George Lucas has been based in Marin County, California, since 1978, when he famously built his Skywalker Ranch. The facility sits on 19 km² of land, and contains a barn with animals, vineyards, a garden with fruits and vegetables used in the on-site restaurant, an outdoor swimming pool and fitness center, the man-made "Lake Ewok," a hilltop observatory, a 300-seat theatre called "The Stag," as well as multiple theater screening rooms, and parking that is mostly concealed underground to preserve the natural landscape.
Skywalker Sound was moved onto the ranch in 1987, now occupying the Technical Building.The Main House has a company research library under a stained-glass dome. Lucas does not live on the Ranch.
The ranch also has its own fire station, which is part of the Marin County Mutual Aid system, and is often called on to assist firefighters in nearby Marinwood.
Sounds pretty sweet, except that Lucas' rebellious neighbours are targetting his empire. But as some salty space pirate once said, "It's not wise to upset a Wookiee film legend."
So, you want to look like Courtney Love? Who doesn't?! The former Mrs. Kurt Cobain gave New York Magazine's Grub Street the rundown of her weekly "New York Diet." Here are a few exerpts. It's... kind of weird.
Friday, April 27
"Every day I have my house manager, Hershey — who I stole from the Mercer Hotel with André Balazs's blessing — wake me up with a hot washcloth for my face, a leg rub, and a plate of toast soldiers.
Then someone always gets chicken potpie and potato salad from D.D., you know, Dean & Deluca. If I can't afford D.D., I just don't eat.
One thing from living next to Paris Hilton in L.A. ... she always had a fresh cake in her house. So I make sure someone gets a full, fresh new one every day, like marzipan. My house manager tries to put it in the fridge, but I don't like refrigeration. I know, so 'Portlandia' of me. But I'm sorry, I'm from Portland!"
"That's what I eat. Every day. And then I need sugar from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.."
Check out these crazy jumping penguins. Of course, this would be so much better if they were playing Van Halen's "Jump" while they were...er, jumping.
Although I have no real use for this, I'm pretty sure need it.
I'm not sure if this makes me more or less scared of flying. If they can land in winds that strong, what should I worry about a little bump here and there? On the other hand, it just goes to show how crazy pilots are. ("Me? Oh I just spend my days moving 970,000 lbs of metal at 500 mph, 30,000 ft above the ground. No biggie.")
A few weeks ago I wrote about Madonna being called out by Deadmau5 for talking about drugs during a festival appearance in Florida. Madonna was making reference to "Molly," slang for MDMA, a key ingredient in the drug ecstasy. It seemed that the one time Material Girl, now 53, was trying to seem hip to a younger crowd, although Deadmau5 claimed her drug reference was lame, and irresponsible.
Madonna's new album MDNA is an obvious play on MDMA, and the singer has only been making a few appearances to promote the album, most notably the Super Bowl. The album debuted strongly in it's first week, but it's second week has seen it plummet at a record breaking pace. According to Forbes magazine, MDNA is set to be the biggest second week sales flop in history, with an 88% drop, from 359,000 copies in its first week, to close to 46,000 in its second week in stores. That's quite an achievement.
Madonna's new album, MDNA, has been released to somewhat lukewarm reviews (again), but one critic had more biting words to say about her performance at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami this past Saturday. Electronic music star Deadmau5 called out the 53 year old pop icon for referring to the drug ecstasy during her performance.
"How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?" she asked the 150,000 in attendance. Molly is slang for MDMA, a key ingredient in ecstasy, a drug often associated with dance music. Madonna's new album is called MDNA, which some see as a play on words...or chemical terms.
While the crowd erupted in cheers at the suggestion that some of them were doing drugs, the Canadian producer took to his Twitter and Facebook accounts to voice his displeasure.
"Very classy there madonna. "HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???" such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra...quite the f'n philanthropist. but hey, at least yer HIP AND TRENDY! f**cking cant smack my head hard enough right now."
The long rumoured Battlestar Galactica prequel Blood and Chrome finally has a trailer, and I'm psyched. I felt that the Battlestar reboot of 2004-2009 was intelligent, timely, and all around excellent, so I'm already a fan.
Having been a kid when the original, schlocky series was on air in 1978, I was delighted when the reboot was actually written for me, the kid who was now an adult, and the show took on adult themes of religion, politics, betrayal, and war.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome will take place during the first Cylon war where the Admiral Adama we all know (Edward James Olmos in the previous series) will seen as a much younger, 20 something fighter pilot, with the call sign Husker.
Not sure how I feel about the cover version of Led Zeppelin’s "Immigrant Song" being used in the trailer, but Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead) will be back with another great soundtrack.
Rap superstar Jay-Z has reportedly told his pop superstar wife Beyoncé to tell R&B/pop/dancehall superstar Rihanna to stop hanging out with R&B/pop/maniac Chris Brown if she wants to meet his new baby superstar, Blue Ivy.
As I've written about before, Rihanna has been reportedly getting closer to Chris Brown, the man who beat her three years ago. The two appeared on each others' recent singles, Birthday Cake (Rihanna) and Turn Up The Music, and rumour has it that despite Brown having a girlfriend, the two are becoming close again.
It looks as though France won't be getting their own Honey Boo Boo Child after all. The American "mini-miss" Toddlers and Tiaras star has raised eyebrows for her age-inappropriate behaviour, chugging Go Go Juice (Red Bull and Mountain Dew), and generally becoming the apple of the redneck world's eye. Who wouldn't want their six year old competing against other children in high heels, Daisy Duke short shorts, with a face so caked in makeup that it would have Krusty the Clown doing a spit-take? France, of course.
Last Friday former teen heartthrob, and current evangelical minister, Kirk Cameron came out to CNN’s Piers Morgan that he felt being gay is “detrimental,” “unnatural” and “ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.” Ah, yes, this new gay thing that hasn't been around since the beginning of civilization that's going to "ultimately," at some point yet to be pinned down, destroy that very civilization.
Cameron was speaking specifically about same-sex marriage, something he feels goes against the teachings in the Old Testament. A "devoted follower of Jesus Christ," Cameron said God has defined marriage "a long time ago ... in the garden between Adam and Eve—one man, one woman for life, till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either. So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don’t."
He said if one of his (six!) children were to come out as gay, “I’m going to say, ‘There are all sorts of issues we need to wrestle through in our life. Just because you feel one way doesn’t mean we should act on everything we feel.’” Like opposing the marriage of two people who are in love, and want to enjoy the benefits of a legal union? No? Just checkin'.
Last week One Million Moms, a group sponsored by the American Family Association, called for boycott of department store giant JCPenney if they didn't drop Ellen DeGeneres as their new spokesperson.
One Million Moms is nazi conservative group who have proclaimed theselves the most powerful tool to fight against the immorality, violence, vulgarity and profanity found in today's entertainment media. The group has vowed to protect children from the filth many segments of society, especially the media, are throwing at American children. So Ellen would be OMM enemy #1.
