Why don't we ride zebras

Why don't we ride zebras
Originally uploaded by smihan13

Here's the intro to my kid's film with professional narration. I still need to have the music composed, but I am close to finishing.

MicroDocs and Comps

Wow time flies. Mark met his deadline of getting the MicroDoc website live. Go to: http://www.stanford.edu/group/microdocs/ and explore the world of corals. As for me, the week of my comps has arrived. I will be studying like mad woman this week. I have taken off from Sea Studios so I can focus. I will get three theory questions on Friday. I have until Monday to answer them in the most verbose way as possible. I will have to reference who knows how many of the 50 books, 50 articles, and 50 documentaries.

I am looking forward to getting to watch something entertaining again. In the last couple weeks I have watched:

Primary (one of first films with portable sync sound about JFK and Hubert Humphrey's Primary)
-Why we Fight (propaganda film about Russia)
-3 Errol Morris films (one about a pet cemetery, one about bumpkins in Florida, and one about a man possibly being falsely accused of murder)
-2 films on Bob Dillon
-9/11 (shot from inside the towers)
-Man with a Movie Camera (experimental film commenting on true cinema)
-Silverlake Life (a film about two men dying of aids)
-4 Mark Lewis films (one on rat natural history and the other three on cow, cat, and ferret breeders)
-Ghosts of the Abyss (Titanic documentary)
-Microcosmos (macro cinematography of bugs)
-Winky Dink and You (first interactive TV show)
-This is Spinal Tap (mockumentary on a fake band)
-Battle of Algiers (fiction film based on the Algerian Independence shot documentary style)
-Sweetback's Baaad Assss Song (not sure why I had to watch this. It was a fiction film about a black man in the sex industry who shot a cop and was hunted by the man. Apparently, it was the first 'blaxploitation' film. It was made and distributed with wide success without the help of white Hollywood. You tell me, what does this have to do with science and natural history filmmaking?)
-Animlas: Friend of Food (film about an idealist new farmer who wants to raise, love, kill, and eat his animals. He kills a bunny, lamb, and pig. But he can't bring himself to kill the cow. So he decides that he can't give up meat, but he cannot personally kill the animals either. So he sends the cow to the slaughter house.)
-Hearts and Minds (documentary on the Vietnam War)

Don't vote.

I really like this video because of the reverse psychology and psuedo interactivity. Hopefully this video will reach a few people who thought they shouldn't bother to vote.

Governor Palin

Just watched the VP debates. I am truly frightened. Sarah Palin came across not as crazy (as she really is). I wish she would have shown her true stripes. And I wish I could have her advisors helping me study for my comps. I would absolutely ace my comps if I had a team of wanky researchers researching every possible response to possible theory questions.

I thought Biden did well enough. He's good on climate and on foreign policy. But he isn't cute enough for the average super conservative.

But tonight, I found out my neighbors, who were pro Hillary and who have alternative lifestylesare are now pro Palin/McCain. Very scary. Sorry to bring politics into my blog. But if McCain wins the election, then dies, then Sarah Palin would become president. She would bring her religion and naivety full front and center. Say goodbye to science education and to a woman's right to choose. Let's not even begin to think about the countries we would continue to alienate and countries she (we) could possibly nuke (and be nuked by). Very, very scary. Do we really want someone who has a hand on the controls who believes dinosaurs walked the earth with humans 6000 years ago? I say, HELL NO. Please, please HELL NO.

Here's a few new media clips I have enjoyed over the last weeks.

The LA Times has confirmed she believes humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time, which is part of the young earth creationism belief that the planet is approximately 6,000 years old. (See Related Links for the article.) For someone who believes the planet was created 6 or even 10 thousand years ago, it wouldn't be unreasonable to also believe some dinosaurs still existed 2 to 6 thousand years later.

Quote from LA Times: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_Sarah_Palin_believe_that_dinosaurs_were_alive_4000_years_ago

Here's the Katie Couric interview:

(look at the interview about 2 minutes in).

Saturday Night Live sketch...youtube (the powers that be) won't let me imbed the clip. Please copy and paste this link below into a new window:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ) It's frightening how the Saturday Night Live sketch is almost word for word..

Here's a great clip of what a Sarah Palin sitcom would look like:
College Humor's "Head of Skate Clip"