Topics pertaining to science fiction and/or fantasy, in book, TV show, or movie formats.
I keep seeing ads for Final Destination 5. Could someone explain to me the appeal of the Final Destination movies? Because I just don’t get it. After the first one, audiences must have known that essentially everyone was going to die by the end of the movie, with absolutely no way to save themselves or …
OMG, mind control rays… from the SUN! 😉 Okay, not really. At worst, the solar storms only added some additional impetus, the basic reasons for both the riots and the market fluctuations were already there. But I find it very interesting that research has linked solar storms to pessimism and depression. Our local star may …
Continue reading ‘“Riots, wild markets: Did space storms drive us mad?”’ »
GoddessJ and I went to see Cowboys and Aliens a couple days ago. I have to say, it’s the best movie I’ve ever seen in the western-slash-science-fiction category. Of course, as GoddessJ puts it, that’s like being able to claim the title of best bullfighter in Alaska. 😉 Seriously though, it’s a pretty good SF …
Continue reading ‘From the You’ve-Gotta-Be-Kidding-Me Department…’ »
GoddessJ and I enjoy watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, a series that shows old movies while three hecklers toss in humorous comments. We’ve got quite a few episodes on DVD. But the thing that got GoddessJ interested was when I convinced her to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, which mocked a classic 1950s …
I’ve been reading e-books since about 2001, first on my several Palm machines, and more recently on my iPod Touch. I appreciate their compactness (GoddessJ and I already have to devote an entire spare bedroom to our library), the fact they don’t wear out, that I can read them in the dark, and that (depending …
Continue reading ‘“Amazon heralds unstoppable rise of the e-book”’ »
Science fiction, computers, and security, all in one post? And it’s not something I’ve written?! 😀 (Seriously, it sounds like a pretty good idea.)
Well, turnabout is fair play. Computers have been driving us crazy for decades already. 😉 And does this mean that we’re ready to create the HAL-9000? 😉 (Really interesting ideas about brain research using neural nets, though I have my doubts that it will be very useful for most things until we understand the brain …
Continue reading ‘“Boffins develop method of driving computers insane”’ »
Oh, come on, guys. You’re obviously not real science fiction fans, if you think that this really proves that both time travel and intergalactic travel are impossible. I can name half a dozen possible ways other than faster-than-light travel for one or both of those: wormholes, temporal rifts, cold sleep, dimensional portals, tachyon communications, and …
Continue reading ‘“Sorry, time travelers, you’re still just fiction”’ »
Electric shocks help people learn. Well, duh! If I were a neuron getting shocked all the time, I’d certainly be looking for the fastest way to turn it off too! 😉 Seriously, it’s an interesting read for science geeks. And one of several bits of science suggesting that a real “thinking cap” might not be …
Continue reading ‘“Mild brain shocks may improve learning and cognition”’ »
In a science fiction story I once read — I can’t for the life of me recall which one — a spaceship’s electronics were overloaded and massively damaged by some kind of energy weapon. The ship got away, but it was crippled. Fortunately, the crew managed to repair enough of systems to limp to an …
Continue reading ‘“Reprogrammable Chips Could Enable Instant Gadget Upgrades”’ »