Endworld: Doomsday (2009) novel

David Robbins' 2009 novel Endworld: Doomsday is the first in "an explosive series of survival in a postapocalyptic age".

Robopocalypse (2011) novel

Here we go again: robots (intelligent machines) revolt and begin the extermination of humanity. Haven't we had one too many doomsday movies on this theme already? I guess if its a meme, a formula and it works, why not. Daniel H. Wilson gives his novel Robopocalypse an authentic touch since he has a PhD in robotics from the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and had previously publish a non-fiction guide called How to Survive a Robot Uprising, possibly modeled on Max Brooks' 2003 handbook The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead.

 According to this report from The National Post,

The story is set no more than a decade in the future, and at the centre of it all is Archos, a powerful artificial intelligence that orchestrates the entire uprising from the depths of a radioactive cavern in Alaska. The novel begins after the war is over, when a leader of the human resistance discovers a black box on the war, filled with accounts of the various heroes. The transcripts of these stories take us back to the pre-war world, and then lay out the uprising as it unfolded.

Someone named Steven Spielberg even optioned the movie rights before Dr. Wilson had completed it. If all this sounds very familiar, just watch the four Terminator or the Matrix trilogy movies. You might also want to dig up Colossus: The Forbin Project, a 1970 movie, that is also eerily similar to Robopocalypse.

Postscript: Doomsday May 21, 2011

May 21, 2011 has come and gone nearly everywhere in the world and the world has not been ravaged by earthquakes nor have any Christians been gathered up by the Rapture, at least not that any of the mainstream media have reported. That's one less prophet to worry about now. I do feel sorry for those who have been duped by their faith in this man. To err is human, after all.

Doomsday May 21, 2011

In case you had not heard, the end of the world (Judgment Day in Christian circles) is supposed to start on May 21, 2011, with a series of earthquakes just before 6 pm (not sure what time zone though) and the Earth will be utterly destroyed in October 2011. All this according to various news reports about Christian "prophet" Harold Camping who preaches through his Family Radio Christian network (FamilyRadio.com). Camping apparently did his calculations from Biblical verses but only counted forward from 4900 BC. Other Christian leaders have dismissed his claims. Camping had previously calculated Doomsday to be in September 1994, so clearly he has no credibility. Robert Fitzpatrick's book The Doomsday Code (2010) is based on the Camping Calculations.

Apocalyptic earthquake in Japan, March 11, 2011

Northeastern Japan was struck by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011. A large tsunami was generated that not only devastated parts of Japan but also swept across the Pacific. While Hawaii and British Columbia were spared any significant damage, there were reports of damage in California. My deepest condolences to the victims and their families. I hope you will help support the recovery effort in Japan by a donation to one of these disaster relief organizations. Here is a link through which you can follow Google News indexed coverage of this terrible catastrophe.

Carriers (2009) movie

In the 2009 movie Carriers, a virus outbreak in the United States has decimated just about everyone, at least in what appears to be the western half of the continent. A road movie starring Christopher (Starship Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk) Pine as an extremely unlikeable protagonist, he and his younger brother, along with their respective girlfriends, are on their way to the ocean (California?) to recapture their childhood and teenage years when their family vacationed there. At the end of the journey only two of the four are left alive at their destination. This is a grim and unrelenting look at an apocalyptic future.

"Long Count Calendar Blues" music excerpt

Since one of my passions is music, I've been working on a series of dance pieces as part of a concept CD I call "The Apocalypse Sessions: Dances for Dark Days." Here's an excerpt from a track I composed titled "Long Count Calendar Blues" in reference to the Mayan Long Count Calendar that allegedly predicts the end of the world on December 21, 2012.

A track excerpt of 2 minutes, 27 seconds duration is on the Internet Archive and the full version (not downloadable) is available through my SoundCloud account for your listening pleasure.