There goes Jim Kakalios, the University of Minnesota’s official consultant to big Hollywood movies. He got recruited to add math to the new Spiderman movie.
This is good news! Less of that silly CGI web-swinging, and more chalkboards full of equations…that’s a good movie!
Much like Dembski, hired to add math to an old myth at Bible colleges.
Glen Davidson
Ohhhh, will we get to giggle when other theater-goers are scratching their heads at the Schrodinger equation?
Haha, they wanted the equation to be “visually complex.”
Those darn mathematicians blackboards…..never as impressive in real life as the movies.
But is the movie any good? It has all the markers of a horrible, horrible movie.
skepticalmath,
I’ve seen quite impressive specimens in RL. The best one had writing in 5 different colors on top of each other (changing color is quicker than erasing) and drawings of manifolds in between.
Hey doesn’t Jennifer Ouellette lead this company in LA who are providing scientists for the movie industry?
Current reviews and buzz about it are good.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_amazing_spider_man/
The preview scenes I’ve seen I am pleased with for setting the mood closer to what people might expect from Lee/Ditko’s early comics while cleaning up the setting/dialogue to movie/modern standards. Parker is returned to being a snarky reckless rebel and the visual direction seems to emphasize the speed/supernatural way Spiderman moves.
@myself #6,
oh yes, and it’s even thee same company!
@5 — oh sure. It just amused me that, as always (and not necessarily unjustifiably so), appearance is everything in film: they asked for an equation, got it, and then wanted it to *look different*.
I just hope that Peter Parker actually invents his webbing as he is supposed to – instead of it magically coming out of his wrists of all places.
Having seen seen a preview at the cinema, in a particularly aggressive 3D which was like having the director constantly punch me in the face while yelling “LOOK AT ALL THIS SHIT COMING AT YER! LOOK AT IT!!“, I assume that after the equation is written on the blackboard, the chalk is hurled at the audience. And then the board inexplicably explodes into jagged shards.
I feel kind of cheated. All the effect I ever get out of my blackboard calculations is a high screeching noise.
markd555 @10–Yes, he does invent his web-shooters–saw a bit of it in one of the trailers.
Dude, The Physics of Superheroes is like the bible to me! Except, you know, the stuff in it is actually true.
“a series of budget cuts has reduced the number of cops on the beat..” I see what you did there, you pro-science, non God-trusting librul.
What’s so facepalm about the equation not looking impressive enough is that real physicists prefer the equations to be simpler, if possible.