Tag: Frank Catalano
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Preserving the future: A rare glimpse inside the EMP Museum vault
Storage shelves inside the EMP Museum vault I have seen the future. And it looks a bit ratty. “Futuristic Shades” from Waterworld That was my not-so-charitable reaction when I got up-close with eyewear from the 1995, post-apocalyptic Kevin Costner film Waterworld in EMP Museum’s collection. Though merely two decades old (from a film then said…
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Interstellar: Dramatic awe, with a science-fiction flaw
Sure, Interstellar is smart spectacle. But is it good science fiction? In short: Interstellar tries hard. Maybe a little too hard. As a one-time writer of the form, I use a straightforward definition of “science fiction:” Fiction that extrapolates from current scientific knowledge to ask what-if, projected onto human beings and societies. Equally important, the…
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Science fiction writers inspired as asteroid miners make fiction fact
It was the very last question at the news conference announcing Planetary Resources’ plans to find mineral-rich asteroids, pull them into near-Earth orbit, and mine them. Did science fiction play a role? The response was an accurate, but unsatisfyingly vague, “Science fiction is fiction right up to the point that it’s science fact.” Greg Bear The Seattle area,…
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Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos plans historic deep-sea Apollo 11 engine recovery
A massive bit of space history that inspired an entire generation of geeks has been found by Jeff Bezos — and ideally would be headed to Seattle’s Museum of Flight. The Amazon.com founder’s Bezos Expeditions has announced it’s identified, under 14,000 feet of water, the huge F-1 engines that powered the initial stage of Apollo…