Media Menu, October 16, 2010

Here are home viewing suggestions for the week, selected from online advanced TV program listings and aligned with the state and national K-12 academic standards available online. Please consult local listings also, since actual broadcast times may vary. The Websites cited in the “Log on“ box below the tv listing provide further details about the show’s topic and may contain links to video clips from the show or a complete streaming video version of the show.

Saturday, October 16, 2010,
10-11 p.m. E/P
History Channel
Science
Middle and High School

" The Universe: Total Eclipse”

Once they were dreaded and thought to be dragons eating the sun--but modern science has dispelled mythology and we now look forward to total Solar Eclipses as one of the most spectacular phenomena in the heavens. This documentary explores the complex movements of Earth, Moon and Sun that produce these unusual events and details why we may be the only intelligent beings in the known Universe to witness eclipses like we see on Earth. Man-made eclipses also figure into the science in the form of instruments called "coronagraphs." They blot out the sun and reveal its corona, uncovering secrets which, while enlightening, also warn of a disaster that could make our advanced technology crash and burn. Finally, the program travels into deep space, where the tiny eclipses caused by planets circling distant stars is now beginning to reveal hundreds more stars where "exoplanets" exist... perhaps even those in habitable zones like the Earth. TV-PG

Log on http://www.history.com/shows/the-universe

Sunday, October 17, 2010,
7-8 p.m. E/P
CBS
World and U.S. History
Middle and High School

" 60 Minutes”

The first report in this newsmagazine , “City Of David”, is about a site under the city of Jerusalem - a controversial archeological dig that has become a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Then, “Stand Down” reports one veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan into the recession are finding themselves homeless. Scott Pelley reports on an annual encampment in San Diego where veterans can find hope, help and services. “Market Street” is a report on a mystery that was solved about a 100-year-old film that we now know was made on San Francisco's Market Street. just days before the 1906 earthquake.

Log on http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

Mondays, October 18, 2010,
9-10:30 p.m. E/P
PBS
U.S. History
Middle and High School

"American Experience - We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower ”

Five documentaries spanning 300 years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native-American perspective. Benjamin Bratt narrates. The first program takes place in March of 1621. In what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit, the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of Native help.Massasoit faced problems of his own. His people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett to the west. The Wampanoag sachem calculated that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his Native enemies at bay. He agreed to give the English the help they needed.A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit’s diplomatic gamble seemed less clear. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and widespread environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit’s son, the Wampanoag and their Native allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea. The next 4 documentaries air in this timeslot on successive Mondays –“Tecumseh’s Vision”, “Trail Of Tears”, “Geronimo” and “Wounded Knee”.

Log on for streaming of all episodes http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/index

Tuesday, October 19, 2010,
9-10 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science
Middle and High School

" Making History: Stonehenge ”

Stonehenge was one of the ancient world's greatest architectural feats. In this documentary three filmmakers working on a shoestring budget demonstrate how ancient people could have created such an iconic and long-lasting structure. Watch as they make nine extras look like hundreds of Stone Age men raising the enormous stones into place, and re-live the treacherous journey taken to retrieve the 'magic' stones. For the first time you’ll see Stonehenge not as a ruin but as a prehistoric temple. Our presenter Jeff Douglas meets the Stonehenge experts and examines the evidence: ancient weapons, "magic" stones and murder victims. Jeff passes the facts back to the three film artists, Steve, Colin and Neil, who use cutting edge computer imagingto re-create dramatic moments from the history of Stonehenge.

Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/making-history/4744/Overview

Wednesday, October 20, 2010,
7-8 p.m. E/P
Planet Green Channel
Science
Elementary, Middle and High School

" How Stuff Works: Salt ”

This documentary delves into the science of salt, the prehistoric, life-sustaining mineral that has 14,000 known uses from seasoning food to so much more.

Log on http://www.howstuffworks.com/salt-quiz.htm

Thursday, October 21, 2010,
9-10 p.m. E/P
National Geographic Channel
Science and Technology
Middle and High School

" America's Secret Weapon ”

This documentary offers rare access to a highly classified division of the Defense Department known as DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). It's considered to be America’s secret weapon lab, and although most civilians have never heard of it, its innovations have led to the invention of the Internet, the computer mouse and the global positioning system. We'll unlock the door to this highly classified facility for an insider's look at the latest generation of remarkable breakthroughs. We'll get a sneak peek at unmanned aerial vehicles, the Navy Seals' power swim technology and hypersonic aircraft.

Log on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/3933/Overview

Friday, October 22, 2010,
9-10 p.m. E/P
History Channel
Economics and Technology
Middle and High School

"Modern Marvels: Mega Stores”

The colossal cornerstones of commerce. Oversized outfitters. Merchandise Moguls. Mega stores giant facilities engineered to keep up with America’s supersized habits. They are the largest, busiest places in the country. Their greatest challenge: keeping up with demand on a massive scale. And to do it, they have everything from scuba divers to sandblasters. This documentary is not about what’s on the shelves – it’s what happens behind the scenes of mega stores.

Saturday, October 23, 2010,
6-7 p.m.E/P
Sundance Channel
Arts and World History
Middle and High School

"Picasso and Braque Go The Movies ”

Among the first generation of cinemagoers in turn-of-the-century Paris were two young painters, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Soon to revolutionize the history of art, Picasso and Braque were so smitten with early film that they formed a film club. Martin Scorsese narrates filmmaker Arne Glimcher's documentary exploration of early cinema's influence on the birth of Cubism and visual modernism. Fearturing art historian John Richardson and contemporary masters of the canvas such as Chuck Close, Julian Schnabel and Eric Fischl. What holds the film together, is the steady stream of clips from early cinema — especially Georges Méliès’ photographic magic tricks — whose playful spirit found its way into Cubist paintings and drawings, especially those of Picasso. A voracious consumer of popular culture, he was first exposed to the movies in 1896, at 15, and was immediately smitten.

Log on http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/movies/28picasso.html