t.digitalis

Idle Thoughts on the Hungry Undead

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:22:00 -0400

Zombieland opened in theaters last week, another entry in the American zombie canon, and as it stands one more document from which we can explore the contemporary psyche through the metaphors contained in its horror stories.

George A. Romero is generally regarded as “the father of the modern zombie movie” (as opposed to the antiquity zombie movie?). His 1968 picture Night of the Living Dead introduced crowds of shambling, decaying reanimated corpses set on leisurely gnawing on a human foot or femur, eventually threatening to outnumber a steadily dwindling live human population. In the world of this film, Romero imagines a society slowly destroying itself. After involvement in a series of world-spanning conflicts, this filmmaker’s America has disposed of any further attempts to impact the world, turning its sights to roaming around in big cars and going on lazy Sunday afternoon excursions. This is all well and fine, except for the underlying consumption driving mid-century middle America.

Which is where the hordes of flesh-eaters comes in.

Romero continues to develop this thesis in Dawn of the Dead (1978), focusing his hungry maw on the outbreak of strip malls and the all-consuming impulse spender. In these two movies, as well as the films that follow in the Dead series, the undead are hungry but slow. One understands this to illustrate a sense of growing, inevitable opposition. An opponent who looms in the distance, lethal and ever-advancing, but handicapped with a lack of ability to nimbly navigate. We may be outnumbered by mindless millions, but *our* moral code, and our resourcefulness and intelligence will save us in the end. Level-headed reason and patience, Romero seems to be saying, is the real-world equivalent of the shot to the head (the established zombie-fighter’s coup de grace).

Unfortunately, the rules that kept us alive suddenly became a liability. We spent so much time holed up in zombie-proof bunkers and safehouses that we never noticed the undead adding one simple but crucial weapon to their aresenal: speed. All of a sudden, our maggot-infested neighbors and former co-workers had more in common with Usain Bolt than Boris Karloff.

The zombies had learned to run.

Led by the release of 28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead (by Zack Snyder), the zombie-prey relationship began to resemble footage of the Serengeti from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Our looming threat had not only caught up with us, but began chasing us through the streets at a breakneck pace. The zombies were immediately forcing us to deal with them on their terms and at that speed, which seems to be typified by, if I may coin the phrase, new-modern zombie movie.

There are some parallels between the evolution of the zombie and shifts on a global political scale. Particularly in America, the conflicts and issues which were easily ignored or at least quietly considered were now heard screaming at our front door, calling us by name.

It is a testament, perhaps, to the perception that the problems plaguing the world must be dealt with immediately. No longer can climate change, hunger, poverty, crime, and their connected events be swept under the carpet. The collective consciousness understands that solutions to these issues are the key to survival for us all.

We’ve got the brains. May as well use ‘em while we can.

Gettin' Screwed by the DMV

Mon, 11 May 2009 13:33:14 -0400

Friday, May 8, 2009 will henceforth be remembered as the day I was pulled over and had my tags taken by Chapel Hill PD. Why, you must be asking.

This was made possible by the work of the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.

Let’s visit mid-April 2008, when I review my policy cost with Insurance Compny A. Some research finds lower prices can be found at Insurance Company B, so I decide to switch. I call InCoB and start a policy that will kick in on June 1, my regular rollover date. A call is placed to InCoA, directing them to discontinue my policy when it ends. For the sake of expediency, I had decided not to have everything change that day to avoid having to deal with refunds and immediate payments. (Perhaps this was What I Did Wrong?)

In July, I received a postcard from NC DMV informing me that their computer system registered a lapse in coverage. Surely this is a mistake, I thought, as I was proactive in taking care of my policy before it ran out. I got on the horn with a DMV employee who explained to me that the error was in their system. She was able to find a record from InCoB, providing proof of coverage, but the system would only honor the most recent record, which was from InCoA saying that they were no longer providing coverage on my car. If I called InCoB, they could send me a form which I would then fax to the DMV proving I had current coverage. I did this, and later followed up with DMV to ensure the flag had been cleared. I was told it had been, and that I had nothing to worry about.

Until last week, when I was pulled over after a cop ran my tags at an intersection and found that I had had no insurance coverage since June 1, 2008.

I breathlessly explained all of this to the unsympathetic officer, who set in motion a very unpleasant 4-hour process of having my car towed back home, calling InCoB and having them fax the appropriate forms directly to the DMV, calling my manager to inform him that I would not be coming into the office, and finally taking the bus to the local DMV office to purchase new tags.

Thanks, NC DMV.

Thanks for having an antiquated recordkeeping system.

Thanks for sending a first notice, and no other follow-ups to let me know that this problem had not been cleared up.

Thanks for May 8, 2009.

Chocolate picked me up from work (got in early today!) and we went to Cedar Falls park in Chapel...

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:05:43 -0400

Chocolate picked me up from work (got in early today!) and we went to Cedar Falls park in Chapel Hill. We strolled, which turned into walking, which morphed into hiking down toward the creek. He spotted plants from his native plants class and I attempted to teach him further bits of knowledge about the local flora, but he didn’t believe me.

On the way back to the car, we discussed evolution.

Winter’s switchblade flip to the other end of the calendar, spring-time.

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Winter’s switchblade flip

to the other end of the

calendar, spring-time.

They were colorful, Chromatic and finely ground. Celebrate it all.

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:17:42 -0400

They were colorful,

Chromatic and finely ground.

Celebrate it all.

Honest Tea bottlecap

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:43:35 -0400

Honest Tea bottlecap

Haiku

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:48:00 -0400

Shoulders hunched in spite

of anticipation—

Boys too cool for fall.

That’s it. I’m calling bullshit on the concept of “light sculptures.”...

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:39:50 -0500

That’s it. I’m calling bullshit on the concept of “light sculptures.” It’s just a flashlight!

Just bought the first physical CDs I’ve purchsed in probably 6 months or so. Ye’s 808s...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:22:19 -0500

Just bought the first physical CDs I’ve purchsed in probably 6 months or so. Ye’s 808s and Heartbreaks and Such Fun from Annuals

No trampling yet @OpenEye … but it’s early

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:22:01 -0500

No trampling yet @OpenEye … but it’s early

Watching (gasp!) music videos on MTVmusic.com

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:21:40 -0500

Watching (gasp!) music videos on MTVmusic.com

Realizing that I don’t listen to cassettes anymore, I’ve finally purchased Sgt Pepper on...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:19:48 -0500

Realizing that I don’t listen to cassettes anymore, I’ve finally purchased Sgt Pepper on CD.

Time between putting lunch in refrigerator and retrieval: 3 minutes.

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:17:22 -0500

Time between putting lunch in refrigerator and retrieval: 3 minutes.

Santa, Plz bring me Saved Serches in Google Reader. Thx.

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:16:12 -0500

Santa, Plz bring me Saved Serches in Google Reader. Thx.

Question for MyNC folks: is it possible to save (not embed) a video offline?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:41:54 -0500

Question for MyNC folks: is it possible to save (not embed) a video offline?

Weekly Top Ten Artists

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:22:43 -0400

dmaleus’s Charts – Users at Last.fm

of Montreal
Apollo Heights
Shugo Tukumaru
Softlightes
Arcade Fire
Aesop Rock
Bloc Party
Tokyo Police Club
Beirut
Mates of State

(removed podcasts)

had a weird dream last night; Chocolate worked for the Obama campain, while I was in the McCain...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:36:19 -0400

had a weird dream last night; Chocolate worked for the Obama campain, while I was in the McCain camp, on Palin’s damage control team.

SNL killed it with the debate skit. The Lawrence Welk Show one is so wrong, I’m going to tell...

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:19:13 -0400

SNL killed it with the debate skit. The Lawrence Welk Show one is so wrong, I’m going to tell my momma on it.

just got a bunch of new ties from one of our professors. Yay, accessories!

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:11:01 -0400

just got a bunch of new ties from one of our professors. Yay, accessories!

is moving faster than the machine

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:06:58 -0400

is moving faster than the machine