Friday, January 15, 2010

Creation - The Movie

UPDATE:
On Saturday January 23, the Landmark E Street theater will host a discussion--after the 7:30pm show--featuring Toni Van Pelt, Director of Public Policy for the Center for Inquiry. The Center promotes science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. CFIDC.org
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"Creation", the new film about Darwin starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, premieres on Friday, January 22, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, DC.

The movie is based on "Annie's Box" ("Creation: Darwin, His Daughter & Human Evolution" in the U.S.), written by Randal Keynes, Darwin's great-great-grandson. As you can imagine, creationists are already starting to huff and puff about the film. But as NCSE's Genie Scott notes, "Creation" is a "thoughtful, well-made film that will change many views of Darwin held by the public--for the better."

Olivia Judson, in the New York Times, adds: "Too often, Darwin is depicted as a kind of fossil: an old man with a huge beard looking as though he’s 350. It’s refreshing to see him looking young and handsome...more to the point, Bettany shows Darwin as a man rather than icon, imbuing him with life and love, gentleness and anxiety, tears and laughter. This alone makes it an important film."

Author Randal Keynes sums up his great-great-grandfather: "[Darwin's] love for his wife; his observations of his children; his friendships with gardeners, schoolteachers and pigeon fanciers; his fears about death, revolution, bankruptcy, inbreeding...all these things found their way into his theory. He was the most inclusive of thinkers."

"Creation" opens on Jan 22 at the Landmark's E Street Cinema,
555 11th St NW, Washington, DC

For more info about the movie, trailers, schedules, etc., check:

The official site
www.creationthemovie.com

The Facebook page
www.facebook.com/pages/CREATION-The-Movie/39212784860

The Twitter feed
twitter.com/Creation_Movie

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Go Green: Switch Off the Shadow Light

Starting in September 2010, NCAS stopped mailing a paper version of our Shadow of a Doubt monthly calendar of events and articles. At the same time, the Shadow Light postcard was developed as a comparatively low-cost method for announcing to members and contacts the release of each new Shadow of a Doubt as posted at ncas.org and e-mailed to addresses on file.

Shadow Light recipients are invited to help NCAS "go green" by opting out of postal notification entirely. Switch off Shadow Light by e-mailing your name and postal address to ncas@ncas.org with subject line "NCAS Go Green." You'll receive each new Shadow of a Doubt and other NCAS notices in your e-mail inbox.

Non-members can receive the Shadow of a Doubt by subscribing to the NCAS-Announce e-mail list here.