Christian Bale delivers the presence you’d expect to the leading hero John Connor and Sam Worthington seems to be a proper rising star as the character Marcus. There were plenty of throwback references in the spirit of past Terminators that have done the same. They didn’t feel shoehorned or cheapened. Fans of the series will get it without the movie jarring to accommodate them. The trepidation fans held was obvious due to unproven director MCG, which had an underwhelming box-office presence this past Memorial Day weekend. But in this reviewer’s opinion, MCG has indeed proven himself as a kinetic action director capable of handling a film with more gravitas than previously thought possible. Danny Elfman handled the musical duties and brought his own flavor using classic themes and weaving them into the score.

The only thing really holding this movie back was the PG-13 rating. While taking a 13 rating is usually a studio attempt at broadening an audience, it’s quite possible it could have served more as a detriment. While the filmmakers pushed the action as far as it could go, the lore of this material has always been very adult. Humans were collected for some unknown diabolical robotic experiments or torture. But rarely terminated. In every film prior to this one there was never a shortage of humans violently meeting their ends by a mechanical executioner. At the end of this film, you know you saw something enjoyable, but you eventually can’t quite help noticing something missing. Terminations.

Would an R-rating have brought this movie to an upper tier? Absolutely. It’s like making a PG-13 version of the Predator. Or Conan. It’s just never going to be the genuine article without the violence. Let’s hope we get a director’s cut for the home video market, because in the end it really is a well acted, well-shot action packed film with walking metal endoskeletons packing automatic firearms terrorizing the human race.

Chris Pine creates a Kirk with cool and charisma while avoiding the pitfalls of being a pretty boy with no substance. This tale of Kirk is woven through an epic hero’s journey rivaling any Star Wars film. Using the dude from Shaun of the Dead, Sylar and Harold from White Castle is inspired casting. Characters use their classic accents without being jokes or cheap stereotypes. Supporting crew members like Chekov and Sulu contribute with their own particular brands of badassery.

Not only is Abrams good at character and story, his visual directing is top shelf. When you see the Enterprise you truly grasp the sense of scale that this version of the vessel has. Having the cameras recoil while “filming” ships going to warp is an ingenious creative decision. There are also action sequences that are some of the most fun you’ll have in theaters this year that aren’t even space battles.

There’s true drama, character development, an obvious love to the material that it is based off of, action, spectacle, light-heartedness and a sense of hope that makes the film stand apart from so many of the apocalyptic dystopian realities we tend to create. As a society we tend to make what we imagine and with this Star Trek it becomes more than just a popcorn movie. It illustrates a culture that we could be and where we could boldly go.

Mail Online has an in-depth look at “Jules,” the human-looking robot head, which can mimic real human facial expressions. And in real time no less.

Mail Online reports:

Jules mimics the expressions by converting the video image into digital commands that make the robot’s servos and motors produce mirrored movements.

And it all happens in real time as the robot can interpret the commands at 25 frames per second.

You can see plenty of images of Jules at that site, but you can also see Jules in action in the video embedded below.

Creepy, exciting stuff. For a look at fictional Terminator news, read my thoughts on the upcoming sequel.

Unfortunately I am of the latter ilk. For one, I am the kind of guy who likes my Terminators to carry strong tones of Austrian/governor accent. Terminators who speak in monotone voices who have very clear missions that can only begin once their first objective is achieved: obtain clothes, boots, and a motorcycle. I come from the school of “The Electronic Murderer” (even though I’m not Polish). Picture courtesy of Answers.com.

I am not so much interested in this. “Oh, but it’s got Christian Bale,” you might respond. Watch Harsh Times and then give me that argument. Was Eddie furlong not available? I can’t imagine that the Night of the Demons remake was a higher priority for him. What happened to Nick Stahl? I wasn’t thrilled to have a new John Connor forced upon me then either, but he did an adequate job.

I’m not saying that Bale can’t cut the mustard. Bale’s not the issue. The issue is that they have gotten away from what made The Terminator a classic, and that was…well, Arnold (not to mention Michael Biehn), James Cameron, and the decade of the 80s. I’m not one to totally live in the past. I realize times have changed, but films like Planet Terror prove that the dark, gritty look of the original are still possible to achieve.

Terminator: Salvation is looking more like a Transformers or Matrix knock off (if not a stylized Robot Jox remake) to me based on some of the robot designs. But I guess that’s what you get when you give the co-creator of Fastlane the reigns of one of the most beloved science fiction/action franchises of all time. I’m a little skeptical to say the least.

But to be fair, I can’t judge it too harshly without having seen it. My expectations are set pretty low, so perhaps I’ll be overwhelmingly surprised. Some of my best movie-viewing experiences have come from low expectations.

See some recently leaked video footage at io9.com. I rest my case.

The remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed (Rearmed! Get it?!), features the same story and gameplay as the the original, but enhanced with modern graphics and sound effects. Fans of the original will recognize levels and bosses throughout the game, as well as some nostalgia-heavy cutscenes. The remake is still a 2D scroller, and you still can’t jump (forcing you to rely on your bionic arm swinging abilities).

First, the positives. This game is absolutely beautiful. Everything from the stellar 3D characters with full ragdoll effects to the campy back and forth dialogue to the modernized 8-bit soundtrack are incredibly gratifying. It’s so much fun to combine the nostalgia of playing a side-scrolling shooter with the graphics of modern gaming machines. The visuals of this remake are at times better than those of modern original titles.

BCR also features split-screen multiplayer campaign as well as up to 4-player versus modes. The campaign can be a lot of fun, since the opponent AI alters itself to require teamwork. However the versus modes are only fun for a short while and quickly become repetitive and boring.

Where BCR suffers is in gameplay. The original Bionic Commando is known for being somewhat difficult to master, and I found the remake to hold true to that assessment as well. It took me a long time to master the swinging technique needed to traverse even the earliest levels, and many of the areas you encounter feature spiked floors or lava that will kill you almost immediately. After struggling to get through the first few levels, I went back and lowered the difficulty level to the easiest setting. This blocked off the traps on the floor and made enemies easier to defeat, thus refocusing gameplay on navigating using the bionic arm, which is where this game really shines.

For a remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a stunning success. Original gameplay is left mostly untouched, with stellar graphics and soundtracks added and enhanced to really make this one of the best $10 video games out there. I definitely suggest this game for any fans of the original Bionic Commando, or for fans of retro gaming in general.

Technorati Tags: Bionic Commando, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Grin, Capcom, XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, PC Games, Nintendo, NES, video games, video game reviews

The new book by Nick Sagan (son of Carl Sagan), You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised, is characterized by explanations of some of the fascinating technologies envisioned in classic science fiction along with explorations of the progress modern science has made towards achieving those visions. Classic science fiction references appear side-by-side with summaries of state of the art scientific research.

The book is divided into 5 broad chapters, each covering 10 technologies that we have made progress towards realizing. The chapters are Travel and Transportation, Computers, Cyborgs, and Robots, Communications, Weapons and Security, and Life, Health, and Sex.

The Pros

This book is very well written. Each technology is described with multiple fictional appearances as well as detailed accounts of modern advances involving that technology. I was also surprised at how realistic many of the concepts once considered impossible have become. There were also detailed diagrams and high-quality images for all of the sections, which made the content much more engaging.

The Cons

Some of the technologies in the book were much less interesting than others. In a desire to have the same number of sections in each chapter, some sections were added that probably could have been left out - language translators, watch toys, and sex toys, for example.

I definitely recommend this book. It was a quick read, and each section was engaging and interesting. The price is very reasonable, as well.

The Stats

Title: You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised
Author(s): Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, and Andy Walker
ISBN10: 1556526857
ISBN13: 978-1556526855
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Cost: $11.21 (from Amazon)
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Published: April 1, 2008

Technorati Tags: Carl Sagan, Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, Andy Walker, science fiction, technology, books, book reviews, You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised

We have no way of knowing what it is that the inhabitants of the Death Star want, or even if they are friendly. But one thing is for certain. On the fateful day when we must finally engage our enemy in combat, the greatest weapon available to us will be Jeff Goldblum and his Macintosh of Doom.

Technorati Tags: Jeff Goldblum, Star Wars, Independence Day, Macintosh, Death Star, San Francisco, video

[eminimall width="468" height="60" client="arsgeek" products="technology"]

Though the pilot is airing in September, the show will not begin its full run until early next year.  Between the pilot in September and the rest of the first season in the new year, DC Comics will be releasing a 6-issue series of prequel comics (one issue every month) designed to set up the show.

On top of that, at Comic-con a couple weeks ago, visitors to the Fringe panel were treated to a Prequel Comic, as well as a screening of the entire first episode of the series.  Since then, Fringe fansite fringetelevision.com has scanned and uploaded the comic for the enjoyment of the masses.  Head over there to check it out, and also take a look at the character profiles also included in the prequel comic.

And just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the official promotional trailer for Fringe.

Technorati Tags: TV, Fringe, JJ Abrams, DC comics, television, tv shows, Fox, comic-con

There were a few issues I have ran across:

1. Adjusting the size still didn’t make the boxes legible
2. Clicking on “Full Screen” only took me to a site with the google ads. The game didn’t show up.

Regardless, it’s still uber fun to randomly click on the boxes, call your friends, wait for the vm prompt and the annoy them by showing them who’s the dark lord.

Enjoy!

The super villain is the most interesting, humorous and inventive piece of the hero/villain relationship. One that is overlooked and under appreciated.

I scoured the web for some decent homage to the villain but I came up short. Everything is devoted to the hero and it felt a little unfair!

I tried to track down some super villains to get their take on all the praise and tribute to the heroes but I came up empty handed. I guess I have to give them props on having really good secret lairs. If they’re in a high security prison/mental ward, I think I can guess what their answer would be… bitter. If deceased then they wouldn’t have been able to answer anyway. Do they have memorial services for super villains?

Since I couldn’t track one down my next strategy was to become one. If I became one then I would be able to answer my own questions.

The first step was picking a name. Something that would strike fear in the hearts and minds of others and let the superheroes know I am truly a force to be reckoned with.

“Blind Date”? Yes, that’s scary but it doesn’t sound very tough.
I’ve always thought “Centripetal Force” sounded like it should be a super villain name. Besides, being called Centripetal Force would give me tons of options for my world domination or destruction plans. I have a sinking feeling though that by the end of my reign, they’ll just call me “Geek Girl.”

I looked around my apartment and noticed that I already have some of the villain requirements:

An evil pet. I have two cats and a betta fish. Check.

A decent back story. I don’t know if my real back story is good enough. There’s no angst. No revenge. There’s nothing but me having a question that needs answered. I guess I can make one up. “I grew up in a typical dysfunctional household and used film as an escape from my daily life. The more Hollywood crap I viewed, the more cynical and angry I became. Upon taking in my surroundings I noticed the public repeating the lines and actions of various films that had filled me with disgust. I had struggled for years to maintain my goodness and love of film, not to take the mediocre stories out on those around me. Then, after the long awaited Star Wars prequel came out, I left the theater and my soul remain in aisle 3 seat 10.” Backstory… Check.

Dark Clothing. Several black dresses, blouses, and slacks. <-essentials in being a stealthy villain! Check.

Secret Hideout. I placed a sign on my door that reads “Neither Dawn or Centripetal Force/Geek Girl lives here.” Check.

An awesome laboratory. Well, I have some food in my fridge that should have been thrown out weeks ago… I’ll go ahead just put check.

Minions. This one I’ll have to work on a little. I’m a female in a small city full of dorks. I think a trip to a bar around nine on any given night is all it will take. Check.

Weapons of mass destruction. I’m not *quite* there yet. I have a hair dryer, an old crockpot and a computer gathering dust in my closet, I’m sure I can figure something out.

Now the next step is finding a superhero to taunt. Considering I will be in NYC at the end of the week at a Comic-Con… Check.

I don’t *really* have a dark side and I feel bad if during a bout of road frustration I flip someone off… and they actually see… I feel horrible. This might be something I’ll have to work on. I can picture the battle now… I’m standing atop some mountain with lightning striking all around me, the wind is whipping my hair around and I’m calling down to the superhero who has fallen into my trap “At last we meet! Your demise will be the death that becomes legendar… Oh jeeze… are the shackles too tight on your wrists? They look tight, like the circulation is being cut off. You do know that’s not *you* per se. I mean I’m sure in any other circumstances we’d be friends. Granted NOW it’s probably too late… but… God… Lenny… cut him down please and give him some ice and Neosporin. I’m going to call it a night.” I may need to work on that a little more. Unchecked.

I spent a few days working on my laugh, “Mwa ha ha!” and then “Bwa ha ha ha… ha.” (I never know how many ‘ha’s’ I need.) In the movie theater I received quite a few looks during the more comical parts of the film as I test out my maniacal laugh, “Mwa ha ha.. ha ha… ha” When my family came over and father told a joke, my maniacal laugh was met with more arched brows and confused looks… (note to self, save meniacal laughs for evil plan making and battle victories).

I may not quite be a super villain yet or even *a* villain, but the more I tried to become one I have to admit I DO feel a little hurt and jipped that there are so many superhero films and comic books out there. The scale is tilted a little more towards their side and it *is* unfair.

… now to work on my laugh a little more. “Mwa or Mua… Mewa..ha ha..ha?”

Technorati Tags: super villain, supervillain, mwa ha ha

Earlier I wrote about mothers being non-existent in the upbrining of future superheroes- I forgot about Wonder Woman! She had a mommy (although wasn’t her mom killed later on?) I knew I had to be wrong and there *has* to be others.

The following was found on Youtube while I was researching a crush that a friend wants me to give his number to (and no, his crush isn’t Olivia… well he likes her as well and probably wouldn’t mind if I passed out his number to her as well.)

The annoyances of being a superhero!

Technorati Tags: Wonder Woman, Olivia Munn, superheroes

When the Hulk movie came out I was THERE! I took the boy and while he’s smiling and doing the “YEAH!” thing- I had to creatively splice my straw from my 32 oz beverage and use it to prop my eye lids open. I found myself doing the same when I watched the trailer for the upcoming film.

I feel Incredibly Bad because Comic-Con is right around the corner, the Hulk is spot lighted, Jonathon LOVES this green angry guy and I’m worried there won’t be enough straws around to prop my eyes open (I equate Hulk with nice, warm, cozy, deep sleep).

“Oooh… I was in an accident… I can’t live a normal life… I’m so angry and when I’m angry I can destroy stuff and people… and all my girlfriends die… and that sucks…” I think they should do a Hulk musical. (imagine Hulk singing) “Me so angry… you don’t like it when I’m angr-yyyyy… all crushes get dead… and that really sucks!!” Then he can dance and destoy! Give him a little catch phrase or something and instead of green… let’s go with an amish blue. Smurf on steriods.

Hopefully the Con will turn me around and take me to the Hulk side… or I’ll just fly back with sleep drool stains on my chin and straw shards in my eye balls.
[tag]The Incredible Hulk[/tags]

I came across this photograph that proves once and for all that life from other planets does exist and they are not friendly.

A child from the Ozarks is being declared a genius because he drew a picture of the attack last summer at a day camp which has now gone from being placed on the fridge to being on display at the SETI Institute*. When asked about the picture, he said he had it from ancient memories that are now coming back to him that the orange space craft is made out of cheese (how did he know it was orange?!). The child then went into a zen like trance and asked his parents for an Xbox, which he promptly received, along with several new age book deals**.

The parents of the young boy told AG that for the past year he has shown a strong preference for Sci-Fi video games and has seen the original Star Wars Trilogy 9 times.

“We always thought there was something extraordinary about him when he began to chant ‘ET phone home’. I mean how did he know that? ET stands for Extra Terrace… or something like that and the film came out WAY before he was born. Genius. Who’da thunk??” said the mother of little Michael. She then continued to tell us, “Given enough time, he can point to Egypt on a map… and not the flat kind that goes on the wall, the globy thing with all the lines.”

Little Michael who’s 19 years old is an honor student at his elementary school in the Ozarks. Although he remains illiterate, he’s able to add and subtract, which puts him well above the mark of his classmates.

The photographer of the invasion could not be reached for an interview but did say, “It was really crazy weird! I’ve no idea how the rest of the city didn’t see it as well!”

*It has not been confirmed that it was put on display at the SETI institute
**Ben’s guess at what happened after the child was questioned about the drawing
***Actually my Monday night show was on and I didn’t feel like talking to myself.

The Birth of a Tabloid

Someone mentioned today that they read an article about the lack of original content on blog sites. Personally I know that the art of writing something interesting and thought provoking has gone down hill ever since the big internet bang (no- it’s not a porn site… or at least I’m not referencing one).

Creative energy has been sucked dry as the Idiocracy cast mates have made their way across the www where they gloss over articles that required brain power, opinion and actual time spent sharing life observations. Instead they respond and hit upon any churned out UFO video or some odd child who was on a random website claiming to have been from Mars. It baffles me. It shouldn’t, but it does.

Could it be that I’ve been a presence on the web for too long? Finding myself sitting back while watching the de-evolution of the participates on the web? Viewing such sites as MySpace pop up and intelligence drop down?

I have to admit it’s been discouraging to put internal talent to font when you feel no one really cares about quality. At times it feels they merely care about “Oh shiny pretty pictures” or “Regardless of the poster being obviously sarcastic I’m going to come across as a know it all and scoff at them because I think they’re being serious and they must be reprimanded.”

I’ve been trying to find my inspiration to keep going. It’s not that I feel I truly have something wonderful to say about random topics, rather it’s because I love to write and I enjoy having an audience of people who could possibly relate to what I’m trying to say, or perhaps add to it by sharing their own ideas.

Take this site for instance. Life has been so overwhelming and although I haven’t had anything to decent to contribute in some time- I see posts that were excerpts from other places crash the site with readers while decent original articles that come from a couple of the staff writers go unnoticed. I sit back quietly and scratch my head. At first I thought it was a dandruff problem so I went out and purchased the new Head and Shoulders line, but the scratching continued as I have observed from afar.

Perhaps creative compromise tends to happen when Reddit and Digg take over the blogosphere and chokes the creative juices out of people when the attention is focused on the tabloid pieces.

The other writers here have been pretty solid, however for myself, I felt the need to write this and voice my opinion because I’ve been watching myself shrink. Small original sites are disappearing to make way for “profiles” and “blogs”. I’ve made the compromises and transitioned. I have to admit it’s been difficult finding my footing. From writer to blogger it’s been difficult keeping up to speed with the short attention span of viewers.

It’s like the Ma and Pa shops being shoved out the way for another Costco or Walmart. How do you keep up and still give something to be proud of?

Why do I continue to write? I guess that would be asking a swimmer why they love to swim or a pianist why they love to play music. “It’s just because it’s who I am.”

Technorati Tags: aliens, attack, tabloid, outer space, geek, blog, osphere, sigh, original writing

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
The Star Wars saga will continue in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a videogame developed by LucasArts, which casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice” and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The expansive story, created under direction from George Lucas, is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi - and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.

As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics™ system, these new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consoles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of anything in the environment so that everything reacts exactly like it should - wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioral-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behavior on the fly and resulting in a different payoff every single time.

Features
During the period between Episodes III and IV, players hunt Jedi in the role of Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice.
Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice’s four core Force powers - Force push, grip, repulse and lightning - throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos.
Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible:
The Secret Apprentice won’t just Force push enemies into walls - he’ll Force push enemies through walls.
The Secret Apprentice won’t just Force grip foes to throw them aside - he’ll Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground to explode like a bomb.
In addition to new adversaries created just for the game, such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians, players will also confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader.
Visit locations such as Episode III’s Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility.
Decisions made by players throughout the game will determine the path of the story, including multiple endings that will rock Star Wars continuity as they know it.
The Force Unleashed is LucasArts’ first internally developed title for next-generation consoles, and it represents the first in-game collaboration of talents and technology between LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic, two companies now finally under one roof at the new Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco’s Presidio district.
The Force Unleashed debuts Digital Molecular Matter from Pixelux and euphoria behavioral simulation from NaturalMotion Ltd.
LucasArts is preparing an unprecedented promotional effort around the launch of The Force Unleashed, encompassing a full line of toys and game-based action figures from Hasbro, as well as a full publishing program from Dark Horse, Del Rey and Palace Press.

19.95- for lipstick that’s a little spendy. For socks, they had better be durable for that price, and for a video game, it’s a steal.

I must admit that when I began to play it I completely age regressed. LEGO’S! IN ACTION! With working light sabers and shooting guns- HOW AWESOME! It was more than that though. It’s not a kids game, it’s for the kid at heart.

The areas were large enough to keep me interested, secret areas are challenging and special features that you unlock as you go along- forcing you to revisit the levels as different characters so you can nab the special prizes. I can’t wait to join the dark force so I can see what I’m missing!

Simple game play- Basic jumping, shooting, running, tip toeing. This game gradually gets you adjusted to the different types of characters and their abilities. Pretty soon you’re swapping the characters around to make the most of the situations placed before. Light saber action, blasters, and droids, they all have their importance and you can easily swap the characters while playing in order to make it a smooth level.

It combines combat, air combat, puzzles and most important- LEGO creations! You earn kits and laughter. The cut scenes are humorous and this game plays a great tribute to the original Trilogy. With three stories and each one houses quite a few levels, it keeps your attention and with the drastic change in environments, you don’t tire of the game play (or at least I haven’t yet). Even in the middle of the game you’ll find an area that has carnival type of challenges that cause you smile should you choose to break free for a moment to gain extra points and a breather.

One of my biggest gripes with games that are based on films- the game typically lasts as long as the film, and requires less skill to watch the film than to play the game with a few exceptions of course and this one of those exceptions.

You even get to don a Stormtroopers hat to *blend* in- which is quite hilarious when you have a tiny Storm trooper helmet teetering on the top of Chewie’s head- one wrong move and they’re onto you… lasers galore!

If you’ve been passing this game by and you’re a fan of LEGO’s and Star Wars, this is a definite must have. It’s genuinely fun, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and it completely lives up to the spirit of the films that helped push us into the love of the Sci-Fi genres that were out of this world.

The Good:

It’s fun, quick to get the hang of it. There’s always something to explore and discover.
There are at least 2 characters you can utilize at any time- six at the most and if you want your favorite person along for the journey, it can be a two player game as well. I tried that and I wound up frustrated, “You’re not using the force right!”

The Bad:

Highly addicting and it makes you want to go out and buy a ton of LEGO kits that can be rather spendy.

Overall Score: 8.9

Gameplay: 8
Experience (Sound/Graphics) 9
Replayability: 9
Fun Factor/Price: 9

We all know about Abell 1835 IR1916 (not pictured above). That galaxy that just happens to be the furthest and thus oldest galaxy ever seen by Hubble. It’s just about 13.25 million light years away - far even compared to driving through Texas, and this galaxy’s been around for about 97% of the time the Universe has existed.

What makes this galaxy so special is that it was built to order or at least modified to order. That’s what the India Daily would have us believe, anyway.

The galaxy Abell 1835 IR1916 is located about 13,230 million light-years away. Hence, it is seen at a time when the Universe was merely 470 million years young, that is, barely 3 percent of its current age.

Scientists are finding extraterrestrial influence in this galaxy. It seems the galaxy was engineered and fit into place by artificial forces. This is the furthest galaxy ever discovered. Therefore it is also the earliest galaxy that we can view through gravitational lenses.

Some 13.7 billion years ago, after the big bang, the Universe plunged into darkness. Neither stars nor quasars had yet been formed which could illuminate the vast space. The Universe was a cold and opaque place. Some thing went wrong, according to some scientists. Intervention was needed by the Type IV civilization that created the big bang in their massive inter-universe particle colliders. The big bang created a black hole in the hyperspace – our universe with three spatial dimensions and a forward moving single time dimension. According to scientists this was the start of ‘dark ages’ that was eventually corrected through the intervention of the Type IV civilization.

The galaxy Abell 1835 IR1916 is part of the “Cosmic Renaissance” that was artificially engineered by the Type IV civilization.

Technorati Tags: et, lgm, pan galactic gargleblaster, space, science, ish, technology, aliens, hubble, galaxy

If you’re really into Science Fiction and just can’t get enough of your favorite SF shows on the tube, or live with a DVD player and without cable, then Amazon wants you to check this out. They’re selling a massive amount of SF DVDs for a lot. Still, it’s much, much less than you’d pay for them individually. Just $614.99 - a savings of $1,141.47 or 65% off of $1756,56.

You can’t beat that with a pointed stick. So if you’ve got $614.99 kicking around and lots of free time, or really want to impress your friends with your DVD collection, well here’s your chance.

Technorati Tags: sf, science fiction, television, x-files, xfiles, pretender, buffy, angel, stargate, make it stop, roswell

Here at ArsGeek we tend to more consume SF than produce it.  However a user submitted this story and we thought we’d share it with you on a lazy Sunday where you’ll have time to relax and read.

Enjoy!

Long overdue. We should have discovered it decades ago, perhaps even a century ago, since we had been in space that long. We had put things out to the Lagrange points before, you know. Lagrange. Those imaginary but dusty Trojan points in the moon’s orbit that allow economical and stable satellite placement. But we discovered the ring ship by accident. One of our communication sats sort of banged into it. We found the alien ship when we went to retrieve our hardware.

The ring ship, (what else could anyone call it?), was there at the fifth point. Close up, it is a great hulk, and as black as space, It is nearly 3,500 meters across – a perfect ring, with about a three hundred meter square cross section. It is made mostly of iron with odd trace elements, - and it we later found it to be completely empty, and just sort of sitting at that Lagrange point, without spin or any other movement.

But what it was, and is, - at least to my mind, is an obvious thing, as it also is to most anyone who sees the computer enhanced photos of it. It is a starship, and the singular most elegant thing you might ever see in space, despite its great size.

Questions were naturally raised, especially when news of it got on the Net. People wanted to know who built it, and how long it had been there. Evidence from our oldest deep range photos and scans confirmed that it had been there at least since we went into space. It was just never noticed before, which is very odd indeed.

No one has a clue who built it, but there were many theories pushed forward at the beginning; all of them outlandish. People joked that it couldn’t have been left for any important reason, because it didn’t look like the Monolith. (ref: early space era 2D moving picture - from text reviews only – movie or photos no longer exist.)

At first, I really didn’t want to know who built it or put it there. I wanted to know why they parked it there for us to find. For finding it changed Everything!

When we arrived ourselves, we found that the empty ship had an access port on the inside of the ring, which was soon easy enough to discover. There was no door, nor cover at all. In fact there were no coverings for any of the openings throughout the ship. It was all open to space. None of the deck openings down below had ladders or stairs of any sort. We had to contrive our own means of getting down and back up, as we explored it all.

There were twelve decks down inside, and with the floor of the ship, inside the outer edge of the ring making a thirteenth. It was calculated that the actual hull of the ship was nearly 20 meters thick. The decks were about twelve meters high, and since they each went completely around inside the ring, there were nearly a billion meters of deck space inside the ship!

As you know, we only discovered these facts slowly, as it took many months for anyone to agree how to proceed in the exploration of the ring ship. Once that was established, an armed party quickly went aboard, and immediately called for construction engineers to help them get down to the lower decks. It took us three years to explore it all, and to robotically catalog all of it with pictures, ultrasound and spectrography. People to this day are still employed in researching all the endlessly dull information we got from that first encounter.

I said the ring ship was completely empty, and it was. No furniture. No equipment. No writing or marking of any kind, on any of the walls or surfaces. Nothing at all. Every bit of it was bare to the walls, except at the lowest deck, where inside along the outer hull were found gigantic 100 meter long ingots of pure iron, spaced at perfect intervals. We found that there were sixty-three of them. It took us a decade to even guess their function, especially since there was no equipment attached to them, nor any evidence that there had ever been any there.

But, being a sociologist, I was more interested in what was happening with people because of the ring ship. The common man thought the discovery of an alien artifact was a good thing, but it hardly affected him at the beginning. Life for them went on pretty much as it always had, except now they had a new topic of conversation.

People who worked with the ring ship exhibited more profound changes, ranging from a change in life-style, to the seeking of religion, to an increasing hysteria. There was an inquiry, but nothing physical about the ship itself that could have caused these things to happen to people. It was simply the fact of its existence that moved, and changed them.

Those who were most affected were the mathematicians and theorists, for they began to work incessantly toward uncovering the mystery of the ring ship’s propulsive systems. This was true all over the world, even for those who never actually saw the ring ship for themselves. Soon legions of men and women began training in advanced mathematics and physics, hoping to be the one who unlocked the mystery of the ages.

Most of them insisted that there had to be some sort of device buried somewhere in the ship, which would allow the ship to move. They also, the great majority of them, were certain that there must be several kinds of propulsion systems. One for close travel, and the other for travel in deep space. But try as all of us could, we who were there, nothing was ever found in the ship itself. It was like an empty canvas.

Like I said, its been twenty years since we discovered the ring ship, and I believe I know now why it came to our world. These are my own theories, of course, and I have no more proof for them than anyone else has for their own pet theories about the ring ship.

I believe it is a ship. That is the only possible purpose for its existence, in my opinion.

More than that, it is a ship for travel to the stars. Most of mankind believes this.

I do not think it is some ancient abandoned space station or orbital settlement.

Nor do I think it was it even built by man. The degree of micro meteor scaling of the outer surface makes it probably older than the existence of man himself.

I suppose any intelligent race may discover the things necessary to develop star travel, but if they are like us, they likely will never get around to it, considering the great cost and enormous global involvement.

Therefore, I think someone deliberately put the ring ship there for us to find.

Because any race that makes it into space, will discover or invent the universal mathematical understanding and technology necessary for star travel, IF they have incentive to do so.

And so we did.

The ring ship was put where it was with absolutely nothing concerning its purpose, it origins, nor even any clue about its means of travel.

I believe this was also deliberate.

For whoever put the ring ship there for us to find, did so in the best possible way. They gave us nothing, really, except the proof that such a ship can exist.

One other thing: The ring ship will forever change the world which discovers it.

Already, our world is putting war and poverty behind us, because of the free electrical power generation from the technology and progress that has come of our study of the ring ship. Not that the ring ship has any technology, but we invented it in our research of the craft.

It took nearly eighteen years to do it – to figure out the math, and to build the first drives. Those iron ingots were the key. Who knew their existence would point the way for the theorists? You know both the gravimetric drive and the star drive were created at the same time, almost to the same moment, by the independent groups researching them. All it took was the belief that it was something possible to do.

The ring ship gave us that.

Afterwards, it was easy to apply those drives to the ring ship itself. In early gravity drive tests the ship was easily and quickly moved from L5 into a high earth orbit. It was a most astounding thing to watch it move, for it operates on the removal of inertia, and its acceleration was instantaneous. Then the very first test of the star drive sent our test pilots around Neptune and back in a few minutes. I was there when they did it.

One of the benefits of these drives is the internal artificially generated gravity of the ship itself, which solves so many problems for us in its use. If we had to have relied on spinning the ring ship around its imaginary axis, travel in any direction would have been problematic.

The other benefit, which also is the blessing to all mankind, is the amazing amount of free electrical power that can be tapped from either of these drives. We finally and forever have freed our world from steam generated power, and its overuse of ever dwindling organic fuel sources.

Again, to me, the changes on the men of Earth were much more profound to me than all of these things.

The existence of the ring ship fundamentally changed the way man thought about himself and the universe. The concept of nations, and nationalism became obsolete almost overnight. After that, the nations fell, in almost a surreal and peaceful transition. Even those holdout governments who denied the reality of the whole thing could do nothing except capitulate before an ever growing and powerful world order.

The world government was formed, and one of its first duties was to direct the research, the funding, and the pay for huge bills the old governments expended in discovering the drives for the ring ship.

It second function was to write The Charter. If there were a confederation of worlds, or stars, or any other such government, we saw the need to first get our own house in order, so that we could address such a possibility as a united world – a world where all are free, and there is no need for caste, or greed, or poverty.

Since many corporations worked hard to find things to help the advancement of our understanding of the ring ship, the incredible inventions and discoveries they created became useful products that quickly became hot commodities on the open world market, and the whole world economy has prospered enormously as a result.

Today I could not imagine having to travel in one of our old style vehicles or space craft. Any mode of travel that is not inertia-free is considered to be dangerous and foolhardy. All of our advancements in this area came from the research of the ring ship.

But more than all of this, is that mankind now has a common goal, for the first time in history. It is an obvious one. We are going to become travelers among the stars. Man has always been an explorer, and now we are going to have the means to go where we want to go, and frankly, where we now need to go, considering how our growing population taxes our planet’s resources.

We are even going to use the ring ship to find its creators, hopefully to take our humble place among their advanced civilizations. At least, this is how I view our place in the universe. Time will tell if I am an incurable optimist or not.

Some still have a somewhat less optimistic view of the universe, and want to make the ring ship a war wagon. They see a need, and we have the means. The gravimetric drive is also a perfect force shield, and at the same time, a powerful weapon for applying force at a distance. We are well armed if we want to be, so we won’t be some babe-in-the-woods when we get Out There. But I think we will find the other worlds to be somewhat more peaceful than we have been – at least I hope they are.

Our stated goal is exploration, - and diplomacy, in case we do encounter life out there. I am afraid that in my occupation I have been spending many exhausting hours watching old entertainments, and reading outlandish and outdated books – the paper and print kind. There is a wealth of this kind of subject material, once called science fiction. This is all in an effort to understand what Man has already imagined to be out there. Some of the fictional stories are quite good. What I am gaining is not the knowledge of what is out there, of course, but what is in us that is capable of dealing with whatever we might find, and to discover what we might need to have along with us, when and if we do meet anyone else.

Therefore, we are all preparing. Our amazing diversity of endless supplies is almost aboard the ring ship. We are taking everything imaginable. There is plenty of room, after all. All of the decks are well lit and well manufactured spaces now. There is a breathable atmosphere and plenty of water. Every opening has been fitted with multiple pressure locks. A command center, and its redundancies, have been fitted with a multitude of viewers and sensors of everypossible description. We are taking quite a few factories with us, as well as every sort of hydroponics and crop stations. There are the animals too – a viable and complete zoo. The ring ship is becoming a small world. However, it can hardly be called full, even now. After all, we must have room for anything we bring back.

The study and advancement of Astrogation is big news. With all the fast coming inventions in this field, we believe we finally have the means of safely finding our way among the stars, so that we will not become lost from our home world. Even a journey of a few light years could cause us to lose our way, if we are not watchful and vigilant.

All that remains is for the world body to accept our advanced thinker’s recommendations of where to go first. Our first journey could take a decade or more, and cover a thousand light years - unless we find something so astounding that we must come back immediately to report it.

It has been a fast couple of decades, hasn’t it? We have learned so much, and our world has benefitted so well, just because of the ring ship existence. Man has invented his own star drive, and our own means of overcoming gravity. Man is also fixing up his Cradle too. Who knew we could do all that?

The ship is ready, and all the people are going aboard. There will be nearly ten thousand of us. We leave next week. But what about you? Have you decided? Are you going to go with us, or are you going to stay behind?

I know, I know you’ve all been telling me for years that the Beatles would be responsible for the end of all life as we know it. Or was it SETI? Or both?

Or perhaps it was the bomb. Yes, that was it.

It does seem that there are a group of concerned scientists who are all abuzz over SETI’s recent announcement that they’d beam the Beatles “Across the Universe” . . . well, across the Universe. It seems that some brainy folks are mainly concerned with a couple of points:

• If an intelligence that picks up our broadcast has the technology to travel vast distances in short times, they could probably wipe us off the planet.
• We could do very little to stop that.
• It’s possible to be a huge Beatles fan or a huge Elvis fan but not both. If they prefer Elvis, we’re screwed.

Other folks in the know, particularly those with SETI (obvious Beatles fans) riposte with the fact that we’ve been spamming the Universe since the early 20’s with radio advertisements for all kinds of crap. Okay, they didn’t phrase it that way, but they should have. The point being, if anyone out there is capable of getting the broadcast, then they’ve already been listening to us for a good 100 years or so.

Find the original article after the jump.

SCIENTISTS have warned that transmitting songs into deep space could put the Earth at risk of an alien attack.

They voiced fears that advertising humanity’s place in the universe – as happened last week when NASA broadcast a Beatles song towards the North Star – could attract the attention of aliens who are less friendly than ET.

“Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks,” Dr Douglas Vakoch, of the SETI Institute told New Scientist magazine.

SETI – the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – plans more broadcasts from its base in Mountain View, California. For the past 20 years, it has used radio telescopes to scan for alien radio messages.

Now, they say, we should be actively sending out friendly signals to the stars.

“SETI’s big mistake is that it’s relying on ET to do all the heavy lifting,” said Dr Richard Gott, an astrophysicist from Princeton University.

Barrie Jones, an astronomer with the Open University, said there was an “unofficial embargo” about alerting potentially unfriendly species.

“The chances are slight, but the consequences would be huge – the end of life on Earth,” he said.

“If they have the technology to cross interstellar space to reach us, they will be so much in advance of us humans that there is nothing we could do to resist them.”

However, other astrophysicists point out that humanity has been advertising itself to neighbouring stars since the first commercial radio transmissions of the 1920s. By now, those early broadcasts will have travelled nearly 90 light years – some 540 trillion miles.

And at least one physicist at SETI is confident that “first contact” will be more like Steven Spielberg’s friendly encounter in ET and less like Ridley Scott’s horrifying Alien.

Dr Seth Shostak said that if there are extraterrestrials listening out for us, they will have already had plenty of experience of Earth’s culture.

He is sanguine about the possibility of unfriendly attention, saying: “It’s quite paranoid, given that the one thing we know about aliens – if they do exist – is that they are very, very far away.

“Military radar signals have already penetrated deep into space and early broadcasts of Star Trek and I Love Lucy are washing over one star system a day.

“If they’re listening, they already know we are here.”

Technorati Tags: aliens, seti, ufo, lgm, acronyms, technology, space, science, beatles are way better than elvis

Enjoy

It’s now news - Chair Entertainment Group have gotten the go ahead from OSC to turn a serious part of Ender’s Game into a video game. Which part? The battle room of course. They’ve even got Uncle Orson in on the project, in collaboration with CEG.

Traditionally I hold little hope that anything will match the sheer intensity and enjoyability of Ender’s Game, which is arguably one of the most influential books I’ve ever read. There’s the Ender’s Game movie, which has as of yet failed to materialize, and lots and lots of talks about video games in the past. One thing that I do like is that the folks who run CEG are clearly big fans of the novel, as you can read in this interview.

Time will tell - and until we have at least a demo on our hands, you can read the official press release.

Salt Lake City, Utah – January 29, 2008 – Chair Entertainment Group, an independent video game production company and creators of the award-winning Undertow, and bestselling author, Orson Scott Card, today announced their partnership to create the first-ever video games inspired by the legendary “Battle Room,” featured in the beloved literary classic, Ender’s Game. Ender’s Game is an award-winning, international bestseller and one of the most popular science fiction novels ever written.

Under the terms of the agreement, Chair has obtained the exclusive rights to develop Ender’s Game “Battle Room” video games across all next-generation consoles, handheld platforms, and PC. In collaboration with Orson Scott Card, Chair will begin development later this year with the first offering expected for release via downloadable platforms.

“I have been a huge fan of Ender’s Game since I was ten years old, so it is a true honor for our team to be entrusted with creating the first video game inspired by this classic story,” said Donald Mustard, creative director at Chair Entertainment Group. “Our goal is to create an authentic Ender’s Game experience that delivers awesome gameplay and can be enjoyed by both longtime fans and gamers new to the series.”

“From the moment I started working with Donald Mustard and his team at Chair, I knew that these were the guys I wanted to do the first Ender’s Game video game,” said Orson Scott Card. “It’s not enough to slap the Ender’s Game name on just any game–it has to be exciting, memorable, and endlessly replayable. Chair shares my understanding of this and I am looking forward to working with them to ensure the game is as authentically Enderish as possible.”

In the fictional Ender’s Game universe, humanity is at war with an alien species known as the Formics, and Battle School is the training ground for the future leaders of Earth’s International Fleet. Taken at a very young age, Earth’s most brilliant children undergo a rigorous training designed to teach advanced military theory where strategic and tactical glory is won in the null gravity battles known to the elite students simply as the game! Through simulated war games and training conducted in the Battle Room, the children rise through the ranks of Battle School to become Earth’s only hope for victory.

The two parties previously collaborated on the Chair Entertainment Group property Empire, which the Company introduced in 2006 with the launch of an Orson Scott Card-written bestselling novel of the same name. A feature film based on Empire is in development by Warner Brothers and Chair has future plans for video games and comic books based on the property.

Gamers and long-time Ender’s Game fans are invited to share their thoughts on Orson Scott Card’s popular website, www.hatrack.com, and the official Chair forums at: www.chairentertainment.com/community/forums/

And from Penny Arcade way back in ‘04:

Technorati Tags: video games, enders game, orson scott card, battle room, flash my legs, hope this is good, technology, science fiction, sf, scifi, books