The Drinking Dead

     So I was browsing my Facebook newsfeed today when someone posted a link to a video showing how to make a "Zombie Brains Shot." It was a specialty shot that mixed a combination of liquors and grenadine syrup to resemble decaying brain matter. Why anyone would want to drink something that looks like that is beyond me. From the reaction of the person making it in the video it didn't taste great either.

     This video reminded me of a discussion we'd had earlier in the semester. I think it was Rebecca who'd made the point that too much drinking can turn anyone into a zombie. Last night I was hanging out with some friends at their dorm, when one of them remembered that he had to go get his laundry out of the dryer. The three of us all walked down to the laundry room, and as we were walking back through the lobby of the building a few drunk people were stumbling back into the building after what I can only assume was an exciting evening. One of my friends and I quickly shot up the stairs, not wanting to have anything to do with it. The other friend of mine took his time walking back through the lobby so he could observe there drunken antics, which he found humorous.

     This kind of reminded me of the mix of reactions to zombies you'll see in shows like The Walking Dead. There are some people who run when they see the zombies, not wanting to even take the chance that things will get ugly. This would be me. Then you have those who choose to keep the zombies around, either out of compassion, scientific interest, or because they think it's funny. This would be my friend who chose to take his time walking back.  Of course there is the one choice that you have with zombies that you don't have with drunk people, unless you're a homicidal maniac who fancies a nice prison cell which is to "put down" the zombies, regardless of whether they pose a threat.

     We talk alot in class about who the zombies represent, but I think it can also be interesting to think about what the living characters in these movies and TV shows represent as well.

Picture of me with my AK-47

As I said in class today, this is a picture of me shooting the AK-47 that my husband bought me for Christmas. It was in Alaska. And it was a cold day.

The things that my father has said.

This post is going to be a little weird. I hope no one is offended. I just want to introduce my father Jeffery Dixon Sr. Since I brought him up in class.

The most accurate description of my dad is that he looks like Jeff Foxworthy but acts like Stone Cold Steve Austin. My dad has no filter, he is an old war veteran. He is also from the deep south. I think he just says things to get a reaction from people. I am not sure.
I told the story in class about his unique manner of handling situations.

Let me share with you a few of his more mild quotes that have stuck with me. Imagine an old smokey country voice when you read these.

"It is just that obvious, like turds in buttermilk."

"Thats messed up , like a soup sandwich."

"Get your booger finger out of the trigger."

"Thats more suspicious then a nun squatting in a cucumber field."

" Not since Noah was a seaman in a bamboo raft."

"That is wrong, wrong like Nazi homicide wrong."

"Damn, it is hotter then two squirrels in a wool sock."

One of my favorites came after he fell down chopping wood and hurt his back, I was taking care of him. Our conversation went somthing like this.

"Hows your back dad?"

"It feels like someone threw me out of a truck, then stomped a mud hole in me."

"Sorry Dad. You know your getting a little old for that stuff, your almost 50. How about you take a break."

"Son I am not old, I am aged! Like a fine Whisky. I go down smooth and burn like hell. Appreciate you will look this good at my age."

"Ok dad."

I asked my father about the zombie apocalypse once. His response was,

"Son, the world is full of freaks just like your momma."

Dad, what does that even mean.......

sorry in advance.

  Hey guys,
I hope everyone had a great week and I'm sure we can all agree thank god it's Friday. Well, not to put a damper on your week but I want to talk about a topic I've been researching a lot lately. In my communications class, we are required to give an informative speech. We were allowed to pick any topic, I decided to do mine on animal testing. I've always known of the cruelty behind animal testing which is why I chose it for my topic. However, I was never aware of the actual facts behind it. While researching, I found many unsettling and disturbing facts. First and foremost, over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned and abused in US labs every year. It's also a fact that 92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don't work. I don't want to bombard you guys with facts so instead I'll just show you some of the disturbing photos.

Honestly, these aren't even half of the worst of pictures I've seen. But, for the sake of the blog I will not post the more graphic photos. While researching this, I've become completely repulsed by our society and the cruelty these animals endure for their entire lives. Again, not to put a damper on anyone's day I just had to share these facts and I'm glad I've become more aware about the cruelty and harm behind animal testing.

Guns! Guns! Guns!

I really enjoyed class today.  I was a little scared when I found out the subject matter for this reading.  I felt like we were able to have the most logical and cool headed discussion on firearms I've ever been apart of. I applaud the class for letting everyone speak their minds without allowing emotions to get in the way. No one cried. No one yelled. It was a nice change. I'm used to these discussions being very uncomfortable, but perhaps thats just my family. My mother is extremely anti-gun. Whenever we end up on the subject she simply tells an anecdote of a friend whose son was accidentally shot while helping a relative clean his gun, and then refuses to hear anything else on the subject. It gets even worse when my grandmother is in the room, who simply starts to cry about how horrible it is that we are allowed to own anything other than "hunting guns" as she calls them. I fail to see the logic in either of these arguments. Had the child, or the relative been responsible with the gun in question, no one would have had to die and as far as I'm concerned it's just as easy to take a human life with a "hunting gun" than with any other type of firearm (unless said firearm has a chainsaw on the end, then it may be a bit easier). So, thank you guys for keeping cool heads and staying logical!

Guns....and Burglars

Today we had a very interesting conversation in class on Herman’s article. I found many of the points made during the conversation valid. I found it interesting that most of the class had shot guns before. I felt left out as I was one of the only people who didn’t raise my hand. My mom and I have been talking about going to a gun range, and it’s something I’ve been interested in learning for a while now. The whole conversation gave me some great things to think about with my paper. The part that I found most intriguing, was when the class was discussing burglary. I don’t think you should just shoot someone to kill them. I think you should have a reason. However, I feel if someone broke into my home I would want to shoot them or at least scare them with the sight of a gun. With that being said, I don’t think I would shoot to kill unless I felt my life was threatened, even though to some degree I would feel threatened anyways by the fact that the burglar felt they had the right to break into my home. In other words, I might shoot the burglar in the arm or leg if things got bad, but unless they were coming after me and I felt like there was no other way for me to survive, I wouldn’t shoot to kill. No material possession is worth your life or another, but the emotional distress and or physical assault that could occur are worth having a gun and feeling like you can protect yourself if the need should arise.

This reminds me of a situation that happened a few years ago. I remember hearing about someone who broke into another person’s home and ended up getting shot in the process after shooting the homeowner. In the end, the burglar was trying to sue the homeowner who he shot at first.

The law says you have the right to defend yourself, but that you can’t use excessive force (just my own summary). The man was shot in the face by the burglar before he fired. What do you think about this situation? Was the homeowner wrong for defending himself and his home?

Here's a link for the article about the case:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/burglar-sues-calif-homeowner-90-who-returned-fire/

Getting a Job

All of us students are currently enrolled in college so that we may gain a better education, pick a specific job to train for, and get the degree to pursue that career. But how are you willing to go to commit to your job? The reason why I am making this post, is because I am interested in seeing what you (my classmates), plan on doing with your degrees, and how you feel about general rules in the work place. So from what I have gathered thus far, in the class we have (please correct me if I am wrong - and sorry when I butcher your names) Sabrina, Meghan, Leah and I who are English education majors, Rebecca who is English, Chrysaliee and Crystal that are Spanish majors, and Dixon and Austin that are in Communications. Well, I think Dixon is actually in the police program, which is a concentration of Sociology, so perhaps that is the major. When it comes to making life decisions for your upcoming job opportunity, what do you avoid doing? I know a HUGE way to not become nearly as eligible to become a teacher, which got me on the topic of this whole post, is when people stretch their ears, get tattoos, and dye their hair unnatural colors. Now I really want everyone's opinions on this topic.

My personal opinion is that to become a teacher, you should be able to have tattoos, but they should be covered up when teaching. A lot of people think that the freedom to express yourself should be available to every job, but I HIGHLY disagree, especially in a place like the public school system. See, my thoughts on this particular topic in the education field is that if a holographic poster distracts kids enough that you have to take it down in order to teach, then whenever you think kids are actually paying attention to you with all these job-hindrances, they're probably really just distracted by your raspberry-blue hair, giant holes in your ears, or tattoo snake slithering up your leg.

The reason why I brought this post up is because of photos I have been seeing on Facebook lately. Do you agree with them, or not? The one picture about someone majoring in fairy something-or-other, I agree with completely. Did you know that you can even make up your own degree at some colleges? You can major in: Bag piping, Citrus, Nannying, and Puppet Arts. Take a look at one of the lists I found!

http://www.fastweb.com/career-planning/articles/the-35-weird-but-cool-college-majors

Zombie Makeup artist??

Hey everyone!! It has surely been a crazy ass week for me! As you all know I am the stage director, costume mistress, and makeup artist for all four plays that the Rude Mechanicals are doing for the spring semester. This week has been tech week, I can honestly say that I am feeling like a zombie from the lack of sleep. I encourage everyone to come see the plays! The Rudes have worked very hard on these plays, and they are pretty awesome performances. While planning for my long essay about mindlessness I am also running around back stage making sure everyone is ready for their shows.
Although it is a stressful hobbie, I still love being involved with some of the best actors on campus! It is amazing to see how well they can change emotion in split seconds. Anyways, I just wanted to formally invite you all to the plays!
Plus I get to wear a french maid outfit on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so that's a plus :p

Here is the schedule for the performances, just in case someone doesn't know yet.

Friday, March 27 @ Reynolds Hall  7:30
Sapientia & Poet and the Muse (I'm in both of these!!!)

Saturday, March 28 @ Reynolds Hall 7:30
Sapientia & Poet and the Muse

Sunday, March 29 @ Reynolds Hall 3:00
The Poet and the Muse, What Makes a Man, & The Disappearance of Ruby Young (All student written plays!!!)

Wednesday, April 1 @ Reynolds Hall 9pm
Sapientia & What Makes a Man

Thurday, April 2 @ Reynolds Hall 9pm
Sapientia & The Disappearance of Ruby Young

Friday, April 3 @ Reynolds Hall 7:30
Sapientia & What Makes a Man

Saturday, April 4 @ Reynolds Hall 7:30
Sapientia & The Disappearance of Ruby Young


So there you guys go!! All of the dates and times!! (ps the play, Sapientia is being taken to Toronto in the summer, to perform!!!!)

Happy Tuesday

Hello classmates!
I was unable to attend class today so I decided to go ahead and get my blog post done (More on why later).
For those of you who have not had the chance to watch iZombie, you should. It is on Huluplus if you have an account. I wanted to discuss a scene in the pilot which was meant to be heartbreaking but also would be useful to any of you that are writing your critical essay on the dehumanization of zombies. Olivia (Liv), the main character, has completely shut everyone out of her life after becoming a zombie out of fear of harming them. She was engaged to Major and it seemed to be a very happy relationship. The pilot revolves around Liv finding a purpose as a brain eating, physic, crime solving zombie, but it is only after her resident medical examiner catches her eating brains and realizes she is a zombie that things being to look better than bleak. He spends his days trying to find a cure for her and this gives her the hope she needs to ask Major to wait for her. But guys can be jerks and when she goes to his house, he is playing video games with a new girl on the couch. But not just any video game. Major and his new girl were killing zombies.
Imagine how, as a zombie herself, Liv felt watching this unfold. She still has emotions and still loves, its just a virus inside of her causing her to have attacks of rage. Only during these fits, does she resemble anything like the zombies in the video game. All she wants is to have her former life, but it has been taken away from her and most would kill her if they found out who she truly was.
I would really suggest this scene, as I said above, for anyone working on the dehumanization topic.

So now why I skipped class today.
If you look at the bottom of my fibula, I broke the end off. Of course this time it wasn't the ankle I've had multiple surgeries on. It had to be my driving foot. And even worse, I had to call out of work last night. I never do that.

Spring Break Post!

Good evening/Good morning everyone (depending where you are),

First I would like to start out by talking about my spring break, and then I would like to know how your spring break went. I'm sure we won't have too much time to talk in class about break, so I am genuinely interested in reading the comments. Alright, now, I promise I will be brief!

This spring break: I got my hair chopped off (huzzah!), did a ridiculous amount of homework, practiced some sword swallowing, groomed out my fluff-ball bunnies fur, found homes for the last two (out of 27) rabbits that I had rescued, worked a ton, and watched a concerning amount of Netflix. Since I work at Shepherd in telecommunications, all I do is basically answer phone calls. Let me tell you: There were eleven phone calls today in the six hour time period I was there. So, in exchange, I get a lot done at least.
Yup. That was my spring break. Adult-hood kind of sucks. I work at the University to pay to attend the University. What a vicious cycle!

Now, onto my actual zombie post:

I was delving deep into my thoughts about zombie apocalypses, and about how people would react in violent, chaotic, ways as depicted on World War Z - IF there were such a tragic outbreak. The more I kept thinking about a zombie apocalypse and survival, the more I recognized how many different films and books are focused on the sole destruction of human kind, whether it be from a virus, or from disagreements and violence within packs of survivalists. I had recently watched all four of the Saw movies that came out on Netflix (Yes. In two days. I told you my spring break was sad.), and a Fangora Fest movie called Hunger. Each of these movies shows how people react with each other, and scramble to save themselves, which prompted me to think: Would people really just turn on each other that easily? Would people only want to save themselves in a dire situation? Self preservation is a pretty natural element to human nature, but somehow, I just can't see me saving myself by eating human being, yet I could see myself sacrificing someone if it were a situation where it was either me or a stranger. In the process of having these thoughts, I had begun to watch a show with my absolutely darling parents, called In an Instant. The creators of this show had also produced Final Witness - a short lived season which I HIGHLY recommend. So, In an Instant is a show with actual and dramatized events about survival stories. After I had watched the first three episodes, I began to rethink my position on how people would react in a zombie apocalypse. It seems as if in dire situations, a lot of times, people seem to come together in a higher act of survival, instead of decreasing chances for people as a whole. The media in all forms portrays humans as hungry savages when there are disagreements, but I think after watching all these great survival stories, we may have a larger chance if there was a zombie apocalypse in the future.

Take a peek at this incredible tragedy from In an Instant:

The entire two hours I watched this show, I had the worst chills. Tell me what you think!

Sincerely,

Laura Knock

iZombie

Check out this funny and informative piece (from my favorite TV criticism website) about iZombie, which premieres tonight. I'll be watching. If any of you do, I'd be interested in knowing what you think.

Gentle reminder...

Now that we have nine weeks of blogging behind us, it seems like a good time to remind you (again, because I know I've said it all before a dozen times) of the blog grade guidelines that have been in operation since Day One. You might notice that my blog grading is getting more rigorous lately, but that's because I am really pushing you on meeting these guidelines. You can see them here: http://engl102spring2015.blogspot.com/2015/01/blog-grade-guidelines.html.

Lauro Essay Help

I'm currently watching a horror movie with my darling on Netflix called The ABC's of Death 2.

The M is for masticate (chewing), and it featured a short scene of a man on bath salts and reenacted the whole awful event.
(Sorry guys, italics keep randomly coming up on my phone Blogger app for some reason and won't change the text back)

Just wanted to let you guys know to give you more material to work with!

Zombification through Subtances

I'm just about to sign out of my dorm for spring break and I cannot help but think how break just gives college students an excuse to party excessively. From what I have heard, the majority of my friends all plan on spending the break partying and getting trashed. Earlier this semester I mentioned that you could call a "drunken idiot" a zombie. After thinking about that, I realize I was just dehumanizing anyone who goes to a party, which is quite a common thing to do (attending a party, not calling them zombies). At parties, people blame whatever substance they take for whatever actions they do as a way to justify them. According to that argument, every action a person takes is not their decision, if they go to a party. I believe this argument is flawed because even when a party-goer is under the influence of something, it is possible for them to have control of their mind and have coherent thoughts. I wouldn't know from my experience how much bath salts affect the human brain so I'm not completely sure how much control Eugene had. This still makes me wonder if he really had lost all of his control. Would being under the influence really cause a person to lose all of their humane ideals? Do such substances really take away all the things that make us human? Does being under the influence cause one to become a zombie?

What is normal?

In the article we read, Luaro titled a section what is normal. In the modern times we live in, that is a legitimate question. Seriously, all the traditional aspects of our society are changing. For example,  your children will never understand a VCR or a CD for that matter. Its crazy to think its changing so rapidly. You ever wonder that we might not be able to keep up and turn into technology zombies? Stuck in our old ways of living. I know its a weird question, but it came to me after class today. What do you think? Are we destined to be left behind? Zombie VCR people? CD monsters?

Warning! This post contains spoilers

So today in class we talked about humanism and how zombies are made into monsters. In turn, we forget who they really were as a person. I feel like this doesn't just apply to zombies. What about vampires?
No, I am not going to go on a Twilight fandom rant, mainly because I had already graduated high school by the time the movies came out and the series became as popular as Harry Potter.
As a 90s kid, I was far more into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To this day I am still not sure, if I were in Buffy's place, if I would have chosen Spike or Angel. However, her relationship with the vampires brings me to my point. This is where the spoilers follow if you have not seen the series.

I have watched very episode numerous times, and many times in order in binge sessions during my days of shift work. I will watch it anytime it is on TV (my poor husband!) and recently I watched an episode from later on in the series. For some background: Angel is LONG gone, Spike was "declawed" by the military making him unable to hurt humans, Buffy had already broken up with the military member she was dating, died and was brought back to life by a magic obsessed Willow.


Buffy has begun a relationship with Spike and she is worried that she came back from the dead with evil in her because Spike is able to hurt her. She is constantly crying over this and shutting her friends out. But why, when she knows that she can see the good in vampires (she has already slept with two of them) is she so concerned that she may not be fully human; that she herself may be a monster?
I think that her reasoning is very similar to the article that we read for today. Buffy has spent most of her life fighting monsters and is able to distance herself from them because they are evil and need to be killed. When Buffy begins to see some of that evil in herself she can no longer justify herself as a hero.

So who would you chose?
Angel, tall, dark and handsome, who has always tried to do the right thing
or
Spike, the British bad boy, desperately in love with Buffy, who saves humanity in the end?

"Monsters and Mysteries in America"

As we were discussing, Lauro’s article in class today, I couldn’t help but think intently about the Miami Zombie incident, because I recently watched a show about the incident. It was very interesting because it talked about how that case was not the only zombie case, or case where someone had that type of abnormal, cannibalistic behavior, in Florida. It also discussed how the autopsy done on Eugene showed nothing abnormal in his system except small amounts of marijuana that were not nearly enough to cause someone to do the things that he did. It was very interesting, and gave me a new insight on the event. I’m thinking I want to do something with the Miami Zombie incidents, as well as the information from this show, for my big paper. Let me know what you think. I think I could make my paper into a media paper since, according to news reports, Eugene was on “bath salts” but was he really? How great is the influence of the media really on our society? And why do we just believe everything we hear? But it could go either way. Do we listen to the news, who are supposed to be credible, or people and witnesses, who don’t have the same credibility? Here is a link to watch the show: (I think about half way in they go to another story that doesn't relate to the zombie. This is one of those shows where they talk about two different topics in the same show. They start talking about a dybbuk. That part is pretty interesting, too.)

Monsters and Mysteries on the Florida Zombie