As the great Joanne Rowling once (sort of) said, "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness and the end of a great book series, nothing more."
Today that unknown became, well, more known, that fear diminished, and that death was the last enemy -- destroyed in a new 1500 word vignette that offers a glimpse into the adult lives of the wizards and witches we have long called friends.
J.K. Rowling posted the story in style of a gossip column written by peerless muckraker Rita Skeeter at the Argentinian World Cup to her eponymous website Pottermore, initially causing the site to crash. With just a swish and flick you can create a guest account to read Skeeter's acid prose, or you can accio it from our friends at Complex.
"If you're known as who you are, there are consequences."-- George Takei
Jennifer M. Kroot's To Be Takei, is a lovely documentary tribute to openly gay Star Trek icon George Takei, can currently be seen exclusively at DirecTV Cinema. The satellite provider will carry the film via its OnDemand service until August 6. A theatrical release will follow.
The feature length film follows the actor from his childhood, part of which was spent in a WWII Japanese internment camp, through his seven decade journey as a science fiction icon, a human rights activist, and as a goodwill ambassador the LGBT community.
Though his sexual identity was one of Hollywood's worst kept secrets for decades, the actor finally came out publicly when then California Governor Arnold Swarchzenegger vetoed a bill that was meant to legalize gay marriage in the state. The now 77-year-old actor speaks eloquently of having no choice but to remain closeted over the course of his distinguished career. Best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu on Star Trek: The Original Series and six Trek movies, Takei has in fact played dozens of other roles on television, stage, and in film.
Haylie Duff's back on the West Coast! Did you notice a shift in the earth's polarity? The California girl is home again after slumming it in New York. It's the height of summer and she's ready to take up her family's tradition of having a crab boil. We learn also that she has a boyfriend, a guy who looks just as generically attractive as she is but probably puts up with a lot of "shut up!" shoulder punches. Trooper.
As much crap as I give this chick, I do always seem to learn something from her show. This week she made a chocolate cake with black beans as one of the main ingredients. It's such a strange idea I have to try it. Her naughty sister Hilary shows up and digs her finger into the cooling cake -- oh no she di'int! These two gals are crazy but they also love each other so much because they are sisters even though yeah they are really like literally best friends. Literally.
Ever since it was announced in January 2013 that the City's Planning Commission had approved a $10 million renovation of the long-dormant, 2021-seat New Mission Theater at 2250 Mission, the project has been equal parts exciting and enigmatic. Exciting because the new tenant was going to be the Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse theater chain, promising to bring five new movie screens to town -- and enigmatic because in September 2013 their Facebook and Twitter presences stopped being updated, and there didn't appear to be any actual work done on the theater, in spite of the fact that the their stated opening date was the sooner-than-you-think third quarter of 2014.
When I attempted to get more information for an article about the status of the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission this past May, their PR firm said they had "no updates," and that was that. Perhaps coincidentally, shortly after the article was published, they posted their first status update since September 2013, apologizing for the delay and admitting that the permitting process has taken much longer than they expected. (Welcome to San Francisco!)
And, last week, they sent out an honest-to-goodness press release!
