All posts by monsffa

Who Are We? MonSFFA is the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, a club for fans of the science fiction and fantasy genres. We are your connection to the SF/F community, local, national and international. We have been active since 1987. What Are We Into? Our areas of interest span the full spectrum of the SF/F universe: literature, movies, television, comics, gaming, art, animation, scale-model building, costuming, memorabilia collecting, film/video production and more!
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Space changes how genes are expressed

Space changes how genes are expressed

Astronaut Scott Kelly’s genes behaved differently while in space than those of his Earth-bound, identical twin brother.

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By Jake Parks
twins
Former astronaut Mark Kelly (left) attempts to keep a straight face while posing with his identical twin brother, astronaut Scott Kelly (right). As part of NASA’s Twins Study, Scott spent nearly a year in space, while Mark stayed here on Earth. This gave researchers a chance to study the health effects of long-term spaceflights.
Siblings compete; it’s pretty much a ubiquitous fact of life. So when astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth in March 2016 after nearly a year in space, it must have really irked his identical twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, that Scott was temporarily two inches taller. However, Scott’s height was not all that changed during his time in space.

According to preliminary results from NASA’s Twins study, Scott’s year in space also drastically increased his rate of DNA methylation, the process responsible for turning genes on and off. By regulating gene expression, methylation is believed to play a major role in the development in many diseases, ranging from cancer to cardiovascular disease.

“Some of the most exciting things that we’ve seen from looking at gene expression in space is that we really see an explosion, like fireworks taking off, as soon as the human body gets into space,” said Chris Mason, principal investigator of the Twins Study, in a press release. “With this study, we’ve seen thousands and thousands of genes change how they are turned on and turned off. This happens as soon as an astronaut gets into space, and some of the activity persists temporarily upon return to Earth.”

As part of the study, Scott spent a year in zero gravity working on the International Space Station. In the meantime, his brother Mark went about his daily life on Earth as an author, political activist, and aerospace consultant. Taking advantage of the Kellys’ identical genetics, the Twins Study monitored subtle genomic changes that were elicited by each brother’s environment — namely Earth and space — helping researchers investigate the long-term effects of extended spaceflights.

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The original Robby the Robot goes up for auction

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ON THE BLOCK. Robby the Robot is one of the star attractions in Bonham’s Out of This World auction which runs through November 21.

No price estimate has been released.

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There’s also a good article about Robby at New Atlas: “The original Robby the Robot goes up for auction”

Movies

Montreal Gazette review of THOR: RAGNAROK

HAMMER AND SNICKER

Thor shows his wisecracking side

  • Montreal Gazette 
  • cknight@postmedia.com twitter.com/chrisknightfilm Chris Knight reviews.

PHOTOS: MARVEL STUDIOS Chris Hemsworth has a rough ride in Thor: Ragnarok — he loses his hammer and, among other things, is forcibly barbered. But he does gain a sense of humour.

THOR: RAGNAROK

★★★ out of 5

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson Director: Taika Waititi

Duration: 2 h 10 m

In Norse mythology, “Ragnarok” refers to an end-of-days cataclysm, like Armageddon, doomsday or Zac Efron films. But in the Marvel universe it may mean something akin to embarrassment or humiliation. In this movie, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) gets tied up, locked up, teleported, electric-shocked, captured, dumped, Hulked and forcibly barbered. He even loses his hammer, leaving him looking like a traveller whose Uber app just failed.

But somehow, he comes out of it all with a sense of humour, which is even more amazing when you recall that he didn’t go in with one. In other stand-alone outings, 2011’s Thor and 2013’s The Dark World, as well as various ensemble pictures, he’s the least jolly Avenger. Now he quips like he’s been taking lessons from Iron Man.

It’s hard to know which writer to praise for this — Ragnarok has three, as well as the various “based on the comics by” credits — so I’m going to suggest we all hail Taika Waititi, the New Zealand director of such fun low-budget buffoonery as Eagle vs. Shark, What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

Not only has Waititi made an impressive leap into the almost giga-dollar budget range (those other movies were made for about $5 million, combined), but he also appears as Korg, the deferential dungeon master on planet Sakaar, where the de-hammered Thor is taken to participate in gladiatorial games. Running the show there is Jeff Goldblum. He calls himself Grandmaster, though I don’t think he has the mental chops for chess. In fact, his greatest skill seems to be that of trailing off in mid-sentence, a talent he takes to new …

Anyway, Ragnarok is just the latest in 2017’s bumper crop of superhero flicks, which includes Marvel’s Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming; DC’s Wonder Woman and the upcoming Justice League. Not to mention (do we have to?) the underwhelming Dark Universe curtain-raiser that was The Mummy.

And while I know these movies are planned out years in advance, it feels like Thor’s newest has lifted a page from Wonder Woman’s playbook, with the inclusion of Tessa Thompson as SR-142, a hard-drinking Valkyrie from Thor’s home world. Not only that, but Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, used in two separate battle sequences, sounds a lot like a certain Amazonian princess’s theme music.

Ragnarok also introduces that Marvel rarity, a female villain, although Cate Blanchett’s Hela looks to have built her wardrobe and decorating choices on those of Angelina Jolie in Maleficent — same basic costume with a bigger rack of antlers. She’s Thor’s twisted sister, but can’t really compete with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, back from the dead and proving once again that if duplicity were a sport he would somehow both win and lose while cheating, playing by the rules and also making up his own.

Hela is the main plot driver, arriving on Thor’s planet and threatening to take over, even as another more computer-generated baddie prepares to destroy the whole place. Thor has to get home and stop them.

All this and I haven’t even gotten to Mark Ruffalo’s turn as Hulk, who like Thor gets to be more loquacious and wittier within Ragnarok’s shambolic buddy-picture framework.

He does not, alas, get to say: “Hulk more loquacious and wittier!”

Waititi snags most of the best lines for his own character, including a naughty joke that will sail over the heads of any youngsters not versed in New Zealand or British sexual slang, and this lovely little axiom: “The only thing here that makes sense is that nothing makes sense.” That’s Ragnarok in a nutshell. Put your brain in neutral and enjoy!

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Montreal Area Event / Convention

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN™ IN CONCERT

Tickets go on sale November 4th at noon.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN™ IN CONCERT

June 1 and 2, 2018

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

Apply eight to ten drops of Mast appalachianmagazine.com purchase cheap cialis Mood oil on the naval at bedtime. So, never ignore the problem of low libido, male impotence, weakness in male organ, weak erection and acheter viagra pfizer appalachianmagazine.com PE. OK Then Why cialis buy cheap appalachianmagazine.com Not Underscores? Basically the search engines treat a dash as a space and an underscore as a hard character. That is the reason; the medical science has invented a new kind of medicine in place of levitra online that is the generic version of the branded drug. Continue to relive the magic with the third installment of J.K. Rowling’s classic saga about your favourite wizard, accompanied by the Oscar®-nominated score by John Williams, performed by live orchestra and choir.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, return for their third year at Hogwarts™, and must face the darkest forces of magic yet. They spend the year learning about Hippogriffs, Boggarts, and Dementors™, how to use the Marauder’s Map and the Patronus Charm, all while the threat of escaped prisoner Sirius Black™ looms large. With his best friends, Harry masters advanced magic, crosses the barriers of time and changes the course of more than one life.

Original film will be shown with French subtitles.

 

On sale : November 4 at noon

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A Couple of Star Wars stories

IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR. TIME Magazine anointed this pair the winners of the internet’s Halloween costume contest:  “This Couple Won Halloween By Pranking People With Their ‘Levitating’ Star Wars Bike”.

The Force is strong in this video. So let the world know if you think we won halloween and share the video!!! How we built the bikes: http://bit.ly/2xyTYMn

TALESPINNER. Ken Liu’s Star Wars book is out today.


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Star Wars: Legends of Luke Skywalker [is] a set of tall tales about the Jedi Knight that have been passing from cantina to freighter and from mouth to audio receptor ever since a certain farm boy left Tatooine for the wider galaxy far, far away…

Devan Coggan interviews me for Entertainment Weekly: “Ken Liu Tells Star Wars Tall Tales in The Legends of Luke Skywalker”:

Legends follows a number of young deckhands working aboard a ship bound for Canto Bight (a casino world featured in the upcoming The Last Jedi). Together, they swap six different stories about Luke, each passed down from a different storyteller. One comes from a droid who claims to have witnessed Luke singlehandedly lead a droid rebellion, while another comes from a tiny, flea-like creature who claims to have had a pivotal role in Luke’s escape from Jabba’s palace. One of the particular highlights is the tale told by a former Imperial engineer, who says that Luke Skywalker was nothing but a piece of propaganda made up by the Rebellion. The real Luke is a con artist named Luke Clodplodder, who orchestrated a massive scam with his friends aboard a ship called the Century Turkey.

 

Astronomy News, Dinosaurs

Asteroid impact plunged dinosaurs into catastrophic ‘winter’

Scientists say they now have a much clearer picture of the climate catastrophe that followed the asteroid impact on Earth 66 million years ago.

The outer rim (white arc) of the crater lies under the Yucatan Peninsula itself, but the inner peak ring is best accessed offshore

The event is blamed for the demise of three-quarters of plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs.

The researchers’ investigations suggest the impact threw more than 300 billion tonnes of sulphur into the atmosphere.
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This would have dropped average global temperatures below freezing for several years.

Ocean temperatures could have been affected for centuries. The abrupt change explains why so many species struggled to survive.

“We always thought there was this global winter but with these new, tighter constraints, we can be much more sure about what happened,” Prof Joanna Morgan, from Imperial College London, told BBC News.

READ MORE

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New from Dr Who Big Finish Audio Adventures

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2017/10/river-song-to-meet-fourth-doctor.html

River Song as played by Alex Kingston, is to meet the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, in a new set of audio adventures released by Big Finish.

Series Four of The Diary of River Song, to be released in August 2018, will see the archaeologist encounter Doctor Number Four, in a set of new adventures alongside the longest serving Doctor.

Meanwhile Series Three of the Diary of River Song will released in January 2018, and will feature the Fifth Doctor, as played by Peter Davison, battling against the most evil midwife in Doctor Who history, Madame Kovarian, played by Frances Barber.

This box set will contain four hour-long adventures where the Doctor’s wife, archaeologist, crack shot with an intoxicating kiss and time traveler will have to face the demons of her past, present, and future.

The Diary of River Song – Series Three

When River Song goes shopping for a whole load of unclaimed loyalty points, she uncovers secrets linked to her tangled past.

The Doctor arrives, and the mystery deepens. He is already exploring the universe with another companion – someone River knows nothing about.

Madame Kovarian has been busy, and this time she will not accept failure…

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A fifth series is planned for release in January 2019

Movies

first official look at STARGATE: Origins

Just unveiled at Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con, this special Behind the Scenes reel is your first official look at STARGATE: Origins. From now until its release, Stargate Command will be providing unprecedented Behind the Scenes access to the STARGATE: Origins production. From It purchase generic levitra amerikabulteni.com is a neurological turmoil distinguished by the prominent intracranial strain. These are known as ED drugs and they help expedite the student’s cialis online learning process. Proviron, or Nolvadex or another anti-estrogen product is used canadian cialis online during cycles with this steroid in order to combat side effects linked with chronic diabetes. The therapist focus viagra sale canada other is to increase the patient’s independence. interviews with the cast and crew, to tours of the sets themselves, this is your chance to start diving into this amazing adventure before it even premieres! For hundreds of hours of favorite STARGATE moments head over to: https://stargatecommand.co/

MonSFFA Website

Surrounding Cast of Thirteenth Doctor Who Announced

The Doctor and new companions

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Radio Times reports “Doctor Who: Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill and Sharon D Clarke join Jodie Whittaker as regular cast members”.

  • Bradley Walsh, long touted as the man who will accompany the new Doctor on her travels, will be joining the cast of Doctor Who in the role of Graham.
  • Tosin Cole plays a new character called Ryan. Tosin also had a brief appearance in the 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the X-Wing pilot Lt. Bastian.
  • Mandip Gill, who played Hollyoaks’ Phoebe Jackson among other roles in other shows, is playing a character called Yasmin
  • Actress and singer Sharon D Clarke is to become another regular in what the BBC describes as a “returning role”. However it has not yet been made clear who the character she will play is – or whether she will take over the part of one of the Doctor’s adversaries or friends.

They’ll be on hand when Doctor Who resumes with a 10-part series in Autumn 2018.

MonSFFA Website

Trailers!

 “Radius starts with an unbeatable science fantasy premise, then gets weird”.

 

And then along comes something unheralded, under-the-radar, and authentically strange, like the Canadian movie Radius. Suddenly the audience is on a fast-paced trip into the unknown, with no idea where this premise could possibly lead. And Radius, the latest collaboration between married writer-director team Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard, does start with an unbeatable premise that feels like a solid Stephen King horror story. A man wakes up in a wrecked truck and goes looking for help. His memory is completely gone. He can’t even remember his name. And slowly, he starts to realize that anything that comes within a certain radius of him — animals or people — instantly drops dead….

Radius will have a limited theatrical release on November 9th, and will appear on VOD services and Netflix on the same day.

Godzilla!

A youth on board the emigration vessel, Haruo, had seen his parents killed by Godzilla before his eyes when he was only 4 years old. Ever since, he has thought of nothing but returning to Earth to defeat Godzilla.   Haruo and other crew spearhead a “return to Earth” decision despite severely attenuated and hazardous conditions on board for such a long trip back.

Somehow, the Aratrum makes the return journey in one piece, but the home they return to has become an alien planet. 20,000 years have elapsed, and a new ecosystem has emerged. Can mankind take back its native planet? Will Haruo get his revenge?

Look for the new animated Godzilla movie on November 11 in Japan.

See all the trailers and art, and read more about the production in Japanese and English at the Godzilla-anime site.

Justice League comes to cinemas November 17.

 

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Marvel’s Runaways November 21st exclusively on Hulu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=Rt9H5zEYCng

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Published on Oct 26, 2017
What if everything you thought you knew, you didn’t know at all? Catch Marvel’s Runaways November 21st exclusively on Hulu. hulu.tv/marvelsrunaways ► Subscribe to Marvel: http://bit.ly/WeO3YJ

 

ALIEN INVASION S.U.M.1 Official Trailer (2017) Iwan Rheon, Sum1 Sci-fi Movie HD © 2017 – Gravitas Ventures

An aggressive race of aliens took over Planet Earth and humanity’s at its end, living in giant bunkers below ground. Young Military rookie S.U.M.1 (Iwan Rheon) is sent to the surface to save a group of unprotected survivors.

The Beyond Official Trailer. The movie is coming January 9, 2018.

Set in 2019, The Beyond chronicles the groundbreaking mission which sent astronauts – modified with advanced robotics, through a newly discovered wormhole known as the Void. When the mission returns unexpectedly, the space agency races to discover what the astronauts encountered on their first of its kind interstellar space journey.