Home sick today. Conveniently enough it came on a day off. I've spent most of the day laying around, pretending to sleep. Though I've done some research on TVs so that I can buy one that is super-awesome in the next few days.
I did one other thing today as well. I watched the new AMC show, "The Walking Dead," which is based on a graphic novel by the same name. I generally am busy when it airs, but God in His loving kindness and provision has blessed me with the brilliant gift of DVR. Hallelujah.
Back to zombies. I really dig zombie related stuff, but only on certain levels. There appears to be more zombie obsession worldwide right now than at any time before. Just look around. Not only is the Walking Dead a new huge breakout hit on TV, but look at every other medium. In movies 28 Days Later spawned 28 weeks later which led to a pile of serious zombie-and-zombie-inspired chaos. But Zombies haven't been limited to horror in this latest zombie obsession. Comedies like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead bring smiles and laughs to a genre necessarily ridden with decapitation. Graphic novels now feature my favorite childhood heroes as Marvel Zombies; and need I remind you of the Walking Dead's graphic novel origins? I am tempted to list Xbox live Zombie themed games, for brevity's sake, I refrain.
Here's really the point - I love zombies. I love zombies like MacGyver loves paperclips. There are mountains of fun to be had at the expense of zombies and their brain-craving, decaying bodies.
So, without further ado, here are 37 reasons I think zombies are awesome fodder for movies, tv, books and everything else.
1. Consequence free victims - When angry, who can blame you for taking it out on the undead? They want to eat you anyway.
2. Social parody - Let's just get this one out of the way. Who didn't, at one time or another, look at a crowd of high school kids and think "What a pack of zombies."
3. Bodily humor - Fart jokes are funny. Don't argue with me, they are totally hilarious. The opportunities for lowest-common-denominator humor multiplies when your taking a mindless victim apart piece by piece.
4. Zombies are stupid - Insulting the intelligence of a normal person is generally offensive. However, a brain-sucking, mind-free zombie is easy pickens.
5. Disguises - Fooling zombies by acting like one proved awesome in Zombieland and the Waking Dead.
6. The Scare factor - whether they run, limp, are infected, use weapons or do nothing a cadre of countless killers wanting to have you for dinner (not in the Jan Brady kind of way) is scary.
7. They used to be normal people - This is the plot device I have seen used plenty of times but rarely for all it is worth. Come on people!
8. "What if ..." - I have had numerous conversations about what to do to survive a zombie outbreak and/or apocalypse. Because of those conversations I have a plan. For something that will probably never happen.
9. Zombie fashion - Seeing people walk city streets dressed as zombies is kind of a brilliant trend.
10. Accusations - There are already some zombies out there. I'm not naming names, but one of them does have a name ending in "atner."
11. Bullets - Shooting stuff is an easy way out of your problems. But when the noise of your gun attracts hordes of hungry flesheaters, maybe you have to find a better way.
12. Chainsaws - Not much better than bullets. But it does come with style points.
13. Blunt objects - Protect yourself without alerting the nearby undead. Some of the best include farming tools, bats, guitars, and nightsticks.
37. Zombies can't count.
