Zombie Awareness month

Survivors, one all must realize one important fact. 1% of people will survive the fall. That means roughly 800,000 survivors. The rest of the world will be undead and looking to lower that already small number. It is my goal to raise this number. So many will fall due to foolishness and ignorance. It is important as a survivor to try to give as many others as possible the chance to be prepared. The more true survivors who last, the better a chance we all have of living to see the human dominated planet again.

And that is the reason for this post. May is zombie awareness month. For one month try to tell others of the true path. Try to bring some of the people you know into that elite 1%. It can be as complex as helping someone create a survival plan or as simple as telling someone to look at this blog for information. You could even wear the grey ribbon to show your support of zombie awareness. The grey is for the grey matter so many people think is the goal of these sad creatures. The colour itself acting as the irony of the ignorance of a population that is in the middle of zombies becoming the biggest thing in popular culture. The Zombie Research Society is offering these ribbons. You can of course make your own ribbons if you are crafty or thrifty.

Make sure to spread the word. Not for me. Not for yourself. Do it to give others the chance. Just to put it into a personal perspective, if you know 600 people only 6 of you will survive on average. But if you can help your friends and family prepare it is within your power to raise that number.
Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

ZOMG! Holy Zombies!

In wake of Easter I would like to put out my first Holiday themed post.


What should be noted right out of the gate is Jesus is not a zombie. Other sources have argued this point as well. Zombies are not supernatural beings who have defeated death, they are an infection, a curse, a disease, a plague, many things but they are not the same person they had been simply returned to life. There are many accounts in the Bible of this happening, Jesus raises Lazarus (John 11:23-44), Elisha rises a young boy (2 Kings 8:4-6), and others (Psalm 30, 1 Samuel 2, 2 Kings 13). In all of these instances the person who was brought back to life is the same person they were when they died.


These are holy victories over death and are shown again and again to prove a point (1 Corinthians 15:55). No one considers the rapture to be the creation of zombies, simply God taking all of His faithful to be with him. Much like Elijah's assent to Heaven (2 Kings 2:11), it is a supernatural event, a reward, not a punishment. All through the Bible we find people being raised from the dead and (most importantly) being brought back to life. Not a mockery of life or a violent destructive life but truly living again. And some of these events happened before Jesus, so he could not have been the first zombie even if these were zombies being raised. Not too mention the records of zombies are older then the time of Christ.


All of this is simply pointing out the obvious falsehood of the statement "Jesus was the first zombie" or even the mockery of calling Easter, "zombie day." However there are other events told of in the Bible which are not so glorious. Zechariah 14:12 for example tells of a plague which will make the people rot as if dead while still on their feet and violently attack each other. Sounds similar, and just because the writers of the Bible didn't use the word "zombie" doesn't mean it isn't the same thing. Rotting flesh, plague (meaning it can spread), large-scale panic, grabbing and attacking. The only thing not covered is waking up from being thought dead. Or the seven trumpets from Revelation 8 and 9: the fifth angel who summons creatures from hell that make men seek out death but cannot die themselves. Zombies? How about the sixth angel who summons four horsemen (not THE horsemen) who will kill one third of the earth's population with a plague from their mouths... or those killed by the Beast who will be left to lie in the streets, now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. (Revelation 11:11) Ezekiel 37:1-11 is the story of an entire nation being raised from dry bones, what happens to these bones is not clear. If they become the people of Israel or do they become something closer to our version of the undead? In Numbers 25 a great plague kills twenty-four thousand and is only stopped but killing the man who caused it; an exciting re-telling of a zombie plague only stopped by slaying the plague bearers? Habakkuk 3 prays for the One who brings pestilence and plague wherever He walks to destroy his enemies. Revelation talks about rising the dead who have not accepted Christ to wage war against Him in the final days, this is an event foretold by Daniel as well, the fact the dead do not rest is something consistent through the Bible. (Daniel 12:2)


One final note on the Christians who doubt, "if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?" (1 Corinthians 15:13)


Is there definately evidence of zombies in the Bible? No, I would not say 100% but consider the stories. Read them for yourself. See if the plagues presented there match the information you have. Consider if you didn't know what a zombie was how you might describe one. Or consider if zombies were a somewhat regular thing? Would they be worth mentioning as more then a plague? The Bible is a wealth of information, knowledge and wisdom even for people who do not consider themselves Christian. And in my mind, enough of it points toward a plague of violence, death, and rot to make me say there could very well be zombies in the Bible, they just aren't named as such.


Stay vigilant, may the plague never be cast on you, and if it does may those close to you have the resolve to do what is nessicary.
Mike D.

In the crosshairs

The question presented: how do I tell if a person trying to enter my safe house is a looter, a raider or another survivor?

I will address this question in a number of points. I'll try to keep everything in some sort of order because I have a lot to say on the matter. This is a vital point which will effect many survivors as they face a situation they may not have prepared for properly. An entire protocol should be discussed with the group very shortly after a safe house is secured.

One clear indicator if a group approaching a safe house is friendly can be children, anyone with children at least gets a chance to explain themselves in my books. That being said children can also be used as a lure. All children can be deceiving and children raised in the wrong way can be more brutal than grown men (child soldiers are an example in real life and Carl in The Walking Dead is an example in zombie fiction.)

Also looking scared and generally running for their lives. Of course some people are amazing actors so this just gives the advantage of not looking like an enemy from the start. Also it is worth noting at this point that anyone in a dangerous enough situation will appear frightened and chaotic.

In general it's all about body language, something most men actually have a lot of issues with and thus it is important to have either a man who understands body language (an actor, a police officer, etc.) or a woman who is hardened enough to pull the trigger. Hate to stereotype but it's just the reality, women know people better but empathize more quickly. This may seem like a rather non-scientific way to determine something with as serious a nature as this but regardless it will be the defenders best indicator. It is thus imperative to develop a good sense of understanding body language; this skill will be useful from the moment of meeting your first other survivor until the end.

Thinking about this first question leads to a burst of potential situations. These situations come from the idea of asking a couple of questions: "Who wouldn't I shoot on sight?" "What would I do to make myself look less threatening?" "How do I see through the disguise?"

Who wouldn't I shoot on sight?
Well anyone who didn't look like a threat or I hadn't already had negative dealings with. And this even includes groups of men: I would hate to mow down some men or start a gunfight when it turns out they were just the men from a group near by who left their children and elderly to search for supplies. So for instance a group calmly walking in the middle of the street they could be a band of raiders OR they could be just a surviving party. Most people aren't expecting to have a sniper's cross hairs on them after the fall. Again that comes down to body language. Figure out who the leader is and what he looks/acts like, first impressions are a hard things to go off of but 9 times out of 10 they are right on the money for anyone with some skill in reading people. And the people who do look like threats are going to realize this really quickly and start trying to not look like a threat. Which makes our jobs as survivors a lot harder and leads to the second question.

What would I do to make myself look less threatening?
The answer is simple: anything and everything. There are some situations where it is a benefit to appear more threatening and to intimidate an enemy, group or even individual but for most situation if approaching a safe house the easiest way to be let in peacefully is to appear to be of no threat. And I for one would hate to be honestly looking for no trouble, but maybe just  meal and a place to sleep and be shot because I looked like a threat. Well having children helps as already mentioned. Keeping them safe is of course a great concern but letting them be seen shows that I have something to lose and to protect so I am not looking to be rash and violent. Leaving all weapons holstered also lowers the threat level by a great amount, this is an option not to be taken lightly. A way to make yourself appear less threatening while still being able to defend yourself instantly is to keep a sidearm in hand but not at the ready, keeping the arm outstretched and barrel pointed safely toward the ground is a clear indicator of no harm intended and while this may mean not getting the first shot off it will allow to react to any shots fired instantly.
Another option is to learn the art of the diving quick draw. This is an act which should be practised for hours until it can be completed in any area, on any terrain, with any pressures, to absolute perfection. If that is done this move can be a life safer. The act is simple in design but hard to complete. Throw your body in one direction, to one side or the other normally offers the best mix of changing position and arm movement. Diving forward is the lease expected motion but the least change of position which makes it easiest for the enemy to adjust their shots. It also requires the most arm movements to draw your weapon and bring it all the way up your torso and over your head to fire. Throwing your body back offer the least arm movement and thus the quickest firing position, simply draw, point and fire. Again going backward does not make the enemy have to do much to adjust their aim. Second, as the body moves the arms must be moving to quick draw your sidearm. If you have ammo to spare a shot can be fired as soon as the weapon is out of the holster, this will do two things: surprise the enemy who will already be surprised by the bold and strange maneuver, and use recoil to move your arm up to firing position even quicker. This first shot would be while you are still in the air and has almost no chance of doing damage, the real firing will be done once you hit the ground. Firing position and aiming should be done during the final part of the dive so the second shot and more if needed can be taken upon contact with the ground. Note that being on the ground does not cause as many issues in a gunfight as many people seem to believe. Not only does the target become unfamiliar and smaller but also allows the most stable firing position and allows for easy movement while maintaining that stable position i.e. rolling. While this does throw off aim it is the quickest way to move from stable position to stable position while covering some ground. And especially in an area with no cover making yourself a small and foreign target will be your greatest asset.
That may seem to have little to do with being less threatening but being confidant in your ability to defend yourself even with your weapon holstered will present you as calm and poised showing that you have nothing to hide. Some one who is uncomfortable and insecure will appear as such and could be taken as being dishonest or looking for an opening to attack. Remember that a confident warrior does not actively look for openings, he simply notices them or he creates them the moment they are needed.
Clothing can also be a simple of threat. A person in leather straps, spikes, and punk hair simply looks more of a threat then a person in jeans, a sweater and uncombed short hair looks. This is again stereotyping but when it comes to survival in a world which has lost it's current society every little thing will be a matter of survival. Even more so a group of people dressed in a pattern or a common "uniform" will appear much more threatening then a group who are all dressed differently. While dressing the way you want is every person's right it is fair to note that to the true survivor dressing in a manner which will give a better chance of not being taken as a threat by other survivors is almost as important as dressing to protect from bites.

And of course the final question being how do I see through the disguise?
Not an easy question to answer but it is the true rout of the first question. I have not discovered a formula to do this. I have no set 100% way to determine. Rest assured I am searching for one. But for now I would say the best way is through feeling. Feeling is a weird thing to go off of but it is often all we will have as survivors. Often the path will split and with no time for to work out a decision one must trust their feelings and make a choice. Seeing through a disguise is much the same. Sometimes it will be obvious, a person with shifty eyes, the followers being uncomfortable while the leader is comfortable or the opposite, hands held near weapons at all times, distrust and lies weaved in their words. But other times it will be harder to determine such as if the leader is too smooth. What is too smooth? If he has all the answers without actually giving any answers. When the followers look to him in fear. If he makes statements about all the things you can do for each other. Key words and phrases might be "imagine" "together" "peace of mind" "chance to succeed" "common sense" "security." Now note just because someone uses these phrases does not mean they are automatically too smooth, the leader is possibly just well spoken and thought out but these words can be flags to start looking for others. Another flag will be speaking down to the followers and inspiring them, or speaking to your group and trying to turn them to his side. Another flag might be if the leader already has a well worded list of things he can offer you and how you would both benefit from giving him help. Of course too smooth is partly a feeling and partly an understanding of what true leadership versus blind/terrified followers is. Feeling is something we do everyday when we meet new people, we just have to start tuning into those senses and realize when something is off about a person. This is not a 100% science but it is can be the best a survivor has to go off of after the fall. Gut feelings tend to be right, and following them may safe you from the feeling of a knife in the gut.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in Gaming: Resident Evil

Never will you find a game more re-made and over complicated as Resident Evil. This examination will stick to things that are common in all versions. Note that mention of the game as a game will exist but the main objective is to view the use of this game as training and preparation for surviving an outbreak. This is based off of the original American Resident Evil and the gamecube remake.

Story:
... Where to start... this game has kicked off one of the most complicated stories that actually retains some sort of actual plot line to date. The game begins on July 24, 1998 after a STARS team (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) discovers the destroyed helicopter of Bravo team, but there are no signs of survivors; only a severed hand is found. Alpha team is attacked by zombie dogs, one of which kills, Joseph Frost. Alpha's helicopter pilot, Brad Vickers, panics and takes off alone. Alpha team seeks refuge within a nearby mansion.
With the dogs outside, the last Alpha team members (Albert Wesker, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton) are trapped inside. Depending on which character is the player, one of the members of Alpha team is separated from the others during the chase and does not make it to the mansion (Barry if Chris, Chris if Jill). The player then explores the mansion and finds Bravoe team members, Kenneth J. Sullivan, (being eaten by a zombie) Richard Aiken, (dying of poison) Forest Speyer, (found dead on the balcony), and Enrico Marini, who reveals that one member of the team is a traitor before being shot and killed by an unseen attacker.  Scattered documents suggest that a series of illegal experiments were being done there by the Umbrella Corporation, a biomedical conglomerate. The monsters are the results of these experiments with the T-virus.
The player eventually discovers the Tyrant. Wesker reveals that he is a double agent working for Umbrella. Wesker is killed by the Tyrant. The player finds the other playable character trapped, and manages to get him/her out by activating the self-destruct system. Chris, Jill and the helper character (Rebecca if Chris, Barry if Jill) head for the heliport, the other characters are separated from the player. The player gets up to the heliport and manages to contact Brad and meet the other two survivors there, but they are attacked by the Tyrant yet again. After the beast is brought down, the heroes manage to escape the premises in the team helicopter.
Note this is the "best" ending. There are various endings in which some of the characters do not survive.

Zombies:

• T-virus Zombies - Slow moving, mindless, tend to sneak up on you or appear around corners. Vulnerable to fire and bullets.
• Tyrant - A human exposed to a lot of T-virus over a prolonged period of time. Bigger, stronger and nastier then normal zombies. He is a mutant of sorts and does not infect other humans but simply kills everything he sees with his one arm which has transformed into a sort of human blade. Vulnerable to rockets.
• Cerberus - Zombie dogs. Fast but relatively weak. They travel in packs and like to leap at victims knocking them down and surrounding them. Vulnerable to bullets.
• Hunter - Part reptile, part human, all zombie. The hunter is just that, it retains some very basic intelligence, the ability to track and fight. Vulnerable to fire and grenades.
• Lisa - Lisa was given the P-virus. An earlier version of the T-virus. She survived it and all other experiments done on her. Eventually Umbrella would extract from her the G-virus which is used to create the Nemisis Bio-weapon. Vulnerable to emotions.
• Giant Spiders - Zombie spiders... infected by the T-virus Spiders grow and carry their babies on their backs. Vulnerable to fire and grenades.
• Neptune (Giant Shark) - The scariest things ever. Zombie sharks. Faster, stronger and bigger then normal sharks (obviously that's what happens when sharks become zombies) these mothers are scary! Vulnerable to shotguns, electricity and Tom Jane.
• Chimera - This is what happens when you meld flies, humans and T-virus. Not pretty, or useful. But plenty deadly for no reason! Vulnerable to fire and shotguns.
• Yawn - Continuing with the idea that all small animals become huge when injected with T-virus RE brings us the giant snake. Vulnerable to grenades, explosives and book shelves.
• Plant 42 - Plant life can also be infected by the T-virus. (This seems strange but has common ground with some other zombie lore, including House of the Dead and Edge of Darkness) um... yeah. Vulnerable to fire and lots of bullets.

Survival lessons:

• Become a Master of Picking Locks.
• You don't have to be able to move and shoot at the same time to survive.
• Don't trust anyone, even those of the greatest morale fiber can have that used against them.
• Don't infect anything with T-virus it grows larger and wants to kill you.
• If you can't see around a corner there are probably zombies.
• In areas you've already checked and secured there are probably zombies.
• If one member of the team can never be found, don't look for him.
• Dying people will always give you their free stuff (better then letting you just loot it.)
• The guy who wears sunglasses at night, in a dimmly lit building, keeps a journal of everyone's behavior and disappears all the time: kill him early on.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Interview with the internet's top zombie forum's leader

Well survivors I think it is valuable to stick together, nay it is invaluable. So here is an interview with a man who leads one of, if not, largest zombie survival forums on the internet. Mister Whaturmuva (Matt)

ZLC: What inspired you to start this forum?
Whaturmuva: My interest in what people would do during a ZPAW. It's just a hypothetical, but I enjoy examining human nature.

ZLC: How much work do you put into the forum to keep it in it's top ranking?
Whaturmuva: Next to none at this point. I know how to work the search engines well enough that I have gotten every site I have made to the top of google.

ZLC: Do you have a large team of admin to help you? If so have you actually met any of them or just online?
Whaturmuva: Nope, just me and one moderator. Have not met in real life but he seems like a pretty good guy. Overall the forum is fairly spam free and the members are all really great.

ZLC: There are lots of forums out there about zombies. What makes your's as awesome as it is?
Whaturmuva: It seems to be the largest of the very few that looks at zombies as a true possibility. Most just write them off and in every thread there is the "zombies can never exist" posters. Here we don't allow that type of behavior. To make it here one needs to expand their mind and really examine what is possible.

ZLC: Have you been Admin on any other forums?
Whaturmuva: Yes, I've made a variety of forums all which have gained a lot of popularity and high google rankings. I actually had another top zombie forum in the past but had to sell it due to life circumstances. The new owner seemed to have no passion for the site and it died just a few months later.

ZLC: So you're also running a zombie roleplay site. Do you have any experience with roleplaying games or play-by-post?
Whaturmuva: Can't say that I do. I created it for a member of the main forum and he had problems. Meanwhile the site got to the top of google but had no direction. Recently I have picked up a few users to start building it and I expect it to thrive very soon.

ZLC: There's also the zombie blog. How's the format for that site work? With multiple people contributing to it.
Whaturmuva: It really doesn't, the blog is fairly dead as I can't find anyone to contribute to it. I'd gladly let someone take it over if they want it but I haven't been able to find anyone who does. It's "Bloggers Wanted" is actually in my forum signature at all times

ZLC: Favorite zombie film and why?
Whaturmuva: Land of the Dead. It shows how humanity would survive in times after the world was already filled with zombies.

ZLC: Why a zombie forum and not a forum about something else awesome?
Whaturmuva: To make a forum thrive the admin must have interest in the subject. Zombies have held my interest for a long time and it just was a natural choice to go back to.

ZLC: Are you a true believer?
Whaturmuva: I don't believe there are any zombies on this planet at the moment. But I know this universe is ever expanding and we don't know a ton about it. I think it's a possibility just like anything else.

There you have. A true leader who believes all it takes is passion, knowledge and good people to get the job done.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombie Play-by-Post

Survivors allow me to present you with a place to test out your survival strategies and perhaps have some fun in learning how to deal with situations you may not have thought of before.

http://zombie-forum.com/zombie-roleplay/index.php

The site is not fully up and running yet but you can join, create a character and the site be ready soon.

I also recommend this forum as it is one of the few zombie forums which actually does not dismiss the notions of zombies and discusses them as an actual possibility and real ways to deal with the undead threats.

On the forum you will find indepth discussions on the biology of the undead. What weapons to carry with you, what equipment to leave behind. Discuss exact strategies of how to survive different situations. Many of the members of the forum are from the armed forces of different countries and offer a wide range of view points.

Note that not everything said there is 100% true though. For instance one person on the forum swears by the good ol' double tap to the chest. Even though many have told him otherwise, he insists this is the best way to defeat a zombie. It is that sort of misinformed confidence that will kill many people who believe they are prepared and might have made great survivors had they not stuck to false ideas. Some people ask how the zombies could still be a threat when so many people know how to deal with them, but this person is the answer, the Zombie Survival Guide is the answer, people who look to resources like this person, like video games or gun enthusists with no live experience, like Max Brooks' book and get false information that may cost them more then a couple wasted bullets.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Zombi 2

"The dead are among us."



Film: Zombi 2
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Elisa Briganti
Produced by Variety Film Production
Year: 1979

Story: A group of four travel to an island where one of the group's father has gone missing (also the owner of the island.) On the way the group takes a little pit stop to do some shark spotting. They make it to the island and slowly members of the group begin to meet grisly ends as they meet up with a doctor who is trying to find out what the cause of the pandemic is an how to cure it. All the while the radio depicts how all of the USA is falling to the zombies. The final stand of the group has a lot to be learned involving setting up layers and layers of barricades to hold the zombies every few feet. Fire is also used to great effect in this last stand, it also shows the disregard that must sometimes be given to material things, even to the extent of your own safehouse. Finally the escape from the burning shelter was performed quick well until one character makes the fatal flaw of so many in the world of the undead.

Zombies: These zombies are what I compare zombies against. No idea how they came to be. They are slow and nearly indestructible. They have unbelievable (but not superhuman) strength. It is kind of a constant surprise through out this movie however when someone actually gets killed by one of these zombies.

Survival Lessons:

• Change your name to West.
• Body shots do nothing, even if you really want them too.
• Don't put your head against obviously weak boarding to listen for zombies.
• Don't pause for even an instant when you inevitably face a turned loved one.
• Headtshots! Come on!
• Wearing less clothing makes it easier to slip out of a zombie's grasp.
• Zombies beat sharks.
• Don't go looking for sharks if you don't want to find sharks.
• Fire is your friend.
• Sometimes you have to sacrifice your safehouse, if it's been overrun it's no good to you anyway.
• You can NEVER have enough barricades.

Warnings: It's a scary film. There are sharks.


In the end this movie showed me many things. But first can I just point out how many people named "West" survive zombies. Peter West, Herbert West, Frank West, I'm sure there will be more now that I've caught onto this trend. Ok, seriously this movie is a classic and for good reason. It was right there with Night of the Living Dead as one of the first zombie movies and has one of the greatest zombie fights known around the world, the shark vs. zombie also one of the most gruesome deaths of any horror movie even to date. It is one of the zombie movies which set the stage for everything we know today: the BJC, the safehouse, the group of survivors, and of course, the slow but inevitable hordes of walking dead.


If you'd like to have this movie for yourself click here.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Hot or Not

Finally zombie lovers and hunters can a place they can go to see all sorts of live specimen. http://www.zombierater.com/ Is a place for any survivor to post pictures of zombies to be rated by other survivors.

Crafty survivors may even use this site to post pictures of themselves as zombies to see if the disguise might be good enough to fool the undead. Or another survivor, so be warned that someone may pick the wrong target if they don't know you are out there.

Submitting a picture is easy. Just go to the site, hit submit and fire away. Or just look at the pictures, rate them how you see fit and put any really cool ones as your desktop.

Any questions can also be directed at zombierater@zombiesdrule.com

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Beyond Re-Animator

"They Thought Prison Would Be The Death Of Him. But For Dr. West, Death Is Only The Beginning."


Film: Beyond Re-Animator
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written by H.P. Lovecraft and Migel Tejada-Flores
Produced by Castelao Producciones, Fantastic Factory and Filmax

Story: Herbert West is back! This time one of his experiments kills a young woman, only to get at the milk she was drinking? And he gets sent to jail for an undetermined period of time. But the young girls brother grows up to be the worst actor of all time, er... to be a doctor himself! Who volunteers to work at the jail where West is so he and West can continue his research. Of course while West is making some real progress, including a way to bring the "soul" back as well as life itself, all hell is bound to get loose as events unfold until West finally confronts a couple of dismembered zombie inmates and the warden with a rat's soul to finally exscape with no remorse for those who'se life's he ruined and continue his experiments else where.

Zombies: I'm not even sure these creatures can be called zombies. They are re-animated and therefore undead but not much else about them makes for zombies. They seem to just become crazed versions of themselves. As with the first movie there are many types of re-animated corpses in the film. One drug addict seems to avoid becoming a crazed killer by taking the serum while alive, he simply meets a grisly... end? Although this movie clearly states there is no  true end when the re-animator serum is involved. The final type of zombie are those re-animated and then given back a soul. Which seems to just warp their personality, begging the question what if the person was given back their own soul?

Survival Lessons:

• Wear clothes that don't easily rip. You shouldn't have to be told twice ladies!
• Don't let a zombie do special favors for you.
• Don't take a re-animation agent while you are currently animated (alive.)
• Make sure your girlfriend isn't just trying to learn about your partner's experiments.
• Don't try to find out about your boyfriend's partner's strange experiments.
• Lesson from series: Doctors are evil or badass, or sometimes both.

Warnings: The R rated version is rated that for good reason. Children skip this next line. Just to give an example of some of the R rate material in this movie, a re-animated "thing" off a man fights a zombie rat. While hilarious, it is definately not for the youngins.

In the end if this film had stayed more consistant with how each "type" of zombie acted it would have been far more then just a fluff piece. As the case is there are too many inconsistantcies to make the film truely worth watching for the ideas it tries to get across and the questions it asks. Like what would happen if a zombie was given back a soul? The soul of an animal? The soul of another person? The soul of the person that zombie used to be? Very interesting questions but ones to which the answers must be found elsewhere.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Field Guide to Monsters

Darren Zenko has put together a great resource for all monster hunters. This handy little book is called the "Field Guide to Monsters". Of course I am not of the mind monsters are real or need hunting but a book of this nature could not go without a section on our favorite undead. I've copied just this section here as a sample.

Field Guide to Monsters by Darren Zenko:
They advance slowly, in eerie silence punctuated only by the occasional moan and the sound of feet scraping the ground. From a distance, the horde may appear to be a shambling crowd of normal humans. The truth is revealed on closer inspection: ripped and bloody clothes, gaping wounds, rotting flesh and the nauseating stench of the grave. These are the walking corpses, the living dead... zombies.


Where do these mindless horrors come from? There's really no easy answer. First and fremost, though, the zombie was once human - and a human body, even (or perhaps especially) a dead one, is a strong and powerful object. Many methods, technological and magical, take advantage of this potential to bring about zombification. Even a quick sampling of recorded zombie outbreaks reveals zombies brought to life by evil spells; zombies created by meteorites from space; zombies as the result of secret biochemical experiments; zombies created by strange viruses; zombies as the result of ancient curses; and zombies apawned by radiation from atomic weapons tests. In most cases, zombieism is highly contagious and spread by bites or scratches.


Although zombies can be created in many ways, the method of destroying them is more-or-less universal: go for the head. To function, zombies require a certain portion of the brain tissue to remain intact, and catastrophic damage to the head will stop the creature cold. Single bullets or buried hatchets aren't usually enough, however -your attack must be wholly decapitating. High explosives, firebombs and industrial-strength acid also work well. Extremely low temperatures will not destroy zombies, but they can immobilize them.

Note that, although the word "zombie" is derived from the Haitian voodoo word zombi, the true Haitian zombi is not undead. It is a living human, turned into a mindless slave by means of powerful drugs - do not blow its head off! Suspected zombie encounters in the areas of known voodoo activity call for careful inspection for rotted flesh and other indicators of zombification. Remember the zombie hunter's rule of thumb: "Signs of decay? Fire away!"

This is not the complete section on zombies but you can get a good handle on what the author has to say on them. A couple things to mention as everyone knows already, the infection is always contagius. He also makes a good point about how often a single bullet or blade strike will not destroy enough of the brain. When choosing weapons go for the two extremes, high and low caliber. High can destroy enough of brain normally and low calibers, such as .22 are not powerful enough to exit the skull which will mean the bullet bounces around doing more damage.

The Field Guide to Monsters is full of basic tips for a wide range of monsters. In fact every monster I can think of (and many I've never heard of) can be found within the pages of this great little book. This field guide gives basic guidelines for an encounter with any sort of creature and well worth the time to buy and read, for just the entertainment value alone this book is worth while.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Re-animator

"Death is just the beginning..."

Film: Re-animator
Directed by Stuart Gordon

Written by H.P. Lovecraft and Dennis Paoli
Produced by Empire Pictures and Re-animator Productions

Story: A collage student, Herbert West, tries to defeat death with a serum he creates to reanimate the brain. He moves to a new town where his experiments quickly gain him the trust of a fellow student and their search for a suitable test subject leads on a winding trail of death and chaos as events get more and more complicated until finally Herbert and his roommate and the dean's daughter must face off with a headless mastermind zombie in a morgue where all of the bodies have been infected.  

Zombies: The zombies in this film evolve through out the film. That is to say the science used to create them evolves. The first zombie simply has his eyes explode. After that zombies simply show enhanced strength and toughness. Although they can be killed by extreme means, surgical drills through the chest, etc. The zombie mastermind is a scientist who's head was cut off but he was instantly given the serum which revived him and he still retained control over his body. He then combined the zombie serum with his technique of destroying the part of a person's brain where the willpower is, and then he could create the final version of zombies in the film. The mindless killing machines who obeyed his orders, and also felt pain whenever he did... Mastermind zombies can also explode their chests on command and their intestines can be used as lassos and drag people to their doom. Mentioned before is the zombie serum, a strange re-animator which causes any creature who hasn't had their brain destroyed to come back to life although if they are reanimated six minutes after death they will come back with only the most base instincts, the instinct to kill and feed.

Survival Lessons:

• Wear clothes that don't easily rip. Especially pants.
• Destroy the head, don't just cut it off.
• Head isn't always fun.
• Mocking zombies doesn't kill them.
• Don't leave your strange roommate alone with your dead cat.
• Pencils snap really easily and disrupt scientists.
• The personality dies roughly 6 minutes after the brain.

Warnings: The R rated version is rated that for good reason. Not all people look good naked. Just saying.

 

In the end this movie is very raunchy and as a film maker there are too many things wrong with it to even list. That aside, not a bad mood. Entertaining and definitely shows how anyone who keeps their wits about them has a good chance to survive. Also shows the dangers of playing with things best left in the hands of God.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

A is for Awesome

Fellow survivors, long have I searched for the proper way to teach my children the alphabet. I have found it.

The book is called, "Z is for Zombie: An Illustrated Guide to the End of the World" by Adam-Troy Castro and illustrated by Johnny Atomic. This book is filled with the simple facts like, "...everywhere we were, they are." And "Either you hit the ground running or you hit the ground in pieces." It does not go into details on how it happened or why, but simply that it has in fact occurred, the zombie apocalypse.

Every page is chalk full of simple yet sound advice that every survivor must have ingrained in his head to continue that survival. As I reread the book at this very moment I am simply blown away by the simple statements that are so true. This alphabet is like a rulebook, the very basics of survival that no person should be without. Every survivor can be reminded of the principles set forth in this book, one particular reminder for myself is the eyes. Adam-Troy describes the eyes of a zombie as "T for Terrifying" because the eyes are the window to the soul and how much people rely on looking into each others eyes: to discern lies, to engage lovers, to welcome, to communicate. But to look into a zombie's eyes is to see absolute nothing, a void that is as the author describes it "enough to shatter all will to live."

The book takes the reader step-by-step through the apocalypse giving some reassurance that the trials and tribulations are ones that must be faced by every true survivor. It also ends off with a stern warning and a truly chilling idea of what can be expected should you turn. The idea that undeath is a worse fate then simply dying and your body becoming something else. The idea that being a zombie means having to not only watch but actually do the horrible acts entailed; with no choice, no will, no mind, simply an awareness. Still knowing who you were and what you've done and what you are currently doing. Feeling the never ending, ever growing hunger, and all the pain that goes with it but not having a choice or a way to stop any of it. Ideas like this, the unknown aspects of turning, there are reason enough to always make sure you have one extra round.

Don't miss out. Educate yourself and your family, buy this book.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.