Dare to be Boring

A friend the other sent a planetarium program he had written and produced on DVD .. I praised it, but he responded .. it was a bit boring, I'll do better next time. But shouldn't.. mustn't education be at least a LITTLE boring? Can education always be riveting?

If we accept education and entertainment as one in the same, boring is a problem. But reality all too often IS boring, and if we as planetarium builders arent a little geeky, we probably are in denial. Perhaps its time to embrace a little bit of our inner geek, and dare to be boring sometimes. Will this not lend a little dignity to the proceedings? Make clear this is education too, not just thrill a minute.

Include some arcane details in your show .. not too much, but for those present who are looking for deeper waters, an invitation to dive in cannot be such a bad thing.

Console-ation or the Odd Ballet

To console is to make feel better - and I'm definitely needing some consolation in my home planetarium as my first show laboriously comes together - an hour to write and 5 years to produce! To wit - I dont have a console .. a control console, a place where all my switches may be conveniently switched. Surely this is universal in live performance - how do they see in orchestra pits. behind stages .. in the dark... but surely all their dimmers and faders and such are marching in glowing rows in front of them, ripe for the tweaking.

Not so the home planetarium such as me. For each effect - from the star projector on down .. has been home built. Some are electric .. some battery .. and they are mounted everywhere. Some are in the center on the projector support, where they hang like my parakeets to the side of their cage .. others are off to the side, precarious and hopefully pointed to where they will need to show a ghostly Orion etc .. some are not mounted at all - they will need to be grabbed by me at the opportune moment

And where are those switches? Some are on the side of duct taped flashlights .. one is inside a blackened tin can .. commercial laser levelers have tiny switches on the bottom.. some are knife switches .. some are 50's vintage variacs .. at points in my show I must reach in between five other effects to flip on a power strip which the whole star cylinder rotates upon ..

Is it any wonder the creation of these things took X time, now the placement is taking Y time, and then the actual smooth operation will take Z time. X plus Y plus Z = ?

So the next time we admire modern commercial anythings, let us take a moment to admire that organizing console - or better still, that remote control .. every at our fingertips.

I dont have console-ation.. rather I will be performing a rather odd ballet in the dark. Excuse me, for I must go now .. its time to hit the next switch .. and its way in ............. HERE ...