October 31, 2012 - Day Zero

"It is with a heavy heart, that I report to the people of America that Detroit is lost." - President Barack Obama said from the Rose Room noon on Friday.

Top 5 Favorite Horror Movies to Watch On Halloween

I'm not going to say anything about any of these movies. You probably know about all of these, but they are amazing.

5. The Exorist

28 Day Later

4. 28 Day Laters

The Evil Dead 2

2. Pan's Labyrinth

1. The Cabin In The Woods

Halloween Special: If Vampires Were Real...

What if Vampires were real? Not pallid teenagers wearing all black and sipping on Cranberry Juice or muscle-bound actors who gradually grow doughy as the series go on, but real, live/dead Vampires. What would they look like and how would they behave? I’ve been thinking about it and had been unwittingly researching it for some time.

Trope Number One: A Vampire’s Nest… 

It’s a common trope in vampire lore that vampires band together in packs or nest or families and inevitably, a headstrong vampire approaches the wise and aged leader of the vampires and suggests that humans are merely food.

“Why should we hide in the shadows, draining our victims in secret?” The young, headstrong vampire might ask.

“Because humans would come with their technologies and their wrath and they would slaughter us all. Humans outnumber us. They are 7 billion on this planet and we are but a few.” The wise vampires might respond.

Here’s the issue I have with this line of logic. It makes no sense. Technically, vampires are asexual, in that they only need one to reproduce. According to accepted vampire lore, any human can become a vampire. It could be argued, a bit of a reach, but it could be argued that a human being is a kind of larval vampire.

Certain predators in natures mirror the behavior of eating their own young. Male Cheetahs are known to cannibalize their young, as do spiders, as do Kimono Dragons and many other lizards. These predators share one telling similarity; they live and hunt alone. Solitary behavior would explain why vampires would hold such sparse numbers. This, of course, means that, in real-life, there would be no such thing as a nest of vampires.

Trope Number Two: Vampires Fear Of The Day

Now that we’ve stripped the vampire of all his buddies, let’s address the issue of the burning light of day. There are two lines of thought when it comes to a vampire and the sun. There’s the flashy screaming and hissing as the sunlight tears through the vampires skin like fire over paper. Then, there’s whimsical hissing as the vampire throws his cape over his face and scrabbles for his trusty pair of sunglasses. It’s been my consideration that it didn’t make much sense that any sort of predator could fall victim to such a violent and immediate end. What evolutionary advantage would there be in exploding in flames, what adaptation would cause that?

What would make sense is that vampires would be adapted to dark, wet environments. The pupils of their eyes would be dilated out so that they could seek their prey. Direct sunlight would hurt their eyes and their skin would dry out as the sun kissed their skin.. I kind of envision vampires as a kind of large, bipedal fish, much like the Creature From The Black Lagoon, except they drink blood rather than doing whatever the hell the Creature from The Black Lagoon does. I, honestly, have no idea.

October 24, 2012 - Day Zero

Alan North, Mayor of Maple, Arizona, has passed a law banning the burial of the dead early this morning in reaction to the concerns that the "Zero Cell" virus is reaching epidemic proportions.

Book Review: Feed: ( News Flesh, Book 1)

Feed (Newsflesh, Book 1) by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) was published April  27th, 2010 by Orbit Book and camesecond for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2011.

Summary:

Georgia and Shaun Mason are brother-and-sister reporters in the apocalyptic near-future. The two of them run an on-line newspaper and are tasked with following a Presidential candiate. Various calamities befall the campaign and the charming candiate and the intrepid reporters must uncover a great conspiracy. 

Impressions: 

The more I read and the more I write, the less I find myself able to enjoy fiction. That being said, I fear that I couldn't judge this novel fairly. Know that before reading further. This novel got a lot of my writing instincts clattering, nothing more so than with the character of Peter Ryman. I kept getting the sense that Grant had liked  Ryman for the villain. All through out the first half of the novel, he has a sort of superificial, calculating way about him. The actual villain, David Tate, felt like a red harring because he was so obviously the bad guy. Georgia had even said, "Peter Ryman seems too good to be true." He's a prominate polictical figure who's staunchly middle-of-the-road and apparently no scandals, whatsoever. He's the leader of everyone's dreams and my writer and reader instincts compelled me to believe that he was evil because of it.  

October 17th, 2012 - Day Zero

Roberto Dean-Lopez is scheduled to be arraigned in Lincoln Suprior Court for the shooting death of Dr. Miles Andrews late Sunday night, (October 15th).

EPIC! Chapter 2

His name was Early and he was beaten, broken, bloody and heard a baby screech through the haze, red overglow. There were bodies scattered about like sunflower's seeds. There had been explosions and so many people running.

He couldn't even hear the gunshots because so many people screaming and he couldn't tell where the shooting was coming from. A bright spark like red lightening shot up in the air and brought down a hoover-mobile. Early had seen it, coming down like a flaming, steel fist. The mobile smashed into a street-walker and the both of them exploded. That had done the worst of the damage.

The ground shook beneath his feet, throwing him to the ground. He smacked his head hard, a concession and then a bullet bit the tip of his ear off, spilling blood donw the side of his face. He'd been screaming and didn't remember blacking out.

A name nearly slipped from his lips, but he remembered that his only son, Gabriel had died a long time before the attack. Instead of saying the name, he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up onto his  knees. Everything was red and everything hurt to look at. Early held his ribs and shuffled his way toward a squalling baby trapped in its bassinet.

It was up on its side with dirt smeared across the baby's face. Early righted the bassinet, released the child, taking the baby, a boy, into his arms. The baby squirked in outrage, though the shooting and the killing had ended.

October 10th, 2012 - Day Zero

"The Fort Devens Army Base is lost." - Colonel Miller Sparks announced before a room of reporters after the October 4th inicdent that claimed the lives of all residence on the facility.

Movie Review: The House at the End Of the Street (Spoilers)

The House at the End Of the Street was released September 21st, 2012 in the United States and a 101 minutes run time. Directed by Mark Tonderai. Screenplay by David Loucka. Starring Jennifer Lawerance, of Hunger Games fame.

Summary:
A teen and her mother move from the crime ridden Chicago to a rural town.

Impressions:

The House at the End Of the Street is an able horror film, though it doesn't have much in the way of surprises. This film follows the time-tested horror film formula which has been subverted time and time again (i.e. The Last House on the Left, the original Scream and The Cabin in the Woods.) This time-tested, possibly out-dated formula relies on violation and punishment. The main character, Elisa, finds themselves punishment for violating the societal  expectations of her new town by befriending someone that the town had shunned, Ryan. Of course, because she did that, she has to be punished according to this formula.

October 3rd - Day Zero

"The Zero Cell virus is real and is a public hazard." - Dr. Miles Andrews at the Lincoln General Press Room after reports that the virus is a hoax building off of the odd violent crime.