The Greatness of Gamma World: Exhibit A

Pen Ward's Gamma World character: a dual machete (made from stop signs)-wielding broccoli storm.



h/t Super Punch and Twitter

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Awesome

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Web Comic

Follow the amusing postnuke misadventures of The Captain at Romantically Apocalyptic.

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Art, not with a bang, but a whimper

Daily Dose Pick: Lori Nix « Flavorwire

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Behold The Junkulator!

The Gamma World Junkulator randomly generates postapocalyptic salvage.

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Postapocalyptic Fashion

http://m.kotaku.com/5738477/dress-like-you-mean-to-survive-a-post+apocalyptic-wasteland

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What I'm Reading...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsuPvDdp7QMHkl8KxE6mdB3KSKN4sgxDH3eBXQf7UcaD2sB7FECpqOL5jWeRmc6bB65rrrhhWsPwgOQHEgvtEOi-MJ2qimhFlXU0x2STPfbNvGisnTHUllzERLbsHqR9kCSWm1SxCCZM/s1600/DRAGON.jpg

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Movie Review: The Book of Eli

Having been robbed by Los Hermanos Weinstein of the opportunity of seeing perhaps the most eagerly awaited movie of my lifetime (or at least since The Phantom Menace -- yeah, I know know...) when they opted to release The Road, the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, in a limited number of non-Southwest Georgian theaters, I made certain to see The Book of Eli this weekend.

Critics and Christians alike have attacked the movie. Entertainment Weekly's film critic Owen Gleiberman panned it, but he is also the guy who he gained notoriety for his review of "The Apple Dumpling Gang" (1975), in an article entitled "Dumplings of Justice" wherein he praised the eponymous "gang" as a "proto-typical revolutionary People's movement opposing the forces of crypto-fascist capitalism as represented by Don Knotts." Some fundamentalist nitpickers have complained that the Bible was shelved next to the Quran, but they really should take their beef up with the Library of Congress which traditionally has mandated shelving both books in the B section which is designated for "Philosphy. Psychology. Religion."

Me, I like the movie on a religious level. I, for one, was happy to see a movie in which the hero was a kneeling-to-pray, Bible-reading Christian. Debbie at Christianity Today's review of the film pointed out the film's religious cromulence: The Book of Eli shows that "God calls ordinary people to monumental tasks, and He enables them to complete the job. In this movie, Eli was God's man for carrying His Word into a new age. At one point in the movie, you get a glimpse inside his backpack, and there's a nametag pinned at the back. It reads, "Hello, My name is Eli." It was a K-Mart employee name badge. Why was he qualified? Because God called him to the task. If God is calling you to do something beyond yourself, trust Him." One of my favorite scenes of the film was the one in which Eli (Denzel Washington) demonstrates for Solara (Mila Kunis) the lost art of saying Grace. It reminded me of the importance of the act and to address my own neglect of it.

I also liked the film on a geek level. There was plenty of action, but it wasn't the Matrix/John Woo fromage that is the staple in Hollywood these days. The fights looked real. Eli actually unstrings his bow after using it (or at least he gets Solara to do it). I appreciated the Hughes brothers' homage to a classic post-apoc film by hanging an A Boy and His Dog one-sheet on the wall of Carnegie's guest room. The landscape was straight out of Fallout 3. There was a cameo by President John Henry Eden. The only thing missing was Vault Boy (how cool would have been to see one on a shelf in Tom Waits' store?).

As a lifelong bookworm, I really loved the emphasis the film placed on the importance of reading. I think the ALA needs to take one of the images of Eli reading in the film and turn it into one of their "READ" posters.

In short, I'll take The Book of Eli over Colonial Marines vs. Smurfs any day.

Links:
Chris Weston and The Book of Eli (Storyboarding, etc.)

Detroit Wreck City

At one time, thanks to the auto industry, Detroit, Michigan was the one of the most important cities in the United States with a population of nearly two million. Now, the city is a casualty of the wars between the UAW and GMC.

Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre Photography have assembled a great collection of photos of Motor City's urban decay.

The site also has a collection of abandoned East German factories and a series on old moviehouses.

Eat My (Post-Apocalyptic) Shorts

Day 26 (short film)
Twenty six days after an undescribed biological disaster, two survivors are forced to live in cumbersome protective biohazard suits and scavenge for food, water and petrol in a desolate, dead land. The two follow the incomprehensible sounds of the radio in search of fellow survivors. They stop for supplies at a farm house when the unthinkable happens.

Watch TAG 26 in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Day 26

Oasis Terminal (Colombian post-apoc. short film)
25 years into the future, civilization has been destroyed by nuclear war. Andres, one of the few survivors, searches for a mythical place called The Oasis, the only hope for mankind.

Oasis Terminal (english subtitles) - short film from Ruben Fernández on Vimeo.

Clips from new BBC mini-series Day of the Triffids

Day of the Triffids Clip: "Skies Ablaze" from AO on Vimeo.

Day of The Triffids

h/t Derek Shakabpa

When Design Meets Doomsday

When the shit hits the fan, that Remington 870 will come in handy, but it won't be able to solve all of your problems. Sure, it'll take out a zombie, but, if you're hungry, it'll just make a mess out of that delicious-looking mildly irradiated three-eyed koi teasing you from the pool outside the ruins of your local Chinese restaurant. And when the shells run out, you'll just look silly trying to blend in with a brick building while wearing those BDUs you nicked from the local Army-Navy store.

The cool kids down at 5.5 Designers have designed a number of items for even cooler kids (a.k.a. design snobs) as part of a 'guide to free farming.' Their notion: "We're surrounded by food sources. Sure, they're disgusting, but hey--it's 2030." In addition to the really snazzy fishing rod, they have a cockroach trap, a rat trap, a snail vivarium, a bird trap, and a gleaning bag.

h/t Fast Company

Post-Apocalyptic Clean-Up

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison are a husband-and-wife team whose photographic work, “The Architect’s Brother” is concerned with the state and possible fate of the Earth. According to the official description, ParkeHarrison “conjures a destiny in which humankind’s overuse of the land has led to a spent and abandoned environment, inhabited by one indefatigable spirit.”

Merry Humongousmas

Road Warrior Party

MST3K in Far-Go

Famine in Far-Go was my favorite Gamma World module. I ran across the following video which reminded me of that fine TSR product.


MST3K - Chicken Of Tomorrow

Riz | MySpace Video

More Stuff

Surface Scapes: The Future of D and D?

Mad Men yourself

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Gamma World Lit

Sherman, set the wayback machine for 1980. My favorite writer was Stephen Vincent Benet. His writings touched on some of my favorite subjects: specifically, the American Civil War and doomsday. My favorite Benet short story is "By The Rivers of Babylon," the tale of a hero's quest in the post-apocalyptic age. I highly recommend it to my fellow fans of the End of The World As We Know It. Another of his doomsday works is the poem "Nightmare Number Three." When I was in ninth grade, all of the students in my English class had to stand up and share a poem with the class. I chose "Nightmare Number Three." I still vividly recall one airhead (as we called them back in the day) expressing her complete and utter lack of comprehension.

Mr. Benet's most famous works are John Brown's Body and The Devil and Daniel Webster. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44.

[ a piece of artwork inspired by "nightmare number three ]

John Updike is Dead, and Lux Interior Don't Feel So Good Himself
Speaking of folks dying of heart problems, Lux Interior of The Cramps is dead. What's even more shocking to me was that he was 62! Dear Lord, I'm old.

More Gamma Worldly Greatness
The Road movie

Gamma-Fried Chicken

One of my favorite roleplaying game adventure modules was Gamma World's Famine in Far-Go. The player characters are a "group of young adventurers about to begin the sacred Rite of Adulthood." There quest takes them into the Forest of Knowledge to discover the cause of a "mysterious plague." Timothy Truman's artwork alone makes one think twice before eating another order of Frankenfood MacNuggets.

The entire adventure can be found at Scribd.

Gamma World - GW2 - Famine in Far-Go

Publish at Scribd or explore others: eBooks Academic Work future mutant

NRA *heart* NY
Tip o' the pith helmet to New York Governor David Paterson for appointing Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. Senator Gillibrand is the recipient of an "A" from the National Rifle Association for her voting record on Second Amendment issues. Heck, if the Democrats keep this up, they just may win me back to the party of my forefathers.

New York Gov. David Paterson will name Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, an upstate Democrat, to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, a Democratic official with knowledge of the governor's decision told FOX News on Thursday night.

But some New York City Democrats are skeptical of Gillibrand, who voted against the financial rescue package last fall. And the National Rifle Association has endorsed Gillibrand -- another cause for concern among some Democrats. . . .

In defense of the endorsement, Gillibrand told FOX News that she comes from a "hunting family" and "wants to support hunter's rights."

[ source : Field & Stream ]

Tip o' the pith helmet to President Obama as well for these kind words:

“Governor Paterson made a wonderful choice in appointing Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Secretary Clinton’s seat in the United States Senate. I am confident that she will continue Secretary Clinton’s distinguished service to the people of New York and to our country….During her career, Kirsten has been a strong voice for transparency and reform in government and shares the belief that government should be open, accessible and work for all of our citizens. In Congress and as special counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, she worked to strengthen public and private partnerships to invest in infrastructure and New York’s economy.”

[ source : Wall Street Journal ]

Yugo
How to clean a Yugo

Post-Apocalyptic Post

Over at the Gamma World Yahoo Group, kvedulf2000 posted about The Last American: A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-Li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy by J. A. Mitchell. It is written from the perspective of a Persian archaeological expedition exploring the ruins of post-apocalyptic 1990s "Mehrika." Interestingly enough, this piece wasn't written in this millenium. According to kvedulf2000, it was penned some time between 1889 and 1906.

An excerpt:

TO THOSE THOUGHTFUL PERSIANS WHO CAN READ A WARNING IN THE SUDDEN RISE AND SWIFT EXTINCTION OF A FOOLISH PEOPLE THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED A FEW WORDS BY HEDFUL SURNAMED "THE AXIS OF WISDOM" _Curator of the Imperial Museum at Shiraz._ _Author of "The Celestial Conquest of Kaly-phorn-ya," and of_ _"Northern Mehrika under the Hy-Bernyan Rulers"_
The astounding discoveries of Khan-li of Dimph-yoo-chur have thrown floods of light upon the domestic life of the Mehrikan people. He little realized when he landed upon that sleeping continent what a service he was about to render history, or what enthusiasm his discoveries would arouse among Persian archaeologists.
Every student of antiquity is familiar with these facts.
But for the benefit of those who have yet to acquire a knowledge of this extraordinary people, I advise, first, a visit to the Museum at Teheran in order to excite their interest in the subject, and second, the reading of such books as Nofuhl's "What we Found in the West," and Noz-yt-ahl's "History of the Mehrikans." The last-named is a complete and reliable history of these people from the birth of the Republic under George-wash-yn-tun to the year 1990, when they ceased to exist as a nation. I must say, however, that Noz-yt-ahl leaves the reader much confused concerning the period between the massacre of the Protestants in 1927, and the overflow of the Murfey dynasty in 1940.
He holds the opinion with many other historians that the Mehrikans were a mongrel race, with little or no patriotism, and were purely imitative; simply an enlarged copy of other nationalities extant at the time. He pronounces them a shallow, nervous, extravagant people, and accords them but few redeeming virtues. This, of course, is just; but nevertheless they will always be an interesting study by reason of their rapid growth, their vast numbers, their marvellous mechanical ingenuity and their sudden and almost unaccountable disappearance.
The wealth, luxury, and gradual decline of the native population; the frightful climatic changes which swept the country like a mower's scythe; the rapid conversion of a vast continent, alive with millions of pleasure-loving people, into a silent wilderness, where the sun and moon look down in turn upon hundreds of weed-grown cities,--all this is told by Noz-yt-ahl with force and accuracy.
"Here's Truth. 'T is a bitter pill but good physic."
ABOARD THE ZLOTUHB IN THE YEAR 2951 _10th May_
There is land ahead! Grip-til-lah was first to see it, and when he shouted the tidings my heart beat fast with joy. The famished crew have forgotten their disconsolate stomachs and are dancing about the deck. 'T is not I, forsooth, who shall restrain them! A month of emptiness upon a heavy sea is preparation for any folly. Nofuhl alone is without enthusiasm. The old man's heart seems dead.
We can see the land plainly, a dim strip along the western horizon. A fair wind blows from the northeast, but we get on with cruel hindrance, for the _Zlotuhb_ is a heavy ship, her bluff bow and voluminous bottom ill fitting her for speed. The land, as we near it, seems covered with trees, and the white breakers along the yellow beach are a welcome sight.

Read The Last American: A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-Li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy in its entirety