I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
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Hell, liked your post before I realized you weren’t talking about umpires.
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I’m about halfway through book one now. When I finish, can I watch season one without spoiling book two?
Yes, it’s safe to watch.
Season 1 = first 2/3ish of book 1
Season 2 = remaining book 1 + first half-ish of book 2
Season 3 = remaining book 2 + book 3
Season 4 = book 4
They do introduce some characters very early in season 1 (e.g. pretty much everyone at the UN) that weren’t in the first book at all, so if you watch season 1 before reading book 2 you’ll hear some names you’re not familiar with. Their plotlines are not spoilers, though, just additional perspective to add some political intrigue to the main plot.
If you’re going to commit to reading the books then I do recommend staying ahead of the show, though, because the show tells some stories that the books leave out, especially once you get to season 4.
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I recommend Netflix’s new mission to Mars show “Away”. I recommend it if you found the pacing of “The Martian” too fast to handle and “The Notebook” too awash with toxic masculinity. Otherwise, you might not like it.
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Not fiction, but I just watched the new documentary “Challenger: The Final Flight” on Netflix. It’s gut-wrenching. And it’s also remarkable that one of the main assholes that approved the launch (despite a number of engineers’ objections) doesn’t come across as being all that sorry about it 34 years later.
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The one guy (can’t remember his name) who said he’d make the same decision again, appears to be suffering from his guilt exiting his soul through his face.
It was really good, and gut wrenching as you say. I thought it wouldn’t be until the 4th episode until I cried but, nope, a couple of minutes into episode #1.
The entire introduction I was just filled with dread, and actually almost cried with relief when they didn’t show the explosion.
Just finished episode 1, itching for the rest.
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I have been persevering with Season 2 of “The Boys”, but it hasn’t been up to the standard of the first season. Until this week. So much packed into one episode, wow!
Spoiler
The “Red” Congressional Hearing was an exceptional moment, but add to that the rescue of Starlight, the abduction of Homelander’s child, Bill’s run in with his Dad, Black Noir’s nut allergy…holy crap!
Meanwhile, “Utopia” also on Amazon Prime is very good so far. I’m 5 episodes in.
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Is anyone else watching “Raised by Wolves”? I’m liking the show a lot, but with a couple of caveats.
They hit the “Adam and Eve” thing a little hard, especially with the finale. I also don’t like the fact that they apparently still use Imperial units in the future. Seems since the alt history is global, metric units would be used.
I won’t give spoilers but I really like the acting shown in the characters “Mother” and “Father”. They really need to help hash out the alt-history in season 2 or there will be too many sub plots to follow.
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Watched Challenger too. Excellent, and you’ll see it, MM.
Another really good one is American Murder: The Family Next Door about the Shanann/Chris Watts case. Outstanding.
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I have tried twice to watch it. I couldn’t finish episode 1 first time, but I gave it another go and this time got through half of episode 2 before turning it off. It’s laboriously slow, and the only characters that I have even remotely given a shit about were offed after about 3 seconds of screen time.
Spoiler
It was the couple who got killed to have their places on the Arc taken.
Still have no idea what any of it is about.
Challenger was very good. And infuriating. And, instructive since I work in a place with many of the same potential dynamics.
I thought I saw the recco in here about “Away” on Netflix as well but I can’t find it to reply directly. It was a very good, character-driven story, cinematically excellent and physically accurate. Well worth the time.
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“Away” was Limey’s recommendation right above my Challenger post. And I agree, I thought it was really good.
For the record, my recommendation on “Away” was entirely sarcastic ( 
). I persevered because I wanted to see where it was going
Spoiler
Mars, du-uh
But it was glacially-paced and so ham-fisted in telegraphing its commitment to diversity that it was hard to get to the end.
Spoiler
Despite the above, they still managed to have the can-do captain, female lead character, have an emotional breakdown and ultimately need saving by her now wheelchair-bound husband. Plus, stupid plot-points - like the Asian crew-member knowing the frequency of the lost rover because she memorized them as a kid, instead of looking for a signal from the rover being an obvious side mission of the trip - were frustrating. Deus ex lavatrina.
I do admit that the production values were very good and the physics mostly rang true to my armchair, pseudo-science understanding.
Does rotating the cabin in space really create artificial gravity? I honestly think not, but it’s now one of those oft-used workarounds in movies that it becomes “fact” (like being able to snap someone’s neck by twisting it quickly).
Started watching “Utopia” on Amazon yesterday. Turned into a very good excuse for my partner and I to take our minds off the wildfires that have been ravaging all of us out here in Northern California.
The pacing is slow, at least initially, but picks up towards the end of the first episode. We got through four episodes last night and enjoyed them. Production values are high, acting is pretty solid, and even if the conspiracy theory arcs are familiar, the storyline keeps you interested.
Word of warning, there is a decent of graphic violence. Heard that’s similar to the original Channel 4 (UK) series from a few years ago. I’d like to track that one down as several of the reviews I’ve read said it’s better in many respects than Amazon’s version.
Another huge recommendation for “The Expanse.” Both the books and the show itself are excellent.
Man, tough crowd. Rotating a cabin won’t generate anything other than micro-gravity unless the “cabin” is a REALLY big cylinder. Rotating a pod out on an arm, centrifuge-style, will absolutely create artificial gravity due to centrifugal force. And, it would not need to rotate that fast to make 1g, especially the longer it is. For example, the 58’ NASA centrifuge at the Ames Research Center can generate 20g rotating at (a relatively slow) 50RPM.
Edited to add; Or, alternately, place a living pod out on a 100’ radius boom and rotate it at 3.333RPM and you have your 1g living space.
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And Hudson can play his albums.
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I recently read Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves—speaking of neat ways to get to 1g in space. Great book.
Agreed. Very interesting and entertaining book.