Hopping You have a Jiang-Shi Birthday - 6/12/2015

So I had a birthday recently and it was a "Big One" by most standards. I turned 50 years old. How I got here and the speed it happened is a discussion best left for another time. Even though the official day was last weekend, the party is still going on. Today I received in the mail an awesome package of hand-drawn birthday cards from my older sister and her daughter (my niece) and my great nieces. It did my old heart good to see those sweet bits of colorful construction paper magically transformed into birthday cards by toddler's hands. What I'm sharing with you tonight is what my big sis did for me. She sent my 3,000 yen for my upcoming trip to Japan and did this fantastic drawing of an Asian Jiangshi or "Hopping Vampire/Zombie". She is a better artist then she knowns! I love this drawing. Thank you sis!

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Zombie Response Unit - 2/8/15 - Image-a-day

While driving home Friday, I spotted this "Virginia Zombie Outbreak" vehicle in the Ocean View section of Norfolk, Va. I had seen it once before a few months ago, but failed to get a photo, so I was glad to cross paths with it again. I am a fan of eccentrics and think it's a fading quality in the American character and blame the internet and the over abundance of homogenized twenty-four television culture distracting and brainwashing the population into a dull stupor. I wonder if this is just some kid having a bit of laugh or maybe they're shooting a movie. Whatever the reason, these folks are serious with a human skull dangling from the roof rack. I for one sleep a little sounder knowing that "Unit 2" is on patrol and will be ready to take on the zombie outbreak when it happens.

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Happy 75th Birthday George Romero - 2/4/15 - Image-a-day

Seventy-five years ago today, George A. Romero, father of modern zombie culture, was born in New York City according to IMDB. I love his first three zombie movies, "Night of the Living Dead", "Dawn of the Dead' and "Day of the Dead" and the crazy, post-apocalyptic world he created. It's been strange to witness how his gruesome tales have gone from an underground, fringe genre to a mainstream phenomena, with shows like "The Walking Dead" serving up much more ultra-violent splatter on television no less. I have often leaned on being a zombie for Halloween. Here is my wife and myself from a few years ago as some tourist zombies. It's an easy costume to assemble, some old clothes and a bit of greenish gray make-up and some dried blood and you're off to the mall. I'll always be a "slow-zombie" fan.

Happy Birthday George!

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