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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Entertainment
An Ode to the “Tomb of Horrors”
(NOTE: Updated the post to include one additional Tomb-related adventure, which I completely forgot about while first writing!) Part of this feeling on my part is certainly nostalgia, but there really isn’t anything quite like the original Advanced Dungeons & … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Fantasy fiction, Horror
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Dr. SkySkull on WCNC!
For those who just can’t get enough of seeing me on camera (read: my parents), yesterday I did a very short spot on WCNC TV to promote UNCC’s Science and Technology Expo that is happening tomorrow, noon-4 pm, on the … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Personal, Physics
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Connecting a PS2 to an HDMI TV
This past week I had an incredible urge to play the original Katamari Damacy videogame on my old Playstation 2. Unfortunately, the PS2 does not play well with modern HD TVs, as the allowable video modes for the PS2 are … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment
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Spoiler-filled The Last Jedi thoughts and open discussion thread (updated)
When I saw The Force Awakens two years ago, I needed a place to share my thoughts without sharing Star Wars spoilers all over the internet, and my blog turned out to be the perfect place to do it. The … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Personal, Science fiction
31 Comments
Paintings I Love, Painting Is Love: A Storify
Somewhat despairing of all the relentlessly bad news in politics and the world, today I decided to post a series of beautiful paintings on twitter as a bit of an antidote. I invited anyone else to offer their own favorites, … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Personal
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Dr. SkySkull in Amsterdam: Optics in the Rijksmuseum
The lower level of the Rijksmuseum, an area relatively few time-strapped visitors manage to visit, is reserved for more practical forms of art: musical instruments, ceramics, ship figureheads, weapons, and the like. I explored this whole area on my recent … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, History of science, Optics, Travel
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Spoiler-filled Star Wars thoughts and open discussion thread
So — I saw it last night. It was amazing. In fact, I saw it just in time, as this tweet of mine indicates: Left theater, walked by little kid blurting out MAJOR movie spoiler. Saw the film JUST IN … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Personal
54 Comments
“Secrets of the Universe” campaign has begun!
I’ve been quite busy the past two weeks, but I just wanted to drop a short note to let folks know that a really cool new science cinematic experience is being crowdfunded on Indiegogo: Secrets of the Universe! This project, … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Physics
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The comics moment that most inspires me: Suicide Squad
Update: Forgot to say “thank you” to my Dad for mailing me my complete “Suicide Squad” collection, which made this whole post possible! I suspect that people who don’t read comics fail to realize how much kids can be inspired … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Personal
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Skulls in the Stars 