Keynote speaker Wednesday

Hey Houston, get over the space shuttle loss and aim for Mars, says sexyscientist Neil deGrasse Tyson

So we didn't get the shuttle. Neil deGrasse Tyson has landed in Houston instead.

The rock star astrophysicist will deliver a keynote at the American Association of Museums conference on Wednesday morning at the George R. Brown Convention Center. He plans to talk to the some 5,000-plus museum professionals about the many strategies for reaching their audiences.

"Some of the public comes ready to learn, some are not ready to learn," Tyson says. "It's a tangled web. I want to share all the ways minds get tangled."

Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetarium. When he's not explaining the universe, you can find him chatting with Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Rachel Maddow or on his own PBS-NOVA 4-part mini series Origins ,or its spin off, NOVA ScienceNOW. The guy can talk, and continues to do so every week on his radio show, StarTalk, with co-host comedienne Lynn Kopiltz.

"You are a household name," I tell Tyson.

"It's great that we live in a time when a scientist can be that visible," he replies.

Tyson knows how to command a room. "Regular people always tell me that I look like I'm having fun up there, while educators tell me, 'you were working hard up there,'" he says. "They know."

He's even made a celebrity appearance on The Big Bang Theory. "As long as I didn't have to emote, I was fine," Tyson says about his sitcom debut.

A museum at its best is a place to learn and inspire. It should light a fire. "I'm perfect evidence of that," he says.

As a child, Tyson looked up at the stars and has never looked back or down, "where you might be hit by a meteorite," as he's famous for joking. He speaks of a being called by the universe on a quest to decipher our place in the cosmos.

Hooked on science, he graduated from Bronx High School of Science, earned a BA in physics from Harvard and his PhD in astrophysics from Columbia. As someone who calls Isaac Newton "his man," you bet he's a fierce opponent to intelligent design and other forms of fake science, referring to them as a "philosophies of ignorance."

Voted the "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" by People Magazine in 2000, Tyson looks comfortable in the limelight. If anyone can get adults and kids alike excited by science, it's this guy. He has a way of explaining weird space trivia that arouses our curiosity.

His discourse on the demoted planet Pluto is legendary, and even spawned a best-selling book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet. He claims to have weathered hate mail from angry third graders. As for getting over the demotion of Pluto from planet to miscellaneous space object, Tyson thinks it's the hardest for us old schoolers.

"There's a new generation of children who will grow up in a Pluto-less world," he says. "They will be fine." The dangers of the space are another favorite topic explored in his book Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries.

Tyson is a fearless advocate for science literacy, and don't get him started on space exploration. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed him to serve on a 12-member commission that studied the future of the aerospace industry in the United States. In 2004 he agreed again, under Bush, to serve on yet another commission, dubbed the "Moon, Mars and Beyond" commission." For Tyson, space exploration is part of our identity and how we imagine the future. Since 2006, he serves on NASA's Advisory Council.

As for Houston getting the shuttle, Tyson subtly wants us to get over that, too. "You already understand the space program, while in the Northeast, NASA has no presence. Placing a shuttle in New York City, a huge tourist destination, can give NASA meaning," he said.

Tired of the same old space jaunts, he's ready to sign up for a mission to Mars. "Will we go to Mars during our lifetimes?" I ask Tyson.

"I'm worried," he says. "That's why my next book, The Space Chronicles: Facing The Final Frontier, contains every thought I have ever had on the space program, even my tweets on the subject," he says. "We need a fully funded, active and visionary space program.

"A museum can light a fire, a space program keeps that fire fanned. We need grand and great projects."

Tyson moderates The 2011 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate: The Theory of Everything

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Movie Review

New movie Friendship pairs Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in a bizarre bromance

Photo courtesy of A24

Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in Friendship.

Comedian Tim Robinson has gained a cult following thanks to series like Detroiters and I Think You Should Leave, in which his brand of cringe comedy is on full display. The former Saturday Night Live writer/performer has had a few small movie roles over the years, but he’s now getting his first starring role in the off-kilter Friendship.

Robinson plays Craig, a mild-mannered suburbanite with a wife, Tami (Kate Mara), and son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Craig has a boring life that involves little more than going to his middle manager job while wearing the same clothes day after day, anticipating the next Marvel movie, and helping Tami out with her at-home floral business.

He gets a jolt of energy when Austin (Paul Rudd) moves into the neighborhood. The two men seem to hit it off, with Austin — a weatherman at a local TV channel — even taking Craig on a couple of impromptu adventures. But when Craig commits a couple of faux pas at a group gathering at Austin’s house, their bond starts to fracture.

Even though the film is written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, it’s clear that Robinson had a big influence on the style of comedy it features. There are no big set pieces with a slew of jokes coming one after another. Instead, the film forces the audience to try to vibe with the very particular type of wavelength it’s giving off, one that could almost be called anti-comedy for the way the laughs come out of left field.

The 100-minute film is full of random comedic moments, like Steven kissing Tami on the lips, Craig being obsessed with his plain brown clothes, a group sing-along, and more. More often than not, it’s the way Craig reacts to both normal and abnormal situations that gets the laughs. The character is needy and oblivious, two traits that combine to make many of his actions cringeworthy.

Perhaps most importantly for this type of movie, many things in the story go unexplained or don’t make sense. Seemingly crucial elements are brought up only to fade away just as quickly, while other parts that appeared to be throwaway sections get callbacks later in the film. DeYoung and Robinson are determined to keep the audience on their toes the entire time, never knowing what to expect next.

Robinson has the perfect face for a story like this, one that’s bland enough to blend into the background but memorable enough to sell the jokes. His demeanor is also excellent, never becoming too expressive, even when he gets angry. With long hair, a mustache, and a certain swagger, Rudd is a great complement to Robinson. Only in a film like this would an everyman like Rudd be considered the suave and cool one.

There will be some that will see Friendship and come away wondering what the hell they just watched. But anyone who goes in knowing that they’re about to witness a comedy that challenges their sensibilities will likely have a great time.

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Friendship is now playing in select theaters.

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