Future Stories

Statistics Canada reports total population growth increased by 776,217 people in the first nine months of 2022. Between October 1, 2021 and October 1, 2022, Canada added 865,882 people – increasing the total population from 38.43 million to 39.29 million people. If the same or higher growth rate is also seen in 2023, Canada could ... Read more

Image: Netflix Ever since Netflix’s stop-motion Pinocchio movie arrived on the platform earlier in the month, the film from directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson has received high marks and no shortage of acclaim. It seems likely to get some nominations at the Oscars (and already has over at the Golden Globes ), and has been made a part of several end of year “Best of” lists, including two of io9's own . If you find that you can’t get enough of the good Pinocchio as the year winds down, Netflix has released the full digital version of the film’s 224-page art book , written by Gina McIntyre and free for all to consume. McIntyre’s been a longtime author of art books and companion pieces for movies, with his bibliography including books for Little Women 2019, Ready Player One, and previous del Toro films The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley. Along with concept art of the characters, certain scenes, and promotional material (and commentary from key staff), the boo...

Image: Jordan Strauss/Invision (AP) Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings movies are acclaimed to this day for many reasons, with its cast chief among them. It’s the series that helped introduce audiences to longtime actors such as the late Christopher Lee or Ian McKellan , and greatly boosted the profile of relative unknowns like Orlando Bloom or Elijah Wood. Now imagine that cast is largely the same, except instead of Sean Astin in the role of Frodo Baggins’ longtime BFF Samwise Gamgee, it’s current late night talk show host James Corden. That’s a future we could’ve gotten, at least according to Corden himself. In a recent episode of the “ Happy Sad Confused ” podcast, the UK actor addressed the longstanding rumors that New Line Cinema’s 2000s fantasy epic was one of the first acting roles he pursued. “Every single person in London auditioned for Lord of the Rings, ” he said. “I auditioned for Samwise. I was doing it! The accent and everything! ‘Mr. Frodo!’” He added that ...

Image: Disney/Lucasfilm From start to finish, 2022 felt like a weird year, one where the stability of nearly everything we’ve taken for granted was greatly tested in some form or fashion. Southwest Airlines currently being in the middle of a massive travel nightmare feels like a pretty apt comparison; everyone’s either confused or pissed off (or, well, both ), and there’s a general sense of feeling lost as we all try to process what went down this year. That collective desire we all have for the year to end is more out of exhaustion than excitement about what 2023 can bring. For the entertainment industry, things have been particularly eventful, mainly during the last quarter of the year. Between endless shows getting cancelled , mergers, and subsequent layoffs , there was enough going on to fill a three-season prestige limited series. And in their own way, each of these topics were connected to franchises: whether it was the attempted beginnings (or confirmed end of ) certain b...

Jeff Greason describes how to go from 2% of lightspeed using dynamic solar wind soaring and then using pellets propelled from the sun to go from 2-6% of lightspeed using existing near term technology. At 6% of lightspeed the particles in the interstellar medium interact with the spacecraft like beyond nuclear fusion level energy. The ... Read more

Image: Shortverse Filmed amid Iceland ’s distinctive, beautiful yet eerie landscape and inspired by that country’s folklore , The Rock of Ages creates a vivid fantasy world in just over 15 minutes—complete with a hapless protagonist you soon realize you’re rooting against, and a pipe-smoking rock who not only talks, but swears like a sailor. Shared by Short of the Week , this tale from writer-director Eron Sheean makes great use of its natural setting blended with clever puppetry and a pair of excellent performances: Tómas Lemarquis as the wild-eyed, fur-clad warrior, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (who’s soon to appear on season two of Severance ) as the gruff voice of the rock. The Rock of Ages | Epic Fantasy about a Soldier on a Quest for Immortality Here’s Sheean’s directorial statement , including a wild mish-mash of inspirations: “ The Rock of Ages is a surreal black comedy, a thought-provoking mutant love child of Jim Henson, Terry Gilliam, and Ingmar Bergman (if he were hig...

How do we extract energy from space around a spacecraft? If there are differences in the speed of the solar wind or differences in flows of particles around a spacecraft or where a spacecraft is passing then highly efficient extraction of power can enable great capabilities. On earth, we had sailing ships millennia before turbines ... Read more

Director James Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver attend the premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water on December 09, 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Chung Sung-Jun (Getty Images) James Cameron has been everywhere lately, promoting Avatar: The Way of Water —now his latest billion-dollar blockbuster . But if you aren’t completely tired of hearing him deliver headline-grabbing soundbites , head over to Empire to read a new interview, which uses the fun gimmick of getting other famous people to ask him questions. There’s some amusing stuff—Cameron telling Edgar Wright not to sweat the Titanic parody he once made (“May we all be blessed with making films that get spoofs”); Harrison Ford and Pierce Brosnan asking why he’s never cast them in anything (Cameron is a fan of both actors, but “my great regret as a filmmaker is that I take so long to make my films that I only ever get to work with a tiny fraction of the artists that I respect”); and Cameron giving his take on the “Pap...

There has been very little mass media coverage of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft failing while at the International Space Station. The Soyuz had a severe coolant leak. It had already delivered to Russian and an American astronaut. Imagine if this was a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked at the Space Station. There would be a lot ... Read more

  Burrowed Image: Angry Robot There are two prominent themes among the new January books: YA fantasies and horror novels, with several entries in each genre. But there’s also plenty of sci-fi (including the latest from io9 co-founder Annalee Newitz !) and adult fantasy awaiting your eyeballs—so start 2023 off right, with a new book or two! Image: Berkley Back in a Spell by Lana Harper When a lonely witch decides to take a chance on romance, a disastrous first date sparks an unexpectedly magical connection. (January 3) Image: Disney-Hyperion A Ruinous Fate by Kaylie Smith A young woman who’s been keeping her powerful magic hidden—while trying to outrun her powerful destiny—undertakes a dangerous quest into an enchanted forest, where she’ll have to decide if risking everything is worth it. (January 3) Image: Delacorte Press Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao In this tale inspired by ancient Chinese mythology and folklore, a girl living in a ...

The biggest developments in AI were the Openao Dall-e 2 and ChatGPT. OpenAI said Dall-E 2 was generating over 2 million images a day. People are using ChatGPT to write stories and articles and then having Dall-E 2 create the pictures for the ChatGPT article or story. Space SpaceX had 61 launches in 2022 up ... Read more

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, December 29 for launch of the ISI EROS C-3 mission to a low-earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The 56-minute launch window opens at 11:17 p.m. PT (07:17 UTC on December 30). A backup launch opportunity is available on Friday, December ... Read more

Having the price of diesel above $3 per gallon guarantees a $30,000 per year incentive to switch from diesel to electric for heavily used Semi and large trucks. Currently, prices at the $4.5 to $5 per gallon level provide a $60,000 per year incentive to switch from diesel to electric. There will be a shift ... Read more

Image: New Zealand Post Over the past several years, you’ve heard everything about Avatar: The Way of Water . Its technological advancements , why it took so long to make , things that are wrong with it, how much money it’s making, etc. One thing that gets a little lost in all of that is how rooted the films are in New Zealand. Director James Cameron moved to New Zealand in the past few years in part because the production of the Avatar sequels has largely taken place there. It’s a big point of national pride and now the country is celebrating with a stunning new set of collectible stamps with art by Chris Jones of Graphetti. “Film production has become a major component of our national identity and economy, and we are honored to be a part of the journey with the release of these stamps and coins,” NZ Post Head of Stamps and Collectables Antony Harris said in a press release. “Ultimately for us this is about celebrating the fact that the films were shot and produced here – mak...