tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141167482024-03-23T13:53:39.153-04:00Joel's humanistic blogJoel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-34739841011655397462009-08-11T22:45:00.000-04:002009-08-11T22:54:02.847-04:00"Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" screening in NYCThe 1964 film by Sergei Paradjanov which provided the title for Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's book (and whose DVD release was <a href="http://joelschlosberg.blogspot.com/2008/02/shadows-of-forgotten-ancestors-on-dvd.html">noted</a> here previously) is being <a href="http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/schedule/search/film/?id=9406">screened</a>, in a new 35mm print with subtitles, at <a href="http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/">Anthology Film Archives</a> in NYC on the 21st and 23rd. AFA's website describes it as "[a] boldly conceived and astonishingly photographed blend of enchanting mythology, hypnotic religious iconography, and pagan magic."Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-14149715216822425062009-07-13T22:15:00.003-04:002009-07-13T23:12:19.023-04:00new blog: According to Carl Sagan<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://accordingtocarlsagan.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c183/joelschlosberg/According_to_Carl_Sagan_screenshot.png" /></a></p><br /><br />There's <a href="http://accordingtocarlsagan.blogspot.com/">a brand-new Sagan-related blog in town</a>; topics in the 4 posts so far have ranged from <a href="http://accordingtocarlsagan.blogspot.com/2009/04/carl-sagan-on-why-sports-are-so-popular.html">the evolutionary origins of sports</a> to <a href="http://accordingtocarlsagan.blogspot.com/2009/04/carl-sagans-hero-robert-h-goddard.html">neglected rocket pioneer Robert Goddard</a>. Since Carl weighed in on a truly wide variety of topics, there should be plenty of material to blog about.<br /><br />(Hat tip: <a href="http://francoistremblay.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/the-pale-blue-dot/">Francois Tremblay</a>; cross-posted to <a href="http://celebratingsagan.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-blog-according-to-carl-sagan.html">Celebrating Sagan</a>)Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-26012360124036365642008-11-09T23:30:00.002-05:002008-11-09T23:32:07.695-05:00Ann Druyan special on Equal Time for FreethoughtToday, to mark Carl Sagan's birthday (he would have been 74), the WBAI radio program <span style="font-style: italic;">Equal Time for Freethought</span> broadcast a special interview with Sagan's widow and collaborator Ann Druyan (the half-hour interview was originally intended for a fund drive show in September, but not aired in its entirety until now). An audio permalink will be added to <a href="http://www.equaltimeforfreethought.org/">equaltimeforfreethought.org</a> soon, but for now, it can be found at the WBAI archive <a href="http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/081109_183001etff.MP3">here</a> and also temporarily in WMA format <a href="http://www.sendspace.com/file/rmee1u">here</a>.<br /><br />The main news is NASA's establishment of a <a href="http://nexsci.caltech.edu/sagan/fellowship.shtml">Sagan Fellowship</a> to study exoplanets (planets outside the Solar System), but the conversation ranges from the profound (how to communicate the wonder of science) to the quirky (an extended discussion of what Sagan ate for breakfast). Check it out!<br /><br />Cross-posted to <a href="http://celebratingsagan.blogspot.com/2008/11/ann-druyan-special-on-equal-time-for.html">Celebrating Sagan</a>.Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-41195134208319415922008-02-05T20:13:00.000-05:002008-02-05T20:20:26.303-05:00Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors on DVD todayNo, it's not a little-known spinoff of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081846/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Cosmos</span></a> based on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345384725/joelshumanisb-20">Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's book of the same name</a>, but <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058642/">a 1964 Soviet film</a> by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0660886/">Sergei Parajanov</a> that inspired the name of the Sagan/Druyan book! I know nothing else about the film (it's not even a documentary as one might think, but fiction), but it's Sagan-related enough to take note of here. Some quick links to stuff about the film:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058642/">IMDB entry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WPV6JM/joelshumanisb-20">Amazon.com page</a></li><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/movies/homevideo/05dvds.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> DVD review</a></li><li><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0744,hoberman,78179,20.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Village Voice</span> film review</a></li><li><a href="http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/74429/Shadows_of_Our_Forgotten_Ancestors.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Time Out New York</span> film review</a><br /></li><li><a href="http://www.thelmagazine.com/5/25/Film/feature1.cfm"><span style="font-style: italic;">The L Magazine</span> film review</a><br /></li></ul>Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-46662576901880207362007-12-04T21:07:00.000-05:002007-12-04T21:08:07.521-05:00Wish Arthur C. Clarke a happy 90th birthday!<blockquote>We have science-fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke providing cogent and brilliant summaries in nonfictional form of many aspects of science and society. — Carl Sagan, "Science Fiction — A Personal View", in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345336895/joelshumanisb-20"><span style="font-style: italic;">Broca's Brain</span></a></blockquote>The revered science fiction writer (and science popularizer/futurist, and inventor, and humanist) Arthur C. Clarke — author of <span style="font-style: italic;">2001</span> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451457994/joelshumanisb-20">book</a> <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000UJ48SG/joelshumanisb-20">movie</a>), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345444051/joelshumanisb-20"><span style="font-style: italic;">Childhood's End</span></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553287893/joelshumanisb-20"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rendezvous with Rama</span></a>, "The Sentinel", "The Nine Billion Names of God", "The Star" and many others — will be turning 90 this month. To mark the occasion, <a href="http://thilinaheenatigala-astronomy.blogspot.com/">Thilina Heenatigala</a>, a friend of Clarke's and the General Secretary of the Clarke-cofounded <a href="http://aalk.lakdiva.net/">Sri Lanka Astronomical Association</a> has started <a href="http://sirarthurcclarke90.blogspot.com/">a blog to celebrate Clarke's 90th birthday</a>. He is sending an open invitation to all Clarke fans to post birthday wishes as blog comments for. <span style="font-weight: bold;">December 16th</span> is the special date!<br /><br />Heenatigala is also a big Sagan fan: he organized a special screening of <span style="font-style: italic;">Cosmos</span> for undergraduates last year, and was inspired by the blog-a-thon. And JHB readers will also recognize my interest in old-time science fiction as a recurring theme here — see my <a href="http://joelschlosberg.blogspot.com/2006/11/r-i-p-science-fictions-searching-mind.html">tribute to Jack Williamson</a> last year — so it's a real honor to pay tribute to a living legend whose first sales, "Loophole" and "Rescue Party" (both about aliens who find the tables turned on them by clever humans) were published in 1946.Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-54412985180576719302007-11-18T23:07:00.000-05:002007-12-05T14:29:14.502-05:00Announcing the second annual Carl Sagan memorial blog-a-thonIt's that time of the year again. In just over a month, on December 20, 2007, we will reach the eleventh anniversary of Carl Sagan's passing — and the <span style="font-style: italic;">first</span> anniversary of the wildly successful first-ever <a href="http://joelschlosberg.blogspot.com/2006/12/carl-sagan-blog-thon-meta-post.html">Carl Sagan Memorial Blog-a-Thon</a>. Far exceeding my wildest expectations, this became a truly worldwide celebration, featuring <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">more than 250 posts</span> in 11 languages! Sagan fans are truly cohering into an online force to reckon with.<br /><br />For the second blog-a-thon, I'm keeping the format pretty much the same as last time:<br /><ol><li>First, I start with a post (this one) to announce the blog-a-thon now.</li><li>Then, I leave it open to participating bloggers to post something Sagan-related on their blogs sometime near December 20th (a bit late is OK); interested people without blogs or otherwise unable to post on a personal blog are encouraged to submit something to the <a href="http://celebratingsagan.blogspot.com/">Celebrating Sagan</a> website (I am able to post material directly to the site, or one could contact the site's webmasters). Let me know about your posts via <a href="mailto:joelschlosberg_at_gmail_dot_com">email</a> or blog comment.<br /></li><li>Finally, on December 20th, I will post a second, separate huge "meta-post" that consists solely of links to all the participating posts.</li></ol>For those who like nice round anniversary numbers, or want to use them as a source of ideas, this year saw quite a number of significant Sagan-related ones:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">July 11:</span> the tenth anniversary of the release of the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Contact</span></a></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">August 20:</span> the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Voyager 2</span> spacecraft</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> September 5:</span> the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Voyager 1</span> spacecraft</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">November 8:</span> the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Planet Walk in Ithaca, NY</li></ul> For more info, check out Larry Klaes's <span style="font-style: italic;">Tompkins Weekly</span> articles commemorating all three anniversaries:<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.tompkinshosting.com/tompkinsweekly/TompkinsWeekly070716.pdf">"'<span style="font-style: italic;">Contact</span>' and the Ithaca Connection"</a><br /></li><li><a href="http://www.tompkinshosting.com/tompkinsweekly/TompkinsWeekly070820.pdf">"Preserving Ithaca for a Billion Years"</a><br /></li><li><a href="http://tompkinsweekly.com/images/TompkinsWeekly071105.pdf">"Sagan Planet Walk: 10 Years Later"</a><br /></li></ol>See you in a month!Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14116748.post-89203735078093826462007-11-01T22:48:00.000-04:002007-11-01T23:11:08.713-04:00Martian parent: David Gerrold interview<img src="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c183/joelschlosberg/david_gerrold_with_barry_seidman.png" title="David Gerrold (right) with Barry Seidman in 2000" height="457" width="400" /><br /><br />This has been <a href="http://joelschlosberg.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-etff-transcripts-gerrold-and-price.html">covered before on this blog</a>, but since <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415965/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Martian Child</span></a> is finally opening in theaters, I want to point out that <a href="http://njhn.org/etff.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Equal Time for Freethought</span></a>'s <a href="http://njhn.org/ETFF/gerrold.pdf">interview with author David Gerrold</a> is available, including a discussion of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765306026/joelshumanisb-20">novel</a> of the same name that formed the basis for the film (as well as Gerrold's real-life childraising experience that formed the source for both).Joel Schlosberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08398507139594460538noreply@blogger.com0