William Cameron Menzies’ “Things to Come” [1] (1936) is based on H.G. Wells “The Shape of Things to Come” (1933) and narrates the transformation of Everytown: from a war-torn industrial town from the near future 1940’s, to a progressive and rational futuristic city of 2036 (a hundred years since the release of the film). Everytown [...]
“The architectural transformation was superficial. On the earthen walls, erected by slaves, European decorative papers were affixed or paintings were applied to create the illusion of a new atmosphere, as in the residential interiors of countries in process of industrialization. In certain cases, the simulation verged on the absurd: Greco-Roman architectural motifs –pilasters, architraves, colonnades, [...]
The greatest human calculators in the world or as in Jose B. Adolph’s “Artemio y Multical” (1975), the best “paranormal mental calculators”[1] (Adolph, 167), are named Shakuntala Devi, Ludwig Kahn, Inaudi, Dagbert and Lidorau. When contrasted with the reality of Artemio Ayar -a 14 year old Peruvian boy that had never left his country and [...]
Even though it intends to be constrained and succinct –and actually accomplishes it–, the entry on “Definitions of Science Fiction” in Clute and Langford’s Enciclopedia of Science Fiction (SFE) consists of nearly three thousand words. Defining Science Fiction is clearly not an easy task. Sci-Fi is a slippery genre and there are as many definitions [...]
