For those of you not in the area I'll explain. Using a technique which replaces all the tissue down to a cellular level with plastic, someone has turned a bunch of corpses into incredibly realistic mannequins. The figures are missing most of their skin. Most are missing varying amounts of muscle and organs. Spines, organs, skin, and individual limbs are laid out to show how they interact to make people move and how they degrade due to disease, smoking, fatty deposits, and whatnot.
Some bodies are displayed playing tug-of-war, throwing discus, conducting orchestras, and whatnot. What I was looking for was the game of poker they made for the James Bond movie "Casino Royale". Maybe it's in one of the other cities that this display is currently showing in.
Some displays are just of blood vessels. Here they pumped the plastics through the system, let it set up, and dissolved away the rest. It shows why the face bleeds such a ridiculous amount, how the small intestine is more important for absorbing nutrients than the stomach, etc.
There's an area showing a fetus at various stages of development. Signs explain that they all were lost due to natural failure and not due to human interference. There is a hallway that allows you to bypass this exhibit.
I make horrible medical texts as well as all sorts of video and photos from Iraq that the public will never see. So I'm not the best person to ask if the display is too gross. I didn't have any problems with what was displayed. They weren't mangled so for me everything was several steps better than what I'm used to.
If you found the displays on the buses disturbing then you might not want to go. Most of the people there were fine with the detailed internal anatomy. From the conversations I overheard there were several medical personnel there as well as people who had medical ailments that were able to see in some detail for the first time the areas that had betrayed them.
A few people brought their children. A little hispanic girl had the audio tour ($6.00) and was doing pretty well. Someone else brought their infant who slapped itself up against every acrylic surface it found trying to get at the exhibits.
In fact I only heard one person who didn't want to touch the hands-on parts that were rumored to be at the end. It was just a rumor.
$25 seems a bit much for tickets. There's some ads that offer $5 off if you order tickets online and punch in a certain code. Alas, by ordering online there's a $4 service charge and a $1 fee for getting tickets emailed to you OR a $1 fee for getting tickets at Will Call. So it's pretty much a wipe.
The whole tour took me about two hours. That seems about right. I was getting kind of sick of it by the end.
The show lasts until October sometime. It's not mentioned in the ads so I figured I should mention it.
It is a bit overpriced, but it's still a show worth seeing. Everything to do around here is either free or overpriced.
Currently showing in Branson, MO; Columbus, Ohio; Prague; Lisbon; Pittsburgh; San Diego; Durham; Las Vegas; New York; and Washington D.C.
1 comment:
That was such a funny review. I think it did not necessary needed to take on such serious subjects.
Post a Comment