Entertainment In Brief
The oldest animated movie screens in Vancouver. Once a Trekkie, always a Trekkie. Seriously. Always.
Long before WALL•E... (pictured above)
Vancouverites with a passion for cartoons can catch a screening of the oldest animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s “KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art” (May 17 to September 7). The 1926 cartoon by German artist Lotte Reiniger is based on stories from 1001 Arabian Nights, and was created by manipulating cardboard cut-outs and shooting each adjustment frame by frame (250,000 frames in all, 100,000 of which made it into the final film). The black-and-white images were then colour-tinted. Although two other animated features claim to have been created before Prince Achmed, prints no longer exist. —Marni Weisz
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Live long and...oops
Trekkies will soon be able to transport to their final resting places in style inside a Star Trek “Photon Torpedo” coffin, just like the one used to jettison the lifeless Spock (sniff) into space in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The coffin, manufactured by the American company Eternal Image — which
also offers MLB-themed coffins and urns — has been officially approved
by the Star Trek powers that be and should be available to
purchase late next year. Look for a price tag somewhere between $4,000
and $5,000 (U.S.). If you’re thinking cremation, no worries, you can
also choose an elegantly futuristic Star Trek urn ($800 U.S.) to hold your earthly remains. —Ingrid Randoja
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Artifact
This month’s objet de film - The Golden Idol
She’s the artifact that started it all, the very first artifact Indiana Jones lusts after in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The
Golden Idol, protected by an elaborate system of obstacles including a
giant, rolling ball of rock, is based on an actual Aztec statue of the
Goddess of Obstetrics (the branch of medicine that deals with
pregnancy). Note the baby poking out from between her legs. Why base
the prop on a pregnant woman in the throes of giving birth? Director
Steven Spielberg wanted Indy’s object of desire to have a horrific,
fearsome look, which seemed “to be watching, cursing his every step.”
That’d do it.
—Marni Weisz
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