I took this picture from our porch last night (with a zoom lens):
That’s our local movie theater — its parking lot abuts the end of ours. Even though it’s easy to get there, I’ve only gone a couple of times, and the last time was years ago. (Andy went to see Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as I recall.) I don’t like sitting and prefer to watch movies and TV programs while I get some exercise. So why is Andy coming home early today so we can go to the 4 pm matinee? Because of a book.
Sunday Kaitlin mentioned that she and Torben had listened to The Martian, about a fellow who is mistakenly left for dead on Mars and tries to survive until the next Mars misison comes. They really enjoyed it, so I ordered the paperback for Andy and started listening to the audio book Wednesday evening.
This is the description of the book at Amazon:
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
It has gotten good reviews on Amazon, a 4.6 star rating out of over 20,000 reviews, and I’m enjoying it. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone because its mainly about problem solving and too technical for the people who didn’t like it. The hero is an engineer, and I remember reading years ago that no one could write a best seller about an engineer or scientist — too much thinking, not enough emotion. In fact, this book seems to be doing so well they made a movie about it.
As chance would have it, yesterday I came across this article about how much work had gone into making the movie seem authentic, so I searched for more information. The main thing I noticed was it is now playing in our own theater, so I figured just in case the universe was giving me a subtle hint, I would see for myself what the movie was like. It will be interesting to see if this is one of the rare cases where the movie is at least as good as the book.
I will let you know what we think. 🙂
Do you like to go to movies? What were some of your favorites?
Update: We’re not sorry we went, the scenery was spectacular. But as usual, we prefer books and Netflix. They’re not nearly so noisy!
October 23, 2015
a fun night out – if anything – and doing it locally even better…
I’m not a fan of going to the movies but as we locally are apparently going to ge a huge complex, I might find myself being there from time to time…
It felt adventuresome to do something different. Not that we plan to do it again soon. 🙂
Ah, fianally a post about a movie. I am delighted that you broke routine. I gave the picture a miss here because I am not into SciFi films. Now that you have given it a thumbsup, I tried to get a dvd but find it is now only on preorder at an exorbitant price. I think that I will wait for a while and buy it when the price comes down. It is a pity that we do not have something like netflix in India.
I have to wait a while to see movies on Netflix, but I’m in no hurry. I do love it.
i’ve also heard or read only great reviews of this movie.
and damon is a good actor. quality.
it’s good every now and then to do something out of our comfort zone!
my problem… i would go more often if my back could stand the sitting for almost always 2 hours straight. and the NOISE level of them ALL anymore!
wow.
you could wear ear plugs and still hear every world just fine! LOLOL.
i always threaten to do that each time we go. but i never think to do it!
I wear wax ear plugs plus these industrial-strength ear protectors. I never forget, because I hate loud noises. The movie was two hours and twenty-two minutes. That’s a lot of sitting!
p.s.
love that picture from your porch.
i don’t know why. it just makes me happy.
it’s pretty!
It’s friendly and cheerful. I like the picture too, and I’m glad the theater is there.
To be very honest, I can’t remember the last movie I went to the theater to see.
………nope, still can’t remember.
Hmmm. Now this is bugging me.
I remember going with my sister and 2 of my nieces but…
OK, now I’m going to have to text my sister and ask her.
Anyway. Obviously I wait until I can get them from the library or on Netflix.
Glad you had a good time out though, even if it was a bit loud!
🙂
xo
OMG!
It’s been 3 years!
My sister said it was the movie “Hitchcock” with Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren.
🙁
Jeez
I’m sure it was over ten years for me. And it may very well be at least ten more before I see another one. 🙂