Liz Ohanesian

Shadows of Dangerous Men by Scott Listfield (The Venture Bros.)

​See more photos in "The Best Art Inspired by Adult Swim."

Gallery 1988 has hosted plenty of group shows that explore the influence of pop culture. From video games to cult films, Garbage Pail Kids to Watership Down, artists have come together at the Melrose Ave. space with a mission to transforms well-known works into something new.

On Friday night, Gallery 1988 took a slightly different approach. Where group shows often touch on nostalgia and early influences, in "[gallery 1988 x adult swim]," artists took inspiration from their peers, the creative teams behind the shows that comprise Adult Swim's programming schedule.

More >>

Shannon Cottrell

​Read more in "Kevin Eastman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Co-Creator, Takes Over Meltdown Comics for 35 Days." See more photos in "Kevin Eastman @ Meltdown Comics."

Stacy E. Walker has done a lot of modeling for artists. She's appeared on book covers and has worked with video game and animation companies. Her best known gigs, though, are with Heavy Metal. Walker has graced the cover of the renowned science-fiction and fantasy magazine a whopping twelve times, having posed for artists like Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell and Alex Horley. Several statues have been made in her likeness. She's also appeared on a number of Heavy Metal posters and t-shirts.

Wednesday night, Walker appeared at Meltdown Comics for Heavy Metal's 35th anniversary, part of the "Lost Angeles: 35 Days with Kevin Eastman" event. I met up with her during the party to ask about her career.

More >>

Liz Ohanesian

Michael Anissimov and Rachel Haywire of Extreme Futurist Festival

​Dr. Kim Solez is on a mission. The renal pathologist and University of Alberta professor is currently working to make the lectures from his course "Technology and the Future of Medicine" available to the general public via online videos. He's "mainstreaming the technological singularity" and transhumanism, or, rather, helping those of us outside of research labs understand artificial intelligence and its current development.

This past weekend, at the Extreme Futurist Festival in Marina del Rey, Solez spoke about his recent work. During his talk, he expanded upon an idea previously put forth by researcher Ben Goertzel. Could a holiday -- a "Future Day" -- help bring the ideas bouncing around the scientific world to the masses?

More >>

Michael Decker's Fetal Ring, a ring of disembowled E.T. dolls

​Yes, this is art. The standout piece in 29-year old Los Angeles artist Michael Decker's current show at Steve Turner Contemporary is the one with the disemboweled E.T. dolls stuck on a wire ring. It's called Fetal Ring. It is bizarre.

More >>

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. A world record. Thanks to Debbie Reynolds.

​Who knew Debbie Reynolds was the gatekeeper of all things Hollywood? And who knew that Debbie Reynolds had anything to do with Star Wars ? (Okay, okay, aside from the fact that her daughter starred in it... that's coincidental.)

And who knew that anything from Star Wars: Episode IV was even available to collect anymore? I would have thought all the Star Wars geeks... er, enthusiasts in the world had eaten up everything left from the original shoot at this point. Not so, my friends.

More >>

Dianne Gacia

Marie Lu at San Diego Comic Con 2011

​
Legend, a young adult novel by local author Marie Lu released on Tuesday, is set in a dystopian future of Los Angeles, California. The story is told from the perspective of the two main characters, who are teenagers, a boy named Day and a girl named June, on different sides of a civil war pitting the Republic versus the Colonies. Day is a criminal and June needs to hunt him down.

Lu has been writing since she was a teenager and built a loyal following from those read her self-published stories online, but Legend is her first published novel. For her day job, for many years, she worked as an art director for a video game company. She even developed a popular website aimed for children called Fuzz Academy. Now, Lu writes full time, surrounded by her two corgis and a chihuahua.

More >>

Liz Ohanesian

This is Melvis. He's a robot made with an old Elvis animatronic head.

​Shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, a small conference room in the basement of the LAX Marriott filled to the brim. The science fiction fans attending this year's Loscon crowded together in tightly packed seats for a discussion of the life and work of Philip K. Dick led by noted authors Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates) and Jerry Pournelle.

Dick, who died in 1982, is one of the most easily recognizable names in science fiction. His novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was adapted for the big screen as Blade Runner. Films like Total Recall, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly are also based on his work. But we weren't in this room for a discussion of film. Inside the panel, the focus was literature.

More >>

Paul T. Bradley

Demon with a glass temper, Harlan Ellison

​
Seriously, don't fuck with Harlan Ellison -- he showed up to Cinefamily last night with a knife.

Well, if you're Josh Olson, you can fuck with Harlan Ellison...but only a little bit.

Why shouldn't you fuck with the man who is, by his own admission, "possibly the most contentious person on Earth"? Well, other than the knife, Harlan Ellison has been fucked with before, and you, personally, don't have the chops to handle what will come at you in the aftermath. He's heard it all, he's seen it all, and he'll tell you all about it...if you keep to his good side.

Last night at Cinefamily, in a talk that was originally supposed to focus on recalling Ellison's TV career (one that includes some of the best Outer Limits and Star Trek episodes) the event became a three-hour story session and classic rendition of Jewish theatrical bickering -- oh, and the host, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Olson, fucked with Harlan Ellison.

More >>