Big plans

[Special thanks to my friends Goatie who made the new blog header for me, I owe you guys some beers.]

So the dead haven't claimed me as of yet, just had some things that required my attention before the updates could continue. There's gears turning already for the future... Zombie Tools, Revenant Magazine, ZomBcon, Zombie Research Society... oh my! The zombified fun never ends here at the Single Bullet Theory so stay tuned!

Hmm I wonder...

Created by Oatmeal

The single bullet theory defined

Single bullet theory: sin·gle bul·let the·o·ry /ˈsɪŋgəl/ˈbʊlɪt/theer-ee/: 1: A selective method of firing using one bullet per target, i.e. killshots only 2: Military sniper slogan, 'One shot, one kill' circa WWI 3: The preferred method of zombie dispatching, anything more than this is considered wasteful and deemed hazardous to survival in an undead world.

"So much for the single bullet theory..." - The Crow graphic novel

That was the first place I heard the words single bullet theory and automatically my brain went to the motto of one shot one kill and from that, naturally, it went to zombies. Too often I've seen people empty entire magazines either in panic or an attempted scythe maneuver and die screaming as soon as the last round is expended. I've seen one man go further counting the shots on his Colt Python magnum revolver than another going fully automatic with his rifle. If you must fire more than one round at a time the best piece of advice comes from an old space marine, Remember, short controlled bursts. 
Control is key when firing, don't panic!

Jerusalem over/out

Surviving Turkey Day

Survival tip of the (holi)day: Beware the turkey. Turkey contains an amino acid called tryptophan, when injested, especially while on an empty stomach (as will very quite possibly be the case in a survival scenario) causes the body to produce serotonin causing the person to grow drowsy and want to take a nap. Bear this in mind when eating on the run or any scenario where you aren't especially safe, but in a pinch it might help you drift off if you're having trouble. No one likes having to fight through the fog of having just been woken from a sound turkey sandwich coma.
Happy Thanksgiving from me at Single Bullet Theory!

Now if you'll excuse me I have a block of geeks to clear... that's what happens when you wake me up, I wake up angry. Lock n' load!

Living In The World Of Survival Horror

[Theme from John Carpenter's The Thing From Another World by Ennio Morricone] 
I chose this track in honor of the inches of ice and snow blanketing Seattle and for the morose tone of the article. Plus the energy-efficient streetlamps make me feel like I'm in Outpost #31. Enjoy!

Your zombie plan will fail. If you think otherwise, you may as well put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye now. Plans never stay that way for long, especially when it comes to traversing the depraved new world. Wave goodbye to mass transit, modern convenience and microwave burritos as it's all going right into the toilet.

Take Seattle this week for example: Few inches of snow and the city shits itself and shuts down (3.5" fell in my neighborhood). The city itself is ill-equipped to handle a disaster, any disaster if this is all it takes.

Many of us dream of the day when the dead will walk without giving much thought into the horrors that lay in wait as a result. The people you love will die. The things you cared for will no longer exist. Money will mean nothing anymore, food and bullets, though, will be worth their weight in gold if not more. When civil order fails and martial law goes into full effect it will only get worse. When those designated to serve and protect jump ship and forsake the safety of the masses to protect their own asses and families, anarchy will reign supreme. All those bad elements will no longer be held in check and will run rampant. In short, it's going to be a one way ticket to chaos and literal Hell on Earth.

The term Survival Horror was coined in the very first Resident Evil game back in 1996 and it's aptly fitting. Unlike action games where the object is to shoot shoot shoot kill kill kill, survival horror places the player in a desperate situation with the odds stacked formidably against them with little to no weaponry or first aid items. Art imitates life and life imitates art. One can expect a similar situation when the real disaster strikes, but as stated previously and will be once again for emphasis: this is the real world, there is no reset button. If you fuck up here, it's Game Over for real.

So plan to fail. Never make one plan and expect it to go off without a hitch because it never will. One could make a hundred different plans, trying to account for as many different variables (weather, traffic, supplies etc) and always you'll run into the one scenario you didn't plan for (didn't expect that gas tanker truck to jackknife into a line of city buses packed to the gills with people trying to escape the city did you?).

Point being: it's not going to be as easy as you may have seen in the movies or played in the videogames. You won't be able to run to the never empty gun store and arm yourself to the teeth, swing by the camping store for all the dehydrated food and survival gear you'll need to survive, hotwire the nearest truck and book for the countryside. This is just one half of the phrase though, this is just the survival part... we haven't even gotten to the horror part.

Pick someone that matters a great deal to you. It could be a friend, a lover, a parent or sibling. Now imagine bearing witness to their gruesome screaming evisceration by a group of walking corpses and not being able to do a single thing except either sit and watch hopelessly waiting for them to notice you and be eaten yourself or force yourself to run, to leave them. Or imagine the one you love trying to take chunks of your flesh with their bare hands and teeth and being the one that's forced to put them out of their misery. Imagine the kind of lasting damage this would have on a person and leave them with.

Oh yeah and no handy dandy headshrinking doctors to help you cope or any drug they can give you to help you with the depression or traumatic stress following any of the encounters.

Feeling hopless yet?

Good! That's the point.

The Apocalypse isn't going to be a shiny glossy romp through dystopia on a Twinkie-hunt where no one gets hurt unless it's for a plot point. Don't fail to plan and do plan on failing. Being equipped for a zombie apocalypse means at least you'll be adequately prepared for any other sort of disaster whether it's fire, flood or earthquake.

Do

-Plan for failure (Expect the worst but hope for the best)

-Be as prepared as possible/Get Emergency supplies (food, water, radio, blankets etc)

-Be serious, this is your life and perhaps the lives of others who may be depending on you

-Expect your 'escape plan' to fail 99 times out of 100

-Have plenty of backup plans

Do not

-Expect this to just blow over and that you can get back WoW and 711 by week's end

-Expect this to play out "...just like that movie (game)", sometimes there is no such thing as a happy ending

-Be one of the people that goes running for the hills at the first sign of trouble, it will only get you killed

-Plan for success, like everything will be alright (your car WILL run out of gas, the freeway WILL be blocked, and you WILL run out of ammo at the WORST possible moment)

So prepare, plan... and pray you'll live through it. Sleep well kids!

Fighting for every inch of life

[This might sound familiar... a certain game about a group of 3 plus 1 that weren't supposed to make it... yes it's that one. I felt like writing but not something all my own... what can I say, my meeting didn't thwart my addiction, it only fed it. Oops... Anywhos... enjoy]

It was the killshot that did it. The final bullet between the eyes blew the stalking zombie backwards against the car and set off it's overly sensitive alarm, it's owner far beyond caring if it got stolen now or not. The cacophony of whoops and beeps echoed off buildings and reverberated down the street as if calling out to the night.

Then the night responded.

"Ugh this is gonna get bad," the oldest groaned from behind a cigarette

Everywhere there were shadows dancing and growing converging on them and a steady howl began to rise up out of the silence. The group checked their weapons and ammo and backed up against each other. Now there was a mob of them running as fast as they could towards them. They were coming from all directions, up and over the fence, out of the alleys.

Time slowed to a crawl as the mob just got larger and larger and closer and closer.

Alright you diseased sons of bitches, the gruffest thought to himself tightening his grip on his scattergun, come get som-what the fuck?

His moment of machismo quickly ended as something at the end of the block caught his eye. It was massive and with a roar it sent a parked car hurtling toward them. He didn't move, he narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. The others turned as the gnarled mass of metal and rubber flew past them smashing into the fence behind them unleashing even more infected.

"Run or shoot?" the panicked one asked "RUN OR SHOOT?"

"Run then shoot!" the oldest responded taking off running

The massive creature was barreling down the street after them paying no attention to what got in its way mowing through several mobs of the infected as it howled in rage at the survivors.

"There!" said the toughest chick they ever met pointing at an open alley

They ran and the infected followed.

"Get to the rooftop! It's our only chance!" panic yelled jumping for the closest fire escape

"Move! Go! Go!" tough responded taking point for some cover fire, "Come on, come on!" he insisted looking at the corner when suddenly from amidst the horde it came rampaging. For something so immense it moved quickly because before he could blink he had the wind knocked out of him and he was looking up at it rearing back to smash him into the pavement.

Thankfully his graying guardian angel in olive drab lit ugly up with a barrage from his rifle stunning it momentarily. It recovered and swung a massive fist at him, but he sidestepped and the enormous bulk of it went crashing through the brick wall. Instead of slowing it down it merely grabbed a hunk of concrete and hurled it at the humans on the fire escape. It bounced off the metal fixture causing it groan under the stress

As drab turned one of the infected was about on top of him when it's head exploded from above.

"Go! I'll hold them off!" she cried firing in sync with her dual 9's.

Ugly had crawled out of the bricks and was jumping for the fire escape, but the already damaged structure couldn't hold the weight and each jump bent and tore away great chunks of twisted metal.

She was still firing when it leaped straight at her tearing the floor from beneath her feet. The metal fell away from the building and she dove back towards the building, her eyes locking with the tattooed tough for a split second saying it all without a word  

ohmygodpleasedontletmefallpleasecatchme

His arm shot out and grabbed onto her, pulling her to safety.

Beneath the rest of the fire escape broke away and fell on top of the incredible hulking giant in a thundering crash and another screaming howl, this one in pain.

They collapsed into a heap on the roof

"We made it!" panic said without a trace of it and a bit of cockiness in his voice, "I can't believe we made it!"

"Son, we just made it across the street," the oldest said as he lit another cigarette, "no reason to go throwing a party..."

The other two just looked down at where they had just been, he was right though. They hadn't gone more than 50 feet from their safehouse of the last 24 hours... how were they going to get out of the city like this? They weren't so fortunate as to be included in the government's great evacuation plan along with the rest of the populace... no... it was though they were left for dead...



{please don't sue me valve?}

Update from the front lines - Survival 101

It's been +20 days since the first outbreak in Seattle. The recent outbreak has taught me more than any other encounter could have. Some of my preconceived thoughts and notions were only furthered, meanwhile a few took a dent or two. 

One thing I've taken into heavy consideration is my own preparedness for the next outbreak. I've survived before but only by sheer dumb luck and relying on those killer instincts. So in the spirit of "Always being prepared" I've hashed together a few more vital pieces of information regarding survival.

1) The single bullet theory - My first rule in survival. The single bullet theory. I know some geniuses and hotshots like to try and show their marksmanship by double tapping a target in the head but I, personally, find this pointless. Like a certain well known and mocked actor proclaimed in a film, If you can't do it with one bullet, don't do it at all. Also regarding the American way of shooting enough bullets hoping you'll hit the target.

Now, figuring the average speed and pace of walker isn't very speedy if one takes their time and doesn't panic when squeezing (not pulling) the trigger, a single effective killshot maybe executed. Myself, I tend to favor closer quarters than most not out of arrogance or bravado but accuracy. 

This is a famous picture from the Vietnam war shot by Associated press photographer Eddie Adams of General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan of the National Police executing a Vietcong prisoner.

Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing Nguyễn Văn Lém - Wikipedia

Now as brutal as the image is, consider if the executed prisoner were a rampaging zombie trying to take a chunk out of you. A shot at that close of range to that specific region is going to be a near guaranteed kill. One shot, one kill as the old sniper slogan goes. Also consider facing off with an odd number of attackers and only enough rounds for an even number of them, or what if the worst case happens and you are bitten and out of ammo. The only thing worse than being eaten by them would possibly have to be being forced to die and reanimate. 

2) Silence. It's golden as any theater will tell you. As neat as guns are and how we all love them, I must express my own disapproval of them. Studies have shown that walking dead are attracted to any loud noises and gunshots are just that. As far as the sound can travel, figure there are going to be lots of dead ears that will pick up on it and be drawn to its location. So this is why if a fight is absolutely necessary, Be Quiet. If you've had any sort of martial arts or military training one already is aware of the advantage of a stealthy approach to a loud boisterous one. Noise draws attention and attention will get you overwhelmed and killed. So that being said and ruling out the usage of silenced firearms, nothing beats a good old fashioned blade, bludgeon or effective melee-type of weapon. 

I like knives and blades. The trick though is to weed out the flashy glam-my junk that will only serve to get you killed and find something dependable, reliable and won't falter at a crucial moment (as it will, Murphy's Law that anything can and will go wrong is in full effect in a Z-Day scenario). Perhaps it's my own personal xenophilia but I tend to favor Japanese styled blades. Whether it be a katana sword or a a tanto bladed knife I'm all for it. 

Cold Steel Emperor Series

3) Gear. This is something I'm still working on personally and I'll come back to this periodically the more I know. But here is what I do know: Max Brooks states in the Zombie Survival Guide (or ZSG as I shall abbreviate from henceforth) that you need to be ready at a moments notice to grab your bag and go. As the name implies a Bug Out Bag is vital. It should contain all the essentials, Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), pouches of water, medical and first aid supplies, radio, ammunition, clothing and essential tools. I'm doing my research on military rigging equipment and packing systems such as the ALICE and MOLLE gear systems. But a hiking pack would also be sufficient as well. Just make sure the weight is tolerable and not cumbersome, you will need to hike and in some instances be ready to fight. Either way as previously stated, be prepared! 

4) Ultimate zombie combating tip courtesy of Max Brooks

As in any martial art, the first rule is not to fight but to run away! Keep that in mind! In closing we must all be prepared for the coming onslaught, but as prepared as we may be in terms of outfitting ourselves nothing will prepare us for the horrors you'll endure during the outbreak. 

Remember kids, one shot one kill... you might need that last one for yourself

Dead in 60 Seconds - Arming Yourself For Survival in Under a Minute

[This was an idea Ryan had that just didn't quite pan out but I wrote on it anyway without going too far into detail since I wasn't sure what kind of angle I would end up using... so I just kept all 3, I plan on doing individual articles on Ma on Brooks as they are both sources of excellent info]

"If I had some duct tape, I could fix this." - Macgyver

Your worst fear has come true. The dead have risen. The TV is buzzing with reports of attacks and telling you to destroy the brain. The sirens and screams are getting louder. Suddenly there's a slow incessant pounding on your door.

The dead are here.

You've got less than a minute before they break down your door and are after you. Quickly you grab whatever is lying around the house in order to defend yourself. These few seconds are all that stand between you and a grisly death, make them count!

Most of the time when asked what they would do if an apocalyptic situation involving zombies were to arise, most people will state something about getting their chainsaw and their favorite boomstick and going to town. While this worked in the Evil Dead films even Bruce Campbell is noted to regard the significant weight to wielding a chainsaw.

Too often people are lulled by creature comforts or modern luxury. Certain shortages of supplies are often considered in disaster situations: food, water, medicine but rarely is ammunition considered. Since the discovery of gunpowder by the Chinese to repel invading Mongols, modern warfare has never been the same. As a society and a species we are too reliant upon guns to solve our problems both domestically and internationally. But what if there was suddenly no ammunition left to be had? Where would that leave you? Do you know how to manufacture your own bullets? Do you have the tools? The time? The technical know-how? If so, then you have a leg up on the rest of the populace and a bit of an advantage. For the rest of us poor sods, we need to learn to make the best out of what we have on hand. This is where weapon improvisation can be a life saving skill if properly utilized. Break out the duct tape!

So in your one minute rampage to grab various odds and ends to craft your zombie eliminating weapon of doom, you remembered to grab something to hold it together with right? I mean the last thing you need is for your spearhead to fall off before trying to impale a zombie (and no that’s not a euphemism for necrophilia, perv).

Chuck Green of Capcom’s Dead Rising 2 is the ultimate Macgyver master of duct tape ingenuity. Give this motor cross handyman any number of random items and it will be a guaranteed zombie killer. From the dead simple, a spiked baseball bat, to the brutally efficient, a vacuum cleaner mounted with saw blades or a motorcycle loaded with chainsaws. The game is probably a shining example of what not to do in real life, but then again what video game isn’t? But that’s not the point, the point is to get creative and kill zombies in the most imaginative ways possible (I’d like a pitchfork-mounted shotgun if I thought I could get away with it in the real world!). Get creative! Have fun with it! If you screw up, hey there’s the reset button for a reason. Enjoy it! For if there is ever such an outbreak you’d best remember: The game is your life, if you die its game over man.

Author Max Brooks goes into extensive weapons detailing in his book Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. He makes special note that you want something light, portable and sharp and to go for straight edges as well since serrations have a tendency of getting caught in flesh at inopportune moments. Guns cause noise, noise draws attention, attention gets you killed so silence is a key factor. Katanas, crowbars and machetes are usually considered for their effectiveness and reliability. The key to any tool is knowing how to handle and use it.

Roger Ma takes some of the key points set out by Max Brooks and runs even further with them. Have you considered your exact point of attack on a zombie? Sure hit it in the head, but are you sure you'll make a killshot or will your weapon just get stuck? Consider improvised weapons before trying to find a replica of a classic. Take for example the handy dandy sidewalk scraper at your local hardware store over the shiny lethal looking sword from the mall cutlery store, which do you think will be more effective? Read Roger Ma's Zombie Combat Manual to find out valuable info!

So if you don't own either of these books, what are you waiting for? Go get them now! Your survival of the zombie apocalypse may depend on it!

The Hand That Feeds - Anatomy of a Zombie Bite

[This is a piece I wrote for the Zombie Research Society. I tried to dissect a zombie bite from a purely biological standpoint, this is how the human body works and breaks down respectively. A zombie bite is never explained to us, we are just given the same answer as it would be to potentially cross the streams. It would be bad. Ok I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing, explain. Well you come back as a zombie. Why? Because it kills you. How? Well er... um... because... it's a zombie...? Read on...]

 

The hand that feeds us is in some danger of being bitten

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

We humans as a species are very protective of our bodies. The mere thought of getting sick and being brought to our knees from within by our own immune system will make even the strongest of people quiver in fear. In the dark ages it was believed that illnesses and ailments were 'bad spirits' or curses and were met with sometimes primitive treatments, that is until the late 1800's and the discovery of bacteria by Robert Koch. Through the modern medicine of today we've discounted superstition and old wives' tales as myth and fallacy in favor of establishing legitimate scientific medical proof of living organisms as the cause and developed appropriate treatments and vaccinations to illnesses that may have proven life-threatening to prior generations. Yet in spite of all our amazing breakthroughs and medical advances the fear of bodily invasion has never changed. This is why a zombie, literally, embodies our worst fear come true.

Like so many predatory creatures found in nature, a majority of a zombies' power comes from the fear of its bite (next to their abundance in numbers and seemingly adept hunting ability). We've known for years that a bite from a zombie has proven fatal 99.999% percent of the time but we've never analyzed why. Let's look deeper shall we?

A living human mouth is rife with up to 100,000,000 organisms per mL of saliva (as many as 190 different species) residing on every tooth and in every crack and crevice. These bacterium serve many different functions within the mouth, some are helpful and aid in the pre-digestion of food or fight disease for example while others can cause something as minor as bad breath or cause serious illness. The number of bad bacteria is reduced if the individual makes good oral hygiene a regular habit.

You ever forget to brush your teeth before going to bed one night? That film covering your teeth and gums the next morning when you wake up is plaque, oral bacteria, that grows rampantly in the human mouth. If left unchecked, this plaque will transform into a veritable Petri dish of bacteria and fungi since the mouth has perfect conditions to support growth at an alarming rate.

Now imagine this person has been dead just long enough to begin putrefication before reanimation. You've got a whole new set of bacterium trying to eat away necrotic tissue along with whatever was previously living in the person's body. Also, throw in the fun variable of whether or not this zombie has been eating someone or not.

Why? You ask. Zombies just LOVE entrails. They seem to have a particular fondness for intestines. Our guts are just full of even more fun gastrointestinal flora that normally help us digest the food we eat and excrete the waste. Add a heaping dollop of this into our lovely stew of microbes and you have Howard Hughes' (or Howie Mandel's for that matter) worst nightmare. You ever notice how a zombie's favorite spot is to go for the trapezius muscle in between the shoulder and the neck/carotid artery? Picture all this filth and nastiness entering into your bloodstream, put the entry site near a major artery or venal system and you're essentially dead within the minute. The resulting massive infection is what causes a bitten person to expire. The human immune system is only so strong and it cannot fight all the infections off, so the system fails and the subject dies allowing for resurrection.

Treatment with all known disinfectants such as povodone iodine, isopropyl rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide; antibiotics from penicillin to the worlds’ strongest anti-virals have proven ill-effective. The only known 'cure' for a bite from mortiis viventiis is the immediate death of the bitten subject via decapitation or significant trauma to the brain.  

Sidenotes:

-A note about the strength of a human jaw:

From the website of dental health:

"Normal chewing places about 68 lbs/sq inch of pressure on the back teeth. If you intentionally clench your teeth you may increase that force to about 150 lbs/sq inch. However, an individual who clenches and grinds their teeth subconsciously at night can place up 1200 lbs/sq inch of force. Sounds like an industrial grinding machine!" ¹

-Amputation should never be considered a viable treatment. The chances of catching the infection before it gets into the bloodstream are minute

-With amputation there is the SERIOUS risk of exsanguination (bleeding to death) unless a proper tourniquet is applied and the bleeding stopped, also there is greater risk of infection at the amputation site

-The resulting outbreak from untreated zombie bites is simple mathematics. Infection is a simple equation: You start with one zombie (Patient Zero as it has been known), this one becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight and so on and so forth spiraling outward exponentially until the human population is gone.

1 Dental Health Library Article Bite and Occlusion

http://www.dental--health.com/biteocclusionpohl.html

The Darkest Day Seattle Has Ever Known!

It has been established the George A Romero is the indisputable godfather of the living dead. Recent reports trickling in issue a warning that Friday October 29th will prove to be the darkest day of horror Seattle and the world has ever known, and by darkest I mean brightest. zomBcon is bringing the original patriarch of the modern zombie, George Romero to Seattle for the 25th anniversary of Day of the Dead.

Romero himself will be honored for his body of work in the genre. To showcase the 25th Anniversary of Day of the Dead we've gathered the stars of the movie Terry Alexander (John the chopper pilot), and John Amplas (Ted Fisher) for the biggest red carpet event catered specifically for the living dead.

The story moves from Romero's usual locale of Pennsylvania to Florida where the seemingly last living survivors are forced to band together underground in an abandoned missile facility. A small squad of soldiers oversee the safety of a few scientists racing to try and find a cure before the human race becomes extinct.

Cinematically the film was overshadowed during its July 1985 release of Back to the Future that same month and Dan O'Bannon's Return of the Living Dead less than a month later. At the time Day received criticism for being overly 'dark' or 'preachy' when compared to Romero's take on 70's consumerism in his classic Dawn of the Dead.

Day was meant to be Romero's epic conclusion to his Dead trilogy with a budget of seven million dollars (Night had $114,000 while Dawn had $650,000 for budgets). Romero had stated that he intended it to be his 'Gone with The Wind' of his Series ending when the dead stop rising. The original script had human trained SWAT zombies living underground with a scientific research staff and being pitted against the wild zombies that roam above ground as well a band of rebel civilians within the complex.

Sadly the studio was not impressed and slashed the films' budget by half down to a mere $3.5 million. This massive dent forced Romero to do some heavy rewrites, abandoning several plot points and many supporting characters. Though most of the story's main points remained intact, some of the elements of this original script would not be expanded upon until 20 years later when Romero would return to the screen in Land of the Dead.

Today the film stands as a testament to the Reaganomic politics of the day and hints at the paranoia of war with our nuclear neighbors. Among the gorehounds and horror movie fanatics Day of the Dead doesn't disappoint with some of the most shocking effects ever done by Tom Savini and the Kurtzman, Nicotero and Berger SFX crew.

Join us this weekend to welcome George and the cast of Day of the Dead for its 25^th Anniversary Reunion at zomBcon at Seattle Center. George and the cast will be on hand to discuss the filming, answer your questions, pose for photographs and be signing merchandise on Friday at 12 o’clock at the Exhibition Hall Showcase Stage. We’ll see you at Seattle Center Halloween weekend!

A Clockwork Zombie: What The Fuck?? Malcolm McDowell at zomBcon?!?

[Hi ho again folks, Shadow here. Another zomBcon goody here in it's uncensored four lettered glory, and once again a blend of website and my copies...]

Malcolm McDowell is considered one of the worlds most easily recognizable cult movie icons as the milk-drinking, Nasdat-slovo speaking, Beethoven loving ultra-violent madman of Stanley Kubrick's film Clockwork Orange

Having played his fair share of lunatics and encountered psychopaths aplenty, he's even seen the post Apocalyptic world more than once. In chaotic future in Class of 1999, he played a Seattle high school principal where robotic teachers are sent in to teach and keep the peace amidst the gangs, the movie was filmed right here in Wallingford and down on the waterfront.

"So, what the fuck does Malcolm McDowell have to do with zombies," you ask?
 
Slandering me best droog are ye? You'll take a right tolchoking upside your gulliver I hear another stinking slanderin slovo out of ye!
 
*ahem*
Plenty, though not a seasoned zombie killer yet, he does have an impressive notch on his belt. He is known and hated by Trekkies around the world - some to the point of death threats - as being the man responsible for killing Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations. He'll be joining the festivities at ZomBcon International this Halloween weekend at Seattle Center (Friday, October 29th through Sunday October 31st) as a featured guest joining such other popular movie icons like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell along with many other notable names.

Malcolm will be signing autographs for fans, as well as featured in a number of panels including the outrageous pop culture showdown game show, Family Feud: Trekkies vs Zombies on Sunday afternoon as well as midnight screening of A Clockwork Orange on Friday at SIFF Cinema.
Malcolm Mcdowell is slated to play ace zombie killer Rex Necro in Chris Gabriel's zombie comedy First Platoon alongside John Kassir (voice of the Cryptkeeper from Tales From the Crpyt) and a rumored Sid Haig (Spider Baby, House of 1000 Corpses) First Platoon is expected in theaters sometime mid-next year.

So until the next time my living dead droogs, live long and prosper, drink your milk plus and viddy well, viddy well.

Praise Hello Kitty for Zombie Jesus!

[Your Humble Narrator here. This is an article I wrote for the ZomBcon blog, this is a combination of the website version and more of my original as well. Editing credit to Christian De Coninck Lucas and many many thank yous to Ryan Reiter, the braiiiinnnnsss behind ZomBcon and my esteemed employer for the last few months. Cheers gents it was a pleasure and an honor.]

 

Seattle. The Emerald City. Ask someone that's not from here what they know about Washington state and they'll probably tell you one of several things: the weather sucks as it's cloudy and rains a lot, most of the famous people from here are dead like Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Hedberg, Bruce Lee, Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley, and depending on who you ask (regrettably) "That's there the Twilight series takes place!" 

In addition to Nirvana leading the grunge movement of the 90's, Bill Gates brought Silicon Valley to Seattle with Microsoft, and Howard Schultz started the caffeinated revolution with Starbucks coffee. Now in 2010, Ryan Reiter of the Red, White & Dead zombie walk in Fremont brings the worlds' first-ever celebration of the living dead to Seattle, zombie capital of the world, offering a new level of interactive fan experience with zomBcon International.

The city itself is a veritable melting pot of all sorts of people from all sorts of cultures and walks of life and orientations. It's where economical and green hippie crunchy granola lifestyle meets the cutting microchipped edge. Does it really come as any surprise that Japan's most well known and well loved pop culture icon is teaming up with a convention of the living dead at the Seattle Center this Halloween? It's a veritable no-braaaiiinerrr.

Sanrio, the corporation behind Hello Kitty, is celebrating their 50^th anniversary with their Small Gift mobile pop-up tour across the United States this fall. The Tour kicks off in mid October with its' first official stop in Seattle. The tour will feature stops in Las Vegas, New York and Atlanta.

To top it off, also in attendance at Seattle Center are the Ladies of Faith and they will be singing their songs of praise alongside our hungry moans for warm flesh. Hello Kitty, Zombies and Jesus may seem like strange bedfellows (unless you want to get into the 'Jesus was a zombie' debate) but it speaks volumes about the vast diversity we have in the city.

Only in this city can the potheads (more or less) peaceably co-exist with the police or the owner of a hybrid vehicle and an eco-friendly house with a living roof go to work at Microsoft or a few thousand people dressed up like zombies get together and break a Guinness World record, twice and no one thinks it’s odd in the slightest. Only in this Seattle can 3 of the most seemingly random events come together for 3 days for a weekend for the record books in Seattle history.

Random... or are they? Perhaps it's TOO random... so random in fact that they hope we see it as nothing more than a random act whereas instead it's an act of deliberation? What if this seemingly unholy trinity of events is really 3 out of 4 signs of the forthcoming Apocalypse? If you don't come to ZomBcon you'll never know for sure until it's too late! If it does turn out to be the real thing, there's always the option to run next door and convert while there's still time!

Welcome! v1.0

Howdy folks, this is your host Shadow Jerusalem here... just a quick quick note about the blog, it's going to be fully online in the next week or so and expect design tweaks here and there.

Post zomBcon has inspired me to do more writing than I have been doing as of late especially with my introduction to the Zombie Research Society, Zombie Tools, Zombie Squad and a number of other local outfits dealing with the living dead. So for once I'm not alone and not the crazy one ranting about zombies anymore. Here is a statement of some of my intentions for this blog (or one on wordpress to keep with the zombcon and ZRS blogs, i havent decided fully as of yet):

-re-edits of my old works that never made it to Revenant, a series I call the Resurrection of the Zombie, it's a series about how the zombie has come into the mainstream over the years.

-a line of my articles I did for the zomBcon blog

-some of my research I've done for the Zombie Research Society, I intend to go into detail about them later

-advanced combat tactics I've developed myself based off material provided in Roger Ma's Zombie combat Manual

-a big project that I'm working on with John Farrell of ZRS compiling all the hard data and information learned from zomBcon from the top brains in their respective fields (psychology, medicine etc etc) and picking out key points

-also my own Fear and Loathing tale of the ZomBcon from the drawing boards to the front line security on convention weekend! It's quite the tale from start to finish!

That's just off the tippy top of my brain but I haven't even scratched the surface yet... my brain feels like a nice tall foamy pint of Guiness when it comes to zombie information right now, I'm bubbling over with it so it all needs to go somewhere. May as well be here!

So until the next time my droogs... Viddy well viddy well...

EDIT:

I just remembered something else, a truly chilling piece of information that makes my blood freeze thinking about it.

quick zombie lesson of the day: most infections or causes of reanimation are usually associated with either the whole brain or the frontal lobe region of the brain i.e. the classic 'Romero zombie' (but I try to disassociate from the films as much as possible when doing research but if it helps it make sense I'll make reference).

Recent research shows that another possible kind of infection could take place that changes the ballgame entirely

Zombie Research Society - The Crocodile Brain in Zombies

They even said it right at the end of the article, as if to slap me in the face, just like the virus mutating on Neville in I Am Legend... it all changes in a split second, taking everything you'd known and throwing it right out the window. So a simple shot right between the eyes is no longer accepted. However, it does mean being tactile and choosing your targets a bit more carefully since the amygdala is located in the back of the skull. I'll go into more detail about this later but figured I would at least try and be a good writer/researcher and be the first to debunk my own theories and ideologies seeing as how varying data has been introduced.

That is all.

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome! C'mon in!

Howdy folks, Your Humble Narrator Shadow Jerusalem here. Welcome to my little corner of the internet! So you're wondering what's going on here? Well I got tired of doing all my writing, blogging etc and not doing anything with it so I created this place as a means of publishing them. The title is an allusion to my preferred zombie elimination. Forget the Double Tap rule. One bullet is all it takes to put a zombie down for good. You aim for the head. Anything else, it's your ass...   Save that second bullet, you'll need it for the next zombie or worse yet, yourself if it comes down to it. I love zombies and all things related to horror and classic sci-fi films. A majority of the content here will be zombie-related but also expect the occasional misanthropic rant, survivor tales and the latest horror news and all sorts of other goodies