From bubbling beakers to lightning striking clock towers, science has long played a role in our movies and television. ("It's alive! Aliiive!" is still one of the best science-fiction-y lines ever.)
But leaping from monster building to idea building in entertainment takes bravado, smarts, and guts, and the Independent Investigations Group seeks to spotlight those people who go into the lab, into the workshop, into the realm of formulas and equations to add a bit of intelligence to our pop culture.
And they're doing it with a big awards show. A bunch of comedians are hosting, including Kathleen Madigan and Frank Conniff, and the honorees are big: Bill Maher, Amanda Peet, the Mythbusters. Do you kind of adore those two bespectacled, beguiling Discovery Channel guys? We kind of do, especially when they're tying mannequins to balloons and dunking them underwater. And there's baking soda and ping pong balls, um, filling up another mannequin, nearby. And we're engrossed.
Not sure who will show and who won't, but for scientists, science groupees, and people who like a strong line of reasoning in their popcorn-y fun, we suggest getting to the Steve Allen on Monday night, May 18. Pocket protectors are de rigeur, of course.
And while we actively try to incorporate at least one "Back to the Future" reference -- see lightning striking clock towers above -- every single day, because it just makes life better, we just realized this is actually our second. Which means it will probably be a really rocking day. Can you hear Huey Lewis singing about the power of love? We can.
