Currently Digging - Zombie Edition!

Photo by Sameli

Through a curious twist of fate, this past week has been completely zombie-crazed in the land of Penelope, from video games to movies to backyard shenanigans. So much so, in fact, that when it came time to compile my Currently Digging list for the week, I found that more than half of my digs were somehow zombie-related. So this week's Currently Digging is going to be a little special and themed all around those lovable undead folks that fill our hearts with joy and hunger for our brains. That's right, bunnies - this week, I'm digging zombies.

♥ Zombies! Organize!!

This Le Tigre-esque electroclash band has to be one of the best groups that's ever come out of the North-of-Miami music scene, and not just because they based their entire first album off of the 1985 movie The Return of the Living Dead. Their songs are funky and  charming, throwing dirt in the face of the classic "social-commentary-through-music" and doing things their own way - the zombie way. Their entire album, Before It's Too Late,  can be downloaded for free off of their Myspace just to top things off, so go give them a listen right now!

♥ Zombi

I've heard this movie called pretty much everything, from Zombie Flesh-Eaters to Island of the Flesh Eaters to Gli Ultimi Zombi to just plain old Zombie, but whatever you want to call it, it's still a fantastically gory and all around thrilling Italian horror flick that has to linger near the top of my zombie flick list. It's not for the feint of heart!

♥ Left 4 Dead

In the past few weeks this game has somehow become the center of my life - and I don't even have an Xbox 360 (or a PC!) Never played it? Never heard of it? You're missing out! The plot-line is simple: an infection à-la the Rage Virus from 28 Days Later has conquered man-kind, turning most into zombies and some into special mutated beasts. Few are left alive and intact, and it's your job as one of these survivors to band together with others of your kind to fight through these hoards of the undead and find rescue. I don't think I could ever possibly explain how amazing this game is, especially for a zombie-lover like myself, so I urge you to experience it first hand! Have a zombie apocalypse party! Invite all of your closest friends over! Battle it out in the high-octane landscape of Left 4 Dead all night and see who comes out on top!

♥ Formulating a zombie escape plan

It's always a good idea to be prepared, but this Zombie Escape Plan notebook really makes preparing for the zombie apocalypse pretty stylish, too! Filled with all kinds of useful information such as maps, guides, and excerpts from medical textbooks, you've got just about everything you could possibly need in case the worst were to happen - plus, there's lots of empty space to write your own escape routes and supply lists down, too! Remember what Winston Churchill said: let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning. (Who knows - he could have been talking about the zombie apocalypse!)

♥ 28 Days Later

What I think is so incredible about this movie is that it's one of the first to change two specific things about zombies and the way zombie movies are made: first, the Infected can run. They're not slow or dim-witted à-la Romero zombies, but instead are as quick and agile as any other human being, infected or not. They can think, reason, and they know the most effective way to get what they want which is a trait that most other writers don't give to their undead stars. And second, the movie in itself doesn't follow one straggler band of survivors the whole movie through, only telling their story, but instead conquers the bigger picture of what's going on within the government and military to keep the Infected contained - to keep the world safe. Granted, the end result of their efforts isn't very cheery, but it sure makes for one great movie.

♥ NYC Zombie Crawl

Rem first turned me on to this super-cool event after he watched the madness unfold last year, and I have to admit that it sounds like pure, unbridled fun. Basically, every year folks from all over the city dress up like zombies and have a "crawl" from one location to another. Last year, they crawled through the Whole Foods at Union Square to pick up canned goods for the Zombie Can Drive for World Hunger (which I think is a wonderfully noble, if not ironic cause), and then proceeded to Washington Square Park for what can only be describe as a "zombie massacre". This years festivities are still in the making, but the NYC Zombie Crawl website is updated regularly and you can join their mailing list to participate in 2009!

Always,
Penelope ♥