Lauren Davis, Author at Gizmodo

William Shatner explores the meaning of Star Trek fandom in the Get a Life! trailer

After seeking out his fellow Star Trek commanding officers in The Captains, William Shatner is back with another documentary, this time focused on the fans. From the trailer, William Shatner’s Get a Life! (named for his infamous SNL sketch) looks like an affectionate examination of Star Trek fandom and why the franchise has meant so…

Trailers Lauren Davis

Crowdfund a film about the last Soviet microstate, a video game about an intern on the moon, and a post-apocalyptic TV series

This week’s round of crowdfundable projects takes us to the tiny fictional state of Unterzoegersdorf, where a feature film would rope UN peacekeepers into a world of political intrigue. Or you might rather travel to the moon, where a sidescrolling video game has you battling monsters and solving puzzles. Alternatively, you can stay right here…

Movies Lauren Davis

Map pinpoints the 2,284 US temperature records broken in June

Yes, June was a hot a month for folks in the US, but just how hot? According to the National Climactic Data Center, US states and territories saw 2,284 temperature records broken in June and 998 records tied. The center has conveniently mapped out all 3,282 of those record temperatures. The National Climatic Data Center…

io9 Lauren Davis

The ladies of Battlestar Galactica, painted in the styles of Klimt, Lichtenstein, and more

The fabulous Megan Lara came to our attention last year with her Art Nouveau illustrations of science fiction heroines. Now she’s back with a line of licensed Battlestar Galactica posters, interpreting the series’ complex women through the lens of various painters. Lara manages to make her homages in a style that evokes each individual artist…

io9 Lauren Davis

After the zombie apocalypse, the geek will inherit the Earth

When flesh-hungry zombies rise from the dead, who will survive? People who live near a large concentration of zombie-obsessed geeks, who are ready with brain smashing techniques and randomly placed medical packs. And once these pop culture-savvy warriors are done dispatching with the undead, they’ll remake society in their image. French cartoonist Boulet has posted…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Watch a man take his virtual girlfriend out on a date in the real world

Augmented reality has been touted as a way to integrate virtual graphics with our real-world experience, turning your normal vision into a computer dashboard, and letting any real-world space become a game board or an advertisement. Or, you might use the technology to go on a real-world date with your virtual significant other. Moving a…

io9 Lauren Davis

Incredible 2000-piece LEGO Portal gun features motorized prongs

YouTuber ferlessleedr is a LEGO store employee and a Portal fan, so he decided to merge his passions to create this incredible 2000-piece replica Portal gun, which he’s brought to this week’s CONvergence in Minneapolis. With changing orange and blue lights and LEGO Mindstorm-powered prongs, this may be the coolest Portal gun short of one…

io9 Lauren Davis

Sew Nerdy gallery show reveals the softer side of fanart

Fanart doesn’t just come in paper, ink, plastic, and clay. Sometimes it comes in the form of cross-stitch samplers, plush toys, applique crafts, or big-headed crochet dolls. Bear and Bird gallery’s Sew Nerdy show highlights those fan artists who prefer to work with cloth, foam, batting, thread, and yarn. Top image: “Open the Police Box”…

io9 Lauren Davis

13-minute Dark Knight Rises featurette hits the movie’s major characters and themes

If you’ve been looking for a relatively spoiler-light description of The Dark Knight Rises characters and their roles in the movie, this 13-minute featurette will whet your appetite for Christopher Nolan’s final Bat-film. Beyond the triumvirate of Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, and Bane, this video revisits familiar characters and introduces us to some new faces…

Movies Lauren Davis

RoboCop unveils OmniCorp’s new Enforcement Droids

The RoboCop remake is still more than a year away, but the OmniCorp website has been revealed, and with it the megacorporations line of enforcement vehicles, including the not-so-trusty ED-209. Omni Consumer Products has been reborn as OmniCorp with a new viral website, but it’s still clearly in the questionable security products business, touting its…

Movies Lauren Davis

Beard Leader is standing by in his X-Wing made of facial hair

Somewhere, in a very different galaxy far, far away, the Rebel Alliance took down the first Death Star in X-Wings made primarily of beards and mustaches. Redditor BanditRaccoon posted this beardfighter photo, one of the few pieces of fanart we’ve seen sculpted from facial hair. X-wing beard [reddit via Obvious Winner]

io9 Lauren Davis

This carnivorous plant traps and digests its prey underground

When we think of carnivorous plants, we usually think of the clamping maw of the Venus Fly trap, or the rodent-luring pitcher plants — plants that keep their traps safely above ground where we can see them. But the seemingly innocent flowering plants of genus Philcoxia keep their weapons lurking underground, sticky leaves they use…

io9 Lauren Davis

Good guy Ron Perlman reprises his Hellboy role for a very special audience of one

It’s not Hellboy 3 but it’s a scene that warms our Hellboy-loving hearts. Ron Perlman donned the red makeup again not for a movie or a promotional event, but to fulfill a young boy’s Make-a-Wish dreams. Young Zachary’s heart’s desire was to meet Hellboy and become Hellboy himself. The Make-a-Wish foundation made it happen, having…

io9 Lauren Davis

Interactive Lord of the Rings timeline shows exactly where in Middle Earth Tolkien’s adventures took place

If you’ve spent hours flipping back and forth between the J.R.R. Tolkien’s maps of Middle Earth and the prose in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, then take some time with Emil Johansson’s interactive chronology of the series, which lets you hover over an event and see just where it took place. We’ve…

io9 Lauren Davis

Scotland’s two mummified bog bodies are the Frankenstein remains of six different people

Britain’s only prehistoric mummies resided in Cladh Hallan, only Scotland’s South Uist island. They belong to a class of mummie known as “bog bodies,” corpses naturally preserved in sphagnum bogs. A new discovery reveals that these mummies — one male and one female — aren’t unusual just because they’re British; they’re also each made from…

io9 Lauren Davis

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Monstrous Passengers of the Night Train

There are some unusual passengers riding the subway in this week’s Concept Art Writing Prompt. What is going on with these monstrous commuters and their more human-looking seat mate? If you’ve got a story to go with this image, we want to hear it. Today’s concept art is titled “The Night Train,” and it’s by…

io9 Lauren Davis

Watch a five-inch worm being pulled from a man’s eyeball

When an Indian man asked a doctor to examine his irritated eye, the doctor discovered the man had a little squirming company. A 15-cm parasite was swimming about around the fellow’s eyeball, and the surgery was recorded for Internet posterity. 75-year-old P.K. Krishnamurthy had been suffering from eye pain for two weeks before seeking help…

io9 Lauren Davis

Sailor Moon returns next summer with a new anime series

Yesterday, the popular manga series Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon turned 20 years old, and for her 20th birthday, it looks like Usagi/Serena/Sailor Moon is getting a brand new anime series. Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi and manga publisher Kodansha announced a new anime for the Sailor Scouts, this time as a worldwide release. There aren’t…

Television Lauren Davis

Proof that making burritos is more fun in space

Burritos are already the food that comes in a delicious wrapper, but there’s nothing quite as delightful as a zero-gravity burrito spinning around as you assemble it. In this scene from 2010’s Hubble 3D, an astronaut prepares for his spacewalk with a light, floating snack. [via Neatorama]

io9 Lauren Davis

Live out your mermaid dreams with these swimmable tails

The US government has assured us that there is no such thing as a mermaid, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play mermaid or merman at your local pool. These custom-made mermaid tails let you look and swim like you’re half-fish. Monika Naumann founded 3-Fins thanks to her mermaid-obsessed daughters. After buying them mermaid tails…

io9 Lauren Davis

Lauren Davis

William Shatner explores the meaning of Star Trek fandom in the Get a Life! trailer

Crowdfund a film about the last Soviet microstate, a video game about an intern on the moon, and a post-apocalyptic TV series

Map pinpoints the 2,284 US temperature records broken in June

The ladies of Battlestar Galactica, painted in the styles of Klimt, Lichtenstein, and more

After the zombie apocalypse, the geek will inherit the Earth

Watch a man take his virtual girlfriend out on a date in the real world

Incredible 2000-piece LEGO Portal gun features motorized prongs

Sew Nerdy gallery show reveals the softer side of fanart

13-minute Dark Knight Rises featurette hits the movie’s major characters and themes

RoboCop unveils OmniCorp’s new Enforcement Droids

Beard Leader is standing by in his X-Wing made of facial hair

This carnivorous plant traps and digests its prey underground

Good guy Ron Perlman reprises his Hellboy role for a very special audience of one

Interactive Lord of the Rings timeline shows exactly where in Middle Earth Tolkien’s adventures took place

Scotland’s two mummified bog bodies are the Frankenstein remains of six different people

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Monstrous Passengers of the Night Train

Watch a five-inch worm being pulled from a man’s eyeball

Sailor Moon returns next summer with a new anime series

Proof that making burritos is more fun in space

Live out your mermaid dreams with these swimmable tails

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Adds ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ Guy

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