The James Logan Courier

By Colin Covert
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT)

The outer-space indie "Moon" puts the alien in alienation.

Ever-interesting Sam Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, a contractor running a one-man mining operation. His employer is LUNAR Corp., a benign enterprise that supplies Earth's energy needs with Helium-3, a precious gas extracted from the moon's surface. Nearing the end of his three-year term, he's eager to be reunited with his wife and young daughter. He talks to the moon base's resident computer, GERTY, as if it was human, but otherwise he seems unaffected by his long solitude.

Alert viewers will suspect that something more worrisome is afoot. The video communications from Sam's Earthbound bosses are condescending and unconvincingly supportive. The seemingly friendly computer is voiced by Kevin Spacey, an actor who couldn't tell you the time of day without seeing duplicitous. Sam's quarters are unkempt, and Rockwell is renowned for playing wackjobs. He gives hints of psychological wear and tear. When he takes a rare drive in a lunar rover, he crashes and loses consciousness. Waking up in the base's medical facility, he's confused, and comes to believe he's not alone up there.

From wikipedia:
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (July 3, 1908 – June 22, 1992) was a prolific and well-respected writer, writing more than 20 books during her lifetime and also publishing two volumes of journals and correspondence shortly before her death in 1992. Her first book, Serve it Forth, was published in 1937. Her books deal primarily with food, considering it from many aspects: preparation, natural history, culture, and philosophy. Fisher believed that eating well was just one of the "arts of life" and explored the art of living as a secondary theme in her writing. Her style and pacing are noted elements of her short stories and essays.

Fisher was born Mary Frances Kennedy in Albion, Michigan on July 3, 1908. In 1911, her father, Rex Kennedy, moved the family to Whittier, California to pursue a career in journalism. Although Whittier was primarily a Quaker community at that time, Mary Frances was brought up within the Episcopal Church.

Learn more about M.F.K. Fisher at the M.F.K. Fisher Foundation webpage.