A candid look back at the past twelve months at a business that is headquartered in the San Fernando Valley. more ›

"2011: The Adult Industry in Photos" is a candid look back at the past twelve months at a business that is headquartered in the San Fernando Valley. more ›

Please check out our video of Sir Patrick Stewart at the Peabody Awards. --- We have a new edition of the Channel Zero podcast up with our interview of Louis C.K. on location + our suggestions for other great podcasts to listen to this weekend. --- We can't wait until Sunday's lineup with "Game of Thrones" (see a sneak preview here). more ›

So what's next for Sam Hain, director of Star Trek: The Next Generation: A XXX Parody? Tonight, Hain will be seen on Last Call with Carson Daly in a pre-taped segment, talking about his love of sci-fi and its transformation into best-selling and critically-acclaimed adult movies. more ›

The mood on the set of every Star Trek incarnation has always been dictated by the actor playing the series' captain, and that has even proven true with Sam Hain's Star Trek: The Next Generation: A XXX Parody. more ›

In retrospect, LAist was either incredibly dedicated or insane (probably a little of both) to have been present for all four days of production on Sam Hain's Star Trek: The Next Generation: A XXX Parody. The first day, on the Enterprise-D bridge, ran over 20 hours, with at least one castmember falling asleep on-set until needed. more ›

When director Sam Hain told us last year of his plans to film a porn parody of Star Trek: The Next Generation, we could hardly contain our excitement, as his parodies of The X-Files (The Sex Files: A Dark XXX Parody and its sequel) were respectful of the series' established canon and received several prizes including Best Parody - Drama at the recent XRCO Awards. more ›

A video lunch collection for the ages, today we celebrate the 80th birthday of Studio City resident William Shatner!! From the Twilight Zone to the sexy reaches of Star Trek space, from dramatic readings of Elton John to musical covers of Pulp, from TV legal council to online negotiator, Shatner is as Shatner does and we love the $#*! you say. We salute you, sir. Live long, and prosper. more ›

Thousands of miles, 12 set visits, 4 award shows, 2 conventions, 2 colleges, and 1 benefit. Those were the statistics for LAist last year in covering the adult industry, headquartered in the San Fernando Valley. more ›

Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" meets vintage "Star Trek." Let the nerdgasms begin. more ›

This week, the real world marks the closing arguments in the court case against Prop. 8. Fittingly, the reel world responds with the premiere of documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition, at Laemmle's Sunset. Produced by former Mormons, and narrated by Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black, the film follows the money and the movement that pushed the legislation into being. To put the struggle in a historical perspective, the Nuart features Stonewall Uprising. The doc is the first to share the stories of Stonewall rioters, and in this spirit, the Nuart hosts Stonewall participant John O'Brien at Friday's evening show. We've come a long way, but there's still quite a ways to go. more ›

Yesterday, in a San Fernando Valley soundstage, director Axel Braun began production on Hustler Video's . While much of the cast have returned -- Evan Stone as Captain Kirk, Tony De Sergio as Spock, Cheyne Collins as Bones, Anthony Rosano as Scotty, and Jada Fire as Uhura -- Joey Brass appears as Chekov and Sulu has been recast with Keni Styles (so as Fleshbot pointed out, this is the one where Sulu finally gets laid!). The sequel also stars Kimberly Kane, Alexis Texas, Kagney Linn Karter, Madison Scott, Kiara Diane, and Joel Lawrence, and is set for release later this year. more ›

Weekend plans still up in the air? If 20,000 feet isn't enough elevation for you, boldly go to the Aero for screenings of JJ Abrams' Star Trek, fanboy tribute Free Enterprise, and a Trek triple: Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock & The Voyage Home. TrekMovie.com has organized panels reuniting the cast & crew of Free Enterprise, and welcomes writer/director Nicholas Meyer in-between Khan & Search for Spock. For a different warped drive, the Warner Grand has cracked-out Christmas flick Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, paired with surrealist seasonal import Santa Claus. If you'd rather stick to this planet, the Nuart has celluloid space-cases Werner Herzog & Nicolas Cage unspooling all week in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. more ›

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. more ›

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.” more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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? more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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... more ›

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 more ›

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.'' more ›

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,... more ›

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... more ›