| Zombies |
[Jun. 3rd, 2008|10:28 pm] |
No other mythical animal encapsulates the modern dilemma so well. We are hungry for life, we stumble onward unaware of how it has disappeared. Shopping malls, large cities, British pubs, and even the internet are shown for their ability to dehumanize us, to make us machines that follow patterns. When the world within the horror movie is overrun, as it always is, arms reaching in through broken windows, we recognize that feeling. Here in the destructive, hungry swarm of the undead is that long day where everything goes wrong. It’s easy to be overwhelmed.
As Americans, zombies are mostly our monsters. Whereas Dracula roosts in a dreary Transylvanian castle and the mummy repines under the Egyptian pyramids, the zombie has made multitudes of his appearances in the towns and cities of the good, old US of A. Even in Fulci’s famous Zombi, the film with the famous shark vs. zombie scene, where most of the action occurs on a tropical island, the story ties up in a New York morgue.
Night of the Living Dead and it successors often deal with the shameful parts of American society. Racism, the growing divisions in class, and rampant consumerism are reflected back in the mirror darkly. What does not matter to us in little increments becomes as horrifying as the living dead when people make choices in moments of extremis. When the ghettos are closed off as a lost cause in Day of the Dead, it presages a future in which New Orleans sat and wondered when help would come.
While the term “zombie” may have originated with the Haitian voodoo zombie, we have commandeered / appropriated it to our purposes. And a Haitian voodoo zombie is nothing more than a flesh golem, something to be commanded. The American zombie has no such controls and rituals are useless. Our zombies have forgotten their witchy past and refuse to join up with any religion (though many religions reference them as a sign of the end times.) Often, zombies in churchyards are applied as proof of what prayers are not answered and what peace cannot be found even on sanctified ground.
Every zombie movie has a touch of existential philosophy written in to it. Always the protagonists are aware of how quickly they can be deprived of life. They are fully cognizant of how little sense their own plans can make in a world where entropy is such an overwhelming force. And as time progresses, many characters cannot deal with the bleakness of a life under siege. Without the comfort of routine, faced only with raw humanity and mortality, many zombie-movie civilians go mad and kill themselves or others to grasp at control. As Sartre said, “Hell is other people.” He left off the end of the sentence, “who will dismember you and eat you alive.”
And these days, zombies feel like the light-hearted apocalypse of choice. We have so many reasonable ways the world could end: global warming, pandemic, overpopulation, pollution, and, as ever, war. It’s a long list, with many subtopics. For example, if I want to be really scared, I can spend hours reading through cdc.gov’s travel advisories. These threats are ever present, constantly in the news, and no longer the realm of theologists and poets. William Blake’s “Fire and Ice” would be a much longer poem these days; it omits so much, even what we grew up with.
When I was a child, we were ready for nuclear destruction even in the wheat fields of North Dakota. I learned duck-and-cover at Pioneer Elementary School, read A Canticle for Liebowitz from my mother’s bookshelf, and understood that our grasp on existence was transient from the start. Someone could accidentally destroy us all by pressing a button. Now the fears we face are more nebulous; today we are on orange alert. Why we are at these heightened levels of threat and what impetus brings zombies down on us are equally unknown.
And the irrationality of it all is what brings me back again and again to the zombie genre. In it, I find what causes me fear: the unexpected, illogical, inexplicable end of what I know. In my dreams I try to seal off the house, I fight through hordes, but there is an obfuscation of logic that proves my efforts will be for naught. But the fact that the zombie is a creature unto which one can never surrender gives me hope. To quit fighting is to be inhuman, to be inhuman is to lose life, personality, and joy. |
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| 1 |
[Jul. 20th, 2007|05:05 pm] |
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One is the loneliest number. |
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| 2 |
[Jul. 19th, 2007|11:08 am] |
2night, almost everyone arrives.
I have to write up my mid-term and e-mail it as I'm doubting my ability to do it Friday or Saturday. Heck, I'm doubting my ability to get it done today. I've decided to stay in my skurvy pajamas till I finish. This should keep people from prying me out of the house. Failing that, my next course of action is nudity.
My mother has been telling everyone stories of my childhood. All of them seem to end with me biting someone. |
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| 3 |
[Jul. 19th, 2007|11:03 am] |
A small guide to local cuisine in Bismarck, ND
Our Breakfast Joints: Kroll's Diner
Our nifty sandwich shop: Smoothy Operator- Bismarck Mainstreet, about two blocks past Rock n' Roll McDonald's.
Our quality cheesecake: Mr. Delicious Cheesecake
Our theme restaurant: Space Aliens, barbecue with day glo aliens
Our coffee houses: Cappuccino On Collins- Mandan, Bone Shaker- Bismarck (near Space Aliens), Cafe Aroma- Bismarck (3rd & Broadway).
Our bars: The Broken Oar-Mandan, Merriweathers-River Road, The Pier-South Port.
As of right now, the atmosphere is great at The Walrus, Jorgy's Sports Bar, Peacock Alley and East 40. We have got some excellent local musicians playing in these estabs. Ben Suchy and his Suitcase blues, Gypsyfoot, Public Market, etc.
Fancy pants restaurant: the Bistro
Some dirty joints that will either amuse or offend: The Corral (E. Main St. Bis), The Colonial (the strip- Mandan), Our Place Tavern (13th & Front [live music on weekends]), Old Town Tavern (off Main & 1st Ave NW-Mandan [has a shuffle board]) and The Hide-Away (1000 Boundry Rd-Mandan [has a horse shoe pit]). |
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| 4 |
[Jul. 18th, 2007|01:25 am] |
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Safe in Bismarck, with a license to wed. |
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| 5 |
[Jul. 16th, 2007|09:16 am] |
It's a long drive.
We awake in Bozeman this morning in my sister's bed. The house is empty. There is Bacon in the fridge and another 8-9 hours of driving ahead of us.
Kino has been doing very well on this trip. She takes a quick run around when we stop for gas, sips on a chilled water, and retires to her palanquin while Justin and I try to entertain whichever one of us is driving. |
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| 6 |
[Jul. 14th, 2007|10:39 pm] |
Because it's past midnight in Bismarck now.
I have been packing like a chicken with its head cut off. I've packed 3 different conditioners, for extenuating circumstances. I've packed 5 pairs of shoes. And so on.
Like a boy scout, I'm prepared.
At 6 am, Justin and I will set off for I-90 eastbound. Hopefully, we arrive at my sister's house while it's still light out. |
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| 7 |
[Jul. 14th, 2007|06:21 pm] |
A comparative look at wedding registries...
Herbergers.com
Pros
Connected to local department store in Bismarck
Has online access
Has purchaser information(who bought what for thank you notes)
Extreme customer service
Cons
Limited inventory that can be added online
Amazon.com
Pros
Huge inventory
Has online access
Has purchaser information
Cons
Customer service is a bit convoluted
(When I e-mailed to find out about a gift that had been purchased in May and hadn't arrived yet, I received a form letter from Soujanya telling me to change my "show me" settings to purchased. At that point I called in and spoke to a nice girl who let me know the item might arrive in October. After that, I received an e-mail from Shenbaga who apologized and said they had upgraded my shipping, so when they have the inventory in again, it will be sent quickly.)
Target.com
Pros
Connected to a local store in Bismarck
Has online access
Good for those basic things, like vibrating toothbrush heads.
Cons
Does not have the gourmet cooking tools Justin so craves
Does not have purchaser information
(when we received a spotlifter vacuum, I had to call in to find out who sent it, on the other hand, nice customer service.)
All in all, I wish there were something better out there. The Amazon registry is closest to being ideal, but registries and wishlists should give out the shipping information to the person receiving the gift as well as the person sending it. I have to write myself a reminder note to call back in October if I still don't have those cute measuring cups.
In other news:
Yesterday, someone tried to break into our apartment again, but a little kid on a bike and our next door neighbor spotted him. He fled. We are getting a new door and new locks. He had torn off the molding and smashed the doorknob almost off with a crowbar. I think it's the same guy, because it was also a Friday afternoon last time he struck. |
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| 8 |
[Jul. 13th, 2007|06:34 am] |
I forget what 8 was for.
Tonight, happy hour with Mary and Nat and maybe Harry Potter to follow that. |
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| 9 |
[Jul. 12th, 2007|07:29 pm] |
9 for my lost dog.
The church let my dad know today, and he let my mother know, and she, in turn, told me that Kino is not allowed to be our ring bearer. Justin's been in a funk since I told him. He's going to see is he can change the minds above those stiff collars with a security deposit. Bismarck rarely changes its ways without a few decades.
Tonight, we finished off the sangria on the patio. Supposedly, we're having a heat wave. |
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