“Since its founding, Philadelphia has been at the center of science and technology innovation,” said Mayor Michael Nutter.

It’s true–Philly really does have a reputation of geeking out from the start. Ben Franklin, our favorite spectacle wearing homeboy, was shaking things up in the 18th century, long before a city-state of 19th century museums popped up in Fairmont and a second Indy Hall hit the scene in Old City.

“In an effort to raise awareness and engage its citizens in the science that makes this city great, Philadelphia’s museums, cultural institutions, universities, and corporations are joining forces to launch the Philadelphia Science Festival.”

The folks over at The Franklin Institute are spearheading this exciting, ambitious 2-week initiative to showcase the region’s strengths in science and technology. The city-wide event includes ‘an extensive line-up of programs and exhibitions with a single goal– to make science programming exciting AND accessible.’

And how! Among others, local favorites like the The Academy of Natural Sciences, The Mütter Museum, The Please Touch Museum, The Free Library and Philadelphia Zoo are participating. Hundreds of events will take place in Philadelphia,the bulk of which are free and open to the public, including:

-A kick-off science carnival on The Parkway, open to the public
-Neighborhood Science outreach programs will take place across the city
-School-wide science experiments for kids
-A series of “Science Conversations” featuring lecture events, panel discussions, etc.
-Phillies “Day of Science”
-And the slightly uncomfortable promise of ‘award-winning scientists in unexpected places’

For more updates, stay tuned on Twitter, Facebook, and of course, Geekadelphia. Mark your calendars and get your goggles out– I will be seeing you all in April!

Buried will hopefully be Ryan Reynolds’ I Am Legend. Because make no mistake, the only thing on that screen for the entire 100 minutes is Ryan Reynolds in a dark box acting his ass off like I always knew he could. We have all grown to love him as the consummate smart-ass in countless films, but it has always kinda been the same character over and over again… until now.

As soon as the credits start to roll you can already tell this isn’t your typical ride. The story of Buried is essentially this: Ryan plays Paul Conroy, a truck driver in Iraq whose convoy is ambushed while delivering supplies, and we begin the film with him waking up and buried alive and being held hostage by his ambushers. The film does a great job keeping the political rhetoric to a minimum and focusing on Paul Conroy’s story instead of turning it into an hour and a half anti-war statement. Inside the box Paul has 90 minutes of oxygen, a Blackberry, a lighter and a flask and is challenged by his captors to come up with 5 million dollars or they will leave him to simply die in the dessert.

Why doesn’t he just call for help? Well he does, and we are confronted with the grim reality of what happens in Paul’s situation. Here the Blackberry fast becomes the supporting character in the film and the crux of telling a story of a man in a box alone. It’s almost like a subterranean Phonebooth, just better acted, sorry Bulls-Eye… I mean Colin.

Really, the phone is almost masterfully used in the film, detailing the story of what happened before Ryan ended up in the box throughout the film. We see Ryan really show his chops in these cell conversations where he has no one to act off of and has to sell both sides of a conversation, since you can only hear and not see the person on the other end. While the Reynold wit is completely in tact we also see the man has a pretty dynamic range when tapped by the proper director.

Read on to learn how you can win passes to see the film, as well as a mini LED flashlight from Lionsgate!

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Lindsay Stanley as a Zombie Vulcan, Photo by Michael Asplund

When the Geekadelphia crew was asked who wanted to read the new book Night of the Living Trekkies, I believe my response went something like, OMG WANT. You see, I’m a pretty hard core Trekkie. I have been since I was a kid. And although I can’t say I’m some kind of connoisseur of zombie films, I’ve seen enough to understand the clichés. It was clear, in my mind, that this was a book written just for me.

The book grabs you the moment you see the cover. It’s a zombified Vulcan holding a severed arm, drawn in a way that mirrors pulp magazines of old. I know “they” say not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case the cover perfectly sets up what is inside: a book about zombies and Star Trek that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is fun to read.

More after the jump!

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The Social Network hits theaters this Friday, October 1^st and is fast becoming one of the most anticipated films of the year.

I was lucky to get to chat with some of the great folks involved with the film in anticipation for the release, including Armie Hammer, who stars with Josh Pence using the same face-swapping technology used in Benjamin Button as Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in the film. The Winklevoss twins were entrepreneurs who hired Mark Zukerberg in Harvard to help them launch their social networking site The Harvard Exchange and you can probably tell from the trailer how that went.

Most of you may know Armie from his roles in television or as the great-grandson of oil tycoon and philanthropist Armand Hammer, but what some might not know is he was also slated to play Batman in Justice League:Mortal a film that was on the fast track in 2007 that simply disappeared. We touch base on all these things in this great interview so enjoy!

How did you come to be in this film?

I would say I was blessed to be part of this film. I heard about it through my agent who called and said, “Fincher is working on a new project” and I said “What is it? I have to be in it!” He was like it’s kind of perfect because it’s about college students and they need someone who is 6’5 an athletic and I was like, “I’m 6’5!”

So because I respected David and Aaron so much I busted my ass on that audition and did everything I could, I only had two auditions and I got the part.

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Photo Loving Stolen From Visitphilly

The Wagner Free Institute of Science recently announced their free science courses for the Fall. All the courses run from six to eight weeks, with lectures that last about one and a half hours. The Wagner teaches introductory level courses for both students and adults, who are either motivated to prep for college or simply want to keep their minds enriched and active.

This season’s free lectures include:

• The History of Science Series: The Scientist as an Explorer

• Zoology Series: An Introduction to Insects and Related Arthropods

• Anthropology Series: Forensic Anthropology

• Physical Sciences Series: Physics & Chemistry in the Kitchen

For full course information, syllabi, and dates, visit the Wagner’s official website. Go get your learn on, geeks. It’s free!

Wagner Free Institute of Science
1700 West Montgomery Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19121
(215)763-6529
www.wagnerfreeinstitute.org

Photo Lovingly Stolen from Foobooz

This Thursday, our good friends Phillyist are hosting their relaunch bash, celebrating the epic, triumphant return of their blog last month. We missed them, especially their foxy editorial staff (rawr!), and we’re glad to have them back.

The party hits National Mechanics at 9:30pm and wraps up at 11:30pm. Phillyist’s favorite local rockabilly band (did we mention the theme of the party is Rockabilly?), April Mae & the June Bugs will be performing live at the awesome Old City restaurant. Expect some serious dancing.

Once the live music is done, DJ Tom B will be spinning, and Phillyist will dish out giveaways and prizes from the Arden Theatre, Beggars Group, Reybee, Big Hassle, Helium Comedy Club, Epitaph, Harrah’s , and more.

Come by, hang out, and watch us try to steal more of Phillyist’s writers. It’ll be fun. Promise.

Phillyist’s Relaunch Rockabilly Bash
September 30th, 2010, 9:30pm – 11:30pm

National Mechanics
22 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
www.nationalmechanics.com

This weekend, the folks at The Hacktory are hosting their first ever eggdrop, challenging participants to build a contraption for a single, normal egg… and then drop it off a roof. The Hacktory will dish out prizes for egg survival and creativity.

The Hacktory is accepting donations for the event. They need a little bit of everything. According to a press release, they are accepting  “donations of old pantyhose, rubber bands, tape, plastic bags, and other squishy things are very welcome and can be dropped off at Nonprofit Technology Resources (1524 Brandywine) before the event.”

The eggs drop on October 2nd, starting at noon until 5pm. Tickets to the event are only $5, but will “be waived if you bring some supplies.”

For more details, visit The Hacktory’s official website.

Eggcellent EggDrop Eggstravaganza @ The Hacktory
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
Noon-5 pm
www.thehacktory.org

Inside the Philadelphia Magic Gardens

One of my favorite places in the entire city is Philadelphia Magic Gardens. You won’t find any plants here though. Instead, you’ll discover an absolutely breathtaking art installation. The site features the work of famed mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar, who has also done work all over Philadelphia. It’s a place that really must be seen to be believed.

You can help support these incredible works of art by participating in the Magic Beyond the Gardens Fall Fundraiser. The Magic Gardens will be offering two days worth of events that celebrate and showcase Zagar’s contributions to the city of Philadelphia.

The details for each of the events are after the jump!

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Welcome to Blu Monday! The Geekadelphia crew get sent a lot of Blu-rays and just don’t have the room to keep ‘em all. Plus, I’d rather share them with you, dear readers. Today, we’ve got A Scanner Darkly.

Warner Bros. was kind enough to send over a copy of A Scanner Darkly, the awesome, off-beat, and visually unique Richard Linklater (Dazed & Confused, Waking Life) film, based on a short story by the great Phillip K. Dick. I’m a fan of the movie… but not a big fan of the re-lease of this film. A Scanner Darkly was already on Blu-ray a few years ago… so what does this new update bring to the table? Unfortunately, the answer is nothing.

The re-release still has a lot of the same bonuses as the original, including  One Summer in Austin: The Story of Filming A Scanner Darkly… but The Weight of the Line: Animation Tales has been cut from the re-release. Blu-ray.com muses that the reason these features were cut had to do with rights… but whatever the case, it is kind of disappointing.

A film like A Scanner Darkly, one with such a unique visual flair and awesome story, certainly deserves a lot of special features. I don’t want to have to go on Wikipedia to learn what rotoscoping is. Bring back the featurette! Gr. You can still score the original release of A Scanner Darkly via Amazon, which I recommend.

Still want a copy of this re-release? I don’t blame you, it is still an awesome movie and there are still some solid special features. if you’d like to win this copy, leave a comment with your favorite Keanu Reeves film. I’ll close the comments at the end of the week and pick a winner at random. Good luck!

A Scanner Darkly @ Amazon

Late last week, Verizon shot us an email regarding a Tweet Up they’re hosting at their Center City store, located on 17th and Market. Normally this sort of thing wouldn’t catch my attention. I’m an iPhone guy… but they are offering up a sneak peek of the Star Wars Collector’s Edition Droid, R2D2. And anything Star Wars is hard to resist.

Verizon is inviting Twitter folks out to the shop from 6:30pm to 8pm. They’ll show off the new Star Wars Droid and demo other phones… but no one really cares about the other ones. Sorry Verizon, but R2D2 is all we wanna hear about it.

People from Verizon will be on hand answering questions about the new model, apps, etc… and will be giving away all kinds of swag.

Head over to the Verizon shop at 6:30pm to get in on the action.

R2D2 Droid Tweet Up
6:30pm – 8pm

Verizon Wireless
1700 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 564-7800

Everyone loves swag and my friends over at Cinedork are having a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot tournament, and giving away a ton of it from the upcoming film Let Me In.

Now we gave away a bunch of passes for Let Me In here on Geekadelphia, but if you didn’t win and still want to go to the screening you can head on over to Brave New Worlds in Old City today from 5:30 to 6:30 to win tickets, posters or even a copy of Let The Right One In on Blu-ray!  See you there!

Brave New World
45 North Second Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-6525
www.bravenewworldscomics.com

Photo Loving Stolen from Visitphilly.com

Get psyched, literature geeks. This past Saturday, September 25th, marked the start of 2010’s Banned Books Week, during which Americans celebrate the freedom to read. You can commemorate it in style with two upcoming events at the Rosenbach Museum & Library. The tours and the event are both free with general admission. For ticket information, visit the Rosenbach’s official website.

On Wednesday, September 29th and Friday, October 1st from 3pm – 4pm, there’s the “Banned Books Hands-On Tours.” This is a great chance to see – and touch – the many banned, challenged, or censored books as well as hear the history behind their controversies. What better way to celebrate your freedom than to find out why it was challenged in the first place?

On Thursday, September 30th, there’s “Authors of Mischief,” in which Philadelphia natives read excerpts of banned and censored books from the Rosenbach collection. Other features include Erasmus’ The Praise of Folly read by Thomas Devaney of Haverford College, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness read by artist and writer Mary Tasillo, and many more.

I’m looking also forward to performance artists Karen Getz and Kelly Jennings reading from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Bill Adair, the director of the Heritage Philadelphia Program at the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, reading from Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen.

For more details on the event, visit the Rosenbach’s official website.

Banned Books Week @ the Rosenbach Museum & Library
September 29th, 2010 – October 1st, 2010
www.rosenbach.org/learn/events/banned-books