We’re trying out a new segment from contributor Ed Lee where he gives us a rundown of all the eventful things that happened this week in sci-fi history. Check it out below, and let us know what you think!

MAY 21:

On this day in 1980, Lucasfilm & 20^th Century Fox released THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK – still the highwater mark in the entire STAR WARS saga so far as most fans are concerned; and, in 2009, TERMINATOR SALVATION opened, further fracturing that franchise’s fanbase into frenzied fits of of fervent debate.  (Whew!)  This week in television, “Scorpion: Part 1” served as the season finale for UPN’s STAR TREK: VOYAGER, launching a brave new storyline that promised to go boldly where Star Trek had already been before.  Also, on this date in 1925, Canadians finally allowed beer sales.

Famous (or infamous) genre birthdays include:  Richard Hatch (the original Captain Apollo from TV’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA); Mr. T (ROCKY III’s and the original B.A. Baracus); Richard Libertini (one of the most recognizable ‘bit’ actors of his time, but he’ll always be Irwin Fletcher’s boss from the legendary FLETCH); and freelance writer Lowell Cunningham, the man who created and wrote the comic book series “Men In Black.” Continue Reading »

I’m not one to post Facebook screenshots as content, but I couldn’t pass this one up as it’s just too good of an idea to not discuss. Apparently 25,410 other people agree with me as well.

You’ve read it, anyone with technical knowledge think this could be built as an experiment? I feel like the first part would be easy, you’d just have to hook up a router or modem to the treadmill as a power source. Would the energy be enough to power it? I’m sure there could be a system in place where that could be the case.

The last part, faster downloads for faster running, would probably be quite a bit harder, but I guarantee there’s someone out there who could build it. But to get to my max speed of 1MB/s? I bet I’d have to be biking on the treadmill at that point. I’m not going to full on sprint for four hours to get the latest season of Mad Men.

Well hey there readers, time for quick chat. As you may have noticed over the past few months, we’ve added a few new writers to our roster. In addition to NattyB and I, the talented TJ, Remy, Zack, Dave and David have been contributing a few articles a week. We’ve really liked how it’s expanded our audience and brought in new voices and perspectives, and we want to continue that by adding a few more folks.

What we’re looking for are people who can commit to writing a piece or two a week (no more than that probably) for the site, and be able to have a set day (or days) where their work is published every week. Posts can be written whenever, so long as they are scheduled to go up on assigned days. We’re looking for articles pertaining to movies, TV, video games and comics that are usually anywhere from 800-2000 words (depending on how verbose you are). They can be columns about certain issues in the industry, a love letter to your favorite overlooked film, or a list. Everyone loves lists.

If this sounds like something that would interest any up and coming writers out there, email me a sample post as a Word doc at paul@unrealitymag.com. If you have any links to other articles you’ve written, that would be great as well. We’re only looking for a couple new people writing one or maybe two posts a week, and it’s great exposure for anyone trying to get their name out there as we do have a relatively large audience.  Social media knowledge is a plus, as we’re trying to figure out an incentive program based on traffic for down the line. I know some of you have already submitted a sample when we had a similar writing contest this winter. Feel free to reapply, either with what you submitted before, or perhaps a new sample article if your skills have evolved. And newcomers are of course welcome.

Looking forward to reading your stuff!

We often forget what it’s like to be a little kid, full of wonder and amazement and accepting everything around you as true. When Jurassic Park came out, I was old enough to understand that movies weren’t real, but what if I was a few years younger?

Little Zack has a life changing experience in this video when he learns that dinosaurs are REAL. Well, at least they appear that way. I’m not sure what a giant animatronic T-Rex is doing in the middle of the woods, but it convinces the two year old that it’s real. After a very, very delayed reaction, Zack decides its in his best interest to run. Adorableness quotient of the day met.

Alright, I post a few cool pictures a day here on the site, but this might be a contender for photo of the year. At long last, two mortal enemies reconciling, proving that diplomacy is the way forward, even across intergalactic rivalries.

I’m not sure what event Arnold was at that required him to make piece with his longtime foe the Predator, but I’m really glad he showed up and we got to immortalize this moment forever.

Can we can an Alien in there for a three way hug?

I’m not sure I’ve ever actually covered the phenomenon of Seattle’s Phoenix Jones here on the site. He’s a real-life superhero who patrols the streets of Seattle in a stab-proof costume, and has been the feature of many a local news story out there for his heroics, which include stopping and reporting crimes.

Since his inception, there have been other costumed heroes that have joined him, but not there’s a new development that is putting this into full “Kick-Ass” territory. Even hero needs a villain, and now, Phoenix Jones has one. This surprisingly well-produced video introduces the world to its first proclaimed supervillain, Rex Velvet, a mustachioed troublemaker whose powers seem to include making rather cool videos.

How exactly is he going to mess with Phoenix Jones? I have no idea, but I bet someone is buying the movie rights to this already.

(click to enlarge)

I found this graphic design project quite a while ago, but I tucked it away until I just re-stumbled upon it now. It’s by a redditor who imagines what it might look like if Earth had a flag. A cool concept in itself, and I think his design above is pretty damn beautiful from a sci-fi perspective.

But he doesn’t stop there. He imagines how the flag might evolve in the future once we get our asses in gear and start actually exploring space. As we expand out into the solar system and the galaxy, the design changes.

Check out the full gallery and evolution process below, complete with descriptors of what’s occurring Continue Reading »

Time for yet another installment of “Living in the Future,” and this one is a doozy. When I first heard what had happened at Coachella this week, I thought it would be the most offensive, lame thing ever. Holographic Tupac? Please. I’m surprised he didn’t rise from his grave and bitch slap Dr. Dre for trying this.

As it turns out, the final result was pretty damn awesome. The full performance is above, and it shows how much technology has really progressed that we’re able to do something like this. I still can’t figure out how they did it. Did they take one of his old performances, extract him and really clean it up? Or did they just hire the world’s best lookalike and have him lip sync?

FYI, as cool as this is, he’s not actually “floating” in the Star Wars sense. He’s being projected onto a pane of glass. Still awesome though.

So, when are the Beatles going back on tour with Elvis and Kurt Cobain?

I apologize in advance for this picture, as we’re normally a (somewhat) family friendly site here. I know this vision will probably haunt you for the rest of your life, but since my own soul was corrupted by it, I thought yours should be as well.

It’s hard to imagine so much awfulness condensed into one spot. Just the Croc/Ugg hybrid alone is enough to make me want to cry.

Anything missing here that could make this even more a of shit sandwich? (oops, guess we’re not that family friendly). I’d throw in Jar Jar Binks, those racists robots from Transformers 2 and a malfunctioning printer, but that’s just me.

Thanks to completely random reader who I do not know, Kevin,  for sharing.

After I finished my last season of track in high school, I said that I would never run again unless something was chasing me. Well, I think I might have found the race for me.

The Run For Your Lives 5K is exactly as awesome as you might think. It’s a 5K obstacle course populated with zombies who attempt to hunt you down and steal flags attached to you, flag football style.

As you can see from the helmet-cam video, getting out “alive” is actually pretty tough, depending on the dedication of your zombie pursuers. Unfortunately you can not murder them with foam bats or paintball guns.