We announced the Where Is Edward Cullen forums shortly towards the end of Volvo’s Lost In Forks promotion in July of 2010.  The forum was designed to be a place for Twilight fans playing the game to get to know each other and share their findings.  It was a semi-protected atmosphere that cleaned prevented a lot of the impostor posting we were seeing in blog comments.  From there it grew into something much more.  A core group of members remained long after the promotion and launched a chat, an Ellen promo, and built the foundation of nearly 30 new friendships.

In last month’s nostalgic post titled, “Stupid Shiny Volvo Owner” I touched on these bonds and the uncertain future of the Where Is Edward Cullen forums and even there Where Is Edward Cullen website.  And while the site’s fate is still up in the air, tonight I am officially closing the doors on the forums.  The core members who still remained have moved on to the private Facebook group and the friendships continue to flourish.

If/When Volvo does another Twilight themed contest, there will definitely a new series of posts up on the site to help anyone playing.  I will again try and do an overall guide in hopes of bringing more Twilight fans together, but all communication will take place via the Where Is Edward Cullen Facebook Page or via comments.

Thanks again to everyone who over the last year has dedicated time and energy into the forums. I know that countless hours were spent cleaning up spam, moderating weirdos, and booting creeps, but in the end I hope it all was worth it.

Last year I did a detailed posting on solving Volvo’s Lost In Forks game.  It contained hints and clues for players and drove nearly 17,000 visitors from around the world, 1,515 comments, and over 100 hundred e-mails, a feat I never thought this little Twi-site would ever see.  But when the comments got out of hand and users started impersonating one another as a means of creating chaos on the site I was forced to come up with a solution that would protect our users.  That solution was the Where Is Edward Cullen Forums.

Though they have died out significantly since their launch and have been more a haven for spammers than for Twi-hards, a group of about 30 Twilight fans has continued to thrive in the forums, chat, and more recently in the Where Is Edward Cullen Facebook Group.

Over the last year I have seen strangers brought together through the Twilight Saga and a game put on by Volvo transform into real life friendships, some of which resulted in in-person meetings.  When we launched Where Is Edward Cullen, I figured it would just be an outlet for a few Twi-tards to share their musings about a book we grew to love together, but what it has become is much larger than that.

It has become somewhat of a family.  Something more than I ever could have imagined.  As we celebrate this one year anniversary of our coming together I look at the forums and recognize they are on their last leg and will most likely be shut down in the coming weeks.

I want to thank those who have helped moderate the forums and keep them somewhat presentable.  I also want to thank the handful that have stuck around for continuing to keep in touch even as I have moved on to more prominent ventures. As we kick off the second year of the community surrounding Where Is Edward Cullen the sites fate is still undetermined, however I know that regardless of what happens to the site, the community that came alive last year will continue to live on outside of WhereIsEdwardCullen.com.

The Eclipse themed corn mazes are the largest corn mazes in the state of Utah and are made up of over 5 miles of twists, turns, and dead ends.  It is predicted that most visitors will require more than an hour to find their way out of the Twilight stars’ likeness, but realistically the mazes can be completed in around 15 minutes.

The farm will begin its harvest activities this Friday and is located near Antelope Island along the wetlands at about 3178 S. 3000 West, Syracuse. It’s about three miles southwest of Clearfield.

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“The Vampire Revival” is among the more anticipated panels and will feature horror author Stephen King and Twilight Saga screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg.  The panel will discuss vampires in pop culture, an industry which has grown into a $7 billion business.

In contrast Neil Gaiman will also be on hand, an author who spoke out against the vampire revival in an interview with Entertainment Weekly late last year.

Tickets for the event will go on sale on September 10 at noon EST.

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TIFF, which stands for the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off September 9 and will feature over 300 films from around the world over the course of 11 days.

The National Post has published a complete list of attendees for this years even, which includes Rathbone in addition to hundreds of other Hollywood hot shots.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the tribe has partnered with the Seattle Art Museum to display a yearlong exhibit titled: “Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of Quileute Wolves.”  The exhibit will feature 25 real life artifacts, photographs, and maps to help educate visitors about the tribe’s history.

According to The Seattle Art Museum, the exhibit will debut later today and will kick off with a celebration featuring a performance by the Quileute Nation drumming circle.

Targeting readers ages 12 and up, the series builds on the current obsession with vampires and werewolves, offering young adults information on the history, the science, and the literary connections behind these fascinating creatures (After all Vampires ARE fictional). Myths and stories about creatures of the night have been popular throughout history, as people are drawn to the allure of the “other.”

The series which is titled, The Making of a Monster: Vampires & Werewolves will include:

• Ancient Werewolves and Vampires: The Roots of the Teeth
• Dracula and Beyond: Famous Vampires & Werewolves in Literature and Film
• Fighting the Fangs: A Guide to Vampires and Werewolves
• Howling at the Moon: Vampires & Werewolves in the New World
• Pop Monsters: The Modern-Day Craze for Vampires and Werewolves
• The Psychology of Our Dark Side: Humans’ Love Affair with Vampires & Werewolves
• The Science of the Beast: The Facts Behind the Fangs
• Transylvania and Beyond: Vampires & Werewolves in Old Europe
• Global Legends and Lore: Vampires and Werewolves Around the World

I’m not a huge reader, but I must say that the mixture of pop culture, werewolves and vampires actually has me a bit intrigued in reading this series.  But the real question is, will our sparkley vampires and shape-shifting Quilieutes make the cut?  Or are these books simply piggybacking off of the success of recent phenomenon’s like Twilight?

We have since blocked the most problematic commenter, but discovered today that there were others in the past that we will be keeping an eye out for.  A handful of commenter’s in particular were impacted significantly by the impostors including commenter’s under the aliases of Techie, Bella, and Alice.  To further protect our readers and to open up a new line off communication for our community of fans and readers, we launched the Where Is Edward Cullen Forums.  Since its start yesterday evening the community already has 42 members at the time of this writing and 779 posts.  Not bad for only being a day old.

We are continuing to develop the community and have added some general guidelines, information, and a number of Twilight related boards to get the conversations going.  We hope our readers appreciate the steps we have taken to create a secure, fun environment for fans to interact without having to worry about impostors posting under their name.  Sign up today, and be sure to stop by the “Newborns” thread and introduce yourself!

But now it seems that another Twilight inspired teen trend has hit Texas, this time they are taking on the roll of the vampires.  Taking lead from the more traditional “cold ones”, a Rockwall, Texas teen has had fangs implanted.  The fangs, which are made using a plastic-like substance called composite, were implanted by local dentist Dr. Mary Courtin and are gaining even more interest from local teens.

While the fangs do not appear to be permanent it does have some dentists concerned, saying that the added tooth length could impact the patients bite.  A good idea or not, it seems that Texas is the place to be if you want to show off your individuality and love for Team Jacob or Team Edward.  The teens mother was not too fond of the decision, but said in an interview, “They want to look like who they idolize. And right now, ‘Twilight’ is it.”

Have you done anything out of the ordinary to show your love for the Twilight Saga?  Let us know!

Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com, recently told Reuters, “Tracing Pattinson’s family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to ‘The Twilight Saga’.”  According the the report

Family history experts said Pattinson and Vlad — the Transylvania-born despot also known as Vlad the Impaler — are likely related through today’s British royal family.

Pattinson, 24, is a distant cousin of Prince William and Prince Harry on their father’s side, probably through the Pickering family who lived in northern England in the early 1500s, Ancestry.com said.

“Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson’s life — making his story just as supernatural as the one he is playing on screen,” Tyler said.

The report also mentions Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.  Research finds that the silver screen wizard is related to a 16th Century woman who was accused of witchcraft.