was preening next to a sign that read “I Was Bitten in Forks, Washington.” This shop had everything from Team Edward and Jacob toques to baby clothes. I was told the owner also manufactured some of her own t-shirts that are sold in the store. As long as any official trademarked images used are altered by 10%, they can be incorporated into individual Twilight designs. I decided on a red t-shirt with a crystal ball on the front with the words “Wanna Bet?” printed underneath. This is a joke about Edward’s sister, Alice Cullen, who can foresee the future and often uses this to her advantage with comic effect in Meyer’s novels.

My final shopping stop was also an additional tour location – “Forks Outfitters” located near the end of town by the Thriftway. This is the Twilight location where Bella works for the Newton’s outdoor apparel and equipment shop. I stocked up on food in the Thriftway and made my one guilty/embarrassing purchase of some Forks sweatpants with the “Spartans” team-name and logo embossed down the leg. These will most likely be reserved for at-home lounging, I just couldn’t resist.

Twilight In La Push:

My final destination for my Twilight trip was La Push, the reservation just outside of Forks where Bella’s best friend Jacob Black lives. La Push is located about a fifteen minute drive from Forks down a tree-lined highway. As I made my way there, I was instantly reminded of all the times Bella makes this exact drive to visit Jacob in New Moon, and the times Edward often drove her to the treaty line in Eclipse.

Once in La Push, I walked down to First Beach where Bella goes with her high school friends and ends up hanging out with Jacob for the first time properly in Twilight. Jacob tells Bella about the “cold ones” which is how she first learns about vampires in Forks. First Beach was full of piles of driftwood, had numerous rocky outcroppings with distant trees, and crashing waves rolled up onto the sand. It was a beautiful sunny day, but cold and windy. I would recommend dressing warmly if you decide to visit the La Push beaches.

My last La Push excursion was a hike to Third Beach through the forest. Third Beach is located off the highway closer to the Forks border line. The hike took about forty minutes through wet ferns, sky-high trees, and muddy footpaths, but it was very much worth it. As the path sloped down towards the beach, sunlight flitted in through the tree tops and a completely unoccupied expanse of sand, driftwood, and ocean greeted me. It was like a scene straight out of New Moon, where Bella often comes down to the beach at La Push in search of solitude and a vast space to think. I cannot really describe the atmosphere of being there at that moment in time, but I will say that it truly brought Twilight to life.

I hope that this gave you a taste of Forks and La Push, and all-things Twilight that they have to offer. This small town only had one main street but it was a hive of activity and full of friendly and helpful people. The diner style restaurants and the local shops were a welcome break from the crowded streets of busy Vancouver. It was a great place to visit that definitely surprised me with its small-town charm, friendly atmosphere, and the general embrace that the people of Forks seem to have for this vampire franchise. Any Twilight fan, especially of the books and story that Stephenie Meyer created, would enjoy a trip to this town. It brought the stories to life for me and made me want to go back to page one of Twilight and start all over again.

[story and photos belong to me – Twilight Connection]

Twilight Connection Links For Blog, Suite101, Twitter And Flickr

Hey all!

This is just a quick post to let you know what goes on here at my Twilight Connection blog and where else you can read my writing. My name is Amy and I am a prospective grad school student for 2011 in the field of Media/Communications. I’m based out of Vancouver and love to get involved in all things “Twilight” here.

I live to write and love to share writing with others. All written content you find on Twilight Connection has been written by me unless otherwise specified or sourced, same goes for photos. My content is Twilight based/related as well as Kristen Stewart focused (because she is amazing).

I followed the filming of New Moon and Eclipse when they were in town but didn’t start up my blog until 2010. Hopefully you can get some Breaking Dawn info here in the fall! In the meantime, I plan to post my set photos from New Moon and Eclipse on here in the near future as well as stories from my trip to Forks, WA.

In preparation for grad school I also do freelance writing for various companies, one of those being Suite101 which you may have heard of. You can find some Twilight and Kristen related content on my Suite 101 page too. I cannot duplicate content that I write for Suite101 on my Twilight Connection blog so the content differs between my blog and Suite.

Thanks everyone so much for all of your support and for reading my blog, tweets, articles, etc. It’s nice to get feedback to become a better writer and it’s awesome to interact with other Twilight fans.

Here’s where you can find Amy:

Twilight Connection – Twilight Blog <– you’re here.

Suite101 – Contributing Writer

Twitter – @theamytweets

Flickr – New Moon and Eclipse Set Photos

IMDB – My article posted on Kristen Stewart and On The Road pages. <– thanks for sharing on there!

Creation Entertainment Official Twilight Convention: Twi Tour In Vancouver With Catherine Hardwicke And Peter Facinelli

Today I went to check out Creation Entertainment’s Official Twilight Convention aka Twi Tour in Van – it was awesome! I could only make it today (Day 3) but it was definitely worth it to see Catherine Hardwicke (Director of Twilight) and Peter Facinelli (Carlisle Cullen in Twilight) and hear them speak about Twilight and their other projects. Twi Tour has been happening all weekend (Friday-Sunday) at the Sheraton Wall Centre hotel downtown Vancouver. Twilight cast members including Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have stayed in this hotel during filming in Vancouver so it’s kind of a cool place to check out anyways if you’re a Twilight fan.

Without further ado, check out my photos and some fun facts from The Official Twilight Convention aka Twi Tour Day 3:

The Hillywood Show Hosts Twi Tour

Sisters Hilly and Hannah Hindi were there with their Hillywood Show co-stars to host Twi Tour and introduce the guests of the Twilight Convention. They were really down to earth, friendly people who interacted with the crowd and did on-stage parodies of parts of Twilight to introduce the next events on the schedule. The Hillywood Show also fielded audience questions to both Catherine Hardwicke and Peter Facinelli who were today’s guest speakers at Twi Tour.

The Hillywood Show also debuted their New Moon Parody which was a mini movie they made mimicking and poking fun at New Moon the movie. They had their song and dance routine thing going on with songs like Pink – So What and Katy Perry – Thinking of You. Their movie featured mock clips of scenes from both Twilight and New Moon in what can only be described as an extended super music video. It was really entertaining to watch.

The Hillywood Show members use their own money to fund their projects and make their movies which I thought was really cool. Having originally found YouTube success with their Twilight parodies, they seem to have found a lot of recent success within the Twilight fandom and their hard work has payed off. The New Moon Parody was really well done and I can’t wait to see what they do for their upcoming Eclipse Parody.

Catherine Hardwicke – Guest Speaker at Twi Tour

Catherine Hardwicke was the first guest speaker of Day 3 for Twi Tour and she really was such an interesting person to listen to. She is such an open and friendly person who you can tell has this genuine passion for film making and for Twilight. She spoke a lot about her creative approach to directing and how spontaneity and collaborative efforts are very much a part of her approach. Catherine described how she auditions and works with actors: by jumping right into the scene and acting it out with them rather than watching from the sidelines. She described Peter Facinelli’s Twilight audition for the role of Carlisle Cullen and how they worked on the scene at the end of Twilight where Carlisle is helping to save a vampire-bitten Bella. Catherine literally played the part of Bella for the audition by lying on the floor pretending to be in pain while Peter leaned over and had to help her.

Catherine delved into a bit of discussion about the process behind Thirteen, which she wrote with Nikki Reed in six days straight. She described the difficult place Nikki was in at that tender age and how she was misunderstood. Knowing this, Catherine helped Nikki explore more creative activities and this culminated in them writing Thirteen together and acting out each scene as they went. A few audience members asked her about Lords of Dogtown and she spoke a bit about Heath Ledger and the loose and creative freedom he brought to the production of that film. Catherine also told the fans about her next big project to shoot in Vancouver – a modern gothic tale of Red Riding Hood which Leonardo DiCaprio is apparently heavily involved with in terms of both writing and production. Amanda Seyfried is set to star in the new movie alongside Shiloh Fernandez (who coincidently was one of the top contenders for the role of Edward Cullen in Twilight).

Catherine told some awesome stories including a more detailed account of the Twilight audition process involving Rob and Kristen. She described how Kristen came over to her house and had to kiss these random top 4 guys narrowed down for the part of Edward Cullen. The audition was focused on the bedroom scene between Bella and Edward – an important scene that would reveal chemistry or lack thereof between two actors. Once Kristen had finished auditioning with Rob, she told Catherine right away that it had to be him. Catherine reviewed the audition tape and totally agreed that the chemistry was right there from the start. It was really interesting to hear Catherine’s insights about film making and fun behind-the-scenes facts about Twilight. She is really talented and I will always admire her work in bringing Twilight to life for the first time.

Peter Facinelli – Guest Speaker at Twi Tour

Peter Facinelli, also known in The Twilight Saga as Carlisle Cullen, was the second guest speaker at Twi Tour Day 3. Peter was amazing: he connected so well with the fans in attendance, he joked with us, mingled in the crowd, and he was really honest about himself. It was interesting to hear him speak about being really shy growing up and having not had any experience with acting and theatre at a young age. Now he’s this largely successful actor with both Twilight and the TV show Nurse Jackie as current projects and he just seems to be taking it all in stride. He joked about embarrassing moments such as spilling his Starbucks coffee right that second and later almost kicking his coffee over again. He described his love of Starbucks coffee and how he finds it funny how many Starbucks there are in our city (Along Robson there’s well over 4!). Peter also said he enjoyed hanging at Tojo’s in Vancouver for Japanese food during the filming of Eclipse.

Peter gave us some insight on his hectic schedule and how he often finds the constant travel to be confusing. He was once in New York flying out somewhere and at the check-in desk when asked here he was travelling to he said New York! Peter was really humble and willing to joke around telling some other funny stories. He is the assistant coach of his daughter’s soccer team and recently walked up to what he thought was his daughter’s soccer team but it turned out to be a completely different group of girls who started asking if he was Carlisle. He then ran back to find his daughter’s team! Peter took many questions from the audience, one of which was if he would ever change his name? He said he doesn’t think his name is that striking and wants a name like John Wayne or a cool name like Johnny or Billy. He was so funny and relaxed with the questions and even went as far as to hug random audience members whose questions were “can I have a hug from you?” Peter came right over to our side section of the audience for a bit and was mere inches away from us – very cool!

Peter also shared some thoughts on Twilight the book versus Twilight the movie and his own personal stake in that. Peter has been and still is a fan of the Twilight books and he studied for the role of Carlisle to help express the literary version of that character. It was nice to see that he easily shares this personal enjoyment of the series and it really does forge a connection between him and the fans of The Twilight Saga. He joked a bit about the Twilight movie and how random it is that Carlisle drove with Edward to the ballet studio in the movie yet he doesn’t actually get in there to help until the fight between Edward and James is almost over. Peter joked that Carlisle was taking an exceptionally long time to park the car out front! He made the crowd laugh and smile, and also took the time to give some serious advice about the film industry for aspiring actors. It’s clear that Peter truly cares for both his family and his fans which is amazing to see and it really made me happy to get to see him in person and get to know a little more about who this guy really is. He’s amazing!

Twilight Merchandise and Vendors Area at Twi Tour

The vendors area of the Twilight Convention had cool Twilight merch for fans to check out. There was everything from autographed glossy photos of Twilight cast members to Twilight lunch boxes, wallets, pencil cases, pins, buttons, stickers, water bottles, bags, t-shirts, posters, candles and so much more. The Volturi collection of the Twilight Beauty Makeup was also available at a London Drugs booth in the vendors area. There was a section for Twilight makeovers, and the people from The Hillywood Show were on hand to interact with fans by their own booth. Check out a close-up of The Official Twilight Convention graphic tee below:

Twilight Charity Auction at Twi Tour

A really cool thing they did at Twi Tour was the Twilight Charity Auction with money going towards the Epilepsy Foundation which is a really good cause. Since it was the last day of Twi Tour in Van, many of the banners for the Twilight Convention were up for auction and had been signed by various Twilight stars. There was one banner that had been signed by Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart that sold for well over $600.

Twilight Lexicon Panel at Twi Tour

Widely recognized fan site Twilight Lexicon was there at Twi Tour to talk a bit about their early experience with the Twilight fandom. They told us about their set visit on the day that they were filming down at the beach where Bella and Jacob have their talk about the cold ones. They showed us their own interviews with both Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart from that day which was interesting to see because they seemed so happy and relaxed in the videos back from when they didn’t have chaos surrounding their films sets. They also revealed that Taylor Lautner was relatively unknown back then and they spent much of the day hanging out and talking to him as much of the focus back in the original Twilight movie was on Robert Pattinson and the Edward character. There was also some Q&A with Mandy who is well versed in set locations in Vancouver. Many fans wanted to know where recent Eclipse reshoots took place as well as the locations for popular places like Bella’s House and Jacob’s House. It was fun to hear some more detailed information about Twilight sets locally.

* * *

It was interesting to note that there was quite a variety of people at the Twi Tour. I thought it would be full of young kids seeing as it was the weekend but there were people of all ages there and definitely lots of kids and adults alike. Some were decked out in costumes from the movies and others were in jeans and t-shirts. Everyone was super friendly and it was just nice to see a bunch of like-minded individuals (crazy Twilight fans) having a good time together at the Twilight Convention.

I hope you enjoyed my experience of Twi Tour in Vancouver. Please note that all photos are my own and require a link back should you share them. Thanks again for reading!

2010 MTV Movie Awards Nominees: What Will Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Twilight win?

The 2010 MTV Movie Awards are coming up on June 6th meaning that Twilight fans are going to be glued to the TV in anticipation of seeing RPattz and KStew. This kind of excitement is palpable perhaps in light on last year’s events at the MTV Movie Awards when Rob and Kristen had that epic moment on stage for their “Best Kiss” award win. Remember how that went down? Rob announces he needs to remove his gum, fans start screaming in the audience, Rob goes in for the kill, and Kristen moves away at the last second – epic!

This year, Twilight is back with many nominations for the New Moon cast, as well as a couple of other nominations for Twilight actors such as Taylor Lautner in Valentine’s Day, Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air, and Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning in The Runaways. Twilight has garnered 11 nominations this year in total (including projects from Twilight cast members) and let’s face it – it’s very likely to clean up this year based on how well New Moon was received by the fandom.

Check out the full list of nominees for the 2010 awards show below. I’ve bolded/starred any Twilight-related nominees…

2010 MTV Movie Awards Nominees

BEST MOVIE
Alice in Wonderland
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hangover
*The Twilight Saga: New Moon*

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
Channing Tatum, Dear John
Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
*Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: New Moon*
*Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: New Moon*
Zac Efron, 17 Again

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Amanda Seyfried, Dear John
Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
*Kristen Stewart, The Twilight Saga: New Moon*
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Zoe Saldana Avatar

BEST VILLAIN
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Helena Bonham Carter, Alice In Wonderland
Ken Jeong, The Hangover
Stephen Lang, Avatar
Tom Felton, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
Ben Stiller, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Bradley Cooper, The Hangover
Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Zach Galifianakis The Hangover

BEST FIGHT
Beyoncé Knowles vs. Ali Larter in Obsessed
Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber vs. Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Logan Lerman vs. Jake Abel in Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Robert Downey Jr. vs. Mark Strong in Sherlock Holmes
Sam Worthington vs. Stephen Lang in Avatar

BEST KISS
*Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning in The Runaways*
*Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: New Moon*
Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds The Proposal
*Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner in Valentine’s Day*
Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington in Avatar

BEST BREAKOUT STAR
*Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air*
Chris Pine, Star Trek
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Logan Lerman Percy, Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Quinton Aaron, The Blind Side
Zach Galifianakis The Hangover

BEST WTF MOMENT
Betty White, feeling up the bride, in The Proposal
Bill Murray, as himself, in Zombieland
Isabel Lucas and her robot tongue, in Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
Ken Jeong, booty call out of the box scene, in The Hangover
Megan Fox, projectile vomiting, in Jennifer’s Body

BEST SCARED AS SH*T PERFORMANCE
Alison Lohman, Drag Me to Hell
Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer’s Body
Jesse Eisenberg. Zombieland
Katie Featherston, Paranormal Activity
Sharlto Copley, District 9

BIGGEST BADASS STAR
Angelina Jolie
Channing Tatum
Chris Pine
Rain
Sam Worthington

GLOBAL SUPERSTAR
Daniel Radcliffe
Johnny Depp
*Kristen Stewart*
*Robert Pattinson*
*Taylor Lautner*

It’s likely we’ll be seeing Twilight cast members repeatedly taking to the stage to receive MTV Movie Awards on the 6th, but which awards are the most likely to be won? Here’s my two cents on what the likely wins will be for our amazing Twilight cast members and their projects…

Amy’s picks for Twilight wins at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards:

• Best Movie – New Moon: Highly likely to win for obvious reasons.
• Best Male Performance – Taylor Lautner, New Moon: This was Taylor’s movie and I feel like he truly deserves the award on this one. He stepped up for New Moon and showed the fans he belongs in the The Twilight Saga as Jacob Black.
• Best Female Performance – Kristen Stewart, New Moon: I’m going to go ahead and say she’s likely to get this one.. I hope she does. I’m a huge KStew fan and like I said above, this is Taylor and Kristen’s movie, it’s all them. I’d love to see them both win for these awards.
• Best Kiss – Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning OR Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart: It’s got to be one of those two pairings for the win. Last year Rob and Kristen won this exact award, and this year they are likely to win again. Then again, people loved the DakotaStew lip-lock in The Runaways so it could go either way.
• Best Breakout Star – Anna Kendrick: She got the Oscar nod, and she stands a good chance of getting recognized with MTV. Lots of strong contenders in this category but I think the fans will vote for Anna because not only does she have fans of Up in the Air voting, but she has the entire Twilight fandom voting too so it’s likely she’ll win.
• Global Superstar – Robert Pattinson: I’m going to go with RPattz on this one. I kind of want Kristen to win it, but Rob is the most likely. He is the superstar of Twilight so the award is kind of fitting for him.

Don’t forget to tune in to watch the MTV Movie Awards on June 6th and see what Twilight will take home. Voting is now open on the MTV website so go and vote for our amazing Twilight stars!

2010 MTV Movie Awards Voting

[Photo via MATT SAYLES/AP PHOTO | Video via BellasAfterCarF430]