December 17
Better Than News
"Pine Angel" is a teen tragedy Christmas song about a Pine tree than has been cut down in its prime, only to be thrown away after the holidays.
Donut Heist is a 2023 crime thriller film about a gang of thieves who steal the world's most valuable donuts, only to find that the donuts are not what they appear to be.
The Private Afternoons of Pamela Gorn is a 1974 American hardcore science fiction adult film starring Barbara Bourbon, William Shatner, and Bobby Clark.
Tintinitus is the perception of Tintin when no actual external Tintin is present.
Black Superman is a 1980 superhero comedy film about a hunter-gatherer of the Kalahari Desert whose tribe discovers the bottle city of Kandor, and believe it to be a gift from their gods.
Star Trek Wars is a science fiction buddy comedy film about an angry moisture farmer (Luke Skywalker) and an excessively logical Starfleet officer (Spock of Vulcan) who must learn to work together.
Asgard Girls Are Easy is an American science fiction romantic superhero comedy film starring Geena Davis, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, and Jeff Goldblum.
Plato was a warrior and statesman, and a slave-owner to boot. Given the chance, Plato would have locked us up in a cave and forced us to tend the elephant. ("Tending Plato's Elephant")
Beyond Plausible
The Crack in Babel is a 1966 science fiction novel by American sociologist Philip K. Dick. It was adapted for film by Alejandro Iñárritu in 2006.
Gödel, Escher, Dick is an alleged user's manual for the Philip K. Dick android.
In Other Words
Swamp Gumby is a 1982 American superhero clay animation film written and directed by Wes Craven.
Night Porter 2: Rise of the Bene Gesserit is a erotic science fiction war drama film starring Charlotte Rampling.
"Get Back (Zeno of Elea)" is a song by The Beatles.
Are You Sure
... that mathematician and academic Marius Sophus Lie (17 December 1842 – 18 February 1899) pioneered the theory of continuous symmetry, and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations?
... that "This Zimmerman Note's For You" is a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 which was later decrypted and popularized by Neil Young; and that the message proposes a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany?
Topic of the Day
Planet of the Apes
"People Get Roddy" is a 1968 single by the Evolutions, and the opening track on the Planet of the Naked Apes album. The gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition that displayed the growing sense of cinematic and science fictional awareness in his writing.
Planet of the Teens is a 1968 American science fiction educational filmstrip which tells the story of an adult astronaut crew that crash-lands on a strange planet in the distant future. Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which teens have evolved into creatures with adult-like intelligence and speech, and have assumed the role of the dominant species.