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Zombie of the Week: GUH

Posted by kiwidust on May 19, 2014
Posted in: Zombie of the Week. 1 comment

The Walking Dead, GuhWe continue our comparisons of Walking Dead: the Comic to Walking Dead: the TV Show. It’s still difficult coming up with a clever zombie every week, but we’re thinking we can milk this for a few more weeks at least.

Here’s GUH, from the third issue of “The Walking Dead”, from December 2003, written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Tony Moore.

He’s a sharp, erudite, upwardly mobile fella with a lot going for him; or maybe a lot gone from him. He considers himself something of a “foodie” and immediately offers to share his bounty of gnawed deer carotid with his brand new friend, Shane and Rick.

They refuse. GUH, however, is nonplussed. Modernist cuisine just isn’t for everyone.

Zombie of the Week: Clairvius Narcisse

Posted by kiwidust on May 11, 2014
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Clairvius NarcisseWe’re going to take a break from our “Walking Dead” love-fest and bring you the story of Clairvius Narcisse. Clairvius is widely considered to be the first documented case of actual zombism.

On May 02, 1962 was pronounced dead by two American-trained physicians at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelle, Haiti. He had been ill for several weeks before. His sister attended the body and he was interred at a local cemetery shortly thereafter. However 18 years later Narcisse (or somebody claiming to be him) wandered into his village. He was able to convince his family and friends that of his identity.

Narcisse claimed that he was completely aware of his surroundings and lucid while he was pronounced dead and during the burial proceedings, but was unable to move or react. Shortly after his burial an evil “bokor”, or sorcerer, dug him up and revived him as a zombie slave. Forced to work for two years on a sugar plantation he escaped and wandered the country. Convinced that his brother had arranged for his zombification, Narcisse only returned home once he learned of his death.

Canadian scientist Wade Davis investigated the story and believes that the zombie experience can be explained via the use of various toxins. One that inflicts a death-like, comatose state on the victim and others used to keep the zombie in a tractable, trance state. While his work is controversial and has some valid criticisms his ideas see support from other cultures as well.

We couldn’t find any information about Narcisse’s death or current whereabouts (if still alive he would be 92 years-old now) but dead, alive or someplace in-between: this week is all for you, Clarivius!

Zombie of the Week: Bicycle Zombie

Posted by kiwidust on May 4, 2014
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The Walking Dead, Bicycle ZombieWe continue our comparisons of zombies from Walking Dead: the Comic to Walking Dead: the TV Show! Following up last weeks look at the comic’s GUK GLAKK here’s the TV equivalent, Bicycle Zombie.

Rick wakes in the hospital with no idea that he’s slept through the end of the world. He leaves the hospital confused and in shock. Just as in the comic, this is the first zombie Rick meets that’s significantly decomposed. Just as in the comic, the zombie makes an honest attempt to have a nice conversation with Rick. Just as in the comic, Rick steals her bicycle.

Just as in the comic, Rick comes back a week later and puts a bullet through her head. Rick can be kind of a jerk sometimes, uh?

Movie Review: Deadheads

Posted by kiwidust on April 29, 2014
Posted in: BEBE 2014, Boiled Eggs and Brain Eaters, Movies. 4 comments

IMDB, Deadheads“Deadheads” on IMDB

Comedy/Horror – 2011 – 96 Minutes

This was our first selection for Boiled Eggs and Brain Eaters 2014 and, it turns out, our pick of the day. When I was a teenager seeing “The Return of the Living Dead” for the first time it would have never occurred to me that at some point there would be too many zombie movies, much less zombie comedies, to keep up with. Zombies were niche, at best, and would be forever also-ran to slashers and vampires. Now, nearly 30 years later, zombies are king and everybody that can scrape together enough cash, gumption or weed (or any combination of the three) thinks that they can produce the next great zom-com.

Most of them suck. This one doesn’t; at least not much.

The gimmick here is that some zombies, just a tiny few, don’t actually lose their minds during the reanimation. We follow Mike, a regular Joe who finds himself dead-but-moving and decides to track down his fiancé. He meets Brent, a stoner free-spirit who is altogether more comfortable in his zombie-hood. They’re being hunted down by a nefarious company that wants to take them apart and see what makes them still tick.

Most of the humor revolves around our slackers failing up as Mike and Brent shamble their way across the country, constantly on the verge of disaster. Mike’s uptight and Brent’s an ass. They’re losers, but they’re likable losers. There’s plenty of harmless (and some armless) slapstick and a horde of fun genre references. Some hits and some misses, but there are multiple laugh-out-loud moments.

There are problems, but nothing you wouldn’t  expect at this budget level. Many of the characters push past cliché into caricature territory and there are definite teeth-marks on the scenery, but there’s a “when in Rome” kind of vibe that lessens the impact. The effects suffers for the budget, but are kept simple and effective to compensate. The script tries to work just a few too many angles and ends up bogged down in places.

As these things go this is one of the better family zombie flicks. There’s some gore, blood, sexual references and pot-use, but nothing too serious for your average tween. It’s a fun movie that was clearly spawned from a love of the genre. It’s the kind of movie that you like because it’s the kind of movie that you’d make if you didn’t spend all your time with your fat ass planted on the couch watching movies. Or maybe that’s just me.

An Interesting Take on how “The Walking Dead” has Failed to Progress

Posted by kiwidust on April 29, 2014
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Ars Technica LogoArs Technica’s Nathan Mattise article “The Walking Dead is now where brains are eaten, not used” examine’s what he considers an unfortunate dumbing down of “The Walking Dead”. He offers up both an intriguing defense of the position and an alternative. As much of a fan of the show and the comic as I am, I have to admit: the man has a good point.

One of the recurring themes you’ll see in my “Random Thoughts on the Walking Dead” posts is a lamentation that the survivors rarely seem to learn from their mistakes. After the events at the farm, why was there no evacuation plan at the prison? Why are we still improvising weapons from materials at hand instead of constructing specialized tools to deal with the situation? Why does everybody still walk around in tank-tops and short-sleeves when even duct-taping a magazine to your forearm could save your life?

Clearly there have been steps forward, but we’re still seeing most of our hero’s victories coming from luck rather than preparation (and most of their defeats coming from a lack of both). In short, why haven’t our survivors adapted better?

Zombie of the Week: GUK GLAKK

Posted by kiwidust on April 27, 2014
Posted in: Zombie of the Week. 1 comment

The Walking Dead, Guk GlakkWe enjoyed our first comparison of zombies from Walking Dead: the Comic to Walking Dead: the TV Show so much that we’re going to make something of habit of it for the next few weeks. Or until we get bored. (Besides, after more than a year, it’s getting really difficult coming up with a clever zombie every week.)

Here we see the first seriously decomposed zombie that Rick ever sees from the very first issue of  “The Walking Dead”, from October 2003, written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Tony Moore. He,or maybe she – it’s hard to tell – introduces himself as “GUK GLAKK”. GUK has a short, one-sided conversation with Rick before the former cop steals his bicycle and rides away.

GUK would spend the next week or so wondering what he said that made the nice man ignore him and take his bike. He would lie eternally awake day and night running through the encounter over and over in his maggoty memory. Should he have really started the conversation with “GUH”? Was that too needy; too soon? And following it up with “GAR” – really what was he thinking?!

He worried over the entire exchange endlessly. That is, of course, until Rick stopped by on his way out of town and put a bullet through GUK’s head.

BEBE 2014: Recap

Posted by kiwidust on April 20, 2014
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BEBE Logo_TransToBlackAlas, BEBE 2014, our fifth year, is over!  Five movies, some games and way, way too much food spells “success” to us!

As a handy review let’s see how we did according to the four rules of Boiled Eggs and Brain Eaters:

Watch Some Zombie Movies

Check!  Here’s the final tally:

Eat Lots of Good Food

We ate way too much Platter’s Chocolate, many ugly boiled eggs, zombie cookies. Only a few of the zombie eyeballs lasted until today, but they were a huge success.  To offset the sweets we did a nice ham, mashed sweet potatoes and homemade mac’n’cheese. We should be mobile again sometime tomorrow.

Play Some Games

Check! Our new game, Zombies!!!, was a bit too intimidating to try today, but we’re going to set aside some time soon. We did spend time with our favorite pick-up-and-play zombie game, Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson Games. We also tried some ZombiU on the WiiU. We didn’t play long, but it looks promising.

We can also highly recommend playing TellTell Games masterpiece, The Walking Dead, as a family. The game is slow enough to support collaborative play, but exciting and well-written enough to keep the attention of those not holding the controller.

Spend Some Time with Those You Love

Check! This was a great year for us. We enjoyed a truly gorgeous day here in Scranton and were able to sit with open windows and doors while we watched the rampaging dead. A nice breeze makes everything better, doesn’t it? Everybody had a great time and there were no fights or bickering (something of a minor miracle with two teenagers).

We hope that you had a great day with those you love and were able to fit in a little fun and games.  We also hope to see you here in 2015 which will mark the sixth anniversary of Boiled Eggs and Brain Eaters!

BEBE 2014: Dinner and Our Last Movie

Posted by kiwidust on April 20, 2014
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Shaun of the DeadMore BEBE 2014!  Our fourth movie, “Detention of the Dead“, was hit or miss, but mostly (weak) hit. There were a few truly terrible effects, but also some decent ideas. A solid movie overall and a nice lead-in to dinner and our last movie.

Dinner is Easter ham, mashed sweet potatoes, homemade mac’n’cheese and some vegetables. We ate it sitting in front of the TV like every terrible family you’ve ever seen on TV being terrible by eating in front of the TV. We’re all stuffed close to hibernating bear-level now. We can move, but we choose not to.

As always we end our night with “Shaun of the Dead“. It remains the undisputed king of zombie movies and is one of the few perfect movies ever made.

BEBE 2014: Another Movie and Our Zombie Horde

Posted by kiwidust on April 20, 2014
Posted in: BEBE 2014, Boiled Eggs and Brain Eaters. Leave a Comment

BEBE 2014 PlatterMore BEBE 2014!  We’ve started our fourth movie, “Detention of the Dead“, and so far, so good. Decent production values and a decent set-up. There’s already been a few decent call-outs as well (the sign let’s us know that they’re in the “Savini Library”).

ZombiU on the WiiU ended up being deeper and more thoughtful than we initially gave it credit. There’s an interesting mechanic where, once you become infected and die, you begin nearby as another survivor. You can then go to your last location and put down your previous incarnation and reclaim your equipment. We’re still not sure if the game has staying power, but so far its definitely bringing some new ideas to the table.

We also decided to put our favorite creations together and create the stickiest, sweetest zombie horde that you’ll ever see! It includes the best of our ugly boiled eggs, the most gruesome zombie cookies and even some of those terrible marshmallow zombies that we made. We posed them all and took a few artsy shots.

That one plate is enough to terrify a dozen dentists!

BEBE 2014: A Game Break

Posted by kiwidust on April 20, 2014
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Zombie DiceMore BEBE 2014!  Our third movie, “Rise of the Zombies“, was much better than our second, but still dumb as hell in that trademarked Asylum Films kind of way. Since it’s time to start working on getting dinner going we’re taking a game break before our next selection, “Detention of the Dead“, kicks off.

My son is trying out ZombiU on the WiiU. So far it looks like a decent survival-horror FPS with some forced integration with the WiiU game pad. It’s hard to tell from only a few minutes: this one could still go in either direction.

We played a ridiculously long round of Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson Games. This is one of our favorite games and an absolute must for any zombie fan. The rules are insanely simple: roll three dice. Keep any brains and shotgun blasts, put any runners back in the can. You can stop at any point and bank your brains, but three shotgun blasts means that your turn is over and you lose any unbanked brains. First person to 13 wins.

It’s fun, quick and easy enough for anybody to play in minutes. Most games take about ten to twenty minutes, but the round we played during the movie lasted over forty. I ended the game with zero points having rolled triple shotgun blasts at least nine times. My lovely bride won: parents rule, children drool!