"The Zombie Mom" is a vague nod to the opening credits of Shaun of the Dead. If you're not familiar with Shaun of the Dead, it's a 2004 zombie/comedy (Zom-Com?) starring my nerd-crush, Simon Pegg.(Holy cow, I just lost half an hour looking at Simon Pegg pictures on Google!) The opening credits leads the viewer on a tour of the neighborhood where Shaun lives. We see the places and the people as objects in Shaun's everyday environment. But, what the credits really tells us, is that we're already zombies. We're already shuffling through the day, not really noticing each other, going about our routine. Average is as average does. As we know in real life, people who are different than the mass majority are either assimilated, or chased off. Well, guess what? In a zombie society, those different (alive), are either assimilated (zombified) or chased off (ill-fated survivors). Another common motif is the idea that we are already monsters. This largely plays in the George A. Romero zombie films where the survivors are no safer with the living than they are with the dead. To that end, we are already zombies and the monsters are already here and I am "The Zombie Mom."
I have always loved horror movies, though, as a kid, they often kept me terrified to sleep. As a kid, I had a crush on Freddy Krueger. (Yet terrified of Gary Busey? It doesn't even make sense to me.) I watched The Blob, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Silence of the Lambs, and all those campy horror movies created for the preteen set: The Gate, Critters, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and various others. But, it wasn't until I met my husband that I really began to appreciate horror movies and eventually became a zombie movie connoisseur. While I watched movies simply to watch them, my husband had a more in-depth knowledge of actors, directors and background information. It took awhile, but soon I could add to a conversation about a film (my husband taught me about music too) and grew hungry to learn more. I took a class, "Writing About Film." It was in that class that I REALLY learned about camera angles, director marks, what film says about the culture in which it was made, and all that other nifty stuff. I'm by no means an expert at all, but it really took my enjoyment of film to a whole new level. And as Steve and I dove into horror movie after horror movie (and nightmare after nightmare), I became fascinated with zombies. These days, that's pretty common, which is great for buying awesome zombie merchandise, but also makes you feel like you're following a fad even though you liked zombies long before the fad. Long Live...errr...Long Shuffle Zombies!
I also feel like a zombie. I shuffle about, creak, groan and pop every time I move, and go about my business with a sorta unawareness. I don't feel awake until I have a cup of coffee. And, my insomnia and pain at night keep me so foggy-brained that I don't even feel like I have a brain. Also, as a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), I don't socialize with adults much, especially if it doesn't include kids. That's why my tagline mentions the desire for brains and coffee. The coffee is to help me out of my brain-fog, and the brains means conversation with an adult without the presence of children.
So there you have it! The story of the title of this blog!
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