I finished reading The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology (edited by Christopher Golden) yesterday morning, and I know, I read a lot of zombie books and stories, but this anthology was really phenomenal. It's comprised of 19 short stories by a wide range of writers. I loved a lot of the stories, and at least liked and enjoyed reading the rest. I really stretches out the zombie genre, the vast majority of the stories weren't just about people running from brain munching zombies (don't get me wrong though, I fucking love stories where people have to run from brain munching zombies), some dealt with moral dilemmas, some with the concept of the soul, some with the dangers of technology, and some were just straight up great stories.
As you know, if you've been reading my blog, I'm a Joe Hill fan, and I really like his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts, so I was really excited to read his contribution to the New Dead. I've got to say, it blew me away. I haven't really stopped thinking about it since I finished the story yesterday morning. It was brilliantly written, and everything a short story should be. I'm not going to say too much here, because I really don't want to give anything away, but if you have the chance, you absolutely must read Twittering from the Circus of the Dead. The entire story is told via a girl on a family road trip tweeting from her cell phone, and each little 140 character or less segment is compelling. I'm not going to say anymore, 'cause with a short story, you really run the risk of giving something away, but I've got to say this, read it!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Kick Ass!
I completely forgot to write anything after we went to see Kick Ass on Saturday. I'm a blogging failure, but what can ya do, right?
Soooo, that being said, we went to see Kick Ass on Saturday, and I broke my rule again (the one about reading the book before seeing the movie...terrible, I know), but I couldn't wait to see the movie, I'd read so much about it that it had to be done, and rules are made to be broken (except for that one about having sex with a dead body, that rule should never be broken. NEVER!...just sayin'). I've gotta say though, that I hands down, no lie, fucking LOVED this movie! It had everything that I want to see in a movie, ultra-violence, masked avengers, great dialogue and a fucking NARRATOR!!!! Hells yeah! I think I was smiling from beginning to end while watching the movie, and the last movie that I remember that happening in was Watchmen (and maybe Alice in Wonderland...I can't quite remember with that one).
From what I've heard, the movie was incredibly true to the graphic novels, but the violence was toned down a little for the movie, and I've gotta admit, with all the hype around how violent and crude the movie was, I was honestly expecting it to be worse. See what happens when you hype shit up and blow it out of proportion, main stream media? See? I think it's fucking hilarious, the controversy that Kick Ass created, people complaining about the violence and the language...the movie is rated R, fuck off and don't watch it if you don't want to. So there.
It did blow my mind a little bit that when we went to see the movie, there was a family sitting at the end of the row that had brought their 6 and 8 year old kids to see the movie. I'm not a parent, but I can call an epic parenting fail when I see one, and that was definitely one. I kept glancing over during the course of the movie to see if they'd up and left the theatre yet, but they didn't, they stayed to the very end. People are dumb...that seems to be my new motto in life...it's sad, but people re-affirm it for me every single fucking day.
Soooo, that being said, we went to see Kick Ass on Saturday, and I broke my rule again (the one about reading the book before seeing the movie...terrible, I know), but I couldn't wait to see the movie, I'd read so much about it that it had to be done, and rules are made to be broken (except for that one about having sex with a dead body, that rule should never be broken. NEVER!...just sayin'). I've gotta say though, that I hands down, no lie, fucking LOVED this movie! It had everything that I want to see in a movie, ultra-violence, masked avengers, great dialogue and a fucking NARRATOR!!!! Hells yeah! I think I was smiling from beginning to end while watching the movie, and the last movie that I remember that happening in was Watchmen (and maybe Alice in Wonderland...I can't quite remember with that one).
From what I've heard, the movie was incredibly true to the graphic novels, but the violence was toned down a little for the movie, and I've gotta admit, with all the hype around how violent and crude the movie was, I was honestly expecting it to be worse. See what happens when you hype shit up and blow it out of proportion, main stream media? See? I think it's fucking hilarious, the controversy that Kick Ass created, people complaining about the violence and the language...the movie is rated R, fuck off and don't watch it if you don't want to. So there.
It did blow my mind a little bit that when we went to see the movie, there was a family sitting at the end of the row that had brought their 6 and 8 year old kids to see the movie. I'm not a parent, but I can call an epic parenting fail when I see one, and that was definitely one. I kept glancing over during the course of the movie to see if they'd up and left the theatre yet, but they didn't, they stayed to the very end. People are dumb...that seems to be my new motto in life...it's sad, but people re-affirm it for me every single fucking day.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
mmmmMMmmmmMMM Braaaaains...
As you know if you've read my wee bio on my blog, I'm a big zombie fan. I love zombie books and movie, songs that mention zombies, pretty much anything zombie related. I like to think that if there was a zombie apocalypse, that I would manage to survive, but I'd prefer it if the zombies in question were the slow moving, motor skill stunted kind, and not the super fast Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead kind (if that were the case we'd all be pretty much fucked).
That being said, I was really into the Walking Dead series of graphic novels, but then I sort of fell off the ball. Last week I picked up books 9 and 10, and I think before work today I'm going to stop and get book 11, then I'll be totally caught up for when the new book comes out in June. These books are AWESOME! They're definitely worth reading, but you have to be able to stomach the zombie goodness, 'cause they're pretty graphic.
The books are great because they deal with the problem of the undead, but they also deal with the mental breakdowns that each of the characters deal with as they try to adapt to a world without any kind of order, and the best part is that as you read through the series it becomes more and more evident that no one is safe.
There's been talks for quite a while now about a Waking Dead tv series, and I always contended that the only way that they'd be able to pull it off would be through HBO, or possibly Showtime...but it turns out that it's going to be an AMC original series. AMC did prove that their worth to me with Breaking Bad, which is a great series, so I have hope...but I'm not sold just yet. Time will tell.
That being said, I was really into the Walking Dead series of graphic novels, but then I sort of fell off the ball. Last week I picked up books 9 and 10, and I think before work today I'm going to stop and get book 11, then I'll be totally caught up for when the new book comes out in June. These books are AWESOME! They're definitely worth reading, but you have to be able to stomach the zombie goodness, 'cause they're pretty graphic.
The books are great because they deal with the problem of the undead, but they also deal with the mental breakdowns that each of the characters deal with as they try to adapt to a world without any kind of order, and the best part is that as you read through the series it becomes more and more evident that no one is safe.
There's been talks for quite a while now about a Waking Dead tv series, and I always contended that the only way that they'd be able to pull it off would be through HBO, or possibly Showtime...but it turns out that it's going to be an AMC original series. AMC did prove that their worth to me with Breaking Bad, which is a great series, so I have hope...but I'm not sold just yet. Time will tell.
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