Impromp2, The Community Blog

Changing Seas: After the Spill

Changing Seas, an original production of Miami’s public television station WPBT2,  will host a live online screening event of After The Spill on Thursday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m.(ET) at www.changingseas.tv/webcast. The series’ latest episode focuses on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Viewers can chat with producers and experts featured in the program.

The program will be broadcast on WPBT2 on Tuesday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m

Last year’s catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may no longer make headline news, but the story is far from over.  Oceanographers continue to study the long-term effects this disaster might have on marine ecosystems.

On April 20^th, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers and setting off the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.  Over the course of the next three months, an estimated 4.9 million barrels of South Louisiana crude gushed out of the Macondo wellhead and into the surrounding waters.   

Changing Seas follows scientists from the University of South Florida, who have been studying the impacts of this disaster from the beginning. What impacts will low-level, chronic toxicity from oil and dispersants have on the environment?  How long until the true extend of this disaster will be known?

 

Masterpiece Mystery! Zen 'Vendetta' New Episode

In the latest episode of Masterpiece Mystery, a killer is on a vendetta-fuelled rampage against those who wrongly imprisoned him, including a cop who had almost nothing to do with it: Zen. But Zen is too busy dealing with another crime—a politically-charged murder—to notice that he’s on the psychopath’s hit list. Ordered by his boss to nail the chief suspect in the murder case whether he is guilty or not and by a justice official to get the guy off, Zen is in a no-win situation—although he has won the heart of his officemate Tania Moretti. With so many distractions, can Zen solve the murder while keeping his job, staying alive, and getting to know Tania better?

Tune in to WPBT on July 17th at 9pm to find out!

Back to Back Episodes of NOVA on June 29th

On June 29th at 9pm, WPBT will premiere the latest installment in the NOVA series, What are Dreams?

What are dreams and why do we have them? NOVA joins the leading dream researchers as they embark on a variety of neurological and psychological experiments to investigate the world of sleep and dreams. Delving deep into the thoughts and brains of a variety of dreamers, scientists are asking important questions about the purpose of this mysterious world we escape to at night. Do dreams allow us to get a good night’s sleep? Do they improve our memory? Do they allow us to be more creative? Can they solve our problems or even help us survive the hazards of everyday life? NOVA follows researchers like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Matthew Wilson who is literally ‘eavesdropping’ on the dreams of rats and takes viewers into a sleep lab for a first-hand look at how scientists do their best to eavesdrop on human dreams. From those who violently act out their dreams to those who can’t stop their nightmares, from sleepwalking cats to people who can’t dream, each fascinating experiment contains a vital clue to the age-old question: What are dreams?

Then, at 10pm, NOVA Science takes viewers into the human brain. Viewers will learn whether the
secrets behind the world’s greatest magic tricks are actually wired into our brains. Also, check out the difficulties of replicating the human brain in machines like IBM’s “Watson,”
attempting to mimic the human thought process with software is actually providing new insight
into the brain itself. NOVA scienceNOW delves into some pretty heady stuff to examine magic and the brain, artificial intelligence, mind control, and the nature of reality in an astonishing episode on how the brain works. 

Prohibition Preview to air June 26th

On June 26th at 10:30 PM, WPBT will air a special half hour sneak peek to Prohibition, a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.

The film raises vital questions that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago – about means and ends, individual rights and responsibilities, the proper role of government.

Last week, WPBT held a very successful screening of the documentary at Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale. Whether you missed the show, or just want to check out more of Prohibition, tune in June26th at 10:30pm. 

 

NOVA "Space Shuttle Disaster" Premiere

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas just 16 minutes before it was due to land. All seven astronauts aboard perished; the worldwide repercussions on the future of the space shuttle program were enormous. What caused the Columbia tragedy? An engineering flaw? A failure within NASA? A lack of financing? Could this catastrophe have been avoided? Through interviews with astronauts and their families, as well as with members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, this program gives viewers a new look at the Columbia tragedy - and at NASA itself.

“Space Shuttle Disaster” is a penetrating look at the history of the shuttle program and the political pressures that made the shuttle a highly complex engineering compromise, which fell short of its ambitious goal to make space travel routine, cheap and safe. The film brings to the forefront the uncertain future of human spaceflight after the 2010 scheduled shuttle retirement. Many questions remain, including what are the consequences if the U.S. is out of orbit for five years?

The show "Space Shuttle Disaster", which airs Wednesday June 22nd at 9pm, gets to the heart of what went wrong - and how to make sure it never happens again.

Changing Seas: Prescription Oceans Airing June 21

Changing Seas, a WPBT2 original production, returns to the airwaves and internet this June with four new episodes.  The new season examines timely issues affecting the oceans, ranging from the lionfish invasion to the aftermath of the Gulf Oil Spill.

This Tuesday, June 21st is the premiere of the third installment this season, Changing Seas: Prescription Oceans. The oceans are part of America’s newest medical frontier. In Florida, a group of scientists are testing sea sponges for their potential anti-cancer properties. These and other marine invertebrates may hold the key to unlocking the secrets of our own biology.

The seas hold great promise for ongoing medical research, as an untapped source of alternate energy, and other benefits that scientists are just now beginning to discover.

This documentary series lets viewers experience first-hand how oceanographers and other experts study earth’s last frontier, and it sheds light on how human activities are threatening ocean resources.

Encore Airing of 'Haiti Journal' June 16

WPBT2, in partnership with the Haitian American Professionals Coalition (HAPC), will encore their new original production, Haiti Journal, on Thursday, June 16 at 7:30pm. Haiti Journal is a monthly public affairs program covering current affairs within the Haitian and Haitian American communities.

Through the partnership with WPBT2 and HAPC, the program will shed light on issues facing the Haitian community in the US, such as the rebuilding efforts of the January 2010 earthquake, Haiti’s political landscape and new president, Michel Martelly, and how the dual citizenship debate affects both the Diaspora and Haitians living abroad.

“The partnership between HAPC and WPBT2 will undoubtedly raise public awareness about the richness of Haitian culture and its relationship to South Florida, and will further educate the community about the positive contributions of Haitians to the United States," said Richard Champagne, Chairman of the Haitian-American Professionals Coalition.

Haiti Journal will be hosted by Farah Larrieux. Larrieux is well known to Haitian Americans working in the entertainment industry. Since the age of 18 in Haiti, she served as a TV host and radio personality at Telemax and Vision 2000, Radio Signal FM and Radio Planèt Kreyòl.

Haiti Journal joins a regular monthly line up of WPBT2 original productions which includes Pulse and Viewpoint and the weekly public affairs series, Issues with Helen Ferre.

 

Haitian Flag

Farah Larrieux

A Reason to Keep Looking Up

For generations of children in Miami-Dade and across the country Jack Horkheimer was their guide to the cosmos. The Miami Science Museum mainstay and host of the WPBT-produced Star Gazer passed on in August of last year, but the Miami PBS station has announced that new co-hosts Dean Regas and James Albury will carry the show on.

Star Gazer, originally known as Star Hustler, premiered on local Miami public television in 1976, and was syndicated nationally on various PBS station beginning in 1985. Horkheimer starred in 1,708 episodes of the minute-long series and continued hosting up until his death.

Continue reading here

Burns Notice

Ken Burns will be visiting South Florida next week to preview his new film, PROHIBITION, coming to our schedule in the fall.  The event has sold out but we will be recording Ken's comments along with those of his co-producer, Lynn Novick.  They will be joined after the film by Sun Sentinel Editorial page editor Antonio Fins to discuss the topics raised in the film.

You can see photos and video from the event on our Facebook page and uVu shortly after the event.

 

And if you do have tickets, remeber the screening has been moved to the Parker Playhose.  Hope to see you there.