Space and the City
Posts tagged Post-Apocolyptic Fiction
Five for Friday
Jul 24th
1. Writing in this format again. I missed this. I’ve been writing in it since the last century. The other day I was consolidating everything I’ve written online into a single place, killing the filler and just having a grand old time revisiting old thoughts and experiences. So, I thought I would start doing it again, just with far less intensity (and a different voice and a broader net-cast). Frankly, I miss tinkering with HTML too.
2. TA’s Cargo Club. A townie bar in an Oak Forrest strip center, just north of 34th on Mangum. Imagine the Shiloh in a world where it was important to keep up appearances and no one had invented methamphetamines; no Yelp listing, no Facebook fan page. Just a sunken bar, a non-internet jukebox and conventional height chairs with those wheels they have at Luby’s waiting to embrace you in their decidedly uncool arms. What could be cooler?
3. Earl-Jean – I’m Into Something Good.
4. Jeremiah. You know, I’m all about trashy post-apocalyptic visions of the future; no concept is too ridiculous for me to suspend my disbelief. Mass sterility? Check. Giant Comet? Puh-lease. Unexplained flash of light that transports Nantucket Island two thousand years in the past and changes the underlying properties of the universe, leaving the world left behind without access to the benefits of gunpowder, electricity or anything dependent on high energy physics? Into it. So when Netflix’s suggestion engine served up this 2003 Showtime series, I couldn’t help but add it to Watch Now and fire up the Roku.
Now, from the outset, don’t make the mistake I did, of thinking that something produced by Showtime would be on par with any series on HBO. And while I want to reserve judgment till I’ve finished its limited run, let me go ahead and say that if your show features Malcolm Jamal Warner and you have a character named Theo and MJW isn’t playing him you’re doing it wrong.
5. The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase. It’s this weekend. Downtown. While my muscle memory wants to launch into run-on-sentence-filled exultations, ruminations and prognostications, there is part of me that knows I will spend the day with friends (who in the past rocked it Rice Loft VIP) instead. However, you should definitely go.
Creating a Terrorism Emergency Kit
Feb 20th
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced on Wednesday that all Americans should arm themselves in the war against terror with a Terrorism Survival Kit. So, in the spirit of things, I decided to prepare my own Terrorism emergency kit. Having seen all manor of post and pre-apocalyptic Kevin Costner films, I felt qualified to put one together myself without following Secretary Ridge’s instructions. Here is what I came up with:
First, i found a box that once kept other boxes in. I’m not really sure what was ever in any of these boxes, but I sure had a lot of them. I plan on selling the other boxes on e-bay to offset the cost of putting together my Emergency Kit – afterall, we have been told that there is no need for us to make sacrifices to help the war (on terror) effort. I labeled my box in big letters so that, in an emergency, I could easily distinguish between it and the one that holds Christmas decorations. Now, what should I put inside?
Knowing what to do in case of an emergency seems prudent, so I started my kit off on the educationalist tip as a special shout-out to all the ladies of Teach for America. Included in my post chemical, biological, or nuclear attack library are: On The Beach and Alas, Babylon for examples of people coping with the end of the world, Going Solo in The Kitchen in case the attack knocks out all the restaurants in the area, Islam for Beginners to give to friends, The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook in case i need to jump into a flaming dumpster off a big building while holding a child, and Red Dawn so I can learn how to fight back. Ok, Ok, so I just like watching Red Dawn.
My boss’ husband got the two of them his and hers’ chemical suits and gas masks. No Kidding. I couldn’t really afford one, so what I did instead is take my most synthetically fabricated suit and had it dry cleaned with heavy starch. That should hold off the mustard gas for enough time for me to tape off the windows. And what good is a 5 button European cut suit without a wide selection of ties. If things get really bad, I can tie them around my head Rambo style.
Tom Ridge suggested candles, so I grabbed this nifty novena that I can use for both illumination and contemplation. Plus, I thought I should throw my trusty house-plant Larry in the box so I can be reminded of the beauty of the outside world.
I then brought together a collection of kitchen essentials plus a smart little apron I stole from a bistro down the street. With the supplies you see here, I will be able to survive for weeks and weeks and weeks.
Finally, to top it all off, should the worst happen, and we invade Iraq, and somehow I am taken prisoner (with my Kit) and hauled back to Basra or someplace like that. I should be able to use this t-shirt as part of a disguise to make my getaway. So, what’s in your disaster kit?
