Science Centers, The Future, and FUN...

Chesley Bonestell's visions of space travel were big, sweeping visions. Who wouldn't want to live to see that Future?


I worked for a science center for almost a decade. Even now, they remain a part of my life.

So needless to say, I have a stake in these places. It comes down to my belief that science museums can be vibrant, influential places. They can change perceptions and lives. How, you might ask?

Well, when I was young and working in science centers, there was that day's dogma--things like turning girls on to science, creating exhibit platforms that embraced the then-burgeoning Internet, and doing something with "the environment" (no one ever knew what that meant). Follow those prescriptions and that is the path to making a real difference.

Today, I'm older and the dogma is different-ish. Science centers now think they should do things like serve as a model for early-childhood learning, showcase hot-topic technologies like energy and medicine. Oh yeah, and keep doing something with "the environment."

There's nothing wrong with any of those ideas. They can become foundations for exhibitions or they can be infused into other exhibit concepts. But they are transient ideas, falling in and out of favor based on the technology, concerns, and consultant-speak of the day. There is nothing big, nothing lasting. Here's an example: the 1990's ideas of internet-based exhibits have been chased and, in so many ways, fizzled on delivery. In 2009, the Internet isn't an exhibit thing so much as a marketing thing. So, ask yourself: in ten years, how relevant will today's energy or medicine exhibits be?

Here's my premise: Science centers in their heyday and at their best sold two things better than anyone else: The Future and Fun.

Today's science centers miss that way too often. Instead they become corporate mouthpieces, chasing checkbooks by telling potential Big Money sponsors what they want to hear in the words they like hearing.

When I was a kid, it was a real treat to visit the original COSI. The place was a veritable funhouse. Experiences ranged from hands-on interactive things to funky dioramas to shows that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

Sure it was pure Leave It To Beaver...but it was also a projection of something cool. Where do you get these kinds of visions today?

And even in my youth, I knew the place was selling something more than amusement park-style escapism. There was a message there. I was a kid and all of this stuff was pointing to the future. An OPTIMISTIC future. One that would not only employ new technologies but one that would learn from the accomplishments and hardships and grit of people that had come before.

To my way of thinking, science centers today are devoid of that Future. One that is made fun based on BOTH the nature of the activities--the interactives, demonstrations, etc.--and an encompassing position of OPTIMISM.

The world we live in is cool. The people who have either explored or revealed or invented or (in some cases) dreamed up all the amazing things we know--they are themselves amazing. And tomorrow's world, the world of today's kids, is right there--ready for all kinds of new amazing things created by new amazing people.

That sentiment is at the heart of all the best science centers. Those are the places that inspire tomorrow's inventors and explorers, the engineers and researchers.

One More Squirt Left in HRP!

"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" - Emerson Lake and Palmer

These teats were made for squirtin' , and that's just what they'll do. AGAIN!

Beware the Rock Cow Billy.

Glad to see Hard Rock Park has a second lease on life. Here's hoping for a great second season, and a long run after that!

See ya in July.

Tell Tale Signs

A new Bob Dylan album is a blessed and anxious event inside my head. On one hand, IT'S A NEW BOB DYLAN ALBUM! On the other, Dylan isn't always the most accessible creature. Even with his newfound mainstream-iness and approachability, the man's works remain deep, nigh-imprenetrable. It has taken me years to appreciate some of Dylan's songs. There are many others I just to this day don't get.

So, a new Bob Dylan album. A collection of so-called bootlegs. And it is divine.

Marchin' to the City is worth the price of admission. From the moment it starts, spare piano and a weary singer "lookin' for nothin' in anyone's eyes" you know this will be a treat. There's a pretty girl, she'd done the man wrong, the lost hopes of "drinking from life's clear streams" and "dreaming life's sweet dreams." All big, powerful, and yet tender and small and, like so much of Dylan's great works, so human.

Add in The Lonesome River and Red River Shore, this album is over the top. Get it!

WALL*E or The Movie Disney's Lawyers Forgot

I loved WALL*E. Saw it for the second time this past weekend.

(c) Disney

It is a gorgeous film. At times it is sublime. The first act is brilliant, ranks among the best animation I have ever seen.

After that, well, it's not that the film flags...it's more like it starts to get "important" or "relevant" but doesn't (or can't) actually get around to saying what's on it's mind. Loads of folks, from Frank Rich to The Lord Obama, are imposing their own super-smart reading onto this film...but I am not so sure the guys who made the movie really knew what to make of it.


That's really not a big beef...it is still a really enjoyable escape.

But I do have to ask WHAT WERE THEY THINKING when it comes to this scene:

WALL*E, the precocious garbage compactor with a mind of his own, has been busy for hundreds of years mashing trash in an effort to tidy up an Earth overrun with crud. Along the way, the android with a heart of gold has developed an affinity for old stuff that he finds and begins collecting this stuff in his shipping container-esque hovel. Its full of Rubik's Cubes, old silverware, and bobblehead toys. Think of the Little Mermaid and all her thingamabobs. Then think of some Ebay sicko. That's WALL*E.

THE DISTURBING PART comes when WALL*E meets EVE and attempts to court this strangely hot floating ipod. WALL*E shows EVE his junk (meaning the stuff he's collected in his little robo shack). Among the light bulbs and sporks, WALL*E finds one extra-special little toy to share...a lighter.

??? (c) Disney

That's right, a lighter. Those things that kids from 2-8 are already fascinated with. Those things that toddlers are notorious for getting their paws on and setting fire to their mama's mattress.

So, that's an appropriate thing for a Disney character to be playing with, showing off to his lady. Right?

The really confusing thing for me is that, I understand that there was some kind of metaphor or symbolism at work between "fire" and the weed that WALL*E discovers on the otherwise desolate Earth, but it was really tenuous. I didn't really get it.

Hopefully, no kids will see this tomfoolery and take it upon themselves to do some Polynesian fire dance with Daddy's Zippo. Even so, how in the heck did Disney's lawyers give this a pass?

Brighter indeed. The world will burn!

(c) Disney

Remember When These Places Used to be FUN???

I just ate fourteen churros, two turkey legs, and a Toll House ice cream cookie. And now I have a tummy ache. This is all your fault, you BIG DUMMY!

The State of Florida just released a report that summarizes injuries in the Orlando-area theme parks. Let's see here:

OH MY GOD! Two people got broken ankles walking around in theme parks! AND HOLY GEEZ! Some middle aged lady had a heart attack! AND NUH UH! Someone "inhaled water"...AT A WATER PARK!!!

The worst: someone got nauseated on the Mummy. I wonder why that might have happened?

Seriously, though, safety is such a huge priority for these parks. It has to be...why would people shell out 70+ clams a day just to risk their necks? These reports are just stupid. When these trusted public officials aren't off creating a panic about some crazy, out of control ride that should never have been built, they publish these "idiot chronicles."

And speaking of crazy, out of control rides that should have never been built, check out the number of reported incidents at Epcot. ZERO. Guess that maniacal Mission:SPACE got all the killing out of its system.

Are the French People Ready for This?

Ratatouille Rémy living character


Hard to tell what is happening here, but definitely a funny idea. What's up with his arms?

Thanks to the cats at Photosmagiques.com!

I Know You, I Walked Thru You Once Upon a Dream

The Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk Thru (one of the funkiest Disneyland attractions I ever visited) is officially going to reopen! Hoo-Ray! Just in time for BlueRay!

Now, this was never any E-Ticket attraction. No, this was one of those small "surprise" experiences that gives Disneyland the richness that no other park can even approach.

Must have been watching Conversations with Michael Eisner. Zzzzzzz.

And I'm glad to see Tony Baxter's comments that they are modeling this redo off the original Eyvind Earle design, not the window-display version that took over in the seventies.

Here's the press release.