Y2K: Year to Kill - buy a couple of cans of baked beans, instead

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After calling over 20 video stores in our area, we found a video store that had Y2K: Year to Kill. I'm glad I got to see it so that I can tell you now: it's not worth the couple bucks you may want to spend to rent it. Buy a couple more cans of baked beans, instead. Or get a big box of brownie mix. What's a couple bucks? It maybe one day's ration, and one day's ration will do more for you than wasting good money on renting this video. But I bet some of you won't take my word for it.

Is it really that bad?

It's a B movie for the MTV Generation. It is as low budget as it gets. It almost reminds me of a Romeo and Juliet (but not really), and this time Juliet is crooked. There are moments that remind me of Clockwork Orange. Yes, there is romance in the only way that romance can happen between a modern boy and a modern girl: innocence, sex, and treachery. Yes, there is friendship too and it shows that Aristotle was correct: the best friendship is between men. But best of friends will also die.

What about Y2K?

You won't learn anything new. No, let me correct myself. You will not learn about how you might survive Y2K. You won't even get a glimpse of things to come-- if you are looking to see how cities look when they have fallen. Remember, this is a low budget movie. While there is some narration that describes the devastation that brought Y2K, the script writer would have done better to come here and get a sense of all the terrors that we imagine here. This forum, our words, is where it's at.

Anything else?

There is something to gain from this flick, however. And it is not a pleasant realization. If Y2K hits hard, the young and dangerous will rule the world with a sound and fury that is terrifying. One moment, they'll be that nice boy or girl who grew up down the way. The next moment, they'll smile and shoot you for your impertinence. This is not from the movie: they'll drive through the front door and do horrible things... all the while laughing like sprites, and, roaring like lions.

And if you shoot one?

You better finish them all, each and every one... maybe even your own.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 08, 1999

Answers

Hey Stan, that's kinda bleak there at the end..."maybe even your own?" Go rent 'Bye Bye Birdie:' the kids are well-groomed, and Ann Margaret is 21 again.

-- Spidey (in@jam.commie), September 08, 1999.

Thanks for the info, Stan. Yes, it's a bleak realization, but one that's very accurate. It's important to realize the danger if one hopes to survive Y2K.

-- (its@coming.soon), September 08, 1999.

Mr. Faryna, usually I am awestruck by some of your insights, but today I have to say that I'm a little offended. "The Young And Dangerous" aren't really all that dangerous (by comparison with other times) if you look at the crime statistics these days. They are, however, accused of everything from being stupid to Satanic to possessed by aliens, and have to suffer through all kinds of hostile labels that the mainstream media likes to frame on them via their baby-boom-tinted lenses. Much of this media attention, i suspect, is just indicative of a latent fear of losing one's own youth.

If y2k ends up being really bad, as much as some of you would like to "not trust someone under30" or even pre-emtively shoot, I urge you to remember that maybe--just MAYBE--these young punks might possibly be of help you scared old geezers.

Most of the youth really dig older people, and long for a conncection to the past, unlike the previous generation's "youth culture" which briskly tossed aside the past as "square." Why do you see such a huge surge in interest among the young in "square" stuff like Swing Music, Big Band, the Grateful Dead, Lounge Music, Martinis, etc.?? It's because they know that the so-called "youth culture" that is sold to them is phony to the core and filled with artificial preservatives and flavors. They don't want to be set aside as "different" and special, and don't see themselves as part of some special generation that is out trying to "change the world." Most just want to get along and not be so alienated from the culture they inherited.

Now that my little rant is drawing to a close, I suggest that all you curmudgeons around here lighten up and actually try to talk to these "scary, dangerous" youth. Try to remember that YOU TOO were young once and remember that the media likes to perpetuate a culture of FEAR so people are addicted to their TVs in their safe, insulated, cushy little houses--away from all the "bad" things that (gasp) let you live a full life of community and fellowship.

-- coprolith (coprolith@rocketship.com), September 08, 1999.


Now that my little rant is drawing to a close, I suggest that all you curmudgeons around here lighten up and actually try to talk to these "scary, dangerous" youth.

This is a nice sentiment, but unfortunately, it's a bit late for that. It would be great to think that the youth of today will have a higher opinion of their elders and themselves than previous generations, but the crime statistics clearly show otherwise. The tendency towards extreme violence demonstrated by younger generations only means that it's getting worse, not better. Having a more "Polly" outlook on their behavior may cost you and your family your lives when Y2K hits.

-- (its@coming.soon), September 08, 1999.


The Grateful Dead, the world's premier LSD band, is considered 'square?' Wot's the woild cummin' to?

-- Spidey (in@jam.yuppie), September 08, 1999.


I've seen the movie and I loved it. I guess it depends on your point of view. It seemed a relevant and plausible scenario for what could happen, and certainly addressed the fears of many people over what could happen should all the systems fail. Panic is the greatest threat to us in this entire situation, and the movie plays out those possibilities. I give a thumbs up. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth the rental price.

-- ArtChick (me@home.com), September 08, 1999.

For the record, my last sentence was tongue in cheek. Some other sentences above it, as well.

Coprolith,

I agree with you (amen!) that we should not be afraid to live a full life of community and fellowship that cuts across the generations. I might contend that if we had led fuller lives of such community and fellowship... Generation X and those that came after would have been better for it. I remember the sadness I felt when learning that a young man had broke into Rosa Parks residence and robbed this civil rights heroine who refused to go to the back of the bus. He didn't even know who Rosa was. I guess the punk skipped one too many classes.

I say, punk, with tongue in cheek.

Since you brought the stats up, I'd like to get the statistics on the number and percentage of criminal offenders for all crimes and violent crimes, for all age groups, and for several different regions from 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990. I'd also like to get statistics on the number and percentages of criminal offenders (black, white, etc.) raised in single parent and government homes in recent years. Will you help us sort this thing out? We should pursue the facts and see for ourselves whether or not young people are worse or better than before.

There's more to say, but I am pressed for time.

Artchick,

Welcome to the brood. Now, I'm not picking on you (and I hope to see you post more often), but this flick just glosses over technology failures, economic problems, and the impact these things had on the people who live in the world of Year to Kill. There are monologues about failures in general (this is covered in the first five minutes of the movie), but in the Year to Kill world, Y2K doesn't even look much like an 8. The main characters don't get thirsty, hungry, or cold. The grass is green and they are driving around (in Porsches!).

So, no, this flick does not adequately address the intelligent and thoughtful questions and concerns of most people that hang out on the TB2000 forum. Y2K: Year to Kill certainly doesn't even come close to describing what could happen should all the systems fail. Instead, check out the beach assault of Saving Private Ryan (Dave Walden recommended this one and it is a good call). Now that is 10ish. Not that I'm saying that Y2K is going be anything near a 10! But let us not underestimate the realities alluded to by these terrible numbers.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

P.S. It looks like we can do some cross generational fellowship right here.

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 08, 1999.


There is no one face to any generation, although there are certainly sociological/psychological traits that distinguish those growing up in different ages and places. To see all youth as either good or bad is to miss their reality.

As I've said before on this forum,I live in a neighborhood where across the street is subsidized housing. We have a serious gang problem there with the youth. They shoot others, often killing them. When our condo management office had our handyman ask them to not loiter on our property (they were pretty scarey, particularly to our preponderance of older residents), they returned in three autos and jumped out and began trying to break our office doors in with iron pipes! When that didn't succeed, they trashed our handyman's auto with same...he lived there 10 years and was loved by us all...and he promptly quit and moved out. We have had to pay $8 more per month, $96 annually, on our condo fee to pay off-duty police to drive around the grounds. Fairfax County has had to add bicyle police to the premises across the street. We had the Gangbuster's Unit of the County Police address our homeowner's group (and 60+ people turned out, the biggest attendance ever for any advertised gathering there!) They brought mug books, photos of arrested gang members in their clothing and with their tattoos and other symbols, and ran slides. All of this to alert us to what to watch for in order to protect ourselves. The most telling sentence spoken in a LONG evening of heavy information was when the main speaker said, "These (two ethnic) gangs come from countries in which they were trained to kill their own people. They would kill you in a heartbeat." They also deal in drugs and fight for the turf.

Remember the brutality in the riot newsfilms in America in very recent history? See the newsfilms of Timor right now?

Anyone who thinks that they will be safe from predators, of any age, in a civil upheaval such as Y2K could cause, is living in a dream world. Today's reality is harsh and painful to contemplate, but it must be looked at for what it is if one is to survive it.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), September 08, 1999.


STan--good points, I think we're mostly parting views over semantics. Yeah violent crime's gone way down in recent years but there remain very dangerous crime environments and demographic pockets where youth violence is still pretty bad. I just suspect that violence's origin is complicated, spawned by that fearless, immortal feeling that youthful hormones drive as well as being a "have not" in a culture which idolizes material wealth and castes out more than its share of "mistfits." It's not just being young.

Anyhow, I will continute to naively trust and hope and dream that we will all find ways to get along after 00.

-- coprolith (coprolith@rocketship.com), September 08, 1999.


Anyone who thinks that they will be safe from predators, of any age, in a civil upheaval such as Y2K could cause, is living in a dream world. Today's reality is harsh and painful to contemplate, but it must be looked at for what it is if one is to survive it.

You got that right, Elaine. There are a lot of people here who still don't "Get It" and they may wind up dead as a result. They'd better wake up soon or all their preps will be for naught.

-- (its@coming.soon), September 08, 1999.



correction: let us not underestimate the probabilities alluded to by these terrible numbers.

Coprolith,

Word.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 08, 1999.


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