I am seeing all of this hype about the film Oppenheimer, but you know what I am not seeing? An honest discussion about all of the people in the Marshall Islands and in the US states of Nevada and Utah who got sick and died from radiation poisoning due to all of the nuclear bomb testing done by the US Government.
The above PBS documentary is excellent and discusses what happened far better than I ever could. Needless to say the US government knew that radiation was dangerous and tested those bombs near population centers anyway. Hollywood has sanitized all of this and I find it disgusting that they are hyping this like Oppenheimer was some sort of hero, when he in fact was responsible for killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of people in Japan, the U.S. and the Marshall Islands . Fuck Oppenheimer, both the film and the man.
Let me give you some background as to why I love this film. One of the alternative clubs I went to just over thirty years ago used to play the entire film without sound on a big screen above the dance floor. In fact I didn’t see the film with sound until later on in the decade. It is one of Dylan McDermott’s first films and my god is the dude hot in a post-apocalyptic kind of way in it. Carl McCoy from Fields Of The Nephilim plays a wasteland scavenger and this film’s director Richard Stanley also made the band’s Blue Water video and was the art director for their album Dawnrazor.
Since this film holds a whole lot of nostalgic value for me I have always been on the lookout for associated merch. There really isn’t a whole lot to find out there. I already own some pins of the film but I never thought I would actually find a shirt. By the way I got it from this store on Etsy. I also bought their Blade Runner and Mad Max II shirts and all of them are of a really nice quality. Their designs are pretty unique so if you are on the lookout for a sci-fi/horror film shirt I would check out that shop first.
I highly recommend watching this film because the visuals are stunning and the story itself is actually kind of apt as to what is going on in society right now. It’s timely and makes you wonder whether or not it is worth living after a post-apocalyptic type event. I will be writing a separate post about this film at some point in the future.
As many of you know I am a total Arnie fan-girl, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I have watched the three part Netflix series Arnold. I have always had a lot of respect for him and after watching this series that respect has grown.
This series is pretty much Arnie talking about his life and how he got to where he is today. I have read his autobiography Total Recall a few times so a lot of what he shared wasn’t new to me, but the emotion that he conveyed in the series really brought the events closer to home.
Arnie talks about his politics and what he did as governor of California. I moved out of California about four months before that election so I didn’t get to vote which bummed me out! Yes, Arnie is a republican but he has never gone down the far right rabbit hole. He has more sense than to do that. When he talks about loving Reagan it made me wince a bit, but I can understand where he is coming from. He was an immigrant to the US, who bought into the whole ‘American Dream’ lie. What I really, really respect him for is that in this series he denies that he is a self made man. Rather, he says that he was very lucky to be surrounded by people who helped him to achieve his dreams.
He talks about how he was sexist back in his body building days and that he really regrets it. There is no glossing over the facts when it comes to some of the crap things that he did through the years. He takes full responsibility for his past actions, including cheating on Maria and fathering a son with their housekeeper. That son by the way looks a lot like him and Arnie loves him and is in his life. That part got me teary because some men would have just walked away from that situation and he didn’t.
If you are a fan of Arnie, or are just curious about his life, I would highly recommend watching this series. It’s really good and is how TV biographies of famous people should be done.
Before I start I would like to state for the record that I buy everything featured on this blog. I don’t accept free goods and never will.
I am a huge John Carpenter fangirl so I had to buy this. If you have never seen Escape From New York do yourself a favour and check it out because it is a very awesome film. In it Manhattan has become a prison where criminals are dumped and there is no way off of the island. The President of the US gets trapped there and a famous criminal, Snake Plissken, is sent in to rescue him. Needless to say there is a lot of chaos and parts of it really echo what is happening these days in terms of society.
This is a very pretty book so if you are a fan of the film I highly recommend it.
I am a total Arnie fan and I consider this film to be a part of his Holy Trinity of movies; Terminator and Predator being the other two. I stumbled upon this book by accident today and instantly was excited because it consists of interviews and behind the scenes photos and stories of how this epic movie was made. It comes out on August the 8th.
A bunch of patches have come in since the last post. My favourite being the large Boris Karloff as the Mummy patch. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Mummy; he isn’t given the same respect or attention as Dracula or Frankenstein’s monster. If the Mummy were a child going to a monster type academy they would probably be picked last all of the time during games. He is going on the back of the striped jacket for all of those reasons and more. I’m not sure which others are going on yet because I am waiting for more to arrive.
Where did I get these patches? Etsy. There are so many patch sellers that you will more than likely find the exact kind you want on there. I have noticed that there are a few unscrupulous sellers right now overcharging for their spooky patches because of ‘goth’ being a current fashion trend. So, if some seem too expensive to you it’s probably because they are overpriced. I will update further on this once more arrive.
This is one of China’s main rivers the Yangtze. In some areas it is almost completely dry.
China uses its rivers to transport goods to factories and from factories. The most important river historically has always been the Yangtze and it provides water for crops, human consumption and hydropower plants. Without it China would be totally fucked because these factories send most of their goods to the West and this in turn creates a lot whole lot of wealth within the country itself.
Not only is a drought causing a load of problems in China it is also majorly flooding in the east of the county. Too much rain in an area where the dirt is very compacted and dry causes flooding because the ground cannot absorb the rain as quickly as needed.
As if all of this wasn’t enough the centre of China is experiencing record high temperatures. The heavy use of air conditioning is straining their electrical grid because of the lack of hydropower coming from the generators along their dying rivers. The government there has shut hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of factories because of all of this. This of course means that since goods cannot be produced there that people here in the West are just going to have to learn to live without; clothes, appliances, toys, beauty products, car parts, and even some kinds of food will be in short supply. This in fact is already happening.
There is fuck all that can be done about this because climate change is a bitch and can’t be easily fixed by throwing money at it or by hopium inspired thoughts and prayers. Exploitive companies in the West have moved their factories over there within the last few decades to claw in even more money than they already make so don’t shed a damn tear for them because they are now reaping what they have sown.
I just finished these the other day and I am very pleased with how they turned out. They are Angry Itch brand boots that I modified to fit into my post-apocalyptic/dystopian aesthetic.
The first thing I did was lightly stud the bottom straps. The leather is really thick so they warped a little bit but that’s fine. There were straps above but I took them off and hung some pandemic symbols from the rings instead. I bought the symbols off of Etsy and hung them from the outside ring with some jewellery wire that I wrapped around some clips. Finally, I coloured the white stitches with a purple acrylic paint pen. It is impossible to paint those stitches perfectly so I got some stray paint around them. Again, that is okay because my aesthetic isn’t based on a perfect appearance.
If you want to do some DIY work on a pair of boots I say go for it! It’s a lot of fun and you will be wearing boots that are unique to you.
This week has gone by so quickly! There are just so many bad weather events happening around the world right now that it is just about impossible to create a reasonably sized list, so I will be concentrating on the hell that is Europe right now.
For those of you who don’t know Europe is going through a major heatwave event right now that is killing animals and humans and burning up Portugal, Spain and other Mediterranean countries.. Unlike the United States most homes, and even businesses, are not equipped with air conditioning units in Europe. Why? Because it normally doesn’t get hot enough to really need them. That is what makes this heatwave very dangerous.
I’ve seen a countless amount of Americans saying that they live with the same kind of temps and that it isn’t that bad….all while sitting in their air conditioned homes, cars and work spaces. If it wasn’t for air conditioning most of the American Southwest would become totally empty. If you are an American who thinks that Europe doesn’t have a right to bitch about these obscene temperatures then you really need to shut up a take a seat.
I live on one of the UK Channel Islands and we are about 10-15 degrees cooler than France and London. This is mainly due to the fact that we usually have a very good offshore breeze that cools us down a little. The heat this week has been very humid; the same that I experienced when I lived in the state of Tennessee. The heat here is never dry, so it is very difficult to get comfortable even when you are in the shade.
The scary thing about all of this? Scientists are saying that this is going to start happening more and more; periods of severe weather patterns. In the near future parts of Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, etc…are going to become uninhabitable due to desertification. Where are all of these European climate refugees going to run to? I think a whole bunch of European politicians have their heads in the sand thinking that if they ignore this issue it will go away.
This planet is beyond the tipping point. No matter what we do right now things are heading in a bad direction. If you live in one of these areas take precautions to keep you and your family safe. Your life, and the lives of your family, are more important than those of the lying politicians that got us into this mess.
I’m sorry if I sound negative, but I want to tell you guys the truth about the direction we are all heading in. Ignorance in this case is not bliss.
Before I start I would like it to be known that I am in no way a right wing loon who has built a bunker and who thinks the world is going to end. I am a leftist woman with mainly anarcho-communist tendencies. Now, let’s get on with the show.
When you read this blog you will notice that quite a few of my Apocalypse Wednesday posts include links to news stories about droughts and the devastation caused by climate change. Scientists, including those representing the UN, have announced over the last few weeks that there will be shortages of wheat this fall and winter due to climate change caused droughts around the world. Wheat farms in Canada, the United States, Italy and elsewhere have not produced the amount of wheat needed to feed the world. Countries that would normally export all of their excess wheat are now keeping it for themselves. This, in turn, causes those in poorer areas of the world to starve to death because they are not being sent the grain.
Do I think people in North America, Europe, and other affluent areas are going to starve? Nope, but there are going to be limited choices as to what you can buy. There might be only a few kinds of cereal when there used to be dozens. Prices are already starting to go up, especially when it comes to meat and fish. For example, I bought 12 tinned cans of salmon for £24 the other day and this morning the price went up to £33,
I know that all of this seems very scary, because it is. However, with a little planning you can lessen the impact that these shortages will have on you and your family.
Only buy food that you already eat. Others are telling people to buy giant bags of rice and beans, BUT if you don’t already eat beans and rice it doesn’t make sense to buy them.
Make sure you buy enough protein, and it doesn’t have to be fresh meat. You can buy tins of tuna, salmon, chicken chunks, Spam,etc… Peanut butter is another great source of protein, and you can even buy it in powdered form to freshly mix your own.
If you bake buy enough flour, sugar and other ingredients that you normally use. The upcoming wheat shortage is already being felt in terms of pricing so this is a very important step.
If you live in an area with upcoming water shortages buy water storage containers. Fill them as needed.
Instant coffee sachets literally last forever. Buying them makes more sense than trying to store a bunch of coffee beans in the freezer. Plus, the sachets will be very good items to use in food trades, if things come to that.
Buy tinned fruit and veg. There is still produce around right now but the quality has gone downhill.
If you have a hobby get all the gear you will need sooner rather than later. I have stocked up on thread, studs, and other such things because I do a lot of clothing DIY projects.
Been eyeing certain ‘alternative’ type items, such as bright hair dye or platform boots? It’s best to get them sooner than later because who knows what brands are even going to survive all of this. Some are already having constant clearance sales which isn’t the sign of a healthy business.
I hope I have changed some minds about the need to prep right now, because it is the logical thing to do to make sure that you and your family have enough to eat in the coming food crisis.
