Recent draft of Y2k Scenarios quotes as follows:

"... if Y2K leads to a TEOTWAWKI-style apocalypse, we may find ourselves living in a world similar to Kevin Costner's The Postman ..."

Does this mean that in this world, the chief threat is that we are SIMPLY BORED TO DEATH?

-- Bill Skeels (bskeels@lawsight.com), August 25, 1999

Answers

Bill ... Is that " Bored to Death" , while freezing to death ( in The Upper 48 ), or starving to death ( upper or lower 48 ) ? Or, just after calling on your neighbor to see how he's doing, and he met you at the door with a scared/dazed look AND a shotgun ? Unless your brainis are in " free fall " and overwelmed by indecision as what to do next ( WILL fit DGI's by the end of first week ), I think we will be so busy with all the problems we face WITHOUT electricity, running water , telephone and the TV ( i.e. we must talk to those other humans that occupy our " leaky boat " ... you know; conversation with family members/neighbors, that includes NO more small talk; only what to do,when and how , to keep life and limb together .) I think it will be a great time for creative people, especially those who planned ahead , like GI's always do( hereafter know as "Yourdonites" ) . Joe Sixpack ? HE'LL be bored to death ! Eagle

-- Hal Walker (e999eagle@freewwweb.com), August 25, 1999.

Bill ... Is that " Bored to Death" , while freezing to death ( in The Upper 48 ), or starving to death ( upper or lower 48 ) ? Or, just after calling on your neighbor to see how he's doing, and he met you at the door with a scared/dazed look AND a shotgun ? Unless your brainis are in " free fall " and overwelmed by indecision as what to do next ( WILL fit DGI's by the end of first week ), I think we will be so busy with all the problems we face WITHOUT electricity, running water , telephone, job (?) and the TV , just to mention a few, it will be one "sticky wicket" to quote my British forefathers( i.e. we must talk to those other humans that occupy our " leaky boat " ... you know; conversation with family members/neighbors, that includes NO more small talk; only what to do,when and how , to keep life and limb together .) I think it will be a great time for creative people, especially those who planned ahead , like GI's always do( hereafter know as "Yourdonites" ) . Joe Sixpack ? HE'LL be bored to death ! Eagle

-- Hal Walker (e999eagle@freewwweb.com), August 25, 1999.

In response to Hal Walker's response, unless I miss my guess, this means you haven't seen The Postman ... and I don't recommend it. There are many, many post-apocalyptic movies which would serve the cause better as a reference point.

-- Bill Skeels (bskeels@lawsight.com), August 26, 1999.

When I first saw the trailer for The Postman, I started shouting things at the screen to embarrass my wife. My favorite was, "Hey, what happened to all the water?"

I knew it was going to be a horrible film, but like a moth to the flame I was drawn to see exactly how bad it could be.

The horror exceeded my expectations. I know Costner can act, because I've seen him do it, but so often he just goes through the motions.

Any post-apocalyptic recommendations? I suppose The Matrix qualifies, but it's not really in this genre.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 26, 1999.

>"Hey, what happened to all the water?" ... I knew it was going to be >a horrible film, but like a moth to the flame I was drawn to see >exactly how bad it could be.

What amazed me was how LONG it was. What were they thinking?!? It wouldn't have been good, but better as a 2 hour movie. It might have been OK as a 30 minute Twilight Zone ...

>Any post-apocalyptic recommendations? I suppose The Matrix qualifies, >but it's not really in this genre.

On the Beach. Recently, Dark City ... basically, Matrix is a commercial rip-off of that one, IMO.

-- Bill Skeels (bskeels@lawsight.com), August 26, 1999.

Costner used all of the water for his other big bomb, 'Water World'. His next big flop will be 'Dancing With Dehydrated Food'.

-- Yuk (yuk@yuk.yuk), August 26, 1999.

"Does this mean that in this world, the chief threat is that we are SIMPLY BORED TO DEATH?"

I aspire to being bored come 01/01/00 (not QUITE to death though) ....sounds optimal to me. I won't worry about food because I have a small mountain of it, ditto food, fuel, clothing, water, etc. Power won't be an issue as I make my own with solar and a small genny (for cloudy periods). Commo is covered with various radios, shortwave, satellite TV, ham 2m/70cm/10m, scanners, etc. Come early january I'll open a bottle of Merlot and curl up with a good book....

If I didn't want to be bored I'd read Robert Preston's book "The Hot Zone" or one of his papers from the New York Times ("Bioweaponeers" or "The Demon in the Freezer"). Those are a sure fire 100% cure for boredom.....

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), August 26, 1999.

Bill S. ..... As a matter of fact , I did see the Postman, with my 46 year old son. It had some realistic footage, but as usual, Hollywood could not leave out a romantic angle ( O.K. ) and dealt very little/not at all with where/how people feed themselves in that forrested reagon. Also, no ham radio operators with news of the outside world. Another glaring error, which no one but I have mentioned as a BASIC necessity ( old Yourdon threads ), is the need for several years supply of shoes/boots , because YOU WILL do a lot of walking with no gaso;ine. I don't remember barefooted people, or make shift shoes, do you ? Most men have no more than two or three good/new shoes. I remember a job I had in the sixties where I went through the soles of thick , ankle high boots in three months ! And I only wore them to work . Good post, by the way. Eagle

-- Hal Walker (e999eagle@freewwweb.com), August 26, 1999.

What's the movie that Scary Gary recommends? It's about a blackout in a major city I think?

-- (rcarver@inacom.com), August 27, 1999.

I haven't seen The Postman movie and so I can't compare it, but from what I've read of Hal's review, a more realistic post-apocalyptic view would be with the novel "Lucifer's Hammer". It isn't recent, probably over 20 years old, but surprisingly graphic and detailed for post-apocalyptic conditions and rebuilding. I've picked up a few good tips for my own preps, you don't need to be a 10+ to learn from it, even just a 5-7. "Details" such as ham radios are priorities in this book. Socially it does a pretty good job. I can't imagine Costner making a movie as realistic and good as Lucifer's Hammer was. In fact, I've never seen a movie as good or better than a good book.

-- Passerby (just@passing.by), August 27, 1999.

All I can say is that you all must have the romantic soul of an engineer - lol. Who looked at shoes with Costner in the movie?.....(I betch'yall have the "golden edition" of the star wars series, dontcha?)

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), August 28, 1999.

It wasn't Costner's shoes that were the problem.

It was mostly the plot, and especially the horrific dialog.

I don't think they even blew things up all that well.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 28, 1999.

"the trigger effect" is the film scary gary recommends.While the film is weak,it does fairly illistrate the selfish,spoiled,childish way that DGI's will expect to help themselves to other's preparations

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 28, 1999.

Maybe I'm aesthetically challenged or something, but I thought The Postman was pretty OK. It was incredibly cheesy in parts, but that's hollywood for ya. Actually it was really stupid in parts, but I still enjoyed it overall. Maybe because I'd heard so many timebombers rating it so lowly, I managed to be happily suprised.

-- number six (Iam_not_a_number@ .), August 31, 1999.

I liked it too. Not a great cinematic classic, but ok. It could have used some editing to make it faster paced.

Have you noticed that DGI's have no trouble accepting the basic premise of all sorts of apocalyptic movies, but can't imagine that it could ever happen to THEM?

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), September 01, 1999.

The book "The Postman" by David Brin was an exceptionally good read, but Kostner took it and made it into a big ego trip for himself. Not a particularly bad movie by itself, but when compared with the book, it's a travesty. Kind of what I felt about "Starship Troopers," one of the finest short SF novels ever written. Coming out of the movie was the first time in my life I've ever felt the urge to do physical violence to a director or producer.

In addition to shoes, think "tooth brushes." One thing that struck me about the Postman movie was that everyone had bad teeth. A dental first aid kit wouldn't do any harm either, or at least some plastic- lined pliers to yank teeth out with. Shouldn't be that hard to stock up. I find a large tube of toothpaste lasts me almost a year. As long as you keep the tube capped, the paste should last for years. Baking soda when all else fails.

-- rob minor (rbminor@hotmail.com), September 01, 1999.

In 40+ years of reading SF books few stand out. The Postman was slow reading and dull. Only years later did it occur to me what a lasting impression it had made. If TEOTWAWKI comes for any reason just how will civilization (as opposed to existence) start up again? With email or just a single postman? A remnant of a much gentler time.

-- pamela goodrich (jpjgood@penn.com), October 24, 1999.

The postman was an important character in "Lucifer's Hammer" as well. marsh, I hate to think I'm hormonally-challenged, but I just don't get the Costner thing!

-- flora (***@__._), October 24, 1999.