Photo from fOTOGLIF

Friday is the day that the second installment in the Twilight movie trilogy, New Moon, opens, and teenage girls worldwide are giddy with anticipation. Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the movies, has been the flavor of the week all year for his portrayal as the darkly handsome vampire in the wildly popular movie adaptations of the equally popular books. For the two or three of you who don’t know, Edward Cullen is the vampire who falls in love with human Bella (played by Kristin Stewart) in the fantasy romance series.

At first, readers were shocked, shocked! when Pattinson was cast in the movie. He had been in a couple of lesser known films, and had a small part as Cedric Digory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but other than that, he was an unknown quantity. Of course, all that has changed now, and he’s swarmed by girls (and sometimes women who are old enough to know better) wherever he goes.

He treads the water of mega-stardom warily, however, telling Canada’s National Post, “If someone records what you’re saying, you’re always vulnerable to so many people, so you’ve always got to be watching your back a little bit. More people read the gossip sites than actually watch the movies, so you’re always in somebody else’s hands.”

The cast of New Moon will be touring shopping malls across America to promote the sequel to hit movie Twilight that opens in November. On their tour, the stars of the flick will be joined at some venues by some of the musical artists who contributed to the Twilight and New Moon soundtracks. Artists include Sea Wolf, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Skulls, and Anya Marina, all of whom will play at the kick-off of the tour in Hollywood on November 6.

In other news, the hair stylist to Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson, Stuart Gavert of Gavert Atelier in Beverly Hills has told In Style the secrets to Robert Pattinson’s ability to attract women. Saying that Pattinson strikes a balance between timid and bold, he asserts that co-star Kristin Stewart is strongly attracted to Pattinson’s slight shyness. “He can turn the charm on and off,” says Gavert.

Oh, and the fact that Pattinson is very good-looking and photogenic helps too, according to Gavert.

For those fans who simply can’t wait for New Moon to be released, you can listen to the music from New Moon right now on MySpace. Go to the official Twilight MySpace page and scroll down beyond the photos of the stars, and you’ll see all the tunes in the standard MySpace music player.