Movie discussion
vlicata | March 31, 2016The Martian is a feel-good, science positive, uplifting film about the power of the human spirit, botany, and engineering. It looked, from the credits, like it had at least 8 scientific advisors from NASA (and possibly other places). Too bad that Ridley Scott only half listened to them. As one of the primary sci-fi filmmakers working today, it’s kind of amazing how a lot of the science in Ridley Scott’s films sort of leaves a chalky taste in the mouth. (Take a look at this link for a scathing review of the science in Prometheus).
It’s clear that The Martian is science-positive – the main…
vlicata | May 19, 2013I was discussing SciArt on several occasions with different people recently and was fishing for a way to classify different SciArt in order to make a particular point - the point being that the type of SciArt I find most interesting and valuable is in the minority. Basically, it seems there are 3 (or maybe 4) general types of SciArt: informational, inspirational, and degradational. I should note that mostly I am talking about SciArt that is performed - mostly plays and movies. Although probably some variant of this can be applied to visual arts or music and such.
Degradational is when the…
vlicata | August 14, 2011Even in the small theater where I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it was clear that this is, to some degree, a father and son movie - there were several father and son pairs in the audience - more than I've seen in any other movie. "Yes, son, now you will see why our planet eventually will be taken over by apes." "Yes, dad, now you will see how CGI replaces this Roddy McDowell person you keep talking about."
Caution: spoilers.
Andy Serkis's Caesar and the rest of the ape-men were wonderful, as was slow build of the story. I also loved that the apes' goal was not world domination but to…
vlicata | May 9, 2010Going to a party at Tony Stark's house would be awesomely fun, and Iron Man 2 has its fair share of highly enjoyable scenes, though not as many as Iron Man 1, but it definitely could have used some science consulting help. Despite Tony Stark's apparently scientifically flawless use of a soldering iron in #1, here in #2 he constructs what appears to be a cross between a laser and a small synchrotron (which shot light in the wrong direction, inward instead of outward - or possibly looked like it might have been diverting the whole beam, which wouldn't work for more than about a nanosecond -…
worldsfair | April 18, 2009
Science Scout twitter feed
So how come I've never seen this before? The infamous Kirk Cameron Banana YouTube clip? From what I can figure out, this is actually meant to be a serious attempt at describing creationist perfection. It's just that the video is so full of unintended (intended?) innuendo that it turns out to be one of the silliest things I've seen in a long time.
As well, I'd like to make a case that the banana is not so perfect afterall. Here's a quick list of why it sucks to be a banana:
1. As the twitter statement says, the banana shown in the video is parthenocarpic. This…
bcohen | January 8, 2009The genre of "environmental documentary" or "environmental film" is large enough now that it can suitably hold sub-sets. Here is a start to a filmography of agro-environmental documentaries and films. Since it is by no means exhaustive, I welcome all additions. I should say too that although many of these almost necessarily touch on GMOs and biotechnology in general, I am looking more for ones that put the lens on alternative and sustainable agriculture as their centerpiece.
Princeton's Environmental Film Festival (currently underway), is hosting some of these agro-food films, along with…
bcohen | November 7, 2007Rachel Maines's book, The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction (1999), is an exploration of the intersection of women's health, technology, gender, and broader social mores. It's now been used as the basis for a full-length documentary, Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm, which was screened at the recent meeting of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). (Here is a synopsis of the film.)
I dare say this might be the very first mention in the history of the internet about sex or orgasm. Call me naive, but I don't think those key…
bcohen | February 21, 2007Proteus is a film about the 19th century biologist and artist Ernest Haeckel. It's almost a few years old now, and has already worked its way through the blogosphere. But, given Dave's interest in Haeckel and the recent uptick in Haeckel-talk at the blogs, let me bring it up again.
Haeckel and his assistant, 1866 (no, not a still from the making of Deadwood)Slate had a beautiful slideshow of Haeckel's images a while back. The Panda's Thumb made note of it. Haeckel's famous for his amazing artistic abilities, and the unbelievable wealth of imagery he left us (well, and being tagged with…
bcohen | July 18, 2006The book Rebuilt, by Michae Chorost, and the documentary Sound and Fury, by Josh Aronson, here re-considered. (This is a Bookshelf #1 revisitation and expansion.) ((No reason for mentioning Jerry Falwell, by the way. That was a typo.))
I finished Rebuilt, about cochlear implants and technology-society relationships and deaf culture and the Bionic Man and cyborg philosophy. Here are some tidbits.
Rebuilt is about cochlear implants. They put a thing in your head, behind your ear. You can then hear. Or have sounds transmitted to your brain, through the device. "You can then hear." Some…
bcohen | July 17, 2006This is but a link to an interesting summary article about the topic of scientists (physicists) in film. It's by Sidney Perkowitz, who teaches at Emory, and who I've seen speak at the meetings of and know has long been involved with the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) -- which I call Salsa, but not sure if anyone else does, and which was long called just the Society for Literature and Science (SLS) until a name change a few years ago.
Salsa has a highly respected journal, too, Configurations, which is often fairly theoretically inclined and generally tip top. In fact,…
worldsfair | July 13, 2006...
"Oh, it's just a parade"
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O.K. O.K. really more to do with the children's theme rather than science per se, although perhaps fanangling these types of quick responses is a science in itself. This is actually something that happened in real life, and the quick response was my wife, Kate. I just remember thinking it was so funny when it came out, deadpan like, but maybe you had to be there. I do remember saying "nice cover" though.
This is the only thing Kate has ever submitted anywhere, and it was good old McSweeney's that she tried. It, of course, got rejected.
I always…
worldsfair | June 15, 2006Hello, those of you from boingboing.net. Please take a moment to peruse the site. In a nutshell, this is a site that is all about looking at things from both the humanist and scientific perspectives. The World's Fair is run by two science academics, who write things for McSweeney's and the like. We even have a puzzle if you think yourself the clever type (hey, that rhymes!)- - -
Since I brought up Al Gore a few days back, I thought I may as well let you in on a cool little film that is available in Issue #1 of McSweeney's Wholphin DVD. Essentially, it's a short 15 minute movie filmed by…