Science fiction is a genre of limitless possibilities, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few ideas writers keep coming back to as trusty old standbys. Here are ten of science fiction's most common tropes...and how they've evolved. More »
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English news & notes 
Informations from different sources, all gathered in one place. Enjoy.
If you look for RPG blog notes - check rpgbloggers. I didn't want to copy their functionality. :)
We're in the middle of a flood of literary novels that play with science fiction ideas right now. What's causing it? And how can science fiction benefit from all of this fresh energy? More »
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A panel of physicists recommends keeping Fermilab's Tevatron collider alive for an extra three years, but others worry about collateral damage...
NASA is challenging the cooks of TV's 'Top Chef' to dream up a new meal for astronauts....
A space station astronaut has photographed Hurricane Earl as it heads towards the U.S. coast as a powerful Category 4 storm....
A new survey of asteroids near Earth shows these space rocks are a mixed bag, with some shiny and bright, others dark and dull....
NASA is developing a mission to plunge a car-sized probe directly into the sun's atmosphere, exploring a region no spacecraft has ever visited....
Veteran astronauts Linda Godwin and Scott Altman are leaving NASA, the space agency announced Tuesday....
The astronauts aboard the International Space Station won't be throwing any burgers on the grill this Labor Day, but at least they'll get the holiday off....
A Hubble engineer, and a native of the Dutch island of Aruba, has received the highest civilian order in the Netherlands....
A new glimpse of a well-known supernova could provide new clues about how dying stars affect their surroundings....
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A striking galaxy buzzing with energetic star formation takes center stage in a new photograph that showcases an unusual "superwind" of out-flowing gas....
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking says the universe is perfectly capable of creating itself, thank you very much, and it doesn't require the existence of God or a God-like outside source to get things started....
Dreamworks TV and ABC Studios are teaming with the creators of “Paranormal Activity” on a spooky TV project.
“Paranormal” writer-director Oren Peli and “Paranormal 2” screenwriter Michael R. Perry have co-created a new series idea that brings the horror hit’s style to the small screen.
Titled "The River," the story involves a search for a person who [...]...
In the 60’s, Boy’s Life Magazine was my window into adventure. Nothing was a bigger adventure then than going to the moon. To me, the space race was the pinnacle of what we could achieve as human beings.
[Read more]
I remember this particular painting by Bob McCall as the defining painting of my boyhood that wetted my appetite for adventures on the moon. In those days, Boy’s Life was as big as Life Magazine in format, so you can imagine how my eyes lit up when I turned the page on this baby.
Before I even understood what the heck acrylics were, McCall was already breaking ground and pushing the limits of the medium. He mastered this phenomenal scene with about 4 colors: burnt sienna, cadmium red, cadmium yellow medium, and prussian blue.
When that page is turned, McCall sweeps the eye from left to right in a bold diagonal that cuts across the gutter and exits stage right, pulling your interest with it and practically demanding tha... http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/bob-mccalls-escape-the-morning...
From the cover of today's Hollywood Reporter......
Fans of Frank Herbert’s Dune series are in for a long, lost treat. A fully illustrated and searchable online version of the long out of print Dune Encyclopedia has surfaced.
The book itself has a controversial history. Published in 1984, the Encyclopedia consists of 200 essays regarding the Dune universe, from Al-Harba to Jehanne Butler to the evolution of Arrakis and much, much more. The book was considered authorized at first, but was quietly given non-canon status as Herbert’s son continued to expand the Dune mythos through his own books. With the Dune universe continuing onwards, the Encyclopedia is now considered completely apocryphal.
You can find a magnificent breakdown of the book, its history, and its contents here. Or you can plunge right in to the book itself....
For my second article for Blastr — SyFy Channel’s web portal — I wrote an article about five movies that actually got some science correct. Not all of it, mind you, but at least some! So head on over there and see what I chose, and add your own to the comments....
Yes, we know that most people were disappointed by the way that Lost ended. The writers of the show created too many loose ends that were conveniently left out of the finale. Luckily for all of us, one fan (who goes by the name of That John Locke) has created a satisfying grand unified theory of Lost's mysteries. Here are the highlights:...
Each week, Frequency Rotation probes a different song with a science fiction or fantasy theme. Genre, musical quality, and overall seriousness may vary.
Earlier this year I wrote a feature for Clarkesworld called “Moonage Daydream: The Rock Album as Science Fiction.” In it, I point out that rock ’n’ roll’s love affair with science fiction began when rock ’n’ roll as a mass movement did, in the early ’50s. Back then, of course, space travel fell strictly within the realm of science fiction. But in January of 1957—and with Moscow’s sudden, unexpected launch of Sputnik still nine months away—a gaggle of hillbillies assembled in Memphis to record a song that gleefully anticipated the coming Space Age. (Or at the very least, it gleefully anticipated that weekend’s trip to see a science-fiction double-bill down at the local drive-in.)
That two-minute blast of hootin’, hollerin’,... http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/frequency-rotation-billy-lee-riley-and-his-little-green-men-qflyin-saucers-rock-n-rollq...
We've spent the week in the io9 book club discussing N.K. Jemisin's novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Now you can ask the author about the book - she'll be joining us tomorrow from 12-1 EST to answer! More »
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Jane Espenson is one of the most beloved science fiction TV writers out there, and also a very busy one. She's worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, Caprica and a whole bunch of other shows, and now she's working on the new season of Torchwood....
While John prepares for the Hugo Awards ceremony this coming weekend in Australia, his filmcritic.com column discusses a very familiar question. Fans will eventually ask when their favorite book will be swept-up by Hollywood and made into a movie. Who doesn’t have a list in the back of their heads as to who will play John Perry or perhaps, Harry [...]...
Ever since Spider-Man came out in 2002 and set all kinds of records for making money, the movie industry has gone crazy for......
This was a fun podcast episode, with a great guest. This week, we discussed:-All sorts of stuff, in an interview with our special guest writer/editor/hobby superwoman Jess Hartley;-A review and discussion of the new sword-and-sorcery Shadow, Sword, & Spell RPG, from Rogue Games-GM Screens: Benevolent Game Master’s Aid, or Instrument Oppressive Fascism? (OK, perhaps we didn’t couch it in those terms, but you get the idea).Download it now, and give yourself gaming sustenance in the days to come....
I know, this blog could be all Mitchell and Webb, all the time. But man, they’re just so spot on with this stuff!
I would’ve changed one single line: "Fortunately the aliens landed somewhere very remote which is also a well-known top secret Army base," adding "… where we also happen to be doing high-altitude atomic [...]...
Cyanobacteria survived strong UV exposure for a billion years – the secret to their success could be key to new sunscreens and "anti-ageing" products...
Exclu: On the heels of winning the Emmy for outstanding reality series, ABC has given a second-season order to "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."
ABC has picked up six new episodes of the show from Ryan Seacrest Productions and Fresh One, which will begin production this winter for a midseason or summer run.
The first season of the [...]...
Moviefone debuted a new weekly comic strip yesterday. This one's about Inception. We laughed....
The crisp, cool evenings, trees exploding into color and kids back in school all make you think of fall. But fall is also the time when network TV decides to unleash a barrage of new shows on the unsuspecting viewing public. This year is no exception and there are plenty of genre related shows, both new and returning, for the SF/F fan.
But will there be any worth watching?Monday
Chuck (NBC)
Status: Returning
Premiers: Sept 20, 8/7pm
Chuck returns for a fourth season with big changes in store, considering all deaths, explosions and mayhem from last season's finale. You can expect to see 100% more of Chuck's mom and, hopefully, the same goofy, silly, geeky humor that makes Chuck a fun show to watch.
The Event (NBC)
Status: New
Premiers: Sept. 20, 9/8pm
Billed as "an emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker, an Everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his fiancee, Leila, and unwitti... http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sfsignal/~3/7l_0XqEZuFs/...
Clarkesworld #48 is now posted:
Fiction"The Cull" by Robert Reed"Paper Cradle" by Stephen Gaskell
Non-FictionSteel is not Enough: The Lives and Times of Magnus, Robot Fighter by Bill SpanglerTo See Beyond the Points of View: A Conversation with Karen Lowachee by Jeremy L. C. JonesEach Facet Intensely: A Conversation with Angela Slatter by Jeremy L. C. Jones
Podcast
"The Cull" by Robert Reed, read by Kate Baker[Cover art: "Honeycomb" by Julie Dillon]...
In episode 2.06, “The Blind Bandit,” Aang and the gang continue their search to find the Avatar an Earthbending master, discovering an unlikely tutor in an Earthbending tournament.
[Click the link to meet the most badass Earthbender of all time]
Okay, folks. Full disclosure here. I love Toph. I have been looking forward to this episode since before we started the re-watch in the spring. I’m so glad I can finally talk about her. However, I am curious to hear the impressions any first-time viewers have of her. I remember not being completely sold on an addition to the gang when I first saw “The Blind Bandit.”
The episode opens in an Earth Kingdom town with Sokka trying to decide whether or not he should buy an expensive bag. Sokka is certainly the most materialistic of the three and the writers never miss an opportunity to play with this aspect of his character. Meanwhile, Aang and Katara find an Earthbending school for Aang to... http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/avatar-rewatch-the-blind-bandit-episode-206...
Exclu: To promote its new fall cheerleading series "Hellcats," The CW is staging an attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
On Sept. 4, the network will turn the Frisco Memorial Stadium in Frisco, TX, into Cheerleader Headquarters by inviting squads from around the country to participate in a 5-minute choreographed “Hellcats” dance.
The goal: To set [...]...
There is much more to the cosmos than meets the eye. Astrophysicist Michael Rowan-Robinson explores what invisible rays from radio to gamma have shown us...
Future spacecraft could change their orbits simply by unfurling electrically conducting tethers – Japan has now tested one in a suborbital mission...
All today's stories on NewScientist.com including: the flaws in criminal profiling, a birds-eye view of hurricane Earl and weird water inside planets...
The True Blood Season 3 finale is going to air next Sunday, Sept. 12, which pretty much means now is the time to start talking about Season 4. On cue, E! Online has pieced together info on some of the characters who'll be coming back next year, which means they not only have a head start on spoiling Season 4, but they're also spoiling the Season 3 finale by letting you know who won't be dying....
There is a struggle going on for NASA’s soul. Is NASA all about sending human beings into space? Or is NASA about elucidating the secrets of the cosmos? The former is, of course, best embodied by the Apollo missions: pure, unadulterated rocket science. The latter is probably best associated with the Hubble space telescope (although [...]...
The Heat Vision column over at The Hollywood Reporter reported late yesterday that Warner Bros. is in discussions with its subsidiary company, DC Entertainment to obtain television rights to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic series.
[More information from the article below the cut]
From the article:
Up until a few months ago, DC was in talks with HBO and James Mangold to develop a show minus WBTV’s involvement, but that never coalesced.
Gaiman was not officially involved with the HBO attempt, though he and Mangold held several rounds of talks surrounding characters and story. The author is not involved in the new developments, though since it is early in the process, that may change. In fact, securing Gaiman will prove key for the project to go forward.
io9 reports on the story (along with past efforts to bring the comic to the screen) and offers one simple caveat to a Sandman TV series: Not Without Neil. A sentim... http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/warner-bros-making-an-attempt-at-sandman-tv-series...
Marvel's grand plan to release a bunch of individual superhero movies leading up to the ensemble adventure of Joss Whedon's Avengers film apparently involves hiding Easter Eggs all over the place....
An astronaut on the International Space Station has captured a serene-looking view of hurricane Earl – but things aren't so calm down below...
With the ratings low tide of Labor Day weekend creeping closer, most Wednesday broadcast shows slipped in the Nielsen overnights.
Fox and CBS tied to win the evening, with Fox's "MasterChef" (4.7 million, 2.0) down 9%.
CBS's "Big Brother" (7.7 million, 2.8) managed to hold steady
NBC's "Minute to Win It" (6.1 million) slipped 11% and "America's [...]...
I’ll make a confession here: I was the only person in my class at my very-competitive college prep high school who did not take calculus. Which is a fact which bothered the calculus teachers immensely – the would come up to me and warn me I was throwing my life away, or at least my [...]...
By storing power for when it's needed most, speakers that plug into a USB port can produce high-quality sound without the need for mains power...
Over at Whitechapel, comic creator Warren Ellis has thrown down the gauntlet to his community: Design the 13th (and final) incarnation of The Doctor. No Photoshop hacks, no pen-portraits, but actual drawings.
The challenge was issued on August 29th but the results are starting to trickle in now, including efforts from Pia Guerra (Y: The Last Man, Doctor Who: The Forgotten), Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Fell), Annie Wu, and more. Check out Guerra’s rendition of the 13th Doctor with Sally Sparrow.
Exciting, no? Any Whitechapel forum member is free to post their own illustration. I salivate (in private, of course) to think what some of Tor.com’s featured artists could do in this challenge...
Chris Greenland always seems to get stuck writing the posts where The Doctor is someone else....
Stephen Hawking's new book is the biggest science news story of the day. Has he suddenly given up a religious belief, asks Roger Highfield...
When it was announced that David Tennant had scored the role of Peter Vincent in the Fright Night remake, the collective sound of millions of squeeing fans from the Doctor Who/David Tennant community was probably heard all over. Today, we now have our very first look at what the actor looks like in the role and it's really, REALLY interesting. And kind of shocking....
Congress could find a way around the shock court ruling that has frozen US government support for work on human embryonic stem cells...
A new image from Zack Snyder's upcoming film Sucker Punch showing more of the dragon/B52 fight we saw in the trailer appeared today on Cruel Films....
Sapolsky’s A Primate’s Memoir is non-fiction, but it’s one of the most engaging things ever written. It’s another one of those books like Backroom Boys that you have no idea you want to read, but that you will love to pieces. Robert Sapolsky is a neuroscientist and primate researcher. In this book, he writes about his life and the lives of a tribe of baboons in Africa. He doesn’t lose the distinction between people and animals at all, but he writes about them in the same way, and not at all in the way people usually write about animals, or about people for that matter.
[Read more]
The only way I can describe the book is by quoting it, so here’s the first paragraph:
I joined the baboon troop during my twenty-first year. I had never planned to become a savannah baboon when I grew up, instead I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla. As a child in New York I had endlessly begged and cajoled my mother i... http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/qa-number-of-humans-and-a-number-of-baboonsq-robert-m-sapolskys-a-primates-memoir...
Rumor has it someone might actually get to make a Sandman TV series: Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. Odd? Yes. Brilliant? Maybe. There are just two things we need to know. More »
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This image is stunning. And not just because, well, it’s all explodey and stuff:
[Click to explodenate.]
The three panels show a 1986 test of a Tomahawk cruise missile. The missile traveled 640 km (400 mile) low over the terrain to detonate above the target, a decommissioned fighter plane. It’s pretty clear the test was a success. [...]...
Readers of this site know I'm absolutely crazy about random generation, tables, and charts in role playing games--I love 'em, and think they're tremendous fun. Today, I have an interview with Hannah Lipsky of Chaotic Shiny Productions, someone who knows as much about random generation programs for RPGs as anyone out there. Hannah is here to talk about her awesome new Kingdom Builder II program pack, her other available generators, Chaotic Shiny's other projects, and a bit about being a small-press gaming company.Best of all, as a thank-you to RPG Blog 2 readers, the first twenty people to use the code "RPGB2ROCKS" at the Chaotic Shiny store this month receive 25% off any purchase! Act fast, because those twenty uses will go quick! How awesome is that? Now, on to the interview!Chaotic Shiny has one of the largest collections of RPG generator tools I've seen. How did you get involved in writing these sorts of programs?I started freeform play-by-post roleplaying way ba... http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rpgblog2/~3/XtMbJVTjf_0/random-generation-interview-with.html...
Robots, Vampires and Catholic High School!
Dragona Lore Smith tries to keep his secret. He also tries to keep his friends.
As he makes one small mistake after another, his world starts to unravel.
Originally four 20-page issues, Lore #9-12 have been reprinted in the form of two 40-page comics. DriveThruComics.com now has electronic versions in watermarked PDF format. These digital editions present Lore at 200dpi — nearly twice the resolution of the free web comic.
Readers can instantly download the 13MB files for $0.99 each....
” ‘QED: Question. Explore. Discover.’ proudly announces 10 of the spectacular speakers who are taking to the stage in front of 500 skeptics and fans of science in The Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester (UK) on the 5th and 6th of February, 2011. George Hrab Eugenie Scott Jon Ronson Kat Akingbade Bruce Hood Wendy Grossman Chris Atkins [...]...
“Norfolk hospital organises lessons for foreign nurses to avoid cultural misunderstandings with patients. Foreign nurses are receiving a crash course in euphemism after bewildered patients expressing the wish to “spend a penny” found themselves being escorted to a hospital shop. Norfolk’s Queen Elizabeth hospital has organised special “adapting to life in Norfolk” sessions for Portuguese [...]...
“A whopping 9.2 million UK adults have never been online according to data released by the Office of National Statistics, out of a population of around 62 million or one out of every seven Britons. The ONS figures show some pretty interesting trends; more than one million UK citizens have used the internet for the [...]...
This post is about book stores - I swear.
I don't go to BestBuy looking for advice. I know that BestBuy has spent a good deal of time and money attempting to brand themselves as being quite knowledgeable about the products that they sell and I salute them for that effort, but it has never been my experience that their general employees are particularly knowledgeable. This is not necessarily their fault, and I'm not trying to be mean or slam them - I know they try. But I liken it to multiple levels of tech support; you have your ground floor grunts who wander around the store looking quite aimless who are more than capable of pointing out to you where something is in the store or how much it costs, but beyond that, they aren't particularly helpful. Above them is the next tier, people who have a bit more knowledge and the power that comes with it. You rarely see them wandering the floor. Above them are the true techies and they are around but you will have to stand in line for ... http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sfsignal/~3/YKDEs5oDIzw/...
Wieści
Raport Oka Throalu #25
Bojowe nastolatki, czyli bez wampirów ani rusz
Są książki dla dzieci i młodzieży, które również starsi bardzo chętnie czytają. Są książki, które mimo powielania tych samych schematów prezentują się bardzo ciekawie. Są książki, w których obecność ...czytaj...
Nowy Piotruś Pan
Strona Movie Web informuje, że scenarzysta i reżyser Nick Willing realizuje prequel klasycznej opowieści o Piotrusiu Panie. Obraz będzie nosił tytuł Neverland. W filmie zobaczymy Rhysa Ifansa jako ...czytaj...
Nowy plakat do Monsters
Studio Vulture zaprezentowało nowy oficjalny plakat do filmu Monsters. Film ma trafić do kin 29 października, a w obsadzie zobaczymy między innymi Whitney Able i Scoota McNairy'ego. Reżyseruje Garet...czytaj...
Telewizyjna adaptacja Sandmana?
Telewizja Warner Bros. jest w trakcie nabywania praw do serii komiksowej Sandman autorstwa Neila Gaimana. Na czele listy kandydatów na reżysera znajduje się Eric Kripke, odpowiedzialny dotychczas za ...czytaj...
First Fright Night - magia i wampiry
Na stronie Movie Web można obejrzeć pierwsze bannery do nowo powstającego filmu, będącego remakiem filmu Fright Night z 1985 roku. Tak jak w oryginale, ma to być połączenie komedii i horroru. Za kame...czytaj...
Nowe plakaty Tronu i Pozwól mi wejść
Dla tych, którzy nie mogą doczekać się wyżej wymienionych tytułów, mamy nowe międzynarodowe plakaty, które można obejrzeć tutaj. Przypomnijmy, że Tron: Dziedzictwo wchodzi do polskich kin 31 grudnia...czytaj...
"The Walking Dead" nadal BEZ drugiego sezonu
Kilka dni temu, zwłaszcza w internecie na popularnych portalach o tematyce serialowej, pojawiła się plotka, że nowy serial AMC "The Walking Dead" jeszcze przed emisją pierwszego sezonu dosta...czytaj...
Darren Aronofsky o technologii 3D
Na tę chwilę remake "Robocopa" w reżyserii Darrena Aronofskiego ("Zapaśnik", "Requiem dla snu", "Źródło") jest kompletnie martwy. Pogłoski mówiły,...czytaj...
Drugi sezon The Walking Dead nie taki pewny?
Stacja AMC sprostowała niedawne doniesienia na temat drugiej serii The Walking Dead. Jak się okazuje jej powstanie nie jest jeszcze takie pewne, jak mogłoby się wydawać. czytaj...
