From: rx1@athena.mit.edu (Stanley H Thompson)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: Review of the premiere of "A Brief History of Time"
Date: 18 Aug 92 18:32:30 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In article <l90dnhINNjfk@news.bbn.com> ahsiung@labs-n.bbn.com (Anita Hsiung) writes:
>On Saturday evening, Cal Tech and The Planetary Society presented the
>world premiere of the film version of Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief
>History of Time".  Beckman Auditorium was filled to capacity and
>overflowing when Hawking arrived a few minutes late, but that's what
>happens when "theoretical physicists talk about time", according to
>Louis Friedman, chairman of the Society.
>
>As Hawking made his way up the aisle, there was a reverential silence
>in the auditorium.  The silence continued as he rode up the stage and
>turned around, at which point the place erupted in applause.  It took
>several minutes before Hawking's first sentence.  He uses a
>synthesized voice that speaks in a Continental accent.  Hawking was
>very funny, talking about how he had wanted his book to be amenable to
>the general public, to "sell at airport book stands".  He said his
>publishers suspect that while people may have bought the 6 million
>books sold worldwide, they may not have read them!  He may well be the
>most successful unread author ever.  (This brought on a big laugh.)
>
>He praised the movie, directed by Errol Morris, whose last big project
>was "The Thin Blue Line".  Hawking finished by saying that he thinks
>his mother is the actual star of the film.
>
>The film itself was very good.  The beginning scenes are wonderful,
>you have to see it to know what I mean.  Morris did a good job of not
>sensationalizing Hawking's physical deterioration, just a factual,
>honest presentation.  Different people from Hawking's life are
>interviewed, with lots of scenes given to his mother, sister, friends
>from Oxford, fellow physicists.  He narrates the rest himself.  Camera
>work in Hawking's office was fantastic, bringing out the world in
>which Hawking lives.  Music was by Philip Glass, with wonderful, deep,
>chords and very appropriate.
>
>There was a too much of Hawking's life in the movie, though.  I would
>have liked to see more of the book, such as going into more detail
>about _why_ the arrows of time are pointed the way they are (they are
>merely stated briefly), what are the implications of the unbounded
>universe, etc.  He states these facts, but doesn't explain too much.
>
>One very nice thing is that we can hear other physicists describe how
>they came to their discoveries.  Especially interesting is one of
>Hawking's graduate students whom Hawking kept telling to go back and
>recalculate a particular equation.  When Hawking finally admitted "I
>was wrong", everyone laughed.  The interaction between other
>physicists (sorry, I can't remember their names) was very nicely
>presented, funny, but you understand the tension they feel when they
>try to shoot each others' theories down.
>
>Overall, the movie is a good introduction to the book for to those who
>have not read it.  If you have, you may find the movie more
>interesting as a background on Stephen Hawking.  I can't wait for it
>to be released generally.  I don't know how they will do it, maybe
>PBS.  Definitely watch the end credits, they are very creatively done.
>
>	-- Anita --
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Anita Hsiung       | "See how easy life can be?" -- Johnathan Raven     |
>| ahsiung@bbn.com    |                                                    |
>| BBN Canoga Park    | "Someday we'll look back on this moment...and      |
>| California, USA    |  run smack into the car in front of us."  -- Ski   |
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the record (and as I related earlier this summer), a sneak preview of 
"A Brief History of Time" was screened during the Spring 92 term at MIT by the 
Lecture Series Committee.  The film was followed by a question-and-answer/
discussion period with the director. 
								-Stan Thompson
*********
rx1@athena.mit.edu		I'm only an undergraduate- what's your excuse?
thompson@vesta.physics.ucla.edu
*********