Finally back....and now for something completely different!

"The road under my feet is cracked and torn beyond repair. The sand on either side of me is endless and has seeped it's way into every crevice of my leather armored clothing ever since I managed my way across what's left of the states to the far west.

I was a child when it all went to hell. The war that was waged was a quick one, but no one was a winner. It left what was once called the United States of America a vast wasteland of ruined buildings and twisted highways where we survivors try and make a life for ourselves.

Many find work as traders. Others find work as farmers. Sadly, others join gangs and wreck havoc as bandits. I've found my personal calling as a mercenary for hire.

Need me to hunt down a group of bandits who have done you wrong? I'll do it. Do you need someone to find a specific item that is in a cave full of wild, undead dogs? I can get that for you. Do you need me to relay a message to someone in another township? Consider it done. For the right amount of bottle cap currency, I can make it happen. But if you're going to ask me to inflict harm on the innocent, I'm more likely to put a bullet through your head. It's hard to have morals in this world, but I have my own code I live by.

I've been walking this highway for what seems like weeks heading out to the town of New Vegas to search for a guy who shot me in the head a while back. Luckily he wasn't the best shot and I survived. Too bad for him 'cause he has one hell of a comeuppance coming his way. But, that's a tale for another day.

Right now my main concern is how I'm going to deal with the family of radscorpions that are blocking my way down the road. Rumor has it that before the nuclear war, these things were tiny little creatures that were the size of your hand. Now they're the size of a friggin' horse. And there are five of them up ahead of me.

I was stung by one not too long ago and it took weeks to recover. Lots of puking, crapping, blindness and dizzy spells for about a months time. If I hadn't gotten to a small town doctor right after the attack, I would have been a goner.

I'm going to squat down and move silently around them. Perhaps I can take shelter behind that dilapidated gas station to the side of the highway if I can be quite enough.....

CRAP! They spotted me. These mother's are quicker than the ones I encountered on the east coast!

I pull out my sniper riffle that I aped off of the dead body of a militia man a few months ago. I take aim and make a direct hit into the head of the first radscorpion coming my way.

Sod! It did little damage to the thing! These guys are far worse than the east coast buggers, for sure! I take another well aimed shot.

The prick is still bearing down on me with his brood just behind him! Time for some evasive maneuvers! I get up from my crouch and start bolting down the roadway in the opposite direction. They're right on my tale. I pull out a frag grenade and whip it behind me.

KAPOW!

I look behind me and see that they're a bit stunned. I whip out my shot gun since I'm close enough and unload one into the head of the leader and finally his six beady eyes explode and he falls limp.

I then take out my machine gun and let the other bastards have a spray of lead lovin'. Another two go limp. But, as I have to reload, the last two take chase of me again. I turn tail and once again run the other way.

As I run I try and reload the weapon, but it is old and heavily used and has been modified one too many times. I toss it aside and whip out the shotgun again. I turn around while running backwards and try and take a few more shots.

Luckily these two radscorps aren't as big as the others I took out and one explodes into a few pieces leaving one left.

He's on me pretty quick, but his stinger missed my leg by inches, giving me enough time to plant the head of my shotgun to it's head and let loose.

KAPLAMMO!

Now there's radscorpion guts all over my leather armor. Crap.

I pull out my blade and gut out its poison gland. Those can sell quite well with certain traders. I walk back up the road and gut out the others' glands as well. I figure I have well over 70 bottle caps coming to me for these glands. Not too shabby. On top of that I find a fresh dead body that they must have been feeding off of before they took to me. This poor bastard had a few bottle caps, a shotgun that I can use to modify and repair my used one with and a cool as hell helmet that will give me some more protection. I may have "a code", but this is survival, baby. He doesn't need this crap anymore.

I head back up the road toward New Vegas. Luckily, there's no time frame to worry about. My prey seems to be enamored with one of the casinos in that rebuilt Sodom and Gomorrah. He isn't going anywhere.

I'll probably take on a few more jobs along the way before I reach my main goal. I'm wishfully hoping that there will be fewer encounters with the creatures that happen to exist in this wasteland. Outside of the radscorps, I've come across zombie like ghouls, warring fascist factions, mutants and all sorts of odd and deadly creature.

This world is full of nonstop surprises and I have a feeling I'm going to encounter every single one of them.

Crap."


Ok, so if you haven't guessed it by now, I've been playing a ton of Fallout: New Vegas and finally found myself inspired.

I understand that its been been almost two months since I've posted anything here. You have to understand that the dark cold winter mixed with a relentless work schedule has sucked any and all of the creative juices right out of me. I haven't been at all inspired to do anything imaginative.

So what's going on with me? Well, first and foremost I'm going to become an uncle come April! My sister, Dizzy Lizzy, done and got herself all preggered up. So I'll be geeking out with a wee little one who'll I'll further refer to as G-Love within the next few months. Cross your fingers and send good vibes my sister's way for a healthy, sweet little one.

What am I listening to right now? I'm always glad you asked? It would be what is, so far, my favorite album of the year.... Social Distortion's Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.

A darn good, hard rockin' epic with a nice touch of bitter sweetness to make it that much special.

I hope to pop up here more often than I have recently.

Enjoy the weekend!

Zangz.

Christmas Eve Morning with Blood and B00bs.....

It's X-Mas eve morning and I'm finally done with all of my holiday chores. All gifts are purchased and wrapped.

Tonight I head to my sister's place where my family will eat a nice dinner, followed by driving around looking at the neighborhood's' lights and decorations, then we'll head back and exchange gifts. Tomorrow we all head to my cousins place to eat drink and be merry. It is the final reward for a week long battle fighting off hordes of idiotic shoppers while trying to find those perfect gifts.

While wrapping the last of my gifts this morning I popped in a rented DVD of the cable TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand that I watched while I absolutely crucified the art of using wrapping paper. Over the last few years I've grown accustomed to renting TV series that I miss out on when they originally air due to bad timing or not having the premium cable channel in my already overly expensive cable set up.

I'll get back to Spartacus in a minute, but I'd also like to touch upon some other jems I came across and would definitely suggest to someone who enjoys watching intriguing television.

Deadwood - I've raved about this Wild West TV show which aired on HBO years ago in past posts. But, one can never boost the popularity of what I feel is the greatest TV western to grace the small screen since The Wild Wild West.

Deadwood takes you back to the days when people were settling out west and the small town of Deadwood, South Dakota was fighting off inevitable domestication and still clinging on to being a gambling, whoring, booze ridden hole of depravity and sin. Leading the charge of depravity and sin is local "businessman" Al Swearengen, brilliantly played by Ian McShane. Swearengen has become one of may favorite TV characters despite the fact that he is pure scum. How McShane actually has you rooting for the villain towards the end of the series run proves that the Golden Globe her received for the role was well deserved.

The dialog of the whole show is spoken in what I like to call "vulgar Shakespearean". There is a very formal cadence to the way the characters speak, intermixed with a lot of "F" and "C" bombs being dropped every few seconds. It's not a show for the faint of heart as it depicts the depravity and violence of the old west in graphic detail.

The entire ensemble cast are all incredibly dedicated to humanizing their characters and there isn't a "phoned in" performance in anyone in this show. Sadly the show stopped dead in its tracks after the 3rd season, so there is little resolution to the stories being told. But, it is well worth your time if the kiddies are away for a weekend or two.

ROME - It took me awhile to get into this sword and sandals drama about the ancient Roman empire. It's another show that's very adult in nature. This show featured several stories interweaving in and out of each other. One storyline followed the adventures and friendship of two Roman Centurion soldiers. Another storyline covered the corruption and power of the Roman Senate during the fall of Julius Caesar. In yet another storyline we see a rich and powerful family try and grasp and claw for their status among the elite. Excellent writing and fine acting are the benchmark of this show.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - More like Spartacus: BOOBS & BLOOD! This is an INSANELY adult oriented view of ancient Rome that is far more geared for the Fanboys than any drama loving historian. This series follows the hardships of the infamous gladiator character of Spartacus, originally portrayed by Kirk Douglas in the classic film. This time around the story is being somewhat reinvented and told in a serial format.

Much like in the series ROME there are power struggles and manipulations of the wealthy portrayed here. But the corner stone of this show is the abundance of computer animated gore which is a constant in every episode. The gladiator arena scenes are always filled with fountains of blood as someone is being struck by a sword.

Another factor of the show is there is overt nudity and sex everywhere. Much of the time the story is overshadowed by the shock factor. But for the fanboys in all of us, this series has to be seen to be believed, especially with the likes of Lucy Lawless and Erin Cummings presence in the show.

Fringe - When this first started to air I, unfortunately and misguidedly ignored it, assuming it was going to be no more than a poor man's X-Files. But after deciding to catch up with it through rentals I've really become enamored with the show. It was a bit slow to get into, but after sticking in there for a few episodes, I became hooked!

In a nutshell, FBI agent Olivia Dunham teams up with a "mad scientist" and his recently reunited, former con-artist son to solve crimes and incidents that reach outside of a scientific range of simple explanation. One such storyline has them dealing with an alternate universe. That sort of thing.

I think that the main factor that turned me into a fan was actor John Nobel's portrayal of Dr. Walter Bishop. Dr. Bishop is a scientific genius who's specialty is Fringe Science. Along the way Walter experienced some horrible professional and personal losses that rocked his world to the core and put him into a mental institution. Having been released by Agent Dunham and his own son he works with them under their custody.

To my recollection, Dr. Walter Bishop is the first character in a Sci-Fi / Fantasy genre that deals with mental health issues that is portrayed positively. This is where Nobel's portrayal really shines. You do not see Walter as a mad man or crazed lunatic. He is a caring, loving person who simply does not function in, or see the world the same we do. His observations are either delivered in grim straight forwardness or creepy exuberance which can lead to some good chuckles at times. He has a childlike quality that makes us want to reach out to him and protect him. He's becoming another one of my favorite characters on TV.

Warehouse 13 - Imagine, if you will, that the warehouse that is shown in the very last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark actually existed. All of it's treasures and dark secrets that are locked within have to be protected by someone, right? This show is about two agents that are given just that task in a similarly imagined warehouse. Along with a few other oddball characters, agents Lattimer and Bering find themselves attempting to keep the inventory of Warehouse 13 safe and sound. But that's not an easy task when these powerful artifacts have a tendency to get out and have to be put back in or trouble will ensue.

This show isn't that much of a departure of the late 80's Horror influenced show, Friday the 13th: The Seires. But, instead of collecting cursed items in a creepy atmospheric peice, Warehouse 13 is more fantasy, and slightly, comedy driven.

This show is also far more family friendly than a lot of the other shows that are on my list. You don't have to worry about Little Tommy getting an eyeful of Xena's bare gazongas flapping about (not that there's anything wrong with that....ehem. I digress. I'm sooo getting coal in my stocking.).

I've only seen the first season and can't wait until I can find time to get a gander at season two which has already aired on the Sci-Fi channel. I may have to wait for DVD rentals again.

I'm enjoying catching up with these shows on DVD. I may review mare if I find the time. And speaking of time, I've wasted enough here for the day.


I'll leave you now with this thought,

Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy whatever holiday you're into! Here's hoping it's full of family, food, fun, and warmth.

Zangz.

RINGing in the Holiday Season

I know that traditionally I use the weeks after Halloween to bemoan the coming holiday season here in my blog. It's just the way people seem to go mad and turn their D-Bag meters onto full tilt during the season that really gets to me. Just try and go to one store or mall and not have some jerk-wit not do something rude or just plain stupid to you.

In any case, I'd like to start the holiday season off on a good note and tell you of a yearly tradition I've started with myself that helps me get through the holidays.

It all started in the winter of 2001. A upstart New Zealand filmmaker named Peter Jackson released upon the world a gift of geek greatness. It was the first of the film trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" fantasy stories called "The Fellowship of the Ring". It was followed up with "The Two Towers" in 2002 and "The Return of the King" in 2003 both being released right around the holiday season.

These spectacles brought back the feel of epic filmmaking that hadn't been seen since movies being made by the likes of Cecil B. Demille had graced the silver screen.

A few years later the movies were released on DVD in their basic form. I decided to hold out. I waited for the uber-awesome 4 disc directors cut, extended editions of each of the films and I'm very glad I did as they play a part in my new holiday tradition.

Within the weekends between Thanksgiving and X-Mas, I'll sit down with a bowl of chili, a couple of beers, some sodas, chips and dips in front of my TV set and watch one of the movies all the way through. Then I'll go through the documentaries that are included in each set. This usually takes an entire afternoon. But it is so wonderful. I'm not out in the cold trying to shop with the god-awfulness of the throngs of greedy yuppie culture knocking each other over to grab the newest fangled techno gift.

I'm snug and sound, warm and cozy with grub and beer and Frodo, Merry, Pipin, Gandalf, Gimli, Aaragorn and the whole Rings lot of them enjoying their adventures within Middle Earth. Not too shabby.

I suggest you all get the extended additions of the movie and take a few Saturdays in the cold of the holiday season and watch them. I'm sure they're available on Amazon or Ebay. They're well worth it.

On that note. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the rest of the holiday season

Zangz.

Zangz's Early as Heck 2010 X-Mas Wish List.

Every year my family members ask me what I want for X-Mas. Within the last few years I have gotten in the habit of putting the list up on my blog for a couple of reasons.

1. To be able to give family a concise list with linked examples so they know exactly what to get me without getting too confused.

2. To force them to actually visit and read my blog at least once a year. I need the hits.

3. A desperate need for some form of attention.

You may be asking, "Hey Zangz, why are you posting your X-mas wish list when we're barely out of the Halloween season?"

The few who read my blog know that the X-Mas season isn't really my favorite time of year for various reasons which I've blogged about in the past. And god knows that I'm already going through post Halloween DT's. But, last year my Mom and sister caught me completely off guard and demanded to know what I wanted for X-Mas a day before I planned to post my X-Mas wish list blog up (you can read about the whole sordid incident HERE). So this year I'm beating them to the punch.

I'm also making the print a little larger than usual because my mom complains that reading my blog gives her a headache due to the small type.

So, friends and family, get you pens and paper out and start jotting notes. Here we goes....

VIDEO GAMES:
Pleas note: All video games are for the Xbox 360.

Fallout: New Vegas - The quasi-sequel to Fallout 3. The first person RPG takes place in the post apocalyptic world that Fallout 3 was in. Except instead of traversing the wastelands of Washington DC, you're now exploring the semi-rebuilt tourist town of Las Vegas.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare - Not to be confused with it's predecessor, Red Dead Redemption, this add on is a game pack for the original Red Dead. In non-gamer speak: it is extra missions not included on the original game that focuses on the wild west being infected by zombies. The add on disc will not be released until late November. Make sure you get the box with the DISC in it. Not the one that offers the game as down loadable content since I don't have my system hooked up to the Internet.

Fable III - The 3rd installment of the popular Fantasy game where not only is action a part of the game-play, so is managing your own Kingdom.

CLOTHES:

Cargo Pants - A couple more pairs wouldn't hurt. Finding the right size for me is the grand mystery.

Leather Winter Gloves - The ones I have are falling apart

OTHER:

Cologne - I haven't had a decent cologne in years. In fact the one I have is the "organic" one that my sister, Dizzy Lizzy, sold when she worked at Bath and Bodyworks. It's time for a change. I wouldn't know what type to get, though.

Surprise me - Do you think you know something you'd like me to have, but isn't on the list. Go a head. Knock yourselves out.

That's it. That's all there is for me. That's the list.

I gotta get my ass in gear since I just found out 30 seconds ago that I'm meeting some friends in Madison within the next couple of hours.

See ya.

Zangz.

Bobby the Bully.

There's been a lot of hubbub in the media lately regarding bullying. A few young people have taken their own lives as a result of being bullied recently and now the media has jumped on the subject.

Even Hollywood stars are speaking out against bullying. There are news specials on the subject and students around the country are starting anti-bullying task forces at their schools.

I just have one question regarding all of this. WHERE THE FRELL WHERE ALL THESE ANTIBULLYING SENTIMENTS WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL????

Seriously! From 3rd to 7th grade there wasn't a day that went by where I wasn't teased unmercifully or given a good smacking around by classmates. Both teachers and parents could have cared less back then. They were of a generation where a good beating would "build character".

Back in the day being a geek wasn't as counter culture cool as it is today. Back then being a kid who collected action figures rather than following professional sports teams wasn't exactly the cool thing to do. It got me into boatloads of trouble.

There was this one kid in my class who made it his main point in life to make sure I was miserable whenever he was in my presence. We'll call him "Bobby" in this post.

Bobby was a young, typical good looking, freckle faced, popular kid who all the teachers and students loved. He was good at athletics and was always the star player out on the blacktop. He also came from a, not rich, but financially comfortable family.

I started at the new school in the 3rd grade and Bobby, already being a fixture at the new school, took an instant dislike to me. I was gawky, had crazy curly hair, big goofy glasses and set of buck teeth that not only stuck out of my face, but had big gaps between them (I was a thumb sucker when I was a wee lad). On top of that, my Mom would always go way out of her way to dress me in the silliest looking outfits that usually included flood pants. I was cruising for a bruising the minute I first walked through that front door of that school.

I think I was starting to be pushed around within the first week. Bobby made sure that everyone else in the class disliked me and would follow suit in his abusive treatment of me.

The bullying lasted 3 years solid and had me at a point of severe depression and fear. I would wake up in the mornings wondering what was the purpose of waking up. I was only 10 years old for crssakes! I didn't understand the concept of suicidal tendencies.

On a daily basis I would have to calculate every move I made and everything I would say to avoid my classmates ridicule. Because no matter what I did, it was met with disdain. Even my best friend at the school would join in with the teasing and pummeling. It was pretty frackin' harsh.

A few short days before I entered the 7th grade and what was to be yet another year of torture from Bobby and his followers, we got the news that Bobby was hit by a car and died. No frack. The big assed beast known as karma came and reared her ugly assed head in a way that could only be described as the ultimate God Smack.

In the days and weeks that followed I didn't feel vindicated, I was far more blown away by the fact that someone my age could leave us in a split second. It wasn't until later in life that I felt a slight satisfaction in what all went down. But, now, as an adult, I feel for his family, but at the same time I wonder what 7th grade would have been like with him there. Would I have survived it?

Things got better in the years after. I was far less teased in grade school and in high school, though still an outcast, I found a good group of friends that I'm still close with.

So it's not just young gay people who are targets of bullying. There are plenty of us heterosexuals who are, or where, outcasts and targets and probably have an inkling of knowledge of what it's like to be different and not fit in.

It saddens me that people feel the need to end their lives at such a young age due to bullies. It got better for me. It can for them also. Unfortunately it's all about patience. Something the youth of today don't have.

And as for the bullies of the world, Karma is a big assed beeotch! A chance meeting with the front end of an automobile could be the cure to bullying.

Zangz.

Van Helsing's Curse- Haunted Attractions

Bruahahahahahahaha.........

Have a safe and spooky Halloween from Zangz's Blog of Geekdom!

Movie Reviews from the Grave Part Duex.

Before we get to more of my Horror movie review buffoonery, I found that I actually got a comment from the performance group The M.U.T.E.S whom I mistakenly referred to as mimes in my review of their opening gig for the Night of the living Dead Puppet Show. Please see below......

Vine Pewter said...

Hi Zangz!

Thanks so much for giving The Marvelous Unspeaking Troupe of Entertaining Scoundrels aka The M.U.T.E.S. a shout out and we are glad you liked the show! I just want to clear up that we are NOT mimes! This misconception has haunted us from the beginning. We don't talk when we do our skits because the idea is that you are watching a silent movie live and we paint our faces white to add to the black & white effect. We do however use props-lots of them at times! We don't pretend that things are there that aren't. We just want to put that out there because so many people are afraid of or hate mimes. We don't want to lose potential fans because they avoid our shows thinking that we are mimes. Find out more about the nation's premiere silent film style sketch comedy troupe at themutes.com.

PS We audition for AMERICA'S GOT TALENT on Nov. 7 in Chicago!!

So there you go folks. I've been educated. My apologies for misconstruing what The M.U.T.E.S. are all about. I'd also like to thank Vine for actually reading and responding to my blog which will make Vine the third or fourth person to not only visit, but actauly acknowledge openly that they've visited my blog of geekdom! This makes Vine the #3 of the 3.5 people who've actually visited my blog!

Please keep your eyes open for their next performance since it's something quite original and fun! And good luck to the gang on their tryout for America's Got Talent!!


So on to just a couple of reviews from my Halloween / Horror movie viewing this season. I've saved the best of them for last.....

Paranormal Activity - Before everyone starts screaming "BLAIR WITCH CLONE" just hear me out. Yes, much like The Blair Witch Project, this movie is presented as home movie footage of unexplained events. And yes, the actors keep their real names in the movie. Admittedly, there's a lot to compare with Blair Witch. But, Blair Witch was an experiment that went wild and Paranormal Activity is more of a spawn from Blair Witch type film making.

It is shot from the point of view of a young couple who are experiencing odd happenings in their condo. The strange events seem to be focusing mainly on Katie, the girlfriend of Micha. In an attempt to document the strangeness, Micha, a day trader with a tendency to not listen to his girlfriend's warnings, buys a home movie camera and sets it up in their bedroom.

Through the eyes of the camera we witness the strange noises and bumps in the night that plague the couple as they try and sleep. At first the haunting is very subtle which helps turn up the creep out factor. As Micha becomes a little more obsessed with trying to document and provoke the "spirit" the entity becomes far more active and angry. At the pleadings of Katie, they decide to bring in a psychic who tells them that he doesn't think it's a ghost. He believes it's something far more sinister.

For whatever reason this drives Micha to try and provoke the entity even more while Katie becomes far more reluctant to mess around with it. You see how their relationship starts to fall apart and how the activity starts to get far more disturbing at the same time, leading up to the climatic ending of the relationship.

Compare it to Blair Witch all you want. I won't disagree. I will say that I found Paranormal Activity to be even more creepy than Blair Witch. The scene in Blair Witch when they're in the tent and can hear little ghostly children laughing out in the woods creeped the the frack out! Well, paranormal Activity has scenes that trump that! I found myself pausing the movie to look down my darkened hallway to make sure there was nothing lurking down there during my viewing.

I really liked this flick. It focused on the "creep out" rather than buckets of blood and obnoxious teens getting sliced and diced. It's a nice breather from the usual fare. The prefect film for a cold, spooky evening. Best viewed in a dark room only lit by Jack-O-Lanterns! View trailer HERE!

Trick 'r Treat - Not to be confused with the hard rock influenced shlock fest from the 80's, this 2009 flick completely captures what a Halloween driven horror film should be. This anthology of horror revolves around a small town's Halloween festival where wondering if you have enough candy for the Trick or Treater's should be the least of your worries. Each little story saturates itself in gallows humor and usually leads into the next little vignette until the stories come full circle. Undead spooks, werewolves, a serial killer and a nasty little phantom Trick or Treater all take part in the gory shenanigans of the holiday festivities. I really loved this movie, if for nothing else, the whole spirit of Halloween is always present! View trailer HERE.

That's it for today. I'm off to help put up a giant inflatable Haunted House for my Friends' kid party. Before I leave you, keep in mind, tonight is Halloween Eve, be sure to close the windows and lock the doors. The dead can be pesky SOB's.

Zangz.

Undead Puppets and other Halloween Hijinx.

The old Oriental Movie Theater holds court over the pub scene of my town. It stands vigil over the city streets, adorned with spiral towers that hint at it's Asian motif.

Within it's walls visitors are taken back in time when going to a movie was a real event. There's a grandiose staircase leading up to the balcony. Within the main theater statues of Asian deities watch over the crowd from the walls. It is probably this city's most beautiful landmark that hearkens back to more easy going times.

But, there's also something slightly sinister about the place. It's almost as if there's something watching from behind the curtains and corners of the old establishment. Something no longer living.

There are ghost stories about the place. I knew one girl who said she saw a "shadow person" in the women's' room. Other tales of netherworldly visitors who lurk about the theater are told in hush voices.

Last night I was at the theater and experienced a far different form of undead entity. Zombies! Not just any type of zombies....PUPPET ZOMBIES!!

A performance troupe known as Angry Young Men Ltd have been putting on a puppet show version of George A Romero's Zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead (I'm not going to Wiki link all of that since I've been doing so in the last few blog posts) for a few years now. I first heard about it last year at the now defunct ZombieconX. I didn't get to see the show but I heard it was quite funny.

When I heard they were coming to the Oriental Theater to do their show, I went down to the box office and bought me a ticket!

The next night was the show and I had arrived there just in time. The line was large but moved quickly once they opened the doors. To say that it was a good turnout would be an understatement. It ended up being standing room only for a few late arrivals.

The show started with a puppet zombie host who had a Draculaesqe accent slinging one liners here and there and then introducing the opening acts. This is where the show became very reminiscent of the old Vaudevillian days of theater as a sideshow circus group, Dead Man's Carnival, and a very interesting mime group, The M.U.T.E.S., went back and forth with skits and tricks of daring do. I found the The M.U.T.E.S. particularly interesting since usually I REALLY.... HATE.... MIMES. The M.U.T.E.S. were something different entirely. Imagine an old black and white silent films from the early 1900's being brought to the stage. The skits were all fun, creative and quick....the only way I can like mimes.

Once they were through, out came the zombie MC again with more hilarity and then on to The Night of the Living Dead Puppet Show!

The puppets themselves were life size torso, cartoonish likenesses of the characters in the movie. They were operated with the puppeteer in full view, but draped in black to hide their faces. The show took the 90 minute movie and condensed it into 30 minutes of dark humor and puppet gore!

What is puppet gore, you may ask? The Angry Young Men used red fabric and red ribbons as blood splatter. At one point there were red ribbons flying everywhere with zombie puppet heads exploding after shotgun blasts! Yes, it was pretty awesome!

All of the main plot points and famous scenes were kept in the show. "They're coming to get you, Barbra" had new meaning when the poor girl is literally torn to pieces by flesh eating zombies. Even her puppet entrails were being gnawed on by undead puppets.

The show may have been short, but it was certainly sweet and brought forth a standing ovation at the end. Well deserved, I must say.


On to other Halloween news....

Sadly, I don't think I'm going to make it to any other haunts this year. Not enough interest from others and a tight schedule put a damper on my haunt attendance this year. But, in my own sad and pathetic little way I did get to "virtually" visit a few through the YouTube channel Hollywood Gothic.

Hollywood Gothic is run by a guy who lives in LA and visits as many local Haunted Attractions out there that he can. You can check out the website also HERE.

My Halloween weekend will be far from a total bust. Tomorrow I'm going to a family friendly Halloween extravaganza thrown by the wonderful DelAmorte's that will feature an inflatable Haunted House and lots of sweets.

Then on Halloween my family will get together and have a nice diner and watch a Horror movie.

Then the next day I immediately dive into seasonal effective disorder since I consider November 1st to be the first day of the 6 months of crap that is the Holiday and winter season. Yuck!

I'm hoping to do some more movie reviews and post tomorrow. We'll see.

Until the next time, make sure you do something spooky this weekend!

Zangz.

The Zombie Plague is Here and Strong!

During Halloween seasons in the past, Zombies never got their fair due. You'd see vampires, werewolves, mummies, Frankenstein and ghosts decorate houses, appear all over TV and be represented in costume shops all over the place. But, there wasn't much adoration for Zombies.

Within the last ten years or so, this has drastically changed. Zombies are limping and shuffling their way into the higher echelons of pop culture.

In the beginnings of the Zombie mythology the walking dead seemed to originate out of Voodoo curses and superstition. It was far more paranormal and occult than what it has become today.

In recent years the Zombie origin in most media and print is usually some form of disease or virus that sweeps it's way across the globe at an alarming rate. First the plague would infect the living individual with flu like symptoms. Then the sickness would progress quite rapidly within the next hour or so until the individual would die. Within seconds or minutes of death that person would be resurrected as a mindless Zombie with only one thing driving them.....the hunger for human flesh. Primarily the living human brain!

Of course if someone is bitten by a Zombie the infection is transferred to that individual who will go on to become a Zombie themselves and will then bit someone else and so on, and so on and so on.

There's also the old toxic spill story where either some greedy, scientific corporation, or our own military accidentally unleashes some chemical somewhere and it starts to infect people as well as those that are already deceased.

Formulaic example: Greedy corporation+mysterious chemical that needs to be dumped somewhere+ graveyard = Zombies.

In any case, Zombies are "alive" and well and here to stay! A new horde of Zombie films are finding their way onto the silver screen within the last few years.

Zombie movie demigod, George A. Romero has released a few newer Dead movies recently. Danny Boyle's 28 Days /Weeks Later movies scared the living bejeezers out of moviegoers a few years back. We've also seen the comedic likes of Shawn of the Dead and last year's Zombieland receive critical acclaim.

Premiering this Halloween, AMC will be bringing the wonderful Zombie comic, The Walking Dead to cable TV. I'm jonesing out for that one!!

Check out the trailer.....



Most recently author Max Brooks has brought zombies into modern day literature. His dark humored The Zombie Survival Guide and the serious toned World War Z: An oral History of the Zombie War are bestsellers.

Which is a nice segue to the main part of this post. A book review.


World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - I read this book on a nice relaxing weekend where some friends had rented a small lake house and invited me along. I pretty much dove into the book expecting it too be creepy tale that featured the eating of flesh and other gory visions. But, what I got was a lot more frightening.

Told as a series of interviews from those that survived a worldwide Zombie infestation, World War Z is far more a scary social commentary on how we, as human beings, may not be that much better than the zombie hordes. In many stories throughout the novel, we are our own worst enemies.

As the Zombie plague breaks out and spreads itself rapidly, humanity finds cut-throat ways to back stab and obliterate itself. Evil corporations find new ways to make money off of the tragedy while governments take holocaust-like steps to protect the elite. And that is the most terrifying thing about this book. It mirrors what may very well happen if some sort of international tragedy, such as a deadly virus, actually comes to fruition. As we humans are continuously tortured by big corporations and the politicians who help support these companies, it's easy to see where it would all end if the unthinkable would take place.

Max Brooks captures that image very well in these interviews (stories) that accumulate into one big vision.

Some may be disappointed that the Zombies themselves are pretty much there as a setting for the more social and political themes in this book, but there are some pretty good, edge of your seat, type stories here also. There's one about a military helicopter pilot who crash lands into a Zombie ridden swamp and is helped by a mysterious stranger.

I'm not much into sociopolitical books whatsoever, but throw in a heaping of Zombies and it isn't so bad.

If I were a poli-sci professor, I'd put it on the reading list for my students for sure!


Alright then, kiddos. I'd move onto other Halloween subjects, but I'm in a bit of a rut with having a low key Halloween this year. There was no ZombieConX this year and outside of watching a plethora of Horror movies, I've only visited one haunted attraction this year.

Once again we went to a local gun club's Fin and Feather Haunted Woods. They changed it up a bit this season. My favorite addition was the ghostly bride who followed you down the path with caged corpses hanging from the trees above your head. Creepy. The attraction ended on a bit of a downer when we ran into a bunch of monsters (teenagers) all mulling about in a large group just goofing off and having some form of conversation. At first I thought we took a wrong turn and were in a "backstage" area. Nope. It was just a bunch of young scare-actors standing around when they should have been in full on scare mode. I know help is hard to find, but I'm becoming less and less of a fan of letting teeny-boppers take part in haunts.

In any case, it was still a good time and I have one more weekend of Halloween bliss to try and con...er I mean drag....er I mean take someone to go with me to another haunt.


And with that a bid you all a fond farewell. It's supposed to be a full moon tonight, be sure to go out and enjoy the spirits and ghouls it will beckon.

Zangz.