Seattle Superstorm (2012) TV movie

A Soviet Union Cold War experiment gone bad may spell not only the end of Seattle, Washington, but also the world in the 2012 apocalyptic thriller Seattle Superstorm. First broadcast in Canada on April 7, 2012, this TV movie gives new meaning to the phrase, The family that fights the apocalypse together, stays together. Not only were the effects about as believable as those in many 1950s and 1960s mutant monster movies from Hollywood and Japan, but the plot was atrocious and the acting just passable. Not to give away too much, but how was it that the key Soviet scientist involved in the experiment just happened to turn up in Seattle the day the orbiting craft carrying a substance that triggered the near-apocalypse re-entered the atmosphere and was shot down by a U.S. Navy battleship?

Stonehenge Apocalypse ( 2010) TV movie

A completely ludicrous and unbelievable doomsday scenario, the 2010 TV movie Stonehenge Apocalypse literally starts off with a bang when an underground archaeological dig in Maine, which appears to have uncovered something left by the ancient Egyptians, triggers an energy surge and causes a mysterious movement of the monolithic stones at Stonehenge, England. And it's all downhill from there, beginning with the lone conspiracy theorist who flies to England to start his own investigation into one of the Mayan pyramids at Chicen Itza which also mysteriously moves and turns into a nuclear bomb-like exploding volcano.

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.