Takei's Target Audience

George Takei, an American actor / activist perhaps most famous as "Sulu" from Star Trek, inadvertently let slip a fantastic bit of advice to Terry Gross on Fresh Air (emphasis mine):

Takei: outreach specialist, helmsman

"I've been on speaking tours advocating for equality for the LGBT community. But what we noticed was I was already talking to the converted — either LGBT people or allies — and what we needed to do was reach what I maintain is the decent, fair-minded, vast middle — people who are busy pursuing their lives and don't stop to think about other issues."

Just replace "equality for the LGBT community" with "chemistry for the general public," and you stumble on a very familiar problem in the blogosphere; communication to that "vast middle" is something we ponder every day.

WWWTP? Goes to the Movies

Source: Samuel Goldwyn Pictures

Better Living Through Chemistry, an upcoming indie film, has garnered a bit of buzz for its all-star cast (Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Ray Liotta, Jane Fonda) and its somewhat unconventional focus: the leading man plays a drug-addled pharmacist. Apparently, in a post-Breaking Bad world, we chemists can claim top billing only when we're busily breaking the law.

I'm sure that the title alone causes old DuPont ad execs to roll over in their marbled graves.

For you chemists in the audience, there's yet a better treat. Check out the promo poster (right). Credit, I suppose, goes to some graphical artist at Samuel Goldwyn for sticking the actors' faces inside modified Haworth projections, and for attempting to use wedges and dashed lines to lend some stereochemical flavor.

But yikes, the doodles! There's random "CH2" and "N2O" groups hanging out in space, a scrawled-out "atom" with a heart as a valence electron (cute), and even some sort of equation at the bottom, in which, apparently, (CH2 + CH3) / (CH2 + CH3) = LOVE.

The tagline for this wild pharmaceutical romp?
"Happiness Has No Formula."

Grab your popcorn, kids.

#ChemMovieCarnival: Take Two!

(Missed the first act? Click here!)

We're on location, tracking down the best (and worst) in cinematic chemistry.
What have our chemists-cum-scriptwriters come up with today?

10. First, Vinylogous over at Not The Lab visits 1971, learning all he can from a snooty science teacher more interested in nitric acid 'wart remover' than proper pedagogy. H-O-H, indeed!
Film: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

11. Vulcans bleed green; the Predator's blood glows in the dark. If you've ever wondered why all these aliens circulate such odd visceral hues, ScienceGeist has the explanation. Trimeric copper complexes? Yes, please!
Films: Star Trek, Predator, Avatar, Alien

12. Andre the Chemist storms back into the ring for another round. This time, he considers chemical "Rosetta Stones" - does our scientific notation only make sense to us? And where does the Enterprise store all those extra atoms for the replicator?
TV Show: Star Trek: TNG, Futurama
Film: Contact

13. Superma, err, Stu Cantrill, flies around Earth beyond the speed of light, all the way back to 1983. There, he meets Richard Pryor, who computes the precise elemental make-up of Kryptonite. Who knew there'd be that much dialium? DANGER!
Film: Superman III

14. At Kentucky Chemistry, N. Tesla opines on the oft-utilized plot device of lit cigarettes creating fireballs from gasoline vapors. Please don't try this at home; peer-reviewed pyrolysis research (!) suggests it's pretty tough, and Tesla's home experiments (!!!) seem to corroborate.
Film: Zoolander

15. Next, Trends In Science's Marcel Swart reviews the emotional chemistry found in a personal cinematic favorite. Lead character Tita cooks with some decidedly 'non-traditional' ingredients: catalyic tears, sensual rose petals, and fiery match-heads.
Film: Como Agua Para Chocolate

16. Over at Wired, plucky Deborah Blum picks apart the highly suspect "HCN disfigurement" scene from the recent James Bond flick, much to her son's chagrin. Who knew spies used to carry around poisonous eyeglasses?
Film: Skyfall

It's still not too late...submit those Chem Movie Carnival entries before Monday! Send to seearroh_AT_gmail, or @seearroh on Twitter. Hashtag: #ChemMovieCarnival. See you at the movies!

Blog Carnival: Chemistry at the Movies

Ready to give your Oscar speech?

"Do you like apples?"
I just deduced the (incorrect) structure of ibogamine
on a napkin without using a spectrometer.
How do you like those apples?

Dust off the black-tie evening wear and rent that limo, because in two weeks we'll be hosting another blog carnival, called "Chemistry at the Movies." 

Why the theme?* A few weeks back, Dr. Rubidium, CJ, and I recorded a podcast which dove into our favorite chemistry-inspired movie moments. We quickly realized that there were simply too many to recount, and we should encourage a wider audience to play along.

We'll schedule the posts to appear in ~2 weeks (4/15-4/19), which will provide a good warm-up to get excited for #RealTimeChem week (4/22). 

Ground Rules:

1. The 'chemistry moment' should come from an actual movie or other recording (TV, YouTube, etc). No magazine ads, books, or Internet memes this time around.

2. Please try to write something new; no fair recycling an old post from another carnival. 

3. Whenever possible, use visuals: pictures, diagrams, structures, or short clips are encouraged. If you want to stage a re-enactment of a famous movie scene, I won't stop you...

When you're done, you can either post on your blog and I'll link to it (preferred), or I'll take entries by email (seearroh_AT_gmail_DOT_com) and post them on Just Like Cooking. If you've posted something, send me a line at @seearroh or use the hashtag #ChemMovieCarnival.

Anyone interested in chemistry and writing can participate. We want to hear from new bloggers and old salts alike. 

See you at the movies!

*On a sadder note, the carnival also serves to commemorate the passing of long-time film critic Roger Ebert, who died yesterday at age 70. RIP