Musings on Mars movies, Black IT and outer space

So, The Martian ruled the box office this weekend in the States. Matt Damon made it back from Mars with the help of Black IT. Not the Black Eyed Peas. I said Black IT. Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor brought the stranded, left for dead Damon back to Earth. and their Latino colleague drew up a plan that Damom could use to rig a ride together. Diversity! Let us now practice this IRL. I hope that inspired little Black/Brown kids to realize that there are other ways to succeed besides being a rapper or being a baller. Or an actor. Diversity in STEM is needed. And examples need to be seen in media and in real life. Okay, I'm stepping off the soapbox now. The space adventure made 65 million smackeroos. Good. There were two other Mars movies in the last 15 years that I liked but they died at the box office like a real human would if left on Mars. Red Planet and Mission to Mars were pretty good flicks. Both came out in 2000, November and March respectively. I liked the chemistry between Val Kilmer's and Carrie-Ann Moss's characters (and it had hefty pieces of eye-candy too - Benjamin Bratt and Simon Baker and Tom Sizemore and eye candy of old, Terence stamp) and the plot to this day when I watch it, still has me on the edge of my seat. The second film had Gary Sinese, Tim Robbins, Connie Nielsen, Don Cheadle, Kim Delaney and Jerry O'Connell and has them stranded on the red rock while yet another team on the ground rushes around trying to save them. I like outer space. From afar. I like wide  open spaces but this girl ain't the Manifest Destiny type. So, for those who are adventurous or tired of Earth or plain opportunist, be my guest. Sign up for those rocket rides. I'll stay here. Besides, when dealing with a beautiful landscape, it's always much better to stand back from it then to stomp all around it.