PS  to the designers of the house: The pool house doesn’t look secured. Are you banking on the fact that zombies can’t swim?

The First Zombie-Proof House

Somehow, ritual drunk-conversation concerning team captains for the apocalypse has become a major part of the lives of 20-somethings. Having been matured in the Grandaddy-crowned masterpiece film (put “A.M. 180” on and forget that you have a job), 28 Days Later, we’re all a little too ready to deal with the 2012 of our dreams.

“The Safe House,” designed by KWK Promes, starts to get eerily close to something I could work with, if say 200 bludgeoned members of the undead army came over to eat their way into borrowing some sugar.

“The most essential item for our clients was acquiring the feeling of maximum security,” begins the designers’ website in the summary of the structure. Who wouldn’t feel safe in a concrete rectangle that folds in upon itself to become completely sealed? Even the windows are covered with a slab of concrete when the structure is on nap time.

The house, with its movable walls, has only one entrance, which is located on the second floor after crossing a drawbridge. Seems like the perfect opportunity to use a flamethrower and defend the life of your family, while stylishly nesting in a piece of architectural elitism.

via All That Is Interesting – The First Zombie-Proof House.

Beastie Boys | Make Some Noise

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two comes out May 3, and if you haven’t seen Fight For Your Right Revisited yet, you don’t know what you are missing.   Make Some Noise is the first single from the album.

Kid Cudi | Up Up And Away

While yes, this is known as the wake and bake song, the opening lyrics definitely set the tone for the day.

“Now when the sun come up I’ll be there to say what up…”

Muse | Uprising

Having drinks with one of my friends the other night, I mentioned my love of Muse.  His response was “Muse is very zombie-esque.”  I love that Sanchez recognized that – it is partly why I love Muse so.  Uprising is may “at bat” song.  Post surgeries, this is the one song that reminded me my comeback was right around the corner.

Bloc Party | Helicopter

Guitar Hero introduced me to this song and it has become one of my favorite power songs.

Lionsgate has made it official. Craig Gillespie has been set to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that mixes the 1813 Jane Austen classic with a legion of bloodthirsty zombies. Gillespie, who directed the critically acclaimed art house film Lars and the Real Girl, most recently directed the Fright Night remake that stars Colin Farrell. Deadline told you that Gillespie was the front-runner in early February and that he would be getting the gig earlier this month. This has been one of the hotter genre titles around, and the hope here is that this takes care of the film’s commitment issues and that Lionsgate has found the filmmaker who’ll make the movie. David O. Russell had been attached to the project, and turned in a script that everybody likes before dropping out. He was replaced by Mike White, who dropped out in January, citing commitments to an HBO pilot. Natalie Portman is producing through her handsomecharlie shingle with Annette Savitch, who arranged for Darko Entertainment to acquire screen rights from Quirk Books. Darko’s Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm will also produce. UTA reps Gillespie.

“We are so excited to have Craig Gillespie on board this film,” said Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate president of Motion Picture Production. “His sensibility spans from genre-bending horror to elegant character-driven comedy, which is perfect for this movie.”

via Craig Gillespie Set To Direct ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ – Deadline.com.

“This is right up Operation Bad Asses alley.” was the message posted on my Facebook page. I clicked the link that took me to the Run For Your Lives website.

As I read the rules for Run For Your Lives I found out that not only was this a 5k race but also an obstacle course and a scavenger hunt mixed into one…with Zombies!

This is sooooo on.

Here is what I have to look forward to:

• There will be 12 man-made and natural obstacles for you to survive.
• The Zombie apocalypse won’t be a straight line, and neither will this race. There will be choices and different routes to reach the finish line.
• There will be Zombies. Their job is to chase you…and eat you.
• You will be supplied on race day with a flag-bearing apparatus (think flag football, but scarier). The flags represent your “health”. The Zombies will be after your flags and your brains!
• Competitive divisions for both men and women will be as follows: 14 – 19, 20 – 25, 26 – 34, 35 – 44, 45 – 54, and 55+
• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each division will be recognized with prizes, and invites to be a Lead Zombie at our next event.
• In order to qualify for placement within your division, you will need to cross the finish line with at least one “health flag” intact.
• If you cross the finish line with no health flags, your time will be recorded, but you will be posted as a Zombie.
• There will be “health bonuses” hidden throughout the course for each wave. If you find a bonus, and carry it across the finish line, your health is guaranteed, and you will be awarded a special prize.
• Direct and intentional physical contact with any other participant or Zombie is strictly prohibited. You will be asked to leave the premises without refund.
• Waves will be released every 30 minutes starting at 9:00am on Saturday. You will be able to choose your wave during online registration, pending availability.
• All times and details subject to change.

Am I going to run this by myself?

Would Columbus have survived without Tallahassee?

Would Rick have survived Atlanta without Glenn?

No.  And I won’t be able to survive this race without you.

Register now for Run For Your Lives at Active.com

When it asks you “Do you have a group or team you would like to be associated with?” Yes.  You Do. You are running as part of team OPERATION BAD ASS.

Remember, the #1 one rule of Zombieland  is CARDIO.

“James Bond is the most sophisticated Bad Ass I know” I reply.  There are very few characters that are identifiable as James Bond. Everything about him is iconic:  the tuxes, the number (007), the gadgets, the martini, (shaken, not stirred please) and of course, the poker.   Every James Bond has taken part in a poker game though the course of the series (as the All Bond Poker Table from StupidVideo.com portrays.)

When it comes to poker, I’m 75% of the way there.

My grandparents affinity for poker has translated into some of my earliest and fondest memories of my mom’s family.  After eating dinner with my grandparents,  we would break out the cards for a family game of poker. (Sometime we would switch it up and play Pokeno as my grandparents had an affinity for Bingo as well.)  My aunts, uncles and cousins would ante up with real money  (because chips were for wussies) and sit there for hours playing poker until it was time to put the grandchildren to bed.  That is where I learned the basics of poker.  I still love to sit with my grandfather and play poker but I must keep the game friendly; don’t raise him a quarter when a dime will do.

Perhaps that is why I am afraid of the poker tables in Vegas – I’ve been trained to not bet aggressively. But my fear definitely goes beyond just betting.  When you sit down at a table, you have to know the rules and etiquette as well as come armed with a strategy because in the end your gambling and winning is not guaranteed.

Overcoming My Fear

I signed myself up for the School of Cards and convinced two of my friends to join me in a Wednesday night poker lesson. Not knowing where we were going, we hopped in a cab and gave our driver the cross streets.  Located on a fairly vacant, industrial street in the Chelsea neighborhood, our driver dropped us off in front of the only hopping building on the street – Scores.  I didn’t think we looked like the type of girls that liked to work a pole, but I guess the cab driver thought otherwise.

All the swagger and bravado we built up on the cab ride over was short-lived.  If I expected to gain the confidence to approach a poker table, well, this certainly set the stage for the aloofness I could expect from other players.

When we walked in the door we were given the once over by four gentlemen; two from the school of cards and two there for the class.  Blake, the instructor, was sitting at the table setting up the chips,  the other SOC employee was sitting at a large wooden table on his laptop computer, where he remained for the duration of our lesson.  The other two guests were standing in the middle of the room, nervously drinking their beer.  Not one of them said a word to us.  As only girls can do we set our bags down and started rifling through our purses to busy ourselves.   Finally Blake broke the silence and told us to feel free to grab a something to drink out of the fridge.  Once  the five of us sat down at the table everyone relaxed and began chatting.

“Who’s idea was it to take lessons?” gent number one asked.

Janine and Kjerstin pointed at me and I began to explain Operation Bad Ass to the group.  When I finished reciting OBA’s mission statement, Blake sneered “Poker isn’t very bad ass.”

Ah, so it’s going to be one of THOSE nights I told myself.  I guess we’ll just focus on the poker.

The Lingo

• Button – Also called the “Dealer Button”, this is a white puck (usually with the word “Dealer” on it), that signifies the dealer’s position on the table. The dealer’s position is significant because he is the last player to act for that hand. The Dealer Button rotates around the table, so each player takes turns being “on the button”.  When the dealer button is in front of a player, the player isn’t actually dealing, we leave that to the pros.  It is simply to show where the dealer position is  while rotating around the table.
• Blinds – Texas Hold’em Poker uses what’s called a “blind” structure, meaning that two people on the table must post a bet prior to seeing their cards. Since they are forced to bet without seeing their cards, they are playing “blind”, thus the name of those bets are called “blinds”. There are two blinds, the big blind and the small blind.
  The small blind position must post half the minimum bet and sits immediately to the left of the dealer. The big blind must post the full minimum bet, and sits immediately to the left of the small blind, two seats to the left of the dealer. As the deal rotates around the table, each player takes turns posting the small blind and the big blind bets. This blind structure forces the action on the table since there will always be a pot to win. So, for example, if you are seated at a $1-2 limit hold’em table, the small blind must post $.50 and the big blind must post $1 bet. As play rotates around the table, each player may choose to call that $1 bet, raise, or fold. When it’s the small blind’s turn, that player only needs to call $.50 to play the hand. Confused yet?
• Under the Gun – The player who is under the gun is seated directly to the left of the big blind, and is the first player to act on the first betting round (before the flop.)  This means that besides being in the blinds, under the gun is the earliest, and therefore the worst position that you can have.
• Check - Is the option to pass the betting to the next active player without making a wager. You will only have the option to check as long as you are not facing a bet from an opponent and are not required to make a forced bet.
• All-In - A wager of all of your chips.  There really are a lot more rules when it comes to going all-in, but we were “keeping it friendly” as my grandfather would like to say and didn’t have the need to go all-in

Game Play

In Texas Hold’em, each player will play off of seven cards ; two cards that are dealt to them that only the player can see and five community cards visible to all.  A player must pick the best five cards out of the total seven cards.  The five community cards, however, do not all get dealt at the same time. There are rounds of betting at certain intervals during the deal.  This is where knowing what you are doing is important.

Play Begins

1. Little Blind sets out half of the minimum bet.  Four our purposes, the minimum bet is $200, so the little blind is in for $100.
2. The Big Blind is in for $200
3. Cards are dealt.
4. The Under The Gun seat is the first one to place a bet.

Here is where we learned our first rule on betting. The person sitting in the UTG position has to bet at least $200 (the table minimum) but Blake’s number one rule is you should either Raise of Fold. Raise or Fold. Raise or Fold. That was beaten into our heads until we all understood. Why? The rational is your two cards should be strong enough to beat any other player’s two cards.  If you have weak cards that are low rank, then there is no reason you should be betting on them.  Blake went threw the entire deck and threw down multiple combinations of potential opening hands and would call out when we should fold.  The bottom line was that we should be folding 90% of the time.  When raising, the table mandate is double the minimum bet. If the minimum is $200 then you have to raise the bet to at least $400.  Blake also had a personal rule for raising – it must be at least 1 1/2 times the table minimum. Instead of raising the bet by $200, we should raise it by $300 for a total bet of $500. Now how do you feel about those two cards in your hand?

Betting continues around the table with players raising or folding.  If a player hasn’t raised, then the last person to bet is the little blind who has to put in the other half of the minimum bet to stay in the game.  Everyone has to have an equal bet on the table before game play can continue.

1. The Flop – the first three cards of the five community cards are revealed.
2. Betting starts with the little blind or the person closest to the left of the dealer that hasn’t folded and continues until everyone has an equal bet on the table.  The little blind has the option of checking, or not betting and passing to the next player.  All players have the option of checking.  If you check and a player down the line decides to bet down the line, you will have to either match his bet or fold.
3. The Turn – the fourth card is revealed.
4. Betting starts to the left of the dealer.
5. The River – the fifth and final card.
6. Final bets are placed. When all the betting is completed, all players involved in the hand must turn their hands up and make the best poker hand out of the seven (two in each hand and five on the board) available. The best poker hand is awarded the pot.
7. The dealer button moves one spot to the left, the little and big blind ante up and the next hand begins.

Once we understood the basics, Blake had us play tournament style until there was one winner left – Janine!  While it was an awkward start, we had so much fun and now I have a super itch to hit Vegas.  Until then, I will have to settle for some Zynga poker which is nice because I don’t have to worry about playing with real money.  I do want someone to explain to my why so many Zynga players will go all-in before the flop.  Is that really necessary? Come on.  Keep the game friendly.

Interested in learning to play cards?

SCHOOL OF CARDS
548 West 28th Street
New York, NY
contact@schoolofcards.com
212 – 542 – 0799

This mision was "Shaken, Not Stirred"

CDOT Makes Sure All Programmable Signs Are Locked

Posted by Wayne Harrison, Web Editor

POSTED: 3:40 pm MDT March 14, 2011

UPDATED: 9:34 pm MDT March 14, 2011

DENVER — A highway sign warning of zombies has prompted CDOT to make sure all the electronic signs it uses are locked to prevent hacking.

The issue arose early Monday morning when a Colorado Department of Highways electronic road-warning sign in Boulder flashed a warning of “ZOMBIES AHEAD.”

The sign, at Foothills Parkway near Baseline Road, was supposed to say “Shoulder work Feb. 28 through June,” but someone was able to open the unlocked control panel and change the warning message.

Rick Barron and his wife saw the sign while he was driving her to the airport.

“My first thought was, ‘Did that really say Zombies Ahead?’ And my second thought was ‘I’ve been in Boulder almost 30 years. If there were naked zombies riding bicycles with pumpkins on their heads, I guess we’d be used to it,” said Barron.

There are instructions for hacking the electronic signs on the Internet which explain what the default passwords for the signs are and explains how to reset the password if it has been changed.

The control boxes for the orange signs are usually locked, but apparently some of the control boxes aren’t.

A project engineer for CDOT, Gerry Padilla, told the Daily Camera that the crew overseeing the sign on Foothills Parkway had left the control box unlocked. He said the crew was reprimanded.

Other electronic signs operated by CDOT were being checked Monday to make sure they were all locked to prevent tampering. The signs don’t belong to CDOT but to a contractor.

“I’m sure it’s just a question of contacting the contractor and asking them to make sure their signs are locked,” said CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman. “There are no zombies that I know of in Boulder, but stranger things have happened.”

Stegman told 7NEWS that electronic Colorado traffic signs have been hacked about three times in the last 10 years. She said the fine for tampering with Colorado highways signs is $66.

The “Zombies Ahead” warning has been seen across the United States by hackers who access the control panels of the highway signs

via Boulder Highway Sign Hacked To Show Zombie Warning – Denver News Story – KMGH Denver.

Its no surprise that I like to burn the candle at both ends. I always have.  And it’s probably not the best course of action to continue  burning the candle at both ends when you rely on medication to do the heavy lifting (regulating my metabolism and hormones) of an organ that has been removed.  I’ve taken on Operation Bad Ass while working a full time job and  a part time job.

After hitting the gym 5 days during week four, working a 40 hour work week and  then working three part time shifts that kept me on me feet during the weekend my body told me I needed to sleep.  The Monday morning  after the superbowl I had a personal training session at 7 am then headed to work and set up an early morning baby shower for one of my coworkers. Once I got back to my desk, my body felt like it weight 300 lbs and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  All I wanted to do was crawl into  bed and sleep.  And that is what I did.  I left work early and crawled into bed at 2:00pm.  When I woke up it was completely dark outside. I looked at the clock and it was 6:30 pm. Usually afternoon naps last maybe an hour.  Since I was out cold for four hours I took that as a sign that I needed to slow down.

I only hit the gym twice during week 5 to work with my personal trainer, but let my body rest.

Weigh In | Monday 2/14: 162 lbs (-4lbs since 2/7, -2 since original weigh-in)

Week 6 Training | 2/14-2/13

Monday 2/14 | Personal Training

Stretches

Running – 3 min

• Squats
• Rows with squats
• Medicine Ball Slams
• Jumping Jacks :30

• Chest press, single arm
• Split squats
• Core work
• Running in place :30

Tuesday 2/15 | Run

• 2 Miles

Wednesday 2/16 | Personal training

Stretches

Running – 3 min

• Sumo Squats
• Seated Squats
• Medicine Ball Slams
• Jumping Jacks :30

• Bench Press
• Walking Lunges
• Plank
• Rowing – 3min

Sunday 2/20 | Run

• 2 Miles

Weigh In | Wednesday 2/23: 160 lbs ( -4 )

“I’m bi-winning. I win here, and I win there.”

“It’s been a tsunami. And I’ve been riding it on a mercury surfboard.”

“Let’s hook up and just bring fiery death.”

“Let’s talk about something exciting. Me.”

“I’m still alive, which is pretty cool.”

“I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total, bitchin’ rock star from Mars.”‘

“Don’t live in the middle.”

“I don’t have burnout in my gear box.”

via Live the Sheen Dream.

AD ATTACK: Kobe Bryant is “Black Mamba:” with Robert Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Danny Trejo and Kanye West

Posted by William Goodman

(CBS) – We have no idea if Kobe Bryant’s basketball shoes are any good, but you can be sure half the price of the things is going into this mini movie directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring the likes of Bruce Willis, Kanye West and classic bad guy Danny Trejo.

Still, you have to hand it to Nike. The “Black Mamba” ad is pretty slick. We’re just surprised they didn’t shoot it in 3D.

via AD ATTACK: Kobe Bryant is “Black Mamba:” with Robert Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Danny Trejo and Kanye West – The Feed – CBS News.

Related Articles

• Kobe Bryant is ‘Black Mamba’, a Nike Basketball Film Ad featuring Bruce Willis and Kanye West (great-ads.blogspot.com)
• “Kobe Vs. Kanye: The Robert Rodriguez-Directed Black Mamba” and related posts (movieline.com)
• Robert Rodriguez Unleashes Kobe Bryant’s Black Mamba (dreadcentral.com)

Back at the Freret Street House, one of our un-official houses that had been passed down through the years, everyone was  still up and easily excitable since it was the end of the semester.  I told the girls that this was our opportunity to paint the DG pink and make it our house.   But, how were we going to paint them?  The ADG house was very tall and the letters sat 2/3 of the way up the house.   We ran through all the obvious scenarios.  A tall ladder  was out. A handful of giggling girls carrying it was certain to draw attention. As we continued to scheme, it was our friend Chrissy who came up with the solution.  Her dad, who we simply refer to as the Colonel, was a former green beret and as seasoned army brat, she strategically mapped out  what is now known as “Operation High Roller.”  The five of us sat around the kitchen table that night and Operation High Roller began to take shape.  At the end of the night, we had are assignments and I was known as Private Lopez.

It was the end of the semester and we only had a few more days of exams before we could commence Operation High Roller.  Apparently the ADGs were thinking the same thing because as soon as exams were over, the A was securely back in place on the house.

!@$% it – we’re doing it anyway.

Operation High Roller

Being that its New Orleans and last call is anywhere from 4am to 6am (or never at some bars), we knew we were in for a long night.  First and foremost, we had to wait for the ADG fraternity boys to come home from a night of drinking and secondly, the house was directly across the street from one of their favorite bars, Waldo’s. We would have to wait for the last ADG standing at Waldo’s to leave so no one would catch us.

We changed into mission appropriate clothes; something that would look as if we were going out for the night, but if it were to get dirty, we’d be ok with it.  It was 12:00am and with everything ready to go, the only thing left to do was wait.  The five of us were ready to roll.  Shannon, Karen, Nicole, Cathy and myself.  Karen and Cathy told us that if we were going to be up all night then they were going to need nap.  As they climbed the stairs to the bedroom, Shannon, Nicole and I shook our heads, and knew that Operation High Roller was now up to us.

Around 2 am, we decided the best place to do recon was from  the patio at Waldo’s. We watched as boys went in and out of the house, waiting for the traffic to die down. Around 3:30am, O’Shaughnessy, an ADG notorious for living up to his Irish name with late night drinking, started trolling the patio. SHIT.  How long would we be out there?  Thankfully  it wasn’t a typical night for O’Shaughnessy and when he finally  left, we knew that was our cue. We paid our tab only to come back out to the patio to see the boys sitting in the doorway of the house eating late night pizza.  We went back in, ordered one more round and sat down to wait.

As soon as they started, the boys finished eating and closed the front door to the house.  It was time to take action.  Shannon, Nicole and I ran out the patio door, dropping our full beers in the trash can, to my car.  I drove around the corner and parked in the shadows off a Tulane admin building.  We went to work duct taping the extension rollers together, then ran two houses down with the supplies, around the large hedge that blocked the right side of the yard from the street and on to the  ADG house porch.  Shannon was having trouble opening the lid to the can of paint and knowing that ever second counted, I grabbed the paint key and pried open the lid  in one quick motion. The pink paint went into the tray, and with three quick dips of the roller I began painting the DG pink.

Within 2 min, Operation High Roller was a success.  We grabbed all our supplies,  ran around the corner dropping everything in the trash can as we ran and made our way home to celebrate.