While watching the movie the other day, I was thinking about it... small town of 14 people... out in the middle of nowhere.
I'm all for having space, but I couldn't see living in a town that is that remote and cut off from the rest of civilization.
Since I tend to despise big cities and most of its inhabitants, a Graboid-free Perfection would be the ideal place to settle down and spend the rest of my days... However it also depends of if the significant other is willing to join me. Its definitely not for everyone though, and I'd recommend that anyone looking to start a family simply get it started prior to moving to a place like that, simply because your chances of finding someone are extraordinarily slim. As for the people saying that there would be nothing to do, who says that you can't leave for the city every once in a while?
shareI have lived in small communities most of my life. The largest was 10,000 people. Small communities work together or they don't last long. There is usually a single enterprise, such as cattle ranching or the like to support the economy. Most importantly we are grateful that others can't see living here, or they would all move here. Moving to a community like the one I live in now, requires a person have something to contribute, or they don't last long, either.
By the way, Perfection would have far more gun owners than merely the survivalists, the Gummers. Everyone living there would own firearms including the single mother and her kid.
hell ... ill take graboids over my in-laws any day.
sharei live in a small mountain town with about 50 people. we have one pub and one tiny general store and most of live on land
Yaaaaaaay (Noooooo)
I can speak to the allure of living in “Perfection,” having spent the last 3 summers in the remote mountains in New Mexico. I relate not so much my own experience as those of the people I’ve come to know who live here year-round.
Most have come to escape the crowds. They want to breathe fresh air, to live among wildlife, and to enjoy peace and quiet. Their euphoria lasts about a year. By the second or third year, many are worn down by having to drive 20-30 miles round-trip for a sack of groceries; by the fact that the only plumber in the county might repair the water leak in your cabin week after next, if you‘re lucky; by the fact that it is a full day’s journey to drive to the nearest real city and do a little shopping.
It is worse on the women here. Women, more than men, seem to need face-to-face interaction with others; to be part of the fabric of a society. The women who survive here in “Perfection” do so by forming social groups focused on quilting, pottery, or even a Humane Society. They have countless meetings and pot-luck suppers - anything to fend off, if only for a few hours, the crushing loneliness.
Before you decide to chuck it all and move to “Perfection,” visit the place. Ask yourself if this is really “Perfection,” why do some many of those charming cabins have a ‘For Sale - Price Reduced’ sign out front? Why do so many buildings in the nearest little village lie abandoned? Why are the owners of half the village businesses ready to sell out and leave, name your price?
My wife & I have a permanent home in a moderate-sized city. When summer heat arrives, we are eager to pack up and go to “Perfection,” high in the cool mountains. But by October we are just as eager to return to civilization: to traffic lights and rush hour, but also to bookstores, cultural events, coffee shops, movie theaters, and restaurants whose bill of fare offers more than hamburgers and Tex-Mex.
use to be a traveling salesman for a pharmaceutical company. often i would drive route 66 through the mojave desert. theres an area of R66 known as the "thirty third mile" (dont ask me the significance) i found myslef driving through the area and i was low on gas. i pull in to this this what looked like an abandoned 1950's gas station. (very typical of what u would see in a scary movie) and mind u there is no sign of civilization. there are only a few old salavage cars around and im thinking 'theres no way anyones here...'
i walk up, crack the door open and make my presence known w/ a soft "hello..."
i poke my head inside.....and i swear to u i saw the most erie/odd thing ive ever seen in my life.
as soon as i look inside, i see what looks like a small family of 5 sitting alone at a round table in the center of this building. but what sent cold chills down my spine was as soon as i opend the door, all five of them had their heads turned looking at me WIDE EYE'D like they've never seen another human before O_O
i quickly compose and gather myself and politely ask - "sorry for the disturbance...is this a working gas station?"
NO ONE ANSWERS! they are still just staring at me O__O
but it wasnt only the stare of the ppl, it was the 3 children that creeped me out the most.
the very first person i notice was a little boy in overalls, couldnt have been more than 10 yrs old, w/ firy red hair & freckles, just staring through me O_O
the next was this little indian girl who looked to be the same age as the red headed boy. she looked a little more normal, but was wearing some dirty old long dress w/ shoulder pads, much like a quaker.
the next and most odd child was this little bald albino looking boy w/ BIG green eyes staring at me O_O and thats not it....to add to the crazy, he had this HUGE iguana crawling all over his head and shoulders.
mind u this lasted all of abbout 10 seconds from when i opened the door, observed the "family" and asked about the gas. i waited about 5 seconds for a responce and all i got in return were crickets from the man and woman sitting at the table w/ the kids.
creeped out, i said "excuse me" and i exited the station and speed-walked back to my car which was at the end of the dirt driveway about a 100 yards from my car. i hopped in, sped away in what little gas i had, ended up at a trailor of a nice gentleman who lend me some gas & i was on my way.
a couple yrs later, i found myself about 50 miles of the same place again. this time i had my co-worker w/ me and had just finished telling him about my experience. so obviously he was intrigued...so i find myself driving back to the most odd, pulse pounding experience of my life.
we come across the bend, i see the dirt driveway where i once parked my car...we pull up, look up the long dirt driveway up at what was the old abandoned gas station. only to see the area flattend w/ old yellow police tape wrapped around what used to be the building.
weird huh? over the years ive wondered --- were they just some hippies? was it some weird cult? was it a couple who kidnapped some kids? or was it just a couple that adopted 3 VERY different children? was it a couple that took in some homeless children?
after going back and seeing the staion demolished, and police tape surrounding what would have been the station....i cant help but think something sadistic took place. needless to say, its something that ill never forget.
Why don't you search the Internet for the phone number of the police station/precinct that's closest to where the old gas station used to be, then give them a call and tell them your story. Chances are they might be able to shed some light on what happened and satisfy your curiosity. If your "close encounter of the weird kind" happened too long ago they at least might know someone who was on the force at that time and could ask them. Give it a try and don't forget to post your results back on this board! You've got us all curious now.
sharePros
Save if war broke out you may survive nuclear attack.
If I lived in a place like that first thing I would do is buy and get a massive sound system and you could play your music and movies loud all day long and have a few subs.
Good for star gazing.
Cheap land
Keep as many pets animals life stock as you like.
Have own power source such as Solar or wind turbine.
Cons would be
Slow or no Internet would have to be wifi or satellite I would think?
Takes longer and would have to use a car to drive to places.
Maybe no mobile cell phone services?.
No Takeaways or fast food far from shops.
No hospitals or slow to get to one if needed.
Might be lonely some like this.
www.youtube.com/eastangliauk
Where and when exactly did this take place? I ask because I spent a bit of time last summer in the Mojave.
sharehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100814/locations
here's a link that cites two locations :)
and in Lone Pine, California, one of the two locations mentioned above, apparently they are not strangers to the silver screen as they are the home of the Lone Pine Museum of Film History -- http://lonepinefilmhistorymuseum.org/ -- looks like a really fine local museum :)
Lone Pine is not only a "Perfection" sort of town, but is VERY used to having film crews around.
The rocky outcroppings, etc. are between Lone Pine and the base of the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The area is called the "Alabama Hills" although there is no correlation to anything in Alabama.
I lived in the general area for over 30 years, and had a chance to participate in several shoots, but not "Tremors". :(
I did work on "G.I. Jane" (yes, I know, but I had a heck of a good time). The desert scenes were filmed in the hills (notably the outpost/sniper shot sequences) and at the near-by more-or-less dry Owens Lake (the 'canyon' scenes).
The area seems to be a favorite of Ridley Scott because he came back for what amounts to a very quick shot of Russell Crowe traversing that terrain in "Gladiator".
A lot of car commercials get filmed there, as well as the Inyokern airport which is 60 miles to the south, and the Trona Pinnacles in pretty much the same area.
The history is long - "Beau Geste" with Gary Cooper was shot in the Alabama Hills, as well as tons of other westerns. "The Long Trailer" with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez uses a road leading up from the Alabama Hills into the Sierras as a major action location (the trailer precariously hanging off the road).
for me the appeal of living in the middle of nowhere with only a few people around would be to get the hell away from people and not to be bothered by people ... i assume people living in a place like this would have the same basic thought ... they'd respect your solitude and you'd respect theirs ... you could go to Bixby couple weeks for a big shopping trip (hell it's only 40 miles away i think they say on the movie so it's not like it's that far ... in the desert, who's going to be clocking speeders? you could get there in half an hour easy), but you have the little general store in town for in betweens ... and now especially with satellite phones, tv, and internet, who cares if you live near a 'wired' area ... they have their own post office so you could still bid on ebay and buy books on amazon and have them at your local post office a short little jaunt down the road ...
frankly, i can only see an upside ... i would be just fine with satellite internet and two trailers, one for me and one for my books and guitars ... upside all around
I'd love to live in Perfection, under the right circumstances of course. I went to college in a small Kentucky town with a nice, small population and only a handful of local businesses. That was perfect though, because the town was only a 20 minute drive from Lexington which is one of Kentucky's larger cities. There I have my privacy, but also have the conveniences of a big city not too far away, but just far enough away to feel nice and isolated.
Peace is not the absence of affliction, but the presence of God. ~Author Unknown
I live in a town with all of 12 people in it. The nearest town of any size is about nine miles away, and the nearest large city is something like 30 miles from me.
Personally, I like it. I moved here about four years ago and I intend to stay.
Those that lived both in a large city and a small village/town can really tell you the difference. There are good sides and bad sides either way. Psychos and maniacs somehow seem to find there place in both scenarios with few rare exceptions. I myself prefer small places but I also like to have a major city not too far - living in middle of nowhere is far too risky for my taste.
shareI have lived in several small towns, the first was a bit larger than Perfection, my current home is in a town of less than 180 people and shrinking. It's a town that was booming when the railroads were king. When the railroads went into their long slow decline my town was the first to feel the effects.
One thing constant about the small towns I have lived in is that there is always at least one pervert per town. If a pervert dies or moves away another will sonn take their place. It's like they sense a vacuum and have to fill it. People like that seem to think they will escape attention in a small town. once they get settled in it seems like they can't help but commit their first perverted act in their new home town not knowing that within 15 minutes of them doing it everyone in town will hear about it.
Part of the reason news moves so fast is because in these isolated little towns people tend to look out for one another. One neighbor may hate another neighbor but in certain situations they will forget their hatred and work together. Not always but it really does happen.
I like my neighbors. Their personal business is none of mine but if I see something going on on their property when they are at work I'll do something about it. They have all done the same for me.
As long as I can have TV, phone,and internet where I live I'll be happy. I can manage without but I'd just as soon not. When computers first came out I could see no logical reason for having one in my home. When I finally broke down and got one I soon could not live without it.
Give me satellite internet and TV and a reliable car and I could be quite content in a place like Perfection.
shareToday no matter how small the town you are in driving distance of a bigger town with the usual amenities. And with the internet and satellite you are fully connected. If the townspeople are friendly I think it would be very nice.
share(i'm from italy a town of 60,000) i'd like living in a typical town how i see in tv, where you see the only bar, the old man who owns the petrol station etc but not so small as in thism ovie....i mean only 14 people i think will drive u insane!
share