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Book title: The Left-Hand Screw of Gender Dysphoria

They seem to be looking at me somewhat innervingly.

SF story: The Aliens Have Arrived and Are About to F*** Up All Our S***

I have been thinking recently about spicing up my photographic activity by perhaps getting into the toy camera scene which relies on the Lomo, Holga, and similar inexpensive plastic cameras to come up with unusual grain and color effects, to the extent of visiting the enormous B&H photo superstore in New York city to see what they had to offer. In the end, however, I decided against picking up any more gadgetry and have turned toward the even more obscure specialty of expired photographic film to come up with a similar kind of weird effect. Conveniently, my badly neglected two decade old Nikon FG-20 was already loaded with a roll of film maybe eight or ten years old that I hadn't gotten around to finish.

Here is an example of the kind of image you get when shooting film going back several years and bring it in for development. The helpful staff at the neighborhood drugstore returned my prints with a note giving tips on how to avoid Poor Color Quality, including a warning about old or outdated film. I had to chuckle -- I could not be more delighted with the trippy retro results in fact, and am looking forward to shooting a couple other unexposed rolls of aged film which have just been laying around deteriorating in some unpredictable fashion.

"The Five" are a group of scientists studying abnormals and paranormal researchers; dedicated to expanding their knowledge of the physical world (by the most unconventional means).

The original members came together at Oxford University in the Victorian Era. One of it's members; Helen Magnus, was able to procure a sample of blood from a species named "Sanguine Vampiris" (or in reality a pure, ancient form of vampire). The sample in question dated from before the time when vampires were killed off or sterilized. Magnus derived a serum from the blood and discovered that, if injected, they would gain extraordinary powers. The group's members each chose to "evolve"; and so Magnus insisted on being the first to experiment with it. In time, each of the five injected the serum and each received unique "gifts" as a result.

• Helen Magnus: Longevity
• John Druitt: Teleportation
• Nikola Tesla: Part-Vampire Creature
• Nigel Griffin: Invisibility
• James Watson: Enhanced Intelligence

Each member, however, received forms of longevity that allowed them to live longer than most humans (though Magnus' was permanent; while the other's forms of the ability merely slowed down the ageing process). Each of it's members were connected by this secret; which they would protect for ages to come.

The group effectively reformed to fight The Cabal when it experimented into launching a biological weapon designed to turn all Abnormals against humans.

Its an interesting premise, and not too bad a mix of sci-fi/fantasy for television.

Its a shame though, that Amanda Tapping's English accent is so distracting. But still, its a good watch.

Sylvestor
www.twitter.com/Sylvestor

Only a few years before Hugo Gernsback started Amazing Stories and coined the phrase "science fiction", this little "Q-riosity" came out. An eccentric inventor gives people a futuristic view of London with his magic camera. Strangely enough, this silent obscurity from 1924 (note that nobody bothered to record a musical soundtrack for it, making it truly silent) foreshadowed augmented reality 85 years before it actually went commercial!

This is very cool.. There's this problem with electric cars, that they're too quiet, especially at low speeds - Pedestrians don't hear them coming. Nissan have realised they need to give their car a noise. So they've turned to Blade Runner for inspiration.. Why make your car sound like a petrol car when it can sound futuristic! Read the full story here.