Running For A Cause

Running For A Cause

Cause you want to stay alive is a perfectly reasonable reason to run. In fact, it's built into our systems in the sort of fight or flight instinct. If you don't have it then you are probably dead. Well, maybe not in the modern man. We're such big babies about all of that. But in any event, if you've ever wondered if you could survive a zombie infestation/outbreak, now is the time to put those skills to the test as you go to the Run For Your Life event.



The event is a 5k (3 mile) run from point A to point B with a lot of twist and turns in the middle in terms of paths to go through and zombies to out run. It's all a bit interesting but most of all it'll cost you to run as well as to watch out in the desert area of California. Where it's normally zombie towns the other 364 days out of the year.

Don't get me wrong this whole event sounds like a blast but I have to say I'm on the fence on this one. It sounds like it could be a great time and be lots of fun trying to outrun zombies, but then there's part of me that just wonders about how much fun it can actually be when you have 300-400 people running from a group of zombies.

I bet a lot of people get picked off in the crowds in the first few minutes. Then you have to factor in that the zombies may vary between the classic roamers to the fast moving bastards and you have a situation where it's going to be craaaa-zy.

You die when they take both of the flags that are hanging off your side. Which combines another aspect nerds never had to deal with -Flag football. But the event happens in SoCal on Oct. 20th. Which seems like it's perfect in terms of being right there for Halloween.

Then you have to factor in that the majority of zombie enthusiast are fat lazy nerds who probably couldn't run a mile if a real zombie was actually chasing them. Oh, don't worry, I'm also talking about me in that group. It's those of us who the whole post apocalyptic world of zombies appeals to.



Because really, it seems that the zombie talk isn't spreading as fast as the make believe virus..

The map reveals two important spatial patterns. First, much of the world lacks any content mentioning "zombies" whatsoever. Second, and related, the highest concentrations of zombies in the Geoweb are located in the Anglophone world, especially in large cities.

Oddly enough it also shows how Africa, the place where the word "zombie" originally came from, misses out on any of those criteria and really has no concern about zombies.

The results either provide a rough proxy for the amount of English-language content indexed over our planet, or offer an early warning into the geographies of the impending zombie apocalypse

So as you can see by the fact that there's even a zombie run as well as very little to no concern about zombies in the vast majority of non-first world areas, that this whole zombie scare is really a case of being a first world problem.

Zombie Preparedness Week

Zombie Preparedness Week

The world didn't end this past weekend but that's no reason why you should be dancing in the streets in some sort of victory dance or anything. Just because the rapture didn't occur doesn't mean that you have nothing to fear.

What about zombies?!

Yeah. That's right. I said it. Zombies. Don't turn your back on the potential fear of the undead coming back to life and consuming your brains.

It can happen.

No, I'm not crazy. Not anymore crazy than that one moron predicting the end of the world.. who, might I add, is still suggesting that it will happen in October.

But unlike him, there's actually reputable places warning you about being prepared for the potential zombie invasion.

The following was originally posted on CDC Public Health Matters Blog on May 16th, 2011 by Ali S. Khan.

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over. but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born.

So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page.

• Water (1 gallon per person per day)
• Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
• Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
• Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
• Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
• Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
• Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
• First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)

Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your door step. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergency.

But it's not just enough to have a kit that you could, incidentally use for Earthquakes. If you want to take it further, and to reveal the real intention of this blog post... How about some real-estate that I can interest you with..

I present to you the zombie proof home.

Scared of zombies? Concerned about the apocalypse? Have we got the house for you.

A Polish architectural firm has designed the world's first zombie-proof abode — the "Safe House".

It's not really inspired by the walking dead, but it's been getting plenty of attention as the world celebrates its fifth annual Zombie Awareness Month.
Built between 2005 and 2009, the house features Rubik's Cube-type movable parts and folds in on itself completely at the end of the day to seal against outside threats.

"Every day the house acts in a similar way — it wakes up every morning to close up after dusk," says architect Robert Konieczny of KWK Promes.
Located on the outskirts of Warsaw, the Safe House has just one entrance, on the second floor, connected by a drawbridge.

For extra security, after crossing the bridge, visitors have to wait within a safety zone before being let into the rest of the house.

During the day, the house opens onto a garden and the movable walls change position to create a courtyard.
"There is no risk of children escaping to the street area in an uncontrolled way while playing in the garden," says Mr Konieczny.

Yes, why go out with your small party of survivors to some abandoned prison or castle estate when you live in a zombie fortified home already? Especially with the cool factor that comes with the rubik mechanism that transforms this home at the drop of the hat to something no one can get into.

Here, check out more pictures of this freaky home.
























You have to admit, that's pretty intense. There's a lot of homes like this all over the world, mostly in Europe and Sweden. Not because they fear zombie invasions anymore than we do, but because they're designed by post-modern people looking for a home to attract some rich guy to show off how much money he has by doing something completely different.

This one is just the first one that I've seen with a retractable drawbridge. Over all, it's pretty freaking cool. Even if the whole front wall is a bit overkill.

The Whispering Dead

The Whispering Dead

Well, it's been a little over a week since the Walking Dead ended its very short season and while I said I wouldn't write another one for a while... well, it's a show about zombies, you should figure that zombification of topics would come about. Don't try to shoot this in the head, it wont work. Just let it consume your brains

Especially since it just was nominated for a Golden Globe. I mean.. really? REALLY? I like the show and all, but there was some major issues with it that it shouldn't have been nominated. I mean, on the season finale of the walking dead, the CDC doctor whispered something in Rick's ear.



This isn't a new concept for film at all, it makes you wonder what exactly was said to the character for a while and they can plug and play and old bullshit that they want on there. But it does leave the viewer with one thing it shouldn't really hope for... time to inflate the expectations to levels that the writers would never be able to meet said expectations.

You might as well say that it's what Murray whispered into Scarlet Johansson's ear in Lost in Translation. Oh yeah, for the record he told her the name of a really good divorce lawyer. But as we speak, a crack team of internet nerds are running through possibly every different combinations of words that Doctor Jenner could possible whisper into a persons ear. Here's a couple of guesses....

"We would have had an extra hour if your son didn't plug in and play Ms. Pac-Man for four hours last night."

"I think that Daryl guy might be a little nuts."

"I'll see ya in anotha life, brotha"

"Never tell Daryl about the button that opened the door. He just looked so satisfied that his hacking with an axe opened it, and I can't take that away from him."

"Rick... they just brought back the McRib... don't let them take that away from us."

"Rick, if you ever go into a bookstore, whatever you do, do not read the comic book titled The Walking Dead or else you will be spoiled on what may or may not happen in this version of the story"

"FYI that big guy with the shotgun tried to rape your wife last night in the game room....purple monkey dishwasher"

"I can't believe no one in your group has ever seen a zombie movie."

"You know, when you first told me your name I thought you said "Riddick" and I thought, just maybe, humanity stood a chance against these damn Necros. Now I think you're all fucked though, Rick."

"Had to use all that hot water, eh? Couldn't you just fuck like normal people on a bed?"

"Never trust a guy with a mustache"

"They look like monsters to you?"

"Three words. Marvel Zombies Crossover"

"Strike that motherfucker out."

"Sometimes you have to roll a hard six."

"I've been peeing in the CDC showers for weeks"



"You'll never guess what were in those diplomatic cables"

"Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down."

"Dogs can't look up."

"I killed Mufasa..."

"I hid a stash of whiskey down the street, it's in the bank's vault."

"Smoke weed everyday"

"Live every day of your life as if it was shark week."

"Have you ever seen 'The Accused?' Because I think your wife and buddy were reenacting a scene from it in the rec room."

With the CDC destroyed, I suppose that means the only thing left for them to do is to go to the Air Force base south of Atlanta that Shane mentioned. But when you think about it, Shane seemed pretty okay with the idea of heading to a military base, despite seeing how the Army butchered unarmed patients in the hospital who looked to be uninfected in an attempt to spread control of the zombies.

And what was up with the abuse victim stealing the grenade? No wonder Ed beat her. She was always stealing his grenades. How do you forget that you found a grenade? Yeah, he just got laid for the first time in a month, but you'd think that you'd remember a round ball in your pocket. "Hey, I'd swear that I had a grenade when I came into camp. Did someone steal it?"

"Look guys, when I came to camp, I had a fucking grenade with me.. well, now I don't. Look, I'm not even mad. I realize that in these hard times a grenade may be like a good thing, but it's mine. I'll tell you what, I'm gonna shut the lights out and whoever has my grenade can bring it up to the desk and I won't even know. Clean slate and it's all behind us, alright?"

Now back to the guesses...

"..... and we call it the Aristocrats!"

"The blood test revealed who the final cylon is.."

"Live every week like it's Shark Week."

"I'm sorry, Rick, but the military is trained only to shoot at center mass"

"Paul is dead."

"Rosebud's the sled."

"Love actually kinda sucked"

"Snape kills Dumbledore."

"All this has happened before, and it will happen again... "

"There was a camera in the shower. Thanks for that fresh material"

"You've had a piece of toilet paper hanging out of the back of your pants all morning."

"Do you like books about war? Do you like to watch movies about... gladiators? Have you've ever seen a grown man...."

On a final serious note, the two guesses that make the most sense are "Everyone is already infected with it and it's activated when you die" or "Your wife is pregnant." Remember what the doctor said after Rick came to ask about the blood test - "No surprises."

Not "you're all fine," not "everybody's safe," but "no surprises."

It could have been that the blood test was a chance for Jenner to confirm something that he might have been hypothesizing about before the lab screw up and the low fuel situation. He'd probably saw that all the people in the CDC had it in their system and it was dormant. So getting a blood sample from outsiders to confirm that it's in their system as well, just would show that everyone has this in them.

And the final guess is "Your wife is pregnant" Because let's face it.. we're going to get to that part of the comics sooner or later. Let's hope the show doesn't pussy out on talking about that subject of who was the father like the comic book did.

Walking The Dead Into The Sunset

Walking The Dead Into The Sunset

Tonight's episode of the walking dead is the last we'll see till around October. Which means that we're faced with a lot of non-zombie downtime. A year to be exact. Yeah, That's what I said! How the fuck are we going to go a year without more AMC's awesome zombie hit The Walking Dead!?

I mean, I could just read the comic book, but that would require me doing something I already am doing. Not to mention that only 10 issues will come out by the time the new season starts.. Hmmm, on second thought that's not too far away. Trippy how time flies like that.

In any case, I wonder if the next episode finally reveals the cause of the outbreak and everyone eating each other being the fault of Jewish British Catholic Homosexuals.



And I guess the rumors are true that Frank has shit canned the entire writing staff...

I hear The Walking Dead writer/ executive producer/ director Frank Darabont has let go of the writers on the hot freshman AMC series, which has already renewed for a second season. That includes Darabont's No. 2, writing executive producer Charles “Chic” Eglee. Writer turnover on series between seasons is commonplace but wholesale overhauls are unusual. What's more, I hear Darabont is looking to forgo having a writing staff for the second season of Walking Dead altogether and assign scripts to freelancers.

Darabont, who hails from the feature world with The Young Indiana Jones as the only series credit before Walking Dead, ended up writing 2 of the first season's 6 episodes of Walking Dead - the pilot and the second episode - and co-writing/rewriting the other 4. Two of those 4 were written by non-staff writers, one by executive producer Robert Kirkman, on whose comics the series is based, and one by Glen Mazzara. The freelance model is employed by the Starz/BBC series Tourchwood, which in turn borrowed it from the U.K. where the show originated. Having BBC as producer has allowed Torchwood to proceed with no writing staff but I hear such a plan on an U.S.-based network series such as Walking Dead may face issues with the Writers Guild. And, while the first season of Walking Dead was only 6 episodes, its second-season order is for 13, which may prove harder to manage in pre-production, production and post-production with no writing staff. Sources tell me that no final decision has been made yet with all options open, including using some combination of a writing staff/freelances. There is time - AMC is mulling launching Walking Dead's second season the way it did the first one - in October during Fearfest.

But let's be honest here. Frank wrote the first episode and another one in the 6 that aired. Robert Kirkman wrote one himself. That's 3 episodes covered. Of the remaining 3, Frank had to do extensive re-writes on all four of them to get them to where he wanted them. So it's clear that this loss isn't a bad sign



Besides, Frank Darabont is a serious control freak. From first hand experience and from reputation, he likes to make sure his hand is in everything he's working on and has been known to be difficult to work with over the years. If you think he sat back and let the writers do all the work, you're a bit delusional. It seems like a simple case of Frank not thinking the writers were up to par and just cleaned house.

So don't go around speaking doom and gloom for next season. He'll probably be better off doing this series solo with Kirkman as producer. Just hear it from the horses mouth.. From io9-whatever the site is.

"Chic Eglee is a high-level television writer. He was brought onto The Walking Dead with the idea that Frank was going to work on the first season and then go off and do movies. Chic didn't want to be second-in-command on a show when he's used to being a top dog, and so he decided to go off and do something else, which is something that happens and is not a big deal."

It's a little premature to be nailing down. I don't know if it's going to be a freelance situation or if we're going to have writers in a writers' room. That's something that's being worked on now. Everybody knows what they're doing. AMC has done a few television shows before, and Frank Darabont is a professional. Whatever is decided, I don't think it will affect the show one way or another."

So see, nothing to worry about. How about we divert your attention from that news with a tour of the 1977 Winnebago?



So till next October, I'm putting a bullet in the head of talking about The Walking Dead...

Okay, that's not realistic. I know I'll be reporting about it during Comic Con (if tickets ever manage to go on sale) and I'm sure I'll bitch about the comic if Kirkman decides to wipe the slate again of a lot of main characters with this upcoming comic arc.

Thrill of the Day

Thrill of the Day

As a child I was terrified of Michael Jackson's Thriller. I mean, that shit was scary to little me. It would play on whatever music channel was on and I would run the fuck out the door. Maybe I knew then what folks speculate still now after he's dead.. that Michael Jackson and little boys didn't make a winning combination. Maybe it's what caused my fear and spun my desire to kill any zombie that ever shambled on this green earth.

But it was one of MJ's most memorable music videos. And I guess looking back it now as an adult, it does seem silly that I would grab my younger cousin and run out of the room it was playing in fear that the zombies could come out of the television. But maybe I was just being safe.

These folks on the other hand...



Mother fuckers are tempting fate right there. What are they trying to do? Resurrect Michael? Come on, man. Don't walk that line of necromancy!

More tricks or treats to come..

Choose Your Own Adventure: Zombies

Choose Your Own Adventure: Zombies

This is quite possibly the best way to waste your time not doing work today. Besides, it's fucking Wednesday - You've probably hit the wall on shit you'd want to do anyway.



Do you remember those Choose your own adventure books that you would get on long road trips with the parents to keep you busy? This is like that.. BUT IN YOUTUBE FORM - WITH ZOMBIES!

How cool is that.

And what is this all for? A pizza delivery company. I mean.. really? Really? Why can't Papa Johns be this cool? Enjoy, you poofter.

The Dead Walk San Diego Comic Con

The Dead Walk San Diego Comic Con

Reporting from Comic con here on the first full day of this nerd con and I have to say, it's still a mad house. It's still in Sandy Eggo, and thankfully doesn't look to be moved anytime soon and the madness... oh the madness. As Danny Glover would say it best "I'm getting too old for this shit."

Actually I'm not. At least I don't think I am. It's crazy but all that craziness is worth it to make the pilgrimage to the mecca of nerdom. I love it. I'm loud and proud. Thankfully though, I am not shambling. Unlike this TV show, which feels like it's shambling in a very slow fashion to your television screen this October, is "The Walking Dead" on AMC. If you haven't read anything about this piece so far, then it's clear you haven't been reading my blog all that much.

As much as I love zombies so much that I got bored with the overuse of them causing me to stop writing about them. For the love of all things holy, there's even a ZOMBIE DATING WEBSITE. But even with the over saturation of zombies in the world, I had to write a piece up about the upcoming comic book turned television show - The Walking Dead.



The story follows a small group of survivors trying to stay alive in a world overrun by Zombies. While other stories tend to stay focused on the zombies contingent, this story is completely focused on the survivors. For you see, it's not the zombies that are the title character, it's the Humans. They are the walking dead.

Just look at Carl, he's wearing a Science Dog t-shirt. A good nod to the comic creator's other works. And in the event that you haven't picked up the book or just don't want to read some funny pages, here's the motion comic in action.



At Comic con there was a panel for the show and while I was a little disappointed that it wasn't in a bigger hall way, it was still really good. So much so that I just need it to hurry up and be October already. There's really no time to waste since this looks so good.

It's really amazing to see a well written comic book get picked up by the director of The Mist, a film that broke the mold of Stephen King novel to films suckage and turned out an amazing ending. Besides that, Kirkman is very character heavy. Having met him a good handful of times, it's always been a pleasure and I just wish the best for him in this.



It was learned that the full roster of writers and directors for the six season 1 episodes is as follows:

#1.1: Written and directed by Frank Darabont

#1.2: Written by Frank Darabont; directed by Michelle MacLaren (recurring director for Breaking Bad; recently nominated for an Emmy after she melted faces with the final act of "One Minute")

#1.3: Written by Frank Darabont, Charles H. Eglee (The Shield; serves as the show's co-showrunner), and Jack LoGuidice (Sons of Anarchy); directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton (Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica)

#1.4: Written by Robert Kirkman (the comics; this will be his first credited teleplay); directed by Johan Renck (Breaking Bad)

#1.5: Written by Glen Mazzara (The Shield); directed by Ernest Dickerson (The Wire, Dexter)

#1.6: Written by Adam Fierro (The Shield, Dexter, 24); directed by Guy Ferland (The Shield, Sons of Anarchy)

All in all, Darabont's put together a fine group of storytellers to push this through. I really can't wait to see this on the small screen. It sounds like an amazing line up.

You can see some of the behind the scene footage that they're currently working on right now via MTV here.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

What Darabont and AMC's Walking Dead team are able to achieve on the streets of downtown Atlanta on a summer day is no easy feat. This is talking about hot and humid summer days and closing up blocks to simple living folks.

"We have blocks of Atlanta shut down here, and there's a tank behind me if you can't see it," Kirkman told MTV News. "Just the scale of everything... Everything is being done exactly the way I would've wanted it, and it's better than I could have ever envisioned it. The whole thing is just amazing."

So really, I just can't wait to see this on the best damn channel on cable television.

Walking Dead Script Walk Through

Walking Through The Walking Dead Script

On Sunday was a sad night.. It was the season finale of Break Bad on AMC. Now what will I watch? Classic Movies from America? I think not! With one amazing drama ending and the long 8 month to a year wait till the next season. How the fuck do they expect us to go so long without something awesome on AMC to watch? Well, I guess there's Mad Men. That's great and all, but it doesn't have senseless violence with the main character's downward spiral.

Thank goodness we have something to look forward to come this October during Fright Fest.... The Walking Dead.



Yes, you've heard me talk about this before. It's a comic book.. being turned into a Television show. If there's any network that can do it justice, it's AMC. They showed a man get turned into liquid in an acid bath. A hallow point going through some cousins head and a science teacher make meth. They can do this one justice. Don't believe me? Look at this picture;



The show runner and director of the first episode is Frank Darabont. He's the guy who did THE MIST and he combined with AMC to get this comic book off the funny pages and turned into a live action TV show. For that, as well as his other work, I'm very pleased.

So let me introduce you to the characters. There's Rick Grimes (He's the main character) who is being played by Andrew Lincoln who is British which even though it sounds odd, let's face it, there's a lot of actors who have strange accents who do great American ones. So him playing a small town Kentucky Sheriff isn't to bad



Then we have Sarah Wayne Callies will play his wife Lori who was in the show Prison Break. So it's a little odd to see her go from one prison to yet another one. If the show goes according to the comics, should be an interesting turn of events.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the "Prison Break" actress has landed the leading female role of Lori Grimes, the wife of series protagonist and small town police officer Rick.

And then you have a series of other characters who... well, if it's anything like the comic book, let's just say that you really shouldn't get comfortable with them.

Now, I got a chance to read through the pilot script. I have to say that I loved it and it's not just because I'm a huge fan of the comic book series. It's very faithful to the comic book. You have to remember that Frank Darabont is directing it and Shawshank was probably the only Stephen King book that didn't get fucked up when translated to the big screen. If you want to avoid spoilers, then you should stop reading the blog right now and just scroll through the pretty pictures. But nothing I say will ruin anything if you've already read the first few issues of the comic.



The script starts off with Rick driving down a deserted highway. He stops at a gas station because a lot of cars are making it difficult to get past on the road. In the process he finds a little girl. Whoops, guess what, she's already a zombie. To cement it home that they're going to push limits in the series he shoots her. Then again, violence towards zombies has always been A-okay. He turns around to realize that the dead bodies sitting in those cars blocking the road were actually zombies. That gunshot alerted them and now Rick is stuck dealing with a zombie mob.

It cuts to a couple weeks ago. The same events as the comic happen. Rick and Shane have a shootout with some criminals. Rick gets shot and ends up in the hospital only to wake up weeks later in the hospital bed. What's powerful about the script is there's a lot of it that doesn't have any dialogue. Rick escaping the hospital and seeing all the dead bodies are all part of this. After realizing what has happened he comes across Morgan and Duane. A black man and his son hiding out from the zombies in his old neighborhood.



The three of them head over to the police station so Rick could suit up. He then parts ways with them as he's looking for his wife, Lori and son, Carl. All the while he's driving to Atlanta he keeps on trying the radio to see if Shane and his group can hear him.

It then cuts to a scene between Shane and a woman (who is clearly Lori but she's only identified as "Woman" in the script) who are now scene as a couple. We jump back to Rick and the events of the prologue with the dead girl, road block and zombie mob.



Rick escapes the zombie mob and makes his way to a farm where his car breaks down. He finds a horse in the barn and changes modes of transportation. Eventually making it to Atlanta and we get a shot of the city ruined to hell. They turn the corner on a street and are met by another swarm of zombies. You horse lovers are going to cry because the zombies get some fresh horse meat but Rick escapes under a tank. Zombies start to surround him and he's about to kill himself but then sees a hatch to get in.

Now Rick's just stuck in a tank while the zombies are still all around it with no hope in sight. Suddenly a voice comes over the radio in the tank. Someone somewhere spotted him getting in the tank. The script ends with the camera pulling out to a wide shot over the tank and we see it surrounded by hundreds of zombies clawing at it.



End of Episode one. If that doesn't get you hooked and shambling for more, I don't know what will.

Zombies In The Media

Zombies In The Media

What's this? Even more Zombie blogs? What ever happened to me saying I was going to shut up about zombies? Clearly they've come back from the dead. Duh!

On Monday Newsweek's online site was playing a little trick. If you put in the classic Konami code of UP UP DOWN DOWN, LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START, then you were treated some interesting news..



You read that, the undead are among us! Oh my gosh! Their cover story on the site is NOT anything I ever would have expected Newsweek to publish. And the headline is explicityly criticizing the US military, incredibly enough.

Clicking the "Zombie" tag also leads to another hidden comedy bit. It links you to a site search for the "Tea Party" articles. Good work Newsweek. I remember when this happened last year to ESPN, except entering it triggered my little ponies all over the screen. I thought I just dropped some acid.

But speaking about zombies and video games, it reminds me of my favorite zombie video game of my youth. Zombies Ate My Neighbors



That was possibly the most funnest game on the Super Nintendo and I really do need to seek out an old system and a copy of that game because it was awesome. But back to the Newsweek thing. in the event that the articles are taken down,here's what the rest of the newsweek pieces were;

ZOMBIES ATTACK!

Run for the hills!

The undead have risen from their graves and invaded large portions of the east coast. Driven only by an unsatiable desire for brains, there seems to be no stopping their ruthless push forward. Residents are advised to barricade themselves in their homes and wait for further instructions. Under no circumstances should the walking dead be allowed in your house.

The Zombie Invasion Timeline

It was just three months ago that patient zero, a former British citizen living in New York, was identified as the cause of the zombie invasion. While initially considered to be a bad sinus infection, the disease quickly spread after Patient Zero ate the brains of a attending neurosurgeon.More ›

Zombiesby Steven StoneJun 11, 2010

Fleeing the Zombie Horde: What Are Our Options?

With goverment barricades falling and traditional warfare tactics deemed ineffective, the local populace must now consider the option of fleeing as viable and advised. There are many options depending on an individuals geographical location, however most zombie experts expressly advise against running for the hills without proper preparation. One must take into consideration the hazardous effects natural elements such as rain and cold weather can have, especially in cold winter months.More ›

Zombiesby Dan AlcaldeJun 11, 2010

No End in Sight for Undead Feast

The haunted continue to walk the streets, often heard moaning 'BRAAAAAIIIIIINS!' [paraphrased]. With their unstoppable quest for human brains the undead have shown no signs in slowing down their pursuit or consumption of our most precious organs. A noted chef suggests, 'While zombies will eat any organ, they most definitely have a preference for our soft cranial tissue. It is easily digestible, and once the tough outer skull is removed quite simple to recover.'More ›

Zombiesby Roberto GonzalezJun 11, 2010

Go For the Head

Several close combat experts have reiterated how important it is to strike a zombie directly in the head with a large blunt weapon. Only by smashing their brains can you be certain the approaching undead will not rise again and feast on your exposed limbs.More ›

Zombiesby Nicole BarthJun 11, 2010

Zombies and You

Not everybody reacts the same to the undead. If you, or a loved one, has encountered a zombie please share your experiences in the comments.More ›

Zombiesby Monica ParraJun 11, 2010

all stories

Then there's always the question on what the following link is a countdown to? It starts with the flu It's a mystery! Now for a teaser of the next Zombie chat...

Walk Like The Undead

Walk Like The Undead

The season of Breaking Bad is about to come to an end in another two weeks and that means that it's going to be another long wait till the next season of it. Sure, I have Mad Men to look forward to in the summer but then what? Oh, let me tell you... The Walking Dead is what!

AMC just released a couple of images of the upcoming Robert Kirkman television translation of the very popular comic book of THE WALKING DEAD. So here, enjoy this snapshot of what's to come...



So what is The Walking Dead and why should you be reading and/or excited as hell about the news that this is the latest AMC show? The Walking Dead is a monthly comic book published by Image, written by Robert Kirkman and drawn mostly by Charlie Adlard, who is a really cool guy and I have an original zombie sketch by him. Before Charlie, Tony Moore was the original artist and the one that most people seem to enjoy. It's been going on for about six years and is currently at issue #71

The premise is that a Kentucky police officer wakes up in the hospital to find himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. From there, the book hits a lot of familiar notes often found in zombie literature. There is little focus on the macro. Society has collapsed, but we don't get the specifics of how that went down. Instead we focus on a relatively small group of survivors and slowly learn-as in most zombie literature-that the real threat is man's inhumanity to man. It really becomes a case of doing George Romero's original concept a lot better than Romero can.



What makes this book special is its format more than anything else. Being a comic book with no end in sight, Kirkman is able to really show the characters grow, form a real group, and how they survive. It's really what zombie fans have always asked for and it's in black and white. So the fact that it still sells amazingly well goes to show you that not even a lack of color can stop how well received this is.

The important aspect to this is the characters and how they develop over the course of stories. The pacing is a tad slow at the start, but it reads nicely in trades. In fact, this is the one book I actually encourage people to avoid the single monthly issues and wait for a new trade paper back to come out because it becomes slow torture to actually wait for it month after month.



If you're a zombie fan, then I have to question your sanity if you aren't reading this book. It's definitely best to start from the beginning. Don't worry that we're 72 issues into it - you will seriously pick up the first trade and plow through it and be upset that you have nothing new to read. The book is collected in many different formats that you can browse on amazon. Earlier this year, a compendium collecting the first forty-eight issues was released. It might be the best bang for your buck.

But that's if you want to read the books. Let's focus on the TV show here. The show follows Rick Grimes, a small town Sheriff of Cynthiana, Kentucky, who wakes up from a coma into a world that has suffered a zombie apocalypse. As you can see, they're not going to change much on that angle. It will be interesting to see how the show translates to TV as it's well known for being vicious towards its character survival and safety. Not to mention that it has, you know, zombies who eat flesh in it.



This shouldn't worry anyone that the show will be censored or watered down. I remember reading an interview where AMC's one note for The Walking Dead is that you can't say "fuck." And as you can see from the images above, they're going to go for the gore and not apologize for it. You know what you are getting into when you tune in.

The show will debut during AMC's horror marathon Fearfest, so they are taking the marketing into account here. In fact, that's an even better cross promotion. It seems that AMC is running on a good cycle where they show Mad Men through the summer months and will have The Walking Dead take over Halloween as well as lead all the way till the start of the year when Breaking Bad comes back. Clearly this is the most awesome line up possible.

It really makes me glad that AMC is the one making this. I've been really impressed with their other series and I think they will have no problem pulling it off. Especially considering how much support they put behind their productions. Going the extra mile to actually show on location. Breaking Bad is done entirely in New Mexico and the Walking Dead will be shot in Atlanta.



If I were writing the series bible, I'd break the first seasons down like so:
Season 1 (6 episodes) introduction; Rick vs Shane
Season 2 (13 episodes) Journey to Prison
Season 3 (13 episodes) Prison

But veering off the plot as necessary. This way you folks wouldn't worry about reading the books as being a method of ruining the show for yourself. The first season is going to adapt the first volume, but around 1/3 of it is going to be new stuff. In fact, the creator of the comic book has insisted that they deviated from the comic book.

KIRKMAN: I've told Frank flat-out that I do not want him to follow the comic to the detriment of the show. I encourage him to veer off if he has something that will work really well on TV that wouldn't work in a comic. I don't want people who enjoy the comic to be watching the TV show and going, "Oh, this is leading to that one thing I already know about from the comic."

I believe that sounds like the best approach. Some things happen in the comic that just wouldn't work on TV, and like wise there's somethings you could do on Television that would not work in the comic book. I feel like capturing the tone of the comic is a lot more important than following the plot panel by panel. I loved Watchmen, but maybe somethings didn't needed to be literal translations.

Two shows that nailed this perfectly are Dexter and TRUE BLOOD. It stuck with the books as long as it made sense to and then veered off on a total tangent at just the right moment. I mean, Have you've read the True Blood books? Those things are god awful. The worse piece of literature you could possibly read. Dexter did somewhat the same in the later books. Becoming something that I would hate it to be if they did a literal translation of it.

I guess I'm just waiting for someone to complain about them not doing it in black and white. While it would ensure that you kept a low profile to the FCC in the terms of blood and violence, it would also ensure that nobody would watch it.

And with that I'll leave you with this most awesome google map. If you're so inclined to do your own Walking Dead road trip, you can use this google map as it has the locations where the comic has taken place thus far.

Happy Zombie Day!

Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

You may not realize it.... oh fuck it, I'm not going to lie. Doing the whole "Jesus is a zombie" thing is far from edgy. I mean, every one realizes it, right? He died.. came back from the dead* and all that other shit. He's a fucking Zombie. Perhaps the first zombie. But then again, that is if Jesus actually existed. Okay, let me rephrase that. Jesus may have existed and he was a terrorist of his day and age. He died but he sure as hell didn't come back to life. But if we're playing along with the whole Christian Easter thing then we'll just pretend that he did.. on the third day.. which still doesn't make sense because Sunday is only two days after Good Friday.... and really, was it THAT good of a Friday if your messiah is dying?

What it seems to me happened was that some guy got nailed to a piece of wood for suggesting that we all be nice to each other for a change. This, of course angered the local authorities in power. You would probably consider him a terrorist in today's modern day setting. But apparently this government run execution event should be celebrated by us as a great moment in human history.



I typically have no problem proclaiming my feelings toward organized religion, so I can honestly tell you that if you think a guy literally rose from the dead 200 years ago just because it was written in a religious text, well then that's pretty dumb.

Not to mention that if you were actually going for the literal translation as seen in the bible, then you'd realize that they never found his grave, and were crying and then Mary hallucinated seeing him and her faith was restored. He never came back to life, Body of Christ means the church body, not his actual body. So it's sort of funny to see Dogmatic Christianity ignoring what's written in their own bible.



If anything, Easter is a celebration of the supernatural tyranny that enslaves a large proportion of humankind. The very best that could be said of it is that Easter eggs are pretty good and enjoyable to color when bored and you have an abundance of vinegar laying around. Pound for pound, Stalin did more to bring social justice to the world's poor than Christianity has in the 1900 years or so since some dudes in togas who were privileged and educated enough to write decided to invent it.

Want more proof? If you check Wikipedia right now you'll actually see that Jesus took 4 days to rise from the grave.

FYI - I know this because I edited wikipedia to say that just now.

wikipedia is kind of like the bible that way



But I'm getting off the point about Zombie Jesus, because that's the important aspect here. You see, Jesus was that first Zombie. Maybe it's not just more "lost through translation", but perhaps the whole "Eat the body and blood of Christ" is actually code in the bible that there was many zombies in the time of the bible's writing?

Perhaps the next book that gets the ".... And Zombies" treatment like Pride & Prejudice should be "The Bible....and zombies" Don't you get it? JESUS WAS A ZOMBIE!

Just picture it now. Judas was actually the hero of the story. At the time there was clearly no shot guns, then again, shotguns would be the worse weapon to kill a zombie. You need to let them get up close to you before you pull the trigger or those small pellets wouldn't do much against them. Had to hang them up high so they wouldn't claw and try to chew on you. This is where a cross would be put to good use.



Hell, even the idea of Jesus carrying the cross to one of his many "dying" places could be seen as him shambling. Do I need to make this any clearer? Jesus is a zombie and the Bible really should get the ".... and zombie" treatment!

Where do you think Hide the Easter eggs came from? More than likely an attempt to teach kids to hide themselves from those zombies. Or maybe the eggs represent your head and you really should be hiding that before the zombies come and try to eat you as dinner. I know that when I got a chocolate bunny, the first thing I would do is take a nice big bite into the head of it and act like I was gnawing its brains out.



Or maybe it's not all about zombies. Maybe today should just be considered that whole spring celebration for pagans that the Church just latched itself on to. That wouldn't be something new in the religious play book, after all.

I think we should all be thankful for the one day of the year that Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics and atheists can all eat chocolate eggs. Perhaps you'll take advantage of the fact that in about four or five days supermarkets and other stores will have 90% off creme eggs and bunny shaped chocolates for your sweets cravings.

Dear Santa, Please Stop Them From Beating Zombies Into The Ground

Dear Santa, Please Stop Them From Beating Zombies Into The Ground

On this December morning, I'm going to do what is potentially the last zombie blog post I will ever do. Oh, who the fuck am I kidding, I've attempted to find something zombie related to write about in every month this year, but this goal, to end the zombie post is for a good cause. I don't know when it happened,

So when did zombies go from being good movie monsters to being lame nerdy punchlines?

Natalie Portman to star in Pride & Prejudice and Zombies film.

If all of the film adaptations of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" have left your brain numb, this one may really kill you ... in a good way.

Natalie Portman has signed on to produce and star in the movie version of the best-selling book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," written by Seth Grahame-Smith and, uh, Jane Austen.

This expanded version of the Austen classic adds a twist on the well-known love story when the outbreak of a deadly virus begins to turn townsfolk into killers. Elizabeth Bennet struggles to balance her blossoming love for Mr. Darcy with her obligation to kick some zombie butt.

My reaction.. FUCK THIS GAY WORLD.



Hopefully this will go the way of the other "internet sensation turned film" I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell and tank horribly. The book was a ridiculously stupid cash grab. It's just the text of the original book in its entirety with a few extra chapters about zombies sprinkled throughout that relied entirely on the internet's "lol that's so random/ironic" reaction. It's pretty much the embodiment of everything wrong with humor thanks to the internet.

It's so awful that any scriptwriter would pretty much have to throw all of it out the window and start from scratch to produce anything near a watchable movie. Much like Snakes on a plane, the joke is in the title and that's pretty much all you can squeeze out of it.



I guess they haven't reached the peak of destroying the once respectable monster until they turn sparkly and have unhealthy stalking relationships. But it will be a long way before you see a sort of Twilight for Zombies. But apparently Portman loves P&P, and wants to cash in on this craze. I'm really not sure what to make of her latest career moves. Oh well. That crush I used to have on her will forever stay in the past.

I'm getting pretty tired of this zombie circle jerking. They have been running this whole zombie fascination to the ground fast. According to a very brief Amazon search there is also:

-Vampire Darcy's desire: A pride and Prejudice Adaptation
-Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the dreadful
-The Undead world of Oz: L. Frank baum's The wonderful wizard of Oz complete with zombies and monsters
-Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
-The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies
-Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim: Mark Twain's Classic with crazy Zombie goodness,

I guess aliens alone aren't nerdy enough for War of the Worlds. And how much more fucked up can the Wizard of Oz world get? It's bad enough they raped Frank L Baum's stories for all they were worth with the many fan fictions to follow, but do we need one with zombies? Hell, Tip already creates zombies using magic powder on a wooden seesaw and a scare crow named Jack.

It looks like the formula will remain the same though. Public doman work of fiction + A few pages of supplementary monster stuff + commission an artist to do illustrations + free advertising due to it going "viral" on the internet = profitable work of fiction for about a week's worth of effort.

Kill All Sons-of-Bitches! - L4D2

Kill All Sons-of-Bitches! - L4D2

So it's close to Halloween and thus, with the idea of there already being one Friday night flick, there has to be another because, while the other one is a nice little song with a very hot Felica Day, this one is the one that gets you were it counts... the brain stem.

Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out soon. And even though I had so much drama in getting the first game, I'm still one huge fan of the zombie killing genre. So, without further ado, I cream my pants with the following video;



Oh hell yeah. It's like I get to be a typical Katrina survivor and pretend that every zombie is a looter or republican.

Come get some!

Rec 2

REC 2

It wouldn't be a month of the year if I didn't talk about zombies and now that Michael Jackson is finally in the cold cold ground, I can feel a little more at ease that he wont come back from the dead so easily and bust out into song and dance.

The real bread and butter to the undead in the coming month is the release of a film from Spain. I would say Spanish film, but then you folks will just assume I'm talking about Mexico and that would be all wrong.

I'm talking about Spain. The place where my blood comes from. Land of excellent food and amazing drink and now high quality zombie movies. [REC] originally came out in 2007 and was really amazingly original. You can tell how successful it was because there was an American remake of it. While that was pretty bad, it did have Dexter's sister in it.

But despite the fact that it was remade terribly by the Americans, those Spaniards made a sequel to their version. Let's start off with the teaser trailer:


Ah yes, that puts us in the mood. We're gonna see some blood and guts now! You hear that creepy voice. Oh, it's on now! Let's get deeper into this sucker by seeing a trailer.

REC 2 - Teaser Trailer
by dreadcentral

If you're in the camp that prefers Quarantine over REC, go kill yourself.... no wait, don't. I don't want you to come back as some freaky ass zombie. If you want to see more of this film and another trailer. Head on over to this website. Trailer Exclusive for [REC 2]

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go change my underwear.

AMC Now Stands for American Moving Corpses

AMC Now Stands for American Moving Corpses

Did I do a Zombie piece for July? I really don't remember. I mean, I seem to always do them once a month but with the rush that was Comic con, I'm not even sure if I did. Well, if I didn't, this one will make up for it and then some. Get ready folks because the Walking Dead are coming to you through your television screen.

When I first heard that AMC was going to produce original television series I was a bit shocked. A little more shocked than I was hearing SciFi changing its name to SyFy and a whole lot more when I realized that Cartoon Network was showing live action stuff. In the time since they started producing their own shows I have eaten crow and loved it.



The original shows they have aired have been amazing. Mad Men is one of the best shows on televisions, even if you don't want to remember a time when women had no rights and you could market cancer sticks to the masses via a doctors recommendation. Breaking Bad has also been one show that, like the meth they have, once you try it, you'd stay hooked.

As well as creating a Prisoner miniseries that will air later this year, AMC has been completely on a roll So when I heard that The Walking Dead is coming to AMC as a television series. I was floored!

AMC is venturing into zombie-drama territory with multi-hyphenate Frank Darabont.

Cabler is close to finalizing one of the richest development deals ever with Darabont to write and direct a series adaptation of the Image Comics graphic novel series "The Walking Dead," penned by Robert Kirkman. Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion are also on board to exec produce.

Project is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes, in search of a safe place to live. Numerous editions of the "Walking Dead" graphic novels have been published since 2003.

Joel Stillerman, AMC's senior veep of programming, production and original content, said the project appealed to the cabler because of "the quality of the storytelling" in Kirkman's work. The series will stay faithful to the tone of the original novels, he said.

"This is not about zombies popping out of closets," Stillerman said. "This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world (in 'Walking Dead') is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way."

Darabont and Hurd pitched the project to AMC and several other outlets. There is no studio attached yet. The duo's involvement made the project a must-have for the cabler, Stillerman said.

"These are two world-class filmmakers who are also brilliant storytellers with experience in the fantasy genre," he said.

While this is me posting what some would consider me re-writing an AP piece, I'm going to go above and beyond on this. The Walking Dead is one of the best comic book series I have read and followed monthly. I picked up issue one when it came out on the shelf because it was zombie themed and the last time I checked to see the value of the book, it was ranging in the $150 area for a single issue.



Especially surprising considering the comic book market in terms of value placed on books, the first issue of The Walking Dead was printed in October of 2003. The debut issue sold a little more than 7,000 copies and was right behind the sales numbers for Sonic The Hedgehog and Powerpuff Girls. It wasn't a big seller and at the time, Kirkman didn't have much of a name for himself as Invincible was just starting out as well. In 2008 and 50 issues later, the sales of The Walking Dead are well into their 20,000's and the trade paperbacks are extremely great sellers.

So why is this news especially good to hear? Beyond a good source material getting the television treatment, Darabont and Hurd are big names and with AMC putting out some of the better shows on TV now, how could not see a lot of promise in this. Even if people are going to jump towards a view that "This should be an HBO series" because of the graphic violence that must be involved with a zombie film.



And to those worried that this wont be as good because it's not on HBO, a place were redneck vampires run around and have sex, I can only point you to Breaking Bad. A show about amateur meth cookers that don't know how to do much else, that show does not pull any punches. With the right hands and a proper cast, I can see this turning out amazingly well.

When I read that Frank Darabont was on it, all my concerns floated away. He's the writer of the screenplay to Shawshank Redemption. Darabont will more than likely bring in Rohn Schmidt as his DP because they have a long history together. This should also make you happy as Rohn Schmidt contributed to the photography of The Shield. When Darabont went on to do The Mist, he made a point of hiring Schmidt as his DP and brought in the Shield's camera crew because the idea of a Stephen King horror movie shot like an episode of The Shield gave him something to shoot for. Now that he's doing a TV project, I would not be surprised to see him bring Schmidt along.



But back to the source material. If you aren't a reader, the perhaps you would be interested in reading the first issue, it's online for you to enjoy free of charge.. But be warned, once you read the first one, you might as well be considered infected, you will want to read more and more of this.

The only concern here is that they'll improve on Kirkman's work, because really, Kirkman does a lot of build up for events that he writes completely off in some manner or other. It's great for realism. In life you're not automatically going find out the why of everything, but it can get frustrating in a book. They hinted at Rick's wife sleeping with his best friend and the potential of him being the father was planted early on.. Only to have that story come to a resolution that seemed more like an attempt to wipe that whole issue out the window.



I do like the idea of the show that it's going to take a serious look, in a long version, at what will happen if the "shit goes down". We haven't had many Zombie/Survival stories lately and to be honest, those never get old and are always prime material for long-form treatments to be made of them. It's bad enough that DAY ONE doesn't seem like it will last long on NBC's line up, so a post-apocalyptic survivor stories don't get much love. I mean, look at Jericho.

While a lot of people are going to go crazy about the zombies in this show, the real beef of this book comes from the human interactions and how it all breaks down when such a bleak future is presented to you. Now here we are 64 issues later and the cast has changed and the story arcs have ranged from sometimes being way too wordy without a single zombie for many issues, to having a horde of zombies try attacking them.



This, by all means, is a character driven comic book. Hell, the status quo changes often and while I've, on more than one instance, has cursed Kirkman and said I wouldn't read another issue, I still pick it up monthly. I'm really excited to see how this pans out. Hell, maybe even try to jump in on that if I can. I suppose the best way to describe it to others is that while this is a comic about zombies, the main characters are the ones classified as the Walking Dead.

It's only a matter of time before Kirkman decides to kill them off. Way to have good taste, AMC.