Preparing for Nothing

Doomsday Preppers

This National Geographic Channel series documents people who live in constant fear of everything. They choose not to address their own paranoid schizophrenic behavior and instead they prepare for the alleged upcoming chaos.

Since mankind first tried to predict the future there has been cries of "the end of the world". While people should be prepared in case of emergency these folks take it to extremes.

Preston White
A seed collector fears the radioactive fallout from Fukushima-Japan disaster will poison our food supply. Ignoring all science and reasoning he hoarded seeds and began growing plants in tents, his neighbors must be thrilled. He is also looking to form a collective. Granted when he tried it devolved into a desert shootout that had no legal actions as everyone involved had wacky versions of what happened. No psychiatrists were involved although they should be.

Becky Brown
This lady believes the government will set up Martial Law throughout the land because of high unemployment and debt within the next 2 years. She has an apartment next to the Salt Lake City capital building and has a ton of long lasting food with her at all times. Again she ignores the fact that it has been over 100 years since the U.S. used Martial Law within the U.S. borders. Not to mention that if the government was that powerful that she would be hauled away in a flash and all her supplies confiscated before she can taze anyone.

I do enjoy the engineering and science used to make all these shelters and supplies. The problem is the reasoning behind their actions is completely flawed. Whatever global disaster that is powerful to need a doomsday shelter will leave most preppers dead. Were they to survive even a fifty year supply would eventually run out. Disease and dental problems are so common but with a society it can be fixed. Without a society simple infections will kill you and cancer with a 90% recovery rate will become fatal.

Then there is the gun aspect. These people know that they will be targets but again the wrongly think that they can defend their homes and shelters. If a large organized group attacks them they will have missile and tech that can slice through any bunker within seconds. Unorganized and non-preppers will overwhelm them like it was The Walking Dead. Seriously in Los Angeles gang members of 10,000+ per gang have held feuds for 50+ years. Do you think one family with guns who shoots at them will win?

The show is entertaining for the bits of information that you can pick up and use in real life. Also staring at these characters is scary because these are the types who will cause problems in your neighborhood not the ones who will save it. I lived in New York City through several terrorists attacks, several blackouts, government shutdowns,and poverty & wealth rates that rival any other place. But guess what most people survived and thrived despite the headlines. Reminds me of this book where the abusive father hoarded coins and gold while his paranoia about the end of days got worse. He died and the family left the property never finding the hoard and needing therapy to live day by day.

Note: I did learn that Heirloom seeds means they will grow fruits and vegetables that will bear seeds like the original.

Find Our Missing

Find Our Missing

This docu-drama series on TV One is shedding light on people of color who go missing with little press or legal recourse. Hosted by the great actress S. Epatha Merkerson each episode is a mix of real life interviews and re-enactments.

Watching five episodes in a row was quite depressing. How can adult Americans with varying backgrounds can just disappear without a clue is amazing.

The particular problem with these missing people is the cultural racism in America. The first 24 hours that a person goes missing is important but local and federal authorities tend to label missing people of color as "runaways". Once this term is used priority shifts to more important cases.

Second is media bias which tends not to show missing people of color since they are not as considered photogenic. Third is the years of prejudice faced by people of color make a portion of them reluctant to "see something and say something". The term snitching is what is often used. Snitching is what criminals label people who help their communities in order to intimidate and continue their criminal ways. If you ever here someone say "no snitching" they are criminals or support criminal activities.

All this combined makes Find Our Missing a very important show. Hopefully this show will find a national audience. It is well done and the stories are very moving. I know I will keep an eye out and hope others do as well.

Game of Thrones Marathon

So after a year of hearing how great this show was I finally saw it. HBO had a marathon on one of there many channels. Watching back to back thanks to TiVo made it better, pausing to sleep of course.

Houses of the Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama  about waring lordships. The families are quite dysfunctional and tend to do the worst. The Lannisters are the worst. They are a bunch of power hungry, incestuous, tyrants who are winning politically. The Stark clan are the good guys who do not want the throne but are forced into the middle of everything.

While the families are distracted something evil is lurking in the far north. In the novel the things in the cold north are known as "the others" but it was changed to White Walkers for Lost reasons. Apparently there has been nine years of summer and the winter is coming. The winter may be long and with it will come the White Walkers and the possible end of the world. Oh these Walkers can make zombies so that is kind of bad.

Overall the show is okay. Season one of True Blood and Rome was much better. I do not see why so many people love this show. Yes it is well acted and the filming locations are nice but it lacks heart. The good and bad people lack dimension I am not emotionally involved. I root for the good guys only because the bad people are awful not because I care for them.

Game of Thrones: Is an epic, dynastic power struggle, set in a mythical kingdom, where competing families spin a web of conspiracy and betrayal in a feud to control the Iron Throne.

GCB

GCB: Pilot

Based on the book of a raunchier name. They already changed the show from the commercials. First they dropped all references to the B word. Then in the repossession scene they cut out the part where the repo guys take the coffee out of Amanda's hand.



The show is about the hypocrisy of Christian-middle of the country people. Amanda lost her criminal husband and is forced to go back to Dallas. Since Amanda left she has grown and evolved as a person. Unfortunately the ignorance and pettiness of the past remains, watch a Republican rally for real life examples.

Acting is well done and the little jokes are good, Bridget Sanchez-Fong had me rolling. I have been a big fan of Leslie Bibb since Popular.

The Monkees Marathon

Antenna TV is giving a tribute to David Jones with a marathon of the Monkees.

The Monkees was a sketch musical-comedy show. The band of four would go around the country looking for gigs and get into zany adventures. The great part of the show is they constantly broke the third wall. The referenced the script, the cameras, and the fact they were actors. Puns and jokes were non-stop often ending up in laughing fits by the actors. The singing and dancing often had little to do with script.

Even 45 years later this show still holds up well. The comedy is still funny and the music is great. I recommend everyone catch an episode or two.

Awake: Pilot

Awake: Pilot

A guy is in a car crash and the results is a split. Not a split personalty but a split reality, at least from his perspective. In one reality his son survived and in the other his wife survived. Unexplained slight changes exist in each reality. He uses these slight changes to solve crimes in both worlds.

One problem is that if this was a split in reality at the point of the accident then why so many differences in both realities. Does one person living and  not dying really change the world that much?

The show is well acted but future episodes suggest a more conspiracy type show. Hopefully it is not a dream, purgatory, or coma.

Being Human vs. Being Human

Thanks to repeats I got caught up with the U.S.A. and U.K. versions of Being Human. This show is about a reluctant vampire, an accidental werewolf, and a anxious ghost live together and try to be normal.

Image source: SciFi Mafia

Being Human (UK):
Darker, more cursing, and more comedy. Everyone who comes across the path of the trio is much worse for it. There is a lot of history, conspiracies, and prophecies all of which gets resolved. The vampire is a bit naive, dangerous, and funnier than his U.S. counterpart. In the latest episodes everyone is dead and gone except the ghost who is looking for roommates. 



Being Human (USA):
More drama, less blood. The trio is less silly than there UK counterparts which makes them very sympathetic. Since this show is about three seasons behind the UK version you can see where there going. BUT, yes that is a big but, they are not doing as much of the conspiracy/prophecy stuff. Although it is a bit early too accurately compare.


In both cases the show is fine but watching them at the same time is better. There is something about comparing stuff that makes it better.

Real News via TV: March 1, 2012

Sick and tired of so much non-relevant news I hope to write about what is really important.

Top Local Story:

1. President Obama is in NYC fundraising and generally causing traffic issues for some.

Top Nationwide Stories:

1.  Way too much coverage of the Republican race where a bunch of ignorant, superstitious, and prejudice people who are running on unrealistic and vague promises.

2. People living in the path of tornadoes are shocked when one hits. After destroying the natural landscape to build a home then choosing to make there homes out of wood they are shocked by the destruction.

3. Andrew Breitbart the yellow journalist who entrapped and twisted videos on his blog died of unknown causes. As he was 43 any natural causes would be known within hours but drug use would not. 

Chuck: Series Finale

So I'm slightly late, big deal thanks to downloading some people are watching the first season while others are about to see the final episode.

Chuck: Chuck Versus the Goodbye

Sarah has the intersect wiped from her head but in the process lost most of her memories of the last few seasons years. Everyone in Chuck's life gathers to help the Sarah but at the end she is still at a loss. Chuck decides that a true love's kiss will bring it all back and that is where it ends.

Spying done we are left with the notion whether or not the kiss worked these two people will be together forever.

As a whole the series was great. Very clever and well acted. Their not so subtle pop culture references were awesome. The constant struggle to stay on air was highlighted by an in-show Subway promotions but also by the cast staying together.

I hope NBC continues with the tradition of scripted shows despite the struggle with Chuck.

The River

The River : Magus

Magus is the boat lost in the Amazon headed by some doctor of unknown degrees. This Dr Cole is also an adventurer and has a documentary show. Through clips we see the Doc and his family when they were young. There is a lot of foreshadowing leading us to think he was purposefully looking for something.

The something he is looking for seems to be magic, instead we are finding ghosts. The boat has a trapped blood drinking ghost that can be fooled by a baby's coffin. The fact everyone accepts ghosts and ignore warnings is beyond belief.

The River: Marbeley

The boat fixed the new crew of the Magus try to find the old crew. Ignoring all warning Dr. Cole sends a dragonfly to tell the new crew to get out. Even with the amazing use of dragonfly-possession to get a message through no one seems to be shocked and continues the journey. Meanwhile a ghost of a brat tries to steal a mom. Marbeley is the stuffed bear of Dr. Cole's grown son.


This show is filmed in shaking cam style that no documentary crew in real life would ever do. The people who make these shows and movies like Paranormal Activity have never seen a real documentary. Some of the best and clearest videos in the world come from documentaries.

The only people who use substandard cameras and grainy footage are fakers like Ghost Hunter or bigfoot hunters.

Also the pilot was filmed in El Yunque in Purto Rico so all the coquis and palm trees made it feel fake. Then they moved production to Hawaii. At this point you where just shouting hey isn't that where Kate hid in Lost.

2012 Superbowl Champion NY Giants

Nice to see my home team win the Superbowl over their evil arch rivals. The game itself was great and tense even in the final seconds.

The Giants are known for 4th quarter comebacks and they did not disappoint. Let's face it the blew a 9-0 lead yet still fought back.

The Superbowl commercials were blah. I guess since most were shown online and in the news prior to the game it made the whole thing anticlimactic. The best for me was the one with the dog losing weight to get through his doggie door to chase some car.

Halftime show was a greatest hits mash-up that proved dancing should be left to the young. The low point was when M.I.A. try to make herself relevant by flipping the bird, grinding too much and cussing.

Time for a parade.

The parade was crowded and although it is 50 degrees and sunny I did not want to take a sick day so I watched it instead. Also I tried but could not win tickets to the Key to the City Ceremony. 250 tickets were up for grabs to 8 million New Yorkers, chances of winning were slim.

Great day for fans and an honorable team

Despite what the the incredibly loud and extremely morbose governor of NJ says the NY Giants will always be a NYC team despite their playing location. Lombardi Trophy is back in Vince Lombardi's home of NYC.

Now time for the NY Rangers to step it up.