PODCAST HAIL MARY S01E01 - Chapter One
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Matt: [00:00:00] Okay.
Meg: Hey Matt.
Matt: Hey. How do, how, how do we do this? How do we podcast?
Meg: You know, I think that there's some mics.
Matt: Yeah. And
Meg: there's some, some cameras
Matt: I've heard of this.
Meg: Yeah. Can we speak to them? Mm-hmm. And directly into that.
Matt: Right. Okay. Well, tell us about you, about your experience with that.
Meg: Well, thank you for inviting me to, uh, co this podcast or you, it is very fun actually for me because I'm not a big reader.
Matt: Okay. Me neither.
Meg: So I love that we're doing a podcast about a book. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Trust us. And we know what we're talking about. No, I I I'm a huge fan of, uh, sci-fi though. Yes. Of sci-fi s and stories, so this is perfect. And when I started reading the book, I just got really inspired, uh, 'cause I've been, you know, navigating the space industry a little bit for those who, uh, have tuned in tele Burton's in space.
Yeah.
Uh, we got some funding from Storyhive. To do season one and season two mm-hmm. Of a video podcast. And I, uh, [00:01:00] like shout out to Storyhive for supporting, uh, creators through this process of, of, uh, of kind of building this skill up because it is an art form. And what's crazy is that a lot of, uh, um, grant agencies in Canada, across Canada aren't really seeing it as such.
Mm-hmm. So the fact that there is a grant, uh, through Telus, uh, that is supporting people. Having a great opinion about something.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: Is awesome.
Matt: It is.
Meg: It's, it's super,
Matt: it's huge. Yeah.
Meg: I'm super grateful for the people that I've been able to talk to with my cohost Zach trolley.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: And we're, yeah, talking to Albertans doing cool things in the space industry.
Matt: So Cool. Yeah.
Meg: This is not a book about Albertans doing
Matt: no
Meg: space
Matt: industry, but you came and brought the show to my podcast studio and I thank
Meg: you for that again. Yeah, that was awesome.
Matt: And I thought, who better to do a podcast about Project Hail Mary than you? Because you, you know, uh, this world way better than I do.
And, and I gotta top you up on, on the, uh, the Storyhive thing because you're absolutely right. I mean, that, like, Telus has brought in not just for [00:02:00] podcasters, but also for filmmakers in general, has brought in millions of dollars into, into our creative economy here that we wouldn't have had, uh, if not for them.
So, um, it's pretty amazing. So, yeah. So if, if you don't know about, uh, us, we're here in, uh, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Telus, uh, provides funding for filmmakers and creators, um, and bc BC and Alberta. Yeah. All right, cool.
Meg: And, and on honestly, just to segue into, uh, that, because, uh, BC and Alberta are often. I wouldn't say BC so much, but Alberta's overlooked a lot in, in, in grant funding opportunities.
Yeah, for sure. And so having this be a Western Canada initiative mm-hmm. Is pretty great. And I hope of course it expands across Canada. Yeah. Because there's so many stories to tell. Um, but it's local community stories and they really wanna focus on the niche. And so what's more niche than doing a, a podcast about Albertans in space?
And everyone I've met has said. What? Like what do you mean there's a space industry?
Matt: Yeah. Nobody knew that Albertans were in space. Like That's amazing.
Meg: It's [00:03:00] pretty cool and I am really happy that we get to tell the stories. It's
Matt: a great, it's a great podcast.
Meg: Well, it's not just astronauts too, we, I mean, we do speak to astronauts, but we talk too.
Educators and, um, people who are, uh, you know, uh, engineers and astrophysicists, they're all look at scientists and who knew
Matt: for sure.
Meg: And I'm the lovable layman who knows very little about space, but that's
Matt: great.
Meg: Um, I like to tell jokes and make people like me for sure. So, yeah. Obviously it worked.
Matt: You're wonderful.
Uh, and, and I was like, I gotta have a podcast with her. So here, so here we are.
Meg: Amazing. Well, tell me, tell us, tell our viewers about Sure. What you've been doing and, and you've opened up this podcast studio and
Matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Meg: For ran into the podcasting world. You've got a great answer. Voice.
Matt: Oh, do I, I, I don't know about that.
Actually. It's actually been more than 10 years now since I started my first podcast called Al, uh, the Alberta Filmmakers Podcast. Great. Uh, that was audio only. And, uh, did that for about three years. We did over a hundred episodes of that show. Um, and I've, [00:04:00] and I always loved it. I, I, and I'd always wanted to get into video podcasting because that's, that's where it seems to be going.
And so, yeah. Uh, been been building this little studio space and, um, having some success with it. So. I thought, now it's time to launch my own podcast again. And so I did a podcast, uh, with Victoria Glin called Pleura Pod, which is available@plpod.com as we record this. We actually haven't finished it yet.
There's still one more episode we need to do. We have, I was
Meg: gonna say it.
Matt: Yeah. Everyone's waiting for that final episode. Um, I
Meg: haven't watched the actual final episode of fair Enough series.
Matt: Yeah,
Meg: so no spoilers.
Matt: All right. I'm also a filmmaker. I teach film and, um, I am super excited about Project Hail Mary, the movie that's coming out on a, uh, March Twentieth's.
And so I thought, how cool would it be for you and I, you someone who hasn't read the book before. Me who has listened to the book before, for us to go through each chapter, uh, and do an episode on each [00:05:00] chapter as we, as we lead up to the movie. So that's what we're doing here. I'm excited about it.
Meg: Amazing.
And you told me that you've listened to the audiobook.
Matt: I have listened to the, the autobook audiobook entirely, which is awesome. The person who reads it is like a performer and, and like, it's,
Meg: it's who is it? Do you know?
Matt: Yeah, I don't ask me that. I should know that. We'll, we'll find out for next episode. Um, but he is excellent and he, and he, and it's more like listening to like an audio drama than a, than like just an audio book.
It's, he, it's, it's very engaging. It's really good. So, uh, yeah, uh, I'm, I'm re-listening to it as, as we go through these podcasts. Uh, and, uh, so why don't we talk about this first episode and, and, and lay some of the groundwork for the structure a little bit more because you, the idea is you have not read the book.
You've read the first three chapters, um, 'cause we're recording three episodes all at once. A little behind the scenes movie magic for everybody. But, um, you have also sadly been exposed to the trailer and I hate trailers.
Meg: I shouldn't have said trailer,
Matt: and I hate, I hate trailers for this reason, [00:06:00] the amount of information they give us,
Meg: I was hijacked, I was in a, a theater and what can
Matt: you
Meg: do?
Can you watch up my eyes? Yeah. Make, what am I supposed to do?
Matt: I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm such a sicko that I actually bring my AirPods in a hoodie and I You do not. And I do, and I look at my phone and I don't look at the screen and I like, but you can't really do that as a normal human being. If you're trying to be normal.
Don't do that.
Meg: That's not normal.
Matt: So, yeah. Uh, I don't blame you. I com I, I understand. Um, but it is, it is a bit frustrating because, and I still have not seen the trailer, but you're, you've told me it reveals quite a bit.
Meg: It does. Yeah.
Matt: So, thoughts, feelings on that.
Meg: Um. It's too bad because of course I wanted to go into this without knowing so much.
Yeah. And I don't know, the trailer gave away a lot.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah. It's too
Meg: bad. And, um, you know, we will be talking about some spoilers mm-hmm. For everyone who's listening mm-hmm. Slash watching. So just be mindful of that because ideally. We, we kind of, uh, I, I'm really looking forward to just reading every chapter and, and, uh, absorbing the content, understanding it [00:07:00] without having like this already image in my head.
Yeah. Which the trailers given me unfortunately, for sure. But that's just the reality.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Um, I can't have amnesia like Ryland Grace. Whoa.
Matt: Yes.
Meg: Chapter one, actually, he doesn't have a name in chapter one. Sorry.
Matt: It's true. Yeah. Yeah.
Meg: Protagonist, unknown
Matt: protagonist. It's gonna be a bit challenging and awkward for us 'cause, 'cause we only wanna talk about chapter one, but you'll have read into further and we can't avoid that.
Yeah. But we'll, we'll do our best. So
Meg: A DH ADHD too. So I'll be popping in too. A lot of different things and, uh. Hopefully it's entertaining.
Matt: Awesome. I would highly recommend if you want to join us, if you wanna follow along with us, uh, feel free to read the chapters. Just know that we're probably gonna talk about the trailer for the movie as well.
And so, as far as spoilers go, I hate spoilers. So just a heads up and a warning to, to everyone listening, that probably gonna, uh, bump into some spoilers, but if you're not, uh, too worried about it, then great. So. Tell us what happens in this chapter. Chapter one.
Meg: I just wanna mention a little bit about spoilers.
Of course. Course. Yeah. 'cause we're living in an age where a lot of books are being adapted [00:08:00] into, into movies. Yes. And so spoilers are kind of part of the, the commitment to It's true. To watching or consuming content. Content. That's true.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Um, so I'm not gonna be too upset Yeah. About, about knowing a little bit more than I do now.
I'm kind of looking forward to that part in the book that we get to meet whoever this is that. He needs
Matt: right.
Meg: So syn chapter one. Alright,
Matt: let's talk about it.
Meg: You get to basically meet this person, uh, that he wakes up without. Kind of a [00:09:00] context of where he is,
Matt: right. No memory.
Meg: He doesn't know his name.
Matt: Yeah,
Meg: he doesn't know where he is. He's, he obviously has, you know, there's some, some things that he knows already mm-hmm.
About the world in general. It's not like he's right, uh, forgotten everything, but he's like the first few, uh. Pages of the book are him trying to, uh, say stuff.
Matt: Right.
Meg: He's not able to actually sound out syllables.
Matt: Yeah. And in my reread I was thinking, yeah, he can, he can think in English, but he can't speak these words.
Meg: Yes. He's thinking 'cause it's first person or first person prose.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Meg: Uh, like I am. Mm-hmm.
Matt: You
Meg: know, this person. Yeah. Then he doesn't know who he is.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Uh, and then the computer is like, what is your name? What is your name? And uh, he doesn't know him. Right. And he's trying to say it, but he can't sound out the words, but he can think.
Which is a good, a good point.
Yeah.
Um, so basically he knows he's somewhere in, in this like medical grade facility 'cause he's in a pod and he's naked. Mm-hmm. I can't help but think, you know, of more [00:10:00] anticipation of watching the film and seeing Ryan glossing naked. Uh, just like any, you know, any person who's for sure just, you know, a consumer of, of, of content.
And a lover of Ryan Gosling.
Matt: Right.
Meg: Ryan. Hi. If you're listening. Big fan. Big fan.
Matt: We all are. I, my first read through, we didn't, I, I wasn't aware that he'd been cast, but I think they were shooting, uh, the film by the time I had done my first listen through, I should say. Um,
Meg: because this was, this, this book was written in 20, 20, 21, I think.
Matt: Yeah. Or 22 maybe. Is it? Yeah, maybe it's 21, but, uh, but yeah, it's still fairly recent. Yeah.
Meg: Yeah,
Matt: yeah.
Meg: Um, and we can talk about, you know, the, the, the, the author a little bit later because Yeah, for sure. Andy wears a very interesting character
Matt: for sure.
Meg: Um, but basically,
Matt: hmm.
Meg: Nice screensaver. Look at that. I was like, go.
I'll just scroll down a little bit here. Um, so basically he realizes that he's alone and there's a computer that's talking to him. Uh, and then he sees that there [00:11:00] might be a couple of other people in this space with him mm-hmm. Uh, that are there. He doesn't know at this point that they are in fact deceased, but he does find that a little bit later on in chapter one,
Matt: right?
Yes.
Meg: Um. So, I mean, it's like, it's in true Andy Weir form. It's funny. It's like, yes. It's, it's, there's so many questions which, uh, again, like is a blank slate for the whole book. So as a reader, you're like, oh, I have those questions too. You know, like, who is he and who are these dead people? Uh, you know, there's obviously, uh, a lot of, uh, you know, how long has he been there is another question.
Um, he's obviously really smart and he's a scientist of some kind. Mm-hmm. But we don't actually know.
Matt: He doesn't even know what kind of scientist he is.
Meg: Yeah, yeah,
Matt: yeah,
Meg: yeah, exactly. So it's, it's a pretty short chapter, which as a person who doesn't read, I'm. A fan of,
Matt: nice to knock that out.
Meg: But that's basically it.
He's, and he's trying to figure out where he is, who he is, and the computer keeps asking all these [00:12:00] questions. Um, he's attached to all of these like life support systems. His body is actually like in good shape and he's questioning like, why is my body in shape? How is that possible?
Matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Meg: Why do I have a tube in my ass?
Mm-hmm. Sorry. Why do I have a tube in my butt?
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Why do I have a tube in my, you
Matt: can swear we can.
Meg: Why do we have a tube in my wiener? And, uh,
Matt: well, you can't say wiener.
Meg: And, and then, uh, what's hilarious is that he, you know, there's two discoveries I found really interesting in the first chapter. 'cause again, I'm going into this blind.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: Uh, he goes up the ladder to try to get to a hatch.
Matt: Yes.
Meg: And he falls. But the, but the, of course, that are friendly. Robots there to catch him.
Matt: Tries to catch him. Yeah.
Meg: And it feel, he feels an unease. He says that, he's like, I feel uneasy. It was weird. It was a weird call. Pretty
Matt: creepy that there would be robot arms.
I've found these robot arms. Very, um, uh, like, like ominous.
Meg: Yeah.
Matt: In my first readthrough. Yeah.
Meg: Yeah. But also like, you're like wiser reader as he were. Like he, he didn't seem weirded out about the fall. Yeah. Or sorry, the robots catching him, but he was weirded about half. [00:13:00] Fast he was falling.
Matt: Right.
Meg: Which is, you know, a clue into the fact.
Yeah. 'cause he doesn't know he is in space at this point.
Matt: No, that's
Meg: right. And it's kind of obvious guys, like he's in space.
Matt: Yeah. It's on the cover.
Meg: Yeah. Okay. Andy, we're like, maybe change your cover if you don't want, but it's obvious he's in space.
Matt: Yes.
Meg: So, um, and then the second thing is that he is, um. Uh, what, what was I gonna say?
Oh, that he has this flashback. So the
Matt: first flashback, this is part of the whole structure of the book. There's gonna be flashbacks. Okay. Great. Entire book. So, yeah. This
Meg: amazing.
Matt: And it, and it's really well done. Uh, that's, I'll leave it at that, but it's cool though.
Meg: Very cool.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: And so it's like, uh, what I like is that it's a flashback, uh, and it's a email that he received from this woman named Irina Petrova,
Matt: right
Meg: from the.
Pol Covo Observatory in Russia. Oh, okay. I wrote it down.
Matt: Nice.
Meg: Uh, I could look at the book. Um, and basically it's talking about Venus and this curious, um, uh, anomaly that has been found [00:14:00] called the Petrova Line.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: And they want his, his input and advice
Matt: right.
Meg: And, uh, the reason why he does have this flashback is he falls out of the, the, the, um, pod that he's in, and then the wiener tube flies out and a, a thin red line of blood comes out on the floor, or his flashback is because the subject line of that email is thin red line.
Matt: That is an interesting, uh, way to transition. Yeah. Good
Meg: job, Andy. That that was, that, that I laughed out loud. Yeah, for sure. At this, at this affiliation. So. So that's when we know, we know we don't know his name. He doesn't know his name. He knows how to speak. Sort of, after a little bit of time, he goes back into a coma to, you know, regain strength.
But at this point he still has lots of questions about who he is, who are these people next to him, where, how long has he been there, where is he? All that stuff. Right? So it's a bunch of question marks, but like I said, Andy Weir is very good at doing that. He did the same thing for Martian.
Matt: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Meg: And you're like very intrigued. Um, to, to keep reading.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. [00:15:00] Yeah. Yeah. There's something, um, kind of like, I feel like Andy Weir is probably a bit of a smart ass, which I love. Um,
Meg: he's just, from what I've read,
Matt: and that's till that
Meg: full total dick
Matt: that comes No, no. That comes through in his writing that, uh, and it just reminds me, I haven't read The Martian, but, but that, that moment in, in the movie The Martian, when, uh, Matt Damon is like, fuck you Mars, uh, that, that, that line really feels like it sums up his, his kind of like.
Smart ass style that hundred percent that, and obviously Grace is the same way too.
Meg: Yeah,
Matt: yeah.
Meg: And so did and your takeaways from chapter one.
Matt: Mm. Yeah. I mean, I remember, yeah, I remember think, yeah. I mean, listening to it is, is cool. It's, uh, it, it is a performance. Um, and so, uh, it, it is interesting to hear the reader like trying to say words and not say them, even though he's also thinking.
Um, it, it's, uh, like I was. At first I thought maybe there's some sort of quarantine. That's what I, I didn't assume automatically that we were in space. I thought maybe he was, [00:16:00] he was like, there was maybe some sickness or illness, COVID, COVID brain, sort of. But um, obviously that's not the case. Uh, I was, yeah, and I, and I think it's, I think it's an interesting way to deliver, uh, information, uh, through him trying to.
Figured out as well. Right. Uh, it might be a little bit, uh, of a, of a, of a cheat, but we as the audience are not scientists. So it's, it's cool that we can learn the information, sometimes complex information in while he's learning it as well. Um, it's, uh, it's, it's effective. It's definitely effective. Um, and then the other thing that I, I thought was interesting, uh, was the, uh, it's gone.
Sorry.
Meg: Let's see. Let's do some, um, some, some, some. One word
Matt: Word. Association.
Meg: Association.
Matt: Oh, I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask you. Yeah. The word association associated it. Okay. Um, I was actually gonna ask you, and it's okay if [00:17:00] you don't know this, but, but the idea of like sharing information, like, like does the space community in general, like, does like petrova looking for input on this?
Is that a thing they really do? I, I would hope so.
Meg: From what I've gathered so far, and I'm no expert, but the people we've had conversations with, uh, it starts at post-secondary level.
Matt: Oh, cool.
Meg: So a lot of, there's two people we've met with in season two that are students of U of A and U of C.
Okay.
Who are, uh, building.
Cube SATs and the cube sat is like a little loaf of bread. Um, basically like cubes stacked on top of each other with, uh, the payload, whatever payload they are sending into space to uncover details of,
Matt: okay,
Meg: so let's say they're sending it up to it in relation to this book. If we, they were to send a cube, sat up into the patrol line
Matt: mm-hmm.
Meg: To send the x-rays out to gather information about these. The items in the petrova line. Right. Then hopefully it would come back and they would, uh, [00:18:00] um, give them valid information about what that is. Cool. And then they would take that data and put it open source online. So, and I've been to the, I've been to, I don't know, I don't know how to read it.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: It's all science.
Matt: Yeah. No, would I,
Meg: yeah. Laughs and like numbers and
Matt: shit.
Meg: Those who do understand it, it would be great. And like the idea of open source just is so amazing.
Matt: Yeah. Cool.
Meg: And universities are always the forefront of doing that, like sharing information that's great. Just keeping it and like, you know, trademarking, copywriting it and then like everything just ends up being a, a financial transaction.
So that's what I really love about universities doing the research.
Matt: And it sounds like a. Badass experience if you're like, oh, I'm in the community now and like people want my opinion or at least wanna gimme the chance to take a look at it and get my perspective on it,
Meg: it must be cool and know there's so many things we don't know about space.
Matt: Yeah, for
Meg: sure. And this is why I think sci-fi novels are so popular.
Matt: Yes.
Meg: Is because you can make shit up.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: You and I mean, there's a science part of it, which I think Andy wears really good at. Yeah. Doing. 'cause he is not a scientist
Matt: for sure. Yeah.
Meg: Um, and, but he does a ton of [00:19:00] research.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: And the more you know, and the more you talk to people and, and like, I, I believe that.
Ever since The Martian. 'cause the Martian was self-published. It was
Matt: Right. That's true.
Meg: It was sold for like 99 cents. So download.
Matt: Yep.
Meg: Um,
Matt: well, and apparently Redditors were a big help. Like he, he would. Post chapters on Reddit and they would give him feedback on the science of it. Yeah.
Meg: And now scientists from NASA and people are actually giving him information.
Matt: It's amazing. Yeah.
Meg: Uh, so I think that does, that does happen. But what, you know, we can talk more about the politics behind, um, you know, commercialization space and everything like that. Yeah. But it gets a little bit trickier, but. I think NASA has like a mandate to share information. Any information they find, they put it online because they're a government run, uh, public organization.
Matt: Yeah. Cool.
Meg: So, good question. Interest. I, I feel like it, it, the more I learn about it, the more I realize that it is more of a sharing, uh, data than it is like not.
Matt: Actually, and just 'cause pluribus is, is a recent, uh, you know, zeitgeisty pop culture thing. There's a, there's a moment in Pluribus where, where a bunch of [00:20:00] different scientists have come together to, to try to understand what this, the signal they're receiving.
And so there's, it is nice. It feels like, it feels like. I didn't think about what you said. The commercialization of space or just anything. Everything's gotta be a transaction and it seems like this is some something that is, at least for now, something that people can actually work on together without it being a,
Meg: we wanna keep it that way as much as possible, as long as possible.
And I think that, um, you know, the United Space Treaty is very outdated as we know it was written in, is it okay in 70? I'm gonna fuck this up in 1972 or 73. It needs to be updated, but it basically says that the world, um, that we need to have a, everyone needs to have some stake and some, some conversation about what happens to space in the moon and,
Matt: right.
Meg: Um, the moon is so culturally Yeah. Important to everyone. So true. I mean, you see the moon in the day and you see the moon at night. Mm-hmm. You see the moon all the time.
Matt: Oh, yeah. And it has so much meaning for
Meg: different culture. He has so much meaning. And so what happens to the moon shouldn't be, shouldn't be just.
Someone like [00:21:00] one country.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Uh, it space should unite us. And like we're in a state right now where we're super divided, so I'm, I'm hoping that, um, maybe, maybe it will, will be the, the great connector, but something bad has to happen. Like, I don't know. An alien abduction.
Matt: Right.
Meg: Or it
Matt: would, I, yeah, there is like, if, if it were to happen, it would unite us in a way that we could really use.
Uh, but, uh, I don't want it to happen either. I don't know. Anyway. Uh. We're trying to keep these episodes short, so Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Yeah, I think that's good. Or, or is there more? Do you have a favorite moment? Oh, favorite moment? Yeah. Um, I think, uh, I can't really, I can't really get the, now that you've talked about the blood coming out of the, uh, wiener,
Meg: that's your favorite moment.
Matt: I wouldn't say favorite, but it definitely was like my, like, I definitely reacted a lot to that moment.
Meg: That one was a great moment.
Matt: What about you?
Meg: Honestly? Well, okay, so I, I, I just, another time I laughed out loud. I'm just trying to find what he says. Like one of my favorite lines. His Oh, [00:22:00] oh. He, he says, what's your name?
This is when he's, he gets outta bed and he gets the to on. Yes. Yes. And says, I'm Emperor. No, this is not, this is before he has a to on. Sorry. Spoiler. Uh, I am emperor Co comatose knee before, and it's just like these. These moments where you can see Mark Watney like the, yeah, like you can, you can hear Mark Watney Derrick, like Ryland Grace is very similar to that.
Yes. Sure. So I'm curious to know what's gonna happen beyond, beyond this book if it's kind of like, yeah. Watney, but now in a different person's brain or Yeah. Different story.
Matt: Do you have Ryan Gosling in your mind when you, a
Meg: hundred percent.
Matt: You do? Yeah. That's because I didn't, when I, yeah, and, and for me, Ryan is a little younger than Grace appears to be to me.
I dunno. Does he, does it feel like a fit to you so far?
Meg: I think that he is in his forties.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Is, I don't think, you know, I don't think I know yet.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Beyond chapter three, but it seems like, it seems like it's strange, like why they're asking it. Teacher to be, [00:23:00] but sorry, I'm, I'm good ahead. Great question.
That's
Matt: good. No, you should be think we don't know
Meg: as a
Matt: teacher. Yeah. I'm not gonna answer that, but
Meg: type one, one short. Um, but I just, I, yeah, that's, that's, um, a question that I have for sure in the next episode.
Matt: Yes.
Meg: Um, and so what are your predictions for
Matt: No, I want your prediction. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
It's a stupid question. Yeah. You
Meg: ask me,
Matt: tell us your predictions for, for, uh. What's, what's coming up?
Meg: Well, I hate to say it. Yeah. But now that I know that in the trailer there is a, uh, extra terrestrial
Matt: Mm, mm-hmm.
Meg: That gets, um, uncovered somehow.
Yeah.
Um, I mean I had a, a feeling that that was kind of where we're going because of what Irena said in her, in her email in the first chapter.
Mm-hmm. So, basically. Venus is where this charged particle line is, is, uh, existing. So this petrova line is
Matt: coming from or going
Meg: towards Venus, it's, they don't know, like it's between Venus and the Sun. [00:24:00] Right. So they, they're not too sure, uh, if Venus, Venus is, is, is transmitting this, or the sun is being, um, is, is causing it.
Yeah.
And they wanted to do more tests.
Right.
Meg: So Venus is interesting, an interesting planet because it is super gassy.
Mm-hmm.
It's also cloudy and windy and it, it's, it's surface is 470 degrees centigrade.
Matt: Whoa.
Meg: So like nothing can live there.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: It's 96% carbon dioxide, 90 times the mass of Earth. So it's basically like, think about being.
One kilometer deep in the Earth's O Ocean. That's how much pressure you would really on the surface of Venus. Whoa. Yeah. So it's like an uninhabitable planet. Yeah. So no, like of course there wouldn't be life on that.
No.
Meg: Yeah. Planet it. And that's why I think. Is very curious about why there's these objects that are floating in this, these, uh, these micron,
Matt: right?
Meg: Tiny little things,
Matt: different [00:25:00] kinds of life could be living in, in that area, right? Like it depends on what we, how we define alien life, I suppose.
Meg: A hundred percent. Mm-hmm. Not a fun planet for a human to visit.
Matt: No.
Meg: But, and like I've talked about on, on the podcast, like our vision is very restricted. We only see certain, uh, certain amount of matter.
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: Everything else is just. Everything else is made of something Right. Anti-matter or dark matter. Um, so this is what's really interesting to me about this letter from this
Matt: Okay.
Meg: Scientist.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Is, you know, how much are we gonna talk about dark matter? 'cause I, I just find it like totally scary or fascinating 'cause like nobody really understands it.
Yeah. Why dark matter exists.
Matt: Okay.
Meg: Um, I forget how, what the percentage is, but it's, I think. 40%. I have to look this up. Chapter two will, will we'll know. Uh, but the of what we see is what the world is made up of. Everything else is anti-matter.
Matt: Oh, okay.
Meg: So, so much more anti-matter than actual matter.
Matt: I didn't know [00:26:00] that.
Okay.
Meg: Yeah, because I'll find out exactly, uh, correct myself, I'm probably wrong. Tune in
Matt: for episode two.
Meg: Uh, but. That's the, the, the, that's why it's not really a spoiler knowing that there is extra terrestrial life because it seems like that, and that even in the first chapter, they're sort of alluding to it.
Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Question mark, is this life?
Matt: Mm-hmm.
Meg: On another planet.
Matt: Yes. Okay. So there's an important differentiation, but we'll get there. And it's kind of nice. I have this power over you to, uh,
Meg: I don't know what you're talking about.
Matt: That's great. Uh, I'm having a, I'm having a blast. Okay. So let's wrap it up, but, uh, tell us where people can find more about you.
Meg: Um, I, I don't even know if I said my name at the beginning.
Matt: I don't think you did. Yeah, and I don't, did I? Who are we?
Meg: Hi, I'm Megan Westell major, and I am a, I, I didn't think even said what I did. Okay. So I'll, I'll, I'll do that.
Matt: Darren. Yeah. We, we will cut this as the beginning. Yeah.
Meg: My name's Megan Westell, major.
I am a film and television [00:27:00] professional that lives in Calgary and I started my career in Toronto at a studio and, uh, have kind of worked my way through many different, um, avenues in the film and television world. 'cause I'm obsessed, um, and I produce. Host and direct and edit.
Mm-hmm.
This podcast, Albertans in Space, which has been such an, uh, incredible experience.
And I'm also producing, uh, my own projects as well as working in the, in the foreign service production world, uh, of, uh, of, of the high budget features that features in series that come to Alberta to shoot here, uh, like Fargo. Ghostbusters.
Matt: Yeah.
Meg: Uh, I didn't work on Interstellar, but since it's a fi sci-fi it would be remiss for me not to mention that.
That was awesome. Shot in Alberta. Did you?
Matt: I did work on Interstellar. Yeah.
Meg: Laura's letter.
Matt: That's
Meg: right. Yeah. Yeah. That's a secret code. Yeah. Don't tell anybody. Um,
Matt: but you're a badass. That's cool. That's a lot. Wow.
Meg: Thank you very much. And people can follow me on, um, mostly my, my Albertans in [00:28:00] space.
Matt: Okay.
Meg: Social media. So best place on Instagram and TikTok. Um. And I have a website, people can check out Megan westell major.com.
Matt: Nice.
Meg: Um, but for the most part, I'm kind of just, just focusing on the, on the podcast right now is, um, we'll
Matt: put it in the show notes.
Meg: Wonderful. Yeah. Love that. Thanks Matt.
Matt: Fantastic. So, uh, what uh, am I saying now?
Meg: I yourself too.
Matt: Yeah, I was going to, but I've a question for you and I've lost it now. My name, what's my name? Emperor. What's it, what did he name?
Meg: Oh yeah. Emperor comas.
Matt: Emperor Comas. We,
Meg: we should do that. Do that.
Matt: Uh, I'm Matt Waterworth. Um, I am a filmmaker and, uh, a teacher of film. I guess I did say these things.
I don't know. We'll, we will have to figure it out in the edit, I guess, but, uh, you
Meg: did say these things I just didn't say.
Matt: Yeah. Okay. Good, good. All right. All right. I said my name.
Meg: I don't think you said your name, sorry.
Matt: All right. Matt Waterworth. Thanks for watching. Uh,
Meg: art, did he say his name? Do you remember?
Cut
to camera.
Matt: Oh, this camera. [00:29:00] All right. Uh, I'm Matt Waterworth. Thanks for watching the show. Uh, thanks for listening to the show. If you've been listening, um, check out podcast hail mary.com. If we can get it. I haven't bought it yet. Uh, but uh, that's where you can find, uh, all the, uh, all the important information about the show.
Um, thank you for joining us. We hope you'll join us, uh, for the entire run of the getting through the entire book, and I'm sure we'll have some, some cool, uh, bonus features and special guests and things like that. Maybe, maybe not. Um, Andy Weir, come on. Um, so, uh,
Meg: a Gosling.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah. That's easy. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, that's it.
Thanks for watching the show. Tune in for episode two. It, uh, we're trying to do this like every two days or so. So if it's not out yet, it will be out very soon and, uh, you can follow along with us. Thanks, Megan.
Meg: Thanks Matt. Super fun. Bye.
This podcast with film,
Matt: oh,
Meg: this podcast was filmed. Do you want me to say it?
Matt: Yeah, if you could. That'd be, it'd be better if you did it. Yeah.
Meg: This pocket.[00:30:00]
This podcast was filmed at No Cap Content Studios. And you want us to say Podcast studio?
Matt: Yeah. Podcast studio. Yeah, that's fine. Either way.
Meg: Well, and thanks Matt for having us at your amazing podcast space.
Matt: Mm.
Meg: This podcast was generously known. I can fuck.
Matt: You know what? Let's just put it in the show notes.
You don't have to put it,
Meg: it's, this is the problem with me. Okay. Thanks for having us at your space. This podcast was, uh, filmed at No Cap. This podcast was filmed at no Cap Content Podcast studio, and we're just like super, super stoked to, uh, represent it.
Matt: Yeah, it's a bit of a mouthful. Maybe I need a better name for it, but, uh, but yeah, uh, thanks for tuning in.
Check out episode two and follow along the whole way. Bye everybody. Bye
Meg: bye.
Matt: As my bye everybody. One more time. Yes. Screen sheet. Yep. There we go. So I guess we get about 20 minutes or something.
Meg: Lemme try it one more time.
Matt: Okay. Okay. [00:31:00]
Meg: This podcast was filmed at no Content Cap.
Matt: Yeah. There's no content allowed.
Meg: This podcast was filmed at No Cap Content Podcast Studio, and
Matt: this is my fault. This is a dumb name,
Meg: no cap content. Podcast studio.
Matt: Yeah, sure.
Meg: C. C
Matt: Studio. Yeah. There we go.
Meg: Yeah. Yeah.
Matt: All right.
Meg: This podcast was filmed here at this studio called No Cap Content Podcast Studio. Thanks Matt.
Matt: Thank you.
Meg: It's been super fun.
Matt: Yeah. Follow along, uh, the entire journey with us. We can't wait for you to join us. Uh, and check out, uh, the show notes for all the links to all the importance stuff. Wanna learn, see ya.