The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part One, Review

The Twilight Saga, an up-to-now-entertaining set of films about a love triangle between a vampire with a quiff, a dour-faced schoolgirl and a werewolf who can’t act, has always attracted an unreasonable amount of bile. Unusually, it hasn't come from critics, so much as the droves of young, straight males with a broadband connection who resent that a popular movie series has the gall to pander to an audience other than them.

Crowds largely made up of teenage girls and their approving mothers have so far spent £1.13 billion watching Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) brood and mumble their way through three increasingly well-made films that authentically captured the misery of being a love-struck teenager.

The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Part I" becomes the latest movie that is being parodied by "The Muppets". In several brand new posters of the upcoming comedy film, Miss Piggy and friends are seen imitating the pose of the main characters in the famous vampire film series. They also change the title into "The Muppet Saga".

Rocking her trademark red gown and pearl necklace, Miss Piggy is featured as Bella Swine, a parodied version of Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan. Meanwhile, Kermit the Frog is Vamphibian, a twisted version of Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen. In another one-sheet, Rowlf the Dog appears as WereRowlf, which is a parody for Taylor Lautner's Jacob Black.

"Breaking Dawn Part I" itself will be released in theaters across the nation on November 18. The cast recently attended the star-studded premiere of this latest "Twilight" movie at at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles on Monday, November 14.

As for "The Muppets", the comedy will be dropped in U.S. theaters on November 23. It will see Miss Piggy and the gang teaming up with humans, Gary and Mary, to stop the mean Tex Richman from destroying Muppet Theater and Muppets Studio to drill oil. Jason Segel plays Gary, Amy Adams stars as his girlfriend Mary, while Chris Cooper portrays Tex.

Serving as the helmer for the comedy film is James Bobin. The script is penned by Segel along with Nicholas Stoller. The film will feature a slew of A-list cameos, including Selena Gomez, Neil Patrick Harris, Lady GaGa, George Clooney, Katy Perry, Ben Stiller and more.
But this fourth and penultimate film, in which Edward and Bella marry and finally consummate their relationship, takes an Olympic-pole-vault-sized leap backwards. Director Bill Condon and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg have adapted Stephenie Meyer’s awkward source novel into a formless, gormless soap opera: it’s a humourless, incoherent bore that lives down to the very worst stereotypes associated with the franchise.

After a brief prologue in which the cast receive their wedding invitations and Jacob gets so angry he takes his t-shirt off – don’t question it, it’s what he does – the film opens with Edward and Bella’s long-awaited nuptials. These are admittedly well-mounted and the bride’s Pippa Middleton dress is very on-trend. They also give the unsung heroes of the Twilight cast, Billy Burke as Bella’s father Charlie and Anna Kendrick as her friend Jessica, their once-per-film chance to show off: in this case, in an enjoyable after-dinner speech montage that recalls a scene from this summer’s sleeper hit comedy Bridesmaids. The happy couple then jet off on their Brazilian honeymoon, during which the groom’s enthusiastic lovemaking demolishes their four-poster bed – well, after 200-odd years of abstinence, it would do.

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'Dancing With the Stars' semifinals: Ricki rules; Hope sinks

The four semifinalists got intense Monday night as they competed for the three spots in next week's final week of Dancing With the Stars. Hope Solo, Rob Kardashian, Ricki Lake and J.R. Martinez had to dance three dances - two individual numbers (one an Argentine tango) and a Cha Cha relay. Dancing with the Stars': Hope out of the game

Injuries. Insults. The night had all the usual drama. Here's how the stars stacked up:

Ricki Lake and her partner Derek Hough were bright and cheery in yellow costumes for their first number, a samba. "I can taste the finals," said Ricki in rehearsals. And she probably can. The crowd went nuts for their well-done dance, even though Ricki seemed to think she had flubbed some of it. Judge Len Goodman raved: "Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous." Bruno Tonioli called it "sizzling hot, bright and brilliant." And Carrie Ann Inaba praised Ricki for finally getting her shoulders down. Scores: 10, 10, 10 = 30

Before her second dance, Ricki's backstory was shown. She talked about growing up outside of New York City and seeing Annie, which made her want to be on stage. But she said, "I was molested in my own home," and that prompted her to turn to food, hitting 260 pounds at one point. She then managed to lose 100 pounds and launched a successful talk show. After it ended in 2003, she had a "really bad divorce," so she moved to L.A. to start over. Her precise tango was much praised. "Ricki, I don't think you know how good that was," said Len. Bruno said he was "transported" by it. Carrie Ann said she noticed Ricki's core strength had improved and said the dance had "pop." Scores: 9, 10, 10 = 29 Total: 59

Her Cha Cha earned her an 8. Total for the night: 67.

Rob Kardashian said in his rehearsal segment "It's my time to peak," and he picked a good time to do it. Using his secret weapon - his "butt" - he shook and shimmied in a lively samba with partner Cheryl Burke. Mom Kris, stepdad Bruce Jenner, sister Kourtney and her baby, Mason, all cheered like crazy, along with the rest of the audience. Carrie Ann raved: "Holy cow! ... fantastic!" Len and Bruno agreed. "That's how you turn a handicap into an asset," said Bruno. Scores: 10, 9, 9 = 28

Rob's backstory showed that he has had to cope with being the only guy in a house full of ambitious girls. He was close to his father, famed defense lawyer Robert Kardashian, who died of cancer in 2003, and he has been trying to figure out what to do with his life. "He entered the competition as a boy. What I see now is this man," said his mom, Kris Jenner. (Rob is 24.)

His Argentine tango was manly enough. "There's no way to fake good dancing," said Carrie Ann. "That was good strong dancing, good strong leading." Len said he was "finishing strong." And Bruno said, "You started out as a goofy outsider. Now you look like a leading man - slick, dark, handsome, in control." Scores: 9, 9, 9 = 27 Total: 55

His Cha Cha earned him a 10. Total for the night: 65

J.R. Martinez twisted his ankle in rehearsal on Saturday and lost practice time resting it, so he worried that it would affect his paso doble. Blindfolded and looking like Zorro, he managed to twirl his partner Karina Smirnoff around the floor, but his style was definitely not up to the bar he set last week with perfect scores. Not only that, he was hobbling when he got off the floor at the end of his dance, and he said he had twisted his ankle again. The crowd was supportive, giving him a standing ovation and lots of cheers. Bruno praised his attitude, but said his posture was lacking. Carrie Ann agreed. Len said, "This dance didn't suit you at all. It was more zero than Zorro." Scores: 8, 7, 8 = 23.

J.R.'s story of being injured in Iraq was recounted before he took to the floor for an Argentine tango that didn't seem to show he was suffering from any injury. J.R. acted mad about it, as if he hadn't performed well. Again, the crowd stood and cheered. Bruno called it "incredible." Carrie Ann said the lifts were difficult and he "commanded it." Len said it had "mood and intensity." J.R. said that his ankle was in pain, but the doctor had re-taped it. "This is not the time to quit. At all." Scores: 9, 9, 9 = 27. Total: 50.

His Cha Cha earned him another 6 points. Total for the night: 56

Before Hope Solo tackled her paso doble, she needed a big shot from her doc. Apparently she has major shoulder pain from a tear she suffered at some point in the past. "I'm in pain pretty much the entire time on the dance floor," she said. But you couldn't tell in her fiery (there were flames shooting from a box on the ballroom floor), aggressive paso with partner Maks Chmerkovskiy. The dance didn't impress the judges, however. Len said Hope "lost finesse." Bruno said she was "untamed" - in a good way - but her dance lacked "artistry." Carrie Ann said she"nailed the character of the dance," but was lacking otherwise. Scores: 7, 7, 7 = 24. "Thank you, everybody!" said Maks, not meaning a word of it. "It's a new Stepford Maks," said host Tom Bergeron.

Before her second dance, we saw a taped segment of Hope being a tough competitor, even as a kid. She spoke of her parents' difficult divorce and she cried as she recounted her dad's troubled life.

Later, her Argentine tango was fierce. Len called it a "bullfight of tasty morsels." Bruno said it was "much better" than her first dance. And Carrie Ann cited Hope's lack of "grace." As Carrie started her critique, Maks started smiling (in a sarcastic way). Hope sounded ticked after that, telling co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet, "I think from Day One they've wanted me off the show!" Scores: 8, 8, 8 = 24 Total: 45.
She came in last place in the Cha cha, adding 4 to her score. Total for the night: 49

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Crackdowns reach epicenter of Wall Street protests

The encampment is gone, but the movement lives on still. What nobody knows is just how long it can survive without a literal place to call home. Crackdowns reach epicenter of Wall Street protests. N.Y. judge backs ouster of Occupy protester. U.S. Mayors Crack Down on Occupy Wall Street.
For Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park was a rallying cry — a symbol of defiance against a government and a society that the protesters wanted to overthrow. But in recent weeks, the park itself unwittingly morphed into a mirror image of the world it was trying to change: a microcosm of society rife with crime, drug problems and fights over things like real estate and access to medical care.

That's why, after protesters were hauled out of the park during a police raid early Tuesday, some organizers believe the loss of their camp is actually a blessing in disguise.

"This is much bigger than a square plaza in downtown Manhattan," said Hans Shan, an organizer who was working with churches to find places for protesters to sleep Tuesday night. "You can't evict an idea whose time has come."

The protesters have been camped out in the privately owned park since mid-September and had vowed to stay put indefinitely. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he ordered the sweep because health and safety conditions had become "intolerable" in the crowded plaza. The raid was conducted in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation" and "to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood," he said.

By early Tuesday evening, some protesters were being allowed back into the park two by two. But they could each take only a small bag after a judge ruled Tuesday afternoon that their free speech rights do not extend to pitching a tent and setting up camp for months at a time.

Pete Dutro, head of the group's finances, said the loss of the movement's original encampment will open up a dialogue with other cities and take the protest to the next level of action.

"We all knew this was coming," Dutro said. "Now it's time for us to not be tucked away in Zuccotti Park, and have different areas of occupation throughout the city."

Where will they go next remains unclear. Without a place to congregate, protesters will have a difficult time communicating with each other en masse. The leaders of the movement spent most of Tuesday gathering in small groups throughout the city — in church basements, in public plazas and on street corners — and relaying plans in scattered text messages and email.

For now, they're planning to move forward with plans for a day of civil disobedience and marches on Thursday, which has been in the works for weeks. And they'll be joined by angry city leaders who publicly denounced Bloomberg for the nighttime raid.

Robert Harrington, owner of a small importing business in New York, stood outside the barricade with a sign calling for tighter banking regulations.

"To be effective it almost has to move out of the park," Harrington said. "It's like the antiwar movement in the '60s, which started as street theater and grew into something else."

"The issues," he added, "are larger than just this camp."

The next challenge is figuring out how to decentralize the movement and give it staying power.

"People are really recognizing that we need to build a movement here," Shan said. "What we're dedicated to is not just about occupying space. That's a tactic."

The aggressive raid seemed to mark a shift in the city's dealings with the Wall Street protests. Only a week ago, Bloomberg privately told a group of executives and journalists that he thought reports of problems at the park had been exaggerated and didn't require any immediate intervention.

It was the third raid of a major camp in a span of three days, as police broke up camps Sunday in Portland, Ore., and Monday in Oakland, Calif.

The timing did not appear to be coincidental. On Tuesday, authorities acknowledged that police departments across the nation consulted with each other about nonviolent ways to clear encampments. Officers in as many as 40 cities participated in the conference calls.

When New York police began their crackdown at 1 a.m., most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters were sleeping.

Officers arrived by the hundreds and set up powerful klieg lights to illuminate the block. They handed out notices from Brookfield Office Properties, the park's owner, and the city saying that the plaza had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous.

Many people left, carrying their belongings with them. Others tried to make a stand, locking arms or even chaining themselves together with bicycle locks.

Dennis Iturrralde was fast asleep on a cot when the shouting woke him up. Dark figures were running through the tents in the dim orange light of streetlamps. Something slammed into the cot, flipping him to the ground.

"They were tearing everything apart," Iturralde said. "They were hitting people, spraying people if they didn't move fast enough."

Within minutes, police in riot gear had swarmed the park, ripping down tents and tarps. The air was filled with the sound of rustling tarps, rumbling garbage trucks, shouts and equipment crashing to the ground.

Around 200 people were arrested, including a member of the City Council, at least a half-dozen journalists covering the confrontation and dozens who tried to resist the eviction by linking arms in a tight circle at the center of the park.

The arrested journalists included a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press who were held for four hours before being released.

In contrast to the scene weeks ago in Oakland, where a similar eviction turned chaotic and violent, the police action was comparatively orderly. But some protesters complained of being hit by police batons and shoved to the ground.

The police commissioner said officers gave the crowd 45 minutes to retrieve their belongings before starting to dismantle tents, and let people leave voluntarily until around 3:30 a.m., when they moved in to make mass arrests.

"Arresting people is not easy," he said, adding that he thought the officers "showed an awful lot of restraint in the face of "an awful lot of taunting, people getting in police officers' faces, calling them names."

The ouster at Zuccotti Park came as a rift within the movement had been widening between the park's full-time residents and the movement's power players, most of whom no longer lived in the park.

Some residents of the park have been grumbling about the recent formation of a "spokescouncil," an upper echelon of organizers who held meetings at a high school near police headquarters. Some protesters felt that the selection of any leaders whatsoever wasn't true to Occupy Wall Street's original anti-government spirit: That no single person is more important or more powerful than another person.

"Right now we're in the organizing stages of building a national movement," said protester Sandra Nurse. "I think this is going to serve as more momentum to draw people in."

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Bob Costas kindness for Jerry Sandusky

bob costas drag is in the sports and in entertainment. bob costa Fans were debating the head-scratching decisions, amateurish mix-ups and mighty clutch performances of Game 6 on Friday, eagerly rehashing a series of performances unmatched in the championship's 108-year history.
The greatest World Series game ever, or one of the greatest?

The St. Louis Cardinals were one strike from elimination not once but twice, rallying to beat the Texas Rangers 10-9 on David Freese's home run in the 11th inning Thursday night and force the World Series to a Game 7 for the first time since 2002.

“I'm sure someone already has invoked Dickens,” said John Thorn, baseball's official historian. “It was the best of games. It was the worst of games. It's certainly in the top 10 among postseason games. It may be in the top five.”

Where it ranks is a question of personal preference. But certainly it's part of a group that includes extra-inning finales in 1912 and 1924, Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956, Bill Mazeroski's Series-ending home run in Game 7 in 1960, Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning home run that won Game 6 in 1975, the Don Denkinger game in 1985, the Bill Buckner error that ended Game 6 in 1986, hobbling Kirk Gibson's home run in the 1988 opener, the Jack Morris 10-inning shutout in Game 7 in 1991 and Luis Gonzalez's winning single off Mariano Rivera in Game 7 in 2001.

The World Series that many thought wouldn't be worth watching turned into a classic.

“It's very, very high up there,” broadcaster Bob Costas said. “There are other all-time great games that have been played well from top to bottom. Part of what made this compelling is the gaffes, following by heroics — by the same guys. There were debatable decisions by both sides, so many twists and turns. The word ‘unbelievable' is constantly used in sports. This game actually beat the adjective ‘unbelievable.“’

Perhaps it's easier to rank this among only games at the same stage of the Series.

“I think among Game 6s, I might take this one,” Thorn said. “For excitement, I would say the closest to this would be Game 7 in 1960, where you had lead reversals, horrible blunders, sloppy play, wretched pitching in spots and great heroics capped by the walkoff homer.”

Before Thursday night, a team had been one out from elimination and come back to win just twice in Series history. Then, improbably, it happened in both the ninth and 10th innings.

“Good pitching? No. Good baseball? No,” Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said. “But there were so many goods — leadership, character, never-say-die attitude. It certainly was a thriller.”

Almost forgotten were the bumbles and stumbles earlier in the night, when the teams comically combined for five errors that led to four unearned runs. The Cardinals dropped a fly ball and a popup.

“In terms of a team failing, repeatedly and profoundly, on the elemental challenges — and then prevailing? I've never seen a team overcome itself like that,” said baseball historian Keith Olbermann of Current TV. “In that sense it's the greatest ‘comeback' in a potentially decisive game.”

The 623rd World Series game truly was like no other in baseball's championship.

“What happened today, I just think it's — you had to be here to believe it,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

For those who weren't there or watching, David Freese hit a tying, two-run triple with the Cardinals down to their last strike in the ninth inning, Lance Berkman hit a tying RBI single with the Cards down to their last strike in the 10th, and Freese homered to straightaway center leading off the 11th inning.

One day, there ought to be a movie.

Before Freese's triple, the Cardinals had just an 8.7 percent chance of winning, according to the sabermetric Web site Fansgraphs.com. After the hit, St. Louis's percentage increased to 62.4.

“Given the context of the situation, that pitch produced one of the largest changes in championship expectancy in the history of the sport,” Fangraphs' Dave Cameron wrote.

Josh Hamilton's two-run, 10th-inning homer boosted the Rangers' chances of winning to 92.3 percent. The came Lance Berkman's two-out, two-strike tying single in the bottom half and Freese's home run.

“Freese's heroics in both the 9th and 11th innings are historically unmatched,” Cameron wrote. “He posted the highest WPA (.969) of any position player in a postseason game in history,” he said, referring to the statistic for Win Probability Added.

Ahead 3-2 in the Series and on the verge of the first title in the 51-year history of a franchise that started as the expansion Washington Senators, the Rangers wasted 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 leads, the latter when Alexi Ogando walked Yadier Molina with the bases loaded in the sixth.

Consecutive homers by Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz against Lance Lynn, and Ian Kinsler's RBI single off Octavio Dotel built a 7-4 lead in the seventh, but Allen Craig hit his second homer of the Series in the eighth to cut the gap against Derek Holland.

Then in the ninth, Albert Pujols doubled off Pedro Feliz with one out against Neftali Feliz , Lance Berkman walked on four pitches and Craig took a called third strike. Down 1-2 in the count, Freese tripled, sending a 98 mph fastball over the glove of a leaping Cruz in front of the right-field wall as the record crowd of 47,325 at Busch Stadium cheered wildly.

“I just said, ‘Heater,“’ Freese recalled of his guess.

He was stranded when Molina flied out.

But quickly, the Rangers went back on top 9-7 when Elvis Andrus singled off Jason Motte with one out in the 10th and Josh Hamilton hit his first home run in 66 postseason at-bats.

“It's about time! That was my first thought. But you've got to finish the game off, and we didn't do that,” Hamilton said. “I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. We're just going to do everything we can to prepare. Guys are already talking about it. We're ready for Game 7. Shake it off and come back tomorrow.”

Who really believed that it wasn't over at that point?

“I understand it's not over till you get that last out,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “I was just sitting there praying we got that last out.”

Singles by Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay off Darren Oliver started the second St. Louis comeback in the bottom half. But when Scott Feldman retired Theriot on a run-scoring grounder to third for the second out, the Rangers were one out away again.

Pujols was intentionally walked for the fifth time in the Series before Berkman fell behind 1-2, took a ball and then singled to center on a 93 mph cutter from Scott Feldman.

“I didn't quite get it in enough,” Feldman said.

Mark Lowe fell behind Freese 3-0, then worked the count full. Lowe threw a changeup and Freese connected for his fifth postseason homer, a long drive that had half a dozen fans jumping from their seats onto the grass to grab it before the ball even landed.

“He got it,” Lowe said. “Just bad location. It wasn't the wrong pitch at all in my mind.”

The only other similar instances were these:

In 1911's Game 5 at the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants trailed the Philadelphia Athletics 3-1 in the ninth before Doc Crandall hit an RBI double and scored on Josh Devore's single. Fred Merkle — of Merkle's Boner fame in 1908 — won it with a sacrifice fly in the 10th, but the A's won the title the next day with a 13-2 win at Shibe Park.

Then in Game 6 in 1986 at Shea Stadium, the Mets trailed Boston 5-3 in the 10th inning and had two outs and none on before rallying on Ray Knight's RBI single, Bob Stanley's run-scoring wild pitch and Mookie Wilson's bouncer to first that went through Buckner's legs for a game-ending error. The Mets then rallied from a 3-0 deficit in Game 7 to win 8-5.

The only other tying hit with a team one out from elimination was in Game 6 in 1992, when Otis Nixon's ninth-inning single off Toronto's Tom Henke tied it 2-2. The Blue Jays went on to win 4-3 in 11 innings.

In more than a half-century as a player and broadcaster, Fox's Tim McCarver has seen some stirring performances. He puts Thursday's along the twin Yankees comebacks of 2001 — when Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius hit two-run, ninth-inning homers that tied Games 4 and 5, and New York went on to win both in extra innings. He also mentions the Morris and Gonzalez games.

“Last night's game is right there,” he said. “You don't even have to be a baseball fan to get involved with the passions and feelings of last night's game.”

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Police Begin Clearing Zuccotti Park of Protesters

Hundreds of New York City police officers began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early Tuesday, telling the people there that the nearly two-month-old camp would be “cleared and restored” before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested. Hundreds of New York police, some dressed in riot gear, cleared out "Occupy Wall Street" in Zuccotti Park early Tuesday so that sanitation crews could clean the site. Protesters were issued eviction letters and warned they would be arrested if they remained.
The protesters, about 200 of whom have been staying in the park overnight, initially resisted with chants of “Whose park? Our park!” as officers began moving in and tearing down tents. The protesters rallied around an area known as the kitchen, near the middle of the park and began building barricades with tables and pieces of scrap wood.

Over the next two hours, dozens of protesters left the park, while a core group of about 100 dug in around the food area. Many locked arms and defied police orders to leave. By 3 a.m., dozens of helmet-clad officers, watched over by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, closed in on the remaining protesters. They pulled them out one protester at a time and handcuffed them. Most were walked out without incident.

The officers had gathered between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges earlier and rode in vans to the one-square-block park. They entered shortly about 1 a.m.

As they did, dozens of protesters linked arms and shouted “No retreat, no surrender,” “This is our home” and “Barricade!”
According to their website, the day will include "Mass, Non-violent Direct Action" to "Shut Down Wall Street" at 7:00am, "Occupy the Subways" in all five boroughs at 3:00pm and "Take the Square," referring to Foley Square, at 5:00pm.

The crackdown follows similar eviction notices being issued at protest camps in Oakland, Calif., and Portland, Ore., in the past few days amid health and safety fears.

Three sets of eviction notices have been issued to campers at "Occupy Oakland" since Friday, with 33 demonstrators arrested after failing to disperse early Monday morning, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Police have maintained a presence at the camp in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, saying people can continue to rally but cannot camp or sleep there.

On Sunday, "Occupy Portland" protesters were evicted from their headquarters and about 50 were arrested as authorities cleaned up the parks the group had been residing in since the beginning of the demonstration in early October, the Portland Tribune reported.

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