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'The Host' of Stephenie Meyer to be on the Big Screen

Stephenie Meyer, author of the 'The Host' and Popular Twilight saga just posted on her website about her book 'The Host' being made into a movie.

Hey guys, great news! The Host is on its way to the big screen:

Variety.com: “Twilight’s Meyer…”

I'm so excited to be working with Nick Weschler, and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz to bring The Host to a visual format. They've all been a dream to work with, so lovely and collaborative, and I feel like we're in a really good place to make a great movie together. And then to have Andrew Niccol writing and directing? Truly awesome. If you've never seen Gattaca, go watch it now. One of my favorite movies of all time. It's such a great example of character driven science fiction, which is ideal for The Host, no? I'm having an absolute blast imagining different dream casts, which I would post if people didn't take my silly blogs so seriously these days. I'm looking forward to seeing the cast lists you come up with in the fansite forums, and if any of them match mine.

So, very exciting. Yay Host!

Taylor Lautner Interview

Lautner's in high spirits, laughing his way through an interview where he tells BOXOFFICE about his secret love for romantic comedies and whether he'd ever date a fan.

If the last two books in the series hadn't already been written, what do you think Jacob should do to win over Bella?

I don't think he would have changed anything, and I don't think he should change anything. Jacob and Edward are extremely different guys and it's just whether you want one guy or another. Jacob is himself, and he has a relationship with Bella that Edward doesn't. And Edward has a relationship with Bella that Jacob doesn't. So I wouldn't change a thing.

As an actor, how do you make the audience root for Jacob and get invested in his feelings when the outcome of the love triangle is already known?

Well, you try and take things one step at a time. When I'm filming New Moon, I'm not thinking about Eclipse. When I'm filming Eclipse, I'm not thinking about Breaking Dawn. We just have to focus on the movie that we're doing.

What is it like for your family and friends to see people scream at pictures of you topless?

[Laughs] It's weird. It's embarrassing for me, and I'm sure it's awkward for all of them.

Have you gotten teased about it at family dinners?

Not yet, and I'm hoping that doesn't happen because I'll start blushing.

You came into acting from karate. Do they overlap—they seem to share the need for focus and concentration.

It's a lot of hard work. That's probably the most I got out of karate: it was a lot of work. A lot of training. And you need that for everything in life.

It's helped you take on these physical roles with Twilight and the Robert Rodriguez film.

Absolutely. And I love action, so it definitely helps with that.

Everybody has been talking about the muscle that you've put on. The furor around actors and their weight changes is something you usually see happen with older actors who are more established. You're 17—what is that like to have people paying so much attention to your biceps?

It's different. It was all for the job, and that's all. I knew that Jacob was going to transform not only mentally, but physically as well, from Twilight to New Moon, and I wanted to be able to portray him correctly for all the fans. That was my motivation. It was a lot of hard work, though.

Does your old karate coach wish you had that much muscle on you back when you were still competing?

I probably wouldn't have been as flexible, so it wouldn't have worked out that well. He's probably thankful.

What do you like about playing Jacob?

I love Jacob and Bella's relationship. It's very different from Edward and Bella's. Jacob and Bella start off as really good friends. They become best friends—they can tell each other anything, they do whatever together, ride motorcycles. I love that. And then their relationship starts growing into more and more, and you wonder if they're going to go past friends. I love being able to do that. And work with an amazing actress, Kristen Stewart, and all of the help around us, our director Chris Weitz, the whole crew. It's a lot of fun.

What will draw guys your age to New Moon?

There's a lot more action than Twilight. It's more exciting—it has werewolves and vampires, which creates fights because they don't get along. Not only does the action step up, but the whole story line does as well. Now there's a third person involved.

It's been years since we've had a good werewolf film—it's been vampires, then zombies, then vampires again. What's awesome about werewolves?

They're different. Werewolves are extremely strong, which is cool. But it's a bummer because I don't actually get to play my werewolf. It's full-blown CGI; it's either me or a CGI werewolf. So that's a bummer, but I know they're going to look awesome in the film. I'm excited to see it.

That wolfness—do you have to bring that animal movement in your human performance?

The only difference is in New Moon, I play pre-transformation Jacob, and post. He doesn't transform into a werewolf until halfway through the film. For pre-transformation, the books describe Jacob as clumsy. He trips over his own feet—he's a kid. And as soon as he transforms, he all of a sudden because extremely agile. There's several scenes that show his new agility, so that was the biggest thing I had to bring out.

Not to jump ahead too much, but Jacob's love life takes a turn in the fourth book that I think might be hard to translate to people who haven't read the series. Do you have any thoughts on how to handle his 'imprinting' on Bella's daughter?

I'm sure it would be different. It was definitely a surprise for me when I read the book. But we're just trying to take it one movie at a time, and nothings been confirmed yet on the fourth, so we're just staying focused on Eclipse at the moment.

What is your favorite thing to do while shooting a movie?

I always carry a football around with me, and there's a lot of people on set between the crew and the cast who like to play, so I'm always throwing the football around and that keeps me entertained.

Whose career do you want to have?

I've always loved Matt Damon. I love the Bourne series. Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington. But I'd also like to change things up. Not only do I like the action movies, the drama movies that all three of those actors do, I'd also love to challenge myself with different roles. Romantic comedies—I think the best examples would be Gerard Butler, Ryan Reynolds.

Ryan Reynolds has been so under-appreciated—he's amazing.

Tell me then about working with Garry Marshall [Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride] for Valentine's Day.

It was awesome. I was so glad I got to do that before I went back and filmed Eclipse. Working with Garry—that's a once in a lifetime thing. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see it when it comes out in February.

When it comes to romantic comedies, he's the king. If you wanted to get into them, there you are already.

Absolutely. I know—I couldn't have asked for more.

Are you romancing the other Taylor, Taylor Swift, in it?

Yes, in the movie. Which was a lot of fun.

Did you heart break for her when Kanye jumped in during the video music awards?

Yeah. It was...unfortunate.

What is a movie you love that you're embarrassed to admit?

The Notebook. I don't think I should be embarrassed to admit it though—it's a great movie. I'm not embarrassed. I'm saying it proudly.

One of the things I think is interesting about Jacob is he's an American Indian character put out there as this gorgeous romantic lead. The last time I can remember that happening, Daniel Day-Lewis or Kevin Costner were involved.

You know, I really haven't thought of it like that, so that's interesting? Thinking about that, yeah, it goes back to Last of the Mohicans.

You have some heritage yourself from your mother's side?

I'm mainly Dutch, German and French. That's pretty much who I am.

I heard there was also some Ottawa and Potawatomi?

We have no idea how much there is—it's in my far distant background.

Fair enough. I'm Dutch as well, so way to represent us—we don't get enough credit either.

Would you ever date a fan?

I don't exclude anyone...

What has that been like, dealing with the fan experience?

All I can say is it's mind-blowing. I, myself—and nobody else—ever expected it, so it's incredible to have the support and the passion of the fans behind us. We're so thankful because we wouldn't be here today on movie number three in Vancouver if it wasn't for them. They're amazing.

I saw that you have two books written about you on Amazon.

Are you serious?!

One is an unauthorized biography and the other is a 94-page picture book.

Oh my. I guess if it's unauthorized, then you can't believe anything. Don't believe anything you hear—or read.

People could say that you're half-alien, half-prince.

And everyone would be believing it. That would not be good. It's different. This whole franchise is unlike anything else. Which is a good thing, it's awesome.

Do you avoid Googling yourself?

Absolutely. That would not be good if I did that. Definitely try to stay away from that or it could get in your head.

Are you parents doing anything to try to keep your life in check? 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's millions of girls screaming, but you're still a normal kid?'

Absolutely. I'm hoping it doesn't take too much work. I feel the exact same—I'm the same person as before. It's just a completely different world. I have my world, and then I have Twilight world.

Interview with Quileute Nation Members

“The ‘Twilight phenomenon’ gives the Quileute Nation the opportunity to educate the world about their true history, traditions, culture and creation story,” said Quileute spokesperson Jackie Jacobs. “It was very important to this Nation to partner with an organization that we felt understood that the non-fictional Quileute story is more complex, multi-dimensional and sacred than [the one] everyone has been exposed to. We have been inundated with requests from various outlets to tell the story but felt that REELZCHANNEL embodied the authentic direction we wanted to explore while keeping it fun and interesting for the fans.”

This episode captures the sweeping landscapes of the tribal lands, giving viewers an exclusive look at the locations recreated for the film including the beach where Jacob tells Bella about the Cullen vampire legend, the cliffs that Bella leaps from to draw Edward back to her, and the school that Jacob attended as described in the “New Moon” book. Viewers are then transported to the celebrations of the culture through intimate ceremonies of the drum circle and tribal dances. The sights of the Quileute Nation come to life in the voices of its people in interviews with tribal elder and storyteller Chris Morganroth III and Roy Black known to the tribe as “Jacob’s Grandfather.” Actress Tinsel Korey, who portrays the character of Emily in the films, also shares her experience.

Ashley Greene's First Tweet

Peter Facinelli announces the official Twitter account of Ashley Greene from his Twitter Account.

Ashley Greene first tweet mentioning his co-star Jackson Rathbone was slightly injured during a fight scene rehearsal:

- Check out my first cover on Saturday Night Magazine!! Very exciting for me :)
2:09 PM Sep 23rd from web

- Just got off set.... Jackson seems like he's ok thank God.... can't believe he came to work today! He's a trooper :)
1:36 PM Sep 23rd from Sidekick

- Hey everyone! Headed to set.... sooooo excited about what I get to film over the next few days! You guys are going to love it :)
10:26 AM Sep 22nd from web

Check Out Ashley Greene Here.

Michael Sheen Talks New Moon

Michael Sheen a.k.a Aro of Volturi talks New Moon movie and hos other projects such as Tron Legacy, Alice in Wonderland and the Underworld franchise from an interview in Collider.

A few hours ago I spoke with Michael Sheen regarding his new movie “The Damned United”. While I’ll have much more on his new film soon, I was able to ask Michael about some of his other projects like “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”, “Tron Legacy”, “Alice in Wonderland” and the “Underworld” franchise. So if you’d like to hear what Michael had to say about those projects, hit the jump.

The first thing Michael told me was he’s heard the rumors about a 4th “Underworld”, but no one has contacted him yet.

We then spoke about the next “Twilight” movie, “New Moon” and he revealed the main reason he took the role of Aro is because of his daughter. He also talked about working on Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” and explained his love of the book and how the movie is going to be different.

Finally, when I did the TV portion of the junket, I asked Michael about his work on “Tron Legacy”. He told me about his love of the first film and how the sequel was practical sets and not green screen. Here’s what he said. The rest of the quotes are below.

You were in a very successful franchise, “Underworld,” and so I was wondering if they’ve talked to you about doing a 4th film?

Michael Sheen as Aro, leader of the Volturi, in The Twilight Saga New Moon.jpgMichael Sheen: Nobody has spoken to me about it. I heard a rumor…I heard someone saying there might be a 4th film but nobody has actually contacted me about it.

So going into “Twilight: New Moon”, were you nervous about taking this role because you had already come from a franchise like that, or were you more excited for the role? What was your thought process and what was it like making the film with all the hubbub around it?

Michael Sheen: I was mainly excited about it because I knew I would make my daughter very happy. Up front, that was the main reason. And then I read the books and I really enjoyed the books. I didn’t think I was going to, but I really did enjoy them. Then I was concerned that the fans of “Twilight” would be like, “But he’s played a werewolf; we can’t have him as a vampire,” and all that. But it hasn’t been like that. And because it was a very different character and I could sort of lose myself in it, hopefully people won’t have a problem with me having been in this other werewolf/vampire franchise. So when I went to do it, I just loved the character. I relished the opportunity to be there and be part of it. Now I’m just very pleased to have a whole new generation of people I can scare.

You mentioned your daughter. You’re quoted in the NY Post as saying she was a little annoyed when you took the part.

Michael Sheen: Right, well, I think she felt a whole combination of emotions. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the fact that I was going to be in it. I think she was really excited, but, at the same time, I remember what this was like when I was ten, eleven. If there was something I was really into, the last thing I wanted was for my mom and dad to be into it as well. That’s just annoying. So she was very excited and she cried when I first told her about it. I think it was just her fantasy/imaginative world suddenly colliding with her reality. She didn’t know how she felt about it. She punched me I remember and kicked me. I think that was her sort of frustration with me. In fact it was her mother who said, “Is it because that’s your thing and now daddy’s getting in on it?” And she said, “Yes.” So it was her (as usual) very perceptive mother who got that. But then, very quickly, she made peace with that and then she was just very excited about going to the premiere.

How do you find your inner white rabbit?

michael_sheen_image.jpgMichael Sheen: Everyone has an inner white fluffy animal. It’s such an iconic character that I didn’t feel like I should break the mold too much. I sort of just went with it. It’s a great character and a great story. “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan”were the first stories growing up that had a huge impact on me and have stayed with me ever since. So to be part of Tim Burton’s version is just a dream come true.

Since those lines are so classic, did you approach it like you would a “Hamlet”?

Michael Sheen: As a sort of cultural iconography, you know you are sort of treading that path. But Tim’s version of the story is not the original version. It’s everything you’d want in an “Alice in Wonderland” but it’s slightly off kilter as Tim Burton is one to do. It’s not like I was doing the same thing as has been done before.

New Moon Soundtrack Track List Is OUT

The soundtrack of New Moon movie is out as revealed by Stephenie Meyer from her website.

Source or pre-order Here.

The New Moon movie Behind the Scene Photos

Jennifer Love Hewitt Twilight Obsession

A video clip of Jennifer Love Hewitt during her guesting on Ellen show talking about she loves Twilight and Robert Pattinson as the vampiere Edward Cullen which was PeopleTV’s Top 5 Funniest Daytime TV moments.

See the video Here.

Twilight Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg on Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart Chemistry

Scriptwriter Melissa Rosenberg of Twilight Saga chats the chemistry on screen and off screen between Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan apart from their private lives and the Breaking Dawn script.

Just because Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are such a perfect match on screen, Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg thinks it's time we mind our own business about what goes once the cameras stop rolling.

"Their chemistry on film is so extraordinary," Rosenberg told us at the Entertainment Weekly/Women In Film pre-Emmy party. "They were beautifully cast for those roles and their chemistry is amazing. I think people often confuse chemistry onscreen with chemistry offscreen.

"I think people should just enjoy what's onscreen and leave their privates lives wherever they are," she continued. "I don't actually know what they are."

So what scoop did Ms. Rosenberg tell us about our fave vampire movies? Read on to find out…

First up, Breaking Dawn. Rosenberg is not allowed to could not confirm she's going to be tackling the script. "That's still up in the air," she said. "We're still talking and nothing's been decided."

Eclipse's Riley (Xavier Samuel) will have a much bigger presence in the movie than he has in Stephenie Meyer's novel. "This is a character that's really interesting and I got a chance to flesh him out," Rosenberg said, adding, "It's going to be really interesting watching the relationship between Riley and Victoria [Bryce Dallas Howard] growing."

As for the next flick to be released, New Moon, she said, "There's a lot of things that go on in New Moon that expand on the book. The conflict at the end with the Volturi is an example. Building on them is going to be really intriguing for the fans."

Among the other guests at the EW/WIF bash was Twilight's original Victoria, Rachelle Lefevre, who is doing just fine since her dramarama with Summit Entertainment, thank you very much. "To be honest, I sort of feel like I have everything," the ginger beauty glowed. "I have an amazing boyfriend, I love my house, I'm wearing a great Jay Godfrey dress and I'm at an Emmy party."

How to get that Twilight Stars Look

From a new website Esme Island it's possible to have that look like Twilight stars Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, Jacob Black, Ashley Greene and the rest of cast members from the movie. An array from customes, make-up, wigs, contact lenses, Quileute wolf pack tatoos to vampire make over is available.

Justin Chon Talks Eclipse

Justin Chon, plays Bella Swan's (Kristen Stewart) friend in Forks High School talks to E!Online about David Slade's approach in filming the Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Robert Pattinson's tighter security during the shoot.

Get ready for darkness.

Twilight star Justin Chon tells me that director David Slade's Eclipse isn't exactly taking his lead from Catherine Hardwicke or Chris Weitz.

"He's done pretty dark films, so that's where I see [Eclipse] really gravitating toward—more of a dark kind of moody film," Chon said yesterday at BAFTA's pre-Emmy tea party. "Just shooting the scenes that I'm in, the mood is definitely different."

How so? Read on for more...

"David is very set on how he wants this movie to be portrayed," Chon said. "It's a lot more refined and maybe not as loose as the last two—at least for us humans." (Chon plays Bella's classmate Eric.) "I can only imagine what he's doing with everyone else."

Chon also confirmed reports that Robert Pattinson has been living in a house rather than the usual hotel during filming in Vancouver, Canada.

"Security has been increased a lot," Chon said. "They're a lot more protective...If Rob was to go out in public without anybody, I think it could be pretty dangerous."

Even so, Pattz is dealing with the attention well. "It takes him a lot more time to get in and out of places," Chon said. "But he doesn't get angry. He's handling things great.

Peter Facinelli's Twitter Account for Charity

Twilight actor Peter Facinelli was interviewed by Kelly Rippin for NBC News about his creative use of Twitter to raise money for a good cause. Facinelli tweets to raise money for spinal cord injury research and Congo women.

Question: Can you tell me a little about Raise Hope For Congo?

Facinelli: Well, what I know is that Omnipeace is a global brand whose mission is to end extreme poverty by 2025. Every year, Omnipeace picks a charity and donates 25 percent of their profits for that year to that charity. This year they’re partnering with UNICEF Campaign to stamp out violence against women and girls of the Congo.

Q: How did you become interested in Omnipeace and the cause this year?

Facinelli: I have friends that come to me all the time with different charities and how it’s affected them. This year, I had a friend who brought Omnipeace to me. There are so many charities out there, and whenever I hear stories like these, it breaks my heart. I try to get involved in as many as I can. This one seems like a really important one. They sent me to the [Raise Hope For Congo] Web site and I was watching videos of what’s going on over there. It churns your stomach.

Anytime I can lend my name or help out a charity in a positive way ... I feel like I’ve been able, through my acting career, to do that. I don’t know if you’ve been following this silly little bet that I did [on Twitter]. I did this silly bet with my friend and he ended up losing the bet. So now all these people are excited to see my friend Rob DeFranco [co-founder of 211(me), a mobile entertainment company] dance down the street on Hollywood Boulevard.

I wanted to turn that into something positive. So, I partnered up with the clothing line Affliction. Affliction is going to donate $10,000 to the Christopher Reeves Foundation in honor of my followers. I turned this little, tiny bet that actually got some attention, into something that actually did some good for charity. I felt like I wanted to show people, “Look what the power of unity can do.” All these people came together on Twitter for this silly, little thing, but imagine what we could do if we come together for something even more powerful.

Q: Do you think using Twitter for a good cause is something that will become more popular?

Facinelli: I hope so. It’s a very powerful tool to be able to reach mass amounts of people. I hope that what people got out of this little, silly bet, is it was the power of unity. Look what we can do together when we band together. For this cause, it was a little, tiny, silly thing. “Hey lets see a guy dance down the street in a bikini.” Imagine what we could do if we actually came together for a powerful cause.

About a week or two before, I had about 80,000 followers. A friend was over and I was talking to her about Twitter. We just kind of threw out there: “Hey, my friend and I are trying to solve the problem of world hungry, what are your guys' thoughts?” And I had 80,000 people chiming in. Some of them were silly and some of them were funny, but there were some really great ideas. What a great tool to be able to speak to mass volumes of people with the touch of a button.

Q: How did you pick Christopher Reeve Foundation for Affliction to donate to?

Facinelli: One of the women at Affliction had a son who was in a bad accident, which left him with a spinal cord injury. I thought, “Maybe I can partner up with you guys and you guys could put some money toward that charity. I’ll do an autograph signing at your store. And we’ll work together on this.” But I’m looking forward to doing more of those. I’m at a certain point in my career now. Between work, I have my family. I’d love to be able to utilize my time to garner more interest and attention to different charities.

Q: What is it that you’d like people to do to help, either with Omnipeace or the Christopher Reeve Foundation?

Facinelli: That’s the hard part. For me, I go and I see these videos and people bring them to my attention. That motivates me to get involved. The hard part is getting this information out to people so that it moves them in a way where they can get involved. The Affliction people came to me and told me about this woman’s son and I said right away, “Lets do something for her son, for her cause.” Getting the information out there and being able to connect with people is the difficult part.

Maybe somebody doesn’t have that connection toward those particular charities and you can’t force your charity down someone’s throat. They won’t respond to it. Some people will. But that is the great thing about being able to reach a mass amount of people. If you can reach 500,000 people, some of those people will be able to connect with what you are saying.

But you have to be careful, too. Twitter, you can’t use as a soapbox either, it turns people off. It’s a fine line. It should be entertaining, but it also has the power to be utilized for something good. That’s what I’m trying to do … skirt that fine line of being able to do both.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Facinelli: My hope is that whoever reads this article gets involved in some way, in whatever charities that affect them or is personal to them. There are a lot of things out there that need our help and it’s a lot easier to turn our back and say, “I can’t make a difference.” Individually you can, when you come together. Every person does count. Sometimes as an individual you feel like you don’t. As this Twitter bit kind of proved, every individual does count.

Interview with Jodelle Ferland ' New Born Vampire Bree'

ET Canada has an interview with Jodelle Ferland who plays Bree, the New Born Vampire of Eclipse movie.

Director Chris Weitz talks New Moon

New Moon Director chats about filming the second film of Twilight, experiences with the huge fans while shooting and his favorite New Moon conspiracy theories.

How do you direct a film when everyone knows the story and ending?

In a way, that's an advantage. That people know and love the book means that people know and want to see the movie, which is what you hope for when you're making a film. It's a fine balance between being as faithful as possible to the spirit of the book, and bringing changes. I regard myself as fan as much as any other, and the way that I see the book in my head is just like any other fan's ability, except that I happen to have tens of millions of dollars at my disposal to realize that vision. One hopes that it's a strong enough envisioning of the book that people will be amused and entertained and excited even though they know how things are going to end.

One of my favorite New Moon conspiracy theories is that the producers are ordering Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson to keep their love hidden because it will affect the way people will perceive the story, even though the story is already known even until the next two books.

The fans know what the Volturi look like or what Taylor Lautner as Jacob's amazing bod is going to look like—the producers know these things are big points of curiosity about whether we've been able to be faithful to people's notions. And they want to parse these things out over time. [Laughs] It is a conspiracy, but the conspiracy is called marketing.

There are so many films about vampires, vampire romances, teenage romances—what is it about Twilight's love triangle that's catalyzed this phenomenon?

To me, it has a lot less to do with vampires and werewolves than with readily identifiable emotional situations. Bella has a choice between the loving friend who's nearby and the distant, unattainable object of her affections. That's a pretty common scenario, and unfortunately also, so is being dumped. I know I've experienced it—pretty much anybody except the incredibly lucky has experienced it—and the supernatural element of things just allows for a degree of wish fulfillment. We can play out these scenarios on a grand scale. When you get broken up with, you'd like to think that if you just did something brave enough, something amazing enough, you could rescue the relationship that's been broken. And you would like to think that the person who's left you has left you for your own good against their heart. That's usually not the case, but in New Moon it happens to be, so that's a lovely way to fulfill one's wishes. A great thing that Summit as a studio understands is that there are dark places that the movie has to go in order for it all to work. They're not afraid of the angst and the sorrow that's in the book. In a way, the film can be kind of a throwback to weepies as well as very cutting edge in terms of visual effects.

It's got this operatic tone that's like soma for anyone with a broken heart.

We're probably going to put out one of the greatest breakup mix albums of all time on the soundtrack. Alexandre Desplat doing the music means there's this sense of French Romanticism that goes back to Alexandre's mentor Maurice Jarre and everything he did for David Lean's movies—going back to Debussy and Ravel and that kind of stuff. There is a lot of luxuriating in the emotionalism of the piece. I think I'm probably now supposed to add at this point that there's great stuff for guys as well. But leave that aside for the moment.

You talked a minute ago about Pattinson being an 'unattainable male.' We always see stories about men pursuing a woman. It's rare to see stories where a woman really pursues a man, and when you do, it's usually handled like All About Steve, where it teeters into comic stalking.

Exactly. You always hear about the male gaze in films, but this seems to have such a strong female gaze. One of the prerequisites is how many times Pattinson and Lautner take off their shirts.

It's there in the script, and that's one for the ladies, really. Women have been objectified plenty in Hollywood films. And there's still sort of a chasteness to the objectification in Twilight and New Moon. One approaches it hopefully with a bit of tact—not just an exercise in beefcake peddling. You hope when you're shooting any kind of above-the-waist nudity that it suits the demand of the moment, it isn't just in there for the hell of it. That being said, I think we did come to Comic-Con with a lot of muscles and it was really fun to see the reaction to it. I've tried to make films that take into account the female members of the audience. Even American Pie, which comes from a genre that is notoriously misogynist.

I would agree with that. In American Pie, you make a point to show the girl's side of why she would or wouldn't do it on Prom Night—it was fair.

We were trying to say, too, that they were really in control of the scenario, and the guys were more or less hopeless schlubs just trying to navigate these waters. The girls were in control of what happened when.

American Pie—like Twilight—was one of those films that made stars of everyone in the cast. This time around, do you find yourself wanting to give this new generation career or life advice?

I don't particularly feel qualified because I'm not in their situation. I don't have to deal with that fame; I'm able to turn it on or off—or rather, the publicity department is able to turn it on and off. I don’t walk around and get recognized. I'm recognized in inverse proportion to my nearness to Rob. There's some kind of equation I could work out. Basically if I'm within 50 yards of Rob, I matter. If not, I just don't. I think that they don't really need my advice because they are determined to remain true to their own life, in spite of anything that might turn their heads. That's the only advice I could give them: that they stay the clever and decent people who they already are. And I don't think they're manifesting any problems in that regard.

I heard that the on-set experience has been like living in A Hard Days Night.

It was like that in Italy. Although it wasn't so much running and chasing. I'd compare it more to The Birds. You look around and then there's suddenly ten girls over there. And then there's 20. Then 30, then 40. And then suddenly the street you're intending to walk down to get to your next location or lunch is just blocked and there's no way to get through. Or you will get through, but it'll take you hours because you'll take pictures and sign autographs. Which is fair enough because they've come all this way and they're really the reason that we're there. Or you'll have to be a real meanie and just run past. I've developed a preoccupied look that sometimes works. I try to seem as though there's something going really badly at a different location, and sometimes that gets me out of situations.

Have there been any crazy fan experiences?

The crazy thing has been how extraordinarily supportive, friendly and enthusiastic people are. They really want this to be done right, but they're not hyper-critical. There's a degree of good faith between the people making the movie and the people who want to see it, and we are innocent until proven guilty. And that's great because that's not always the case with fan boys. I did encounter this Italian girl in Montepulciano who then appeared in Vancouver who speaks impeccable English. That's one of the reasons I recognized her. She came up to me and said, 'Do you remember me?' and I said yes, I did. And then her mom was there and I sort of wanted to ask her mom what else she and her kid were up to because it seemed like she should be in school, but it's really not my place.

Which other book would you love to film?

To be honest, I would love to film The Golden Compass. I would love to have been allowed to do my own cut of The Golden Compass because I did film that book and there could be a real version of it, but it would cost millions of dollars to complete with the special effects. The cut was taken away from me and that was a devastating experience. That's the other book that I would like to film. I wouldn't have the strength to go through another three years to do it, but it is a great shame that the fear of the ideas in the book led the studio to do a version which I think caused its own downfall.

It was a beautiful film, the look of it.

It's a good-looking film. And there are moments where it's precisely the way I wanted it to look or to feel. But it's been put through a blender so that the interesting ideas that it had in it and the real emotional heft of the story was lost. And that's a shame because I take very seriously my responsibilities to an author in trying to represent their vision on film. Failing Philip Pullman in that regard is a big sadness for me because he's one of the authors I most admire in the world.

Between the author and the studio, that can be a lot of weight.

It is, and I have to say that Summit understands that the fans want to see the book in the film, not just a popcorn movie.

It's almost a safety net, having that many people know the book already very well, more than American audiences knew The Golden Compass.

Yes, American audiences weren't that familiar with The Golden Compass. Once you start monkeying around with the plot and characters and key concepts in the film, you really lose what made the book appeal to anyone in the first place. If you take the example of The Lord of the Rings, it wasn't that it made everybody into a geek overnight. People were able to see what had been great about it in the first place, and the adherence to story and character really paid off, even though a lot of people went to see it who hadn't read Lord of the Rings in the first place and didn't know anything else.

What can you tell me about The Game, the film adaptation of the Neil Strauss guide to picking up women?

I can tell you that Rawson Thurber [director of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story] is going to direct it, and that he is rewriting it now. It's an attempt to walk a very fine line with a project like this. It has things to say about the relationships between men and women and it could be perceived as misogynistic or as a textbook in how to manipulate women. But it's really not about that—it's about the weaknesses of men and women more than anything else.

And your brother Paul also has a high school vampire movie coming out?

He does. That was not planned at all. It's very funny. A week before I was offered New Moon, I was wondering why there were so many vampire movies around. Paul had wanted to indulge a long-standing love of the grotesque, which the Cirque du Freak series allowed with its visuals and that sort of perversity—not perversion, but perversity—of the books and the script. It's a funny coincidence. Actually, if you want to take it one step further, my grandmother was a silent film actress in the Mexican version of Dracula. They shot it on the same sets as the Todd Browning version, but they started shooting at midnight. My grandfather, who was a producer for Universal at the time, was courting my grandmother, and when talkies came out, there were no parts for women with strong Mexican accents. He convinced Carl Laemmle at Universal that you could make a profit by using the same sets during the night and making Spanish-language versions of the same film. Hence, the Spanish Dracula. It's a film geek delight to compare the Todd Browning version to the Mexican version.

And if your grandfather hadn't done that, you might not exist.

This is true. If it weren't for vampires...

Robert Pattinson's First Tweet via Peter Facinelli Account

Though Robert Pattinson has no Twitter Account, Rob tweets for the first time through his Twilight co-star Peter Facinelli Twitter Account.

These are Twilight saga stars who have Official Twitter Account. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, and Nikki Reed have no Twitter Account.

Peter Facinelli (Carlisle)

Michael Sheen (Aro)
Jamie Campbell Bower (Caius)
Charlie Bewley (Demetri)
Cameron Bright (Alec)

Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight/NM Victoria)
Edi Gathegi (Laurant)
Jodelle Ferland (Bree)

Billy Burke (Charlie)
Christian Serratos (Angela)
Anna Kendrick (Jessica)

Gil Birmingham (Billy)
BooBoo Stewart (Seth)
Kiowa Gordon (Embry)

David Slade (Eclipse Director)

Q & A with 'Eclipse' Casting Director Rene Haynes

The The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Casting Director Rene Haynes which she and her team were in charged to view every audition they received via ActorCast. Rene Haynes discusses few pointers and mistakes people made during auditions in an open call.

What do you look for in an actor who has no experience, and how do you identify “potential”?

I always look for something in the EYES – there’s an indefinable “it factor” that makes someone “watchable”. This is usually a perfect combination of intelligence, charisma and skill. Whether it’s looking at photos or watching taped auditions – I want to see something going on in the eyes. If there’s a spark – there’s “potential”.

What was a common mistake people made in their auditions in this open call?

Actually – I was really proud of the ActorCast Open Casting candidates! Many of you did everything right. Casting a film is like putting a puzzle together – all the pieces have to fit together to make a whole picture. An audition may have been good – but it may not have fit into the puzzle properly… That is the reality of auditioning – MANY people will try out for a role – but there can only be one person who is cast…

If I had to pull out a few “mistakes” to note here that might help someone improve in the future – here they are:

#1 – We NEED to see your face! Some did not frame their auditions so that we could clearly see their faces and eyes. Many times the candidates were not even looking in the direction of the camera. They had placed the reader so far off to the side that I was looking at them in profile the entire audition… Or they were framed in an extreme long shot the entire read… For next time – It’s always good to introduce yourself in a long shot – but then try to frame the actual audition in a “head and shoulders” shot and place your reader right next to the camera lens – so the viewer will get the full benefit of seeing your face.

#2 – Reactions are necessary! Often – I am far more interested in watching an actor in his or her “silent” moments – than just hearing how they actually interpret the lines. Many made the mistake of not reacting to the reader – but instead, would look back at the page, or just wait for their next line… That just does not engage the viewer. Learn the lines before making an audition tape – because acting and REACTING are equally important. Also – make sure to have someone read with you – we cannot gauge a performance when someone is reading both sets of lines – OR when only reading the audition lines. The “give and take” is extremely important.

#3 – Don’t apologize, ever! So many people would preface their audition with… “Hi, sorry, I’ve never done any acting, so this is probably going to suck, but I know I can play Leah, if you just give me the chance”… “Hi, I am currently dieting and could be in shape in time for the filming…” “Hi, sorry – I know I am not what you are looking for but…” OK – all THAT does is draw attention to the fact that YOU have doubts about yourself… which puts a negative thought in the viewer’s mind before you have even begun your audition. If you are going to do something – attack it with confidence and positive energy. The reality of auditioning via tape is that you need to be “camera ready” in your audition and can never expect for the people who are making the decisions to see beyond what is on the tape in front of them. When you only have one shot at auditioning for a role – you have to make the most of it – and “be” exactly what they are looking for in the 3 minutes that you have their undivided attention.

Here’s a few tips – After filming an audition – WATCH your audition before sending it… if you can’t see your eyes or your reactions – do it again. Also – do not wait until the last minute (as many did for these auditions) and then rush through the process… All we can base our reaction on is what we see before us – so it’s important to only put your best effort forward.

Did a non-actor/unknown have a real chance at being cast in one of these roles, or was this just a publicity vehicle?

Yes – of course an unknown had a real chance. Seriously – we are all really busy – and would never just make extra work for ourselves… The Twilight Saga projects do not lack for publicity – so the Open Casting was not simply a publicity stunt. We genuinely were interested in finding new faces – just as we had discovered through our various open calls for the “Wolf Pack” in New Moon.

Can you tell us about your process of going through thousands of auditions? Did you really view them all? Did you first look at headshots and ethnicity – or did you first view the video? How many times did you view the video of someone being considered, and how did you narrow them down?

My assistant, Lisa, and I opened and viewed every single ActorCast submission. We watched every audition that was playable – Sadly, not every audition that was uploaded to the site was actually playable. We viewed the auditions in the order that they were uploaded. There was no filtering due to ethnicity or look. Some auditions were viewed more than once – many were not. Candidates that we thought had real potential, were moved to separate files for further consideration.

What were the important characteristics you were looking for in Seth and Leah? For example, was voice a major concern? Was there a certain look that you and the producers already had in mind?

One trait or aspect was not more of a consideration than another… it was the individual as a whole. We were looking for the right young man and young woman to bring these important Stephenie Meyer characters to life. Talent that had “range” and worked with our director’s vision of the picture. There were, of course, certain parameters that we had to be mindful of… These characters are of certain ages and descriptions that are well known to the fans of the books. It was my responsibility to find the closest representations possible.

Both roles are very complex. For example, on the page it may appear that Leah is just angry in the audition scene, but actually she is a young woman who is dealing with all kinds of emotions and vulnerability under the tough façade that she presents to the world. Many candidates did not explore that side of the character in their auditions. We were looking for individuals who showed the ability to convey all of the various dimensions of these characters.

Related to question 5 – many who submitted were of mixed-race background. Was not being Native American a significant “minus” in being considered?

There were no “minus” factors – all candidates were viewed with the same hopeful expectation on our part that they might be “the one”.

What are callbacks like? How many people were called back from the open call? How did you contact them and what did you ask them to do? Did people have to come and audition in person?

We contacted candidates that we were interested in by either telephone or email. Some were asked to re-tape their audition. Some we were able to audition “in person”.

Can you provide some examples of “good” and “poor” etiquette when dealing with your casting office?

Good Examples: Graciousness is ALWAYS appreciated.

Bad Examples: First let me say that there has been a rather unprecedented level of “access” on “New Moon” and “Eclipse” that is usually not common when casting a project… Due largely to the unfortunate fact that many Blogs and websites published my phone numbers without my permission… OK – so people had the number – and they DID call… but they usually had little regard for what time of day or night it might be. Calling at all is generally frowned upon – but if you MUST call – it is ONLY ever OK to call during the business hours of the recipient. If you must call – identify yourself… It’s very rude to just start asking questions without even a “hello, my name is…”

If you are going to send an email – please check your grammar and spell check. A short, intelligent, note is always preferred over a rambling opus or a curt demand (of which there were many). I get that there is a lot of passion for these particular projects – and I did try to accommodate for that – but there was a general sense of “entitlement” present in a lot of the correspondence – which was a bit offensive sometimes. My hope is that no one ever feels that it is OK to treat one of my casting colleagues in this same way – because it is not – ever.

I was inundated by many people who kept sending the same email, even though I’d already responded. Just because one does not like my reply to their question, doesn’t mean that the answer will change if you send the same email 50 more times. It will simply result in that email address getting blocked. Practically speaking, patience only lasts for so long.

Lastly – Final decisions are not up to me – so the rude notes directed at me because the writer disliked the casting choices were not appreciated.

How did you become a Casting Director? You have cast many films with Native American characters – is that particularly difficult?

Becoming a casting director is a different road for everyone… and there is really no set path. As a child, I read a lot and would “cast” the various characters in the books with voices and people that I knew – so that I could hear and see the story in a cinematic way… Growing up, I just knew that I wanted to cast film – and worked towards that goal.

My specialty in casting Native American and First Nations projects is something that I feel extremely proud to have developed. I take this challenge and responsibility very seriously. For me, there is nothing difficult about casting Native characters. Over the years I have met hundreds of very talented Native actors… The difficulty has always been that there was not more opportunity in the entertainment industry to showcase these wonderful actors. One of the really great things about Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga – is that in developing these terrific Native characters – she has created opportunity for these actors. The Twilight Saga films are allowing a new generation of young Native and First Nations actors to be discovered by audiences. That is very cool and exciting!

Have you ever “discovered” someone in an unusual way? For example, it’s been reported that after hearing Q’orianka Kilcher sing on the street, you cast her as Pocahontas in The New World. Can this really happen?

Yes – there are dozens of fun stories of how someone has been cast in one of the films I’ve done… Though she was not cast – I really love this one: Years ago, I was in Edmonton, AB on a shuttle to the Airport and I met a woman with a young daughter – who was not even 10 – but the little girl was really animated and outgoing – so I gave the mom my card… Years later, while casting “The New World” – a young woman came into an advertised Open Call in Albuquerque, NM – and when she found out that I was the one conducting the session – she pulled out the exact same card that I’d given her mom 9 years earlier. She’d been carrying it all that time! She turned out to be one of our top contenders on that project and is, today, a wonderfully talented working actress.

As for Q’orianka Kilcher – I am extremely proud of having championed her and cast her as the lead in “The New World”. However, just to set the record straight, I have never seen her sing on the street. She had an agent who submitted her for a role in “Into The West” – which we were casting at the same time – and we thought that she’d be a great candidate for “The New World” – so we brought her in for that project instead – she did many brilliant auditions – and the rest is cinema history… (The “singing on the street” story is, I believe, how she was “discovered” by her first agent.)

Did you see people who weren’t right for Seth or Leah Clearwater but you thought they were good enough to be kept mind for other roles?

Yes, absolutely. I am always thinking about future projects and the potential that someone shows – and if the two might intersect in some way.

Why isn’t it customary to let people know if they DIDN’T get selected – or to provide some comments or feedback to each auditioner? How does an actor know how to improve?

I’ve always thought that the old Hollywood phrase – “Don’t call us – we’ll call you” was rather insensitive to the talent in the casting process, but I can totally appreciate the necessity for it. I had a job to do that involved casting quite a few more roles than just Seth and Leah – and … realistically speaking – there was simply not enough time in the day to contact everyone who auditioned via ActorCast (there were almost 3000 uploads!) with “feedback”. Usually, if asked nicely, I’m happy to help someone… However, everyone needs to understand that I am not in the business of educating the candidates on how to “improve” – that is a responsibility that each person needs to take on for themselves.

STUDY the craft! Do not think that looks and desire alone will carry you through – it will not. This is an extremely competitive and difficult business and you have to have skill. Audition at every opportunity. Every audition will help you gain self confidence for the next audition. Skill and confidence are the greatest tools an actor can have. In addition to studying the craft – study in school. Become the most well-rounded and interesting person that you can. The best actors are always smart, well-educated people who have a “world view” and are not just wrapped up in their pursuit of an acting career.

Will you be casting Breaking Dawn and will you have another open casting for it?

I’ve no idea – it’s still much too early to know. As for another “Open Casting”… These kinds of “searches” are extremely rare. It will really depend on the casting needs of that potential production.

One word of caution – PLEASE be wary of any advertising that you see on-line for casting calls for these projects. I was extremely distressed by the number of people who contacted me saying that they had been asked to PAY for casting information by various on-line organizations – or to attend Open Calls for “Eclipse”. We did a series of Open Calls for “New Moon” – but NONE for “Eclipse”. You simply cannot believe all that you read on-line.

New Moon Trailer Screenshots

Robert Pattinson's hand prints at Times Square Planet Hollywood

Wait no more to have a chance to get hold of Robert Pattinson. Not a clay but a digital hand prints of Twilight actor Robert Pattinson is at Times Square Planet Hollywood in New York City.

New Born Vampires on Shoot of Eclipse

From Vancity Allie updates on shooting of third Twilight film Eclipse plus photos from the set.

I had a chance to see a new set being filmed for Eclipse… the scene where the newborns arrive in Forks. It’s a picturesque scene, with mountains and water framing the background of the shot, and a sparse unoccupied beach for the newborns to arrive on… then they disappear into the forest. The vampire newborns looked absolutely chilling, and their rugged military-like outfits along with steely, determined glares just added to the mood. Filmed early in the morning, this scene was designed to look as if it had been shot at night, possibly just after dusk or just before dawn.

Riley (Xavier Samuel) and Bree (Jodelle Ferland) were on set as well as a number of newborn vampires we have NEVER seen before.


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Red Hat (RHT) today provided partners with a roadmap during its partner conference general session in Scottsdale, Ariz. (did I mention how great it is to be away from the frigid weather in the Northeast?). Here are the details.

Red Hat executives, along with executives from IBM (IBM) and Cisco (CSCO), unveiled what they called the sociology of innovation, opportunities for partners, partner achievements and how partners can migrate customers to the cloud with Red Hat.

Here are a few of highlights from Red Hat's morning sessions:

Red Hat President and CEO Jim Whitehurst (on the sociology of innovation)

  • Whitehurst told attendees that he would not be giving a history lesson this year like he did last year.
  • The way businesses innovate has changed over the years, Whitehurst said. Instead of innovating internally, businesses are now collaborating, he said.
  • According to Whitehurst, there are four various levels of innovation in technology: mainframe, client server, Internet era and cloud shift.
  • Whitehurst said mainframe innovation was held and managed by companies with large research and development budgets.
  • He said there was an explosion of innovation around client server. This explosion forced vendors to partner with other vendors, not just ones with large R&D budgets, according to Whitehurst. While there was a great potential to innovate, innovation was still happening within the walls of individual companies.
  • "The Internet is one of the most fundamental things that has impacted innovation and the cloud paradigm of technology," he said.
  • Cloud is playing real-time, Whitehurst said.
  • Marketing departments have taken hold of big data, so nobody knows what big data means anymore, he said.
  • The cloud market is chaotic and it’s going to stay chaotic, he noted.
  • Whitehurst said the architecture of participation is much more important than technology.
  • The market will have to address how to build successful businesses in the open, he said.
  • Open source is a legal license model, but there is a broader spirit as to how innovation happens, he said. This spirit can be leveraged by working in communities, while also bringing along important vendors to healthy communities.
  • Red Hat works "to drive ecosystems, not to drive agendas," Whitehurst said.
  • "We are much more focused starting at the customer in mind," he said. Customers want to use public and private clouds. How do we provide architecture to these customers?
  • According to Whitehurst, Red Hat brought AWS and Google to the event because both companies are a huge part of the ecosystem.
  • Customers want to be able to leverage multiple vendors, he said.
  • Red Hat is asking partners to drive the direction of our technologies, Whitehurst said.

Cisco Worldwide Channels Datacenter/Virtualization Solutions Director Brian Allison (on what Cisco believes is a big opportunity for partners)

  • The fundamental thing Cisco is working is to drive with partners is leadership, Allison said.
  • Cisco is rolling out a joint program with Red Hat today, which includes a playbook and quick reference guides, he said.
  • Big data is a big opportunity, Allison said. The market is a little too focused on data management, he added. There are bigger opportunities out there that can drive the entire stack, he said.
  • Allison noted that Cisco is going to be driving DevOps in the second half of its fiscal year.
  • Cisco wants partners to actively build transformation strategies, he said.

Red Hat Global Channel Sales Senior Vice President Mark Enzweiler (on partner achievements and strategy)

  • Enzweiler started off by saying that that he gets to brag about partners today.
  • In North America, 69 percent of bookings were through the channel, he said.
  • More than 80 percent of Red Hat's customers are managed by the partner base, Enzweiler said.
  • According to Enzweiler, partners have changed the culture here at Red Hat during the past seven years.
  • "I do think it’s a good time to be a Red Hat partner," he said.
  •  Red Hat is averaging 1,000 net new customers globally every month, according to him.
  • “We now have five technologies in six routes, and Red Hat is no longer viewed as the Linux company,” he said.
  • Red Hat will continue to aggressively invest in headcount, enablement, marketing, joint go-to-market activities and partner business plans, Enzweiler said.
  • "We will follow a less-is-more strategy with our partners,” he said, nothing that Red Hat only has 800 partners in North America.
  • Priorities for FY14 include worldwide programs to improve revenue and margin, improve customer retention, enable and expand all routes, Enzweiler said.
  • Red Hat now has 11 certifications for partners across three technologies, he said. The company's certifications are "real dollars" to partners, he said.
  • The company has about nine playbooks today, which take partners from the beginning to end of a customer’s journey, he said.
  • Enzweiler said Red Hat wants to find out what works best for partners and leverage touch points.
  • Partners are the closest to the customers, he said. He added that partners have the voice of what customers are asking.

IBM System X Marketing/Business management Vice President Bob Galush (on IBM portfolio and partners)

  • Galush referenced IBM investing in $1 billion in leadership platforms, new storage systems, flash/networking, and energy and efficiency.
  • Partnering is about starting with the philosophy that everything is going to be open, he said.
  • IBM includes high-end systems, volume systems, blades/integrated systems, and dense systems into its leadership systems portfolio, Galosh said.
  • Partners are looking to partner with vendors that can be a trusted technology leader, he said.

Red Hat Infrastructure Group Senior Vice President Tim Yeaton (on how Red Hat gets customers ready for hybrid cloud)

  • Every customer needs to move to hybrid cloud to become successful in the market, Yeaton said.
  • "Hybrid clouds are not bought, but built," he said.
  •  Open source technology is very visible and very accepted among various organizations across the spectrum, he said.
  • "Innovation in software has changed, fundamentally and forever," Yeaton said.
  • Red Hat has been true to its open source business model, he said.
  • According to Yeaton, hybrid cloud will revolve around Red Hat's IaaS, management and PaaS products.
  • Vision around hybrid cloud is in response to what Red Hat is hearing from customers, he said.
  • Yeaton said Red Hat's vision for hybrid cloud is to let customers define workloads and deploy them on whatever of these vehicles makes the most sense, giving them the flexibility to change their minds.
  • "I think that now there is more opportunity for partners than ever before in Red Hat," he said.
  • Yeaton said Red Hat’s model includes integration, participation, delivery and integration.
  • "We have the largest OpenStack ecosystem out there," he said.
  • Red Hat customers understand the value of open source, he noted.

Be sure to take a look at The VAR Guy's full coverage of the 2014 Red Hat Partner Conference:

Keep checking back for further conference updates.

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wFeb 13, 2007

my wish on a wing

I think it's really lame that neither Libby nor Cheney are testifying. Scooter Libby is getting fed to the wolves for something that is obviously someone else's fault, and it seems like there's not a damn thing anybody can do about it. What the hell.

My friend Elisabeth on LiveJournal has been talking to me about the SCA, and I think it's something that I would at least like to try. My only reservations, really, are the dressing up and creating a persona. It's just a tad odd, and the feelings of comfort would depend entirely upon the other people who attend meetings where I do. I feel that the group dynamic would be extremely variable from place to place. Still, I've always liked the female dress style from the medieval time period, and it would be neat to learn how to sew (especially 'cause stuff like that never fits people like me, who actually have busts!), and to do calligraphy, and to do sword-fighting, etc. It's something I'll try, and Antoine said he would too (he's interested in brew making, such as mead, which is something he tried a few months ago and would like to do so again). It'll have to wait until summer, though.

My first day of work was today! It's so wonderful - I think that I can safely say that this will be the best job I've ever had. The Wisconsin State Capitol is really a beautiful building, and it feels immense to me; it will take a while to learn where things are.
The people with whom I work also seem like they'll be really great to work with, and there are many more pages than I thought there would be. Also, frequently we get asked to run papers to other buildings in the immediate vicinity of the Capitol, which I think is cool because being outside while working is nice.
The only down-side so far is that a lot of my business casual/formal dress (the latter necessary for when I act as a bouncer/runner when senators are actually in the Senate Chamber) involve skirts and heeled shoes - neither of which work well when having to trudge through slush and below-30-degree-weather. Having only one pair of khakis is going to suck for a while. On the plus-side, I learned today that I can make it from the Capitol to campus in 20 minutes. If nothing else, the constant walking and stair-climbing that this job involves, along with that trek, should hopefully maybe help me slim down a bit.

Aside from that? Having a job in general is making life much more busy, obviously, but I sort of like it. Today was only my first day, but I feel much more fulfilled at the end of the day, having been a much more productive human being. I think that this will help me stay off of the Internet quite a bit as well, which is a plus.

There was a "Halloween Debriefing" meeting tonight, which mostly consisted of people from the city and the university reviewing the Madison plans to combat the students' history of flooding State Street in lewd costumes in a drunken state and be belligerent until needing to be dispersed with tear gas. My bone of contention was a list of lame rules that were suddenly made known to me a week before the even this past Halloween, causing Anime Club to change all of its plans at the last minute for the biggest night of the year. I have lots of email addresses to contact now, and I'm hoping that by being a total bitch (ie, not giving up), I can help to change the situation for similar student organizations for next year.

Anyway, I think I'll go to bed now and sleep for 9 glorious hours. I need it so badly!

Current Music: Wish - Olivia (as Reira, from NANA)

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scribbled mystickeeper at 10:52 PM

I slept for one half hour this afternoon, otherwise it's been 40 hours.

I feel like if it weren't for this blog, I would be so behind in your life that I wouldn't even know you anymore!

Howsabout we instigate a system where if you ever comment on any comments I leave in your blog, you email me to let me know, otherwise I always miss them.

By Blogger Steph, at 1:06 AM, February 14, 2007

Hokai, but only if you post more often in your blog! 'Cause now you know things about me, but I'm like, Steph?! Who is she?!

By Blogger Jackie, at 8:37 AM, February 14, 2007

I posted while I wasn't sleeping. Have you read it?

Yes, I like your icon very much. Maybe I should find an icon too.

By Blogger Steph, at 11:45 AM, February 14, 2007

Post a Comment


text:
What not to buy in Myanmar

What Not To Buy in Myanmar

A guide to what not to buy in Myanmar. Avoid scammers and fake souvenirs and spend your precious money on souvenirs that won’t leave you disappointed

Part of the fun of going abroad to new destinations is bringing back a souvenir to remind you of your trip. I used to buy a souvenir for every member of my family in the past, but it quickly became an expensive exercise and required valuable space in our suitcases. So I began collecting postcards since they were relatively small, lightweight and could be pressed within the pages of my guide book to keep safe until my return home. But like always we always came home with more than we wanted to buy, and we wasted a considerably amount of money on fake souvenirs. Partly because of our ignorance and naiveness and partly because we were hassled into purchases. So here are a few tips on what not to buy in Myanmar.

Like many tourists that visit Yangon most will head to the Bogyoke Aung San Market, a bazaar of stalls and shops selling everything from chickpea snacks, to hats, wooden bowls, custom made clothing and shoes to jewels and gold.

Bogyoke Aung San Market Yangon

We were lucky enough to have our very own personal guides, our dear friend MoMo and TunTun who also hosted us in Yangon. The took us to the market twice, once at the beginning of the trip and once at the end. One thing that surprised me was the mass amounts of jewels that were being sold. If you didn’t already know Myanmar is famous for it’s Burmese Rubies and Sapphires and tourists that have a little bit of cash often look for bargain jewels to take home.

But our dear MoMo warned us that many of the vendors sell glass not rubies and many a tourist fall into the same traps day after day. While I don’t generalize here (I am sure there are some genuine dealers), tourists who wish to purchase jewels need to be extremely vary of what they are purchasing. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Always make sure you have a certified jewel and certificate a) to make sure it is real and b) in case you are asked or stopped at customs.

We asked MoMo where the best place to buy genuine jewels was. While I wanted a jewel to take back with me I wanted to make sure it wasn’t mined through slave labor jewel like so many of the jewels that come from Mogok are. I also didn’t want to be scammed so she arranged for a certified jeweler to come to the house and we had a custom made ring made. Apparently this service is widely available through request and it ensures that your stones are genuine and mined responsibly.

Diamond Sapphire Ring

This is the ring I had made from a certified jeweler in Yangon. Customized to your own budget and personality

The best thing to buy at Bogyoke Aung San Market is Longyi’s! You can buy them from as little at 1000 Kyats ($1) and they are one of the best things to wear in Myanmar. They are light weight, dry quickly and they are the traditional wear in Myanmar. We were complimented on wearing them everywhere we went as most tourists don’t wear them.

Temple in Bagan Myanmar

This is us in Bagan, and I’m fashioning the traditional Longyi purchased at Bogyoke Market Yangon

Souvenirs in Bagan and it’s Temples

Bagan is probably the most popular places for tourists in the entire country of Myanmar and the local people know it! At every popular temple you will find vendors selling longyi’s, postcards, wind-chimes, lacquer-wear and the infamous sand paintings. I am 100% aware that most of these people selling items are probably poor and the items they sell is their only income. I do not condone the purchasing of souvenirs here, I only wish to enlighten you with what you are actually buying.

Each vendor we met and spoke with told us that everything on their stalls was hand made by their family and that if they didn’t sell anything they would go hungry. This is probably true. But what aroused my suspicions was that every stall not only sold the same souvenirs, but they were all exactly the same.

One girl around the age of 16 was kind enough to show us around one temple. She explained its history and the meanings of the frescoes and her English was impeccable. We had a good rapport with her so when she took us to her stall I politely asked why everything looks the same and why everyone in the entire city sells the same things? She didn’t really have an answer. This worried me a little. We glanced over her stall and saw nothing we liked but felt almost pressured to buy something as a thank you for her guide around the temple (a local trick they try with every tourist). We settled on a tattoo pen which while traditional was definitely made for tourists. Useless souvenir number one. The only joy we took from it was that we probably fed a small child somewhere that day.

Myanmar Tattoo Pen

Monkey bronze head of the tattoo pen

Myanmar Tattoo Pen

We were also coned into buying two pieces of jade jewellery at The Shwezigon Pagoda. The vendors kindly took our shoes off us when we entered the temple and said they would look after them for us. We stupidly thought they were being nice, only to be blackmailed into buying something from their stall in exchange for our shoes back. Useless souvenirs two and three.

One other souvenir item that caught our eye in Bagan was the sand paintings that were being sold almost everywhere we went. Again we were a bit skeptical. We decided would love a beautiful painting in our living room so we stopped and chatted to two young men selling them. He explained that each painting takes him 3 days and he doesn’t use acrylic only natural colors from the earth, so red was sandstone, green was crushed herbs and white was limestone etc…
He was so convincing that the item was genuine that we almost brought useless souvenir number four. But we hesitated and decided that we would look around in town to compare prices as the young man told us one of his paintings would set us back almost 100,000 Kyats.

Sand Paintings in Bagan. Photo Credit to The Working Traveller

Sand Paintings in Bagan. Photo Credit to The Working Traveller

So later that night we took a walk after dinner and visited a few sand painting shops located in Nyaung U. To our surprise almost all of the artists gave us a different story of how the paintings were made, all having different materials, all claiming to of painted them themselves and all claiming their method of painting was the traditional way and all other paintings were fake. So regardless of whether any of them we actually telling the truth we decided against purchasing a painting as we didn’t feel confident enough that we were purchasing a hand painted authentic sand painting because after all we wanted an original painting that had been painted with care and done traditionally but since we couldn’t tell the difference between acrylics, sand etc we came back empty handed. So be aware when picking your painting of you decide to purchase one and shop around before buying as we saw a massive difference in price for pictures that looked identical.

Souvenirs in Mandalay

We decided enough was enough with souvenirs by the time we got to Mandalay. We barely had enough room in our backpacks as it was so we firmly agreed to buy nothing else. However during our trip to Mingun I bought a hand fan because I was so hot for $1. Useless souvenir number four (it was ruined by the time we got home from being squished but useful at the time!).

When you disembark your boat you are swarmed with people trying to sell you things and we also found at two of the places in Mingun young children approach you asking you to buy something small because they were hungry. It does pull as your heart strings a little and we saw plenty of people buying the small things they were selling as we approached the temple so we didn’t feel so bad when we said no thank you.

Souvenirs in Hsipaw

Hsipaw was one the only place we didn’t see mass amounts of souvenirs being sold or stalls. The market was purely for the locals and while they sold the normal hats, longyis and bags there wasn’t any of the normal tat that we saw everywhere else. We also weren’t bothered by anyone here either, infact we probably enjoyed walking around Hsipaw more because we weren’t hassled. Yet we thought since Hsipaw doesn’t get anywhere near the number of visitors as Yangon, Bagan or Mandalay there would be a heavier presence of people trying to make money from the tourists that were there, but this wasn’t the case.

Souvenirs in Inle Lake

Inle Lake was another Bagan, everywhere you looked or turned there was someone trying to sell you something. Our first encounter in Nyaungshwe Market was a good one. We casually walked around the market where they sold souvenirs (although it was another local market) but we weren’t asked to stop and look at their stalls or followed around by children. We were simply allowed to walk around at our leisure, people smiled, children played and it was an enjoyable experience.

When we took the day trip out to the lake it was a completely different story. Our first stop was to the floating but not floating market. It was a stop I wasn’t keen on doing but our boat driver insisted on it. From the moment we stepped off the boat we were bombarded with vendors asking us to “please stop please look”. There were loads of jewellery stands selling silverware and we were told that there was a silver jewelers on the lake too which was an optional stop we decided not to take, so we imagined most of the items made came from there.

We walked around slowly, it was quite hectic mostly because most of the boats headed to the market first so it was very busy. We noticed again how everything looked the same, the bracelets all looked identical and while we were walking around I decided it was a small item so I would buy myself one as I can’t imagine they would be very much. Something as small as a bracelet would be maybe $1 in Vietnam. So I approached a stall and found one I liked and asked the lady how much? She proceeded to pull out a chart with numbers on in increments of 500 Kyats. She said to point to the price we deemed reasonable so I pointed to 2000. She looked at me and began to laugh. “These beads they are real stone not fake, you pay 10000 ($10)”, at which point I began to laugh and said no thank you and handed back the bracelet “OK OK 8000!”. This was still far too much for a bracelet so I began to walk away. “OK final offer 6000!” To which point I thought OK it didn’t seem unreasonable for a silver bracelet with red stone beads and the tiny elephants were kind of cute so I accepted. She placed it in a small bag and we were on our way.

We walked barely 5 meters, I turned around and the lady was making another successful sale on her stall. As I stood the lady next to me was haggling with another vendor and I looked and saw she was buying almost exactly the same bracelet as I had just purchased. Only as I began listening she had just closed the deal for 2000! So my haggling skills must of been super bad or I was taken for a ride! So I walked away slightly angry and slightly frustrated that I had bought another souvenir that I didn’t need and for more than I should of. Useless souvenir number five.

To make things worse after a couple of days of wear I noticed that the beads weren’t stone at all put painted plastic as the coating began to wear away and the silver began to turn grey and leave a green mark on my skin. 🙁 We also purchased useless souvenir number six here too! A “silver” bangle that turned out to be nothing more than tin! *Facepalms herself!*

Elephant Red Beads Bracelet

This is the bracelet which you can clearly see is plastic beads not stone!

Leo bought useless souvenir number seven at the cigar factory on the lake. While I still count it as useless it was a good experience for him, as he sat and watched them being made and apparently they are quite good.

Souvenirs in Ngapali

By the time we reached the beach we had truly learnt our lesson. My haggling skills needed to be dramatically improve and our judgment on what was real or fake needed to improve too. So when we saw a stall on the beach selling cheap pearls we ran a mile. We asked at our hotel whether they were real and he even said probably not. As I said if the price is too good to be true it probably is!

You can find some amazing souvenirs in Myanmar so do not be discouraged to buy them. While some are manufactured and are not genuine items the purchasing of souvenirs do help out the locals. This post is just to warn you of what you are purchasing so you aren’t left disappointed.

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  • Beautiful pictures. I love markets and enjoy the haggling even more so. I have also been known to be given items for free(without buying anything form the sellers) my niece was surprised when it happened while we where haggling. I don’t know if I can put that down to my haggling skills or just luck 🙂

    Bathing Beauties on Butler’s Wharf

    • Lapchick

      You must feel very proud to have taken something from somebody who is less fortunate than you. I don’t think that I would like to know you.

      • I’m sorry you feel this way Paul. I am simply trying to advise fellow travelers to be smart about their purchases and avoid being ripped off and disappointed. I do not discourage purchasing souvenirs from locals, I simply wish to educate travelers on what they are actually buying.

  • ashley664

    I very rarely buy souvenirs, but when I do I enjoy the experience – even if I know they are selling it to me at an inflated price (of course, I have more money than they do). I think the key here is to shop around more before making your decision, and remember that souvenirs are supposed to be a bit of fun.

    • I love markets and buying souvenirs and sometimes I don’t really mind if they are fake or manufactured in a factory. I do mind when the seller out right lies to you about it. I know this is partly my naivety that leaves me disappointed but souvenirs in Myanmar are not cheap unlike other Asian countries so when your spending $100 on a sand painting you want to know its hand painted not printed…but otherwise I agree souvenir shopping can be fun.

  • I really enjoyed reading this. Things in Myanmar must have changed a lot from when we visited four years ago. There were barely any tourists at Bogyoke Market, where we had to change money on the black market (no ATM’s at the time!). There were some souvenir stalls but we didn’t buy anything, I had been previously warned that most souvenirs were fake. Great read!

    • Thanks for the comment. Yes its a shame so many are fake because it is always nice to bring something back. We are happy with what we bought in the end just a little disappointed that we couldn’t get a real authentic souvenir. But our longyi’s are by far the best thing we got! 🙂

  • duaba

    these are some great tips! i’m the type to fall into the trap of buying sand paintings so now i am fully aware!!!

  • That tattoo pen is a great souvenir, but ouch! I don`t think I`d want a tattoo made with it. 🙂

  • It’s always hard to travel to places that have amazing things to buy that draw you in even though most are fake, but in between those are genuine art that really shares the experience and story of your travels

  • Fake or not, it’s always very tempting to buy souvenirs from the countries where we travel, especially if they are trinket jewellery! The tattoo pen seems like a rare souvenir.

  • Shopping in SE Asia is always quite an experience. These are helpful tips.

  • Amy

    Great tips! I’m sure I’ve walked away with more than one fake souvenir on one of my trips. Sometimes it’s tough to know when you’re getting scammed. I love the ring you had made!

    • It was incredibly difficult in Myanmar because different people told you different things so you didn’t know who to trust. And thanks I love my ring its probably the only souvenir I got in Myanmar that means anything to me!

  • col

    Really useful article, amazing how many useless souvenirs that can occur. Sounds like you are experts now though.

  • thetrustedtraveller

    Great post Samantha. For me a souvenir doesn’t have to be expensive, genuine or handmade, it’s more about having something that reminds me of a place so when I look around my apartment at home all those happy travel memories come flooding back.

    • Souvenirs are the same for me but I hate being lied to. If I knew it was fake I would still probably buy it – but when your told its a genuine item and you pay huge a price for it I get a bit upset! My apartment is full of memories and memorabilia but one or two things I deeply regret buying/wasting money on..

  • zof

    Great piece, very informative.

  • Good piece- usually it’s what TO buy so I like your spin! I don’t usually buy much souvenir-wise for myself but I like to pick up gifts to stick away for birthdays/Christmas for friends and family so tips like these are always welcome and appreciated!

    • Thanks! I thought the exact same thing! I got ripped off to many times in Myanmar so I felt compelled to share my experience so others aren’t left disappointed either!

  • Els

    Would love to go there! It’s a bit sad that, despite the fact that tourism only starts to take off, that there are already so many scams…

    • It is very sad. I think some people are taking advantage of tourists or being greedy now that there is an influx of tourists. I know they have to make a living and its very poor there – the poorest country I have been to so far but all it will do is deter tourists from purchasing anything. I saw many tourists push their way past vendors and children because they were tired of being hassled 24/7 to buy stuff.

  • Lovely pictures! This is very useful information, and you’re so right to use that rule of thumb – if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

    By the way, your Longyi looks fabulous!

    • Thanks I lived in it during our holiday! Just goes to show how little luggage you need 🙂

  • We bought a few souvenirs in Bagan. We were fully aware that the sand paintings are factory made and that the vendors purchase them from a factory each day, but we really liked them and got an amazing deal because we bought 12 of them for my boyfriend’s coworkers. We ended up getting them for about 1/4 of what the guy was asking and that was after we told him ‘final offer’ and rode off on our horse cart when he said no. He changed his mind a few minutes later and chased us down on his scooter. lol

    But we did also got caught in the ‘let us watch your shoes’ scam, though they didn’t try to keep our shoes, they just yelled at us for taking advantage of them when we declined to buy anything from them. lol.

    • Wow 12 of them! I hope you got a very good deal because they were asking us for 100,000 Kyats per painting! Yes the famous shoe scam! You were lucky 🙂

      • Yeah, we didn’t pay 100,000 each. I think 120,000 was all we had left cuz it was our last day there and we offered the guy 100,000 for all of them. It was the very end of the day, so I think that was the only reason the guy agreed to the price. he was very stubborn up until that. I think he only wanted 20,000 or 30,000 per painting and we ended up getting each one for just about 8,000. But they weren’t the landscapes, they were buddhas. I think we paid 20,000 each for the two landscapes we got the day before.

  • I rarely buy souvenirs at all, but I love to go to markeds and to “window-shop”!

  • Great post! I love shopping at markets during our travels. I try and buy one item from each place we visit so that we can look back and reminisce.

  • Great tips! It is so easy to get scammed abroad! (or anywhere)

  • Beautiful pictures and very informative post! When I started travelling, I would often buy way too many souvenirs. I love markets and find myself wandering about in them for hours in every place I visit. Obviously, its hard not to buy everything you see when its sold to you as local, traditional, handmade and supportive of local communities. However, over time I’ve learned to say “No thank you”, and keep walking past persistent shopkeepers.
    Myanmar is on my list and I’ll be sure to keep these tips in mind when I’m there.
    Thanks for sharing!

  • This is such a great post. It is always important to not only watch out for scams but also unethical purchases too. Any awareness raising on these issues can only be a good thing.

  • I very rarely buy souvenirs, but when I do I enjoy the experience… I love your article.

  • Nicole

    This article really made me smile. I was in the same places in Myanmar and tempted by similar items. I ended up buying a more expensive sand painting, but even as I was buying it I had a strong feeling that it was probably not created by hand by their family like the stall person said.
    Still, its fun isn’t it. Fun article to read! I kind of like to see that im not the only one that was a bit disappointed with the souvenirs from Myanmar and I also love my lonjyi! 🙂

    • I had heaps of fun! Yes I was disappointed with some of the things I purchased but I guess in the end I found peace and happiness that regardless of whether they were genuine of not, I supported the families of those selling the items that day. During my travels in the country it saddened me as to just how poor they are. So my bitterness turned into something more positive 🙂 And I love my longyi too! Although I am dying to return to Myanmar so I can wear it again! 🙂

  • Great post! I’m in Myanmar now, and really enjoying it. I’m interested in your sand painting experience, since I actually just bought two medium-big landscapes for 27,000 total. I wonder if there’s a sort of racism going on, since I look Asian (although I’m American and only speak tourist-level Burmese) and I was never told more than 25,000 as a first offer for one of the landscapes.

    Also, if it’s not too personal a question, I was wondering what the general price range is for one of those custom-made rings in Yangon, since I’m headed there next. I’d love to get something like that if it’s affordable and I know it’s ethical and real 🙂

    Thanks for the post!

    • Hey Sarah – I don’t know what the deal is with the sand paintings. I think if anyone wants to buy them they should. I really don’t understand why we were given such conflicting stories. I googled it when I got home from Myanmar thinking maybe it was a scam others had encountered but I didn’t read much. Where did you buy your painting? And you can ask as many questions as you like! My ring was $500 and it is 18K white gold, sapphire and diamonds. The woman who made it was a family friend. I can try and find out where she is based in Yangon if you want to get something that is made and sourced ethically. Unfortunately (and with good reason with local back up) the gems in the markets in Yangon can not be trusted and I wouldn’t advise anyone to buy from there. 🙂

      • Em

        I would love the info for your jeweler! I will be back in Yangon in a few days and was hoping to buy a few stones.

        • Hi Em
          I have tried to get in contact with my family out there to get her contact details, however I have not had any luck as yet I am afraid 🙁

  • Tumalo Rube

    Nice. Thanks for the refresher as I’ll be in Myanmar next month. It was no different in Vietnam, Cambodia, or India or a beach in Cabo. But you really did zero in on the essence. Don’t buy expensive souvenirs because they probably aren’t genuine and indeed they are half the price a few stalls down. But do spend money on cheap trinkets just to contribute to those at the bottom. CAREFULLY however as you can quickly draw a crowd. Ha ha. Glad you got your shoes back.

  • 于念平

    Very useful post, thank you. I’ve been to Myanmar twice (love this country) and I agree with you on everything except for one thing. Sand paintings are not always fake or mass production. The second time I was in Bagan, I visited the workshop and home of a local family that has been creating sand paintings for long time. They show me the whole process of making it, didn’t try to add in the qualities that does not belong to the works itself, such as the precious stone or anything like that. Of course they wanted to make some money on the works and surely they would be happy if we can buy some paintings from them. We bought a few with reasonable offers, and we learnt how to distinguish between the works made with normal paint and sand. (They have both kinds, different price and different way to make.) I am never the buyer kind during travel, and I don’t like to spend money on the things I don’t need or don’t want, but I really appreciate the works they make (you can see sand paintings everywhere in Bagan with various prices, but if you look into them, they are with different styles or different basic colours.). So, although it’s always a good thing to avoid spending extra money on trips on the things you dpn’t actually want, but I guess sand paintings should not be on the don’t-buy list. Base on my observation, those with buddhist stories or features or patterns on it are less possible to be mass production. Last but bot least, the sand they use are all stones from the river, not any kind of gemstone!

    • Gabi Jacob

      Hii, could you indicate where you were able to see the sand paint workshop?

  • blue_lax_monkey

    Can I just ask how long it took to get your ring made? It is beautiful!

    • Samantha Hussey

      It took 2 weeks! We arrived in Yangon and then when we departed we picked it up. 🙂

  • Em Maree

    So there were five useless souvenirs. Haha i laughed every time you mentioned useless souvenir. I’ll take note of this.

    • Samantha Hussey

      I say useless mostly because they were poor in quality and a complete waste of money! But to be honest, our tattoo pen does take a pride location on our bookcase and people always ask what it is so it wasn’t complete useless! 🙂

  • Gabi Jacob

    Hi Samantha, this is a very good article and helped me a lot 🙂
    I have a few questions, as it will be my first time in Asia: is it possible to indicate us a guide or were them your frinds (that wasn’t quite clear to me) and also the personalized jewel- is it possible to be indicated so I could ask our hotel to reach him?

    Another question which is more practical is: wheneve ryou take your shoes off, do you carry them or they are left somewhere?

    Thank you for the tips! 🙂

    • Jia Yi

      HI Gabi, not sure if you’ve already gone to Myanmar! But regarding your question about taking off shoes, you’ll have to take off your shoes every time you go to a temple/pagoda/shrine, so my advice would be to just wear slippers, and carry them with you in a plastic bag while you tour the temple. Sleeveless tops and shorts are not allowed, you’ll need to wear long pants! Hope this helps 🙂

  • Sandy Ydnas

    Hi Samantha…great article. I’m interested in the certified jeweler who made your ring. How can I contact him/her? Thanks!

  • Juan de la Cruz

    Great article. I should have read this before going to Mandalay last week. You were right, there were sellers in Mingun that hover you around like a gadfly pestering you with a sale. Lol. Don’t hard sell to another SEAsian tourist- you will fail miserably.

  • Juan de la Cruz

    For good priced longyi and other foodstuffs, head to the supermarket as these would be in line with local prices and good quality too. And you’re not pressured to buy at all.

  • Juan de la Cruz

    Oh, one last thing, a great souvenir from Mandalay is the goldleaf sheets.

  • Bindu Kumar

    Good article. These tips would definitely help me. I am in Myanmar on a 4 week trip.


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