Becoming Martian

[coalescent]

Ray Bradbury talked on the Today program this morning about going to Mars:

Interviewer: What kind of place will make there, then? Will it be better than the one we've created here?
Bradbury: Of course it will be! It will be the new world. When we came to America, 400 years ago, we left behind most of the problems of England and France and Italy and Spain, and we left the wars behind, we left the political activity behind, and we formed a new country. And we're gonna do the same thing on Mars. We'll leave behind all the troubles of Earth, and we'll create a new society. One that's better than the one on Earth at this time.

And I thought all the idealists were dead - and I can't decide whether this particular brand of idealism is heart-warmingly optimistic or terrifyingly foolish.

Meanwhile, does anyone know how Amazon prioritises multiple-item orders? I'm currently waiting for Love Is Hell part 1 (Ryan Adams), Love Is Hell part 2 (Ryan Adams), and Uluru (The Rock Of Travolta). If it just collects them until they arrive, I'm fine. I have a horrible feeling, though, that it waits for the slowest item, then the next slowest, then the next slowest, until it's got them all. This is a problem because a few days ago the wait times were this:

Uluru (10-12 days)
Love Is Hell part 1 (2-3 days)
Love Is Hell part 2 (24 hours)

And now they are this:

Uluru (10-12 days)
Love Is Hell part 1 (5-6 weeks)
Love Is Hell part 2 (24 hours)

I'm thinking that if Amazon hasn't already got a copy of Love Is Hell 1 squirreled away for me, the odds of getting both EPs before February's gig just got longer. :-/

Comments

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

If Mars is to earth as America is to Europe, I don't want to go!

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

There's a short story (I think Silverberg's, but could be Dick's, or even Bradbury's himself) in which Earth colonists travel to Mars to make a new world because overpopulation and depletion of Earth's resources has effectively made Earth uninhabitable. When they get to Mars they find evidence of an ancient civilisation which has long since abandoned the planet, which is now pretty much a wasteland, again depleted of resources. The explorers are very excited about this, thinking the Martians must have discovered interstellar transport to go off and colonise other solar systems, which, if that technology were dug up on Mars, would solve a lot of Earth's problems. So they scout around a bit, and find a star map indicating where the Martians went. Turns out they went to Earth. No interstellar transport, just one careless race and two f**ked planets.

[immortalradical.livejournal.com]

As usual, Amazon confuse me and Bradbury frustrates me. The idea that the man who wrote The Martian Chronicles today believes that founding American left all the politics and wars behind is slightly painful to my little head. *sigh* Still, they were different wars and politics, which very well may be the same thing.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I found it very hard to read his tone in this interview - I think this is one of the bits where he was being serious, and not sarcastic, but I'm not certain. Have a listen to the original, and see what you think.

you can change the options on your orders

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

--- and as someone who tries to buy obscure Tim Powers books, I've had to, in the past.

Go and check the status of your orders, and change the dispatch options, so that things are sent separately. It'll cost you a bit more on postage, but it's worth it not to be waiting for weeks on an outside bet of an item.

[greengolux.livejournal.com]

The idea that the man who wrote The Martian Chronicles today believes that founding American left all the politics and wars behind is slightly painful to my little head.

But Bradbury's Mars is 1950s America. There's always been a pride in America and the American way of life in his writing. His latest collection (One More For the Road) seems to indicate that he's pretty much stuck in the America of his childhood - it's full of nostalgia for an old-fashioned American lifestyle. I don't think he's noticed modern politics at all.

[immortalradical.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. He says this immediately after referring to The Martian Chronicles which, of course, says nothing of the kind (and sometimes quite the opposite!). I wonder if he *wasn't* just messing with the interviewer. Pesky Bradbury.

[immortalradical.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course - the Mars Bradbury depicted all those years ago is already horribly dated. By the same token, however, it is built on the kind of assimilation on which the USA was built: Martian names are lost in favour of human ones, for example; the humans automatically assume that Mars is theirs. As Niall says, it's very hard to read the interview. I haven't read One More For The Road, but if what you say is true, I wonder if we're having such difficulty because we simply can't plug into Bradbury's optimistic fantasy.

One thing I like about the idea

[applez.livejournal.com]

Terrorism solved:

Export all the fundamentalists - let them fight it out against each-other on Mars (very appropriate).

Seemed to have worked for Europe, up until the monarchs started 'total warring' eachother.

Re: One thing I like about the idea

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Hell, we could go the whole Peter F Hamilton route and have ethnically streamed colonies... :-/

I concur

[applez.livejournal.com]

I think RB was being serious; the interviewer was spinning it humourous.

Exactly what I expect

[applez.livejournal.com]

Whether it's by competing national colonisation programmes, or by 'ghetto' mentalities.

Let's face it, humans spread across this planet because they couldn't get on with their neighbours anymore. And when forced to, we kill eachother. "Moving on" is our species' classic 'peaceful' solution.

Insofar as ethnic divisions remain, even in 'melting pot' America - I think an implosion along political ideologies just as likely (most dramatically found in the purges by totalitarian regimes in 20thC)

[pixieking.livejournal.com]

Interviewer: What kind of place will make there, then? Will it be better than the one we've created here?
Bradbury: Of course it will be! It will be the new world. When we came to America, 400 years ago, we left behind most of the problems of England and France and Italy and Spain, and we left the wars behind, we left the political activity behind, and we formed a new country. And we're gonna do the same thing on Mars. We'll leave behind all the troubles of Earth, and we'll create a new society. One that's better than the one on Earth at this time.


Am I the only one read this, and thought he was being sarcastic at the Today presenter's expense? Just call me very cynical.

Maybe...

[applez.livejournal.com]

But I just don't find Bradbury to be that much of a koolkat irony-monger...

Nah, Americans are much more demonstrative about their sarcasm, generally speaking.

about 1950s USA

[applez.livejournal.com]

Worth noting RB graduated from highschool in 1938 ... so his worldview is even more arcane.

http://www.raybradbury.com/bio.html

[mattia.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that if Amazon hasn't already got a copy of Love Is Hell 1 squirreled away for me, the odds of getting both EPs before February's gig just got longer. :-/

..speaking of said gig, try doing something would ya: ask the sound guy if you can plug into the soundboard. Apparently it's usually allowed. See Archive.org.

I'd say take along a couple of cables, your MD recorder and a blank disc, and try it on for size! Go on...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I think a 'sweet' may be appropriate here.

Sweet.

[mattia.livejournal.com]

I think 'word' may be appropriate.

'word'.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd make up an Anderson's Law, but my bloody uncle (http://www.edge.org/q2004/index.html#andersona) has got there first. Cheeky monkey.

I like Ewald's third corollary: " Quite a bit of Science is antithetical to science".

-- Tom