The Red Planet
This is the time to be watching Mars. If you haven't heard, Earth and Mars will be closer to one another on the 27th of August than they have been in a long, long time. Read the NASA article here. All we need are clear night skies. A telescope is handy, too, but not necessary.
Don't worry, I'll return to the subject of dictionaries next time.
Succinct Notes
Observe Mars.
Site-Seeing
Visit the Mars Global Surveyor and then go outside and see it for yourself!
From the Bookshelf
There are many wonderful works of fiction involving Mars or Martians. The greatest, perhaps, is War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Of all the tales of invasion by extraterrestrials, this is the first and best. For stories of life on Mars itself, I direct you to the fanciful novels of high adventure by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who reveals to us that the natives refer to their world as Barsoom. Burroughs was a master at depicting bizarre alien beings and their culture. Recently, I read Protector, one of Larry Niven's Known Space novels, and found that it was partly set on Mars. I also own Kim Stanley Robinson's Martian trilogy, Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, which deal with the colonization and transformation of the planet. I haven't read these yet, but a friend has recommended them strongly.
The Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs are:
- A Princess of Mars
- The Gods of Mars
- The Warlord of Mars
- Thuvia, Maid of Mars
- The Chessmen of Mars
- The Master Mind of Mars
- A Fighting Man of Mars
- Swords of Mars
- Synthetic Men of Mars
- Llana of Gathol
- John Carter of Mars
At the Cinema
The Angry Red Planet is a hilariously bad movie about a rocket trip to Mars gone horribly wrong. To quote one of the great old Looney Tunes cartoons, "Don't fail to miss it!"
On the Telly
I remember seeing a television adaptation of Ray Bradbury's book, The Martian Chronicles as a young lad and being quite unsettled by it. I don't know whether my reaction would be similar if I were to see it now, but it was quite a contrast to the heroic fantasy of Burroughs' Barsoom.
Quotations, Possibly?
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, strange beings who landed in New Jersey tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from Mars."
--Orson Welles in a radio broadcast in 1938
I'll keep posting if you keep reading. Be seeing you... :-?
