Apocalypses

a little test

2009-12-18T20:57:00.001-06:00

I'm trying out blog applications for my droid eris. This is a test post.

For old times' sake...

2009-11-21T12:28:00.002-06:00

Though nobody reads this anymore (except Kelly, and even then I'm guessing he won't see it for a while), I couldn't imagine a more appropriate place to post a link to this. In short: 2012, shmwenty-shmwelve.

It's begun!

2009-06-18T17:02:00.003-05:00

Hey guys, hope all is well with everyone.
I have heeded the advice of many of you and started a separate blog for the interviews, and will keep adding to them as I find new people to participate. You can find them here.
Also... If any of you would like to volunteer yourselves I would be delighted to pick your brains! (mmm, brains)
-Katie

Zombie Killers

2009-06-07T01:51:00.000-05:00

Machines of Loving Grace

2009-05-25T07:52:00.000-05:00

by Richard Brautigan

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Post-Apocalypses Crafty Book Club Writing Group And Drinking Society (or something)

2009-05-21T23:22:00.004-05:00

So. Post-Apocalypses gatherings of some sort.

Suggestions? Themes? Nifty club t-shirt designs?

Discuss in the comments.

Kelly's address

2009-05-21T16:12:00.002-05:00

Does anyone have Kelly's address handy? I am at work and realized I forgot it at home. If so, could you shoot me an email (arivardbiss@mspcustomcontent.com)? I'd say post it here but we don't want just anyone showing up at the party...

In Case of Apocalypse, Break Glass

2009-05-20T20:53:00.002-05:00

Inspired by the Transition movement...

2009-05-20T11:29:00.003-05:00

I just got one of those hand-crank washing machines and a low-energy spin dryer. Next month I'll be moving into a place where these will be my only nearby method of doing laundry, and after using testing them out last night I'm actually kind of looking forward to that. (I did a blog post on my laundry nerdery here.)

In case anyone else might be interested in these sorts of machines, here's a quick review:

Wonder Wash

Reason I bought this model: It has a greater capacity than most other hand-crank washers on the market (5.5 lbs of clothes) and has gotten stellar product reviews online, even from people who don't usually hand wash anything.

Pros: It's cheap ($43), uses no electricity, takes less water and detergent than a standard washer would for the same size load, is easy to use, and takes only 2.5 minutes to run a load (probably comes out to around 10 minutes once you include loading, rinsing, draining, and added clutz time for a new user). The cranking also isn't as effort-intensive as it seems at first, and washing clothes this way consistently should make them last longer.

Cons: It has a much smaller capacity than a standard washer (so not good for families), the legs are a bit wobbly (though they do have suction cups on the bottom to add stability), and the company that makes it doesn't have a great reputation with the Better Business Bureau (the main complaint being that their customer service sucks - I had no problems with them).

Would be ideal for: camping/long vacations in places without laundry facilities, knitters (way easier on hand-knits than a standard washer!), primary laundry machine for one person or a very environmentally dedicated couple, secondary laundry machine for a family (I could see kids either loving or hating this thing).

Spin Dryer

Reason I bought this model: Its capacity matched the Wonder Wash (12.2 lbs wet laundry, which is about 5.5 lbs dry) and it was cheap compared to other models with similar capacity.

Pros: Uses very little electricity, takes 3 minutes or less to dry clothes, cheap compared to similar models ($135), way cheaper overall than a standard dryer, just light enough to be luggable.

Cons: Makes slight monster truck noises when used on pergo (I can't speak for other flooring types), comes with a boatload of non-eco-friendly packaging, doesn't dry clothes 100% (this is standard for spin dryers, though - it dries them enough that they can be hung up for a few hours to overnight to dry). Also, the instructions inaccurately portray the size of container you need to catch the water from the machine's spout (it takes a proper mixing bowl, not a little cup like in the picture, which my kitchen floor found out the hard way).

Would be ideal for: someone using a hand-crank washer as their primary washing machine, someone wanting to cut down on their dryer-related energy costs/usage/time wasted (after 3 minutes in the spin dryer, clothes only need about 10 minutes in an electric/gas dryer to be fully dry, instead of a full cycle), and once again, knitters. I could also see kids really liking this machine, what with its monster truck noises.

The Future is Now (so far)

2009-05-17T03:11:00.002-05:00

What I have written so far is here.

I'll try to get the song recorded this weekend and get it up soon.

Play List

2009-05-14T21:39:00.004-05:00

It's the End of the World as We Know It -- R.E.M.
Eve of Destruction -- Barry McGuire
Ball of Confusion -- Temptations
The Blood of the Lamb -- Wilco
The Heavenly Aeroplane -- J. S. McConnell
99 Red Balloons -- Nena
King of the World -- Steely Dan
We'll All Go Together When We Go -- Tom Lehrer
Morning Dew -- Bonnie Dobson
The Big Boom -- Jonathan Coulton
Zombie, Zombie, Zombie -- Kelly Coyle and David Oppegaard
Pop Music -- Ben Lee
Bad Dreams -- Joni Mitchell
Reduce/Reuse Mantra -- Billy Curmano
How Far We've Come -- Matchbox 20
In the year 2525 -- Zager and Evans
The Geeks Were Right -- The Faint
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft -- The Carpenters
When the World Ends -- Dave Matthews Band
The Earth Died Screaming -- Tom Waits
The End of the World -- Skeeter Davis

Interviews

2009-05-14T17:51:00.000-05:00

Hey all, you can find updates to the interviews here.

final stuff...

2009-05-14T14:24:00.002-05:00

i have all the works i handed in for the final project on my blog. it will be there until next week sometime when i take it down.

enjoy.

they are all entitled final works 1 thru 9.

worldbuilding...

2009-05-14T14:03:00.002-05:00

So I'm not sure how well my project here is going to translate into a presentation...

I'm hammering out and researching the idea of the soul, and what exactly it would mean to the world to have the soul as a scientifically proven and very real phenomenon. I'm trying to figure out where it would be located, what it's purpose would be and how exactly one would go about proving its existence.

I'll probably bring the stuff I have and share that, but again, I'm not sure exactly how well it'll present.

see you all tonight!

The End - in a good way

2009-05-14T12:14:00.001-05:00

Here are my final reflections and poems.
Hope you enjoyed the photos too!

The Restructuring

2009-05-14T12:06:00.000-05:00

Here is the link to my final piece.

http://queenjenine.blogspot.com/

Zombie Night

2009-05-14T11:35:00.007-05:00

Meteor

2009-05-13T04:13:00.001-05:00

Quick quote

2009-05-12T10:05:00.000-05:00

The survival of man depends on the early construction of an ultra-intelligent machine. -- J. Good

It's really too late to add it to the rotating epigraph up top, although I will.

a beginning, you know, of the end.

2009-05-11T23:13:00.003-05:00

You can find the beginning of my final project over at my blog. It's a one act play called World's End.

Final project - character auditions and first chapter

2009-05-11T14:08:00.002-05:00

My final project is all collected over here.

This was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback in class!

Short story contest

2009-05-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

Here are the basic details for miniStories, in particular: this literary competition is open to any MN resident who'd like to enter. Writers may submit up to three previously unpublished stories, in any genre, for consideration; submissions may be up to but no longer than 500 words in length. The adjudication process is anonymous; from the pool of entrants, 20 will be selected for publication through the year on mnartists.org. From those 20 winners, 3 grand-prize-winners will be chosen, who will receive a paid commission to write a second, perhaps longer, short story that will be published to much pomp and fanfare on mnartists.org. All winners will have the opportunity to record an audio version of their victorious tale, which will be distributed via iTunes podcast by the Walker Art Center/mnartists.org.

The deadline for submissions has been extended to FRIDAY MAY 15.

Our miniStories jurors this year are just terrific: Leif Enger, Jon Fasman, Diana Joseph, Barth Anderson, and Lise Erdrich. Geoff Herbach is also returning as our jury foreman.

If you'd pass the word to any writers you may know who'd benefit from this opportunity, I'd be grateful. There are fewer and fewer outlets for short story writers these days, and I'm desperate to be able to continue to provide a home for emerging writers creating work in this form.

But the truth is, we need to get a robust response from local writers to justify the program's continued existence. I know these writers are out there, I just need help finding them to let them know.

Thanks so much for your help,

Susannah Schouweiler
Editor, mnartists.org

Course evaluations

2009-05-05T19:16:00.002-05:00

Online course evaluations are open on Piperline. We're supposed to get 80% compliance or else we have a time scheduled in Drew to do them all together this (or is it next?) week. I don't really have a preference, myself -- if we don't get 80%, then I guess anyone who filled it out online can take a twenty minute nap.

This post seems dour to me. I don't mean it that way. However, I am failing funny just now.

Global Warming is hot

2009-05-04T19:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_0vclv5w34

Looking for advice on my story

2009-05-03T13:52:00.002-05:00

I am looking for some advice on the first part of my story/monologue. I am experimenting a little with form and of course the content is a little weird, as most post-apocalypses are...but i want to make sure it makes sense to the readers. of course it makes perfect sense to me because i made it all up but am on a bunch of drugs for my sinus cold and so everything first appears to me like the greatest thing in the whole world. Needless to say I am having a really hard time being objective about it. anyway, if anyone has time to read the first bit i am willing to share and and let me know what questions you have I would be really thankful- its on my blog.

http://libby-backyards.blogspot.com/

The Humans Are Dead

2009-05-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

And then, of course, there's this.

Just repostring io9 links

2009-05-01T16:32:00.000-05:00

Daily Show Explains Why There's A 50/50 Chance Of Apocalypse

tmi indeed...

2009-04-29T22:55:00.001-05:00

http://www.vancouversun.com/Health/much+knowledge+exaggerate+danger+pandemic/1540616/story.html

Brain Research and The Singularity

2009-04-29T12:57:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading an interesting article in Wired about a project (funded by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft) to map the brain in a fashion similar to the human genome project. The deeper they probe the human brain, however, the more complexity they seem to find, calling into question the entire enterprise of developing a unified model of the brain.

On a similar note (also from Wired), here are five reasons the Singularity is not near.

Spring 2010

2009-04-29T10:18:00.002-05:00

Here's my draft course description for Spring 2010 if anyone is interested. I'm not really thinking about it yet, but feedback is welcome anyway even if I'll probably just store it until next Fall.

The Burden of Self

We like to think of selves as something we have, something deep inside of us that we work to discover. It may be more revealing, though, to look at selves as something we achieve, a performance that we stage for and with others as we make claims about "who we are" in the places we find ourselves.

A number of writers have profitably taken this perspective: Erving Goffman made it famous in his Presentation of Self, R. D. Laing employed it in psychotherapy, Toni Packer (among others) talks about the need to stop making ourselves so furiously that we cannot respond authentically to circumstances. This course will look at how we create and maintain selves, how we vary our self-presentation strategically, and the cost of believing too strongly in our own fictions. We will read from these authors, do little social studies of our own, write illustrative dialogue, and talk a lot about our existential limitations and the nature of self-consciousness.

Post Peak Oil Housing

2009-04-29T04:42:00.001-05:00

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

becoming ...

2009-04-28T23:21:00.003-05:00

Fusing machines and people is a pretty creepy concept, one that was burned into my brain at a young age. It's one of those things that never ceases to creep me out, even as I think about all the cool new tech shit that is available each year. Maybe that's why I'm not an early adopter ... I'm inherently suspect of tech. Anyway, I was reminded of two things. The first is a great song by NIN called The Becoming. I found a clip on YouTube set to Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and lain.

Then here's is a bit that creeped me out from the second lamest Superman movie (yet my second favorite as a kid) Superman 3.

So, yeah ... welcome to some of my childhood nightmares. Oddly enough, this never bothered me ...

Golem 14 apocrypha

2009-04-28T18:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a tune called Golem 14. I don't know what that has to do with anything. My son says it's a "scary" song.

Lem died two years ago.

There used to be a Golem 14 fanfic site, but I can't find it.*

* Chapter 217, wherein Golem 14 has an affair with Data.

video...

2009-04-28T18:07:00.001-05:00

i know we past nucelar war a while ago, but my cousin showed me this anime. i guess it was written by a survivor of the hiroshima bombing.

i tell you i can't believe our country did this twice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJZ6nwxD38

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet

2009-04-27T10:28:00.003-05:00

We may have a bona fide pandemic! Here's the NYT's page for ongoing swine flu coverage.

PZ on the Singularity...

2009-04-26T23:12:00.002-05:00

For a particularly entertaining take-down of Kurzweil's ideas...

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/02/singularly_silly_singularity.php

PZ is a biologist and a caustic, unapologetic atheist. His comment section is a really jumping debate forum as well, with some very smart folks debating very well and with gusto.

Android apocalypse- Show and Tell

2009-04-26T10:15:00.002-05:00

Here is an article I felt like sharing on the topic of: "Do robots dream of global domination? Charles Purcell looks at a bleak future under machines."

I decided to post it here to save paper since it is a few pages long.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/android-apocalypse/2008/06/28/1214472819999.html

Also- if anyone else watched the pilot for the new Battlestar Galactica series Caprica this weekend we should discuss...

Vernor Vinge on the Singularity

2009-04-25T18:18:00.001-05:00

It's pretty interesting, really.

final project.

2009-04-24T07:27:00.002-05:00

my final project will be a collection of writings i did over the course of the class. i will have two essays, on superheroes and the anthropic principle. both subjects had me thinking and writing in a different way, essay form, than i am used to. also i will have poems i wrote; based on the sketches assignment, a schell inspired poem and some experiments i tried out. there will also be a short short story i wrote about revelations. and finally a mix of short short story and poems in a look at what i think is post apocalyptic modern life on the reservation i am from.
it will be a "suite" of work.
now i just have to polish it out.

Geddon Gear

2009-04-23T15:42:00.003-05:00

I am bringing a print out of this to class tonight, but thought I'd throw the link up on here as well so you guys could check it out.
Geddon Gear has dubbed themselves 'the official sponsor of the 2012 apocalypse'
You can order all sorts of crazy gear that may or may not help you survive.

Someone has a lot of time on his hands

2009-04-23T10:26:00.006-05:00

Not on topic with our current apocalypse, but a friend sent me this today and I had to share.

The Brick Testament: Revelation

Some of the scenes he's set up with Legos are kind of amazing.

Little activities

2009-04-22T15:43:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow night, I would like to do show and tell again, and I would like to hear a little about each of your apocalypses. So bring whatever, and be ready to talk for a couple of minutes about your plan.

I might be a bit worried that singularity might not generate enough discussion. Oh well, we can always talk about the Turing Test.

Life after People

2009-04-22T13:07:00.002-05:00

Did anyone watch the first episode in the History Channel series, "Life after People?" Turns out an explosive wolf population is less than a decade or two away...

Despoil, Dispose, Die Out

2009-04-22T10:42:00.002-05:00

Basic Instructions, ftw.

Re: Transition...

2009-04-21T18:20:00.004-05:00

From the New York Times, an optimistic take on the future of our energy use patterns. I don't quite buy it, but it's an interesting concept, one that also neatly dovetails with this week's topic of geek rapture.

Sharon Astyk does it again

2009-04-20T08:39:00.002-05:00

It's been a little while since I linked her, but here's Sharon Astyk, My Favorite Cassandra®, continuing to write in top form.

cyber-apocalypse

2009-04-19T14:19:00.002-05:00

here's an article from the guardian about nato just not being ready for a well organized cyber-attack: hackers 2: electric boogaloo

found here: io9.com

Isn't this how the film starts?

2009-04-19T08:50:00.000-05:00

Ancient microbes discovered alive beneath Antarctic glacier

Reduce Reuse Recycle

2009-04-18T10:58:00.001-05:00

Some of you were interested in reducing your carbon footprint and wanted to know about what you can do to make a difference- so I have enclosed a few links to help you in your journey:

My number was 31. What’s yours?:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

Recycling:

For a simple straight forward list of what you can recycle in St. Paul:
http://www.rohnind.com/recyclenow/Newsletters/recycle_flyer.pdf

For all things St. Paul recycling- info at this page on their upcoming curbside composting and having your own worm composting bin:
http://www.eurekarecycling.org/

Reuse:

http://www.twincitiesfreemarket.org/

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/zip/

Reduce:

http://www.metrotransit.org/

http://www.smart-trips.org/

I know a lot of helpful little tips for cutting down your carbon footprint. if you ever want more information- you just let me know. I am nerdy about this stuff.

Time Travel: possible, maybe, but only imperfectly

2009-04-16T11:03:00.007-05:00

A bittersweet story of a physicist who has tried to build a time machine (with mixed results) in order to go back in time and visit his father, who's been dead for over fifty years.

Transitions--post peak solutions for local living or the Jetsons?

2009-04-15T23:44:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty sure that this isn't what Rob Hopkins had in mind when he was talking about transitions, but I'm a fan. I'm going to wait for it to come down in price though ...

the oil drum

2009-04-15T23:37:00.002-05:00

So, the other day I twittered that I still had reading to do on transitions and peak oil and then an hour later I was being followed on my twitter by oildrum. Apparently they got tired of following me when I didn't follow them in return, but I thought I'd share their website with the group anyway. And now, the magic that is the oil drum!

or something.

You have died of dysentery

2009-04-15T21:57:00.003-05:00

Warren Ellis on the internet and the future

2009-04-15T16:44:00.004-05:00

Mostly safe for work, but be warned: he uses rather, um, creative language.

Another essay about Watchmen from people who probably don't get it

2009-04-15T15:32:00.002-05:00

I don't really know since it is too long to read.

I Love Pop Music

2009-04-15T03:35:00.004-05:00

This seems to fit with Peak Everything.

I Love Pop Music
By Ben Lee

I love pop music, this is how we do it
It’s politics you can romance to
I love pop music, sprinkle sugar through it,
Philosophy that you can dance to

The price of oil is at an all time high and rising (yeah)
Global warming threatens life as we know it on this planet (ohh ooh)
And leaders have not committed to a plan of action on renewable energy
The food crisis is currently affecting a hundred million people world wide

Chorus

There are over 6 billion people on this planet and not enough fresh drinking water (we’re in trouble)
Religious intolerance creating geopolitical instability (shine a light)
Politicians battling each other like professional wrestlers (ooh)
Further division is not the answer, division is not the answer

Chorus

Greed and fear seem to be the driving forces of modern life
We’re encouraged to consume and consume with no thought of where it all comes from, and where it all goes
Our lives are accelerating as we fall out of touch with nature and ancient myth
We’re desperately in need of a brand new dream

Chorus

Water worries cloud future for U.S. biofuel

2009-04-14T11:39:00.001-05:00

By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - It's corn planting time in the U.S. Plains, and that means Kansas corn farmer Merl "Buck" Rexford is worrying about the weather -- and hoping there is enough water.
Rexford plans to start seeding his 7,000 acres near Meade, Kansas, this week and he is relishing a recent heavy snow storm that dropped several inches of much-needed moisture.
Like corn farmers throughout the United States, Rexford hopes to grow a healthy crop yielding more than 150 bushels an acre this year. Much of his crop will wind up at a nearby ethanol plant.
And that puts the 65-year-old Rexford at the center of a bitter divide over biofuels, particularly corn ethanol.
Critics argue that precious water resources are being bled dry by ethanol when water shortages are growing ever more dire. Federal mandates encouraging more ethanol production don't help.
Proponents say corn ethanol for transportation fuel is far better for the environment, national security and the economy than oil and the first step toward cleaner fuel sources.
"We really have to ask ourselves, do we want to be driving with renewable fuels or with gasoline made from petroleum resources," said Brent Erickson, executive vice president at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which backs ethanol.
Corn ethanol's future is already muddied by concerns that it requires a substantial amount of energy to produce and that heightened demand makes corn more costly in human food and livestock feed. Now, with climate change concerns mounting and drought becoming more of a problem in many areas, the water-intensive nature of creating ethanol also is a growing concern.
"Biofuels are off the charts in water consumption. We're definitely looking at something where the cure may be worse than the disease," said Brooke Barton, a manager of corporate accountability for Ceres, a group backed by institutional investors focused on the financial risks of climate change.
Corn is a particularly thirsty plant, requiring about 20 inches of soil moisture per acre to grow a decent crop, but most corn is grown with rain, not irrigation. Manufacturing plants that convert corn's starch into fuel are a far bigger draw on water sources.
Water consumption by ethanol plants largely comes from evaporation during cooling and wastewater discharge. A typical plant uses about 4.2 gallons of water to make one gallon of ethanol, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
The ethanol industry pegs that at about 3 gallons of water to 1 gallon of fuel.
WASHINGTON PLAN
Washington lawmakers and the White House have been encouraging the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel to help lighten the nation's costly dependence on foreign oil.
But the moves are meeting opposition from many groups who fear that population growth and climate change are combining in ways that will leave not only the United States, but the world, with too little water. Many ethanol plants are located in agricultural areas -- close to the corn, but also close to other users who need a lot of water to operate, such as hog farmers and cattle ranchers.
"We're headed in the wrong direction and this problem is not going away," said Mark Muller, program director at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "This water issue is like the financial crisis... and I'm afraid something awful is going to happen."
The group says much of the Corn Belt stretching through Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana has enough water for all, but water availability could challenge the ethanol industry in areas including greater Chicago, western Iowa and Nebraska, and generally west of the Missouri River.
"Water use could be a limiting factor (for ethanol) if we don't introduce and support more water-saving technologies, " added the Institute's Jim Kleinschmit.
"Water is a worry," agreed Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst for energy and environment Ben Lieberman. "When we expand corn ethanol as we have with these federal mandates," he said, "we are starting to see corn in more marginal areas that may need more irrigation. We are seeing increased water use not just for the processing plants but also the water in growing the corn."
Last month, a coalition of environmental, agricultural, business and consumer groups asked the Obama administration not to raise the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline without further study.
Ethanol supporters don't dispute the water-intensive nature of the industry. But they say much of the corn crop relies on rain from the skies, not pumped out of the ground, and even irrigation systems are improving to reduce water usage by almost half. More water-efficient production plants are also reducing water use. In January 2009, there were 170 ethanol plants operating in the United States and 24 more new or expanding plants.
In 2008, the United States led the world in ethanol production, generating 9 billion gallons, or 52 percent of the world production. That is up from 6.5 billion gallons of U.S. ethanol in 2007, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. The U.S. aims for 15 billion gallons by 2015.
THIRSTY WORLD
Freshwater consumption worldwide is expected to rise 25 percent by 2030 due largely to world population growth from 6.6 billion currently to about 8 billion by 2030 and more than 9 billion by 2050, according to Ceres.
Some believe crop biotechnology could offer at least a partial solution, and several companies are racing to develop corn that is drought-tolerant, including Monsanto Co, which hopes to launch a product in 2012.
DuPont Co.'s Pioneer Hi-Bred unit plans to roll out a low-water conventionally produced corn as early as 2010.
Back in Kansas, farmer Rexford would welcome a more drought-hardy corn seed. Water to irrigate his crop is getting harder and more expensive to come by.
Still, farmers need the premiums selling their corn for ethanol can bring, he said, just as much as the nation needs to break free from dependence on foreign oil.
"If farmers go out of business you'll have a lot worse crisis than an oil crisis," he said.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam, editing by Peter Henderson and Cynthia Osterman)

Show and Tell: Living forever

2009-04-13T18:36:00.001-05:00

Just a little article on people trying to stop aging.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4809992.stm

Show and Tell: Woody Harrelson vs Zombie--In case you missed it

2009-04-13T18:21:00.000-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/10/woody.harrelson.zombie/index.html

One in seven books sold last quarter were written by Stephenie Meyer

2009-04-13T15:06:00.000-05:00

Kinda impressive.

Happy Zombie Jesus Day. (aka Easter)

2009-04-13T00:58:00.003-05:00

Sorry this is late, I just found out about it.

blog on superheroes

2009-04-10T12:21:00.001-05:00

http://teatroponic.blogspot.com/2009/04/storm-of-superheroes.html

just thinking on everything last night and i had the urge to write this.

Batman Meets Superman

2009-04-10T05:29:00.002-05:00

These illustrate the difference between the DC gods and the Marvel boys with toys.
It's how Kingdom Come could have been.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Watch The Dark Knight Meets Superman Part 2 and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

Comic Thoughts

2009-04-09T17:17:00.002-05:00

My comic thoughts can be found here.

Comics

2009-04-09T14:49:00.002-05:00

Here's my thing about comics. It's kind of a love letter.

Comics

2009-04-09T14:21:00.004-05:00

World-saving superheroes, not so much.

I Now See the Light

2009-04-09T12:42:00.000-05:00

I Now See the Light

Though I’d like to consider myself a well-rounded, open-minded lady, I’ve never read a comic book/graphic novel EVER. To be honest, I’ve never had an interest, and have frowned upon comic books, I thought the people who read them were extreme nerds who likely couldn’t hold a conversation with people. Admittedly, media has contributed to the mental picture I have of comic-fans as nerdy, zitty, antisocial, who didn’t have many friends. I truly thought that comic books/graphic novels were seriously uncool. After being forced against my will to read “The Watchmen,” for class I have once again realized that I am an ass (which seems to be happening a lot lately), and not as open-minded as I claim to be.
I am now coming out of the closet, and am proud to say that I read “Watchmen” in its entirety. I found myself unable to put the book down, I was sucked in. I now understand the appeal of comic books; they are artistic, creative, and soooo (sorry if this sets off the pet-peeve alarm, but I feel the extra o’s are necessary) much cooler than reading a typical book. I enjoy the fact that the pictures compliment the words of the story, but the story is more complete because there is minimal interpretation by the reader. I have not seen “The Watchmen” film yet, but do think that comics are a beautiful bridge between movies and books.
I was apprehensive in the beginning of my comic book purchasing quest. I went to Barnes and Noble and found “Watchmen” straight away, and decided to buy it and came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have it on my bookshelf, since it is a mainstream film, and may be a good conversation starter if someone saw it in my living room. I had to ask the sales person to help me find “Kingdom Come,” and I felt myself feeling the need to disclose that I needed the book for a class. Naturally, I didn’t want her to think that I’m some kind of comic-book nerd. I had this experience once in the past at Barnes and Noble. I bought a Kama Sutra book as a gift for a friend’s wedding, and felt the need to tell the clerk the book was a gift for a friend’s wedding, who replied “Sure it is.” Ears burning, (definite sign that I’m blushing) I walked out of Barnes and Noble with my tail between my legs.
My second trip to the bookstore, I found “Kingdome Come,’ and decided not to buy it (because I’m seriously broke, not because I was embarrassed). I ordered a coffee and sat down at a table and read the book continuously for 2 ½ hours. This is quite a feat for me since I have the attention span of a 10 year old. I was a little behind in the plot since I don’t know Superman’s history, but I found myself completely absorbed in the book. My husband was sitting across the table from me, and when I stopped for the occasional break, I was surprised to see him there, and surprised to be at Barnes and Noble. I was so into the book that I had a mini out of body experience, or to be less dramatic, a momentary break from reality (which is also how I felt reading Twilight). I actually had a conversation with my husband about how I think comic books may have helped me in my childhood, because it would have been an escape from reality. A dramatic fantasy world which would have made the drama in my own life dim in comparison.
In summation, I was wrong. I am an ass. I’m not worthy. My sincerest apologies go out to nerds everywhere. I now see the light.

Life can be funny sometimes

2009-04-09T12:01:00.000-05:00

http://queenjenine.blogspot.com/

Comic Assignment

2009-04-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

Done!
http://arbhamline.blogspot.com/2009/04/comics-meaning-to-me.html

Comic Books

2009-04-09T06:35:00.001-05:00

Here

I loves me some comics...

2009-04-09T00:21:00.001-05:00

http://chibievil.blogspot.com/

Assignment up!

a life in pictures

2009-04-08T23:48:00.001-05:00

The tip of the iceberg when it comes to my nerdity. Enjoy.

Comic assignment

2009-04-08T20:53:00.002-05:00

I just finished writing my 'What comics mean to me,' assignment and I really enjoyed it. I don't think about comics a lot but it was fun to reflect on the role they played in my life. I suspect this is an exercise that could be used for writing brainstorming many times over...

quote...

2009-04-08T16:01:00.003-05:00

i noticed some quotes were put up and i thought i would share one i read today:

"the apocolypse is not something which is coming. the apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet, and its only because we live in a bubble of incredible priveledge and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse. if you go to much of the third world then it appears that the apocalypse has already arrived."
-terence mckenna

assignment

2009-04-07T08:59:00.000-05:00

http://teatroponic.blogspot.com/2009/04/asignment-comics.html

Chapter 4

2009-04-06T18:22:00.001-05:00

The brilliance of Watchmen is that it deals with just about all of the themes that have come up in our class so far. Time travel, the anthropic principle, the singularity, it’s all in there, and I don’t even mean the whole book – it’s all in chapter 4.

Time travel – Dr. Manhattan understands time and space perfectly, and the chapter is told the way he experiences it, all of time happening at once, or at least interchangeably. He knows what will happen, but doesn’t think it’s possible or worthwhile to change or prevent certain events.

Anthropic principle – Throughout the chapter we learn of all the things in his life that led to him becoming the way he is now; his father pushing him into atomic physics, hooking up with Janey because her mother isn’t home, the accident that transformed him, the government molding him into a superhero/weapon, politics, life. Through his telling, there’s a sense of inevitability because of his concept of time, but while creating his thing on Mars he muses about how things could have turned out differently, and whose fault it was that they turned out how they did. “Am I shaping it, or do its predetermined contours guide my hand?”

Singularity – After the creation of Dr. Manhattan, “scientists are limited only by their imaginations.” Veidt recognizes how man could let this get out of hand, but sees it mostly as a good thing, with advances in eugenics, quantum physics and space travel. Hollis, though, is sad to learn that the old motors he wants to tinker with in his retirement will soon be replaced by electric cars.

The character of Dr. Manhattan himself is a brilliant addition to the novel because he is an obvious stand in for both the creative power of god and the destructive power of the H bomb (just like the sperm in the mushroom cloud) while at the same time arguably neither. Dr. Manhattan’s a normal man who died tragically died, only to come back as god, so of course he’s Jesus too. (Aren’t they all?) But this makes him human, flawed and unstable. He can lie.

The “clock without a craftsman” idea is sort of an extension of the deism view held by most of the founders of our nation. They figured god created the world and all its intricacies, but once it was set in motion, it no longer needed him, and so he soon lost interest and went away to let it run its course. Maybe god went somewhere else and created a new machine the way Dr. Manhattan went to Mars.

The essay at the end of the chapter reads very much like Schell’s Fate of the Earth. We create the bomb/Dr. Manhattan and assume it puts us in charge and creates peace, but it doesn’t end war, it doesn’t create peace. The rest of the world makes nukes, and the caches grow and grow, creating enough to destroy the earth many times over, and not even Dr. Manhattan can stop them.

There’s probably more. How about superheroes as zombie: do they represent the breakdown of community, or the intrusion of others?

my history with comics

2009-04-06T17:54:00.000-05:00

My response for this week is up on my blog now:

http://libby-backyards.blogspot.com/

I swear I'm done pestering the class about zombies after this.

2009-04-06T16:40:00.004-05:00

A friend pointed this out to me today, and I had to share...

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - now with Ultra-Violent Zombie Mayhem!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

Compelling, Dystopic Fallout 3

2009-04-06T09:45:00.003-05:00

I loved Fallout. Wasteland (it's progenitor) was really dark, but intriguing. My computer couldn't run Fallout 2, and I assume this computer can't run Fallout 3. (Someday, maybe, I'll have an up-to-date computer!) But here's a nice essay about it, anyway.

Activity for week of 4/3: Nostalgia

2009-04-04T13:27:00.004-05:00

Of course, we have a wide variety of experiences with comics in the class -- from (I suppose) none (or the ones in the paper) to people who are completely familiar with Akira and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and (one of my favorites) Too Much Coffee Man.

For most of you, I think this question will work: Reflect on your experiences with comics. Tell us how you read them, what they meant to you, whatever their ongoing influence is on you.

For the rest of you, for whom that question just will not work, try this. Go to Barnes and Noble and find the comics section. (The one on Snelling has about a city block's worth of manga in additon to another row of graphic novels and such.) Now browse. Try to find (1) something you might actually like, (2) something that teaches readers how to make comics, and (3) something that looks incomprehensible (there's plenty that look that way to me, anyway). Take notes or something, and now you can reflect on that experience. (N.B.: you don't need to actually buy anything.)

What Zombies Mean to me

2009-04-02T16:40:00.000-05:00

Here is my post: http://queenjenine.blogspot.com/

More Quotes on our themes

2009-04-02T15:56:00.001-05:00

The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies. In a war such as this, then, what is victory and how will we recognize it?
-Al Gore

No country without an atom bomb could properly consider itself independent.
-Charles De Gaulle

In fact the world may end the way Rwanda is, person by person…Who needs the bomb when there are machetes and clubs?
-Roger Rosenblatt, 1994

Life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.

Zombie Thoughts

2009-04-02T15:19:00.001-05:00

So this kind of turned into a little bit of a rant. But I laughed out loud while typing it, so that has to count for something-no?

Fun With Zombies

2009-04-02T14:01:00.001-05:00

Fun With Zombies
April 2, 2009

This isn’t something I often speak about publicly, but I sense that the following revelation will be safe with you: I come from a clan with a long-standing zombie tradition. Like many such family rituals, its genesis is murky in our collective memory. Some of us say it started the day Aunt Eleanor took after Cousin Al with a butcher knife for declining a second helping of her braised lamb shanks. Others say it began the night lightning struck the pig shed on Grampa Otto’s farm and the smell of all that grilled pork sent our salivary glands into over-drive.
I believe it started in my basement. Straight off, I should tell you I’m prejudiced against basements. I’m convinced that nothing good ever started in a basement – with the possible exception of a little teenage frolicking, but come to think of it, those events rarely ended well either, what with parents returning home early and Grandma dropping by unannounced. Awkward.
Back to zombie business now. Lots of houses have basements –- ugh – but not many basements have basements. That’s the situation at my house. Nothing but mischief of a dank and musty sort could ever arise from a doubly subterranean level like this one. Thus, it makes perfect sense that if zombies were looking for a suitable place to lurk until the moment was ripe for shambling, my sub-basement (no windows, lots of spiders, mouse-sized foundation cracks, and an old floor drain turned passageway for small snakes) would be the double-down hell-hole of choice.
As new children and grandchildren come along it becomes necessary to alert them to the threat that resides beneath the light and laughter of the upper floors of our house. Of course, flashlights are called for, as all electric lights must be extinguished. First comes the zombie eye-shield demonstration (I’ll be happy to present this at our gathering tonight), then a few cautionary tales must be shared about previous encounters with the un-dead, just so everyone understands the seriousness of the situation. Then down we go, and down again. The zombie hunt is underway.
Newbies cling tightly to one another, sniveling, as we creep through the clammy darkness. No conversation is allowed, but a little chanting is good:

Zombies are a-comin’
And we can’t hide.
Zombies gonna take us
For one last ride!

Zombies have eyes
But they don’t see.
Still, they are a-lookin’
For you and for me!

Zombies are fun!
Zombies are neat!
They nibble our brains
And tickle our feet!

So, we’ll be laughin’
As they take us away.
Soon we’ll be shamblin’
The zombie way!

It always works; soon a zombie emerges from the depths, goggle-eyed and staggering – often bearing an uncanny resemblance to Uncle Larry or to Meena (my family name). In short order, the shrieking zombie-hunters are cornered and tickled into hysterical submission.
Usually, a marshmallow roast follows. Over hot cocoa, fresh tales are crafted of spooky encounters with the living dead that lie in wait in the basement of our basement, where terror is a tradition.

Zombies: Greek Tragedy for the Modern Man

2009-04-02T12:17:00.003-05:00

I'm cribbing a little bit from Freud here, but, then again, he never played video games.

Summer course proposal, fyi

2009-04-02T10:34:00.002-05:00

"The first sip is joy": The sound of the post-war counterculture

"It is not my fault that certain so-called bohemian elements have
found in my writings something to hang their peculiar beatnik theories
on" -- Jack Kerouac

Faced with the repressed culture of the straights, the Beats offered
spontaneity and unfiltered expression as an antidote, giving rise to a
host of artwork and cultural movements as well as some spectacularly
romantic ideas about what it meant to be an artist. We will explore
the beatnik moment, especially beat notions of art and human
experience, through reading the usual suspects, catching up with the
beat women, reading from the cultural observers of the time, and
listening as jazz turned into the "new thing," poetry into "spoken
word," and art into a manner of living. I think we will find that Beat
ideas have stayed surprisingly fresh in our culture: they continue to
inform how we understand art and artists, and provide a kind of
universal standard for subjective experience that an awful lot of us
strive to meet. http://firstsip-hamline.blogspot.com/

P.S. Mary sez, "Tell your students about it and tell them to spread the word!"

Bozo bomb!

2009-04-02T09:48:00.000-05:00

Anyone but me even remember Bozo?

IT poem, and moody rant

2009-04-02T09:28:00.004-05:00

Here's an interesting essay about the singularity. It's probably just my mood, but these things seem to me to be not so different from stories that end with, "...and Jesus came down from the clouds and fixed everything." Or, as someone more clever than me put it, the "geek rapture."

As much as everything needs to change -- and right now -- and as much as I'd like everything to change, I'm not real confident that the change we need is going to come from a literal deus ex machina. Especially since one of the claims is that we don't know how it will happen, or what, exactly, it's going to do. My view is that since we don't understand consciousness, at all, we really aren't going to be able to intentionally program consciousness into a machine. We're just hoping it will "emerge." Or hoping against that, as the case may be.

For me, it's a bit like faster than light travel. We don't have any math that suggests that FTL travel is possible. If we are depending on interstellar travel to bail us out of our having a place to live dilemma, this is a little disappointing. It looks an awful lot like we're stuck here, and that we had best make the best of it. I suspect (and hope I'm wrong) that this is true about cognition, too.

Algernon For Flowers

2009-04-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

You know how in most movies and video games about zombies the main character often comes across a journal that conveniently explains how the zombies came about? I wrote one of those.

Braaaaains...

2009-04-01T23:55:00.002-05:00

What Zombies Mean to Me

by Lisa Gilbert, age 27

http://chibievil.blogspot.com/

the enemy is us

2009-04-01T22:42:00.001-05:00

My post on the zombie menace is here: the enemy is us.

We got the Beats

2009-04-01T21:13:00.002-05:00

I've just been offered the chance to teach during the Summer term. After a few hours scramble (by "scramble" I mean, "sitting around thinking"), I've decided to do something with the Beats -- probably my usual mix of cultural criticism and artistic expression.

Here's where I'm at with it:

My sense is, in addition to a lot of horror and sci fi, we have a fairly strong interest in the beats. I don't want to do a beat *lit* class, but I could do a social movement/spirituality/music/writing kind of thing around:

Beats, jazz, hippies, zen (the Alan Watts kind) and all the guru business, the "new thing," counterculture, bohemia, freedom of expression, drugs, dropping out, "spoken word" -- like Empty Selves and Apocalypses, another intellectual archaeology project. For "serious" sources, we'd have R.D. Laing, Theodore Rozack and who knows who else (maybe Sara Jane Olsen would come and speak to the class...) (I actually have mutual acquaintances with her). For writing, there'd be everything from Ginsburg to Brautigan available, and there's a lot of recordings and video (including the recent movie about Ram Dass) of those guys being outre. Musicwise, we have the bebop and the "new thing," and if I'm feeling frisky Captain Beefheart, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and etc. I think I'd want to work on the 50s into the middle 60s or so -- perhaps avoid getting into the antiwar movement since that would get much bigger.

Anyway, an awful lot of our students resonate with this stuff (and probably know it better than me!). That's not much of a theme yet -- I'll need a clever title and the 250 word precis. Is this a good direction?

I need to focus it quite a bit more -- there's certainly no narrative here yet. But if you have some interest in this, and want to suggest directions to take, I'd love to hear your ideas. There's a pretty good looking "Women of the Beats" book out there, although I'd rather read people directly, and, of course, Paul Goodman's work.

And, just because I write a proposal doesn't mean it will be accepted. And even if it is accepted doesn't mean I'll have enough students sign up. So, you know, don't plan your June around this yet.

Quotes

2009-04-01T19:42:00.002-05:00

I got a book of quotes called A Portable Apocalypse. I will share some with you and maybe some more later. Maybe they will help you get ideas for your final projects.

I did not feel Armageddon in my bones but I worried about all those who did, who were ready for it, wishing hard, making phone calls and bank withdrawals. if enough people want it to happen, will it happen? How many people are enough?

-Don Delillo, from White Noise

Wild dark times are rumbling toward us, and the prophet who wishes to write a new apocalypse will have to invent entirely new beasts and beasts so terrible that the ancient animal symbols of St. John will seem like cooing doves and cupids in comparison.

-Heinrich Heine

The point was that there were people who could destroy mankind and that they were foolish and arrogant, crazy, and must be begged not to do it. Let the enemies of life step down. Let each man now examine his heart. Without a great change of heart, I would not trust myself in a position of authority Do I love mankind? Enough to spare it, if I should be in a position to blow it to hell?

-Saul Bellow, from Herzog

Don’t you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people, just uninterrupted grass, and a hare sitting up?

-DH Lawrence, from Women in Love

Doomsday is the eighth day of the week.

-Stanley Kunitz

If There Was A Zombie Attack I Would Fall In Love

2009-04-01T19:35:00.000-05:00

My rant/essay for this week

http://libby-backyards.blogspot.com/2009/04/if-there-was-zombie-attack-i-would-fall.html

Twilight of the Dead

2009-04-01T15:30:00.003-05:00

What zombies mean to me

2009-04-01T14:51:00.003-05:00

Zombies set my former English major heart aflutter, because they have this weird ability to mean just about anything. Want to send a message about consumerism corrupting humanity? Get yourself some zombies. Struggles between blue collar workers and the upper class? Zombies can stand in for that. A character's awakening to the horrors of adulthood? Zombies!

Zombies are the perfect monster metaphor. They can represent anything from cultural issues to personal issues, and they do it well. No other movie monster has the zombie's ability to act as such an effective vessel for metaphor.

Here are a few reasons why zombies can mean just about anything if you spin them right:

*They're obvious. No matter how much we try to suppress them, they keep coming back - much like the issues they often represent. Zombies most commonly stand in for problems that have been repressed or ignored.

*They're adaptable. Zombies' very form can change from movie to movie. Some are shambling, some are fast. Some spread zombiism by bite, others by medical science. Even the cause of zombiism is adaptable - there are about half a dozen common explanations in movies, all of which have countless variations (virus, curse, medical science gone awry, radiation, aliens, and Romero's ambiguous "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth.")

*They carry the weight of the apocalypse. Zombies represent the end of humanity as we know it, which gives the issues they're standing in for extra heft and shock value. What says, "Hey, guys, we have a problem here!" better than the apocalypse?

*They're iconic. Everybody has a notion of what a zombie is before they watch a zombie movie, because they're embedded that deep in our pop culture. Zombies are just sitting on the shelf of our cultural knowledge bank, waiting to be taken down and repurposed again and again.

So, that's my basic theory. I wound up writing about zombies' evolution as a film icon and metaphor monster for my honors thesis in undergrad. That project is here if anyone wants to read more about that (not as long as it looks - most of the pagecount is a screenplay I did along with the thesis).

<3 zombies <3

Where

2009-04-01T11:17:00.001-05:00

1533 Fairmount: one block east of Snelling, corner of Fairmount and Saratoga, next to church.

View Larger Map

zombies...

2009-03-31T18:44:00.001-05:00

http://teatroponic.blogspot.com/2009/03/assignment-z.html

A quick overview of why George Romero is awesome

2009-03-31T16:55:00.003-05:00

Zombies weren't always agents of the apocalypse. For that, we have to thank this guy:

George A. Romero, father of the modern zombie movie. Writer-director of the groundbreaking "Dead" series, he changed the way zombies were portrayed in film, ultimately leading them to the popularity that made them a pop culture icon.

But let's back up for a minute. What were zombies before Goerge came along?

Zombies first appeared on the big screen in 1932's White Zombie, a film featuring Bela Lugosi and a reused set. In this and every following zombie film for the next three decades, the zombies were voodoo victims controlled by a voodoo master. Under normal circumstances, these zombies were docile, silent drones. It was only when the voodoo master and his creepy eyes--
--had a bone to pick with someone that the zombies might get violent. And when these early voodoo zombies got violent, it wasn't like zombies we know now get violent. They might grab a person and carry them off, but that was about it. The voodoo master was the real threat, and victims were often carried back to his lair so he could deal with them himself. The zombies were just his pawns.

And then, there was George.

In 1968, George Romero appeared on the horror scene with Night of the Living Dead, the classic we're watching on Thursday. Night had a breed of zombies that audiences had never seen before. Romero took the classic voodoo zombies and gave them teeth - literally. Romero's zombies had three elements that set them apart from other movie zombies:

Cannibalism
The ability to spread zombiism by bite
An utter lack of control

These three elements have continued through the majority of modern zombie films. The voodoo zombie returns occasionally, but almost never without some aspect of the Romero zombie attached. (Lucio Fulci's Zombi movies, for instance, use cannibalistic zombies controlled by a voodoo master.)

For forty years now, Romero's breed of zombie has...well, spread like a virus. This is in no small part due to Romero himself, who kept producing zombie movies that expanded on his breed of zombie, demonstrating their potential to evolve with the times. Night showed the potential for zombies to be a widespread force, and 1978's Dawn of the Dead showed them taking over the US. By 1985's Day of the Dead, Romero's zombies outnumbered humans over 400,000 to 1, and when he returned in 2005 with Land of the Dead, humanity was beginning to rebuild itself and the zombies were just summoning up inklings of their old human sentience.

Romero created a breed of zombies viral enough to be an apocalyptic threat and adaptable enough to become widely used by hundreds of filmmakers for multitudes of purposes. When someone says "zombie," the image you get in your head is probably based on Romero's work - a shambling, cannibalistic creature that can infect you with a bite.* You also, most likely, think of zombies destroying humanity and overrunning the earth. If not for Romero's work, this wouldn't be the case - zombies might have stayed a mostly-harmless voodoo phenomenon, threatening only tourists of the Caribbean.

Thanks a lot, George.

*Unless the zombie you picture is saying, "Braaaains." One of the rules of zombies - one of the things that establishes them as not human - is their inability to use language. The "braaaains" thing comes from the Return of the Living Dead series, a parody of Romero-style zombies wherein the zombies can not only moan for brains but have lengthy monlogues explaining why it's so hard to be undead. The "braaaains" element has since been used in zombie portrayals in everything from The Simpsons to commercials to your average costumed zombie trick-or-treater.

Move your dead bones

2009-03-31T11:23:00.005-05:00

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Boy, bad techno music sure is swell, but it could really be improved by dancing zombies in tophats"? Well, here's the music video for you! It's from the Beyond Reanimator DVD, evidently. (In the Reanimator series, zombies are produced by quack medical science - a particular green substance can reanimate the dead.)

Edit: Because I found the brilliant lyrics...

C'mon boys and girls,
come a little closer.
I'm the reanimator.

C'mon!
Reanimate your feet!

If you're feeling dead I'll be your reanimator
I've got the way to bring you to life
A superior existence with no one to control you
Where you can always do what you like

Let me give you some green color and you will ask for more
You will see that you never felt this way before
Party without limits, have sex and don't be blue
Freedom is eternal for you, you, you!

Chorus:
Move your dead bones bones bones
Move your dead bones bones bones
The secret will keep you alive
Move your dead bones bones bones
Move your dead bones bones bones
You'll dance for the rest of your life

[Chorus]

Reanimate your feet!

All you people listen to your reanimator
Don't hesitate and give it a try
And you'll be quite satisfied just as long as I can give you
A guarantee that you'll never die

Let me give you some green color and you will ask for more
You will see that you never felt this way before
Party without limits, have sex and don't be blue
Freedom is eternal for you you you

[Chorus x2]

Reanimate your feet!
Reanimate your feet!

[Chorus]

Reanimate your feet!