“He’s got a bucket of crotch-flavored popcorn.”¹

Geek Out

Let’s all go to the movies. And get ourselves some snacks! The Tribeca Film Festival is underway, and the festival’s database programmers have taken the novel approach of organizing films on their website by “mood.” Two offerings on the “Brainy” mood page jump out as appealing options.

There’s a timely screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey on Sunday at 3:00. The movie will be followed by a panel moderated by NPR Science Friday host Ira Flatow, and will include:

• Buzz Aldrin
• Contact screenwriter Ann Druyan
• MIT artificial intelligence expert Marvin Minksy
• Matthew Modine, for some reason

So if you’ve ever wondered what Matthew Modine thinks of this science-fiction classic, here’s your chance, I guess.

Moving on, the most exciting new film on the schedule for me is Fermat’s Room:

The walls are closing in — literally — on four brainiac mathematicians with shadowy pasts in this übertense debut. … Each has been invited by the mysterious Fermat to a sort of salon for riddle freaks, where they will try to solve an assuredly grand enigma.

I was sold halfway through the first sentence, as I’m a sucker for any movie about mathematicians. Hopefully the film will be heavy on the math and riddles, although the mention in the synopsis of Oliva, “a brilliant but hardheaded hottie,” gives me some pause. (I still hold a grudge against the makers of Enigma for turning the exciting tale of the Bletchley Park codebreakers into a lifeless love story.) Fermat’s Room shows tonight, Saturday, and throughout next week.

Get bent. Speaking of festivals, the NYC Bent Festival 2008 is also in full swing, with a concert tonight starting at 7:00 and workshops throughout the day tomorrow. If you’re not familiar, circuit bending is the art of using electronic hacks to create novel new sounds—along the lines of a theremin, but a couple orders of magnitude more complex. Circuit benders use/abuse synthesizers, toys, pretty much anything electronic that makes noise. Even TVs—Ed Bear’s Intro to Video Bending at 3:00 tomorrow will show you how:

The disappearing vocabulary of analog video is at once the signature of the 20th century and a powerful tool for recording, performance, and learning. A basic understanding of the video signal turns any television into an oscilloscope and all electronics into potential audio-visual instruments.

All the fun happens at DCTV on 80 Lafayette St.

Geek In

Get in the hole. This week’s game recommendation is inspired by some fan email I received while away:

DEAR SIRS I WOULD LIKE TO ORDER SOME WII GOLF DISKS FOR MY WIFE AND I TO PLAY ON NINTENDO WII.  I ONLY HAVE ONE THAT CAME WITH MY CONSOLE.  WE LOVE PLAYING GOLF AND WOULD LIKE MORE COURSES.  PLEASE ADVISE SO I MAY ORDER   THANK YOU ROBERT

Great question, Robert, and thanks for your loyal readership. I only sell Wii golf disks to exiled Nigerian princes, but I can tell you about another golf game you might enjoy. I whiled away long flights on my recent trip by revisiting my favorite PSP disc, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee. I find the mechanics tighter than the also-enjoyable PlayStation games in the series (although I haven’t played HSG: Out of Bounds yet). If you can get ahold of the Japanese Open Tee sequel, a task that should pose no challenge to a man of your Internet shopping acumen, snap it up.