Nancy deWolf Smith has written a fantastic article for The Wall Street Journal entitled “The Ravishing of Robert Pattinson” in which she discusses the exploitation of Rob by the media and by many who call themselves fans.
 

In a recent survey of 130,000 women by iVillage Entertainment, 87% said they would trade their husband for British actor Robert Pattinson. Clearly, some of them were kidding. The rest will just have to accept that the 23-year-old Mr. Pattinson, like the romantic vampire Edward Cullen he embodies in the “Twilight” movie series, is unlikely ever to cross their paths outside the realm of dreams.
 
Until now, most of those dreams were sweet or at least private ones. Yet as Mr. Pattinson made the rounds in New York this week to promote his new, nonvampire movie, “Remember Me,” the spectacle of his sexploitation—how else to put it?—was grotesque. What’s being wrecked is the essence of his appeal, and he’s really not old enough to safeguard it.

 
Read the full article here. Thanks to Stephanie for the tip!

According to KTLA, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an anti-paparazzi law.
 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an anti-paparazzi law that makes it easier for celebrities to fight back against photographers who invade their privacy.
 
Schwarzenegger signed an amendment Sunday to a decade-old law that allows fines against paparazzi who illegally or offensively take photos or recordings. The amendment allows celebrities to sue media outlets that pay for and make first use of material they knew was improperly obtained.

 
This is such an important step forward in ensuring the safety of celebrities! Read the entire article here.

April Eldridge has written a fantastic blog post about taking a stand against the paparazzi. In it, she encapsulates all that we at Project F.L.A.N.S. stand for!
 

I find it utterly disgusting the lengths paparazzi take to follow, stalk, snap, yell, lurk, and all the other sleazy, mindless, god-awful things paps do these days. But, this is nothing new. The paparazzi has been the bottom feeders of our society for a LONG time. Too long. The main problem is that WE ALL FEED THEM! We buy the magazines, we look at the websites, we look, we look, and we look some more. Why you ask?
 
Ever hear of “Curiosity Killed the Cat”? Well, there’s a reason for it.

 
You can read the full post here.

Charlie Bewley, who plays Demitri in New Moon, recently gave an interview to Hollywood.com in which he discusses the effect fame is having on the cast, especially Rob.
 

“I was just swamped with 15-year-old girls wherever I went [in Italy]. My inner 14-year-old teenager in my head had a great time.”
 
While being pursued through the streets of Montepulciano by Twilight fanatics was a magical experience for him, Bewley acquiesces that there is a pressure induced by the immenseness of Twilight‘s popularity that he has yet to experience in the way that the film’s perpetually photographed leads have.
 
“Rob, I feel sorry for him a little bit,” Bewley says. “I feel for him, because he’s like a paparazzi fugitive right now. He can’t leave his house. He’s the most photographed person in the world.”
 
Bewley says it’s hard for him to say whether the attention Pattinson receives might make it difficult for the fellow Brit to enjoy his success, but that he, “can’t imagine he would ever say he wishes it didn’t happen, but it is a ridiculous thing to happen to anyone. He’s gone from zero to hero in six months, and his life is just totally turned upside down. I don’t know. I didn’t really speak to him in depth that much about it. But me in that situation, I think I just enjoy the parts of life that he can’t do right now too much.”

 
You can read the full interview here

Kimberly Sherman has posted the second part of her interview with Kellan, and in it he discusses the effect the paparazzi has had on Rob.
 

There’s no way I could be doing what I do now if I were Edward. Its such hard shoes to fill compared to the fans who fell in love with Bella and Edward in the book series because they ARE the book in a way, and then you add in Jacob. For every million fans we have, they have 10 times. It’s just a different world. And like hanging out with Rob, it’s tough to see what he has to go through. It’s really tough for him because you can’t put a price on your life, your freedom, your happiness, and it’s gonna go on for a couple of years. It’s tough when you can’t even leave your hotel room to go get a coffee.

 
Read the entire interview here.

Kimberly Sherman, the Twilight Parents Examiner, had a great interview with Kellan Lutz recently in which he discusses the effect fame has had on him and how he desires some normalcy in his life.

Everyone’s so loving and supporting- there’s no haters. There’s so many Twilight fans that have given me presents- gummy bears or chew toys for my dog. It’s so humbling; people wanting to have a picture with me or wanting me to sign something. It’s so endearing.
 
But when we’re here working 12, 14, 16 hour days, on our off days we just want to be a normal human being and go get a bite to eat or go play pool and be normal. We just want to get out of our hotel rooms or apartments, but we can’t, and that’s a tough thing. And we don’t always want to have to look our best. I just love dressing comfy to go out, but we can’t because there’s always photographers there.
 
The other day I was working out at the gym. Photographers were shooting from across the street through the windows of the gym to me working out. I couldn’t just work out and blow off some steam. So where does the privacy start and the publicity end? When is it enough?
 
We’re all very happy to be working and be part of an amazing franchise like this, and we wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s allowed me to get some great work and to do amazing movies, independents ones that I can show some great acting with, and some great character roles, but really, we’re just human…
 
I can’t fathom what other people go through. I’m just a part of this franchise… I’m Kellan. There’s nothing super special about me that’s worthwhile. I wish there were more pictures of people helping out. Show Brad and Angelina and all the good work they do. Show me at my charity events, but really, do you need to see pictures of me walking my dog 20 million times?

Read the full interview here.

Glamour Magazine has revealed yet another fake picture of Rob and Kristen supposedly walking down the street holding hands. You can see the fake picture here and the real one – Kristen with her actual boyfriend Michael Angarano – here.
 
Normally we don’t post stuff like this, so you may be wondering why we’re bringing this up. The fact is that the media (and even people who call themselves fans) will go to any lengths to spread lies and rumours just to sell more magazines or get more website hits. The whole “Robsten” thing is popular right now (and for the record, we believe it’s 100% crap) so media outlets are capitalizing on it because they know fans will eat it up. We are extremely pleased that sites like Glamour are helping to root out these lies.
 
Our advice to you, awesome F.L.A.N.S., is to take these things with a grain of salt. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true… even reputable sites like MTV or (insert awesome site name here) get fooled sometimes! You can help Rob and his fellow celebrities by not perpetuating the lies – double, triple, quadruple check the info.
 
Pel from the awesome Twilight Lexicon gave this advice: every respectable site will credit its sources. Track the sources as far back as you can until you find the original – you’ll often be surprised by what you see. If there is no source credited (or if it says something vague like “a source close to the celeb’s cousin’s roommate’s best friend”), run in the other direction! Chances are that little gossip site doesn’t really have the “exclusive” information they claim to have.
 
This public service announcement is as much for the fans as it is for Rob – we hope you’ll surf the web responsibly! ;)
 
Thanks to Glamour for sending us the links!

Jed Medina, from our partner the Movie Fanatic, has written an excellent and in depth article for Project Flans.  Jed will be posting Part 1 of his article on the Move Fanatic, while we will post Parts 2 -4.  This is a MUST READ for every fan.  Dedicated or not.  Please read, pass it on, and read again.  Jed lays down exactly the spirit of the Project into his article and it should not be missed.
  

Perez Hilton is Mario Lavadeira in real life and is the consummate celebrity blogger. With his signature snarky remarks targeting any and all celebrities, he makes his living celebrating other peoples’ misfortunes, tragedies and spotlighting scandals.
 
I remarked earlier that writing letters to Hilton will not give fans what they want – for this celebrity blogger to have a change of heart and start becoming friendlier and nicer to celebrities, in particular Robert Pattinson and the Twilight cast, we need to target something else.
 
If fans want change, they need to target his earnings.
  (more…)

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I can hear you asking, “What the heck is a twibbon?” (I asked the same thing.) A twibbon is a small image that is put on top of your twitter userpic to show your support for a cause! It’s super easy and a great way to tell your fellow fans about the project. Click on the image to get your Project F.L.A.N.S. twibbon!