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First of all, I feel like post is a direct attack on my last story. :-)

2. Fury Road, hands down. I know there's recency bias, but it's probably a top 3 action movie ever and does incredible story work and world-building with such economy and efficiency. Road Warrior is next.

3. Does Succession count?

Re: apocalyptic thinking, you're right, it's all overstated and to some degree even wishful thinking. We'll just continue to trudge along, solving some problems, failing to solve others, creating new problems, etc. etc. ad infinitum. The idea that the world will end is analogous to conspiracy theorizing. People want to think someone or something is in control, rather than it all being random. But it is all random, which is too much for most people to grapple with.

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As soon as I saw your post I was worried you might think this was an attack. If it helps, I actually put this story to bed more than a week ago, so I wrote this before I saw your post. But, and I think this is important, apocalypse vibes are all the rage. In other words, we're on trend! Celebrate that win!

As for Fury Road, hell yeah! That movie is fantastic! We walked out of the theater, turned around, and bought tickets for the next show.

Does Succession count as apocalypse media? I don't know. It has a real dystopian quality, that's for sure. If the shit really hits the fan, I'd put my money on Tom. He may not look tough, but after that last season I think we all know that he has what it takes to win in a wasteland. As for Greg, I do love him, or rather I love his mumbling style, but that dude will be killed and eaten.

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Haha! One of those funny coincidences in the universe. Agree Tom is underrated. The key to Succession is the Roys are all cowards. None would survive in the wasteland.

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Almost spit out my coffee reading these lines:

“What you do?”

“Writer.”

“Yeah, writing is wrong business.”

Priceless!

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Thanks Neal!

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Well, I mean, The Road, obviously. Cormac is my ride or die. Sherman Oaks Is Doomed would be a great title to something, it reminds me of The Battle Of Shaker Heights. Also, despite my master's degree in international defense analysis, I just figured out last night around 10:00pm why the words "situation normal" sounded so familiar.

And you're right, these people get off on the thrill of civilization falling apart and the feeling of superiority they get by thinking they know something you don't and the general air of "how stupid can you be" not to see the writing on the wall, etc., etc. It's self-esteem building for them.

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I still haven’t worked up the courage to read The Road. I enjoyed the movie, and by enjoyed, I mean I thought it was great and beautiful and horrific, and after I watched it I felt haunted for weeks. But one of these days I plan to read Cormac.

In the meantime, I’m curious what “situation normal” means in the defense context?

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Snafu is military slang. So, you run across it a lot.

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Oh that makes sense! I do love that bit of slang, although I chose to call this newsletter Situation Normal as an homage to a Han Solo line in Star Wars. But now that I think about it, Han may have been referencing snafu.

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My buddy Alex and I were debating the origin of your newsletter title. He thought Situation Normal All Fucked Up (e.g., SNAFU) and I thought Han Solo.

Good odds the Han line is based on the military term.

Also, I agree with the book The Road as a key piece of apocalypse media. I loved it and I'm glad I read it and I don't recommend it to anyone. It's that extra.

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Glad this thread could settle the debate between you and Alex. And thanks to Bev for connecting the SNAFU dots to Solo! At some point, I'll write a little more about the origins of the title.

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When the shit hits the fan, you hose it off. And start over with a nice clean fan. What else can we do? Another good story, Michael. Thanks!

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Thank Paul! I like your practical take on the shit hitting the fan!

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Sep 25, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

The best thing to treat a Case of Doom is to make something. Work on a craft project, make art, plant and tend a garden. If, heaven forbid, the world did go toes up, those are the things that would be really needed. Clothes would be needed, mending needed, food...plus it is really hard to be all doom and gloom when you have the feeling of "Look what I made!" It helps with my depression if I catch it soon enough, should help with Doom too!

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Great advice, Lynn! I’ve often found that taking an action is a good way to pushback on doom.

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Sep 25, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

OOO, I forgot baking! How can there be Doom when there are cookies???

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Yes! It’s really hard to feel doomed while eating a cookie!

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Sep 26, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

First: “Yeah, writing is wrong business.” Haha!

Many excellent points in this post. Esp feeling that one is living in end times as a form of self aggrandizement. It is the social equivelent of paranoia.

Also your point that reading history is an excellent corrective. I was just talking to a friend about the phrase so commonly heard these days, that we are living “in uncertain times.” What the f are you talking about? When have times not been uncertain and compared to the historical norm this is nothing.

Oh it is so fun to get ranty I hardly ever allow myself!

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Rant away!

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Sep 26, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

My first thought was Adventure Time, because it’s so tonally distinct from the doom-and-gloom of the apocalypse genre, but recently I saw a bonkers movie called Hell Comes to Frogtown starring Roddy Piper and a sexy frog lady, so I’m going with that.

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You must get up very early in the morning to find obscure films like Hell Comes to Frogtown.

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Sep 26, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

1. Step 1: Stop watching Fox News. (before anyone gets their pants in a twist, if we had a Republican president right now, I’d say CNN--the point is opposing news media wants its viewers to feel like “the world is going to hell in a hand basket with this other party’s lunatic at the helm--we see it; don’t you see it?!?!”) Step 2: Actually, delete all news feeds and eliminate your other sources of news media. You’re not going to miss anything. It’s all BS anyway. Someone will tell you if you’re not supposed to go to work because the world ended on Tuesday. Step 3: Go see a therapist. Seriously. You might be suffering from depression and/or anxiety with your propensity to think nothing is right in the world and can only see wrong. Even if it turns out you aren’t, they’re the most liberating form of care you can provide to yourself. Tell your doctor you may be depressed, they’ll get you connected to a therapist, and it’s almost always 100% covered by insurance.

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Steps one and two for combating doom remind me of the first rule of holes: stop digging. It’s wild to me how much doom-inducing content we consume. There’s even a word for it: doom-scrolling.

Good suggestions!

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we live in the apocalypse AND things are beautiful worth saving. Thanks for this I loved it.

Anti doom content:

Dumb and dumber

Broomshakalaka - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zt2uIhAvQZ8

If u love broomshakalaka, great. If not, we need to watch it together in person. It’s art.

Also anything else The Daniels made - Swiss army man and everything everywhere all at once

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These are good anti-doom recommendations!

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Nice one.

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Thank you, Brad!

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"What do you recommend to treat a case of doom?" Definitely a blue basket of jalapenos.

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Maybe I'm doing something wrong my jalapeños, but they don't come in a blue basket. What's the deal there? If I'm missing doom-soothing jalapeños, I need to know about it, Holly.

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Sep 25, 2022·edited Sep 25, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

It was less the jalapenos and more the gardener of the jalapenos, Michael, but my chance encounter with a blue basket of jalapenos got me out of a serious funk a few weeks ago. I must admit, however, that I wasn't quite at apocalypse-level funk like Aram.

I am now kicking myself for not titling the post about the encounter "Doom-Soothing Jalapenos," but now you've given me something to strive for: Level-Situation-Normal descriptors.

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Oh, got it! Feel free to share the link here. I’d love to read it and I’ll bet other people would like to read it too!

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Just read the post! Good stuff! And now I see that blue basket.

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I never knew I needed a case of doom book til right now - added these recs to my TBR because I could definitely use a reality check every now and then! Great story

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Open books in case of emergency! Glad you enjoyed the story, Meaghan!

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Nice. It's always been this way regarding doom as you describe. I post about stuff adjacent to this topic to prove a point. The human condition I think.

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The broader prepper community needs more Terminator 2 and less Terminator 3.

Had a time with the story. I did a double take on the location because my low-horsepower brain couldn’t grasp there being another Galleria Mall somewhere else.

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There’s a Galleria in Jersey, right?

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And White Plains! A semi-city in New York with a comic shop that demanded loyalty.

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And White Planes!? These Galleria Malls are multiplying like Gremlins.

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Sep 25, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

New subscriber here. I’m so glad I found this shit, it’s hilarious!  But there’s a kernel of truth. I research and write about climate change and economics, and it’s hard to strike a fine balance between preparing for doom and be optimistic while doing it. prepping is good, but only If it leads us to develop better technology and policy to survive, but it’s bad if people like Aram, use it as an excuse to go mad max at the world at the first sign of trouble. 

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Thank you for subscribing and welcome! I’m glad you’re here!

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Loved this! Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is my fave post apoco book. (Set in Cali, def recommend). Can my favorite Mad Max movie be the California Love by Tupac video? 😁 No? Okay, I guess the first movie and Fury Road.

Not a prepper but strayed into prepper territory when we first moved to California from the east coast and had to prepare earthquake go-bags for the first time- and then I fell down the rabbit hole of exactly how prepared for an earthquake did we want to be.

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I don’t know if the Tupac video counts, but it is a really good video! And I know what you mean about the earthquake kits. They’re a gateway drug to the prepper rabbit hole.

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