George Orwell

Best Old School Tech Super Bowl Commercials, Ranked

Tech's Super Bowl commercials in the '80s and '90s were filled with drama, futuristic ideals, and even some great products.

Protect Your iPhone by Turning on This Crucial Safety Feature

Don't wait to enable Apple's Stolen Device Protection on your phone.

Oscar Nominee and Noted Star Wars Fan Lily Gladstone Just Joined a Very Cool Sci-Fi Movie

Gladstone will star in The Memory Police , directed by Reed Morano (I Think We're Alone Now) from a script adapted by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine) .

40 Years Ago, Apple Got Our Current Tech Dystopia Dead Wrong

The 1984 commercial based on 1984 is like taking a sledgehammer to Orwell's memory, but big tech has proved itself an entirely different kind of big brother.

Biden’s ‘Disinfo Overlord’ Sues Fox News for Defamation

Fox is being sued after its hosts allegedly called Biden's former disinformation chief a “disinfo overlord" and "useful idiot," among other things.

Surveillance Is Getting Less, Not More, ‘Orwellian’

When everything is “Orwellian,” nothing is. 1984 's author would loathe how we invoke his name.

BioShock is Everywhere in Games, and Yet Nowhere in Itself

15 years ago, 2K's immersive sim took the world by storm...or sea, rather.

How Spider-Man Led to the Invention of the Prisoner Ankle Monitor

A judge in New Mexico approached an engineer after reading a strip of "The Amazing Spider-Man" in 1977.

An Immigration Advisory for Fictional Dystopias

The author of The City Inside takes us on an educational tour of the near future, pointing out some not-so-bad-really options.

Could There Be Stranger Things Spinoffs on the Way?

Plus, Andy Serkis heads to Animal Farm , and a new tiny look at Marvel's Eternals .

Woman With Only Known Tape of J.D. Salinger’s Voice Says She’ll Have It Cremated With Her

Reporter Betty Eppes says she feels bad about the tape, which was recorded without the author's knowledge.

President Trump Tells Americans to Boycott AT&T During Unhinged Twitter Rant

President Donald Trump sent a barrage of strange tweets during his flight to the UK overnight, but one of the weirdest tweets instructed Americans to stop using and subscribing to AT&T’s services. CNN, which the president hates because the network will sometimes accurately describe his crimes, is owned by AT&T. “I believe that if people…

Amazon Sells Out of 1984 as America Decides to Read a Goddamn Book for Once [Update]

George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984 occupied the number one spot on Amazon’s best-selling books list yesterday, where it remains today. A cautionary tale about a brutal, amoral dictator has evidently felt relevant to people lately. But as of today, Amazon—the world’s largest bookseller—is unable to keep up with demand. Currently 1984 is printed by Signet…

The Future Looks Bright For Donut Fans in This Funny George Orwell Homage

Set a century after George Orwell’s chilling portrait of a dystopian future, scifi short 2084 works perfectly thanks to the twin powers of simplicity (it was filmed in director Taz Goldstein’s living room) and hilarity (the “annoyed computer voice” has seldom been so well-executed). Also, and you’ve been warned, 2084 will really make you crave…

Over at The Monitor, David Bowles is reviewing some of the best science fiction books of all time. Read his reviews of The Left Hand of Darkness, Ender’s Game, 1984 and Dune, and keep your eyes open for more installments. Dune cover art via Scientific American

Did George Orwell Borrow Animal Farm From a 19th Century Russian Author?

George Orwell had a known penchant for borrowing from other authors—his dystopian novel 1984 owes a clear debt to a number of works, including We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, for example. But did his other famous work, Animal Farm, also owe a huge debt to a Russian author? That’s the claim in a new Harper’s Magazine…

You Can Watch A Live Reading Of Orwell’s 1984 Via Your Computer

Now that we’re living in a world of pervasive surveillance, and Big Brother really is watching you, the D.C. Public Library is hosting a live reading of George Orwell’s 1984 in its entirety. “Special guest readers” will take part, but you can also sign up to read — or watch the whole thing streaming on…

Paul Greengrass Will Bring Orwell’s 1984 Back to the Big Screen

Sony’s setting up another adaptation of George Orwell’s classic, this time with Paul Greengrass in the director’s chair. Well, it’s not like it’s a book that gets less relevant as time goes on. The question remains if this’ll come before or after Greengrass’ return to the Bourne franchise, which is supposedly going to come out…

George Orwell Was Actually Born on This Animal Farm in India

For the first year of his life, George Orwell lived on a farm in India, very much like the place he eventually described in his famous parable Animal Farm. Now the place is being turned into a museum to honor the author — but not in a way that Orwell would have liked. On the…

In 1995, artist Ralph Steadman lent his iconic style to a special edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Over onBrain Pickings, Maria Popova has curated a selection of the book’s illustrations. It’s almost uncanny, how exquisitely Steadman’s freewheeling genius dovetails with Orwell’s controversial masterpiece. You really must see for yourself.