Are You Ready For The Zombie Apocalypse
Zombie
Noun
1. Originally, a snake-deity of or deriving from West Africa and Haiti.
2. A soulless corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, esp. in certain African and Caribbean religions.
Synonyms: zombi
While the dictionary definition of Zombie is essentially correct, the editors at Webster left out a third and extremely important addition: Zombie movies are big business in Hollywood.
Today, everyone from the major studios to cable television has jumped on the Zombie bandwagon with an endless outpouring of films about our favorite undead. Filmmakers are hoping that a hungry horde of mindless eating machines rising from their graves will also mean rising profits for investors.
Out of the vast legion of recent zombie movies, several films stand out as fine examples of cinematic mayhem. We will examine some of the current crop of flesh eating thrillers, so pay attention, take notes and perhaps you will survive the coming Zombie Apocalypse.
1. Resident Evil: Retribution
Resident Evil: Retribution is the fifth installment of the Resident Evil franchise. The movie stars everyone’s favorite female death machine, Mila Jovovich, as Alice, the ultimate zombie killer and heroine. The undead in this film were created as the result of a virus that infected living humans as oppossed to the basic risen from the grave zombie. Fans of the series will enjoy the return of several of main charecters, who are back again despite their gory deaths in previous Resident Evil films.
2. Zombies Vs. Strippers
Only Charles Band and Full Moon Studios would have the courage to release a movie with this title. A small band of survivors seeks shelter from hordes of the undead in a local strip club. This epic Hollywood trash has it all; naked women, testosterone heavy young males, and roaming packs of angry zombies looking for their next meal. 68 minutes long without the titles and end credits, this film is only recommended for true fans of the genre.
3. Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies
Cashing in on the major studio release, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, this little gem is an outstanding example of a 1950′s B movie with all the modern trimmings. Grab some popcorn, curl up on the sofa, and watch the Great Emancipator battling to save the Union from an attacking horde of Confederate zombies.
4. Zombieland
Some people think that re-animated dead people are funny as hell and Zombieland treats the concept as high art. The cast includes A-List actor Woody Harrelson, and Bill Murray, who steals the show by playing himself in this over the top comedy. The film uses the out of control epidemic ploy to explain how mad cow disease mutated into mad person disease and turned the world into a horde of crazed zombies. Thrill to the antics of Harrelson as he viciously slaughters the undead, cries about his dead dog, and engages in a never ending search for his favorite food, Hostess Twinkies.
5. World War Z
Although World War Z is due out in June of 2013, no example of the genre has ever received the hype of this movie. The film features superstar actor Brad Pitt as a UN inspector trying to find an explanation for a worldwide pandemic that has turned the vast majority of the human race into flesh eating monsters. Advance publicity is touting World War Z as the ultimate Zombie movie, but it remains to be seen if Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster can steal the crown from the all time classic, George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead.
So there you have it, film fans. Some of the recent Zombie films to grace the silver screen and line the shelves of Best Buys everywhere. If you don’t feel like going to the theater, subscribing to Netflix or buying more DVDs, you can always tune in to the best damn Zombie series on cable, The Walking Dead. Just remember to keep the weapons handy, stock up on food and water, and have a good bug out plan. Better safe than sorry, if there is ever a real Zombie Apocalypse.
Read MoreSigmund Freud: The Father Of Modern Dream Analysis
Human beings have always been fascinated by their dreams.
The ancient scrolls of Egypt, Sumeria, and Babylon recorded long treatises on the meaning of dreams and some ancient cultures believed they were a divine pathway to commune with the gods. Rather than trying to understand dreams on an internal level as a product of the dreamers own experiences and thoughts, they were viewed as supernatural or divine events inspired by external forces. Put simply, when a man or woman slept, their resting mind became a canvas to be painted by powerful beings beyond mortal control.
When the era of religious dogma and supernatural fear began to give way to the age of reason, man slowly turned to scientific analysis to answer the important questions about human existence. As mankind took the first tentative towards understanding the inner workings of the mind, one Jewish doctor shocked the world with his theory of dream analysis.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was not only the father of Psychiatry, but he changed our understanding of dreams forever. When his writings began to appear at the end of the 19th century, civilization had finally evolved to the point where a great thinker could offer a new scientific theory without the risk of imprisonment or death at the hands of the religious authority.
Today, Freud is considered the father of modern dream analysis and he is easily the most popular authority on the subject. Dr. Freud concluded that our dreams contained two levels of content or meaning: The Manifest Content and the Latent Content. The images you would remember if you were to describe your dream to another person is the Manifest Content and the sub-conscious part of a dream that contains the hidden or true meaning is the Latent Content.
Sigmund Freud
Freud called the process by which we convert or censor our dreams from latent to manifest “Dream Work.” He believed the human brain used three methods to actually convert objects in a dream from latent to manifest, as the dreamer struggled to hide or repress uncomfortable thoughts. The first method is Condensation, by which we convert multiple thoughts into one general thought.
The second method is Displacement, by which we redirect an emotion or desire from the intended person to a meaningless object in a manifest dream. For example, a person might displace a deep love for a particular individual on the latent level onto an inanimate object such as a new car or stereo system on the manifest level.
The third method is Symbolism, by which similar looking objects are used to disguise the actual object. For example, an erection might be represented by a tall tree, a stick or a floor lamp. To Freud, long solid objects represented the masculine or the penis and objects with space inside, such as a fireplace, a bucket or a pot represented the vagina or the feminine.
Perhaps it was the fact that Freud believed that many thoughts, especially on a sub-conscious level, represented repressed sexual desires that shocked so many people when he first published his theories, but even today, the “Dream Work” of Sigmund Freud is the foundation of Modern Psychiatry and Dream Analysis.
From his study of dreams, and his understanding of the symbolic content contained there in, Freud was able to create of a system of analysis to aid him in the treatment of his patients. Dr Freud opened the door to understanding the human mind and the many healers who followed in his footsteps used his groundbreaking theories to free millions from the chains of mental illness.
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Read MoreThe Wonderful World Of Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra is widely regarded as the greatest catcher in baseball history.
Yogi spent most of his 19 year long playing career with the New York Yankees, where he won 10 World Series Championships. After retiring as a player, Berra spent 25 years as a manager and coach for several major league teams and he won three more World Series titles. Berra’s 10 World Series wins as a player are the most by any player in Major League history.
Yogi was voted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1972 and he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. In addition to all his accomplishments as a player and coach, Yogi Berra is famous for his ability to mangle the English language in humorous ways. His catalog of mixed up words and hilarious sayings are known to baseball fans everywhere as Yogisms.
Since Yogisms defy logic and explanation, we will simply share a selection of some of the best and allow you the pleasure of figuring them out for yourself. So without further ado, welcome to the wonderful world of Yogi Berra and Yogisms.
“If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.”
“Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”
“You can observe a lot by watching.”
“In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”
“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”
“It’s deja vu all over again.”
“You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”
“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
“He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”
“I usually take a two-hour nap, from one o’clock to four.”
“If the people don’t want to come out to the park, nobody’s going to stop them.”
“Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.”
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
On being asked his cap size at the beginning of spring training:
“I don’t know, I’m not in shape.”
After accepting an invitation to dine at the White House:
“I thought they said steak dinner, but then I found it was a state dinner.”
In the spirit of Yogi’s immortal words,”It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” we are happy to inform you that the inimitable Mr. Berra is still with us at 87 years young. As you go through life, do your best, stay humble and remember: “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”
