Raquel Welch: Space Girl (1970)

Dressed in Bob Macki outfits and dancing in front of sculptures from the Ruta de la Amistad public sculpture project at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City… you may notice a sexy space girl outfitted Raquel Welch doing a go-go routine from her self-titled 1970 variety special.

Sometimes sci-fi is just amazing, ain’t it?

Sir Richard Branson unveils Space Plane

Virgin Galactic unveils space-plane model

By DAVID B. CARUSO
The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A select group of rich tourists may be blasting into space within a few years in a craft that looks like a cross between a corporate jet and something out of science fiction.

British billionaire Richard Branson and the aerospace designer Burt Rutan unveiled a model Wednesday of SpaceShipTwo, the vehicle they hope will be able to take passengers about 62 miles above Earth for the fun of it, with test flights possibly beginning this year.

“Breathtakingly beautiful” was Branson’s assessment of the ship being built in the Mojave Desert.

At the American Museum of Natural History, the pair also showed off a model of the four-engine jet that will help launch the craft into space.

More here

So, casual trips to the Moon are a reality now? What next? Going to work via helicopter? Getting a robot maid named Rosie?

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Elvis fans pay tribute: Spend time reminiscing about the King at local celebrations
By Molly Gilmore
The annual Elvis Birthday Bash celebrates Elvis Presley’s birth, not his death.This year, the bash - a celebration as much about Elvis impersonators than the man himself - includes a sneak preview screening of a new documentary called “How He Should Have Died.”"One man paid the ultimate tribute, by leaving this world in a blaz e of glory, the way many top El vis fans say Elvis should have,” press material trumpets.The man, Larry Hass, was an Elvis impersonator who died in 2004 while performing at the Elvis Explosion in La Crosse, Wis.

The documentary focuses on him and his passion for Elvis.

“La Crosse has really no connection to Elvis, except it’s become a big draw because of this festival,” said David Ross, a co-producer of “How He Should Have Died” as well as “Almost Elvis,” about the impersonators.

“It’s the home of the world’s largest Green Bay Packers sports bar, so it’s kind of a funny cross section of America,” he added.

After Hass’s death, Ross said, people kept asking the filmmakers if they wanted to do a documentary about him.

Through time, they realized that they did.

“It became more and more appa rent that it could be a really interesting, heartwarming, fun story to tell, just hearing from his friends and family and Elvis fans,” he said.

Saturday’s screenings of both films will include performances by world-champion Elvis impersonator Robert Washington, a costume contest and fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches.

You also can see Washington on Friday night at The Brotherhood and Sunday morning at Plenty.

Washington is known in the Elvis world for his onstage flips, his athletic dancing and his powerful voice.

Fans definitely get excited about his performances.

“You get the screams and stuff, but I’m sure it’s not the same magnitude as Elvis got,” Washington said in a past interview for The Olympian. “A little bit, and I’m happy.”

Elvis birthday bash 2008

What: The eighth annual celebration features a performance by Elvis impersonator Robert Washington; a 6 p.m. screening of the documentary “Almost Elvis;” a sneak preview of the new “How He Should Have Died” at 9 p.m.; fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches and birthday cake; a costume contest; a velvet Elvis art show and more.

When: 6 p.m. Saturday January 19th
Where: Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. S.E., Olympia

More info

Revered as a modern day saint of pop culture and King of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley has long enjoyed a place in the American psyche as a kind of touchstone. He means many things to many people, but he is without a doubt one of the most electric personalities to ever hold a microphone.

Immortalized in many formats, he is not without his fans in science fiction (rock ‘n’ roll author Mick Farren practically anointed Elvis as a saint of the American Dream) and comic books (Pope Elvis’ robes are clearly revered in Matt Wagner’s Grendel series).

And who can overlook the marriage of Star Wars and the King that is the Elvis Trooper?

But this Elvis Celebration takes the cake.

Man… I wish I could be there just to see King’s audience take over the town.

Someone call Bootsie Collins

Darkest material ever made in a lab.

The “darkest ever” substance known to science has been made in a US laboratory.

The material was created from carbon nanotubes - sheets of carbon just one atom thick rolled up into cylinders.

Researchers say it is the closest thing yet to the ideal black material, which absorbs light perfectly at all angles and over all wavelengths.

The discovery is expected to have applications in the fields of electronics and solar energy.

They’ve made the blackest material known to science

Prof Sir John Pendry

Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters

Behind-the-scenes hero to anyone who’s thrilled by giant monsters duking it out over Tokyo, Eiji Tsuburaya was the visual effects mastermind behind Godzilla, Ultraman, and numerous Japanese science fiction movies and TV shows beloved around the world. The first book on this legendary film figure in English, this highly visual biography details his fascinating life and career, featuring hundreds of film stills, posters, concept art, and delightful on-set photos of Tsuburaya prompting monsters to crush landmark buildings. A must-have for fans, this towering tribute also features profiles of Tsuburaya’s film collaborators, details on his key films and shows (most available on DVD), and features on the enduring popularity of the characters he helped create.

This fantastic book offers insight to the world of sweaty guys in rubber suits we call monster movies. From the first time we heard that weird trumpet blast from the Lizard King, many if us became Japanese Monster Movie Maniacs, while others just think they’re silly. Nevertheless, they hold a certain mystique that is still hypnotic to this day.

To purchase this great tome of wisdom, click here.

Plot details from Star Trek XI?

SyFy Portal revealed a few tidbits of info for the upcoming Star Trek XI film by JJ Abrams.

Here’s an excerpt:

Apparently the Romulans are looking to destroy Earth in the past as a way to mess up the overall timeline, and are mildly successful creating what could be best described as an alternate timeline, according to reports.

New details about the film’s storyline seems to explain why the casting of Zachary Quinto as Spock took on more of an importance than the casting of Kirk, and why Leonard Nimoy is definitely a part of the film while William Shatner is not. IESB says that the Spock portrayed by Nimoy will work with the Quinto’s Spock to try and stop the Romulan plan, and their battle against the Romulan baddie makes them the overall focus of the movie, not Kirk.

This is all still very much in the rumor stage, so no fear of spoilers just yet… but it sounds very clever in any case. I’ve always preferred the Romulans to the other alien races in the Star Trek universe. The fact that they are a loopy off-shoot of the restrained and calmly logical Vulcans has always been very interesting to me.

As long as no ‘Remians’ show up from the last Star Trek film, I think we’re in the clear.

Your own raygun? You bet!

From the folks at WETA comes this amazing and very limited line of handcrafted rayguns. I always wished for one of these fellas when I was twelve, but never imagined that a ‘real’ raygun would arrive at my doorstep in a velvet lined box complete with documentation.

The future is now!

Inhabited Island

First Nightwatch, now this!

I just read about this film on the AMC Sci-Fi Scanner, so now I’m passing on the news to you.

The 1971 satirical science fiction novel ‘Prisoners of Power’ by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky has been adapted into a feature length film, ‘Inhabited Island.’ The movie is breaking film attendance records in Russia and could lead to further adaptations of the rest of the ‘Maxim Trilogy’. 

Keep your ears open so you don’t miss a chance to see this movie in the cinema.

Trailer

UFO sightings or viral marketing?

As can be seen in the news, there has been an increase in UFO sightings. In the case of the ‘Isaac Drone,’ the object was revealed to be an alien tech experiment begun in the 1980’s.

The Drone UFO (2007) Brief History

More recently, UFOs have been spotted in Haiti. The UFOs look more like special effects from an upcoming blockbuster movie… or at least a lackluster Sci-Fi Channel film.

Haiti And The Dominican Republic - YouTube UFO Hoax - Faked?

The Haiti UFO was later exposed by the LA Times as a special effects experiment by a French animator who worked on Michael Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s a test for an upcoming project… perhaps JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield?

This raises some very odd questions.

In the past, talk of Project Bluebook, Area 51 or UFO sightings in general was met with the muttered remark, ‘what a crackpot.’ As sightings increased, so did talk of a government cover-up. Many believed that aliens had been visiting our planet for generations and that the US government was hushing it up  to avoid any public outcry.

That story is now completely on its head as videos of UFO sightings are being used as a viral marketing technique by movie studios… I really did not see that coming.

So hoe long has JJ Abrams been marketing this thing?

UFO sightings on Google Earth

20 Million Miles to Earth

As JJ Abrams struggles with his as yet unnamed movie to capture the excitement that first gripped the movie going public of the 50’s, I am of course reminded of the inventive genius from that era which produced classics such as Them, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and many more.

But one film in particular, 20 Million Miles to Earth, stands apart from them all. Why, you ask? Because of Ray Harryhausen’s signature stop motion monster walking across the silver screen.

Not content to feel that I was born in the wrong country, I think I was born in the wrong time as well. The 50’s was the age of the atom bomb, the red menace and women in high heels screaming and running from any number of things.

- sigh-

20 Million Miles to Earth is a text book monster film in that it follows the mystery of a visitor from beyond the stars and explodes  into a full on monster fest as the dreaded Ymir stalks the streets and picks a fight with an elephant (wouldn’t you?).

Trailer

The monster Ymir rules the movie. The Russell Crowe and Leo DeCaprio of his age, Ymir is both terrifying and spellbinding in its character, which given the fact that his dialog consists entirely of strange monster screams is down to Harryhausen’s skill as a stop motion animator.

If you are short on monster movies this Halloween season,  20 Million Miles to Earth should fill that void nicely.

Suggested viewing:

20 Million Miles To Earth (50th Anniversary Edition)
The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Science Fiction Series (It Came from Beneath the Sea / Earth vs. the Flying Saucers / 20 Million Miles to Earth / Mysterious Island / H.G. Wells’ First Men in the Moon)