Holidays Vampire Sequel ‘New Moon’ at Box Office

LOS ANGELES, News update: The ‘Twilight’ vampire romance sequel ‘New Moon’ took a record-breaking bite out of the North American box office this weekend, final figures showed on Monday.

The second big-screen installment adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenally successful books raked in an astounding 142.8 million dollars in three days, the third biggest opening of all time, Exhibitor Relations said.

Only Batman sequel “The Dark Knight” with 158.4 million dollars and “Spider-Man 3″ with 151.1 million dollars have scored bigger openings.

However, the “New Moon” earnings are considered remarkable because the film was released in November, outside of the traditional summer blockbuster season.

Although the movie was unable to dethrone “The Dark Knight” or “Spider-Man 3″ for highest opening weekend, it did set records for biggest midnight opening and opening day, figures showed.

The “Twilight” franchise follows the fortunes of high school teenager Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart, and her vampire lover Edward Cullen, played by British heart-throb Robert Pattinson.

The success of “New Moon” left American football drama “The Blind Side” in second place.

The feel-good film, adapted from Michael Lewis’s 2006 book, is based on the real-life journey from rags to riches of Baltimore Ravens star Michael Oher.

Starring Sandra Bullock as the woman who helps Oher realize his dream, it earned a healthy 34.1 million dollars in its opening weekend.

In third place, end-of-the-world film “2012″ brought in 26.4 million dollars, more than double its next-runner-up, “Planet 51,” with 12.3 million.

“Disney’s A Christmas Carol” earned 12.2 million, trailed by acclaimed abuse saga “Precious” with 10.9 million dollars.

In seventh place was satire “The Men Who Stare At Goats,” starring George Clooney and Jeff Bridges as members of a military unit schooled in psychological warfare. The film took 2.8 million dollars.

Eighth spot was taken by comedy “Couples Retreat,” which earned 1.9 million dollars while extra-terrestrial drama “The Fourth Kind” was ninth with 1.7 million.

Michael Jackson concert movie “This Is It” completed the top 10 with 1.6 million dollars.

New Moon Reviews

New Moon Reviews: Imagine waking up to realise that you have aged 60 years but the love of your life is still a handsome, youthful man of 17. That’s how Bella Swan feels at the beginning of the second instalment in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, New Moon.

For the uninitiated, Bella (Kristen Stewart) is going out with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who happens to be a 109 year old vampire who stopped ageing over 90 years ago.

Edward and his vampire family Live in the small town of Forks where unlike other vampires they abstain from human blood, feeding instead off wild animals.

In New Moon, Bella begins to realise that it’s not safe for her to be human anymore, especially after her birthday where a little blood almost causes Edward’s vampire brother Jasper to attack.

To protect Bella, Edward decides that instead of turning her into a vampire and essentially damning her, he must leave her, causing Bella to spend months severely depressed — until she starts hanging out with Jacob Black.

Jacob (Taylor Lautner), becomes Bella’s best friend, whom she spends time fixing up some old dirt bikes with to indulge her new found rebellion.

A major heart throb in the series, 17-year-old Lautner received a collective squeal of delight when he first takes his shirt off, revealing his nicely toned chest and abs at which Lautner was forced to work extremely hard throughout filming to maintain.

The shirtless Jacob scenes leave fans excited for more, until you see Edward’s first shirtless scene later in the film — which in its pasty, scrawny comparison, disappoints!

When Bella finds out that her friend Jacob is a werewolf, you start to see some more action, including the transformations of Jacob and his wolf pack.

Despite the average special effects, the wolves are pretty scary and in general as a viewer you are so enthralled in the story you barely notice the special effects.

One thing you do notice however, is Jacob’s stunningly Hollywood white teeth — questionably too white for a guy meant to be a Native American werewolf!

Then there’s Edward, whose makeup in this film leaves you wondering if he just dipped his face in a bucket of pressed powder or had been crying all night wearing cheap eyeliner.

This game of opposites between Edward and Jacob is a theme carried out through the entire series. Cold versus hot, ‘good’ versus ‘bad’, tan versus pale, buff versus slim, old versus young, safe versus fun-loving… the list goes on.

Bella is forced to leave Jacob, her pillar of strength, to go and save Edward from the cruel vampire authority The Volturi, after he races to Italy under the impression that Bella was dead and wanting to end his own life by exposing his vampire traits (in this case, the fact that vampires sparkle in the sun) to the public in the Tuscan town of Volterra.
Source: take40.com

Zil-Haj Moon Sighted, Eid-ul-Azha on Nov 28

Pakistan: Zil-Haj Moon Sighted, Eid-ul-Azha on November 28, Zil-Haj moon has been sighted in various cities and Eid-ul-Azha would be celebrated on November 28 (Saturday). With the announcement by the Central Ruet-Hilal Committee, the fear of two Eids in the country has been dismantled. Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman chaired the meeting of the Central Ruet-Hilal Committee in Karachi. Several testimonies of moon sighting from various cities were received. Talking to media after the meeting, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman said that first Zil-Haj would be on November 19 (tomorrow) and Eid-ul-Azha would be celebrated on November 28. Eid would be celebrated on same day all over the country. The NWFP government has already announced to celebrate Eid on November 28.

Zilhaj Moon Not Sighted in NWFP

Peshawar, Pakistan: Differing with Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, the zonal committee of NWFP and local Ulema held a meeting in Peshawar. The meeting announced that Zilhaj moon was not sighted so Eid al-Adha will be celebrated on Saturday, November 28 across the province.

The local Ulema held a meeting under the chairmanship of Maulana Khair-ul-Bashar in historical mosque Masjid Qasim Ali Khan on Tuesday, whereas, Provincial Ruet-e-Hilal Ccommittee met in Auqaf Plaza. Both the meetings did not receive any testimony of moon sighting from any district of the province. The Zonal committee will meet again for moon sighting on Wednesday.
On the other hand, after the meeting in Masjid Qasim Ali Khan, Maulana Khair-ul-Bashar announced that the Ulema had decided to complete 30 days of Zeqaad. Therefore, first Zilhaj will be on Thursday Nov 19 and Eid al-Adha will be celebrated on Nov 28.

Is There Water On The Moon

Is There Water On The Moon: Three different spacecraft have confirmed that there is water on the moon. Not found in dark or deep craters hidden underground. The data indicate that water exists diffusely across the moon as hydroxyl or water molecules – or both – adhering to the surface at low concentrations. In addition, there may be a cycle in which water molecules are broken down and reformulated into a two-week cycle, which is the length of a lunar day.
This is not ice or frozen lakes, the quantities of water at a given location on the Moon are not much more than what is found in a desert on Earth. But there is more water on the moon than originally thought.

The Moon is believed extremely dry since the return of lunar samples from Apollo and Luna programs. Many Apollo samples contain traces of water or hydrated minerals minor, but these have usually been attributed to terrestrial contamination because most of the boxes used for lunar rocks to Earth was leaked. This led scientists to speculate that small amounts of water came from air found on Earth that had come into the containers. The assumption was that apart from possible ice at the poles of the Moon, there was no water on the moon.

Forty years later, an instrument aboard the ill-fated spacecraft Chandrayaan-1, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M cubed) found that infrared light was being absorbed near the lunar poles at wavelengths consistent with hydroxyl and water, taking the materials.

M3 looks the way sunlight is reflected on the lunar surface to understand what materials make up the lunar soil. The light reflects off different wavelengths of different minerals, and specifically, the instrument detects the wavelength of reflected light would indicate a chemical bond between hydrogen and oxygen. Given the known chemical symbol for water, H2O, which represents two hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom, this discovery was a source of great interest to researchers.

The instrument can only see the very top layers of lunar soil – maybe a few inches below the surface. The scientists were looking for a signature of water in the craters near the poles, but found no evidence of water instead of in the sunny parts of the moon. This was certainly unexpected and scientific team and re-watched M3 looked at their data for several months.
Source: universetoday.com

Water On The Moon: NASA

Water On The Moon: NASA: Perhaps not as exciting as life on Mars, but the water on the Moon is undoubtedly the next best thing. NASA scientists announced yesterday that a probe was deliberately crashed into the south polar region of the moon last month discovered at least 25 gallons of water.

“Yes, we found the water,” said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator of the project at the Research Center NASA Ames in California. “We have not found it a bit, we found a significant amount.”

Scientists praised the discovery as a success and finding water is a great impetus for future missions. Most believe that the most likely places for water are at the poles of the Moon, where there are permanently shadowed craters.

Scientists hope that future study of the results of research could shed light on the evolution of the solar system, in the same way that a sample of ice cores taken from deep within the earth’s surface reveals details of ancient geologic events.

The discovery of water is the result of a preliminary analysis of data from the Lunar Crater Observation and detection by Satellite (LCROSS). The probe and accompanying rocket, Centaur, deliberately crashed into the Cabeus crater near the south pole of the moon, and scientists have been studying the lunar dust plume resulting from recent weeks.

“We’re unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor, and by extension, the solar system. It turns out that the moon holds many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding,” said Michael Wargo, chief scientist of the moon in the NASA headquarters in Washington.

LCROSS spectrometer examined the light absorbed by dust particles to determine their composition and discovered a chemical compound that emits when sunlight breaks down water molecules. The probe found an estimated 25 gallons of water, Colaprete said.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Colaprete. “Several lines of evidence show water was present in both the high-angle plume of steam and ejecta curtain created by the impact of LCROSS Centaur. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it’s safe to say Cabeus holds water.

But Robert Park, a physicist at the University of Maryland and a prominent skeptic of human spaceflight, said the discovery means practically nothing to hope for the future of a base or colony on the lunar surface.

“They have not found a large deposit of it,” he said. “I suspect this is just the water clinging to soil particles. It is of negligible value. The amount of machinery which should be up there to try to recover – you have to do much before he could pay for it .

The LCROSS spacecraft and Centaur launched in June and traveled approximately 5.6 miles before the separation of the final approach to the moon. NASA intense promotion of the mission, which took place during celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing.

On October 9, the spacecraft approached the moon, Americans gathered on the lawns and in parks at night, waiting for a fireworks display. They were disappointed when the impact was invisible to the naked eye about 250,000 miles away.

The NASA mission confirmed a previous discovery announced in September a space mission of India, Chandrayaan-1, which are small amounts of water in the lunar soil.
Source: guardian.co.uk

What Drives Edward Phase 4

latest news about, What Drives Edward Phase 4: Volvo launched a tie-in contest with the second movie Twilight New Moon, “What drives Eduardo?”

Twilight fans who participate in the contest can win tickets and premiere a new Volvo. Many fans are having trouble with “What drives Eduardo, Phase 4,” and a question on Yahoo answers points to a video that apparently helps. (Hard fans: Stephenie Meyer appeared on Oprah today to promote the New Moon.)

Then a video of “leading to Edward, phase 4″ of the challenge. I’m not playing, so I say in the comments, does it work?

Source: inquisitr.com

What if Bush had done that?

Conservatives say Obama skates away from uproars that stung his predecessor.

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What if Bush had done that?

NASA pins big hopes on Ares today

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.| A moon rocket it’s not. However, NASA’s Ares 1-X flight test rocket, set to launch Tuesday morning at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will bring NASA one giant step closer to returning to the moon, to landing on an asteroid and to sending missions to Mars or other planets. The launch has been delayed until 9:44 a.m. because of wind. With a little more than two minutes of powered flight, space officials hope to gather enough information from the more than 700 sensors on the rocket to see if the design will work for the next …

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NASA pins big hopes on Ares today

NASA photos show moon strike created plume (AP)

AP – NASA’s much-hyped mission to hurl a spacecraft into the moon turned out some worthwhile data after all, scientists said.

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NASA photos show moon strike created plume (AP)

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