Scientists study foes’ ways at Creation Museum
Not surprisingly, the visitors object to depictions of evolution
By Jeffrey McMurray
The Associated Press
updated 6:24 p.m. ET, Fri., June 26, 2009

PETERSBURG, Kentucky – In one of the largest gatherings of critics since the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky opened two years ago, six dozen paleontologists in the area for a conference this week took a field trip to get a glimpse of the marketing tactics used by the other side of the evolution debate.

Paleontologists spend their careers studying evolution, and here they were visiting a place where nearly every room is dedicated to disproving it through Creationism, a fundamentalist Christian belief based on a literal interpretation of the Bible that contends God created the universe just a few thousand years ago.

“The real purpose of the museum visit is to give some of my colleagues an opportunity to sense how they’re being portrayed,” said Arnold Miller, a professor of paleontology at the University of Cincinnati, which is hosting the conference. “They’re being demonized, I feel, in this museum as people who are responsible for all the ills of society.”

Miller and other paleontologists object to numerous other aspects of the museum they say imply science is doing more harm than good.

For example, multiple rooms are devoted to the great flood, which a strict biblical interpretation might explain was a rebuke for questioning God. The implication, some of the paleontologists say, is that their studies concluding Earth is millions of years old — not thousands as creationists claim — must pose a similar threat to mankind.

Scientists also disagree with the depiction of Noah’s ark itself. Inside a miniature ark is a compartment holding two small dinosaurs, living alongside the monkeys, cows and other animals.

“It’s like a theme park, but the problem is it masquerades as truth,” said Derek Briggs, a Yale University paleontologist.

The scientists Miller brought with him got a group discount but otherwise had minimal interaction with museum staff. A line of other visitors led outside into the full parking lot for much of the day.

David Menton, a cell biology professor and researcher with Answers In Genesis, which founded the museum, made no apologies for the fact that the museum’s teachings are rooted in the Old Testament. He insists they rely on largely the same facts scientists use, just with a starting point millions of years later. Anything before that can’t really be proven by science anyway, he says.

“I’ve spent enough of my professional life in science that I know science being compatible with religion is not the sort of thing that keeps scientists up at night,” Menton said. “There’s a lot of scientists out there that rather applaud that idea.”

He defended the displays that argue people and dinosaurs are contemporaries, including one at the museum entrance that show two young girls playing in a field near a dinosaur.

“I’m not saying dinosaurs and man frequently hobnobbed,” Menton said. “I live on Earth at the same time as grizzly bears, but if I could stay as far away from grizzly bears, that suits me fine.”

The critique of scientists even extends to the gift shop, where among the DVDs for sale is one entitled, “The Cure for a Culture in Crisis: It doesn’t take a Ph.D.”

It all had Wednesday’s visitors shaking their heads.

“Faith is one thing,” said Mark Terry, a high school science teacher from Seattle, “but when it comes to their science statements, they’re completely off the wall.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hTiRnqnvDs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fscifiwire%2Ecom%2F2009%2F06%2Fthe%2Dbest%2Dtrailer%2Dfor%2Da%2Dgr%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/06/11/rumor-stephen-sommers-fired-from-gi-joe/

So we all know those GI Joe previews looked horrible, right? Maybe this is why.

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This sounds like the kind of story we’d usually hear coming from Fox, but this time it’s Paramount. A user on the Don Murphy Message Boards (via Latino Review) has posted an unverified story detailing a behind-the-scenes fiasco regarding the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra movie. You can read their full write-up below, but in essence they’re claiming that director Stephen Sommers was fired and locked out of the editing room mid-way through post-production by a Paramount exec named Brad Weston. And that’s just the start, as he goes on to explain everything that has transpired since Sommers was supposedly fired.

There’s so much to this, that it’s best to just read through it as it was written originally. So I’ve included the full post from the message boards below. Take a look below and see if it sounds too good to be true or not.

After a test screening wherein the film tested the lowest score ever from an audience in the history of Paramount, the executive who pushed for the movie Brad Weston had Stephen Sommers, the super hack director of the film fired. Removed. Locked out of the editing room.

Stuart Baird, a renowned “fixer” editor was brought it to try to see if it could be made releasable. Meanwhile producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura whose turkey IMAGINE THAT explodes this weekend as the new bomb in theatres (also championed by Weston) was told his services were no longer needed on the film either.

Sommers was then forced by his William Morris agents to pretend that he was working on Tarzan over at Warner Brothers doing design work, even though that film doesn’t even have a good script yet. When word of the firing started to be whispered about in Hollywood, Sommers was summoned back to the editing room – but only to save appearances, Baird is still editing the movie with studio input.

Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, who turned down other offers from the property to go with the script that was rushed in 8 weeks by Stuart Beattie because of the writer’s strike, is frantic that this will destroy the brand and is distancing himself from the pending catastrophe.

NONE of this needed to happen, except someone who did not know the mythology, Lorenzo was in charge of the film and never contradicted Sommers on anything. Lorenzo, so you know, was Chairman of Warners and had GI JOE under option there (not as a producer) for SEVEN years and he refused to greenlight the film, stating that because he grew up in Italy he had no knowledge of it. If you Google enough, at one point you will see he wanted the film to be about an action hero named MANN (Action Man, get it) and he clearly had no clue what the GI Joe world really was.

And the hapless hack Sommers? Where did he come from? The confused Jon Fogelman at William Morris, who signed Hasbro away from CAA, had to find a director in a hurry for his new clients and gave him the only guy who he repped who would do it. A sad end to what COULD have been a great franchise. Acceleration suits indeed.

Almost all of this checks out, except that according to IMDb, Sommers is now repped by Rob Carlson at William Morris, not Jon Fogelman. But that bit about Action Man is legit and so are all the other names.

If you thought that trailer looked terrible, now you know why. Or now we at least know what’s going on. Who knows if Baird will be able to salvage this. Who knows if this story is even true at all. Unfortunately, I think those stupid accelerator suits can be edited out by any “fixer.” It’s sad that this happens in Hollywood, but that’s just how cutthroat crazy it is here. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard a story like this – I remember the fiasco surrounding Live Free or Die Hard a few years ago. But it’s unfortunate to see a studio like Paramount, who has had a great reputation the last few years, get hit with these kinds of problems.

I’m actually not surprised to hear that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra scored so poorly at a test screening. Everything I’ve seen has looked awful – I haven’t enjoyed a single second of any of the footage I’ve watched (remember this?). I fear that this is going to be a huge embarrassment for Paramount in the end, which is quite a shame, because they don’t deserve this. But as George Roush says, “that’s what happens when you put people on a project they know nothing about.” He says he’s heard that most of this is true, which is, again, not surprising. Let’s just say I don’t expect August 7th to be a very memorable day for Paramount.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/rumor-control-predators-r.php

Rumor control: Predators’ Robert Rodriguez denies reaching out to Arnold

Robert Rodriguez, who is developing a Predators movie, denied to Ain’t It Cool News rumors that he has reached out to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger about reprising the role of Dutch.

“But, no, we’re still writing a new script, and although I know Arnold personally and he’s the coolest person on the planet, I have not contacted him about this at all at this time,” Rodriguez wrote the site. “As promised, I’ll keep you posted on such developments since Predator is such a fan favorite. But then again, he could very well have told someone he’d be into it. Who knows? Personally, I haven’t heard anything. But it’s still early in the day.”