Jericho

I recently started watching the TV series Jericho thanks to Netflix's instant play and our lack of cable television and antenna reception.  I'm about 13 episodes into the first season and I already love it.  I know it didn't last very long but I'm very curious to see how it all plays out.

The series takes place in Jericho, Kansas and shows the after effects of some sort of apocalyptic attack.  In the first episode, they see a mushroom cloud over Denver (sorry, Erica!) so the entire town gets into a panic.  What I really like is that the show takes place in a small town, so you discover things along with the characters.  At first, they assume it was only Denver that was attacked but then someone gets a voicemail saying there was another bomb in Atlanta.  They struggle to get the power back on and all they see is a 2-second glimpse of an Asian news report showing flashing circles around Denver, Atlanta and at least 7-8 other cities in the U.S.

I'm about 13 episodes in and still no one is sure what is going on.  Was the U.S. invaded by aliens?  Foreign terrorists?  Domestic terrorism?  Is the President alive?  Will we find out how The Jersey Shore is going to end?  Ahhhhh!!!  So many questions!

The ensemble cast is pretty good and I love apocalyptic stories so I am definitely hooked.

The Colony

I've talked before about how much the apocalypse fascinates me. So I caught a few minutes of a new reality show on Discovery called The Colony. It's follows ten "survivors" in a simulated post-apocalyptic environment. Here's a rundown of the people on the show - an oil industry engineer, a scientist, an ER doctor, an aerospace engineer, a solar panel installer/fabricator, a contractor, martial arts fighter/instructor, a machinist, a marine specialist and a reistered nurse. Wow -- could they stack the deck any more in their favor? If I faced the apocalypse, those are the types of people I would want to survive with.

On one hand, it's kind of cool because they got some electricity by connecting twelve car batteries together. And in one preview, it showed them coming up with ideas for a generator. So they do some neat stuff like that.

On the other hand, these other "survivors" showed up and asked if they could find sanctuary in their abandoned warehouse. The "survivors" already inside answered the door with pipes in their hands...temporarily forgetting they were simply shooting a TV show in downtown Los Angeles.

I might have to check in on this show from time to time, but I think I might miss the sassy black woman and douchebag jock stereotypes on most reality shows.

Good News / Bad News

Good news - we won't have to worry about the economy much longer.

Bad news - it's because Skynet will be here soon. Okay, fine, the article says "we are a long way (away)" but there is a report coming out about the threat of robot intelligence. A legitimate report conducted my actual scientists that see this as a concern.

How many movies do we have to make before we stop making smarter robots? I'm going to queue up the Terminator franchise, I, Robot and Stealth in my Netflix account so I can get ready to fight some robots.

Brain Development

*sigh*

No, let's make that a *SIGH*

Last night during Survivor, I saw a commercial for Juicy Juice Brain Development, a juice drink aimed at 2-year olds to promote brain growth. The beverage is "enhanced with DHA, an essential building block for brain development."

Yeah, instead of...I don't know - teaching our children, or interacting with them to build their social skills, let's just cram a juice box down their gullet and see if that makes them smarter. Need I remind you that Juicy Juice Brain Development was not around when Stephen Hawking was born, and that Albert Einstein never watched a Baby Einstein video. Stop relying on commercial products to promote the growth of your kids, their bodies and their brains, and start raising your kid right.

On a somewhat related note, isn't it amazing how humans have survived over 200,000 years without Purell? That might be another rant but I just wanted to throw that out there while I'm grumpy.

The Future is Wild

I recently finished watching a documentary series called The Future is Wild. It takes a look at what life on Earth would be like in 5 million years, 100 million years and 200 million years. And let me tell you, since you're not going to be around to see it for yourself, you might as well watch the DVDs to get a look into our future. It is indeed wild!

Basically, a lot of bad shit happens in the future including mass extinctions, the polar ice caps melting, volcanos erupting and all of the continents coming back together to form one super-continent. It's kind of a fun look at what would happen far off in Earth's future and you can tell the scientists and animators had some fun thinking about all of these things.

I think my favorite future animal is either the Flish or the Swampus. Check out the "photos" for why these guys so are badass:




Man, I'm gonna miss not being in here in 200 million years. :(

Life After People

We watched a documentary the other day called Life After People. I've already talked about how the Apocalypse fascinates me, so this was right up my alley.

The show looks at what would happen to Earth if humans were gone. Everything else survives - animals, nature, our houses - just no humans. It's a pretty amazing look at how many things require so much upkeep, and also how quickly nature would reclaim the Earth. For example, subway systems require pumps to keep out groundwater and keep them dry. Without humans to do this job, New York's subways would be flooded in 3 days. Three days! Bridges would collapse without being repainted and replacing of cables, fires would rage on until they burned out.

As a real life comparison, they show a Ukraine city in abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster. Animal populations in that area have flourished and plants have nearly covered up many structures. The city has only been abandoned for 20 years. Twenty years! It's a really interesting look at what would happen to this great world if we weren't here.

One of the most fascinating things is their guess at what one of the last remnants of our civilization would be. 10,000 years after we're gone - Mount Rushmore would probably be recognizable because of its location, size, material and lack of natural disasters. They also theorize parts of the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids would be recognizable after 10,000 years but as far as a connection to the human race that lasts as long - we've got to rely on the mugs of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt.

In Case of Apocalypse

I don't know where or how this started, but I love apocalyptic movies and books. I'm currently reading a young adult book series (shut up) that deals with an underground city after mankind nearly eliminates itself. The first book in the series, City of Ember, is coming out as a movie in October. I really enjoyed the 28 Days / Week Later films, and even though the ending kinda sucked, I liked I Am Legend.

I'm not sure why this genre intrigues me so. I think part of me sees these films and stories as guidelines for what to do in the event of apocalypse, zombie takeover or the rise of Cyberdyne Systems. I'm pretty safe in my current location - I live within walking distance of a police station (shotguns) as well as a Costco (massive food supplies). I think a part of me would be cool with a small zombie outbreak, as long as it attacked morons and people with the last names Hilton and Winehouse.

I previously was a fan of The Terminator series until someone pointed out to me (apologies, I forget who) that if the Terminators wanted to wipe out mankind, why didn't they go back to like the caveman days when we just figuring out how our thumbs worked?