I am a big fan of the sort-of-dull exploratory science fiction films from the very dawn of the space age, like Destination Moon (which is not the same at the Tintin adventure of the same name, but the storylines are remarkably similar). Just about my favourite, though, is Conquest of Space. That one was somewhat based upon the Chesley Bonestell images in a book of the same name written by Willy Ley, a German rocket enthusiast who got out of Germany before the war and thus had less practical experience and fewer potential war crimes.
…ANYWAY…
The plot of Conquest of Space was an mildly utopian and extremely mechanistic description of an expedition to Mars. It’s great. And today’s film pokes some of the same buttons.
I suppose naming the ship Bradbury would be a little too on the nose. I think I might have gone with Burroughs, for a laugh.
There’s been a fair amount of noise recently about stacking starships (which sounds like a deeply unwise version of Jenga). While I’m not a specific proponent of SpaceX, not a Musk-ovite at all, I do like the idea of the current future including (semi)realistic plans for space-faring.
This sort of thing, after all, is what I grew up with as “what to expect from the future!”
I can’t decide if it would be a good idea or not to wave this under the noses of those pushing space currently. The existence of the Segway suggests we might be able to work out more intuitive controls… but the “make mistakes and break stuff” mode of at least one of the parties makes me fear for potential test-pilots.
Today’s pen: Eversharp Skyline Today’s ink: Monteverde Malibu Blue (which I chose because I happened upon something written on a date I was previously using this ink, but it’s nothing like as vibrant– either I was using something else then, I didn’t clean out the Skyline well last time, or I can still be surprised by how much effect the pen can have on the look of the ink)
If you’re a wiser person than me, you won’t have actually read Moby Dick, but have only been exposed to the film versions, the comic versions, the kids’ abridgements, or Ricardo Montalbán’s dramatic readings in the course of one of the best science fiction films ever.
I was vaguely aware of the book having been based upon a real story, but I hadn’t heard the whole of that story. It’s… gruesome yet entertaining (mainly because it happened a long time ago).
If you’re not wiser, or have radically different tastes in reading… well, ahoy, mates.
† I get to exercise my signing authority today at the Sask. Writers Guild (did I mention I am, for the moment, a director?) so in addition to a pen with a distinctive point, I wanted to use an indelible ink; this one is both permanent and magnificently well-behaved.
What's up at Ravens March. 
