San Diego

I'm in California for Spring Break, which for me means archival research, a conference, and hanging out with other film nerds. I went down to San Diego a couple of times to do some research on the world's first OMNIMAX theatre, a combination planetarium/IMAX dome that was built in 1973. I interviewed one of the theatre's founders, who showed me his old photographs of the architectural plans. I established my credibility by identifying Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut, examining a theatre model in one of the photos. Collins is known to be an IMAX fan, which causes me no end of delight. I was offered a tour of the projection room - I always find IMAX projectors charming, almost as charming as the projectionist, who got very chatty once I revealed the depth of my technical knowledge. We had a swell time talking about 3D formats, and he showed me the welding device they use for splicing IMAX film together.

Just before I left, I was introduced to the museum's director, who invited me to that evening's premiere of the new Hubble Telescope movie. The very jolly (and German) administrator put me on the list and promised there would be food, so I was there with bells on. They put on a great spread, and one could eat fancy cheese while playing with the museum's tornado simulator, the optical illusion machines, and the interactive display explaining the properties of transverse waves. I spotted the jolly German walking around in an authentic NASA spacesuit (circa 1980s). She was very excited about this part of her job, and I happily accepted her offer of astronaut ice cream. I had never tasted this delicacy, and to be honest, it's not very good, but it probably tastes better in space.

Just before the screening, I overheard a woman who was telling her friends that she has donated her body to the UC San Diego medical school, so on the event of her death, they will come to retrieve her, and she is not to have an autopsy. She then joked that this means her husband could poison her, and nobody would ever know. Everyone laughed. I wish her well, but I am waiting for the lurid made-for-tv movie about her case.