Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO–Ashes of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and his actress wife will blast toward the far reaches of the cosmos in keeping with the show’s famed opening line “Space, the final frontier.”

Majel Roddenberry died in December, two months before her 77th birthday, and will posthumously fulfill a “dream of journeying through space with her husband,” according to Celestis Inc, the US company behind the memorial flight.

Celestis sent some of Gene Roddenberry’s ashes into orbit around the earth in a premier Founders Flight rocket launch in 1997.

Gene Roddenberry died six years earlier with a wish to explore space in keeping with characters in his adventure television show that first aired in the late 1960s and still has a strong cult following.

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Let’s admit it. Kara Dioguardi is hot. But we digress.

Her addition to the new season of American Idol has indeed spiced up the panel of judges, composed of Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul. Now you have two women that can balance out opinions of men.

It is now clear that Kara and Simon will be in loggerheads. Both have strong personalities. Also, both have an interesting bio, which explains the differences in opinion. As one aspiring AI pointed out during the auditions in San Francisco, the smug Cowell has provided this reality show its brutal honesty. (Sometimes, some people really need to be told that they don’t have a tinge of singing talent, heh).  But with Dioguardi around, perhaps we can expect more fireworks from the panel of judges. Weeee.

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By Clarence Yu

THE Wrestler tells the story of Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke), a professional wrestler 20 years from the peak of his career in the 1980s. Once famous in the world over (think Hulk Hogan), he is now reduced to participating in independently staged matches and holding a part-time job to eke out a living.

He is estranged from his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), and the only person he can confide in is an aging stripper named Cassidy (Oscar winner Marisa Tomei) who is also past her prime. Unlike Randy, who is living in the past, Cassidy has a firmer grip on reality and is looking to finish her career as she realizes that she cannot sustain her job on her fading looks. Randy, however, is stuck in the past, reliving his glory days by taking steroids to sustain his aging body, and following a regimen that includes pumping iron and tanning himself in a salon to keep up appearances.

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By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

WHEN time ticks counterclockwise, how would life be?

This is the challenge faced by Benjamin Button as his life unfolds in reverse. In the middle of World War I, Benjamin is born in an 80-year-old man’s physique. His shocking condition leads his father Thomas Button (Jason Flemyng) to leave him outside a home for the aged. In the caring hands of Queenie (Taraji Henson), Benjamin finds a home among the elderly. There, he finds the love that makes him “grow” young.

Brad Pitt plays the protagonist’s role of Button in David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Fincher’s film is an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1920s short story. In the film, Benjamin Button was physically old but mentally young. But in Fitzgerald’s story, he is physically old and mentally old as he is capable of talking right after being born.

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By Clarence Yu

CLINT Eastwood proves that he is at the top of his game with his latest effort, Gran Torino.

Revolving around the story of Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a retired Ford employee and decorated Korean War vet, the movie explores themes of loss, coming to terms, friendship, and ultimately, sacrifice and redemption.

Here’s a trailer of the movie:

Set in the present day, the film begins with Walt burying his wife of many years. His grown-up children have strained relations with him, and he sets to living out the rest of his years wandering about in his home, tinkering around in his garden, sitting on his porch drinking beer and taking care of his prized possession, a 1972 Ford Gran Torino. He refuses to fulfill his wife’s dying wish, to confess to a “27-year-old, over-educated, virgin priest.”

He is bitter about many things, mainly about how the world has changed from his viewpoint, and how his neighborhood has slowly been encroached upon by a group of Asians known as “Hmongs.” He has a fast and dirty mouth, and isn’t the type of guy who would waste a second of his remaining days on anything sentimental.

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