zombies – Page 7 – Looking to God

Do You Want to…

Posted on February 13, 2015February 16, 2015 by Jack Flacco

There’s a running joke in our family these days that has grown out of control and poses a threat to our sanity. Not really, but once you know what it is you’ll know what I mean. Ever since the release of the movie Frozen, we’ve been taking turns singing the words to Do You Want to Build a Snowman? in a new and original way. We replace the words “to build a snowman” with pretty much anything that pops into our head.

Frozen's Olaf the Snowman — Frozen’s Olaf the Snowman

Like this: Do you wanna read Freedom Friday?

It started with innocent intentions. One of us—I will not name names—me—began to sing the words to the snowman song whenever it snowed. Given I live in Canada and it snows a lot, especially last year, I was singing the opening phrase quite extensively. You can read that as meaning others in my family were telling me, “Stop singing that snowman song.”

Of course, if someone tells Jack he shouldn’t be doing something, what does Jack do? Yep, Jack keeps on doing it. [End of Jack’s third-person dialog.]

So, I did what any other normal person would do—become excruciatingly annoying.

Not only did I sing the song when it snowed, but I also sang it when it didn’t with the added incentive to change the words to suite my needs.

And on and on it went. Eventually, I’d worn the family down so much that they too fell to the Dark Side.

Now, a year later, we’re all singing it.

Naturally, because I write about zombies, I have to have my own version of the song:

So really, the moral of this post is this: if you want to change people you should never have to change yourself. Be a nuisance and you just might get what you want.

Do you want to leave a comment?

Monday Mayhem

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?

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?

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?

Wednesday Warriors

Daryl Dixon

Posted on January 21, 2015January 23, 2015 by Jack Flacco

Last week I wrote about Rick Grimes, the leader of the survivors of AMC’s The Walking Dead. This week, I thought I’d add to my Wednesday Warriors series by talking about Daryl, the pragmatist of the group. Not only does he have a way of making things work by taking the simple approach, but he’s also the character no one would want to lose if things in the series should end up going south.

There’s a running joke on the internet, more of a meme. It goes something like this:

It may seem funny, and yes, I must admit that it does strike me as humorous. But it also contains an element of truth others would rather ignore. That truth being, rednecks know a lot more about survival than the rest of us could ever imagine knowing in our entire lifetime.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) draws the audience in with his quick use of his bow and the easy way about him as he hunts for squirrel. What would make most of us sick; Daryl will eat without a second thought. If a group goes into an abandoned house looking for food in the cupboards, he’d be the guy who’d scavenge in the basement in the hope of finding a mouse he could skewer for his evening meal.

I’m just getting started. His crossbow is his weapon of choice. Not only does he hunt with it, he also kills walkers with it efficiently. In some instances, he utilizes the arrow only and spikes walkers through the top of the head. Then, of course, he also can use the butt of the bow to ram it into a biter’s head, delivering an equally brutal blow as a means of silencing the undead.

He may act mean, and can sometimes go off on people, as if he were about to slap them silly, but he knows when they need his help. He’s had run-ins with folks who have wanted to kill him only for them to find later that he was willing to forgive and help. He has a conscience, and that’s a good thing. None of the survivors can dispute his loyalty. He’s always willing to help, and he is always willing to push the extreme to get things done.

Daryl Dixon may be a fictional character, yet his personality is recognizable as one who everyone knows. He may not be approachable, and he may seem aloof, but make no mistake, when things get out of hand he is there to rescue everyone in distress.

You can be sure of that.

If you’ve watched The Walking Dead, what do you think of the character Daryl Dixon?

Monday Mayhem

The Walking Dead: Violence

Posted on January 19, 2015January 21, 2015 by Jack Flacco

Terminus. Bent over a trough with their hands tied behind their back, they await their fate. A baseball bat to the back of the head. Their throats slit. Another episode of The Walking Dead makes a debut.

For today’s Monday Mayhem I would like to talk a bit about the level of violence in The Walking Dead. Why is it there? And—is it necessary?

[Spoilers lie therein.]

If you have followed The Walking Dead for any length of time, you will know the show has gone through a transformation of sorts that, for lack of a better cliché, has pushed the envelope of dramatic series television. Season 5’s premier episode caught viewers off-guard with one of the most brutal scenes ever depicted on the small screen. If a phrase ought to typify the episode, it would be this one: “You’re either the butcher or the cattle.” If the viewer thought they had seen it all in the final episode of Season 4, they had miscalculated the show’s ability to deliver an even more shocking story.

You see, up to that point, the violence had always centered around the undead ending up splattered all over a wall or torn apart from gunfire. Humans receiving the brunt of their destruction typically came from walkers searching for food. That is until the absolute terror-inducing scene in the slaughterhouse of Season 5’s premier. It was then the viewer realized just how cruel a human could be toward another human.

The increasing level of viciousness from season-to-season attests to one thing the show has accomplished well—depicting that humans left to their own devices will kill without mercy.

Necessary? Yes.

The violence in The Walking Dead has become a symbol of what society would be like should an actual apocalypse take place. Brother will turn against brother. Hatred will spawn more hatred. And the concept of family will extend to those who will come to the aid of the less fortunate. If it sounds pessimistic, you’re right. But if you caught that last sentence, there will always be those who will not succumb to the human compulsion of killing. They are the ones who will make the world a better place.

Does that sound idealistic? Perhaps. But who’s to say how it will all play out until it actually happens? All I know is in every disaster, there are heroes.

And the heroes are the ones who will make a difference.

What do you think about the violence depicted in The Walking Dead? Have you had any nightmares yet?

Wednesday Warriors

Rick Grimes

Posted on January 14, 2015January 16, 2015 by Jack Flacco

He awakens from a coma to find the world overrun by walkers. Once a small town sheriff’s deputy, now he’s a leader to a group of survivors who he fights for so that others can live. His entire life becomes a life serving others. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

For today’s Wednesday Warriors let’s have a look at The Walking Dead’s strongest character, Rick Grimes, and what makes him who he is. Be warned, spoilers lie therein.

Played by Andrew Lincoln, Rick begins his journey into real life horror by taking the job no one wants. That job is that of leader to a band of people who have no clue what has caused walkers to take over the world. All he knows is what propels him forward each day—the hope for a new beginning, the hope to survive another day—hope. Perhaps a place out there exists that will save his group from the ravages of the roamers. Perhaps that place is closer than anyone thinks. Wherever it is, he’ll be damned if anyone or anything will stop him from finding the peace he so richly deserves.

Every season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Rick gets that much closer to losing his mind. But isn’t that what being a leader is all about—walking a thin line between making the best decision to becoming an utter failure? In that sense, he succeeds admirably. He’ll have his good days, where everyone will love him for getting them out of the worst of messes, to his bad days, where everyone will question his sanity for him wanting to rid a prison filled with walkers. If that isn’t enough, he has to fend against insubordination at every turn, and that’s not including those outside the group who want to see him dead.

Adding to his troubles, Rick has to deal with the ever-increasing threat of walkers to the group. His life has become nothing more than a game of shells. No matter what he does, he’ll always meet with opposition, and if he so happens to do good, there’s isn’t enough time to relish the moment because the undead is ready to pounce on him and those he loves.

Of all The Walking Dead characters, Rick is the one who goes through the most noticeable transformation. From an everyman to someone bent on survival, he pushes the limit of what it means to be human, all in an effort to keeping the group together and his sanity in check. If anyone needs a reason not to live another day, it’s Rick. Yet, despite all the obstacles, he makes it through each day with a new resolve that never betrays his strong convictions—even if it looks otherwise.

Rick Grimes, Wednesday Warriors’ rock, and a walker’s ultimate nightmare.

If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, what do you like about Rick? What excites you the most about the show?

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