Faded Gories

I love George Romero. That's why it pains me to put on my big boy pants and realize that his best films are behind him.

We recently rented Survival of the Dead, the latest of the dead series. While it was not nearly as disappointing (and dull) as Diary of the Dead (a DVD I bought unseen and truly regret), it still wilted on the vine.

The story was ok, it just plodded along very obviously. Zombies looked more funny than scary and seemed to be present only for the perfunctory head shot or the clever kill. The "living" characters were not engaging and there's your

stopping point. We have to care about the characters (and the acting has to be passable as well. Sorry.). Not real bad, but nowhere near previous glories. Or should I say, gories???

What hath gone wronge with the king of the Zombies?

The problem is that Romero made three films, now considered to be the "Dead Trilogy" by the 1,756 avid zombites at Home Page of the Dead, early in his career: Night of the Living Dead ('68), Dawn of the Dead ('78) and Day of the Dead ('82). If you go to the link I provided in this paragraph, you will read in the forums grown men argue (sometimes to the threat of bodily harm) the merits and demerits of these films. One dude even bragged that he watched Dawn over a hundred times, had a Dawn birthday cake, numerous versions of the same film on VHS, T-shirts, and once finished an argument with, "No way, dude. I know this movie." In short, they are obsessed and passionate about these movies. Considering the current rage for zombie films, they are not alone. AMC, right? Right.But despite their absurd devotion, one thing is evident: these early crude horror classics struck a nerve with a helluva lot of people.

Tell us whye, oh great master.

The Dead Triology occupy a unique place in horror history. While George Romero may not have made the first zombie movie, he created the modern version of the zombie. Since then, many have copied him and there have been many sins committed in this genre; the horrid The Return of the Living Dead series to be sure. But when these films first played in theaters, no one could have calculated the effect. Roger Ebert writes of the initial impact of Night: "The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying."

Amen to that, Roger. When I saw Night on local late night TV, it freaked me out. Ditto when I was in college and saw Dawn in the theater. It was simply shocking for its time. And there's another point, my friends.

We are so jaded, so inundated with violence that almost nothing on film can scare us. So while Romero continues to make social commentary within his story lines and his beloved walking dead are merely perfunctory gore, his films have lost any hope of scaring anybody. Rumor has it that he wants to shoot two more. I'll stick with my DVD copies of his best. Diary was my last purchase.

Yesterday, at the local Blockbuster, I was turning in Survival and the cute girl behind the counter asked me if I liked it.

"Not really."

"Yeah," she ruminated for a second, "I think I'm done with zombies."

"Maybe so." I had to agree. It's been a bummer.

Maybe AMC can do something that will thrill. I'm hoping.

Bon Appetit!

It's here.

A full-length zombie series is finally coming to a serious network: AMC. This is the same network that gives us the compelling Mad Men.

Here's the trailer. Methinks that this is going to be the stuff.

http://www.amctv.com/originals/The-Walking-Dead/video?bcpid=86227333001&bclid=88963904001&bctid=593569611001

Zombies are metaphors for the worst impulses in us or the darker angels of our nature, but at least we know what they are. It's the survivors of the apocalypse we have to watch out for. Oh yeah.

Premiering on Halloween.

Higher Learning

FRom the Robert Fripp diary:

Establishing a stable personal presence in a relaxed & engaged state, alternatively expressed, the quality, quantity & intensity of our personal energy field, has been the primary focus of our work in Guitar Craft over its period of 25 years.

[ "A stable personal presence." How many do we know that do not qualify? How many times, uncountable, as a young man was I so uncomfortable in my own skin? I sure could have used these words so many years ago. Today, I see their wisdom.]

A very brief practical introduction to this, which is a life-work, addresses three points:

Eliminating leaks.


1. The most expensive of these are anger, boobyism & twitching, and unnecessary talking. That is, all automatic, habitual & unintentional behaviour.

[Anger is an obvious one. Anger is a fire that distracts us from our true selves. "Boobyism" is a Fripp term that he uses when people have no idea or mindfulness of their physical presence. Think of people who come to the movies and kick the back of your chair. etc.

Unnecessary talking. Amen. Automatic behavior is wasteful.]

2. Attracted attention. Sex, as in advertising; cf the advice given to young male GC students when walking past newspaper & magazine kiosks. Forms of negativity, such as in mainstream media. Negativity is a form of control.

[Negatvity is a form of control. Oh yeah. There's an A-hole who emails all the time about my programming. He seeks attention and control.]

Conservation.

Efficient functioning. Honouring necessity & sufficiency: Do as much as is necessary & as little as possible.

[As a player, sometimes I tell myself, "Just play the damn notes."]

Generation.

This is a subtle area. On our retreat here in NYC we have been addressing intentional breathing & “eating air”. It is also possible to “consciously borrow” from reservoirs & accumulators of finer energies, knowing that, when we die, we can take with us nothing that is not ours.

Different "Strokes"

ORIGINAL STORY 8/8/10
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A man is behind bars for committing "lewd acts" with a mannequin in a public park Sunday morning.

According to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, 61-year-old Eddie M. Campbell from Belle was caught at Booker T. Washington Memorial Park in Malden with his shirt off and his pants around his ankles.

Deputies say Campbell was sitting on a park bench with an armless mannequin on his lap, holding it with one hand -- pleasuring himself with the other.

When the deputy identified himself, Campbell stopped, pushed the mannequin off him and pulled his pants up.

All of this happened in a residential area and close to a church, according to Deputies.

Campbell has been charged with indecent exposure. He gave up his right to have an attorney represent him during arraignment

Campbell is in the South Central Jail on a $2,500 cash only bond.

From the News, In the Lens

Blogger's note: I go through and notice which posts get repeated hits and oddly this one keeps coming up. Is it Jessica's pretty face or the creepy story? I can't say, but it gets hits from all over the world.

According to a Dateline I saw, these type of threats are the TV industry's biggest hidden secret. Imagine how this poor gal feels after finding out about this.


http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200705153

May 15, 2007

Man accused of making school threats

MADISON — A Boone County man is accused of threatening to shoot people at a school Thursday.

Roger Shabdue was arrested and charged with threats of terrorist acts after sending a letter to Channel 3 WSAZ-TV, said Boone County Sheriff Rodney Miller.

“He sent a letter to the television station making some demands that they get rid of a reporter there,” Miller said.

In making those demands, Shabdue raised the possibility that he could go into a school and begin killing students, Miller said. No specific school was mentioned, he said.

Shabdue, 54, had become infatuated with WSAZ news anchor Jessica Ralston [pictured], Miller said.

“In his mind ... there were some phrases used on the air that were offensive and directed personally at him, and that kind of sparked the letter,” Miller said. “I think it was more of an infatuation thing and he had decided that she was making comments that were directed specifically to him.”

According to family members, Shabdue has had issues with mental stability in the past, Miller said. [Not to be cruel, but "Do ya think?"]
The sheriff’s office learned of the letter Thursday around 6 p.m. and had Shabdue in custody by 11 p.m., he said. [That might be the swiftest incarceration in Boone County history.]

“We worked with school board officials up until we took him in custody,” Miller said. “In light of recent events, we didn’t want to take any chances.”

Miller said he didn’t feel that anyone was in any direct danger from Shabdue before he was in custody.
“I don’t know how parents feel about hearing about something like this. Having a spouse and kids in school myself, it is certainly something we take seriously,” he said.

Shabdue is incarcerated at the Southwest Regional Jail and bail is set at $20,000, Miller said.