Results tagged “startrek”

I can't tell you where or how I first learned of Damon Packard, but his experimental-nostalgic-acid-horror-collage Reflections of Evil melted my brain forever. Packard excels at melding "borrowed" footage from '70s TV, science fiction & God knows what else with his own paranoid fantasies for pure cinematic psychosis.

Star Trek made a killing this weekend for obvious reasons: it was really, really good and it didn't matter if you were a Trekkie or not. And the fact that it wasn't 100% green screen and computer generated graphics was one of the redeeming factors. “So much incredible stuff happens in Star Trek that I wanted to keep it feeling as real as possible,” Director J.J. Abrams said in production notes provided by Paramount Pictures, via Wired Magazine's Underwire. “I didn’t want to have it all be green screens and CG.”

88-year-old veteran actor Ricardo Montalban has died, abc7.com is reporting. The news was announced by City Council President Eric Garcetti today; Montaban lived in Garcetti's district, and died at his home there in the Doheny Estates. Garcetti says: "The Ricardo Montalban Theatre in my Council District - where the next generations of performers participate in plays, musicals, and concerts - stands as a fitting tribute to this consummate performer." Montalban was born in Mexico in 1920, and had a long-spanning career in film, television, and radio. Two of his best-known roles were as Mr. Roarke on the TV show Fantasy Island (1977-1984) and as Star Trek's villainous Khan. Montalban's wife of 63 years, Georgiana, died just over a year ago. The cause of Montalban's death has not been released.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who was involved with Star Trek since the beginning died of leukemia early this morning in her Bel Air home. "Even before she married Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1969, she was integral to Star Trek," Marc Bernardin reminisced at EW's PopWatch blog. "She was the original first officer aboard the Enterprise—replaced after the pilot by Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock—and reappeared as the faithful Nurse Christine Chapel." The 76-year-old continued her Trek with the Sci-Fi brand until the very end, even recording voiceover as the ship's computer for J.J. Abrams movie "Star Trek" two weeks ago. It was one of roles she used to do through her more than four decades of work on the show. Rest in Peace.

      

After 21 years of being a couple, George Takei and Brad Altman tied the knot at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo at their public wedding yesterday. They first made their appearance by stepping out together singing "One Singular Sensation" from "A Chorus Line" before entering a circle of yellow roses and lilies and sharing a traditional Japanese tea ceremony before being wed by a Buddhist priest. They exchanged their own vows and used Native American wedding bands proceeded by a bagpipe procession.

Streetartist MBW has been changing up the art on this wall on La Brea north south of Olympic every few weeks. He got into street art by making a movie on it, but he never finished-- and ended up becoming an artist while trying to promote it.

You know you want to...so you may as well do it. Star Trek: The Tour has docked on the Queen Mary. Beam yourself up and get yourself to Long Beach to see exhibits from all five TV shows and each of the 10 movies, including Captain Kirk's chair. Bring your Vulcun ears and your Klingon-English dictionary and get into whatever character, or warp speed, you want.

TV character actor John Berg was found dead at his Van Nuys residence Sunday afternoon. Berg took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning using a hibachi grill. He was 58.

"He died as a result of suicide ... from suffocation," Lt. John Kadas of the coroner's office said.

Continue reading " 'House MD,' 'Monk' Actor John Berg's Death Ruled a Suicide"

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure?

Joel McHale hosts The Soup, a celebration of the most embarrassing moments in pop culture every Friday night on E! From Tila Tequila to Yo Gabba Gabba you can count on The Soup to gather all the "best of" moments into one big pot of funny. LAist headed to the E! studios for a backstage tour, taping of the show, and one on one with the man who is not afraid to say Oprah's Va-Jay-Jay on national television. When we arrived Joel was in the makeup chair prepping for the show.

Not a moment too soon, here it is: The five minute extended trailer from one of our most anticipated films of '08, JJ Abrams' Cloverfield.

After missing the horror writers picket last week, I made sure to head over to the Paramount lot this afternoon to snap some shots of this week's awesome (ly nerdy) strike gimmick -- STAR TREK DAY! Sadly, I saw nary a Klingon, but I did manage to spot a few pairs of Spock ears, a phaser or two, and of course, one Mr. George Takei (oh my). Beam me up, solidarity! Lots of pictures...

Memorial Reading for Mutanabbi Street with Chris Abani, Beau Beausoleil, Laila Lalami, Suzanne Lummis, Majid Naficy, Marisela Norte, Sholeh Wolpe & Terry Wolverton 7pm @ Centraly Library

Some Trekkies are having heart palpitations over this: William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, will not be in the 2008 release of Star Trek. While Leonard Nimoy gets to play the resurrection of his character, Spock, there is no place for Shatner and the cocky and horny Boston Legal character is disappointed, he told the Associated Press: 'I couldn't believe it. I'm not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me. 'I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn't seem to be a wise business decision.''

If you've missed Ken Burns' latest sprawling effort on PBS, you can catch it today when it drops on DVD. Silver Surfer was better than the original Fantastic Four, but that's not really saying much. Got to love Doug Jones, though. 1408 was a surprise summer hit. I think it'll work even better when you're watching it alone at home with the lights turned off. Entourage was never the same after the Aquaman arc,...

We live in a beautiful age for nerds. Just like your favorite superheros, you can never be sure that something is dead. Star Wars returned after 20 years of relative inactivity (though it’s questionable whether or not that was a good idea). Jean Grey, though currently dead, has died in so many forms that it’s impossible to believe she won’t return. You can’t keep popular series like Buffy (or even unfairly unpopular series like...

You can push them around, cancel their shows and laugh at their outfits until your face turns red... they just keep on Trekking. In the pantheon of rabid fan bases, you'd be hard-pressed to find a legion of fans as loyal as the Trekkies (excepting, of course, the Star Wars crowd). Notwithstanding the one above, you've probably already seen your fair share of Trekkie cosplay pictures, whether from Star Trek conventions, movie openings or...

Thanks to SFist, we bring you tonight's Midnight Movie of one dose White Rabbit and many doses of odd scenes of Star Trek.

Asher Garber was born and mostly raised in the Valley. He saw "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" during its first weekend run at the Pacific 4 in the Sherman Oaks Galleria. An alum of Oakwood High in NoHo and UCSB, Asher eventually moved to Austin, TX where he owns and operates Room 710, one of the original Red River rock clubs, all while desperately trying hard to actually finish his first real live, no-shit-I’ve-got-one,...

Just try and imagine where we’d be without our favorite Enterprisers. Star Trek modeled technology is so pervasive today, I shudder to think what our society might have looked like if we’d based the future on some of the other technologies being debuted on the small screen in 1966.

If you can't stomach the thought of sitting through "Snakes on a Plane" this weekend, you might want to consider a movie featuring rich girls on a bus.

Don't be alarmed at the loud title above. This is just a primer to get you in the mood for all the festivities, mayhem and otherwise cool stuff that will be happening at the Comic-Con in San Diego next week. If you don't already know, the San Diego Comic-Con is one of those events with humble roots that is now one of the premier happenings of the year, at least on this coast. However, it's not just comics and manga and people dressed in weird costumes (although there will be people dressed in weird costumes, no doubt). No, its about much more than comic books these days.

Houstonist reports on cross-dressing thieves and undressing educators this week. A Peeping Tom defends himself with a papaya and an outraged onlooker asks Ken Lay, "TATER TOTS OR FRIES?" Also, FEMA wants it's money back.

The sci-fi world is abuzz with the recent news that J.J. Abrams (mastermind behind Lost, Alias and Felicity) got the go-ahead to helm the aging Enterprise for the next -- 11th -- installment of the Star Trek series. While rumors surfaced that the plot will focus on the Starfleet days of the young James T. Kirk and a Mr. Spock, Abrams himself was a little fuzzy on the details:

Los Angeles has many hidden treasures, but nothing in this town is as precious as the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Located at the edge of Echo Park on Glendale Blvd, the theater has entertained several generations of Southern Californian children. You never forget seeing a Bob Baker Marionette show. Unfortunately, Bob doesn’t sell videotapes of the shows due to issues involving music clearance rights so seeing the show live is your only opportunity to taste the magic.

We wonder what's going to happen when a large group of Star Trek nerds head to the Embassy Suites LAX for the finale of Enterprise while a large group of Star Wars nerds prepares for the final week before Revenge of the Sith hits theatres across town. Will there be a rip in the space-time continuum? How about a disturbance in the force? Will Star Wars kids don their stormtrooper armor and teleport south and west to battle the trekkies like a sci-fi "West Side Story"?

As some readers might be aware, there has been a bit of uproar over the imminent demise of the Star Trek franchise. After a 39-year history, UPN has pulled the rug out from under the long-running empire begun by Gene Roddenberry in 1966, and Trekkies the world over have emerged—phasers set on stun—to prevent the death of their beloved "Enterprise."

For those of you who grew up grooving on the original "Star Trek" series (it's okay, let your geek flag fly), Scotty, that irascible, whiskey swilling Scotsman who ruled the engine room of the starship with a firm hand and a quick wit was a welcome counterpoint to the soft-focus close-ups and foppish shenanigans of William Shatner's heavily rouged Kirk.

Villaraigosa says that as mayor, his top priorities would be halting gang crime, the economy, and "build[ing] trust in city government." It will be interesting to see if he can credibly act upon the last of these ideas, as cynicism towards government seems to be ascendant in most of American politics.