Well...kinda.
My back is getting better but not to the point that I'm ready to go, as they say, "out out". Saturday night I decided to revisit a destination I hadn't been to in a long, long time. The Boston Science Museum. What exactly is the Saturday night science museum scene? Well, I'm here to tell you.
First up was the 7:30pm "Laser Queen" show. The Planetarium has a series of laser shows where they coordinate a fairly elaborate laser display to a specific type of music. The last time I had been to one of these was sometime in high school when a group of us went to the Pink Floyd Laser Show (I will allow you to interpret the inspiration for such decisions). As I stood solo in line for the show, I realized that if I had a mustache, I might be attaining true child molester status. There were three distinct groups in line with me:
1) The semi-"cool" music parents who were taking their pre-teen kids to the event to get them more into music. Having been involved with music growing up, I've often seen this parental type, wearing a vintage rock t-shirt (and by vintage I mean actually from 1983, not pre-faded and selling for $200) under a sensible Gap woolen pea coat, brimming with enthusiasm about when "music was good"....and to these parents, I salute you.
2) 30something French tourists. Maybe this was a random coincidence and not too common, but somehow it made total sense. There were two distinct groups, both identically fashionable and eager. I'm guessing a French version of the Lonely Planet strongly recommended this as a pre-going out activity.
3) Hipster / Stoners. I'm not sure whether I was observing more of a hipster contingent or pure high school stoner contingent, but there was a large group of skinny jean, mod haircut types. This group did not disappoint, as , one of their clan passed out and had to be carried out of the planetarium after the show. He then proceeded to puke everywhere once they got outside, totally unironically.
The show itself was amazing and reminded me how great of a band Queen is. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a large Saturday night gay contingent considering the band, but I guess you can't have everything.
Being the aggressive partyer that I am, I didn't stop with the Planetarium show. I stepped it up and got a ticket for the 9pm Omnimax showing of "Adrenaline: The Science of Risk". For anyone who hasn't been to the Boston Science Museum IMAX theater, I'd strongly recommend it. Instead of just a large IMAX screen, its a huge domed screen that dwarfs the traditional variety.
The movie was perfectly suited for the medium as it's all about adrenaline junkies, mostly focused around skydiving and BASE jumping. There is a number of intense scenes of jumping off planes and cliffs which in that environment which were not for the weaker of stomachs. I left with a few observations:
1) The introductory sequence is still similar to when I was a kid, with Leonard Nimoy still providing a bit of comic relief. However, I noticed that instead of the narrator just asking "Leonard Nimoy, what's he doing here?" had to clarify "Leonard Nimoy, the guy who played Spock in the original Star Trek series, what's he doing here?" I guess they're working under the assumption that the hipster who puked everywhere has no idea who Leonard Nimoy is.
2) There really wasn't any science involved other than providing about 2 minutes of explanation of how adrenaline works via neurotransmitters. Are all IMAX movies just an excuse for gratuitous nature and adventure footage, labeled as scientific in order to justify school field trips?
3) I feel an IMAX movie has to be the ultimate creative date. It's only an hour so not too long, it shows some demonstrated interest in science/knowledge, and it's certainly different. Please feel free to take this advice next time you've run out of ideas and feel free to implement it.
4) As cool as the whole BASE jumping thing appears to me, I still don't get that whole scene, at all.
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