Archive for the 'zombies' Category

AWPED

Published on February 7, 2011 in Adam Robinson, dream, Jac Motherfucking Jemc, Lindsay Hunter, Mary Hamilton, Readings, real talk, Sasha Fletcher, ugh up with people, Zach Dodson and zombies. 12 Comments

SUCH BEAUTY.

My favorite parts of AWP included but were not limited to reading at the zoo (stories by Mike and Tim were highlights), reading at the literature party (holy crowd), then putting on my flats and dancing (always dance when the DJ brings groupies), sitting next to Jamie at the JMWW reading and hearing his good news, feeling like I was in many warm rooms with people I love both personally and professionally, saying hello to folks from FC2 and hearing their work, having a great meeting with Emily about the book, hangouts with old friends Tom and Charlie and new friend Amina, getting to know a few very kind and solicitous District residents (though what’s up with your waitresses, really), and seeing old friends from acronyms ASU and TSU and experiencing major hugs with my girls Mary and Lindsay and Jac and Sarah and Wolfe and seeing but not spending enough time seeing Zach and Aaron and Elizabeth and Matt and Gene and Jenny and Sasha and Molly and I missed doing some stuff and did some other stuff and found a cheese plate and there was simultaneously not enough time and far too much time with the cheese plate. Now I’m back home where it’s a temperature that properly sustains human life. As soon as I got back, my body put roots into the ground. I have eaten three tacos in two days and slept 12 hours. Good to see y’all. Back to work, y’all.

“A film is a petrified fountain of thought.”

Published on December 10, 2009 in geeking out and zombies. Closed
I feel happy

I feel happy

I watched The Road today. It’s not that I didn’t like it, or that I wasn’t ready to be depressed. That book scooped me out like a fresh grapefruit and sent me empty into the world, so I knew the movie would have some devastating feelings. It delivered! Still, I wanted the images on the screen to be like the ones in my head and I was disappointed when they weren’t. (This post is going to spoil exactly eight movies; skip the whole ball of yarn if that would annoy you)

Anyway, for some reason I didn’t feel disappointed in the same way about No Country For Old Men, which I will say for the purpose of argument is equally well-written, though of course differently written. Maybe the movie added to it because there were more characters, quirks and details, more to pick among to represent visually. Comparatively, those long patches low on character interaction in The Road force the reader to visualize much more detail. I’m less likely to visualize a person than a house. Maybe Baxter was right when he said novelists don’t describe their characters’ faces anymore.

Oh, also, I couldn’t figure why they left the cellar in the  book or the movie. All these post-apocalyptic movies have this thing. The good guys find an oasis, they enjoy the oasis, and then for unconvincing reasons they leave the oasis. It is a tradition in zombie movies:

  1. Dawn of the Dead (remake): The mall. The original had the same mall but handled it better
  2. Land of the Dead: Trick question! You’d think it was Fiddler’s Green but it is when Cholo leaves the Dead Reckoning
  3. Diary of the Dead: There is literally a safe room. I mean honestly
  4. 28 Days Later: At the end when they’re going to trust the military even though they have a perfectly nice hillside covered in sheets
  5. 28 Weeks Later: District 1. Alternate answer: Spain
  6. Zombieland: Bill Murray’s house
  7. Why yes, I have seen some zombie movies

I’d hate to lose the oasis scenes, though. There has to be an oasis and they have to leave it. A really good zombie/apocolypse plot will have an excellent oasis, and then take away every other choice for the characters and force them to leave. I wonder if Robert Rodriguez was making fun of the phenomenon in Planet Terror when he has that “missing reel” cut to their oasis on fire? Here I am at one in the morning, blogging about zombies so I can go to bed and have nightmares about zombies.

(Confidential to a Wise Man: Did you know that I Am Legend is a zombie apocalypse style movie, but with vampires? And Will Smith? Let’s look into this if you’re still talking to me after that list.)

Bad Behavior has blocked 1641 access attempts in the last 7 days.