Plush of the Dead

I spotted these adorable zombies at Street Level.

Excerpt:

Mexican startup Moloko & Coschca's first toy is a plush doll collection called "Plush of the Dead," inspired by the classic Romero flick "Dawn of Dead"(duh). 

You gotta see this video and tell me if you'd buy one. So cute. 

Zombie Word Search

U H X N N R C E Z B X B Y R U 

B N U L K E R T J S E D R E N 

A Q M D D P K X J H P T A A D 

N T X E D E T C E F N I T N E 

A J T I N W S A I A V K E I A 

O S L A K T D L N R G R M M D 

R H U O C I I E U D T B E A J 

G P D F N K V O T O R S C T X 

H B N G R E V X N A H S H E X 

F E S P R O C J I A R G S D H 

Z O M B I E G N C M B Z H Z C 

S R B H W B S V W C W L A L F 

H R Y G X H F N B Z S K E J J 

T X H K Q V E I K V I K P S E 

S H I J K Y P D Q X X U B P C

ATTACK
BEHEADING
BRAINS
CEMETARY
CORPSE
GHOULS
GROAN
INFECTED
REANIMATED
REVENANT
STRICKEN
UNDEAD
UNMENTIONABLES
ZOMBIE

*source for word search

Land of the Dead (2005) movie

Land of the Dead (2005)

Director and Writer: George A. Romero

Genre: Horror, Zombies

Rating: 4

Inspiration: September Zombies week

- check out today's events

Tagline: The dead shall inherit the Earth.

Description from imdb:

In this new tale a harrowing vision of a modern-day world where the walking dead roam an uninhabited wasteland and the living try to lead "normal" lives behind the walls of a fortified city. A new society has been built by a handful of enterprising, ruthless opportunists, who live in the towers of a skyscraper, high above the hard-scrabble existence on the streets below. But outside the city walls, an army of the dead is evolving. Inside, anarchy is on the rise. With the very survival of the city at stake, a group of hardened mercenaries is called into action to protect the living from an army of the dead.

Amusing quote:

Mike: They're pretending to be alive...

Riley: Isn't that what we're doing? Pretending to be alive?

Trivia:

George A. Romero was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004) that he asked them to appear in this, the fourth part of his "Dead" series, and they appear as the photo-booth zombies in the carnival/bar-room sequence. They also feature prominently in the artwork for the unrated directors' cut.

-- with the make-up, I didn't recognize Simon Pegg

George A. Romero's daughter appears in the film. She is the soldier who shoots the zombie on the electrified fence.

-- kinda neat when a family member of the director makes a cameo

Zombie speed: usual slow-moving, can't swim but can walk under water

Zombification: unknown, they are just there

Zombie mode: low-functioning turning evolving into high-functioning

My thoughts:

In-a-word(s): dead reckoning

In the beginning of the film the camera does a sweep of abandoned neighborhoods. Zombies are scattered here and there. I liked the shot of a zombie band playing some tunes in a gazebo.

As well as showing us the survivors perspective of a world infested with zombies, we get to see a spark from the zombies. They are communicating says one of the characters in the film. Somehow, using telepathy maybe? Because there are still a lot of groaning, moaning and grunting.

These zombies are no longer distracted by sky flowers (fireworks). They have a mission and they're sticking to it which is basically finding some munchies. And you betcha, they get 'em.

Zombies aside, I'm left with thinking about classism. Even in a zombocalyptic world, we humans have to start all over again with establishing basic rights.

Ewww moment: head flip - bite - head flip

Check out this Land of the Dead lego vignette created by cbolego. Amazing what can be done with a set of legos. And, there are special made zombie ones.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth trailer

Today's September Zombies week

YA book highlighted:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

by Carrie Ryan - my review

Check out this Unshelved comic strip of Carrie's book here.

Book trailer:

E. Van Lowe - Past, Present and Future

The Past

When I was growing up I was good at sports. A jock. I also read a lot. An intellectual. I had the incredible good fortune of being able to run in several circles, although I could never seem to bring my various circles of friends together. In fact, my two best friends--one a jock, the other an intellectual--at times told me they hated the other. I attempt to explore the idea of bringing various cliques together in Never Slow Dance With A Zombie. Flash forward: Those two hating friends are now the BEST OF FRIENDS. I LOVE that! I also love teasing them about how much they used to hate each other.

The Present

I am very happy with my life right now. I write full time at home. I never thought I'd enjoy not going to the office but I love it. I work out in the morning, and then I write. My big daily challenge is figuring out what to do for dinner before my wife gets home. No, I don't cook. But I have become quite adept at calling restaurants for take out.

The Future

I'd love to be more conversant in French and Italian... Okay, conversant in French and Italian. My foreign language skills are the equivalent of hunt and peck. I need to find the time to master a language besides Klingon... Oh, wait! I haven't mastered that either.

*guest post from E. Van Lowe - author of Never Slow Dance With A Zombie