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Xanga ( /ˈzæŋə/) is a website that hosts weblogs, photoblogs, and social networking profiles. It is operated by Xanga.com, Inc., based in New York City.^[1]

Origins[link]

Xanga's origins can be traced back to 1999,^{[citation needed]} when it began as a site for sharing book and music reviews. As of May 23, 2012, Alexa Internet ranked Xanga as the 3,879th most visited site on the Internet. The site's ranking has continually declined since 2007. ^[2]

Core features[link]

All Xanga members receive a "Xanga Site", a web site made up of a weblog, a photoblog, a videoblog, an audioblog, a "Pulse" (mini-blog), and a social networking profile. Members also have the option of joining or making blogrings (groups).

Weblog[link]

Xanga first added weblogs to all Xanga Sites on November 5, 2000. Comments were added soon after, on December 8, 2000, along with the concept of "eProps", which a user can give to another user's entry as a sign of how much he or she has enjoyed the entry. Two "eProps" is the maximum amount that can be given. (By default, "2 eProps" is selected on the comment page.) Kevin Lu of Edison holds the world record for most props on a post. Comment Tracking followed on January 18, 2001.

A core part of Xanga is the ability to subscribe to other Xangas. Subscriptions allow Xangans to stay up-to-date on other Xangas to whom they are "subscribed", without needing to manually visit each site. Xanga first added an email subscriptions feature on November 30, 2000.^[3] In January 2001, this was followed by the ability to subscribe to a site using a web-based reader using RSS (and the ability to display subscriptions on one's site).

Initially, Xanga allowed members to subscribe to each others' sites anonymously. Some users were troubled by anonymous subscriptions, and so during the week of July 15, 2003, support for this feature was discontinued. Since some users had been using anonymous subscriptions to try out subscriptions to other sites, on July 21, 2003, Xanga added a feature that allows members to sample a Trial Subscription to another site. This update also allowed members to hide individual subscriptions from public display.^[4]

Subscriptions were originally called "Sites I Read", so some older users sometimes refer to them as "SIR".

Photoblog[link]

Until the spring of 2006, Xanga's photo features were focused on enabling photo uploads within weblog posts. Xanga first started offering photo uploading on May 1, 2001. Originally, photo uploading was available only to premium members, and was limited to 20 MB of storage (although this was not enforced). Then, on April 7, 2005, Xanga overhauled its photo system to increase picture quality and picture size, as well as to increase capacity for the system overall.^[5] This was followed, on August 5, 2005, with the beta release of a new Photo Manager that allowed users to more easily edit and view their photos.^[6]

On August 30, 2005, Xanga announced that all premium members would now get a gigabyte of photo storage.^[7] On September 9, 2005, web-based batch uploading of photos was added; on September 26, 2005, all Xanga Classic members were given 1 gigabyte of free photo storage and Premium members were increased to two gigabytes of storage.^[8] On September 28, 2005, moblogging support was added.^[9]

Xanga released its photoblog offering on April 6, 2006;^[10] the ability to comment on photoblog posts followed soon after on April 28, 2006.^[11] On May 18, 2006, Xanga introduced new tools that streamlined batch publishing to a photoblog.^[12]

Some members have also chosen to post their entries entirely with pictures and photos. This has been made possible after the introduction to photoblogging.

Videoblog[link]

Xanga Videoblogs were officially launched on August 9, 2006^[13] with a video featuring Xanga employee Chris Choi's dog Gromit.

Audioblog[link]

On September 29, 2006, Xanga launched Audio Blogs^[14] after about a month of beta testing.

Pulse[link]

On February 22, 2007,^[15] Xanga introduced "Pulse", which was described as a "carefree miniblog". A Pulse message can also be uploaded by cell phone.

Profile[link]

Xanga supported limited profiles as early as its launch in 2000. Profiles were revamped on February 1, 2004, to hold more information and offer better email security and control. Each member was allowed to upload one profile picture. On April 30, 2004, Xanga upgraded its profile image uploading to offer better quality images.^[16] Then on July 27, 2004, Xanga followed up with allowing the uploading of multiple profile pictures; classic members were allowed to upload up to 3 profile pictures, while Premium members were allowed to upload up to 99 profile pictures. Xangans were allowed to set a default picture that would appear next to their username, as well as choose between their profile pictures in each entry. Then, on November 19, 2004, Xanga extended its support of multiple profile pictures to comment icons; now Xanga users could choose which profile picture they wanted to appear next to each of their comments.^[17]

Then on April 6, 2006, Xanga upgraded its profiles to offer traditional social networking features—including the ability to connect with friends, to search for friends, and to fill out profile fields.^[18] On June 6, 2006, a link to each users' Profile was added to the standard Xanga navigation at the top of every Xanga site (along with Photos).^[19]

Xanga profiles also include Memories, Nudge, and a Chatboard.

Privacy and safety[link]

Privacy[link]

Xanga supports several privacy features that allow users to restrict or control access to their sites.

• Protected Posting allow users to restrict access of each post to a list of specified friends. Xanga Classic protected lists can hold only up to 10 members; you must obtain Xanga Premium in order to get a protected list of unlimited size.
• User Blocking allows users to block certain people from commenting or subscribing to their sites.

On April 26, 2006, Xanga launched Xanga Lock, a feature that restricts access to a given site to only other Xanga members.^[20] If a casual web browser who is not logged in to a Xanga wished to view someone's Xanga, he or she would first have to log in to a registered account, or else he or she would see only a page indicating that that user has chosen to "lock" their Xanga. Xanga Lock also prevents the site from being indexed by Search Engines. Members can combine Xanga Lock with the Footprints feature to create a means of controlling and monitoring access to a given site.

On October 20, 2006, Xanga launched Friends Lock. This feature is similar to Xanga lock, but it provides even more privacy by allowing a user to lock out everyone who is not on the user's friends list. This feature is very similar to protected posting in many ways. However, unlike protected posting, a user can have as many friends as wanted without having to purchase Xanga Premium. Furthermore, a user can have friends who do not need to be on the user's Protected Post list.

Tracking[link]

With Xanga Footprints, participating Xanga users can see the usernames of signed-in visitors to their site. If visitors are not signed in, then the Country or State is shown instead. Xanga supports an opt-out for this feature.

Flags[link]

Xanga developed a flagging system that allow users to easily report sites that violate Xanga's terms of use (such as sites that contain Threats of Physical Harm or Underage Nudity). Flagged sites are reviewed by Xanga's employees and shut down as appropriate.

The flagging system was first proposed on April 19, 2006,^[21] and subsequently launched on May 1, 2006.^[22]

Ratings[link]

To address the issue of clean content, Xanga has created a rating system that, among other things, limits access to age-inappropriate material. Xanga SafeBrowse, also known as Xanga Ratings, allows people to set their Xanga sites to one of five levels. A Xanga site set at the highest level (Explicit Content) can be viewed only after credit card verification.^[23] The system is modeled after the movie ratings system.

Safety[link]

On June 8, 2006, Xanga launched safety.xanga.com, a site with links to tips for parents, youth, and law enforcement.^[24] Links to these safety tips were added to the bottom of every page on Xanga.

Civil Penalty Fine by Federal Trades Commission for Violating Children's Privacy[link]

In September, 2006, Xanga was fined by the FTC for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)for $1,000,000 USD, the largest fine leveed against any online company. Xanga was found to have harvested private information from children under the age of 13 without consent of parents for commercial profit. Xanga had failed to post terms of usage on their website, as well as failing to post their practice involving children. ^[25]

Reporting Inappropriate Content[link]

A "Report Inappropriate Content" link is also found at the bottom of every page.

Revenue[link]

Premium subscriptions[link]

Xanga also offers two levels of premium subscriptions: Premium; and Premium Plus. Members who subscribe to either service receive additional features, including additional photo storage and monthly uploads.

The Premium plan provides 2 GB of photo storage and 100 MB of monthly uploads while the Premium Plus plan provides unlimited photo storage and 1GB of monthly uploads. Premium members on both plans may also fully customize their site using skins, post entries to their site via electronic mail, and download archives of their entries. Pages of Premium members also do not contain web banners. Some other Premium features include a higher limit on profile pictures, a custom sidebar, and specialized page skins.^[26]

Xanga Premium was first launched on May 1, 2001, largely consisting of 20 MB of photo hosting (although limits on photos were not enforced). A downloadable archive of entries and comments was added to the premium offering on May 10, 2001, while customizable Skins were added on February 15, 2002.^[27]

Payment options for Premium have grown over time. When Premium first launched on May 1, 2001, Xangans could pay for Premium only with a credit card. Support for check payments was added on April 15, 2002, while support for PayPal was added on May 13, 2002. Support for gifting of Premium was added on December 23, 2001.^[28] The Premium Plus plan was added on November 8, 2005.^[29]

Xanga Premium now features 10 GB of storage space.^[30]

Advertising[link]

Xanga is largely supported by advertising, in the form of banner ads that appear on the top of most pages on Xanga. Sam Garland does most of the advertising for Xanga. Xanga ads first appeared on the site on May 30, 2001. On September 21, 2005, the ads were changed to a larger leaderboard format.^[31]

Terminology[link]

An entire vernacular evolved around the word "Xanga".

People used to refer to their weblog as a "Xanga". The word "Xanga" was also used as a verb. (For example: "I'm going to xanga later tonight." or: "Oh, I haven't had time to xanga today.") In addition, the term "Xangaholic" was sometimes used to refer to Xanga addicts.^[32]

The FAQ section of the official site states that Xanga staff pronounce it "ZANG-uh".^[33] Other known pronunciations that have been colloquially used include the following: /ˈzɑːŋɡə/ zahn-guh, /ˈzɛŋɡə/ zayn-guh, /ˈzæŋɡə/ zan-guh, /ɛksˈæŋɡə/ ex-an-guh; and in Hong Kong [ˈsɛŋɡa], due to the lack of [z] in Cantonese.^[34]

Timeline[link]

This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (April 2011)

• October 1999, Xanga starts up in a form that would be barely identifiable today.^{[citation needed]}
• December 18–19, 2000, Xanga goes public as the first wave of GeoCities members respond to a spam email recruitment from Bianca Broussard, a fictional PR personality of Xanga.
• October 30, 2001, Genius^{[dead link]}, aka Biz Stone, the former Creative Director (and alleged creator of Bianca) leaves Xanga. He eventually goes on to become part of the Blogger team at Google, and then to work at a new internet startup, Odeo.com
• Winter 2002, "Xangalympics" is aggressively marketed by Xanga to its members, with the winner to get Lifetime membership, and the winning "Team" to get other prizes. Winners are never announced. This is again viewed as a demonstration of the various contemptible techniques in which Xanga attempts to recruit new users, as well as a direct result of the resignation of Biz Stone, alleged creator of "Bianca", from the Xanga Enterprise.
• June 22, 2002, Membership is estimated at 100,000 bloggers and traffic at a million hits a day.
• September 7, 2002, Featured Content is divided into Premium and Classic views with Premium as the default. John believes this will guarantee: "No more social propping - just stories, musings, pictures, fiction...."
• December 31, 2005, Lifetime Premium is withdrawn as Xanga introduces Premium Plus.
• March 2006, Xanga adds new profile features such as friends, "nudges", and chatboards that resemble Facebook.
• August 9, 2006, Xanga launches Xanga Video.
• September 7, 2006, Xanga is fined $1,000,000 by the FTC for violations of COPPA (The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), the stiffest penalty for a COPPA violation on record.
• September 29, 2006, Xanga launches Xanga Audio.
• June 20, 2007, Xanga suffered from a denial-of-service attack.^[35]
• August 6, 2007, Xanga launches Xanga TV. Xanga is easing into this feature, so they are opening this up for the premium users first.
• July 2, 2008, Xanga has an API using MetaWeblog
• March 24, 2009, Xanga moves its accounts to a subdomain and all existing URLs become http://username.xanga.com
• March 27, 2009, Xanga users can now publish blogs to Facebook (API)
• April 9, 2009, Xanga added no a vote to Idea voting
• May 29, 2009, Xanga experiments with the Top Blogs module to see if it can drive more traffic to Xanga sites
• November 5, 2009, Xanga brings back Personal URLs
• March 5, 2010, Xanga added a new archive module setting: list by month
• March 17, 2010, Xanga launches Site-Level Search
• April 8, 2010, Xanga's home page swaps position of "Top Blogs" and "Featured Weblogs"
• September 16, 2010, With Xanga's new "Quick Browse" feature, you can take your subs page with you
• September 17, 2010, Xanga experimented w/ Frontpage Plugz for a week
• October 6, 2010, Xanga was upgrading many their servers to brand new equipment
• February 23, 2011, Xanga just launched a beta version of Xanga Mobile
• April 15, 2011, Xanga now lets you recommend or share a comment.
• May 9, 2011, Xanga dumps the Share button. Xanga added a Facebook Like button, but it will not show up until on or after May 11.
• May 11, 2011, Now you can "Like" individual weblog entries so that they get shared through your Facebook feeds.
• June 9, 2011, Now users of Facebook or Twitter can sign in to comment on Xanga sites.
• June 16, 2011, Xanga launched a related posts module.
• June 28, 2011, Xanga launched an updated user-tagging system.
• July 12, 2011, Xanga launched an updated hash-tagging system.
• January 17, 2012, Xanga's iPhone App now live in iTunes App Store.
• January 19, 2012, Xanga is now on Android.
• February 9, 2012, Protected blog posts will show up your feed.

Inappropriate usage[link]

Many sites have been created solely to express dislike or animosity towards others. These sites tend to attract retaliation in the form of negative or offensive comments, promoting hate-speak within Xanga. The Xanga Team has attempted to close such "hate sites" down, along with restricting members who misuse Xanga.

Although it is briefly mentioned in its About page, many users play copyrighted material without permission. It is also stated that "distribution" of copyrighted material is not allowed without permission; however, many Xanga users specialize in finding uploaded audio to which other users can hotlink.

Some users who have mastered basic HTML and CSS create more advanced and eye-pleasing templates for those who are less apt. These users are called "designers" or "layout coders". Xanga has not yet solved the problem of copyrighted images. Most of the designers use a generic search engine (such as Google Image Search) to find a picture of the defined theme (such as video games, music artists, athletes, etc.) and merely add text or other embellishments. The designers then stamp the image (banners, backgrounds, avatars) as their own copyrighted image.

Some Xanga pages are entirely for the use of pornography. These sites violate Xanga's Terms Of Service, and the Xanga staff try to shut down those sites.

Unsafe scripts[link]

Xanga currently allows users to use JavaScript to customize their pages. Server side word filtering is used to detect dangerous scripts. It is claimed that the filtering can be bypassed by escaping the filtered text into Unicode and outputting the now scrambled script using JavaScript.^{[citation needed]} A series of filtering was recently implemented. Some functions, such as setTimeout(), which many people were using to remove the advertisements, have been overridden.

Criticisms[link]

Xanga has been criticized for giving its users too much flexibility, including the use of arbitrary JavaScript. This feature was used to mount a denial-of-service attack on Slashdot's search page in late 2004, causing intermittent errors.^[36]

Incidents[link]

Elementary or junior high school users of Xanga have been punished upon discovery of content on their personal pages. The most common incidents have been threats made against teachers or classmates. In other incidents, posters have uploaded photos of themselves, or others, performing activity illegal due to their age (e.g. drinking or child pornography).

• May 20, 2007: In Hong Kong, a 14-year-old boy was arrested after professing that he was involved in the Sun Yee On triad society gang fighting on his Xanga site.^[37]
• September 7, 2006: The Federal Trade Commission fines Xanga US$1 million for allowing children under 13 to use the service without their parents' consent, thus violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.^[38] Xanga admins close down all Xanga sites whose users signed up with birthdates that signified they were under 13, sparking much discussion among legitimate users for various reasons (for example: User was under 13 when page was created, but not any longer, the page was created for a pet, the birthdate that was given is actually an anniversary, etc.).
• February 26, 2006: A Michigan high school student faces three felony charges for allegedly taking photographs of two juveniles having sex, posting them from the Internet and linking to them from the popular Xanga web site, allegedly prompting a student in the photos to attempt suicide.
• February 8, 2006: Fifteen to twenty students at a Michigan high school face possible disciplinary action by the school after parents reported seeing Internet photos of them drinking alcohol at parties.^[39][40]
• January 2006: Twin sisters in Newark, Ohio received probation for making death threats on their Xanga blog against some of their High School classmates.^[41]
• December 2005: Police in Dublin, Ohio, United States arrested a 14 year old boy for posting death threats on his Xanga site, threatening to kill classmates and teachers.
• December 8, 2005: Students of Taft High School of Chicago, Illinois have been suspended for posting threats about teachers and students.
• September 2005: Our Lady Of Peace Middle School in Columbus, Ohio expelled a student for insulting both teachers and students on her Xanga. Similar cases happened in Taipei American School in 2004.
• July 2005: In Lincoln, Nebraska, several students at Lincoln Southeast High School were suspended from basketball after a teacher had stumbled upon Xanga photos of the athletes drinking.
• May 17, 2005: Police used a murder victim's last Xanga entry to identify his and his sister's killer.^[42]
• May 2005: Multiple students at a Pennsylvania elementary school are suspended after their Xanga sites were reported to the principal. Only one site posted 'illegal' content - threats against teachers. That student was suspended for three days and questioned by detectives. The remaining students were punished with suspensions for using profanity.
• April 2005: After a student's suicide, her classmates at the high school in Elizabethtown Area School District in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania spread a rumor. The rumor was that students were bringing guns into school and were following a hit list that was claimed to have started on Xanga. This caused a scare among the students and faculty, and school was dismissed early. After the incident, Xanga users at the high school could no longer access Xanga from school property.
• April 2005: Students at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California used Xanga to insult and threaten their classmates. Cyber-bullying of classmates and family members was reported.^[43]
• March 2005: Two students at Grand Ledge High School used Xanga and MySpace to post entries that included death threats against a teacher.
• March 2005: In a posting on the online journal site Xanga.com, a pupil at Trailridge Middle School allegedly threatened to kill a teacher over a grade.^[44]

References[link]

Megan Fox
Fox at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Born	Megan Denise Fox (1986-05-16) May 16, 1986 (age 26) Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, model
Years active	2001–present
Spouse	Brian Austin Green (m. 2010–present)

Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She began her acting career in 2001 with several minor television and film roles, and played a regular role on the Hope & Faith television show. In 2004, she made her film debut with a role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. In 2007, she was cast as Mikaela Banes, the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character, in the blockbuster film, Transformers, which became her breakout role. Fox reprised her role in the 2009 sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Later in 2009, she starred as the eponymous lead in the film Jennifer's Body.

Fox is considered a sex symbol and frequently appears on men's magazine "Hot" lists, including Maxim and FHM.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Early life[link]

Fox is of Irish, French and Native American ancestry,^[6] and was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Darlene and Franklin Fox. She was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school for 12 years.^[7] Fox's parents divorced when she was young. Fox's mother later remarried, and she and her sister^[8] were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio.^[9][10][11] She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend^[12] or invite friends to her house.^[8] She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.^[12]

Fox began her training in drama and dance at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee.^[13] She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At 10 years of age, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training.^[14][15] When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina.^[16] At age 17, she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles.^[8][12]

Fox has spoken extensively of her time in education; that in middle school she was bullied and picked on and she ate lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets". She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way".^[17] Fox also said of high school that she was never popular and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn’t like me for that. I’ve had only one great girlfriend my whole life".^[17] In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has never been "a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it".^[17]

Career[link]

At 16, Fox made her acting debut in the 2001 film Holiday in the Sun, as spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen), which was released direct-to-DVD on November 20, 2001. In the next several years she guest-starred on What I Like About You and Two and a Half Men, as well as being an uncredited extra in Bad Boys II (2003). In 2004, she made her film debut in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen co-starring opposite Lindsay Lohan, playing the supporting role of Carla Santini, a rival of Lola (Lohan). Fox was also cast in a regular role on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski, replacing Nicole Paggi. Fox appeared in seasons 2 to 3, until the show was cancelled in 2006.^[18]

In 2007, Fox won the lead female role of Mikaela Banes in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, based on the toy and cartoon saga of the same name. Fox played the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character Sam Witwicky. Fox was nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Breakthrough Performance", and was also nominated for three Teen Choice Awards.^[19] Fox had signed on for two more Transformers sequels.^[18][20] In June 2007, Fox was cast in a minor role in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, starring alongside Jeff Bridges, Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst. She portrayed Sophie Maes, a love interest of Sydney Young (Simon Pegg). The film premiered on October 3, 2008, but was considered a box-office failure.^[21][22]

Fox reprised her role as Mikaela Banes in the Transformer sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There was some controversy surrounding Fox's appearance while filming the sequel of Transformers when Michael Bay, the film's director, ordered the actress to gain 10 pounds.^[23] The film was released worldwide on June 24, 2009.^[24] Fox was to star in the third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but was not included because of her statements comparing working under director Bay to working for Hitler (see below). Co-star Shia LaBeouf said, "Criticism is one thing. Then there's public name-calling, which turns into high-school bashing. Which you can't do."^[25] Bay similarly amended his previous statements of support of Fox, and told GQ in June that Fox was fired on orders of executive producer Steven Spielberg.^[26]

Fox with Friends with Kids co-stars Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, and Jon Hamm at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

In between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon, Fox had her first lead role playing the title character in Jennifer's Body, written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody.^[27] She played Jennifer Check, a mean-girl cheerleader possessed by a demon who begins to feed off the boys in a Minnesota farming town.^[28] The film was released on September 18, 2009,^[29] and co-stars Amanda Seyfried and Adam Brody.

In April 2009, Fox began filming Jonah Hex, in which she portrayed Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and Jonah Hex's (Josh Brolin) love interest. The film was released on June 18, 2010 and co-starred Will Arnett;^[30] Despite receiving top billing, Fox has described her role in the film as being a cameo.^[31] Jonah Hex was universally panned by critics and was a box office bomb in the U.S., having its international distribution cancelled after its poor performance.^[32] The film was named the "worst picture of the year by the Houston Film Critics Society.^[33] Fox next starred alongside Mickey Rourke in Passion Play. The film received such bad reviews after its screening at the Toronto Film festival that its plans for a conventional theatrical distribution were withheld for a direct-to-video release with only two screens briefly showing the film to fulfill contractual obligations.^[34] Mickey Rourke remarked that Passion Play was "terrible. Another terrible movie."^[35][36]

In early April 2009, Fox signed on to star as the lead female role in the upcoming 2011 film The Crossing, about a young couple who get caught up in a drug trafficking scheme during their vacation to Mexico.^[37] In March 2009, Variety reported that Fox was set to star as the lead role of Aspen Matthews in the film adaption of the comic books Fathom which she will also co-produce with Brian Austin Green.^[38] Fox appeared with Dominic Monaghan in the music video for Eminem and Rihanna's single "Love the Way You Lie".^[39]

Image[link]

Fox, at the Seventh Annual Hollywood Life magazine "Breakthrough of the Year" Awards, December 9, 2007

During an interview with The Times, on the topic of being a role model, Fox stated: "It depends on what your idea of a role model is," and continued with, "If your idea of a role model is somebody who’s gonna preach to your kids that sex before marriage is wrong and cursing is wrong and women should be this and be that, then I’m not a role model. But if you want your girls to feel strong and intelligent and be outspoken and fight for what they think is right, then I want to be that type of role model, yeah."^[40] Fox said in the same interview, on the topic of being typecast that: "Getting typecast as what? Attractive? How bad is that?" She feels that it isn't a bad thing to be typecast in this way and considers it to be flattering. She also believes that it gives her an advantage because people will not expect her to be more than simply attractive and when she does give a good performance, people will be surprised.^[40] Fox has shown interest in portraying a character less sexualized than that of Mikaela Banes, whom she portrays in the Transformers film series.^[41]

Fox said of being a popular media topic that, though she is not on the same level as Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears, or Lindsay Lohan, she does find it difficult and that there have been times when people have avoided being around her because they do not want to end up in the media's spotlight. "I need to behave in a way and handle myself in a way that will cause people to take me seriously," she said, "[and] you can be sexy and be intelligent and be taken seriously, or you can be sexy and you can be out at clubs every night and not be [taken seriously]" but that she has not gone "completely insane".^[41] Fox also said of going from being "relatively unknown" to her current celebrity status that: "I definitely feel ill-prepared; I mean, I don't know if anyone ever sits back and goes, 'Now is the moment that I think I should be a famous celebrity,' – but I definitely feel it's premature. I mean, I was in one movie that people have seen."^[41]

Fox has appeared on the covers of many magazines. In 2007, she appeared in Maxim;^[42] in 2008, the list had grown to include Cosmo Girl,^[43][44] Paw Print,^[45] Jack (ITALY),^[46] FHM (UK),^[47] and GQ.^[48][49] In 2009, the list includes, USA Weekend,^[50] Esquire,^[51] Empire,^[52] Maxim,^[53] GQ (UK),^[54] Entertainment Weekly^[55] and ELLE.^[12] Fox was ranked No.17 on interview magazines Hollywood faces to watch "Future Stars of Tomorrow", ranked No.16 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list, named No.68 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement, ranked No.18 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list, she was ranked No.1 on Moviefone's 'The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25' in 2008, and was ranked No.2 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2009 list in 2009. FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008.^[5][56] In 2011, Men's Health named her one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time", ranking her at No. 14.^[57] People named her one of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age.^[58] In 2012, Fox revealed that making "most beautiful woman" lists is just a part of the job in Hollywood, and stated "You know, lists like this - and there are plenty - generally, we elect the girl who plays in the biggest blockbuster of the year."^[59]

In late July 2009, Fox's overexposure in parts of the media caused several men's websites to boycott her.^[60] AOL's man-blog Asylum dubbed August 4, 2009 "A Day Without Megan Fox" with the promise that the site would not mention or feature her on this day; they asked other men's sites to copy this stance, and several (such as AskMen.com, Just a Guy Thing, and Banned in Hollywood) complied. "Listen, we love Megan," Eric Rogell of TheBachelorGuy.com told New York Daily News. "She's responsible for driving more eyeballs to our sites – just by getting photographed walking down the street in a white T-shirt – than any other celeb alive. [But] it's time to give another young actress a shot at the attention."^[60] Other sites, however, refused to boycott Fox, with Asylum's sister site Popeater declaring "we're posting things about Megan Fox that aren't even news, just because we know you want it, whether you'll admit it or not"^[61] and Coedmagazine calling the boycott a "publicity stunt" and "hypocritical", saying that they were the home of "The Megan Fox Boycott Boycott".^[62] The British newspaper The Sun declared August 4 to be "Megan Fox Day", saying that "She deserves a day dedicated to her".^[63] In response to the boycott, Fox told magazine Nylon, in a September 2009 interview, that "the media blitz" for Transformers resulted in an over-extension of her welcome in the media. "I was part of a movie that [the studio] wanted to make sure would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars," she said.^[64] "I don’t want to have people get completely sick of me before I’ve ever even done something legitimate."^[64]

Fox in October, 2007 with two of her tattoos visible

On September 11, 2009, an unsigned letter from crew members of Transformers defended Michael Bay against accusations reportedly made by Fox about his on-set behavior, including a comparison with Adolf Hitler. The letter alleges that Fox is unpleasant to work with on set and makes several accusations of ungracious behavior that are at variance with her public persona. Bay defended Fox and has said that he does not "condone" the letter. Anthony Steinhart, a production assistant who worked on Transformers, also came out in her defense, stating that he had never "...witnessed Ms. Fox being rude or inconsiderate of people’s feelings or the work to be done".^[65]

Fox has often been compared to actress Angelina Jolie, with the media dubbing her as the "next Angelina Jolie".^[66][67] The actresses have been compared partly because they each have a "tattoo collection", and status as a "built in sex-symbol".^[2][3] Fox commented that the comparisons indicate a lack of creativity on the part of the media, and are simply due to the dark hair and tattoos that she and Jolie have, and that both have been in action movies. There were several unconfirmed rumors that Fox was to replace Jolie in the next Lara Croft film.^[68][69] Fox also said of the comparisons that: "I am a brunette with tattoos, I curse and I have made mention of sex before. I joked about it which people find outrageous so they want to constantly compare that to her."^[70] Fox remarked, "I'm sure she has no idea who I am. But if I were her, I'd be like, 'Who the fuck is this little bullshit brat who was in Transformers that's going to be the next me?' I don't want to meet her. I'd be embarrassed."^[2][71]

Fox has eight known tattoos,^[72] including her husband's name "Brian" on her lower hip, a picture of Marilyn Monroe's face on her right forearm, which she is now getting removed,^[73][74] and a crescent moon overlapping a five-pointed star above her right ankle.^[75] This tattoo is the only known colored tattoo that Fox has.^[76]

Personal life[link]

Fox has been involved with actor Brian Austin Green since 2004, having first met on the set of Hope & Faith when she was 18 and he was 30.^[77][78] In 2006, they became engaged, and then broke it off in February 2009. Some time later in 2009, Fox was targeted by a group of fashion-motivated criminals known as "The Bling Ring", who robbed Green's home because she was living with him.^[79] Fox and Green were engaged again in June 2010,^[78][80] and on June 24, 2010, the two wed in a private ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.^[81][82] In April 2012, Fox confirmed that she and Green are expecting their first child.^[83][84]

Fox in September 2010

Fox is a fan of comic books, anime, and video games,^[17] and her favorite artist is Michael Turner, whose Fathom comic she describes as a longtime obsession.^[12] She has two dogs, including a Pomeranian named after Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious.^[12] In 2007 she stated "I've done drugs, and that's how I know I don't like them," however she supports the legalization of marijuana, openly admitting to smoking it, and saying that she does not consider it a drug and would be first in line to buy a pack of joints.^[85]

Fox has expressed a distrust and dislike of "all boys-slash-men" in general,^[86] stating "Boys in their twenties are a waste of time. They have nothing to offer conversationally; they're immature."^[87] She has also expressed the same distrust for women in the industry, "I especially don’t trust girls in this industry, because it’s incredibly competitive, and I’m just not interested."^[88]

In September 2008, Fox alluded to being bisexual in an interview with GQ magazine. She said that, when she was 18 years old, she fell in love with and sought to establish a relationship with a female stripper. She used this experience to illustrate her belief that "all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes" and additionally showed interest in Olivia Wilde.^[89][90][91] In May 2009, she confirmed her bisexuality, stating: "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."^[92]

In the June 2009 issue of ELLE, Fox revealed that she somewhat distorted the events of her relationship with the stripper, saying she has given certain male writers "an amped-up version" of her past - "They’re boys; they’re easily toyed with. I tell stories and have them eating out of my hand. Not all of it is true. In fact, most of it is bullshit."^[86] Fox said, "I never said she was my girlfriend! I just said that I loved her, and I did love her. The real story is more sobering. It’s not a sexy, fun-time, fantasy story. But that’s not the story you tell GQ."^[86]

Fox has previously revealed that she is not that social, stating "You won’t believe this, but I never go out. I don’t like drunk, sweaty people whose only goal is to have sex. I stay home and play computer backgammon. Every once in a while, I go to Color Me Mine to do pottery."^[93] She later stated "I could go days, weeks, without talking to another human being"^[94] and "I've never really socialized, I've always been anti-social and preferred to be at home. I was never, even my late teens and early twenties, into clubs and parties and stuff like that."^[95] She has also revealed that she's only been with two men her entire life - "My childhood sweetheart and Brian. I can never have sex with someone that I don't love, ever. The idea makes me sick. I've never even come close to having a one-night stand."^[96]

Fox developed a fear of flying at the age of 20 and revealed that she listens to Britney Spears songs while flying to overcome the fear.^[97][98] She also has brachydactyly ("shortness of the fingers and toes"),^[99] and has additionally been open about her OCD, insecurities and self-harming, acknowledging that she has low self-esteem:

... I don't want to elaborate. I would never call myself a cutter. Girls go through different phases when they're growing up, when they're miserable and do different things, whether it's an eating disorder or they dabble in cutting. I'm really insecure about everything. I see what I look like, but there are things that I like and things that I dislike. My hair is good. The color of my eyes is good, obviously. I'm too short. But overall, I'm not super excited about the whole thing. I never think I'm worthy of anything... I have a sick feeling of being mocked all the time. I have a lot of self-loathing. Self-loathing doesn't keep me from being happy. But that doesn't mean I don't struggle. I am very vulnerable. But I can be aggressive, hurtful, domineering and selfish, too. I'm emotionally unpredictable and all over the place. I'm a control freak.^[100]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Megan Fox

• Megan Fox at the Internet Movie Database
• Megan Fox at AllRovi
• Megan Fox at Yahoo! Movies
• Megan Fox at FHM