“Futurism” is what people believed the future would be like at a given time. Similarly, “retrofuturism” is futurism of the past. Most people think of Victorian futurism (steampunk) and 1950s/1960s futurism (atompunk). 1920s futurism sits right in the middle, mostly forgotten. Technically, it’s grouped in with “dieselpunk,” which extends into the WWII period, but I […]
The tentacle-faced creature Cthulhu is H.P. Lovecraft’s most enduring eldritch creation. But while Lovecraft may be Cthulhu’s inventor, this monster has outgrown its creator, impacting both horror fiction and the real world in significant and unexpected ways. The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. […]
A woman who died last June has answered questions at her own funeral. Although Marina Smith’s “responses” were pre-recorded, a chatbot-like system selected them to fit the spontaneous questions asked by mourners. Smith was the founder of the National Holocaust Center in the United Kingdom and campaigned to educate on the topic. Her funeral “appearance” […]
Disney+ is joining rival streaming services by giving customers a choice between price hikes and watching ads. It’s a surprise move given the company’s history with a family audience. The overhaul of pricing, which takes effect in December, means that customers who do nothing will continue to pay $7.99 but will now start seeing ads. […]
Author Neil Gaiman takes to Twitter to answer the internet’s burning questions about mythology. What links Viking and Greek myths? Why does Anubis have a dog head? Why do so many cultures have a ‘Great Flood’ myth? What do Biblical angels look like? Neil answers all these questions and much, much more! [Wired]
Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in Star Trek, has died of natural causes at the age of 89. A pioneering black actress, she later worked for NASA to encourage more women and people of color to go to space. While Nichols was not the first African-American woman on US television, she was the […]
A time travel in beautiful New York 1945. We can clearly see what is happening in broad daylight. The right turn at 0:41 is onto 8th Avenue, traveling south. The turn appears to be around 50th Street. The Squire Theater, first visible in the distance on the right at about 1:20, was between 43rd and […]
Aaron Paul, Kate Mara and Josh Harnett will all be in the next season of Black Mirror. Perhaps the more exciting news is that season 6 will have more than the three episodes of season 5. Other confirmed cast members include Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project), Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), Clara […]
In a true meta-expansion, D&D players can now play as Stranger Things characters. An unofficial but well-researched codex has pre-rolled sheets for four characters (in both the game and show sense.) It’s the work of freelance game designed Anthony Joyce-Rivera, who has issued it as a free PDF. He’s a consultant for D&D publisher Wizards […]
George RR Martin says the writing process has taken the ending of the A Song Of Ice & Fire book series “further and further away” from the Game Of Thrones TV series. He suggests there’ll be more differences than similarities. Writing on his blog, Martin repeated an analogy he has made several times: he thinks […]