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'What Kate Did', What We'll DoThis post will be updated after the show, but tonight's LOST is likely to be a crucial moment for fans of the series. The second season so far has ranged from uneven ("Collision" last week) to outright disappointing (Shannon's death in "Abandoned"), with relatively few bright spots along the way and no definining moments -- no "Locke and the wheelchair" moments -- to set the tone for what is to come. Tonight's episode -- this is a minor spoiler only if you are fanatical about spoilers -- promises to reveal "What Kate Did." The question of Kate's crime has been central to the show since day one.
LOST writers take note -- we can probably forgive you for disappointing us on Shannon's death, and the jury is still out on "The Other 48 Days." But if you disappoint us on Kate, well, you're going to really start losing people. Don't let us down.
UPDATE...
Well, it didn't suck. LOST needed to hit one out of the park tonight. They managed a double, maybe even a triple. Kate's story was compelling, but not especially shocking. Considering her skills and the level of interest the government had in her, this story of domestic murder seemed too small to justify the build-up.
Kate's story was emotionally competent, but again all too cliched -- much like Ana Lucia's story last week. On the bright side, we did get some more Island clues, and fairly large ones at that, although the missing Dharma film splice was also anticlimactic. The twist at the end, the hints about the dead...
Bottom line...
It was fine. But I am tired of thinking about LOST in words like "cliched," "anticlimactic" and even "fine" and "competent." I seem to remember a time when "innovative," "shocking" and "brilliant" were the first words out of my mouth at the end of an episode Or simply "Wow." I remember "wow." I don't think I've said "wow" since "Man of Science, Man of Faith," and even that was somewhat qualified.
I want my "wow" back.
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It's so nice to here a voice that's not simply fanatical in it's devotion to lost.
I love your thoughts on Lost, but I'm not so sure you can really say "we" or "us." Unless there's two of you.
Judging by the response on the message boards, you are alone in your critique of the last few episodes. ??
The only people who go to message boards are the rabid fans, the blindly devoted. That's probably not where you'll find dissent.
Some of the hardcore fans are getting pissed, but for different reasons. Some agree with the points made above, as recounted in several conversations I've had.
Others are pissed because they suspect the clues and mysteries don't mean as much to the creators as they do to us.
The latter issue isn't as much of a concern to the bigger part of the viewing audience, but a dropoff in storytelling quality will eventually begin to be reflected in the ratings. Note that last year reviewers regularly wrote about Lost as the best, most original show in years. Have you seen any of that lately?
JM, you may continue to use "we" and "us" since your opinions typically fall under the "I couldn't have said it better myself" category.
Who DOESN'T think Lost has sucked this season? There were so many unknowns last season and the discovery of the hatch provided a focal point for all of our imaginings of what the island really is... the writers have done little to re-develop that sense of mystery about the island and it's inhabitants this season. So far the information about the hatch, Dharma or the others has all been pretty ordinary with no real sense of the unknown. "What Kate Did" did save the show for me, I'll watch a few more before reclaiming an hour of my week.
-EA
I am part of a group of about 6 that watch Lost together every time it comes out. I am the only one who frequents the message boards. They've enjoyed every single episode so far. Likewise, i know several people who blazed through the DVDs, then bought the itunes season 2 episodes and have nothing but praise.
I love your thoughts JM. I think they're great. But they're not representative. If anything, you're thinking too much about the show, at least in the sense that the average viewer does not dissect and rate the quality of every episode like you do. They either like it or don't, and move on. Viewership has held pretty steady over the season, so I'm inclined to think that they've liked it. I imagine that the greatest test is this long stretch we're in now.
Point taken that I haven't seen anything about Lost being an original show, but my guess is that we can chalk that up to Lost being a sophmore and not the new shiny. It certainly has its share of Globe noms.
I may well be in the minority, but the great bulk of my complaints have to do with basic storytelling and not the message board minutiae. I am not trying to say that the majority of fans agree with me -- rather that a significant minority of core fans are really starting to have serious concerns and that a continued lackluster series of stories will eventually be reflected in the ratings.
If you care to argue that any one episode this season so far is even vaugely on the level of "Walkabout" or "Numbers" or "Confidence Man," feel free, but I am not feeling it.
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This One's For You, EddieFrom the Wrestling Observer Web site:
At a meeting with all talent from both brands before today's television tapings in Sheffield, England, Vince McMahon announced that the company is instituting a new drug testing policy.
Details of the policy were not announced, but there will be testing involved, and banning of use of all peformance enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids, as well as recreational drugs. Three will also be policies put in place for abuse of prescription drugs, as well as a company policy regarding more regular and comprehensive cardiovascular examinations.
See also this well-said piece by Dave Meltzer posted later in the day. I agree 100 percent.
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The FBI's Secret OKC FilesSeveral newly revealed FBI documents provide the most dramatic evidence to date that the Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by a conspiracy involving more people than Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Attorney Jesse Trentadue has disclosed more than 50 pages of FBI internal documents, which are at the center of a court battle over the FBI's obligation to disclose information about the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. All currently available documents are now available to journalists and the public on INTELWIRE.com, my terrorism news and investigative reporting Web site. Most of these are appearing for the first time in public, so all you journos out there, take note.
Click here for the story
Click here for the indexed documents
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Spoilers Abound, And Not Good Ones, In Lindeloff InterviewSPOILER ALERT: A new TV Guide interview with Damon Lindelof had a few spoilers to spill. The only one I will address is a big one and one which will not be to the liking of many people. So stop reading if you don't want to know.
OK, stop now.
Really.
OK, then, you asked for it.
Here it comes.
In a TV Guide QA feature, LOST executive producer made the following statement about those darn numbers:
Question: Will we get any clarification about the numbers this season?
Answer: "Carlton might want to punch me for actually going on record and saying this, but I think that that question will never, ever be answered. I couldn't possibly imagine [how we would answer that question]. We will see more ramifications of the numbers and more usage of the numbers, but it boggles my mind when people ask me, 'What do the numbers mean?'"
It boggles his mind? Well, my mind is boggled and not in a good way.
I do not necessarily object to the idea that the numbers might not be explained overtly in the show. But I do object to a writer of the show stating up front that a central mystery of the show is, essentially, meaningless.
I liked the ending of "The Prisoner," in which some things remained ambiguous and others simply impenetrable. But if it "boggles" Lindelof's mind when people ask him what the numbers mean, that suggests to me that there is no intention, no plan, no internal logic behind their use and existence.
So, what, they just randomized some numbers and thought it would be cool to make them a central feature of the show without any actual concept behind them?
And if this was in fact the case, then what could Lindelof be thinking when he announces it during the second season?
Perhaps this is somehow a misstatement or a mind game, although I have come to suspect something is amiss in the writer's room at Lostland. At any rate, I do expect we'll hear some sort of clarification once word starts getting around. I can already hear the collective roar gathering...
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If these comments are anywhere near the truth you will need to check out the i ching reading if the numbers. It seems to elude to whole setting of the show and I can see how there isn't just one final answer for the numbers. They have a multitude of meanings.
The way the i-Ching works, however, is that it provides meaning and context around structure. So, for instance, picking six random numbers isn't meaningfully different from throwing coins to get an i-Ching reading -- and it can still provide an accurate read on the show.
What bothers me is not the idea that there may be a multitude of meanings for the numbers, but rather the cavalier dismissal of the question, as if we were all idiots for thinking they must mean something. When you are writing a story, and you provide a development that is a large part of the narrative, a good writer has at least some inkling of what he or she intends that development to mean. Whether or not the writer chooses to share that meaning with the audience is another question entirely.
If he'd said "We know what they mean, but we have chosen not to reveal the meaning on the show," I would have been fine with that from a storytelling standpoint although it would still be a major gaffe from the point of view of disclosing too soon (i.e., not letting us wonder).
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LOST Opportunity Normally, I refrain from posting my "what might have been" vision of a creative work. As a writer myself, I think about such things all the time, but I usually save them to bore my friends with. However, the more I think about Wednesday's episode of Lost, "Abandoned," the more I want to get a few things to get off my chest.
For the first time, I was genuinely and thoroughly disappointed in an episode of Lost. There were a number of things that bothered me about this episode.
First, I had allowed myself to build up some significant expectations about Shannon's flashback. The fact that she was the last of the core group to be featured gave her an air of mystery, enhanced by the fact that her character did not seem to be blessed with an abundance of intrigue. I had hoped we would get a shocking revelation from her past.
I had also hoped we would get some insight into why a guy like Sayid (Naveen Andrews) would be attracted to Shannon (Maggie Grace). Sayid doesn't seem like the type who would fall for long legs and petulance. We had already seen dark hints about Shannon's past, from Boone's flashback as well as in glancing references here and there.
What we got was flat and shallow. Yes, Shannon got screwed over in her past life. But the events shown did not account for her personality, nor were they actually that interesting. In pondering all this, as well as Shannon's untimely death, I thought a lot about how I would have handled the episode differently -- especially in light of the fact that this was (presumably) our last opportunity to find out about her history, now that both Shannon and Boone are dead. (I know this may not actually be the case, but from a viewer's standpoint, that's how it feels.)
Sayid has had a dark and violent life. In watching their relationship grow, I could not help but think that Shannon must have something inside her that Sayyid could relate to. Her flashback should have been intense and dark -- instead it was the story of a spoiled rich girl's problems. Yes, she did get treated badly and I was sympathetic, but this wasn't a dark journey into a tortured soul. This was, at best, prequel to her real story.
I would have played it much differently. Her flashback should have gone into depth about one of her failed relationships, which were hinted at ominously by Boone at various points last season. It should have been violent and extreme -- showing us a really, really good reason why she was so angry and alienated.
It should also have involved some hint or implication of a psychic gift. Walt decided to appear to Shannon, of all people. Why? Sure, it could have been because of Vincent, but that isn't an especially satisfying explanation. Her flashback should have depicted her seeing ghosts, perhaps her father, but finding that no one would believe her and that no one else could see them. This would have raised questions about Walt's status -- could he be dead? -- and it would have explained why she was the one to whom Walt chose to reveal himself.
Finally, the flashback should have tied back to the show's central mysteries. Now, the writers have said that they are primarily interested in developing the characters first and the plot second. I commend that attitude. But this is a special case. It was her last flashback (at least as far as we, the viewers, know). Therefore, her "bad relationship" partner should have been revealed in the closing moments as an important clue to the Dharma Initiative or the Hanso Foundation, a clue which would help our castaways -- if only she had told someone before being killed!
These two changes would have dramatically heightened the tension of Shannon's death. First, we would have become more invested in her as a character and in her relationship with Sayyid. Second, we would be painfully -- excruciatingly -- aware that her death leaves our surviving heroes in the dark about an important fact, a fact that we all now know, but a fact that none of the other survivors know.
There is one more tweak that could have been layered onto this development. Ana Lucia could have played some key role in Shannon's flashback. The role could (and should) have been as ambiguous as possible. Perhaps Shannon saw Ana Lucia interacting with her bad relationship partner, but Ana Lucia was not clearly demonstrated to have seen Shannon.
The previous two items of tension still apply, but then we would also be twisting in the wind over whether Ana Lucia deliberately shot Shannon to protect her secrets, or whether it was an honest accident. We would keep on twisting until we eventually got Ana Lucia's own flashback, a delcious agony which could have been stretched out for quite a while.
Furthermore, it would raise a question that Lost has inexplicably failed to raise thus far -- is some one of the survivors working for "them" (whoever "they" are)? Did someone on Flight 815 sell out the passengers for a secret agenda? Again, the suspense could have been dragged out for the entire rest of the season, until we finally get the flashback that clarifies the question. Instead, this excellent question remains unasked, and Shannon is dead.
Perhaps there is a better twist ahead that will account for all of this, and I should be more patient. But the new season of Lost has left me feeling worried about the future. I'm still enjoying the show, but I'm not hanging on every episode like I used to.
The commercials for "Abandoned" promised the "most-talked about" episode of the year. That simply wasn't the case. Suspense isn't just about "unanswered questions" -- it's about unanswered questions that the viewer is DYING TO HAVE ANSWERED. The Dharma Initiative is intriguing, the question of the others is intriguing, but they are external to the very thing the writers have developed most and best -- our heroes and their internal struggles.
The mysteries must involve the characters themselves -- their histories and their dispositions and the question of whether they are good and evil. A story like the one I outlined above would have delved directly into those dark waters -- and people sure as hell would have been talking about it around their water coolers the next day.
I'm not abandoning hope for Lost, and maybe I should have more confidence in the writers (who have earned a significant degree of confidence). But this week, I found myself doing something I had never done before with this show -- I found myself wanting more and feeling a bit let-down. The second season has, thus far, been a roller-coaster ride, but it has been more sizzle than steak in many ways. I enjoy the sizzle, but I am ready for my steak now.
I have blood sugar issues -- when I don't get fed promptly, I get cranky. Here's hoping somebody puts a big plate of something tasty in front of me next week.
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I totally agree about this episode being a major dissappointment. I mean it only had two real plotlines (Sawyer dying and Shannon's erratic behavior), during which nothing happened. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if there hadn't been all this "someone's going to die" hype, as if that's all it takes to please us. (not to mention leaking that Shannon died, which killed any suspense whatsoever
I was actually critical of Boone's death episode, too. It would have been much more exciting if the character to die hadn't been the most obvious one.
PS. That thing you posted a couple weeks ago about supervolcanos really bummed me out.
Have to disagree with your overall assessment, although Shannon's death was for me the most painful since Madeline Ferguson was brutally dispatched by her uncle Leland Palmer fifteen years ago. Shannon's demise seemed to me quite capricious, at the very moment of her impending emancipation from the view that she was merely a selfish debutante. As for Ana Lucia having any awareness of just who she took down, this week's episode revealed that it was a case of one lost soul being the agent to somehow relieve the tormented existence of another - a plot decision that to me seems rash, but it did serve Maggie Grace's cinematic interests and she gave what was by far her most touching performance, comparable to Michelle Rodriguez's this week. Finally, I'm wondering if anyone else has evoked Bruce Cathie's exhaustive and dangerous research yet as it relates to the Magnolia-like confluence of this breathtaking series. I'm fairly certain that the island's unusual electromagnetic properties were somehow utilized to bring down Oceanic Fight No. 815, and that indeed, a Cathie-like conspiracy will become increasingly obvious.
I have to say, I never in a million years would have compared this episode to the death of Maddie on Twin Peaks. Overall merits of each show aside, the killing of Maddie was the single most disturbing thing I ever saw on television.
The problem for me is that Shannon was not in the least emancipated from being a selfish debutante but rather reinforced in that role. Her experience sucked, sure, but it didn't in the least justify her becoming the bitch on wheels we saw on the island.
J.M. - J.M again. You're right; Maddie Ferguson's death on Twin Peaks was extraordinarily violent and disturbing, comparable to some of those on Hawaii Five-O, one of my all-time favorites all the same. And while for some reason it never occurred to me in my last posting, Shannon's inexorable downward spiral towards her demise was creepily evocative of Laura Palmer's in "Fire Walk Wth Me", and the tragedy associated with both was palpable. My last word on Shannon's behavior is that it seems to have been very much a result of fear if not sheer terror, and I can forgive her for that.
Although I didn't quite villefy Shannon as much as you did (what did she do exactly that was so appalling? Sure she used Boone, but I'd say it does indeed take two to tango... and Boone was a big boy. He knew what Shannon was and yet perpetually played enabler to her more negative traits). However, I was considerably disappointed in that I too had been thinking there was some greater purpose in holding off on Shannon's backstory so long. This compounded with the Walt-visions and her father (named Adam, conspicuously enough) dying on Jack's operating table c/o his future - miraculously cured - wife? I thought, "They must have some big plan in store for her to explain not only her demeanor, but also tying her to Walt / the big mysteries in some significant way..." But nothing. I suppose they could have something in line later tying back to her somehow, but honestly, I doubt that very much. Utterly disappointing.
I also concur to something someone said above, this death had to be one of the worst kept secrets ever. Worse than the brouhaha around Boone's death. At least then there was some chance of it being someone else (several hefty bets were put on Sayid too if I recall). How many people, upon finding out another castaway was going to go, thought it would be anyone but Shannon? The news was all but confirmed early in the summer. Which adds another dimension of disappointment to Shannon's death... how exactly was this character's death a 'risk' at all? She was always, easily, one of the most expendable in the show after Boone died. There was nothing really all that overwhelming about it, at least in my opinion. She certainly wasn't a "Jack", "Kate" or "Sawyer", who clearly seem to have more importance where the writers are concerned.
I don't know that I intended to vilify Shannon. She has consistently been portrayed as petulant, spoiled, callous and deeply alienated. In order to sympathize with her, these qualities needed to be explained in the context of her life. Certainly, it needed more than one flashback to do that, but even more importantly, it needs a more extreme flashback -- something seriously f---ed this girl up, and getting ripped off of her inheritance, to me, is not a deeply compelling, profoundly scarring event. If this was the first of many flashbacks telling her story, it would have made more sense. For the writers to claim -- as they have -- that in this one stroke they did a fantastic job of making Shannon "incredibly" sympathetic is simply horrifying...
I will be writing my version of this story for the upcoming debut of the Society for the Online Study of Lost. I'll blog the link when it's available.
I admit, I kind of was expecting rape or sexual abuse of some kind. I do think it's possibly implied, somewhat, in the course of the show (as it now seems, I was apparently grossly overanalyzing). Shannon, from what I understand about things, sounded like she turned into something of a high-end hooker as a means of survival... and I doubt it was much en par to the romanticism of one of Collette's baudy tomes. I actually thought the 'high-end hooker' lifestyle was where the writers were going to focus (that, to me, does strike as the more interesting path), but they copped-out and went from some origin storyline. Some paltry homage to "Cinderella". Not sure if they did that fearing to go to the dark places or... they seriously thought that would tie up her storyline in some nice, neat little package. I suppose it did... but why does everything have to be so damn "nice" and "neat"? Oh yes, because they were killing her off one way or another and that's all she was ever getting. Eh.
Also disappointing to see they couldn't even so much reference Shannon had a serious case of asthma. Once. Yet another thing sacrificed unfortunately to the black hole of continuity.
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Eddie Guerrero: Rest in Peace
Bad news on the doorstep. From WWE.com: "WWE is deeply saddened by the news that Eddie Guerrero has passed away. He was found dead this morning in his hotel room in Minneapolis. Eddie is survived by his wife Vickie and daughters Shaul, 14, Sherilyn, 9, and Kaylie Marie, 3."
I rarely feel any sort of connection to someone I see on TV, but this was a man with so much life it just jumped out of the screen and grabbed you. He was my favorite part of wrestling in so many ways. I remember when he became champion, I felt great, and not just because I had been entertained so well by him.
Eddie had a certain human quality, not unlike Johnny Cash -- with whom he shared the demons of addiction. Eddie put himself out there in a way that was an act, but it was also indefineably real. His matches were miracles of athleticism and physical performance, but they most often peaked in the moment when Eddie performed his trademark "cheating" -- not bad cheating, but fun cheating.
He made it fun because he let us in on the joke. On last Friday's Smackdown, I watched Eddie's match and it came to that infamous spot -- the ref had been "knocked out" and the other wrestler had been knocked silly. The crowd went wild because they knew what would come next. With exaggerated shock, Eddie looked at the ref, then craned his head around to look at the other wrestler, then back at the ref. Then he stopped in the middle of the ring and looked straight at the camera... and grinned. The place came unglued, and I smiled a big smile watching this, and I thought to myself, "God, he's so good."
I could not have imagined that it was the last time I'd see it. I am grateful that I decided to tune in this particular week.
Where ever we go, in the great beyond, I hope Eddie has found some peace.
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What a fine tribute to Eddie Guerrero. I remember your saying that you weren't good at eulogizing after you wrote about Strom Thurmond's passing, but I have to disagree~ you have quite a talent for it.
Good God Almighty, I can't believe anyone has stuck with reading me for that long! Thanks!
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Things That Suck (Revised) Good news... Thanks to playing around with formatting, I've brought the price of my book, "Things That Suck: Deep Thoughts on Modern Life," down by a dollar, while increasing the size to a 140-page trade paperback in an attractive, larger 5x8 format. The upshot of all this is that the book is now more or less reasonably priced for what you get, and it would make a lovely Christmas gift for that depressed, cynical or all-too-aware person in your life. Alternatively, it would also be a good gift to bring the pollyanna-ish optimist in your life down to earth with a dose of harsh reality, assuming social darwinism hasn't already killed off all the optimists by now. And don't forget Jesus Is Not A Republican, which is also season-appropriate.
Things That Suck contents include:
Extreme Science!
Who Trains The White House In Ethics?
Hello, I Bomb You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name?
Jesus Was Not A Republican, But St. Paul Probably Was
The Day The Gordian Knot Grew Too Big To Cut
The Memo of the Christ
Why I Love (And Hate) Pro Wrestling
Al Qaeda's New Caliphate
Did Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef meet?
OKC: Unfinished Investigation
Fake Medicine
The Love Song of J. Alfred Roker
The extremely tiny profit from sales (less than 50 cents per copy) helps support the upkeep of this site.
Click here to buy || About the author
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That Depends On What The Definition of 'Do Not' IsEl Presidente has declared "we do not torture" even as his flunkies seek to quash a Congressional decree that torture is illegal. Makes you kind of sentimental for the good old days, when the biggest news story of the day had to do with pleasure, not pain.
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The Tao of Armageddon
When something strange pops up at Megiddo, the site of Armageddon as prophesied in the Bible, people tend to take notice. The discovery of an early Christian church on the site is not strange in itself, but there is something odd about the mosiac on the floor (dating to the third or fourth century C.E.). Or rather, several somethings. For starters, the workmanship is exceptional, and the style is notable different from the vast majority of Christian art from the era, which tends toward figure portraits, illustrations of stories and very simple symbols, all often rendered in a very primitive style. The content of the mosaic is even more interesting, however. I'm not a full-blow expert in early Christian art, but I'm more interested than most, and I've never seen anything quite like this. On the other hand, the design is very heavily Roman in nature, which makes sense for what is possibly the earliest of Roman-Christian churches.
 UPDATE: As you can see, I've gotten some better images of the eight symbols. I've quickly enhanced them as best I can for overall structure, but I'll post again later this week with some more detailed, higher quality photo images. Meanwhile, check them out... If anyone sees a Davinci Code or the Merovingian seal, well, feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post... END UPDATE
From a purely subjective standpoint, no doubt biased by my own leanings, I immediately noticed a structural similarity to the ba gua diagram from the i-Ching. Historically, the yin-yang motif has often been depicted as two fish swimming around each other, similar to what's seen here. The Megiddo mosaic also features eight square design elements, each unique, arranged around the center, similar to the arrangement of the eight trigrams in the ba gua. More on this at a later date.
Although some early Christian designs also show two fish in various arrangements, I haven't seen the particular arrangement used in this mosaic. Similar to this design, one fish is scaled (dark) and the other is not (light). I don't know the significance of the "two fish" design in its original context, but I will update this posting when I can sit down and research it some more. Feel free to post a comment or e-mail me if you know more about this topic, or if you've seen the overall design before.
The eight designs surrounding the fish are even more curious. Unfortunately, the photos available so far don't offer a head-on view of the full mosaic in good detail (although I'm sure more are coming). What we can see of the image is very interesting. The design is unusual in that the eight surrounding designs are not symmetrical or repeating, which seems to suggest the arrangement could be meaningful. It's not a sure thing -- there are various Roman works with assymetrical designs or broken symmetry.
One element contains a variation on the swastika, a symbol which was meaningful in Eastern philosophy and many other cultures long before the Nazis usurped it for their own purposes. Another element is reminiscent of Celtic knotwork (although similiar designs are seen in Greek and Roman architecture of the period). Others include different arrangements of simple checkerboard-type geometric designs and what appears to be a flower-like structure. The eight design elements are not consistent with each other, or with the central fish illustration, in terms of style or content.
The Celtic-style knot and the flower-like arrangement of four vesica pisces are both fairly common designs in Roman (non-Christian) mosaics of a very high quality. Aside from the obvious overall craftsmanship, those elements do suggest the floor was a professional job. The swastika symbol was not uncommon in Roman art, but the variant seen here is fairly unusual. I haven't seen the other designs in Roman mosaic work, but maybe someone out there can fill us in.
In the meantime, here are some relevant links to things I've written related to the ba gua design, and the design as it was recently featured on ABC's Lost (plus an article I wrote on Armageddon for good measure):
King Wen's Hidden 108
LOST: The Logo in Desmond's Hatch
LOST: New Dharma Logo, New Thoughts
LOST: Mysterious Dharma Video Hits Web
I-Ching
Taoism
Armageddon
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Death Comes For Us All"Supervolcanoes" might sound like a sweeps week special on the National Geographic channel, but let's face it -- who cares, right? Geological oddity, power and grandeur of nature, tectonic plates, the final and total extinction of humanity, pyroclastic discharge, climate change, blah blah blah, same old...
Except that cute little geyser in Yellowstone Park -- the one your parents dragged you to see when you were eight -- is actually a ticking volcanic time bomb capable of covering the whole continent of North America under several inches of ash, while simultaneously shrouding the entire earth in a choking haze of burning airborne ash and smoke.
The rains, when they come, will be black and filthy -- and so too, eventually, the fresh groundwater we drink. The Earth's average temperature will drop anywhere from two to 50 degrees.
The supervolcano at Yellowstone (just one of several around the world) detonates with the same regularity as the cute little geyser -- except the volcano only goes off once every 600,000 years. The last time it blew up was 640,000 years ago. We are officially living on borrowed time.
Read full article by J.M. Berger for the Rotten Library
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