A New Muppet Show Is In The Works!

What’s the next step for the Muppets after their movies? Well, if all goes according to plan, they’ll be returning to TV for a brand-new Muppet show. ABC is filming a proof of concept for bringing the puppet actors back to the small screen. Statler and Waldorf already hate it. The Hollywood Reporter has the…

The 17 Most Effective Insults From Science Fiction and Fantasy

Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you’re wasting your time watching science fiction and fantasy. Because if you find yourself getting messed with, you’ll have the perfect comeback ready. Science fiction and fantasy are full of pithy insults. To prove it, here are 17 totally devastating put-downs from movies and TV. Note: We tried…

Christina Ricci’s Lizzie Borden TV Series Looks Like Campy, Bloody Fun 

After the success of Lizzie Borden Took An Axe, Lifetime opted to turn the Christina Ricci-starring movie into an eight-episode series, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles. It kicks off April 5, and based on new clips posted to its official site, looks to be a campy good time (with fabulous costumes … those hats!) Here’s a…

Look At What Happened To California’s Snowpack In Just Five Years

If you were hoping for good news about California’s drought, you certainly won’t find it in these pictures, which also hint at a much bigger problem coming down the pipeline. NASA’s Earth Observatory released these two shots of the Sierra Nevadas, one taken last week and the other taken at the same time five years…

io9 Newsstand: The Best Stories & Poems from March 29 – April 4

Do you read speculative poetry? Wait, before you answer that, let me ask: do you read poetry? April is National Poetry Month, after all. And if you’re not a regular poem reader you’ll probably read at least one sometime this month. I am guilty of the crime of neglecting poetry most of the year. There…

Everything You Need to Know Before Outlander Returns This Weekend

Outlander returns for the second half of its first season tomorrow on Starz. If you’re among those who haven’t seen it, here’s everything you need to know — what’s going on, who everyone is, why it’s so good, and what to expect — before the midseason premiere. It may seem easy to dismiss Outlander as…

The First-Ever 1:6 Stan Lee Figure Is Equal Parts Amazing And Terrifying

After many years helping to create superhero icons alongside the likes of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and many other creators, Stan Lee is getting the honour many of his characters have had for decades: An action figure! It is, of course, as wonderful and as weird as a Stan Lee figure should be. The figure,…

Cosplayer Brings Joker’s Trophy Wall To Life As A Creepy Photograph

Brian Bolland’s illustration “Joker Trophy Wall” is already a pretty gruesome piece of art, with the Joker enjoying a pipe and a drink in front of the heads of rictus-grinning superheroes. Now Joker cosplayer and photographer Anthony Misiano has brought it to life as a photograph. Misiano is selling autographed, 11×17″ copies of his “Joker…

Abandon All Hope: A Live-Action Play-Doh Movie Is Happening

And thus, did Hasbro gaze upon the success of The Lego Movie, and did wonder: “How can we get in on some of those metric buttloads of cash?” The answer, apparently, was with the venerable modeling toy Play-Doh. The human race has no one to blame but itself for this turn of events. The movie…

These Pheromones Get The Animals That Secrete Them Killed

Pheromones are supposed to be the stuff that make animals do it like they do on the discovery channel. They are supposed make mothers love their babies and babies imprint on their mothers. But there are also kairomones — which just get animals killed. The Flip Side of Pheromones Pheromones are supposed to move between…

It’s Friday, Here Is Your GIF Party!

Look out! Because, just like a boxing glove stuck on the end of an arrow, this GIF Party is coming right at you. What was this week to you? What did you do? What did you see? What did you GIF? Break out all your very best polite internet party chatter in the comments below…

Do “Eyespots” On Butterflies Really Mimic Eyes?

The big black and gold symmetrical spots on butterfly wings deter predators because they resemble eyes in the darkness, right? Not necessarily. Here’s an experiment that indicates that we see eyes, but animals don’t. We all learned that the big black spots on the wings of butterflies are “eyespots.” They seem to turn the small,…

Our First Look At Ryan Reynolds As Deadpool‘s Alter Ego, Wade Wilson!

Check out some new Age of Ultron footage. Jeff Bell talks Fitz and Simmon’s rocky relationship in Agents of SHIELD. Oliver Queen faces some tough times in Arrow. Plus, Tom Hardy talks about his future in Mad Max, and teasers for what’s to come in Outlander, Orphan Black and Game of Thrones. To Me, My…

For Easter This Year, Why Not a Set of Guardians of the Galaxy Eggs?

From artist Barak Hardley comes this bevy of pop culture painted Easter eggs. The Guardians are the obvious new heavy hitters, but I will always have a place in my soul for infamous interstellar criminal Pizza the Hutt. See the rest of the eggshere. [via Tastefully Offensive] Contact the author at [email protected].

David Bowie’s Turning The Man Who Fell to Earth Into a Play

This winter, Lazarus, based on The Man Who Fell to Earth, will premiere off-Broadway. It’ll have new songs by David Bowie as well as new arrangements of the original songs. Sadly, though, Bowie himself will not be reprising his role as alien-inventor Thomas Jerome Newton. Adapting the script for the stage is Irish playwright Enda…

Take a Look at a 1948 Scientist’s Fish Drawings 

Donald Erdman was a scientific aide in the Division of Fishes, United States National Museum (later the National Museum of Natural History) from 1947 to 1950. In 1948, Erdman was part of a fisheries survey of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea under the Arabian American Oil Company. The Smithsonian has digitized his notes from…

Oh For the Love of … Disney’s Making a Live-Action Winnie the Pooh

We know. We double-checked that we hadn’t all made a mistake and it was April Fool’s Day again. But, no, this seems legitimate: Disney’s planing on making a live-action Winnie the Pooh. In its quest to turn everything that was animated and charming into live-action monsterpieces, Disney has mined Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and…

You’re looking at an unpowered “ankle exoskeleton” that researcher report can improve walking efficiency by 7 percent. Carnegie Mellon engineers Gregory Sawicki and Steve Collins describe the lightweight, spring actuated prototype in Wednesday’s issue of Nature. Rachel Feltman has more info – and video – at WaPo.

So Here’s The Trailer For That Naughty Guardians Of The Galaxy Spoof

How do you turn Guardians of the Galaxy into an adult parody? Mostly just by ramping the existing insanity up and adding some sex scenes, judging from this brand new trailer. It’s mostly work-safe, except for a few of the jokes — and what they turned Groot into. The best part? Probably the way Rocket…

How One Architect’s Buildings Became A Film-Favorite Dystopian Backdrop

“Decades ago, [architect John] Portman never envisioned his buildings as dystopian fortresses or imagined Hollywood actors rappelling down his skyscrapers.” But Atlanta has become a popular filming location, and Portman and his neo-futuristic buildings are an important reason why. Tax incentives help, of course, but there’s something about the lines of Portman’s architecture that lures…