It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive. Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sarang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer.

It looks like a much needed diversion from modern sci-fi’s “pew pew” to a more restrained and psychological, an old throwback to the Arthur C. Clarke days.   Well, what are you waiting for? Go watch the trailer. Now.

Well, apparently America did concoct something a while ago for individual Americans to give money to so that they could have it later when they wanted/needed, the latter being more appropriate.  It was called Social Security.  Yes, I’m sure some of you have heard of it.  It didn’t really work out all that well, having been drowned out by the federal government and turned into a huge financial massacre.  But let me tell you this, America kept on giving. And now in this pretty fuckin’ crazy state that our economy is in, what do I see?  I see Americans opening up their wallets to the ones who need it most.  The homeless.  The ones who have been so thrashed by our dirty government and pittling economy that they have lost their jobs, houses, probably wives and maybe even children (unless you see them out on the corner with their hard working fathers).  Americans are still providing the hobos and hustlers of this country with steady cash flow, even in the face of this recession.  But how much do they really need it?  I’ve seen a consistent good will towards man attitude from the general populous of America my entire almost twenty year life.  What I’ve seen in the past year in the homeless population has been a little distilling.

I used to be able to go to the mall and come back 5-6 hours later and still see the same literally starving, heartbreaking poor man on the same damn corner.  Now, I walk into a Burger King and what do I see?  A meeting.  A meeting without any Burger King employees.  Without any employees period.  They are the homeless and the jobless, or so they seem.  I believe its more of a 40-60 split of people who really are homeless and starving and people who have cracked the system at these meetings. They tend to have marked territories, or extremely complex mapping grids designed for maximum efficiency.  Several different shifts on several different corners.  For the record, it can be done…living on the streets that is.  The people who have cracked the system are the ones, some of whom I’ve spoken to and have maintained friendships with, who are just like you and me.  They’re the suburbans, they’re the part time babysitters, they’re the bored housewives and they’re overly smart teenagers who have found out how to avoid getting a job.  Some of these teenagers report bringing in cash flow measuring $50-75 per hour.  That’s a better job than most Americans have.   Had.  These rabid teens say its the middle aged women that provide them with the most income. “They don’t even care what its for,” said one of the young schemers.  Its a lucrative business, not having a job. It’s as if they’re living on Social Security.  “Paid for by your community.”  These people have found your Social Security.

For those of you getting laid off…you know where to look.

via [THR]

Update: Watchmen pulled in 55m this weekend.