The Walking Dead: A Review

It seems I haven’t chatted about zombies in a while. I’m not interested in researching to see the last time I did, but I assume it’s been at least a month or two.

Three nights ago I was watching TV. And on that TV came a commercial, a commercial for The Walking Dead, the new series on AMC. The spot caught my attention so I quickly went online to see what it was all about. Turns out I missed the entire first season. It also turns out that they just so happened to be airing an encore showing of season 1 the following two nights. Thus, I promptly set my DVR to record the following night’s showing of the full season.

Last night I sat down and started watching, say about 7:00pm. Ish. Come 12:30am, I went to bed after watching all 6 episodes of season 1. I just couldn’t stop watching.

Surprisingly, The Walking Dead has a pretty deep plot and storyline. It’s not just about zombies (which they aptly call ‘walkers’); it’s about the struggle to survive in a post-collapse of all society after an outbreak which causes people to contract a disease which kills them and then after some time brings them back to life. Of course, there’s the ‘get-bitten-and-turn-into-one-of-them’ thing going on as well.

Also surprisingly, after the first couple episodes, there is a lower reliance on zombie scenes and a greater reliance on struggle and survival. It’s actually quite good and I can’t wait for season 2.

If you can, check it out. It will certainly help to follow along from episode 1 to the next, and so forth. The story line keeps moving at a brisk pace and easily pulls you in. There aren’t many cliffhangers, but there is a good dose of suspense throughout.

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Little Mosquito

Little mosquito,
Where is it you have flown from?
Your name sounds Spanish

This haiku came from a book that Ms. Amy gave to me yesterday as a gift. Oddly enough, the book is entitled Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum. Ms. Amy is also the one who gave me the zombie mints… the brain flavored ones… Why this haiku is in a book such as this, I’m not sure, but I thoroughly enjoy it.

This haiku brings up two questions in my mind: 1) can blood-sucking insects become zombies? And 2) are mosquitoes from Spain?

To the first: no clue, but my instinct suggests that they can’t. However, it should be noted that if insects such as mosquitoes can carry diseases and transmit said diseases from one person to another, then it stands to reason that a mosquito can at least carry the zombie disease and spread it to others. See here for a quick read from the Zombie Research Society on the topic. Basically it says that while mosquitoes would not be attracted to zombies (because they’re dead, and thus would not feed on them), it may be possible for a mosquito to feed on a person who has recently contracted the zombie disease and is still in the incubation stage, prior to becoming a zombie.

To the second: yes, mosquitoes are from Spain. Well, maybe they’re not from Spain, but their name has a Spanish origin (via Mosquito.org):

“The Spanish called the mosquitoes "musketas," and the native Hispanic Americans called them "zancudos." "Mosquito" is a Spanish or Portuguese word meaning "little fly" while "zancudos," a Spanish word, means "long-legged." The use of the word "mosquito" is apparently of North American origin and dates back to about 1583.”

Also to note: there are mosquito ringtones and some sort of device to prevent loitering that goes by the name “The Mosquito”.

Who knew such a tiny insect had this much influence… minus its malaria implications of course.

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