The Apocalypse Is Upon Us - So I've Heard

December 21 is the end of the Mayan Calender. If we are sitting in the writer's room of Supernatural, The X Files, The Walking Dead, Revolution, Falling Skies, Lost...you name it -- there is a LOT of things we can flash out that will look awesome on television. We are obsessed with the end of world scenarios in popular culture -- demons walk the earth, angels get involved, zombies eat brains, militia takes over, aliens colonize earth, cataclysmic events. Very cliche but we love the angst, the darkness and special effects that blow our minds. Our heroes will come to the rescue! Dean and Sam Winchester can pretty much handle all kinds of monsters, demons and zombies. We'll leave the aliens to Mulder and Scully, and Tom Mason. We'll leave the militia to Miles and Charlie. For everything else, there is Mastercard. 

While I am not too excited about this year's Christmas for some reasons, I am sure December 22 will see the dawn. My family has already wrapped all my Christmas presents and organised the Christmas menus. Those things cannot go to waste. Some of my friends start spamming my inbox with articles about the trending topic -- The Apocalypse. Unless it's a Supernatural or Revolution spoiler, I don't want to know! But they are interesting read! Here is one.

Business Insider has identified 14 places to hide out during the apocalypse. Great! It seems to me that some places are only for the rich and famous. But wait, the only Australia city that was mentioned was Perth. Oh Perth, you put the Dullsville in Dullsville, Dullsville! Two other locations caught my eyes. The first one is the concrete apartment buildings in Warsaw, which are like the ultimate safe houses. The second one is Mount Weather, Virginia, it is home to FEMA's National Emergency Coordinating Center. This is where they moved Dick Cheney to after 9/11. Wait.. they didn't use the Stargate? 

We are fascinated with the Apocalypse, for some of us it is our obsession with vampires and zombies. Principal Figgins thinks vampires are real. Our PM, Julia Gillard warned us about zombies. In an recent CNN article, it mentioned the work of a researcher, Jerry Piven. He said "an apocalypse almost embeds a tale of fantasy into reality and provides safe theater for exploring death." Robb Willer, an associate professor of sociology at University of California, Berkeley said "...the apocalypse can be a spectator sport and a reality show for some people." Perhaps, we hate our lives so much that we sit on our asses all day and secretly hope the world will end soon, so we don't have to go to work, pay our bills or tell our partners we want a break up because they like Michael Bublé.

But the reality is, the end of the humanity is not fictional. Global warming; an all out nuclear war between nations; the break out of an incurable disease; the low supply of resources and food; the universe can just switch itself off; and according to this website, "...a plague that wipes out 70% of humanity might actually ensure the survival of our species in the longer-term." The 'Doomsday Seed Vault' is a real place in the mountains of Svalbard and selling bunkers for people to survive the Apocalypse is not unheard of. There are things we can do individually to help prolong the life of Earth. And seriously, if our planet is suddenly hit by another planet, there is nothing we can do about it. It's not like we can evacuate everyone via space ships or a Stargate.

Natural disasters, however, happen all the time and they are happening more frequently than I've ever noticed. My household has one philosophy -- our pantry is always full, as in 'enough-for-zombie-attack-full'. And my brother actually has a bug out bag. Shit happens. Look at SuperSandy! Aussie summer can be dangerous with all the bush fire and stuff. So, it's not a bad idea to be prepared! 

I think whatever happens under whatever the circumstance, it reveals who we really are. We live in a very paranoid world, when shit happens, will we become heroes or will we become weak and selfish than we already are? Who are you likely to become if you are a character on Lost or Revolution?
 
And if the world does end on the December 21, what will happen to all of us? If you think demons will walk the earth, zombies will eat brains, militia will take over and aliens will colonize Earth, you can channel your inner Kripke and post your thoughts on Fanfiction.

Weekend edition -- how many Joss Whedon's actors & actresses have you met; and Falling Skies

I am particular with the words I chose to describe something sometimes. But let's go to 'meet' this time. This doesn't apply to any touching or having a conversation with.

I went to a pop culture convention yesterday in Sydney called Supernova, this is the closest thing we have to the ComicCon in Australia. It's very famous for featuring many Joss Whedon's actors and actresses as guests in years. And when it's impossible to invite someone like Transformers' Shia LaBeouf, you get to meet the actress who played his mother in the movie! Surely you remember Judy Witwicky! No sarcasm here.

I am not a big enough fan to go to Supernova every year. Like this year, I don't know half the guests there, but I guess it's an experience which is certainly different from the Supernatural cons like those organised by Creation Entertainment. Supernatural cons are more family-orientated, fans are like a family in a way. With cons like Supernova, it features shows from Dr Who to Firefly; manga and animations; and I was sooooo under-dressed! Seriously!

My first Supernova experience dated back to 2009 when Jared Padelecki was invited. He came here by himself. I just wanted to see Jared and I had no idea about the Cosplay and all that crazy stuff. That was like an ultimate pop cultural shock to me! I know fans are passionate and they spent hours and thousands of dollars on their costumes but I was so traumatised (not in a bad way). I am so glad Supernatural has its own AHBL convention in Australia.

Anyway, Jewel Staite was also a guest that year, she was so soft-spoken! I had no idea what she was talking about, Firefly was an unknown to me back then. And then we have Eliza Dushku and Summer Glau last year. Amy Acker, James Marsters and Sean Maher were amongst the guests this year. I was on Twitter last night and I had this random thought about how many Joss Whedon's actors and actresses I have seen live over the last few years? So here is the list and the hot links of the blogs I posted previously:

Joss Whedon -- at the Opera House last year
Jewel Staite -- at Supernova
Eliza Dushku -- at Supernova pic & pic
Summer Glau -- at Supernova pic
Sean Maher -- at Supernova pic
Amy Acker -- at Supernova
Mark Sheppard -- at LA Con pic

That's actually a lot considering I didn't even try!

James Marsters wasn't on the list because I didn't actually see him in person. I don't know about you, but I would love to see Adam Baldwin next year in Australia. How about bring Yvonne Strahovski back to Sydney?

The exhibition was massive as usual. There were so many people! I saw this lady picked up a Harry Potter wand and waved it. Truth me, she was expecting magic to happen. I had a picture taken with an Iron Man yesterday, I swear he is RDJ's double especially his left side! And I took picture of Green Hornet's Black Beauty. It's no Impala, but it's good looking piece of plastic.

Not the Impala.

For SGA fan, David Nykl (aka Dr Zelenka) was there. He was so animated! He made some interesting points about web series being a great way to break into Hollywood, which I agree. Instead of the old way of getting your scripts to the networks or studios, if you can make the pilot and release it on web, you should do it! Like.. I am totally doing this. 

The most excited thing and the reason I went to this year's Supernova is because of the Falling Skies screening. I liked what I saw and this show has potentials. The Fox8 lady gave me chocolate. That's what I am talking about! When face-to-face PR is better than viral marketing! But seriously, not that I expect anything less specular from Steven Spielberg, but after the preview screening, I was ready for more. Noah Wyle, certainly looked interesting as the John Connor-like hero. To me, Falling Skies is a cross between Terminator, Battle: LA, Cloverfield, District 9 and Resident Evil. But why must aliens be so bad all the time in pop culture? Can we just all get along? With Lost, 24, Smallville gone and the end of Supernatural is inevitable, I am certainly fishing for more new shows to watch, Once Upon a Time and Falling Skies are the one to watch. 

On a completely different topic -- one superhero at a time. I am not excited (and don't care) about the one with the Green ring, but I am super-excited about Captain America and Harry Potter. I am sure Captain America will delivery and with Harry Potter, I am going to watch it in Gold Class. Why the hell not? And I am not the only to say this, but BRING IT Pottermore!!! 

So, how was your weekend?