Corona Virus Dispatch from NYC, Day 10: Scary Movies as Barometers

We are not quite here (yet).

We are not quite here (yet).

As I was slacking with @alluma

It occurs to me as I chat with a London-based coworker of mine over Slack, that New York City is rapidly transforming into a movie set. Back in 2004 when I lived on the lower east side, I went for a run along the east river one weekend, and stopped cold as soon as I saw a dozen or so Humvees and hundreds of soldiers. Turns out, the whole thing was part of a film set for a new Will Smith movie about the end of the world. If you’re thinking of watching it, I concur with the Rotten Tomatoes score of ~ 68%.

So back to Covid-19… nowadays, on any given week day, all of New York f***ing city basically looks like it is being staged for a film shoot. The entire status of the city can thus, be summarized by a movie title — much like those idiotic color-coded terror alerts that Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney loved right after 9/11. Perhaps, if we all agreed to use this movie-inspired scheme, we could successfully communicate the sense of urgency to the rest of the fucking country, who are apparently receiving dipshit lessons from the residents of Florida and Kentucky. Below is my proposal:

  • Children of Men: we are currently here

  • Contagion

  • I am Legend

  • 28 Days Later

  • Mad Max: Fury Road