Site of the Week -- Feb. 28, 2000
hese days the space program seems to get attention only when NASA
commits a blunder; the rest of the time Americans remain blithely unaware of
the various ongoing projects and active missions quietly adding to
the collective understanding of the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy
and the universe.
Spaceref.com is a large and richly informative site with a broad array of
news, analysis and photos profiling the headline grabbers as well as all those little-known missions. Some examples of what the site is currently covering: Right now a NASA spacecraft, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, is sending back the first color pictures of Eros, the largest
asteroid to travel inside the orbit of Mars. And remember Galileo? It's
still tooling around Jupiter, getting reading for its closest flyby yet of
the volcanic moon Io.
In addition to the latest news on American and international space efforts,
Spaceref.com features pages that discuss particular topics in depth, a
calendar of upcoming events and launches, and detailed guides to recent and
future space shuttle missions. There's also a Yahoo-like web directory for
space-related sites and a bulletin board for discussion.
As an added bonus, the site offers a news tracker feature, allowing users to
get automatic space news updates.
For space junkies--and everyday folk wondering what's happening in space these days--Spaceref.com is the place to go.
-- Mark Wilson
Site of the Week -- Feb. 21, 2000
here's something about speculative fiction that makes possible the
evolution of thrilling and provocative films from the merest slip of a short
story in Astounding magazine or from an overlooked novel by a forgotten
author. Often audiences are surprised to learn, if they ever do, that the
summer's blockbuster SF hit--or, conversely, a word-of-mouth fantasy art-house film--is based on anything other than a director's vision or a
screenwriter's whim.
The Fiction into Film List is a useful and apparently exhaustive
effort to marry science fiction, fantasy and horror films to the works on
which they are based. There is some attention to detail and chronology: So,
for example, under 2001 are listed both the short story on which the
film is loosely based and the later novelization. Each film in the fully
searchable catalog is linked to the invaluable Internet Movie Database,
allowing instant access to its production details. Currently available films
and books are also linked to online retailers for easy purchase.
The site makes no attempt to analyze the success with which these stories
were converted into film. It merely uncovers the interesting and sometimes
surprising roots of our favorite movies--or the fact that our favorite
stories were filmed after all--and allows readers and audiences to decide
for themselves.
-- Mark Wilson
Site of the Week -- Feb. 14, 2000
olden Age science fiction is reborn for the 21st century in the daily Internet comic strip
Astounding Space Thrills. Argosy Smith, the main
character, has all the makings of a 1950s superhero: genius-level
intelligence, snappy one-liners, awful puns and cool toys.
Creator Steve Conley's first-rate artwork is better than that of many comic
books on the market, and his stories are energetic and fun. The site's only major downside is its archive's
navigation. Each day's strip loads individually and can't be displayed on a
weekly or monthly basis. This makes catching up on several weeks of strips
a time-consuming process.
Can AST be silly? Corny? Maybe even a little tired? Yes. But the
style is right out of the '50s, and it's nice to see folks doing something
besides the dreary "serious" SF that mainstream print science fiction
seems to be obsessed with.
-- Kenneth Newquist
