Why I Sci-Fi!

Even though I'm an adult, I'm still all about cartoons. Who doesn't  like cartoons? They're fun, colorful, and have an interesting ability to approach difficult topics in ways that help both adults and children understand them. One of my most favorite recent cartoons that does this to perfection is Stephen Universe.  The Crystal Gems, with Stephen in the front, Pearl to his right, Amethyst to his left, and Garnet in the back. ( Image Source )  It took me a while to warm up to the Cartoon Network show, but once I'd given it a try, I was sold. Set in the idyllic Beach City, the show gives a glimpse into the life of a boy named Stephen... who happens to live with a few aliens called the Crystal Gems. The Crystal Gems help keep Beach City (and Earth in general) safe with their super powers and amazing fighting skills. Each gem has stones embedded into their bodies that help them take human form, and they're named after those stone.  Stephen's mother us...

Lucas with C-3PO on the set of Star Wars ( Image Source ) Star Wars is a household name. The franchise, with too many movies, TV adaptations, and streaming series to count, is massive. But do you know about the man behind it all? The creator of Star Wars ? George Lucas is a science fiction legend-- and the focus of today's Famous Face spotlight! George Lucas was born on May 14, 1944 in California. His parents owned a walnut ranch, and they lived in a suburb outside of Modesto, CA. He love car racing, and he originally wanted to be a race car driver. After a devastating car accident, though, he changed his mind. He decided to give film school a try at the University of Southern California. Before releasing Star Wars, Lucas showed his talent for film with American Graffiti. The film made more that 100 million dollars in the US when it was released in 1973. With this success under his belt, Lucas sought out to make his dreams reality-- a film that would be "part fairy tal...

This is the movie poster for  The Rise of Skywalker. ( image source )  Imagine living in a world without Star Wars, Marvel or Stranger Things. Are you not a fan of those? Well, imagine not being able to play any video games OR living without advanced technology. Without science fiction, you probably wouldn’t have access to any of these! Science fiction is important because it has huge fandoms, it allows audiences to explore new possibilities and futures, and it inspires real technology. Firstly, science fiction is personal to me-- and a lot of other people. I grew up watching and reading science fiction stories with my family. I spent a lot of time watching Star Trek and Star Wars, especially after they re-released the original trilogy in 1997. It was a HUGE deal when we got to see them in theaters, and I remember sitting in the theatre with my M&Ms excitedly waiting to see my favorite movies on the screen. And I wasn’t the only one there-- audiences spent $460.998m...

This is our solar system.  ( Image Source )  This week saw an AMAZING discovery for NASA. The Spitzer Space Telescope revealed a series of Earth-like planets in the nearby Aquarius system. Some of these planets may be habitable (able to sustain human life), or they may even have their own life on them! The system-- know as the TRAPPIST-1 system-- is powered by a cold dwarf star. Since its sun is much colder than our sun is, planets can be much closer to it and still sustain life. The closest planet in our system, Mercury, is much to hot to have water or sustain life like ours. In the TRAPPIST-1 system, though, water could be found much close to the sun. Additionally, the planets are so close to one another that you could see the features of the neighboring planets from the surface of the some of the others! Imagine standing outside and being able to see Mars and its features from your back yard! How cool is that!? The big question now, though, is about life on these other ...

Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin Image Source WARNING-- MINOR SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE BELOW. If you spent part of your winter break watching 2016's best movie-- I'm talking about Rogue One , of course-- then you were in the company of millions of other avid Star Wars  fans who shared equal enthusiasm. You also watched a zombie actor in one of the main roles. Let me explain. If you're like me, you can't stay away from articles and trivia facts about movies-- even at the risk of encountering spoilers. Rogue One was unique in a lot of ways, but there was one choice that the director made that shocked me. So I kept my eye on my husband to see if he noticed what I already knew. When Grand Moff Tarkin came onto the screen, he squinted through his glasses, but kept watching. The second time he appeared on screen, he leaned over. "Is he CG?" he asked, eyes still on the screen. I nodded. The whole character of Tarkin-- a character with many lines and a l...

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to explore. Sometimes my adventures were close-- my neighborhood, the woods behind my school, a friend's backyard. When I wanted to travel further, I'd read books. Through the eyes of other characters I saw worlds of magic, of other times, of a distant future. Despite these adventures, I always wanted to go further. When I read  The Martian Chronicles  by Ray Bradbury, the dates seemed so close-- 2008, landing on Mars, 2025, people living on Mars, etc. But Bradbury wrote his stories in a time much further away from the new millennium than I lived. It was when I was in high school that I realized that traveling to space for the general populace was probably something that I wouldn't get to do in my lifetime. This doesn't mean, however, that  someone  wont reach Mars in time for me to see it. A larger version of this map is on the  Journey to Mars Website According to NASA's  Journey to Mars  webs...