The Walking Dead

[xp_wallflower]

Tell me someone else is watching this show. I've been mainlining it during study breaks and gah, it's killing me.

I need someone to over-analyze story points with.

Comments

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Nope. I don't do zombies.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Really? Why?

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Because dead people should stay dead. And they do weird things with their weapons that irritate me.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

It's fiction, like I said to Cecilia below, there's no way in the natural world that zombies exist. And if they're magical zombies, you worry more about the person who created them then the zombies themselves.

What weird things with weapons?

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

My point stands. Dead people should stay dead. I have no desire to watch shuffling corpses. I've seen enough corpses in my life. I don't need them walking around.

They hold them wrong, lead with them wrong, clean them wrong, use them wrong. Everything about them is basically wrong in some way and you don't survive in a warzone, let alone a zombie apocalypse, by doing things wrong.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

I can respect that. So what TV shows besides Golden Girls do you like?

They're civilians though, how are they going to know how to use and care for a weapon when they've probably never even held one? I get the feeling that the experts tend to die pretty quickly given how they're usually on the front line when everything goes crazy.

And are we talking guns here, or all weapons? I'd figure something like a stick is a bit hard to misuse.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

So much gore! And I'm saying that as a professional gore-handler.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

I admittedly like to laugh at how completely unrealistic zombies actually are. Apart from random magical accidents, or weird mutant reactions, the natural world would make quick work of any corpses wandering around, if their own physical bodies didn't take care of it already.

But as entertainment, and a vehicle for commentary on the nature of humanity, you don't get much better then a good disaster story. It allows you to strip away all the society and social shortcuts we use in order to stay civilized and cut off from our real selves.

In other words, you really get to know who a person is when you take away all excuses for them to not be so.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

That's very cogent analysis, actually. (Though not enough to convince me to watch the show. I can't deal with the zombies. Or the vampires, actually. Real life feels phantasmagoric enough, especially around here.)

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

I blame Kyle making me read a heap of zombie fiction a summer or so back to help him out. (Having said that, it turned out to be quite fun, and kinda made me stuck on the zombie genre. Like I said, as a vehicle for analyzing human complexity, you can't get much better then disasters.)

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Ugh, zombie fiction is a genre? Keep it away from me.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

It is these days, and while those that try to make medical explanations in their writing often have hilariously bad explanations, they actual story part of the stories aren't too bad.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I hate that. I got so annoyed when everyone was so into that Gray's Anatomy show. Residency is NOTHING LIKE THAT.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Don't I know it - although I'm only first year medical school at the moment. I've been hearing horror stories though. Should I listen to any of the older students, or are they trying to pull a fast one?

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

My guess is they've got some exaggerated stories, but not exaggerated in the places you might think.

But yes, that surgery rotation is killer, and you'll see some horrifying things in neuro/psych if you're in a hospital worth a damn.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

I haven't been looking forward to that, although I've heard the NICU is where there's some real nastiness waiting if it's a bad time. I'm not sure what I want to really settle into yet, so I guess that's what the whole residency thing is for.

I've helped with a few surgeries just due to being on the spot, but I'm not sure yet if I'd want to go that route entirely. And I'm not sure general practice would suit either - dealing with the day to day stuff seems a little boring.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't volunteer for any extra pediatrics during med school - knew it wasn't my thing. Dying children? No thank you. I'll stick with adults. (Then you get into a general surgery residency, and you end up having to cut kids open anyway.)

But you have so much time to figure this out, so I wouldn't sweat it. Something will suddenly click.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

So Jean said, and Amelia, and Clarice. I figure with you guys in my corner I'm not going to stress overly about the whole thing. It's nice to have people who've been there, done that.

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

One book is not a heap! .. unless you also have that zombie trilogy that Dori was reading and if you do, a) She's been looking for those and thought she lost them and b) That's not my fault!

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

A) I do, and I'll bring them back to her. Why didn't you tell me they were a lender? B) So your fault. Entirely your fault. I blame all my reading on you.

C) Did you see Mira Grant's new series? Sort of Parasite zombies rather then medical, so much more interesting and actually has some truth in science rather then faux medical illnesses.

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Dude I didn't even know you had them until now! When I was like "Yo, rummage through the pile" okay they were probably in the pile so maybe my fault.

What happened to Laurie "I don't read fiction" Collins? :)

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Shh, you infected me with your literariness. It's like a virus, but instead of bleeding out of the eyes, I just end up doing further reading on my own.

See? This is what happens when you let people rummage through your books. I told you you should have let someone organise them for you. This is why they have such things as the dewey decimal system.

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

They are organized! It's just not how you organize things, and it's a very complicated system.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Organized by Gremlin's maybe. Have you been feeding the books after midnight, Kyle? You know that's not a good idea.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Well, okay. I'll watch one episode as a concession to you.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Go with the first of first season - less gore, more story. Although it is zombies, so there's always a bit of gore. Still, the story makes up for it.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Okay, fine. I'm trusting you...

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

I'll come watch it with you, if you like. I can forward through the really gorey bits that don't give you much toward the story for you.

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Probably not a bad idea. (For what it's worth, gore doesn't bother me if it's in the service of story.)

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

At least with the Walking Dead it always is. (I was amused when people started calling the second season 'The Talking Dead', like that was some kind of insult. )

I'll be over with the first season on DVD then. We can watch and episode and see what you think. (It'll stop my suitemate from giving me one of those 'You're studying too much, and I feel the need to kidnap you to something social' looks he gets sometimes. His cousin is a super spy, I'm pretty sure she could help him with nefarious things. )

[x-barrier.livejournal.com]

Hoo boy, I know those looks. It's why I lived alone as soon as possible.

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

I don't really do well living by myself - never had to and it gets way too lonely without some presence about the place. I kinda have a bit of an unhealthy level of focus sometimes, and while I'm pretty sure I'm nothing special when it comes to medical students in that regard, it's nice to have people who care enough to drag me away.

[x-plosive.livejournal.com]

I play a game with a zombie virus, does that count?

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Not quite, but if you want to come to a viewing of the first episode of season 1, you're more then welcome. I figured I'd set it up in the main common room in case other's were interested.