B-cat and I went to our nth Cosmic Night at H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, this time with his science pals. The theme was the science of science fiction, with “science fiction” being the earliest examples of the genre and… Star Wars.
Someone commented after the event that there was too much Star Wars and not enough Star Trek. My interest in sci-fi doesn’t extend far beyond what I grew up on, i.e. late-1800s to mid-1960s fiction and Laputa, so I didn’t know what an X-Wing was and could’ve used less of either Star.
We made origami X-Wings and played beer-less pong, in which A. was the only one uninterested and the only one who won (prize: H.R. Macmillan-logo asteroid stress ball). Then we caught three presentations/shows:
- Half an hour on aliens and exoplanets, in the small theatre
- Over an hour on the early days of science & sci-fi, in the large hall
- An hour on other worlds in the universe, in the planetarium
The first was just a lot of fun; the host joked about “the type of people [conspiracy theorists and kooks] who’d come to an event like this” and the audience laughed knowingly, confident they weren’t the weirdos described…
The organisers would’ve been pleased with B-cat and A. (a computer scientist), though, for chatting up other guests about moon rocks and radio signals like well-adjusted adults. R. (who’d worked for Microsoft) and I, uncomfortable speaking to/bothering strangers, snuck into the cheese and meat instead.
We skipped the trivia contest to hear UBC’s Dr. Jaymie Matthews, who wore a large plastic banana around his neck and prepared more material than time allowed. Fascinating stuff, lots of Orwell. The planetarium show was narrated live this time and thus not as organised or artistic as Black Holes.
At the end, B-cat piled leftovers on a plate and then passed it to me because of his injuries/crutches. I was standing there with my hands full of stolen cheese when A. drew over a staff member (who, to be clear, said we could take as much as we wanted). Now you know whom not to recruit for a heist.
See the Seven Wonders show, with a lecture by a UBC archaeology prof, at the Space Centre on October 21.
canadian catbox 