...neither related...
First the book. I'm just about done this book called "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. This book is a book about the history of the Earth, and Science and more. It isn't as much a hard core science book as it is a continuous dialog about the connections over time of historical scientific events. What I guess I mean is that it reads like a smooth flowing TV show like Nova and less a technical manual. It doesn't get too deep into any one subject, but it has tons of references so you can dig as far as you like into stuff that is interesting. There are some amazing things you will learn in that book including the fact that we really should be dead right now (asteroid or volcano) and that the odds are that we shouldn’t have even made it as a species.. It's a cool book. Go get a copy and try it.
Second the movie. I can't remember who recommended it to me or why it got on my Netflix list, but it has been on there for a really long time and finally I got it and watched it. And I'm so glad I did. The film is called "What the #$*! Do We Know?" and it's a film about Quantum Physics and how it relates to our lives. For those of you know a little about QP you already know that it is some insane stuff and that studying it takes one really close to thinking about existence and god and the like. This film also heads into those topics, as well as brain chemistry. It makes you think in the same way you would after you saw "The Matrix" (in fact it steals some quotes and SFX from that film). It asks questions like "What is reality?" "How are memories different than experience?", etc. There is some cool stuff in that film that make you want to pause it and just think for a day or two. I loved it and I bought it so I'll be watching it again and again.
As an aside, if you see the movie and like it, you should read two books after it that deal with some of the concepts you get exposed to. The first is one of my all-time favorites called "Conversations with God" which isn't a religious book at all, it's more an exploration of who we are and why we are here. The device used to drive the narrative is a bit hard to accept (you continually wonder if it is a device or if it indeed really occurred) but once you get past worrying about it, there is some amazing insights in that book. It essentially has become the way I live my life.
The other book (now I'm up to 3 books...) is one I talked about before called "Island" by Aldus Huxley. Wow! That was an amazing experience. I would give up my entire life and all possessions to live on that Island. The reason I mention it here is that the movie talked about concepts that Aldus had figured out in the 60's and put into this book. Simply awesome and something you should totally read.
Ok.. last but not least (and not connected) is this play I saw last night. It is called "Killer Joe" (playing at the Adrianne until May 28) and it was the kind of play that Tarantino would make. There was violence, nudity, cursing, drugs and it was all set in a trailer park. The play had a serious run off Broadway for a long while and while this production isn't up to those standards, it is thoroughly entertaining nonetheless. Tickets were $20 each and it was general admission. The theatre holds like 50 people and if you sit in the first or second rows you are essentially right in the trailer with the cast since you are so close. It really makes the performance quite intimate. There are some subtle issues with the performance but since I had such a great time I'm still going to recommend that you all buy a ticket or two and go see this play before it goes away!
Have a good weekend, I'm off...
No comments:
Post a Comment