The Mysterious Equilibrium of Zombies

Article looking at the math and game theory behind The Dark Night, zombie movies, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and more.

Night of the Living Dead and the Public Domain

I happened to notice that The Night of the Living Dead is available on iTunes for $5. This is notable because one, it’s a great flick, two, $5 is cheap, yet three, it’s actually a work in the public domain, and thus obtainable for free from the Internet Archive. Wikipedia explains:

Copyright status

Night of the Living Dead lapsed into the public domain because the original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglected to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper notice for a work to maintain a copyright. Image Ten displayed such a notice on the title frames of the film beneath the original title, Night of the Flesh Eaters. The distributor removed the statement when it changed the title. According to George Romero, Walter Reade “ripped us off”. (Wikipedia)

Still, $5 for a copy that’s pre-formatted for an iPod or AppleTV isn’t so much.

THE WALKING DEAD MAP - Google Maps

Annotated map of all of the events of The Walking Dead (which I’m a bit behind on).

How many calories are in a human brain?

A health-conscious zombie might wonder, how many calories are in a human brain?

Comics Archetype Times Table

Comics Archetype Times Table

Robot Abraham Lincoln!

Charlie Brooker responds to Simon Pegg's criticisms of running zombies

Charlie Brooker responds to Simon Pegg’s criticisms of running zombies

“Face facts. It’s time to embrace diversity, Simon. Make room in your heart for all breeds of zombie.” (Scroll down a little, or read the part about President-elect Obama.)

Simon Pegg on why the undead should never be allowed to run | Film | The Guardian

Simon Pegg on why the undead should never be allowed to run

War and Social Upheaval Cause Spikes in Zombie Movie Production

War and Social Upheaval Cause Spikes in Zombie Movie Production

I’d like to see a set of charts that correct for the number of movies released that year, or even the number of horror movies released per year. It’d also be interesting to know how the release of horror movies in general correlate to social trends. Torture Porn (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw) coincides well with Vietnam and Iraq, for example, times when Americans felt helpless in a violent world that traditional military solutions couldn’t solve.

The Walking Dead

It happens every year or so that there’s a show, movie, book, band, or whatever that I’ve heard enough good things about that I know it’s going to be great, yet still never get around to picking up. Over the weekend I checked one of those off my list with the purchase of The Walking Dead Book One. There are five trade paperbacks out collecting the first two years or so of its run, and there’s one hardcover out which collects the same material as the first two trades¹. In the afterword the writer says that he loves horror movies but what he hates about them are the words, “The End.” What happens once they flee to the island, or get rescued by the army? The Walking Dead is an ongoing comic series which tells the story of a group of survivors trying to stay alive and avoid zombies. Each story arc reads like a movie, so you end up really seeing the characters develop as the story progresses.

1. Comics have a strange thing that’s the opposite of books, where they’re usually collected in paperback first, then hardcover later if they’re successful. The hardcovers are usually printed on better paper, collect more issues per book, and contain lots of extras like sketches and interviews. The downside is that where the paperbacks usually lag behind the monthly comic by 6 months to a year, the hardcovers are that much farther behind the current storyline. The hardcover “book 2”, which will collect 13-24, is due out in February. By that time you’ll be about a year behind the comics, which will be at issue 33 or so I think. I hate owning series in multiple formats. If I start reading it from issue number 1, I’ll keep reading it as a monthly comic. If I start reading it late, I’ll only pick up the softcovers. Since I’m already behind on this one, I’m just going to wait for the hardcovers, and when the series ends I’ll have a nice set of volumes to lend out. ↩

The Walking Dead, Book One

The Walking Dead, Book One

Finally got around to reading this over the weekend. It gets my highest recommendation for Halloween reading.

Zombie Library

Acquired Shaun of the Dead last week completing, I think, the perfect A-list zombie movie collection:

1. Night of the Living Dead
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. 28 Days Later
4. Shaun of the Dead

With that lot I’m properly equipped for Halloween, but there’s always the question of when to break out The Nightmare Before Christmas. You don’t want to watch it too early, or you’ll find yourself in the Christmas mood well before your disposition is ready for it. But it has a good bit of Halloween charm to it, so you don’t want to wait too long to watch it, either. I think I’ll probably break it out in the second week of November or so.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Google Video

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Google Video

This video is in the public domain, so download away.

The Wisdom of Parasites. The Loom: A blog about life, past and future

The Wisdom of Parasites. The Loom: A blog about life, past and future

Holy crap a parasite that creates zombie cockroaches.

What We Can Learn From George Romero About Surviving Disasters

It’s as if the AP has never seen a zombie movie. (Here’s one of those news pieces from a source of the fifth kind.) Convention cleary has it that, in a disaster, you’re specifically allowed to break into:

1. Grocery stores, to get food,
2. Gun stores, to get weapons,
3. General stores, for other supplies and weapons,
4. Gas stations, to gas up your (possibly stolen) vehicle and get sweets to eat if you skipped number 1, and
5. Malls, for safe harbor and amusing montages where you’re watching large televisions, playing with sports equipment, and sleeping on very large beds.

Not a single horror movie to my knowledge has ever condemned people for such things. In disaster situations, society pretty much thinks it’s okay to break and enter for your own safety. Who’s going to argue with this?

Apparently the Associated Press. If you’re white, you “find” food in a grocery store. If you’re black, you “loot” it.

Interestingly, there’s lots of stuff in Night of the Living Dead and its sequels about race. Black characters are heroes and white people get eaten. The smartest zombie movies have lots to say about how civilized society breaks down in crises. The horrifying thing is to me is that there are times, like now in New Orleans, where stuff like this actually happens. Turns out you don’t need a plague of undeath. Just lots of rain.

Night of the Living Dead @ Internet Archive

Night of the Living Dead @ Internet Archive

For a number of reasons, the original film is now public domain and thus free to download.

Retrocrush Reviews Land of the Dead

Retrocrush Reviews Land of the Dead

With bonus review by Gene Siskel.

Knight of the Living Dead

Knight of the Living Dead

Piece about George Romero and his upcoming Land of the Dead, about which I’m getting more excited by the hour. Also, I love that there’s a debate about how zombies in newer movies like 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead Remake run, while old-school zo

Genus d'Zombie: Manifestations of Zombieism in Contemporary Culture

Genus d’Zombie: Manifestations of Zombieism in Contemporary Culture

Gabe runs down the various types of zombies from the past year.

Zombie Government

Having seen the other movie about people rising from the dead this weekend, I realized that our society is dangerously unprepared for zombie attack. When Independence Day came out, a slow news week resulted in a story that the United States government had no plan in place for how to handle an alien invasion. That’s right, were the planet to be invaded by aliens or overrun by the living dead, our government would just be improvising.

With this in mind, it will be very important that we surviving citizens have our heads in the game while FEMA figures out what to do. Zombie movies teach us that not only will we be fighting against scores of walking corpses, but also against power-hungry alpha males who will screw over small groups of survivors at the earliest possible opportunity. This can be prevented, but Americans must be prepared. What we need is a basic understanding of government so that we’ll be able to rule ourselves as we move from refuge to refuge, first in small packs and eventually, God willing, in small communities which will be responsible for rebuilding human society once the zombies have all been rounded up and burned.

At the first calm moment, the group should be called together to agree on the rules. Since anyone could be eaten by the undead at any moment, leadership will be important but fleeting. As such, government should be simple and justice harsh.

I propose the following rules for government:

1. All Living People shall be free to do anything they please, except to cause harm to another Living Person.
2. Anyone who has been bitten by a zombie or accused of such shall be confined to a secure, guarded cell until such time as:
   1. He has survived long enough, as determined by a majority vote, that it is unlikely he has been infected,
   2. He dies and rises again as a zombie, or
   3. He dies and does not rise again.
3. Any Living Person who becomes a zombie shall be killed immediately.
4. Punishment for all crimes shall be exile.

As you can see, Article 1 defines the law of the land, and there is only one crime: harming another person. (This is the “Harm Principle” espoused by John Stuart Mill.) Passive actions like leaving gates unlocked obviously lead to harm and as such are illegal. If a loved one gets bitten by a zombie, it can be tempting to conceal that bite from the rest of the group. As this will inevitably case the group harm, concealing a zombie bite is also illegal under Article 1. The Harm Principle also protects innocent citizens from attack or rape by others in the group.

As it is quite possible that members of the group will get bitten by the undead, Article 2 requires that they be quarantined for the safety of the rest of the Living until they’re sure the accused is not going to become a zombie.

Inevitably someone in the group is going to turn. Article 3 reminds everyone that the zombie is no longer the person it was and should be dealt with quickly.

The government structure is simple to allow maximum freedom for everyone. Only those laws that are absolutely necessary are in place, and as such must never be broken. Per Article 4, the only penalty for breaking a law shall be exile. The severity of such a punishment should communicate how important it will be for everyone to adhere to the law. The group’s life will often depend on being able to trust each other to keep them safe.

This set of laws will serve populations of any size long enough to get them to safety, meet up with other groups, and establish secure settlements. Once a sufficiently large population has been gathered it may abandon Article 4 in favor of a court system with more than one type of punishment. The ideal way for them to do this will be to create laws as if under a Veil of Ignorance. This theory of John Rawls dictates that people framing a government should create laws without knowledge of the demographics of the society they’re going to be living in so that all laws are equitable for all people. Indeed, they will have no way to know what their own population will be like, as new survivors will be showing up constantly, changing the makeup of the society daily.

With a little preparation and good leadership, we’ll get through a zombie attack with our BRAAAIINS intact.

The Undead and Philosophy

My dad just forwarded this to me. Interesting…

Abstracts are sought for a collection of philosophical essays on the theme of the undead. The editors are currently in discussion with Open Court Press (The publisher of The Simpsons and Philosophy, The Matrix and Philosophy, and the forthcoming The Sopranos and Philosophy¬, etc.) regarding the inclusion of this collection in a new book series dealing with philosophy and various cultural topics. We are seeking abstracts, but anyone who has already written an unpublished paper on this topic may submit it in its entirety. Potential contributors may want to examine other volumes in the Open Court series.

Contributors are welcome to submit abstracts on any topic of philosophical interest that pertains to the theme of the undead. We define “the undead” as that class of corporeal beings who at some point were living creatures, have died, and have come back such that they are not presently “at rest.” This would include supernatural beings such as zombies, vampires, mummies, and other reanimated corpses. The editors are especially interested in receiving submissions that engage the following perspectives: philosophy of mind; the metaphysics of death; political and social philosophy; ontology and other topics in metaphysics; ethics and bioethics; aesthetics; cultural theory and globalization studies; race and gender; epistemology; philosophy of religion; phenomenology and existentialism. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, the following: zombie-based critiques of functionalist theories of mind; historical treatments of the undead in philosophy; the films of George Romero, Danny Boyle, and Joss Whedon; the novels of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, Bruce Campbell, and Poppy Z. Brite; critical writing by Julia Kristeva, Jalal Toufic, and Slavoj Zizek.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone writing within a philosophic discipline who might be interested in contributing.

More information is availble here.