Fun with Zombies!

Hi There!
You are here because you are one of the few, the not-so-proud, the owner of your very own apocalypse fire starter (also known as the paperback version of Going Green)!

In this special edition, I added a couple of time-wasters including a couple of puzzles. Below is the key for each.

First up is the word search. As I mentioned in the book, I was distracted, so I wasn't keeping track of all of the weapons I'd added. Below is everything I found going back through this, but there may be more. Feel free to add your own (specially if you find something creative) in the comments!

Up Next is the Crossword. I had a lot of fun coming up with the crossword questions, but boy howdy were they a pain to line up! Here is the key and below that is a little trivia pertaining to the answers.

Crossword Clues:

ACROSS

1. Escape method in Dawn of the Dead

Helicopter 

Movie Trivia: According to the IMDB, extras in the original 1978 version of the film were given $20 in cash, a box lunch, and a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt. Acting can be quite glamourous!

6. Organization that maintains a zombie preparedness website

CDC(AKA Center for Disease Control) 

Fun Fact: The inspiration for the CDC denial scenes was in fact the 2012 denial of a zombie apocalypse after the zombie-like attack on a man in Miami.

7. 18^th c. English novelist who received a 21^st c. zombie update

          Austen, Jane Austen

Hmm… Is it just me, or does the idea of a seemingly mild-mannered Victorian lady of letters having a secret life as an international spy sound a heck of a lot more interesting than stuffy uptight Victorians being visited upon by zombies?

8. What zombies crave

          Brains

Fun Fact: If you Google the phrase, Why do zombies eat brains? You get the following interesting tidbit of information:

“Although Romero is noted as the source for many of the common zombie tropes, shambolic movement and a hunger for human flesh being the most prominent, zombies don't actually eat brains in any of the six "Of the Dead" series of films he directed.”

10. What vegan zombies crave

          Grains

Little Known Author Fact: I am not actually a vegan. I am a vegetarian, but because my husband decided to go vegan, I eat vegan meals on a regular basis. Because a limited diet can get boring, I was determined to create a wide variety of healthy and balanced meals for the both of us. Turns out, there’s a wide world of vegan goodies that I enjoy exploring, which is why vegan cooking is listed as one of my many hobbies on my author profile.

12. Zombie country of origin

          Haiti

Fun Fact: Long before Romero popularized the modern Zombie, Bela Lugosi starred as an evil voodoo priest in the film White Zombie.

13. If infected, seek help at the___

          ER (Emergency Room)

Fun Fact: These letters just happened to show up while I was fitting together other answers, meaning the answer begat the question, Jeopardy style.

15. “Bring a shotgun, just ____”

          In Case

Random Fact: The internet has no verifiable information of anyone actually named Justin Case.

17. Anthropologist/author who went to 12a to learn about 18d

          Davis, Wade Davis

Trivia: Davis is the author of the nonfiction (contested) scientific study of the voodoo practice of zombification in Haiti, The Serpent and the Rainbow. The 1988 Wes Craven film by the same name is in fact loosely based on this book.

19. ___ Corpses make better zombies

          Fresh

Random Trivia: Fresh was eighties slang for cool until about 1985 when Kool and the Gang wrote a song called She’s Fresh, which effectively made fresh no longer fresh, until a couple years later when a young Will Smith would style himself as the Fresh Prince.

20. ___ flesh is a sure sign that someone is a zombie

          Rotten

Randomness: Despite the stage name Johnny Rotten, musician John Lydon has never portrayed a zombie.

21. The goal of anyone in the apocalypse is not to ___

          Die

Randomest Fact On This List: I had a friend for most of my young adult life whose parting words were always, “Don’t get run over!” So far, I’ve managed to not disappoint.

23. “___ People” Aliens that appear as zombified replicas of humans.

          Pod

Trivia: Technically, the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers are not zombies, they are artificial replicas and the originals are disintegrated. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is worse.

24. Where zombies will not stay        

          Grave

Geography Trivia: New Orleans’ cities of the dead, AKA, their above ground cemeteries, are not an aesthetic decision. Due to the sandy soil and high water table, early settlers had trouble keeping buried caskets from rising out of the earth.

                                                                    

DOWN

2. Best bet for surviving the apocalypse

          Luck

3. 90’s alt rock band who sang about a zombie

          Cranberries

Fun Fact: When I first heard this song, I thought lead singer Dolores O’Riordan was saying Jambi, referring to the genie from Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Admittedly, I thought this for all of a couple minutes, but there it is.

4. Zombies are often featured in creepy ___

          Pasta

I admit to having a slight addiction to the internet phenomena that is creepy pasta and an even bigger addiction to the subspecies it spawned: crappy pasta.

5. Human can, zombies can’t, yet people get caught by zombies anyway

          Run

Questionable Advice from the Author: In the event of a zombie apocalypse, walk, do not run. You are far less inclined to trip over a tray tree root, dead body, your own two feet, etc if you remain calm.

6. Night of the ___ (movie)

          Comet

Random Author Fact: If the bitchin’ mall apocalypse ever happens, this was the bitchin’ mall apocalypse my 13 year old self would have prayed for.  

9. A British zombie might do this to your brain

          Nosh

Random Nonsense: I did not intend for the next three questions to all have an English flair, but there you have it.

11. Site of Shaun’s last stand

          Winchester

Fun Stuff: If you haven’t seen is movie, do so. If you have seen this movie, go take a look at the trivia for it on IMDB and try to keep a straight face.

14. After going green, you will crave the ___ stuff   

          Red

Historical Trivia: “The red stuff” is the term used for blood in the “Dear Boss” letter, which was a letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper in red ink because “the red stuff” he saved in a bottle “went thick like glue.”

15. Harry’s zombie-like foes

          Inferi

Fun Fact: JK Rowling claims that the inferi have some similarities to, but are in fact, not zombies. She can claim all she wants that this has to do with zombies hailing from a different region of the world, but I’m going to call hogwash and say it’s because she likely doesn’t want to be associated with the zomb-pocalypse trend.  

16. Groovy monster slayer

          Ash

Fun Fact: Whether or not the Evil Dead franchise can be considered zombie films is a hotly debated topic on the internet.

18. Religion associated with zombies

          Voodoo

 The More You Know: Aside from making for a delightful tongue twisting opening to the song Magic Dance, Hoodoo and Voodoo are not the same thing. Hoodoo is  folk magic, whereas Voodoo is a religion based on  practices created by slaves who were forced to abandon their beliefs and take up Christianity.

22. Part of the delicious brain

Id

Sad Fact: Loads of people play the word id in Scrabble and  its copycat games without knowing its meaning because  they found it on a list of “acceptable two letter words” when trying to cheat.