I told you so...

One more article about why having more than a kid or two is just plain irresponsible...

save the planet.

and my older blog post on this subject

My Top 5 Favorite Zombie Movies of All Time

If you know me, you know that I love Zombie movies (“z-movies”).  In anticipation of the the upcoming “Zombieland” (which looks SICK), I decided to put up a short list of my five favorite z-movies of all time. 

The criteria for this list? 1) High production quality 2) Excitement 3) High Zombie-body count 4) Humor. 

#5: 28 Days Later

Some purists will tell you that 28 Days is not a zombie movie because the “zombies” are actually just people infected by a virus AND they don’t need head-shots to be killed. However, in my humble opinion, 28 Days is a z-movie; and the genre owes a lot to it. 28 Days later was probably the first z-movie with a decent budget, and it inspired the zombie-renaissance of the early 21st century. 28 Days is dark, no comedy here, but the cinematography and the acting are excellent. It earns a major bonus on my scale for the appearance of the tenth Doctor (i.e. Dr. Who) Christopher Eccleston as a fascist army commander. WARNING: the sequel sucks. 

#4: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

George Romero is undoubtedly the God Father or all things Zombie. He came back with a vengeance with Land of the Dead, but sadly, it just did not live up to my expectations. On the other hand, despite a low-budget and cheesy 1970’s effects, the original Dawn of the Dead still rocks! Why? Redneck hunters combing the countryside on a zombie-safari; a mad-maxesque biker gang slaying zombies in a mall; AND an excellent screen play.  Perhaps this movie’s biggest draw-back is that it lacks intentional humor. 

#3: Dance of the Dead

This movie is definitely the dark horse of this list. It’s an indy film, with a fairly low-budget. BUT, the production quality, the acting, and even the soundtrack are awesome. The premise? “We’re going to prom to kick some Zombie ass!” This movie is fun, entertaining, and downright hilarious. 

#2: Dawn of the Dead (2003)

I cannot say enough about this movie. Watching it during my senior year of high school inspired my love of z-movies. This movie DOES NOT STOP; from the first twenty minutes until the awesome finale, it’s a non-stop zombie-killing joy ride. The soundtrack is probably the best soundtrack ever made for a Zombie movie (e.g. “When the Man Comes Around,” Johnny Cash); and the cast is awesome (e.g. Ving Rhames). Humor? What could be funnier that watching the protagonists playing a sniper game and naming targets by the celebrities they resemble? 

#1: World War Z (TBA)

No, I have not seen this movie. No, it has not even begun production. BUT, the book was amazing; and I can promise you that with J. Michael Straczynski writing the screen play and Plan B producing, this will be the greatest z-movie of all time.  IMDB

Honorable Mentions

These movies are great, but I wanted to keep this post relatively short.

Shaun of the Dead, Army of Darkness, Night of the Living Dead (1968), Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, House of the Dead, Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

withheld vices.

I hung out with a girl this spring who was big on the don’ts.

The things you’re not “supposed” to do.

I feel like that mindset is one of the major weaknesses of today’s evangelical christianity.

The petty morality of withheld vices speaks little of the hue of a human soul.

While i do not believe in predestination,

At times i feel some of us are born with a better compass.

A few out there have hearts oriented towards true north.

or perhaps some just listen to that little voice inside them,

that asks them to do the hardest thing of all:

to be selfless.

And that’s what I believe really matters- the doing. Yeah there are things you shouldn’t do. BUT if you focus just on the don’ts... well you don’t ever “do” jack s***.

Life is about action; not inaction. 

Pet Peave

Over the last couple of years a lot of restaurants and microwave-food companies have started selling toasted sandwiches which they called "paninis" or worse, "panini sandwiches." 

Random fact of the day: panino is the Italian word for sandwich. Panini is the plural form for sandwich. 

Therefore "panini sandwiches" means "sandwiches sandwiches." 

Why does this bother me? (I'm sure this happens with other foreign foods, but I only have a working understanding of spanish and italian.)

 It's just stupid. 

The Italian word for pizza is "pizza," its plural is pizze.  You don't see Domino's advertising for "Pizzes," do you? No, because pizze was properly anglicized into "pizzas." If you want to anglicize panini, it should be "paninos."

 Finally, no one should ever say "panin(o/i) sandwiches"- that's like saying "carne asada roasted meat."

25 things about you

Lately facebook has been inundated by notes entitled "25 random things about me." 

These notes harken back to the days of annoying AOL survey forwards (e.g. "If you could kiss one celebrity, who would it be? OMG BRAD PITT!!!!! LOL :-D").

While I too miss the good ole' days of AOL (remember when having colored font on your profile was a big deal?), these notes disgust me.

Why?

It's simple...

It's not that I don't care about you.

It's not that I don't want to know more about you.

It's that this little online trend speaks volumes about our culture, and specifically our generation...

I have so far been tagged in 6 of these notes.  Everyone who has tagged me, I consider a friend (and not in the perfunctory "facebook friends" sense).

I would be more than glad to sit down over coffee which each of these people and talk about their lives, their dreams, their pet peeves, and yes, even their first pet.  I would even settle for a 20 minute cell-phone conversation.

But that won't happen...

Why?

Because our generation is so busy with electronic media (e.g. FACEBOOK) that we neglect genuine interpersonal interaction (please, don't get me wrong, I do too).

So please, if you want to tag me in a "25 things" note- don't. Call me; or better yet, if you live in Memphis, ask me if I'd like to get coffee, have lunch, or just chat. 

Tennessee Needs a New State Motto

Seriously, when you compare our motto with the other states', it is most definitely one of the lamest. Agriculture and Commerce (TN's motto) is almost as lame as Crossroads of America (Indiana's motto). 

 Since our motto was only officially adopted in 87,' there's no reason we can't change it to something more fitting. I don't have a better motto in mind, but it should be something along the lines of the New Hampshire motto Live Free or Die. 

For a list state mottos, see StrangeMaps.