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Posts Tagged “
Aliens
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aliens
Close Encounters Of A Rocky Mountain Kind
In a world filled with naysayers and disbelievers, you have to thank the gods for Jeff Peckman. The Colorado man's previous forays into civic duty found him attempting to legally enforce stress-reduction techniques on the entire city of Denver. Now he's asking the good people of the Mile High City to vote "Yes" on the creation of a commission to deal with the arrival of aliens from outer space. More »
sidekicks
The Cutest Science Fiction Sidekicks, And Why They Fail
All sidekicks must have certain key lovable qualities, or else they lose that sparkle that makes them so endearing. But sometimes the cute-overload factor goes too far and a gag reflex kicks in, making people want to destroy that character. Compiled after the jump is a list of the most adorable sidekicks in science fiction TV and movies, some good, some too cute for their own good. More »
planet 51
Planet 51 Continues Scifi's Invasion Of Animation
The trend of animated movies swinging from fantasy to science fiction (with Wall-E and Space Chimps) continues with Planet 51, starring the Rock as a human astronaut who lands on a planet of xenophobic aliens who regard him as an invader. Written by Shrek scribe Joe Stillman, Planet 51 is a "reverse E.T.," the Rock says. He gave away some new plot details for Planet, which he says is coming November 2009. More »
design
This alien invader is so eager to get hold of your beer supply, he's disguising himself as a mini-fridge. Okay, so it's not the most cunning disguise ever, but he's counting on the fact that alien-looking fridges and other housewares are all trendy nowadays. At least, British furniture brand Established & Sons thinks so — it's collaborating with Dutch designer Maarten Baas to create The Chankley Bore, a new line of alien-schwag for your home.
More »
Aliens Want Your Beer
This alien invader is so eager to get hold of your beer supply, he's disguising himself as a mini-fridge. Okay, so it's not the most cunning disguise ever, but he's counting on the fact that alien-looking fridges and other housewares are all trendy nowadays. At least, British furniture brand Established & Sons thinks so — it's collaborating with Dutch designer Maarten Baas to create The Chankley Bore, a new line of alien-schwag for your home.
More »
architecture
French photojournalist Frederic Chaubin likes to take photographs of science-fictiony Soviet architecture from the 1970s and 80s. During that era, the Soviets erected several formidable buildings that look like cities you'd see on an alien world. Pictured here is a strangely organic-looking wedding palace which is located in Georgia. More U.S.S.R. spaceportecture below.
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1970s Soviet Alien Architecture
French photojournalist Frederic Chaubin likes to take photographs of science-fictiony Soviet architecture from the 1970s and 80s. During that era, the Soviets erected several formidable buildings that look like cities you'd see on an alien world. Pictured here is a strangely organic-looking wedding palace which is located in Georgia. More U.S.S.R. spaceportecture below.
More »
ufos
UFO Sightings in Arizona Can Be Traced Back to "Close Encounters" Footage
Arizonans are buzzing today about a series of floaty lights that hovered over Phoenix last night for about 15 minutes. One guy captured them on film (you can see it here), and the news covered it to death, wondering how people could have seen a bunch of lights that the Federal Aviation Administration and local air traffic controllers couldn't explain. Apparently they are similar to lights that were seen over Phoenix in 1997 too. The really weird thing? The lights also look exactly like a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. See below to compare. More »
rant
The Empty Universe vs. Zillions of Aliens Debate
It's a big, dumb, empty universe, according to a new formula that estimates our chances of meeting non-human intelligent life. The odds have been estimated before, most famously by the Drake Equation, but now a British scientist has tried to throw a wet blanket over exobiologists and scifi writers by claiming that intelligent life is vanishingly rare. Here's why he's wrong. More »
exochemistry
Looking for Aliens in all the Wrong Places
Life doesn't need water. In fact, all kinds of weird liquids could be solvents for life like water is here on Earth. Scientists say the list of alien water-substitutes is long, from frigid nitrogen to supercritical CO2 to methane to formamide. Whatever inhabits these other liquids would have to take on some truly odd forms, right down to DNA like we've never seen before. More »
art
Naoto Hattori's Beautiful, Naked Aliens (NSFW)
Aliens are hot, and Naoto Hattori knows it. That's why the 32-year old New York-based Japanese artist draws them with such grace and beauty. People love his work so much that it's being shown all over the world, from Rome to California to Tokyo. See below for more provocative alien portraits by this man with an interplanetary aesthetic. More »
aliens
Failure of the Planet of the Apes Hypothesis
Charley Lineweaver, a scientist with the SETI Institute, argued today that pure human vanity, not scientific evidence, leads us to believe that if humans were wiped off the face of the Earth some other species (probably an ape of some kind) would rise to fill the "intelligence niche" that we Homo sapiens currently occupy. He calls this the "Planet of the Apes hypothesis," and believes that life here on Earth has already shown it to be false. That means the way we're searching for extra-terrestrial life — or even the act of searching itself — is terribly misguided. More »
the dark lurking
Shockingly, Project Necromancer Turns Out To Be A Bad Idea
The Dark Lurking, a film which just finished shooting in Australia, is described as "Aliens Meets Evil Dead," but looks more like a better remake of Doom, judging from the new trailer. A team of soldiers goes into the research station a mile beneath the Antarctic to find out what happened to the scientists down there. And soon, there are eight survivors left alive, with "ten levels of terror" to traverse on the way back up to the surface. Note to self: If you're ever asked to go work on a project called "Project Necromancer," it's probably best to decline politely. Click through to watch the trailer. More »
found footage
Blame Aliens For Your Shitty iPhone
Comedian Dave Chapelle usually transcends, and subverts, stereotypes — so I was very disappointed when I first saw this moment from the Chapelle Show. What's up with the blatant alien stereotyping in this skit (which sort of grows out of a larger skit making fun of Morgan Freeman's president in Deep Impact)? Aliens don't all have the big bulbous eyes and talk like a Speak'n'Spell. Also, Chapelle touches on one of my pet peeves here: the idea that our technological advances of the past couple decades are so miraculous, aliens must have helped us out. Wouldn't aliens have given us something better than Verizon and xBox?
astrobiology
Which Parts of the Galaxy Do Aliens Hang Out In?
Here at the Astrobiology Science Conference 2008 in Santa Clara, Charley Lineweaver, a Senior Fellow at the Planetary Science Institute is trying to figure out where in a galaxy aliens might live - the so-called "galactic habitable zone." Planetary habitable zones are well-known - for our sun Sol, we think it's roughly between Venus' orbit and the asteroid belt outside Mars' orbit. Galactic habitable zones are little tougher to pin down - as usual you've got to worry about having liquid water (or liquid something), but things get interesting when you consider the risk of getting blown up by a supernova. More »
It's Finally L.A.'s Turn To Get Crushed
We were wondering what would replace plague movies and dystopian futures as the next trend in movies, and it's looking like we have our answer: alien invasions and space battles. On the heels of Universal greenlighting Earth vs. Moon, Columbia Pictures is making Battle: Los Angeles, based on a spec script from Chris Bertolini (The General's Daughter). Battle: L.A. is about "a Marine platoon's encounter with an alien invasion on the streets of L.A.," and it'll have a low price tag, similar to Cloverfield. But no shaky handheld cam, promises producer Neil Moritz. [Slashfilm]
We were wondering what would replace plague movies and dystopian futures as the next trend in movies, and it's looking like we have our answer: alien invasions and space battles. On the heels of Universal greenlighting Earth vs. Moon, Columbia Pictures is making Battle: Los Angeles, based on a spec script from Chris Bertolini (The General's Daughter). Battle: L.A. is about "a Marine platoon's encounter with an alien invasion on the streets of L.A.," and it'll have a low price tag, similar to Cloverfield. But no shaky handheld cam, promises producer Neil Moritz. [Slashfilm]
interstellar communication
Let's Put Our Worst Foot Forward With Alien Intelligences
Want to make a good impression on extraterrestrial civilization we encounter? The best bet is to showcase our dark side — our foibles, our mistakes and even our most horrifying aspects, says Douglas Vakoch, director of message for the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute. It's too bad the Voyager spacecraft only contained Pollyanna-ish messages about our lovely aspects, and our propensity for cooperation, because any advanced spacefaring races we come across will probably just think we're not just primitives, but lacking in self-awareness. More »
v
Closer Than Ever to a "V" Movie and New Series
There've been a lot of rumors and muttering about a new series based on 1980s alien invader tale V. Kenneth Johnson, who worked on the Alien Nation series and owns the rights to the V series, has just released a new V book, V: The Second Generation. Now he's saying he's on track for a movie version of the miniseries, plus possibly a new series about V's "second generation." More »
Science of Astrobiology Reading List
Mike Brotherton, author of the novel Spider Star released last month from Tor, proudly calls himself a hard science fiction writer. And now he's sharing the secret of his hardness with you. Brotherton just posted a really interesting, provocative list of general-audience books about space and astrobiology that he consults before writing anything. He lists everything from the well-regarded astrobiology book Life Everywhere, to the lesser-known classic Sex in Space. If you're interested in the real science behind aliens and space travel, you'll want to check out Brotherton's bookshelf. [Mike Brotherton via Biology in Science Fiction]
Mike Brotherton, author of the novel Spider Star released last month from Tor, proudly calls himself a hard science fiction writer. And now he's sharing the secret of his hardness with you. Brotherton just posted a really interesting, provocative list of general-audience books about space and astrobiology that he consults before writing anything. He lists everything from the well-regarded astrobiology book Life Everywhere, to the lesser-known classic Sex in Space. If you're interested in the real science behind aliens and space travel, you'll want to check out Brotherton's bookshelf. [Mike Brotherton via Biology in Science Fiction]
