Wednesday, October 31, 2007

For Your Halloween: Zombies Are, In Fact, Real

Just to brighten what I find to be one of the most overblown days of the year, I thought I'd post about everybody's favorite shambling menace, zombies. Were you aware that technically zombies are REAL and can be created? No? Well, allow the GreatMoose to enlighten you! Zombies can be created via a process involving the victim being slipped a poison called tetrodotoxin, which is extracted from the livers of pufferfish. It essentially drops all of the victim's biological processes to an unmeasurable state, making them appear to be dead.
...particular case of Wilfred Doricent,3 an adolescent schoolboy from a small village in Haiti. One day, Wilfred became terribly ill. He experienced dramatic convulsions, his body had swelled tremendously, and his eyes had turned yellow. Eight days later, Wilfred appeared to have died. This was confirmed by not only the family and family friends present but also by the local medical doctor who could detect no vital signs. Wilfred’s body appeared to show bloating due to rigor mortis and gave off the foul stench of death and rot. He was buried soon thereafter.

Some time afterward, the weekly village cockfight was interrupted as an incognizant figure appeared. The villagers were shocked as they gazed upon the exact likeness of Wilfred. The person was indeed Wilfred, as his family verified by noting scars from old injuries and other such details. Wilfred, however, had lost his memory and was unable to speak or comprehend anything that was said to him. His family had to keep him in shackles so that he wouldn’t harm himself in his incoherent state...


...This provides an explanation for how Wilfred could have been made to seem dead, even under the examination of a doctor. However, we have already said that the TTX paralysis was unlikely to have affected his brain. How does one account for Wilfred’s comatose mental state? The answer is oxygen deprivation. Wilfred was buried in a coffin in which relatively little air could have been trapped. Wilfred’s story probably goes something like this: slowly, the air in Wilfred’s coffin began to run out so that, by the time he snapped out of his TTX-induced paralysis, he had already suffered some degree of brain damage. At that point, his survival instincts kicked in, and he managed to dig himself out of his grave—graves tend to be shallow in Haiti. He probably wandered around for some time before ending up back at the village. This topic was the subject of a horror film, The Serpent and the Rainbow.

Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Roger Mallory, of the Haitian Medical Society, conducted an MRI of zombiefied Wilfred’s brain. He and his colleagues found lesions of the type normally associated with oxygen starvation. It would seem that zombiefication is nothing more then a skillful act of poisoning. The bodily functions of the poisoned person suspend so that he appears dead. After he is buried alive, lack of oxygen damages the brain. If the person is unburied before he really dies from suffocation, he will appear as a soulless creature (“zombie”), as he has lost what makes him human: the thinking processes of the brain.


The good news is it's illegal to create a zombie in Haiti!

Of course, the possiblity always exists for a plague of the shambling undead to be unleased, so it's good to be prepared. I encourge everyone to have a copy of the incredibly useful Zombie Survival Guide, and if you have the means, one of these:



Sleep tight.

BRAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNSSSSSS!!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

UPDATED!!! I Am Legend Trailer and Poster!

Ohmanohmanohman! I have been waiting for this movie for ages. I read (and loved) the book in high school, and enjoyed Charlton Heston's Omega Man version. But it needs an update. And so, Will Smith (one of the few ACTUAL movie stars we have today) presents us with this: I Am Legend.(Click for trailer) (Updated with a MUCH better trailer)

Here's the sweet poster:

(click to embiggen)

In case you aren't aware of the story, it concerns the last man left alive on earth after an "incident", and the struggles (and madness) he goes through after learning he isn't exactly alone. And the title of the book (and movie) is an extremely important plot point. I can't wait!


"Come out, Neville..."

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Scariest (And Most AWESOME) List On The Intertubes

retroCRUSH has recompiled the 100 Scariest Movie Scenes Of All Time, and made it into a great list, complete with Youtube clips and scene explanations. Most of the lists like this you see, you have to do the work yourself to find the scenes they're talking about. rC has done all the work for you, and it's teh awesomes! Just click on the movie on the left side of the page, and it'll display the explanation and clip for you. Be warned, there's more pop-ups than a porn site (from what I've heard, you know), but it's worth it. There's also some real surprised on there (like To Kill A Mockingbird and Dumbo), but once you've read the explanation, you'll understand why they included it in the list, and it really shows that they've done their homework. Anyway, enjoy!

Note for MissSpeech: Misery's on there, too!

Now THAT'S A Movie Poster

I am sooooo stoked for this movie. In case you've been living under a rock for the past several months, you should know that Stallone is bringing John Rambo back to the big screen. This time the plot centers around John having to rescue some captured Christian missionaries/aid workers that have been taken hostage in Burma. A trailer is here (WARNING: VERY graphic, but buttloads of awesome)

Anyway, the official one sheet poster has been released, and it's all kinds of badness:



Simple, attention grabbing, and tells a story. Just about a perfect poster.

Monday, October 15, 2007

The Coolest Website You'll See Today

Have you ever wondered what tasty treat you might get if you were flying a different airline than the one you were on? Ever wonder what you get for the $4-20 they charge now for meals on airlines? Well wonder no more! Airline Meals answers all your questions! Simply click on the airline you're curious about, and scroll around and see what the different airlines offer (including pics!) It's really pretty cool. Air Japan's meals were making my mouth water...

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

It Starts (And Ends) Tonight...

The end of the world is nigh. Really. ABC's Cavemen premiers tonight. You know, the sitcom based off the actually pretty funny Geico commercials. It airs first on the East coast, and The GreatMoose predicts that for the first time in history, a television show will be cancelled before it reaches the west coast.

I just had a thought: what if it's all a gimmick by Geico? What if it does indeed get cancelled by the first commercial break, and then we start seeing ads with the cavemen in therapy because thier show got cancelled? Hmmm....