There’s nothing like a gigantic summer blockbuster filled with robots and explosions to bring out the movie fan in all of us. Last Wednesday, the Maryland Science Center premiered Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in the St. John Properties IMAX Theater and it’s been nothing but long lines and sold-out shows ever since. Over the weekend, thousands of people streamed in to bear witness to the latest fearsome battle between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Unlike the “IMAX Digital” retrofits of existing theaters that have cropped up recently, the Maryland Science Center features the true IMAX experience, with its signature five-story screen and a surround sound system blasting 11,000 watts into your eardrums.

And if that wasn’t enough IMAX goodness for you, the Science Center will premier Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on July 29.

ExxonMobil introduced a new way to zip around Baltimore with the unveiling of the AltCar program at the Maryland Science Center on Tuesday. Baltimore is leading the nation as one of the first cities to implement an all-electric car-sharing program, and is the first in the region.

Drivers can experience the feel of an electric car by taking a spin around the Inner Harbor in the world’s first lithium-ion battery powered electric vehicle. Through August 1, visitors to the Maryland Science Center can test drive the car for free with paid admission to the museum.

The Maryland Science Center is also hosting the Energy Efficiency Car exhibition with a full-scale car model displaying green technologies.

News Outlets across the country picked up the story, including the Associated Press, CNN Money, Popular Science, and Wired.

Visit AltCar’s website, or the Maryland Science Center online for more details.

Last week, Himmelrich PR President Steve Himmelrich gave two presentations at the National Association of Consumer Shows (NACS) annual convention in Memphis.

In “Working with a PR Firm,” Steve helped attendees understand how to balance traditional media with social and new media, and how to identify a PR firm that can help determine which recipe/procedure/prescription/method/formula/scheme is most appropriate for them

In the other presentation, “Partnering With Charities,” Steve shared insights from show managers who have developed successful relationships with non-profit organizations in their areas and offered suggestions for how to create effective partnerships.

NACS is the national trade association consumer show industry.

When you receive a “message from the future” detailing the invasion of Earth by a mysterious alien species, take note.

This past Friday, the Contemporary Museum announced its 2009-2010 season of its popular Mobtown Modern concert series with just such a message. The “intercepted broadcast” reveals the master plan of tinfoil-clad aliens to invade our planet, using New Music as a means of mind control.

Mobtown Modern’s third season will include nine concerts featuring music from local composers alongside the most prolific compositions of the 20th and 21st centuries. Season highlights include an improvisational concert, collaboration with the Fluid Movement performance arts group, interactive performances, the series’ first solo recitals, and a retrospective of local musician Alexandra Gardner.

Check out the cheeky video announcement. You can also see the video on The Rest is Noise, a  blog by Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker.

Resistance is futile. The invasion begins Wednesday, September 16, 2009.

The National Academy Foundation High School-Baltimore will enhance to its record of excellence when 93 seniors graduate on Friday. That’s 97% of the school’s graduating class; pretty exceptional for a city school, and proof that an NAF education works.

NAF combines a traditional classroom education with a work-based learning curriculum in the fields of hospitality and tourism, finance, and information technology to prepare students for careers in their chosen field. Students get real work experience, such as catering events for dignitaries including Mayor Sheila Dixon and Governor Martin O’Malley, operating Baltimore’s first student-run credit union; and having internships at the region’s leading technology firms.

Good luck to the graduating class of 2009!

511 pounds. That’s how much food and drink Hugh Pocock consumed over 63 days. In a word: Whoa!

For the Contemporary Museum exhibition My Food My Poop, Pocock studied how much energy is required to fuel his daily activities, and explored man’s relationship to natural resources. During the experiment, the artist produced 253 pounds of energy from food.

No poop jokes here: The Contemporary illustrates Pocock’s findings with wood blocks representing different amounts of food intake, waste, and energy produced, and his diary entries written during the experiment.

Read Meredith Cohn’s article about My Food My Poop in the Baltimore Sun.

The front page of Sunday’s Baltimore Sun touted the “new” work of Business Volunteers Unlimited. For five years, BVU has connected people and businesses with nonprofits that need help by assisting companies in creating and managing successful corporate volunteer programs and developing civic leaders. Now, as accomplished professionals face periods of unemployment, BVU is working with them to find meaningful experiences that support nonprofits and the community while keeping them engaged. Check out the article here.

One of the principal goals of the Baker Artist Awards was to promote Baltimore as a city that values its art and appreciates its artists.  The awards process (with more than 8,000 voters reviewing the work of 600 artists) and the current exhibition of the winners’ work at the Baltimore Museum of Art were deemed a local success.  But how would someone from outside Baltimore feel about the work and how it represents Baltimore’s cultural identity?

Today’s review of the Baker Artist Awards Exhibition by Michael O’Sullivan of the Washington Post paints Baltimore as a city that not only loves its art, but gets it.

Prepare yourself, Baltimore visitors, for the attack – of visibility to Baltimore residents and summer visitors. The Waterfront Invasion has begun.

The Maryland Science Center and the National Aquarium have teamed up for the first time in a unique collaborative promotion in conjunction with the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association and the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore.  The Maryland Science Center’s summer-long Chinasaurs exhibit and the Aquarium’s new Jellies exhibit are the focal point for 10 weeks of promotions, family-friendly programming (including a movie series and concerts), weekly “Waterfront Wiggle” kid’s events, concerts, sporting activities, and contests.  The paid advertising for the promotion began Monday, the PR kicked in last night with the first TV story, and the fun continues all summer.

This past Friday, 180 night owls spent the night roaming the halls of the Maryland Science Center in preparation for the opening this Friday of the IMAX film Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian. Guests browsed the exhibits, bedded-down throughout the museum, and woke early for a sneak preview of the film. They gave the flick 360 thumbs up.  For more information on the film, check out the official site. If you want to experience the adventure on IMAX’s signature five-story screen while being blasted with 11,000 watts of sound, grab your St. John Properties IMAX Theater tickets here.