Strange Object on Mars?

[HuskyCaucasian]

[GoSox05]

Maybe it's more than meets the eye.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Maybe it's more than meets the eye.

[Controlled Chaos]

Nice to see Tamron Hall.

[Kyyle23]

Maybe its the mars lander that crashed and never was heard from again

[HuskyCaucasian]

Maybe its the mars lander that crashed and never was heard from again

oooo... very interesting! I doubt it, but a good idea.

[Kyyle23]

Im sure FlaSoxx will weigh in on this soon, and give a totally reasonable scientific explanation.

 

Then KidGleason will come by and say it has something to do with Plan 9 from Outer Space

 

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

Im sure FlaSoxx will weigh in on this soon, and give a totally reasonable scientific explanation.

 

Then KidGleason will come by and say it has something to do with Plan 9 from Outer Space

 

 

 

Well, I for one think it's pretty obvious what it is.

 

[Balta1701]

Maybe its the mars lander that crashed and never was heard from again

Actually there are a couple of those. At least one was shot to this same general area of the planet, so debris might not be impossible. It's also possible that it's simply an optical illusion effect created by light bouncing in some crazy fashion. If it was something really big, like a fragment of an old lander, it might well be big enough to show up in a MRO image when they start getting good passes over the current position of this lander.

[Milkman delivers]

Well, I for one think it's pretty obvious what it is.

 

 

I know that's a famous scene from a movie, but what is that? And what movie?

[DrunkBomber]

Im assuming Planet of the Apes pre Marky Mark

[BearSox]

I know that's a famous scene from a movie, but what is that? And what movie?

I think it is from the movie "A Space Odyssey."

Edited May 29, 2008 by BearSox

[Felix]

I think it is from the movie "A Space Odyssey."

2001: A Space Odyssey

 

(and yes, that's what its from)

Edited May 29, 2008 by Felix

[HuskyCaucasian]

If it was something really big, like a fragment of an old lander, it might well be big enough to show up in a MRO image when they start getting good passes over the current position of this lander.

That would actually be kind of cool!

[Balta1701]

That would actually be kind of cool!

On a HIRISE image, each pixel is about .3 meters (about 1 foot, for those of you using crap units). Something a couple meters across would certainly stand out. That camera has easily photographed the other rovers and their tracks as they've driven around.

[Milkman delivers]

OK, so I know what movie it's from, but what is the thing the apes are surrounding?

[Leonard Zelig]

OK, so I know what movie it's from, but what is the thing the apes are surrounding?

 

A monolith.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Looks like another "Alien Autopsy" video is about to be relesaed...

 

Alien Video To Be Revealed To Media Tomorrow, Man Claims

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that tomorrow the world might actually see who else is out there. A man, named Jeff Peckman, claims he will reveal video of live alien to the news media Friday. Brace yourselves. Below are some key excerpts from the story:

 

A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.

 

"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.

 

An instructor at the Colorado Film School in Denver scrutinized the video "very carefully" and determined it was authentic, Peckman said.

[BigSqwert]

OK, so I know what movie it's from, but what is the thing the apes are surrounding?

It's a monolith. Here's what I found regarding the interpretation of its meaning.

 

The monolith

 

As with many elements of the film, the iconic monolith has been subject to countless interpretations, including religious, historical, and evolutionary. To some extent, the very way in which it appears and is presented allows the viewer to project onto it all manner of ideas relating to the film. The Monolith in the movie seems to represent and even trigger epic transitions in the history of human evolution, evolution of man from ape-like beings to beyond infinity, hence the odyssey of mankind.[10][11]

 

Each time the monolith is shown, man transcends to a different level of cognition, and link the primeval, futuristic and mystic segments of the film:[12]

 

1. The first appearance of the monolith occurs at the threshold of the invention of tool and the beginning of language to form groups in order to defend a particular group against another. The first killing in the movie occurs here.

2. After 4 million years but this time on the Moon. This begins the transition between ape-like man and a time traveler is embedded between the appearances of the monolith. The second killing (Poole) occurs here. After David Bowman disconnects HAL, the killing ceases.

3. Between Jupiter and beyond. David Bowman transcends through the monolith (represented as time itself) to break down traditional concept of life and meaning.

4. Last scene further evolves man as he emerges as an embryo that looks back at earth from which it arose and evolved.

 

In the most literal narrative sense, as found in the concurrently written novel, the Monolith is a tool, an artifact of an alien civilization. It comes in many sizes and appears in many places, always in the purpose of advancing intelligent life. Arthur C. Clarke has referred to it as "the alien Swiss Army Knife";[13] or as Heywood Floyd speculates in 2010, "an emissary for an intelligence beyond ours. A shape of some kind for something that has no shape."

 

The fact that the first tool used by the protohumans is a weapon to commit murder is only one of the challenging evolutionary and philosophic questions posed by the film. The tool's link to the present day is made by the famous graphic match from the bone/tool flying into the air, to a satellite containing nuclear weapons orbiting the earth. At the time of the movie's making, the space race was in full swing, and the use of space and technology for war and destruction was seen as a great challenge of the future.[14]

 

But the use of tools also allowed mankind to survive and flourish over the next 4 million years, at which point the monolith makes its second appearance, this time on the Moon. Upon lunar sunrise, when the monolith is exposed to sunlight for the first time since its placement, it emits a powerful radio signal -- the destination of which, of course, becomes Discovery One's mission.

 

In reading Clarke, or Kubrick's comments, this is the most straightforward of the monolith's appearances. It is "calling home" to say, in effect, "they're here!" Some species visited long ago has not only evolved intelligence, but intelligence sufficient to achieve space travel. Humanity has left its cradle, and is ready for the next step. This is the point of connection with Clarke's earlier short story,The Sentinel, originally cited as the basis for the entire film.

 

The third time we see a monolith, it is a far larger iteration, floating in space near Jupiter. Silently, Bowman takes a pod out toward the monolith, and disappears into it. As it marks the beginning of the film's most cryptic and psychedelic sequence, interpretations of the last two monolith appearances are as varied as the film's viewers. Is it a "star gate," some giant cosmic router or transporter? Are all of these visions happening inside Bowman's mind? And why does he wind up in some cosmic hotel suite at the end of it?[12]

 

According to Michael Hollister in his book "Hollyworld", the path beyond the infinite is introduced by the vertical alignment of planets and moons with a perpendicular monolith forming a cross, as if the astronaut is about to become a new savior. Bowman lives out his years alone in a brightly lit neoclassical room that evokes the Age of Enlightenment, decorated with classical art.[15]

 

As Bowman passes through his life in this neoclassical room, the monolith makes its final appearance: standing at the end of his bed as he approaches death. he raises a finger toward the monolith, a gesture that alludes to the Michelangelo painting of The Creation of Adam, with the monolith representing God.[16]

[FlaSoxxJim]

In reading Clarke, or Kubrick's comments, this is the most straightforward of the monolith's appearances. It is "calling home" to say, in effect, "they're here!" Some species visited long ago has not only evolved intelligence, but intelligence sufficient to achieve space travel. Humanity has left its cradle, and is ready for the next step. This is the point of connection with Clarke's earlier short story,The Sentinel, originally cited as the basis for the entire film.

 

That is Clarke's brilliance from The Sentinel right there, and Kubrick didn't get to abstract/psychedelic until after this crucial point in the film. The criterion for allowing the human race to move on to the next level had to be more than tool manipulation, language, civilization, etc. The ante' had to be at least the capacity for short-range space travel, and the ability to sustain human life in space (like the moon bases) at least long enough to be able to unearth the moon monolith that had been buried there 4 million years earlier.

 

I just saw 2001 on Blu-Ray for the first time a few months back and it was phenomenal. The film remains an absolute cinematic masterpiece.

Edited May 29, 2008 by FlaSoxxJim

[BigSqwert]

The film remains an absolute cinematic masterpiece.

Couldn't agree more.

[BigSqwert]

Somewhat related to the thread discussion...

 

A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.

[Kyyle23]

Somewhat related to the thread discussion...

 

A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.

 

 

LMAO, look at the post directly above your monolith post

[BigSqwert]

LMAO, look at the post directly above your monolith post

Doh!

[HuskyCaucasian]

Doh!

Great minds think alike