The Science of Avatar
Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle Edition
By Stephen Baxter
Orbit Books
Released May 29, 2012

Prolific science fiction author Stephen Baxter invites us to explore with him both real life science and space fiction in The Science of Avatar. There are lots of details sprawling in every direction, from speculation to established facts, in an almost scene-by-scene recount of the entire movie. He posits what our real world might be like in the year 2154, the year Avatar takes place.

We begin with Jake Sully leaving an ecologically devastated Earth, which we get the barest glimpse of in the film. Baxter explains to us what might have happened in an all too real account of ecocide, wherein Earth’s resources are depleted and space exploration offers the only hope of finding the resources we need to stay alive here. In the movie, this is the reason for the journey to Pandora.

Cosplayers are extraordinarily passionate about their craft, most going to great lengths to achieve the mimicry they desire. Now there may just be even more incentive to find the characters said cosplayers feel they can best embody, and do everything in their power to replicate that character.

Russian cosplayer Anna Moleva is one such case. The Moscow resident, who’s also known as “Ormeli,” has an affinity for video game characters, and when she saw Elizabeth, the female lead in Irrational Games’ upcoming BioShock Infinite, she knew she had to become her. The results were so successful, so eerily similar, that the makers of Infinite, including game designer Ken Levine, decided to hire her as the face of Elizabeth going forward.

Click on over to the other side for more, and to see some of Moleva’s images, including a stunning replica of the one above.

Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist #1
Script by Alexander Freed
Art by Marco Castiello & Andrea Chella
Colors by Michael Atiyeh
Letters by Michael Heisler
Cover by Dan Scott
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 5, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

It’s Darth Vader baby! Yeah! Fans of the classic AND prequel trilogy can rejoice because Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist #1 features what everyone loves-Darth Vader being an awesome bad-ass villain. What more could we want? Thank you Dark Horse!

Alexander Freed writes an…unusual Darth Vader. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. He writes a Darth Vader that, quite honestly, we’ve never seen before. We now know the WHOLE story of Anakin Skywalker (At least, until Episode 7 comes out) so Freed takes advantage of that and writes him with little hints of Anakin from the prequels thrown in. Now, he’s not crying out for his mom or yelling “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!,” but you see subtle hints of the character that we watched evolve during Episodes 1-3.

We just saw a great first poster for J.J. Abrams‘ upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to his blockbuster 2009 reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise. Now comes a first trailer from Paramount Pictures, an announcement teaser trailer.

Usually an “announcement” trailer is very short, and usually consists of very little, maybe some voice over and a shot of the title. Not here. This is much more along the lines of a teaser trailer, with some insane footage and our first good look at just how freakin’ awesome Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be as the film’s villain.

And if this isn’t enough footage to sate your appetite, the Japanese version…for some inexplicable reason…runs 14 seconds longer than the rest of them and has a little bit more content. You can watch both versions and read a synopsis below.

The Deal of the Day over at Things From Another World today is Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy hardcover for only $20 (that’s 43% off of the regular price of $34.99).

Note – The sale at TFAW is valid only for today, Thursday, December 6, 2012, til 11:59PM PST while supplies last (and there’s a limited supply, so it will sell out, so hurry!). Visit the TFAW’s Deal of the Day page to view the hours left in the sale as well as quantities left on the item.

If the deal at TFAW sells out, you can also buy the Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy hardcover at a discounted price at Amazon for $23.09.