The Martian
Sol 85
So, I will be stuck in this sausage for 20 days in total, might aswell try and enjoy myself as much as I can. Before I went on this road of self discovery through the Martian vistas, I searched through my colleagues’ things again.
Rover 2 aka the sausage
Thank you for this treasure here!
And guess what I have found? Between Commanders Lewis’s disco music (really commander? That much disco?!) I have found several books (yay). One of them got my attention. It’s Andy Weir’s “The Martian”. I heard about it, but never gotten to reading it. And what a nice coincidence, since I am stuck on friggin’ Mars, just like him.
Surprize!
Having to wait 12 hours for the batteries to recharge gave me the opportunity to read the book. It is amazing how he could write so much about science stuff, based on real science, that could anyone understand and make it so fucking interesting. I even got some ideas from the book, and thank you Andy Weir for that. If only I could find it earlier it could have spared me from burning my eyebrows (remember the water incident).
So after reading the book, I watched the movie. Yes, they made a movie after the book. I found it in Beck’s things. The movie! The movie is like watching me. It’s incredible, I look outside the window and I see the real desolation, the red sand everywhere, the blue sunset. Watching the movie is like watching myself. The cinematography is the real shit! I wonder if Ridley Scott ever went to Mars. The images are that good.
The HAB
The soundtrack is like a good tie. Everyone sees the tie, but no one remembers its color afterwards. So is the soundtrack, it’s there, but it doesn’t stand out. It has some movie “Alien” ondulations in the score, but otherwise not remarcable. I think it’s intentional like this. Being so minimalistic, it’s like being alone with your thoughts. You are not going to hear any cacofony, or uplifting score.
Long story short. During the Ares 3 mission to Mars, something happens (surprize!) that forces the crew to shorten their stay on Mars. During the emergency evac, one of the astronauts is stranded on Mars and he has to survive for the next 4 years until rescue comes. He is going to science the shit out of it to survive. And he does! He manages to cultivate potatoes on Mars for sustinance. The story represents the ups and downs of the struggle to survive. It doesn’t matter what and how hard it hits you, you can rise to the occasion. Just don’t let it defeat you.
The end of the movie has a nice twist to it. In order to save Watney NASA receives help from *surprize* – go and watch the damned movie!
Me groing potatoes
Did I mention that the cinematography is the best I’ve seen?
Martian landscape in the movie
Dingo Gap Sanddune on Mars as seen by Curiosity Rover – courtesy of NASA
Ridley, I will forward you the log when I’ll get back to Earth, maybe you’ll make a movie about me?
The movie is almost identical to the book. There are minor differences here and there, but all in all I’d say it’s 85% the book. I think I’ll read the book again.
Anyhow, my 12 hours are almost up, and I should start riding my camel on the silk road again. Oh, and by the way, as a spoiler, Sean Bean doesn’t get killed in the movie.
Here’s how a sunset looks on Mars
Photos courtesy of Fox
Video courtesy of NASA
-Mark Watney-
P.S.
Me reading the book
-Bogdan Movileanu-
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