Documentary: Jonathan Renouf: The Lost World of Lake Vostok (U.K. 2000) A documentary made for the British Horizon series of programs that began in 1964. Lake Vostok is a vast body of water underneath central Antarctica. It derives its name from the Russian Vostok base built on the ice on Continue Reading
Antarctica
Antarctic Research Blog #86 – Megastructures: South Pole Super Station
Documentary: Megastructures: South Pole Super Station (U.S.A. 2007) This is an episode of the National Geographic Channel documentary series Megastructures, about huge construction projects. This time, the project is the new South Pole station that’ll replace the old geodesic dome. Some of the old explorers would probably have a heart Continue Reading
Antarctic Research Blog #85 – Where Hell Freezes Over
Non-fiction: David A. Kearns: Where Hell Freezes Over (Thomas Dunne Books, 2005) During a U.S. Navy surveying operation in Antarctica soon after the end of WWII, an airplane crashes onto the coast. The survivors wait for two weeks before they’re rescued, all badly wounded except one. It’s a dramatic story, Continue Reading
Antarctic Research Blog #84 – With Byrd at the South Pole
Documentary: With Byrd at the South Pole (U.S.A. 1930) This is a documentary shot during Richard Byrd’s First Antarctic Expedition, 1928-1930. Of the early Antarctic documentaries, this has the best images in the sense that the cameramen were able to shoot more than before, although they were not as artistically Continue Reading
Antarctic Research Blog #83 – The Birth of the People’s Republic of Antarctica
John Calvin Batchelor: the Birth of the People’s Republic of Antarctica (The Dial Press, 1983) This is one of the strangest Antarctic novels I’ve yet to read. It’s about the son of an American draft dodger and a Swedish witch, called Grim Fiddle. It begins in Sweden, soon the stage Continue Reading
Abandoned Antarctica
The web publication Dark Roasted Blend has an article about photos of abandoned places in Antarctica. These are from Deception Island: These are from the island of South Georgia, long a base for whaling operations: via Ectoplasmosis!
Antarctic Research Blog #82 – Retrograde
Film: Christopher Kulikowski: Retrograde (Luxembourg, Italy, U.K. U.S.A. 2004) Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space is not the worst movie in the world. The worst movies are like this Dolph Lundgren late career vehicle, cheap, pointless and soulless things with no personality whatsoever. Retrograde’s Antarctic elements are surprisingly accurate, Continue Reading
Antarctic Research Blog #81 – Alone
Non-fiction: Richard E. Byrd: Alone (Island Press, 1938/2003) This was one of the last Antarctic classics I had yet to read, an account of Admiral Byrd’s stay alone in 1934 at the Advance Base weather station. Staying alone through the Antarctic winter proved to be hazardous, and most of the Continue Reading
Antarctic Research Blog #80 – At the Mountains of Madness radio play
Audio play: Sean Branney with Andrew Leman: Dark Adventure Radio Theatre presents H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness (The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, 2006) Last entry was my first Antarctic video game, and now’s the first Antarctic audio play. This is a radio version of Lovecraft’s story At the Continue Reading
Antarctic Research Blog #79 – LittleBigPlanet
Video game: LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule, 2008) LittleBigPlanet is a game in which a little critter (pictured above) runs around complex levels. The selling point of the game is that users can create their own levels, which are then shared on the game’s network. A number of these user-created levels are Continue Reading