Beautiful Animation Illustrates Carl Sagan’s Iconic “Pale Blue Dot” Speech [Video]

Set to the words of Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot is an animation that situates human history against the tapestry of the cosmos. Using a eclectic combination of art styles woven seamlessly together through music and visuals, the animation seeks to remind us that regardless of our differences, we are one species living together on the planet we call Earth.

[Chin Li Zhi]

A Beginner’s Guide Understanding to ‘The Witcher ‘ Universe

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The Witcher games (based on the amazing book series) create a truly immersive universe with so much going on. From the politics to the relationships, there is much to keep track of and be mindful of. But much like similar lore in series like Game of Thrones, it can sometimes be quite hard to follow and keep up with if you are not well versed in that world. It is almost like you need to keep notes to remember everything. Alas, Kotaku has come to our rescue by essentially making a beginner’s guide to the Witcher universe. For example:

About a thousand and a half years before the events in the books/games, The Continent saw an event called The Conjunction of the Spheres. It was a mystical happening that united a whole bunch of parallel dimensions and loosened the walls between worlds. It opened portals that allowed the first demons and beasts to cross over from their dimensions to this one, and ever since then, The Continent has been populated by unnatural beasts.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Great article to read before jumping into the Witcher’s world, though. And it is well worth it, trust me.

Image, story via Kotaku

Order The Witcher III on Amazon.com.


Steve Jobs (Teaser Trailer)

The trailer for “Steve Jobs,” the movie based on Walter Isaacson’s bestselling book.

Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicenter.

Steve Jobs is directed by Academy Award® winner Danny Boyle and written by Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin, working from Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography of the Apple founder. The producers are Mark Gordon, Guymon Casady of Film 360, Scott Rudin and Academy Award® winner Christian Colson.

Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs, the pioneering founder of Apple, with Academy Award®-winning actress Kate Winslet starring as Joanna Hoffman, former marketing chief of Macintosh. Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple, is played by Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels stars as former Apple CEO John Sculley. The film also stars Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan, Jobs’ ex-girlfriend, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, one of the original members of the Apple Macintosh development team.

[Universal Pictures]

‘Jem’ Producer Responds To Trailer Backlash

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If any of you were on the interwebz last week, you probably saw the somewhat jarring trailer for the new live action Jem movie based on the old 80’s cartoon. Pretty much anyone who grew up on the cartoon saw the trailer and wheezed out a WTF, as it looked like nothing resembling the original show. All this backlash actually made it back to Jason Blum, who produced the movie, and is addressing some of the feedback directly on Topless Robot:

Can you reassure some of the fans right now who are a little upset at the way it looks and feel like it’s not true to the property from what they’ve seen?

JB: It is a hundred per cent true to the spirit of Jem, like 100%, and I think that people will be very pleasantly surprised. So in that way it’s good – maybe lowering expectations is good. But I think people will be pleasantly surprised for sure.

While some of his answers may seem vague, he definitely feels like all the issues people had with the trailer (where is Synergy?) will be ironed out once they see the movie. Some of us still have our doubts, but we will begrudgingly try to hold out hope. Seriously, though, where are the earrings?

The Science Of The Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow)

Science fans, assemble! The world’s top superhero team is back to save the world in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” And these superheroes use some super science to help them keep the bad guys in check. This week, Reactions looks at the chemistry of the Avengers, including Tony Stark’s suit, Captain America’s shield and Black Widow’s super-fast healing.

[Reactions]