DIGITAL L.A. : GET WIRED; AND THE WINNER IS ... THOSE VIEWING OSCAR FESTIVITIES.

Byline: David Bloom

The just-begun $385 million Hollywood & Highland project wrapping around Mann's Chinese Theatre promises to be a showcase that will restore some of Hollywood Boulevard's tarnished glitz and glory.

But tucked within the project's fabulous design is some interesting technology whose effects should delight movie buffs all over the world.

For instance, project architect Vaughan Davies of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects said the new broadcast-ready theater that will house the Academy Awards will be a much better showcase than such recent venues as the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Shrine Auditorium.

Unlike those facilities, the new 3,400-seat theater will be designed for television production, with a basement beneath the seats so cameras can be moved around quickly, then lifted up into position, Davies said.

Cameras will shoot from just above eye level for performers on stage, the most flattering angle. And the sound-board area, or technical pit, also rises up from underneath in a position that won't ruin the view of the seats around it, Davies said.

On the complex's other side, a vast ``Babylon Court'' plaza themed around D.W. Griffith's ``Intolerance'' will function as a virtual outdoor theater, with terraced upper levels, each featuring balconylike cupolas.

And the huge arch at the plaza's northeast end will not only frame the Hollywood sign in the distance but also hold aloft a giant screen to show the awards for people without academy invitations.

Davies also said the complex's floors will be ``fabulous,'' using stone and special treatments that would complement the area's cinematic history, though he declined to be more specific. But count on something evocative of Busby Berkeley's almost abstract visual designs in his famous 1930s Warner Bros. musicals.

The project is already under way, with a shindig earlier this month featuring Quincy Jones, Tevin Campbell and others. And Hollywood activists, often skeptical of the projects coming into the area, have given developers TrizecHahn high marks for being cooperative and trying to protect the Chinese Theatre's special place in Hollywood history.

Take a trip up `Dawson's Creek' with a Web browser 

The WB Network hit ``Dawson's Creek'' has spawned so many fan sites on the Internet, around 500 at last count, that Columbia TriStar Interactive has come up with a nifty, if reality-bending, new site of its own to entice the show's many ardent followers.

Dawson's Desktop, at www.dawsonscreek.com, mimics what it would be like if a fan were able to look over lead character Dawson Leery's shoulder as he used his computer.

Call it Web verite or true-to-artificial-life, but the mimicry can be a little unnerving in its accuracy. You can paw through Dawson's favorite Web sites, his e-mail - where correspondents often end up appearing later in the show - and in his folder of word-processor documents.

Dawson will even ``participate'' in simulated chat room discussions - thanks to the participation of show writers - that will unscroll before a reader's eyes.

Fans also will be able to look at video clips from the multimedia personal journal compiled by Dawson, a budding filmmaker who worships Steven Spielberg.

There will be a ``Virtual Capeside'' area, similar to what a local Internet service provider might create in Dawson's hometown for businesses and community organizations.

Fans also will be able to homestead their own cyberplace in Virtual Capeside, adding to the neighborhood. And virtual tours of Dawson's high school and hometown are available through the site.

After a while, distinguishing between the ``real'' virtual world and Dawson's virtual virtual world becomes a little difficult. That's intentional, the site's creators say.

To help make the site more true to the Dawson character's life, TriStar hired Webmasters from a number of the best fan sites as advisers. They debated details of the site that verged on the metaphysical and ran to hundreds of pages of e-mail input.

The work paid off. If you're a ``Dawson'' fan, this is one creek worth paddling up.

Shoot, run, jump and use body English

Einhander: This PlayStation side-scroller game from SquareSoft is pretty cool. You pilot a gun-toting flivver against a mess of bad guys and can pluck weapons from the flaming wreckage of your defeated foes and generally fly into the face of doom, all in the name of saving the moon city of Selene from those nasty Earthside hegemonists. The back story is of bleak cyberpunk kamikazes whose future is zero. Light fare for the suicidal fighter jockey in you. Play on.

Running Wild: An offbeat racing game featuring six funky 3-D animals who run against each other over a series of obstacle courses. You can beat up on the other guys, even slime them with a mudball and use other forms of attack while generally having a merry time running, jumping and jostling. Unlike most PlayStation titles, this one is good for younger players who otherwise find their fun on the Nintendo 64.

And finally, it's not a game, but a gizmo for gamers. TheMicrosoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro game controller is a great add-on to your PC, allowing you to use body English to steer. Internal sensors figure out when you ``steer'' forward or back, left or right. Use the D-pad to aim your weapons. Have a great time. It comes bundled with a very good game, Motocross Madness, all for about $75.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) no caption (James Van Der Beek)

(2) no caption (Microsoft sidewinder controller)

(3) no caption (Artist rendering of the Academy Awards Theater)