[rtpoe]

So, there's this new game that just got released called "Starfield", where you can explore the galaxy, see all the wonders that are out there, and, if you wish, follow an overarching storyline.

Hmmm.... Where have I seen that before?

Noctis IV (2003, Alex Ghignola): I’m standing in vacuum atop a dead ravine, idly counting the delicate protrusions of ice that run along the opposite slope. This tiny world surrendered the last of its formative heat to the void eons ago, and the rocks that surround me have not shifted an inch in a billion years. The rapidity of my pulse seems a rude disruption of this most solemn and still of tombs.

But just a few minutes prior, I waded into azure pools beneath a cinnamon sky, while twin stars jostled for attention overhead. And before that, I jet-packed across teeming valleys, watching from high above as birds flitted among trees of crystal. And when I started playing Noctis IV about thirty minutes ago, the first world I set upon was racked by earthquakes and seas of lava, and a hostile atmosphere of pressurized acid sought entry through the joints of my space suit. Taken as a conglomerate, these myriad and disparate worlds are enough to make Rutger Hauer cry all over again; to make Keir Dullea turn away in astonishment and head for home.
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/footprints-in-moondust/

Starflight (1986, Electronic Arts):  One of the most important technical aspects of Starflight was the Fractal Planet Generator, Dave Boulton's hypothesis for creating the game's huge galaxy that was revamped and implemented by Tim Lee, as Johnson explains. "Tim came up with the idea of using fractals and a seed number to generate an entire galaxy, right down to the terrain and individual lifeforms of every single planet. The key was that the information was stored in the algorithm and rules for generation and not the data. In other words, it would be generated the same every time and there was virtually no limit to the size - all you needed was the right rule set."
https://www.eurogamer.net/the-story-of-starflight-eas-sci-fi-sandbox-that-laid-the-way-for-mass-effect

[TheZookie007]

"John Lennon Does The Weather - 1975 Philadelphia TV"

[MaxBigfoot]

...and we wouldn't want that, would we?   

[solvegas]

 

[MaxBigfoot]

Serious improvisation!   

[Shadowmuse Blown]

Have you ever seen Stdio Ghibli’s Castle In The Sky?  There’s a theme park in Japan based on the movie, apparently.  This is a cosplay of one of the robots of Laputa.  He doesn’t even work for the park, but just shows up once or twice a month to have fun with the guests. 

Really?  Hire that guy!

[solvegas]

This is a cosplay of one of the robots of Laputa.

You know, in Spanish La puta means the whore. 

[gOOber]

 

[MaxBigfoot]

That one's a combo guffaw! and what the hell?   

[MaxBigfoot]

Just WOW.   

[solvegas]

Just WOW.   

THAT is very scary looking. 

[solvegas]

This photo was taken by the Bancroft Hall in the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where a squirrel is resting inside an old 24 pounder ship cannon of the late 18th, early 19th century era. 

[MaxBigfoot]

How nice of them to offer!   

[gOOber]

Nice work if you can get it

[MaxBigfoot]

Nice work if you can get it

Yeah!   
Looks like Bette Davis.