Coca-Cola & MTV Search for a “Movie Awards Insider”


It seems Coca-Cola and MTV have teamed up in a nationwide search for a super lucky fan to unlock the behind the scenes coverage for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards as their “Movie Awards Insider”. What sounds really cool is that it isn’t a “random drawing”, the registerants need to prove their “movie insider” knowledge and their on-screen personality to enter. Since most of our readers are movie-geeks, I’m sure this will be easy for most of you.

Make a case in 250 words or less on why you are worthy of being side-by-side with the behind the scenes news correspondants.

The winner will join the MTV News team in LA and get mentored in the art of backstage news reporting. Then the “Insider” will cover the following:

– What’s going on in days leading up to the awards
– Interviews with show nominees, presenters, and MTV talent
– Backstage happenings during artist performance rehearsals
– After-party!!

An extra 10 entrants (each get a +1 to take along) will be flown to Los Angeles to attend the awards!

To register: http://mtvcokeinsider.com/?r=1

Registration goes through midnight EDT on May 17th, 2010.

So what are you waiting for? Go join the fun!

Eligibility: This Contest is open to legal residents of the forty-eight (48) contiguous United States and District of Columbia who are at least eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of entry.

Zachary Levi Earns Pole Position in Qualifying for the 2010 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race


(Photo: Albert L. Ortega)

Zachary Levi posted the fastest time of all celebrities to earn the pole position in the 34th-annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. Levi, the star of the NBC sitcom “Chuck,” narrowly beat actors Adrien Brody and Brian Austin Green in the qualifying race. Levi will lead the pack tomorrow in what has become the world’s longest-running, most successful celebrity racing event. CART Champion Jimmy Vasser finished first among all drivers and won in the Pro category, followed closely by Formula Drift Champion Tanner Foust.

“Zachary put on quite a display this afternoon,” said Les Unger, national motorsports manager with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. “The hard work and determination he displayed throughout our training sessions paid off. The commitment and enthusiasm of all the drivers competing in this event demonstrates exactly what the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is all about.”

“I did it!” said an exuberant Levi at a news conference after the qualifying session. “This is a great race, with a terrific group of people, that benefits an amazing cause. I can’t describe how pumped I am for tomorrow’s race.”

As pole-position winner in the qualifying session, Levi designated his $15,000 donation in conjunction with the 13th-annual People Pole Award to the charity Operation Smile, which works to transform the lives of children who suffer from cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.

Furthermore, Toyota will donate $5,000 to Racing for Kids in the name of each celebrity racer and an additional $5,000 to the winning racer’s charity of choice. Racing for Kids is a national nonprofit program benefiting children hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County, Calif. Toyota has donated $1.8 million on behalf of the race and its participants to various children hospitals since 1991.

Saturday’s race starts at 11:50 a.m. PDT.

Gen Art Film Festival Winners!

The 15TH Anniversary of the Gen Art Film Festival presented by Acura wrapped an exciting week that kicked off with the New York premiere of Sundance Audience Award winner “happythankyoumoreplease” and concluded last night with a ceremony announcing the winners of the Acura Grand Jury Awards, Wonderwall.com’s Stargazer Award and the Festival’s Audience Awards.

Following the closing night premiere of “Mercy,” the award winners were announced at BLVD. Gen Art Senior Vice President of Film Jeffrey Abramson, Gen Art Associate Director Aaron Levine and Jurors Shea Whigham and Eugene Hernandez announced the Festival winners.

The Acura Grand Jury Award for Best Feature went to Tatiana Von Furstenberg and Francesca Gregorini’s “Tanner Hall” with both directors on hand to receive their award last night, and the Acura Grand Jury Award for Best Short went to Vance Malone’s “The Poodle Trainer.” Prizes of $10,000 and $5,000 were presented by Acura to the Feature and Short winners respectively. Josh Radnor’s “happythankyoumoreplease” and Jeff Sousa’s “The Hirosaki Players” took home the Festival’s coveted Audience Awards.

Additionally, Wonderwall.com’s “Stargazer Award” recognized Rooney Mara (“Tanner Hall”) as the most talented emerging actor with “starstuff” from this year’s festival, selected by an esteemed group of festival alumni actors: Paul Schneider, Shea Whigham and Billy Burke. She will be featured in a special gallery on Wonderwall.com this week. The role was Rooney Mara’s first lead role, but she has since gone on to appear in indie films including “Youth in Revolt” and “Dare” both which opened theatrically early this year and late last year respectively, and she will be seen as a lead in the upcoming remake of the classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street” which opens nationally on April 30th. Rooney was on hand to accept the award last night.

During the past week, the Gen Art Film Festival presented by Acura showcased the New York premieres of seven features and seven shorts from emerging filmmakers, each followed by seven parties at New York City’s hottest venues, including SL, Juliet Supper Club, and Avenue. The cutting-edge festival allowed film buffs to experience a premiere like a true insider with interactive elements allowing filmmakers, media and the audience to share in the excitement.

“Happythankyoumoreplease” written and directed by Josh Radnor and featuring Radnor, Malin Akerman, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Pablo Schreiber, Tony Hale and Richard Jenkins opened the festival on April 7th at the historic Ziegfeld Theatre. The remaining films included “Mercy,” “Tanner Hall,” “Waiting for Forever,” “The Wild Hunt,” “Teenage Paparazzo,” and “Elektra Luxx” which all premiered to capacity crowds at the completely redesigned, state-of-the-art Visual Arts Theater in Chelsea.

Celebrities in attendance throughout the week included Adrian Grenier, Josh Radnor, Rachel Bilson, Malin Akerman, Alexis Bledel, Blythe Danner, Diane Von Furstenberg, Carla Gugino, Tom Everett Scott, Kate Mara, Tom Sturridge, Anthony Mackie, Rooney Mara, Zoe Kazan among many others.

“To celebrate our 15th year we sought to program films that would really excite our audience and by all measures we succeeded in doing such” said Jeffrey Abramson. “Our audience award reactions were exceptionally high and enthusiastic and the # of passholders and repeat attendees significantly increased”

“To kick off Spring 2010 with a sold-out 15 Anniversary Film Festival that brought together the highest profile and critically acclaimed set of independent films that we have showcased in our history, that also had such filmmaker and talent support at the festival, was truly inspiring” said Gen Art CEO and co-Founder Ian Gerard. “And to have our festival partner Acura there with us for an eighth year – was the icing on the cake.”

Once the run of the festival was determined, the films were submitted to the official festival jury, comprised of the following:

Feature Jury: Ben Barenholz (Producer), Charles Thorp (NY Entertainment Journalist), Eugene Hernandez (indieWIRE), Kacey Hagler (Fox Searchlight), Meira Bluastein (Woodstock Film Festival)

Short Jury: David Fear (Time Out NY), David Miller (Director, My Suicide), Marc Webb (Alumnus Director, 500 Days of Summer), Robin Bronk (The Creative Coalition), Tom Everett Scott (Actor/ Alumnus Director, “Glock”)

Stargazer Jury (all alumni Gen Art actors): Billy Burke, Paul Schnieder, Shea Whigham

Filmmaker DavidJR created videos encapsulating each night’s premiere and they can be viewed at http://www.genart.org/filmfestival/video.

In addition to Acura, the festival was made possible through the sponsor support of Amazon, Andaz Hotels, Cannon, Chase, Crunch, Don Julio Tequila, General Snus, Honest Tea, Kodak, New York Magazine, Ovation TV, and Stella Artois.

For more information, upcoming events and pictures and video please visit Gen Art’s website at www.genart.org.

Quadruple Z Episode #006 – Review of Ugly Betty 1×1 – “Pilot”

Join Tabz, Kim and Val as they discuss Ugly Betty S1 Ep1 – “Pilot”.
This episode was edited by John N.

Find out more about Ugly Betty on ABC.com

TV.com Recap:
Betty has always dreamed of working in the publishing world, but it seems as though there’s no place for the non-thin and non-beautiful in the business. People already have their minds set on the idea that beautiful women are only the thin and perfect! Betty really wants a job in that wonderful, yet cruel, world. But can she really find a place in it?

Love Ugly Betty? Check These Sites:
Ugly Is In
Ugly Betty Blog

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave them below or email us at betweenthelinesstudios-at-gmail.com. We’ll read them on an upcoming episode!

(Photos: ABC/ugly-is-in.com)

Joshua Radnor at screening of happythankyoumoreplease


If you missed it Joshua Radnor (Ted, How I Met Your Mother) made a movie! happythankyoumoreplease written and directed by Radnor, is a dramedy, which focuses on several 20-something relationships in the city. The film was screened last night at Opening Night of the 15th Anniversary of the Gen Art Film Festival presented by Acura which runs from April 7-13th in NYC.

Here’s some photos of Joshua and Malin Ackerman & Kate Mara:

(Photo: Michael Algieri & Josh Radnor)

(Photo Credit: Rob Loud)

Review of Doctor Who S5 Ep1: Eleventh Hour

Quote of the Episode
I’m saving the world.
I need a decent shirt. – the Doctor

Non-Spoilery Review:
After what seems like a millennia Matthew Smith has taken over as the 11th Doctor. This episode, penned by the new show-runner Stephen Moffat takes everything we love about Doctor Who and promises eager fans that, while actors may change, Doctor Who is always the same.

Recap:

The Doctor has regenerated into a brand new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover. With the TARDIS wrecked, and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, the new Doctor has just 20 minutes to save the whole world – and only Amy Pond to help him.

TV.com

Spoilery Review
I must admit, I was not one of the skeptics when it came to “can Matt Smith pull off the Doctor”. As much as I’m a David Tennant fangirl, I was very excited for Doctor Who to be run by Steven Moffat (who wrote my all-time favorite episode of Doctor Who: Blink and a close second: The Girl in the Fireplace). I will give Russel T. Davis his due for having revamped a classic TV show and made it even more relevant and timely than it’s previous incarnation, but Moffat really holds the qualities of storytelling that I find so fascinating.

That said, Eleventh Hour surpassed my expectations. The episode highlighted the very thing most fans love about the Doctor, through young Amelia Pond we have a picture of the average Doctor Who fan. Some one fascinated with the mythos of a mad man in a blue box who can come and save the world. The childish innocence and strength of young Amelia was clearly accentuated through her interactions with the Doctor. Those are, after all, the Doctor’s favorite things about humans.

And, of course, the ever present (and very needed) element of humor was throughout the episode. From the crash landing (apples, swimming pools and the like) to the Doctor’s final choice of outfit (bowties are cool). My favorite moments were the food tasting, especially hurling the plate of bread and butter out the door and commanding it not to come back.

The alien was great too, the perfect combination of scary enough (the corner of your eye bit was fantastically done), but not overwhelming to the main part of the story (The Doctor and Amy’s journey together). Some great special effects too with the same voice coming out of  the mother and both girls at the end and with the teeth.

I also like the set up for what promises to be the series arch (the Silence, the crack appearing on the Tardis’ screen, the duck pond… okay, maybe not the duck pond). Also loved the Doctor’s ability to help random strangers (like Jeff). It’s something I’d missed from previous seasons.

Matt Smith has big shoes to fill, and I don’t envy the microscope his acting will be under for the next few months, but I am very happy to see a lot of doubting Thomas types now sold on Matt being a great Doctor.

Make Something Sweet: Special Deal on Betty Crocker SuperMoist Cake and Traditional Brownie Mixes & Giveaway!

If you’re like me you have a bit of a sweet tooth and absolutely nothing fills it like a fresh-baked treat straight out of the oven. Of course, who has time or energy to make cookies, cakes and brownies from scratch? That’s where Betty Crocker steps in to the rescue. Today you can step into your local Safeway and buy any Betty Crocker SuperMosit Cake or Traditional Brownie Mix for the ridiculously low price of $0.69! So bake up something for you and your family.

Don’t live near a Safeway? No worries. Betty Crocker has a fantastic site BakeSweetMemories.com with coupons, recipes and new items from Betty Crocker.

GIVEAWAY


Would you like to WIN a $25 Safeway Gift Card and a Betty Crocker Sweet Spring Treats Prize Pack to help make Spring more delicious and fun?

The Betty Crocker Sweet Spring Treats Prize Pack includes:

* A dishwasher, oven, freezer, microwave safe, silicon Baking Pan
* A Sturdy, Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
* A Large, Red Oven Mitt
* A Betty Crocker Mixing Spoon
* A $25 Safeway* Gift Card to purchase Betty Crocker Baking Products or whatever your heart desires!

* Safeway also is Vons (primarily in Southern California), Dominick’s Finer Foods (Chicago), Carr-Gottstein Foods (Alaska’s largest retailer), Genuardi’s Family Markets (eastern US), and Randall’s Food Markets (Texas).

How to Enter

Main Entry: (you must complete this entry in order to participate, otherwise all other entries will be disqualified)

Visit BakeSweetMemories.Com’s Recipes Section and come back here to leave a comment letting us know which recipe you can’t wait to try out.

Extra Entries (please leave a seperate comment for each task you complete):

1. Tweet this:

Enter & win a $25 Grocery Gift Card & prize pack QuadrupleZ, Betty Crocker & Safeway: http://bit.ly/c1A6o5  #giveaway

2. Leave a comment on another QuadZ post (come back here and leave a comment to say you did so)

3. Subscribe to us (iTunes/RSS or via email): Subscribe to Quadruple Z by Email (leave a comment to say you did so or if you’re already a subscriber)

4. Blog about this giveaway and leave us the link in the comments.

Rules:

Participants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of the drawing. US residents (or US shipping address) only. You must leave your email address in your comment or I will have to immediately choose a new winner. This giveaway will end on Friday, April 23, 2010 at midnight PST. Winner will be notified by email after conclusion of giveaway. Winner will have 72 hours to respond to my winner email or I reserve the right to choose an alternate winner. Any entries not adhering to the rules of entry or extra entries are not valid. Contest is open to all members of Between the Lines Studios and their families. Winner will be chosen at random with random.org.

Disclosure: I received a Sweet Spring Treats Prize Pack, VIP Coupon for a Betty Crocker Product, and a $25 Safeway Gift Card from Safeway and Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark. One $25 Safeway Gift Card and Sweet Spring Treats Prize Pack (without VIP Coupon for Betty Crocker Product) is also being provided for me to giveaway to one lucky Save Your Money Mama Winner! The Prize will be sent directly to the winner by Safeway and Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark.

Quadruple Z Episode #005 – Interview with Recording Artist Rachel Fine


Join Tabz as she interviews Rachel Fine, fantastic recording artist. Listen as they discuss music, writing and the creative process.

Episode edited by John N.

Check out her music and buy her album, Own Your Own on iTunes.
or Own Your Own on Amazon.

Visit Rachel Fine’s Website.
or Myspace.
or Facebook.
or Twitter.

Links
MacDella Cooper Foundation
Project Runway