Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Zombie Kid
This reporter made the mistake of expecting a zombie to make any sort of rational comment for her news story.
Friday, January 13, 2012
My Top 10 Zombies
In the mobs of mindless walking dead, it can be hard to tell one zombie from another. But certain ghouls have risen above their peers with certain charms; becoming 'undead celebs' if you will.
Here's a list of my favourite zombies who don't just shamble with the crowds, but stand out and moan on their own.
Coming in last place is a type of zombie that I'm not a big fan of, from one of my least favorite zombie movies.
George A. Romero created Land of the Dead as an evolution of the zombie, in which this guy gains intellegence, and eventually leads the rest of the zombies against the humans.
While I'm not a fan of intellegent zombies, I've got to give Zombie Leader credit where credit is due.
He's a revolutionary. He feels sadness when his fellow undead get their heads blown off, so he banded them together, taught them to use tools, and invaded the human's stronghold.
The ironic part is that he probably achieved more in death than he did in life as a gas jockey.
This zombie only had a brief appearance in the opening credits of Zombieland, but I'm sure she caught some attention for it.
Zombie Stripper confused young boys around the world about their feelings towards animated corpses covered in blood, and she did it in slow motion.
This zombie proves naysayers wrong about the undead having rhythm. Granted, he won't be the next American Idol, but he moaned in-time to Shaun and Ed's rendition of 'White Lines' by Duran Duran.
Not much to say about this guy. In Dawn of the Dead, the characters succumb to boredom with their life trapped in a mall. They begin to search for zombies that look like celebrities and pick them off with rifles.
This unfortunate ghoul happened to look like the Bandit himself, and that's enough to get him in my top 10.
I felt like the Marvel Zombies needed to be represented in my list, and who better to do it than The Incredible Hulk.
After Bruce Banner gets infected, everytime he gets hungry for flesh, he transforms into the Hulk and devours everything in sight.
But, once he has satisfied the hunger, he reverts back to scrawny Banner, still with a belly full of flesh. Needless to say, Banner's stomach erupts open in the first issue.
Zombies: terrifying. Clowns: terrifying. Enough said.
One bad as motherfucker, the executioner from Resident Evil is the last zombie I'd ever want to have to deal with.
Complete with a mystery inducing hood over his face, nails sticking out of his head and shoulders, and the biggest axe he could possibly carry.
While only making a brief appearance in both the comic and TV versions of The Walking Dead, I put this zombie at number 3 because of the amazing make-up and special effects job on her in the show.
She showcases the great work the guys on the show are doing as she crawls legless across the grass, and she is one of the only zombies I have ever truly felt sorry for.
Although there's nothing special about him, and he looks like a regular human, Cemetery Zombie deserves to be high on the list.
He's the one who started it all. The first one we saw stumbling in hunger. He opened the door for all zombies who would come after him.
Respect.
And now, my #1 favourite zombie of all time:
Tarman is the shit. I loved him from the moment I saw him. There's just something about the way this melted ghoul looks and moves, so I will let the following clip do the talking. I give you...
Tarman:
Here's a list of my favourite zombies who don't just shamble with the crowds, but stand out and moan on their own.
10) Zombie Leader - Land of the Dead (2005)
George A. Romero created Land of the Dead as an evolution of the zombie, in which this guy gains intellegence, and eventually leads the rest of the zombies against the humans.
While I'm not a fan of intellegent zombies, I've got to give Zombie Leader credit where credit is due.
He's a revolutionary. He feels sadness when his fellow undead get their heads blown off, so he banded them together, taught them to use tools, and invaded the human's stronghold.
The ironic part is that he probably achieved more in death than he did in life as a gas jockey.
9) Zombie Stripper - Zombieland (2009)
Zombie Stripper confused young boys around the world about their feelings towards animated corpses covered in blood, and she did it in slow motion.
8) Singing Zombie - Shaun of the Dead (2004)
7) Burt Reynolds Zombie - Dawn of the Dead (2004)
This unfortunate ghoul happened to look like the Bandit himself, and that's enough to get him in my top 10.
6) Zombie Hulk - Marvel Zombies (comic series)
After Bruce Banner gets infected, everytime he gets hungry for flesh, he transforms into the Hulk and devours everything in sight.
But, once he has satisfied the hunger, he reverts back to scrawny Banner, still with a belly full of flesh. Needless to say, Banner's stomach erupts open in the first issue.
5) Zombie Clown - Zombieland (2009)
4) Executioner - Resident Evil 5 (video game) / Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
Complete with a mystery inducing hood over his face, nails sticking out of his head and shoulders, and the biggest axe he could possibly carry.
3) Zombie Cyclist - The Walking Dead (comic series) / The Walking Dead (TV series)
She showcases the great work the guys on the show are doing as she crawls legless across the grass, and she is one of the only zombies I have ever truly felt sorry for.
2) Cemetery Zombie - Night of the Living Dead (1968)
He's the one who started it all. The first one we saw stumbling in hunger. He opened the door for all zombies who would come after him.
Respect.
And now, my #1 favourite zombie of all time:
1) Tarman - The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Tarman is the shit. I loved him from the moment I saw him. There's just something about the way this melted ghoul looks and moves, so I will let the following clip do the talking. I give you...
Tarman:
Friday, January 06, 2012
Zombugs
The closest things to real life zombies seem to keep popping up in the insect kingdom. I have now come across three seperate ways that bugs can lose control of their minds, and begin to infect their communities.
Zombie Making Fungus
The first phenomanon I found while watching Planet Earth. There is a fungus called cordyceps, which does something as terrifying as it is amazing. It infects bugs, and takes over their brain.
In the Planet Earth video below, they show ants being infected, losing their shit, and starting to climb. They just start climbing what ever's around them. Somehow the fungus makes their brains want to do it.
Once they get up high, they clamp down with their jaws, and die. That's when the fungus grows out of their dead bodies, and shoots spores down to infect the other ants.
Not just ants are at risk either, there are all kinds of cordyceps that attack all kinds of different bugs.
Zombie Making Virus
The second occurance is even closer to the common idea of zombies. This one works with an actual virus instead of a fungus.
Gypsy moth caterpillars are the specific target of a type of baculovirus. The virus, like the cordyceps fungus, causes the caterpillars to climb trees. Once up there, they also die, but instead of sprouting spores, they begin to melt.
Their bodies melt into a virusy ooze that rains down on all their unsuspecting buddies, infecting them, and causing them to climb.
Body Snatching Flies
The third example was recently brought to my attention be fellow CreCommer Corinne Rikkelman. She shared with me an article from Scientific American about the decline of honeybee population.
It turns out, these little fly guys will lay eggs in the bees. A couple days later, usually at night, the bee will just take off, flyin' solo, to nowhere.
It seems like they aren't even in control of their own bodies, as they will walk around in circles. Eventually the bees die and the fly babies are born safely away from the hive, or at least that's what I assume the purpose of the strange night flight is.
 |
| Artists rendering of a zombie bug. |
The first phenomanon I found while watching Planet Earth. There is a fungus called cordyceps, which does something as terrifying as it is amazing. It infects bugs, and takes over their brain.
In the Planet Earth video below, they show ants being infected, losing their shit, and starting to climb. They just start climbing what ever's around them. Somehow the fungus makes their brains want to do it.
Once they get up high, they clamp down with their jaws, and die. That's when the fungus grows out of their dead bodies, and shoots spores down to infect the other ants.
Not just ants are at risk either, there are all kinds of cordyceps that attack all kinds of different bugs.
Zombie Making Virus
The second occurance is even closer to the common idea of zombies. This one works with an actual virus instead of a fungus.
Gypsy moth caterpillars are the specific target of a type of baculovirus. The virus, like the cordyceps fungus, causes the caterpillars to climb trees. Once up there, they also die, but instead of sprouting spores, they begin to melt.
Their bodies melt into a virusy ooze that rains down on all their unsuspecting buddies, infecting them, and causing them to climb.
 |
| Liquidy caterpillar guy. |
The third example was recently brought to my attention be fellow CreCommer Corinne Rikkelman. She shared with me an article from Scientific American about the decline of honeybee population.
It turns out, these little fly guys will lay eggs in the bees. A couple days later, usually at night, the bee will just take off, flyin' solo, to nowhere.
It seems like they aren't even in control of their own bodies, as they will walk around in circles. Eventually the bees die and the fly babies are born safely away from the hive, or at least that's what I assume the purpose of the strange night flight is.
 |
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