George's Undead Neo-Western has a composer: John Harrison.
I was personally hoping that the Big Guy would pick Donald Rubinstein, as Ruby's scores for Martin and Knightriders are fantastic (his Bruiser score was pretty damned solid, too), but you'll hear no complaints from me: Harrison's Caribbean-infused and Carpenter-esque score for Day of the Dead is perhaps the finest in the series. After two less-than-memorable Dead scores, George has taken one daddy-long-legged step in the right direction.
...of the Dead is on schedule to be completed in either March or April, barring reshoots.
Thank you, Dread Central.
---
The Don May, Jr. interview is in the can. Expect it soon at FearZone.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Be Clever and Win Zombie Goodies from Tor Books!
Can you concoct a caption for this captivating cop corpse couple?
Then head on over to Tor.com and check out John Joseph Adams' contest--all you need is brilliance! Winner receives a copy of Adams' anthology The Living Dead and the video game Left 4 Dead; a prize package as uncompromisingly saliva-summoning as any I've ever seen.
Bon chance, deadites!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
World War Z review
My review of Max Brooks' World War Z appears in the latest issue of Cemetery Dance magazine (#59).
While terrifying, the Romero-based zombies (aka "Zack") are nothing more than a foil in this masterwork. The true boogeymen are bureaucracy, ignorance and greed. Billions of lives are lost to miscalculations and political ploys.... Immensely imaginative, chillingly authentic, brimming with real-world substance, World War Z is a zombie novel for a new era.Find it on newsstands now!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tagged: A Zombified Meme
Zombie author Kim Paffenroth meme-tagged me and I don't have the heart to let him down. It's a pretty standard "Tell Six Random Interesting Things About Yourself" setup, but I figure that if this journal is going to keep up the pretense of being a zombie blog, they should be six random interesting zombie things.
THE RULES (for this game of tag):
1) LINK TO THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU.
2) POST THE RULES ON YOUR BLOG.
3) WRITE SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF.
4) TAG SIX PEOPLE AT THE END OF YOUR POST AND LINK TO THEM.
5) LET EACH PERSON KNOW THEY ARE TAGGED AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THEIR BLOG.
6) LET THE TAGGER KNOW WHEN YOUR ENTRY IS UP.
7) DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN (not actually a rule).
SIX ZOMBIE THINGS ABOUT JULIA
1) Savini's 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake, while derided or ignored by the majority of fandom, is one of my top five favorite zombie movies. I first rented it in about fifth grade because the chick on the back (Tallman) looked like my aunt. That was my first real exposure to zombies after "Thriller".
2) My favorite zombie ever is probably Dr. Tongue from Day of the Dead. I could stare at him all day.
3) When we worked as scenic artists at Six Flags Jazzland in New Orleans, RJ and I used liquid latex and greasepaint to dress up as zombies during their lead-up to halloween. Lacking explicit permission, we staggered all through the midway terrorizing people. I was dressed a little on the skimpy side, I guess, in a really flimsy low cut tank top, so the patron reaction was... mixed. I didn't realize and become embarrassed about it until later. I put cold cream in my hair to make it greasy and it didn't come out for a week. The hardened latex deeply exacerbated the wrinkles in my forehead, which to this day have not smoothed out.
4) I've written a few dozen stories in my life, and the only two ever to have been published are zombie stories. (Thin Them Out and "The Shunned" in Bits of the Dead)
5) I'm no longer very fond of Romero as a director. I think his early works seem to imply genius but are ultimately simple, potent messages whose shoestring production gave them an accidentally great look that fans mistake for style. When Romero has a real budget, he goes insane and the result is not nearly as effective. Also, I think he's bought the hype about the early films being intentionally loaded with rich, well-developed sociological commentary, so he's taken it upon himself to stuff bags of this crap into every film, with awful, hamfisted results in Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead.
6) I probably would not survive an undead apocalypse. I own no weapons, I can't run very fast for long and my immune system is nothing to write home about. (Come to think of it, the G1 Megatron figure that RJ keeps locked into disguise mode to wave at home intruders probably wouldn't help him much against the undead, so I guess I'll have company.)
And I'm not tagging anybody. Perhaps because I'm a mav'rick? (Perhaps because I only know like two of you on a first-name basis.)
THE RULES (for this game of tag):
1) LINK TO THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU.
2) POST THE RULES ON YOUR BLOG.
3) WRITE SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF.
4) TAG SIX PEOPLE AT THE END OF YOUR POST AND LINK TO THEM.
5) LET EACH PERSON KNOW THEY ARE TAGGED AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THEIR BLOG.
6) LET THE TAGGER KNOW WHEN YOUR ENTRY IS UP.
7) DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN (not actually a rule).
SIX ZOMBIE THINGS ABOUT JULIA
1) Savini's 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake, while derided or ignored by the majority of fandom, is one of my top five favorite zombie movies. I first rented it in about fifth grade because the chick on the back (Tallman) looked like my aunt. That was my first real exposure to zombies after "Thriller".
2) My favorite zombie ever is probably Dr. Tongue from Day of the Dead. I could stare at him all day.
3) When we worked as scenic artists at Six Flags Jazzland in New Orleans, RJ and I used liquid latex and greasepaint to dress up as zombies during their lead-up to halloween. Lacking explicit permission, we staggered all through the midway terrorizing people. I was dressed a little on the skimpy side, I guess, in a really flimsy low cut tank top, so the patron reaction was... mixed. I didn't realize and become embarrassed about it until later. I put cold cream in my hair to make it greasy and it didn't come out for a week. The hardened latex deeply exacerbated the wrinkles in my forehead, which to this day have not smoothed out.
4) I've written a few dozen stories in my life, and the only two ever to have been published are zombie stories. (Thin Them Out and "The Shunned" in Bits of the Dead)
5) I'm no longer very fond of Romero as a director. I think his early works seem to imply genius but are ultimately simple, potent messages whose shoestring production gave them an accidentally great look that fans mistake for style. When Romero has a real budget, he goes insane and the result is not nearly as effective. Also, I think he's bought the hype about the early films being intentionally loaded with rich, well-developed sociological commentary, so he's taken it upon himself to stuff bags of this crap into every film, with awful, hamfisted results in Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead.
6) I probably would not survive an undead apocalypse. I own no weapons, I can't run very fast for long and my immune system is nothing to write home about. (Come to think of it, the G1 Megatron figure that RJ keeps locked into disguise mode to wave at home intruders probably wouldn't help him much against the undead, so I guess I'll have company.)
And I'm not tagging anybody. Perhaps because I'm a mav'rick? (Perhaps because I only know like two of you on a first-name basis.)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Kirkman interview at Newsarama
The writer of The Walking Dead talks about the bold new narrative arc, Adlard's essential contribution, how far he'd go as a father, a gold boat, and the future (or lack thereof) of main character Rick.
Newsarama Article
Dun-dun-duuuuuhn!
(And yes, this cover gets me totally worked up.)
Newsarama Article
Dun-dun-duuuuuhn!
(And yes, this cover gets me totally worked up.)
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Walking Dead, Issue #57
Finally.Finally.
Like a phoenix ascending gloriously from the ashes of whatever that phoenix used to be, or like some other thing being remade in a really impressive manner, issue #57 remakes The Walking Dead in a really impressive manner.
Fast-paced and tense with brusque, real-feeling dialogue and some awesome developments, this may be my favorite issue in... I don't know, years. Add an emotionally up-fucking climax and, mark my snark, this issue will be called both a major turning point in the overall narrative and a classic in its own right.
And that's all I have to say on it. With the mockery uncalled for, I have no reason to sum up the plot at all. It's a simply great issue. See, I don't despise Kirkman. I just hold him to the standard he's established with earlier greatness.
Oh, shit, I fucking forgot, though: P.S. Can't wait to read BFF Handlebar McWeepy's touching-ass Vaseline-lens family flashback. w00t. Although I shouldn't complain--as far as Kirkman's cliffhanger's go, you could do a lot worse. At least it's not a complete fakeout. *wank wank*
See there, Jonathan, baby? I can be loving and vicious in the same breath. What can I say--what I do best isn't very nice. ;)
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