Fox Orders Frankenstein Pilot That Has Nothing to Do with Frankenstein

And they’re pretty confident in it, since they’ve made a “put pilot” commitment on it. That means they either air it or pay a lot of money. The project comes from Rand Ravish (Crisis, Life) and Howard Gordon (Homeland, Tyrant). The former is writing and executive producing and the latter is executive producing. Frankenstein is…

Brand New Isaac Asimov Essay Mulls the Origins of Creativity

In 1959 Issac Asimov wrote an essay on where new ideas come from. It wasn’t found until fifty-five years later, when Arthur Obermayer, scientist and friend of Asimov, cleaned out some of his old files. It is as illuminating now as it was then. In the introduction of the essay, published in full by the…

These Paper Masks Are Halloween Costumes Made Easy

And polygonal. While you’re considering making some of your own Halloween decorations, you can also consider getting some of these paper mask patterns from Steve Wintercroft. https://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-collection-of-clever-halloween-decorations-1649445688 His patterns are available on etsy and his website. You can go minimalist and just leave it the color of the paper you use or you can take…

They Come Here to Appreciate the Abstract Beauty of Skyscrapers

Even when we are cyborgs, our skins hardened into exoskeletons and our lungs tuned to breathe whatever gasses are available, we will still share at least one thing with our human ancestors. We will never tire of looking out over our cities, watching their lights wink on in darkness. Steven Messing is a visual effects…

NFL Fans By U.S. County, According to Twitter

Earlier this year, Facebook used information gathered from its users to determine the most popular NFL team in every U.S. county. Now, Twitter has released its own map of NFL fandom in America – and Twitter’s version is interactive. https://gizmodo.com/a-county-by-county-map-of-nfl-allegiance-1631651161 At first glance, Twitter’s fandom map is pretty comparable to Facebook’s. Where the latter uses…

Person of Interest Delivers One of the Most Disturbing Episodes Ever

Just in time for midterm elections, Person of Interest pulled out all the stops with a story of vote tampering, political corruption, and the real difference between good and evil. This was seriously punch-you-in-the-gut storytelling. Our number of the week was Simon Lee, a pollster for a political campaign, whose shoo-in candidate somehow lost the…

Well, THAT Was Surprisingly Easy, Supernatural

Not that we’re really that surprised or anything. But last night’s Supernatural definitely felt like it was a little too easy. Spoilers follow… Dean Winchester getting turned into a scummy demon was one of the most interesting things that’s happened to Supernatural in a while, so it’s kind of too bad the show shoved this…

Air New Zealand’s New Hobbit Video Is Greatest Flight Safety Film Ever

In honor of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the folks at Air New Zealand have updated their Hobbit-studded flight safety video with even more special effects madness and costumed flight attendants—plus cameos from Elijah Wood, Peter Jackson, and Sylvester McCoy. https://gizmodo.com/air-new-zealand-s-insane-hobbit-filled-flight-safety-v-5957022 Taika Waititi directed what Air New Zealand is calling “The Most…

Here’s The Hulkbusting First Trailer For Avengers: Age Of Ultron

The trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron has arrived online a bit early, showing off Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor and Ultron himself in creepy, creepy action—along with the MCU’s version of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Update: Official trailer now up in all its hi-res glory! Yep, that chilling version of the song from Pinocchio…

The Best times An On-Screen Adaptation Strayed From The Book

The disappointing changes made in the on-screen adaptations from some of our favorite books have been well catalogued. But what about the times when the on-screen adaptation diverted from its source material, for the best? In response to this post on the reasons not to worry over adaptations switching up plot points from the books,…

Ancient Europeans were lactose intolerant for 5,000 years after switching over to agriculture. DNA extracted from skulls dating from 5,700 BC to 800 BC shows that Europeans carried the genes for lactose intolerance. But that didn’t stop them from eating dairy products like milk and cheese for 4,000 years. The study shows that genomes can…

MIT’s Science Fiction Society Has 60,000 Books And Some Zany Traditions

Reason number 5,000,000,000 to wish you’d gone to MIT… There’s a great article in MIT News Magazine about the MIT Science Fiction Society, with its incredibly awesome library. Which started with a wooden crate dragged between dorm rooms in 1949 and is now a massive storehouse of awesome. According to one chemistry grad student, D.W.…

Adrianne Palicki’s Mockingbird Outfit On Agents Of SHIELD Is SO GOOD

You may have seen the first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance of Bobbi Morse, the agent codenamed Mockingbird, in last night’s Agents of SHIELD. But you haven’t seen her in her official Mockingbird superhero outfit, because Marvel just released the first pic — and it’s damn near perfect. Now that’s a suit that would look 100%…

This Is How We Imagined Aerial Warfare 120 Years Ago

These gorgeous illustrations from the late nineteenth century reveal what people imagined air combat would be like in the future. It’s pretty spectacular — and weirdly prescient, too. These illustrations come from the novels The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror and its sequel Olga Romanoff (also known as The Syren…

Wild mountain goats in the Italian Alps have gotten significantly smaller over the past few decades in response to a warming climate. Call us crazy, but rising seas seems a small price to pay for adorable tiny goats. Thanks, global warming!

Which States Have The Most Restrictive Voting Laws?

Republican candidates are poised to gain next month from new election laws in almost half the states in the U.S., where additional requirements defy a 50-year trend of easing access to the polls. This infographic shows where it’s the most difficult to cast your ballot. As Bloomberg Politics notes: In North Carolina, where Democratic U.S.…

You Probably Never Realized How Marble Is Harvested, But It’s Beautiful

Ever wondered how marble is quarried? The process, documented in this stunning short by Italian artist and filmmaker Yuri Ancarani, is utterly transfixing. Assorted observations: It’s a little unreal how beautiful this is. I never realized that raw marble is harvested in colossal slabs from the sides of mountains. That is just unreal. The quarry…

Which Series Did You Love — Until It Killed Your Favorite Character?

Death adds real stakes to a fictional universe. If nobody ever dies, then nothing feels real. And yet some deaths don’t just diminish us all, they just plain ruin a series. For good. Which science fiction or fantasy series lost its heart, or just became less good generally, when one character died? Please include a…

More Damning Evidence That Dr. Oz’s Green Coffee Bean Diet Is A Scam

Earlier this year, the fat-burning effects of green coffee bean extract – an extract touted by daytime TV’s Dr. Oz as a “miraculous” weight-loss aid – were called into question by the Federal Trade Commission. Now, the 2012 study purporting to demonstrate the extract’s effectiveness has been retracted. “The sponsors of the study cannot assure…

Scare Your Neighbors With These DIY Halloween Decorations

Still worrying over Halloween decorations? We’ve got you covered. We scoured the Internet for the best of the best Halloween goodies and brought you a list of the greatest gags and boos. Some are simple, DIY, cheapy-cheap creations; others may take a bit of finesse. But they are all sensational. Head in a Jar! This…