The first installment of War, created by ncomment, appeared online this past April. It imagined the social bookmarking site Digg as a city, one built on participatory democracy. But as power users gain more power within the city of Digg, unrest sparks among its citizenry, and some of the users discuss reforms. But before they can effect any changes, they are invaded by aliens from rival social network reddit.

The second installment just went up, and envisions the city of Digg under reddit occupation, as well as giving us a peek at the neighboring nations of Mixx and Twitter. A number of other websites are namechecked as well, and if you pay attention, you might notice a familiar logo:

Chances are, we'll have to wait a few months for the exciting conclusion of War. Will the Diggers reclaim their territory? Will the reddit forces convince the occupied diggers to give up memespeak? And what do TechCrunch bars actually taste like?

War, Part 1, Part 2 [via reddit]

Basterds is set around a historical event that never happened: Adolf Hitler and several other top members of the Nazi Party attend the premiere of a new propaganda film in Paris, an event that inspires two separate groups to make an attempt on the Fuhrer's life. And, as events that never happened tend to do, this event snowballs into more and more ahistorical events, culminating in a version of 1944 that is a good deal different than our own — to the point where World War II itself would have ended very differently.

Several critics on both sides of the "loved it"/"burn it" fence have termed the film a "Jewish revenge fantasy," an excuse to create a pulpy war movie with a villain we already know and hate. And, without getting too much into how the plot unfolds, it's certainly not the more usual type of alternate history. Instead of picking a point where history diverged and showing how the world has changed from there, Tarantino is slicing up the timeline before our very eyes.

Paul Donovan, in reviewing the film for Camp Kansas City, has perhaps the most astute observation on what Basterds accomplishes from a genre standpoint:

In 1978, an Italian film was released with the American name "Inglorious Bastards", about four U.S. soldiers on their way to prison who end up volunteering for a commando mission behind enemy lines. Tarantino took the name and the idea of rough-and-tumble American soldiers on a mission, and that's where the movie remake stops. His movie is a remake, all right, but not of any old movie. He had the audacity to rewrite history.

Quentin Tarantino remade World War II.

There's certainly a speculative bent to the Tarantino's grisly exercise, asking what might have to happen for WWII to end one way instead of another, what stars would have to align and what personalities would have to be in play. And, when war movies like The Dirty Dozen already add elements and events to history that simply weren't there, there's something appealing about an artist who owns his historical revisionism and goes all out to rewrite the ending.

But beyond asking how firmly Inglourious Basterds fits into the alternate history genre, I'm more interested in what happens after Basterds has left the theaters. Now that Tarantino has created an alternate universe, will we get more stories to populate it and show us how the world has really changed? Will it inspire other artists to create these in-the-moment historical remakes? And what does this mean for the future of Tarantino's movies? While his films often fall outside the realm of reality, they still skirt around science fiction and fantasy (with the notable exception of his screenplay for vampire slaughterfest From Dusk Till Dawn). Could Inglourious Basterds be the sign of more speculative fiction to come?

First up, the ice cream man, played by Doug Jones, is pretty fantastic, I quite enjoy how he trots over an all fours. The rest of the "must protect the savior baby" is all well and good, but I'm more excited about the Biblical throwdowns and crazy old ladies climbing up the walls.

Looks like a delightful over-the-top B-movie fake spiritual war, a la Constantine, but with more blood and guts, and possibly pus coming from Dennis Quaid. I'm sure many, many people will say it's beneath them, but me, I'll be first in line for the Gabriel versus Michael angel battle. Legion will be released in theaters on January 22.

[via Myspace]

According to New Scientist, robot maker Boston Dynamics is working to create a military version of Sandia National Laboratories' prototype robot "Urban Hopper." The Hopper, which rolls around on wheels powered by electricity but can jump 8 feet in the air thanks to a gas piston may be mobile, but somewhat erratic, according to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Mark Peterson:

The existing hoppers do not maintain a stable orientation during hops, but tumble randomly.

Boston Dynamics' mission is to create a robot that works on similar principals, but can hop up stairs or through open windows for urban reconnaissance, although worryingly enough, DARPA admits that there's always the possibility to add some guns to it, just in case. The first generation are due to be delivered in the latter part of next year.

Flickr Image by Paul Robert Lloyd.

Jumping robot to bounce into military service [New Scientist]

I'm not really sure what LOTR and GOW have in common, but I'm totally OK with Wiseman planning a trilogy for the video game movie adaptation. In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Wiseman revealed that he didn't want just one movie adaptation of this amazing Locust Horde-murdering video game but three. And thank goodness, it's going to be more science fiction than straight-up horror:

"It’s going to be much more [on the] science fiction side of it than the creature side of it. I’ve always been much more of a sci-fi action fan than a horror fan,” he reveals also explaining that he wants the scope of the film to be told over the course of three films! “The hope is that we're wanting to do three movies, and really cover the bases on everything. Basically a harder edged Lord Of The Rings.”

Fan freaking tastic — come to think of it, the Hobbits would have been a bit more badass if they had used chainsaws. Just think of it, they'd be cutting everyone off at the knees. The story of Gears Of War is a solid science fiction tale: a rag tag military unit is the planet's last hope to defeat an mutant race living underneath the crust. As the game moves forward, so does your knowledge of the Locust Horde, and your love for Marcus Fenix grows.

But the problem with Gears Of War is, who's going to be Marcus Fenix? Who can fill in the shoes of this great leader who swims in worm blood? Who? I thought Vin Diesel but he's too shiny and pretty. We need someone really roughed up, does Mickey Rourke have a younger, equally tragic, brother?

Read the rest of the interview at Bloody Disgusting, and let's all hope that Len Wiseman does it justice.

Through a Fortuitous Victory in Gettysburg

“If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg” by Winston Churchill: Churchill’s work of speculative fiction is narrated from the perspective of a historian in universe where the Confederacy won the Civil War. The victory allowed Lee’s forces to push on and take Washington, eventually pushing Lincoln to admit defeat. Immediately after Lee’s victory, he rose to such prominence in the Confederacy that he was able to effect the abolition of slavery, paving the way for an alliance between England and the Confederate States. England then helped broker a peace treaty between the Union and Confederacy, effectively ending the Civil War by appealing to a sense of common language and culture.

Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore: Hodge Backmaker was born in what was left of the United States of America after the War of Southern Independence. After the war, the North, never enjoying an Industrial Revolution suffers in poverty, while the prosperous Confederacy annexes Mexico, Central America, and eventually all of South America. Hodge becomes a historian and realizes that the fall of Washington, the Great Retreat to Philadelphia and the eventual occupation of Philadelphia by the Confederate Army was all a result of Meade’s loss at Gettysburg, which, thanks to time travel, he has an opportunity to witness (and possibly alter) first hand.

What If the South Had Won the Civil War? by MacKinlay Kantor: Originally published in Look Magazine in 1960, Kantor’s classic work imagines that Grant died before taking Vicksburg and that Lee’s troops defeated the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg. But the split is less acrimonious that one might think. The Confederacy eventually abolishes slavery, and after some time apart, the two countries contemplate a reunion.

“Sidewise in Time” by Murray Leinster: Leinster is credited with introducing the alternate history trope to pulp science fiction with this story of people traveling across timelines. One character finds himself travel through a pocket of time filled with Confederate towns in a timeline in which the CSA had won the Battle of Gettysburg.

Of course, not everyone thinks Lee’s victory at Gettysburg would have changed the course of history. In Newt Gingrinch and William R. Forstchen’s Gettysburg, Lee wins the battle, and has continued success in Grant Comes East. But, by the end of Never Call Retreat, the Confederacy has lost the war.

By Changing the Fate of Special Order 191

How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove: After Lee’s Special Order 191 is lost, it is recovered by a Confederate soldier, ensuring that it never falls into the hands of George McClellan. Thus, Lee’s forces catch McClellan by surprise and they destroy the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Antietam. Once Lee marches on Philadelphia, Britain and France officially recognize the Confederacy. The South wins its independence and sets off the events for Turtledove’s Timeline-191.

“What Will the Country Say: Maryland Destiny” by David M. Keithly” Special Order 191 still ends up in McClellan’s hands, but it turns out that the Confederate messenger didn’t really lose the order. Instead, Lee planted the message and ordered the messenger to “lose” it deliberately, baiting a trap for McClellan’s forces.

By Allying Itself with England and/or France

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America: In this fictional documentary film, Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin succeeds in drawing Britain and France into an alliance with the Confederacy before the Battle of Gettysburg, turning the tide of war in favor of the South. The Confederation reigns over all of North America except “Red” Canada, institutionalizing racism and segregation, and continuing the practice of slavery.

“Hell on Earth: Anglo-French Intervention in the Civil War” by Andrew Uffindell: After the Trent Affair, the Confederacy causes increased tensions between the Union and Britain by manufacturing a series of incidents along the Canadian border. Britain eventually declares war on the Union and France follows suit. The Union enjoys some early victories in the Great Lakes, but its hand is eventually forced.

However, in both Robert Controy’s 1862 and Harry Harrison’s Stars & Stripes Forever, England joins the Confederacy after the Trent Affair, in which the Union seized two Confederate diplomats from a British ship. In 1862, the Union somehow manages to beat back both the Confederacy and the world’s great military power, all in less time than in our universe. And in Stars and Stripes, the bungling British leaders inadvertently attack a Confederate base, leading the Union and Confederacy to fight back against a common enemy a soundly defeat the British forces.

With More Effective Commanders

/>Gray Victory by Robert Skimin: Since Jefferson Davis didn’t replace the more effective General Joseph Johnston with the dashing but reckless John Bell Hood, the Confederate forces survived the Atlanta campaign and exhausted the Union Army. Tired of war, the Northern voters oust Abraham Lincoln in favor of George McClellan. McClellan quickly recognizes the Confederacy as its own nation. But anti-slavery groups on both sides of the Mason-Dixon continue to antagonize the Confederacy.

“We Will Water Our Horses in the Mississippi: A.S. Johnston vs. U.S. Grant” by James R. Arnold: AS Johnston is wounded at Shiloh, but survives and, after a year, reenters the war. He successfully coordinates John Pemberton and Joe Johnston, and secured the defeat of Ulysses S Grant by William Loring at the Mississippi. He secures the West and sends forces East to support Lee.

“When the Bottom Fell Out: The Crisis of 1862” by Michael R. Hathaway: Robert E. Lee never fell from his horse after the Second Battle of Manassas. Without his mind clouded with pain from his injuries, Lee became a more effective commander. His impressive victories against the North attract the approving attention of Britain and France, who intervene to mediate the conflict. And a demoralized Union agrees to peace.

By Strengthening Its Navy

“Ships of Iron and Wills of Steel: The Confederate Navy Triumphant” by Wade Dudley: Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory convinces the cabinet to build a fleet of ironclad ships. The new fleet defeats the Monitor, breaks the Union blockade, and prove a viable threat to coastal Northern states. The Confederacy’s ocean power enables it to starve McClellan’s forces into surrender and leads to Britain’s recognition of Confederate sovereignty.

By Employing Black Soldiers Earlier in the War

“Confederate Black and Gray: A Revolution in the Minds of Men” by Peter G. Tsouras: Jefferson Davis and the Confederate cabinet take a cue from Patrick Cleburne’s manifesto and allow slaves to join the Confederate Army in exchange for their freedom. This not only bolsters the Southern forces, it demoralizes the Union troops and improves diplomatic relations between the Confederacy and France and Britain. The Union Army falls apart after the death of William Sherman and newly elected President McClellan recognizes the Confederacy.

With the Aid of Time Travelers

The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove: Members of South Africa’s white supremacist Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging group travel to 1864 to supply the Confederates with 21st Century weapons. Between the advanced weapons and the time travelers’ intimate knowledge of the Union’s plans, Lee’s victory is an easy one.

But even time travelers can’t guarantee a victory. In Harry Harrison’s A Rebel in Time, a racist colonel takes a gun back in time in an attempt to alter the course of the war, only to be thwarted by a fellow time traveler. And in Charles L. Harness’ “Quarks of Appomattox,” neo-Nazis offer Robert E. Lee a device that disintegrates metal, claiming that a divided America will ensure Germany’s later victory. But Lee lists all those strange little things that have happened during the war – the loss of Special Order 191, the absence of Stonewall Jackson from Gettysburg due to a freak accident – which prevented what should have been his certain victory. Deciding that God himself is trying to send him a message, Lee declines the Nazi’s offer and goes off to knowingly lose the war.

Mostly we've focused on movies from the U.S. and Europe, and we've included the living dead among zombies — so mummies are included, but vampires and ghosts aren't. Obviously as you look at this chart, you have to correct somewhat for the fact that more movies are being made as we get closer to the present, and (more importantly) there are better records of those movies with better tagging. So it's easier to research movies with zombies in them if you're looking at productions from the 1980s onward. In addition, there's been a huge boom in indie and low-budget horror movies over the past ten years, and that undoubtedly accounts somewhat for the giant spike you see during the last 8 years or so.

Still, even correcting for the fact that there are more movies being made today, you can see that there are distinctive spikes in zombie popularity - and they always seem to fall slightly after a huge political or social event has caused mass fear, chaos, or suffering. That's why World War II, Vietnam, and the current Iraq War are all followed by a zombie rush at theaters. Obviously, if you're going to look at these historical correlations, you have to consider that movies inspired by a real-life event aren't going to show up in theaters for at least six months to a year, so we've accounted for that.

You can see that most of these spikes in zombie popularity do seem weirdly close to periods of historical trauma like wars or the AIDS epidemic. Is there a causal connection, or is it just coincidence? You be the judge.

Chart by Stephanie Fox. Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

Appendix: Zombie movies we included in this study.

1910: 1
Frankenstein

1911: 1
The Mummy

1919
J’accuse!

1931: 1
Frankenstein

1932: 1
White Zombie

1933: 1
The Ghoul

1935: 2
The Lost City
Bride of Frankenstein

1936: 4
Revolt of the Zombies
Ouanga
Midnight Blunders
The Walking Dead

1938: 1
J’accuse! (Remake)

1939: 1
Son of Frankenstein

1940: 1
The Ghost Breakers

1941: 1
King of the Zombies

1942: 1
Bowery at Midnight

1943: 4
Dead Men Walk
I Walked With a Zombie
Revenge of the Zombies
Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man
The Mad Ghoul

1944: 1
Voodoo Man

1945: 1
Zombies on Broadway

1946: 1
Valley of the Zombies

1952: 1
Zombies of the Stratosphere

1953: 1
Scared Stiff

1955: 1
Creature with the Atom Bain

1957: 3
The Zombies of Mora Tau
Voodoo Island
The Unearthly

1958: 4
Womaneater
The Revenge of Frankenstein
The Brain Eaters
Misterios de la magia negra (Mysteries of Black Magic)

1959: 6
Invisible Invaders
Teenage Zombies
The Mummy
Plan 9 From Outer Space
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
Night of the Ghouls

1960: 1
Creature of the Walking Dead

1961: 3
Muñecos infernales (The Curse of the Doll People)
The Dead One
Dr. Blood’s Coffin

1962: 2
Carnival of Souls
Santo contra los zombies (Invasion of the Zombies)

1963: 1
They Saved Hitler’s Brain

1964: 7
Roma contro Roma (War of the Zombies)
The Curse of the Living Corpse
El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (The Secret of Dr. Orloff)
The Last Man on Earth
Monstrosity
Zombies
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies
Der chef wünscht keine Zeugun (No Survivors, Please)

1965: 2
Earth Dies Screaming
Terrore nello spazio (Planet of the Vampires)
Cinque tombe per un medium (Terror Creatures from the Grave)

1966: 2
The Plague of the Zombies
The Death Curse of Tartu

1967: 2
They Came From Beyond Space
Dr. Terror’s Gallery of Horrors

1968: 6
Night of the Living Dead
Dr. Satán y la magia negra (Dr. Satan Versus Black Magic)
The Wild Wild West: Night of the Undead
Astro-Zombies
Blue Demon contra cerebros infernales (Blue Demon vs. El Crimen)
Autopsia de un fantasma (Autopsy of a Ghost)

1969: 2
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

1970: 4
Night Slaves
Dream No Evil
El mundo de los muertes (Land of the Dead)
Santo el enmascarado de plata y Blue Demon contra los monstrous (Santo and Blue Demon Against the Monsters)

1971: 4
La muerte viviente (Island of the Snake People)
La noche del terror ciego (Tombs of the Blind Dead)
Escape
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler

1972: 7
Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga (The Torture Chamber of Baron Blood)
L’Etrusco uccide ancora (The Dead Are Alive)
La Notte dei diavoli (Night of the Devils)
Blood of Ghastly Horror
Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things
Tales From the Crypt
(Las momias de Guanajuato) The Mummies of Guanajuato

1973: 15
El espanto surge de la tumba (Horror Rises From the Tomb)
La invasión de los muertos (Invasion of the Dead)
La orgía de los muertos (Beyond the Living Dead)
El ataque de los muertos sin ojos (Attack of the Blind Dead)
Christina, princesse de l'érotisme (A Virgin Among the Living Dead)
El castillo de las momias de Guanajuato (Castle of the Mummies of Guanajuato)
Horror Express
Dead People
La noche de los brujos (Night of the Sorcerors)
La rebelión de las muertas (Vengeance of the Zombies)
Psychomania
Flesh for Frankenstein
Santo contra la magia negra (Santo vs. Black Magic Woman)
House of the Living Dead
Vudú sangriento (Voodoo Black Exorcist)

1974: 13
Dead of Night (Deathdream)
Garden of the Dead
Corpse Eaters
House of Seven Corpses
House on Skull Mountain
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie)
Shanks
Sugar Hill
El buque mandito (Horror of the Zombies)
El pantano de los cuervos (Swamp of the Ravens)
Young Frankenstein
Kung bakit dugo ang kulay ng gabi (Night of the Zombies)

1975: 7
Macchie Solari (Autopsy)
The Dead Don’t Die
Frozen Scream
La noche de las gaviotas (Night of the Death Cult)
Lord Shango
Shivers
La Perversa caricia de Sátan (The Wicked Caresses of Satan)

1976: 1
Gou hun jiang tou (Black Magic II)

1977: 3
The Child
Shock Waves
La fille á la fourrure (The Porno Zombies)

1978: 4
Dawn of the Dead
Les raisins de la mort (Grapes of Death)
Salinnabileul ggotneun yeoja (Living Dead Girl)
Within the Woods

1979: 4
Zombi 2
Io Zombo, Tu Zombi, Lei Zomba (I Am a Zombie, You Are A Zombie, She Is A Zombie)
Phantasm
The Day It Came to Earth

1980: 10
Zombi Holocaust
John Carpenter’s The Fog
Alien Dead
The Children
Bloodeaters
Paura nella città dei morti viventi (City of the Living Dead)
Fiend
Virus
Incubo sulla città contaminata (City of the Walking Dead)
Más allá del terror (Further Than Fear)

1981: 13
Night of the Zombies
L’aldilá e tu vivtai nel terrore (The Beyond)
Heavy Metal
Quella villa accanto al cimitero (The House Outside the Cemetery)
Le notti del terrore (Burial Ground)
Dawn of the Mummy
Dead & Buried
Le Lac des morts vivant (Zombie Lake)
Frankenstein Island
L’abîme des morts vivants (Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies)
Kiss Daddy Goodbye
Evil Dead
Rosso Sangue (Absurd)

1982: 9
Aftermath
Creepshow
Raw Force
I was a Zombie for the F.B.I.
Wu long tian shi zhao ji gui (Kung Fu Zombie)
O segredo da Múmia (The Secret of the Mummy)
Pengabdi setan (Satan’s Slave)
The Curse of the Screaming Dead
Revenge in the House of Usher

1983: 5
Frightmare
Natas: The Reflection
One Dark Night
Sole Survivor
Zeder

1984: 6
Surf II
Night Shadows
Night of the Comet
Zombie Island Massacre
Frankenstein 90
Rocktober Blood

1985: 12
Hard Rock Zombies
Return of the Living Dead
Re-Animator
The Midnight Hour
The Dark Power
Attack of the Beast Creatures
Dead End
La mansión de los muertos vivantes (Mansion of the Living Dead)
Day of the Dead
Lifeforce
Warning Sign
Cementerio del terror (Zombie Apocalypse)

1986: 12
Zombie Brigade
Zombiethon
The Supernaturals
Loves of the Living Dead
Diamond Ninja Force
Deadly Friend
Nightmare Weekend
Goremet: Zombie Chef From Hell
Night of the Creeps
Raiders of the Living Dead
Zombie Nightmare
Abracadabra

1987: 14
Bad Taste
Evil Dead 2
I Was a Teenage Zombie
Dak Bangla
The Gate
Zombie 5: Killing Birds
Redneck Zombies
Killing Spree
La revanche des mortes vivantes (Revenge of the Living Dead Girls)
Zombie High
Video Dead
Zombie Vs. Ninja
Night of the Living Babes
Una notte al cimitero (Graveyard Disturbance)

1988: 11
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Return of the Living Dead Part II
Dead Heat
Waxwork
Phantasm II
Zombi 3
FleshEater
Zombie 4
Pet Semetary
Meng gui xue tang (The Haunted Cop Shop II)
Curse of the Blue Lights

1989: 17
The Laughing Dead
The Dead Next Door
The Vineyard
Curse of the Zombie
Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers
The Chilling
The Dead Pit
Blood Nasty
Zombie Rampage
Hellgate
Zombie Party
Working Stiffs
The Nutzoids at Cannibal Cove
From the Dead of Night
Ginseng King
Monster High
Night Life

1990: 5
Bride of Re-Animator
Night of the Living Dead
Voodoo Dawn
Demon Wind
Linnea Quigley’s Horror Workout

1991: 9
Chopper Chicks in Zombietown
The Boneyard
Demoni 3
Nudist Colony of the Dead
Teenage Exorcist
Zombie ja Kummitusjuna (Zombie and the Ghost Train)
Zombie Army
Zombie Cop
Zombie ’90: Extreme Pestilence

1992: 11
Brain Dead
Batoru garu (Battle Girl)
Netherworld
Waxwork II
Zombie Rampage 3
Pet Semetary II
Death Becomes Her
Army of Darkness
Urban Scumbags vs. Countryside Zombies
Dead is Dead
Zombie Rampage 2

1993: 7
My Boyfriend’s Back
Return of the Living Dead 3
Zombie Bloodbath
Space Zombie Bingo!!!
The Killing Box
Zombie Genocide
Drag

1994: 7
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Shatter Dead
Shrunken Heads
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead
Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics
Dellamore Dellamore
Gore Whore

1995: 6
La Cage aux Zombies
Legion of the Night
Zombi I
Zombie Bloodbath 2: Rage of the Undead
Voodoo
Zombie Holocaust

1996: 4
Living a Zombie Dream
Zombi vs. Mardi Gras
Avaruuden teurastajat (Space Butchers)
Frankenstein and Me

1997: 10
Plaga Zombie
Premutos: Lord of the Living Dead
Uncle Sam
The Necro Files
Night of the Living
Le Zombi de Cap-Rouge
Zombie Ninja Gangbusters
Striker Bob
Bryllupsnatten (The Wedding Night)
The Viscious Sweet

1998: 9
Bio Zombie
I, Zombie: A Chronicle of Pain
Zombie Cult Massacre
Laughing Dead
Tale of the Mummy
Into the Woods…
The Cabin
Hollywood Mortuary
Zombie Toxin

1999: 5
Hot Wax Zombies On Wheels
The Mummy
VS3: Infantry of Doom
Mutation
The Collegians Are Go!!

2000: 12
The Dead Hate the Living!
Flesh Freaks
Junk: Shiryô-gari
Meat Market
Prison of the Dead
Versus
Wild Zero
Zombie Bloodbath 3: Zombie Armageddon
Teenage Zombie House Massacre
Reign of the Dead
Heavy Metal 2000
The Horrible Dr. Bones

2001: 15
Cremains
Mulva: Zombie Ass-Kicker!
Biohazardous
Dead in America
Stacy
Meat Market 2
Zombie (zero)
Biker Zombies
Children of the Living Dead
Plaga Zombie: Zona Mutants
The Mummy Returns
Zombie Chronicles
Night of a Thousand Screams
R.I.P.
The Resurrection Game

2002: 9
Bubba Ho-Tep
Deadline
Cremaster 3
Mark of the Astro-Zombies
Necropolis Awakened
Resident Evil
Zombie Campout
Roni vs. Lincoln
Evil Night
28 Days Later…

2003: 22
House of the Dead
Beyond Re-Animator
Cadaver Bay
Flesh For the Beast
Maplewoods
Mummy’s Kiss
Xombie: Dead on Arrival
Undead
Graveyard
Corpses Are Forever
Noctem
Zombie Beach Party
I’ll See You in My Dreams
Gory Gory Hallelujah
Zombiegeddon
Night of A Thousand Screams 2
Necro Files 2
Zombie Night
Exhumed
Wiseguys vs. Zombies
The Mental Dead

2004: 29
Jigoku kôshien (Battlefield Baseball)
Dawn of the Dead
Dead and Breakfast
Shaun of the Dead
Choking Hazard
Les Revenants
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Vampires vs. Zombies
Beaster
Zombie Vegetarians
Dawn of the Friend
Corpses
Angry and Moist: An Undead Chronicle
Bad Friend
Bone Sickness
Curse of the Maya
Dead & Breakfast
Feeding the Masses
Ghost Lake
Hide and Creep
Hunting Creatures
Night of the Living Dorks
Rotten Shaolin Zombies
Khun krabii hiiroh (SARS Wars)
Shadows of the Dead
Shao Lin jiang shi (Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead)
Zombie Honeymoon
Zombie Nation
Zombie Planet

2005: 29
Day of the Dead 2: Contagium
Land of the Dead
The Wickeds
Zombiez
Boy Eats Girl
Bubba’s Chili Parlor
Day X
Dead at the Box Office
Dead Creek
Dead Life
Dead Men Walking
Die You Zombie Bastards!
Die Zombiejäger
Le divan vert
Doom
Hood of the Living Dead
House of the Dead 2
Livelihood
Living Dead Lock Up
Pot Zombies
Raiders of the Damned
Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis
Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave
Rise of the Undead
The Roost
Severed
The Stink of Flesh
Swamp Zombies
(Tôkyô zonbi) Tokyo Zombie

2006: 34
After Sundown
Awaken the Dead
Automaton Transfusion
Awakening
City of Rott
Dead & Deader
Dead in the Water
The Dead Live
Deadlands: The Rising
Die and Let Live
Doomed to Consume
Dorm of the Dead
Electric Zombies
Enter the Zombie
Fido
Gangs of the Dead
L’isola dei morti viventi (Island of the Living Dead)
Last Rites of the Dead
Meat Market 3
Mortuary
Night of the Dead: Leben Tod
Night of the Living Dead 3-D
The Plague
The Quick and the Undead
Shadow: Dead Riot
The Slaughter
Slither
Special Dead
Storm of the Dead
Stoned Dead
War of the Dead
Wicked Little Things
The Zombie Diaries
Zombies by Design

2007: 33
28 Weeks Later
American Zombie
Awaken the Dead
Beneath the Surface
Brain Blockers
Days of Darkness
Dead Heist
Dead Moon Rising
The Dead Undead
Evil Keg
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane
Forest of the Dead
Forever Dead
Living Dead Lock Up 2: March of the Dead
The Mad
Motocross Zombies from Hell
Mutation-Annihilation
Otto; or Up With Dead People
Planet Terror
The Rage
REC
Resident Evil: Extinction
Risen
Street Team Massacre
Undead or Alive
Undead Ted
Wasting Away
Z: A Zombie Musical
Zibahkhana-Hell’s Ground
Zombie Farm
Zombie Town
Zombies Gone Wild
Zombi: La creazione (Zombies: The Beginning)

2008: 9
Quarantine
Day of the Dead
Diary of the Dead
Outpost
Sabbath
Retardead
House of the Damned
Zombie Strippers
Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

For now, writer Marc Guggenheim (Eli Stone, Green Lantern) isn't saying. The only thing that's certain is that the comic is a respectful look at the experience of being a soldier in Iraq — early copies have already been distributed to soldiers in the field, and they've already written Guggenheim fan mail. Artist Barry Kitson (whose pencils are, characteristically, lovely to look at) put a lot of work into making all the army gear and other details look accurate and convincing. And it looks like Spidey himself winds up over there.

Guggenheim makes a big point of saying, in an interview with the L.A. Times, that he chose to put Flash in Iraq, rather than Afghanistan, because people always show soldiers in Afghanistan to avoid political overtones. Guggenheim didn't want to do a political story, per se, but he also felt like U.S. soldiers in Iraq are underexposed in popular media.

I'm not sure how I feel about these sorts of "very special" stories, like the spate of AIDS comics in the early 1990s. It would be better if Flash Thompson hadn't been such a cipher for so long — he was Peter Parker's enemy, but then he became more mature (after fighting in Vietnam, actually) and then he and Peter became friends. And more recently, Flash suffered a weird and somewhat convenient case of amnesia, which made him revert to bullying Peter Parker again. But eventually the amnesiac Flash became Peter's friend again, and even helped hide Parker when he was on the run after the huge "Civil War" storyline. And now he's randomly going off to war. I barely know who this guy is. On the other hand, the pencils (over at the Times site) do look amazing. And there's something cool about seeing the normally New York-based Spidey in a different, even grittier setting. [LA Times]

Here's an intense, dark picture of a city at war with aliens. Perhaps it's the same city, its aerial walkways now in smithereens.

And this one, below, is my favorite, because it's of those stacked freight-container houses that we'll all be living in once the Greatest Depression hits. I like that elevator robot, who is either stacking the houses or helping people get in and out of them. Another nice detail is the way none of the houses have walls or doors — they're just open to the elements.

See more art at Börkur Eiríksson's online gallery [via Concept Ships]

Dotcom millionaire Ben Way launched Weapons Against Robots (WAR) Defence to combat the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence through the creation of anti-robot weaponry, detection and monitoring of robots, and use of anti-robot viruses. Way believes that, as AI is increasingly used in warfare and defense, it is prudent to ready countermeasures in the event, not only of an enemy's use of robotics, but that an intelligence's programming goes awry:

"The use of robotics in the military is on the up and, although the decision to take human life is currently still taken by another human, before long such decisions will be made up complex mathematical and logical rules programmed within a robot."

"Potentially the consequences of a computer crashing could be devastating. Hence, robotic defence is not just necessary for tackling combatants, but potentially for making sure we have control over our own weaponry."

But are such measures really necessary? Computer scientist Noel Sharkey, who has, in the past, written about the dangers of deploying autonomous combat robots, believes that Way's efforts are a much-needed safeguard against the destruction of human life by artificial intelligence:

"This is the first real response that I have seen to the predicted rise in the use of autonomous military robots and it testifies to the dangerous slippery slope that we seem to be inevitably sliding down."

"Ben Way has certainly picked up on the magnitude of the impending threat or autonomous robot weapons to humanitarian war but it seems even more worrying that such steps are having to be taken.

Way made his fortune as a teenager developing search technology. More recently, he started corporate venture company Rainmakers, mentoring network Horsesmouth, and print over Internet protocol service ViaPost.

War Against Robots: the new entrepreneurial frontier [Telegraph]
Weapons Against Robots Defence Company

According to /Film, any potential movie adaptation of Millar's War Heroes - an Iraq War satire produced with artist Tony Harris that's occasionally confused as to whether it condones or condemns the gung-ho, right-wing mindset behind the war - is being hindered by a 2006 comic called Grunts, that has a similar set-up as Millar's latest:

Millar describes War Heroes as “Full Metal Jacket meets The X-Men”. The series is “set a couple of years in the future. John McCain has just won the election and the war in the Gulf is getting bigger, so they give the troops superpower pills. That gets all the young American kids signing up to fight the Iraqis.”

Grunts is described as “24 meets the X-Men” with “Tom Clancy on speed” military style action. The pitch: “During World War II, an American squad encounters a German superhuman assault squad and starts a Eugenics Race that carries into present day!“

While earlier similarities to existing works didn't hinder Wanted, Grunts is also in active development as a movie right now - and that may be enough to scare off anyone interested in a new Millar movie. Well, until the box office returns for Kick-Ass come in, I'm sure.

Exclusive: Mark Millar’s War Heroes vs. Grunts [/Film]

According to the developers, the game is "realism-based. So no swooshy laser weapons or impossible Star Trek/Star Wars science. We're keeping it gritty, intense and war-like. So it's a bit like Halo, if we'd never gone to war with the Covenant and instead just started fighting with each other. You can check out more concept art, see the futuristic weapon designs, and even listen to the theme song they've composed for the game at their MySpace page. They have over 20 people working on this thing (supposedly), and it's almost been three years since they began working on it, so hopefully we'll start seeing more soon.

It's worth quoting rather extensively from a release about this study, which makes a somewhat subtle point. First, the researchers explored three different types of mental illness, ranging from mild to severe. They also point out that people in Lebanon on average don't have a higher rate of mental illness than people in other countries. When Lebanese civilians have been directly exposed to war, however, the likelihood that they will develop mental illness increases 3- to 13-fold. (Also, note that the researchers carefully define what "exposure to war" means.)

From a release about the study:

Elie Karam and colleagues . . . used a World Health Organization (WHO) interview tool to diagnose mental health disorders in a sample of 3,000 adults in Lebanon representative of the population. They investigated the question of lifetime prevalence (the proportion of Lebanese who have a mental disorder at some point in their lives) and the age of onset of mental disorders, as well as the delay they experienced in receiving treatment . . . They also asked each participant in the study about their experience of traumatic events relating to war, including whether they had been a refugee (38 % of people in the study), a civilian in a war zone (55%), or witnessed death or injury (18%). Although the relationship between war and the mental health of people serving in the military has been described before, this is the first time that a nationally representative study has assessed the effect of war on the first onset of mental disorders in a civilian population.

The authors describe that one in four Lebanese in this study had a mental health disorder during their lifetime, according to the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria that the WHO tool uses, with major depression being the most common disorder. This is similar to prevalence of mental illness in the United Kingdom and lies within the range observed in the WHO's World Mental Health Surveys in other countries. The researchers also estimated that one in three Lebanese would have one or more mental disorders by the age of 75, which is also similar to survey results in other countries. Only half the surveyed people with a mental disorder had ever received professional help; of those who did have a mental disorder, the delay in treatment ranged from 6 years for mood disorders to 28 years for anxiety disorders. Finally, exposure to war-related events increased the risk of developing an anxiety, mood, or impulse -control disorder by 6-fold, 3-fold and 13-fold respectively.

Lifetime Prevalence of Mental Disorders in Lebanon [PLoS Medicine]

This is a recreation of a famous 1968 photo by Eddie Adams of a soldier with his gun to a Vietnamese man's head. The Lego version is much less intense, but the irony of the gun and the smiley faces is creepy. Images by Mike Stimpson

Classics in Lego via Notcot

Here you can see the car after the flames have been put out, and the injured and dead have been taken away. This particular bomb was set off in a hotel parking lot by Muslim insurgents, and claimed at least two lives.

Forensics experts gather three kinds of evidence: chemical, to see if the "signature" of the bomb's materials matches those of known terrorist groups; mechanical, which is to say how the bomb was set off (is it an IED or something made by professional military?); and finally, they look for DNA evidence to see whether they can identify the bombers by bits of skin or hair they may have left behind. The BBC has an interesting article on car bomb forensics. Car bomb forensics may not be a futuristic science, but car bomb forensics expert is a job that is (unfortunately) only going to become more common. Images by MUHAMMAD SABRI/AFP/Getty.

At only a $79 million dollar budget, a major studio could just buy this project out and turn it into a shot at box office gold. In the Hollywood version, the spacecraft would wake up a dormant alien being, long buried underneath the lunar surface, or they'd start a chain reaction that would cause the moon to break up into a billion pieces, which would begin raining down on the Earth. Then NASA would have to hire a maverick space jockey — Eric Bana? — to either deal with the alien menace, or the falling debris.

Or what if the moon turned out to be a deep space probe that's been orbiting the planet for eons? Silently biding its time. Then, a rude awakening comes in the form of us crashing things into it and the bot pilots running the probe try to send down big guns to mete out some stellar justice. It feels like the start of a bad Dimension Films plot, we know. But, there's probably a good idea buried in there somewhere. Just as long as it doesn't dislodge the moon from orbit and force us to watch the only good scene in The Time Machine again.

NASA Takes Aim at Moon with Double Sledgehammer [Yahoo News]

Image from the 1902 George Méliès film A Trip To The Moon.

The tank is 9.42 meters long, 3.24 meters wide, and 2.3 meters tall. The 44-ton tank comes equipped with a 120mm gun, a 12.7mm and a 7.67mm machine gun. Japan's military is, by law, only for defense. These tanks certainly do look very . . . defensive. Photos via TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images

Japan's Defense Ministry to Explore "Realizing" Gundam [Anime News Network]