The Doctor is set to regenerate once again as
David Tennant calls time on Doctor Who. "When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won’t be with me" Tennant, widely acknowledged as one of the most popular actors ever to play the Doctor, said. "
Now don’t make me cry. The 2009 shows will be my last playing the doctor.” [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000
on Oct 29, 2008 -
160 comments
Did you grow up anticipating sports where death would be likely, if not certain? Almost certainly played by convicts, possibly with robot limbs? And which would be even more likely to have chainsaws and flamethrowers not usually found in the sports of today?
Those We Left Behind’s look at Future-sports of the past, in
videogames,
movies and
comics is for you!
posted by Artw
on Sep 11, 2008 -
41 comments
Land of the Free, home of the geek. Steven Schofield takes photos of british sci-fi fans, dressed in character in their homes. He treats it as 'found' photography, which seems to illustrate the subjects vulnerability. The title of the work is Land of the Free - and illustrates how American culture infiltrates, with the ironic edge of questioning the idea of the freedom of choosing to copy the look of these fictional characters.
via kottke
posted by filmgeek
on Jul 14, 2008 -
36 comments
With all the
crystal skulls,
nazca lines and such at the box office these days now might be the ideal time to reacquaint yourself with the theories of
Erich von Däniken. What better way to do it than by watching
William Shatners Mysteries of the Gods (
Pt. 1,
Pt. 2,
Pt. 3,
Pt. 4,
Pt. 5,
Pt. 6,
Pt. 7,
Pt. 8,
Pt. 9,
Pt. 10)
(MULTI LINK YOUTUBE SHATNERFEST)
posted by Artw
on Jun 10, 2008 -
28 comments
Edinburgh author
Iain M. Banks, creator of the post capitalist space faring society
The Culture and it's
oddly named ships, has long been the UKs top science fiction writer, but has never had
more than a toehold in the US (in part through lack of availability, in part due to lack of promotion and in part due to some pretty
awful covers. That could change:
Matter, his latest, has been heavily promoted in the US and sports a cover nearly identical to the UK edition. This week
Orbit are releasing US editions of the two earliest Culture novels, with the third following in July, which could mean a complete release of all the novels in the US in order.
[more inside]
posted by Artw
on Mar 23, 2008 -
160 comments
"In the Late December" (MP3 link), by Greg van Eekhout, is a Nebula award-nominated story about Santa Claus and the end of the universe, and is
Escape Pod #138.
(By the way, this is a very dark story -- there's no sex or violence but this probably isn't suitable for kids, where "kids" is defined as a stereotypical aggregate of child-like characteristics. Yours may be different.)
posted by JHarris
on Dec 25, 2007 -
14 comments
The geekiest thing you will see this month is this fan-made comic called
The Ten Doctors.
Unexpectedly awesome, though!
posted by JHarris
on Dec 6, 2007 -
34 comments
Astrona - Space & Astronomical Art Journal : "specialising in space and astronomical art, science fiction art, visions of future worlds, design and visualization of technologies for living in space, space exploration, spaceships, starships, space colonies, etc."
posted by peacay
on Aug 29, 2007 -
6 comments
I watch virtually
no television but
this NPR review for the debut episode of
Masters of Science Fiction (ABC) had me intrigued. (
A similar review in the NY Times). ABC is being accused of burying this show with the timing of its introduction (and time slot). As for me, I'm still thinking about the debut episode, three hours later.
posted by spock
on Aug 4, 2007 -
40 comments
A
year-by-
year archive, from 1930 to the present, of every
poignant,
creepy,
tacky,
tragic,
goofy,
beautiful and, yes,
kinda slutty cover of the magazine that started out as
Astounding Stories of Super Science and became
Analog, with
lots of changes in between.
[via the horse's neck]
posted by mediareport
on Nov 11, 2006 -
35 comments
We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life--they are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all.Gene Wolfe -
Now step within Father Inire's mirrors....
posted by y2karl
on Jan 15, 2004 -
25 comments
Multi Genre Star Ship Comparison? "This site is intended to allow science fiction fans to get an impression of the true scale of their favorite science fiction spacecraft by being able to campare ships accross genres, as well as being able to compare them with contemporary objects with which they are probably familiar." Someone has spare time...
posted by Spoon
on Apr 10, 2003 -
25 comments
50 Most Significant Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books. Not sure what their criteria was, but this is a nice list. Lots of obvious, gotta-be-on-such-a-list choices, but also some surprises that should have people buying some books they might not have thought of before. (The URL is rather cumbersome, but that's the only one I could find).
posted by sassone
on Mar 5, 2003 -
105 comments
Orion's Arm is "an interactive hard science space opera, a joint effort in science fiction worldbuilding and a forum for cutting edge science fiction ideas".
posted by signal
on Jan 3, 2003 -
17 comments
HP Lovecraft is often seen as the first modern horror writer, and maybe the best. His
stories tend to follow a certain formula: a protagonist investigates strange events and is drawn into ancient horrors and madness. Lovecraft himself seems to have been deeply freaked out by the ocean, and evil from the deeps is another
common theme.
Anyone who has seen
The Deep episode of the BBC's Blue Planet is well on their way to feeling as Lovecraft did. And recently,
strange artifacts and
strange sounds have arisen from the deeps.
Are you Afraid?
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn!
posted by malphigian
on Jun 14, 2002 -
18 comments
Lucas: Powerful reteller of myth - or galactic gasbag? Salon has a scathing review of Lucas' claim that the basis of the Star Wars saga is in "man's oldest stories" and that he was guided by Joseph Campbell.
"With 'Star Wars' I consciously set about to re-create myths and the classic mythological motifs," Lucas says. "I wanted to use those motifs to deal with issues that exist today."
Hogwash, says author Steven Hart. Star Wars is based not on "The Odyssey" or the "Upanishads", but on Asimov, Heinlen, Herbert and other 20th century S.F.
posted by rshah21
on Apr 10, 2002 -
32 comments
A Few Words About Jack Vance. Gersen entered a hall with a floor of immaculate white glass tiles. On one hand was the display wall, characteristic of middle-class European homes; here hung a panel intricately inlaid with wood, bone and shell: Lenka workmanship from Nowhere, one of the Concourse planets; a set of perfume points from Pamfile; a rectangle of polished and perforated obsidian; and one of the so-called "supplication slabs"* from Lupus 23II.
* The nonhuman natives of Peninsula 4A, Lupus 23II, devote the greater part of their lives to the working of these slabs, which apparently have a religious significance. Twice each year, at the solstices, two hundred and twenty-four microscopically exact slabs are placed aboard a ceremonial barge, which is then allowed to drift out upon the ocean. The Lupus Salvage Company maintains a ship just over the horizon from peninsula 4A. As soon as the raft has drifted out of sight of land, it is recovered, the slabs are removed, exported and sold as objets d'art.
(Not for season ticket holders to The Short Attention Span Theater
-More within)
posted by y2karl
on Apr 10, 2002 -
39 comments
