Video Essay - From Music to Science Fiction

Video Essay:From Music to Science Fiction.

Celebrating Doctor Who's 50th Birthday! - Biblioteca de Santiago

I went to Biblioteca de Santiago to celebrate the Doctor's birthday! It was a fun event! We watched two Doctor Who episodes and there were workshops and talks. 

A very interesting talk was called Doctor Who and Time Travel by the Chilean writer Jorge Baradit. You can see an excerpt from it here.

Blade Runner - Animated Film

Today Open Culture posted an amazing animated film made of watercolor paintings!! A Swedish artist made this film as a tribute to Blade Runner with 12,597 paintings! Watch it here. 

Monsters / Aliens / Androids

Alien is definitely a special saga for me, even though I haven't watched any of the movies recently. It was nice to remember them! Images from Alien: the Illustrated Story by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson: 

There's a Japanese tv programme (dorama) which is being broadcasted now called Ando Lloyd or Ando Roido (安堂ロイド). It's about an android that travels through time! I've only watched a few episodes, so I still don't know whether I like the story or not, but what I've seen so far is quite interesting. I really love watching Asian dramas! It's awesome when I find a science fiction story like this one.

By the way, the other day I read this article about the new Taiwan's Special Forces uniform. When I look at it I think of a science fiction villain or a terror movie psychopath! Maybe all uniforms from the future will be similar to this one; I hope not! I think the mask is really creepy.

Comic Books / Batman / Documentaries

When I was looking for more information on comic books I found a documentary on Batman's psyche. I really liked the 80's-90's movies when I watched them a few years ago. This documentary analizes Batman and some of the most famous villains in Gotham City. 

I also found a documentary about the science of Batman and one about comic book superheroes that I'm going to post below. They're very interesting! 

漫画 (Manga - Japan) / 만화 (Manhwa - Korea)

Some of my favourite sci fi/fantasy manga that have been adapted to anime are PSME (Please Save My Earth), YKK (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou) and Aria; two of my favourite manhwa (Korean manga) are Planet Blood and Automata (webtoon). Click on the name of a manga/manhwa so you can get more info about it! 

Please Save My Earth

ぼくの地球を守って

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
ヨコハマ買い出し紀

Aria

アリア

Planet Blood

Automata

으트미타

Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.' / Why English Language and Literature?

Edgar Allan Poe is an author that has been important to me since I was a teenager, especially his poem The Raven and his story The Tell-Tale Heart, I love them both! Poe has inspired many artists; there are many film adaptations of his works and also a lot of paintings and other forms of art have been made based on his poems and stories, for example, The Alan Parsons Project's first album was called Tales of Mistery and Imagination and all of its songs were inspired by Poe's stories.

The Raven

"But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -

Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -

On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'

Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'"

The Tell-Tale Heart

"TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth."

Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of science fiction pioneers, stories such as Mellonta Tauta, The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion and A Descent into the Maelström, among others, are early forms of science fiction.

Mellonta Tauta's story takes place in 2848 and it presents new technology as well as other science fiction characteristics. Damon Knight talks about Poe and science fiction in the following video.

Mellonta Tauta

"April 2. Spoke to-day the magnetic cutter in charge of the middle section of floating telegraph wires. I learn that when this species of telegraph was first put into operation by Horse, it was considered quite impossible to convey the wires over sea, but now we are at a loss to comprehend where the difficulty lay! So wags the world. Tempora mutantur -- excuse me for quoting the Etruscan. What would we do without the Atalantic telegraph? (Pundit says Atlantic was the ancient adjective)."

When I think about the elegance, mistery and innovative ideas in Poe's tales,the Steampunk subculture comes to mind with its awesome mixture of beauty of past times and different possible worlds in the future.

I thought about pursuing a degree in History or Art History and Theory, but I ultimately decided to study English Language and Literature because of Edgar Allan Poe's work.