Weapons of Class Destruction

Because I'm actually enjoying a Star Wars EU book. I learned, back when prequel material started coming out, that it really is preferable when the book focuses on OCs instead of the canon characters, just because there's less room for major fuck ups. And that the non-post-ROTJ are not quite as aggravating with the continEUity. So I went into Death Troopers with this in mind. Also keeping in mind that it's Stromtroopers and zombies. Stormtroopers and zombies, people! How could it go wrong?! I'm half way through it and unfortunately, the only way it has gone wrong is with the predictability of who is going to die, and it makes me sad because I like the character who is all but a walking target.

Han and Chewie. Billed as "surprise cameos," but so far, they're really involved in the story! Chewbacca probably has more to do, and more character development, than he ever got in the post-ROTJ books (which led to his lamentable demise). Maybe it'll start sucking, who's to say? But for now, pretty awesome. Hey, it's zombies! In the Star Wars universe!

Peace, Ghani

Around 11:00 a.m--It would have taken some by surprise. That scare last year involving that comet has been written off so easily by the skeptics. They don't know what it was like; they weren't there. Some of my friends who were caught in the hysteria back then have even dismissed it. But I remember. So when I woke to the strange sound of, well, nothing, my sense were on alert. My sister left for work as usual, my brother took the bus over to the plasma clinic; I haven't heard from either of them since.

I first noticed the neighbors acting strangely soon after dragging my ass out of bed. It's not uncommon to see people hanging around in the parking lot outside their apartments, working on their cars, chatting; it was the fact that they were doing none of these things that set me on the alert. Some seemed to just be...standing there, staring at the sky, others were wandering aimlessly. And then I noticed one frantically packing her car, trying to get her kids away; she was so focused on her panic she didn't even see them closing in around her. The ghouls were attacking before the poor woman could even get the key in the ignition. I had to look away but I could still hear it, those terrible noises, the screams...

This is it, this is the what the "false alarm" was about last year. Who knows, maybe that was just to get us ready for this; maybe someone knew this was going to happen and tried to prepare us. Maybe I'm not crazy and it really did go down just like I'd thought it did last year. Last year I ran. This year, I'm standing my ground.

ETA: 12:36 p.m.--A quick check of the internet revealed that this is happening all over. beguine has posted some useful information here and thorninthefoot has a theory about that tomato scare that's hit, among other places, my native Florida hard. On the other hand, Jeff posts a report on undead squirrels here. Still not able to get a hold of relatives in New York; phone service, and that's satellite based as well as dial-up, seems to have gone out fairly quickly. A friend has a theory that it's all about containing the panic.

Firearms are helpful but, let's face it, anything that's gonna make a difference is kind of impractical; you're luckier if you have a garden shed to raid. Took-to-brain contact seems to be the absolutely most efficient way of taking one of these suckers out, even something as blunt as a shovel as long as you have enough strength to put behind it. My friend talked about trying to raid a pawn shop around the corner on Archer; I told her it's too risky. The zed seem to be interestedly mostly in the more populous areas at the moment, and that means the University and the two main roads in town: Archer and Newberry. It'd be safer is we were on the eastern side of town but we'll make do.

ETA: 1:00 p.m.--Our "gated" community's offering the most minimal in security at the moment, as there's a foot path right beside the main gate. I'm more worried about being locked in with my infected neighbors. There are many still uninfected in the neighborhood but most are distrustful; they've already had to put down family members.

joshuwain reported sometime this morning/last night that the comet's back. That fucking comet. I knew it! Though I'm still not discounting the tomatoes. My sister brought home fresh ones a co-worker had grown just the other day. Both she and my brother partook; I did not. It could be why I'm not hearing from either of them: they're already infected.

ETA: 1:22 p.m.--My friend began joking about not having a castle nearby, to fortify ourselves. Let's face it, the power's not going to last much longer if things keep getting worse, and my apartment is going to over very precious little afterwards. The least we can do is find somewhere safe to try to wait this out in. And if this is the end of the world, well, we can make our own little home. I'm not expecting anyone to come and save me; the police are gone, there hasn't been the sound of a siren in about two hours, when you'd hear one every few minutes or so. we're on our own, at least for the time being.

My mind instantly flashed to Gainesville, Florida's very own version of a castle: the gated community in Haile Plantation in Haile Plantation North. Talk about fortified! That place houses the richest of Gainesville's elite, from Basketball coach Billy Donovan and football coach Urban Meyers to the best doctors Shands has to offer! Doctors! Plus, there's all sorts of shops and a grocery store about half a mile away. It's surrounded by woods, the mansions have security systems and motion sensors and, most likely, generators! It'll take some effort to get in ourselves, but if there are enough of us and we're organized enough...

It's a bit of a walk, even for me, but I sincerely believe this is our salvation, our place to make a stand. The roads are dangerous; it seems like everyone and their brother got into a car infected this morning which makes them dense with not only the walking scavengers--as some of the zed don't seem at all adverse to feasting down on their own kind--but as well to those with enough cognition left in their rotting brains to roll down a window or, God forbid, open a door. I've seen these zed do both.

We're going to make a go for it! Update later.

ETA: 2:40 p.m.--The woods might be perilous because you can't see what's coming at you, but the reverse is true as well, so keep that in mind. Avoiding the traffic built up across the road especially near the schools, a band of survivors and myself were able to cross into the more heavily wooded section across the street. We made a fatal mistake wandering too closely to that first subdivision, though; we lost one member of our team to a bite wound--he elected to stay behind--when he decided to look in the nearest house for provisions. At least he managed to take some of those mothers out with him before they took him down.

We steered clear of the next one, though passed by closely enough that we could observe their behavior. Now, mind you, I'm not for all that touchy-feely crap about the zeds being able to think or feel--hell, I've seen them cannibalize their own kind--but it is strange that they seem to attempt in some cases to go about their regular lives--kids bumping into equipment on the playground, a mother gazing blankly at the kitchen. No, I'll never see them for anything more than they are: walking, stinking corpses, but it does make you wonder.

We had a surprise when we at least reached our goal: Guards. With weapons that made our hand tools look like jokes. Seems like the rich aren't only getting richer, they're getting smarter. Another survivor in the group had an idea to attract enough zed that the guards would be too busy to notice us climb over the gate (zed, by the way, I've noticed are very, very poor climbers if they're so inclined to give it a try at all!) I guess it's time for this little lambie to go and shake her delicious tail some. It seems cruel, but we're desperate.

Keep you posted!

ETA: 4:00 p.m.--Right on the heels of reading this post by horizonchaser, our group encountered our first "sprinter." It was the wounded member of our band from that first subdivision, he'd succumbed and had apparently decided to follow us after all, whether it's just pure instinct to follow the scent of fresh blood or something..other, I can't say. He made a hell of a decent distraction though, the stumblers and shamblers obviously following his very noticeable lead as he dashed towards us, and we dashed towards the guards and the gate.

Idiots must have never seen a zombie movie in their lives! I mean, we'd been taking 'em down since noon and they didn't even know to go for the head shot with their fancy boomsticks! I saw the former member of our ranks take twenty rounds in the chest and keep coming until someone got lucky and a stray bullet hit the kid's head. Meanwhile, we made for the gate like no one's business! It was a team effort: bars too close together to slip through and no horizontal bits to find purchase for our feet on. I stayed behind, helping others up first; it felt like my duty since this was my idea. Finally, someone came out of the big fuckin' house and just shouted to me the code for the gate security pad.

We're in! And they're piling up outside. Time to recharge the battery on my laptop and another update shall follow!

ETA: 5:26 p.m.--I was heartened to hear from my friend jadeblood, though crushed to hear that this has made it to her neck of the woods.

The rich are different from you and I, though I never thought I'd be so happy about the financial elitism that rules this country! The compound--oh, that sounds so David Koresh! I like to refer to it as BFM (Big Fuckin' Mansions) was as secure as I'd hoped it'd be, though we did have to take care of a few infected family members some were holding onto, locking them in rooms of their houses etc.

The doctors were luckily on our side, there to explain that this could not be cured and that the best course of action was what he were suggesting. Most didn't like it. Hell, I wouldn't have liked it if it had been my sister or brother or any of my friends. Some were still cognizant enough to beg as we put them over the wall; those were the most painful. Some were begging them to leave, to run, to draw the zeds away. I watched one shoot himself before the zeds reached him as he declared, "Better dead than Zed!" That's become our motto.

The brick perimeter wall is holding for now but we'll have to do something about the wrought iron gates in the near future. There's something galvanic in the air, like an oncoming thunderstorm and there are clouds in the sky. For once, I truly hope it passes us by; I have a feeling such an event would only cause chaos among an already disorganized group. Many are trying their best; lots are arguing, most are trying to be the loudest voice in the crowd. They need to understand that it's time to buckle down, put aside emotion and ego, and survive this bitch, if only just for the night!

ETA: 6:31 p.m.--Thanks to horizonchaser's post here, about how noise will attract the zombies, some of use had the idea of trekking off to the grocery store's parking lot and setting off a bunch of car alarms. The point is to distract and/or pick off as many of these bastards as we can get. Some of the surrounding buildings offer second storey balconies that could easily become sniping points for those of us with firearms (scatter weapons are best for crowds) but also offer the added danger of more of the zeds lurking inside.

The streets are complete blocked, so using a car is out of the question, but going over the wall at unexpected places allows us to slip in and out of the BFM. We're unorganized, though the fight for power and control has died down; most of us realized that we have to organize to survive but the problem is, everyone wants to be the one to say it first and loudest.

Of course, the political and religious factions have been going nuts with their own agendas; one of our ranks spent the afternoon surfing all the spin and it's considerable from the right and the left. Everyone wants to use this to our advantage. Rumors of our president being bitten are unconfirmed for the moment but worrisome. We've had no aide as of yet though we've been using every method we can think of to communicate with the outside world.

deadshrimpblues has gotten the best look at the strange atmospheric condition currently affecting us all and writes about it here.

ETA: 7:29 p.m.--A moving poem was posted here by bloodymare. I think it speaks to all of us who have lost loved ones today.

ETA: 8:13 p.m.--As night falls and the moans become more insistent, more prevalent, I have these words to offer up to you:

Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness and captivity would, without this comfort, be insupportable.
--Samuel Johnson

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
(Romans 8:24,25)

Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. (Acts 4:32)

Peace, Ghani

I wanted to thank all y'all for the wonderful birthday wishes! dreamybritactor, thank you for the v-gift! It looks yummy! ;-D jadeblood, OMG, the banner's sooo gorgeous! Huggles! charleygirl, thank you! Hugs! iansmomesq, woah, was that a mindfuck, bwahahahaha! I watched it about ten times, then tried to explain it to my sister, then made her watch it because it is inexplicable! XD

It was a nice quiet birthday, by far the coolest and most fall-like day we've had so far with a light drizzle, an overcast sky and cool temps. Got a pizza, vegged out on the couch watching Travel Channel and Food Network and then had me some ice cream cake, mmmm!

And here's something a little Halloween themed fer y'all:

Scientific Reasons Why A Zombie Apocalypse Could Really Happen

Peace, Ghani

From jadeblood:

41%

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

68% GeekMingle² - Free Online Dating

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

78%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Online Dating

Peace, Ghani

Cheers to everyone who particpated in Blog Like It's the End of the World, and especially to averysmallthing, whom I found it through yesterday.

Here's looking forward to more fun hijinks next year.



So, other news. Well, my sister didn't get the job, the one she would have actually have liked to have gotten, and now she's depressed because she's scared if she can't get that job at the library, which she's even over qualified for and she knows so much about every type of literature, that no one in town is going to hire her because she's deaf. Unfortunately, her fears are not unfounded. It just makes me so angry! I can't imagine there were any two people (yes two positions!) who were more qualified than her.

On top of all that, she has an 85 year old man stalking her. That may sound hilarious, but he's actually really scary and I don't know what's going to happen with that 0_o

Some good news: The Ghost Rider Extended Cut is made of pure awesomeness. More on that when I've more time to blog and better circumstances under which to do so.

And now some lyrics 'cos I'm feeling particularly in the mood for these. Man, would I like to dedicate this to everyone who worked so freakin' hard to mess up my life, starting with my parents, who I forgive because I'd do anything to have them back with me, to all those school administrators and psychiatrists and physicians who screwed me over.

( Control by Poe )

Peace, Ghani

So, it's been a whole week since I saw Spidey 3 and I still can't get enough coherent thoughts to post about it on my journal. It was just so amazingly overwhelming; I know my sister and I just walked out of the theater almost in shock. She kept asking me, Did you like it, did you like it? And all I could do was nod dumbly. A day later I realized that, yeah, I LOVED it, but there was just something so...overwhelming (yes, that word again) about it. Raimi made some bold and bizarre choice, which is why I adores him; whether they were successful or not is a matter of debate, but I wouldn't want him to be doing anything else. It was certainly the most Raimi-ish of all three of the movies (I'm a die-hard Raimi fan first, so I loved that about it) and yay to Bruce Campbell in my favorite of all of his Spidey roles! Hopefully more thoughts will be forthcoming.

And, yays for jadeblood! I've no got myself my very own personal Madmartigan/Sorsha header! ♥ ! My jounral's gone all Lucas this month, with a Willow header and my prequel mood theme, because it's that time! The thirtieth anniversary of Star Wars is at hand (which coincidentally means mine is not far behind!) Well, Willow's a strech, but it is its twentieth anniversary next year! Erm, not like anyone'll remember 'cept me, but still! *Looks at the Madmartigan/Sorsha goodness and sighs dreamily*

28 Weeks Later comes out today. Looks so-so-ish. Don't understand why Robert Carlyle has been kinda type-cast as somebody's dad. I mean, obviously not in things like Eragon, where he's still type-cast as the psychopath (not that I'm complaining, mind!), but in normal-type roles. And of teenaged kids. Bleh. Throw them out to the zombies, I'll stay inside and make sweet, sweet love to Robert and call it my own personal post-apocolyptic utopia! *G*

And yes, they are zombies. You have to understand, I'm a purist. The George Romero shuffle is one of the scariest things I've seen put to films, and his movies are pure genius. But things change and evolve, in pop culture, but in culture in general as well. There are still those who complain that Romero's zombies aren't like "the real thing", i.e. voodoo-like. It's time to realize that new ideas take shape and influence the future. I might not be a fan of the fast zombie in general (c'mon! In things like the Dawn of the Dead remake, it's just plain reidiculous! They've been rotting for months! How the hell can they move that fast without bits falling off? And, hello, atrophy! That's just silly!) but 28 Days Later made its own mythos, it explained it in an unusual, convincing and frightening way. It reinvented the zombie movie.

Now others seem to be stuck between Boyle's vision and the tried and true Romero version, without allowing themselves to explore it in any unique way. Dawn of the dead was a rehash and, much as I loathe self-referential horror--because much as I love it Scream really ruined horror by blowing the whistle on its conventions--stretching to believe that the characters didn't even know that the bite is what changes people was a bit too much. And, you know, even Night of the Living Dead offered an explanation, albeit an extremely dated one about space satellites (though its message of racism will never be outdated!) Dawn of the dead--are we supposed to believe what we hear on the tv?! Hell's overflowing because of gay rights and the like? And people think this movie's radical in any good way?!

And, wow, that turned into an anti-Dawn of the Dead remake rant! I just don't get that movie. Great actors, but even the shock factor isn't high enough to make it memorable for me. Probably won't see 28 Weeks Later in the theater, and I should mention that the last third of the original 28 Days Later sucks ass big time, despite the presence of Chris Eccleston. (Yes, put those strong female characters in their place, threaten to gang bang them! That serves you right for being so independant at the beginning of the movie! Now simper girl, simper!)

Finally, check out this link: DibbukBox.Com. I remember when the original listing was on eBay; sheadog introduced me to it. Weird. The first story's creepy, the second anticlimatic, the third kinda offensive. I'm using a lot of it as the basis for a Supernatural fanfic I've started though.

Peace, Ghani