World War Z

[nmrahde]

Picked this up over the weekend. For those that love the Zombie Mythos it's a must-have. The whole thing is eye witness accounts from the survivors of a worldwide zombie outbreak

It's written in a completely serious vein and some recollections (from the girl who's parents sought shelter in a church to the multiple descriptions of zombies eating their way up a line of refugees miles long to the army taking on millions of zombies near New York) are just plain scary in their detail and realism.

Definitely a good read.

[Jeff]

I'm gonna pick this up ASAP, thanks for the find and recommendation.

[lotkrotan]

There is also a Zombie Survival Handguide, which is the prequel to the book. While I haven't been able to read WWZ, I have read the hand guide, which is great.

[nmrahde]

The Zombie Survival Guide is great. And is actually referred in WWZ (somebody mentions that it's very American-centric in one of the interviews)

Also what I've been noticing is a lot of very very subtle satire. It's on par with the satire in the original Dawn of the Dead, and tackles everything from anticonsumerism to political/religious agendas.

Oh and zombies. It's got zombies too.

[nmrahde]

Okay so I just finished this book. VERY Good. Very subtle.

Who it will appeal to: Fans of the original Dawn of the Dead that realized the anti-consumerism satire angle of it.

Who it might not appeal to: Fans of the remake. Actually it's still descriptive and well written enough that they might.

Why: It's subtle but the whole book is basically social commentary. While the book is about the beginning, during, and epilogue of a world-wide zombie infestation (told through oral accounts that happen ten years after the fact), it is not about the zombies themselves.

I think people who like something that's both entertaining and intelligent might like it. (I'm pointing a zombie arm at you Raveness and Hatesink)

[Raveness]

Of course I'd find something like this interesting; it reminds me of my own short story about a zombie holocaust & post-apocalyptic aftermath. Posthumous writings told from different perspectives is a style of writing I take to as well.

*Looks longingly at her 28 days later DVD* I miss the good old days of true zombie-fried epics. *salutes Zombie Bub*

[nmrahde]

Bub is indeed the man. Or was. They (don't remember which publisher) did a comic mini-series called "The Rise of Bub". Too bad it was just pulp and not worth picking up (Just tried to make him like the gas station attendant guy from Land of the Dead)

[Raveness]

Ah yes, the gas station guy He gets a cookie for having two brain cells, and with those rallying the troops together. I haven't actually bought a Land of the Dead DVD, here seems to be a good version to get. I didn't like the actors selected much, although Dennis Hopper is his usual batty self. John Leguizamo is a guy you just want to punch the teeth out of

For the longest time after that movie I kept calling fireworks "Sky Flowers"

[BioShockWins]

I have the "Zombie Survival Guide" by the same person

WHATS YOUR ZOMBIE PLAN?
(from RvB btw...)

[witch]

Ah yes, the gas station guy He gets a cookie for having two brain cells, and with those rallying the troops together. I haven't actually bought a Land of the Dead DVD, here seems to be a good version to get. I didn't like the actors selected much, although Dennis Hopper is his usual batty self. John Leguizamo is a guy you just want to punch the teeth out of

For the longest time after that movie I kept calling fireworks "Sky Flowers"

Ha, thought I was the only one. Love the fact that the guys from Shaun of the Dead made a cameo in that one.

[Raveness]

Ha, thought I was the only one.

What, calling them Sky Flowers or popping John Lequizamo square in the kisser?

[nmrahde]

Sky Flowers.

everybody wants to punch Lequizamo.

I liked that they put Tom Savini in it...

[Raveness]

Savini has certainly been in his fair share of slasher, horror and B-movie classics (mainly set in Mexico or Southwest US) to earn him some name recognition and distinction as a character actor. Check him out in Planet Terror if you haven't already

PS John Leguizamo ate my Little Sister

[nmrahde]

I never thought I'd be able to make a joke involving Zombies Ate My Neighbors...(it's the perfect response!)

I will add it to the list of things to do when I wake up. Too. Much. OT. (And yet our product trainer was there when I got there and there when I left trying to get things done before he goes on jury duty - he works like Hatesink posts )

[borgdrone89]

funny you should talk about world war Z.

when talking with my friend for some reason, i started going on about "WORLD WAR X!!! THE WORLD WAR TO END ALL WORLD WARS", and then I continued with "WORLD WAR Y!!! THE SECOND WORLD WAR TO END ALL WORLD WARS", and finally "WORLD WAR Z!!! THE CONCLUSION TO THE TRILOGY OF WORLD WARS TO END ALL WORLD WARS".
:P

[nmrahde]

funny you should talk about world war Z.

when talking with my friend for some reason, i started going on about "WORLD WAR X!!! THE WORLD WAR TO END ALL WORLD WARS", and then I continued with "WORLD WAR Y!!! THE SECOND WORLD WAR TO END ALL WORLD WARS", and finally "WORLD WAR Z!!! THE CONCLUSION TO THE TRILOGY OF WORLD WARS TO END ALL WORLD WARS".
:P

That makes me think of 'World War Calculus'. Which would be far, far, far, scarier than a world-wide zombie infestation. At least to me.

'i' is a f*ing letter not a number! Stupid calc.

[v.dog]

I did well in Calcus until we got to that point. If the anwser to your equation is 'the square root of -1' you're doing something wrong.

[borgdrone89]

not always... in fractal generation, or on the argand plane, imaginary components of numbers are the y-components of the points. for example,
1+2i on the argand plane is exactly the same as the position of (1,2) on the real plane. in fractal generation, a certain point on the argand plane is iterated through an equation for a pre-determined number of times, and if at any time the absolute value of the result of an iteration is greater than a certain number (In the case of z -> z^2 + c it's 2), then that point on the argand plane is discarded (because in the case of that equation, any absolute value greater than 2 will iterate into infinity(which is bad)). so, any point which is not discarded after the predetermined amount of iterations, is filled in on the argand plane. this is why when we view a fractal, and zoom in on a point, we see even greater detail of tyhe fractal (because all the pixels on the screen represent even smaller variations in coordinate values, which results in some of them being just the right value to end up being discarded).
The problem with viewing fractals on home pcs is that there is a limit to the number of decimal points in a complex equation to which a CPU can safely handle the computations (so when you zoom in enough, the fractal no longer has detail and becomes a distorted image of enlarged pixels).

now where was I? oh yes. i can be used to indicate certain things when you are dealing with solving a polynomial. In the case of a quadratic, you try to find sqrt(-b + 4ac), . If -b + 4ac is less than 0, then that equation will return a complex number in which i will be present. in this case, you will find that the polynomial has complex roots, which means it does not intercept the
x-axis. it also makes it dam hard to factorise the polynomial equation without using the (in the case of quadratics) x = (b^2 +- sqrt(-b + 4ac))/2a.

there you have it. of course, most people (if not all) in this forum have done this in maths?

So basically, there is nothing wrong with getting i as an answer. It just makes things harder.

[borgdrone89]

am I right? you have all done this right? or are you too awe-inspired by my mathematical rant to post?

[nmrahde]

you and your sorcerous numbers should be destroyed for heresy!

I sentence you to read the book this thread is about or remain in exile for a number of years equal to i kobolds times the square root of butter.

Seriously, read the F'in book people!

[borgdrone89]

i should not be subject to heresy (hey, there's a double entendre there).

about world war Z, never read it, am busy reading my bible (and watching revenge of the nerds). but, I have read the zombie survival guide and i think it is very well done (from both the humour perspective, and the information provided)

[Raveness]

That's some pretty intense mathematics. I can see how you understand it all, the Collective being what it is 'n all. Question is whose mathematical distinctiveness did you assimilate.

My experience regarding anything close to that is mainly with chemistry from my husband's job, and what rubs off of his work onto me. All the stuff about molar masses and atomic weight and electron configs is more information than my lazy cranium wanted to fit in.

[borgdrone89]

actually, i assimilated my textbook last year (my teacher for specialist maths (where we do all the HARD maths) was pretty s**t).

funny you should mention all those chem terms, cos i was really good at (and liked alot) chemistry too.

I wouldn't say you have a lazy cranium, rave.