I know there are quite a few fans here of the “Twilight” books about a teenage girl who has fallen in love with a vampire, so here’s some more big news about the upcoming movie based on the first novel. A director (Catherine Hardwicke) was confirmed a few months ago, and now we have our leads.

Bella will be played by 17-year-old Kristen Stewart, best known as Jodie Foster’s androgynous daughter in “Panic Room.” (That was five years ago; she has grown out of her androgyny.) She’s currently in “Into the Wild” and was seen earlier this year in “The Messengers.” She’s a solid actress and a good choice for the part, I think.

Edward’s the tricky one. The book spends many pages describing him, and in particular how beautiful he is. Can you find an actual human being to play such a role? Maybe it will be like Stephen King’s “It,” where it’s one thing to describe on paper how scary something is, but quite another to actually show it.

Anyway, they’ve hired 21-year-old Robert Pattinson, an English actor best known for playing Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies. Does Edward have an English accent in the books? I don’t remember. English accents are romantic, though, so lots of male leads in chick flicks have them. Pattinson hasn’t been in enough movies for me to have an opinion on his talent, and I’ll leave the discussion of whether he’s beautiful enough to play the impossibly gorgeous Edward to others.

The book’s author, Stephenie Meyer, cheerfully admits on her website that she has no say whatsoever in the casting of the film, but offers some suggestions for whom she would choose. Given her previous selections, I’d guess Pattinson probably fits in with her tastes.

The movie is supposed to start shooting soon, with a tentative release date of late 2008.

Here’s another blast from the past. On the last broadcast of the semester in April 1999, for some reason I was the guest weatherman on the KBYU News. I don’t remember whose idea it was or how it came about. I was the editor in chief of The Daily Universe by then, and we worked closely with the TV people, so I guess it was synergy in action.

It wasn’t scripted; instead, you’d just watch the monitor in the camera and read the numbers off the screen, making you no more a meteorologist than the people at home doing the same thing. At the 1:32 mark, the numbers leave the screen and I realize I was warned about this and that I failed to glance at the last couple stats I would need before they disappeared, like I was supposed to. So instead I make something up.

Note: I don’t know what the anchorwoman’s name is (Joanna something) or what the deal is with my sweater.

Also note: They told me to take off my glasses so they wouldn’t get a glare off the lights.

Final note: I found this on the same tape as “Venus Envy.” What additional wonders will this old VHS tape hold??

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