NASHVILLE, TN - On a Friday night, the 21st of March, 2008, the Belcourt Theater screened a midnight showing of "Diary of the Dead"...with one added bonus - George Romero.
This is actual footage. He is, in real-life, colored black and white. It is very strange but you get used to it. Mr. Romero, the Godfather of the Zombie Genre, was apparently in NashVega$ for a Horror Tattoo Convention of some sort and popped over to the Belcourt to say hello. Best known for his ground-breaking horror film, "The Night of the Living Dead" (1968), Romero has continued his zombie franchise through four other films. He also has credits as producer to the nostalgia-inducing horror TV show, "Tales from the Darkside", a personal favorite (BW: NOW airing on Sci-Fi!!!).
He was a little unprepared but spoke a bit before the movie and even answered some questions from the zombie fanboys in the crowd. He even got into a little ideological/philosophical discussion of "Jesus: The ORIGINAL Zombie?" He then invited the audience over to his hotel for more discussion (seriously!) and took his leave of the brain-starved hordes...
My buddy Jimmy came down for this and we had a blast. There was, of course, the prerequisite zombie outfits including the tragic Prom Night Couple. Oh, if only there car hadn't been on that lonely, country road at that one fateful moment. Maybe they would have made it to the dance and had their first kiss to "Feels Like the First Time"...
The circle is complete! I finally got a letter printed in my current favorite comic book, "The Walking Dead". Written by fellow Kentuckian Robert Kirkman, TWD tells the story of the survivors of a zombie plague (real cause unknown) that have fled the city of Atlanta and holed up in an abandoned prison located in the remote countryside. The main character was a policeman before the plague in Cynthiana, KY (located just north of Lexington). The series is on Issue 47 but you can probably find trades of it in your local library!
It really is an awesome book. I'm a huge fan of survivalist horror, zombies, and all that, but Kirkman writes it so well you really get to know how people would really deal with the undead AND each other. But he made me as giddy as a little girl by printing my letter. Maybe we'll get married. That would be something.
Check out Kirkman's other books: Invincible, The Astounding Wolf-Man, Brit (all of which I've blogged about already), the soon-ending run on Ultimate X-Men, etc. He's a talent for sure.
BAMF! The winner for our 2008 Preferred Superpower Poll is Tele *BAMF* por *BAMF* tation!!!
For those of you wondering what "BAMF" means, it is the sound effect for the X-Man Nightcrawler (pictured) when he teleports around. He was created by Dave Cockrum (whom I met at a comic store on Shepherdsville Road, but I digress) and is by far the coolest one of the X-Men in the movie trilogy. He was played quite well by Alan Cumming, I might add.
But, back to the poll. Almost half of you voted for getting where you want to go instantaneously. Maybe you should go see the movie "Jumper"? I still haven't seen it but it looks rad.
BW voted for flight. I feel that the sensation of flight would overcome the more efficient 'porting. But, the real question is how to pick all those bugs out of my teeth...
