While we're still over a month away from what is perhaps the Super Bowl of geekdom, early info on what to expect from this year's San Diego Comic Con has started to leak out. First off, I've been receiving tons of emails over the past couple days as other websites begin to mention this Masters of the Web panel, which, in case you haven't seen, includes Cinematical. Yes, I'm very happy to announce that yours truly will join the dudes from IESB, JoBlo, Dark Horizons, Ain't It Cool News, CHUD, Latino Review, Movie Web, The Movie Blog and Bloody-Disgusting for an in-depth discussion on how to make your own pizza at home! Not quite, but when you get all these folks in the same room, you'll definitely want to watch what happens next.

Wait, there's more! The panel itself will be moderated by directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Pathology), and those in attendance will get to see the first footage from Crank 2 and that Gerard Butler flick, Game. There's also a ridiculous invite-only party being thrown featuring all kinds of celebs, "dancers" and hot internet movie writers, and if you show up to the panel, you'll have a chance to win a ticket to said party as well. Long story short: If you're going to Comic Con, you'll most definitely want to clear your schedule on Thursday, July 24th at 10am for the Masters of the Web panel. Yeah, it's early -- but we're not going to Comic Con to sleep in, we're going to get our geek on. Start early, party late -- that's always our motto.

In addition to the panel, IESB has listed an early and somewhat tentative rundown of what each studio has planned for The Con. I'm seeing names like Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, The Spirit, Twilight, Underworld 3, Kevin Smith ... and much, much more. God, I feel like I'm seven and going to Disney World. So excited. Stay tuned ...

Cinematical is stoked to have received this exclusive Twilight e-card widget for all you Twilighters out there. I know that you, like me, are anxiously awaiting both the August 2 release date of Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the series, and the December 12 release of the hotly anticipated Twilight movie. This will give you a little something to do to kill the time while you're waiting.

Edward looks much more ... vampirish than in the earlier cast shots we saw, and you'll note that his eyes are most assuredly topaz here. What do you think of the pic? Check it out, send it to all your Twlight-mania friends, and enjoy! For more on Twilight, feel free to visit the film's official website.

One of my colleagues just IM'd me with the following: "Did you see there's a 1-minute clip of 'Twilight' online???? OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG." While I suspect he was being just a teensy bit sarcastic with the "OMGs," there is indeed a nice little one-minute clip up over on MTV of part of the scene at the ballet studio with James going after Bella, and Edward coming to the rescue. It's a short clip, but it definitely gives you a feel for how director Catherine Hardwicke is handling the action of the vampire fights, and it's pretty intense.

It's just enough to whet your appetite a bit for the full scene up on a big screen ... and of course, by that point in the storyline, there will be plenty of dramatic tension from what's taken place before that to up the intensity level even more.

Whew. Now that I'm back from Cannes, it's time to dive back into checking out what's going on in the world outside the glamor and glitz of the world's sexiest film industry trade show. Of course, one of the first things I wanted to catch up on was what's been going on in the world of Twilight fandom. Before leaving for Cannes, I snagged a copy of Stephenie Meyer's' newest book, The Host, and I devoured it every night while on the trip.

Quick thoughts on The Host: Compelling and dramatic story, great characters, and it pretty much has "adapt me into a movie, please!" written all over it. For those not in the know, the book is a tale about an alien invasion by a race of intelligent parasitic beings who take over the body of a host and obliterate the "soul" of the person who previously resided there.

Okay, I'm going to try to write this post without pissing off a gazillion people. See, our resident Twilight expert, Kim, is flying to France right now, and so I'm the lucky guy left to write about Twilight. And speaking of the biggest teen vampire film to hit the states since The Lost Boys, a brand new poster for Twilight has been released by Summit Entertainment. (You can check it out to the right and click to enlarge.) Additionally, we've decided that now is the time to introduce our official Twilight gallery (see below). Fans of the film should definitely save that gallery link and check back daily as we'll be adding more photos real soon.

And there's more! CulturePulp's Mike Russell tipped us off to this super funky comic strip he created, which was inspired by a recent trip of his to the set of Twilight. The comic strip is supposed to compliment an article he wrote for The Los Angeles Times. The comic is a damn funny read, as Mike takes you through a scene where they're playing vampire baseball and running at 30mph. Don't know, but it sounds good.

Confession time! I've never read Twilight, and I have absolutely nothing against the book or its fans. However, the only thing that worries me about this film is Kristen Stewart. Hate me forever, but she always plays the disturbed, "I have several emotional issues that stem from my childhood" kinda gal. Not a bad thing, mind you, but I've never seen her give us an ounce of power, of energy, of anything, really.

So here's a question for you fans: Do you think Kristen Stewart is the right actress to play your beloved Isabella Swan? Have you seen her other films? (Or maybe Isabella is a really boring person, because then Stewart would be excellent in the role.

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Kidding? Yes, that's right, as in kids, young 'uns, rug rats. This week on Trailer Park, we're scoping out previews of movies that are for or about the kiddies.

The Rocker
Kid is a relative term, but the teens populating this comedy are kids from where I'm sitting. Probably best known for playing Dwight on NBC's The Office, Rainn Wilson stars as a washed up 80s rocker who was booted out of a succesful band right before they hit it big. Kind of like Pete Best but with spandex and big hair. His teenage nephew's band is playing at the prom and they need him to fill in. The gig goes well and Wilson's character ends up touring with the band. There's a definite hint of School of Rock, but Wilson is so appealing in the role that I've chosen to overlook that and the groin injury joke (a hokey device that is often a deal breaker for me). Here's what Erik thought of the trailer.

The Twilight teaser trailer is up over on MySpace, and it's short (oh, so short!), but pretty damn sweet (you can watch it above as well). What we do see of Bella and Edward, and the chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson looks good. We get a feel for how Catherine Hardwicke is handling the vampires' ability to move faster-than-life, and see a snippet of the scene where Tyler nearly runs over Bella with his van, only to have Edward zip in out of nowhere and save her. It's one of my favorite scenes from the book -- it's really the first moment when Bella comes to realize that there's more to Edward than what she sees, and it looks like Hardwicke has captured that moment well.

My only real complaints are that it's short (I want more!) and that we don't see Alice or Jacob, or the trio of bad vampires. I know, I know, more will be coming, but I'm impatient. Oh, and also ... is it just me, or do Edward's eyes look too normal? I want to see golden eyes, topaz eyes ... "good" vampire eyes!

Alright, Twilighters, I know you're out there, and you always have plenty to say on everything Twilight. What do you think of this teaser-trailer? Are you liking the look and feel of what you've seen so far? And most importantly, how, oh how, are you going to wait until December 12, when the movie finally hits theaters?

Holy Cullens! Hold onto your seats, all you Twilight fanatics. This is the first official ensemble piece with final hair, makeup and costume (those other photos, we believe, were test shots, but this one gives our first official look at the characters inside the Twilight universe) Click on the image for a larger view -- you know you want to -- then let's take a moment to dissect the loveliness, shall we?

I know all you hardcore Twilighters know these characters, but for those who don't, we have, from left to right: Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen; Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen; Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan; Robert Pattinson as uber-hot vampire Edward Cullen; Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale; and Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale.

We've been covering the various bits of Twilight news, set visit write-ups and behind-the-scenes goodies extensively here, but this is the first time that we've seen the cast in character like this. Aside from the fact that the image looks totally cool and perfectly captures that "Twilight-vibe," can I just say that any doubts anyone out there is still harboring about Robert Pattinson as Edward should be totally laid to rest by this picture?

As if I needed another reason to look forward to Speed Racer, it looks like the first teaser trailer for December's Twilight will ship with the prints of the May 9th film. According to Collider, the trailer will ship "in the can" rather than attached to the print, which works as a strong suggestion to exhibitors that they should show the trailer with the film, but isn't a mandate. So if you're considering buying a Speed Racer ticket to get your first glimpse of Twilight, you should know you'd be taking a chance.

I'm quite curious to see the trailer, not because I'm a fan of the novels (which I now feel duty-bound to read) or think that Robert Pattinson is dreamy, but because I'm so fascinated by the singularly bizarre pop culture phenomenon that this movie represents. There's been a sort of droning hum in the film community about Twilight becoming a Christmastime mega-hit, but no one (save Kim Voynar) can find anything useful to say about it because no one knows what it is. Adults without children of the right age are completely out of the loop on something that -- we're told -- is going to absolutely burst out of the gate. This was not the case with Harry Potter, which raises a question: How explosive can Twilight be given its age and gender-specific appeal?

Boy, you're gone for a few days to cover a film festival, and you miss all kinds of new Twilight news. Here's a roundup of the most recent Twilight goodness:

Over on the Twilight Lexicon blog, they've posted several of new pics from the Twilight set from Twilighter Janae, who's town was used as the stand-in for Forks.

Also on the Lexicon, more set photos, these from Indian Beach, the stand-in for La Push. These have been edited into a nice little video, for your viewing pleasure. And this is just a preview, they're editing more as we speak. Nice job, guys.

Twilight fans can almost universally agree on one thing: the book's single most romantic moment is the first time Edward plays the lullaby he wrote for Bella on the grand piano in his home. It's a lovely scene, partly because it's the first time Bella has been invited into the home of Edward's vampire family and been accepted into their midst, and partly because, well, what girl wouldn't swoon having a guy like Edward compose a beautiful song, written just for her?

Twilighters have discussed endlessly which song should be "Bella's Lullaby;" now, via MTV's blog, which has an excellent piece full of yummy interviews with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Catherine Hardwicke and Stephenie Meyer comes word that Pattinson himself may compose the lullaby.

Ooooh, boy. Over on Stephenie Meyer's website today, they posted a link to some new behind-the-scenes Twilight video over on MTV, and what I saw on the video looks very promising. They have footage on there of the filming of the fight scene between James and Edward, and some chats with a few of the stars of the film, and I have to say, it seems like director Catherine Hardwicke and her cast seem to really "get" both what Twilight is about, and their responsibility to fans of the series to get it right.

The more I see of how Hardwicke is putting the film together, the better I feel about the possibility that this might actually end up being a case where the film adaptation comes close to being as good as the book, and it's looking like hardcore Twilighters might end up loving this film. And of course, Hardwicke knows that if they're going to make this a series of films, it's imperative that she not screw up this first installment; most Twilight fans I know would rather not see a movie made at all than see it done poorly.

Between seeing We are Wizards at SXSW last month, Elisabeth's excellent Geek Beat column on cosplay and costuming (that's her at the right, dressed as Queen Gorgo), JK Rowling squaring off in court with Steven Vander Ark over this Harry Potter Lexicon, and following the wonderful Twilight fan sites more closely of late, I feel like I've been double-dipped in fandom recently. All this has got me thinking on the concept of fandom and fantasy and what drives people (like myself) to obsess about fictional worlds and characters, and where the line is between healthy love and admiration for books and films and unhealthy obsession.

Don't get me wrong here ... I totally love fansites.. Fans who maintain fansites give hours and hours of their personal time to keeping those sites going, and when sites get popular, they have to recruit other obsessed fans to help them out, all while maintaining the quality of the site and keeping away trolls (and, in the case of Twilight Moms, maybe a few irate spouses to boot!) But how much is too much?

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer added an update to her blog today after a visit to the Twilight set. She shares some nice tidbits about how she felt watching the "humans" in the cast bring their characters to life, and has a funny anecdote about a prank pulled on her by Peter Facinelli (Carlisle) over the crucial issue of what happens to food vampires eat if they ever have to pretend to eat to fool humans (kinda gross answer: they eventually have to regurgitate it!).

Most interesting to me of Meyer's thoughts on how the filming is going, though, is what she has to say about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson "channeling" Bella and Edward. Meyer seems very pleased with the performances by both actors so far, and notes that the chemistry between the two is so good that fans "might want to bring a paper bag to the movie, because their on-screen chemistry may cause hyperventilation." Dang.

Oh, those Twilight Moms. How great are they? Only a truly obsessed fan would brave a rainy, dreary Pacific Northwest day to go watch part of the shoot for Twilight -- and have the presence of mind to get some great pics as well. Although, as a mom myself, I can attest that if you've been through childbirth, staying home with kids building block towers all day, and picking up formerly wet Cheerios that have crusted dry onto pile carpeting, a day spent in the rain watching a movie you can't wait to see be filmed is the best mom field trip ever. And if I was still in Seattle, you can bet that my daughter and I would be having some bonding time driving down to Oregon to catch the film being shot, too.

Here are my thoughts of what I've seen of the shoot and behind-the-scenes stuff so far. The setting in the pics from this shoot is absolutely gorgeous and really captures the beauty and essence of the Pacific Northwest. As for the potential of the film to not suck, the casting of Bella and Edward in particular was crucial to the book series' ardent fans accepting the film, and I'm digging the casting at this point. Having just seen Kristen Stewart in What Just Happened?, I think she has exactly the right look and attitude to play Bella; she does the brooding teen thing well, but also has the softness and intelligence that's such a part of who Bella is. She kind of reminds me of early Christina Ricci, minus the edge and acerbity that Ricci tended toward.