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The American Humanist Association announced today that Philip Pullman, esteemed author of the controversial book, "The Golden Compass" --which has been made into a movie scheduled for release December 7--will be honored with the International Humanist Award in Washington DC in June. The award decision comes near the end of a two-month protest by the Catholic League, which has charged that the book and film are "anti-Catholic" and that the film, by being less confrontational, is part of a deceitful "stealth campaign" to promote an "anti-religious" book series.

For those of you who can't wait until the movie is released, Yahoo! Movies has made available the first five minutes of the film. The footage features narration from Eva Green, Lyra's mud fight with the Gyptian kids and a horror story from Lyra.

Click here to view the footage on Yahoo! Movies

Thanks to whohash83 for the tip.

New York City's Ziegfriend Theater was home to the The Golden Compass premiere last night with all of the talent attending the event. Like in London, there was also a party after the premiere.

Check out our photograms sections for lots of photos.

Philip Pullman has written a piece in The Times in which he defends Northern Lights as well as the book's adapations into both movie and theatre stageplay. Furthermore he says he is content with the treatment of the story. He reasons: It's not perfect, but then neither are my books. If you want a perfect story, go read a haiku.

That reasoning is as hilarious as it is solid, if you ask me.

A featurette on the ice bears highlights Director Chris Weitz, and author Philip Pullman. Dakota Blue Richards talks about working with the panserbjørne on set.

Of course if you're not looking to spoil the movie anymore before you can catch it in theaters, then you'll go no further.

800 movie theaters across the US will be showing sneak previews of The Golden Compass movie today, December 1. Check out the map to see which theaters are showing. Or go to amctheaters.com and regalcinemas.com to check show times.

The Golden Compass: Inkworks Premium Trading Cards

This Inkworks release highlights the different premium trading card categories, including the pieceworks cards featuring fabrics used in character costumes, truth telling cards featuring the alethiometer, and a "Fight to the Death" series, for the à outrance portion of The Golden Compass (Northern Lights).

SEGA did an interview with Dakota Blue Richards and asked her about her experience as a voice actor, her gaming experience and The Golden Compass game.

Please also see the high resolution photos taken at the interview, and play SEGA's The Golden Compass Minigame and collect downloadable wallpapers!

Hollywood's award season begins with the announcement of the nominees for the 2007 Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy. The Golden Compass has snagged 5 nominations in the following categories:

• Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature
• Best Cinematography (for Henry Braham)
• Best Visual Effects (for Michael Fink)
• Best Sound (for Mike Prestwood-Smith, Mark Taylor and Glenn Freemantle)
• Best Original Song (for "Lyra" by Kate Bush)

View the full list of nominees

Just as it's not easy being green, it's not easy being popular either. It seems that so many people dropped by last night that our server complained and suspended our account.

Luckily everything should be fixed by now. Apologies for any traumatic experiences involving error pages.

Thank you for bearing with us!

Various media outlets have published reviews of The Golden Compass and they are mostly positive. Many single out the impressive visual effects and the acting performances of newcomer Dakota Blue Richards and veteran Nicole Kidman. A summary of the reviews we could find so far, with short extracts, follow.

Follow the Reviews information page for updated information about The Golden Compass reviews.

A few hundred people turned up yesterday to catch a glimpse of the stars from The Golden Compass and to feel the atmosphere. All notable talent in the movie, everyone notable from New Line Cinema as well as Philip Pullman were there on Leicester Square in London to walk the red carpet leading to the cinema were the public had the first chance to see the film.

HisDarkMaterials.org were there at this magnificent event, with a photographer and a camera crew. The video report of the event includes interviews with Philip Pullman, Chris Weitz (who had a special message directed to all of you), Eva Green, Sam Elliot, soundtrack composer Alexandre Desplat, producer Deborah Forte and executive producer Andrew Miano.

This tuesday we got to do a couple of interviews on camera in London. Sam Elliott and Eva Green were up for a short talk which you can view below. Chris Weitz was up for a bit longer, and we'll post that one once we're done editing the footage.

The Guardian has published a four-star review of "The Golden Compass": "It has no other challengers as this year's big Christmas movie."

TimesOnline reports: The British author Philip Pullman has attacked leading American Catholics as "nitwits" after they called for a boycott of The Golden Compass, which has its world premiere in London tonight.