This has been a summer full of science fiction.  A surprising number of the top movies at the box office this year, from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to Star Trek, Monsters Vs. Aliens, and even Terminator Salvation, are all essentially science fiction films.  Of course, given that they all had massive budgets, you’d expect massive box office results and heart stopping special effects.  However, you can put together awesome sci-fi on a budget.  Just check out these 10 awesome-but-cheap alien life forms!

Two of the bigger surprise films, District 9 and Moon, are both what could charitably be called low budget, as far as science fiction movies go.  District 9 was made for $30 million dollars and has already made a profit in one weekend, and the $5 million dollar Moon is probably the best hard sci-fi movie since 2001: A Space Odyssey and a visual masterpiece of low-budget filmmaking.  If anything, having no budget made Moon a better movie by forcing director Duncan Jones to work smarter and harder with practical effects, rather than just throwing CGI at everything.

Tags: science fiction, cheap alien costumes, impressive special effects, district 9, moon, movies, special effects, movie magic

Usually, when someone talks about hot beats, it’s just because they really like the music.  However, one unnamed woman on a flight from Beijing, China, to Melbourne, Australia, got exposed to some really hot beats.  A woman’s headphone burst into flames while she was wearing them! It’s just not safe to enjoy yourself anymore, between […]

This will be the last Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to ever be on an airplane.  After all, the phone has been pulled from shelves and pockets all around the world, because the phones tend to, uh… catch fire and/or explode.  It’s not a laughing matter if you’re flying over the Rocky Mountains with one in […]

Since 2014, Craig Sager has been caught in the fight of his life.  He’s been battling leukemia since 2014, and he’s had multiple stem-cell treatments and rounds of radiation, and he continues to struggle against the disease for all he’s worth.  He’s been a very public face for most of his life, and now he’s engaged […]

The Red Cross is a wonderful organization.  When there’s trouble, the Red Cross is there setting up shelters and handing out food and water.  The Red Cross is normally very sensitive to the community needs around them, to boot.  However, sometimes, something will slip through the cracks that just looks wrong.  One of these things is […]

One of the most famous features of Matt Groening’s fictional town of Springfield is a strange one.  Springfield is home to a giant, perpetually burning tire fire.  I guess considering the town also has a nuclear plant that routinely leaks glowing green waste into the town’s water supply, the tire fire isn’t such a big […]

Gas prices don’t usually go down.  They go up.  Gas prices rose for decades, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always up on a long enough timeline.  Not long ago, $4 a gallon for gas was a very real proposition.  Nobody thought prices would go in the other direction, and yet… gas prices are going down […]

Fashion designers look for inspiration everywhere.  Some of it is pop culture, like Friday the 13th-inspired hoodies.  Other fashions are inspired by low culture, like deluxe Snuggies.  Some people turn to the culture of their past for inspiration, like the 8-bit video games they grew up on.  Italian fashion house Moschino is partnering with Nintendo […]