#Invasion by the Atomic Zombies

[videoreligion]

Nightmare City (1980)

[tomorrowusa]

Quit fixating on Putin's nukes FFS.

Donald Trump and his MAGA minions are trying to imply that aid for Ukraine will lead to nuclear war. This is bullshit which is meant to bolster Putin's illegal war of aggression against a peaceful neighbor.

We hear MAGA Russophiles repeat this whenever new aid or new weapons systems are sent to Ukraine. The last time I checked, Putin hasn't nuked San Diego or Memphis. And we have crossed more of Putin's "red lines" than Trump has red neckties.

Even a delusional imperialist like Vladimir Putin understands that the ultimate outcome of any nuclear war would leave him as a shirtless congealed blob of radioactive fat. ⚛

With nuclear option unlikely, Putin struggles to defend his red lines

“There has been an overflow of nuclear threats,” said a Russian official speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “There is already immunity to such statements, and they don’t frighten anyone.” A Russian academic with close ties to senior Russian diplomats agreed, calling the nuclear option “the least possible” of scenarios, “because it really would lead to dissatisfaction among Russia’s partners in the Global South and also because clearly, from a military point of view, it is not very effective.”

The United States and its NATO allies have no intention of giving nukes to Ukraine.

What we don't hear from scare-mongering MAGA zombies or Putin-friendly tankies is that the war in Ukraine would end immediately if the Russian invaders simply left Ukraine. Anybody who truly wants peace should be telling Russia to get the fuck back to their own country.

This week, Trump and former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in an op-ed for the Hill that a decision to grant Ukraine permission to use Western long-range missiles “would put the world at greater risk of nuclear conflagration than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis” and called for direct negotiations with Moscow instead.

The only thing to "negotiate" with Moscow is a short ceasefire while Russia withdraws all its invading troops. The bottom line is that Russia has no business in Ukraine. The invasion is in violation of numerous international laws, treaties, and memoranda.

As for technology, Russia's means of using ICBMs in nuclear war just ain't what it used to be.

Latest Russian ICBM Test May Have Failed, Satellite Images Suggest

Russia is a third-rate power which happens to have nukes and a lot of empty territory that looks deceptively impressive on a map. Its ability to handle any atomic technology competently is questionable. Even during the glory days of the Soviet Union it gave the world its worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986.

Chernobyl is in northern Ukraine which became independent in 1991. Ukrainians had done a good job of cleaning up much of the radioactive mess left by Moscow.

But Russia then temporarily occupied the area around Chernobyl in the early part of the invasion. Russian occupiers there did incredibly stupid things like dig military trenches in radioactive soil and loot radioactive materials to take home as souvenirs.

Russia has few serious competitors for the Darwin Awards this year. 🎖  ⚛️

What we should worry more about is another nuclear accident inside Russia caused by recklessness or incompetence. The sooner Ukraine is victorious, the more likely Russia will be able to tend to its own problems at home.

^^^ красные линии = red lines

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 1

Propaganda why Charlie Morningstar is insufferable:

"Her entire personality was rewritten to be insufferable. She behaved like an idiot who didn't understand anyone or the problems they had. Her ideas were shit and so were her dramas."

"I know her whole character is naive and innocent. I even liked her at first. But with every rewatch I find her more annoying. She is waaay too naive and doesn't listen to anyone else's concerns like Vaggie's or Lucifer's, instead just believing everyone will listen to her. I might be alone in this, I just hate this archetype of naivety and innocence to this degree."

"She was insufferable in the the Masquerade episode. It infanticided her so much, it ruined any enjoyment I might have had in her. She is supposed to be an adult woman trying to safe sinners meanwhile she acts and is treated like a toddler??"

Propaganda why Bloom Peters is insufferable:

"Look at this image and tell me this looks like winx

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjRjMjg2MGEtMmQ1Yi00Yjc0LTlkZTItNjQzYjAwNjQ3MGU0XkEyXkFqcGdeQWRvb2xpbmhk._V1_.jpg"

"Bloom (and entire show) is written like the director gave a middle aged conservative man $100 to write what he thought “woke” teens would like."

"God. GOOOOOODDDDD. Netflix's take on Bloom is one of the worst character assassinations I have ever had the misfortune to witness. She has a fuse the size of a hydrogen atom. She gets angry at people when they try to assist her, ranging from accusing a passerby of 'mansplaining' when he tried to help her find her class to YELLING at the person who saved her life from her own out-of-control fire powers. She wanders off to chase a lead on her ~mysterious backstory~ in the middle of a zombie invasion. She did not realize she was adopted when no one in her family has red hair. She treats her roommates (particularly Aisha) and classmates and parents like shit, and ignores their needs constantly (like insisting on having lunch and important discussions in a crowded room with Musa, an empath who can't turn her powers off, and Terra, who has crippling social anxiety). She begs an adult for help and then insults them. She suuuuucks. (Also her parents suck too, but this isn't about them. Fate!Vanessa you and I will fight at midnight about taking away Bloom's door I don't even blame her for accidentally setting you on fire.)"

"Her sins:

1. Main character of one of the worse live action adaptions I’ve ever seen

2. Not like other girls x1000- she likes ✨reading books✨ and ✨going to vintage stores✨ and gets in a fight with her mom about how she doesn’t go to parties and have friends like a ✨basic bitch✨

3. Gets so mad at her mom that she loses control of her powers and nearly kills her parents in a fire

4. A guy told her she was going the wrong way to get to class and she accused him of “mansplaining”

5. Shitty and boring fashion sense, little to no bright colors and not a single glittery top

6. Season one “Transformation” is just a dozen different camera angles of her awkwardly floating with cgi fire around her

7. I didn’t watch season two, but a friend who did told me she develops a savior complex and has an unnecessary amount of make out scenes at random times"

[sillypotatochipz]

Sample Text

Hey, its the TAU bonus disaster group but they're silly creatures!

Hurricane, Flood, Lava Flood, Meteors, Alien Invasion, Atomic Bomb, Volcano, Black Hole, Pollution, Acid Rain, Tsunami, Avalanche and Zombie Invasion are here! (pain)

If you're new here, and don't know me from Instagram (art_.potatoez) let me explain:

Tornado Alley Ultimate is a Roblox game where your goal is to survive various disasters; from a normal EF0 tornado to the end of the world!

I have an AU of this game where the 'gamemodes' are made to fit with my style (plus, they got personalities now) so these 'bonus disasters' are now in my AU.

[moviesandmania]

CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955) Reviews and free to watch online

‘Chock-full of thrills!’ Creature with the Atom Brain is a 1955 science fiction crime horror film about a mad scientist who uses ‘zombies’ to aid a gangster. Directed by Edward L. Cahn (The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake; Curse of the Faceless Man; It! The Terror from Beyond Space; Invasion of the Saucer Men; Zombies of Mora Tau; Voodoo Woman; The She-Creature) from a story and screenplay by Curt…

[vhs-ninja]

Nightmare City (1980)

[ghoul-lover9000]

Dating Ace Merrill Would Include

You’re the nicest person in Castle Rock. Everyone loves you. You’ve never done anything wrong ever! At least, most of the residents of your small town believe this. Your reputation is pristine, your look is clean-cut, but your actions when no one is looking are less than pure. 

I fully believe that Ace would be over the moon about a slightly manipulative, secretly bad person. Like you steal things from the General Store, but who would suspect you! You’re so respectful and upstanding; it was probably the neighborhood hooligans at it again. 

Ace catches you taking some cash from a store’s register while the clerk was in the backroom and he cannot believe his eyes. The same person who helps old ladies cross the street or what-the-fuck-ever is stealing from the local grocer. 

He comes up to you at school and slyly mentions it. “So, babe, you make a habit out of stealing?” You’re taken aback, you were so careful and, after years, you’ve finally been caught by one of the infamous guys in school. “What are you talking about, sleaze ball?” 

Let’s cut to the chase, you both come to a mutual understanding. You go on with your stealing and he takes a 20% cut. (You both negotiate for an hour or so. You’re both so fucking stubborn.) This business proposition is the start of a beautiful… sexual relationship. 

Yeah, you both are attracted to each other and you both are horny high school kids. Things happen. (Could go into detail, but that’s for another imagine, for another day)

However, he gets possessive of you. If one of his boys sees you at a Drive-In movie with Tommy Richardson, you best believe Tommy’s tires are gonna be slashed and Ace is coming to have a chat with you. Ace: What do you think you’re doing running around with a meathead like Richardson. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize I was your ward. What are you, the holy unfeeling Ace, so jealous about anyway?” Ace: I’m not jealous, just making sure you’re not going straight for good. I gotta make sure I get my cut. “Well, cool down, hot head, it’s an act. Sweetest girl in school like me and I haven’t got a fella. I can’t just sneak around. My reputation would take a hit and that threatens your precious money more than me going out to a shitty movie with the only guy in town that’s a bigger asshole than you.” Ace: Oh, my reputation, my reputation, my reputation. Can you be concerned  with anything other than what local busybodies say about you? Then, we wouldn’t have to sneak aro-… “Finish that sentence.” Ace: No. “No, finish. You don’t want to sneak around? What more do you want?” Ace: You’re putting words in my mouth. Just stop being so uptight all of the time. “No, it’s all so clear. You really are jealous of Tommy! You like-” Ace: Shut up! “No, Merrill. You like me, you want me to be your girl. You wanna go steady!” Ace: Fine, you fucking menace. What if I do? “Well, then I guess you’ll have to take me out, dream boat.”

Your first date is very representative of the both of you. You work your magic and, instead of money, you get a bunch of snacks (Box of Atomic Fire Balls, Box of Sugar Babies, two Cokes, two big bags of Bar-B-Q chips, and a pint of vanilla ice cream). After the heist, Ace drives you guys up to a point that overlooks Castle Rock. You both sit on the hood of the car, snack, smoke, and ask each other some of the stupidest questions ever. A few quotes from the night- “What are three things that you would buy to weird out a clerk?” “You would not survive the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Aliens would inhabit your body in the first few days.” “The zombie apocalypse is nigh. You have a baseball bat and station wagon. What’s your next move?” 

You both stop sneaking around and the whole town is shocked. You with Castle Rock’s violent leader of the Cobras? Anytime someone asked you what you’re doing, you just smile secretively and say, “Oh, I don’t know. He’s not that bad.” 

You would never say out loud that Ace had a soft spot for you because, to quote Ace himself, “I’m not soft, sweetheart”, but he’s so soft for you. 

He likes to see you wearing his Hawaiian shirts, especially around town because, like stated before, he is possessive as fuck and wants the whole town to know whose girl you are. 

The Cobras know not to make fun of how whipped he is for you because he will make them eat dirt if they do. Also, they know about your undesirable habits, so you kind of become apart of the gang a little bit because they’ll ask for favors from you like “Hey, Y/N, I scored another date with Nancy Baughman and I was wondering if you could steal some *whispers* rubbers from the Johnson’s General Store. I don’t got any money and, plus, my mom is real close with Mrs. Johnson and you know how people talk.” “Say no more.”

You both are very sarcastic in the way you call each other pet names. It’s so confusing to other people. Ace: Y/N, darling, love of my life, what the fuck are you doing? “Acey-baby, stud muffin, what does it look like, dumb fuck?” He does call you “baby” on a regular basis, the only pet name that isn’t completely sarcastic. 

You only call him John, his real name, in really intimate situations where you both are alone like late at night when he’s snuck into your house when he can’t be at home anymore. 

He ruffles your hair a lot. I have no real explanation for this except that he just wants to piss you off by messing up your hair, the little shit. 

Any guy who flirts with you or harasses you is dead. He’ll fight the whole school for you. Really, who’s dumb enough to fight him? He’s made it known to the whole town that he’s a force to be reckoned with. 

You both go out for rides together and he’s just the smallest bit less reckless with you in the car. Don’t bring it up because he will start swerving back and forth on the road like an asshole if you do. 

When you walk around town together, he gets more glares than usual because everyone thinks that he’s corrupting you and trying to turn you into a bad egg. You think it’s hilarious and you bring it up as much as you can. *Ace offers you a beer* “Oh, Ace Merrill, you bad boy, you! Introducing me to alcohol, the sinner’s water.” Ace: Do you want the fucking drink or not. 

He gets you back for the previous bullet point when Teddy Duchamp gets a very obvious crush on you for a month or so and unashamedly starts talking to you when he sees you around town. *Teddy starts walking up to you with the unwavering confidence of a peacock*        Ace: Oh, look, Y/N, it’s your preteen knight here to sweep you off your feet. (Also Ace: Beat it, Duchamp. She’s mine.)

[fishoutofcamelot]

Zombie symbolism in media? Body snatchers? That sounds extremely interesting 👀👀👀

OOOOOOOOOOH ARE YOU READY FOR ME TO RANT? CUZ I’M GONNA RANT BABY. YALL WANNA SEE HOW HARD I CAN HYPERFIXATE???

I’ll leave my ramblings under the cut.

The Bodysnatchers thing is a bit quicker to explain so I’ll start with that. Basically, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was released in 1956, about a small town where the people are slowly but surely replaced and replicated by emotionless hivemind pod aliens. It was a pretty obvious metaphor for the red scare and America’s fear of the ‘growing threat of communism’ invading their society. A communist could look like anyone and be anyone, after all.

Naturally, the bodysnatcher concept got rebooted a few times - Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978), Body Snatchers (1993), and The Invasion (2007), just off the top of my head. You’re all probably very familiar with the core concept: people are slowly being replaced by foreign duplicates. 

But while the monster has remained roughly the same, the theme has not. In earlier renditions, Bodysnatchers symbolized communism. But in later renditions, the narratives shifted to symbolize freedom of expression and individualism - that is, people’s ability to express and think for themselves being taken away. That’s because freedom of thought/individuality is a much more pressing threat on our minds in the current climate. Most people aren’t scared of communists anymore, but we are scared of having our free will taken away from us. 

The best indicator of the era in which a story is created is its villain. Stories written circa 9/11 have villains that are foreign, because foreign terrorism was a big fear in the early 2000s. In the past, villains were black people, because white people were racist (and still are, but more blatantly so in the past). 

Alright, now for the fun part.

ZOMBIES

Although the concept has existed in Haitian voodooism for ages, the first instance of zombies in western fiction was a book called The Magic Island written by William Seabrook in 1929. Basically ol Seabrook took a trip to Haiti and saw all the slaves acting tired and ‘brutish’ and, having learned about the voodoo ‘zombi’, believed the slaves were zombies, and thus put them in his book.

The first zombie story in film was actually an adaptation of Seabrook’s accounts, called White Zombie (1932). It was about a couple who takes a trip to Haiti, only for the woman to be turned into a zombie and enchanted into being a Haitian’s romantic slave. SUPER racist, if you couldn’t tell, but not only does it reflect the state of entertainment of the era - Dracula and Frankenstein had both been released around the same time - but it also reflects American cultural fears. That is, the fear of white people losing their authoritative control over the world. White fright.

Naturally, the box office success of White Zombie inspired a whole bunch of other remakes and spinoffs in the newly minted zombie genre, most of them taking a similar Haitian voodoo approach. Within a decade, zombies had grown from an obscure bit of Haitian lore to a fully integrated part of American pop culture. Movies, songs, books, cocktails, etc. 

But this was also a time for WWII to roll around and, much like the Bodysnatchers, zombie symbolism evolved to fit the times. Now zombies experienced a shift from white fright and ethnic spirituality to something a bit more secular. Now they were a product of foreign science created to perpetuate warmongering schemes. In King of Zombies (1941), a spy uses zombies to try and force a US Admiral to share his secrets. And Steve Sekely’s Revenge of the Zombies (1943) became the first instance of Nazi zombies. 

Then came the atom bomb, and once more zombie symbolism shifted to fears of radiation and communism. The most on-the-nose example of this is Creature With the Atom Brain (1955).

Then came the Vietnam War, and people started fearing an uncontrollable, unconscionable military. In Night of the Living Dead (1968), zombies were caused by radiation from a space probe, combining both nuclear and space-race motifs, as well as a harsh government that would cause you just as much problems as the zombies. One could argue that the zombies in the Living Dead series represent military soldiers, or more likely the military-industrial complex as a whole, which is presented as mindless in its pursuit of violence.

The Living Dead series also introduced a new mainstay to the genre: guns. Military stuff. Fighting. Battle. And that became a major milestone in the evolution of zombie representation in media. This was only exacerbated by the political climate of the time. In the latter half of the 20th century, there were a lot of wars. Vietnam, Korea, Arab Spring, Bay of Pigs, America’s various invasions and attacks on Middle Eastern nations, etc. Naturally the public were concerned by all this fighting, and the nature of zombie fiction very much evolved to match this.

But the late 1900s weren’t just a place of war. They were also a place of increasing economic disparity and inequal wealth distribution. In the 70s and 80s, the wage gap widened astronomically, while consumerism remained steadily on the rise. And so, zombies symbolized something else: late-stage capitalism. Specifically, capitalist consumption - mindless consumption. For example, in Dawn of the Dead (1978), zombies attack a mall, and with it the hedonistic lifestyles of the people taking refuge there. This iteration props up zombies as the consumers, and it is their mindless consumption that causes the fall of the very system they were overindulging in.

Then there was the AIDS scare, and the zombie threat evolved to match something that we can all vibe with here in the time of COVID: contagion. Now the zombie condition was something you could get infected with and turn into. In a video game called Resident Evil (1996), the main antagonist was a pharmaceutical company called the Umbrella Corporation that’s been experimenting with viruses and bio-warfare. In 28 Days Later (2002), viral apes escape a research lab and infect an unsuspecting public.

Nowadays, zombies are a means of expressing our contemporary fears of apocalypse. It’s no secret that the world has been on the brink for a while now, and everyone is waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop. Post-apocalypse zombie movies act as simultaneous male power fantasy, expression of contemporary cynicism, an expression of war sentiments, and a product of the zombie’s storied symbolic history. People are no longer able to trust the government, and in many ways people have a hard time trusting each other, and this manifests as an every-man-for-himself survivalist narrative. 

So why have zombies endured for so long, despite changing so much? Why are we so fascinated by them? Well, many say that it’s because zombies are a way for us to express our fears of apocalypse. Communism, radiation, contagion - these are all threats to the country’s wellbeing. Some might even say that zombies represent a threat to conversative America/white nationalism, what with the inclusion of voodooism, foreign entities, and late-stage capitalism being viewed as enemies.

Personally, I might partly agree with the conservative America thing, but I don’t think zombies exist to project our fears onto. That’s just how villains and monsters work in general. In fiction, the conflict’s stakes don’t hit home unless the villain is intimidating. The hero has to fight something scary for us to be invested in their struggles. But the definition of what makes something scary is different for every different generation and social group. Maybe that scary thing is foreign invaders, or illness, or losing a loved one, or a government takeover. As such, the stories of that era mold to fit the fears of that era. It’s why we see so many government conspiracy thrillers right now; it’s because we’re all afraid of the government and what it can do to us.

So if projecting societal fears onto the story’s villain is a commonplace practice, then what makes zombies so special? Why have they lasted so long and so prevalently? I would argue it’s because the concept of a zombie, at its core, plays at a long-standing American ideal: freedom.

Why did people migrate to the New World? Religious freedom. Why did we start the Revolutionary War and become our own country? Freedom from England’s authority. Why was the Civil War a thing? The south wanted freedom from the north - and in a remarkable display of irony, they wanted to use that freedom to oppress black people. Why are we so obsessed with capitalism? Economic freedom.

Look back at each symbolic iteration of the zombie. What’s the common thread? In the 20s/30s, it was about white fright. The fear that black people could rise up against them and take away their perceived ‘freedom’ (which was really just tyrannical authority, but whatever). During WWII, it was about foreign threats coming in and taking over our country. During Vietnam, it became about our military spinning out of control and hecking things up for the rest of us. In the 80s/90s, it was about capitalism turning us into mindless consumers. Then it was about plagues and hiveminds and the collapse of society as a whole, destroying everything we thought we knew and throwing our whole lives into disarray. In just about every symbolic iteration, freedom and power have been major elements under threat.

And even deeper than that, what is a zombie? It’s someone who, for whatever reason, is a mindlessly violent creature that cannot think beyond base animal impulses and a desire to consume flesh. You can no longer think for yourself. Everything that made you who you are is gone.

Becoming a zombie is the ultimate violation of someone’s personal freedom. And that terrifies Americans.

Although an interesting - and concerning - phenomenon is this new wave of wish fulfillment zombie-ism. You know, the gun-toting action movie hero who has the personality of soggy toast and a jaw so chiseled it could decapitate the undead. That violent survivalist notion of living off the grid and being a total badass all the while. It speaks to men who, for whatever reason, feel their masculinity and dominance is under threat. So they project their desires to compensate for their lack of masculine control onto zombie fiction, granting them personal freedom from obligations and expectations (and feminism) to live out their solo macho fantasies by engaging in low- to no-consequence combat. And in doing so, completely disregarding the fact that those same zombies were once people who cruelly had their freedom of self ripped away from them. Gaining their own freedom through the persecution of others (zombies). And if that doesn’t sum up the white conservative experience, I don’t know what does.

So yeah. That’s zombies, y’all.

Thanks for the ask!

[aion-rsa]

Why Amazon Prime’s Invincible Had to Be Animated

https://ift.tt/2NIsLnL

Invincible comic writer Robert Kirkman has a gentlemanly agreement with Steven Yeun, who appeared in The Walking Dead for six seasons and now stars as the adapted Invincible’s titular hero. 

“Steven and I have a rule that there’s no more popping his eyeballs out. I can live with that – once is enough,” Kirkman tells Den of Geek and other outlets during the series’ press day.

Kirkman’s imagination is as violent as it is vast. Yeun’s character Glenn Rhee on AMC’s The Walking Dead (based on the Kirkman comic of the same name) was a notable unfortunate recipient of that bloodlust when he was beaten to death with a barbed wire baseball bat in the show’s seventh season. 

Now Yeun is providing his voice to Mark Grayson a.k.a. Invincible – the super-powered high schooler at the center of Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Kirkman’s comic. Steven (and Mark’s) eyeballs are safe for now…but very few other body parts are in this sprawling superhero tale.

Invincible first premiered in a preview as part of Image Comics’ Savage Dragon #102, more than a full year before Kirkman’s black and white zombie blockbuster The Walking Dead debuted. The character graduated to his own regular series in 2003, first illustrated by Cory Walker, and then by the prolific Ryan Ottley. The story of Mark Grayson ran, uninterrupted and with very few side arcs, for 15 years before concluding with issue #144 in 2018. 

The appeal of Invincible can be hard to describe. At first glance, it’s a very conventional comic book story. Mark is the son of Nolan Grayson a.k.a. Omni-Man, an alien from the planet Viltrum and now Earth’s most powerful superhero (of which there are many). The series begins with Mark eagerly anticipating the arrival of his own superpowers and then embarking on an adventure of super self discovery, alongside a host of heroic allies and terrifying villains.

What sets Invincible apart, however, is its dedication to realistic storytelling. Mark is a very likeable, yet believably flawed young man.Kirkman’s sprawling 144-issue narrative meticulously follows Mark’s maturation and the ethical questions raised by a universe fit-to-bursting with invulnerable ubermensches. 

There’s also the violence…oh the sweet, sweet violence. Ryan Ottley’s art in Invincible has a deep, abiding respect for the physics of super powers. Though the images may be colorful, the action depicted within them are shocking in their brutality. Nary does a bone go uncrunched or an intestine un-ripped out in Kirkman and Ottley’s hyper visceral world. 

Naturally, Invincible was always a hot target for adaptation, particularly after AMC hit Kirkman zombie paydirt with The Walking Dead. But how exactly could any TV series fully capture the deliriously gory detail of Ottley’s art? The answer as it turns out is to just go ahead and adapt the art too. 

Amazon Prime’s Invincible, the first season of which will be eight episodes, features animation from Wind Sun Sky Entertainment and Kirkman’s own Skybound. Kirkman himself is on board as a producer, alongside David Alpert, Catherine Winder, and Simon Racioppa (who serves as showrunner). The end result is an animation style that hews closely to the comic’s original art and often seems like Ottley’s illustrations in motion.

“The action is a little bit more brutal when things are moving. I think it’s going to serve to heighten things in the series,” Kirkman says.

While heightening the violent rhythms of Invincible seems like a wild proposition, the show’s star agrees that the animation does just that. 

“You can go to places that live-action probably isn’t able to go to, even now,” Yeun tells Den of Geek and other outlets. “(Animation) creates a nice separation so that you can examine what the show might be saying without one-to-one comparison. Like that’s an actual arm being ripped off, but it’s a cartoon arm being ripped off. There’s just something different about that.” 

Both Yeun and J.K. Simmons, who plays Nolan, note that the show’s kinetic sequences provide interesting voice acting challenges. 

“What’s really fun is going back over in ADR and tracing back over these action sequences and these emotional moments. A lot of this show lives in those emotional moments that aren’t necessarily mixed in with dialogue, where a breath or a subtle way of gurgling blood in your mouth and trying to breath is its own kind of emotionality,” Yeun says.

“ADR is usually just ‘make this grunt.’ But because of the intensity of the violence and the stakes and the repercussions, it did feel much more emotionally connected doing the fight sequences,” Simmons adds.

The show’s animation style isn’t all about merely capturing the grunts and gurglings of blood, however. While Mark Grayson’s story begins relatively small, it eventually blossoms into an enormous superhero universe containing countless people, monsters, and worlds. Even in our era of technical sophistication where just about anything seems possible on television, Invincible is a hard sell as live-action.

According to Kirkman, animation was the only way to properly tell this story.

“The main benefit is that we’re going to be able to provide the audience with a scope and scale, more akin to a $200 million blockbuster movie than what you usually get from your average superhero television show,” Kirkman says. “Drawing an army of a thousand people is a little bit easier than hiring a thousand people and putting costumes on them and things like that. If we want to have three different alien invasions in the same episode, we can.”

Read more

TV

Invincible Review (Spoiler-Free)

By Bernard Boo

Kirkman knows the limits of live-action television as well as anyone. Though The Walking Dead remains an enormous success for AMC, it has experienced quite a bit of casting turnover throughout the years with only Norman Reedus’s Daryl Dixon and Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier remaining of the season 1 main cast in the show’s 11 seasons. Requesting that actors endure grueling television shooting schedules in the humid Atlanta summers for an undetermined number of years is a big ask as it turns out.

If depicted in live-action, the commitments of actors’ times and bodies would be even more brutal for the Invincible cast. And the cast of Invincible is set to be huge. The first season alone will star: Yeun as Mark Grayson, Simmons as Nolan Grayson, Sandra Oh as Debbie Grayson, Seth Rogen as Allen the Alien, Gillian Jacobs as Atom Eve, Andrew Rannells as William Clockwell, Zazie Beetz as Amber Bennett, Walton Goggins as Cecil Stedman, Jason Mantzoukas as Rex Splode, Zachary Quinto as Robot, and many, many more. (Check out the full list over here).

And that’s before the story begins to expand with more heroes and villains in later issues/seasons. The relatively smaller time commitments of voiceover acting in animation allows Kirkman and the series writers to keep the cast as large as needed, though Simmons notes that he, Yeun, and Oh all still get to act together in-studio. 

Kirkman says the show is able to delve deeper into certain characters than the comics did, with figures like G-man Cecil Stedman and the Rorschach-esque Damian Darkblood getting more screen time. 

“These are characters that I should know intimately, but getting to work with these actors and getting to hear these voices and how these performances come together, it’s like I’m meeting these characters again for the first time and the absolute best way,” Kirkman says. “I’m seeing new aspects to them that didn’t really exist before. It’s really making me more excited about moving forward with this show for many seasons with this cast.”

Yes, Kirkman and the rest of the Invincible cast already have “many seasons” in mind for the show. Whether those seasons will come to pass are up to Amazon and its subscribers. But it seems clear that animation was the right choice for the story’s scope was television was the right choice for its length.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The first three episodes of Invincible will premiere Friday, March 26 on Amazon Prime. 

The post Why Amazon Prime’s Invincible Had to Be Animated appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lItwd9

[videoreligion]

Nightmare City (1980)

[buzzdixonwriter]

Gorgo

I recently rewatched Gorgo, a 1961 US / UK / Irish kaiju co-production, a film I hadn’t seen in several years (at least five, maybe as many as ten).

The last couple of times I watched it I wasn’t paying close attention, just letting it play in the background as I did other stuff.  

Now, having actually paid attention to it again, I’m delighted it holds up as well as my memory told me it did.

I first encountered Gorgo in 1961 when my father took my younger brother and I to see it as the Fine Arts Theater in Asheville, NC.

The Fine Arts, one of only two movie theaters in Asheville (there may have been a 3rd that I didn’t know about due to the segregation laws of that era) specialized in more outre’ fare and typically got the monster and horror shows, as well as the Hercules movies and =ahem!= adult dramas.

It was a memorable trip for several reasons, not the least of which being my younger brother freaking out at the climax when he turned to grab Dad’s arm only to find Dad had gone to the rest room.

Not a great movie but certainly a good one, Gorgo in retrospect was somewhat groundbreaking and as such more deserving of attention.

The late film historian Bill Warren and I would often discuss old sci-fi movies.  Bill, of course, wrote the seminal reference work on 1950s sci-fi movies, Keep Watching The Skies (highly recommended; go order it right now).

He argued that the fifties sci-fi boom may have started in 1950* but it really ended in 1962 when the last of the films put into production in the 1950s finally came out.

I argued that the line was fuzzier, greyer, with some titles showing a clearly different mindset than others released the same year.

Such is the case with Gorgo.

Basically, 1950s sci-fi is about re-establishing the status quo.  Several end quite explicitly stating this (Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers for one) while others allude to the fact that the menace may return…someday.

But their point always was that by the end of the picture things returned to what passed for normal.

Even Forbidden Planet returns to normal by destroying Altair IV and the truly god-like Krell machines found there, thus preventing anyone else from using them.

But 1960s sci-fi had an entirely different flavor, and that flavor was that by the end of the movie things had changed irrevocably and forever.

There was no going back to the way things were, there was only the new normal -- however different and bizarre that normal might be.

Gorgo is a sixties sci-fi film.

Giant monster movies -- what we now refer to as kaiju due to Japan’s dominance of the genre -- started way back in the silent era (like almost everything else in cinema, Georges Melies got there first) with King Kong as the most prominent example before the atom age.

King Kong’s success on TV in the late 40s spurred Warner Bros. to make The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and that in turn spurred Toho to make Gojira (US title:  Godzilla, King Of The Monsters) and that inspired a giant monster race on both sides of the Pacific.

England, not wanting to feel left out of the fun, made The Giant Behemoth which is an okay but underwhelming example of the genre, noteworthy only for being stop motion animators Willis O’Brien’s last feature work (he worked on other films after that, but not as an animator).

By the late 1950s Godzilla’s popularity inspired the King brothers (US slot machine distributors) to make their own giant monster movie, and despite their unfamiliarity with the genre they made several smart decisions, the first of which was hiring Eugene Lourie.

Lourie had one of those fabulous “cast your fate to the wind” careers that included working as art director on Jean Renoir films in France.

Like so many others, as the Nazis rose in power, Lourie came to America where he continued doing art direction among other behind the camera film work.  His experience with special effects got him a gig direction The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and from there he directed a few TV episodes then The Colossus Of New York (not what we’d call a kaiju film today, but definitely one of the oddest sci-fi movies ever made) and The Giant Behemoth (itself essentially a remake of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms).

When the King brothers approached him to direct Gorgo, he was reluctant, agreeing to make the film only they let him do something no other sci-fi film of the 1950s (or before!) had ever done:  Let the monsters win.

While Lourie later complained he felt the film fell short of what he intended, there’s no denying he was swinging for the outfield fence with this one.

The King brothers’ best idea was that they’d start with a 20-ft tall monster getting captured and brought to London, only for the protagonists to belatedly realize they’ve captured a baby and mama is gonna come looking for him.

It ends with Mama defeating everything humanity had to throw at it and returning to the sea with her child, the surviving humans watching them depart and realizing they can no longer consider themselves the absolute masters of all they survey.

That point gets lost in the feel-good moment of mother rescuing child, but it’s there, and it marks Gorgo as one of the first sci-fi films to embrace the concept that change was inevitable and inescapable.

Gorgo is an expertly crafted film, not perfect by a long shot, but satisfying all the way through.  Lourie’s talent as an art director contributed mightily to the film’s final dramatic effect, and the scenes of London panicking as Mama Gorgo comes looking for her child has an intensity lacking in most kaiju films.

As Bill Warren observed, there’s not a lot of originality here, but that’s okay because Lourie and the King brothers covered a number of details typically left out of movies like this, namely how the %#$@ are you going to get your kaiju back to civilization?

Sharp eyed observers will notice a lot of stock footage in this movie (with footage of the British and US navies being used interchangeably for the same ships and crews), but Lourie also disguised some of it well.  

The cost conscious King brothers filmed a lorry carrying a full size replica of Gorgo (doped up and trussed up with nets) through a deserted Piccadilly Circus by sneaking cameras in and doing a wholly unauthorized shoot early on a Sunday morning (explained away in the film as the police ordering people off the streets to reduce the danger of Gorgo escaping).

In a couple of scenes Lourie superimposes his actors over background plates shot for big budget WWII epics, creating a far larger sense of scale than the movie actually had.

The miniatures and the lighting of same are exceptionally well done and very convincing for the era.  Matte work to combine the Gorgos with humans is pretty seamless.

The Gorgo monster suit itself?  Ehhh…not quite so well done.  Call it adequate, certainly not an embarrassment, but far from the best example of the genre.

The movie certainly ended in a far different place than other kaiju of the era and ended up having a surprisingly long half-life as a comic book spin off by Steve Ditko that followed the adventures of Gorgo and his Mama.

There’s a lot that can be done with this kaiju combination, and it’s a shame that’s going to waste.

If ever there was a movie deserving of an upgraded remake, it’s Gorgo.

  © Buzz Dixon

  * When a particular epoch in pop culture starts / stops is always open to debate.  Since Bill wouldn’t consider short films or serials in Keep Watching The Skies he omits several serials released before 1950 that anticipated the sci-fi boom, in particular The Purple Monster Strikes, the first of Republic’s Martian invasion serials as well as the first cinematic sci-fi excursion to include all of the key elements of 1950s American sci-fi:  Paranoia, alien invasion, body possession.  (For those keeping score at home, the Republic Martian serials are The Purple Monster Strikes, Flying Disc Man From Mars, and Zombies Of The Stratosphere though one can argue King Of The Rocket Men, Retik, The Moon Menace, and Commando Cody, Sky Marshall Of The Universe are crossovers of one kind or another; the first three serials were unintentionally linked when cost conscious Republic decided to recycle costumes and props and rewrote dialog to refer to prior releases in order to cover their budgetary limits.)

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 2

Propaganda why Velma is insufferable:

"It’s that Velma from the VELMA TV SHOW.

I’m so sorry, I honestly don’t know what else to say right now.

If you know why she’s so insufferable, you know. 💀"

"Insufferable, preachy, annoying, does not even try to be likable

Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to greenlight this trash?"

"Do I really need to explain... My deepest condolences to the REAL Velma from Scooby Doo, she would never stand for any of this"

Propaganda why Bloom Peters is insufferable:

"Look at this image and tell me this looks like winx https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjRjMjg2MGEtMmQ1Yi00Yjc0LTlkZTItNjQzYjAwNjQ3MGU0XkEyXkFqcGdeQWRvb2xpbmhk._V1_.jpg"

"Bloom (and entire show) is written like the director gave a middle aged conservative man $100 to write what he thought “woke” teens would like."

"God. GOOOOOODDDDD. Netflix's take on Bloom is one of the worst character assassinations I have ever had the misfortune to witness. She has a fuse the size of a hydrogen atom. She gets angry at people when they try to assist her, ranging from accusing a passerby of 'mansplaining' when he tried to help her find her class to YELLING at the person who saved her life from her own out-of-control fire powers. She wanders off to chase a lead on her ~mysterious backstory~ in the middle of a zombie invasion. She did not realize she was adopted when no one in her family has red hair. She treats her roommates (particularly Aisha) and classmates and parents like shit, and ignores their needs constantly (like insisting on having lunch and important discussions in a crowded room with Musa, an empath who can't turn her powers off, and Terra, who has crippling social anxiety). She begs an adult for help and then insults them. She suuuuucks. (Also her parents suck too, but this isn't about them. Fate!Vanessa you and I will fight at midnight about taking away Bloom's door I don't even blame her for accidentally setting you on fire.)"

"Her sins:

1. Main character of one of the worse live action adaptions I’ve ever seen

2. Not like other girls x1000- she likes ✨reading books✨ and ✨going to vintage stores✨ and gets in a fight with her mom about how she doesn’t go to parties and have friends like a ✨basic bitch✨

3. Gets so mad at her mom that she loses control of her powers and nearly kills her parents in a fire

4. A guy told her she was going the wrong way to get to class and she accused him of “mansplaining”

5. Shitty and boring fashion sense, little to no bright colors and not a single glittery top

6. Season one “Transformation” is just a dozen different camera angles of her awkwardly floating with cgi fire around her

7. I didn’t watch season two, but a friend who did told me she develops a savior complex and has an unnecessary amount of make out scenes at random times"

[glapplebloom]

Cause this is Thriller! Thrill the Night!

What do you take when you take your favorite Comic Universe and throw in Zombies? You get either Marvel Zombies or the DCeased. But which deadly invasion is superior, let’s find out.

The Origin

The Marvel Zombies first appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 1 #21. In that issue, Reed Richards was pretending to be his non-Zombified state to lure an unexpected and younger Reed Richards to open a gate that will help them spread their virus to another universe. But how did this virus begin in the first place? The Sentry from the end of this universe’s time was sent back in time to begin a time loop that will contain this virus to this dimension.

In DCeased, Darkseid was looking for the Anti-Life equation. By combining the half he got with the one in Cyborg’s Mother Box, and a Dash of the Black Racer, he figured he could create the whole thing. The problem is he added the Black Racer to the equation and instead of creating an Anti-Life math problem, he created an Anti-Life computer virus that can infect anyone. All you needed to do was look at any computerized screen, like a TV, laptop or even your phone, you’re as good as zombified.

Winner: DCeased - It's a lot better than a time loop with no true origin. And the fact its digital as well as can be spread like a typical zombie plague means it can spread a lot better than Quicksilver spreading the infection.

The Infected

Those infected by the Marvel Zombies are basically their normal selves with two key differences: First, they’re dead. Once you go Zombie, there’s no coming back. You’re an undead monster for good. And Second, when they get hungry, they lose all rational thought. Their guilt, their beliefs, their desires are thrown out the window to satisfy their hunger. If they ignore it for long enough, they could resist the Hunger. But it can quickly return if not maintained.

The DCeased virus are technically not dead. While they act like zombies, it's more akin to the Rage Virus from the 28 Series. Their desire is to kill and spread the disease. They don’t seem to maintain their intelligence, but they’re still knowledgeable enough to use strategies and effectively use their powers and weapons. And not only can they be killed by conventional means, the Anti-Life Virus is curable. So someone like Wolverine who was affected by the Marvel Plague can overcome the DC Version.

Winner: Marvel Zombies - They can literally be just a head and be a dangerous threat. Add to the fact it's not curable means the Infected are a much more dangerous threat in Marvel than in DC.

The Range of the Spread

Marvel Zombies begin as a plague that only existed on Earth. But then the Silver Surfer and Galactus came. After a group of Zombies chomped on them, they began to spread across the Universe and ate all life out there. When they came back to Earth, they now got access to an entire Multiverse of victims to munch down on, including Marvel Apes and even the 616 Universe.

The Anti-Living’s spread was already Universal since its origin was on Apokolips. So any planet that could detect the Techno-Organic Virus can be an infected threat. So while Earth was the original target, now that New Genesis was infected the rest of the Universe is now in danger.

Winner: DCeased - The Marvel Zombie plague is really easy to contain. As long as it stood on Earth there would be no way to spread it anywhere. But being a digital virus, the Anti-Life Virus can infect anyone who picks up its signal. And since Patient Zero was originally on Apokolips before heading to Earth, it showed that they were already capable of spreading beyond a planet on its own.

How well would one do in the other?

If the Marvel Zombies Sentry went to DC instead of Cyborg, it would be a scary thing. The Sentry would have to manually spread the virus himself. Whatever he doesn’t eat will become Zombies. Since the Justice League would likely be called upon, all it would take is for Sentry to infect Atom or the Flash to basically ruin the world. With Barry, his speed would spread it across the planet like Quicksilver did. And if he infected the Atom, as seen when he infected Captain Atom, he can bypass anyone’s durability to make them a zombie. And that could include Superman. And unlike in DCeased, there ain’t no way to recover from it.

If the Anti-Life Virus infected Cyborg went to Marvel’s Earth, it would be very swift. Once it hits the Wifi anyone who uses technology is likely infected. Though Batman was able to survive it and Tony Stark’s AI was able to fight off Ultron, so I can see him survive the initial infection. Deadpool, Wolverine, and anyone with good Regen will likely be able to fight it off as well since Deathstroke can. And with Tony using Drones he could find Cyborg and figure out the cure like they did in DCeased.

Winner: Marvel Zombies - All Sentry needs is to infect one of two people to end the world. With DCeased, it seems a lot of people can avoid it and even overpower it. And with it curable, I’m sure if the geniuses are smart enough to figure it out they can reverse this disease.

So which of these Horrific Super Heroes do you prefer?

[rackjust]

3440x1440p civilization beyond earth image

Numerous other societies, including the Babylonians, had produced apocalyptic literature and mythology which dealt with the end of the world and of human society, many of which also included stories that refer back to the Biblical Noah or describe a similar flood. Such situations and dilemmas occur in modern post-apocalyptic fiction. The daughters of Lot, who mistakenly believe that the destruction had engulfed the whole world and that they and their father were the only surviving human beings, conclude that in such a situation it would be justified - and indeed vitally needed - to have sex with their father in order to ensure the survival of humanity. The Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah also has post-apocalyptic elements. Noah is assigned the task to build the ark and save the lifeforms so as to reestablish a new post-flood world. The biblical story of Noah and his ark describes the end of the corrupted original civilization and its replacement with a remade world. landscape", a theme known as the "ruined Earth", have been described as "among the most potent of sf's icons". The relics of a technological past "protruding into a more primitive. Other themes may be cybernetic revolt, divine judgment, dysgenics, ecological collapse, pandemic, resource depletion, supernatural phenomena, technological singularity, or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or may be post-apocalyptic, and be set after the event. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change natural, such as an impact event man-made, such as nuclear holocaust medical, such as a plague or virus, whether natural or man-made or imaginative, such as zombie apocalypse or alien invasion. Imagination magazine cover, depicting an atomic explosion, dated March 1954. However, this form of literature gained widespread popularity after World War II, when the possibility of global annihilation by nuclear weapons entered the public consciousness. Recognizable modern apocalyptic novels had existed since at least the first third of the 19th century, when Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826) was published. Various ancient societies, including the Babylonian and Judaic, produced apocalyptic literature and mythology which dealt with the end of the world and of human society, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, written c. Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain. The time may be directly after the catastrophe, focusing on the psychology of survivors, the way to keep the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been mythologized. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change astronomical, such as an impact event destructive, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or human-caused end time, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök or more imaginative, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion. At the time, the armaments available to the world's various air forces were not powerful enough to produce such a result.Īpocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy, dystopia or horror in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. Joseph Pennell's 1918 prophetic Liberty bond poster calls up the pictorial image of a bombed New York City, totally engulfed in a firestorm.

[vhs-ninja]

[kjhworldtravel]

Halloween In Vegas - Option to stay at one of 3 Haunted Casino's and experience Halloween Vegas Style!! ☠️Zombie Burlesque Enjoy a performance of 'Zombie Burlesque' at Planet Hollywood's V Theater. Set in Vegas during the Atomic Era of the 1950s, this show features campy, sexy zombies performing a classic burlesque show. Upgrade to VIP seating in the first ten rows for the best views of the comedy, variety acts, musical numbers and dancing. 'Zombie Burlesque,' a quirky musical at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino Let zombies entertain you with singing, comedy, and classic burlesque Campy musical featuring a zombie invasion in 1950s ☠️Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum Some would call us crazy for strolling through 30 rooms with haunted artifacts that may or may not possess us. But our daredevil Vegas side says: “bring it on Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum.” ☠️Rock of Horror HalloWeekend Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas turns into MASK-uerade Downtown during the Halloween season. Come and celebrate this HalloWeekend with free live bands performing every evening, nightly light shows on Viva Vision - the massive screen above Fremont Street Experience. To add to the excitement will be flash mobs, aerial dancers, street performers, and more. Costumes are welcome and encouraged. Free ☠️The place to be this Halloween starting October 2nd, is the Magical Forest as Opportunity Village introduces 3 bone-chilling attractions - VEGAS FRIGHT NIGHTS!. This heart-pounding haunted house experience includes Nightmare Manor, Clown Invasion in 3D and Blood Barn. And many more ... the list goes on. Contact me for a quote! #Halloween #Vegas #TravelHalloween #HauntedHouse #Kjhworldtravel (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CieWLL9roSN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=