Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sci fi"

Crocker Art Museum Presents Art Mix: Funk Lab on November 10

2011-11-07T19:57:57Z

The fantastical world of Clayton Bailey will transform the Crocker Art Museum for Art Mix: Funk Lab on Thursday, November 10, from 5 to 9 p.m. Inspired by Bailey’s robot sculptures and pop ray guns fashioned from discarded aluminum, the evening features a pop ray gun shooting range, dancing to sci-fi film soundtracks, a series of live-action trailers by Scavenger Theatre, and robotic inventions from the University of California, Davis, including iMobot.

“Clayton Bailey’s World of Wonders,” the first career-spanning retrospective featuring the work of the ceramist, sculptor, and self-proclaimed “mad scientist,” is currently on view at the Museum through January 15, 2012.

Tickets for Funk Lab are free to Museum members and free with admission for nonmembers. Tickets are available for purchase at crockerartmuseum.org, the Museum Admission Desk, or by calling (916) 808-1182. Funk Lab is co-sponsored by UC Davis’ K-14 Outreach Center for Computing and STEM Education.

Art Mix is part of the Museum’s Thursdays ‘til 9 program series, sponsored by Bank of America. The Crocker is open every Thursday until 9 p.m. for film screenings, social gatherings, concerts, and art happenings presented in collaboration with regional art groups.

The Crocker Art Museum was one of the first art museums in the U.S. and is now one of the leading art institutions in California. Established in 1885, the Museum features one of the country’s finest collections of Californian art, exceptional holdings of master drawings, a comprehensive collection of international ceramics, as well as European, Asian, African, and Oceanic art. The Crocker is located at 216 O Street in Downtown Sacramento. Museum hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Tuesday–Sunday; 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Thursdays. Every Third Sunday of the month is “Pay What You Wish Sunday” sponsored by Bank of America. For more information, call (916) 808-7000 or visit crockerartmuseum.org.

Disclosure: Kathleen Richards has been a fan of the Crocker Art Museum since her very first visit in fourth grade, and she now serves as the Crocker's Marketing Coordinator.

Film, TV celebs beam in for Sacramento Sci-Fi/Horror Show

2010-09-28T01:27:18Z

Halloween came early last weekend when armies of zombies, stormtroopers and hundreds of civilian fanboys and fangirls joined Lando Calrissian, Jason Voorhees and Howard the Duck for a celebration of all things dark and bloodiful at the two-day Sacramento Sci-Fi/Horror Show.

For some attendees – many of whom came dressed to the Plan Nines – the draws were the special screenings of sci-fi and horror films. For others it was a chance to bypass the dozens of vendors hawking everything from phasers to fine art for a chance to nab a vintage Hallmark “Star Trek” ornament for a song at Saturday’s auction (with proceeds benefitting Loaves & Fishes’ Mustard Seed School). For most, however, the weekend wasn’t about picking up a rare “Spider-Man” comic or “Superman” lunch box, but the chance to see some very familiar faces from film and video in the flesh.

Top-billed among the lineup of actors who manned autograph tables (where signed photos of much-younger incarnations were selling for as much as $30 a pop) was Billy Dee Williams, well-known to conventioneers for his appearances in George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” triology as Han Solo’s comrade Lando Calrissian.

Armed with a variety of permanent markers, Williams was happily agreeable to sign whatever was placed in front of him and to rise frequently for impromptu camera-phone portraits during his three-hour appearance Saturday.

On hand for both days were such actors as Jewel Staite, whose roles in such series as “Firefly,” “Stargate Atlantis” and “The X-Files” (as well as her made-for-a-jumpsuit figure) have forever earned her a table at such fan conventions. In addition to chatting up her fans and signing autographs, Staite also hosted a packed Q-and-A session on Sunday.

Other young actors and personalities well-known to the brotherhood of convention-goers included Ashley Palmer (“Paranormal Activity”), Devanny Pinn (“15 til Midnight”) and Kaci Hansen (“Kaci Hansen Presents”).

Less comely, but equally appealing to the young and old who relished the opportunity to get a head start on All Hallows Eve, were actors Derek Mears (Jason in the reboot of the “Friday the 13th” film series), Ed Gale (“Howard the Duck,” “Child’s Play”) and Herbert Jefferson Jr. (Lt. Boomer in the original “Battlestar Galactica” TV series).

Also greeting their minions were a host of comic book/graphic novel artists and writers, including Jason Dube, Richard Zerga, Josh Barker, Arrianna Sherman, Mike Hampton, Brandon Bracamonte and Paul Allen.

While William Shatner never beamed in to tell those dressed as Dr. Who or Boba Fett to “Get a life!” he would have undoubtedly felt right at home among the Klingons who were forgoing the blood wine in favor of the Sprite and Coke on sale at the concessions table.

Far from limited to myopic males sweating through their capes and armor, there were many women of all ages in attendance, from 20-somethings attired as their favorite pop-culture characters (Wonderland’s Alice, a masked animé heroine) to the “dancing dead” who gave life to Saturday night’s Zombie Ball.

Featuring bands Dammit and Left Overz, the Last Doorway Productions event was a monster mash of the first order, with made-up and costumed partygoers often following the calls coming from the stage to crank it up to “11” and start slamming. The monster “mosh” that resulted was pretty tame and didn’t produce a single drop of real blood. Besides, how do you hurt the undead?

photographs by Barry Wisdom

Costumed characters promote California Museum's 'Out of this World' exhibit

2009-10-01T03:49:15Z

Halloween came to Sacramento early Wednesday morning as a group of six local science fiction lovers marched downtown dressed in Klingon, Death Star Trooper and Sith Lord costumes. Dozens of children and sci-fi fans flocked to take photographs and speak with the costumed characters.

Others gawked, laughed and one child even cried as they meandered from the California Museum down K Street and past the Capitol to Cesar Chavez Plaza.

The march was organized to promote The California Museum's new sci-fi exhibit "Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television," which will run from Oct. 3 to Jan. 10. It will feature more than 50 props and costumes from some of Hollywood's most memorable sci-fi films.

Among some of the exhibit's main attractions are the Darth Vader robe and cape from Star Wars, the leather jacket worn by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.

Besides viewing these items, visitors will also learn how clothing designers and artists came up with ideas for the costumes and props, according to Ashley Robinson, the California Museum's communications manager.

Mark Lin, normally a business analyst in Elk Grove, was dressed as a death star trooper from Star Wars. He and another costumed storm trooper represent part of a group called the 501st Legion, a group of friends who dress up as villains from the Star Wars movies, Lin said.

Besides comic book and sci-fi conventions, the 501st Legion attends the Rose Parade and even visits children at Shriner's Hospital and the Salvation Army. Lin mentioned that he is looking forward to some of the older sci-fi costumes at the upcoming exhibit, especially the jumpsuit, proton pack and utility belt from Ghostbusters.

Three other costumed sci-fi fans were part of a Sacramento Klingon Assault Group (KAG) called "Ikvnomhegh," which means "swift death," said Chris Mumma, a KAG officer. Mumma wore a Klingon warrior costume from Star Trek complete with a plastic "bat'leth" or "sword of honor."

KAG "Ikvnomhegh" member Julio Alcala was also dressed as a Klingon, but in a plainer costume from the original Star Trek series. He mentioned that sometimes locals must travel as far as Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas to attend sci-fi or comic conventions.

After displaying an uncanny vocal impression of a Wookie from Star Wars, Alcala added that he was looking forward viewing the black leather jacket that Arnold Schwarzenneger wore in The Terminator at the exhibit.

Another KAG members, Von Bean, dressed as a female Sith Lord from Star Wars. Unlike others, she sewed the costume herself, she said.

David Mello, not affiliated with any costume group, dressed up as Fourth Who, which he explained was the fourth incarnation of Dr. Who from the BBC series "Dr. Who." Recently back from San Diego's Comic-Con, Mello blogs about movies under the pen name Impaler General.

Mello said he is excited about the variety at the Out of this World exhibit. "Even if one person is a drawn to a [specific] genre, they will look at others," he said.

"[By] putting sci-fi costumes in the same gallery space as the Lincoln exhibit, the museum will be able to reach people with different interests," Robinson added. Besides being for sci-fi fans, it's also for people who love movies or costume design in general, she said.

California Museum members will get a sneak preview of the exhibit this Thursday at 6 p.m. during a members-only preview reception. In addition to being able to party in the Star Wars cantina and eat from a table based on the monkey brains scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the gatherers will also participate in a costume competition.

Prizes include a round-trip ticket from United Airlines, a resort package from Le Rivage and Scott's Seafood Grill and Bar and four tickets to see "Star Wars: In Concert" which takes place Oct. 9 and 10 at Arco Arena. Non-members can attend the preview by signing up at the door, calling (916)-653-1752 or visiting Californiamuseum.org/membership.

The California Museum is located at 1020 O St.

Review: District 9

2009-08-22T19:04:17Z

District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Sitting at the Number 1 spot in this week’s box office rankings and modestly masquerading as a relatively low-budget creature feature, “District 9” is brought to you in a hands-off way by producer Peter Jackson (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy).

I say masquerading, as it’s really quite an insightful commentary on politics and international power-brokering, both past and current. The story has aliens arriving over Johannesburg, complete with their clearly superior technology and weaponry but also with a broken spaceship and apparently no intergalactic towing service. This results in two outcomes – a giant refugee camp for the stranded “prawns, “as they become known, and a great desire to crack the potentially lucrative mystery of their guns, which don’t operate in human hands. The film unfolds in the style of a news story or reality TV show, as we watch a mid-level manager undertake the manipulative relocation of 1.8 million refugees from their longstanding slum environment to a new purpose-built tent city.

But what is most noteworthy is the effective way that the film reflects our treatment of not just refugees, but people who we deem unworthy of integration. Being set in South Africa, it’s impossible to watch the movie and not think of Apartheid. But it also looks like a cross between Gaza and any number of shanty towns worldwide, with a trapped population driven to desperation in the face of a complete lack of opportunity. It’s also uncomfortably believable to watch the policing of this fictional environment being performed not by the quasi-UN-type organization depicted, but by a multi-national company of mercenaries and arms manufacturing who clearly have a greater vested interest in the hidden arsenal than in the well-being of the prawns.

Like the best of the genre, this is science fiction against a backdrop of our political and social vulnerabilities and shortcomings. The aliens and their city-sized cosmic-utility-vehicle may be hard to believe, but the humans and their actions are all too real. “District 9” is the best sci-fi of the year, with more thought-provoking content than four years at Starfleet Academy—and without all the financial aid.