Chernobyl

Chernobyl – Episode 5 – Vichnaya Pamyat

June 5, 2019 Bald Move Pulp

The final episode of HBO’s Chernobyl, “Vichnaya Pamyat” derives it’s title from the traditional prayer said at the end of an Eastern Orthadox funeral; “memory eternal”. Our hope is that everyone who has watched this and will watch this in the years to come takes to heart this encomium, that we need to remember the cost of lies, the cost of taking our eye off our institutions and systems we setup to keep us safe and prosperous, because if you fail to do so the cost only becomes more dear. Thanks for watching along with us, we’ve loved having you all along for the experience.

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Chernobyl – Episode 4 – The Happiness of All Mankind

May 29, 2019 Bald Move Pulp

Hello, comrades! It’s time once again to descend into the man-made hell of Chernobyl, now with 100% more puppy-murder! The deep irony of the episode’s title, “The Happiness of All Mankind”, underscores the misery of the people who were forced to evacuate, the soul and body destroying heroism of the soldiers and engineers doing the work that…

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Chernobyl – Episode 3 – Open Wide, O Earth

May 22, 2019 Bald Move Pulp

Jim and I have seen episode three of HBO’s Chernobyl series, “Open Wide, O Earth”, and are shaken by the graphic depiction of the Chernobyl first responders’ last days. We get to see the horror from multiple perspectives, the victims themselves, the and the friends and family who struggle to cope with this strange manner of death and the danger it poses to them. Meanwhile as the Soviets manage to contain and stop the fire, we gear up for the long war ahead; to fully contain the death and destruction of Chernobyl it will require 750k lives and three years of sacrifice. Will they be up for the challenge? And will they solve the mystery of the reactor’s destruction, so that it might never happen again? All this plus some light discussion on the relative merits of free market capitalism vs centrally planned economies in feedback. You know, kids stuff.

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Chernobyl – Episode 2 – Please Remain Calm

May 15, 2019 Bald Move Pulp

Jim and I strap on our lead shielding and check our dosimeters before doing a deep dive into the second installment of Chernobyl, the HBO miniseries about the doomed nuclear facility. In “Please Remain Calm”, the stakes increase as the lives of over 60 million Europeans are threatened by the crisis, and decisions are made that will lead to the deaths of individuals to potentially save millions. 

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Chernobyl – Episode 1 – 1:23:45

May 8, 2019 Bald Move Pulp

Chernobyl is already one of the most fascinating and relevant disaster movies I can think of, and we’re only one episode into it’s five episode run. “1:23:45” does a great job of introducing us to the men and women that will be affected by the nuclear power plant’s explosion, sets up the political dysfunction that will impede the increasingly desperate and heroic attempts to contain the environmental catastrophe, and visually and audibly highlight the dangerous, hellish conditions the rescue workers and plant technicians were forced to confront. Is the Chernobyl disaster a uniquely Soviet phenomenon? Could something like this happen in the West? And what lessons about a pervasive culture of lying and misinformation can we apply to our lives today? We hash out these questions and much more.

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