Get Out There and Vote!

Wortmaniacs of America, if you haven’t been keeping up with John McCain (R) and Barack Obama’s (D) heated race to the White House, you’d best read up on the facts.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, and regardless of political affiliation it’s important that each and every U.S. citizen exercise their right to vote. Head on over to canivote.org to find a polling place near you and, if you’re still undecided, visit the candidates' official websites at johnmccain.com and barackobama.com and make your choice as informed as possible.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game to Hit Shelves Summer 2009

Variety reported on October 29 that Atari will publish the highly anticipated (and delayed) Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which is slated to hit store shelves early in the summer of 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film.

According to the article, sources close to Atari added that the company may also have a licensing deal with Sony Pictures to produce sequels to the game if the first one is successful.

Based on the limited information released thus far, I see no reason why Ghostbusters: The Video Game won’t be a massive success both critically and financially, but we’ve all seen movie-to-game translations crash and burn before.

I’m hoping that Ghostbusters: The Video Game includes, as a bonus, a full version of the original 1980s Activision game based on the first movie, which I could never understand for the life of me (I was about 4 when I tried playing it). If they do, it would be a crime if they decided to do a spell/grammar check on the hilarious end-game message:

“Conglaturation !!!
You have completed a great game.
And prooved the justice of our culture.
Now go and rest our heroes !”

As a writer, this collection of words and exclamation points should probably make my head hurt, but it has a sad, poetic quality about it. Kind of like when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man erupted in a shower of sugary goo at the end of the first movie when our heroes crossed the streams.

I’ll never look at s’mores the same way again.

Update: Atari issued a press release on November 7 stating that Ghostbusters: The Video Game will be a major part of Sony Pictures' celebration of the original film's 25th anniversary, which will include other consumer products such as toys, t-shirts, comic books, prop replicas, Blu-ray releases of both films and a theme park attraction.

Night of the Living Plumber

Happy Saturday, Wortmaniacs! I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween tomfoolery last night, whether it involved tricks, treats or getting totally hammered dressed like the Joker or Sarah Palin (easily the two most popular costumes this year). My choice was less predictable (ish) in that I went as John McCain’s buddy Joe the Plumber, of which there were only two last night at Brazen Fox in White Plains. However, only one of us was a zombie (hint: me). I couldn’t resist the chance not only to be political prior to one of the more important elections in our nation’s history but also to play around with fake blood.

To get myself into character over the past week, I’ve been on a steady diet of zombie cinema (that’s right, cinema), including George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Land of the Dead, along with the semi-comedic The Return of the Living, directed by Dan O’Bannon. For anyone rushing for the comment function to remind me that I’ve left out 28 Days Later and its sequel, they’re not really “zombie” movies in the traditional sense. The same rule applies to Planet Terror, which follows standard genre tropes but does not technically feature the undead. There are rules people.

I capped off the week by watching Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and—I know I’ll catch hell for writing this—I think I might enjoy it even more than the original. It’s far more of a high-octane action film than Romero’s methodical, gory and sometimes poignant exploration of consumer culture, and I have issues with the idea of zombies sprinting after their prey (it eliminates the kind of slow, creeping terror that is a cornerstone of this genre), but Snyder’s film one of the better horror remakes to come down the pike lately. I definitely recommend a rental.