372 Pages Ep 143 - Artemis - Ep 2 - Sean Meets the Morals Brigade
Added 2023-05-12 17:14:03 +0000 UTCThere is nothing that could prepare you for the, ahem, choices Mr. Weir makes in these chapters so may as well dig in.
Though we will say Mike slightly improves his fortunes in Real or Fanfic.
ASSIGNMENT: Read through chapter 10
Comments
I don't think Weir realizes how unlikable Jazz is. There is nothing good about her (except that she's hot and thinks about sex). She endangers the entire moon for one reason - money. Noble reason for money? Better apartment. And it's not like she's a hard luck case - all of her misfortunes have been her doing and she actively shuns the constant support that is being thrust her way. And it's not like her society is so unfathomably corrupt that it needs a chaos agent to bring order (yes, there's a single abusive police officer patrolling the entire moon but that's not how he's painted either). And yes, that's a character type you could do something with, but I don't think Weir sees her that way. We're supposed to side with her no questions asked, even when she commits terrorism, I think just because she's hot.
Harris
2023-05-17 22:45:07 +0000 UTCJust finished listening to this episode. I SWEAR I read the assignment; I was flabbergasted at how many times I thought "I don't remember reading that" as I listened. This book is disposable. But great fun for our intrepid hosts!
Paco
2023-05-16 13:41:21 +0000 UTCThis guy just won't stop with the social commentary
Spinoza's Dog
2023-05-16 00:32:07 +0000 UTCWhy. Do. They. Keep. Endangering. Everyone. On. The. Moon? They're casually threatening the economy, social structure, and life support. They're all going to die up there.
Joel Schooling
2023-05-15 15:53:06 +0000 UTCPut me in for a couple of those "I Got 🌕ed" shirts, please.
LeviSamJuno
2023-05-15 14:19:08 +0000 UTCI find it humorous (and appropriate) that "Jazz" sounds a lot like "Enoby" as this book comes across as Cline fanfic.
Helblind
2023-05-14 19:40:12 +0000 UTCI always play along real or fanfic. I am 4/5 in this episode. I got the last one wrong.
Jan
2023-05-14 09:56:34 +0000 UTCI have a feeling that if I revisit my experience with the Martian and project Hail Mary now, I’ll likely feel like I shouldn’t have liked those books as much as I did.
Dave Chadwick
2023-05-14 03:41:33 +0000 UTCHa! Figures.
Gina Dalfonzo
2023-05-14 03:16:52 +0000 UTCJackie Treehorn was doing that well into his sixties.
Shawn
2023-05-14 01:49:14 +0000 UTCYeah I'm not Muslim or from an area that has a large Muslim population and even I knew that he got the niqab wrong!
Bleachedblackcat
2023-05-13 21:13:39 +0000 UTCThe worst part: Weir is wrong about what a niqab actually is.
Theodore Lehman
2023-05-13 19:48:55 +0000 UTCWhich, I feel obliged to point out, HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY SUCCESSFUL. At least for Cline. I guess Weir lost some cred with it.
Moviegique
2023-05-13 18:13:35 +0000 UTCHey Mike. That book you propose at the end of episode already exists. It’s called “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff.” You should check it out.
Mike Suhr
2023-05-13 14:24:00 +0000 UTCI’m in my late twenties and sitting here at work trying to resist the temptation to draw a dick on a window that frosted up. But I still find Jas very grating lol.
Art Vandelay
2023-05-13 13:01:32 +0000 UTCI’m glad I wasn’t the only one who was irritated by the niqab commentary.
Art Vandelay
2023-05-13 12:52:36 +0000 UTCReading Cline or Artemis is like reading the book equivalent of movies like "Meet The Spartans". Instead of telling a story with the occasional reference here and there worked in naturally, the story is in the background and the pop culture references are crammed in for the sake of cheap recognition.
Eye-Gor
2023-05-13 12:24:35 +0000 UTCSpeaking of science stuff, I wonder if Weir over-explaining the scientific aspects was a knee-jerk reaction to the criticisms of the inaccuracies in The Martian.
Eye-Gor
2023-05-13 12:21:34 +0000 UTCI appreciate how mature Conner believes the majority of +25yr olds are. I need more of that optimism in my life
DeadReckoning
2023-05-13 12:10:27 +0000 UTCThe tone of this book, it's unbearable. It's that sort of smarmy, jokey tone that's supposedly clever because whoever the author is comes off like they're jabbing you in the side with an elbow and going "did you get that? did you see what I did there?"
LC Brock
2023-05-13 05:51:02 +0000 UTCRe referencing awful stuff, during the RP1 episodes, I got so angry I decided to write a more realistic (and more obnoxious) version of the idea up, where all the IP was genuine cult stuff. So, instead of "Back to the Future", "Repo Man" and instead of "Family Ties", "Nice Girls Don't Explode!" Oh, you haven't memorized the pilot of the only-aired-once-and-never-picked-up Frank Langella sitcom "Dr. Paradise"? Sucks to be you! It was kind of funny but I found a few dozen pages in =I= wanted to punch =myself=.
Moviegique
2023-05-12 23:40:08 +0000 UTCYeah, we puzzled over that last episode trying to figure out how it made sense. I had visions of ships hauling up boxes of "I❤️The Moon" shirts or maybe "I Got 🌕ed" mugs to be sold for $15 each. The economics don't quite work out.
Moviegique
2023-05-12 23:33:46 +0000 UTCDamn, Elizabeth, that's a roasting worthy of Lord Kelvin!
Moviegique
2023-05-12 23:30:59 +0000 UTCThank you!!! I had the same question. Moon poon perhaps, but moon shopping? Never.
Elizabeth
2023-05-12 22:15:12 +0000 UTCHow is your mom like calculus? Silvanus P. Thompson made both of them easy.
Elizabeth
2023-05-12 22:13:35 +0000 UTCI think it's "better" with Cline because emotionally stunted characters are his thing. You're not expecting much more than badly shoehorned in pop culture references. Weir gives the facade of intelligence because of the science stuff to distract you from the bad characters. It wasn't as bad with The Martian or even Hail Mary because the guys are scientists needing to do science stuff. But here, we're being lectured on fake science by a welding school drop out. With a Beavis and Butt-Head attitude towards sex.
Harris
2023-05-12 21:49:45 +0000 UTCCan someone explain to me why it makes sense to buy luxury goods on the moon? They aren't manufactured there as far as we know, so they are manufactured on earth, shipped to the moon, then purchased by tourists who ship them back to earth? Weight and space are at a premium, which makes perfect sense, so it makes it all the more baffling to have shopping be a major draw. Usually tourist destinations known for shopping are duty free or the place that produces the specific goods. I just can't wrap my head around it.
Claire P
2023-05-12 20:31:23 +0000 UTCThanks! (And I am.) I’m glad people are enjoying it as much as I did writing it.
John
2023-05-12 20:30:48 +0000 UTCYeah it was really fun to write. I was wracking my brain for what nationality should happen to run the Gunk Vats and be insultingly stereotypical. I was going to do the French, but the Irish just seemed funnier and more like Weir to pick.
Magister Sieran
2023-05-12 20:11:08 +0000 UTCAnd my absolute favorite moment from this great episode is when Conor realizes he has canonized your fanfic.
Mike Truman
2023-05-12 20:04:45 +0000 UTCIm so happy my fanfic is being canonized that the Gunk Vats are run by the Irish
Magister Sieran
2023-05-12 20:02:56 +0000 UTCMaybe it’s just been too long and I am, ironically, now feeling nostalgic for Cline as if he were part of the classic 80s, but I think Weir might be worse. Cline’s characters at least have a reason for their insufferable-ness. With Jas, it’s inexplicable why she talks and acts the way she does. But in one thing, the two authors are tied, and that is their bizarre, unprompted digressions about sex and morals.
Nick D
2023-05-12 19:19:10 +0000 UTCJohn, I don’t know if you’re a Patreon supporter or not, but Andy Weir’s Edison’s Conquest of Mars made my day. That is exactly what Silvanus P. Thompson would say.
Elizabeth
2023-05-12 18:44:46 +0000 UTCThis episode came just in time to help diffuse the anger I felt after reading too much of this book last night.
Mandie Cornelius
2023-05-12 17:21:28 +0000 UTC
