RouseWorld | Main -- May 2004 Archives

Site update!

I've actually updated the site today, there is a new "Wayward Packet" and some new entries in the "Art Gallery."

Now if I can just keep the momentum going.

The gods must be crazy II

I was going to go on another rant about crazy search results involving this site, but one of the search strings doesn't work anymore.

For a while Google had me listed in the top three sites for "Star Wars fan fic" — but I see that they have fixed that.

The only odd results I see now are for "underworld." According to Ask Jeeves, RouseWorld is the second best place to go for information about the movie. You get about the same results at Teoma &mdash of course.

I'm flattered, and I think we had a nice conversation about the movie, but that's a crazy search result.

A ubiquitous and lasting system of hexagonal galleries

I need to read more stuff by Jorge Luis Borges. I'm recommending right now the very short The Library of Babel, which is a very interesting sketch of a world that it would be nice to think actually exists somewhere.

Here is a quick math problem — given the fixed number of lines, characters per line and pages per book, the nature of the content of each book, and the known number of books per hexagon ... how many hexagons are in the library?

Star Wars -- has it really come to this?

One ... one ... of the things I hated about these new Star Wars movies are the scenes that are painfully obviously designed as video game levels. Pod racing, assembly line running, etc. they look like really high-resolution video games and it really looks like they were made that way on purpose. Why, I do not know.

I had high hopes for Episode III, however. It seemed to be the most interesting of the prequel movies, as it had to do with the split between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Indeed, when I was a kid I used to think how terrible it would be to die before all the Star Wars films were finished.

Today in the Sun, all my hopes are dashed. Apparently Obi-Wan and Anakin fight their final battle in a damed video game:

Anakin and Obi-Wan fight on platforms on the lava. They control these like surfboards.

Sigh.

What monster lurks on the Forbidden Planet?

Again, from the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences...

RALEIGH — Come discover what has happened to an ancient civilization as the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences stays open late on Friday, June 4, to present the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet.

Regarded as one of the best sci-fi films of the 1950s, Forbidden Planet (1956) succeeds at creating a sense of wonder through its beautiful production and innovative special effects.  Based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the movie follows an expedition crew sent to investigate what happened to a colony of scientists settled on a distant planet.  Upon their arrival, the crew discovers only two survivors, the ruins of an ancient society, and a mysterious monster roaming the planet.  Starring Leslie Nielson and Anne Francis, Forbidden Planet also introduces Robbie the Robot.  Free.

Local musician Kenny Shore kicks off the evening with live music at 5:30 p.m. Explore fun exhibits or enjoy food and drinks before the movie begins at 7 p.m.  For more information, contact Steve Popson at 919/733-7350, ext. 379.

In the Nature Art Gallery, an opening reception for the artwork from the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators will begin at 6:00 p.m.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the web at www.naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.