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Friday, 29 July 2005
Mild Spoilers for Land of the Dead.
Zombies. Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't ignore 'em. That may well be the message of Land of the Dead.
Of course it's allegorical. It's not about real zombies, it's about movie monsters that are really your friend, your teacher, the guy next door. More likely; the guy at the petrol station, the girl at the checkout. The great and the good, Romero's undead thesis runs, are bolting themselves into ivory towers and throwing away their keys. While that's very pretty for a while, everyone has to eat so you need a serving class... sadly, most of those are dead and the ones left alive would tear your tower down if given half the chance so they need to be kept busy. Happily, there's a threat right outside the walls of the town that'll keep them down, keep them more worried about them than you.
And right in the middle of all this sits the military, the police, the forces of law and order, here portrayed as a rag-tag militia more concerned with nabbing canned goods than keeping the peace. Still, they have the guns and they dispose of the dissidents and that seems to be all you need. Someone for the rich to send out to hostile environments and acquire for them what they desire. Trouble is, this might upset the natives... and what if the people you spent money on training turn on you? Oh, you see the allegory do you?
Trust me, you won't fail to notice it. Especially when Dennis Hopper says things like "We don't negotiate with terrorists" or when John Leguizamo promises to "go jihad on his ass". Yup, it's post-911 zombies, guys. With a little class war thrown in for good measure (it's no accident that the leader of the zombies is clad in blue overalls for the entirety of the movie).
And, you know, it works. In that was the seemingly clunking satire works in, say, Dawn of the Dead, here Romero once again dances along the tightrope between schlock and awe as he throws his politics at the screen via liberal doses of quite literally visceral horror and mordant black humour. Oh, and the gore! You should see the gore! For a 15, it's really full-on, with beheadings, disembowellings, cannibalism.. well, you know the deal. It's gross.
I'm looking forward to a repeat viewing. I think the satire will click better a few times in, as with Day of the Dead - at first viewing a bit of a clunker, it improves immensely each time I watch it and piggle away at the flesh of the meaning. This time out, I need to acclimatise to the idea of smart zombies, ones who can use tools and feel pity, anger, hatred. When the undead horde discover a yard with still-moaning zombies strung up for target practice, it's a suprising moment - for the first time, one empathises with a zombie. You feel their revulsion... revulsion directed at us.
Of course it's allegorical. It's not about real zombies, it's about movie monsters that are really your friend, your teacher, the guy next door. More likely; the guy at the petrol station, the girl at the checkout. The great and the good, Romero's undead thesis runs, are bolting themselves into ivory towers and throwing away their keys. While that's very pretty for a while, everyone has to eat so you need a serving class... sadly, most of those are dead and the ones left alive would tear your tower down if given half the chance so they need to be kept busy. Happily, there's a threat right outside the walls of the town that'll keep them down, keep them more worried about them than you.
And right in the middle of all this sits the military, the police, the forces of law and order, here portrayed as a rag-tag militia more concerned with nabbing canned goods than keeping the peace. Still, they have the guns and they dispose of the dissidents and that seems to be all you need. Someone for the rich to send out to hostile environments and acquire for them what they desire. Trouble is, this might upset the natives... and what if the people you spent money on training turn on you? Oh, you see the allegory do you?
Trust me, you won't fail to notice it. Especially when Dennis Hopper says things like "We don't negotiate with terrorists" or when John Leguizamo promises to "go jihad on his ass". Yup, it's post-911 zombies, guys. With a little class war thrown in for good measure (it's no accident that the leader of the zombies is clad in blue overalls for the entirety of the movie).
And, you know, it works. In that was the seemingly clunking satire works in, say, Dawn of the Dead, here Romero once again dances along the tightrope between schlock and awe as he throws his politics at the screen via liberal doses of quite literally visceral horror and mordant black humour. Oh, and the gore! You should see the gore! For a 15, it's really full-on, with beheadings, disembowellings, cannibalism.. well, you know the deal. It's gross.
I'm looking forward to a repeat viewing. I think the satire will click better a few times in, as with Day of the Dead - at first viewing a bit of a clunker, it improves immensely each time I watch it and piggle away at the flesh of the meaning. This time out, I need to acclimatise to the idea of smart zombies, ones who can use tools and feel pity, anger, hatred. When the undead horde discover a yard with still-moaning zombies strung up for target practice, it's a suprising moment - for the first time, one empathises with a zombie. You feel their revulsion... revulsion directed at us.
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Friday, 15 July 2005
Yeow!
Holy crap! Look at the shiny! If it wasn't for that fact that I couldn't give two fucks about FFVII, I'd be super excited. See, a FFVIII movie... now you're talking. Oh, I know no-one else would like it, but I would. I'd go and see it all on my own and be the only person in the world that liked it - like the The Spirits Within. Oh, man. Was I ever on my own there!
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Friday, 8 July 2005
Sandwiches
I think today will be all about sandwiches. Apparently there was a suspect package in benjy's and now we've been given free sandwiches at work. Coincidence? I think not.
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Ooh! I can talk about sandwiches, today I had the most delicious corned beef sandwich. It had mayonnaise and black pepper too. I want another now....what was in yours?
Um, well, two things. Corned beef? Never delicious. And it was egg and cress, which was actually pretty grim. They were vending machine sammiches.
Um, well, two things. Corned beef? Never delicious. And it was egg and cress, which was actually pretty grim. They were vending machine sammiches.
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Thursday, 7 July 2005
Back up again
London gets bombed.
London's response - "Alright, come on, come on, get back to it you bunch of girls, stop yer cryin'" It's pretty impressive. There are a lot of pedestrians, a lot of texts flying, the odd stunned-looking person, but generally Londoners are getting back to the routine (adapted) with speed. Amazing. My plan now? I'm going to get a bus, then catch a train home. My normal commute. Which, 6 hours ago, were shut down.
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Shutting up shop
Wow, big parade of traffic cones, barricades and diversion signs heading over Blackfriars bridge. A load of buses out of service coming the other way. London is officially closed.
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State of Emergency
Well, it seems like London is under attack. For me, this has meant.. walking to work. I know, it's a heavy toll.
Buses are being pulled out of service, the Tube is shut down. Liverpool Street (my station) was being slowly but surely evacuated as I arrived this morning. The city is full of sirens and bustle, it's like very calm chaos. No-one is panicking, but no-one is at ease, either. We're ready to jump but we're just too laid-back to do it without things actually going bang in our face.
This is weird. So. Very. Weird.
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Wednesday, 6 July 2005
There goes the neighbourhood
I've lived in London for a couple of years now, and not once have I heard anyone say "You know what we need? A world-class velodrome." But, apparently, we're going to have one. Great! Bulldoze the Lea Valley! Put in... a massive car-park. And.. what's that? An Olympic-standard swimming pool? Woo! What about, you know, affordable housing, or a nice enterprise zone (should such things still exist)? Oh, what about all the businesses located in the Olympic Building Site? I'm sure they'll be fine in.. whatever void they are cast to. At least we'll have somewhere to park coaches in 2013. In Leyton. Tourists dig Leyton, right?
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