Blogging mojo fading and apolcalypse now

I've kind of lost my blogging mojo at the moment. It happens. Life is busy. The odd quick tweet is easier. Twitter just EATS time doesn't it? Much as I'd like to, I have had to stop trying to read every tweet in my timeline. How do people do that? I guess they have smartphones, which I don't. That would EAT even more of my time.

I happened to watch two movies recently of the 'apocalyptic' genre. Apocalyptic moves usually fall into either the biological or climate disaster category. You know, there's a crazy virus out there, we're all gonna die, or there's some crazy climate change, we're all gonna die.

I am, at the same time, both repelled and fascinated by apocalyptic films. I guess, as the directors intend, the themes in these films bring home the vulnerability and transience of the human race, as well as questioning what it means to be human. It's the themes around how society changes which interest me most - how the usual sociological rules change in the face of different dangers. This reaction in me has only really come on since becoming a parent. The thought of our young children being on their own after the mutated virus has got us, eugh, it's scary. It freezes my heart. I couldn't watch 28 Days Later after the first 15 minutes. Anyways...

I watched one of each of the biological or climate disaster films. In the former category, I Am Legend (2007), with Will Smith in which "Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure." [IMBD]. I watched most of the film with my heart in my mouth. It had huge holes in the logic no doubt but it was a powerful film with some poignant moments.

The other night we caught up with what is becoming a modern classic, Danny Boyle's Sunshine (2007) in which a team of astronauts set off on a last gasp mission to re-ignite the dying sun and save humanity on an earth which is darkening and freezing over. Fascinating and, occasionally, baffling. Is the earth worth saving, and is there a higher power? It also includes that common dilemma in such films - should you take a particular action which will save humanity but which will take away from yours personally?

I mention having watched these type of films because, listening to the news recently, it occurred to me that the more imminent threat to society and everything we are used to might lie in another direction. What would happen if the worldwide banking system, capitalism and the money system collapsed? Our usual financial priorities would be subverted and we would be forced to barter goods, food and produce on a different kind of E-Bay or swapping websites? Is there a film which covers such a subject?