Translate

Saturday 29 November 2014

Apocalypse Hal: Zombi Lifecyle



I know what you are thinking, didn't I do a Zombie Lifecycle the other week? Yes but was for a zombie while this week it is for a zombi.



So what is a zombi?  Here is a very short summary.

It all began on the mountainous island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. The Eastern half of the island, now the Dominican Republic was originally colonised by the Spanish while the Western half, now the Republic of Haiti was under the French. It was in Haiti that the zombi first started to appear.

It also involves Vodou, one of the more misunderstood religions. It is quite a sophisticated religion and centres on the loa, or divine spirits, which can posses worshippers in a trance like state. Vodou houngans act as priests while bokors are Haitian sorcerers who practice dark magical arts.

Let's say an aspiring bokor sorcerer is getting frustrated at keeping their home clean but those commercial housemaids cost a fortune. What would be useful is some free help. A zombi would be perfect.

So the bokor finds a suitable candidate and uses powerful drugs, most likely tetrodotxin from the pufferfish, to paralyse the victim. Hopefully the local doctor mistakes the paralysed patient as being dead and it's off for a quick burial. The bokor would then return after the funeral to raise the corpse from the ground and carry it away.

The paralysis starts to wear off and the victim comes back to life. By skilful application of more drugs and a bit of convincing, the bokor makes the victim believe they had returned from the dead to be a faithful zombi slave. You may think that would be a bit hard for the victim to accept but some people will believe anything. Also the expectations of Haitian society and peer pressure from the other zombi would cause the drugged person to believe they must be a zombi too.

The bokor can now focus on expanding the family sorcery business while the zombi dutifully takes out the garbage and collects the mail.

In the Haitian French language people raised from the dead in this manner are called "zombi". As the English like to fiddle with things they added the “e” on the end giving us the word "zombie".  

The zombi is specific to the Haiti culture and they don't eat brains or infect people. But they are real, or at least were. I also have no idea what a bokor looks like so I based my on some of the traditional vodou imagery. These days bokor probably wear suits and have business cards. 


Bite off more pufferfish than you can chew.

Mr Rimsky



Thursday 27 November 2014

Button Up!

Hey BZF lovers, this week we are going to get in touch with our inner gizzards and talk about showing our feelings.  Say what???  Well let’s put things in perspective, so each week seems to bring different calendar events such as ‘International Happy Day’ or ‘Wear Pyjamas at Work Day’.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a strong believer in supporting charities and displaying your advocacy via a colourful ribbon, but what about coming out to the world as a loud and proud zombie fan?

One day at work a fellow walking dead enthusiast and BZF fan brought in some amazing badges that completely took me by surprise.  Sure, I have a few zombie tees (buying some more soon!) but apart from that I don’t have much else to put on display!

I will say that badges for me are something I associate with the High School Student Council, Girl Guides and Sarah Palin – So they don’t really excite me all that much, but these little babies are cute, humorous and gosh darn it just sooooo fashionable!

Check out some of my favourites below!







I know it’s not always the best idea to go around labelling people, so why not badge them instead with these gorgeous little circles of joy! 

Bite you later

Mr Vitamin G

Saturday 22 November 2014

Apocalypse Hal: Spot the Survivalist (Primitive Skills)


Been sick all week so amazed that I managed to complete this on time.


Think they are actually called Primitive Skills Enthusiasts but that title was way too long.

Originally was going to use Cody Lundin as the reference for this one seeing I have been watching too much Dual Survival. Luckily I got inspired by a cute looking Pocahontas image instead :)


Bite off more than you can chew

Mr Rimsky






Saturday 15 November 2014

Apocalypse Hal - Zombie Lifecycle

So I entered "zombie lifecycle" in Google and was amazed to find very little in the way of scientific research. It is sad that governments are not treating zombies as the national health priority they are.

It is only fair that BZF provides what may be the only creditable zombie lifecycle drawn in the Chibi style. Note this is for contemporary zombies and excludes the original Haitian zombi which is a whole other kettle of pufferfish. Mmm maybe they need a lifecycle too.










Bite off more than you can chew.

Mr Rimsky

Friday 14 November 2014

Zed the Zombie wins award!

Everyone loves a winner so lets give a hand to Zed the Zombie!



The Australian Toy Association (an organisation I have never heard of until yesterday) has given Zed the prestigious title of Games Toy of the Year 2014.

And when I say give Zed a hand, I mean it. Poor Zed has risen from the dead in pieces and your task is to put him back together in a race against time! I am not sure what happens if you run out of time but I real hope it involves body parts flying around the room.

With Christmas fast approaching this is a great opportunity to teach the little ones all about zombies. Although putting zombies together seems to be the opposite of what you need to do in a zombie onslaught.

Produced by Moose Games Zed is available at all good toy stores, and a few of the bad ones too.


Bite off more than you can chew.

Mr Rimsky

Sunday 9 November 2014

Our BZF Halloween Haunted House!

Hey There BZF fans, well I don’t know about you but I feel like I have only just got over my sugar coma from Halloween!!  From Ho Ho's to peanut butter M&M's, Twinkies to body part candies - I just about had my fill of sugary goodness to last me to next Halloween! This year, I decided to up the ante for our Halloween party and scare the absolute crap out of our guests!!

Rather than telling you all about it, just check out our spooky video below if you dare!!


I hope you all enjoyed Halloween this year and yes I am already looking forward to next year!!

Bite you later

Mr Vitamin G

Saturday 8 November 2014

Apocalypse Hal: Make your own zombie

Looking for a weekend project?



Suspect I missed a few but this should be enough to start tinkering with.


Bite off more than you can chew

Mr Rimsky

Sunday 2 November 2014

To Halloween or not Halloween? That is the question!!!

So another Halloween weekend comes to a close and love it or hate it but ever so slowly, celebrating Halloween is becoming part of Australian culture. Each year it picks up a little more momentum with more Halloween stuff on display in the shops, more people dressing up, more people having parties and more children trick or treating.

It also raises a debate each year with some of us embracing this new tradition and those who think it's un australian and we shouldn't be celebrating it. To the haters I say....pull your head in!!! Life is about change and experiencing new things, stuff is not always going to stay the same and if you're not willing to change with it, well I am pretty sure you will be the first to get eaten In the zombie apocalypse for starters!! If you don't want to celebrate, that's fine, hibernate, don't dress up and politely tell people that you don't celebrate it but please don't rain on the parade of those that do.

We are all learning and slowly getting used to Halloween etiquette,  like trick or treaters only gong to houses with a pumpkin or and orange balloon, people are getting better at organising and preparing neibourhoods and people are also getting used to grabbing some Halloween treats to have on hand just in case! In time if you don't want to be bothered with it then you won't be. End rant!!!

We of course here at BZF celebrate so look out for some posts of what we got up to over the next week!

My evil doll face


And if you do venture out for future Halloweens remember, don't get bit

Miss K
Xoxo

Saturday 1 November 2014

Apocalypse Hal - Zombie Needs


As we wait with baited breath for the onslaught of the undead to begin, it is worth trying to understand how zombies behave. For example, what needs will drive their behaviour?

Now back in the 40s some dude called Maslow got a bunch of pens and butcher's paper and came up with a neat diagram. The Maslow's hierarchy of needs puts human needs in a series of levels within a pyramid shape. Once a person has satisfied one set of needs they can progress up to the next level.
Here is an example of how his model can be applied to a typical person of today.





Can we use this model to examine zombie needs? 
Well some people argue Maslow’s theory is too simplistic and that may be the case. But we are dealing with zombies here and they are pretty simple right? So it should work. 
So in the interests of community safety, BZF presents Maslow's Hierarchy of Zombie Needs. My apologies to Abraham Harold Maslow.
 

You can see that zombies have a very basic set of needs. 
 
I guess that means that as a culture, zombies will never progress into an advanced civilisation. They won't care about other zombies and will unfriend everyone on Facebook. Group hugs are out. Motivational posters featuring cute cats hanging onto tree branches have no effect on them. Except maybe making them hungry.

Based on this analysis we can assume that zombies make pathetic art critics and will never invent a better toaster.

Bite off more than you can chew.
Mr Rimsky