Halloween Marathon

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Last year I enjoyed a marathon of Saw I- IV  but this year for Halloween evening  I will be watching Halloween with none other than Michael Myers. I am not sure what happened with Halloween III, it really has nothing to do with the main premise of the franchise and almost seems like a cheesy second rate episode of Stargate  with symbiotes taking over the US via television and costumes,  but Halloween IV picks up where II left off and we have the classic scare fest that worked before. Really, if you have a formula that works, stick with it, build the story and the characters a little, that is all I ask! I still want to watch Saw and I love Hellboy so we will see how much time I have to fit in some classic horror films.
Happy Halloween to all!

Terry Farrell Interview with StarTrek.com

Image by dapito via FlickrI read the interview with Terry Farrell at StarTrek.com back in August but put off blogging about it until I had sufficient time because Dax has to be my favorite character of the Star Trek franchise. I have to say that I do not know where to begin with my analysis of a most interesting character so I will go back to TNG. When Trills were first introduced in the Next Generation episode "The Host", it was bizarre the way the symbiont was presented as this pulsating thing in the abdomen of the host who could not use the transporter and the host had a strange forehead. Well, I am glad they made changes for the Deep Space Nine series such as changing the forehead for spots and  Trills being able to transport. Despite the inconsistencies with the Trill taboo of resuming relationships, I enjoyed the character Dax because of the many life times a symbiont has and that the memories are passed from one host to another and integrated in a positive and interesting way. Jadzia Dax had 328 years of lifetime experience being both male and female, had knowledge of the Klingon customs, was a pilot, diplomat, and scientist. Her personality was playful, direct, and wise: I guess more than 300 years of experience will do that for you. In the interview with Farrell, she discusses some aspectss of playing her character. From StarTrek.com:

Once you settled in, how easily did you slip into Jadzia and what intrigued you most about the character?

Farrell: I think what interested me most was trying to find her strength. She wasn’t defensive at all; she was always calm and relaxed and confident. She had a peaceful, mature way about her. I think that’s what I held on to. I don’t think I really attained that for myself, without being Dax, until I had a child. But I think that playing her was actually my anchor to feeling safe in the world at that time. Playing Dax made me feel like I was secure and I was safe.

I really felt her character came alive in the episode "Blood Oath" in which she fulfills an oath with the Klingons that her former host had made. From there, you could see her character come alive.

In the second part of the interview she talks about her life and gets a bit more personal. I will link both parts of the interview below and I have to add that I loved the show Becker as well.

I know most people groan when they think of Deep Space Nine saying that there were too many weird characters and faces, but I enjoyed the diversity of the show and the darker themes that were tackled by the writers and actors. It still remains one of my favorites of all of the Star Trek series.
Part One of the Interview.
Part Two.

Dinosaurs and Robots

I have been discussing the concept of science and art for quite a few posts now such as A Frankenstein Moon and Science and Art: A Unique Blend and now I have discovered that a new art exhibition is opening in Anchorage, Alaska today.
From Boing Boing:

"This Tron-o-saurus is part of Dinosaurs & Robots, a gallery show by artists Scott Elyardand Raven Amos, which opens tonight in Anchorage, Alaska. For more info, check out the video trailer that Elyard made."

I am very excited to see more shows combining art and science in such creative ways! Very cool indeed.  

Astronaut Says Steve Jobs Will Be Missed

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I hope we will continue to have great minds like Steve Jobs.
From Space.com:
An American astronaut on the International Space Station said the loss of Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday (Oct. 5), reaches all the way to space and will be felt around the world.

Space station commander Mike Fossum of NASA remembered Jobs, founder and former CEO of Apple, during a televised interview with CBS News today.

"In every generation there are great thinkers and people with vision," Fossum told CBS News. "The vision of what can be, and then have the energy and the skill and the genius to make it happen, and Steve Jobs is definitely one of those rare individuals and the world's going to miss him a lot." [See video of Mike Fossum's tribute]

http://ping.fm/zTdGM

Related articles

• Steve Jobs Will Be Missed By Entire World, Astronaut Says (space.com)

Science and Art: A Unique Blend

When it comes to subject matter such as physics, biology, or astronomy, to name a few of the sciences, one would not expect to include the visual or musical arts. Examining science through art can reflect the sociological, political, scientific, and economic events in a specific moment in time. For example, if you study art history, the work of art alone is not examined but the context within it was made such as country, political and monetary influence, as well as religious and other social issues, in other words, what was going on at that moment in time that influenced the artist.
I found an interesting article at the website Physics.org discussing the relationship of art and science.
From Physics.org:

"Art and science are very very different things, but I don’t see why they would be in conflict,‘ says Nicola Triscott, director ofArts Catalyst, a leading arts organisation with a focus on science.
Triscott set up Arts Catalyst in 1993, at a time when science seemed to be playing an increasingly influential - and also controversial - role in our lives: the genetics revolution was taking off, concerns for the environment were spreading and the internet was in its early infancy. ‘I thought it’d be really good if I could start some exchanges between artists and scientists and see what happened,’ she explains."
When I studied art, poetry, and literature, I was consistently told I was wasting my time or was I looking for a husband, or isn't that too easy, etc. etc. I sincerely believe the arts are an integral part of our lives and surround us every day. Even during economic downturns and wartime, propaganda art was very important.
(As a side note: when I studied math and geology, I never heard one comment about wasting time and all that!)
Anyway, the entire article is very interesting and worth reading and the link is HERE.