The next Categorically Not! is on Sunday January 27th (upcoming). The Categorically Not! series of events that are held at the Santa Monica Art Studios, (with occasional exceptions). It’s a series – started and run by science writer K. C. Cole 
– of fun and informative conversations deliberately ignoring the traditional boundaries between art, science, humanities, and other subjects. I strongly encourage you to come to them if you’re in the area. Here is the website that describes past ones, and upcoming ones. See also the links at the end of the post for some announcements and descriptions (and even video) of previous events. (Above right and left: Reza Aslan speaking on the origin of various ideas in Religion at the event entitled “Beginnings” on 16th December, 2007. Click right one for larger view.)
The theme this month is Science Goes Hollywood. Here’s the description from K C Cole:
Despite our prejudices to the contrary, Hollywood and Science have a lot to say to each other. Take special effects: Nothing Disney dreams up can even come close to the fireworks created by exploding stars every day. And what about flesh eating bacteria? Or clones? Or Schrödinger’s Cat? No wonder authors, filmmakers and even sit com writers look to science for inspiration. But Science also looks to Hollywood for help in getting its magic out. It’s not all that easy to bring the excitement (and most important, the process) of science into our lives through books, TV and film.
For our January 27th Categorically Not, filmmaker Randy Olson will talk about why he doesn’t think it was much of a stretch to go from science to filmmaking. Formerly a professor of marine biology at University of New Hampshire, Randy’s recent documentary feature is “Flock of Dodos: the evolution-intelligent design circus,” which is currently airing on Showtime. He has also just completed “Sizzle,” a global warming comedy. Over the past five years Randy developed the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media project, which pairs ocean scientists with Hollywood to dramatize ocean decline.
For the physics behind Buffy the Vampire slayer (and kin), science writer Jennifer Ouellette will use the characters, concepts and plot lines of popular TV series to illustrate such fundamental physics as sound, electricity, thermodynamics, relativity, wormholes and string theory. An English major, Jennifer stumbled into science writing by accident, but has been avidly exploring her inner geek ever since. She writes for Discover, New Scientist, Symmetry, Salon, and Nature; and is the author of The Physics of the Buffyverse and Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics.
Finally, Marty Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center, will talk about why audiences believe that the medical information they pick up in entertainment storylines is accurate, and about the Lear Center’s “entertainment-education” campaign. Marty holds the Norman Lear Chair at the USC Annenberg School; he has been a Disney executive, a screenwriter, Walter Mondale’s chief speechwriter and deputy presidential campaign manager, as well as summa cum laude grad in molecular biology from Harvard College, where he was president of the Harvard Lampoon. He blogs for the Huffington Post.
This program will take place at the series’ usual home, Santa Monica Art Studios. (Santa Monica Art Studios, 3026 Airport Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405 map) Come at 6 for refreshments and wander the studios. Program begins at 6:30. For more information and directions, please visit the website.
-cvj
