Ray Bradbury: Fare Thee Well, Rocket Man

I read a lot of sci-fi in my younger years, but mostly short stories. To me the short story was sci-fi's native form-- present an idea, initiate a conflict, resolve the conflict and see where the idea stands when the dust all settles.

Mindbomb: Eldritch Dimensions

Maurice Masse's passport to Magonia, July 1, 1965

This series -- which started as a look at comic book sorcerers and their real-world parallels and grew far beyond my expectations -- began with "The Possessed," a Doctor Strange story in which interdimensional alien walk-ins possess the citizens of a Bavarian hamlet. 

Wizards, Workings and Walk-Ins

I don't get asked much who my favorite superhero is, but the answer's a no-brainer: it's Doctor Strange. 

Jack Kirby, Mindbomb: Prophecies of a AstroGnostic

We've looked at Jack Kirby several times in the past here, most notably in his startlingly accurate (if not often allegorical) predictions of the Face on Mars in 1959, 9/11 in 1984, and the Gulf War and Iraq War in 1974 and 1975. 

There's also a foreshadowing of the plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey, possible Apollo mission footage chicanery, and the suppressed discovery of obelisks on the Moon by American and Russian surveying missions in the mid-60s. 

Nightmares in Camelot, Part 1: The Outer Limits

In my previous post I'd mentioned how the prospect of doing The Outer Limits justice was too much for me at the moment, given my current responsibilities. 

The Secret Sun 2010 in Review Extravaganza

Yeah, yeah, yeah- we've seen it all before...

Well, my 2010 kind of sucked. How about yours? 

Nightmares in Camelot: Sometimes We Can See Them

 

Perception has been a major part of what I puzzle over on this blog. Specifically, how perception determines reality or at least how we describe reality.

Alien Dreaming & the Widening Gyre: Dark Jupiter

Have you heard about Dark Jupiter? It seems that we're closer to isolating the Sun's "companion," a giant planet that is hurling comets toward the Sun, like some great mythic war in Heaven. 

That UN ET Ambassador Story...

Speaking of The Outer Limits, we just heard an announcement that a special UN office is to be set to greet extraterrestrials should they make (public) contact:

Children of the Flaming Wheel, Part 2: The Solar Phone

In the previous post, we looked at what reads like the minutes from an technoccult ritual in which young hippies contact alien artificial intelligences over the vast reaches of space using psychic projection. 

Live Action Role Play or Live Action Ritual Programming?

If I were to create a new religion, I'd do so as a performance art exercise. Congregants would be told from the start that this was all fiction, it was all art. And believe me; I'd go whole hog with the liturgy. The smells, the bells, the chants, the vestments- all of that great ritualism that the Church stole from the Mystery religions.

Nightmares in Camelot: Archons are Always Lurking

 

One of the great and dangerous myths of America is that the "New World" was settled by brave and devout pilgrims, yearning to breathe free and practice their faith. The fact is that the Puritans (or "Separatists," as they called themselves) were little more than indentured servants to European corporate interests.

Sex, Psychics, Shapeshifters & Psychedelics

Spend Good Friday in Vancouver with The Outer Limits as they do their own spin on Solaris. A heaping helping of Secret Sun memes on hand, as you can see in the title. The Outer Limits reminds me a lot of old school X-Files, even if the writing isn't quite on par. 

Alien Dreaming: Avatar

No one accused James Cameron of excessive originality with the screenplay to Avatar. But excessive originality is Hollywood-speak for "box office poison."

 

Damn, I Wish I Were Telekinetic

Telekinesis, remote viewing, psychic assassins, Perseus playing "Charon," Ezri Dax, filming locations on loan from Millennium and a killer Tulpa: this thing couldn't be more supercharged with synchromystic resonance if it tried.

Sync Log: Wormholes Apart

So the missus and I sit down to watch Caprica and I notice this random episode of The New Outer Limits that aired in January sitting on the DVR queue. I totally forgot recording it and had no idea what it was about. But there was nothing else on, so we thought what the hell and gave it a spin. A fortuitous decision.

Ultraterrestrial Deconstructions: The Othernet

 

Well, a lot of you have seen the BBC Superpowers promo by now. It's fascinating not only on the face of it - meaning the alien subtext - but also in that it implies a separation of the human race between those who use the Internet and those who don't. 

Nightmares in Camelot: The Special Ones

  

Bruce Rux explained on his epic Binnall of America interview-a-thon that the original Outer Limits series was a clearinghouse for UFO contact narratives, including many that had never been disseminated. 

Must-See TV: The Invisibles

What do you get when you cross Lovecraft's Chthulu mythos and Heinlein's Puppet Masters and throw in a dash or two of Darker Than You Think? You get this nail-biting episode of The Outer Limits.