Twilight Coven Philippines

As the movies for the Twilight Saga are slowly winding down, Summit Entertainment has decided to create an interactive experience shaped around the fans, the reason why the series has become the phenomenal franchise it is today.

Instructions are accompanied by a welcome/demo video narrated by Nikki Reed (Rosalie).

Entertainment Weekly just released nine exclusive photos from Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner's photoshoot for its Fall Movie Preview. Also get to see snippets of EW's interviews with the New Moon actors in the slideshow.

Here's a brief rundown of the New Moon cast in case you need a refresher (or if you just want to see Robert Pattinson's abs LOL). Check out the slide presentation compiled by Extra.

Peter Facinelli talks about how he got into acting, managing his family life, and how it is being part of the Twilight franchise and playing another doctor in Nurse Jackie in this exclusive interview with IESB.

Michael Welch got to answer fan questions via Buzznet.com. Read that interview and see why he believes that Edward Cullen stole Zac Efron's sparkle.

Examiner.com posted a feature on the new proud owner of Bella's truck. Sterling Biegart purchased the truck when it was posted in Ebay and is now using the truck for charity purposes.

E! Online tackles on the likelihood that Twilight is already overexposed and bordering on overkill. Check out the article and share us your thoughts!

The teaser trailer for M. Night Sharmalarmalan... errrr, I mean M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, which stars Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, and of course, Jackson Rathbone, is now online. Watch it below, courtesy of MTV (no Jackson sighting, but it looks interesting):



Toys 'R Us in Canada has a new product in their catalogue: Barbie and Ken as Edward and Bella. Check it out here.

Also, if you haven't seen this funny Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs Edward Cullen video yet, what are you waiting for? :p

The Twilight Lexicon has an interview with Daniel Cudmore (Felix) here.

The New Worlds Alliance has officially welcomed us on their website!

Remember Peter Facinelli's Twitter bet? Well, he won! And if you aren't yet, please follow Rachelle Lefevre, as she donates money to a breast cancer research foundation every time her number of followers increases. :) Other legitimate Twitterers: Twilight Coven Phils., Peter Facinelli, Gil Birmingham, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, Justin Chon, Charlie Bewley, Jamie Campbell Bower.

With the release of the first of his own vampire series, "The Strain", co-written with Chuck Hogan, Hellboy and The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro was asked about Twilight. Although it's not his thing, del Toro admits that the series is "perfectly legitimate". Click here to view the full interview via MTV Rough Cut.

Hitfix asks: Who is Comic-Con's Most Wanted? Who will pack the halls to the brim: Megan Fox, Brad Pitt, or Rob Pattinson? Click here to read the full article.

After seeing Cam Gigandet win Best Fight with Rob at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, we here at TCP are really starting to miss seeing Cam on the big screen. But it looks like he's going back to his blood-sucking ways in an upcoming movie adaptation of the comic book entitled Priest, which is "set in a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece." Cam will be playing one of the murderous band of vampires going up against Paul Bettany as the Priest. Will he be channeling a bit of James? We'll see. Click here to read the full article via MTV Splash Page.

The National Ledger is reporting that 007 himself, Pierce Brosnan, will be joining Rob Pattinson in Summit's Remember Me. Click here to read the full story. Thanks to MeBella Granger for the link.

The Wall Street Journal has a great essay on why many of the recent young adult fiction are exploring darker themes. The essay mentions Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, which Stephenie Meyer recently recommended, as well as Gayle Forman's If I Stay, which was optioned for adaptation by Catherine Hardwicke. Click here to read the essay. Thanks to Ronald for the link.

Speaking of Catherine Hardwicke, the Twilight director has several projects in development, and she is looking to ask some of the Twilight cast to be in them. Click here to read the full story.

Peter Facinelli's new TV series, Nurse Jackie, already aired its pilot episode on Showtime. You can watch the entire Pilot on YouTube here. Nurse Jackie stars Emmy winner Edie Falco, while Peter plays a not-at-all-like-Carlisle physician, Dr. Fitch Cooper.

If you're on Twitter, Billy Burke has just joined the Wonderful World of Twitter! Follow his Tweets here (@billy_burke). While you're at it, why don't you follow us too (@twilightcovenph)? :)

The New Moon movie may be months away, but there are other things to look forward to in the Twilight Saga.

Little, Brown has announced that the following titles will be coming to stores near you soon!

August 4 - Breaking Dawn Special Edition with a DVD of the Breaking Dawn Concert Series and interviews with Stephenie Meyer. The hardcover edition also has a poster and a reproduction of handwritten lyrics for “My Never,” by Blue October’s Justin Furstenfeld

October 6 - New Moon: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion and New Moon Collector's Edition

October 13 - The Twilight Journals (see picture above). The journals have a tin package, and the pages have decorative quotes from the four books.

We will provide more information about the local release of these titles nearer to their publication dates.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group USA (Phils.) for the information.

UPDATE (May 7th): In response to responses on his article, particularly Charles Tan's series of two essays about the issue ["Clarifying the Great Book Blockade of 2009" and "More The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009 Fallacies"], Robin Hemley has made further clarifications and reveals more details about what happened. Click here to read his letter to Charles.
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Some of you might remember an issue we previously hinted at regarding the availability of the Twilight books a couple of months ago. We mentioned something about taxes, but couldn't reveal the full extent of what we knew because we actually didn't have enough details to present a balanced story.

Recently, though, the issue has apparently made it to the media, and more details have come to light. Robin Hemley, an author who is in the Philippines on a Fellowship grant, wrote a piece on the McSweeney's website entitled The Great Book Blockade of 2009. Inquirer columnist Manuel L. Quezon III summarizes what happened thus:

According to Hemley, the situation developed this way. Stephenie Meyer’s novel “Twilight” apparently did so well in the bookstores that the number of copies being imported attracted the attention of a Customs official. Examiner Rene Agulan decreed that duties be paid. It seems that the importer of the book reacted in a manner familiar to most book lovers in the country: to eliminate the hassle, the importer complied with the Customs levy on the title.

Hemley says surrendering to the authorities was a mistake because the Philippines, back in 1952, became a signatory to the Florence Agreement, a United Nations treaty that mandates the tax-free importation of books in order to facilitate the free flow of “educational, scientific, and cultural materials.” The importer’s submission to the whims of Customs whetted the Bureau’s appetite; they put a squeeze on all book importations by air. The result? For two months virtually no imported books entered the country.

This happened during the time we posted this availability update. So now you all know what we were vaguely talking about. :p

Apparently, all along, imported books were pretty much tax-free, which is why they are actually quite affordable, especially the Twilight books. However, despite the protests of the book sellers and distributors, as well as 50 years of accepted interpretations of the Florence Agreement, the Bureau of Customs will now impose taxes on imported books. Robin Hemley writes:

Customs (Finance) Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for "the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." For lack of a comma after the word "books," the undersecretary argued that only books "used in book publishing" (her underlining) were tax-exempt.

"What kind of book is that?" one publisher asked me afterward. "A book used in book publishing." And she laughed ruefully.

I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type.

Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn't educational.

"For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked.

"Yes," she told the stunned booksellers.

What does that mean? The imported books you buy in the stores would now be about 100 pesos or so more expensive, maybe even more than that, even if these books are not supposed to be taxable, based on the Agreement.

On a small scale, this just means we have to save up even more to buy books. On a grander scale, this shows us just how messed up some people in Government can be, and how important things, like promoting literacy and making sure most people can afford to educate themselves through reading, can easily be shoved in the back seat in the pursuit of money and power.

One more thing you should know: since all this hoopla originated with the importation of a lot of Twilight books, we'll tell you right now that the haters will blame Twilight for this. It has already happened. Don't hate on these people right back. Educate yourself about the issue and educate them. That's the only way we will all be able to understand what's really happening and to put up a united front as book lovers.

EDUCATE YOURSELF! "The Great Book Blockade of 2009" by Robin Hemley | Inquirer's Manuel L. Quezon III's opinion column discussing the issue | Republic Act 8047 - The Book Publishing Industry Development Act | The Florence Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials

We want to know what you think about this issue. Please post your opinions or relevant experiences in the comments. But before you do, please at least read Robin Hemley's and Manuel Quezon III's columns. We request that people not curse, and to word their opinions in a tactful, respectful, and logical manner. Thanks.