Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Welcome back to my Buzz Gift Guide series for all the entertainment lovers in your life. We're talking kids and teens this week, and since we've covered the boys already, today it's all about the teen girls.

Teenage girls (I know because I was one) can be hard to shop for since the age lends itself to phases. So, as Heidi would say, one day a gift is in, and the next — it's out. Today I've got some fun gifts that might satisfy varying tastes of entertainment-obsessed teens.

When I saw this hamburger phone I laughed to myself and thought of a few younger cousins who A) loved Juno and B) have a keen sense of irony. I've also yet to run into a young lady who doesn't (secretly or publicly) enjoy those Traveling Pants movies, and this limited-edition gift set looks awesome. In terms of gifting a music-loving girl, I think it would be hard to go wrong with the Gossip Girl soundtrack.

Finally, I love giving books to my loved ones for the holidays and found some great ones for girls, including this book of personal essays by teenage girls and a career guide based on shows like Ugly Betty.

Check out HolidaySugar for all of our holiday coverage and gift guides.

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my picks below, you can also add Priceless starring Audrey Tautou and Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson to your queue.

Wall-E
Squee! Pixar's Wall-E is out on DVD! The more I think about this movie, the more I'm impressed with what the creators managed to pull off. First of all, they managed to make a desolate, post-apocalyptic Earth seem like the ideal setting for a love story that will give anyone with a pulse the warm fuzzies. They also managed to give a robot that can't really speak the most adorable, expressive puppy-dog eyes this world has ever known. It's quite the feat, and if you weren't able to catch this gem in the theater, you might want to bring it home ASAP.

Even if you did see this on the big screen, the DVD has plenty of special features that have me pretty excited as well. They include: several all-new animated shorts, deleted scenes, a ride through space with Wall-E, and a feature on the history of Pixar.

Two more coming up, so read more

I wonder what gives me the impression America Ferrara thinks that Blake Lively, her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costar, is a dumbass. They were on a morning show promoting the film with the dumbest name ever (I still can't say it without laughing) when Blake starts babbling about Gossip Girl. Hmmm, let's see. Sidelong stink eye, check. Bug-eyed "OMG, she's so dumb!" expression, check. Future public apology/statement: "This was totally misconstrued and people need to start worrying about important things," check.

Interestingly, neither a BFF movie nor a stoner action-comedy could dethrone The Dark Knight in its fourth weekend. Having already surpassed the $400 million mark in domestic ticket sales, the superhero movie pulled in another $26 million over the weekend.

According to Variety, the movie has now taken the place of Shrek 2 to "become the third highest domestic grosser of all time with a cume of $441.5 million. It’s expected to beat Star Wars in the next week before finally settling at No. 2."

Pineapple Express came in second place with $22.4 million (however, it has earned a total of $40.4 million since it opened last Wednesday), followed by The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in third, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 in fourth, and Step Brothers in fifth place.

What do you think? Will The Dark Knight score five weeks in a row at No. 1?

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

At one point in the second installment of the stories surrounding girls who have pants and will travel, an exasperated Carmen (America Ferrera) says something like, "Can we just please focus on the pants?!" And yet, that's the thing I find most refreshing about this sequel: there's not really a focus on the pants. The fact that Carmen has to remind her friends to think about the pants is a good sign in this case; the focus should be on these girls and their friendships, not two tubes of faded, magic denim. And as the girls have grown older and more mature, in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 they're centering on the important stuff: their relationships, their goals, finding themselves and supporting each other.

Like the first movie, this one consists of four separate storylines that occasionally intersect. When we are reintroduced to the four friends, they're all in college: Tibby's (Amber Tamblyn) making movies at NYU, Carmen is at Yale and does backstage work at Yale's School of Drama, and Lena (Alexis Bledel) is painting (and cavorting with the insanely hot model Leo, played by Jesse Williams) at Rhode Island School of Design. Bridget (Blake Lively) doesn't yet know her major, but she decides to try her hand at archeology for the time being. After spending the year at their respective schools, Carmen, in particular, is anxious to have some good sisterhood time together over the Summer — only to find out the other three won't be in town at all. So, Carmen decides to do her own thing and goes to work backstage at a theater in Vermont.

For more of my take on the movie, read more

Tuesdays are big in entertainment-ville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. Here are today's selections:

When geeks are right: I chose that intro phrase because that's what one of the coolest songs from The Faint's new album, Fasciinatiion, is all about. If you've never listened to this new-wave band before, this album might be a strange introduction (I'd recommend checking out their earlier album Blank-Wave Arcade instead). That said, I'm really fascinated (get it?!) by this new album and have already added the first track, "Get Seduced," to my iPod.

The music of the pants: If you're like me, you might want to add the soundtrack of the new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie to the soundtrack of your life. I've seen the movie and enjoyed it (more on that later) and am having a good time reliving some of the scenes via these tracks, which include a pretty Aqualung song, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper, a fun head-banger from the Noisettes and a totally romantic ballad from Mutemath.

One more new release to check out so read more

Who's ready for more of those magical pants? The trailer for the second installment of the movie franchise based on Ann Brashares's best-selling novel is now online. It's interesting to see the four stars of the film back together now that they are each so accomplished on their own. Blake Lively (Gossip Girl), Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), and Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) return to the screen to play the four BFFs who, despite their different body types, miraculously fit into the same pair of pants in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

While the first film touchingly followed each of the girls' adventures during one emotionally turbulent Summer, this time around the ladies are graduated and more grown-up — but are still wearing the pants and are as close as ever. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is set to open Aug. 8, so to check out the trailer read more

If the recent Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations are any indication — not to mention our best new TV show poll — people love Ugly Betty and its endearing star, America Ferrera. It makes sense, of course, since Ferrera is so good as the smart, funny, normal-seeming Betty trying to make it in the catty world of fashion journalism. If once a week is not enough America for you, put these pre-Mode Magazine films in your Netflix queue.

Real Women Have Curves
Real Women Have Curves tells the story of Ana, a Mexican-American young woman living with her family in East L.A. Ana dreams of a better future than working in her sister's sewing sweatshop and hopes to go to Columbia University. She struggles to work towards her American dream while still remaining true to her Mexican roots.

To see one more great film, read more