LITTLE ROCK — Some of us didn’t see Twilight when it was released in November 2008. Then we dodged its DVD release in March, thinking we had something better to do. Now we’re sorry, because there’s a hugely anticipated sequel on the way and we feel like we’re on the outside of a phenomenon that’s passing us by.

Luckily, Summit Entertainment is going to save us. Twilight will be re-released in 2,000 theaters Thursday, the night before the arrival in theaters of its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Twilight, which stars Kristen Stewart as a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire (Robert Pattinson), grossed $383.5 million at the worldwide box office and is this year’s top-selling DVD, with about 8 million units sold in the United States and Canada.

Calling all podcasters: Here’s achance for you to apply your creativity and celebrate Arkansas history at the same time.

The Arkansas History Webcast Competition, sponsored by the Old State House Museum, is seeking entries of original short (10 minutes or less) nonfiction video or audio webcasts about Arkansas history. The competition is divided into two groups: students in grades 5-12 and adults ages 18 and up. Winners will be announced Jan. 20. Entry is free. You can submit as many entries as you wish. Awards will be presented and entries will be featured at an event Feb. 4. Entries will be accepted through Jan. 4.

See official rules and entry forms at ardigitalshorts.com.

Independent film fans might want to head to Pine Bluff this weekend. Happy Holidaze, starring University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff alumnus Nequetta Alford, willbe shown at 7:30 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday at the Student Union Lounge of UAPB.

The film follows a young couple who each want to spend Thanksgiving with their very different respective families. Not willing to part from each other, they decide to bring both families together.

Each evening will include a screening of the film, stand-up comedy by Charles Walden, a question and answer session with Alford (now a graduate student at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia), other cast members and director Derrell Lawrence of Philadelphia. Those attending will have a chance to win a trip for two to attend the film’s opening at the Opera Theater of Temple University in Philadelphia on Wednesday through Nov. 29.

Tickets are $20. Get them - and more information - by calling Betty Alford at (870) 872-3934, Brandy Kidd at (870)-329-1517, Dovie Burl at (870) 872-2177, Derrick Martin at (870) 835-6083, or Shalita Heard at (870) 413-3128. A trailer from Happy Holidaze can be seen at you tube.com.

Everybody could use a makeover now and then - including the Hot Springs Mall Cinema, 4501 Central Ave., Hot Springs.

It’s looking much better thanks to the addition of a Dolby 3D Digital Light Projection system and Garland County’s first auditorium with stadium seating and Dolby 3D Digital screen.

Other improvements include new high back rocker chairs with cup holders and movable loveseat armrests, new carpet, new neon signs and refurbished restrooms.

A Christmas Carol, which opened Nov. 6, is the first feature screening in the new digital auditorium in 3-D. For more information call (501) 525-0883 or (501) 525-1045 or visit btmcinema.com.

Those who were intrigued by Amelia, the Oct. 30 release about pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart (played by Hilary Swank), can dive a little deeper into the subject by reading High, Wide and Frightened. Republished by the University of Arkansas Press in 2004, it’s the memoir of Bentonville native Louise McPhetridge Thaden, a flying superstar who set all sorts of records in her long and glorious aviation career.

Although she was a rival of Earhart’s - Thaden beat her in the first transcontinental Women’s Air Derby, also known as the Powder Puff Derby, in 1929 - the two founded an international organization for female pilots called the Ninety-Nines in1930 that’s still in existence.

There isn’t a movie dedicated to Thaden, but you can see her pilot’s license - along with a jaunty photograph that clearly reveals her spirit - at encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Oh, and you could read the book (183 pages, $22.50).

Here’s your chance to be discovered! An open casting call for The Color of Blood, a drama set on a sharecropper’s farm in 1914, will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at Stanley Russ Hall, University of Central Arkansas at Conway. Producer J. Casey Kucera of the Arkansas Motion Picture Group says he’s looking for an all-black cast: three females (one aged 8-12, another aged 50-60 and third in her 20s) and two males (one in his 30s and the other aged 50-60). Scripts will be provided. Shooting will take place in central Arkansas from Jan. 29-31. For more information e-mail TheColorofBloodMovie@yahoo.com.

MovieStyle, Pages 35 on 11/13/2009