Pop-Corn: Teen Choice Awards, Austin Butler & More!

Tasty tidbits on your celebrity faves!
From Gerri Miller, for the Ink Splot 26 Celeb Beat

Hello and welcome to POP-Corn, your source for cool news from the world of entertainment. You may remember the POP-Corn column from Scholastic News Online. Well, this summer it's on The Splot! We'll be bringing you a new jam-packed edition every other week, so be sure to tune in every other Friday all through the summer! (And on the other Fridays, STACKS Staffers will be posting their own Book Flap columns clueing you in to all the latest happenings with your favorite books, series, authors, and page-to-screen adaptations. It's all part of our first Summer on The Splot!)

TEEN CHOICE AWARDS REPORT: BEHIND THE SCENES SCOOP!

Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers and Twilight were the big winners at the Teen Choice Awards, where stars walked the eco-friendly green carpet and nominees hoped to take home surfboard trophies.  Zac Efron snagged two of them for High School Musical 3 and 17 Again, adding to his collection. "I hang them in my garage above my car," he said. Right now he's working on The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.  It's a mix of drama, romance, suspense and the supernatural that'll hit theaters next year.

On the green carpet, Wizards of Waverly Place's Jake T. Austin was an excited nominee for Choice TV Sidekick, as was iCarly's Jennette McCurdy. They lost to Emily Osment of Hannah Montana, but Jennette has other news to celebrate: she just signed a record deal with Nashville's Capitol Records for her debut album, due next year. Emily, meanwhile, has her own album in the works for spring 2010 but you can hear the single "All the Way Up" on Radio Disney, see the video for it starting August 24^th, and get her EP in October. Emily describes her sound as "a very wide spectrum of pop."

Em's castmate Jason Earles told us about the fun he had during his summer hiatus on trips to Hawaii and to the Caribbean on a Disney Summer at Sea cruise, and Josh Hutcherson said he was about to begin filming a remake of the action movie Red Dawn. He's been reading a lot of scripts, so he's behind on the Twilight book series, "But all my friends have read it so I have to get up to speed," he said. Nathan Kress of iCarly was looking forward to studying American literature this fall in school, and he told us why he loves to read here in this exclusive video.

Castmate Jennette McCurdy's favorite book list includes Cyrano De Bergerac, the Lord of the Rings series, and of course, Harry Potter. "Too bad the movies have already been made because I would have loved to play Luna Lovegood," she confided. "I was her for Halloween one year."

Here's why Jennette loves to read:

Emily Osment, Jake T. Austin, Jason Earles and Lucas Cruikshank of the YouTube series Fred also told us why they love to read in exclusive messages to Stacks readers. Check them out here in our video hub!

While at Teen Choice, lots of celebs visited the Backstage Creations Bop It Celebrity Retreat, where they picked up gift bags, played games like the Band Hero video game and the hand-held Bop It. High scorer Shailene Woodley of Secret Life of the American Teenager won $10,000 for her favorite charity. They also designed and signed Office Depot backpacks to donate to sick kids at the City of Hope hospital. Abigail Breslin of My Sister's Keeper and Jordin Sparks, whose friend Wendy battled cancer, were two stars that showed off their decorating skills. For the chance to design your own and win a prize, visit Project Backpack.

          

Jordin, Abigail, Brenda Song, Emily Osment and Jennette McCurdy loved the colorful neoprene bags by California Leash Co., and Debby Ryan and Jennifer Stone snapped up the clever Snap Caps necklaces and hair accessories made from bottle caps. First created by 13-year-old Maddie Bradshaw three years ago, the hand-painted caps are magnetic and interchangeable and include a special edition rainbow design she made to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Enterprising Maddie wants to go to Princeton, Harvard or Stanford when she graduates and she'll probably have her pick!

ROCKIT GUY: AUSTIN BUTLER

"I'm having such a blast," Austin Butler raves about playing Jordan on ABC Family's Ruby and the Rockits, but he almost didn't audition for the role. "I wasn't going to go to the audition because I didn't sing," he reveals, but his manager insisted, "and somehow I got the role." The singing is coming easier now, and the guitar and piano playing were no problem. "I've been playing guitar for about six years and piano for a long time too," says Austin, previously known as Zippy on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, James Garrett on Zoey 101, and who can be seen in theaters as Jake in Aliens in the Attic. So, does the 18-year-old native Californian want to record an album now?  "I don't know. I'm taking it one step at a time," he says. "I am loving music though. And it's a great stress reliever!"

WHAT TO WATCH

Alex's wish that her parents never met unleashes trouble in paradise in The Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, which the cast shot in Puerto Rico. "It's everything you love about the show times ten," says Jennifer Stone (Harper). "There's comedy as well as drama and a ton of action—it's amazing how much action they fit into the movie. Anything that can make me feel like Angelina Jolie is cool by me!" It premieres Aug. 28^th at 8 p.m. on Disney Channel.

Erica Hubbard has some scoop for us about the fourth season of Lincoln Heights. "Cassie is starting to design clothes this year," says Erica, who hints about a possible proposal from her boyfriend Charles later in the season. "There's a lot of drama before that. The relationship has its ups and downs," she says. Check out the premiere on ABC Family Sept. 14^th at 8 p.m.

If you're up for a fun summer movie about the crazy stuff that happens when things you wish for come true, check out the new movie Shorts. Trevor Gagnon of TV's The New Adventures of Old Christine plays one of the kids who finds a magic rock at the end of a rainbow. "It grants wishes to anybody who holds it," says Trevor. "Neighborhood kids get the rock, then the adults get it, and the kids have to team up to stop the adults before the world crumbles." It's in theaters August 21^st (Rated PG).

Find out which family wins $100,000 in the finale of The Great American Road Trip August 24^th at 8 p.m. on NBC, which airs the season finale of Merlin at 8 p.m. on August 23^rd. Hannah Montana: The Movie is now out on DVD, and Greek returns to ABC Family for its third season on August 31^st at 9 p.m.

— Gerri Miller, for the Ink Splot 26 Celeb Beat

Zac Efron photo © Ray Mickshaw/Fox, Austin Butler photo © ABC Family/Isabella Vosmikova

Comments

[Comment #1]

nnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooo why hannah montana she stinks :( :(

[Comment #2]

Hey Hermonie Come to my page i dont like hannah montana etheir!! My STACKS name is .TaylorSwift! dont forget the period at the beginning!!

[Comment #3]

I liked the videos of Jennette and Nathan saying why to read.

[Comment #4]

hannah montana is weird. i like miley cyrus

[Comment #5]

i didn't get to watch because i didn't know what channel :(
but anyway i didn't like that twilight won. i mean they won thousands of other awards. GIVE somebody else a chance will ya. but either way I LOVE TWILIGHT!!!!!!!! I have the dvd all 3!! love ya Twilight. Especially Rob ;)

[Comment #6]

i HATE disney!!!, WWE rocks(John cena especially!!)

[Comment #7]

I agree that miely is way better.

[Comment #8]

Hey peace out 623 i get what you mean about the hannah think!

[Comment #9]

I can't wait to see the movie wizards of waverly place it will so awesome. GGGGOOOOO SSSSSSSSSlllleeeeeaaannnaaa!!!!!!!!! WE all loove you sleana gomez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Comment #10]

heyy judyblume98, it is selena not sleana

[Comment #11]

hey anyone out there!!!!

[Comment #12]

hahahahahaha

[Comment #13]

hannah montana? it's the teen choice awards, i thought we were all over her by now. clearly, no.

[Comment #14]

haha - sleana
i still love selena gomez, she's way pretty in all her movies

[Comment #15]

um, Twilight? NOT FOR KIDS!! THAT's FOR TEENAGERS!! LOL ;)

[Comment #16]

I respect whoever won for something. We can't change it now. And they work hard on their job.

[Comment #17]

I WAS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Comment #18]

1st of all no kidding kayla of corse u were here!! n also u guys do no that hannah montanna n miley cyrus r the same person right?????? i hope soo cause my 3 year old sister nos that!

[Comment #19]

well i for one don't like either of them/her. but i respect that she one. i think twilight is awesome. but it is so not for kids but for preteens and up like i. no offence to miley/hannah but selena is better. some of miley/hannah's music is good but i still don't like her much.
peace out world,
kaykay112

[Comment #20]

Forget the Teen Choice Awards Justin Bieber is Horrible id rather watch 24 straight hour of Barney.