This Thursday, Be a Dodo!

Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007

As you may or may not know, Monday was the birthday of Charles Darwin.  To mark the occasion, my friend Randy Olson is going to be having the DC premiere of his new documentary, "Flock of Dodos", this week -- Thursday night, to be precise.  "Dodos" is a funny and insightful exploration of the "intelligent design" movement, and the failure of mainstream science to effectively rebut it. 

Randy's personal cause is to help scientists communicate their work in plain English to the rest of us, so this isn't your standard "evolution true, ID false" screed; it challenges both ID advocates (for misleading the public) and evolution advocates (for failing to reach the public effectively). If you're interested in evolution specifically, or science in general, you will enjoy this movie. I've seen it and I believe it deserves a wider audience, which is why I'm letting you know about this opportunity.

Here are a couple of reviews of "Flock of Dodos", if you want more information:

• New York Times
• National Public Radio

The premiere is happening this Thursday, February 15, at 8:00 PM at the Avalon Theater in DC.  Tickets are $12 each, and there will be a Q&A with Randy after the film. This is the only DC showing currently scheduled, so if you're interested in seeing this film, now's your chance.  Tickets can be purchased at the box office, or via the Avalon web site on this page:

* http://www.theavalon.org/news.cfm?id=71#dodos

I'm going to be there, so if you come, find me in the audience and say hi.  Hope to see you there!

(And if you're not in DC, don't despair -- check and see if there's a screening in your town.)