I have been sucked in by the zombie loving masses, that I call my friends and family. 95% of my friends, I have lost to “The Walking Dead”. My Facebook news feed is proof of this. Anyway, I was originally going to see “Man of Steel” with my cousin awhile back, but she changed her mind and wanted to see “World War Z” instead. I was slightly torn. I wanted to read the book prior to the movie, but my cousin made it even more tempting. She covered the food at the dine-in theatre, while I covered the movie tickets. Food always trumps the ticket price. *Cheshire Cat smile*
I enjoyed the movie. I loved the thrill and the slight fear, that the characters were just about the caught by the zombies, but always manage to escape. There’s a female character in the movie that I cheered on, after she showed she was not someone to mess with. Plus the zombies, were so weird. Some were kind of scary and others made you laugh. No seriously. There is one zombie in the movie, that made me burst out in laughter. Plus it had Brad Pitt. I like Brad Pitt. So after finishing the movie, I knew I wanted to start the book right away, once I got home.
What do the movie and the book World War Z have in common? The Oatmeal was kind enough to answer that question for the masses. Answer: The title.
As I am still currently reading the book, and loving it by the way, I have picked up one or two things from the book, that could have inspired events in the movie. However, The Oatmeal, is pretty spot on. I must say, I’m enjoying the book much more than I did the movie. I keep reading in hopes of finding out when they solve the zombie issue. I especially love the scene when they interview the person responsible for South Africa’s plan for the zombies and also when they speak of North Korea’s response. I truly can imagine a country, such as North Korea, reacting in that fashion. Won’t say what they did. That would spoil the book for others. I almost forgot, one of the biggest scenes in the book, Yonkers, was intense. I really wished that was part of the movie. It would have been epic.
I’m currently 60% of the way through on my Kindle, according to my last GoodReads update. I have a feeling I will finish it this week. I tend to get absorbed in it, on my train commute to/from work. I have a few other books on my “Want to Read” list, that I need to conquer. However, once I make some leeway, I’ll have to check out “Zombie Survival Guide”, also by Max Brooks, next.
Here is one of the quotes, that struck a chord with me recently.
I think that most people would rather face the light of a real enemy than the darkness of their imagined fears. – Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
I thought about how I’ve been recently building up my SQL skills in order to pursue another career, hopefully in a year. I had stumbled upon a position within my company, that would have made use of them, about two months back. However, I talked myself out of applying because I was afraid I was not skilled enough. I even had someone in a higher position, on our Marketing team, tell me to go for it and you would learn as you went along. Another person told me, I already had a pretty solid understanding of Oracle & SQL Developer. I didn’t apply and the job posting eventually was taken down. I let my imagined fear of not being good enough, prevent me from even applying. Now, I’m still stuck battling the “real enemy”, of a job position I have grown to dislike immensely. After coming to this conclusion and reading this quote, I can’t let fear hold me back. I need to move on and try a new position. If it doesn’t work out, try another one that uses the skills I have or learn the necessary skills. I want to move forward and to do so, I have to face my “imagined fears”.
Dura lex, sed lex; 