Twilight, Teens Dominate MTV Movie Awards

by Megan Masters

Article Source: E! Online

The 2009 MTV Movie Awards may have resembled the Teen Choice Awards, but that doesn't mean the show was any less entertaining.

Host Andy Samberg presided over a fast-paced evening filled with plenty of songs, surprises and salty language.

Let's get to the highlights...

Twilighttastic: To the surprise of, well, no one, Twilight dominated the show with a whopping five Golden Popcorns, and Rob Pattinson popped up onstage throughout the festivities. Kristen Stewart was also a scene stealer—the actress took home the prize for Best Actress and proceeded to drop the trophy onstage, saying, "So I was just about as awkward as you thought I would be."

Old Folks Steal the Show: Much of the night looked like a scene from one of the show's most nominated flicks, High School Musical 3, but even the old folks had something to offer...

Jim Carrey popped up out of the crowd (vaguely resembling a trenchcoat flasher) and egged Samberg on, taunting him to show off those insanely successful Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts, which led into Forest Whitaker, Chris Isaak and LeAnn Rimes performing a rousing medley of "Jizz in My Pants," "I'm on a Boat" and the classic "D--k in a Box."

Ben Stiller was honored with the MTV Generation Award, but he was overshadowed by the presentation itself. A good sport and clearly in on the joke, Stiller sat back while Zac Efron, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Kiefer Sutherland "praised" the actor's work.

Said Efron, "You first made your mark directing the now classic Reality Bites. I was actually 5 at the time, so I don't remember it, but I wouldn't miss being here for anything...because I'm a huge fan of the show 24."

Sutherland, meanwhile, feigned an abundance of emotion in his tribute: "Your work is inspired and inspiring. Each scene replays in my mind as precious, as cherished moments in my own life. You make me want to be a better actor. There is nothing you can't do. My god, you're so good! I love you, man."

And Samberg, Will Ferrell and Mr. Star Trek himself, J.J. Abrams, performed a music video titled "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions," referring to the iconic movie shot of guys walking away in slow motion as something blows up. Also notable? Abrams in that '80s-throwback keyboard-print blazer. Radical!

Are They or Aren't They? The much-talked-about duo of Stewart and Pattinson certainly didn't solve that mystery. In fact, the Best Kiss winners played it up and slowly went in for the kill, only to fake everyone out when Stewart quickly brushed him off and thanked the fans.

Sneak-Peek Mania: The blockbusters are on their way and everyone got a tiny taste of what's to come tonight. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra and Public Enemies all debuted first looks to viewers. Also on the list? Samberg's version of New Moon in which he plays a vampire with a black and red cape who fights a man in a werewolf mask.

Why So Serious? Stunner Megan Fox wanted nothing to do with Samberg's opening rap sequence. When the actor playfully flirted and invited her to leave with him, she refused to crack a smile. Not only did she not play along, the camera had to cut away from her while Samberg awkwardly kept rapping.

Oddest Pairing? Benjamin Button's Taraji P. Henson (in a mini minidress) and The Hangover guys Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha introduced a musical performance by Eminem.

Other Highlights? Slim Shady showed that he is still unable to laugh at himself. The man who has made a career insulting everyone in Hollywood stormed out of the show after Sacha Baron Cohen flew in as a thong-clad Brüno and landing butt first in Em's face. The rapper stormed out of the theater, but MTV sources later admitted the whole thing was staged.

Also, Hayden Panettiere debuted a foul mouth while presenting the WTF Award, and recipient Amy Poehler far surpassed the petite actress with a bleeptastic thank-you speech of her own.

Lil Wayne, meanwhile, told copresenter Leighton Meester he's guesting on her show, Gossip Girl, next season as Chuck Bass's other uncle—the original uncle slept with her character, Blair Waldorf, last season.

Last but not least, nice guy Denzel Washington came out to present with his aspiring-actress daughter—and glowed with pride as any father would do.

Here's the complete list of winners at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards:

• Best Movie: Twilight
• Best Male Performance: Zac Efron, High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Best Female Performance: Kristen Stewart, Twilight
• Breakthrough Performance, Male: Robert Pattinson, Twilight
• Breakthrough Performance, Female: Ashley Tisdale, High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Best Comedic Performance: Jim Carrey, Yes Man
• Best Villain: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Best Fight: Robert Pattinson vs. Cam Gigandet, Twilight
• Best Kiss: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, Twilight
• Best WTF Moment: "Peeing in the Sink," Amy Poehler in Baby Mama
• Best Song From a Movie: "The Climb," Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie

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Online Celebrity Helps: From Gag Writer to Host in 5 Years

By BILL CARTER
Article Source: New York Times

LOS ANGELES — A little over five years ago Andy Samberg gave up his unemployment checks to take a job writing a few gags for a television special, the MTV Movie Awards. He took a pay cut.

Still, it turned out to be a good career move. The assignment led to an audition at “Saturday Night Live,” a job on that show and growing fame for a series of short digital comedy films, some of which have been downloaded tens of millions of times. And now, in a scene right out of one of the popcorn movies that the awards celebrate, Mr. Samberg is back as the host of the ceremony. (It will be broadcast live on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern time.)

“It’s the American dream,” said the reality-television maestro Mark Burnett, who is producing the awards show for MTV. “Junior writer becomes host of the show he used to write for.”

Beyond the usual monologue, Mr. Samberg said, he will season his host duties with as many as five new short films. “I’m a pretape Charlie,” he said. He has recruited a mix of talent to accompany him in the films, from Will Ferrell to the singer Taylor Swift to J. J. Abrams, who usually works on the other side of filmmaking (as a creator of ABC’s “Lost” and director of the new “Star Trek” movie.)

Mr. Samberg said, with a sprinkling of nervous laughter, “This is a big show; it’s a spectacle.” He might have been looking at the lineup of guests and presenters, which includes Ben Stiller, Denzel Washington, Cameron Diaz and other Hollywood film names interested in getting in front of the mostly young, mostly movie-oriented and mostly large audience that MTV attracts for the event (as many as 3.6 million viewers for the live show and 20 million for all its showings on the channel).

Or the music lineup, headlined this year by Eminem and Kings of Leon. The show also has enough cachet with the Hollywood studios that three of them have contributed clips from coming movie sequels to “Twilight,” “Transformers” and the “Harry Potter” series, all of which will be seen for the first time. Last year’s host was Mike Myers, who has had a few hit movies of his own. Mr. Samberg has no blockbusters to his credit.

But Mr. Samberg, who is 30, has something else that MTV is most interested in: a sizable following among young viewers of much smaller screens, namely TV sets and computer monitors.

“I guess I reached some point where I got on the radar,” he said. “My name seems to come up on things on the Internet.”

It comes up with some frequency. Several of Mr. Samberg’s more than 60 digital shorts for “SNL,” produced with his writing partners, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer (the three form the comedy group the Lonely Island, which earlier this year released its first album, “Incredibad”), have become phenomena online. One, “I’m on a Boat,” featuring Mr. Samberg and the rap artist T-Pain, has been viewed more than 25 million times on YouTube — and that isn’t even Mr. Samberg’s biggest hit.

Two of his other short films, with titles that can’t be printed here with impunity, one about trouser accidents (with Molly Sims), the other about unusual gift ideas (with Justin Timberlake), have racked up more than 48 million and 35 million views.

All of this has made Mr. Samberg a desirable choice for an awards show intended to find new categories for nominations in movies that people actually wanted to see — rather than the ones usually honored for more ethereal qualities. The most nominated entries this year are “Twilight,” “Slumdog Millionaire” (an award winner and crowd pleaser) and “The Dark Knight.”

The winners, based on fan votes online, come in some rather contrived-sounding categories, like best fight, best kiss and best moment of cognitive dissonance. (That one also has a different formal title.)

“That award I still don’t totally understand,” Mr. Samberg said. Van Toffler, the president of MTV, said Mr. Samberg had gotten the nod as host because he is “the comedian for the digital age.”

Even with all his Internet exposure, Mr. Samberg said he recognized that this assignment was a significant career opportunity. “Certainly after doing this, it will introduce me to a lot more people that didn’t otherwise know me — or maybe thought my name was Adam and not Andy,” Mr. Samberg said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

New Teen Sex Documentary: “Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss”

Article Source: Chattah Box

(ChattahBox)—A new disturbing documentary and accompanying book by Canadian filmmaker Sharlene Azam, exposes the secret sex lives of a group of well-off suburban Canadian teen girls who frequently engage in oral sex, casual intercourse and even sell their services for money or a new handbag.

The white pre-teen and teen girls, aged 11 to 15, don’t treat oral sex like that big of a deal and don’t even consider the practice sex at all, as evidenced in the title of the documentary, “Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss.”

The girls’ parents are blissfully unaware of their daughters’ casual prostitution and frequent efforts to keep a relationship going, by offering their boyfriends BJs whenever the young lads request one. The usual good night kiss in a boy’s car in front of his date’s house, now seems to be supplanted by a quickie act of oral sex in the front seat, before saying goodnight.

The prevalence of teen girls engaging in oral sex at a young age is a growing phenomenon. According to the 2005 study by the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics, more than half of all teens 15 to 19 years old have engaged in oral sex.

The archaic concept of a girl “putting out” is no longer relevant in this new age where teens don’t consider oral sex to be well, sex. The girls in Azam’s documentary used “real sex” to obtain money, clothes and other consumer goodies.

“Five minutes and I got $100,” one girl said. “If I’m going to sleep with them, anyway, because they’re good-looking, might as well get paid for it, right?”

Some girls, recognizing they had a valuable commodity to sell to older men, gave up their virginity for $1000.

In years past, a few young girls “put out” to hang on to their boyfriends at any cost. Nowadays it seems young girls put so much emphasis on having a boyfriend, they will do whatever it takes to get a boyfriend and keep him.

Whenever this writer reads about teen girls engaging in casual oral sex, it makes me wonder, What’s in it for them, really? Does it work both ways in teen circles? Do their boyfriends perform oral sex on the girls as well? I don’t think so.

After researching and interviewing dozens of teen girls for her documentary, Azam believes the girls’ behavior all comes down to a defense mechanism to protect themselves from having their hearts broken.

Casually hooking up and engaging in both oral sex and casual intercourse, just like the guys do, presents a front of “no big deal,” but many of the girls care more than they let on.

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Her Prince Has Come. Critics, Too. (Disney's First Black Princess)

By BROOKS BARNES
Article Source: The New York Times

“THE Princess and the Frog” does not open nationwide until December, but the buzz is already breathless: For the first time in Walt Disney animation history, the fairest of them all is black.

Princess Tiana, a hand-drawn throwback to classic Disney characters like Cinderella and Snow White, has a dazzling green gown, a classy upsweep hairdo and a diamond tiara. Like her predecessors, she is a strong-willed songbird (courtesy of the Tony-winning actress Anika Noni Rose) who finds her muscle-bound boyfriend against all odds.

“Finally, here is something that all little girls, especially young black girls, can embrace,” Cori Murray, an entertainment director at Essence magazine, recently told CNN.

To the dismay of Disney executives — along with the African-American bloggers and others who side with the company — the film is also attracting chatter of an uglier nature. Is “The Princess and the Frog,” set in New Orleans in the 1920s, about to vaporize stereotypes or promote them?

The film, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, two of the men behind “The Little Mermaid,” unfolds against a raucous backdrop of voodoo and jazz. Tiana, a waitress and budding chef who dreams of owning a restaurant, is persuaded to kiss a frog who is really a prince.

The spell backfires and — poof! — she is also an amphibian. Accompanied by a Cajun firefly and a folksy alligator, the couple search for a cure.....

Walt Disney Company, via Everett Collection

HEY YOU! "Dumbo" depicted black stereotypes in 1941 with its uneducated, pimp-hat-clad crows.

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