Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Finalities of Our Times

   Is it a sorrowful thing to be completing our classes and moving on into the next semester?  Or is it a joyous occasion, one to be celebrated, to run out of class screaming and celebrating all the while?  Meh.  Could go either way, I suppose.  The most sensible answer, of course, would be somewhere in the middle of these two reactions.  I for one have learned from this class, and it has supplied me with quality experience writing the sorts of papers I will no doubt have to write throughout my time here at the U of M.  Did I enjoy every bit of the course?  Definitely not.  Will I complain about the course here?  Nope.  The important thing is that I went to class and did the best I could with the direction I was given, allowing me to hone my writing skills a bit.  I would say, not to be negative, that of the things we've done in this class, the blogs would be among the least favorable from my point of view.  While it is good experience, it just isn't my bag.  To each their own, and all that.  To everyone in the class, best of luck with your studies & if you need a hand with anything feel free to find me, I'll help if possible.  To Molly... it's been fun and best of luck with your grad work/career afterward.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Empire: A Zombie Novel

  As I walked through the bookstore, I saw a green paperback, with a seemingly human silhouette and the form of a scythe on the cover behind the words Empire: A Zombie Novel.  I was immediately intrigued.  Zombie books and Post-Apocalyptic settings have comprised some of my favorite reads.  I went in expecting zombies.  I came out delightfully surprised with a Zombie Apocalypse novel.  
  Who doesn't love a nice little zombie story, right?  In Empire: A Zombie Novel by David Dunwoody there is an aura, only found at certain places on Earth, which will reanimate dead tissue.  The government discovered this fact, and as I'm sure we would all expect, began experimenting, it is unclear however if they were seeking to make a weapon or an undead fighting force.  Whatever their intentions, of course, something went wrong.  The undead that were naturally created by these odd auras, despite them requiring to eat dead flesh to remain "alive," their bite would not create a new undead.  The undead created through government experiments were quite the opposite.  As with any good zombie novel, the undead got loose and ravaged the country for over a decade before this story actually place.  Now there are only small cells of the living operating independently.  Some are seeking to end the "war" the living have been in for so long against the dead and others are simply trying to survive.  In the midst of it all rides death atop his skeletal steed.  It is a story of survival, the human spirit, and self-discovery... not only for the living. 
  Drugs, violence, tragedy, love, plenty of action, an interesting twist on death itself, and plenty of things leaving you wondering what the hell is going on makes this quite an great read right up to the final page. Before reading, I could not have possibly pictured death in the way I now do.  Life as a whole also had a new light to it that may not have been shown to me otherwise.  I believe it is healthy to be accepting of death, of course not seeking it; but in certain scenarios, one just may be pleading for it.  In such a scenario would YOU be capable of obliging and ending the suffering?