For some reason, Rick Springfield decided to freeze himself in the 1980s, only to be accidentally woken up in 2016. It’s a glorious future with strange aliens and dance moves.

h/t to John Anealio!

The International Space Station is the largest spacecraft humans have ever built. It’s a technological marvel. And yet, it looks like little more than a housefly silhouetted against our Moon.

That was my first impression, at least, after checking out these incredible images of the ISS transiting a waxing gibbous moon on September 25th. The photos was captured Trevor Mahlmann and Max Fagin, both graduate students and self-identified aspiring astronauts at Purdue. If taking money shots of the ISS counts toward NASA’s application process, I’d say they’re both shoo-ins.

Everything about the shot was carefully planned. Mahlmann and Fagin figured out precisely when the ISS was set to cross in front of the Moon, and arrived at a previously scouted location (a cornfield in central Illinois) two hours early to get their telescopes set up and focused. A 14-inch telescope was outfitted with a Canon Rebel Camera set to video mode, while a six-inch scope paired with a Canon 7D Mark II set at a 10 frames-per-second capture rate.

It was a lot of preparation, but the results were well worth it.

“I was [ecstatic],” Malhmann wrote in a blog post about the photo shoot. “Our calculations were perfect.”

The image at the top is a still from the video, while the one below was taken with the Mk II:

Malhmann is proving himself quite the pro when it comes spying the space station from Earth. Last summer, he wowed us with a shot of the ISS whizzing across the sky like a shooting star—a shot that he captured from the window of a Southwest flight. Naturally, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Follow the author @themadstone

Image courtesy of Trevor Malhmann and reproduced with permission. Learn more about these photos on Malhmann’s website.

Looking to level up your skills as a speculative fiction author? The Brainery Workshop is getting ready for their spring courses!

The workshop is “focused exclusively on speculative fiction as an artistic discipline worthy of theory and practice,” and are the equivalent of a graduate course in writing.

Here’s what’s being offered this spring:

• Novel Workshop – with Dr. Jilly Dreadful
  
• YA Novel Workshop – with Dr. Jilly Dreadful
  
• Science Fiction Fairy Tales: A Hypoxic Style Writing Workshop – with Dr. Jilly Dreadful
  
• Short Fiction – with Valerie Valdes
  
• Short Fiction: Writing and the Other – with K. Tempest Bradford
  
• Literary Lab – with Kira Lees and Dr. Jilly Dreadful
  

Guest Speakers include our very own Charlie Jane Anders, Daniel José Older, Ellen Datlow and more who will be announced in the near future.

Courses begin on January 25th, 2015!

Apparently today is National Science Fiction Day, according to Wikipedia, set to coincide with the day that Isaac Asimov celebrated his birthday. It’s not recognized by any government, but companies like Scholastic have promoted it in the past.

We’re onboard. Let’s celebrate.

h/t John Joseph Adams

Wait a minute.... Did Elon Musk just hint SpaceX will fly its victorious Falcon 9 rocket a second time?! We knew reusability was the long-term plan, but if they pull it off on the first attempt it’ll bump their celebrations up to a whole new level.

We were all impressed when SpaceX literally landed spot-on its giant X earlier this month. But we thought that even though the landing was perfect, this particular Falcon 9 rocket would never fly again. But now thanks to a comment from SpaceX’s leader, Elon Musk, we’re not so sure:

This probably means that the rocket is ready for test firing here on the ground to analyze what happened to it, then shoving it into a museum. Yet the phrasing is just ambiguous enough to raise eyebrows far too late on New Year’s Eve to get formal comment on what’s happening next. Will the rocket suffer from first-astronaut syndrome, doomed like Yuri Gagarin to be earthbound forever more? Or will it be the first to not just land, but launch again in a blaze of fiery glory?

Either way, the excellent condition of the rocket is certainly worthy of celebration. Congratulations, SpaceX, and may all your rockets come home safely.

Top image: Falcon 9 rocket first stage returned from space, landed safely, and back in the hanger demonstrating what “normal wear” looks like on a rocket’s paint job. Credit: SpaceX

Contact the author at mika.mckinnon@io9.com or follow her at @MikaMcKinnon.

We’ve loved the UK anthology show Black Mirror, and we’re excited to see more episodes coming in the near future to Netflix. While we wait, the Christmas episode has appeared on Netflix streaming, and it’s a creepy one.

The latest episode in Charlie Brooker’s show aired in 2014 originally, but you can now watch it on Netflix. This episode is really two separate episodes stuffed into one larger one - it’s a really cool narrative trick that they pull off here, and it’s one of the reasons why the show is one of the absolute best.

The episode opens with Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall in a remote cabin. They’ve apparently been there for five years and rarely spoke.

As Matt (Hamm) tries to get his companion to talk, he goes into his background - he helped implant a device that essentially copied a person’s personality and stuck them into a machine. In the first story, Hamm copied a woman’s mind and used her as the operating system for her house. Then, it gets really creepy.

To motivate the copy, he manipulates time. When she was first uncooperative, he let her sit for a month (just seconds for him), then six months. After sitting with nothing to do, she was more than ready to comply.

In the next story, Potter (Spall) opens up, and talks about how he and his girlfriend split up, and how she blocked him. Because of the implants that he had in his eyes, he couldn’t actually see her - or her child.

The two stories come together in brilliant way, one that left me speechless by the end. New episodes are expected to come sometime later this year.

White Christmas can now be streamed on Netflix.

Did you know that Chrysler built more than 25 percent of America’s tanks during World War II? And in addition to tanks and trucks too, it even helped arm the Allied Powers’ mighty warships. You can learn more about the Chrysler “Arsenal of Democracy” in this new film.

Fiat Chrysler released this mini documentary about its role in the war effort in recognition of the 75th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s historic Arsenal of Democracy radio broadcast on December 29, 1940.

The five-minute film is narrated by FCA’s on-staff historian Brandt Rosenbusch and is actually pretty interesting. I had no idea that Chrysler built anti-aircraft guns, 25,000 Sherman Tanks, or that the now-iconic Dodge Power Wagon had a light-duty predecessor.

Image/video via Fiat Chrysler Automobile

Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.

It is always interesting to look at the Carrier Air Wings of the past. Today America’s super carrier decks look far more homogeneous, with variants of the F/A-18 Hornet doing all the fixed-wing tactical work.. The photo above is shot aboard the USS Constellation in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, and it shows a very eclectic mix of aircraft.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-us-navy-b...

The most ominous of aircraft pictured is the giant RA-3B Skywarrior, also known as the Whale, painted in a rare matte black scheme. The RA-3Bs were used as reconnaissance aircraft, providing detailed maps of Southeast Asia and keeping track of Vietcong troop movements along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Because these missions utilized infrared equipment and were often flown at night, the black paint helped make the big RA-3Bs blend into the night sky.

A massive RA-5C readies for launch off the Constellation’s #2 catapult during the ship’s 1967 cruise. The sleek Vigilante looked uncomfortable sitting on the ground.

Just in the foreground of the same photo is one of the most beautiful and largest aircraft to ever grace American aircraft carriers’ decks on an operational basis, the RA-5C Vigilante.

These aircraft provided a variety of fast-jet reconnaissance products, including side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) imagery and electronic surveillance. Yet the “Viggie” was probably best known for its daring bomb-damage assessment (BDA) runs.

During these missions, the RA-5C had the extremely dangerous job of flying over or near targets that had just been attacked to see if they were indeed damaged or destroyed. Without this imagery, more lives would have been risked to go after a target that may have already been obliterated. Yet the fact that the enemy’s defenses are all on high alert and looking for vengeance meant that the Vigilantes were often flying into a hornets nest of enemy activity. Eighteen RA-5s were lost in combat; many those losses occurred during these high-risk missions.

In this image A-4 Skyhawks can also be seen, one of which is in the foreground and named “City of Selma.” The A-4 is absolutely dwarfed by the Vigilante and Whale parked nearby, and the comparison gives a great sense of just how huge these two aircraft were.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/theres-a-magic...

One of CVW-14’s F-4s is hurtled off the ship from one of the Constellation’s waist catapults during the ship’s 1967 cruise. The Phantom’s multi-role capability is displayed in this mixed load-out of Mk 82 Snakeye bombs and AIM-9 Sidewinders.

F-4 Phantoms make up the fighter contingent of the Connie’s Air Wing in this photo, with A-6 intruders providing all-weather strike capability. Radial engine powered A-1 Skyraiders can also be seen in the image which were used in the “Sandy” combat search and rescue air support role. More A-3 Skywarrior variants, most likely EKA-3B tanker/jammers, are also visible along with a sole SH-3 Sea King helicopter.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-a-6-intrud...

So, just to recap, Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14) deployed aboard the USS Constellation in 1967 included the following aircraft, a couple of which are not pictured in the photo above:

• F-4B Phantoms
• A-6A Intruders
• A-4C Skyhawks
• RA-5C Vigilantes
• A-1H/J Skyraiders
• RA/KA/KAE-3 Skywarrors
• SH-3 Sea Kings
• E-2A Hawkeyes
• C-1 Traders

CVW-14’s 1967 inventory included no less than nine separate aircraft types, which all had unique maintenance, operational and spare parts needs. Today’s Carrier Air Wings have just four main aircraft types, two of which are cousins (Hornet and Super Hornet/Growler.)

With this in mind, it is amazing what America’s carrier force of yesterday was able to pull off considering how tight space was on these ships and that there was no computer automation available to help make anyone’s job any easier.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/americas-carri...

Just operating fast jets that utilized mainly 1950s era technologies from an aircraft carrier, especially under adverse weather conditions, is an amazing feat. Yet keeping such a wild hodgepodge of aircraft in the air that rely on this same technology is just bewildering.

The USS Constellation leaving San Diego on her 1967 cruise.

During the Connie’s 1967 cruise, she spent time executing extremely high-tempo operation from Yankee and Dixie station, and her F-4B squadrons accounted for four MiG kills. In all, the eight month cruise ended with 16 aircraft and 20 personnel lost.

Contact the author at Tyler@jalopnik.com.

Photos pictured in this piece were all taken on the Constellation’s 1967 cruise. Credit US Navy

Wireless headphones, a water-resistant speaker, and a deeply-discounted treadmill highlight today’s best deals. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more.

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Jabra’s MOVE Bluetooth headphones are Gizmodo’s top entry-level pick in the category, and Jabra’s official eBay storefront has marked them down to an all-time low price today.

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In addition to great looks, the MOVE features 8 hours of active battery life, and nearly two weeks of standby time, meaning you shouldn’t have to babysit the battery. Plus, you get a built-in microphone for calls, and a removable cable so you can use them on an airplane as well. Most importantly though, Gizmodo claims they sound just as good as Jabra’s excellent REVO headphones, which retail for nearly twice as much. [Jabra MOVE Bluetooth Headphones, $60]

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If you’re more an earbud person, Mpow’s Seals Bluetooth earbuds are also on sale. [Mpow Seals Airflow Sports Bluetooth 4.0 Back Head Headphones, $31 with code P2EKLO6G]

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We’ve seen a handful of sub-$20 Bluetooth speakers, but not many of them can join you in the shower. The Omaker M4 can do just that thanks to its IP54-rated splash resistance, and still deliver up to 12 hours of playtime on a single charge. That’s perfect if you like to sing in the shower, or just need to catch up on your podcast queue. [Omaker M4 Water Resistant Portable Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker, $19 with code M4OMAEKR]

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If you’ve got the space, and you’ve got the will, it’s tough to beat a LifeSpan treadmill delivered to your front door for $800. This is a Gold Box deal though, so run, don’t walk, to the checkout screen. [LifeSpan TR 1200i Folding Treadmill, $800]

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In some ways, the Pebble Time is actually the best smartwatch you can buy, and Newegg has knocked it down to an all-time low $110 today. [Pebble Time Smartwatch, $110 with code EMCAKAK63]

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A box cutter, bottle opener, wrench, ruler, and flat head screwdriver, all in a tiny, $3 package. [Nite Ize KMT-11-R3 DoohicKey Multi-Tool, $3]

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While it’s obviously no substitute for getting your knives professionally sharpened, this tiny KitchenIQ sharpener can help them maintain their edge for longer. I use this exact model on my beloved Victorinox Fibrox, and I really like it. [KitchenIQ Edge Grip 2 Stage Knife Sharpener, $6]

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Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more. We want your feedback.Send deal submissions to Deals@Gawker and all other inquiries to Shane@Gawker

Got an unpublished science fiction, fantasy or horror novel? UK genre publisher Gollancz will be accepting un-agented submissions throughout January!

Starting January 4th (Monday!) through January 22nd, the publisher will be accepting novel submissions. Here’s the trick: you have to mail it in.

Here’s their criteria:

• Submissions will be open 4^th to 22^th January 2016. Only submissions with valid postdates will be considered.
• We will only be accepting PHYSICAL submissions.
• We will only consider SF, Fantasy, Horror or YA Crossover novels. They must be complete and more than 80,000 words.
• We will consider previously self-published works.
• We will not consider works we have previously rejected.
• We will not consider works sent in by agents, or by authors who already have representation – they can be submitted in the normal way.
• We are not currently looking for short story collections or anthologies.

Please send:

• The first 50 pages of your manuscript
• A cover letter outlining the scope and concept of your work
• A full synopsis (no more than 1 page, can be single spaced)
  

Format:

• Double-spaced
• Single or double-sided.
• Please use standard fonts (comic-sans is liable to make our eyes bleed!)

Please address to:

The Gollancz Team
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London
EC4Y 0DZ

[Gollancz]

Now that The Force Awakens has hit theaters, the film’s director of photography, Dan Mindel has been posting some great behind the scenes images from the film to his Instagram feed.

Here’s a selection of what he’s posted in the last couple of days:

You can see more on his Instagram feed.

[Instagram via StarWarsNewsNet]

It’s a brand new year, and with it, there’s a whole bunch of new things to look forward to in the science fiction / fantasy world. So, what are you looking forward to the most this year?

Me personally? Star Wars: Rogue One. After The Force Awakens, I’m excited to see what Gareth Edwards comes up with.

For this week’s Weekend Matinee, we’re traveling half a millennium into the future with Buck Rogers in Planet Outlaws!

This film was edited from the 1939 Buck Rogers serials, and released in 1953. In it, Buck Rogers and Buddy awoken after an accident 500 years in the future. Upon awakening, they discover that Earth is under the control of Killer Kane.

Give it a watch and chat with your fellow io9 commenters!

This. is. awesome. By day, Peter Kokis is in charge of security for a major company. In his off time, however, he’s a sculptor and cosplayer who has constructed some amazing costumes. His latest, the ExoSuit from Edge of Tomorrow, is constructed from random household items.

We really loved Edge of Tomorrow, and it’s one of those underrated flicks that has a lot of staying power. Kokis loved it from the moment he “saw the trailer for ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ online six months before the film came out – had no idea – flipped when I saw the Exo Suits, watched it thirty times, then started buying parts the next morning. ”

“My robot-building adventures started a few years ago with a joke to a girlfriend, then just started snowballing from there. I thank the visual complexity of Michael Bay’s Transformers robots for getting me focused. I dig the much-maligned ‘Bayformers’, flames and all. My use of everyday household objects was just a convenience at first, then became the artistic basis – and challenge – for everything I build.

What’s more amazing about this build? He’s constructed it out of common household items that he’s found all over the place: “Stuff from household, hardware, pet shop, drugstore, sporting goods & discount stores. Stuff from your kitchen and bathroom, your closets & junk drawer. Stuff we use every day but never pay attention to. I use a lot of toilet-related stuff, as it looks mechanical.”

The end result? a 145 lbs exo skeleton that looks amazing. Check it out:

Up next for Kokis? He’s working on a ‘New York Optimus Prime’, “based on the last film, and he’ll be super-complex. Also, a dog companion for my ‘Brooklyn Terminator’.”

My robots will be having some fun with the 2016 presidential election, so look out for that. I’m planning some striking, sensual imagery with my ‘Brooklyn Alien’ that has me really excited. I hope that ‘Pacific Rim 2’ gets made soon, ‘cause I’m a Jaeger-nut. Obviously, more Transformers are on the way. Who knows, maybe a robotic Ninja Turtle?

You can see a whole bunch of additional photos over on his website.

Image credit: Alan Camuto

Transforming robot horses. Cybernetic demons. A king piloting a mech. LEGO’s Nexo Knights line has launched, and it’s the best.

Announced back in October of last year, LEGO’s new Nexo Knights line officially joined the animalistic warriors of Chima and the spinning ninjas of Ninjago on store shelves on January first. Slated to be one of the brick company’s tent-pole properties, the futuristic knights will be battling the minions of a dark magic-infused court jester everywhere this year, from lunch boxes to t-shirts to television screens. But first LEGO needs to build a strong foundation, and they’ve got just the bricks to do it.

January first was a massive release day for LEGO., with the $350 Ghostbusters Firehouse HQ, a bunch of smaller sets based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a new wave of Bionicle and a bunch of LEGO Friends releases. But that’s not why I was at my local LEGO Store yesterday. I was there because the day before I picked up eight Nexo Knights sets from Toys’R’Us, and I needed more.

A total of seventeen different sets make up the launch lineup for Nexo Knights. Those include two sets we saw when the line was announced—Jestro’s mobile base and the knights’ rolling Fortrex. I stayed away from those two pricier sets, as I wanted to get a feel for the franchise first.

Thankfully LEGO provided a perfect way to do this with a set of six “Ultimate” figures. Each $9.99 package includes a knight or enemy and a stand to hold various weapons and power-infused Nexo shields.

Here’s Ultimate Macy, the female knight. She comes with her massive mace, a flaming axe and some whipping vines. The idea is that the weapons and shields on the stands can be swapped out, giving her several different configurations.

The shields are a big part of the Nexo Knights branding. Each one can be scanned into the Nexo Knights mobile game, granting its powers to the player. It’s a simple beat-em up, but scanning things is always fun.

Ultimate Aaron comes with an assortment of shooty weaponry, including bananas. I’m guessing he’s the goofy one of the bunch.

Ultimate Clay has whirling sword arms sprouting from his back. Also a shield and random flames, but whirling sword arms. I really don’t need an adjective for those. They speak for themselves.

Ultimate Robin is tiny, but he has missile launchers on his back, so I wouldn’t mention that to his face. He also has chicken, so he’s the Leeroy Jenkins of the team.

Ultimate Beast Master is a bad guy, who does not come with Ultimate Tanya Roberts so he doesn’t matter.

Ultimate Lavaria, on the other robotic spider leg, matters a great deal. If she weren’t so obviously a villain, she’d be my hero.

I picked up the $40 Rumble Blade but haven’t put it together yet. I am saving it for last, because it’s a vehicle that splits into several other vehicles, one of which is a giant flying sword. I have to build to that level of greatness.

Instead, I put together the $20 Lance’s Mecha Horse set.

It’s a mechanical horse, ridden by Lance. It’s a theme in the Nexo Knights. A couple of sets come with much smaller mechanical horses.

But you know how knights named Lance roll.

They roll in giant mecha horses that have transformed into vehicle form. Note the robotic sidekick.

So I bought all of those sets at Toys’R’Us the day before the official launch. Then I hit up the LEGO Store at North Point Mall in Georgia and picked up two more.

One of these was the $25 Infernox Captures The Queen set. It came with the smaller hover horse above, as well as this fellow here.

He’s big, he’s mean, and what’s that inside his mouth?

Why hello, Queen Halbert. Nice birthmark. You’re looking quite fetching, and not even a bit digested. Good, good—we wouldn’t want to anger the king. Not when he’s piloting a mech.

Not to mention rocking a killer beard.

King Halbert comes in the $30 The King’s Mech set, which so far is my favorite piece.

Why does he even need knights? He’s got a massive robot with a giant sword. One of its hands is a ship piloted by a smaller robot.

And on top of all of that, he doesn’t even need to be inside the machine for it to work.

The set even came with an extra beard to the minion trying to take him out with a ballista can get in on the act.

The Nexo Knight line is off to an amazing start, and my wallet certainly feels it. I’ll have the rest of the launch sets by the end of January, and I’ll be counting the days til more arrive after that. Where do they even go from here?

I’m placing my bets on massive biomechanical LEGO dragon.

Contact the author by leaving by leaving a pile of LEGO bricks outside of your window and waiting for him to magically appear, at fahey@kotaku.com or follow him on Twitter at @bunnyspatial

Rosetta is still orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and it’s beamed back an impressive image showing off the comet’s surface. It’s rugged and beautiful.

The image was taken with the probe’s Narrow Angle Camera at a height of 79.653 km, 1.6 AU from the Earth.

[OSIRIS Image of the Day]

Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

This is a cool experiment: Jordan Hanzon has gone and taken Pixar’s Inside Out and edited out all of the scenes from Riley and her parent’s heads: the result is a poignant story of a girl adjusting to a new place.

I personally haven’t seen Inside Out, so watching it without that additional context of her emotions makes this an emotional and somewhat heartbreaking film. The cuts are a little abrupt, but in and of itself, it’s a story that plays out on its own merits.

[Dorkly]

Welcome to this week’s Reading List, where you’ll find the best popular culture and science fiction stories on the internet assembled in one delightful package. This week: film stories, John Williams, Flash Gordon and b-movie titles.

• When you come right down to it, there’s not a whole lot in cinema that’s original. Here’s a look at how stories are recycled over and over. [The Atlantic]
  
• How John Williams’ scores have become so iconic, and a brand in and of themselves. [New Yorker]
  
• In 2016, books are likely going to be fine. That’s not the case for magazines. [Quartz]
• Flash Gordon was a sensation: here’s the story behind the film and its impact. [Empire Online]
• In order to appeal to a wide audience, B-movies had to rely on flair and design to get noticed. [Art of the Title]

Image credit: racorn / Shuttershock

Imagine attending a live concert where the musicians aren’t even in the performance space. Instead, they’re 500 miles away, playing their hearts out, while a holographic sound image of the music is mapped and then recreated in the performance space for your listening pleasure. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s not, thanks to technology being developed by Austrian acousticians.

For Franz Zotter and Matthias Frank of the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) in Graz, Austria, it amounts to something akin to the teleportation of a musical instrument. They use large surrounding spheres of microphone arrays to record holographic sound images — a kind of 3D aural fingerprint — of any musical instrument.

Such an image captures not just tone, frequency and other sound properties, but also directionality. Sound engineers can take that image, feed it into a corresponding compact spherical loudspeaker array (dubbed an icosahedron), and recreate the sound exactly, right down to how the sound waves reflect off the walls of the performance space. “The new kind of holographic sound imagery is a key technology used to reproduce a fully convincing experience of a musical instrument within arbitrary rooms it is played in,” Zotter explained.

It also takes into account the posture of the player. This is particularly important for unplugged instruments, which can produce sounds with very different timbres depending on the orientation of the player. That can potentially throw even an experienced musician off his or her game.

For instance, Miles Davis famously used to play his trumpet facing away from the audience (this had more to do with personal preference than anything else). But there was no problem with directionality in Davis’ case, because there was a microphone attached to the bell of the instrument, and a sound engineer would mix the output as it was reinforced through loudspeakers. But his posture might have made a big difference in overall sound quality had he been playing in an unplugged acoustic scenario with no sound reinforcement, according to Zotter.

It certainly makes for a nifty form of acoustical augmented reality.

“We once had a demo concert where a trombone player was playing inside our surrounding microphone sphere in Graz, and the holographic sound image was reproduced live in Paris,” Zotter told Gizmodo via email. That was back in 2010, for a technical audience at the 2nd International Symposium on Ambisonics and Spherical Acoustics.

Their technology is currently being used as a tool in computer music to project music into rooms. It could also be used to improve concert hall design, or to reduce aircraft noise in urban planning. But the most promising near-term application could be in virtual reality and gaming. “I watched a friend of mine playing GTA on PS4 and I was impressed by how many acoustical things were involved,” Zotter said. “Tire noise on different grounds, passing vehicles, birds, and insects.”

Ultimately, this work will help Zotter and Frank build better maps of the directionality of sounds from many different instruments (particularly in those tricky unplugged environments), letting musicians experience how their playing will sound in a virtual version of an unfamiliar room or performance hall. This is a goal that is also being pursued by other research groups, notably the Institute of Technical Acoustics in Aachen, Germany, according to Zotter.

So future trumpet players hoping to emulate Miles Davis could experience how their playing would sound in virtual recreations of all kinds of different performance spaces — odd postures and all.

[Via Acoustical Society of America]

Images: (top) A surrounding sphere of 64 microphones to record holographic sound images. (bottom) The icosahedron, a compact spherical array of 20 loudspeakers. Both images courtesy of Franz Zotter.

Russia is getting into the superhero film craze with Zaschitniki. A trailer for the film came out in the fall of 2015, and it looks like amazing fun. The film is due out later this year, and we can’t wait to see it.

The film is set in an alternate Soviet Union, following a group culled from the various satellite countries within the USSR and turned into superheroes. Their goal? Protect the USSR from supernatural threats.

There’s some concept art floating around the internet, which gives a good look at some of the heroes:

There’s also an official Instagram which has been posting up some behind the scenes video and official images:

Bottom line? This film looks awesome and we can’t wait until it comes out sometime later this year.

h/t to Hands of Orlok!