Five–mostly dead–things I liked this week
#1. Maureen Johnson, author of Devilish, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and the (banned in Oklahoma) Bermudez Triangle is guest-blogging at Inside A Dog. She’s hosting an inspired contest asking readers to insert a zombie into otherwise tragically zombieless books. I submitted Remembrance of THINGS Past and Notes from the Underground…Looks like their server is having trouble at the moment (no doubt due to its having been shoved in front of a window to hold off the the relentless dead), so try back later.
#2. Diary of the Dead: Against her better impulses, I convinced Alice to go to last night’s preview screening of the new installment in George Romero’s Dead cycle. This one is a low budget throwback to his indy days and attempts to take on the youtube, blogging generation. It’s uneven, and a bit creaky (as you can probably tell from the MySpace link) but the best moments are blackly funny and inventive. I’m perculating a more complete review of this…
#3. Gospel of the Living Dead by Kim Paffenroth: An analysis of the ethics and theology of Romero’s Dead films, particularly his representations of original sin and his parallels with Dante. The book makes some very interesting points–the fact that zombies are the only movie monster that you don’t envy on some level (since they don’t have any sexy powers) never occurred to me–but perhaps over-emphasizes some plot conveniences into dogma.
Okay enough with the zombies.
#4. Alta-Glamour.com is selling a large collection of cover paintings, pin-up photos, illustrations, and cartoons from vintage men’s paperbacks and magazines (and at very affordable prices). Take Bush’s tax bribe and revitalize the economy in a way he would never approve. REQUEST: the reproductions could be larger.
#5. Publishers’ Bindings Online, 1815-1930 is hosting a huge gallery of decoratively bound hardcover books. Some of these are incredibly stunning and this is a great resource for designers. It will, however, make you very sad about the current state of book production.
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Hang Fire Books 
Our ideas of affordable may differ, and our love of zombies, but apparently we both love the vintage girlies lol
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Zombies have never done it for me LOL – they are the one monster that actually managed to freak me out 😛
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I just went and saw “Diary of the Dead” tonight. Quite enjoyed it.. especially Samuel the deaf Amish man. As you said, some of the story line was weak, but it was fun overall.. certainly better than “Land of the Dead.” I’ll be meeting George A Romero (again) in a couple of weeks, and I just picked up an ARC of “Dawn of the Dead” and a fine copy of the first edition for him to sign.
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The Amish guy was a great character and I liked the security cam stuff in the manor at the end (reminded me a bit of the scary home invasion in Martin). His take on the internet that “more voices equals more spin” was kind of ridiculous though. Seems to me that it’s the voice of God, news from on high that allows for more manipulation of the truth. Also the college students were really unlikely and unbelievable and what was with the Grade C Lawrence Olivier film professor?It was definitely stronger than Land… though. Congrats on meeting Mr. Romero. I haven’t had the opportunity. Glad that he’s finally getting paid.
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