A new entertainment club Vodvil will be occupying the shuttered Russian restaurant Versai on 351 North Fairfax Avenue. The brainchild of Josh Saltman, a media lawyer with 13 years in the business, Vodvil will offer food, drinks, karaoke, and most importantly, old-school games. “The design of Vodvil—in concept, décor, layout, food, fun—is crafted to answer this aching need for the return of organized social interaction in a sophisticated night-out experience,” says Saltman in his press release. Sounds good to me.

Mondette

It’s official: The Walt Disney Co. Tuesday announced that it has agreed to acquire Playdom Inc. for $563.2 million, concluding days of speculation that it was in talks with the maker of games for online social networks.

In acquiring Playdom, Disney gains both expertise in developing games for social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, as well as new titles to add to its video game business, including Social City, Sorority Life and Bola.

Los Angeles Times

• Air21 Express
• Alaska Aces
• Alaska Milkmen
• Barako Energy Coffee Masters
• Barangay Ginebra Kings
• Coca-Cola Tigers
• Derby Ace Llamados
• Pop Cola Panthers
• Presto Ice Cream
• Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
• San Miguel Beermen
• Shell Turbo Chargers
• Sta. Lucia Relators
• Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters
• Tanduay Rhum Masters
• Toyota Super Corollas
• Toyota Tamaraws

When Garry Marshall was first assembling the show that eventually became Happy Days, he envisioned the local hoodlum as a tall Italian guy named Marsciarelli whose nickname would be ‘Mash.’

Norman Lear purchased the American rights to the hit British sitcom Till Death Do Us Part in 1968 and wrote a pilot script called And Justice for All. The lead character’s name was Archie Justice.

Mental Floss

Bowing to what he termed “teacher pressure,” Taritero took the new-language angle a step farther, promoting Pakuni as a potential educational tool. “I decided to commissino a language that would be fun Saturday morning, but then might translate into learning Spanish the following week.” He took this challenge to UCLA, where he was referred to Victoria Fromkin, Ph.D., the head of the university’s department of linguistics. “The idea of creating a language that could be learned by children was an exciting challenge,” remembered Dr. Fromkin, “Not just the old ‘Me Tarzan, You Jane’ sort of thing.”

Pop Apostle

Frommer, a linguistics specialist, was brought in by “Avatar” writer-director James Cameron to create an entire functioning language for the tribe of 10-foot-tall blue aliens who inhabit Pandora, the setting for the film’s conflict. Frommer tackled the project with glee — “How often do you get an opportunity like this?” — but the actors who had bend their tongues around the invented vocabulary and syntax were slightly less charmed by the experience.

Los Angeles Times

Epcot on Wednesday opened a new attraction called “Sum of All Thrills,” which lets kids use computer tablets to design a virtual roller coaster, bobsled track or plane ride. After inputting their designs, kids climb into a robotic carriage that uses virtual-reality technology to help them experience the ride they’ve created.

CNN

For decades, Knott’s Berry Farm’s Halloween Haunt has reigned supreme as Southern California’s ultimate theme park for Halloween frights. The Buena Park amusement park started the after-hours tradition more than 30 years ago and is credited with inventing the Halloween mazes duplicated by theme parks nationwide.

But this year, officials at Universal Studios Hollywood say they are extending that park’s Halloween Horror Nights and relying heavily on its movie connections to knock Knott’s from its monster perch.

“At the end of the day, we hope to provide the best scare,” said Xiomara Wiley, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Los Angeles Times

How much does it cost to achieve literary immortality? In the case of Rebeca Eckler, a Canadian journalist and writer, about $7,000. Two years ago, Eckler paid that princely sum at a charity auction to have her name used as a character in the next novel by her favorite author, fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood.

Entertainment Weekly

The Times Of India