Stan Winston, legendary Hollywood special-effects wizard, died this weekend at his home at age 62. He succumbed to multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, after a 7-year struggle with the disease. Winston created some of the most memorable creatures in modern cinema, including the Terminators, the "Jurassic Park" dinosaurs, and more recently, the character suit for "Iron Man." Winston accumulated four Academy Awards and ten nominations over the course of his career; his first......

photo by Stephanie Asher via Flickr This month's “First Friday” found us standing in a lengthy line at the Natural History Museum, having parked at some shady, empty lot behind the stadium (because the major parking entrance was backed up with cars down the street), wondering both if my car would be towed and if we still had a chance to see Autolux and Deerhoof - especially since we’d had the audacity to skip......

Stomp the Yard - I'm a sucker for movies that end in dance-offs. DJ, a troubled street-dancer from Los Angeles, avoids jail by enrolling in a black college in Atlanta where two rival fraternities both want a piece of his talent, so they can win a national step show competition. Meagan Good (Brick, D.E.B.S.) plays his love interest. Alpha Dog - Directed by Nick Cassavetes, this fictionalized account of a small-time Southern California pot......

Today we celebrate the birthdays of: iPod, miracle device Keith Van Horn, NBA forward Kaleena Kiff, Santa Monica born actress Shawn Wooden, NFL free safety Daryl Price, NFL defensive end Brooke Theiss, California-born actress Al Leiter, MLB pitcher Doug Flutie, CFL/NFL quarterback Mike Tomczak, NFL quarterback "Weird Al" Yankovic, singer/songwriter Sam Raimi, writer/director - "Evil Dead II", "Spider-Man" (more after jump) Louann Fernald, Playboy Playmate '79 Dwight Yoakam, singer/songwriter Ang Lee, director - "Crouching......

No starting pitching? No problem. Welcome to the new era of Dodger baseball. Offense is now in. Never was that more evident than last night when the Rockies walked Adrian Beltre for Milton Bradley, which is the equivalent of being on Jurassic Park and asking to be attacked by a velociraptor instead of T-Rex. Bradley got the game-winning base-hit in the 8-7 victory over Colorado. How many teams have guys get walked for Milton......