Secrets of the City

This whole idea really amused me, but in hindsight, it’s just freakin’ stupid. I caught wind of the zombies doing a trial run of their zombiefest about a month ago over in Kenwood and wondered “what the hell?” until a friend sent me a link to their site. Are people that hard up to get attention? Are there other things of more value that people are willing to put their time and energy into? I’m waiting for the Girlfriend in a Coma pub crawl, is that next?

Yea, I’d much rather sit at home and post on MNSpeak than go out for some drinks with a bunch of light-hearted, undead zombies.

I imagine you were one of the people in a Gap sweater at Psycho Suzie’s saying, “hey, you know you’re not funny, right?” Heaven forbid we give some fantastic dive bars in Northeast an OBSCENE amount of business.

Stop hating already; a zombie never hurt you.

Good job zombies, sorry I couldn’t make it. And thanks for giving Stasiu’s your business.

I would like to formally apologize to the people of Stasiu’s for my extremely poor performace of “Zombie Roadhouse Blues.” I thought it would be funny to sing, “I got out of the ground this morning and got myself a beer,” but I couldn’t figure out when I was supposed to sing. It’s because I was drunk. These guys were also drunk.

Karaoke was at Stasiu’s? Wow, the night really did get away from me. Awesome.

Taylor: I’m sure they’ve seen much, much worse.

Don’t hate the Gap and no, I wasn’t at Pyscho Suzie’s either. I never said I “hated” you or hate anyone for that matter. That’s a bit extreme. No hating here. I think it sounded plenty lighthearted & slightly amusing, but kind of veered towards the kind of half-witted plan that a bunch of highschool kids or college kids would hatch vs. somewhat self-respecting drinking age adults. I guess if adults are getting their kicks with putting on custumes and grunting “need brains”, maybe the next step is to actually find some?

Much worse than a bunch of hammered guys covered in blood and dead skin who couldn’t figure out when to sing the words? I’ve got to go there more often.

Half-witted? How so? Provide grounds for your flimsy labels.

I think the next step for you is to do away with your senseless dualisms (this “us vs. them” mentality, particularly) and start realizing that even somewhat goofy costumed-up types can be of-age, mature, well-educated (some even finishing Masters- and PhD-level work as we speak), and as self-respecting as what you claim to be.

Actually, had you been there, you would’ve witnessed the rather warm reception we had from at least half the people already in the bars (regulars, I would presume).

I talked up a LOT of locals, reassuring them we weren’t there to encroach, but to share space. But even at that, I spent far less time reassuring them then I did laughing with them.

Forget the hate. Stop trying to rain on our parade, foo.

Damn, imperatives are the shit.

Taylor: that’s every weekend at Stasiu’s. You’re forgetting it’s a bachelor and bachelorette party destination.

You’re right, FuzzUnit. It was pretty brainless. If only we’d chosen to do something that was more creative, more interesting, more hilarious and also provided us with months worth of stories to tell people. I am kicking myself now.

Well you marriage is doomed to fail if you don’t have a gander at the Holy Shrine of Urinals before the nuptials.

I’ll have to remember to wear my beads next time I go there!

Flash Mob, anyone?

Sith,
Take ‘er easy, pal. Obviously I’ve struck a chord here and no need to slice and dice me. I’m not self-respecting and I’m not here to rain on your zombieness, not really. I guess my main question is “Why?” Out of all the things you could do on a fine fall Saturday, why that? I won’t drag this out too much. Like I already wrote, it was mildly funny and all, but the core idea of just a bunch of zombies drinking kind of wears a little thin after the initial chuckle.

Why???

Why not?!

Yeah Sith Lord, ease up a bit. Zombie Jesus would want you to love your neighbor… and then eat his brains. Which is hilarious now and will be hilarious tomorrow and still be hilarious like three months from now. Also, thinking back to a few dozen zombies around the stage at the deuce deuce… it just warms the hole where my heart used to be before I became a zombie.

Couple other things.

One, we’re not pals.

Two, takin’ ‘er easy would sorta mean not having started this in the first place…not putting others down just cause you have a different sense of humor.

And three, what did you do Saturday night, and can we all do it this weekend so we can be living our lives to the fullest?

I wasn’t really joking in invoking the Flash Mob meme. (I think some of you know I was an organizer for the Minneapolis events a couple years back.) It’s dangerous to step out into this territory, but I’m willing to go so far as to say there’s even something political in these kinds of events — taking to the streets as zombies and forcing people to confront The Other.

I’ll stop now, but I could go on…

Oh, man, Rex. Yes. Thank you. It’s not so much a forced confrontation of The Other (imposing ourselves on the bar regulars in the N.E. as outsiders) as it is an active re-construction of a community. We brought together people from all over Minneapolis around a good idea and cheap drinks and every single zombie felt not only connected to one another, but those of the living who supported us. And that’s certainly political. Anytime someone yelled “BRAINS” and the entire rest of the bar yelled back “BRAINS”, I felt the transgression.

Also, the comedy. So. Much. Comedy.

it just warms the hole where my heart used to be

That is just so good. Brilliant, even.

Yes, the “c” word. Finally. Community.

No one cares what I did on Sat night, really.

You zombies should have done something useful like community organizing…oh wait.

No no, Mr. Value Police. Reread what you wrote above:

“Are there other things of more value that people are willing to put their time and energy into?”

I’m just assuming what you did has more “value,” so I really wanna know.

Also, you should go ahead and prove that community is inherently bad, since that’s what the crawl was arguably building. That would really help draw into question this most atrocious of pub crawls.

I am never drinking One Eyed Willy’s man juice again.

Right on! Let’s keep grunting at strangers where it belongs: like Super Bowl parties, or in a downtown bar bathroom stall on a Friday night.

Why, you ask? Because it was fun. It made people happy. It made my friends and I and a hundred other people happy. It made people come out of their houses to see what the hell was going on. It made one guy actually get out of his car and allow us to eat his guts, and he had the biggest smile of all. yeah, it also freaked the hell out of a lot of people going about their daily business and grossed out a few strippers, but overall, it was good clean fun.

I can’t recall the last time I had so much fun. I’ve met more new friends, felt more companionship, and re-met more old lost friends in one day than I could have ever hoped was possible. Not to mention that for someone who loves his imagination and loves Halloween as much as I do how fun covering myself in fake blood — delicious, delicious fake blood — was. I was happy to give my business to these bars in NE I’d never been to as well.

I’m pretty sure FuzzUnit is just jealous that he or she didn’t go.

If I had the time, I just might’ve turned up to see what all the grunting was about. I’m all for community. Sith, chilleth.

Reading about the Zombie pub crawl made me laugh, so hats off to the participants and organizers. However, please dispense with the pretense of camaraderie and goodwill (e.g., I talked up a LOT of locals”, “[w]e brought together people from all over Minneapolis,” “since [community is] what the crawl was arguably building”), because it’s clear from the linked blog that antagonizing and ostracizing the hoi polloi was part of the endeavor, at lease for some participants (e.g., “I’m sure we ruined the bride’s night”, “There were middle aged alcoholics . . . that didn’t seem amused at all. The best was the kid who was . . . genuinely pissed.”)

don’t you zombies have jobs? we sure seem to have a lot of time on our hands, friends and enemies of the undead.

just let me say, whoever wins this argument gets bragging rights on the internet, and the BRAINS OF THE LOSER!!!

I uhhhhh… was on break when I posted…

(back to programming)

That’s a pretty amazing turnout. Did people post flyers or something or was it strictly web-site/word-of-mouth?

Yeah, the community-building angle is a little weak. There was definitely a sense of Other-ness, which was amplified at times (the wedding party is the funniest example), but that comes with the zombie territory–every zombie movie ever made is a class-warfare allegory. But please, let’s keep the cultural studies-speak where it belongs (at the bar) and instead take a moment to reflect on how utterly awesome the whole night was.

*reflecting*

I happen to author that blog, Tate.

A) Just because I’m an asshole (I’m not going to argue with that), one person’s (my) opinions as published on my personal blog (I didn’t organize this event) should only be viewed as just that. My own opinions.

2) It isn’t like we knew that wedding party was going to be there, and it wasn’t a private party.

iii) I didn’t antagonize anybody. Just because I laughed at their displeasure didn’t mean I was causing their displeasure. I tried to be as friendly as possible, and avoid the mean drunks who were not amused. I, however, was amused. They were pissed of their own volition.

7) Don’t you dare ADD italics to something you are quoting.

Finally, G) You don’t know me! My sudden Zombie-fame is putting my words out of context. My smarmy remarks were written and tailored to the ears of my usual reading audience. If I was going to be the official recap of the night I’d not have used a negative point of view.

P.S. I love you. And yes, you are right, hats off!

Zombie-fame? Now that is darn funny. I love it!

The zombie thing looks sort of like a pub crawl for members of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Now this, on the other hand — this I could get into.

Bad Santa!

The Society for Creative Anachronism? Really?? Ouch. FuzzUnit can call our idea “freakin’ stupid” and “half-witted” all he wants, but I can’t stand by and take that kind of hatin’. It’s not like we were LARPing or anything. Ouch.

Hey, I’m not hating anyone. Get over it. I’m laughing with you or at your or both.

My favorite aspect of the evening was the fact that I met a gajillion new people and never once did I have to ask someone what they did for a living, where they were from, blah blah blah. How often can someone come up to you and start a conversation with, “That wound on your back is really horrifying. Can I buy you a beer?”

I’m over it, FuzzUnit, but not over how good I think your brain would taste right now. *grooooooaaaaannnnn*

Ok. We’ve been accused of doing something “freakin’ stupd” and, essentially, wasting time when we (I suppose) should’ve been raising money for AIDs victims in Africa. (Not that that isn’t a worth use of anyone’s time).

Anyone up for a midnight movie?

“Dead Alive” is showing at the Riverview (38th St E and 42nd Ave S) this Friday and Saturday as a midnight movie. Directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings and (more importantly) “Meet the Feebles” fame it’s supposed to be one of the goreiest films ever made. It’s also a zombie film full of dark humor.

Lots of good reviews – just google “Dead Alive” and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m sure we all have makeup left over. Anyone wanna go see a midnight movie? The Riverview is one of my favorite theaters, it’d be fun to give them some business. There’s also a wine bar across the street so if you show up too early there’s a place to go have a quick drink.

I vote for Saturday.

Anyone else?

VIDEO!

Screw you weirdos.

It’s all about Dahli Langer for me.