In 1992 Francis Fukuyama declared that humanity had reached the "end of history." What he meant was that with the collapse of the USSR and supposed triumph of liberal democracy there would never be an ideological conflict again. No more big wars, no more boogeymen, nothing to fear. Of course 9/11 happened and his entire premise got shot to shit. But, from 1992 until 2001 he was right. As far as defining conflicts of a generation go the Gulf War and Yugoslavia escapades were tame and uneventful. Terrorism wasn't a huge deal either, even after the first WTC attack and Okla City bombings.

You cant find a better reflection of this strange, brief part of American history than in the big budget movies of the 90's. Villains from this era of film were a surprise volcano underneath Los Angeles, a not-so surprise volcano in Washington state, genetically engineered dinosaurs, (bad) Godzilla, an iceberg, computer illiterate aliens, the English, undetected faults in Apollo spacecraft, among many others. Aside from Die Hard, and even then the villains were clearly lower-case 't' terrorists with ambiguous goals, there was hardly any human element to the bad guys. They were just things, natural phenomenon or man-made creations spiraled out of control.

That's not the case anymore. Now you set some movie in the desert, make it look extra gritty and have some boring commentary on the GWOT and eureka, people will be upset it didnt win Best Picture.

San Andreas, which looks like its about the San Andreas Fault physically exploding and destroying everything W of Lake Bonneville, is return to that era. Nobody to blame, nobody to fear, just an unrealistic depiction of a natural disaster that has no chance of being as catastrophic as it will in the movie. If you want escapism, no movie will provide it better than San Andreas. It's going to take you to an era where you didn't have to worry about ISIS beheading anyone and a bag left on the train was just a bag left on the train. Already my most anticipated movie of 2015.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

O.G. Loc!



Forgot how bad PS2 GTA graphics were.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.