Berkshire Eagle Killer Role John Lithgow Soars in His Serial-Killer Role on Showtime, E2
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The Berkshire Eagle Killer role John Lithgow soars in his serial-killer role on Showtime, E2. Life / Arts E Sunday, November 8, 2009 A Berkshire Film Heritage STRANGE BUT TRUE By Bill & Rich Sones What bird flies faster than a jet? Birds aren’t suddenly flying Q:faster than they used to, so how did we just get a new “fastest bird,” looking like “a little magenta fireball dropping out of the sky”? With a new mode of speed A:analysis using not feet or meters per second but body lengths per sec- ond (blps), says Susan Milius in “Science News.” During courtship displays, the male Anna’s hummingbird dives from on high, whizzing past a female so fast his tail feathers chirp in the wind. As he pulls up to avoid crashing, he experi- ences forces greater than nine times the force of gravity, more than any known vertebrate stunt flier outside a cockpit. When zoologist Chris Clark of the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed the dives, he found that, adjusted for body length, the hum- Photos by Darren Vanden Berge / Berkshire Eagle Staff mingbird’s speed reached 385 blps, Eugene Mamut and his wife, Irina Borisova, pose for a portrait in their AniMagic Museum in Lee, which showcases Berkshire talent in special effects. easily topping the 200 blps of the pere- grine falcon. “A fighter jet with its after burners on reaches 150 blps and a space shut- tle screaming down through the atmosphere hits 207 blps.” Making Long before there was a Bing Q:Crosby, how was the famous 18th-century composer Ludwig van Beethoven given to what today has movie been called the “White Christmas MAAGICGIC effect”? M When researchers experimented A:with the popular Crosby song n Lee couple create back in the 1960s, they found some test subjects reported hearing it at a showcase for lower and lower volumes, in some cases even when it was never turned Berkshire talent on, says Oliver Sacks in “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.” in special effects One time, a highly musical friend of By Lisa La Plante Sacks reported enjoying a favorite Special to The Eagle Mozart record, then discovered when LEE he went to turn it over that he had hey never dreamed of a never put it on. career in the movie indus- Under proper motivation, it seems, try. They never aspired to the mind will fill in blank auditory be members of Holly- spaces or silent gaps embedded in T wood’s elite. familiar songs, even detectable by But somehow Ukraine natives and functional MRI scans. now Lee residents Eugene Mamut Such deliberate mental imagery is The Academy Award in science and engineering that Mamut won in 1996 and Irina Borisova found their way clearly crucial to professional musi- for his work on the movie ‘Predator’ is on display at the museum. to that level of success. cians. It arguably saved the creative It was quite by accident, if you ask Film Tech night life and sanity of Beethoven after he them. Mamut is an electrical engi- had gone deaf and could no longer in the Berkshires neer; Borisova, an artist who studied hear any music except in his mind; architecture. Their separate talents What: “Film Tech: An Evening with perhaps the loss of normal auditory landed each of them a place in the Eugene Mamut and the Animagic input even intensified his musical creation of special effects and ani- Museum” presented by Valleywood imagery, with his auditory cortex mation for Hollywood films like Productions. becoming hypersensitive. “Predator (1987),” “Ghost Dad When: Monday starting with exhibits “And though voluntary musical (1990),” and “Dirty Dancing from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and a multi- imagery may not be easily available to (1987),” as well as small-screen com- media presentation at 7 p.m. on the relatively unmusical, virtually mercials for Burger King, Hallmark the history of movie production in everyone has involuntary musical and the Michigan lottery. the Berkshires. imagery.” Still, Mamut’s first love remains Guest speakers will be Larry Can you spell out the difference science, and for Borisova it is art. Jackson of Amherst, an independ- between a wolf and a “woof”? Q: They’ve combined their talents to ent producer and director; and Can we even be sure they’re not the create Animagic, a museum of sci- Tom Gasek; and Diana Walczak of same species? ence and art at 77 Main St. that North Adams, who worked with Dogs are descended from showcases the work of Berkshire Jeffrey Kleiser to create the special wolves, probably the gray wolf, A: people who have been involved in effects for “Spiderman, the Ride” and some scientists argue that because the making of Hollywood animation in Florida. dogs and wolves do interbreed, they Clay models, above and cutout at top right, were created by Borisova for and special effects. Diana Pearlman, who was the pro- shouldn’t be considered separate use in animated television commercials. Mamut displays his own 1996 ducer of visual effects for the species at all, says Pat Shipman in Academy Award for his work on cre- movie “The Matrix,” and who is now “American Scientist.” ring of paper float through the room. In the second room, movie posters ating a camouflage visual effect in president of the Berkshire Film Although the ability to produce fer- “It’s static electricity,” he admitted. line the upper walls, and a “Berk- “Predator” and an elastic effect in Commission, will answer ques- tile offspring suggests varieties of a A globe, suspended in air, rotates shire Special Effects and Animation “Ghost Dad” and “9 to 5.” tions. single species, the reality is more as if on an axle. In fact, it is held in Family Tree,” like a family tree, Borisova displays her drawings, Where: The Colonial Theatre, 111 nuanced: “We cannot know whether place by a magnet above and a com- shows people in the industry, where sculptures and the clay models used South St., Pittsfield. dog-wolf hybrids will thrive and sur- puter below, Mamut said, adding: they began, how they came together in various television commercials. Tickets: $15 and $20 adults; $10 vive, or die out, in the long run.” “This is all about science.” in the Berkshires and where they are The museum is three rooms, the and $15 students. Certainly distinguishing a dog from The front room also showcases now. front one facing Main Street has its Information: Call (413) 997-4444 a wolf is something we expect to be Borisova’s artwork, including draw- Life-like clay models of penguins, window and walls filled with toys. or visit www.thecolonialtheatre.org able to do. Domestic dogs are wildly ings, sculptures and an illustrated a Mr. Potato Head, and a crab, all Mamut chuckled on a recent tour as variable in size and shape, thanks to children’s book called “Cats Who he used a “magic wand” to make a several hundred years of selective Quilt.” ANIMATION, continued on E3 breeding. Their most telling feature is the snout, shorter and wider than wolves’ snouts. Only a few breeds such as Irish wolfhounds with extremely elongated, slender noses, surpass wolves in “snoutiness.” Also, domesticated dogs are geneti- cally disposed to seek out human attention and accept human leader- It’s app time — college, not iPhone ship; wolves are not. Probably in the distant past, adopted By Beth J. Harpaz daily in the mailbox. Clutter in your liv- charts that you can use or adapt, but if cubs that were aggressive were cast Associated Press ing room includes a Barron’s guide to you’re making one up from scratch, be out, while the more agreeable ones If you’re throwing around the term colleges and an SAT prep book. You may sure to include teacher recommenda- were fed and kept around for their “app” a lot but it has nothing to do with even be getting phone calls from tions, resumes, essays, interviews, test keen noses and hunting skills. From iPhones, you must have a high school recruiters wondering if you and your dates, application deadlines and other wolf to woof under the watchful senior in the family working on a college child will be attending their open house. requirements for each school on the list. human eye, but not (we trust) under app. Marie Carr has been through all this Every time a task on the chart is com- the same roof! Application, that is. three times, and this year she published pleted, “putting a check in that box can When a 40-year-old woman And while it’s stressful for teenagers to a book about the process, with her three be very rewarding,” said Carr. Q:becomes pregnant, how old is deal with college applications in addition daughters’ help, called “Sending Your A wall chart or computer spreadsheet the fertilized egg? to their regular school work, volunteer- Child to College: The Prepared Parent’s also gives you a neutral way of talking about a looming deadline or an undone All or almost all female mam- ing, clubs, sports and jobs, it can also be Operational Manual.” task. mals are born with their full stressful for parents. “It’s not about nagging,” she said. “It’s A: “Instead of asking ‘Is the essay done, is complement of eggs, so the egg in For those of us who grew up in an era about trying to help them organize and the resume done,’ you can say, ‘I want to question is 40 years old — the likely when parents had virtually nothing to do prepare, and scale this big project down get this done in a timely fashion.