"It just like a movie": When reality seem so unreal.

[Flangepart]

Its been said over and over agine. "It was just like a movie". I've never been to New York. Its history and imagery has always been, for me, totaly cinema. I realised that that city .....is unreal to me. The Glittering shards of glass from the collapsing towers, the Mt. St. Helens look of the landscape,  The slow stately implosion of the huge conrete and steel constructs....do any of you guys have this numb feeling  i have? I know the human mind ALWAYS reacts first with Dis-Belief. The word NO in caps and underlined. I try to imagin downtown Columbus,Ohio, and the LeVec Lincone Tower falling over...and i can't do it with out a lot of effort. How is it, that the human mind does that? Is it a defence tool for the mind? The monsters who did this could easity invision it...and look what happened. Those Kiser Chosaes did do what no one else was willing to do. And it was evil. Can we return the favore? I'm sorry. i can't make sence of what i mean. It just seems so un-real! Those of you who have been to N.Y., and spent time there....is it hard for you too? Sorry for the ramblings. And this time , i CAN"T say, "Its only a movie, its only a movie...."

[Chadzilla]

These events are certainly surreal and cinematic (you couldn't have better weather conditions for this - the images are so clear, sharp, and detailed at times - it almost looks like it could have been a "War of the Worlds" type staged production).  I don't think it will truly sink past the numbed shock for weeks.  The WTC is GONE man, erased.  Countless movies, television programs, and books have been 'ruined' on some level for me and countless others.  Think about all the books and movies and television shows and such set in New York - not one of us will be able to watch the Spiderman preview and not think of this, or Escape from New York, the remake of King Kong, Basket Case (which features the twin towers in a skyline shot), NYPD Blue, Wolfen, the novel Vespers (a character is attacked in an elevator in one of the towers), Armageddon, Die Hard 3, and many, many, many, many others that I cannot recall right now.  There is no way that we cannot see the towers and NOT remember/relive these events for the rest of our lives.  On that level I fear the terrorists have won.

I don't live in New York, have never been there (don't really want to go there), but I can say this - watching how everyone came together to help at the darkest moment in our history made me damned proud to be an American.

God Bless Us All.

[AndyC]

I agree. New York does seem somewhat unreal to me, knowing only what I have heard, read or seen of it in movies. It's hard to imagine, standing in my home town, that all of this is going on somewhere to the southeast. Seeing the video footage, it amazes me just how accurate some movie effects really are. I must also confess that when I see the video of that second plane flying into the building, there is a part of me that reacts as if it were a movie. If it were faked by Hollywood, it could be one of the coolest things put to film, but it's real. I'm aware it's real, and I've been a complete basket case (in the traditional sense) because of it, but on some level, that explosion is thrilling. That makes me very uncomfortable.

[N. E. Moses]

Speaking for myself, a native New Yorker, and many others in my city, I thank you for expressing your deep concerns and condolences to this horrific tragedy.  Fortunate for me (and I don't want to sound selfish), I wasn't there at ground zero  when it happened (or else, I wouldn't post this), but I saw on tv when the second plane hit the second tower.  At first, I said to myself "holy s**t!  This is not happening!" Taking a bus to work, I was listening on my walkman the reports coming in about how badly damaged both towers were and, kind of like Andy and Flange, I'm thinking is it Die Hard or is Con Air making a sequal and started filming here in NYC.  But this is the World Trade Center, the twin towers of communication power, 110 stories each of pure steel and concrete. In my mind, I'm saying, it has been through worse in 1993, it can stand up this. But then the latest report said that both building have toppled on to itself, I could not believe any of it until I came home (my job is somewhat near WTC, but police cut off my route) and saw it with my own two eyes on my tv.  "Shock" was too mild of a word to describe my reaction.  And it's gotten to the point where the military (I'm in the army reserve)called me to be put on stand-by.  No movie writer, special F/X guy, director, would ever, EVER, think of anything as unspeakable as this.   We've all seen the show "REAL TV", what happened yesterday morning is REAL TV.  Even in my twisted mind, I'm thinking what would be different if all the super heros in Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, etc. would all come together to react to this situation.

Well, if any of you guys are familiar with iwon.com and in particular, video poker, from POGO, I always have a saying when I log off: From me and every1 in NYC,
c-ya.

And again, Thanks

Nyenkan Eugene Moses

[Jim Hepler]

Yeah, I'm glad I've seen them.  Since..  Well, no more.

At least now the skyline, though less impressive, will be a little less ugly.  I guess that's something.

[Chadzilla]

Sir, I could call you comment insensitive and disgusting in light of the loss of life, but I could also commend you for at least injecting a little ray of light into a dark moment.

Paraphrasing Godzilla 1985 - "That is one hell of an urban renewal plan they hve going there."

I am sure that tasteless jokes will be bubbling up quite soon, all part of the healing process I guess.

New York is certainly going to look different, that is for sure.

[Mighty Atomic Pikachu]

Ah, I remember when I could brush off those shots of famous buildings getting blow'd up real good in action films as pure fantasy....now, it dosen't seem quite as amusing anymore. Brrrrrrr....

I don't think I'm gonna play Rampage again. Ever.

[Kurt]

Well, I live just 14 miles from the towers and they were the only part of New York visible from where I live (well, if I go to Half Moon Beach I can see a bit more of the skyline, but I haven't had the nerve to try that yet.)

Even here it still feels a bit unreal.  You can alomst pretnd that the cloud of smoke is just hiding teh towers from view.  I don't know how well the illusion is going to hold up when I go sailing next Wed (this weeks race was cancelled for obvious reasons).