extraterrestrial
Speculation, theory, UFOs and Aliens. Are we alone in this universe or is there life outside Earth?
How Ufologist Stanton Friedman Debunked Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke
Stanton Friedman was like the Perry Mason of the flying saucer world, equipped and ready to defend any statement, destroy any criticism, debunk any myth.
Joshua Samuel ZookPublished 7 years ago in Futurism5 Science Fiction Heroes Who Hate Science
What's a hero supposed to do when they are written into a story they don't seem to want to even be in? When they're rudely stuffed into a space ship and launched to Alpha Centauri...but they really only want to chill at a backyard BBQ?
Matt CatesPublished 7 years ago in FuturismWhat is Pyramid Power?
Pyramid Power is based on the theory that pyramid shapes, built to the proportions of the Great Cheops Pyramid in Egypt, can generate energy that produces startling effects. A growing number of scientists, parapsychologists, and kitchen sink experimenters are discovering that a pyramid can alter whatever falls within its energized walls. The special shape of the pyramid is like the special shape of a violin: A violin resonates sound; a pyramid resonates energy.
The Science Fiction of Music
My first novel, Big in Japan, is about a neurotic American prog-rocker coming of age in Japan. My second, Jellyfish Dreams, is about a biologist’s quest to reanimate his dead fiancée at the instigation of a black hole beneath his sofa. Readers who’ve read both books usually remark on how different they are, but I don’t see it that way. For one thing: crazy artist, mad scientist—same difference. For another, even if you agree with (a quote I’ve seen attributed to) sf comics genius Warren Ellis that “Prog rock was sick and wrong then and it is sick and wrong now,” one can’t deny that prog drinks as liberally from the sf well as it does from the epic and fantasy ones. And so, a primer on some of history’s more salient prog-sf conjunctions:
M. Thomas GammarinoPublished 8 years ago in FuturismSci-Fi's Obsession with the American West
I was once in Big Bend National Park and thought I’d stepped onto another planet. If you’ve had the misfortune never to have visited, it’s a mostly parched desert wonderland with the strangest flowers, succulents, and eerie hills that you can imagine. Toss in the sexy wild lawlessness of the historical American West and you can see why science fiction would create some of its most memorable works against such an awe-inspiring backdrop. From cartoons like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun to animated shows like Galaxy Rangers and Bravestarr, science fiction clearly has a great big ol’ crush on the American West. There’s DC Comics’ Jonah Hex, a whole slew of terrible B-movies, and then there are the great ones: films like Westworld and Back to the Future Part III, books like The Gunslinger, and shows like Firefly (*sniff*). If you haven’t seen them yet, check out these incredible tributes to science fiction and the West all in one beautiful biomechanical horse meets pony-express package.
Sarah QuinnPublished 8 years ago in FuturismSci-Fi's Obsession with Ancient Greece and Rome
Sometimes science fiction returns to the past for places, people, and themes to enrich its mind-journeys into the future. Such is the case with these sci-fi movies, TV episodes, and works of fiction, each one drawing from the ancient worlds of Greece or Rome to dress its story. Brit Marling, a screenplay co-writer of Another Earth, says that this isn’t really surprising. “We’re retelling the same dramas from Ancient Greece,” Marling said. “These stories are so fundamentally old, the mythology that they come from, the hero’s journey — the way a narrative works. Science allows you to take the same story and see it from a new perspective because the science is always new and fresh.” Science fiction’s interest in the ancient world goes beyond mere allusion, as in the middle name of Captain James Tiberius Kirk (Tiberius, in case you’re wondering, was a somber, reclusive Roman ruler who nevertheless left the empire in a better state than he found it). If you’re deeply interested in how the speculative worlds of the future and the worlds of ancient Rome and Greece intersect, you may be interested in a serious paper by academic Tony Keen, “The 'T' stands for Tiberius: models and methodologies of classical reception in science fiction.” If that sounds a little heavy, enjoy the following summary of a few times when togas, laurel wreaths, aliens, and spaceships partied it up in one crazy combination.
Sarah QuinnPublished 8 years ago in FuturismHollywood Halloween Hijinks - Count Dracula As An Extraterrestrial?
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What sweet music they make!” Count Dracula in "Dracula" - by Bram Stoker Loyal fans of the insidious exploits of the king of the vampires have been listening to haunting music played as a foreboding symphony from the bloodthirsty undead for decades. Ever since actor Bela Lugosi first put on the iconic cape in director Tod Browning’s 1931 landmark film, Dracula, movie audiences have lovingly embraced the coolest blood sucker of them all - Count Dracula. Before the Hollywood classic flick from Universal studios, readers immersed themselves in the bleak world of author Bram Stoker’s breakthrough novel, chronicling the wild adventures of the world’s most infamous vampire. Once Hollywood got a hold of Stoker's creation, the nefarious prince of darkness went through innumerable permutations, and Tinseltown is still morphing the world's favorite fang master.
Will StapePublished 8 years ago in FuturismThe Human Itch
Stan scratched at the red mark on his skin. It was one of many small scabs that had been bothering him for a few days now. A minuscule, amber crusted sore that bordered his left thumbnail. Carefully, he picked, picked, picked at it. Getting a fingernail beneath it, so it would peel off, sending a small shock of pleasurable pain.
Joshua SkyPublished 8 years ago in FuturismProject Blue Book
"Area 51 is a riddle. Very few people comprehend what goes on there, and millions want to know." - Annie Jacobsen, author of Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
Matt CatesPublished 8 years ago in FuturismUFO Geo Politics - Paul Hellyer Canada’s UFO Defense Minister
We’re all still watching and all still waiting for anything concrete to really come out of those skies, but for millions of movie fans and followers of UFO’s or ufology, scores of vigilant Earthlings patiently watch the skies. Of course, with a subject this controversial, people tend to tread lightly when committing to their public belief. Say UFO's in mixed company and many people think it's still a silly subject for the gullible or for cable television fodder and the fringe of society. However, as a certain fictional FBI agent says, The truth is out there, and the real deal is many nations not only have revealed their own UFO files and studies, but talk on the subject in public without any hesitation.
Will StapePublished 8 years ago in FuturismSci-Fi's Obsession with Ancient Egypt
At first it sounds contradictory; isn’t science fiction all about what the future holds? But in looking back to a time before toothbrushes and iPads and breakfast cereal, you can get really philosophical without all the minutia that threatens to dominate life today. (Notice that I said you can, not that you have to - some of these films are just here to have fun.) If you love Ancient Egypt AND aliens and spaceships and futuristic weapons, now you can have both in one magical sandy pyramid-shaped package.
Sarah QuinnPublished 8 years ago in FuturismZero Tolerance
‘So this is how it ends,’ he thought as two large soldiers lifted him from behind and pushed him against the door of the transport ship. ‘How did it come to this? And so quickly?’