bedsitter23

While in the McAllen/Brownsville area, I saw a big white tent that asked "What is the 99".

It certainly caught my attention




The artwork was catchy.  Surely someone who has been studying goth/industrial culture and horror movies, yet I sort of knew.

I am not sure how I knew.  Maybe that font is ten years past its 'sell-by' date.  Maybe an actual industrial band logo wouldn't look that cheap.  Maybe it was because it was next door to a church.

You see, the 99 takes 80s "Just Say No" and 90s "Extreme" to make a 21st century experience that is supposed to scare kids to death.

The 99 refers to the 99 people ages 12 to 24 who die every day (I always thought 40,000 people died every day.  Where did Blue Oyster Cult get their numbers?) and The 99 plans on showing teens how exactly that happens in gruesome detail.

Sure enough, teens die by texting while driving, but what better way to drive that point home with an actual life-size model of a teen crashed through a windshield.

Subtlety is not their aim.

At the production, visitors are accompanied in groups through 13 rooms where actors vividly portray scenes that include drug overdoses, suicide, gang violence and drunk driving.

The rooms look, sound and smell as they would in reality.

“Our crack house was designed by drug addicts,” Henshaw said. “We asked them, ‘Do you guys know what happens in a crack house?’ They said, ‘We live in one.’ ”

In the crack house scene, garbage litters the floor, disheveled blinds are in a window and intoxicated users perch on tattered furniture using drugs or overdosing as a pregnant girl lies on a bed; an herb mixture pumped into the air simulates the pungent smell of marijuana.

What 'texting while driving' might look like.

Visitors must be 12 or older to enter, and are asked to read a written warning advising pregnant women and people with heart conditions to exercise extreme caution upon entering due to the graphic nature of the production.

It takes about 45 minutes to completely tour the event, and visitors can opt out of rooms or leave the production at any time.

Counselors are available for prayer and discussion after the experience.

Lakeville is the 36th city in the country where “The 99” has been held this year; they are nearly booked for 2014, and Henshaw said he is not sure when “The 99” will return to the Twin Cities.

“We go where we’re invited,” he said.

Entrance to “The 99” is $13, and is open to the public

You probably already have the same thoughts I have.

Obviously, from a marketing point of view, they have the angle of "Hey, it's a haunted house" to try and trick in a few people off the streets.

In fact, the whole thing reminds me of the "Heavy Metal lyrics" scare tactics.

Does this really work?

Surely, there are a certain subset who will take this all to heart.  That there really is nothing outside their homes and their small towns except dens of vice and evil.  These are the same children who would have thought KISS was working around the clock to convert America to Satanism through backmasking and symbolism (That of course, is not true, Gene Simmons works around the clock to make more money)

While 'driving while texting' is indeed dangerous.  Does a gruesome display help, or does it make it even that much easier to say 'That's not going to happen to me'. 

Are 'crack houses' a real concern to most American children.  While indeed teenage pregnancy is an issue in which teens should be prepared, is making the jump that having sex will lead to 'a depraved existence spent in abandoned building surrounded by shared needles and pipes' the best way to prevent future occurrences.

I tend to think that the sensationalism religious types use in cases like this really doesn't work.  If anything, it possibly makes some teens think these are 'cool' images.  Although maybe the answer is another one altogether, blog posts about the site (that aren't sponsored by the site) seem to think it's much ado about nothing.  More B-movie gore than a life-changing horror event.

Of course, the punchline is that after you see all of the scenarios, you're confronted with the ultimate 'choice' which of course is not Hell on Earth, but Hell itself.  Blog posts seem to indicate this final scenario is pushed hard.

Once we were split up into our group, we witnessed the grisly aftermath of a head-on car collision. We sat in a cluttered drug den where a pregnant mother lay on the edge of a bed smoking crack as the father lounged drunk on the couch. We saw a group of teenage thugs beat up a wholesome-looking girl on a park bench. Lastly we witnessed a teenaged girl commit suicide.

The scenes were overly dramatized and harmlessly stale. Nothing terribly offensive, just a little hackneyed.

It wasn’t until we entered a room that was supposed to be hell that the experience became absurd. A man dressed as the devil shouted something about eternal damnation at us from above; though it was hard to tell exactly what he was saying over the shrieking demons, caged behind me.

Before the devil could finish his speech, a bright beam of light shined through from the next room. “Follow the light,” we were told.

In the next room there was a dramatic depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus. An actor portraying Jesus, nailed to the cross, gazed out over us with comic amounts of gore streaming onto the floor.

“Yeah he can save you guys; but you can’t save yourself?” a Roman soldier questioned us as he whipped Jesus.

Next we sat down in rows and were given a brief primer on Christian theology by someone resembling a preacher. Then we were invited to pray.

“Raise your hand if you want to make Jesus your personal savior,” he said.

I felt like I walked from a “Friday the 13th” horror movie straight into a church service.

We were led into a very large room where we were paired with our own individual counselor. I was greeted warmly by a man who asked me about my beliefs concerning the afterlife.

“If you were to pass away do you know where you’d spend eternity?” he questioned.

I told him I wasn’t sure and he seemed confused. Maybe I was distracted by the bloody carnival that preceded this conversation, but I wasn’t exactly prepared to answer such profound questions. We talked honestly and a little awkwardly for about five minutes about heaven and hell and where you go when you die. Then he asked if he could pray for me. I agreed and he took my hands, bowed his head and said a few words, praying that God would find me and show me that there was “hope in Jesus.”

I left “The 99″ puzzled and slightly annoyed.

Nowhere on the outside of the tent did it say anything about its blatant religious intent. How could something that started out as seemingly innocent pseudo-entertainment, turn into a lesson on eternal damnation and take itself seriously?

I wasn’t bothered by the religious message itself. It was the underhanded way in which it was presented that was so irksome. Apparently the people behind “The 99″ think that the only way to get their message across to the younger generation is to clothe it in sensationalized, B-movie gore and violence.

Do they really think that the younger generation, who is obviously target audience for “The 99,” needs to be shocked into believing?

I didn't go, but that review seems to nail it.   Other posts seem to indicate that in some cases, teens were moved by it, and in others, the house was a target of ridicule.

In any case, I agree with the California-based blogger above that there should be a better approach than "Belief through Shock"
 

When I go somewhere far away, I do like to comment on what stands out to me as a visitor.

Of course, the big reveal is that every place pretty much looks the same nowadays.  For the last 20 years or so, the expansion of the national chains, means everywhere you go there will be a Wal-Mart, an Appleby's, a Lowe's, some gas stations you will recognize, and the regional supermarket of choice.

You always hear about Texas swagger, but outside of places advertising 'Texas' size portions (and that's usually for the tourist), I really didn't find much of the way of Red State Conservatism or Macho Posturing than I find anywhere else.

South Texas, of course, has great produce.  There's oranges (in various mutations like the recommended sweet pineapple orange, grapefruit, jicamas (which may be exotic for some, but have worked its way into the healthy eating section within the last couple of years, etc and more.

There are irrigation fields which look different, if you are not used to them; and a sugar cane crop, in which they burn the field to make harvesting easier, which makes sense, but is somewhat weird to me.

There are jackrabbits, of course, which are somewhat scary when compared to our Easter Bunny-style rabbit I am accustomed to.



These long ear creatures made me think briefly that a group of them attacking a town would make a great horror story.  After that two seconds, I laughed at that idea.

South Padre island boasts Dolphins and all kind of sealife, up to and including Bull Sharks; though I didn't see any of those.

I saw pelicans which are still exotic to me when I see a group of them, and the signs as you cross the island are rather unique.



The local favorite burger chain is Whataburger, which is excellent, though it closely resembled Sonic quite a bit to me; but very tasty.

I made it to Pepe's in Harlingen, which Hispanic magazine called one of the 100 Best Mexican Restaurants in the US (It was quite good) and Los Asado's in Harlingen, which I liked even a bit more (amazing salsa).

I also made it to Willie's in Alamo, Texas, which made a Top 50 list of best Barbeque joints in the World, and it's hard to counteract that.

The loaded (with barbeque) baked potato was a real culinary memory and the BBQ smell got you from the second you walked into the door.