The hit franchise known for trotting around the globe, from France and Italy to India and Morocco, is adding a new location to its roster: the Philippines. Universal Pictures’ “The Bourne Legacy,” the fourth movie based on the Robert Ludlum novels, started filming in Manila, the country’s capital, two weeks ago.

Scheduled to be released in theaters Aug. 3, the latest installment in the spy series was written and is being directed by Tony Gilroy — who penned the first three films -– and will be the first without Matt Damon playing the title role. Bourne is not a character in the new movie. Jeremy Renner, instead, will portray an agent in the same line of business as Bourne, with Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton co-starring.

The production, which has a budget of more than $100 million, will spend about 45 days in the Philippines. Scenes have already been shot in New York and Alberta, Canada, since filming began last September.

via Los Angeles Times by Dima Alzayat

3 Filipino actors in ‘Bourne Legacy’

January 11- MANILA, Philippines—At least three Filipino actors will play a role in the Hollywood action thriller “The Bourne Legacy.”

A source privy to the movie production said actress Izza Calzado, Jericho Rosales and Sid Lucero will be part of the fourth of the blockbuster “Bourne” series.

Even residents along Leveriza St. where the filming was made Wednesday said they have seen Lucero with some Manila policemen at the set.

Some local residents were tapped to play bit roles.

Victoria Jacela said she’s one of the extras for the movie. “We auditioned at our barangay. They only took our picture,” she said.

Wednesday’s filming was the start of the 45-day shoot in the Philippines of the movie, which stars Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton.

The production will also shoot in various locations in the country such as Marikina market, Navotas fish port, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Jones Bridge, Pasay Rotonda and Palawan.

via Phil. Inquirer by Tetch Torres

The Runaways movie premieres nationwide in the US, March 20th- the same day The Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD is released. Now Twi-hards have another thing to obsess about- Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart star in a biopic of the first all-female rock band in the mid-70s, known as The Runaways who lived up to that tumultuous era in rock n’ roll. This Indie movie was first presented in Sundance on Janaury 2010 and was luckily picked up by Apparition for wider distribution.

This movie isn’t for the fainthearted Twilight fans nor is it for under 17 (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) as this gets an R rating for sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll — all of it under age. I don’t recommend young girls to watch this unless they can clearly take the good out of the bad from it.

This film brings us back to the 70′s with all its cliches and what we know about rock n’ roll. Not much has changed really- managers taking in all the control and money, lots of experimentation and acting out, rebelling. Think lots of drugs, sex and booze! On top of that the girl band who were all barely 18 weren’t exactly packaged as Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus but were presented more as sex objects ready to be every guy’s fantasies. And of course there is the much-buzzed about make out (kissing) scene between Dakota and Kristen!

Just a sample of how the movie goes from a Rolling Stone Movie Review:

“Come on, you filthy pussies, let’s rock and roll.”

That trash talk is aimed at Kristen Stewart, 19, and Dakota Fanning, 16, stars of Twilight: New Moon, by Michael Shannon, in fierce, flamboyant form as evil-genius manager Kim Fowley. Kim is cursing the girls as members of the Runaways, a pioneering band of five jailbait rockers from broken homes that he wants to turn into the female Beatles.

I liked Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn book the most but not a Twilight Saga movie fan, haven’t seen New Moon and hated the first film but this movie might just change my mind on Kristen Stewart. I am also looking forward to seeing Dakota Fanning tackle on such a dark character where she’s anything but tame. I thoroughly enjoyed Dakota in The Secret Life of Bees and she’s a revelation!

Reading from different interviews, I am most excited about the soundtrack and music on the film. It’s amazing how Dakota and Kristen used their own singing voices and have the original characters Lead singer Cherie Currie (played by Fanning) and guitarist Joan Jett (played Stewart) praise them as though they were looking at the mirror seeing the two actress play them- not only look the part but sound like them too!

The Runaways is getting mixed reviews ranging from awful and a waste of a film to triumphant and must-see. Can Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart Twilight fans breakaway from seeing Bella Swan and Jane (going wild) in this totally different genre movie? Watch the trailer below. What say you?

I wish I’ve come up with the catchy title first but I ‘borrowed’ it from Vanity Fair’s review!

Top 10 TV Programs – Regularly Scheduled

1 American Idol-Wednesday FOX 14.4 (% of Homes in U.S. (Rating)
2 American Idol-Tuesday FOX 13.8
3 Dancing with the Stars ABC 12.0
4 NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 11.7
5 Dancing with the Stars – Results Show ABC 9.9
6 NCIS: Los Angeles CBS 9.8
7 NCIS CBS 9.4
8 NFL Regular Season L ESPN 8.8
8 Sunday Night NFL Pre-kick NBC 8.8
10 The Good Wife CBS 8.5
Source: The Nielsen Company
*Top primetime programs: Note Data from Jan 01, 2009- November 29, 2009, regularly scheduled programs. Household
Ratings include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing. Excludes programs with less than 4 telecasts and programs under 5
minutes

Top 10 Online Web Brands (U.S. Home & Work)

1 Google 147,301 (Avg Monthly Unique Audience (000))
2 Yahoo! 134,179
3 MSN/WindowsLive/Bing 112,389
4 YouTube 100,211
5 Facebook 94,459
6 Microsoft 92,086
7 AOL Media Network 91,548
8 Fox Interactive Media 68,951
9 Wikipedia 59,226
10 Apple 58,503
Source: The Nielsen Company
Note: Data from June – October 2009

Top 10 Brands Accessed Over Mobile Phones (U.S.) –
January – September 2009

1 Yahoo!
2 Google
3 MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
4 AOL Media Network
5 Weather Channel
6 Facebook
7 CNN Digital Network
8 Fox Interactive Media
9 ESPN
10 Apple
Source: The Nielsen Company, Nielsen Mobile NetView (January 2009-September 2009)

Top 10 Mobile Video Channels (U.S.)
Rank Brand
1 YouTube
2 FOX
3 The Weather Channel
4 Comedy Central
5 CBS
6 ABC
7 MTV
8 NBC
9 ESPN
10 E!
Source : The Nielsen Company, Nielsen Mobile Video Report 2009 YTD, Q1 2009-Q3 2009.
Rankings based on average audience 2009 YTD.

Top 10 Box Office – All Theatrical – thru Nov. 30, 2009
[Rank Title]  [Distributor]  [Cumulative Total US$]  [Open Date]

1 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Paramount 402,111,870 6/24/2009
2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Warner Bros. 301,948,049 7/15/2009
3 Up Disney 293,004,164 5/29/2009
4 The Hangover Warner Bros. 277,283,642 6/5/2009
5 Star Trek Paramount 257,730,019 5/8/2009
6 Twilight Saga: New Moon Summit 255,363,052 11/20/2009
7 Monsters vs. Aliens Paramount 198,351,526 3/27/2009
8 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Fox 196,573,705 7/1/2009
9 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Fox 179,883,157 5/1/2009
10 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox 177,243,721 5/22/2009
Source: The Nielsen Company / The Hollywood Reporter
Note: Data from Jan. 5, 2009 – Dec. 6, 2009 US and Canada Only. Traditionally, box office sales see significant increases
during the holidays.

Top 10 DVD Sales
Rank Title Distributor Release Date

1 Twilight Universal Home Entertainment 3/21/2009
2 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Paramount Home Entertainment 10/20/2009
3 Up Disney/Buena Vista Home Video 11/10/2009
4 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Paramount Home Entertainment 2/6/2009
5 Dark Knight Warner Home Video 12/9/2008
6 Gran Torino Warner Home Video 6/9/2009
7 Star Trek Paramount Home Entertainment 11/17/2009
8 Bolt Disney/Buena Vista Home Video 3/24/2009
9 Marley & Me 20th Century Fox Home Ent 3/31/2009
10 Quantum of Solace 20th Century Fox Home Ent 3/24/2009
Source: The Nielsen Company
Note: Data from Jan. 5, 2009 – Nov. 29, 2009; several key 4Q titles have not yet been released as of Dec 8. Note: Based
on Aggregate Disc unit sales (DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) from Jan 4 2009 thru Nov 29 2009. Does not include data from Wal*Mart.
Most other sell-through retailers are included.

Top 10 Music Albums
Rank Title Artist
1 Fearless Taylor Swift
2 I am…Sasha Fierce Beyonce
3 Dark Horse Nickelback
4 Twilight Soundtrack
5 Hannah Montana: The Movie Soundtrack
6 Circus Britney Spears
7 808s & Heartbreak Kanye West
8 The Fame Lady Gaga
9 Relapse Eminem
10 The E.N.D. The Black Eyed Peas
Source: Billboard 200 / The Nielsen Company
Note: Data from Billboard issue dates Dec 6, 2008 issue through November November 28, 2009
(sales data from Nov. 17, 2008 through November 15, 2009).

Top 10 Most Listened to Songs on the Radio

1 Love Story Taylor Swift
2 You Belong With Me Taylor Swift
3 I’m Yours Jason Mraz
4 Knock You Down Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo
5 Boom Boom Pow The Black Eyed Peas
6 Just Dance Lady Gaga featuring Colby O’Donis
7 Blame It Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain
8 I Gotta Feeling The Black Eyed Peas
9 Poker Face Lady Gaga
10 Live Your Life T.I. featuring Rihana
Source: Billboard Hot 100 Airplay / The Nielsen Company
Note: Data from Billboard issue dates Dec 6, 2008 issue through November 28, 2009 (airplay tracking dates of Nov. 17, 2008 through November 15, 2009).

Top 10 Most Digitally Downloaded Songs

1 Boom Boom Pow The Black Eyed Peas
2 Poker Face Lady Gaga
3 Just Dance Lady Gaga featuring Colby O’Donis
4 Right Round Flo Rida
5 I Gotta Feeling The Black Eyed Peas
6 Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) Beyonce
7 Gives You Hell The All-American Rejects
8 Love Story Taylor Swift
9 Heartless Kanye West
10 I’m Yours Jason Mraz
Source: Billboard Hot Digital Songs / The Nielsen Company
Note: Data from Billboard issue dates Dec 6, 2008 issue through November 28, 2009
(Sales data from Nov. 17, 2008 through November 15, 2009).

Top 10 Mobile Phones in Use (U.S.) – January -October 2009

1 Apple 3G iPhone 4.0%
2 RIM BlackBerry 8300 Series (Curve, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8350i) 3.7%
3 Motorola RAZR V3 series (V3, V3c, V3m, V3i, V3i DG, V3) 2.3%
4 LG VX9100 (enV2) 2.1%
5 LG Voyager 1.7%
6 Samsung SPH-M540 (Rant) 1.5%
7 RIM BlackBerry 9530 series (Storm) 1.4%
8 LG VX9700 (Dare) 1.3%
9 LG Vu series (CU915, CU920) 1.3%
10 RIM BlackBerry 8100 series (Pearl, 8110, 8120, 8129) 1.2%
Source: The Nielsen Company

Top 10 PC Game Titles in the U.S.

1 World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment (Publisher)
2 The Sims Electronic Arts Inc.
3 The Sims 2 Electronic Arts Inc.
4 RuneScape Jagex Ltd.
5 Halo: Combat Evolved Microsoft Game Studios
6 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Activision
7 Left 4 Dead Electronic Arts Inc.
8 Call of Duty Activision
9 Diablo II Blizzard Entertainment
10 Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks
Source: The Nielsen Company
Note: Data from Jan 5, 2009 – Nov. 29, 2009.

About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.

Happy 2010!

I have not gotten into the Twilight craze yet but the rest of my family are- and so is the rest of the world. I wasn’t particularly blown away by the first movie… maybe when I start reading the books I will get into it. My younger sis just finished reading the first three books that came from our other sis and now she’s passing them on to me.

Anyways, got an email from Cafe Press in partnership with Burger King that they are giving away some freebies to celebrate the premiere of “New Moon” this Friday November 20th. “CafePress is offering Twihards a one-of-a-kind surprise gift!” exclaims the mail.

To receive a free gift, simply visit www.newmoon.cafepress.com and enter the code CPNEWMOONGIFT2 (Got a new email code from Cafe Press.) FreeNewMoon when prompted. OR try this Burger King coupon code: BKNEWMOONGIFT.

I just got mine and I picked “Team Edward.” Will be giving the stickers to my nieces. Grab one as soon as you can, promo might not last very long…

Be warned, the site must be experiencing heavy traffic- it is too darn slow even for my high speed internet connection. Be ready to pay the $1.25 shipping (for US) as well- free isn’t all that free but it is a $12.00 item so that still is a pretty good deal especially for twihards who would pay so much to get their hands on anything Twilight…

Read the fine print: *Limit, one per order. All free sticker packs will have a shipping fee of $1.25 for all US destinations, $3 for all Canada shipping destinations and $4 for all other international shipping destinations. Certain international shipping destinations are excluded. Additional shipping charges will apply for any additional products purchased. While supplies last or until December 31st, 2009.

Enjoy.

December 1st, tried ordering another set and order went through! Just realized that this isn’t only one per household, one time. Rule says limit one PER ORDER. Doesn’t matter how many times you order as long as you pay shipping. Give some to friends now!

I was searching for the trailer and anything I could find of “Fame,” a remake of the 1980′s smash hit movie opening this fall 2009 because So You Think You Can Dance Season 4 Top 20 finalist- Kherington Payne is part of the cast. As I was watching, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle introduced herself and my “Fildar” (Filipino radar!) beeped. I scoured her name and my hunch was right!

Anna Maria, 19, born in San Francisco, CA is of Filipino, Irish and Spanish descent. She is the granddaughter of Filipina singer-actress Sylvia La Torre.

I think her long name: Anna Maria Francesca Enriquez Perez de Tagle kind of also gave it away for her. We Filipinos are among those who carry 4-6 names total. I have 5.

I didn’t realize how popular she is on TV playing alongside Miley Cyrus aka Miley Stewart in the hit Disney show “Hannah Montana” as Ashley Dewitt and another Disney hit show “Camp Rock” as Ella. I’m sorry but I’ve never seen a Hannah Montana or Camp Rock episode so I didn’t know. I never knew she existed until today. Yay!

Check out her official website. Tons of info about her and great photos. She really seem like a sincere individual, not some hung-up teenager who is full of herself. She credits her family for keeping her grounded. “It doesn’t make things better to have an attitude and a high head. I always say, “Keep your head high but only to a certain extent” …I have the best family to fall back and that’s why I love them,” she says on her page.

She has a knack for fashion and design and cites Monique Lhuillier as her favorite designer. She states of Monique: “She has the most beautiful dresses. Her designs are so intricate and the detail she puts into her dresses is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Plus, she’s also a Filipina.”

I find the most endearing on the website is her message center. She actually responds to personal messages sent to her by fans and even responds to snail mail. Whether she is the one personally writing the messages or her PA, (every celebrity has an assistant!) is beside the point. The messages are official and coming from her own site with her photo on the responses. Who does that in Hollywood?! Nobody takes the time to respond to fans. She does.

I’m excited to watch “Fame” coming in theaters on September 25th because I have seen the original and liked it and this remake not only has Kherington Payne in it but also Anna Maria. It will be interesting to see her in the big screen in an international movie.

cast of Fame

Fame Trailer

FAME “Meet the Cast” Exclusive

Fun Facts:
Birthday: 23 December 1990
Height: 5 feet 2 in
Weight: 100
Hair Color: Brown
Hair Length: Long
Eyes: Hazel
Ethnicity: Asian, Mixed
Voice Type: Soprano
Education:
* Gorman Learning Center, Los Angeles, CA, Undergraduate, 2006
* Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA, High School Under Graduate, 2005
* St. Justin School, Santa Clara, CA, Elementary /Jr. High School – Graduate, 2004
Awards:
The 1st Filipino American Visionary Awards, Rising Star, 2008, Venue: The Kodak Theatre – March 7, 2008