The Next Frontier May Be a Lot Like the Last One
In “Spacescape,” John Marshall’s new animated sci fi movie, a detective at the world’s first orbiting hotel casino looks out his vehicle and sees a character pushing a shopping cart through space.
Marshall imagines a universe where “orbital space is very much like Los Angeles or any other urban environment on earth.” A little gritty, in other words.
The Oasis Space Resort, modeled on L.A.’s cylinder-towered Bonaventure Hotel, is built from recycled shuttle fuel tanks. The detective swings into action after he discovers that the hotel is being harassed by gangbangers and other outcasts in a graffiti-covered spaceship. They were stranded after a housing development went bankrupt in a previous “outer space boom.” Space real estate has its ups and downs, too.
I can’t tell you how the unreleased movie turns, out because Marshall sent me only a 12-minute excerpt. But I have to say I’m worried about the hotel employee who took her dog for a space walk.
No peanut butter served here: In observance of Presidents Day, San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Diane Bell reported that Jimmy Carter moved into a local residence at 1722 J St. in the early 1950s while he was in the Navy.
Carter wasn’t there long; he left the Navy in 1953. So, in case you’re wondering, the Mexican restaurant spotted in San Diego by my colleague Gil Reza is not the former president’s (see photo).
More food for thought: I never thought it would be so easy to do a segue from Mexican food to tax-filing day, which is fast approaching (see photo).
Dueling signs: Driving through Mississippi, Harley Hudgins came across a stretch of highway where motorists might have to quickly jam on the brakes (see photo).
Self-dueling sign: Caroline Galanty of Culver City, meanwhile, found a location that may or may not be open, depending on which part of the notice you believe (see photo).
Well, they say college is a place to grow: Philippe Brieu of Westwood tipped me that the “Crimewatch” column of UCLA’s Daily Bruin carried this item: “Two people wearing diapers and cowboy hats were speaking loudly through megaphones from a balcony” on Gayley Avenue.
miscelLAny: Bankrupt ex-heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, whose career went into a tailspin after he bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear, says he’s down to his last $5,000.
“We can’t help feeling there’s a place for the financially challenged Tyson in Hollywood,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle’s Tom FitzGerald. “Why, he’d chew up the scenery.”
Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATimes, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.