Monday Mayhem – Page 11 – Looking to God

The Walking Dead Returns

Posted on October 13, 2014October 15, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Another year, another season of The Walking Dead returns to AMC. Am I excited? You’re kidding, right? Of course, I’m excited! What other show on TV features survivors of a post-apocalyptic nightmare battling zombies—oops, sorry, walkers—in an all-out quest for world supremacy? No, I’m not talking about Breaking Bad, although that’s a cool show, too. I wish it were still on.

For today’s Monday Mayhem, allow me the liberty to provide you with a synopsis of the past four seasons, spoiler-free. That’s right, spoiler-free. It’s the least I can do, considering how I enjoy talking about movies and TV shows, asking questions to my friends like, “Did you see the part where (name the scene)—oh, yeah, that was awesome. Its brains sprayed everywhere!”

Season 1—The end-of-days madness begins with Deputy Sheriff Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) awakening from a wound sustained in the line of duty to a world infested with walkers. In a quest to find out what happened, Grimes and a group of mismatched survivors travel to Atlanta, Georgia on a rumor the CDC has set up a safe zone for anyone looking for refuge.

Season 2—After their daring escape from the CDC, the survivors head to Fort Benning as their next stop. On their way, they meet walkers bent on killing anything resembling human, survivors with similar malevolent intentions, and a farm. The farm not only becomes their sanctuary away from the rotting world, but also a place where a semblance of society begins to spring forth. In the midst of the silent fields, a dark secret awaits the brave.

Season 3—From a farm to a prison, the survivors make a home out of a jail. But with their newest safe haven also comes the neighboring town of Woodbury, fully fortified and fully prepared to defend its territory at all costs. The survivors are not welcomed, and a battle of wills ensues. A new enemy appears—The Governor (David Morrissey). Who will win the final war?

Season 4—When Rick Grimes relinquishes his leadership role to the survivors, a council emerges dedicated to the well-being of the many. Fighting through an influenza outbreak, another attempt at a prison overthrow, and a division among the ranks, the survivors hear of Terminus, a sanctuary devoted to helping everyone. But not all is what it seems and Rick ends the season by saying, “They’re going to feel pretty stupid when they find out—they’re screwing with the wrong people.”

Now, with Season 5 in full swing and the seeds planted for Season 6, yes, the survivors will be back next season, who knows what awaits Rick and the gang. One thing’s for sure, whatever it is, I know I’ll be tuning in every week.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

What did you think of last night’s episode?

Monday Mayhem

Do Aliens Exist?

Posted on October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Star Trek always has been one of my favorite TV shows. From the original series to the more recent Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager episodes, I don’t think I missed any of them.

This is an unusual Monday Mayhem post, as it’s a story about my love for the Gene Roddenberry classic and the questions it posed about alien life forms.

I’ll never forget one winter evening in the early 90s when Star Trek: The Next Generation used to be in reruns on TV. I had just gotten home from a college class and I’d settled into watching some TV before going to bed. It must have been slightly after nine and my snack of choice was a big bag of chips. About a month before, my parents also had purchased a new 27-inch Sony TV. For the time, when the standard was twenty-five inches for a tube TV, we were at the cusp of technology.

Anyway, about halfway through an episode, there was a scene where Picard, the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, had requested “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” from his quarters’ replicator. Think of the replicator as a very quick 3D printer. In the scene, he then takes his tea and sits behind his desk reading on a tablet.

I remember thinking, “It would be amazing to have one of those tablets to read from.”

Here we are now, almost thirty years later: 60-inch widescreen TVs are standard, tablets are the norm for reading, and 3D printers have gained in popularity, soon ready for purchase at reasonable consumer prices.

Is this Star Trek? We’re getting there.

Besides future technology in the present, Star Trek had also introduced aliens of various sorts and how the United Federation of Planets expressed tolerance by not interfering with alien domestic matters. Two things I’ve learned I soon would not want to forget because of the TV show’s influence: 1) humanity has yet to encounter an alien, although scientists did find sea plankton on the outer surface of the International Space Station, and 2) humanity is anything but tolerant when it comes to anything it doesn’t understand.

At this point, the first North American colonists come to mind, but that’s another story.

ESO: Milky Way [Photo credit: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.]

Thinking about aliens, and if they do exist, I’d assume they’d have a higher intelligence than humanity. For instance, they’d have to know quantum physics in order to travel the vastness of space to reach the little corner of our galaxy. They’d also have to have a certain set of governance laws that would dictate their actions toward us, much like Star Trek’s Prime Directive, which is a simple hands-off rule.

In all practicality, though, let’s think about this for a second. If there are aliens out there, much as described in the Star Trek shows, what’s to say they haven’t already arrived having taken a hands-off approach to our civilization? It would make sense—if, in fact, they are more intelligent than any one of us. They would qualify as true observers of the human condition.

In addition, let’s say they are observing us. Who’s to say they haven’t discovered that in the midst of humanity’s short history lay civilizations burnt to the ground all in the name of progress? Moreover, let’s say they’ve learned that progress also goes by another name, that name being war, and being of higher intelligence than any one of us combined, what if they’ve decided to reside in the shadows to see where we go with our progress?

With humanity’s destruction of the planet’s resources, environmental pollution and wars, of course, can anyone blame them for hiding?

Perhaps we’re not as close to real advancement as we think—at least not according to Star Trek’s mythology.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

Have you watched any of the Star Trek episodes? What do you find appealing about the show.

Monday Mayhem

Toronto Zombie Walk

Posted on September 29, 2014September 28, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Founded in 2003, Toronto’s Zombie Walk has drawn the attention of thousands throughout the years to participate in one of the most elaborate cosplays ever. This year, however, the organizers face a challenge. Unless a generous benefactor makes an appearance, a financial shortfall may shut the doors to future events permanently.

Since I live an hour north of the city, I thought I’d highlight Toronto’s annual walk for my Monday Mayhem series in hopes of encouraging local readers to support this awesome event.

According to news sources, rising costs to shut down streets, insurance and policing has left organizers scrambling for donors. As of this writing, a fundraising campaign has yielded less than half of the $7,000 needed to keep the project going. Should organizers not meet target amounts, they will need to dip into next year’s reserves in order not to cancel the event.

Another obstacle organizers face is the popularity of zombies in mainstream culture that has grown exponentially for a number of years. Founders of the walk, Thea Faulds and her husband Adam Pearson, first hosted the event to a small group at Trinity Bellwoods Park. Recently, though, the crowds have grown to a massive 12,000+ attendees featuring people in full zombie garb stomping the city streets to invade Nathan Phillips Square.

Although the party is free to the public as a pre-Halloween bash, cleanup is not. With thousands of people dragging their way to the downtown core, logistics behind garbage collection efforts is astronomical.

On the positive side, the event attracts the attention of zombie fans all over the world, making Toronto a delightful tourist destination during the October offseason. Organizer, Stefania Zanini says to The Toronto Star, “It’s a family, free, inclusive event that accepts everyone. All you have to do is come in costume.”

Igor Baranov (right) [Photo credit: © Igor Baranov]

One of those supporters is Igor Baranov, avid photographer and one of my longtime friends. Not only does he have an eye for the perfect photo, but he’s also captured the essence of the event through his wonderful imagery. Much of his work oftentimes demands him to interact with his subjects who are more than willing to pose for the camera.

Here is as sampling of his work and what the Toronto Zombie Walk is all about:

If you find yourself in the Toronto Area next month (October 25, 2014), you may want to check out the walk to see firsthand what the zombie craze looks like in action. Perfect timing as well, since The Walking Dead will have also returned to AMC. What better way is there to celebrate the show than to dress up and have fun with a horde of undead?

[Thank you Igor Baranov for granting JackFlacco.com the use of your 2013 Toronto Zombie Walk photography for this post.]

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

Have you participated in a zombie walk/run/event? What did you like about it the most?

Monday Mayhem

Alien Invasion: Origins

Posted on September 22, 2014September 17, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Aliens have always had a large following among sci-fi fans from every generation to the present. With the “little green men” image conjured from eyewitness testimony of flying saucer sightings in the 1950s, the fear that one day aliens would take over the world came to being. There’s more to this story, though, and as with every Monday Mayhem post, it deserves some study. Let’s have a look at the inexplicable tale to understand from where the alien world domination plot originated.

On October 30, 1938, dramatist Orson Welles, via The Mercury Theater on the Air anthology series, presented his adaption of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds to an unsuspecting radio audience. Other than a brief introduction, the program aired in a news format, lending credence that an actual invasion from Mars was taking place. Many listeners dropped into the middle of the sixty-two minute broadcast to catch simulated news bulletins and interruptions of sorts, terrifying them into running for their lives. The show created panic and hysteria on the eve of Halloween to cause many, days following the incident, to complain to the Federal Communications Commission.

Since then, America has been on high alert.

What some may not know is Welles was not the brainchild to such a realistic method to drama that had unfolded that night. In 1927, a similar incident took place when Adelaide station 5CL in Australia presented another invasion of its people utilizing the same techniques as Welles had used that fateful Halloween eve.

Same news bulletin format, same reaction.

What was the reaction in 1938? Paul White, CBS News chief wrote bedlam reigned. Town switchboards lit with people trying to verify the reports of Martians invading earth. In Cleveland, CBS’ WGAR received calls from listeners in a panic. Despite pre-Tonight Show host Jack Paar’s attempt to calm the masses, people were accusing the famous announcer of a government cover up, a conspiracy of grand proportions. In Concrete, Washington, a coincidental blackout of phone and electrical lines pressed the listening public to flee for lack of communication with friends and family. Local reports spread the word of mayhem in the streets and placed Concrete on the map for all to see.

Within a month, the media published 12,500 articles about the incident. No one forgot that night the Martians invaded Earth. And so, the alien invasion tales came to be.

As a consequence to the broadcast, the American public couldn’t get enough of alien invasions. Subsequent decades produced a litany of movies centered on the genre due largely to the threat of war and communism:

But if anything is true, the influence of an alien invasion couldn’t be more prevalent than in pop culture. Can anyone argue that at least one child does not walk around in an alien costume during Halloween?

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

Are you familiar with the original War of the Worlds broadcast? Have you listened to it, since it is available free online?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie Apocalypse: Alternate Endings

Posted on September 15, 2014September 12, 2014 by Jack Flacco

Every enemy has a weakness. Every foe has a flaw. With zombies, it’s the head. You’ve heard it before. Shoot them pointblank in the face and they will no longer pose a threat.

Photo by Martin SoulStealer [Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.]

But what if a new breed of zombie doesn’t respond to the universal bullet to the temple, then what? What if zombies could withstand a pummeling, and rise again to keep advancing toward a fragile humanity ready for extinction?

We’d all be in trouble, wouldn’t we?

For today’s Monday Mayhem, let’s explore the universe of zombies and their alternate endings. Humans can’t always win.

An Invincible Brain—In the 1978 movie Halloween, Michael Myers is a little boy who grows up to become a possessed psychotic out to seek vengeance against his hometown. Michael withstands a knife to the face and a coat hanger to the eye. Yet, he still keeps coming back again and again. Imagine a zombie with the same talent as Michael. It would be the ultimate opponent to defeat. Bullets would no longer work. Knives would become playthings. The undead would rule the earth and humans would flee for the mountains. There wouldn’t be anyone left after they’d get through with us.

Self-Healing—Imagine a world where zombies could self-heal from their wounds. The comic superhero Wolverine has the power to self-heal despite a body riddled with bullets or knife slashes to the throat. Take it a step further and ponder on the thought of zombies possessing that same power. No telling what would become of humanity if the guns can’t stop the undead from attacking. Every wound would heal. No one would be safe from the zombies’ destructive path. In this case, it bleeds but we can’t kill it.

Contagious Scratch—The zombie bite is the universal form for spreading the undead contagion. However, what if that was to change? What if the zombie bite no longer posed a threat? What then? What if instead of the bite a simple scratch would prove equally as menacing? No longer would the undead seek to propagate their kind with their teeth, but they would rip through doors with extended arms searching for people to scratch. The rate of infection would rise and the population would suddenly become undead in a matter of days. All because of a little scratch. A Band-Aid won’t help in this case.

If zombies featured invincible brains, self-healing as part of their makeup or a contagious scratch, one thing is certain, there wouldn’t be anyone left to tell the tale. Nevertheless, should humans know in advance of the fundamental shift in zombie behavior, the arms dealers throughout the world would dream of new defenses for the cities and new weaponry to put the undead back in their place—the grave.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

What new zombie trait would you find the biggest threat to humanity?

Monday Mayhem

Alien Invasion: Shifters

Posted on September 8, 2014September 8, 2014 by Jack Flacco

The best aliens are the ones we don’t know who they are. Does anyone remember The X-Files? Remember how this grand conspiracy swept the show, yet the audience didn’t have a clue as to what was going on? We know, but we don’t know. We think we have it figured out, but it changes. Maybe.

The X-Files' Scully and Mulder — The X-Files’ Scully and Mulder

Monday Mayhem has always been about zombies and aliens. From the beginning, I outlined the focus right from the first few posts. There is a plan at work here. Have you figure it out yet?

All right, as I’d mentioned, the best aliens are the ones who we haven’t a clue who they are, what they want, and their motives for doing what they do. Let’s talk about The Thing. A story that scares the sweet nothings out of me, the 1982 film introduces us to an alien that changes forms as it kills its prey. To make this real, imagine your best friend suddenly behaving strangely, turning into someone you no longer recognize. Apart from the fact that in real life we do have friends like that, my tongue is firmly planted in cheek as I write this, it would be a devastating thing to live through.

Those aliens who take our form are far worse to fight than those who you see coming.

Another example is the symbiont alien that affects Peter Parker in the 2007 movie Spider-Man 3. Amplifying Peter’s negative attitudes, the alien changes him into someone who is an exact opposite of who he is. Again, this is a far worse enemy than those detestable aliens from Independence Day. Because we can’t see their real form, we have our imaginations to rely on, pondering what happened to our friends in the interim.

It doesn’t end there. The 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of the scariest movies to watch on a cold Friday night. It presents as its stage a small town overrun by alien duplicates of its citizens—another opportunity for aliens to show their ingenious and devilish ways when assimilating a nation. What makes this story unique is its reference to communism, but I won’t get into that.

The last, but best of all examples of aliens attempt at taking over the world in human form is the TV miniseries V. The gist of the story goes like this: alien ships appear in the sky and by all accounts, they come in peace, wanting to share their technology with humans and their advancements. Little does anyone know that beneath their skin lies a monster so incredible that I can’t bear to spoil the story for you. You’ll just have to watch it to find out what I mean. This is must viewing for alien aficionados.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if shape-shifting aliens do exist? The world would make a whole lot more sense given how people change once they receive money and power. I won’t use example here, but I’m sure you can come up with your own.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

What do you think? Are we living in a world already filled with aliens impersonating humans?

Monday Mayhem

Zombie What Ifs V

Posted on September 1, 2014September 2, 2014 by Jack Flacco

In Latest News: Jack Flacco presents RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION cover reveal.

Since it’s the long weekend here, I thought you’d all like to have some 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. Can you guess why?

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 four parts: I, II, III, IV.

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

Scenario #1: You are sitting on a raft in the middle of a bay surrounded by land on three sides. Two sides have those undead critters wanting to take a bite out of you. Of the remaining sides, one is a small peninsula and the other heads to sea. You haven’t eaten in three days. Do you take a chance and land on the peninsula? Or do you head for sea, hoping the tide will take you to new land? The catch? Within minutes of landing on the peninsula, the zombies can easily chase you.

My Answer: If I have a gun with me, I’ll take a chance. If not, I’ll be too weak from starvation to think straight. In that case, I’d head for sea.

Scenario #2: Chewers have been after you all afternoon. They finally thrust you to the top of an apartment building with nowhere to go but down. Luck’s with you, though. You find a plank lying on the ledges between buildings. It looks as if others have been in this situation before you. When you look over the ledge, ten stories to the bottom, you see the remains of those who once attempted to cross the threshold. Seeing this, do you attempt to get to the other side or do you stay and fight, knowing you might not have a chance?

My Answer: I would try walking the plank to the other side. If I fall, it would be a quick death, which would contrast the slow death caught at the hands of the zombies.

Scenario #3: You’re on a Caribbean cruise when you notice everything around you changing. Some of the passengers are chasing the others, making meat of them. You manage to lock yourself in a cabin with nothing but the door and a porthole to escape. You think to yourself that you’ll survive for the couple of days, but eventually you’ll have to find food. The kitchen is on the floor below yours. You’ll have to negotiate your way through the corridors and hope you don’t encounter one of them. That’s one of the choices. The other? You’re ten miles from shore. You can dive and take a chance swimming. The problem is you’ll be diving in shark-infested waters. What do you do?

My Answer: I don’t know about you, but taking a dive into a shark’s mouth doesn’t sound as appealing as fighting zombies on my way to find food. In other words, let me quote the worn cliché: Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.

Scenario #4: I saved the best for last. Trapped in a city bus with four other people, the undead are banging on the door. If you try to climb through any of the windows, the horde will have their way with you. You have no chance of surviving. Then, an evil idea comes to you. It’s such a rotten idea that you try to push it out of your mind. If you throw one of your friends to the zombies, perhaps the distraction will give you an opportunity to escape. It’s a long shot. Would you?

My Answer: This is an easy one for me. It would be an emphatic no. Then again, if those four other people get the same notion of me, I wouldn’t know what to do.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.

What would you do?

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