Here are some things which I have seen, read, and played lately, and the eerie connections between them:

• White Zombie (1932): This film is believed by many to be the first to ever deal with zombies. I find it a bit difficult to watch movies this old. Today, the acting seems cheesey, the plot slow-moving, and the special effects terrible. There is no blood or gore. Still, it was neat to see where movie zombies started. Back then, zombies were just mindless drones under the control of a magician, doing menial tasks like carrying stuff around and working in a factory. Far from (and I think far less interesting than) today’s Romero-inspired flesh-eating brain-chomping undead. They’re even starting to run instead of shuffle in today’s movies. Yup, zombies have come a long way. I’m proud of the little buggers.
• Rob Zombie – Educated Horses: This is the newest album from Rob Zombie, former frontman of White Zombie, the band who drew its name from the movie above. I’ve only listened to it once, but it seems good so far. Pretty similar to his previous two albums, which I must admit, are some of my most listened-to.
• Dead Rising (Xbox 360): Still on the zombie theme, this is a game which was clearly inspired by George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. There’s even a sticker on the cover saying “this game is not endorsed by the creators of Dawn of the Dead.” In other words, “we totally ripped off the premise of this game, but we didn’t get permission.” You couldn’t ask for a better premise for a game, though – you’re a dude stuck in a mall full of zombies, and you have to survive for three days waiting for a helicopter to show up. It’s quite awesome. As you can see on my Xbox’s blog, I’ve been playing way too much of it.
• Beyond Re-Animator: This is the third movie in the Re-Animator series, originally based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft. Like the second movie, this one puts a loose plot in as an excuse to show what creative and gory things can happen when a crazy scientist (Herbert West, played by the best actor of all time, Jeffrey Combs) invents a liquid that can bring living things back to life. So it’s sort of a zombie movie, but not like any other zombie movie you’ve seen. I would say it is definitely worth seeing, if you’re into that sort of thing. The best scene happens during the end credits. I won’t give it away, but let’s just say it involves a severed penis doing things that a severed penis does not normally do. The second best part is the horrible acting, which I really hope is intentionally terrible.
• H.P. Lovecraft – At the Mountains of Madness: Continuing with the connections between everything I am absorbing lately, I’m also reading this book by the author who inspired the movie above. It’s a story of an expedition in the far North, where researchers find evidence of ancient horrible things in the mountains. I’ve heard that this will be made into a movie sometime soon. Lovecraft has a unique style which takes getting used to. It can seem quite slow, as he goes into minute detail about everything. Well, everything except characters, who he describes only by their name. There isn’t even any dialogue. Personally it’s a refreshing change to see a world imagined in such detail, and the impersonal tone of it only adds to the isolated atmosphere of the novel. I’m certainly going to read more of Lovecraft after this one.

  You can find the book above, as well as many other Lovecraft books, online here. I don’t know how it’s legal…maybe because they’re so old. I love free stuff. Thanks to Dr. Zombie for the link.

So there you go…everything I do is unintentionally connected through zombies and H. P. Lovecraft. I don’t really know why I’m blogging about this. I guess I just thought it was kind of weird. Move along now.