Star Wars

A young child in a gold-adorned white robe stood stage right bathed in a spotlight's glaring luminance. “And soon, the wise men came to the manger,” the haloed-tyke proclaimed. Pretty standard Christmas pageant stuff - until the angelic adolescent threw in a kicker: “…along with other assorted characters.” And assorted they were - from the traditional Gospel gathering of Mary, Joseph and a heavenly host of angels, to a Felliniesque flock that included Lady Gaga, Elton John, Abraham Lincoln, Las Vegas show girls, cheerleaders, cowpokes, hula dancers, Cap'n Crunch, Santa Claus, Bing Crosby, Charlie Brown and a “Star Wars” stormtrooper.

DOWNTOWN — Halloween retailers have taken up prime positions in Glendale and Burbank, moving into unfilled space left behind by box stores Circuit City and Mervyns. The stores are adding to increasingly fierce competition for Halloween consumers, who will have at least five choices in Burbank and four in Glendale to search for gorilla masks and superhero costumes this season. While the stores have generated traffic in areas that haven’t seen much activity for months, they have also been a surprising change for some shoppers, managers said.

COLIN C. CLARKE My brother Clive died on July 8, 2000, at County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was a big strong man, age 51, in the prime of his life. He lived with my mother who is 89 years young and my other brother in a little house in Burbank. On the 23rd of May, he was struck down off his bicycle and run over by a company van making a right turn. The driver was on a cell phone. Although the accident was very slow, my brother suffered a fractured pelvis.

What if you found yourself stuck in a dead-end job with a nightmare of a boss? Add in a best friend sleeping with your cute, but horrid, girlfriend and you have a life of painful insecurities, crippling anxieties and one not worth living. That?s the exact situation the hero of ?Wanted? finds himself in. Subsisting on a numbing mix of self-loathing and anti-anxiety medication, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a complete mess. That is until Fox (Angelina Jolie) enters and, literally, saves his life.

Revelers enjoyed patriotic music and lights during the show “A Star Spangled Salute to America” on Fourth of July at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank. Families and friends on Friday socialized down the length of the amphitheater, sprawled out on blankets in the grass, huddled around picnic dinners in box seats and danced in front of the stage to 1950s Doo-wop music. Concerts at the Starlight Bowl have a special hometown feel for Burbank resident Pat Aldrich. “Everyone is always in such a good, sweet mood,” Aldrich said.

Karen S. Kim BURBANK VILLAGE -- "It's our first glimpse of the 'Lord of the Rings,"' said Jonathan Watson, 25, of Arcadia. "A lot of people are excited to see how one man's imagination is put on the screen." Watson was one of more than 20 J.R.R. Tolkien fans who gathered at the Burbank AMC 14 Theater Friday morning to see the trailer of the first movie in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The 106-second trailer was scheduled to be shown once before and once after the New Line Cinema release, "Thirteen Days."

"The Kindergarten Cop" isn't winning over many students in Burbank, or their teachers. In fact, the governor isn't too popular with teachers and administrators all the way through to the high school level. And frankly, their frustration is understandable. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised May budget, announced last week, was not exactly an olive branch. Despite a $4-billion windfall, the governor offered only $252 million more to education in his revise than the original budget -- still a far cry from the $2 billion educators have been demanding he return in Proposition 98 funds.

If you ask 13-year-old Lukas Bartke or 14-year-old Clayton Bonura, “Star Wars” is the best song to play at the Verdugo Youth Musicians Assn. As the orchestra inches to the intro, and the conductor announces the song, all the kids let out a sigh of relief. In 2001, the association began providing classical music training from professional musicians to children of all ages who live in Glendale, Burbank, La Cañada, Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley. As part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Partnership Program, the collaboration gives children their first seat next to a monstrous cello or drum.

Edward Han Thanks to the work of Lowry Digital Images, movie buffs can soon watch C-3PO and R2-D2 squabble in all their digitally remastered glory. The original "Star Wars" trilogy is the latest project that has been completed by the Burbank-based company that restores and remasters classic films. John Lowry, CEO of Lowry Digital Images, started the company in 1998. With two people and 12 computers, the company took 3 1/2 months to transfer the Alfred Hitchcock classic "North by Northwest" to DVD, and the response was so great that the company instantly made a name for itself.