At the Exploratorium

October Sky, Featuring Screenwriter Lewis Collick Sunday, April 17, McBean Theater at 1 p.m. Bottle Blaster Rocket Workshop Screening, Noon-1 p.m.

Published: April, 2005

It’s the International Year of Physics 2005 and the Exploratorium film program screens October Sky, and features its screenwriter, Lewis Collick, in person. Set in 1957, October Sky recounts the story of Homer Hickam, Jr., a coalminer’s son whose young life and career is changed forever by seeing the world’s first manmade satellite, Sputnik, cross the October sky above Coalwood, West Virginia, when he is a boy. A Bottle Blaster Rocket Workshop precedes the screening, from noon to 1p.m. A Bottle Blaster Rocket is a foam rocket launched by the force of air that is the energy that propels the rocket up to 200 feet. The film and associated events are free with museum admission.
 
Exploring Homemade Films, Music, and Instruments
Experimental Films and Live Music by The Goat Family
Wednesday, April 13, Mcbean Theater, 7:30 p.m.

 
Former San Francisco filmmaker Michael Rosas-Walsh returns from Alaska to screen new experimental work with live accompaniment by The Goat Family, a social jug band of local filmmakers. Films by Robert Nelson, Rock Ross, and Thad Povey will also be included in a celebratory evening of movies and music featuring traditional and homemade instruments that include spoons, saws, washboards, gourds, washtub bass, a banjo, penny whistles, harmonica, kazoo, and a steel six string guitar.
 

Explore the Waters of the Palace of Fine Arts Lagoon
Saturday, April 2, Pond Projector Workshop, Noon and 2 p.m.


Roll up your sleeves and explore the waters of the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon. Find out for yourself how much life is contained in a single drop of water.
 

Living Bacterial Art: Winogradsky Column Workshop
Sunday, April 3, Noon and 2 p.m.

 
Working with mud freshly harvested from the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon, participants will have a chance to create beautiful columns of living, microbial art.
 

Physics of Toys
Green Gadgets for a Blue Planet
Saturday, April 16, Noon–4 p.m.

 
Explore and make gadgets that help keep the Earth beautiful.
 
The Exploratorium is located at 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA 94123.Telephone: (415) 561-0363; Fax: (415) 561-0307; E-mail: indad@exploratorium.edu.