museum of natural history

Ahoy, DC film buffs! The Museum of Natural History (Home of Sant Ocean Hall), is hosting four ocean film classics this weekend:

On Saturday, it's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Swiss Family Robinson.

On Sunday, it's Mutiny on the Bounty and Moby Dick.

The films will be introduced by senior scientist and film buff Dr. David Pawson of the Museum's Department of Invertebrate Zoology.

Any recommendations on which one of these is the best classic ocean film?

Last week Oceana took a field trip to the new Ocean hall at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Reviews have been mixed. Here's our assessment, in list form:

Most impressive

1. The North Atlantic right whale -- Phoenix, a model of a real whale (pictured above), so-named because she was entangled in fishing gear and was "re-born" into the wild, where she currently resides. A compelling story about an individual whale and her species.

2. Coelacanth and pup -- an incredible back-from-extinction story not to be missed.

3. Videos on a spinning globe -- I was mesmerized by this, and I sat and watched several chapters about Pangaea and Panthalassa, the recent tsunami and ocean currents. But Suzannah pointed out that there was nowhere to sit besides the floor.

If you live in DC, enjoy photography and/or the sea, the Museum of Natural History has an exhibit of some amazing ocean and marine life photos up through November. Even for the uber-busy among you, that should be plenty of time to check it out.

The small exhibit seems to be a teaser for the museum's 23,000 square-foot Ocean Hall , which is scheduled to open in September.

Thanks to Oceana science fellow Ben Freitas for the heads up.