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Soundtrack Saturday: The zombie electro of Kavinsky

Welcome to Soundtrack Saturday, a now-and-then column which showcases music that’s tickling our aural syntax nodes. Today’s artist is undead deejay Kavinsky. His music sounds like John Carpenter and Jan Hammer fighting crime together and working out in abandoned warehouses. According to his 2006 press release, Kavinsky is a Testarossa aficionado who died in 1986,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Friendly fungi could revolutionize rice farming

By engineering a strain of symbiotic fungus, researchers have massively increased the growth rate of rice, and may help stave off the specter of global shortages of phosphates, which are essential minerals for plants. Mycorrhiza fungi are those that live in a mutually beneficial arrangement with the roots of plants. Found in just about every…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Alan Moore is not writing an opera with Gorillaz. Boo!

At a panel at the University of Northampton, Alan Moore confirmed that he was no longer writing an opera about the alchemist John Dee with Gorillaz — apparently all of the writing and planning had been foisted upon Moore. Damn! Says Moore: I should dash cold water on anybody’s dreams of this Doctor Dee opera…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

Is Starship Troopers a trenchant war parable for 2010, a cheesy excuse for coed showers, or both?

Some of us think of Starship Troopers as a brilliant satire, others consider it a bastardization of Robert Heinlein’s novel. Scott Tobias of The Onion AV Club considers the 1997 film an apt metaphor for 21st-century nationalism and militarism. Says Tobias: It seems absurd now to write it off as some silly piece of escapism,…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

Marmaduke is the biggest “F*** You” to modernity I’ve ever seen

Marmaduke is so self-evidently bad that slamming it would be tautological. No, what concerns me is that this superpowered dog movie wasn’t made for modern audiences. It’s a crumbling monument to our own execrable pursuit of entertainment. I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong with the film adaptation of Brad Anderson’s comic strip when the…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

A Saturday morning guide to antimatter

Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about antimatter, but were afraid to ask. Or most of the things you kind of wondered about antimatter but didn’t give that much of a crap about. Whichever. Although antimatter sounds pleasantly futuristic, it was both predicted and proven to exist back in the 1930s. A gentleman by…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Next Generation comics highlight the erotic escapades of Jean-Luc Picard

Cartoonist Jess Fink is notorious for creating the Victorian robot porn Chester 5000 XYV (NSFW). In her spare time, she watches loads of Star Trek and draws comics in which Picard and Riker get their respective smoochies on. This year, Fink started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation — apparently for the first time —…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

The Great Futurama X-Men Mash-Up

In this epic mashup by gottabecarl, the Futuramaverse crosses streams with the X-menverse. Not to ruin the effect with lowly geek pedantry, but aside from points regarding Fry’s fiery trichosis, shouldn’t Leela be Cyclops? [deviantart-full rez via scifiwire]

Movies Mark Wilson

Question of the Day: How Will You Watch the World Cup?

The World Cup is here! And you’ve got more ways to watch it than ever before—including 3DTV! So what’s your viewing poison? That is, if you care to watch it at all. Me, I’ll be at a friend’s apartment, drinking Sam Adams and trying to figure out why no one just picks up the dang…

Television Brian Barrett

South Korea loses contact with rocket immediately after launch

That’s not a happy rocket-launch picture. South Korea lost contact with its Naro-1 rocket right after launch, and the Koreans believe it exploded at 43 miles. The Koreans were attempting to launch a scientific satellite to cope with climate change. According to AFP: South Korea was trying to join an exclusive club currently numbering nine…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Sony LCD 3DTV Gets Disappointing First Look

Gary Merson at HD Guru has seen Sony’s new KDL-55HX800 LCD 3DTV live and in person. His first take? Even a slight tilt of the head makes you see double and lose the 3D effect. Uh oh. Update: Apparently Merson was looking at a preproduction unit, and there’s no way to be sure how they’ll…

Television Brian Barrett

Deeper impact: Did mega-meteors rattle our planet?

On the west coast of India, near the city of Mumbai, lies a tortured landscape. Faults score the ground, earthquakes are rife, and boiling water oozes up from below forming countless hot springs.These are testaments to a traumatic history. Further inland, stark mountains of volcanic basalt provide compelling evidence that this entire region – an…

io9 Matt Kaplan - New Scientist

Gene Roddenberry’s 1973 letter: Star Trek was about people, not hardware

A 1973 letter from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry to a fan is worth reading. He explains that Trek had no “magic formula” other than focusing on people. And Spock looked like the Devil because it was “provocative to women.”

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Voltron uses last mecha-kitty life to save its film project

Even though we heard reports last week that the Voltron movie had been put down, the producers say there’s still life in this old mecha kitty yet. In fact they claim they’re very close to hiring a screenwriter. [MTV]

Movies Meredith Woerner

Two fascinating discussions about the nature of dystopia from young-adult authors

Now that young-adult fiction is where most of great dystopian stories are being told, there are two awesome discussions going on. Kaitlin Ward asks what’s the difference between dystopian and apocalyptic fiction. And Angie Smibert wonders where the utopias are.

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

The strange, hypnotic allure of “Get out of there!”

Just like the “zoom and enhance” clip from a while back, it’s astonishing to see just how many movies — and great ones, at that — have invoked this cliche when someone’s in danger. Aspiring writers: avoid at all costs.

Movies Marc Bernardin

Waterworld star Kevin Costner will clean up the BP oil spill

Kevin Costner once boasted that he could have cleaned up the Exxon Valdez spill in a week. Now he’ll get a chance to show what he can do — BP is buying his oil/water separation machines. [Inhabitat and WWL]

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Did aliens take a preacher into space, just to convert him to their weird alien religion?

Science fiction books are having a resurgence in Korea, according to a new article in the Korea Times. And some of the titles described sound pretty amazing, including a preacher who converts to an alien religion, and a wizard who turns a man’s friend into a pig. Let’s hope some of these titles turn up…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Interactive guide to Larry Niven’s Ringworld is the next best thing to going there

Dennis Antinori’s guide to Larry Niven’s Ringworld teems with information about its specs, but that’s not all. There’s also the equivalent of Google maps for Ringworld — it even lets you zoom in on key locations. Awesome. [Ringworld, via Metafilter]

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Who are all these new people on True Blood?

Before you watch Sunday’s season premiere of True Blood, you may be wondering who all these sexy new faces are? Here’s a round up of all the new supernatural characters who are ready to take their clothes off. Spoilers ahead… Who: Coot What: Werewolf Actor: Grant Bowler New character Coot is the leader of the…

Television Meredith Woerner

Soundtrack Saturday: The zombie electro of Kavinsky

Friendly fungi could revolutionize rice farming

Alan Moore is not writing an opera with Gorillaz. Boo!

Is Starship Troopers a trenchant war parable for 2010, a cheesy excuse for coed showers, or both?

Marmaduke is the biggest “F*** You” to modernity I’ve ever seen

A Saturday morning guide to antimatter

Next Generation comics highlight the erotic escapades of Jean-Luc Picard

The Great Futurama X-Men Mash-Up

Question of the Day: How Will You Watch the World Cup?

South Korea loses contact with rocket immediately after launch

Sony LCD 3DTV Gets Disappointing First Look

Deeper impact: Did mega-meteors rattle our planet?

Gene Roddenberry’s 1973 letter: Star Trek was about people, not hardware

Voltron uses last mecha-kitty life to save its film project

Two fascinating discussions about the nature of dystopia from young-adult authors

The strange, hypnotic allure of “Get out of there!”

Waterworld star Kevin Costner will clean up the BP oil spill

Did aliens take a preacher into space, just to convert him to their weird alien religion?

Interactive guide to Larry Niven’s Ringworld is the next best thing to going there

Who are all these new people on True Blood?

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