tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post5090881609715609176..comments2024-03-22T21:02:55.051+13:00Comments on Bat, Bean, Beam: Zombie IdeasGiovanni Tisohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-8203082123408638232009-04-05T17:41:00.000+12:002009-04-05T17:41:00.000+12:00I confess myself somewhat uneasy about the conflat...<I>I confess myself somewhat uneasy about the conflation of zombies with the lumpenproletariat in contemporary lore. It's funny but it smacks of chav-bashing: contempt for people who lack aspirations beyond their socio-economic status, whose failure is as much a failure of taste as ethics.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes. And I should clarify that I think we should move well beyond that, creatively appropriate Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-52609861496864210892009-04-05T13:01:00.000+12:002009-04-05T13:01:00.000+12:00Pratchett's zombie characters are interesting in t...Pratchett's zombie characters are interesting in terms of zombie lore: you've got Reg, who is too sincere and too engaged a revolutionary to be felled by something as mere as death, much like Zombie Lenin in "Simpson Tide" (one of my favourite episodes). <BR/><BR/>Mr. Slant the lawyer on the other hand, seems to embody the kind of corporeal insight present at the end of <I>Shaun of the Dead</I>:harvestbirdhttp://www.harvestbird.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-39155068558393590092009-04-05T12:48:00.000+12:002009-04-05T12:48:00.000+12:00Quick, everyone: start humming to yourselves Bowie...Quick, everyone: start humming to yourselves Bowie's <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBF9t-bGVrE" REL="nofollow">We Are the Dead</A>.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-9723695469525547732009-04-05T12:46:00.000+12:002009-04-05T12:46:00.000+12:00Hah... with somewhat over-zealous literal bent I w...Hah... with somewhat over-zealous literal bent I was going to talk about "dead rights activism" in the context of my ongoing rant versus the digital immortalists. You open up much more interesting possibilities.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-5205287506812862352009-04-05T12:35:00.000+12:002009-04-05T12:35:00.000+12:00"'A zombi is a dead personwho seems to be aliveor ..."'A zombi is a dead person<BR/>who seems to be alive<BR/>or a living person<BR/>who is dead.'"<BR/><BR/>Rhys made Rochester<BR/>mad for the unknown;<BR/>his wife, lovers, servants--<BR/>what had they that he did not?<BR/><BR/>On the other side<BR/>of our modern legend<BR/>is Pratchett's Reg Shoe:<BR/>whose revolution needs the dead<BR/><BR/>(no purgatory, no island torpor),<BR/>too much to do.harvestbirdhttp://www.harvestbird.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-53864645325511530132009-04-04T18:11:00.000+13:002009-04-04T18:11:00.000+13:00Great comments and links, Jake. The phenomenon is ...Great comments and links, Jake. The phenomenon is not terribly new - whole cities and industrial belts in the West have died many deaths over the years, I was born next to a car factory that went that way close to thirty years ago myself - but all these stories seem to be coming to the boil again at once. I lost track of the photo and video essays that have been doing the rounds in the last few Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-68502134955896401322009-04-04T03:05:00.000+13:002009-04-04T03:05:00.000+13:00The 100 abandoned houses pictures are amazing. I f...The 100 abandoned houses pictures are amazing. I feel like starting a "Adopt an abandoned house program", with 20 dollars a year we can probably restore them in a 1000 years or so... Personally, I wouldn't mind owning number 20, even if virtually.<BR/><BR/>As per the zombie explosion, I read an article recently (don't recall where now) in which is mentioned that movie critics, at the end of the Taramochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10306494919275797616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-62681614200072940732009-04-04T02:43:00.000+13:002009-04-04T02:43:00.000+13:00I commented on Socialism and/or Barbarism.I commented on <A HREF="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4571055663184272276&postID=7978869963990521724&page=1" REL="nofollow">Socialism and/or Barbarism</A>.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926193718680225217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-66188196898984229342009-04-04T01:23:00.000+13:002009-04-04T01:23:00.000+13:00Have a read of This article about Braddock. It's a...Have a read of <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/us/01braddock.html?fta=y" REL="nofollow">This article about Braddock</A>. It's about ten minutes drive from my house. Or there's Hazelwood, which is one of the unoccupied neighbourhoods <A HREF="http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A44016" REL="nofollow">that is being demolished.</A><BR/><BR/>They're emblematic of Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926193718680225217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-78842873080523223492009-04-03T18:36:00.000+13:002009-04-03T18:36:00.000+13:00Thanks Jake - brilliant. I feel like postfacing it...Thanks Jake - brilliant. I feel like postfacing it with these <A HREF="http://www.kevinbauman.com/100abandonedhouses/index.php?page=gallery&photo=04010401_09_lg.jpg&title=abandoned%20house%2029&img_id=25" REL="nofollow">100 photos of abandoned houses</A> from the rust belt, none more haunting (and possibly haunted) than the one at the top of the page (hat tip: <A HREF="http://Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-73535853164937474392009-04-03T17:27:00.000+13:002009-04-03T17:27:00.000+13:00I see I am getting roped in.Land of the Dead was R...I see I am getting roped in.<BR/><BR/>Land of the Dead was Romero's fourth zombie movie, and was made twenty years after Day of the Dead.<BR/><BR/>Whereas most zombie movies deal with the outbreak of zombieness, Land of the Dead begins in the post-apocalyptic world. Survivors have found refuge in a fortified city, where a class structure has emerged. The wealthy buy their way into the Fiddler's Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926193718680225217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-13571946306051193762009-04-03T16:35:00.000+13:002009-04-03T16:35:00.000+13:00but the modern zombie is the mad rush hither and t...<I>but the modern zombie is the mad rush hither and thither, screaming.<BR/><BR/>i'm not convinced modern socialism wants to imitate that.</I><BR/><BR/>We can finalise the gait at the first committee meeting, I don't see that as a huge issue. <BR/><BR/>Jake suggests in a parallel comments thread that Land of the Dead should be the first item on the reading (viewing) list - it's all about class Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-57781702826210224782009-04-03T15:27:00.000+13:002009-04-03T15:27:00.000+13:00i think we're overlooking something from the origi...i think we're overlooking something from the original zombie post, that the zombie itself has changed in contemporary fiction. the 80s zombie was the slow-moving, haitian-type undead who currently inhabit places like Queensgate.<BR/><BR/>seriously. those fckers are still there.<BR/><BR/>but the modern zombie is the mad rush hither and thither, <I>screaming</I>.<BR/><BR/>i'm not convinced modern Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-47439564143625928372009-04-02T09:17:00.000+13:002009-04-02T09:17:00.000+13:00It’s all the fun of getting a bootleg copy without...<I>It’s all the fun of getting a bootleg copy without the guilt.</I><BR/><BR/>But I was in it solely for the guilt! <BR/><BR/>(Thanks Lyndon.) <BR/><BR/>(And thanks Paul, although I'm more thinking of zombies eating the bankers rather than bankers eating us, since the latter is only a gnat's crotchet more literal than what's actually happening.)Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-27122302511943235492009-04-02T09:12:00.000+13:002009-04-02T09:12:00.000+13:00The first three chapter of zombie-Austen are onlin...<A HREF="http://irreference.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-chapters-1-3/" REL="nofollow">The first three chapter of zombie-Austen</A> are online.Lyndonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05622953598107216261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-19619520362122913242009-04-01T12:03:00.000+13:002009-04-01T12:03:00.000+13:00Voodoo economics leads to zombie bankers (who, inc...Voodoo economics leads to <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12124938@N06/3355433938/" REL="nofollow">zombie bankers</A> (who, incidentally will be making an appearance at the <A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=86724d20e1ae0612b95a1e60a86513a2&gid=53674491031" REL="nofollow">G20</A> protest)Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08024440694895271805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-88137224835015483572009-04-01T08:59:00.000+13:002009-04-01T08:59:00.000+13:00One more for the list: my oldest told me that at s...One more for the list: my oldest told me that at school yesterday he played "zombie tag". Like regular tag, but you walk instead of running, if I understood correctly.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-29643733515133680082009-03-31T22:23:00.000+13:002009-03-31T22:23:00.000+13:00On another socialist note, one of the central them...<I>On another socialist note, one of the central themes of the zombie ouevre is collectivism.</I><BR/><BR/>Ah, yes. And, on one more socialist note, they've transcended class. I have always in fact yearned for a sequel of Matheson's I Am Legend that revealed what kind of society the zombies would produce. <BR/><BR/><I>Zombies also differ from other monsters because they're us</I><BR/><BR/>Now I Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-59187588591203081212009-03-31T19:54:00.000+13:002009-03-31T19:54:00.000+13:00On another socialist note, one of the central them...On another socialist note, one of the central themes of the zombie ouevre is collectivism. A lone zombie is reasonably simple to handle: slow, stupid and uncoordinated. Every zombie movie has a pack scene, though - a mass of the undead working as one to devour the living, not just devour, but <I>convert</I> them, bring them into the collective.<BR/>Zombies also differ from other monsters because Aro Valley Pre-Schoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12455802663346638322noreply@blogger.com