June 20, 2011
by Tom Scheinfeldt
2 Comments
It seems the past has replaced the future as Hollywood’s preferred setting for summer’s science fiction blockbusters. Jon Favreau’s screen adaptation of the graphic novel, Cowboys and Aliens imagines an extraterrestrial invasion of the Old West. X-Men: First Class offers … Continue reading
December 11, 2008
by Tom Scheinfeldt
3 Comments
I recently finished rereading, for the first time in many years, one of my childhood favorites, Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. I was immediately struck that the dates Bradbury imagined for his tale of human colonization of Mars are 1999-2026, … Continue reading
March 25, 2008
by Tom Scheinfeldt
2 Comments
Wikihistory is a short science fiction story about a group of future time travelers’ journeys to the mid-20th century. Structured as a series of posts to a message board or wiki, Wikihistory is good mix of alternative history and science … Continue reading
January 20, 2008
by Tom Scheinfeldt
0 comments
This post may be even shorter than usual. I’m writing from Breckenridge, CO where I’m enjoying a couple (very cold) days of skiing. (The conditions are epic in case you’re wondering.) But I didn’t bring my laptop, so I’m writing … Continue reading
January 13, 2008
by Tom Scheinfeldt
0 comments
New Stella Artois website uses brewer’s long history, period costumes to sell beer. See especially “L’Origine.” Science Fiction Timeline of Inventions. Learn when the taser, credit cards were first proposed as science fiction. The History of LOLCats from G4.
December 12, 2007
by Tom Scheinfeldt
0 comments
Star Wars, the baroque version. Like steampunk, but older. (Via Old is the New New.)
April 3, 2007
by Tom Scheinfeldt
1 Comment
I’m currently reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s superb Mars Trilogy, an imagined history of humankind’s colonization of Mars. The first in the series, Red Mars, was published in 1992. It was followed in 1994 by Green Mars and in 1996 by … Continue reading
March 26, 2007
by Tom Scheinfeldt
1 Comment
To commemorate 30 years of Star Wars, the United States Postal Service has started painting its blue corner mailboxes to look like R2-D2, the lovable droid who first appeared in 1977. I was three years old when A New Hope … Continue reading
January 4, 2007
by Tom Scheinfeldt
0 comments
A quick one tonight from Popular Mechanics: The Top 10 F/X Scenes in Movie History. In fact it’s not a countdown of scenes at all, but rather a list of the most important applications of digital technology to recent filmmaking. … Continue reading
May 27, 2006
by Tom Scheinfeldt
0 comments
Here’s another (crazy) example of how futurists (science fiction writers, etc.) look to history for process and inspiration. The FuturesWatch timeline begins in 1750 and simply carries forward to 2100 as if events from the late 18th century and events … Continue reading