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Friday the 13th Part 4 Is the Best Friday the 13th Movie

A bold statement. But a true one. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is the best Friday the 13th film, and I say that as a diehard fan of Betsy “Mrs. Voorhees” Palmer. Here are all the reasons why part four is number one. It Acknowledges What Came Before … Then Moves Forward In an…

Watch people’s tattoos transform into animations with cool 3D body mapping

What’s cooler looking than tattoos? Tattoos that can move. Check out this awesome “ink mapping” by Oskar & Gaspar. They map a person’s body and transform their tattoos into kick ass animations that incorporate the tattoos’ original design. Basically, a person’s skin becomes the canvas for moving art. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us…

The Mind Behind Hannibal is Bringing Amazing Stories Back

In the mid-Eighties, Steven Spielberg created and produced an anthology show called Amazing Stories. Each week, a new tale dealing with the supernatural or fantastic was told, totally unrelated to the previous week. Now, it’s coming back with the help of Bryan Fuller. Entertainment Weekly broke the news of the return of Amazing Stories, which…

Steve Jobs Is a Very Entertaining Movie About How It’s OK to Be an Asshole

Five minutes into Steve Jobs, I didn’t think I was gonna make it. I am, indeed, a product of the attention-deficit generation whose mind was ruined by the “beautiful” ideas of Steve Jobs. I’ve heard the stories about Jobs’ meticulous obsession with details, and his mercurial, uncompromising personality. How could I not? They’ve been etched…

Fantastically Nerdy Science Humor Magazine Goes Digital

After 21 years, the Annals of Improbable Research — that bastion of uber-nerdy science humor — is switching from a dead tree format to an all-digital PDF format. And it’s holding a special subscription sale to celebrate. From now until October 31, you can get a yearly subscription (six issues) for just $15/year, instead of…

This Music Video Is a Like Playing a Video Game on Acid

I’m not saying that Pixelord’s “Rescue Cyber Party” is something you should watch while on drugs. I am saying that it looks like the personification of drugs. [Vimeo] Contact the author at [email protected].

LA High School Students Will Help Test the Region’s New Earthquake Early Warning System

Although we’re not 99.9% sure when an earthquake will strike in Los Angeles, an earthquake early warning system would help the city take additional precautions and almost certainly save lives. A group of high school students is partnering with the USGS to test how it might work. Students at Eagle Rock High School, in Northeast…

The fun sparkling spiral of a spinning ball drenched in water

It’s always fun when the least complicated thing—this is just a ball soaked in water thrown in the air by the Slow Mo Guys—makes for such a spectacular visual in slow motion. The spiral of the foam ball is awesome as it jets out all the water it was holding inside. Plus, the droplets of…

There Will Be No Twilight Zone In A New Tower of Terror Movie

Anyone who has been to a Disney theme park has probably screamed on Tower of Terror, the Twilight Zone-inspired elevator drop ride. It was turned into a 1997 TV movie and now, it’s getting remade, but without that iconic show attached. Deadline reports celebrated writer John August (Big Fish, Go) has done a treatment of…

Catch 22 Déjà Vu: Court Rejects NSA Spying Case for Lack of Proof 

Imagine you know your neighbor is spying on you, and you sue them, but your case gets dismissed for lack of evidence. Then a few months later your creepo neighbor gets doxxed and his emails outline his elaborate plan for neighbor-stalking. You sue again. You’re gonna win, right? A federal district court dismissed a case…

GIFs of Life in Zero-Gee Almost Make Space Look Fun

Being an astronaut may sound glamorous, but for the most part, life in space is utter tedium—checking systems logs, labeling test tubes for routine science experiments. Not to mention the fact that simple things like using the toilet and running on a treadmill require monk-like patience and bungee cords. Every now and then, however, astronauts…

How Playboy helped save science fiction. Not only did Playboy provide a huge audience for science fiction stories during the publishing crash of the late 1950s, but the mag also helped keep short SF mainstreamwith its focus on “beginnings, middles and ends.” Our own Andrew Liptak explains.

This Literary Horror Tale Will Reawaken Your Love For H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft is a polarizing figure nowadays—even if you ignore all the hugely problematic elements of his writing. But he still pioneered so much of what we love in horror and science fiction. So award-winning author Victor LaValle decided to create a literary tribute to the Master. LaValle has written a brand new novella called…

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

This week started with the new Star Wars trailer and ended with baby Hitler. Could you kill baby Darth Vader? I mean obviously not, no matter what the people of Alderaan might say, since then we’d have no Luke or Leia or redeemed Han Solo and Palpatine would probably have found some other Jedi to…

The Haunting of Meatloaf Is Exactly As Weird As It Sounds

This week the Lifetime Movie Network show The Haunting Of achieved utter weirdness with its spotlight on Meatloaf. To be clear, that’s Meatloaf, the singer and actor of Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club fame, not meatloaf, the thing your grandma makes for dinner when you visit her on Sundays. The Haunting Of shows…

The Earthworm’s Surprising Superpowers Inspired This Biomimetic Worm-Bot 

Consider the earthworm. Ubiquitous, not unfriendly, maybe a little gross–who would think that this humble creature may hold the key to a new generation of soft robots? At the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting in Chicago this week, a team of neuroscientists and engineers from Case Western Reserve were on hand to describe their work…

io9 Newsstand: The Latest Issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Is Well Worth Picking Up

This week’s stories mesh weighty elements—ghosts, drug trafficking, emergent AI, death—with lighthearted or humorous skeins that lift them up just enough, without being trivial. And they’re all in one great magazine: Asimov’s Science Fiction. Online magazines get a lot of attention in this column, which is a function of the taste of the columnist. I…

Leatherman Signal Review: Can This Multitool Survive?

Leatherman’s new Signal multitool is the first to incorporate essential survival items like a fire starter and a whistle alongside traditional tools like a quality knife blade and pliers. A one-tool solution for the wilderness? What Is It? A full-size multitool complete with a large pair of needle nose pliers, wire cutters, a decent knife…

This real life version of the hidden blade and rope launcher in Assassin’s Creed is awesome

Mad genius Colin Furze did it. He made one of the coolest video game weapons—that would be the hidden blade and rope launcher in Assassin’s Creed—a reality. It works just as advertised! You can shoot out the grappling hook and then retract the rope to lift yourself up and over walls and buildings (though because…

Gremlins, Werewolves, and Hellboys: Rick Baker Gets a Tribute Art Show

Even if you don’t know the name Rick Baker, you know his work. I guarantee it. From Star Wars to An American Werewolf in London, Men in Black to Ed Wood, Gremlins, Thriller, Hellboy, Baker’s work with make-up and effects is legendary. He’s got seven Oscars to prove it and now, a tribute art show.…