February 04, 2005
2/4 - James Cameron Makes Hydrothermal Vents Hot
Who'd have thought hydrothermal vents could score two thumbs up from Ebert and D.B.? We're very big fans of James Cameron here at Shifting Baselines. Two years ago Jeremy Jackson and I met with him for a couple hours to talk shifting baselines, which he instantly related to (and he recruited Tom Arnold for the Ocean Symphony PSA). It was one of the most fascinating conversations I've ever witnessed as Cameron took various shots at his knowledge of paleontology, then let Jeremy, the professor of Geosciences at Scripps, fine tune the details for him.
Amazing how much the guy knows. He's now on the Scripps Advisory Council, and again, to make a hydrothermal vent movie that scores that well (currently at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes) with the critics is really a major contribution to the appreciation of the oceans. Here's a good article about him in the NY Times.
James Cameron: the ultimate communicator