Hey, Bub!

I recently re-watched George Romero's Day Of The Dead. It's not my favorite of his Zombie Trilogy (that honor goes to Dawn Of The Dead), but it has its moments.

The highlight of the film of course is Bub The Zombie. Bub's the greatest zombie character to ever come out of the horror genre. He ably demonstrates that zombies aren't just shambling corpses with a taste for human brains, but are capable of learning and actual thought. He's probably the first zombie to actually have a personality, and be a full-fledged character rather than a background prop.

I first saw Day Of The Dead back in the 1980s, and ever since I've always thought the actor who played Bub looked strangely familiar. I had no idea who he was, but I definitely felt I'd seen him in something before. Finally here in 2020 it occurred to me to simply look him up! Sometimes it takes a while for me to think of things.

Anywho, a quick check of the internet revealed that Bub was played by actor Sherman Howard— or, as he's billed in Day Of The Dead, Howard Sherman.

Whichever direction he says his name, I'd never heard of him before. Even more curious, Bub was one of Howard's very first roles, as he'd done little or nothing prior. So why the hell did he look so familiar? How could he remind me of anyone if he'd never been in anything? It's a mystery.

After playing Bub, Howard went on to guest star in quite a few genre series on TV.

For example, Howard guest starred in the 1990 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Suddenly Human, in which he played Captain Endar.

In 1992 he played Lex Luthor in several episodes of Superboy.

Howard took a break from sci-fi in 1993, playing Roy, one of Elaine's many boyfriends on Seinfeld.

In 1994 he played the sinister Dr. Dietz in The Stand TV miniseries. Note that he looks fairly Bub-like here, but somehow I still didn't recognize him.

Howard returned to the Star Trek Universe in 1995, playing the Vulcan Syvar in the Deep Space Nine episode Shakaar.

He also played the Klingon T'Greth in the 2001 Voyager episode Prophecy.

In addition to these roles, Howard put in years on various soap operas, and lately he's been doing a lot of voiceover work in animation and videogames.

I'm still struggling to understand how I remembered Sherman Howard before I saw him in all these roles. Maybe it's some sort of Reverse Recognition— a condition similar to The Mandela Effect. Maybe I'll start up a new syndrome and call it The Canada Effect!

Vote No One In 2020!

Public Service Announcement: This is a (hopefully) humorous post, and I am in no way seriously suggesting that anyone out there shouldn't vote. Quite the contrary. This may be the most important election in our history, and if it doesn't go the right way, there'll be little or no country left by the time the next one rolls around. So GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!

OK, with all that said, once again I'm bringing up the question I ask every four years:

Do We Really Need A President?

Seriously, between the House and Senate we have well over five hundred politicians representing the country and making decisions for us. Plus there are numerous cabinet members, joint chiefs and heads of various agencies overseeing the running of the country. Seems like that ought to be more than enough governance. 

And think of the billions of dollars wasted every four years by presidential candidates. Money that could be used to feed the homeless, strengthen our infrastructure or buy blankets with sleeves. 

Can we just forget about electing a president this year and go on with our daily lives as we try to stretch our meager paychecks and make ends meet? I'd definitely be very willing to give it a shot. And if it turns out that yes, we actually do need a president, then fair enough. We can start it all back up in 2024. I say we ought to try it.

Dedicated To Her Profession

Since it's October all month long, I've been re-watching a lot of my favorite horror movies. Last night I watched George Romero's Day Of The Dead, the final installment of his classic zombie trilogy.

Like all rational humans, Dawn Of The Dead is my all-time favorite of his films of course. Day has its moments of course, especially if you like movies in which everyone histrionically screams their dialogue at the top of their lungs.

But I digress. Late in the third act of Day Of The Dead, a horde of zombies infiltrates the humans' underground shelter. As in each film in the trilogy, the zombies come from all walks of life and represent numerous professions. 

In fact at one point I spotted a Ballerina Zombie who's actually shuffling along on her tiptoes.

Let me repeat that: SHE'S SHUFFLING ALONG ON HER TIPTOES, and I don't know how I feel about that.

For The Model Citizen

For reasons known only to themselves, Bandai (makers of fine Gundam kits) recently released a scale model of a popular brand of Japanese cup noodles. Wait, what?

For something that's basically a replica of an inanimate container, it contains a shockingly large number of pieces. Everything's molded in the appropriate color too, so no painting is required. They even included a clump of plastic ramen noodles!

If you're interested (and who wouldn't be), this Cup Noodle scale model kit can be yours for the incredibly reasonable price of just $23 American dollars. 

Or you could, you know, just go to the grocery store and buy an actual cup of noodles for 25 cents and be done with it. But hey, whichever way you prefer.

This Month In Inappropriate Halloween Costumes: Mail-In Ballot!

Each year Halloween stores are filled with so-called "sexy" costumes based on pop culture characters and current events, each more outrageous than the next.

Presenting this year's ridiculous entry: the Sexy Mail-In Ballot costume!

Now let's just hope they don't find her discarded in a dumpster prior to Election Day!

Flash Gordon Logic

Just a reminder that in 1980's Flash Gordon, Ming The Merciless tells his aide Klytus that he's bored, and demands a new world to destroy. Klytus offers him our planet, saying, "The inhabitants refer to it as the planet... Earrrrth."

Note that he pronounces the name like it's something he stepped in, implying neither him nor Ming have ever heard of it before.

One second later, Ming activates his weather machine, and pushes a button labeled "Earth Quake." Wait, what?

A couple seconds later Ming presses another button, this one labeled "Hot Hail," whatever the hell that means. Hail is a form of solid precipitation made of irregularly shaped ICE pellets. So wouldn't "Hot Hail" just be... rain?