Galileo’s Dream
I have read many books by Kim Stanley Robinson including two trilogies (the Mars books and his Science in the Capital trilogy). Galileo's Dream was both unusual and yet typical from him. Unusual, in that it was primarily a work of historical fiction about Galileo. Typical, but he also painted a picture of a fantastic future that is not dystopian and is rather idealistic. In Galileo's Dream, he achieves this by having a future society living on the moons of Jupiter (circa the year 3020) contact Galileo. The "first scientist" goes back and forth between his present life in Florence Read more…
The State of Our Uncivil Union
If broadcast and cable media both encourage and reflect cultural divisiveness, online communities seem to fuel it even further. “The Internet has allowed everyone to hold a can of red paint and spray the wall,” says Erik Hanberg ’02. “They can say whatever mean thing they want to say and sit back and watch the fallout. That’s one of the plagues of the Internet.” via apps.carleton.edu I’m quoted in the Carleton Voice, the Carleton alumni magazine, on civil discourse. It paints me as being a little bit more down on the state of civil discourse than I generally am, but Read more…
For my readers who like taking care of themselves …
My friend Vania has been teaching private yoga lessons and at the YMCA for awhile now. Just this past week she started offering morning yoga sessions at Studio 6 Ballroom 4 mornings a week for $10/session. The two weekday classes start at 6:15 and get done before you have to get to work. Personally, I can't remember the last time I saw 6:15. But the weekend sessions start at 8:30 am, and that's not so bad at all. I've never done yoga, but I'm intrigued enough I might check one of those out. Here's her site with more info.
72 Hour Filmmaking report
Slow blogging, but a busy weekend! I was part of a team that filmed a movie this weekend for the 72 Hour Film Festival. The goal, if you haven't heard, is to make a 5 minute movie in 3 days. In order to make sure that you don't get a jump on the movie-making, the Grand gives required elements that must be in the film. This year, those were: a map the line of dialog: "Should I know what that means?" something has to break and in the first minute a bag has to be found that contains something important Read more…
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