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Indulge and educate yourself at the Power of Chocolate Festival this weekend. Image courtesy of the American Indian Museum

Friday, February 10 Mourning

Before the Iranian Film Festival draws to a close next week, be sure to catch Morteza Fashbaf’s debut film, “Mourning,” which won the top prize at South Korea’s 2011 Busan International Film Festival. The film follows a road trip with two characters who are deaf and dumb, spending most of their time bickering almost entirely in sign language. The breakout feature led the Institute of Contemporary Art in London to speculate that it “may herald the arrival of a major new Iranian talent.” Free. 7:00 p.m. Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery.

Saturday, February 11 The Power of Chocolate Festival

Start getting your sweet tooth in shape now, because this weekend the American Indian Museum is chock full of chocolate. Considered a “food of the gods” by the Mayan and Aztec peoples, chocolate has a rich and complicated cultural history that will be on full display. Grind your own cacao beans and froth your own drink, or learn from the renowned chef Richard Hetzler of the museum’s Mitsitam Cafe about the many different ways you can cook with chocolate. And this just in—sample tastings will be offered. See the full schedule here. Free. 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. American Indian Museum.

Sunday, February 12 The Emerson String Quartet

Join the acclaimed Emerson String Quartet for an evening of diverse global music ranging from Bach to jazz to Brazilian Choro. Fresh off their induction into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame last year, the Emerson String Quartet has nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize under their belt. Buy tickets through the Resident Associates Program. $51 for members, $63 for general admission. 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Baird Auditorium, Natural History Museum.

How much is the Hope Diamond worth? Ask Smithsonian.

Our inquisitive readers are rising to the challenge we gave them last month. The questions are pouring in and we’re ready for more. Do you have any questions for our curators? Submit your questions here.

How much is the Hope Diamond worth? — Marjorie Mathews, Silver Spring, Maryland

That’s the most popular question we get, but we don’t really satisfy people by giving them a number. There are a number of answers, but the best one is that we honestly don’t know. It’s a little bit like Liz Taylor’s jewels being sold in December—all kinds of people guessed at what they would sell for, but everybody I know was way off. Only when those pieces were opened up to bidding at a public auction could you find out what their values were. When they were sold, then at least for that day and that night you could say, well, they were worth that much. The Hope Diamond is kind of the same way, but more so. There’s simply nothing else like it. So how do you put a value on the history, on the fact it’s been here on display for over 50 years and a few hundred million people have seen it, and on that fact it’s a rare blue diamond on top of everything else? You don’t. – Jeffrey E. Post, mineralogist, National Museum of Natural History

What’s the worst impact of ocean acidification so far?- Nancy Schaefer, Virginia Beach, Virginia

The impacts of ocean acidification are really just starting to be felt, but two big reports that came out in 2011 show that it could have very serious effects on coral reefs. These studies did not measure the warming effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but rather its effect of making the ocean more acidic when it dissolves in the ocean. Places where large amounts of carbon dioxide seep into the water from the sea floor provide a natural experiment and show us how ocean waters might look, say, 50 or 100 years from now. Both studies showed branching, lacy, delicate coral forms are likely to disappear, and with them that kind of three-dimensional complexity so many species depend on. Also, other species that build a stony skeleton or shell, such as oysters or mussels, are likely to be affected. This happens because acidification makes carbonate ions, which these species need for their skeletons, less abundant.

Nancy Knowlton, marine biologist
National Museum of Natural History

Art and artifacts from ancient South Pacific and Pacific Northwest tribes have similarities in form and function. Is it possible that early Hawaiians caught part of the Kuroshio Current of the North Pacific Gyre to end up along the northwest coast of America from northern California to Alaska? — April Croan, Maple Valley, Washington

Those similarities have given rise to various theories, including trans-Pacific navigation, independent drifts of floating artifacts, inadvertent crossings by ships that have lost their rudders or rigging, or whales harpooned in one area that died or were captured in a distant place. Some connections are well-known, like feather garment fragments found in an archaeological site in Southeast Alaska that appear to have been brought there by whaling ships that had stopped in the Hawaiian Islands, a regular route for 19th-century whalers. Before the period of European contact, the greatest similarities are with the southwest Pacific, not Hawaii. The Kushiro current would have facilitated Asian coastal contacts with northwestern North America, but would not have helped Hawaiians. The problem of identification is one of context, form and dating. Most of the reported similarities are either out of their original context (which can’t be reconstructed), or their form is not specific enough to relate to another area’s style, or the date of creation cannot be established. To date there is no acceptable proof for South Pacific-Northwest Coast historical connections that predates the European whaling era, except for links that follow the coastal region of the North Pacific into Alaska.

William Fitzhugh, archeologist
Natural History Museum

The African Art Museum's film festival takes place every Thursday this month.

Tuesday, February 7 Water Matters

Join Smithsonian experts in Water Matters, an online conference by Shout Learning of Smithsonian Education. Starting on Tuesday, the conference will grapple with all aspects of humanity’s relationships with our most vital resource. The first session, led by Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair of Marine Science at the Natural History Museum, starts with the question: “What kinds of human interventions can help the health of marine life?” For the full schedule, see Shout Learning’s website. Free. Register to reserve a virtual spot. Sessions 11:00 a.m. to 7:50 p.m. Resumes Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 8 Multiplicity Curator Talk

If you haven’t yet gotten over to the “Multiplicity” exhibition at the American Art Museum, here’s a good opportunity to check it off your cultural bucket list. Take a walk through the gallery with curator Joann Moser, who will highlight each featured piece and explain how each artist questions the ideas of rarity and uniqueness in art through repetition, pairing, and variation. Free. 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. American Art Museum.

Thursday, February 9 Touki Bouki

Every Thursday through February, the African Art Museum‘s 2012 African Art House Film Festival showcases African films both classic and cutting edge, from all corners of the continent. This week is Touki Bouki, a Senegalese road movie following two young lovers through their schemes to pay their way to Paris. There will also be a Q & A with film historian Françoise Pfaff of Howard University. Free. 6:30 p.m. Landmark E Street Cinema.

Giants and patriots come in all forms, as seen in "Giant Demon Attacks a Ship," an Indian watercolor ca. 1775. Photo courtesy of the Freer and Sackler Galleries

Take a look at our photo gallery of giants and patriots in the Smithsonian Institution.

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, we’ve come up with our own contest of “giants” and “patriots.” A disclaimer, though: it has nothing to do with football. We’ve combed through archives and collections across the Smithsonian Institution to come up with a unique set of patriots and giants for you to check out to get ready for the game.

If you’re a Giants fan, we’ve got everything from giant pandas to giant sequoias to “Elaganeek: the Eskimo Giant.” “Giant’s Thumb,” a 1926 woodcut by Howard Cook in the American Art Museum, depicts one of the artist’s favorite natural spots in New Mexico, his adopted home.

For New England fans, though, the Smithsonian is filled with patriots both real and invented. Uncle Sam, of course, is the country’s iconic patriot, but real-life figures like George Washington and Samuel Adams were the original embodiments of patriotism during the birth of the country. The concept of patriotism is so powerful that the U.S. military has named missiles after it.

“Giant Demon Attacks a Ship,” an Indian watercolor painted by a Jain artist sometime around 1775, is the one piece that Giants fans might interpret as a good omen for the game. In the painting, a large blue demon seems poised to destroy a British ship, filled with sailors dressed not so differently from the Patriots original mascot, Pat Patriot. Watch on Sunday to see how the real life matchups turns out.

Actor and director Clint Eastwood was on hand for the opening of the Warner Bros. Theater at the American History Museum. Photo courtesy of the museum

Wednesday night, the American History Museum rolled out the red carpet for one of the most legendary stars in Hollywood: Clint Eastwood. As part of a special ceremony, Eastwood was awarded the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal for his lifetime of film contributions to American culture. He also presided over the ribbon-cutting for the new state-of-the-art Warner Bros. Theater, opened to the public after years of renovation.

“I am very pleased to be here tonight, and the Smithsonian is such a world-class museum, to be involved with it is great,” said Eastwood during his prepared remarks, before joking, “It’s great to be at the Smithsonian—at least as a recipient of a medal, not necessarily in one of the cabinets.”

The award was established in 1965 to honor the bicentennial of the birth of James Smithson, the namesake of the Smithsonian whose 1829 bequest laid the groundwork for the founding of the institution. Eastwood is the latest of many extraordinary figures in science, art, entertainment and a range of other areas to be honored for “distinguished contributions to the advancement of areas of interest to the Smithsonian.” Previous recipients have included Walter Cronkite, Stephen Hawking, Jim Henson and Lady Bird Johnson.

Eastwood was honored for the remarkable range of achievements that have stretched across his six decades of acting and directing. Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer, who was on hand to celebrate the event, noted that Eastwood is individually responsible for two of the studio’s eight Academy Awards for Best Picture, winning in 1992 for Unforgiven and 2004 for Million Dollar Baby. He also won the Best Director award for each of the films.

Eastwood receiving the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal. Photo courtesy of the American History Museum

Additionally, the event marked the culmination of efforts to create a new state-of-the-art theater for the museum. Enabled in part by a $5 million donation by Warner Bros., what was the Carmichael auditorium has now been renovated into an intimate 264-seat theater, featuring digital 3D capability, a 32-foot screen and an unprecedented degree of accessibility. “This theater, with 5.1 sound and the 3D capabilities and everything else that it has, is really worthy of being here in the Smithsonian,” said Eastwood.

To mark the occasion, the museum has opened a new display of celebrated film artifacts in the Constitution Ave. lobby, on loan from Warner Bros. The display cases feature Eastwood’s costume from the 1992 Western Unforgiven, Humphrey Bogart’s suit from Casablanca, robes worn in the Harry Potter movies and other legendary items.

The Warner Bros. Theater will be used to screen new documentaries and present film festivals celebrating America’s cinematic history. The first festival, held from February 2-5, will feature the films of Humphrey Bogart: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Big Sleep. Tickets to the festival sold out shortly after going on sale, but moviegoers can watch for tickets to go on sale for future events at the museum’s page.

Upcoming festivals include “Clint Eastwood’s Westerns” from June 22-24, “The Advent of Sound” from July 13-15 and “The Civil War on Film” from October 19-21. The Eastwood festival will feature screenings of some of his all-time classics: Unforgiven, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales and the documentary, The Eastwood Factor.

Accepting the award, Eastwood joked about having his career’s work honored in such a way. “They’re opening with Humphrey Bogart films for the first run, and I realize that Mr. Bogart has been decesased for some years now,” he said. “So I was kind of hoping it’d be a while before they run Clint Eastwood movies.”