Friday, November 11, 2011

At the Round Earth’s Imagin’d Corners

 

2011 appears to be a great year for the notion of the sudden appearance of another planet in the night sky, at least as far as the cinema-scape is concerned.  Lars von Trier’s Melancholia opens today in theaters, the narrative of which “…revolves around two sisters during and shortly after the wedding party of one of them, while Earth is about to collide with an approaching rogue planet.” (via Wikepedia)

I’m pretty sure this will clobber the competition for best comedy of the year … … …

 

Earlier this summer another movie, this time focusing on the appearance of not just a rogue planet but another Earth itself, was released.  The aptly titled Another Earth follows the story of “…Rhoda Williams, a bright young woman accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program [who] aspires to explore the cosmos.  A brilliant composer, John Burroughs, has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child.  On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined.” (via the films homepage).

 

So you’ve got your rogue planet and you’ve even got your parallel Earth… but let’s take it a step further, shall we?  Last week NOVA began a new four part series, The Fabric of the Cosmos, based on (and hosted by) the work of acclaimed astrophysicist Brian Green. In the summation of the first episode, which focuses more specifically on the notion of space itself, the scientists delve into a new theory about black holes and the notion that perhaps our Earth is merely the projection of an astral hologram, a universal imprint on the edges of a black hole.  I’ve embeded the video to start at the relevant time but watch the whole episode if you’ve got an hour to kill!

Mind = BLOWN!

 

Artist: Benjamin Britten / Album: Holy Sonnets

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