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Bourgeois Survivalism Hits Wall Street

Ever since the subprime mortgage crisis hit, Gordon Gekko types have been understandably jittery. But this? On Sunday the New York Times ran a story about a new wave of survivalism sweeping the upper classes as they hunker down in their penthouse apartments and beach houses in the Hamptons, waiting for the big one — … Continued

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Torchwood Ends With (Severely Flawed) Greatness

I realized something while watching the Torchwood second season finale: I’m a Torchwood fan. Not just a Doctor Who fan who watches Torchwood, but an actual fan of the BBC’s spin-off series. I can’t actually think of any other reason why I would have enjoyed the last episode as much as I did. Click through … Continued

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Win a Copy of Appleseed: Ex Machina on DVD

We’ve told you all about the John Woo produced, Shinji Aramaki directed, anime version of Shirow Masamune’s Appleseed: Ex Machina. We’ve spoken to the director and found out about plans for a possible sequel, we’ve attended a screening, and we’ve given away tickets to it as well. Now, we’re offering up not one but two … Continued

io9Books & Comics

Why Is Space Opera Unsung?

The New Space Opera, a recent anthology edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, was supposed to testify to the resurgent vitality of the space-opera sub-genre. Instead, it showcases a new space-opera canon that’s listless and cut off from the mainstream, argues reviewer Alan DeNiro in Rain Taxi. Find out why the space-opera renaissance doesn’t … Continued

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Magnetic Structures Larger Than the Sun

We’ve long seen the results of solar flares on Earth, but haven’t been able to predict when they’ll strike next. New research released last week has given us a better understanding of solar weather. The massive, looping jets of superheated gas that erupt from the sun are driven by giant magnetic structures that extend out … Continued

io9Movies

Cloverfield Monster Demolishes Japan

In a move that surprises only those who have seen the movie, Cloverfield has demolished the Japanese box office this past weekend, taking in 26.4 million yen and beating previous boffo box office movie Dreamgirls by 30.2% despite the musical’s playing on more screens across the country. As with the U.S. release, Cloverfield was subject … Continued

io9Books & Comics

The Most Disturbing Alternate History You’ll Ever Read

If Philip K. Dick’s “Axis won the war” novel Man in the High Castle made you squirm, then the 1980s novels about Lord Horror and his Nazi England will make your brain explode. The Lord Horror novels — Lord Horror, followed by Motherfuckers: The Auschwitz of Oz — are vicious, psychedelic satire about a Nazi … Continued

io9Books & Comics

Iron Man’s First Flight Shows Jet-Like HUD, Every Boy’s Fantasy

Just like every man under the age of 30 still believes that with enough discipline, training, and working out there’s the possibility that he could in fact become the Batman, every man thinks that with the right suit he could fly up and shoot rockets at tanks. There’s a certain truth to that, as evidenced … Continued

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Movie Superheroes Whose Secret Origins Aren’t In Comic Books

Hollywood often does such a bad job translating comic books to film, it’s better to start from scratch. When movies create their own original superheroes, they can have the cool comic booky trappings, without the need to include/ignore/defile decades of print history. If it works (The Incredibles) you get something really fresh. When it doesn’t… … Continued

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CO2 Map Shows Hi-Res View of Global Warming Culprits

The United States is responsible for about a quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Now we know exactly where they’re coming from, thanks to the powerful new Vulcan mapping system built by Kevin Gurney and colleagues at Purdue University. Vulcan overlays emissions from transportation, power plants and other sources onto a map of the … Continued

io9Books & Comics

Atlantis’ Lost Son Saves This Week’s Comics

Every now and again you find something with such a wonderful, perfect, title that it throws every other story in the world into sharp relief. “Why,” you think to yourself, “does every other story in the world not have a title so ideal to crystalize its content and intent into one small, simple phrase that … Continued

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Wall-E Goes Terminator on Your Ass

This summer’s animated robot superstar Wall-E threatens to squash us under his mammoth treads and obliterate us with his laser blast. In these new screens from the upcoming game to coincide with the film, the cuddly bot has whipped out some sort of a beam weapon and he’s using it to destroy something just offscreen … Continued

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Sheep Help Achieve Nerd Hair Nirvana

We’ve all been there before: You’re all ready to go in your flouncy white dress to the latest Star Wars cosplay party, but your Princess Leia outfit isn’t complete without that distinctive headphones hairstyle. But you shaved your head the day before! What is a bald Leia-wannabe to do? Thankfully, craft site Etsy is here … Continued

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Mirror Solar System Found. Evil Spock Not Amused.

Astronomers didn’t need a transporter mishap to find a mirror solar system, just new gravitational lensing techniques. They spotted two gas giants analogous to Saturn and Jupiter orbiting a star in Sagittarius that’s about 5,000 light years away. Getting there would involve a five-year trip at Warp 8, in case you were wondering. This mirror … Continued

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Frozen Future Dystopia Now Hot In Hollywood

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and California has frozen over, even if Hell hasn’t. That’s the setup for North Wind, the latest comic book to be optioned by Hollywood producers, created by the writer of ABC’s failed Traveler TV show. Find out what made this environmental disaster dystopia so attractive … Continued

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Chronotebook Wins Design Award for Promoting Nonlinear Time

Most scheduling books and calendaring software apps are way too linear — they list each task in the day one after the other, leaving little room for improvisation in your future plans. How do you plan your schedules if you want to live on cyclical time? Singaporean company Orcadesign has the answer: it’s Chronotebook, a … Continued

io9Movies

Monkeys In Wormholes Are Automatically Funny

The summer’s most anticipated monkey movie, Space Chimps, goes for the really low-hanging fruit (sorry) when it comes to scifi humor. Either the whole movie is full of jokes like this cheesy “Space, the final frontier” routine, or they just packed all those moments into the trailer to reassure the grown-ups they’ll have something to … Continued

io9Television

Tons Of New Wall-E Details, Plus New Dark Knight Video!

It’s spoiler overload once again. We’ve got a synopsis of the first half hour of Wall-E, and a video that shows a new character from Batman: The Dark Knight in action. And some photos from the sixth episode of the new Battlestar season. Not only that, but we’ve turned up some dirt on upcoming episodes … Continued

io9Movies

Repo Man Delivers One of the Best Scientology Parodies Ever

Back in the 1980s, then-unknown Emilio Estevez made his debut in a raunchy, SoCal punk rock cult flick called Repo Man. Starring Harry Dean Stanton as Estevez’s coked-up mentor, the movie is about what happens when the repo dudes come across a car whose trunk is full of deadly alien loot. And the alien conspiracy … Continued

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…And Then WHAT Happened? The Silliest Scifi Plot Twists

Science fiction thrives on suspension of disbelief. When you watch a movie or read a book about space battles and time travel, you’re actively cooperating with the story to make it hold up. But when the story takes a sudden, nonsensical swerve, your suspsension of disbelief can turn into a savage retaliation. Here’s our guide … Continued