Posts Made By: Dave Mitsky

Earlier this week I rented "Fever Pitch" starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon and enjoyed watching it immensely. (I had planned on seeing it in a theater when it was released but never quite managed to.) It's an excellent romantic comedy whether one is a fan of baseball or not. Highly recommended.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/.../50323004/1023

I also rented "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" but the less said about that the better. At least I didn't have to pay for it as such, since I had a rent one, get one free coupon.

Dave Mitsky

Let me start off by saying that I am not a Harry Potterophile. I've never read any of the books and my opinion of the previous movies was that they were nothing out of the ordinary. However, I was extremely impressed with the new Harry Potter film. The direction, script, score, cinematography, and CGI were all top notch. This is a first class movie in its own right.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harry_potter_and_the_goblet_of_fire/

Dave Mitsky

Here's my DSO list for December (from 2 to 4 hours of right ascension).

Dave Mitsky

One hundred deep-sky objects for December: NGC 891 (Andromeda); IC 342, K6, St23, Tom 5 (Camelopardalis); Be65, IC 1848, K4, Mel15, NGC 896, NGC 1027, St2, Tr3 (Cassiopeia); M77, NGC 788, NGC 835, NGC 864, NGC 908, NGC 936, NGC 955, NGC 958, NGC 1015, NGC 1016, NGC 1022, NGC 1035, NGC 1052, NGC 1055, NGC 1087, NGC 1094 (Cetus); IC 2006, NGC 1084, NGC 1140, NGC 1187, NGC 1199, NGC 1209, NGC 1232, NGC 1291, NGC 1300, NGC 1309, NGC 1332, NGC 1337, NGC 1353, NGC 1357, NGC 1395, NGC 1400, NGC 1407, NGC 1421, NGC 1426, NGC 1440, NGC 1452, NGC 1453, NGC 1461 (Eridanus); NGC 1079, NGC 1097, NGC 1201, NGC 1292, NGC 1316, NGC 1317, NGC 1326, NGC 1344, NGC 1350, NGC 1360, NGC 1365, NGC 1371, NGC 1374, NGC 1379, NGC 1380, NGC 1381, NGC 1387, NGC 1398, NGC 1404, NGC 1406, NGC 1425 (Fornax); Bas10, Cz8, IC 351, IC 2003, K5, Mel 20, M34, NGC 869, NGC 884, NGC 957, NGC 1023, NGC 1058, NGC 1161, NGC 1245, NGC 1275, NGC 1333, NGC 1342, NGC 1444, Tr2 (Perseus); M45 (Taurus); NGC 777, NGC 784, NGC 890, NGC 925, NGC 949, NGC 959, NGC 978A/B (Triangulum)

Challenge deep-sky object for December: vdB14 (Camelopardalis

I saw George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" on Friday night. This timely film was extremely good and I very much recommend seeing it.

"Good Night, and Good Luck" scored a very high score of 94% on the tomatometer.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/good_night_and_good_luck/

Dave Mitsky

Mars and the Moon form a close pair and Venus is just past the time of its greatest brilliancy this evening.

http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/11dec05/skymap_north.gif

Dave Mitsky

There's an interesting new explanation for TLP, or LTP if you will, at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07dec_moonstorms.htm?list85666

Dave Mitsky

There wasn't too much going on H-alphawise on Tuesday afternoon at ~19:00 UT but on Monday afternoon a fairly large prominence was present on the leading (western) limb of the Sun. A number of small prominences were visible on the trailing limb.

An image that a Spanish amateur astronomer captured using a 90mm Coronado SolarMax is posted at http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/13dec05/Kremer.jpg

I made these observations with a 40mm f/10 Coronado PST and an 8-24mm Vixen Lanthanum LV zoom eyepiece.

Dave Mitsky

While using my Coronado PST and Vixen 8-24mm Zoom LV Series Eyepiece this afternoon, I noted a fairly impressive prominence on the Sun's leading limb. It resembled a narrow triangle.

Dave Mitsky

There was talk of perjured testimony during the ID trial. This may be an interesting turn of events.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/

Dave Mitsky

This past weekend I saw two current movies, "King Kong" and "Walk The Line". Despite the mostly first rate CGI, I wasn't terribly impressed with Peter Jackson's labor of love. "King Kong" was far, far too long (many people in the audience grew restless during the drawn-out prelude to the start of the non-stop action scenes), the special effects were sometimes just too over the top (was it really necessary to have Kong battle a trio of Tyrannosaurs simply to top the 1933 version?), and Jack Black was adequate but not really convincing to me in his role as Carl Denham. Naomi Watts did a fine job playing the plucky Ann Darrow, however.

I pretty much agree with these reviews:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/12/08/king_kong_2005_review.shtml

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=11177

http://www.7mpictures.com/inside/reviews/kingkong_review.htm

OTOH, the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line" was eminently enjoyable with noteworthy performances by Joaquin Phoenix as the Man in Black (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash ) and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. The music was pretty good too.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2005-11-17-walk-the-line_x.htm

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051117/REVIEWS/51107006/1023

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ae/movies/reviews/3460511.html

Dave Mitsky