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August 24, 2005The Millenium Falcon and PhiIt was the very last Movie in the Park of the season, and it was Star Wars. Yes, the first one. Or rather, the fourth episode. The one with a young Obi-Wan and the way spiffy Millenium Falcon. Met Michelle at Grant Park at 4pm and snagged great seating. Laid out a huge blue tarp and blanket, and got ready to chill for four hours. By 5:30p, the park was packed. Two of my business associates from out of town dropped by and were just amazed by the sheer mass of people. I was glad to introduce them to one of Chicago's best offerings, and the casual event facilitates relationship building. They hung around for a couple hours, enough time for some good conversation. And here comes the dork... It's possible that the Millenium Falcon's deck adheres to the golden ratio. If you've read DaVinci Code, you'll know of phi. I was so taken by the idea, I actually went and bought a mathematics book to better understand the concept. Basically, phi is 1.618, and this ratio is exhibited all over nature. It's reflected in the layout of apple seeds in an apple core, in the spirals of a nautilus shell, in the petals of a rose, etc. It is also captured by artists like Salvador Dali, because it is believed to have esthetic perfection. The following is excerpted from Mario Livio's The Golden Ratio: "...in Salvador Dali's painting from 1955, 'Sacrament of the Last Supper', the dimensions of the painting (approximately 105.5 x 65.75) are in a golden ratio to each other. Perhaps even more important, part of a huge dodecahedron (a twelve-faced regular solid in which each side is a pentagon) is seen floating above the table and engulfing it." A dodecahedron, or a twelve-faced solid object in which each face is a pentagon, adheres to the golden ratio as well. My theory, and I need to look more into this, is that the windows of the deck on the Millenium Falcon are proportionate to phi. Anyone know where I can find specs? Just curious... Anyway, better go before the nerd fully emerges from the closet... Posted by carolyn at August 24, 2005 12:08 PM CommentsSad that after a fairly exhaustive Web search, no indications of any specifications that... specific. You'd have thought there'd be ONE thorough geek out there. Yeesh. Posted by: Dave at August 25, 2005 01:24 PM Actually, I don't need the official specs, I suppose. If I could get a freeze frame of that one shot, I could probably measure it in PhotoShop...and since we're looking for a cinematographic ratio, it wouldn't really matter how big the picture was! Good deal, think that's what I'm going to work on for the rest of the day. Posted by: Carolyn at August 25, 2005 01:37 PM Post a comment |
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