Comic-Con Co-Founder Dies at 59

Comic-Con Co-Founder Dies at 59

THR Staff
The 59-year-old was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December.

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Grauman's Chinese Makeover: How the Hollywood Landmark Will Be Revamped

Grauman's Chinese Makeover: How the Hollywood Landmark Will Be Revamped

Alex Ben Block
Controversial producers Elie Samaha and Donald Kushner reveal their plan to take the historic movie theater's brand global.

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Actress Suing IMDB Reveals Her Real Name

Actress Suing IMDB Reveals Her Real Name



Matthew Belloni
Huong Hoang is the actress who sued claiming the Internet search database had violated her right of privacy and opened her up to rampant age discrimination in Hollywood by telling everyone she's 40 years old.

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TNT Orders Reality Series From 'The Amazing Race' Team

TNT Orders Reality Series From 'The Amazing Race' Team



Philiana Ng
Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Bertram Van Munster are among the executive producers of "The Great Escape."

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Autocowrecks: Lies My Teacher Told Me

Autocowrecks: Lies My Teacher Told Me

A Short, Strange History of Anonymous

Video: A Short, Strange History of Anonymous

Anonymous's growth from a group of lol-seeking pranksters to a crusading army of hacktivists is a long, strange trip. Wired.com's video team gives you a tour.

Golden Age of Venice Displayed in New Mural

Golden Age of Venice Displayed in New Mural

The murals adorning the walls of Venice have expressed the community's personality and rich cultural history for decades.

The artwork has included Rip Cronk's famed depiction of "The Doors" frontman Jim Morrison, to his more current work such as Venice Reconstituted. It also has included more recent additions such as MadSteez's recent mural of the late actor and Venice resident Dennis Hopper on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

Local talent Jonas Never will soon be added to the area's long list of talented muralists.

His 102-foot-by-50-foot behemoth adaptation of Hollywood legend Orson Welles' 1958 film Touch of Evil is at heart an homage to Venice history, culture and film.

Touch of Evil was a perfect fit for the space, Never said, not only for its famed opening scene, shot along Windward and Pacific avenues, but also for its content.

This classic film noir about Mexican drug cartels, corrupt cops, inter-racial marriage and a lawless border town garners a lot of similarities with the inherent nature of Venice. It was written, directed and co-starred Welles and featured Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, who are prominently depicted in the foreground of Never's mural.

"Venice is one of the last cities you'll find with someone's Mercedes parked next to some homeless guy's stuff," Never said. "People really kind of embrace the seediness here. It's very lawless, but a self-governed kind of lawless."

A self-proclaimed movie buff and local Westsider, Never's Americana, nostalgic painting style has branded 13 Floyd's Barbershops in total, including the nearby Mar Vista barbershop and Hollywood locations. His designs also have met the walls of Bar Melody in Westchester and the bar formerly known as the Garter in Venice, among other public spaces.

Depicting this particular film also gave Never the chance to show a golden era in Venice that had seldom been shown, if ever, in the history of Venice murals: the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The mural, set at night, is also a hat-tip to the renaissance of night life in Venice, as the community has begun to enjoy a resurgence of bars and restaurants moving to the area.

"Except for some of the newer stuff on Abbot Kinney, everything [on Venice Beach] is so daytime and 70s/80s modern. I thought about doing something from an era that had never been captured," Never said. "Venice has been in a million films, and I'd never seen that portrayed."

The opportunity arose after Never contacted Ann Everest and Simone Scharff of one of the biggest property management firms in Venice, General Real Estate, to attract as clients.

Never expressed his interest in restoring or possibly modifying the late Terry Schoonhoven mural, Windward Mirrored, located on the east side of Danny's Deli. When Everest and Scharff found out that one of Schoonhoven's dying wishes was for his walls to be given to the next generation of muralists, they asked Never to start mocking up a design.

"I wanted to do it 100 percent," Never said. "Although I was kind of nervous because it's so big and so public."

He started sketching in mid-October and put paint to wall on Nov. 9.

"I think it's impressive," Everest said. "When you go down the street, it just hits you."

Although the piece is still a work in progress, Never has augmented the silver screen's version of Windward and Pacific to adapt to Venice's changing history.

The famed Venice sign was a vital addition to the mural, especially because it was a fixture on Windward before it was said to have mysteriously dissapeared sometime in the 1940s. Plans call for illuminating the Venice sign on the mural to mimic the famous sign stretching across Windward Avenue.

"It's really rare to have a place where you can paint [a past version of] the block you're actually on, captured on film in that moment in time; then compare it, literally, right up next to the modern day version which is going on outside," Never said.

The decision to plant an American flag in the foreground of the piece had more to do with history than patriotistm. Venice was, after all, introduced as the "Venice of the Americas" and through Never's research, he saw a time when American flags were displayed across Windward.

Jill Prestup, president of the Venice Historical Society, was pleased to see the mural being worked on.

"Murals are wonderful and they add to the historic value of Venice," Prestup said. "I'm happy that they're restoring something that means something to Venice - a wonderful time in Venice."

The mural's completion date is set for some time this spring.

Never can be found on most sunny days finishing up his currently un-named mural at 23 Windward Avenue, Venice, CA, and can be contacted through his website at www.livefastdieawesome.com.

Why 3D TV Went From CES Darling to Consumer Reject

Why 3D TV Went From CES Darling to Consumer Reject

3D television was heralded as the breakthrough technology of the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. At the 2011 show, it tried just as hard to gain a foothold of relevance. Now, in 2012, it's a non-story. What happened?

The Leap-Second Is Coming

Ready Your Watch: The Leap Second Is Coming

The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) in Paris -- the grand arbiters of time on our big blue marble -- has declared that a leap second will be introduced on 30 June, 2012.

WGA Nominations Dominated by Comedies

WGA Nominations Dominated by Comedies



THR Staff
The original screenplay category includes "Midnight in Paris," "Bridesmaids" and "50/50."

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The Doors at Venice Beach Picture

Random Venice Beach Picture of The Week

The Doors: 30 Brooks Ave, Venice Beach. 1969.

Photo by Henry Diltz.

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Metro Moves Closer to Connecting Light Rail to LAX

Metro Moves Closer to Connecting Light Rail to LAX

It may be a roundabout way of getting there, but eventually Culver City residents will have the option of getting to Los Angeles International Airport via rail.

Federal Transit Administration officials announced Wednesday that they have given final approval to plans for a $1.72 billion transit line along Crenshaw Boulevard, running from the Green Line near LAX to the Expo Line.

The 8.5-mile Crenshaw/LAX line will be the first to connect a major population center of South Los Angeles to the rest of Metro's rail network. The line will connect with the Expo Line on the north end and the Green Line on the south end, serving passengers near Leimert Park, in Inglewood, Hawthorne and El Segundo.

The transit authority's decision means that, eventually, Culver City and Santa Monica residents can hop aboard the Expo from any of the three future stations within the city and travel by light rail all the way to LAX.

The line into Santa Monica from Culver City, which extends east into downtown, is under construction. Three stations will be built: Olympic Boulevard at 26th Street; Colorado Avenue at 17th Street; and Colorado at Fourth Street.

Related: Learning from Expo's Early Problems

The Federal Transit Authority's Record of Decision gives the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority the green light to acquire property, purchase rail cars and move utilities to build the light rail along Crenshaw Boulevard.

Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board member Don Knabe called the transit authority's decision "terrific news."

"At long last, we are on the path to connecting the rail system to LAX, something riders have been demanding for years," he said in a statement. "In the longer-term, this approval also supports our efforts to connect and increase links throughout the system ... This news brings us one step closer to enhancing mobility throughout the Los Angeles region."

MetroS pokesman José Ubaldo told Patch to take the Expo from Culver City or Santa Monica, riders will transfer to the Expo Line at the Crenshaw/Exposition Station, and again transfer to the People’s Mover to the interior of LAX.

The People Mover is an LAX Project that will connect with Crenshaw/LAX line.

Metro officials said construction could begin as early as this summer. They expect the Crenshaw/LAX line will be open in late 2018.

-Culver City Patch Editor Kelly Hartog contributed to this report.

Naughty By Nature discusses and performs "O.P.P."

Video: One Track Mind: Naughty By Nature discusses and performs "O.P.P."

For this bonus episode of One Track Mind's inaugural season, The A.V Club headed to The Bell House in Brooklyn for a cozy little sit-down with the biggest-selling act to grace our new series: Naughty By Nature, performers of the 1991 hip-hop smash "O.P.P."
Hype man Vinnie was the first to arrive. He kept a low profile, napping in a chair while the crew set up. Resplendent in shades and a leather jacket, frontman Treach made a much more flamboyant arrival while resident beatsmith Kay Gee completed the trio. New York Giants super-fan Treach was keen ...

Resenting your audience

Resenting your audience:

Pivoting off the discussion Craig and I had about Charlie Kaufman’s speech, Josh Barkey outlines a path that may lead screenwriters to resent their audience:

A. Art is often an outgrowth of the self’s desire to be loved. An artist’s motivation for making things is often, at some primal level, an attempt to say to other people: please, please love me.

B. If the artist is honest, works hard, and tells the truth, art patrons will often recognize themselves in the art. They’ll respond emotionally, and some of the love they feel for the artist’s product will inevitably spill over to the artist.

C. This love is, however, conditional. It requires the artist to make new and interesting things, and quickly becomes bored and withdraws love when the artist does not.

D. The artist feels betrayed by what he or she perceives as mis-directed and conditional love, and begins to resent the audience for not loving unconditionally enough.

E. Although the artist might even be aware of the irrationality of this resentment, the resentment can nonetheless shrivel into bitterness, which eventually shrivels into hatred.

I’d argue that for screenwriters, the “audience” is very often not movie-goers but rather the producers and studios who pay us to write. These are the people we’re trying to please and impress.

When they love our work, we feel loved and validated. When they don’t love our work — even though we know it’s better work than they previously praised — we can’t help but feel jilted.

My World Of Flops: The Frighteners

Film: My World Of Flops: Leap Before You Look Case File #6: The Frighteners

When contemplating—or, more likely, mourning—the unimaginable budgets given the Michael Bays and Jerry Bruckheimers of the world, it’s instructive and reassuring to recall that folks like Sam Raimi, Christopher Nolan, and for the purposes of this Case File especially, Peter Jackson are regularly given budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars to work out personal visions that just happen to resonate with moviegoers and critics all over the world.
A filmmaker like Christopher Nolan is not given $250 million to make Inception or The Dark Knight Rises as an act of goodwill. The studio isn’t doing ...

Netflix Users Streamed More Than 2 Billion Hours of TV Shows, Movies in Fourth Quarter

Netflix Users Streamed More Than 2 Billion Hours of TV Shows, Movies in Fourth Quarter



Georg Szalai
"With more U.S. members watching instantly, and aided by global expansion, Netflix streaming hours grew dramatically in 2011," the company says.

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Happy 30th, Commodore 64!

• Legendary computer first introduced in January of 1982
• Whole machine held the equivalent of 1/10th of an MP3 file
• Nostalgic fan tweets old home video of receiving 'C64' as gift in '82

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“The Night Lives on in Venice”

“Venice beach bum life” by Daniel Garza: “a short documentary of how homeless people in Venice just living there life, and how close they all are.”




( Via Yo! Venice )

5 New California Laws You May be Breaking Today

Surprise! 5 New California Laws You May be Breaking Today



Michael O'Connell
Minors banned from indoor tanning; child actor work just got easier, and other new legislation that went into effect on January 1.

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Major Changes Ahead for Santa Monica Pier

Major Changes Ahead for Santa Monica Pier

You'll have to look closely to see outward signs of it, but the Santa Monica Pier is about to begin a major transformation.

The famous destination for some four million visitors a year will look much the same, but the two-year transformation will change the way the city manages the century-old pier and will replace the nonprofit corporation that oversees events that make the pier such an attraction.

The goal is to make the pier's operation more efficient and thus more cost-effective.

Currently, several city departments are involved with the pier's economic development, maintenance, custodial services, safety and engineering. Each department sees the pier from the perspective of its specific task. Newly named Pier Manager Rod Merl's job is to coordinate and focus the efforts of all those departments.

"It will give everyone —within the city and the community, the tenants, the visitors—one focus point for their problems, ideas or suggestions," Merl said.

"The pier is unique, yet it is many things,'' he said. "It has a commercial element, but it's a park. It serves a lot of purposes; some of them generate profit, some of them don't."

The goal, Merl said, is to find a balance in the overall operation that will, among other things, end the need to subsidize expensive operations such as maintenance.

Change is also coming to the nonprofit Pier Restoration Corporation, which was created after two winter storms destroyed one-third of the pier in 1983.

In February, the 11-member restoration corporation will be replaced by an interim seven-member board that will have what the city calls "a refined focus on event production, marketing, promotions, sponsorships, fundraising," plus a role in promoting public participation in a Pier Master Plan.

The re-titled board will retain the primary responsibility for events such as the summertime concerts known as the Twilight Dance Series, which Merl says the city wants "to have a long and happy life."

The city is accepting nominations for membership on the new board until Jan. 17. Although the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau will submit nominations, Merl insists the city will "cast a wide net" to "get seven very highly motivated and skilled people" for the non-paying positions.

"The board members are going to have to work hard,'' during their two-year appointment, he said. "They'll be expected to meet [frequently] and start at almost a run."

With all the behind-the-scenes activity, Merl expects the typical pier visitor to notice only subtle, but important, changes, such as improved maintenance and cleanliness.

In addition, work will begin soon on improvements to stairs, lighting and the pier's supporting infrastructure.

Something else pier-goers will see is Merl himself, whose office is on the pier.

"I think it's essential to be out on that pier every day, talking to people, to find out what's going on with the tenants, to find out what visitors are experiencing," Merl said. "It's those experiences that should shape how we provide our services. You can't do that from an office."

Merl will work closely with Elana Buegoff, senior development analyst at the city's Housing and Economic Development Department, who played a key role in the study that led to the coming changes.

Merl's most recent service in Santa Monica has been as airport administrator, dealing mostly with non-aviation tenants and finances. Prior to coming to Santa Monica, he was the long-time planning director for Hermosa Beach.

Man Who Stayed Up Until Dawn Eating Mice Refers To Self As Night Owl

Man Who Stayed Up Until Dawn Eating Mice Refers To Self As Night Owl

Man Who Stayed Up Until Dawn Eating Mice Refers To Self As Night Owl

'Darth Vader' Swordsman Bob Anderson Dies at 89

'Darth Vader' Swordsman Bob Anderson Dies at 89

Michael O'Connell
The Olympic fencer gave moves to James Earl Jones' voice over, appearing in two of the original three "Star Wars" films.

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