Characters

The Walt Disney Co.has done preliminary work on introducing Marvel's superhero characters to the happiest place on earth: Disney's theme parks. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told shareholders attending an annual meeting that the company has had a number of discussions and done preliminary design work that it hopes will one day lead to Marvel characters appearing, as Disney's other familiar faces do, in the theme parks. "We haven't announced anything yet," Iger said Tuesday in response to a question posed by a shareholder at the company's annual meeting in Kansas City, Mo. "But we're working on some concepts.

DreamWorks Animation is placing another bet in China . The Glendale studio is partnering with one of Asia's largest resort operators to bring its characters to  Macao . Dreamworks has signed a deal with Sands China, a subsidiary of the company that owns the Venetian and the Palazzo hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, to license its characters for a "DreamWorks Experience" at the Cotai Strip Resorts in Macao. The deal will give resort patrons various opportunities to see and mingle with Po, Shrek, Alex the lion, Hiccup and other characters from DreamWorks Animation movies.

A Season of Awakenings is the theme for A Noise Within’s 2008-09 season. All the principal characters in the season are awakened to their true natures, said Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, who shares artistic director duties with husband and actor Geoff Elliott. “There is a great deal of self-discovery in all the plays,” she said. “So it’s an interesting season in that way.” Case in point is actress Deborah Strang’s interpretation of the character Gertrude in “Hamlet,” which opens tonight.

Stan Lee Media, an Internet company that shut down more than a decade ago and has been mired in litigation ever since, has filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Walt Disney Co. The complaint was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Colorado, where Stan Lee Media -- co-founded by the famous Marvel Comics writer, who is no longer an officer of the company -- is headquartered. It claims that a contract signed by Lee in 1998 assigned his rights to all of his comic book creations, including Spider-Man , the X-Men and most members of super-team Avengers, to Stan Lee Media.

Three actresses are getting their taste of lead roles in a local college production of John Patrick Shanley’s “Savage in Limbo.” And their director and producer, Melissa R. Randel, believes they’re up for it. “It’s a really character-driven play, and I felt like the students that we cast were really ready for that challenge,” said Randel, who is co-chair of the Glendale Community College Theatre Arts...

Eliza Jane Schneider is a great person to spend an evening with. She’s smart, pretty, sweet and oh so talented. How many of us can legitimately claim we can play the violin, guitar and piano; have earned money doing voice-overs for “South Park;” sang in a rock band; composed music for television; can speak French and Russian; and have written, performed and toured with several award-winning, one person/multiple-character shows?...

La Crescenta author Alice Zogg has hit her stride with her latest mystery novel. Chock full of entertaining trivia and chatty dialogue, Zogg has developed a style very similar to that of popular author Lillian Jackson Braun. “Final Stop Albuquerque” is the sixth book in Zogg’s self-published R.A. Huber series, yet one need not read the others to enjoy this most recent title. Elena Campione appears to lead a charmed life. She lives in a South Pasadena mansion with her husband, Bruno, owner of Pasadena’s finest dance club, the Gem. She attends classes at the local community college, and is passionate about dancing, as was her late grandmother.

Brushes hesitantly inked characters onto leaves of paper Wednesday as Wilson Middle School students worked through a calligraphy lesson with Japanese exchange students, bringing the students together to write the word "peace." Thirty students from Higashiosaka, Japan — one of Glendale's sister cities — arrived on Sunday for a five-day cultural exchange visit, said Andy Naoki, liaison for the sister city program with Higashiosaka. The students are the All-Star Higashiosaka basketball team, a gathering of the best players from a large basketball league from their hometown, Naoki said.

Mickey, Donald and Pluto are some of the characters who are on display as works of art at the Forest Lawn Museum. The exhibit, ?Mixed Doubles? features the work of Southern California artist David Willardson. His paintings are of an array of Disney characters, including Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse. On Sunday, visitors to the museum came to see the work, which also includes paintings of non-Disney characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Little Orphan Annie.

DreamWorks Animation SKG is licensing its movie characters for various theme parks being developed in Russia , an increasingly important market for the Glendale-based studio. The creator of the " Shrek ," " Madagascar " and "Kung Fu Panda" franchises said it had signed a licensing agreement with Regions Group of Companies, which is developing what is billed as Europe's largest indoor theme parks. Regions says it's the fourth-largest retail property owner in Russia.

From the ads and trailers, you might think that “Flight” is some sort of legal thriller, with Denzel Washington's character being unfairly accused or even framed; and you'd be about 10% right. In fact, “Flight” is primarily a moral character drama of the subspecies “addiction.” Its greatest suspense centers on how low the hero's self-sabotage will take him. Washington plays Whip Whitaker, an experienced airline pilot who for many years has managed to hide his alcoholism from his corporate overlords.

Stan Lee Media, an Internet company that shut down more than a decade ago and has been mired in litigation ever since, has filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Walt Disney Co. The complaint was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Colorado, where Stan Lee Media -- co-founded by the famous Marvel Comics writer, who is no longer an officer of the company -- is headquartered. It claims that a contract signed by Lee in 1998 assigned his rights to all of his comic book creations, including Spider-Man , the X-Men and most members of super-team Avengers, to Stan Lee Media.

There are painted warriors and hitmen, tattooed tough guys and brawling body builders. Some are fat, some are skinny, some are chiseled and even more are somewhere in between. Super heroes and villains, dastardly heels and bravado-brimming babyfaces, they are comedians and clowns, aerial acrobats and grounded grapplers. It is a band of brief-clad brothers striving to please an audience, follow a passion and earn a living. From curtain jerkers and jobbers to champions and main eventers, they make up a cavalcade of characters not often seen at your everyday job, though most of them hold one down.

So you've just inherited a struggling communist nation from a dad who took synchronized gymnastics shows to a whole new level and you want to set a new party tone. For North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un, this is achieved with some help from Minnie Mouse and Tigger frolicking on stage. And because use of the characters wasn't authorized by the Walt Disney Co., the costumes aren't exact replicas of what you find at Disneyland, which means they look a little creepy. According to the Associated Press , Disney characters danced and pranced as footage from “Snow White,” “Dumbo,” “Beauty and the Beast” and other movies played on a massive backdrop.

If you get the opportunity, I highly recommend letting your young children climb rock walls to dangle high above the ground, precariously shimmy across tightropes, balance beams and rope bridges suspended 40 feet in the air, wailing for help in fear for their lives. Panic and dread are great character builders. Or good laughs for sadistic parents. Either way, your little ones may surprise you. I was never a great Boy Scout. Most of my awards were given to me out of pity, or were pilfered from my brother's retired uniform.

Nevermind that they misspelled the word 'prostitution' in the headline, but the student paper at Boston University is in hot water after running an April Fool's Day edition that ran the faux story: "Cinderella in political prostituion [sic] ring, stepsisters vie for throne". Taking the riff further, the paper, the Daily Free Press, came out April 1 as the "Disney Free Press. " The story inserted Disney characters into recalled incidents of rape and sexual assault on campus -- an issue the college has apparently been grappling with -- including the arrest of "seven frat dwarves" accused of date rape.

The Walt Disney Co.has done preliminary work on introducing Marvel's superhero characters to the happiest place on earth: Disney's theme parks. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told shareholders attending an annual meeting that the company has had a number of discussions and done preliminary design work that it hopes will one day lead to Marvel characters appearing, as Disney's other familiar faces do, in the theme parks. "We haven't announced anything yet," Iger said Tuesday in response to a question posed by a shareholder at the company's annual meeting in Kansas City, Mo. "But we're working on some concepts.

"It's like feeding them to the wolves. " Antonio Harrison Flintridge Prep coach on what it would have been like if he would have elected to play his team against Campbell Hall. With dark clouds looming and the rain sure to fall on a bleak Tuesday afternoon in early October, Antonio Harrison made a disheartening decision for an unprecedented second time. Nearly two weeks have passed since Harrison and his Flintridge Prep football team forfeited their Prep League opener against Webb - their second forfeit of the season after a loss to Campbell Hall on Sept 24. Ahead of them this week is a return to action and a homecoming game against Viewpoint that the Rebels see as a game of the utmost importance.