Overwalked

[alexsarll]

So, in a clear effort to confound the suggestion that Final Crisis is just a bloated and less compelling rewrite of his own JLA: Rock of Ages, it was nice to see Grant Morrison introducing a machine which makes thoughts into things, just like the Worlogog! And having Batman take Darkseid down before dying was only slightly less cool the second time around. Really - he's better than this, and he must know that.
Also in comics this week (and last, I missed a pick-up):
- delightful Anglophile teen comedy Blue Monday finally returns! Hoorah!
- Warren Ellis makes an ill-advised attempt to tie Doktor Sleepless to Freakangels!
- Pete Wisdom kills furries!

The Natural History museum is far too interactive and accessible nowadays. If I want a moving, roaring dinosaur, I shall go to a theme park, and for all that I respect Zoids and Grimlock, they do not belong in the dinosaur room of a major museum.
The glyptodon (it's an armadillo the size of a small car!), the strokeable meteoric iron and some of the loopier gem formations are still lovely, though.

Comments

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

Ha! Charley and miriam laughed at me when I turned my nose up at the stupid interactive bit of the tate last week. Fucking kids and their need to touch and be stimulated. Fuck off! Get an imagination! Think! All those grubby fingers on laminated plastics. Ew.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I don't mind if it's proper interactive art - and indeed, a lot of my problem with the Turbine Hall installations is that they're seldom as interactive as they try to appear. But yeah, buttons for kids to press - those belong in the Science Museum, where they can do some actual teaching, but until such time as there are cloned dinosaurs you can interactively prod into fighting each other, not in the Natural History. And even then, South Ken might not be the best place for it.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

But but I like the interactive bits! Did you do the Cildo Meireles exhibition? That had some great interactive bits. Not so much laminated plastics though.

[renegadechic.livejournal.com]

a slightly connected geeky aside, and you probably arent that interested, but theyre making a "masterpiece" Grimlock now! it looks awesome and is obviously bigger but loook





i might have to get it... though i still need to get the masterpiece megatron and starscream to go with my optimus...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

See, clearly that is Cool As, and if I had more money and space I would want one myself - but none of that means it would belong in the Natural History Museum!

[sbp.livejournal.com]

A giant robot dinosaur, yesterday.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

This is not just any giant robot dinosaur, this is M&S robot dinosaur motherfrakking GRIMLOCK!
I used to think he was so cool. Still do, when the matter arises, I just don't think about it quite so much nowadays.

[renegadechic.livejournal.com]

grimlock is actually even cooler these days. the last 5 or so years of transformers comics have really moved grimlock away from the dimwitted friend of daniel witwicky to complete and utter badass rebel. i love what simon furman has been doing in the IDW transformers universe.

hmmm that reminds me i need to order a few more back issues and catch up the last 4 or 5 months.

[stu-n.livejournal.com]

I've just finished this — very good, and I think you'd approve of the descriptions of how the Natural History Museum used to be.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I got a copy for my birthday, and it's a very likely candidate for next book once I finally finish The Worm Ouroboros.

[stu-n.livejournal.com]

The bits about the barmy old scientists are brilliant.

[obsessive-katy.livejournal.com]

I have a similar problem with the Natural History Museum. As an adult, it's very easy to feel as though you can't get involved without a child attached to you.

And given that I've seen plenty of kids get excited about the taxidermy section of the Horniman, I'm not entirely certain that all those buttons are necessary...

xx

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Exactly! We were better than that as children, and must assume today's children are too. Conversely, if today's children are not as good as us, then to Hell with them - let them hang around on street corners like they'd prefer, and give us license to hunt them with hounds.

[stu-n.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I would have thought the moving dinosaurs were way cool when I was a kid, even though I did like the old-style fossil galleries. The whale gallery is still ace, though.

[obsessive-katy.livejournal.com]

I went to the dinosaurs when they first opened, I think. Iwas terrified by them, even the walk down the corridor towards them hearing them roar gave me the frights.

xx

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The problem is, as kids the best special effects we'd seen were Ray Harryhausen. Whereas now, if it's not at least as good as Primeval, it just looks crappy.

[obsessive-katy.livejournal.com]

I think that there is a definite place for interactivity, but it's often over used which just encourages young kids to go from station to station pressing things without taking any of it in.

Man, I'd love to design exhibitions.

xx

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Yay more Blue Monday! One of my faves.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad, because after Strange Town vanised into the ether with only one issue published, Chynna seemed to go very quiet for a while.

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

Tarkus lives!

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

The Darwin exhibition doesnt have any interactives. But it does have a strokeable Glyptodon cast.

But without interactives how else would you try and explain Mendelian inheritance? The problem is not that the interactives exist, but that the specimens take second place to the interactives. It isn't exclusive to the NHM either. Dr Vector notes that the same thing is rtue in many other museums.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Oh, for sure, I just haven't been to many recently that aren't the British or Sir John Soane's, where decorum still reigns.
I didn't go in the Darwin exhibition, but did look at the shop, and was disappointed there were no confrontationally anti-creationist badges to be seen.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Well the exhibit itself is completely dismissive of creationism and intelligent design, but the museum obviously has to remain neutral on as much as it possibly can outside of science. It only has two public statements about anything controversial- Climate Change and Evolution.

[boxcat.livejournal.com]

It's a sad state of affairs when Evolution is regarded by some as controversial.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Well its only regarded as controversial by people with a either a fairly extreme religious viewpoint, or who are just plain ignorant.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Exactly - so why do public bodies make any concessions to them, when they should be treating them with, at best, bemused contempt?

[toriar.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It was not even an issue until a very few years ago. I blame Channel 4 showing documentaries about crazy American religious fundamentalists by way of a modern visit to Bedlam, and also Christian Voice in this country being given airtime due to the news media having to be seen to be strictly impartial. (I don't think Christian Voice would exist were it not for this policy, in fact.) All very noble, but in some cases it creates the ridiculous impression that there's a large body of people with a valid opposing argument, when in fact there are about 12 loonies with a loudhailer.

I don't think I'd ever heard a person say they weren't convinced by evolution until about 10 years ago, when a religious fundamentalist who would offer to 'speak to someone he knew who could help you with that' when your car broke down, moved into a house I shared as a student. He also told me my gingerbread men were symbolic of pagans eating babies. I promise you we treated him with bemused contempt. Plus he didn't get any gingerbread men off me, either.