Filed under: where the sidewalk ends | Tags: i found it on the internets, kind of a big deal, apocalypse
SOME of you might be familiar with the Montauk Monster that washed up on the shore in Long Island. Richard over at Gawker broke the story and did a great follow up on reasons why the media couldn’t tear its eyes away from that rotting beach carcass. One reason ties quite nicely into what I was babbling about yesterday: “monsters are the world’s troubles made manifest:”
What with the economy and all. And gas prices the way they are. And no one can sell their house or pay their rent and everyone’s dying of cancer or their teeth are falling out or their plane got delayed or a kid they knew just got blown up in the desert. We walk around with these little walnuts of fear and worry and anger pitted in our chests all day, every day. And a monster—a terrible, gnashing, fleshy and physical thing—lets us release that valve in our hearts. Its little leathery paws pry that Pandora’s box open just a bit, just to relieve the pressure. It’s why we feel giddy and silly when we see it. Because something awful is just staring us right in the face, not shadowy and vague like the wretched and grim ideas of this modern world.
I have nothing really to contribute to this awesome bit of prose, except to say: right on, Richard.
In related news, did you hear that some hunters in Georgia found Bigfoot? And are keeping his corpse in their freezer? Apparently, the hunters will be releasing pictures of the body later this week, but once again, Gawker’s got ‘em beat.
I’ve always sided more on the Nessie end of the Bigfoot vs. Loch Ness Monster debate of which national monster treasure was cooler, but if this is true and someone bagged Bigfoot, do you know what this means?
We’re never going to get a Harry and the Hendersons reunion special. Bummer.
LINKS OF NOTE
I got this from Megan—Time Warp Wives. All together now: O_o
Filed under: me stew, where the sidewalk ends | Tags: movies, things i love, apocalypse, zombies
So I’ve been thinking a lot about zombies lately. Like…more than usual, is what I mean.
My Gentleman Friend really digs on those 28 _____ Later movies, and as I am an ignoramus who had never seen them, we binged them this past weekend. And even though I’m definitely six years late with this: those movies are incredible. Terrifying like a zombie movie should be, but also? Significant ideas are being thrown down here, kids. I recommend these movies to anyone who 1) missed them when they were, y’know, actually new and 2) isn’t my mother.
This second point is important because, as my mom would be quick to tell you, she’s scared of zombies. And only after having watched 28 Days Later (and the other one, but I think I preferred the first) can I say that I wholeheartedly agree: zombies are scarrifying.
I think our fear (and by that, I mean the fear that my mom has along with a lot of movie-goers) of zombies is, as Jeffrey Jerome Cohen would tell you (HOLLA BACK, ENG-495!), a culture-wide fear; the zombie body is a cultural body containing within it all of our anxieties about death and decay. Zombies take our very human desire for some suggestion of life after death and transforms it into something grotesque by telling us that this is it, and bodies rot, and that rotting is a contagion to be feared and destroyed. They’re also pretty uncanny, don’tcha think?
What I’m getting at here is nothing shocking, especially to my fellow Literary Monster-scholars: the monsters we fear say a lot about us and the way we interact with the world. I used to think that vampires were my favorite (read: scariest to me, personally) monster, but I think that the adept way 28 Days Later handles how individuals would likely react to a zombie apocalypse just changed my mind.
Which brings me to the question: what movie monsters do you fear? What does it mean? Leave your thoughts in the comments and I’ll go try to locate my copy of “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).”
Filed under: where the sidewalk ends | Tags: things i love, for your consideration
So this is something that I was thinking about when I was in Pittsburgh, and after some mild deliberation amongst my family, I’ve decided to open up the question to you all:
I wants it.
If you could see any fictional band in concert, who would it be and why?
The Hypothetical Perfect Concert was occasionally a topic for discussion in my Intro to Poetry Writing class, where you pick any musician, dead or alive, and create your Perfect Concert, complete with opening acts and the headliner.
But you all know how I feel about reality! So! Fictional bands. Go.
On my short list of opening act considerations:
The main act is a clear choice, in my opinion. Check it!
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Obvs.
So what say you? Check out this handy Wikipedia list if you’re drawing a blank and leave your thoughts in the comments.
