Latest Headlines on OCRegister.com
[x] Close
Pedro and the Watcher ~ Just another Freedomblogging.com weblog

Archive for the 'Pedro' Category

Cult movie ‘The Room’ set for midnight screening in O.C.

November 20th, 2009, 12:56 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

room3

Six years after “The Room” debuted and then very quickly disappeared from theaters, the low-budget over-the-top drama is a cult hit on the midnight movie circuit.

The creation of eccentric writer-director-star Tommy Wiseau plays regularly in more than 60 cities around the country, as well as in London, Australia, and the Netherlands.

And as of 11:55 p.m. Saturday, it will make its Orange County debut with a screening at the Regency South Coast Village in Santa Ana.

Adopted by lovers of unintentional comedy, “The Room” is more or less a love triangle in which Wiseau’s girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend, played by Greg Sestero.

We had run into the pair at Comic-Con in San Diego this summer, and Sestero, who had promised to keep in touch in case the film ever made it to Orange County, happily rang us up this week to talk about its ongoing cult success.

“It played in theaters here in Los Angeles (in 2003) and it was kind of an average response,” Sestero says of how this all got started. “And then towards the end of the run, it was seen by a bunch of USC film students, and Loyola Marymount students, and they just loved it so much that Laemmle theaters started showing it once a month at the Sunset 5.”

Read the rest of this entry »

‘Rocky & Bullwinkle’ celebrate their 50th anniversary

November 19th, 2009, 3:00 am by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

rockybull1blog

It was 50 years ago today — Nov. 19, 1959 — when the world discovered Rocket “Rocky” J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, two of the finest citizens in all of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota.

The flying squirrel and his good-natured if slow-witted moose pal arrived on ABC as stars of  “The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show,” the zany, off-beated animated series created by the late Jay Ward, whose daughter Tiffany Ward, a longtime Orange County resident, still manages the family business.

To mark the golden anniversary of the show, we called up Ward to chat about why the show and the characters and stories her father created still endure.

“My dad always told me that he was writing for the adults, but that the show worked on three levels,” Ward said. “The little kids would get the funny names and voices, the adults would get the humor and the inside jokes, and the kids in the middle would enjoy both ends.

“I suspect that’s why we’re still here 50 years later,” she said. “It was such a unique piece of writing.”

rockyslideshowIn most episodes, Rocky and Bullwinkle ended up trying to stop the show’s scheming villians, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. Interspersed with those storylines were other characters with their own adventures, including the Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right and Sherman and Peabody, a young boy and his very smart dog, respectively.

Ward, who we first met a few years ago when Cartoon Network launched a new version of “George of the Jungle,” another of Jay Ward’s animated creations of the ’60s, says fans of the various shows have a few new treats coming soon.

The fourth season of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” will be out on DVD soon, and an animated movie version of  “Mr Peabody and Sherman” is in development at Dreamworks with Bob Minkoff (”The Haunted Mansion,” “Stuart Little,” “The Lion King”) attached as director.

Ward says she doesn’t remember much about the premiere of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” 50 years ago. She thinks the family just watched at home, and  says that’s how she’s planning to celebrate this anniversary, too.

“I’m just going to enjoy that it’s been 50 amazing years that they’ve been around,” Ward said. “And my dad would be so proud.”

Previously on the Watcher …

Find out who left ‘So You Think You Can Dance’

November 18th, 2009, 6:56 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

nathan1118slideshowSo they thought they could dance, but as it goes on that other reality TV show, one day you’re in, the next you’re out.

On Wednesday, 14 dancers stood before the judges on “So You Think You Can Dance,” hoping that their fans had called enough times the night before to save them from the bottom three, and the inevitable expulsion of a male and a female dancer from their ranks.

O.C. favorite Nathan Trasoras, who graduated from the Orange County High School of the Arts this year, and his partner Mollee Gray were frontrunners the first two weeks of the semi-finals, before failing to impress the judges much at all last week.

Did Nathan survive? Who went home? Well, read on to find out the results, we’ll not spoil it just yet. And click through the slide show to see each of the couples in action this week.

Read the rest of this entry »

Find out who got booted on ‘Dancing With The Stars’

November 17th, 2009, 7:00 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

kelly_9slideshow_templateNow we are down to the end: just three celebrities still in the hunt for the mirror ball trophy that goes to the winner of “Dancing With The Stars,” after a fourth star got kicked to the curb on the results show on Tuesday.

As for who left, well, we know, but if you want to find out you’ll have to keep reading, because it really wouldn’t be fair to spoil it for anyone who’s still waiting to watch the episode, now would it?

So to find out whether the singer, the swimsuit model, the grown-up teen icon or the rocker’s daughter left the show tonight, carry on…

Read the rest of this entry »

Who leaves ‘Dancing With The Stars’ tonight?

November 17th, 2009, 1:50 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

slideshow_templateweek9

The semi-finals of “Dancing With The Stars” on Monday answered a few questions for all of us.

The judges really want to see Mya in the finals. They only want Donny Osmond there if he can deliver enough viewers (and voters) to make it worth their while. And Kelly Osbourne and Joanna Krupa can fight it out in the alley behind the dance studio.

At least that’s what we took away from the scores handed out on Monday. But what did you, the voting viewer, think? For after Mya, it’s really a game of musical chairs for the last two spots in the finals.

Call us crazy, but we’ve got our hunchome, you may indeed call us crazy.)  hes. (And after you see who we picked to go Click through the slide show and see whether or not you agree on who think is safe, and who we think will head home tonight.

Poll: Who was best on ‘Dancing With The Stars’?

November 16th, 2009, 9:45 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

 kelly_60sblog

 

 Tonight there are still four stars orbiting around the mirror ball trophy that goes to the winner of “Dancing With The Stars.” By tomorrow, one more will head back to his or her home galaxy. So who will it be?  Vote in the poll below for the celebrity you think did the best on the show tonight.

 

Who danced the best on 'Dancing With The Stars' this week?
View Results

 

Knott’s Berry Farm author does two book signings in Buena Park

November 7th, 2009, 11:55 am by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

jay-jennings-and-old-41-red-cliff-steam-engineJay Jennings, whose long love for Knott’s Berry Farm eventually led him to write a book on the theme park’s history, will talk about the book and sign copies at two events in Buena Park over the next few days.

“Knott’s Berry Farm: The Early Years” tells the story of the park’s development from roadside berry stand to the theme park it eventually became, a topic Jennings loves to share.

At 2 p.m. on Saturday, he’ll be at the Buena Park Library at 7150 La Palma Ave., talking about the book and then selling and signing copies.

At 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jennings will be at Buena Park Historical Society on Monday, Nov. 9 for the annual members meeting held at the Congregational Church located at 6633 Beach Blvd.

For more information on Jennings and his collection of Knott’s Berry Farm memorabilia, go to http://knottsberryfarm.blogspot.com.

Booted ‘Survivor’ contestant Erik Cardona never saw it coming

November 6th, 2009, 5:41 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

erik_snuffblog

Erik Cardona grew up in Chino Hills, which made him the closest we had to an O.C. contestant on Survivor” this fall. Well, that and a special  moment he shared as a lad with one of Pedro’s colleagues here at the Register — more on that later.

So after Cardona suffered the equivalent of a 2-by-4 upside the head in Tribal Council on Thursday’s episode, we were interested in chatting with our O.C.-adjacent ex-Survivor on his experiences on the wild and wooly shores of Samoa.

A bartender and substitute teacher before the show, Cardona says he was a fan of the show who never dreamed he’d appear on it, until one day while walking in Santa Monica with friends, a casting agent saw something she liked.

“I met someone who literally grabbed me by the collar and said, ‘Would you ever (be on ‘Survivor’)?” he says. “I said, ‘Lady, you have no idea how perfect the person you just bumped into is.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Did an O.C. woman survive the cut on ‘The Biggest Loser’ Tuesday?

November 3rd, 2009, 7:26 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

biggest_shay2blogShay Sorrells, a 30-year-old social worker from Newport Beach, has been a fan favorite on “The Biggest Loser,” but that doesn’t necessarily translate into survival when the competition gets tough.

After all, the villian of this current season, Tracey Yukich, a 37-year-old from Allen, Texas, made it to this eighth episode despite the way fans seemingly couldn’t stand to see her on the show another minute.

So what happened on Tuesday night? We’ll not spoil it here, read on a little more if you want to find out before you’ve seen the show…

Read the rest of this entry »

Find out who left ‘So You Think You Can Dance’

November 3rd, 2009, 7:14 pm by PETER LARSEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

sytycd_slidetemplateThe Top 18 on “So You Think You Can Dance” performed on another combined dance and results show on Tuesday, with two more dancers facing elimination from the contest.

How did Nathan Trasoras, a recent graduate of the Orange County High School of the Arts, fare in a Bollywood number with his partner, Mollee Gray? Keep reading.

How did the more unusual (for this show) flavors of dancers do? The tappers and the krumper, the b-boy and the ballroomers? Read on for the results, and be sure to check out the slide show for a look these dancers once more.

Read the rest of this entry »