Dodos: Free in Iowa City!

Tomorrow (Monday, Sept. 22) in Iowa City I will be co-hosting a free public screening of "A Flock of Dodos" in Biology Building East (BBE) 101 at 7:00pm. This event is part of Scienceblogs 10^6 comment festival, via our two Iowa City-based ScienceBlog-ers, Tara Smith (Aetiology) and Evil Monkey (Neurotopia). It is also associated with the Evolution undergraduate course (Biology, 002:131) that I teach with Bryant McAllister (can you say "extra credit"?)

According to Wikipedia:

"The film attempts to determine who the real "dodos" are in a constantly evolving world: the scientists who are failing to promote evolution as a scientifically accepted fact, the intelligent design advocates, or the American public who get fooled by the "salesmanship" of evolution critics. While Randy Olson ultimately sides with the scientists who accept evolution, he gives equal air time to both sides of the argument..."

Thanks to the filmaker Randy Olson for allowing us to screen this film for the public! I'm looking forward to it, since I have not seen it yet.

Dawkins' Genius of Darwin

I just discovered that there is a new three-part series, The Genius of Charles Darwin, that was broadcast on UK Channel 4. I tried to buy the episodes on iTunes, but they are only available in the UK. Luckily they are all posted on YouTube.

Below is the first part (of five) of the first episode, available on YouTube.

You can read more about the episodes and find more links at RichardDawkins.net.

Green Porno

I can't believe that I missed this, but thanks to a colleague, I can now share....

In a series of short films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Isabella Rossellini plays the part of various invertebrates in various acts of sexual reproduction. You can now see them all online at the Sundance Channel website.

According to the press release:

"Green Porno is a series of very short films conceived, written, directed by and featuring Isabella Rossellini about the sex life of bugs, insects and various creatures. The films are a comical, but insightful study of the curious ways certain bugs “make love”.

Each film is executed in a very simple childlike manner. They are a playful mixture of real world and cartoon. Each episode begins with Isabella speaking to the camera “If I were a…(firefly, spider, dragonfly etc.). She then transforms into the male of the species explaining in a simple yet direct dialogue the actual act of species specific fornication. The costumes, colorful sets and backdrops as well as the female insects (all simple paper cut-outs and sculptures) contribute to the playfulness of the films. The contrast of this “naïf” expression and filthy sex practices adds to the comicality of Green Porno. This child-like manner allows us to describe things that could possibly come across as offensive to some."

My favorite is one of two non-arthropod shorts: the Snail (pictured above).

Here is a short piece I found on You Tube:



The vignettes remind me of the Dr. Tatiana televison series that was apparently too bold for US sentiments (but that I have been lucky to see!).

It looks like it's hitting the blogs now (Wired), so I had better get this posted. Enjoy!

Dark Matter

A follow-up on a blog post from last year...

According to The First Post:

"The release of a new Meryl Streep movie about a campus killing spree, which was postponed last year after the shooting of 32 people at Virginia Tech, will not be delayed again – despite the recent spate of campus killings, including the gunning down of five students in a classroom at Northern Illinois University on St Valentine’s Day. Dark Matter is based on the true story of Gang Lu, a Chinese graduate student at the University of Iowa who shot and killed five people and paralysed another before killing himself in 1991. In real life, Lu's rage was fueled by his belief that he should have received honours for his doctoral dissertation that were instead awarded to a fellow student."

Here is a link to movie's website. (There is now a trailer that you can watch: Updated 7/29/08)

Judgment Day

It's been a busy term... So much that I missed the original airing of the NOVA program "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" last week. Luckily for me, the entire episode is now available for viewing online, which I took advantage of tonight. If you haven't seen the show, you should. It's very well done from both scientific and journalistic points of view. It will soon be required viewing for my undergraduate Evolution course.

The Simpsons Movie

On Friday, I took my kids (ages 10 & 12) to see "The Simpsons Movie". There's always something fun (and risky) about seeing a movie on its opening day and this one actually delivered on the hype. We all enjoyed it, and I would generally recommend it. However, families should be aware that it's rated PG-13 for good reasons. There's quite a bit of off-color (adult?) humor and even a brief shot of Bart's penis (aka "doodle"). They clearly took advantage of the off-TV venue for some saved-up "mature" (?) content. But long-time Simpson's fans should expect some of this (like showing Otto smoking a bong).

The other reason to post here about The Simpsons is the fun piece in Nature this week entitled "Mmm...Pi" that discusses the science-based humor that has permeated The Simpsons for years. The "Top Ten Science Moments" are worth remembering.

Dark Matter between students and mentors

I don't have alot to say about this yet, but there is a new film called Dark Matter that recently won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for science films at this year's Sundance Film Festival. It's based on a tragic story that happened here at the University of Iowa in 1991. Gang Lu, a physics PhD student shot and killed five people (including his advisor), seriously injured another and then killed himself. It's a harrowing case of conflict between mentor and student gone terribly wrong. There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about the new film and some of the realities of mentoring. I don't think that the film has screened in Iowa City yet, but I assume it will soon.

Image from the Dark Matter wikipedia site.