For extra amusement, they should film it all from the alien point of view. Then, as the invading human armada gathers overhead, the alien president can wave its tentacles and declare “... should we win the day, the Sixty-Seventh of Obblethroink will no longer be known as a Shiny-Carapace holiday, but as the day the…

It’ll all be worth it if we get to hear Kirk scream “FUCKING KHAAAAAANNN!”

“Nature’s way” suggests that there’s an evolutionary advantage to this but — unless, as some people have suggested, the changes somehow render the body more nutritious to conspecifics practicing cannibalism — it’s difficult to see how post-mortem changes can offer any kind of advantage.

More likely, these are just…

You could probably say something similar about police work, or flying. It’s a miracle if any movie cop ever makes it to retirement age, because we all know what happens to the guy who has one day left before he retires. And while people in movies sometimes take planes without incident, if the plane is the main focus…

Does anyone else find it slightly ironic that the credits are being handed out via Amazon? Because while Apple and their new-found friends in the publishing industry may have been colluding to fix the price of ebooks at a level they were happy with, there’s a case to be made that Amazon is no innocent when it comes to…

“Hello, Mr/Ms Spoooon, this is Ridley Scott. I read what you posted on io9, and wondered if you had a moment to talk to us about your idea. Do you think you might be able to send us a three or four page treatment for our script development team to take a look at?”

Robert Heinlein’s juvenile fiction (“Citizen of the Galaxy”, “Tunnel in the Sky”) featured a recurring trope that might be called something like Dismissive Dad: the dad who doesn’t realize that his children are capable of accomplishing anything, and refuses to take them seriously. The Dismissive Dad in “Citizen” is…

Donald Trump voice: “But you’re wrong, my friend. My boat has amazing barnacles. The best barnacles there are. You know, people call me up, they say, Donald, those barnacles you have on your boat — they’re really first-rate barnacles. And they say to me, Donald, other people won’t say it. I don’t know why. Maybe…

Alternative headline: Wolf spends 12 hours stalking clueless woman, goes home disappointed and hungry.

Is it really titled ‘Shin Gojira’ in Japan? That’s just lazy. And it makes it sound like a cleaning product.

The fragrances “Tauntaun” and “Imperial Trash Compactor” aren’t selling too well.

“I thought those things smelled bad on the outside” — H. Solo, dissatisfied customer.

“OK, so my idea is that these guys find a giant chunk of ancient butter at the bottom of a bog in Ireland. And they dig it up, and ...”

So they lost an owl. Big deal. Wake me when the Hungarian Horntail gets loose.

Is everyone in this short commercial some sort of sociopath?

I like to imagine that the Ripleys will turn out to be descended from Peter Weyland. And the whole thing will be the revenge of one very pissed-off Engineer: “Wake me out of my millennia-long sleep with your pretty-boy robot and your pathetic demands for extra life, would you? A plague of monsters on your entire…

Man, there’s a family that just can’t catch a break.

I picture the producer going to the F*ck Safe, removing just one “f*ck”, and handing it gingerly to the director. “OK, here you go now, use it carefully. This is the only one we’ve got.”

Judging by the shadows at 06:27, I would say you’re almost certainly right about the time of day.

I tried to figure out the time of year when they must have shot it: the foliage on the trees suggests mid-to-late spring, the shadow angle suggests somewhat earlier in the year. So ‘first light’ isn’t that early, and there…

I want to know how they managed to get Delancey Street (06:34) and Allen Street (08:18) completely empty of people and traffic. All I can think of is that they shot multiple stills, erased moving elements (people, cars), and then composited the actors over the result.

It wasn’t Odroid. I won’t name the vendor/board because I don’t want to be negative, and I was able to get the board up and running without too much pain. I think the situation is getting better with that particular device.

I’m happy to name ones that I think do it well. As Thorin said, the Raspberry Pi isn’t bad. I…