i survived

forget any previous post where i have declared a show the best on television. i survived, on the biography channel, is the most intensely moving television show i've seen. if you've watched the show, you know exactly what i mean. if you haven't, you're missing some of the best stories demonstrating the will to live and the power of the human mind. the simple technique of filming the victim very close up, as they recount the details of their ordeal, makes the story so personal: you almost feel as if you are in the room with the victim. here are just a few examples, but you can find more here.

wayne and mary, season 1: after a nearby train derailment causes a massive chlorine gas leak, wayne and mary (and three relatives) are trapped in their homes, unable to escape. the chlorine is so strong, it melts their keys, so they cannot go anywhere. the police will not respond, for fear of their own safety, nor will they let volunteers assist those trapped (and even threaten to shoot volunteers with their own chem gear if they try to help). wayne and mary are repeatedly given horrible instructions by the dispatcher, including being told to take showers: combining water with chlorine creates hydrochloric acid . . .

dan and danielle, season 2: while taking an evening walk, dan and danielle are forced into a stranger's truck and gunpoint. both are shot - danielle in the face - and are tossed into a river to drown. they play dead and float down the cold river, while their shooter watches on. afraid to swim to shore for fear that they will be shot again by the shooter, they continue to act dead. when they finally reach the shore, a man flags down a truck to help rescue them. fearful that the truck is the same truck they were forced into earlier, the two jump back in the river. . .

terri, season 3: terri heads to her ex-husband's house to pick up her girls who have been spending time with their dad. when the kids don't come out, terri knocks and the door, and is invited in, despite just wanting to get her girls and leave. her ex-husband savagely attacks her, beating her in the head with a baseball bat: her head swells up to three times its normal size. he then stuffs her into a garbage can, and dumps the can at a remote location, where terri begins to freeze. . .

check it out. you'll be so moved by these stories, and feel that you're life, as crappy as it seems sometimes, really is wonderful. (you'll also be completely horrified by what one human being is capable of doing to another. ::shudder::)

photo from here.