SeanChron | New Documentary: Living in the Future's Past

How can I not get excited about a new documentary titled Living in Future's Past? Add to that that it was produced and narrated by Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges and I'm Kristen Wiig's character Sue on the Saturday Night Live Surprise Party skit. Directed by Susan Kucera, the film is being billed as a "t o ur de force of original thinking on who we are and the environmental challenges we face". Goes without saying...I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing and reviewing the movie. The screening in Seattle where I live is October 9th so look for an update on this post in early October.

SeanChron | Gwyndoline Christie's Captain Phasma

How awesome was it to see Captain Phasma on the big screen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens??? Played by Gwendoline Christie of Game of Thrones and Hunger Games fame, the character kinda kicked some ass. Sure, she was part of the dark side but that didn't stop millions of little kids getting into Darth Vader over the last few decades. I just think its it's very cool to have actors like Christie and characters such as those that Christie plays becoming part of mainstream pop culture so that young women (and yes, young men too) have a diversity of inspirational role models to look up to.

Even better, I'm loving the debates on wheter her character and armor is feminine enough. The now famous Star Wars Twitter response to a comment about it being hard to tell that she's wearing female armor sums it up perfectly: "It's Armor. On a woman. It doesn't have to look feminine". Bam! Sure, Daisy Ridley as Rey was kick ass to but she kinda fits the already established female hero character that is has become an important part of film and television these days. Christie and her characters are clearly a new persona. love, Love, Love it!

>> Prudom, L. 2015. Gwendoline Christie on the ‘Unconventional’ Women of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. Variety

Star Wars in Diné

Indian Country Today produced a short video, Jedis and Indians! Live From the 'Navajo Star Wars' Premiere on the July 2013 screening of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” dubbed in Diné (Navajo). The Navajo Nation Museum worked with Lucasfilms to dub the film as a way to encourage current and future generations to speak more Diné. The project took three years and included many translation challenges since words like "starship" didn't translate well into Diné. It is clear that the end product was a huge success and its is REALLY COOL that a story set "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." has become a valuable tool in keeping an ancient language in use for generations to come.

Below is the Indian Country Today video:

Curly Hair Mafia Reviews Lockout

What happens when a biologist, a chemist, and a mammalogist review sci-fi, horror, or fantasy shows? Nerdtastic hilarity! Join our three scientists – known as the Curly Hair Mafia – as they take down big films, popular TV series, and everything in between. In their latest contribution to science-minded movie reviews, the Curly Hair Mafia welcomes on a guest reviewer...curly bearded, jaunty-hat-wearing physicist, science writer, public speaker, and educator, Dr. Matthew Francis.

For this review, our mafiosi unlock the best and worst elements of 2012 space sic-fi thriller Lockout starring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace, conceived and written by Luc Besson, and co-directed by James Mather and Stephen St. Legerand. Part Escape from New York and part Demolition Man, Lockout does offer some entertainment value...even though much of the film "defies all laws of physics, chemistry, and biology". From a space sky dive landing to which "even a German judge would give a 10" and machine guns working in the oxygen-free vacuum of space to how to kill off superfluous characters and a Han Solo-Princess Leia almost love story, Lockout certainly gives the mafia team a lot to work with. Luckily, Guy Pearce looked "damn fine" in the movie. The other redeeming factor of Lockout...it's very short. Final reviewer scores: Dr. Lee: 4.5, Dr. Francis: 2, and Dr. Burks: 3 (because Guy Pearce is hot).

Curly Hair Mafia Reviews Skyfall

What happens when a biologist, a chemist, and a mammalogist review sci-fi, horror, or fantasy shows? Nerdtastic hilarity! Join our three scientists – known as the Curly Hair Mafia – as they take down big films, popular TV series, and everything in between.

In this dispatch, the Curly Hair Mafia takes on their toughest target yet, the elusive Bond...James Bond that is. With a fondness for the franchise and more than a little crush on Daniel Craig, the ladies set their sights on the latest installation of the 007 saga, Skyfall. Mind you, no detail gets past the Curly Hair Mafia, from stolen plots and misplaced shower scenes to different writers and botched kill pills, the ladies carry out their review with precision and leave a string of successful hits behind them. But don't worry...with epic gadgets, clothes to die for, and overall high scores, the Curly Hair Mafia may have as many reasons to recommend Skyfall as they have marks against it.

Warning: spoilers, strong language, and a lot material that will make you laugh...HARD! Oh, and a lot of Bond Badassitude too.

SeanChron | Suddenly-Sámi in Seattle

Serendipity indeed! Yesterday I discovered that a movie I had wanted to see for some time was playing at the Nordic Heritage Museum near my house in Seattle. The film was Suddenly Sámi, a 2009 award-winning documentary/autobiography by Norwegian filmmaker and writer, Ellen-Astri Lundby, that chronicles her exploration into her indigenous Sámi heritage, a fact that her Mother had hidden from her most of her life. It is a story about ancestry, culture, and traditions but also a story about identity and more importantly, self identity. Many themes in Sámi history are similar to other indigenous cultures around the world, such as historical trauma, but some elements are unique to the Sámi. The prospect of Lundby taking on her Sámi identity and heritage is treated with both sensitivity and humor that makes for a very entertaining story.

Below is the trailer for the movie...

Science of the Movies

A new series on the Science Channel will give us all the inside scoop on the special effects that literally bring movies to life. Science of the Movies premiers May 26th and like the movies themselves, it is sure to knock our socks off. From Jaws to Gone with the Wind find out how science makes it all possible.

Confluence - Teleportation takes center stage

Teleportation seems to be all the buzz these days with the release of Jumper and Michio Kaku's book Physics of the Impossible. Director Doug Liman's Jumper opens February 14 and given that its from the makers of Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it promises to be not only a fantastic thriller, but a sci fi geek's dream too. In Jumper's case, teleportation is genetic (a bit Heros maybe) but hey....its still teleportation. Kaku's new book, on the other hand, looks at the actual status of research on topics such as time travel and teleportation. And some of it is not as far fetched or Star Trek as you might think given that there is experimental evidence that both time travel and teleportation do, in fact, exist. So whether your sci fi flavor is more Einstein or Captain Kirk, there's something in today's teleporation for everyone.