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io9
Batman Spreads His Legs And Reproduces
A weird old guy gets Michael Keaton into a gown and tells him to put his feet in the stirrups, in the only science fictional sequence from 1996’s Multiplicity. Then the machines whir and a lumpy body starts to form, slowly solidifying into a perfect adult clone of Keaton, with all his memories. It’s a … Continued
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io9
The Earth faces seven “tipping points” within the next 100 years. These are changes in the environment that can’t be undone, and which will lead to a disastrous downward spiral and amplify global warming and environmental damage on a historic scale. The first of these, the collapse of the Indian summer monsoon, will happen within … Continued
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io9
Halo’s Master Chief Is A Major Literary Figure
The books tying in with the Halo game may be bringing younger readers who’ve never heard of Heinlein to military science fiction, says John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War. We wrote to Scalzi to ask his thoughts about the “milSF” sub-genre’s prospects, and he was pretty upbeat, if not quite Souza-esque. His thoughts, below … Continued
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io9
The Rise And Fall — And Rise — Of Military SF
David Drake hit a career snag in the late 1990s. Drake, who had helped to create the military science fiction genre with his Hammer’s Slammers books, saw a shrinking market for novels about interstellar warfare. So Drake switched to fantasy, and then space-opera. Now, Drake is back writing more Hammer’s Slammers stories, and military SF … Continued
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io9
Mars Busts Out In 3-D
Here’s an orthoimage of the famous Olympus Mons on Mars, with the different colors representing different elevations. It’s just a taste of the 3-D goodness to come. The European Space Agency is getting ready to release a new high-resolution Digital Terrain Model dataset that will let researchers build their own 3-D models of Mars’ topography. … Continued
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io9TelevisionMorning Spoilers
Cate Blanchett Wants An Indiana Jones-Kebab
Cate Blanchett has totally evil hair as a Russian agent in the new Indiana Jones movie. Can Indy hold his own against Queen Elizabeth? Will her vicious wig block her peripheral vision and give him an advantage? Find out for yourself, below the fold. We also have the first details about season five of Stargate: … Continued
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io9
A Gallery Of Fans’ Pimped-Out Battlestar, Star Wars Cars
Dean Shorey built this car, based on the Vipers from Battlestar Galactica, by hand. (It looks like old Battlestar, not new.) Corey’s not the only fan to have customized his car into a starfighter out of science fiction shows or movies. Click through for more fan-pimped vehicles, including a gallery. < My favorite SF car, … Continued
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io9
Batman + Guns / Karate = Gun Kata
Christian Bale is a master of gun-fu in 2002’s Equilibrium. He practices the obscure art of Gun Kata — something apparently invented for this movie — which is sort of like karate crossed with a gunfight from an early Clint Eastwood flick. In this clip, Bale takes down a whole squad of cops who are … Continued
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io9Movies
We Love Human Extinction
A disaster wipes out 99 percent of the Earth’s population in Silvaticus 3015, which starts filming in New Zealand roughly a year from now. But the near-total extinction of humanity in the year 2585 isn’t an accident, but “mass murder,” according to the film’s website. Silvaticus will be written by Dan O’Bannon, writer of Alien … Continued
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io9
Major Spoiler: The Coolest Death From Neal Stephenson’s Anathem
Orolo from Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Orolo sacrifices his life in a really cool and noble way, to help the pursuit of knowledge and to help the people of Arbre to understand the alien ship in orbit. One of the aliens has been shot down on the planet, bringing along blood from all the different … Continued
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io9
It Takes An Army Of Artists To Feel Darth Vader
Darth Vader is such a rockin’ mega-villain, it took two people to play him in the original Star Wars: David Prowse for the body, and James Earl Jones for the voice. But really, it’s taken an army of artists, muralists, stencilographers, calligraphers, graffiti artists and conceptual artists to do justice to the Dark Lord of … Continued
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io9
Destroy All Boring Art, With Godzilla
Godzilla may have started off as a metaphor for nuclear devastation, but he’s become an amazingly versatile symbol over the years. Besides starring in dozens of movies, he’s become a touchstone for artists everywhere. He’s a parade float in Japan, and Susan Bartley, a middle-aged woman in the Midwest has been painting Godzillas for years. … Continued
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io9
Graffiti And Stencil Art Will! Be! Ex! Terminated!
It’s no wonder the Daleks rule the street art and graffiti world — they have sleek awesome lines, and one of the most famous street artists in the world is called Dalek (the creator of those awesome space monkeys.) Plus, the Daleks, from England’s Doctor Who, are just so kick-ass. They look cool whether they’re … Continued
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io9
Megatron Is Mega Art Icon
We only have five images of Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons from the Transformers, but they’re totally awesome. Megatron stands tall on murals all over the world, declaring his intent to conquer Belgium AND Venezuela. And when they wanted something cool to paint on a kids’ bedroom wall in Scrubs, who did they paint? … Continued
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io9
The Borg Have Already Assimilated The Art World, Man
The Borg, from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager, may be evil galaxy-assimilating hive mind, but they’re also hella cool looking. And they represent the cyborg aesthetic, complete with cool body mods, taken to its furthest extent. Artists have been inspired by the Borg to create everything from Steampunk eyepieces to Venetian masks to … Continued
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io9
Skeletor’s Bony Face Of Awesome Vengeance
Skeletor, from He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe, is like a Heavy Metal icon, reigning over Castle Grayskull with his rocker-dude cloak and skull face. His unmistakable scowl has turned up on walls in the Netherlands and South America, and all over the United States. Artists like Meggs and Jon Vermilyea have painted him … Continued
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io9
Turn On And Tune Up With The Sex Mechas [NSFW]
Hentai porn turns out to be chock full of your standard-issue sex robots, who just want to obey your commands. But some of them are a bit more… assertive than you might have expected. And there are also a lot of weird cybernetic situations. Not to mention, there are tons and tons of giant robots … Continued
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io9
Aliens Want Your Sex [NSFW]
Alien invaders aren’t always evil monsters who harbor an inexplicable desire to ravage you with their giant tentacles. Sometimes, they’re just cute and friendly intruders who just happen to be curious about our human mating rituals. And then there are sometimes the odd alien monsters who want to siphon off your sexual energies to keep … Continued
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io9
Mad Science Is Sexy Science! [NSFW]
Unlike aliens, who just want to learn about your human sexuality, and mechas, who just need your sex energy, mad scientists are sometimes a bit more sinister. They often want to hack your body in various ways, nice and otherwise. They sometimes have weird pharmacological supplements that they want to try out on you. Sometimes … Continued
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io9
Yo Ho Ho, It’s The Sexy Space Pirates! [NSFW]
I don’t know why space pirates are so hot, they just are. I think it’s the fact that they swashbuckle, therefore it logically follows that they also know how to unbuckle your swash. Also, the puffy sleeves and the fact that pirates (both male and female) often wear chest-baring outfits. And they take what they … Continued