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Natalie Portman - Scientist

nytimes.com

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Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#31

Post by RiderOfGiraffes »

eru wrote: post #26
RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do so desperately want a small walk-on part in a film with Kevin Bacon to get an Erdős–Bacon number of 3. I know, I know, it's hardly a worthy ambition. But still.

Have you tried asking him? A hand-written letter might just work.

I yet may do just that. I have, at various times, had speculative versions running around in my head.

Recently a good colleague of mine died very suddenly. I realised that there was so much I had wanted to ask him about, and never got the chance. Last year I got to spend an afternoon with one of my childhood - and adulthood - heroes. That was just 2 months before he died.

If you put up a piece of A0 paper marked off in centimeter squares, and I marked them off one per day, there's a very good chance I wouldn't cross them all off before I die. I'm starting to think of some of the things I want to do for me, as well as the things I want to leave for others.

Maybe I should write to Kevin Bacon.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#33

Post by Anechoic »

jhamburger wrote: post #16
Anechoic wrote: post #8

He's not mentioned in the article, but Dylan Bruno from Numb3rs is an MIT grad (we both played on the football team) and, coincidentally, acted in a movie opposite Ms. Portman :) Woodie Flowers always used to say that we need an "LA Engineer" (a play on "LA Law for you younger folks) to bring science and engineering into the mainstream. I always cringe at shows like Big Bang Theory that portray smart folks as sociall…

Popular entertainment has tons of smart, cool people- Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab. How many times do you see a 'mission impossible' type hero who goes around kicking ass for most of the movie but suddenly turns into a hacker when he gets to a computer terminal?

Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab

That's just it - the folks that do spend there time on a computer or in a lab (off the top of my head: the goth girl from NCIS, the Law & Order lab techs, Chloe on 24) all have some sort of anti-social nerd personality type.

Why can't there be a computer tech who works hard at his/her job, has a beer after work, watches sports, etc like everyone else?

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#34

Post by jhamburger »

Anechoic wrote: post #33
jhamburger wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Popular entertainment has tons of smart, cool people- Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab. How many times do you see a 'mission impossible' type hero who goes around kicking ass for most of the movie but suddenly turns into a hacker when he gets to a computer terminal?

Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab That's just it - the folks that do spend there time on a computer or in a lab (off the top of my head: the goth girl from NCIS, the Law & Order lab techs, Chloe on 24) all have some sort of anti-social nerd personality type. Why can't there be a computer tech who works hard at his/her job, has a beer after work, watch…

Well if you want the hard truth most of the people I see doing these jobs on TV are actually better looking and less socially awkward than the ones I work with on a daily basis.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#35

Post by poet »

ciupicri wrote: post #28
StudyAnimal wrote: post #9

Come on, she is an actress with a BA in Psychology. Lets have this discussion again when she gets her PhD. Until then, perspective.

I'm more impressed by Dolph Lundgren - an action movie actor - who has a MS in Chemistry and who was studying for a PhD when he decided to become an actor.

Not just a PhD. He had a Fullbright at MIT. You'll find his biography either incredibly inspiring or depressing.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#37

Post by acconrad »

I'm envisioning a Chuck-Norris-esque meme evolving from said article. Personally, I'm much more of a fan of Greg Graffin, frontman of Bad Religion and Evolutionary Biology PhD from Cornell, who also happens to be a faculty member at UCLA: http://www.spotlight.ucla.edu/faculty/greg-gaffin_bad-religi...

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#38

Post by Anechoic »

Anechoic wrote: post #33
jhamburger wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Popular entertainment has tons of smart, cool people- Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab. How many times do you see a 'mission impossible' type hero who goes around kicking ass for most of the movie but suddenly turns into a hacker when he gets to a computer terminal?

Just none of them spend all their time with solitary, sedentary activities on a computer or in a lab That's just it - the folks that do spend there time on a computer or in a lab (off the top of my head: the goth girl from NCIS, the Law & Order lab techs, Chloe on 24) all have some sort of anti-social nerd personality type. Why can't there be a computer tech who works hard at his/her job, has a beer after work, watch…

@jhamburger (I can't reply to your post)

Well sure, but the folks on TV are better looking and less socially awkward across the board than their real-life counterparts.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#39

Post by nhebb »

All right everyone [insert brisk clap-clap], get back to work. Natalie Portman isn't wasting her day wondering about your scientific (or acting) credentials, so you've got better things to do than worry about hers. Go work on your business or some other more fruitful activity.

Re: Natalie Portman - Scientist

#40

Post by tokipin »

one of the reasons i loved Avatar is because the foundation of its universe is relentlessly scientific and natural, on top of which there is spiritual and social goodness

another movie like this that comes to mind is The Incredibles, which despite featuring superheroes has clear respect for physics

i sure wouldn't mind more movies like that. i think there is greater creativity from starting with a rigorous foundation

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