Today I will tell few word about things and events that were inspired by "zombie films"
1) Zombie walk
A zombie walk is an organized public gathering of people who dress up in zombie costumes. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls in a somewhat orderly fashion and often limping their way towards a local cemetery or other public space (a series of taverns in the case of a zombie pub crawl).
Few photos from USA zombie walk:
And short film from Warsow edition of Zombie walk:
Links:
http://zombie-walk.prv.pl/ <- if you would like to try Warsaw Zombie walk go here.
http://www.zombiewalk.com/ <- offical zombie walk page
http://www.joemonster.org/filmy/4475/Zombie-Walk-w-Warszawie <- films from few nice Zombie Walks.
2) Games: Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2
L4d and L4d2 are one of best games i played. If you like games you should try them i will link few reviews for interested. For none-gamers i link there 2 trailers ;]
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_4_Dead_2 <- info about Lfd2
http://www.l4d.com/ <- official game page
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/104/1045664p1.html < - lef4dead 2 review
3) Community
This section is about one page: LOSTZOMBIES.COM
Please check this movie:
Acording to www.LostZombies.com:
"Lost Zombies is a social network whose goal is to create the world’s first community generated zombie documentary. Members of Lost Zombies, have their own profile page, can submit photos and videos, as well as take part in chat discussions, and submit content to be used in the documentary."
Here is link to videos and photos generated by people all over the world. Some of them are really amazing work - http://www.lostzombies.com/video
QUESTIONS
- What do you think about Zombie walk ? Would you like to try it ?
- Did you know that such event takes place in our country/capitol/city ?
- What do you think about games inspired by zombie culture ?
- Did you ever play any "zombie game" ?
- What do you think about pages like www.lostzombies.com ? are they good idea? or this is just nerdy way of spend spare time ?
- Did you ever try to make some amateur film?
Horror film are very wide movie genre that's why we can split it between few smaller subcategorys:
Cannibal films (23 movies)
Natural horror films (154 movies)
Science fiction horror films (294 movies)
Slasher films (406 movies)
Supernatural horror films ( 416 movies)
Frankenstein films (51 movies)
Ghost films (185 movies)
Haunted house films (112 movies)
Monster movies (351 movies)
Religious horror films (54 movies)
Zombie films (218 movies)
Today i would like to tell you about my favourit subcategory of horror films - ZOMBIE FILMS!!
History first...
In the period of time that I like to call B.R. (Before Romero) the zombie as we know it didn't exist. Before 1968 zombies were something entirely different. They were a product of voodoo and the movies portrayed them as such. In films such as White Zombie (1932) and Revenge of the Zombies(1943), lifeless bodies were removed from the grave right after burial and turned into living mindless slaves obeying the biddings of a human master.
Just when the idea of rotting reanimations were about to go the way of an Ed Wood film, along came a man who would revolutionize the horror genre and breath new life (or undeath) into the zombie. A small budget black and white film titled Night of the Living Dead, written and directed by George A. Romero, hit theaters and drive-ins in 1968. The effects of Romero's ground-breaking treatment of the theme are still being felt today.
From the moment that we heard "They're coming to get you Barbara", the zombie became fair game again, and the gore effect became a staple of the genre.
In 1978 Romero gave the genre a much needed “fatherly” shove in the right direction with Dawn of the Dead (1978). The first to gather an understanding of where the genre was going was Lucio Fulci who ended the decade with the release of Zombi 2 (1979, 1980 U.S.).
The list of movies adding to the Zombie Movie History from the 80s is long and includes many of the classics if the genre: Dead and Buried (1981), The Evil Dead (1982), Day of the Dead (1985), The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Night of the Creeps (1986), Evil Dead II (1987), The Dead Next Door (1988).
It was also during this time that certain rules became staples of the genre, some accepted, some rejected, and others made fun of:
• If you didn’t die first, you ain’t a zombie.
• Zombies are not cannibals. They do not feed on each other only living flesh.
• The only way to stop a zombie is a well placed head shot. (Hammer, ice-pick, gun, axe, etc.)
• Intelligence is not a their strong point.
There are other rules that are deemed acceptable to bend if necessary, but these are pretty much untouchable.
Zombies exeples:
The George Romero arisen ones had the look of "every day". Their dress consisted of either the clothes that they wore in the casket at their funeral, or normal work clothes (i.e. waitress, mechanic). Injuries such as missing limbs were also common. Their intelligence was very low, and movement stiff and slow.
The zombies from Evil Dead were the result of possession by evil spirits, so their faces quickly developed a white crust over them. Pure white eyes with black circles around them are also typical. These demonic heartbreakers could carry on conversations and attack with focus.
This is "Bub", the pet zombie from Day of the Dead. Bub is a little smarter than his typical brethren, and is often seen with a walkman. Wrinkled bluish face ala Romero.
Braindead is considered the goriest movie EVER. The zombies reflect this, with blood and guts everywhere. Also characterized by black eyes and ripping flesh.
The Dead Next Door added quite a bit of blood and gore to the persona of the animated deceased. Other characteristics are broken chains from being locked up and face masks to prevent them from biting humans. Very dumb and slow.
Zombie Nazi from "Dead Snow" 2008 are one of the best zombies created between 2000-2009.
My favourite zombie movie scenes:
best movie/ best scene/ really bloody by Peter Jackson
(before he decide to create Lord of the rings series)
Bub the smartest zombie ever
NIGHT OF LIVING JEWS!!
One of the best Zombie-themed comedy
Few Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Zombie_films <- wiki page with all zombie movies titles
http://horror.com.pl/ <- page of polish horror community
http://www.homepageofthedead.com/ <- G.Romero fans page
http://www.homepageofthedead.com/baps/romero_interview.html <- very interesting interview with G.Romero from 2009
Questions:
- What do you think about "Night of living jews" and "Shaun of the Dead" trailers? Did they encourage you to watch these films ? ;]
- Did you know that P.Jackson made Braindead before Lord of the rings?
- What do you think about zombies ?
- Choose your most and least favourite genre of horror movies and explain your decision.
My name is Mariusz and I will tell you a few interesting things about one of the most belittled genre of movies - Horror films!
Lets start with some history...
The silent film Le Manoir du Diable directed by Georges Mèliès (114 years ago) was the first horror movie ever and the first vampire flick ever made. Despite the fact that themovie lasted only 2 minutes, audiences loved it, and Mèliès took pleasure in giving them even more devils and skeletons.
In the 1900-1920 period German directors created the first horror-themed films. One of them - Paul Wegener achieved great success with his Der Golem in 1913 ( remade in 1920, movie was based on old Jewish folk tale ). This fable about an enormous clay figure, which is brought to life by an antiquarian and then fights for freedom, was a clear precursor to the many monster movies.
The most famous early German horror film is probably Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), the first feature film with vampires. In that time there was one movie that paved the way for the "serious" horror films - Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, still held up as an model of the potent creativity of cinema even to this day. Early Hollywood drama dabbles in horror themes including versions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) (with Lon Chaney - first horror movie star).
In the early 1930's Universal Studios bringing to the screen a series of successful mythic-based features including Dracula(1931) , Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932) (and their numerous sequels). No other studio had as much success with the genre.
In the nuclear-charged 1950's the tone of horror films shifted away from the mythic and towards the modern. Aliens took over the local cinema. Humanity had to overcome endless threats from Outside. Two of the most popular films of the period were The Thing From Another World (1951) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) ( <- one of my favourites). Most famous bad movie from late 1950's is E. Wood's movie called "Plan 9 from Outer Space". The plot of the film is focused on extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect Earth's dead as zombies to get the planet's attention, causing chaos. In the late 1980's this move achieved title of "worst movie ever made"
In the late Fifties the technical side of cinematography became easier and cheaper. This era saw the rise of studios centered exclusively on horror, particularly British production, which focused on bloody remakes (gore movies) of traditional horror stories. Best example of movies from that period is a series of Edgar Allan Poe themed films.
The early 1960's saw the release of two films that changed the viewers' approach to horror films - first was Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, the other was a very low-budget film called Psycho, both using all-too-human monsters rather than supernatural ones to scare the audience.
When Rosemary's Baby began ringing tills in the late Sixties, horror film budgets rose significantly, so many top actors decided to take part in these horror productions. By that time, a public fascination with the occult led to a series of serious, supernatural-themed movies. The Exorcist (1973) broke all records for a horror film, and led to the commercial success of The Omen. Horror movies become mainstream commercial entertainment.
In 1975, Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, became the highest grossing film ever. There were still few independent filmmakers, for example Tobe Hooper with his disturbing and explicit gore-fests The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
John Carpenter's Halloween introduced the teens-threatened-by-superhuman-evil-killer-that-cant-die theme that would be copied in tones of increasingly violent movies throughout the 1980's including the long running Friday the 13th (10 parts + remakes) and A Nightmare on Elm Street series (8 part + remakes).
Horror movies turned to self-mocking irony and downright parody in the 1990's - the teenagers in Scream (spiritual successor of Carpenter's Halloween) often made reference to the history of horror movies. Only 1999's surprise independent hit The Blair Witch Project attempted regular scares.
The rest is just remakes ...
That's all for now!
In my next post I will tell you about most common kinds of horror movies with some great exaples.
Few interesting links: http://horror.about.com/od/horrorthemelists/ss/horrortimeline.htm <- horror movies time line http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html <- nice article about horror film history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film <- wikipedia page about horrors http://www.horror.gildia.pl/ <- home page of polish horror community http://www.imdb.com/chart/horror <- best/worst horror movies according to imdb.com
Questions: Do you like horror movies ? How often do you watch horror movies ? What's your best horror movie ? Did you hear about movies from my presentation ? If yes whats your opinion about them ?
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Father Christmas: human or alien ?
Name and history
Father Christmas is a symbolic character representing a good spirit of Christmas. What’s surprising, Father Christmas wasn’t a gift-giver or he wasn’t associated with children. The person we all are referring to as Father Christmas is actually Saint Nicholas, a real character of a gift-giver from the church history. Culture clashes merged both characters eventually, even though historically they have different origins. Now, people consider both of them similar or even identical.
Human or alien
The most basic information about Santa Claus: he’s pretty fat, travels in flying sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, enters home through a chimney and exits through a fireplace. His elves manufacture toys for him.
How is this all even possible. Flying sleigh pulled by flying reindeer sounds more like a flying saucer than like any human engineered aircraft. He enters home through a chimney, then how does he enter a home without one? How does he fit in the chimney if he’s so fat? Maybe some sort of a teleportation device? Elves manufacture toys for him, but how? Where do they get all the necessary materials, how do they manage to produce all the toys they need? Elves have to be aliens or they don’t exist at all since no one has ever seen them.
Either way Santa Claus possesses some sort of alien technology to perform all of his extraordinary duties or he doesn’t exist at all. You choose the option that fits you best.
Father Christmas Origin (highly recommended if you’re in a bad mood)
2. Do you like to see Santa everywhere during the Christmas time? Does that annoy or maybe calm your nerves?
3. What do you think of the Rare Exports movie? Do you think it’s an interesting idea? Why?
This is the final post of our moderation week.
Thank you all for your comments =)
Maciej Świda & Jakub Tumanowicz
Friday, 8 January 2010
Space and its wonders: Alien life forms
SETI program
One of the actions human population decided to undertake to find some alien civilizations is SETI program. SETI means Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and is considered a group of actions supposed to give an answer to the question people have been asking themselves since they discovered first planets: Do alien civilizations exist and where they are? SETI programs search for electromagnetic transmissions from other planets. Unfortunately, so far no discovery concerning alien civilizations has been made.
Numbers
In 1961 Dr. Frank Drake devised the Drake equation. Using this formula, he estimated that there are approx. 10.000 planets containing intelligent life with possible capability of communicating Earth. Thanks to Hubble Space Telescope, it’s estimated that there are over 125 billion galaxies in the universe. Around 10% of all the sun-like stars have systems of planets, so that gives us 6.25 x 1.000.000.000.000.000.000 stars. If at least 1 billion of them have one planet in their system capable of supporting life then there are 6.25 billion life supporting solar systems in the universe (6.250.000.000 so that you can see clearly).
Hypotheses about aliens
There are probably billions of videos, pictures and other more or less real “proofs” for the aliens existence. So far none of these resulted in the confirmed contact with the extra-terrestrial civilization. There are very many hypotheses about aliens:
- Extraterrestial hypothesis – UFO is a spacecraft sent to Earth from some advanced civilization.
- Interdimensional hypothesis – UFO’s are objects that come from other dimensions
- Psychosocial hypothesis – UFO is a result of misperception mechanisms and is strongly amplified, influenced by pop culture
- Natural hypothesis – UFO is just a natural phenomena that is still unknown
- Military cover up hypothesis – UFO is just an another, new type of super secret aircraft
So called physical evidence
Some people claim that some UFO leaves proof of its existence, for example:
- some UFO cases describe situations where many people, that never met each other, experienced the same event, in the same time. For example radar contact and tracking from multiple sites.
- photographic evidence, videos.
- landing sites, having peculiar properties. Claims that ground has been burned/broken, weird magnetic and radiation anomalies, metallic remains.
- cattle mutilation cases, also considered by some as a proof.
- biological effects on plants such as growth disorder or blown-out stem nodes, usually associated with crop circle cases.
- electromagnetic interference, causing weapons and communication systems failures
UFO in Poland
We include the link below, just to show you that UFO appears even in our own country. Link leads to the report from the UFO encounter that took place in year 1995.
It’s not really necessary to even mention anything about it. It’s impossible to live on Earth and never hear about UFO, read a book about it or see a movie with some aliens In it. Alien civilizations and inter-stellar travels will always be a subject, at least till humans actually contact some other intelligent beings from other planet. For now, we need to satisfy our curiosity with fiction. Below, we present some of the most interesting and recent alien based creations.
1. Is UFO real or maybe it’s just a mass hallucination, a result of humans loneliness in the universe?
2. Why do you think aliens are often shown as a humanoid type of beings (2 legs, 2 arms, breathing air, just having a blue skin color or some weird ears etc.)? Is this a result of lack of imagination of the creators or maybe something else?
3. Would you like to live in the world where you can travel from one planet to another, meet other intelligent beings and coexist with them? Do you think it’s even possible, when some people are still racist?
4. Do you believe any of the UFO proof presented at any time in the world? If so, please explain why. What’s so convincing in it?
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Space and its wonders: Interesting and colorful places in the universe
What is an universe ?
Word universe or cosmos describe everything we can perceive to physically exists, all physics laws governing that matter, space and time and all kinds of energy. Some scientists claim though that word universe describes only one of many worlds, multiverses, that combined, create the real universe. Theoretically it combines our universe with other universes that we can’t physically study (at least not yet) or influence. Some theories state though that there are infinitely many universes, created with every decision made. Below, we list some of the most popular/interesting theories.
Big Bang – it’s really hard not to know this theory. Well in case you didn’t know it here is a reminder. Big Bang Theory states that everything started with a big KABOOM originating from nothing or from some ancient type of matter/energy. Then universe started to expand, more complex structures started to form, matter started to form stars, planets, galaxies.
Bubble Universe – it states that out universe is one of many multiverses that formed through vacuum.
Bouncing Theory – it is a some sort of extension to the Big Bang Theory, stating that universe is just a set of infinite number of beginnings and endings, where it continuously expands and collapses. It’s also called Oscillatory universe model.
Protouniverse – As mentioned in the previous presentation, universe is filled with black holes. Protouniverse theory allows the existence of a so called white hole. White Hole is an opposite of a black hole. It’s supposed to “spit matter out” from vacuum at the speed of light.
What is a galaxy ?
Galaxy is a creation, massive system of gravitationally bound stars, planets, moons, stellar remnants, gas, dust, dark matter and others. Galaxies range from pretty small ones (10.000.000 stars) to giant ones (1.000.000.000.000 stars)
Galaxies are divided into 3 main types:
Elliptical – it’s a galaxy having an ellipsoidal shape. They range from nearly spherical to very flattened. Elliptical galaxies contain mostly of older stars, have low rates of start formation.
Spiral – consist of rotating disks of stars along with the central bulge of older stars. The galaxy arms extend from the center and are relatively bright. Arms of the spiral galaxy form an approximate logarithmic spiral.
Irregular/Peculiar – set of galaxies that form as a result of unusual circumstances or tidal interactions with other galaxies (galaxy collisions, merges). The very good example of such creation is a ring galaxy or a lenticular galaxy. First one is thought to occur when smaller galaxy passes through the center of a spiral galaxy (example of the Andromeda galaxy shown in the first link or some other galaxy in the second link). Lenticular galaxy is a galaxy that has properties of both spiral and elliptical galaxy (shown in the third link).
Dwarf – relatively small galaxies that can be, but not always are classified as elliptical, spiral or irregular galaxies since they don’t always share all of the large galaxy properties. For example dwarf elliptical galaxies are called “dwarf spheroidal galaxies” instead.
Results of interactions between galaxies
Galaxies can collide with each other. It happens when they don’t have enough momentum to pass through each other. These galaxies will interact with each other, eventually forming a larger galaxy. Result of such collision may vary, depending on the circumstances, creating many different shapes of the new galaxy, causing star formations bursts.
Some formations are described as starburst galaxies. These creations are characterized by dusty concentrations of gas and an exceptionally very high rate of star creation. These galaxies were more common during the early history of the universe. Right now starburst galaxies are believed to provide around 15% of the total star production rate in the universe. Starburst galaxies are also characterized by supernova explosions.
It can’t be measured or just shown on just few pictures. Ones below show only some of the amazing images you can see in space (in this case Supernovas).
1. How do you think universe has been created? Which theory appeals to you the most? Maybe some theory that wasn’t mentioned in the article got you interested? Maybe God created universe?
2. Do you think alternate realities or parallel universes exist? Please justify your opinion.
3. If universe is so big, do you think inter-stellar travel is even possible in real time? Do you think a human being could travel several times across the galaxy in a lifetime? (Notice “across the galaxy” – not even trying to consider travelling between galaxies yet)
Before you answer, know that the closest star is Proxima Centauri and it’s approximately 4.2 light-years distant (4x 10.000.000.000.000 km). The closest star known to have a planet is Epsilon Eridani and it’s approximately 10.5 light years distant.
4. Please name an interesting movie taking part somewhere in the space. What was so interesting in it?
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Space and its wonders: BLACK HOLES
What is a black hole ?
We’re sure everyone knows, but just in case you don’t we’re going to give you some basic information. Black hole is an area in space where nothing can escape, not even light(according to the theory of relativity). Black hole is created when a star of sufficient mass undergoes a gravitational collapse having all or most of its mass squeezed into a zero-volume area(singularity). In very simple words, Black Hole is just some object, so compact, that it’s gravitational field doesn’t allow anything move away from it.
Just in case you wondered, black hole doesn’t look or work like that:
Not exactly. Singularity is a central part of the black hole where matter is crushed into infinite density. It’s a point of infinite gravity and infinite spacetime distortions/curvature.
What’s event horizon ?
First of all you should know that around a black hole there is an area or border, that once you cross, you have no way of return. That’s the event horizon. If you were travelling towards the event horizon you wouldn’t notice anything disturbing and eventually you would cross the event horizon in the finite amount of proper time (time measured by a single clock between events that occur at the same place as the clock), but from the observers point of view, traveler would start slowing down and actually never cross the event horizon itself. Event horizon can range from few miles to the size of our solar system (that’s what scientists found so far) or even greater.
You can’t see a black hole since it doesn’t reflect anything, absorbs all the light coming towards it, but you can observe how it affects a matter around it. To see on your own, how a black hole can be tracked, follow the instruction at the end of this article.
Where can I find a black hole ?
The answer is simple, everywhere in the space. It’s literally filled with black holes. You can find them in some distant part of space where no planets or matter travels (at least not anymore) or very close, closer than you think. Scientists found a supermassive black hole (4 million solar masses) in the center of the Milky Way, yes the very same Milky Way in which our solar system is.
Video about the supermassive black holes (few words on what’s that exactly):
It provides many useful information as well as simple movies illustrating how a black hole works, how can it be created (you can even create your own black hole – THAT’S CRAZY !!!) , you can visit few black holes as well (for example the one that is closest to Earth).
For example, to see the black hole closest to the Earth, go to the website, then click “Journey to a Black Hole”, then click “The Voyage” at the top of the page, pick Cygnus X-I and get past the set of semi-annoying instructions in order to “see” the black hole (We think it’s worth it)
Discussion topics
1.We’re sure almost all of you heard about the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) located in the CERN institute. Some people believe that a miniature black hole may be created during the experiments using the LHC. Do you think it’s possible? What could be the results of such an event?
2. What do you think is behind the event horizon of a black hole? Parallel universe or maybe a time-travel tunnel? Be creative !
3. If there is a black hole (matter consuming thing) maybe there is something completely opposite to it? This theoretical creation is called a “white hole” and it’s a hole that is supposed to create matter spontaneously. Do you think it exists? Is it even possible?
