Comments on: What Carl Sagan means to me http://www.geebobg.com/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/ Americlecticintellectica Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:28:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: gee bobg » Blog Archive » Atheism, the final frontier http://www.geebobg.com/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/#comment-168 gee bobg » Blog Archive » Atheism, the final frontier Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:34:19 +0000 http://www.emphatic.com/bobg/wordpress/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/#comment-168 [...] Yet, even as science is central to the American experience, it gets short shrift in popular culture. Often marginalized, occasionally trashed, seldom if ever was it celebrated properly — until Star Trek. The accomplishment of Star Trek, and the true source of its enduring appeal, was its portrayal of a future in which adventure and romance go hand in hand with rationality — or, as one like-minded fan commented recently, It isn’t Star Trek’s “optimism” that made it great. It’s the idea that in the future the Carl Sagans of the universe will be in charge and successfully run society on the principles of secular humanism and science while the George Bush and Dick Cheneys of the universe are Klingons. Star Trek is about the promise of a new Enlightenment […] [...] [...] Yet, even as science is central to the American experience, it gets short shrift in popular culture. Often marginalized, occasionally trashed, seldom if ever was it celebrated properly — until Star Trek. The accomplishment of Star Trek, and the true source of its enduring appeal, was its portrayal of a future in which adventure and romance go hand in hand with rationality — or, as one like-minded fan commented recently, It isn’t Star Trek’s “optimism” that made it great. It’s the idea that in the future the Carl Sagans of the universe will be in charge and successfully run society on the principles of secular humanism and science while the George Bush and Dick Cheneys of the universe are Klingons. Star Trek is about the promise of a new Enlightenment […] [...]

]]> By: bobg http://www.geebobg.com/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/#comment-146 bobg Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:56:37 +0000 http://www.emphatic.com/bobg/wordpress/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/#comment-146 Before more Vangelis fans gang up on me, I should aver: Vangelis is a genius, his music is sublime, etc. "Cheesy new-age music" was just one of several things contributing to a disappointing first impression. For a highly conventional middle-class family in Queens in 1980 with somewhat limited cultural exposure, the music was a little too out-there and touchy-feely for our tastes; it sounded like something out of California, about which we third-generation New Yorkers were naturally suspicious. As I wrote, though, that disappointing first impression was very short-lived, of Cosmos as a whole but also of Vangelis's music. Heck, a couple of years later I was the proud owner of the <i>Blade Runner</i> soundtrack. And in the quarter-century since, our horizons have all broadened by a factor of bill-yuns and bill-yuns. Before more Vangelis fans gang up on me, I should aver: Vangelis is a genius, his music is sublime, etc. “Cheesy new-age music” was just one of several things contributing to a disappointing first impression. For a highly conventional middle-class family in Queens in 1980 with somewhat limited cultural exposure, the music was a little too out-there and touchy-feely for our tastes; it sounded like something out of California, about which we third-generation New Yorkers were naturally suspicious. As I wrote, though, that disappointing first impression was very short-lived, of Cosmos as a whole but also of Vangelis’s music. Heck, a couple of years later I was the proud owner of the Blade Runner soundtrack. And in the quarter-century since, our horizons have all broadened by a factor of bill-yuns and bill-yuns.

]]> By: dkuznick http://www.geebobg.com/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/#comment-145 dkuznick Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:36:16 +0000 http://www.emphatic.com/bobg/wordpress/2006/12/20/what-carl-sagan-means-to-me/#comment-145 Cheesy new-age music? One of the themes is from the Movement 3 of Vangelis' "Heaven and Hell" album. You should hear the whole thing; it's fabulous. And the "Hell" part is pretty far from cheesy. Also parts of his superb "Albedo 0.39" album (Pulstar and Alpha I think) were used in Cosmos as well, as well as other albums. http://www.vangelismovements.com/cosmos.htm Cheesy new-age music? One of the themes is from the Movement 3 of Vangelis’ “Heaven and Hell” album. You should hear the whole thing; it’s fabulous. And the “Hell” part is pretty far from cheesy. Also parts of his superb “Albedo 0.39″ album (Pulstar and Alpha I think) were used in Cosmos as well, as well as other albums.

http://www.vangelismovements.com/cosmos.htm

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