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What If—
"What If—" is a fantasy short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, first published in the Summer 1952 issue of ''Fantastic'' and reprinted in the 1969 collection ''Nightfall and Other Stories''. The story was inspired by the author's wife who, during a car journey they were taking from New York to Boston, asked him where he got his story ideas. Before they arrived, Isaac had thought of a plot based on the journey.Asimov, I. (1979) ''In Memory Yet Green'', (Avon 1980 edition), pp. 611–612 Plot summary A married couple is traveling on a train from Boston to New York City. They meet a mysterious silent man known only as Mister If, who shows them a small portable television-like device about in size. (Mr. If's first name is implied to be What, but whether this is true or not is left to the reader.) On the device's screen, Mr. If shows the couple scenes from their earlier lives and what might have happened if certain minor but pivotal events had not occurred. Eventually they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantastic 1952 Summer Front
The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characterizing the fantastic as the hesitation of characters and readers when presented with questions about reality. Definitions The fantastic is present in works where the reader experiences hesitation about whether a work presents what Todorov calls "the uncanny", wherein superficially supernatural phenomena turn out to have a rational explanation (such as in the Gothic works of Ann Radcliffe) or "the marvelous", where the supernatural is confirmed by the story. Todorov breaks down the fantastic into a manner of systems, filled with conditions and properties that make it easier to understand. The fantastic requires the fulfillment of three conditions. First, the text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthology Of Interest II
"Anthology of Interest II" is the 18th episode of ''Futurama''s Futurama (season 3), third season . It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States on January 6, 2002. This episode, as well as the earlier "Anthology of Interest I", serves to showcase three "imaginary" stories. Plot Professor Farnsworth hauls out his What-If Machine again, fine-tunes it, and the crew takes a look at three alternative realities. I, Meatbag Bender Bending Rodríguez, Bender asks what would happen if he were human. The simulation opens with Hubert J. Farnsworth, Professor Farnsworth announcing that he has invented a process of reverse Petrifaction, fossilization, which can turn robots and machines into organic life-forms. He uses his process on Bender, who is transformed into a human. After a short period of adaptation, Bender's self-control is overwhelmed by his new senses of taste and touch, and he goes on a binge of eating, smoking, partying, and drinking alcoh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Stories By Isaac Asimov
Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as the Short Arts, entertainment, and media * Short film, a cinema format (also called film short or short subject) * Short story, prose generally readable in one sitting * ''The Short-Timers'', a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford, about military short-timers in Vietnam Brands and enterprises * Short Brothers, a British aerospace company * Short Brothers of Sunderland, former English shipbuilder Computing and technology * Short circuit, an accidental connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit * Short integer, a computer datatype Finance * Short (finance), stock-trading position * Short snorter, a banknote signed by fellow travelers, common during World War II Foodstuffs * Short pastry, one which is rich in butte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and millions of books. In addition to its archiving function, the Archive is an activist organization, advocating a free and open Internet. , the Internet Archive holds over 35 million books and texts, 8.5 million movies, videos and TV shows, 894 thousand software programs, 14 million audio files, 4.4 million images, 2.4 million TV clips, 241 thousand concerts, and over 734 billion web pages in the Wayback Machine. The Internet Archive allows the public to upload and download digital material to its data cluster, but the bulk of its data is collected automatically by its web crawlers, which work to preserve as much of the public web as possible. Its web archiving, web archive, the Wayback Machine, contains hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Universe (fiction)
A parallel universe, also known as a parallel dimension, alternate universe, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called a "multiverse". While the four terms are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternate universe/reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own, with some overlap with the similarly named alternate history. Fiction has long borrowed an idea of "another world" from mythology, myth, legend and religion. Heaven, Hell, Twelve Olympians, Olympus, and Valhalla are all "alternative universes" different from the familiar material realm. Plato reflected deeply on the parallel realities, resulting in Platonism, in which the upper reality is perfect while the lower earthly reality is an imperfect shadow of the heavenly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sliding Doors
A sliding door is a type of door which opens horizontally by sliding, usually horizontal to a wall. Sliding doors can be mounted either on top of a track below or be suspended from a track above. Some types slide into a space in the parallel wall in the direction of travel, rather than the door sliding along the outside of the parallel wall. There are several types of sliding doors, such as pocket doors, sliding glass doors, center-opening doors, and bypass doors. Sliding doors are commonly used as shower doors, glass doors, screen doors, wardrobe doors or in vans. History Sliding doors were used as early as the 1st century CE in Roman houses (as evidenced by archaeological finds in Pompeii, Italy); however, there is no evidence to confirm that the Romans were the first humans to have invented or used sliding doors. Sliding door gear The mechanism used to operate a sliding door is called ''sliding door gear''. There are two standard types: top-hung or bottom rolling systems. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical hour-long legal or medical drama, but exhibit far fewer jokes-per-minute as in a typical half-hour sitcom. In the United States Examples from United States television include: ''M*A*S*H (TV series), M*A*S*H'', ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'', ''The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd'', ''Northern Exposure'', ''Ally McBeal'', ''Sex and the City'', ''Desperate Housewives'' and ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs''. The term "dramedy" was coined to describe the late 1980s wave of shows, including ''The Wonder Years'', ''Hooperman'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'' and ''Frank's Place''. See also *List of comedy drama television series *Black comedy *Dramatic structure *Melodrama *Seriousness *Tragicomedy *Psychological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romance Film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey through dating, courtship or marriage is featured. These films make the search for romantic love the main plot focus. Occasionally, romance lovers face obstacles such as finances, physical illness, various forms of discrimination, psychological restraints or family resistance. As in all quite strong, deep and close romantic relationships, the tensions of day-to-day life, temptations (of infidelity), and differences in compatibility enter into the plots of romantic films. Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight young and mature love, unrequited love, obsession, sentimental love, spiritual love, forbidden love, platonic love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love, explosive and destructive love, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smoke And Mirrors (Gaiman Book)
''Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions'' is a collection of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. It was first published in the United States in 1998, and in the United Kingdom in 1999. The UK edition included five stories not in the US edition, four of which were included in the US edition of Fragile Things. Many of the stories in this book are reprints from other sources, such as magazines, anthologies, and collections (including ten stories and poems from Gaiman's earlier small press miscellany ''Angels and Visitations''). Contents The included stories and poems are different between some of the editions. The US, UK, and eBook editions have some differences in the stories they contain (see notes): * Reading the Entrails - A Rondel about the pleasures and perils of fortune-telling * The Wedding Present - A story included in the introduction * Chivalry - A story about the Holy Grail written for an anthology by Martin H. Greenberg * Nicholas Was... - A very shor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS. The TARDIS exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. With various companions, the Doctor combats foes, works to save civilisations, and helps people in need. Beginning with William Hartnell, thirteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; in 2017, Jodie Whittaker became the first woman to officially play the role on television. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation, a plot device in which a Time Lord "transforms" into a new body when the current one is too badly harmed to heal normally. Each acto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turn Left (Doctor Who)
"Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008. David Tennant only makes a small contribution to this "Doctor-lite" episode as the Tenth Doctor. The story instead focuses on the Doctor's companion, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and her encounters with former companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The episode's narrative focuses on an alternative history where the Doctor dies during the events of the 2006 Christmas special " The Runaway Bride". The episode depicts a dystopia caused by the Doctor's death, leaving Rose to convince Donna to save the world. The beginning and end of the episode take place in the show's normal continuity, and the end features a cliffhanger that leads directly into the series finale "The Stolen Earth". Davies' writing and Tate's performance were acclaimed, and the episode was praised for its depict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthology Of Interest
"Anthology of Interest I" is episode sixteen in season two of ''Futurama''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of Matt Groening's other animated series ''The Simpsons''. The episode is noteworthy for featuring the addition of Scruffy, the Janitor, to the staff of Planet Express, and as a recurring cast member, after his previous appearance as a stagehand during the Beastie Boys concert in " Hell Is Other Robots". Plot Professor Farnsworth shows the crew his new invention, the Fing-Longer, a glove with a long rod meant to be used as an extension of the index finger. He demonstrates it by activating the What-if machine, a device that allows the user to view a simulation of a hypothetical scenario after the user asks it a 'what-if' question. Terror at 500 Feet Bender offers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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