Category Archives: Uncategorized

Although not nearly as popular, nor culturally pervasive as “The Twilight Zone,” “The Outer Limits,” I liked, because it focused more so on science fiction kind of horror, or at least while watching the series that’s how it seemed like to me. I also appreciated the fact that, while in “The Twilight Zone” the narrator addresses the audience, “The Outer Limits” broke the fourth wall very clearly in that every episode featured the narrator opening with telling the viewer not to bother adjusting their televisions. Though I think for the most part this series has become just an artifact in history, I do hope the rumor about MGM bringing this series, even in part, into the film industry, as the Hollywood Reporter mentioned back in 2014.

Admittedly, I hadn’t paid much attention to this series until late 2018, when I was recommended this series on a whim. I didn’t really care for the first season, but by the second, I felt like I had found my newest “Game of Thrones”. Sadly, by the time I finished season three, I found out the original station carrying this series, Syfy, hadn’t renewed it for a fourth. I was shocked, since who doesn’t love an intergalactic conspiracy drama? But, I figured it would be one of those series (much like Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” which ended far too soon). However, a day or so ago, I received a news notification from Sciencefiction.com saying that a couple of cast members from the original would be returning to the series, which has since been picked up by Amazon.

I haven’t had a chance to read this book yet this year, but I’m looking forward based on the fact that, as far as the reviews go, the universe Clark presents is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy, where humans live alongside these supernatural entities. It reminds me a lot of something like “Harry Potter” but the setting is what attracted me most, since while it’s supposed to take place in 1912 Cairo, I feel as though the setting is probably more complicated than that, due to the “fantasy” nature of the story. I could be judging the book more on its cover than anything. And maybe not, I’m not sure. But I do look forward to finding out once I read this story.

Though this series may not be the most traditional “science fiction” series out there, I would argue that many of the elements portrayed (I’ll be more in-explicit to avoid spoilers) transcend the boundaries between horror and science fiction, creating more of a “cosmic horror” feel than anything, I thought. After binge-watching this series for a second time back in February, I believe this statement more than ever, and would highly recommend this series to anyone who doesn’t traditionally go for more horror-oriented series. That’s not to say there aren’t a number of “spooky” happenings, since there certainly are. But, more so, the spookiness of the series doesn’t come from the presence of ghosts (after all, the series is called “The Haunting of Hill House” so naturally there must be ghosts somewhere); rather, the reason this series felt so creepy was the fact from the moment you begin watching the series, you know something weird is going on beyond “ghosts,” and that’s what makes it scarier. It’s part of why I was especially excited to hear from Digital Spy that admittedly one of my favorite series of the year will be renewed for a second season over the summer.

Monday 2/25: Haunting of Hill House Season 2 Announced

Tuesday 2/26: Haunting of Tram Car 05 Spotlight

Wednesday 2/27: To Be Announced

Thursday 2/28: “The Outer Limits” Relook

Friday 3/1″ “Us” Anticipation

Saturday 3/2: The World’s Largest Bee Discovery

Sunday 3/3: Next Schedule

**All of these may be subject to change should news worth nothing occur**

Shifting to the realm of “real” science, one of the most interesting stories I came across today was about SpaceX’s Dragon project. The unmanned shuttle will be sent to the International Space Station on March 2nd. But, what struck me as most interesting about this story from Techspot is that the project has also been approved for a manned flight. The reason this project has been somewhat controversial is because the shuttle has no backup computer, which could endanger those already present at the Space Station. Another shocking thing was that, instead of being more cautious, NASA has been green lighting this project as almost a learning experience. I’m looking forward to hearing more as this project progresses, since good or bad, at least innovations are being addressed.

Although I haven’t had a chance to see this film yet this month, I’m looking forward to seeing it once it arrives to Netflix. This film follows the story of a group trying to prevent Earth from colliding with Jupiter in the distant future, once the Sun has burnt out. I don’t think I’ve heard of any other stories following this concept of the Earth being moved to another solar system, which makes me curious to see how this film handles a really interesting notion. Based upon the trailer, while I’m sure somethings may become lost in translation, I do think the narrative crosses over pretty well, since at the end, it’s still basically an apocalypse-avoidance film.

An “ancient” series and yet, ironically, one of my most recent favorites, I finally had a chance last weekend to go through the first season of the original Star Trek chronologically, and I can see why this series was (and still is) so popular. Aesthetically, I appreciate the mid-century science fiction look, and in terms of the concept, I really liked the fact that the series could manage to be an action-adventure, while still remaining a thoughtful and conscientious approach to the genre, since it was more than just gun fights and aliens. In addition, I also found out that they’re still continuing to expand the canon, and the fan-base, with a new animated series coming to Nickelodeon. Although the series does seem to be geared toward a younger audience, it may be worth checking out when it premiers.

Today, the list of finalists for the 2018 Nebula Awards were announced. Most of these titles I’ll have to add to my endless list of “books to read”. However, what I was pleased to see what I was excited to see made the list was Netflix’s Blackmirror’s newest installment, “Bandersnatch” (which if you haven’t had a chance to try yet, I would highly recommend, if only for the novelty). The concept of the episode “Bandersnatch” was more interesting for its basis as a fully interactive story, since it shows that Netflix may be making progress toward creating an even more diverse array of content. Another title I was happy to see made the list was the title “Blackfish City” by Sam J. Miller, which is more of dystopian science fiction novel, but science fiction still, featuring a floating city as it begins to fall apart. Over all, I’m looking forward to seeing the verdict of the awards in May of this year.

Recently I finished reading the MT Anderson novel “Feed,” which, despite its somewhat YA themes, carried some pretty significant messages in terms of humanity’s entanglement with technology. The novel follows the lives of a group of teens immersed in a society where everything and anything they can think of and remember is linked to this implant called “the feed”. The further you read into the novel, the more toxic we see this relationship between the group of teens and this technological “marvel” become. The novel does take place some distance into the future, but considering our current relationships with technology as this thing we can’t seem to get away from, no matter how much we try, we may as well consider it an implant. Overall, I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a quick, yet impactful, read.