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April 2003 Headlines

April 29

Thank You Everyone!
What a great weekend, what great fun!
I don't have time for a complete report, but suffice it to say that the vast majority of reports from Starfest were positive and very encouraging. The staff at the Marriott was courteous and helpful. Yes, the Starbuck's ran out of food. Yes, the Mezzanine was hot, but over-all those problems were minor and everyone that I talked to seemed to be having a great time. The Guests were great, the Art Show was incredible... I just wish it wasn't a year until the next one. Just make sure you are there! April 16-18, 2004. We are already starting to plan the fun.

I've posted some of the comments and photos we've received on the Starfest 2003 page for you to look at. Click here to go take a look.

The Shape of Things Screening
Tuesday, May 6 @ 7:30pm in Denver
A contemporary story of love, sex and art, set in a college town, that follows the steadily intensifying relationship between Evelyn and Adam. As Evelyn strengthens her hold on Adam, his emotional and physical evolution discomforts his friends Jenny and Philip, with unexpected consequences for all. By turns, hopeful and harsh, the collegiate quartet deals with the conflicting human desires for autonomy and connection, truth and love, and the notion that seduction is an art.

This movie is rated R (Language and some Sexuality). If you are at least 17 years of age, you can click here to play for tickets to our free screening.

April 24

Free Movies Tickets, T-Shirts & Posters
Starfest has lots of Free Stuff to give away
Here at Starland, we've been loading up boxes and boxes of stuff we are going to be giving away at Starfest this weekend.

Treecy and KathE should have Registration open by 4pm. Make sure that at 6pm you make a B-Line to the Freebie Table on the Mezzanine. That's where you turn in your registration card and get your FREE STUFF. We have some great Matrix Reloaded T-shirts, lots of X-Men 2 & League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie posters, tickets to X-Men 2 & The Lizzie McGuire movie previews, and lots more stuff we'll be giving away all weekend long.

Disney's The Lizzie McGuire Movie serves up the comic foibles of lovable Lizzie McGuire and her pals Gordo, Kate, and Ethan, who all pack their bags and plan to live la dolce vita while on a class trip to Italy. Once there, Lizzie is mistaken for Isabella (who is part of an Italian pop duo) and begins to fall for Paolo (Isabella's handsome Italian pop star former boyfriend). When Lizzie's mom, dad, and annoying brother Matt get wind of this, they all jet their way o the boot country. In the meantime, Lizzie is transformed from a gawky teen to a beautiful pop star, Gordo struggles to understand his true feelings for her, and a whirlwind of surprising events force Lizzie to find the true meaning of friendship. This movie is rated PG. Our screening is on Monday.

Here's a synopsis of X2: Already living in a society that mistrusts them, the mutants are faced with even more discrimination after an unforeseen enemy - who may be a mutant with extraordinary powers - launches a devastating attack. The news of the assault causes a public outcry against the mutants, including renewed support for the Mutant Registration Act, and William Stryker, a military leader rumored to have experimented on mutants (possibly including Wolverine), is among the most vocal supporters of the legislation. Stryker puts into motion a plan to eradicate the mutants and begins an offensive on the X-Men mansion and school. Magneto, having escaped from his plastic prison, forms an unlikely alliance with Professor Xavier to stop Stryker. Meanwhile, Wolverine heads north to investigate his past. This movie is rated PG-13. Our screening is on Thursday.

For more information about Starfest, click here.

April 22

Chase Masterson Added To Starfest
Some were starting to call it Testosteronefest
The Official Star Trek website describes Chase's character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Leeta) as a beautiful and smart Bajoran Dabo girl working for Quark's bar, she combines the best of Bajoran traditions with her very untraditional lifestyle. She first dated Dr. Bashir for over a year before developing a crush on Rom during the strike by Quark's employees in 2372. After resolving her affair with Bashir, using the Bajoran Rite of Separation on Risa, she followed a rocky path with the shy Rom until he finally proposed and they wed.

Chase started out her life in Colorado Springs on February 26th. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting Degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has performed theatrically since the age of five. In her professional career, she has performed Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Tap. Diversified in her talents, she's been a member of the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings and host of the popular Entertainment Magazine Show, SciFi Entertainment.

Her many movie and TV roles include: Fire From the Sky, The Anna Specials, Sammyville, Sometimes They Come Back... For More, Frozen, Ballerina Finale, Trekkies, Digital Man, General Hospital, In a Moment of Passion, Married People, Single Sex, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Chase will be at the show the entire weekend and you'll be able to see her Q&A on Sunday.

For more information about Starfest, click here.

April 18

Koenig, Herd looking forward to Duck Variations Premier
By Steve Grazier

With Starfest now only days away, so is the premier of the one-act comedy Duck Variations starring Walter Koenig and Richard Herd.

The play, written by David Mamet, is set in a park where two elderly friends meet on a park bench to discuss ducks and the value of company. Variations will debut Saturday night, April 26, at Starfest.

”This play leads into metaphoric scenarios in combination with real events that are happening in our world today, but in an amusing way,” Herd said during a phone conversation Thursday (April 17). “Walter and I are very much looking forward to this.”

Not only will this be the first time Koenig and Herd perform Variations, but it’s also their first professional collaboration.

”The play will be our first time working together,” Herd explained. “Walter and I have different chemistry, but we’ve worked professionally in similar areas over the years, and our strengths are within those areas.”

”In fact, Walter and I share the same agent, and at one time we were close to performing in a play together titled Other People’s Money a few years ago.”

Herd also mentioned the he and Koenig have been preparing Variations, for weeks, and that the play is scheduled to last approximately 30-40 minutes.

”We've been rehearsing nearly every other day for the past four to five weeks,” he said. “In addition, play Director Jeffrey Marcus has done an excellent job in light and sound preparation.”

Overall, the idea to perform Variations came about from other Star Trek actors who have performed live at conventions and shows.

"This was an idea Walter had,” Herd explained. “Jerry Hardin performed some of Mark Twain’s work at a convention before, and I think that may have prompted the idea. “Plus we both noticed that most people at sci-fi shows appreciate other things as well.”

This appearance for Herd can also be viewed as a homecoming of sorts. In the past he has performed at the Arvada Theater and during that time he and his wife Patricia lived in Denver for approximately three months.

Both Koenig and Herd are scheduled to appear for all three days at Starfest, April 25-27, in Denver.

Steve Grazier is a staff writer for the Cortez Journal in Cortez, CO.

For more information about Starfest and to purchase Duck Variation tickets, click here.

April 17

Walter Koenig Online Tonight!
Speak to this incredible guy online
Capt. Rex over at I -Sci-Fi.com will be talking to Walter tonight about his upcoming visit to Starfest 2003 in Denver. He'll discuss what he's been up to and give us all the details about his performance with Richard Herd at the convention. The interview will start around 7:30pm, but you should go to the site early to make sure you have your media browser setup properly before the show starts. You'll be able to call into the show (toll-free) to ask questions and participate online via the chat site while you listen to the interview. We really want to thank the folks at I-Sci-Fi for setting the interview up.

April 16

Starfest Idol
Here's your chance at Stardom
Have you been told that you can sing? Dance? Tell jokes? (G –rated of course). Then maybe you are the next Starfest Idol! Sunday morning at 11:00AM in the Main Events room you'll be given the opportunity to show off your talent. We will supply the CD players and you supply the talent. Just sign up at the Convention Information table on Friday or Saturday. Perhaps you will hear Simon say “You are the next Starfest Idol!”

Click here for more Starfest 2003 info.

April 15

Stevie Screening Quiz/Contest
Screening on Tuesday, April 22, 2003 in Denver
In 1995, while promoting his movie Hoop Dreams, Steve James reconnected with a young man he had been a Big Brother to ten years earlier in his life.

Stevie had been a foster-care child who had experienced rape, violence and a childhood in state care. Upon meeting the young man, the filmmaker experienced guilt about abandoning Stevie as a child while pursuing a film career. Steven James hopes that his film documenting this young man's life, will help to atone for his own failure to influence the subject's life for better. During the filming, Stevie's life took some surprising turns that forced the filmmaker to change the direction of his project and taught him - and he hopes - the audience, much more than he anticipated.

Click here to try for tickets to the screening.

April 11

Suspended Animation Reviews
Michael's luke-warm on Victorian while Mark praises Tuesday.
Michael Vance on Victorian Part II: Self Immolation: "Fireworks get boring when over-indulged, and jumping constantly is exhausting, so a good read in a comfortable chair is never a bad thing. It is, indeed, very Victorian."

Mark Allen on Tuesday: "Henrik Rehr's Tuesday, a two-issue mini-series, documents one family's struggle to make it through one of the worst days in the history of our nation. In doing so, he presents an arresting sequential tale that proves a former contention of mine; "real life" comics are potentially as entertaining as any fiction."

April 9

Richard Biggs Online April 10th
Expect lots of great info in the interview
Capt. Rex over at i-sci-fi.com will be talking to Richard Biggs on Thursday about his upcoming visit to Starfest 2003 in Denver. He'll discuss what he's been up to and give us all the details about his upcoming Acting Seminar at the convention. The interview will start around 6:30pm, but you should go to the site early to make sure you have your media browser setup properly before the show starts. You'll be able to call into the show (toll-free) to ask questions and participate online via the chat site while you listen to the interview. We really want to thank the folks at I-Sci-Fi for setting the interview up - as we just can't seem to get our Star Chat system to work properly. The following Thursday (Apr 17) at I-Sci-Fi they will be interviewing Walter Koenig.

Ghosts of the Abyss
Screening on Thursday, April 10, 2003 in Denver
Academy Award® winning director and master storyteller James Cameron journeys back to the site of his greatest inspiration – the legendary wreck of the Titanic. With a team of the world’s foremost historic and marine experts and friend Bill Paxton, he embarks on an unscripted adventure back to the final grave where nearly 1,500 souls lost their lives almost a century ago. Using state-of-the-art technology developed expressly for this expedition, Cameron and his crew are able to explore virtually all of the wreckage, inside and out, as never before. With the most advanced 3D photography, moviegoers will experience the ship as if they are part of the crew, right inside the dive subs. In this unprecedented motion picture event, made especially for IMAX 3D Theatres and specially outfitted 35mm 3D theaters across the country, Cameron and his team bring audiences to sights not seen since the sinking 90 years ago and explore why the landmark vessel – more than any shipwreck – continues to intrigue and fascinate the public.

To play our quiz for a chance to see the movie, click here.

April 7

Holes Screening Contest
Screening on Monday, April 14, 2003 in Denver
Based on the award-winning book by Louis Sachar, Holes is a fun and poignant adventure that tells the story of Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf), an unusual young hero. Dogged by bad luck stemming from an ancient family curse, Stanley has little clue that he's in for the adventure of his life when sent to Camp Green Lake, where he and his campmates - Squid, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, X-Ray, and Zero - are mysteriously forced by the camp's director (Sigourney Weaver) and her right-hand men Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) and Mr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) to dig holes in order "to build character."
Click here to play.

The Horror Room Wants You!
Yes, you too can be the King or Queen of Horror
It's time to crown a new king and queen of horror. The winners will reign for one year and receive a prize package plus tickets to the next convention. The pageant will consist of three categories: costume, talent, and question and answer. If you think you've got what it takes to reign as Mr. or Ms. Horror Room, please send an email to: IceWitchToo@aol.com - include a name, phone number/and or email address and a brief description of what your talent will be. Click here for more Starfest 2003 info.

April 4

Walter Koenig StarChatting On Monday
Monday, April 7, 2003 at 6pm Mountain Time
Stop by Starland.com for a chat with Mr. Koenig on Monday. He'll be here to talk about his upcoming performance of Duck Variations at Starfest and answer your questions.

He's currently rehearsing the piece with Richard Herd, his costar in the play. Mr. Herd has informed me that their acting styles seem to work well together, but are definitely different. Be sure to ask Walter what that's all about! Mark your calendar now for Monday at 6pm and stop by. We'll put the chat link on the main page just before the session at about 5:45pm.

Art Show & Sale at Starfest 2003
A Shout-Out to Artists and people who appreciate art
This is a reminder to get ready for the upcoming Art Show & Sale and to remind artists to enter your science fiction, fantasy, portraits, 3-D, sculpture or any related artwork.

When you arrive at the convention, check-in at Main Registration, then proceed to the Art Show & Sale in the Conifer Ballroom. Bring your artwork and we will register your art entries there, no pre-registration is necessary. Art Show Registration will begin at 6:00PM.

We do not have access to the room early, so unless you have a special need to setup early, don't come any earlier. Registration forms and bid sheets will be available in the hall outside the Conifer Ballroom at 4:30pm. You can also download Registration Forms and Bid Sheets at the Art Show website. Please have all forms filled out prior to the convention.

Room access may change but we won't know until we get closer to the convention. Check the Art Show website for updates. Additional Art Show information including: Rules, Registrations Forms, Bid Sheets and Artwork from past conventions is available at www.starlandartshow.com.

April 3

Judson Scott
The son of Khan will be exercising his comic chops at Starfest 2003
This stunning science fiction star practiced traveling the boards before launching his career into space. His most notable roles include: The Phoenix, The Powers of Mathew Starr, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, V, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Blade, The X-files, and currently he appears on Charmed.

To read more about this incredible, eugenically-enhanced, actor and what he'll be doing at Starfest 2003, click here.

March 2003 Headlines