Social Media 'Breaking the Internet': Social Media Society in Dave Eggers' The Circle Some of world's most popular celebrities of the moment have built their success through documenting their lives on reality TV or social media. Offering your lifestyle unreservedly as a product for others to
Star Wars A Space Western & A Political Drama (Dragons Included) With figures for the highly-anticipated latest installment The Force Awakens smashing box office records, Star Wars seems to have brought Science Fiction to the mass market. Having overtaken previous record-holder Avatar, Star Wars
Science Fiction Science Fiction At The 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival Earlier this week, new Artistic Director Mark Adams announced the details of the programme for the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. Now in its 69th edition, the festival will run from 17 -
Astronomy A Drop In The Ocean: Progress M 59's Fall Back To Earth On the evening of the 7th May 2015, while the UK was in a frenzy about the general election, the unmanned Russian spacecraft Progress M 59 was plummeting back towards Earth. A malfunction
Case Study A Theory Of Love: De Clérambault's syndrome In McEwan's Enduring Love When reading fiction, the reader prepares to experience a product of the author's imagination, including characters, encounters and locations that do no exist. When reading fantasy and science fiction, we expect to be
Glasgow Film Festival Are Video Games Becoming More 'Cinematic'? Rab Florence’s Video Game Empty is a highly anticipated event at Glasgow Film Festival and a rare opportunity for video games to be appreciated on the big screen, highlighting their increasingly cinematic
Astronomy In Space No One Can Hear You Scream Glenn Freemantle won an Oscar in Sound Design for his work on Gravity. I had the pleasure of hearing him talk about his work at Glasgow Film Festival 2015, including what it's like
Astronomy Path Of The Valkyries The aurora has long been a source of myth and legend, a mysterious light show in the heavens. There are still aspects behind this phenomenon that are a mystery and its infrequent appearances
Ghosts Unfinished Business Many of us, at some point in our lives, have witnessed a 'ghostly' encounter. It may have been resolved - revealed as the trailing fingers of a tree's branches in the wind, or
Bioengineering Community, Identity, Stability - Social Control In Huxley's 'Brave New World' Ridley Scott has had a successful relationship with Science Fiction, notably through the 'Alien' series and his adaptation of Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' into the cult-classic 'Bladerunner'. He has
Harry Potter Of Sirens And Selkies, Part II This is Part II of an article covering the science of mermaids. In Part I, I noted the depiction of mermaids through history and identified some biological features of humans that would help
Harry Potter Of Sirens And Selkies, Part I All the prominent creatures of mythology seem to go through a period when they are in vogue, usually thanks to a YA (Young Adult) readership providing a cult-like and enthusiastic following for a
Attractor Beam You Left Spacedock Without A Tractor Beam? Tractor beams have been a common feature of science fiction literature and films for most of the last century. Popularised by images of the Starship Enterprise grasping an enemy ship with beams of
Mars One Cosmic Nightmares Astronaut hibernation, 'stasis' or 'hypersleep' has allowed writers of fiction to move their protagonists into deep space, overcoming both the problems of long-distance space travel and allowing for swifter movement of the plot.
Dracula Vampires Will Never Hurt You Depictions of vampires over time have ranged vastly, from a decaying zombie-like figure kept alive only by draining the life force of other beings, to the dangerously intelligent and charismatic vampire of modern
Tolkien The Tinkerbell Deception Having followed the fairy fire in last week's post, it's time to come face-to-face with the creatures behind the Will-o'-the-wisp. Depictions of fairies in recent popular culture have been preoccupied with the plausibility
Tolkien Here Be Dragons Following the release of the second installment in the film adaptation trilogy of Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' this Winter, I have dragons on my mind. I'm sure I'm not the only one who believed