Coming Soon!

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[Update: The film is here!]

Well, it is almost the big day! The first of the films I’ve been working on (see several earlier posts listed below), having had its world premiere on Sunday, is about to go on general release. It is the first of a series, and there is a second one to follow later in the Summer.

It’s a fun and educational short that I hope you’ll watch and tell all your friends about. Seriously, if you’re interested in science education (or just science as fun) do spread the word about this by blogging it, tweeting it, and sharing it on facebook and other sites.

This is very exciting! As with most film releases, however, there’s got to be a trailer. Straight out of the editing room to you, I present said trailer. Enjoy!



Check back soon!

-cvj

Lost Lessons

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lost_universityI’m sitting here recovering from last night’s event (more later), which, when you clear away the details (and the large amount of left over food, huge number of dirty dishes, glasses, pots, pans, etc.), was all about science, film making and the media. There’s something else that is being discussed a lot recently that is about that too.

It seems to be all over the blogosphere (e.g., here), since apparently Lost is a very popular show, and so I’ll mention it here. You can now enroll in Lost University as part of the DVD/Blueray release of Lost’s Season 5. What you’ll be able to do (it says on their website), is enroll and take courses in Psychology, Foreign Language, Jungle Survival, Philosophy, History, and Physics. The Physics part is all about time travel. Classes are being “taught” by real professors. I mean actual people, not characters. I know this since I’m one of these professors.

Who knew I’d end up being faculty at another university teaching such a popular Click to continue reading this post →

Of Red Carpets, and Cooking

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premiere_prepMy films are finished! There’ll be more on them here later (including their online premiere), so check back. I might even try to find time to cut a trailer for the first one soon.

Being somewhat insane, I’ve decided on the (sort of) spur of the moment to have a (tongue in cheek) red carpet premiere of the films this weekend. I’ve a confirmed list of 20 hungry guests coming (mostly friends who are filmmakers, writers, actors, journalists, educators and other related professions), and I’ve promised to prepare them lots of food and drink. (Well, the films are very short.) It is already late in the day and I’ve been procrastinating instead of starting my prep. As usual.

Anyway, I’ve decided to plan a few long-prep centerpieces, and will improvise all the other dishes based on whim, the Farmer’s market offerings later, and how many of Click to continue reading this post →

Testing, Testing

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Fascinating. I am testing out a new method of posting to the blog. I replaced my ancient and frustrating ipod (I think enough time has been spent tinkering around in its innards (see e.g. here) and now I realize the hard drive itself is now damaged) and my old Palm Tungsten by one new device, an iPod Touch. It seems to work well, and is my compromise to the iPhone mania – I find the fact that you are forced by AT&T into an expensive data contract for the iPhone a bit objectionable, and I certainly don’t want to pay that much to be connected all the time, and moreover have no wish to be connected all the time, and my current phone is a really good phone that does more of what I want than the iPhone does (my phone has a radio for example – it is free and works whether you have a connection to the web or not – good old-fashioned FM) and I am not really one for getting new devices just for newness’ sake. (I’ve realized to my delight that this solution also means that I get to continue saying that I’m the last person in LA without an iPhone. 🙂 )

Since I needed to replace the other things and since the Touch does have Bluetooth and wireless, this seemed like a good move. I can reliably listen to music again, and It will help with productivity too, I can do some communication on the move Click to continue reading this post →

Tales From The Industry XXIX – Dune

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death_valley_shoot_2_1There was a 24 hour period from 3:30pm Monday to 3:30pm Tuesday where I was engaged in a seemingly insane enterprise. My original plan was to document it here as one of my “24”-style blog posts, but since about 9 hours of it involved nothing but me screaming along to various songs (there’s something marvellous about singing “Roooooxx–anne!!! You don’t have to wear that dress tonight!!!….” and repeating “Put on the Red Light! Put on the Red Light!…” while whizzing along – fast!- on a road trip. I don’t know why), and five and a half hours asleep, I’ll spare you the details of each hour.

So what was the mission? To head to Death Valley. Yes, one of the hottest places on earth at this time of year! Why? To film something for The Universe (that History channel series I sometimes appear on). After my experiences of last Monday, you’d think I’d swear off hot filming situations for a while, but there you go. The physics involved is interesting, and it was an opportunity to get across some rather fun and interesting material (that you don’t usually see on TV) and so I went for it.

So since I had an afternoon meeting at 2:00pm with a Dean and some other Click to continue reading this post →

The War Continues…

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early_figsWith about ten figs taken over a day and a half, the Great Tomato Atrocity still fresh in my mind, several chases and confrontations with yelling on both sides… It is clear. There is no other conclusion:

Fluffy must go.

After some experiments with small stealth items over the last few days, which, after some near misses (the Force is strong with Fluffy), Fluffy now routinely evades, I am deploying some heavy battlefield equipment:

Click to continue reading this post →

40 Years Ago…

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moon_landing_630pxWell, it can’t have escaped your attention. I imagine that whatever news sources you use are full of stories about today being the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. (Well, the first by human beings, anyway. 🙂 )

I won’t be writing a long thoughtful piece reflecting on the matter. Right now, I can’t really think of much to say that has not been said. Perhaps it is just because it is too hot here. I’m not sure.

However, I will encourage you to find a quiet moment sometime today, stop, look Click to continue reading this post →

Footprint Thoughts

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cfl_and_ink_refillFriday saw two satisfying discoveries that may be of interest to you if you strive to use less energy and to reuse rather than replace.

The first is that the incandescent light bulbs with the small fitting that I was despairing over being able to replace with compact fluorescent bulbs can be replaced! I found in my local hardware store that companies have now (maybe for a while?) started making CFLs with the small fitting! Hurrah! Having now found this fitting, I think most fittings, shapes and sizes of bulbs that I’ve seen (in this context) can replaced by CFLs of similar fittings, shapes and sizes.

The second is just as satisfying. I went to Staples to buy another package of ink cartridges for my printer, and while in the checkout line I noticed an odd package Click to continue reading this post →

Your Science Tweets Here

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science_tweetsHmm… so this PhD Comics episode* (image left… click will take you to their site) is a really good idea, but I’m underwhelmed by the actual execution.

This might be because it is hard to do, and not because the person (people?) at PhD comics, whoever they are, aren’t smart and funny people, since there’s a lot of evidence that they are.

So I find myself thinking that this is an opportunity for some fun reader participation! Surely there are more science-tweets to be thought up? Perhaps even Click to continue reading this post →

Heat Exhaustion…

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Well, that was a hugely tiring day indeed. I’ve just returned from a full day of shooting for an episode of the the leffeHistory Channel’s The Universe, and all I can do is collapse on the sofa for a long while.

I’ve grabbed the essentials (a nice cold Leffe, some tasty corn chips, a cup of tea – I made it before I got the Leffe idea – , some books I’m reading, etc) to have within easy reach so that I need not get up for a while. I simply don’t want to.

It was tiring mostly because it was so terribly hot for most of it. The first half of the Click to continue reading this post →