Review: Exit Humanity (2011)
Zombies are all the rage these days and you pretty much can’t turn a corner without running into something that’s been inspired by them. More so when you go browsing through the Internet. And this new obsession with zombies means that Hollywood is trying to capitalize on their fame by making movie after movie starring the shambling hordes of the undead.
Most of these fall flat, being little more than cut-rate “innovations” on Romero’s ideas. Sometimes, however, a movie actually captures the essence of what a zombie movie is supposed to be about. Exit Humanity, which I happened to stumble across on Netflix, is one of the latter. It’s no Academy Award-winner, but it’s a pure zombie flick, through and through.
The premise follows a man by the name of Edward Young (Mark Gibson) during the year of 1865. The American Civil War is over, but all is not right with the world. Zombies have risen from their graves and are slowly but surely sweeping across the United States. Basically, it’s your typical generic zombie story except set in the mid-1800s. Which is, in my opinion, its greatest appeal.
As the movie begins, Edward has just put down his zombie wife and is getting ready to head out and look for lost son in hopes that he might still be alive. Armed with his trusty 1800s guns, he fights his way through the zombies, slowly discovering more about them along the way.
As the title suggests, he begins to lose his humanity due to being forced to kill so many of the creatures, some of whom are old acquaintances. On his journey, he runs into survivors, some good and some not-so-good. He even runs into someone who explains exactly why everything has hit the fan.
And that, without going into plot-spoiling details, is the film. But it’s that simplicity that makes the film enjoyable. This is a remake of every standard zombie flick that’s out there, utilizing almost all the same elements of plot. But… it’s in the 1800s!
Really, that’s what made the film for me, the chance to see a Night of the Living Dead-type film but in an historical era. It holds to all the classic form and doesn’t try to get too innovative aside from some strange animation that is inserted here and there, which is only a stylistic change.
Lovers of zombie flicks should give Exit Humanity a chance. If you want something new and interesting, this may not be the one for you, but if you just want to watch some guys killing undead and each other with Civil War-era weaponry, you’re in the right place.
Taking down skyscrapers the Japanese way
Japan isn’t always a land known only for the weird crap that comes out of it on a seemingly daily basis. Oftentimes they invent or innovate something that quite literally changes the way the world works. The latest development, one that I personally think is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, involves the methods they use to tear down old skyscrapers. Instead of just blowing the crap out of them or bashing them to bits with giant metal balls, the Japanese are just quietly dismantling them.
The new process involves using some giant jacks and cranes and is aptly titled the Ecological Reproduction System. The first step of this method is to remove everything inside of the buildings that isn’t nailed down. Then the floors are taken apart, piece by piece, in a sealed off section of the building. This means no mess to go plummeting down to passing pedestrians, particularly the masses of dust that usually accompany the destruction of a building.
Girders, beams, concrete and everything else is taken apart manually and lowered to the ground using cranes. These cranes have the added benefit of creating electricity as they operate, which helps to run the project. As one floor is destroyed, the ones above it are held up with giant jacks and slowly lowered. Eventually, it’s just the roof left, which gets taken apart on the ground. Thus, the entire process leaves the building looking like a normal building, albeit a little bit shorter with each passing day.
As a bonus, the process of tearing the building down in this fashion produces 85 percent less carbon emissions than usual. Not to mention, it’s much less noisy than explosions and wrecking balls and can be done in any type of weather, at any time of the year.
Something so effective has to be the wave of the future. Whether we here in the West will give up the opportunity to blow something to smithereens is another story. We do love our explosives. But as long as we can get over ourselves, we’ll be seeing a new addition to cityscapes around the globe, thanks to Japanese innovation.
Check out the time lapse of this thing at work:
Republican prays for President’s death
While browsing through my lengthy and sometimes incomprehensible Facebook news feed, I came across a link that had me both dropping my jaw and laughing my ass off at the same time. Apparently, a politician by the name of Mike O’Neal (Republican) just got himself into a world of political pain by sending out an e-mail to his fellow Republicans. What did the e-mail say? Well, it urged his fellow officials to join him in a prayer for President Obama’s death.
Wow. WTF? Seriously? Yes, seriously. The guy hates the president so much that he’s willing to stand his ground and go directly to the big guy in the sky. “Hey, God? Mind killing off someone I don’t like because I don’t like them?” Somehow I don’t think Mr. Jesus would be too agreeable with this one.
To be more precise, he asked those who received his e-mail to silently recite Psalm 109 from the Bible, which goes like this:
'When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.'
And this is the reason I tend to avoid those who are too invested in that dusty old book. Everything I learned says that Jesus is supposed to be a nice guy and wants people to be all peaceful and stuff. Hell, I went to a Christian school until I was 11 and don’t remember learning anything about the best ways to level your enemies in politics. I certainly never realized that praying to God for insta-death was an effective way to gain the upper hand on Capitol Hill.
For a politician to do something like this is not only idiotic, it’s also seriously bad form. Politics is a contest, but keep your bloodthirsty thoughts to yourself. Just because you lost doesn’t mean to get to go around recruiting people to do voodoo chants against your enemy.
What’s more (and what makes me laugh so much over this), the e-mail is potentially treasonous. Wishing the death of the U.S. President and asking others to join in isn’t exactly an American thing to do. Of course, he’ll get a slap on the hand and a kick in the teeth of his career, but jail time is unlikely.
Let this be a lesson to future Biblical politicians - separate your religion and your politics, just like the good old constitution says. Either that, or at least exercise even the slightest bit of self-control to avoid looking like such an ass.
Russia looking at the moon
While the United States space program is busy with Mars, China is looking toward putting their own space station into orbit and private enterprises are trying to sell tickets to future space tourists, the country once known as a space exploration powerhouse is trying their hand at something a little different. Russia is heading back to the moon.
This will be the country’s first visit to the dead satellite since 1973, though they’ll not be trying to imitate the U.S.’s success by having someone land there and hop about on the surface. They’re only sending an unmanned craft at first with an exploration vehicle on board. The Luna-Glob, as it is called, will execute the first of four planned missions, the goal of which is to eventually set up an operational robotic lunar base.
While awaiting that grand design, Russia will be using the vehicle to take samples of soil and rocks, sending the information back to Earth via satellite, similar to what’s being done with the Mars curiosity rover. Eventually, they do hope to bring some actual samples back to study. Learning more about the moon - its potential and the hazards that may stand in the way of their project - will move them closer to setting up the lunar station.
Russia has been looking rather unwell with regards to space exploration, but the government has just signed on with a $70 billion (U.S.) plan spanning the next eight years. The first mission is planned for 2015 and, if that one should be successful, this former space-racer may once again find itself back on the playing field where space advancements are concerned.
Destruction in the Gaza Strip
The Middle East is one of the cradles of humanity. This means that it also happens to be one of the places in the world that is packed near solid with artifacts of the past. And, unfortunately, as modern circumstance dictates, it is a place of much conflict. So many cities, artifacts and other pieces of history lie beneath the soil, spanning thousands of years, but human wars once again threaten the safety of these historical treasures. This time the target is the Gaza Strip, and the main offender is Israel.
Israel and Israeli-occupied Palestine have been in perpetual conflict for decades now. As the fighting continues, so too does the inevitable destruction of precious archaeological sites. With more than 5000 years buried in the Gaza Strip, detailing both Palestinian and Jewish history, one would think that both parties would have a vested interest in making sure they come to no harm.
Instead, the contest for this land has damaged and destroyed everything from small artifacts to entire sites. When whole cities are buried, it’s hard to shoot anything anywhere without hitting something of value. The latest attack was the Israeli bombing of sites they saw as key to Palestinian resistance. The non-human casualties consisted of a Byzantine church, a set of ancient city walls and even the offices of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities - the very people in charge of preserving the sites.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of fixing the damage done is next to none. There’s too little money going around and too many potential projects. In addition, the situation is made more complicated because people sometimes link the Ministry with terrorist organizations, which means they receive very little outside funding.
Many of those digging and trying to preserve the artifacts are doing so for little or no pay. Another major problem is Israel’s tight control over what is allowed in Gaza. Archaeologists are unable to get much of the equipment they need to excavate properly, so they’re doing so with severely antiquated tools.
All this history left undiscovered is a horrible crime, almost as horrible as the killing that seems will never stop. A pointless conflict is damaging the clues to both peoples’ past. If something isn’t done quickly, all this human knowledge will be lost permanently and it will be our own faults as humans, considering only our immediate needs instead of those of future generations.
Profile: Nannie Doss
- Full Name – Nancy Hazle
- Nickname – The Giggling Nanny, The Jolly Black Widow
- Born – November 4th, 1905
- Location of Activity – U.S. Mid-west
- Years of Activity – 1920s (?) - 1954
- Number of Kills – 11 suspected
- Date of Death – June 2nd, 1965
- Cause of Death – Leukemia
Nancy Hazle (later to be known as Nannie Doss), was born in the United States, in Alabama, as one of five children in a family with an abusive father. She never did very well in school and to make this upbringing even worse her father would discourage her education, preferring that his children help on the farm instead. An early accident caused Doss a head trauma and further amplified whatever mental problems she may have already had, though whether Doss killed due to mental illness or as a means to an end is up for debate.
Married at the age of 16, Doss would eventually give birth to four daughters. Her living arrangements were uncomfortable, both her and her husband living with the mother-in-law, a woman who was just as controlling as Doss’s father was. It was during this time that the first two mysterious deaths occurred, both of them Doss’s daughters. The truth of this was never discovered, however, and it is still in question whether Doss had a part in her children’s deaths.
Eventually, she would divorce and remarry. This marriage went much better, until 16 years later. At this time, Doss poisoned her alcoholic husband’s whisky supply, sending him to his grave. She then remarried again and again, eventually taking five husbands, all of them aside from the first ending up dead. Added to the body count were two of Doss’s sisters.
Most of the deaths had to do with collecting insurance, and it was this motivation that would result in Doss’s downfall. In a rush to collect the money owed her following the death of her fifth husband, Doss raised suspicions. When a very large amount of arsenic was found in her newly deceased husband, she was arrested.
Eventually, she confessed to most of the killings. The death toll as it is believed to stand includes four husbands, two children, two sisters, her mother, one grandson and a nephew. Whether these were all due to Doss is still unknown. She was convicted of the murders she confessed to, however, and spent life in prison. She died there in 1965 from leukemia.
Hastings Beer and Music Festival
One city in England has taken it upon themselves to organize a festival that is focused right at the heart of their local culture. The Hastings Beer and Music Festival is a celebration of two things that make the world a better place to live and this city makes sure that you know that everything they have to offer is home-grown. Taking place in July of this year, the festival will have four sessions taking place over the course of its two day run.
The first festival started up small in 1981, but has grown in popularity over the years. Now, many people from the surrounding regions come to take part and the city sees more than 10,000 visitors during the event. As the festival has grown, the organizers’ commitment to making it better each year has grown along with it.
Visitors to the Hastings Beer and Music Festival can expect to find plenty of beers on tap, almost all locally produced. There is also a fair selection of ciders and wine, again mostly local. Food is another big part, as the city showcases regional dishes done up by its local chefs. And to highlight the music part of the festival, local bands come in to perform, some of them names that have made themselves famous over the years and return to help out.
All the revenue from this event goes to charity, so you can eat and drink until you’re near to bursting and not feel guilty because it’s in the name of a good cause. The Hastings Beer and Music Festival is a great way to enjoy the local character of Hastings as well as partake of some delicious food and drink. If you want to see England, make sure to stop through and check out the celebration and all it has to offer.
Socotra Island
The country of Yemen is home to one of the most wondrous landscapes in the world, one that few people know of but many have seen in pictures without knowing it. It’s Socotra Island, located about 250 miles off the coast of the country, and it is a marvel of evolution over time that is only rivaled by such legendary islands as Galapagos.
Socotra, translated, means “the island of bliss,” which is an appropriate name given the strange beauty of the land. At first glance, one might even think Socotra a fantasy world rather than a real place, pictures formed from fanciful paintings and the wonders of Photoshop. But it is indeed real and to visit there is an opportunity that no one should miss.
The island is primarily hot and dry, contrary to the teeming plant life within it. This plant life formed over an estimated six million years away from the mainland and so
has evolved to fit its ecological niche. More than 700 species of flora and fauna live on Socotra, all of them rare and about one-third of them found nowhere else on Earth.
The most famous of Socotra’s plants is by far the Dragon’s Blood Tree. It’s a tree that looks as if its root structure is on top instead of where it should be on the bottom, resembling a mushroom in many ways. The image of the Dragon’s Blood is a popular one and no doubt you’ve seen it before even if you didn’t know what it was. The other famous plant is the Desert Rose. This stump-like plant resembles a big gourd with flowers growing off of its many branches. The Desert Rose is enduring and has managed to survive by growing straight from the rocks.
In addition to the flora and fauna, Socotra is home to many beautiful beaches, plateaus and mountains. The island is riddle with caves, making it a cave explorer’s paradise. Bird watchers will find this a great place to take in the avian fauna due to the huge variety, several of them found nowhere else. It’s also possible, if you happen to be a diving fan, to take underwater tours of the local shipwrecks.
If you’re looking to travel to a place unlike any on Earth, Socotra Island is right up there with Galapagos. There are, however, no roads, so be prepared to do some hiking to get around. For the less athletically inclined, off-road vehicles tours are also available.
Egypt’s White Desert
The White Desert of the Sahara, located in White Desert Park in Egypt, is a vast and barren landscape that, contrary to what one might expect from a desert, is a true wonder to behold. This 3700 square foot piece of desert is located just southwest of Cairo and is a popular stop on many tours that visit several amazing locations in and around the area. If you’re a fan of the unusual beauty of the Earth, White Desert is worth a stop.
The desert’s unique look comes from its origins as a sea bed. As the water receded, the layers of the desert formed from the drying process. It changed, over the centuries, from a water mass to a lush land teeming with animal and plant life to the seemingly lifeless place that it is today. The wind worked its magic on the landscape’s remnants and eventually left it with some unusual formations (as well as a sizable deposit of fossils). Many have described the White Desert as comparable to an alien world or an arctic imitation under the hot desert sun.
By far the most renowned of the features are the strangely shaped rocks that oftentimes appear to defy geological
principles and the laws of physics. They come in all shapes and sizes, from mushroom-looking to cones and tents and a nearly endless variety of others. People have taken to giving them names based on their form and that list of names is far too long to list here. In addition to the rocks, there is a desert of white sand (chalk fields) stretching out to all horizons. White Desert has its fair share of caves and ruins as well, for those willing to hunt them down.
If you plan on visiting the desert, you’ll likely want to sign up for a preplanned tour. The guides know all the best places in this very large land. Most tours will even give you the chance to camp out, witnessing one of the other wonders of this desert, when the rocks change color and
shape as the sun descends. During dusk and dawn, the White Desert is a completely different place, the landscape shifting form and astounding the senses.
This is a great location for those that want an outdoors vacation as well as a nice stop-over if you just want to go out on a day excursion. It’s also a very popular place for safari, so there’s plenty of touring options to choose from, most of them with several of the other great sites of the nearby region on their touring agenda, which can make a trip to the desert into a full vacation experience.
World Water Bombing Championships
There are many water bombing competitions throughout the world and several of them even take it upon themselves to declare their events the “Championships.” Whether the World Water Bombing Championships in Sheffield deserve the title is a matter up for debate, though they do promise a good time in the name of a worthy cause. Taking place at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, several teams come together in an attempt to splash their way to victory.
At first, this event started as a small, fun way for people to raise money for charity. Today, people have caught on and taken notice and now teams come from all over England to participate. With eight years under their belt, this summer will mark the 9th World Water Bombing Championships and each year just gets bigger and bigger.
Dozens of hopefuls will arrive, organized into teams of four, and square off against each other. Everyone who takes part is required to wear a costume of some sort, so the whole affair ends up with a carnivalesque atmosphere. One can find anything from super heroes to pop stars to full-grown babies leaping from the diving board.
The conditions of victory are pretty simple. One needs to make the biggest splash, of course. The height of each splash is measured and the one that proves the tallest is victorious. But in addition to awards for Best Individual Bomber and Best Team Bomber, the competition organizers have decided to encourage the wild and wacky costumes that give the event its flavor. A Best Fancy Dress award is also handed out, because everyone knows that style reigns supreme.
The charity of choice for the event is MacMillan Cancer Support and each year the championships raise a fair amount of cash to help them out. This fun little event makes a nice side-trip for those in the area during championship time. You can stop by and watch the costumed divers or, if you think you’ve got the potential (and the bulk), you can try to organize your own team and compete. Either way, it’s an entertaining experience for vacationers of all ages who like to get a taste of the local culture.