1423 – The Aeronauts (2019)

timespace coordinates: 1859 – 1862 London

The Aeronauts is a 2019 biographical adventure film directed by Tom Harper starring Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay.

The film is based on an amalgam of the flights detailed in Richard Holmes‘ 2013 book Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air. The most significant balloon flight depicted in The Aeronauts is based on the 5 September, 1862, flight of British aeronauts James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell whose coal gas filled balloon broke the world flight altitude record, reaching 9,000 to 11,000 m (30,000 to 36,000 ft). However, while Glaisher appears in the film, Coxwell has been replaced by Amelia, a fictional character. (actual individuals who comprise Amelia’s character include: Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to work as a professional balloonist, who became a celebrated aeronaut following her husband’s death. Felicity Jones has stated that Blanchard was the inspiration for her character. / Margaret Graham, a British aeronaut and entertainer. Amelia’s relationship with husband Pierre is chiefly based on Sophie Blanchard’s flights with husband Jean-Pierre Blanchard, while Pierre’s death is inspired by that of Thomas Harris on 25 May, 1824.) – historical accuracy – (wiki)

imdb

1417 – Waste Tide (2013 novel)

For All Tomorrow’s Parties. 全为明日派对。

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timespace coordinates: The Waste Tide depicts a dystopian China in the post-2020 era. (2040’s -2050’s) In the Guiyu island, the large electronic recycle industries are in full control of local lineage associations. The laborers who undertake dangerous work for the profit of the Chinese and foreign businessmen who employ them are depicted not as humans, but cyborgs whose bodies and minds have been altered permanently through bio-engineering.

The Waste Tide is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Chen Qiufan.

The story takes place in the imaginary ”Silicon Isle”. The Chinese word ”硅屿” for Silicon Isle shares a similar pronunciation with Guiyu (Chinese: 贵屿) in Mandarin. In the real world, Guiyu is a town in the Shantou prefecture of Guangdong province in China. And it is Shantou where Chen Qiufan was born and grew up before he entered Peking University. Situated on the South China Sea coast, Guiyu got famous in the global environmentalist community for its reception of E-waste. The town held the record for being the largest E-waste site up to 2013. Though some residents got rich by electronic recycling, pollution became serious in the town. Talking about the background of writing the novel, Chen said: ”Choosing my hometown as background to write the story, is related to my thinking of China. To depict the pain of changing China, is just because I desire for she getting better gradually.’ (wiki)

goodreads

1406 – Redeemer (2017/2019 video game)

timespace coordinates: 2060’s (?) Mongolian part of the Altai Mountains

Redeemer is a top-down shooter video game developed by Russian company Sobaka Studio and published by Good Shepherd Entertainment. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on August 1, 2017. An Enhanced Edition was released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One on July 19, 2019. (wiki)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Win7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 / Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-6300 CPU / Memory: 4 GB RAM / Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series or equivalent / DirectX: Version 11 / Storage: 7 GB available space / Additional Notes: 64-Bit OS Required

steam

1405 – One Strange Rock (Documentary | TV Series 2018– )

One Strange Rock is an American television documentary series, produced by Nutopia in conjunction with Darren Aronofsky, which premiered on National Geographic on March 26, 2018. On July 25, 2018, National Geographic renewed the series for a second season, which is set to premiere sometime in 2019.  

One Strange Rock tells the story of how life survives and thrives on planet Earth, as told by eight astronauts from their unique perspective of being away from Earth (for about 1000 days). Hosted by actor Will Smith, One Strange Rock features contributions from astronauts Chris Hadfield, Nicole Stott, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Mae Jemison, Leland Melvin, Mike Massimino, Jerry Linenger, and Peggy Whitson. (wiki)

imdb

1398 – Code 8 (2019)

Code 8 is a 2019 crowdfunded Canadian science fiction thriller film directed by Jeff Chan, Based on the 2016 short film of the same name. (wiki)

“Code 8 is an electrifying film featuring ordinary people with powers in a tough world. It’s a gritty and realistic take that’s a nice change of pace in the superhero genre.” John Nguyen / Nerd Reactor

In December 2019, a short-form spinoff series starring Robbie and Stephen Amell, written by Chris Pare, and directed by Jeff Chan was announced in development at Quibi.

imdb   /   rt

1385 – Ad Astra (2019)

timespace coordinates: “near future” (2050’s ?) commercial flight to the Moon > the ship Cepheus, bound for Mars > Norwegian biomedical research space station >  underground SpaceCom base on Mars > the Lima Project (Neptune’s rings)

Ad Astra is a 2019 American science fiction adventure film produced, co-written, and directed by James Gray. Starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland, it follows an astronaut who goes into space in search of his lost father, whose experiment threatens the Solar System. + scored by Max Richter. +

Reviews out of the Venice Film Festival compared it to well-worn sci-fi touchstones “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Solaris,” and “Apocalypse Now,” in part due to its probing adventure narrative. Gray says he went straight to the urtext that inspired them, Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey.” (cnn)

The title means “to the stars” in Latin. It is often used as a shorthand for “Per Aspera Ad Astra” (Through the hardships to the Stars).

wiki   /   imdb   /   rt

1376 – Atari: Game Over (2014 documentary)

A crew digs up all of the old Atari 2600 game cartridges of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” that were tossed into a landfill in the 1980s. (imdb)

Atari: Game Over is a 2014 documentary film directed by Zak Penn about the North American video game crash of 1983, using the Atari video game burial excavation as a starting point. Eurogamer called it “one of the best films about gaming this year and should be seen by anyone with an interest in the medium’s early wild west years.” (wiki)

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A Psychological Exploration of Engagement in Geek Culture

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