Live Action Zombie Kill in Houston June 26-27 2010

I just found out about this: Houston Zombie Apocalypse 2010

Yeaaahhhhhh, Baaaaaabbbyyy! (Groovy)

A more detailed description of the event can be found at ZombieWalkHouston‘s events page. Here’s an excerpt:

Participants will be assigned to an insurgent team led by military personnel, former or active, or police officer. Each team will receive it’s instructions and objectives and then sent out into the playing field. Each match will last approximately 1 hour. Tyvek containment suits will be issued to each shooter prior to the match and they will be allowed to keep the suits at the end of the game.

The shooters will have objectives to complete in a simulated city over run with the zombies. They will have air soft guns with ink on the bullets so if they fail to shoot you in the head then they are still game to add to our horde. Each zombie’s task will be to “bite” (just touching them) the shooters and make as many of them part of the undead horde before they reach their objectives… the event goes on all day on both days so feel free to join us!!

This event will be held several times a year as a spring soft event. Kill shots are head shots. Tagged players by zombies BECOME zombies!!

Halloween season this event will become an all ages laser tag event in Houston and other cities across the country.

The event takes place this weekend: June 26 – 27th from Noon-Midnight at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, Houston, TX

Tickets for this event to be shooters are $30 each.

($5 donation requested to be a zombie)

Disclaimer: I have no connection to the organizers, promoters, property owners, etc.  I mention this event solely as a public service for interested individuals wishing to hone their zombie slaying skills prior to the actual zombie apocalypse [WWZ].  Note: Zombies will be played by actors and therefore will not be undead; please leave actual zombie fighting equipment in the trunk of your car.

I will do my darnedest to be there so as to be able to report back with a proper review.  [I for one would like to know who volunteers to be shot in the head with an airsoft gun…]  In the mean time I will be reviewing the Romero catalog as well as a Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead.

Book Review: ‘Emergency: This Book May Save Your Life’ by Neil Strauss

I finished reading ‘Emergency: This Book May Save Your Life’ by Neil Strauss.  It came to my attention when Michael Bane recommended it on his blog a while back.  I bought it solely on the desire to find out how a professed New York City liberal journalist, fearing the collapse of the Western World (due to the election of G. W. Bush, rise of terrorism, etc.) prepared for all manner of disasters in his personal journey to gather the skillset to become a self-sufficient individual.

From living off the land, to learning to sail, ride motorcycles, fly a plane, render first aid, use a knife, fight hand to hand, cache supplies, shoot guns, butcher game, escape pursuers, open offshore accounts, gain dual citizenship, and much more, Strauss puts it all down on the page in a manner that is easy and entertaining.  He does it without braggadocio, in fact he includes a healthy dose of humility explaining how his misconceptions and ignorance at times led to additional ‘discomfort’.  It is a thoroughly enjoyable read with some very humorous moments and I did learn quite a bit.  Of particular satisfaction to read was that as Mr. Strauss’ skill level increased, so did his confidence.  That in turn allowed him to release much of the fear he had regarding his own survival and allow it to be replaced with a desire to help others in times of crisis.

I found many aspects of the book fascinating – not always from revelations on how to survive, but from viewing his experiences as written through the lens of a non-conservative (the ‘other side of the looking glass’ per se).  Some things that I take for granted (thanks to time on ranches and farms, hunting, growing up in the Boy Scouts, etc) were major epiphanies for him [Ex(1): It’s not the job of Govt to save everybody; Ref: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, (2) Guns are not evil, they are tools. Etc.] yet other things I hold as fact, Mr. Strauss still disagrees with, such as [Minor Spoiler Alert] at the end of the book he celebrates the election returns, hoping that BHO hasn’t arrived too late to fix the country.  What?!?!  For all the time and effort that you expended to learn and experience all that you did: How do you feel now, six months into the Obama Admininstration, Mr. Strauss?   For that question alone I hope he writes an epilogue for a post-BHO reprinting of the book four years from now.

Either way I recommend this highly entertaining book and have already suggested it to several friends.