Jack Flacco

Zombie Nightmare

Posted on February 9, 2015February 11, 2015 by Jack Flacco

The other night I had a nightmare. I don’t blame myself for having it, considering I write about zombies, and I’d gone through a Walking Dead marathon recently. But yes, I had a full-blown nightmare waking up in a cold sweat and trying to catch my breath. I fell short of screaming–thank goodness for that. Then again, what would I consider scream-worthy?

For today’s Monday Mayhem, let me tell you about this nightmare.

Some of my friends have asked me pointblank where do I get my ideas. In all honesty, because I write every day, I figured it had to do with the writing habit. But more and more I’m finding I draw much of my inspiration through my dreams, and yes, nightmares. I have yet to experience night terrors, such as those few unlucky people I’ve met in my lifetime, however my dreams are so vivid at times that when I wake up I’m confused as to what is real and what is not.

Knowing this, let’s get back to my nightmare.

One night I find myself running through a wheat field. I could hear the stalks breaking under my footsteps and I could feel the grain scratching my hands as I attempt to make my way to an exit of some sort. The night is cold. It feels more like the end of October, early November. I can see my breath. I remember wearing my jeans and sneakers, but that’s not important until later. And there’s very little light, although I can see ahead to what is coming next.

I then find myself at the mouth of a cave. At least it looks that way. The rock outside glistens in the moonlight. Now that I think about it, I wonder why everything looks brighter than the wheat field. I notice the rock appears wet to the touch. I can’t understand why it seems wet, yet I can’t see a source of water anywhere.

Inside the cave, I look around and notice that the walls are also wet to the touch, much like the outside. I move forward until I stop next to a crag where a small shaft of light appears. I find this weird, but I’m not afraid. Then the light disappears only I find the tunnel ahead contains a fire burning in the background. I can smell the charring wood and can feel the warmth from a few feet away.

I can’t move, though. I try to lift my feet, I try to pull my legs from where they stand, but something’s keeping me there. It’s funny, I feel as if I have lost my will to use my lower half.

When I peer at my feet, expecting I may have stepped into glue, I see things crawling on my sneakers. They are black. They have legs. Now, I’m afraid. Their legs bend as would a spider’s legs bend. It’s not a spider, though. The hand-sized bug has seven legs, three on two sides and one in the back. It crawls around and has now begun climbing my legs.

Having regained the use of my legs, I run. I scream. I shake. Yet I don’t go anywhere other than two feet from where those bugs had attacked me. I turn around and stare at them. I find I had stood frozen in place under their nest.

Then I hear a familiar growl. The undead. I’m sure of it.

That’s when I wake up.

Have you had any nightmares lately? What was the last one you remember?

Freedom Friday

Binge Watching

Posted on February 6, 2015February 9, 2015 by Jack Flacco

Netflix has given rise to the term binge watching. It happens when viewers have the choice to watch full seasons of a TV series available online, rental or for purchase. Not only does the definition include TV series, but it also includes movies. Some folks, including me, call these binge watching sessions marathons. I know of a couple of friends who have gone a weekend watching full seasons of 24.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II

Today, for Freedom Friday, I would like to talk about my binge watching sessions and tell you a bit of what I’ve learned from the experience.

For me, it all started with The Godfather. One Christmas, many years ago, I received The Godfather collection on DVD. It’s a gift I’d always wanted, since I’d eaten through my VHS tape copies and needed a replacement for the films. Way back in the distant past, the only way to enjoy this series was through TV. Like everyone else, I had to wait until the next movie in the series would air to find out what happened with Michael Corleone. I eventually purchased the VHS tapes, but sometimes my VCR mangled the tapes and it left me with a free night to do nothing other than stare at a blank television screen.

Anyway, once I had The Godfather series on DVD that fateful Christmas morning, a day later I took to my TV and gorged on all that is mob-related. Watching the movies in context with one another is an experience. Gone is the delay of waiting to see what happens. The other benefit was not having to remember what the character’s names were because they were still fresh in my mind. With subsequent marathons, I also could connect the various events that happened in the movies with each other and determine how they related with one another. I find it’s something I can’t do when I watch something once a week or every few years or so.

Breaking Bad's Jesse and Heisenberg — Breaking Bad’s Jesse and Heisenberg

Recently, my binge watching has included The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Trailer Park Boys, Breaking Bad and, just a few weeks ago, The Walking Dead.

In particular with Breaking Bad, I found the show more enjoyable without the interruptions between episodes. Walt, the cancer-stricken meth producer became more real as did his addict assistant Jesse. I could feel the adrenaline rush as they attempted to escape death from every turn.

In the case of The Walking Dead, when watching the last episode of Season 4 and the first episode of Season 5 back-to-back, my stomach tightened from one scene to another as I wondered what will happen next. I couldn’t stop from watching the protagonist unravel. Rick had me from the opening and wouldn’t let go.

Experiences like that provide for an awesome event to remember. And I also think the stories and characters become more meaningful. I know as a writer, I appreciate the plot beats to the point where they are now something to spot, “Ah, there should be a twist right about now!” Things like that make binge watching a treat.

My recommendation? If you haven’t done it, try it. It truly is something everyone should appreciate.

What shows or movies have you dedicated to binge watching either in the past or recently?

Wednesday Warriors

Léon: The Professional

Posted on February 4, 2015February 8, 2015 by Jack Flacco

The opening scene to the movie Léon: The Professional has to be one of the best choreographed action sequences ever put on film. Starring Jean Reno as Léon, Natalie Portman as Mathilda and Gary Oldman as the corrupt narcotics officer Norman Stansfield, the motion picture’s visually stunning aspects sets it apart from other cop narratives to demonstrate what a true plot-driven story is all about.

Today I’m proud to include Léon in my Wednesday Warriors weekly series.

Released in 1994, Léon: The Professional became one of the most provocative movies for that era. Beginning with its North American premier, critical controversy followed the film wherever it went. One of the reasons for this had to do with how the violence and language depicted in the presentation may suggest the filmmakers condoned such behavior in society. Another valid point had to do with Natalie Portman’s young age. Some critics found the twelve-year-old’s use of firearms unnerving. Lastly, and again because of Portman’s young age, those same critics found portions of her performance bordered on the sensual.

Any movie critic wondering about violence, sex, gunplay and kids have yet to watch Sergio Leone’s 1964 film A Fistful of Dollars. Produced thirty years before, it remains a classic among film buffs. Guaranteed, a more conservative audience viewed this film back then.

Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in Léon: The Professional

Anyway, back to Léon. Director Luc Besson‘s main character stands on the cusp of little boy and repressed man. He kills without conscience. He does what he is told. And he does his job well. Before Mathilda appears in his life, Léon lives a quiet existence with his plant and his routine. If anything, his daily routine is what the audience relates to the most. Waking up. Drinking milk. Putting out the plant on the ledge. They are the things the audience knows all too well. Everyone’s done it.

The difference with the audience and Léon is he knows how to kill efficiently. He knows his way around weapons. He’s a master of the set-up. And just when the audience thinks it has him figured out, in pops Mathilda, Léon’s next door neighbor from a couple of doors down the hall. Her parents die in a drug deal gone wrong and she’s on Léon’s doorstep asking for help.

Léon’s relationship with his new friend is an interesting one. Although he acts as the father figure, teaching Mathilda how to be an assassin—yes, this really happens—when he’s alone with her, he demonstrates childlike qualities that allow him to relate to her on her level. During one of their fun-filled evenings, they dress in different costumes as a way to pass the time. They each have to guess what the other has dressed up as.

If anything is true about Léon, it’s that he is a sincere man who hasn’t grown up. In that adult body dedicated to the death of others lies a boy at heart who never matured emotionally and remains stunted in development.

Léon may be a brutal killer, but his kindhearted nature toward others may be the redeeming quality that sets him apart from other assassins.

Have you seen Léon: The Professional? If so, what did you find interesting about it?

Monday Mayhem

My Favorite Zombie Scenes

Posted on February 2, 2015February 4, 2015 by Jack Flacco

How many remember the scene in the movie World War Z where one of the zombies bites a human and a little girl initiates a countdown? It’s one of the most harrowing depictions of an undead change I’ve ever seen on film. So many elements make that scene work—the muted colors, the pounding score, the cold setting of the street while an infected rampage attacks others like a pack of ravenous wolves. Gosh, what a great scene.

For today’s Monday Mayhem I’m going to talk about my favorite zombie change scenes, and why I think they make for great viewing for any zombie lover out there.

Let’s start with 28 Days Later. No scene can compare with the one where Frank (Brendan Gleeson) steps under an infected body overhead and a drop of its blood hits him in the eye. He was one of the primary characters in the movie, delivering others from the evil that had spawned in the laboratory to consume the world. After much wiping and rubbing and contortions, he doesn’t have a chance. The way he had taken the role of father figure made the scene even more ironic in that he’d become the victim he attempted to prevent others from becoming.

Next up is 406 (Amber Heard) from the feature Zombieland. She’s Columbus’ (Jesse Eisenberg‘s) attractive next door neighbor a few apartments over. She pounds on our hero’s door looking queazy, running scared, but looking all the more beautiful than when Columbus first remembers her. Naturally, he offers her refuge from the homeless man who had attempted to bite her. All she wants now is to sleep. She grabs a pillow, rests it on Columbus’ shoulder, and falls into a deep sleep. After a quick fade-to-black, He awakens to find her changed and chasing him in his apartment. The scene works incredibly well because the audience, enchanted by her beauty, wasn’t expecting what she looks like after the change takes place. It also proves the cliché to be true—beauty is only skin deep.

The last scene comes from the TV show The Walking Dead. Andrea, the woman who seems to be the most ordinary and plain character of the lot, holds a vigil for her sister who falls victim to a walker’s bite the night before. The day after, while the other survivors make due with everything they have as their possessions, Andrea maintains her silence holding her sister in her sight and never letting go. She knows what’s to come. She understands that if her sister fell to the walkers the next step in her life will not be that of resurrecting as a living being, but a monster. As the morning draws on, movement in her sister sparks a smile in Andrea. Yet, the pale eyes, the subtle growl reveals a different story. Andrea may remember her sister as a loving, compassionate girl, but the body rising from the dead says otherwise. Andrea knows what she has to do.

The gunshot resonates throughout the valley liberating her sister and initiating Andrea’s hatred for the walkers.

These are the scenes I remember the most about characters who have met an untimely death and came back less than in stellar shape than what they were when they were alive.

Do you have any zombie scenes of which you never tire?

Freedom Friday

Jokes II

Posted on January 30, 2015February 2, 2015 by Jack Flacco

How many people like jokes? I know I do. One of the benefits of writing my Freedom Friday posts is that it gives me the opportunity to write about whatever’s on my mind. Sometimes I write about personal stuff, but today I thought I’d write a few jokes to lighten up the mood during these dark days we all call winter.

Brad Pitt at Toronto International Film Festival

Mind you, these aren’t my jokes. They’re more like humorous tales I had picked up over the years that I’ve kept tucked away safely for those times when I need to let loose. I suppose today would be one of those occasions.

So, have a read–hopefully–you’ll also have a laugh and maybe you can also share one of your jokes with me in the comments area so I can laugh, too. Enjoy!

AN ARKANSAS DELIVERY

DELIVERY COINCIDENCES

GOD’S DEAD DOG

“That’s all, folks!”

Do you have any jokes you’d like to share?

Wednesday Warriors

Man with No Name

Posted on January 28, 2015January 30, 2015 by Jack Flacco

Growing up, I had a hero. He wasn’t a sports hero, a superhero or a musician. Nor was he a TV or movie star. He had an unassuming walk, and he seemed quite harmless—that is if you look at him for what he represented. I always thought of him as enterprising. But that’s just me.

I’m talking about the Man with No Name, the character Clint Eastwood portrayed in 1964 that made him an international superstar. What would Wednesday Warriors be if I didn’t feature this taller-than-life character for my weekly series?

Directed by Sergio Leone, A Fistful of Dollars brought to life a character so rich in detail and so vivid in breadth that Leone had to direct two other movies (For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) to solidify the Man with No Name’s legend in the annals of the great American Western.

Known as Joe, Manco and Blondie, based on chronological appearance in the films, Clint Eastwood’s interpretation of a man who happens to wander in the middle of a feud turns into a battle cry for opportunity. The character pits families and armies against each other all in an effort to gain a profit from the animosity created.

Smoking cheap cigars and wearing a Mexican shawl, anyone else would consider him a regular nobody. But his adversaries can’t help but notice how he towers over them at six-foot-four and carries under his shawl a peacemaker called a Smith & Wesson.

In his first gunfight, he asks the local undertaker to prepare three coffins. He then strolls to the center of town challenging a group of hoodlums to apologize to his mule for scaring it with their errant gunfire. They were only teasing. He understands, but you see, the mule didn’t take kindly to the suggestion they were only fooling. Now if they’d apologize, like he knows they would, everything would be fine.

They don’t apologize.

When the Man with No Name passes by the undertaker once more he simply says, “My mistake” and holds up his fingers, “four.”

In the second and third movies, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly being the most popular, the character establishes his gunfighter prowess by eliminating one gang after another with a mission to gain as much gold as he can in the shortest possible time. His nicknames range from The Stranger, The Hunter to The Bounty Killer. However, if you think the character is all rock and no velvet, he does have a soft side. He reunites a little boy with his mother and sends them away, to the chagrin of the local gang who had held the boy for other nefarious intents.

Clint’s character also suffers brutal beatings at the hands of the gangs when he tries to do what he feels is best for everyone in a situation.

What I like most about the character Man with No Name though, is how the strong and silent type became a template for other actors in future films, even up to this day. To the merit of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, the character typifies that not every situation in life deserves words.

Sometimes, all we need is action.

Have you seen any of the Man with No Name movies starring Cling Eastwood? What do you think of them?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie What Ifs VI

Posted on January 26, 2015January 28, 2015 by Jack Flacco

Since it’s the middle of winter here in Canada, I thought to warm things up we’d have fun with zombies. Hey, who doesn’t want to have fun with zombies? Can I have a show of hands? I didn’t think so. Today’s Monday Mayhem is all about fun!

That’s right. It’s that time again, folks. It’s time to put your thinking caps on and help me escape the zombies. Are you ready to indulge in some serious undead running? It ain’t gonna be pretty. Not today. How it works: I present a scenario filled with zombies, and your job is to figure out a way to escape. Of course I’ll give you my answer telling you what I’d do, but it doesn’t mean that’s what you would do. That’s up for you to decide. And if you missed them, here are the first five parts: I, II, III, IV, V.

Are you ready? All right then. Let’s go!

Scenario #1: In the middle of the street, 50 chewers have you surrounded. You have a knife, but how long do you think you’ll last before one of them takes a bite? Next to your feet, a manhole sits open. You think a construction crew must have been working in the sewers below when the change took place. You have a decision to make. Will you stand and fight, taking your chances that you might die trying. Or will you drop into the manhole, in raw sewage, not knowing what awaits you below?

My Answer: A group of 50 chewers seems a bit too much to fight all on my own. I’ll take my chances in the manhole.

Scenario #2: You’ve jammed a knife under a door preventing zombies from breaking into your basement bathroom. You climb the sink and can reach the window overhead, but it’s sealed shut. The only chance you have is to break the window and climb outside to ground level. You realize, though, a few things can happen. If you break the window, shards of glass may remain in the frame, therefore gutting you as you attempt to escape. Also, breaking the window can alert other undead to your location up above. The other option is to sit in the bathroom and wait—this may lead you to starving yourself to death. What do you do?

My Answer: I’d rather starve than gut myself trying to escape.

Scenario #3: You have a gun strapped to your waist and a knife hanging from your neck as you dangle on a rope several feet from a horde. With their arms stretched toward you, it will only be a matter of time before they grab you. Above is the hole in the warehouse’s ceiling from where you came. Another crowd of eaters is waiting for you there. What’s the solution? Go up, you die. Go down, you die.

My Answer: It’s a warehouse, I’m sure I can swing my way out of it.

What would you do?

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