Gabbing Geek Reviews: The Martian [Spoiler-Free]

The Martian hit theaters this week, and we couldn’t be more excited here at Gabbing Geek. For those of you that didn’t listen to our book review of Andy Weir’s  New York Time’s best seller, here is a quick synopsis:

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew (Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, & Aksel Hennie). But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet with only the NASA crew (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean & Donald Glover) as his source of communication.

Does director Ridley Scott do The Martian justice? Or is this just another failed mission to Mars? Find out what the geeks think after the break:

A Grim Tech Future

Brilliant design artist Eddie Del Rio has produced an amazing collection of art that envisions a bleak future.  Check it out!

What Does a Nuclear Explosion Look Like From Space?

We are all familiar with the mushroom cloud visual of nukes as seen from the vantage point of Earth.  What do they look like to the folks in space who would be wondering if they had a planet to go back to?

Podcast Reaction: Explaining Space To Jenny Edition

Just pay the bet, Jenny!

This week on the podcast, I couldn’t listen to the whole thing because I’m only nine and a half episodes into Daredevil and need to finish it before I finish the podcast.  It happens.  I’m not overly concerned about spoilers, but some geeks are.  Ryan beat me atop the head with a length of rubber hose for mentioning a character in passing appears prominently in one episode, and he needed to be avoided until the red haze of rage passed from his face.  It was the most fun editorial meeting we’ve ever had.

So, it’s time to tell Jenny to pay her Fantastic Four bet.

Original Geek Art – Uhura: The Quickest Way To The Top

Aren’t we all just a little sick and tired of seeing Uhura kiss and play nice with the rest of Starfleet? Well not this Uhrua, she’s kicking ass and taking names. Who’s next? Want to see more? Check out artist Janey-Jane on Deviant Art. Watch out space frontier, there’s a new captain in town.

Buzz Aldrin Tweets To The Cosmos!

On March 16th Buzz Aldrin tweeted out to the universe that while in Stonehenge, he was going to send a message to the cosmos. Check out his tweet after the break:

Gabbing Geek 28: Clue, Death, And Taxes

It’s Gabbing Geek 28: Clue, Death, And Taxes! It’s real, and it’s fantastic!

The latest episode of your favorite weekly geek podcast is now live!  Go and listen without delay!

That’s No Moon. That’s A–Oh, Wait, That’s Totally A Moon!

That bright dot? Totally a moon and not, I repeat NOT, a secret superpowered human being safely towing the asteroid out of our orbital path. Nope. Not the latter at all, I have been told to say.

 

You probably didn’t realize just how close you came to dying in a fiery explosion with the rest of the planet yesterday.  Asteroid 2004 BL86 came within 1.2 million kilometers of Earth (fine, 745,645 miles, but 1.2 million kilometers sounds so much asteroider) and that’s only about 3 times the distance from the Earth to our moon as reported by IFLScience.  The asteroid is the size of a mountain or big enough for Bruce Willis to land on and start drilling.  And turns out it has its own little moon.

Wait, this asteroid gets its own moon?  I’ve been way better than the asteroid all year long but do I have a moon?  NOOOO!  I want my own moon now, Santa!