Zombie Book Club

We Are DYING To Watch - Queens of the Dead | Zombie Book Club Ep 122

• Zombie Book Club • Season 3 • Episode 122

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We’re buzzing with anticipation for Tina Romero’s upcoming queer‑zombie film Queens of the Dead! From the moment we caught the first trailer; a glitter‑soaked Neon lit warehouse rave gone horribly right, we’ve been dissecting the film’s bold premise, the promise of sequined power tools and six‑inch heeled zombies, and the way Tina Romero’s DJ‑nightlife roots could translate into kinetic, club‑ready choreography. We can’t wait to see how the all‑star drag lineup; Margaret Cho, Nina West, Dominique Jackson, Katie O’Brien and more, turns a typical zombie apocalypse into a celebration of chosen family, joy, and creative survival.

We're also challenging listeners to join our “Boycott the Machine” holiday push—support indie, BIPOC and local business and starve the giants who are supporting blatant fascism.



  • The film is now streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Fandango At Home, and Plex; rottentomatoes.com
  • Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 92 % critic score, praising its “glam‑gore” aesthetic and heartfelt humor fandango.com


Click here to back Ollies 'MAZE 1: Staken; Not Stirred' on kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ollieeatsbrains/maze-1-staken-not-stirred


Help Keep Zombie Book Club alive!!! - https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-zombie-book-club-alive



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SPEAKER_01:

Well the Mazami Book Club, the only book club where the book is a movie we haven't seen yet. That could be a podcast all on its own. Movies we haven't seen yet. But would like to. We'll never watch them. I'm Dan, and when I'm not adding endless movies and shows to my never-ending list of things I need to sit down and watch one day, I'm writing a book about Western civilization clinging to life by its fingernails amid a zombie apocalypse. And spoiler alert, it doesn't end well for Western Civilization.

SPEAKER_00:

Even though that means probably doesn't end well for us, I'm sort of okay with that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I guess it depends on how hard you're clinging to Western civilization.

SPEAKER_00:

Western civilization is so 2000s. Yeah. Western Civilization is the Titanic.

SPEAKER_01:

And you can you can uh you can play off the Titanic on the deck, um, or you can jump into the freezing water where the zombies are.

SPEAKER_00:

It's also literally a Titanic because there's all the rich people up top who are entirely dependent on all the people in the lower decks who make it possible. We're trapped in the lower decks. We're absolutely in the lower decks, yeah. Well, some very rich people above us are having a good time. And I'm Leah. And if you asked me when we started this podcast what my dream zombie story would be about, I would have told you it'd be drag queens in a zombie apocalypse. Oh. Yeah. But nobody asked. Nobody asked.

SPEAKER_01:

If only somebody had asked.

SPEAKER_00:

Today is a casual debt episode where you'll get the usual personal life apocalypse updates. There are many. Oh. Uh, and then we're going to chat about the movie we've all been waiting for, or at least I have forever, from Tina Romero, Queens of the Dead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I it's I've I feel like we've been waiting so long that I thought it was already out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm like, why haven't we watched that? It was I I don't think it's in theaters anymore because it had a very short release. Yeah, it's an indie film.

SPEAKER_01:

So like that it went it went to the you know, it went to like Tribeca Film Festival and like those places.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was in the film festivals or in June, and then it was released on October 26th uh to AMC theaters, and I tried so hard to find a place with for us with tickets, but everywhere was at least three hours away. Granted, we live in the middle of nowhere. But also it was like you have one opportunity at 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

There's a there's a a um a 9 a.m. matinee. Which is so upsetting because this is like more hotly anticipated, in my opinion, from the zombie community than a lot of the blockbusters that have come out because of who has written it and produced it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, which is Tina Romero. Yeah. Who is the daughter of George Romero. No big deal. It should be a bigger deal than people have made it to be.

SPEAKER_00:

Really? And honestly, even if it wasn't Tina Romero, I truly have wanted zombies and drag queens for years. In fact, Nicole Bayer, uh, her podcast, Why Won't You Date Me, I remember listening to one of her episodes with you. I remember where there was a discussion of this. Yeah. So I kind of wonder if Nicole Bayer and Tina Romero had like a that would be the dream. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I hope there's a cameo.

SPEAKER_00:

I just think at the very least, this was like the the universal consciousness was begging for it to come through from somebody. And if it had to come through, come through via Tina Romero. Uh Nicole Bayer's vision, um, she she called Apoca Sluts. Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02:

And it was hilarious.

SPEAKER_01:

But I think there's room for two. I still want Apocalyps. But immediately it like it filled my head with so many visions that that would have been hilarious. Like you could do a modern day zombie comedy that would like make people like like rolling in laughter.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I I could see just like a whole like season of RuPaul's drag race like hanging off the side of like some kind of zombified ice cream truck, and they're all in like Mad Max drag, and they're just like whipping zombies and stuff as they're driving past and just screaming and being crazy. That is not what Queens of the Dead is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I know, but this is my vision, Leah. What if this is if they spun off a whole subgenre of zombie films, which is just like drag queen zombie films? I demand this happens. I'm going to personally DM every single one of my favorite drag queens and say, please. Yeah. I need this. Yeah, let's do it. Also, Tina Romero, please come on the show. I haven't actually written to you and asked, but I'm putting it out there. That is my pipe dream. Yeah. I mean, Tina, Tina listens.

SPEAKER_01:

Long time listener. For sure. Maybe she does. You never know. We don't know. Well, if you're listening to Tina, big fan.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

She hasn't commented on our many social media posts.

SPEAKER_00:

So no, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh we release episodes every Sunday. So subchaser. That's a word. It is. What is what is that word?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, the definition is a small maneuverable patrol or escort vessel used for anti-submarine warfare. Oh. Yeah. But what we're really saying is please subscribe if you haven't yet.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, subscribe. Sub subchaser is a different thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But we're doing every week now. I feel like we need a word of the week. And I've been thinking we should be helping educate all of us, including ourselves, with some fun definitions. So if you can find a way to incorporate the word subchaser into your week, let us know. Like how Ernest Hemingway was a subchaser. I did not know that.

SPEAKER_01:

Did I did I talk about that on an episode?

SPEAKER_00:

No. What happened was I told you this was going to be the word, and then you started like riffing off about Ernest Hemingway, and I was like, save it for the pod, love. Save it for the pod. So tell us, tell everybody.

SPEAKER_01:

There's not much to know except uh, you know, very boring details about how Ernest Hemingway, the writer, um, hunted German U-boats in his fishing boat with uh a Tommy gun and a box of hand grenades. Um, so I I went and I made sure that this was factual because I've been saying this for years and never looked it up. So it is true. He bought a fishing boat. It's a 37-foot-long fishing boat. It I guess it could move pretty much.

SPEAKER_00:

Your notes say 38 feet long, Dan. What's the truth? What?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, I'm changing my notes. Uh he called it Operation Friendless, and it was in act it was actually in conjunction with the U.S. military, this program for uh civilians to help America um search for German U-boats that were trying to get to the shores of the United States. So um they provided a Thompson submachine gun and boxes of hand grenades, and he went out in his fishing boat and got drunk and just threw hand grenades in the water. And I feel like I don't think that's a sub chaser, though. He he is, he's he's chasing subs with a boat. I guess it is a small maneuverable vessel. Yeah, that's exactly how um it just happens to be a fishing boat. He figured that if if like German U-boats were targeting a lot of like civilian um luxury liners and fishing boats, so he figured if he went out into a fishing boat into the Caribbean Sea, if there's a U-boat out there, it might try to attack him, and then he's just gonna toss hand grenades at him, and then when they come up to surface, he was just gonna jump up on top of the submarine and uh just start fire firing down through the through the uh exit hatch, um, which is a lofty goal. But you know what? He had to have something to write about. Something to do. You know, I feel like as a writer, you gotta do interesting things so that you have interesting things to write about.

SPEAKER_00:

Hmm. I wonder what version of that is for you in this time and place.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I've done a lot of interesting things, so I'm kind of working on the things I've already done.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I think you should do new scandalous things. Yeah, should I uh hunt German U-boats? No, just Nazis. Okay, I'll hunt Nazis. Uh, we have some groans from the horde, long overdue um to share. We have some really nice Apple reviews that were given to us a couple of months ago, and I've been meaning to give folks shout-outs. It's just been, if you've been following the podcast, a personal life apocalypse the last few months, so haven't gotten to it. But we've got two new ones. One from our friend Tyner1000, who says, Love Dan and Leah with zombie chicken cluck to the moon and back for these two. Always fun and new topics and entertaining banter. Keep it up. It is true. I remember when Tyner chicken clucked and then thought nobody would hear it. And then we found out that Tyner was friends with Ollie. Yeah, and then somebody made a song about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And included it. Yes. Yeah. So not only did Tyner was Tyner wrong about nobody ever hearing it, but Tyner is also immortalized in song. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We realized we were all one degree of separation because of Tyner calling in to give a chicken cluck. Oh, I didn't realize that. Yeah. I didn't realize that was the connection. That was the that was the moment where Ollie DM'd us and was like, I won't tell you the details because that's their personal stuff, but whatever. They know each other, even though they live in different, totally different parts of the country. So that was the instance. Montre is like, okay. Yeah. We are clearly meant to be best friends. Uh also we have a review from France to Paris, which I thought Paris was in France. So I would love an explanation of your name, uh, where they say zombie tastic. I love that word. We're gonna have to use that. Leah and Dan, you all are magic. Magic is in all caps. That's nice. Yeah, isn't this great? Yeah. I need to read this every time I feel like I'm never gonna get a job. I love listening to you all. Your chemistry is fantastic. I don't even like zombies. But you make it so fun, and I'm here for it. Keep doing this podcast. A lot of exclamation marks. And Dan, write that book and publish it. All caps, XOXO.

SPEAKER_01:

You know what? One one of these days. One of these days.

SPEAKER_00:

You're getting close. Yeah. You're getting close. But thank you so much for the reviews. They really do keep us going. We love you all from afar and close up for those of you who are around the corner and actually met some, but I'm not gonna say who because they could be listening to this podcast. But I discovered somebody in our little town is also a big zombie fan. Oh, right. Yeah. And I would have never guessed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What what was wild was that um we were like rattling off movies. Like, have you seen this movie? Have you seen this movie? And they're like, uh, no, I'm just I don't really watch zombie movies. I I prefer to read my zombies. And we're like, hold on. We got a podcast for you.

SPEAKER_00:

We may randomly have them on. They could be our second in-person guest. Um, I don't know. Do you think that they would be playing guitar the entire time? That would be love. I mean, I did request this person is a musician, you know who you are. And uh, I did request that they give us like a zombie um ambient soundtrack. Oh, I think it would be good. Yeah, I'd love that. Yeah, that's our special request.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um life updates. Life updates, Leah.

SPEAKER_01:

How's it going? Me? Yeah. Oh, you know what? By the time this episode is released, I hope I'm also laid off with you so we can both be fun employed. Yay, together. Uh, for people who are unfamiliar with my situation, I'm a seasonal worker. Um, so when I get laid off, it's fun. Because it's only for four months, you know it's gonna end. I get hired back after the winter.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, but you know, I like people people know my how things are in the summer. I'm barely keeping it together. Um, I'm I'm foregoing sleep. Um for re for reasons I don't know. I don't I don't know where the sleep goes. You just don't have time for it. Yeah, I just don't there's no time for sleep, so I get to sleep during the winter. I hibernate like a bear. Uh, and it's great. And this is the winter time is when I have when I have the time to write, and that's where I make most of my progress.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I pointed out to you because the other day you're like, I've been writing this book for three years, and I was like, Well, if you actually add up your four-month periods, you've been working on it for a year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Still a long time. Yep, the closer I get, the further away I am. That's how I feel about writing. You were telling me some pretty interesting stuff. I feel like you've got it. Um, you know, some other things that I am excited about this winter is uh, you know, I I I I wanna I wanna make some some zombie apocalypse weapons. Um I've uh I've made some things, you know, like some actual zombie chop like zombie shopping implements made out of steel. I've done that, and I'm like, that's cool, I wanna do that, but um, but then I was I I put a lot of thought into it. I'm like, you know what people really want though is stuff that they can take to cons. Uh you know, they they want stuff that they don't get stopped by security and thrown out of the building for. So I'm like, I'm gonna make some like prop zombie apocalypse weapons, and I'm gonna I'm gonna do my best to make them as like convincing as possible. Um, so I don't know, keep an eye out for that if that's something you're interested in, because I I will probably have something.

SPEAKER_00:

I think between the two of us, we really could do some very cool cosplay stuff. Yeah, and if there's gonna be a Living Dead weekend at Monroeville Mall again this year or next year in 2026, I think we could just have like zombie props. Zombie cosplay props. Cosplay props. That's really say that. It's hard to say. Cosplay props. There's too many P's Cosby props. No, we don't like Cosby anymore.

SPEAKER_01:

We don't. Um I also want to make stuff out of out of metal. You know, I want to make like real uh like zombie survival tools. It might be in the in the works down the road, but I do I know somebody locally that I used to work with who now owns like a really expensive CNC plasma cutter, and I'm like, you know, I could actually make something.

SPEAKER_00:

You can make something cool.

SPEAKER_01:

I could.

SPEAKER_00:

And we don't live in the UK where machetes are illegal.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You know, that's a good thing about making the prop ones, is like if you live in the UK and like here's a a zombie decapitation knife, it's definitely because it's plastic.

SPEAKER_00:

If there's like a uh for all of our UK listeners, hi, how's it going over across the pond? Hope that you're enjoying being in a slightly less fascist situation than us. Uh, but uh if there's any like really cool zombie conferences or horror conferences that you think we could go to in a world where we can afford to fly, let us know. It would be really great to have like a meetup. Yeah, let's go to the UK. Dan can bring all those fake weapons and get them checked at the airport.

SPEAKER_01:

They they just stop me and they're like, this backpack's filled entirely with knives. I'm like, it's okay. It's fine. But being a baby and let me through.

SPEAKER_00:

My life update, I think first and foremost, all the folks who have supported our GoFundMe to have a six-month survival plan for the podcast while I am getting a job. Just want to say again, thank you. It's taken a load of stress off for us. Uh the job search continues, but there are some lights on the horizon now. There were not. If you asked me two weeks ago, I was like, I this is bad. There's no lights in the horizon. There are no lights. Nobody wants me. I'm rejected from all. Yeah, there's no jobs anymore. Yeah. No one will ever hire you again. But apply to Walmart. It's actually a lot of like it is a weird time because I personally know a lot of people have been laid off. Yeah. Nonprofit world is definitely feeling it. Um, this administration. And I don't just mean people I work with, I mean people that I'm friends with across the country are recently laid off. And a lot of people will say things like, if I get a job, I gotta be like, we are going to get jobs. We have to believe we're gonna get jobs.

SPEAKER_01:

But it can feel scary out there. I remember you sent me one job posting. And what how much was it? It was like it was like 3,000 applicants, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

I think it was more than that. Hold on. I think I screen captured it because it was so upsetting to me. Yeah, so for this job, it was a chief of staff job. Uh 3,300 people have applied and 1,500 of them in the past day. And then um Canada education level, 25% had a master's degree, like me. 30% had a master's of business administration, and then everybody else had something else. But it's that's that's what I'm up against.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so like a good uh like if you added it all up, I mean it it'd probably it'd probably be over a thousand people have master's degrees.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, and then another more than that, like another 1200 or so have MBAs. Yeah. Well, I was combining those two. Oh, oh, okay. That makes more sense. Math is bad right now. It's still my still working on my coffee. But that's why I was feeling pretty down on things. But more recently, I'm starting to get some interest. I've done a few interviews. I feel like I will get hired somewhere. Um, how much money I make is questionable. And um definitely thinking about ways to make this podcast sustainable longer term. I have a personal commitment that we never make it so that people who can't afford to support us cannot get access to things at the same time. But we might try and figure out like a pay what you can scenario. So stay tuned for that. Um, some fun things though. Uh I had my first art show last night. Yeah. Our little local town through an art show, and it was weird.

SPEAKER_01:

I couldn't hear what anyone was saying. Yeah. It's in it's in like an old historic building. So like very loud. The reverberation of sound is like you hear everyone everywhere all at once.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And you already have a hard time in crowds, like hearing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And also, I don't know if this is like a thing that uh 70 to 80-year-old people do, but like in this incredibly noisy atmosphere where my ears are ringing from the noise, people are just like talking with the softest possible voice. Like I just see their lips moving. I don't even hear sound coming towards me. And I'm just nodding along and just like kind of catching every tenth or twelfth word that they're saying and just being like, oh yeah, I have lived here a while. Uh-huh. Oh, the post office, you say.

SPEAKER_00:

You know my favorite part. I don't remember what it was uh that she said to us, but we were talking to a couple that were in their 70s that were our like art neighbors, really great art. And um, she said something, and then I I forget what it was, but it was something like very gendered. And the husband like gave you like a knowing side-eye glance, and it was so strange. There was definitely a generational gap, like just for context in Vermont, Dan and I are younger than the average age in Vermont.

SPEAKER_01:

We were the youngest people there.

SPEAKER_00:

We were not the youngest, except for the children. There were some children, yes. There were children, and that was it. Yeah. Uh but we were the youngest. I was the youngest artist, except for that's not true. There was one child artist underage two. She was 12. So I was the second youngest. Next to a 12-year-old. And um, I just realized like COVID plus not really spending a lot of time with older people in a while that there's like old people social cues that I don't get anymore. And also, I cannot count on both fingers how many times um older women would come up to me and tell me to protect my skin from the sun so I don't get wrinkly. It was really bizarre. And I'm just gonna put it out there on the podcast. I am pro-wrinkles. I am pro-aging because aging means you get to be here.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's not gonna happen because a lot of people, and for everybody, and especially in our generation, a lot of folks choose to um do Botox and all of those things. And if that's your choice, get it because there's so much pressure to look young forever. But um, I will just say briefly, with my sister dying at 42 years old from cancer, I know that she would give anything, including her smooth face, to have some wrinkles to still be here. And I think aging is an incredible privilege. So I'm Team Wrinkle. So I just was like, yeah, okay. I'm gonna get wrinkly. Sorry to disappoint you. It comes for all of us, especially white people. You should see my grandmother. My granny on my uh dad's side is very wrinkly. Yeah, yeah. She had the wrinkles. Yeah, she it's it is true though, she was in the sun. She was basically a child laborer. This is going sideways. And my you know what? It's true. And I think it my other grandma always wore a hat, and she was less wrinkly.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, I think I think it's a good job of not being totally in the sun all the time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, I just like it wasn't like don't get skin cancer. It was like, don't get wrinkles. Yeah, I look so youthful because I spent a decade playing video games. I mean, I've got wrinkles already and like literally a huge gray streak in my hair. So I don't know. But it was it was strange, um, but also lovely, some very nice people. And then um I would say if you've noticed we've been a little quieter on the social media, it's because I feel like my creative energy has been going primarily to job applications and then local art shows. So I'm gonna try and get better at that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean there's also not a whole lot of time after you after you're applying to all these jobs. Like it's a it's a full it's literally a full-time job.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Plus some.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, you you don't really have the ability to like allow yourself to relax when things are bad. So like you'll you'll apply for like two jobs in a whole in a day, which like for you that process is a really long time because it's not like you're applying for McDonald's or you just fill out the application. Like, this is a this is a a process.

SPEAKER_00:

Every application is like a bespoke application, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and like even after that, it's like it's six o'clock and it's time to to eat dinner. And um, that's when I find out usually that Leah has not had lunch, hasn't eaten anything but a slice of toast for breakfast. Yeah. And uh is still like, I gotta put one more in. And I'm like, the food is in front of you, Leah. And she's like, hold on, let me finish this email. So there's really not a whole lot of time to to make a lot of posts.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I think it's just the creative energy. Like, I had a full-time job and I wasn't I was putting out posts and reels all the time, but like my my day job required creativity and thoughtfulness, but it didn't this kind of like having to reinvent myself and like speak about myself in a very specific way to match the specifics of this job opportunity and like do the research about the organization and picture myself there and like it's just a lot of a lot of not just mental labor but emotional labor. Um, because I have to get like slightly attached and excited every time, knowing that odds are I will never hear from them. Yeah. Um, so and then up preparing for interviews. I don't have ask that shit. So I like hardcore prepare for an interview. Yeah, like like days, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Days of preparation.

SPEAKER_00:

I will do, yeah. At this point, you could ask me anything, Dan, and I would have a great answer in the star format. Situation, task, actions, and results.

SPEAKER_01:

Seriously. That's that's uh that's a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Anyways, oh yeah, also our dog died a couple weeks ago. So there's that. It's been it's been weird out here, but I I think we're doing okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Uh also, I mean, we've been hearing from a lot of creatives out there who are struggling right now because of just because of the absolute fuck show that is the world that we live in right now. Um and all of that doom and gloom, it really affects people in a way that like not everybody can just turn it into creative energy. Um some people are like completely demoralized and and cannot create under those conditions. And it's it's been it's been rough for some people out there, me included. You know, I've I've been doing like writing sessions on Saturdays, and some some Saturdays I'm just like, I got nothing. I got nothing left. I've got nothing in the tank, and the the headlines are just kicking me while I'm down. It's it's bad. Yeah. Um I don't have any solutions for that. I just I'm just putting it out there.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it might be helpful for people to hear because I think there was I think I don't know, did you feel alone before you started hearing other authors say the same thing to you? Because now it's been like five people in the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, a little bit. Um Yeah, I I I do remember a couple times like trying to explain to some people like why, like why I feel like I can't really focus and write. And you know, I I would get that answer where it's just like you gotta you get you gotta turn, you gotta use that as fuel. And I'm like, yeah, it's um I have PTSD. It shuts down the center of my brain that allows me to communicate when I get like this. Yeah, I literally I can only just kind of stare blankly sometimes. Um, you know, whenever whenever people have like that thousand-yard stare, or you know, like the story of like, well, my uncle Jeff went to Vietnam and I asked him if he killed any people in Vietnam and he got real quiet. It's like the reason that they get real quiet is not because they're mad or like they just want to be stoic. It's because their brain remembers something and like suddenly like I'm gonna shift all the blood that went to the part of your brain that allows you to speak, and I'm gonna put it in the part of your brain that makes you survive.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And suddenly you're just like, I I bat bat literally, that's what you sound like.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. The most important thing I can do for you in those ones is give you a hug. That's what I've learned. It helps. I love hugs.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. With from me, you don't like hugs from anybody else. I mean, yeah, from you, from my boss at work. Um wait, we hug a lot. You and Matt are hugging a little? No, uh, when we're out there paving, um, it can be hard. And something that people don't know about paving crews is that uh when when they're in the middle of paving a road, there's times where everybody like they blow a whistle and everybody just gets together and starts hugging.

SPEAKER_00:

You know what? I actually wish this was true. As long as there was consent involved for everybody, but it would be just the opposite of the toxic masculine culture that is construction work. Yeah. To be like, I've I support your emotions in this moment. I know that the stakes are high. I think we just need a hug. Yeah. Let's co-regulate our nervous systems together. Let's all hum. Humming is very good for your nervous system.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I actually I actually think it would help a lot because like this week I got yelled at by somebody.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know who it was. And I don't know what they were yelling about because I was in my truck and I didn't even realize they were yelling at me until they walked away. But yeah, some somebody uh a cone got misplaced. And it wasn't me. I hadn't touched the cone, which is why I didn't think he was yelling at me. But the guy comes walking out in the middle of the road, grabs the cone, throws it down, throws up his hands, he's yelling, he's yelling, waving his hands around, and he looks really angry. Then he walks away. And then uh then I like looked behind me and I'm like, there's nobody behind me. I think he was yelling at me. So then I had to ask him, I'm like, was he yelling at me? And they're like, I think he was. I'm like, oh, good thing I didn't didn't know because I probably would have would have screamed at him. Because that's where I'm at. But imagine if instead we just hugged. He's like, I'm upset about this cone. I'm like, bring it in, bring it in.

SPEAKER_00:

It's okay. We're gonna be okay, we're gonna figure this out together. Yeah, we're all on the same team. None of us want to die or be hurt today, so let's figure it out. Yeah, which has happened a lot this season for you.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh speaking of dying and getting hurt, let's do our little zombies in the news. Queens of the dead is out.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know anything about this.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I've written a few uh of our casual dead like outlines because you've been really busy and I wanted to have the opportunity once you're laid off for us to just like get through some recordings.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and this one was definitely one of the times where I was like, I cannot apply for another job and talk about how I'm an amazing strategic leader anymore. Hire me. I good at strategy. I make numbers go up. I mean, I think that's enough. Yeah. If you hire me, your results will triple. I triple done in this thing. All of your dreams will come true. Yep. I think I should just make all of my cover letters hire me. I make shit happen. Yeah. That actually is one of the nice compliments I ever got from an old boss was that I make shit happen, but in a really like positive, human-centered way. And it's like, thanks. Yeah. That's that is me. Yeah. Yeah. Hire me. Hey, anybody want to hire me out there? I'll triple whatever number you need tripled. Maybe I'll you know what? I'll quintuple it.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00:

That's that's my guarantee.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the Leah guarantee.

SPEAKER_00:

Quintu is quintuple the word? Yeah. Okay. Anyways. Time X4. X that's quadruple. X5. Yeah, because quintuplets, right? I guess. There's five babies all at once.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

This has gone somewhere else. I'm back. Queens of the dead. It's out. Yeah, it's not out when we're recording this. But it will be out streaming, available for you all to go watch when you're listening to this. Um, it's coming out November 11th. We're recording this November 9th. So maybe some of you have already watched it. I hate to say this is the episode where we talk about it and we haven't watched it yet, but I felt like it was too exciting to not talk about and hype up.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And if you have watched it, because we are also going to be watching it this week, you should send us your hot takes. We would love to incorporate them into the episode.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, do our homework for us. Send us your opinions about it, and then we'll use your opinions to make an episode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I will not give you any credit, just like bosses do sometimes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

None of mine. Um sorry, I just realized one of my former bosses might be listening. I just want to be clear, I'm not talking about you.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi, Leah's former boss.

SPEAKER_00:

You were great. You should hire her. It doesn't work that way. We would work together forever. Leah called Quintuple. Any number you have. Yeah, that's right. All the numbers that I I increased, I will increase more. Yeah. Leah owns a calculator. Leah knows how to make a spreadsheet. Okay. Wow. Sorry, you can tell where my brain's at, which is survival. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, that's I mean, that's that's what we do. We survive. Yeah. We're survivors.

SPEAKER_00:

Now I feel bad. Like my boss might think I think that they take credit for they never you never did that. I'm pretty sure you listen now. Hey, this is the moment where you get to out yourself if you have been listening, because I'm pretty sure you have. I just want to say, MT, that you were a great boss. And I miss you. Okay. Um, Queens of the Dead is out. It's out. It's out. It it was released in theaters on October 26th. It's out, available now, I think. On I hate to be like go to Prime because I hate Amazon, but it's available on all the big things. Apple, Amazon, Fandango, as of November 11th. We just pre-ordered it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I so uh so I thought that it was only gonna be on Apple. Um, so I'm glad that it's on more platforms.

SPEAKER_00:

Have been reading all the things. That's why I want this movie to be the cult classic that I'm pretty sure maybe I'm going in with too high of an expectation and I'm gonna get disappointed, but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that this movie deserves so much more attention than it's been getting. So I just want to hype it as much as possible and get people watching it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I guess there's no danger in thinking it's going to be the greatest thing ever and an instant classic and legendary and will be forever remembered in the annals of history as the greatest movie of all time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So let's just assume that'll happen. I'm gonna believe it.

SPEAKER_00:

Because the preview looks amazing. Yeah. Seeing a zombie drag queen stumbling and like barely hanging on with their extremely high six-inch eels is hilarious.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that is that's comic gold.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's just a bedaz a b a bed. I can't say the word bedazzled, a bedazzled screw gun in the forehead of a zombie, also wonderful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, should we be bedazzling all of our power tools? I think so.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I buy a Ryobi, and that's already pretty plain.

SPEAKER_00:

So I have some fun facts for you about this movie, Dan. Okay. But first, I'm gonna read the plot from IMDB for those who are not familiar with this movie. Uh, when a zombie apocalypse breaks out in Brooklyn on the night of a giant warehouse party, an eclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies must put aside their drama and use their unique skills to fight against the brainthirsty, scrolling undead. I love it.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I would I would not bet against a group of drag queens in the zombie apocalypse. Um, it's my firm belief that uh, you know, you you grow up, um, you grow up being scrutinized by everybody in your class. You you grow up tough. Yep. And uh and I've watched a lot of RuPaul's drag race, and all of the things that they do, I could never ever in a million. The death drops, the voguing. I couldn't even stand up there for the amount of time that they needed to for so long in those heels. Yeah, I just I would just collapse and the heavy athletes down.

SPEAKER_00:

It's true, you gotta be an athlete. I feel like you know what, drag queen, uh yeah, drag needs to be in the Olympics. I think it is a sport.

SPEAKER_01:

Even the heaviest drag queens are so much more athletic than anyone that I know. Maybe more athletic than the skinny drag queens.

SPEAKER_00:

Sometimes I think that's absolutely true. Yeah. And they wear corsets that look exceedingly painful. Yeah, I'd pass out. I wouldn't be able to breathe. Yeah. They they tuck that alone. I I don't know what that would be like because I don't have one, but I feel like that's commitment and shows true strength. Yeah. And commit, you know. We we judge our greatest warriors on their ability to tuck. I mean, it wouldn't be the worst. I don't know. I wonder what it would be like to run tucked. I wonder if this will be discussed in the movie. Yeah. Like what does it feel like if you're running, but also that your stuff's like taped between your legs? Is that easier or harder to run?

SPEAKER_01:

I can't imagine. It's it's easier in any way.

SPEAKER_00:

No. I mean, they're death dropping like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they're they are throwing themselves into the air and landing on their tucked genitalia. I I can't even imagine. I no, no, no, this is already a nightmare. Let's move on.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Fact number one. I'd love to get your take on this. No guns. No guns. They're creative kills and glam gore aesthetic only in the way that they kill zombies. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01:

I I actually really like this. I um I think that there's a certain apocalypse aesthetic that some people go for. And uh, for some people, it's like they they want to live out their SEAL team six fantasies. Um and you know, we c we could talk all day about the practicality of firearms versus uh versus using handheld melee weapons. But I think truly, first of all, that uh while the United States of America has more guns per capita than any other country, um, most of those guns belong to collectors. Uh not everybody in America has a gun. Yeah. Um and they don't want to get to in Brooklyn. Not in the nightclub in Brooklyn. I mean New York City in general is is uh it's kind of like a gun desert. It's not that there aren't any guns there, but it's like the majority of people don't own guns. So really the only place that you would find them is on police officers or um very specific owners of firearms who are not leaving those things out. Like they have them locked up in a safe, in a high rise.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Again, I think drag queens have a lot of interesting weapons at their disposal.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

High heels.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh when I was 14 years old, I remember an ex-childhood friend of mine was mad at me for saying no to them. And they were in uh stilettos, don't ask me why, another 14-year-old in stilettos. It's a whole long story. And they came up to me and they literally stomped on my big toe with their stiletto. It fucking hurt. Yeah. And also, like, it just shows you the juxtaposition of like this person's still a child because they felt the need to harm me with their stiletto because I said no to doing something. Um, but it was also in a stiletto. That's being a teenager, I think, all in one little nutshell, that whole thing. Yeah. But it was bad. And I think a stiletto could hurt a zombie. I think you could absolutely use it through the eye.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, people people have been murdered with high heels.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Uh, if they had really excellent nails, although that would be a sacrifice, you probably lose every time. Every time you stuck a nail through the eyeball of a zombie, you'd lose it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's kind of like your ammo. And it has I'm talking about like the really long ones, like the four-inch long ones that are spiked at the end and like um jewel encrusted. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I'm gonna reveal something about my story because I feel like it's relevant to this, is that in in my zombie apocalypse world, uh, the government is clinging to power. And something that it is it is doing while it's collecting surviving citizens and controlling them, is they are also collecting all the firearms, all the ammunition, and consolidating it for their own use. Of course. So in in my story, uh firearms are actually also rare because people are hoarding them. So, like people out in the country, they're gonna hoard. Uh hoarders gonna hoard. And you know, for people who only think in one in one way about how what survival is, their their safety is going to feel like just collecting these things, making sure that they have more than everyone else. And are your zombies also glamorous? They some of them might be. I would love that, but uh I think it's a more interesting world. Yeah, that's why I like the movies from overseas. Yeah, like if if your survivor group is a ragtag group of of people that like sharpen the edge of a shovel, and another person has a piece of rebar with some concrete still stuck to the end of it, like yeah, we're talking about like a much more interesting story than like we all found M4s and we're just gonna mow them down with all this ammunition that we have stockpiled in our giant diesel pickup truck that can run over all the zombies.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and from a writing perspective or a film perspective, like some of the most memorable things that I've read, especially lately, are um when you kill a zombie by hand. It's just so much more interesting than a gun. And I'm thinking of specifically this one moment in Joe Salazar's uh sequel, The Deadweight Resistance, where Quinn is being trained by somebody about how to kill better. And like I'm not gonna describe it, you should just read the book, but it's really it lives rent-free in my head. And I could also never do that. Quinn is not a drag queen, but also has some athleticism that I do not have. Uh, do you be ready for the second fact, Dave? I'm ready. Uh the idea came from her days DJing in New York's queer nightlife scene.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she says, quote, I sort of honed my chops as a DJ in the queer nightlife scene, especially in my young twenties. It was not only a place where I was able to express myself musically, I also discovered my performance alter eagle. Eag Eagle. Alter eagle! Soaring high, alter ego, who's called DJ Trix, T R X. She wears a mask, sometimes a wig, and it's a space where I felt completely safe to play with those types of expressions. It's also a space where I've met some of my chosen family.

SPEAKER_01:

That does sound awesome. I've never been a queer DJ. Me neither. But it sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

But I think I can speak for a lot of um femme people that being in a queer club is like one of the most safe and wonderful experiences you can have.

SPEAKER_01:

I owned a nightclub in GTA 5. Does that count? No. I thought it was pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Was it a queer nightclub? It could have been. Was it a strip club? I don't know who went there.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh. You never went in?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I was I was there all the time. I just didn't, you know, I didn't ask the NPCs what they were up to.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, your alter ego and GTA, Grand Theft Auto, for those who don't know that acronym, uh, was pretty pretty wild.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Factoid number three. This one was really interesting to me. Uh the origins of the film. So we have the uh we have the location and that there's a main character who's a DJ and a club club promoter. But uh Tina shared that the film was inspired by online drama. Ooh, I said that like at a Canadian. Drama? That's how we say it. We say drama, Mazda, uh not drama, Mazda. It's a Canadian accent thing. Sorry. Online drama in the club and party scene after a co-promoter for Hot Rabbit began advertising a rival party to be held on the same night. Oh. The original promoter posted this manifesto begging the question when will the queer community stop devouring its own? And it hit me like a bolt of lightning. So the zombies in this case, we know we love zombies with a that are good metaphor, are a metaphor for the self-destructive dynamics within communities, including the queer community, which is like I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they depict that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. That does that, I mean, I've I've I've seen things like that go down where like you're like, hey, I want to have a party at my house. And then other people are like, well, we're going to this other place. And everybody that your party should go with us.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so juvenile. Yeah. I gotta give a shout out to Ollie Eats Brains and their Discord, the Brain Munchers Collective Discord, because it it's a Discord for all of the zombie podcasts out there. So instead of us all fighting with each other for listeners, we are supporting each other.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And being a part of a broader community. Yeah, we're surviving. Together.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

In the same camp. We are. Survivor camp for podcasters.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it just happens that there's a zombie inside of the camp named Ollie.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Ollie is the camp leader.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It was a zombie. Yeah, it's a little. Welcome to our zombie survivor camp. There's our leader, a zombie. You do need to trade your brains.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Don't get it. Uh factoid number four. It's about community and joy, which is also why I'm looking forward to it, because that's where the humor comes in. And I think what what good movies are about is more than just zombies attacking us.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that's the best part of a zombie apocalypse story. Like my favorite parts of The Walking Dead are when we're just seeing the dynamics between characters in the same group forming deeper bonds. Um and I think it's also like we we just interviewed Sarah Lyons Fleming, and she gets the community aspect perfect in her books. Um and also we have so many uh author friends who do the same exact thing as well. And I think I think that's why we all kind of, you know, came together. Is that like there's uh zombie apocalypse stories out there that are like the lone wolf survivor story, which is fine if that's what you're into, but we want the community.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's like a place for it, but it shouldn't be the dominant only story that gets told and or especially promoted and like well known.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um so yeah, I love this. I've got a quote from Tina. Uh they say, I wanted to make something more lighthearted than bleak. I feel like that's so important in this time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Especially because it takes place in the queer community. We have enough bleak stuff already. I wanted it to feel joyful and hopeful. That's why it's not a final girl story. I didn't want it to come down to one lone survivor. I wanted the queer community to stick together and most of them to make it out alive. Of course, we have to lose them along the way, but not all.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And I think that's just also just realistic. You know, in in real life, um, a community that comes together is going to be the one that survives. I mean, you see examples of that in in the headlines. Uh, right now, as horrible things are happening, it's always when a community comes together that they push out the the the elements that are causing the problems.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's been really inspiring to see. So, my favorite story of community coming together to help people survive, especially in this horrifying moment where we have um a really lovely element water that is frozen called ice that's getting a bad name now. I don't like that. Yeah. Ice is I used to like ice. Yeah. It's fun for skating on, it makes your drinks cold, but they're ruining it. They're ruining ice. Anyhow, uh Juan de la Cruz in Vermont had a had been requested to come in to immigration uh in St. Albans. And obviously in this time, uh they said, quote, it was definitely terrifying because you don't know what's going to happen. And so uh basically uh they applied for asylum in 2017 from and they've been here from Mexico 20 years ago now. Their wife lives there. Uh, they talked to a lawyer about it, and they uh their community backed them up. They had 200 friends go with them to this appointment, basically saying, we are watching and we care what happens to this man. And so uh nothing bad happened to him, and I think that that's part of why, frankly.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I've got uh also an example of community coming together. Um this happened uh a while ago, actually back in February, and I want to check up on this again to see see how things are going. But um Lincoln Heights, Ohio, uh, which is a historically black neighborhood in Ohio, had a group of neo-Nazis show up to protest over the freeway um near their town, and the police weren't doing anything about it. They in fact the police were escorting them. So the residents of Lincoln Heights armed up, got their shotguns and their rifles, they geared up, and they went out to meet the the neo-Nazis and the cops and forced them to leave. I love that. And since then, because things are so dangerous and because the the it's clear that the police have no intention of protecting them, they now patrol their own streets. So if you want to go to Lincoln Heights, you're gonna run into a roadblock where a resident of Lincoln Heights is standing there with an AR rifle, and they're gonna stop you and ask you what you're doing there. And if you don't have a good answer, they're probably not gonna let you in.

SPEAKER_00:

It's really sad that we're at that point, and it's also really beautiful to see people banding together like that.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's definitely both. But they're all volunteering. Um, nobody like there's no money in this for anybody. There's they're taking they're spending their own time to protect their own neighborhood because no one else is going to. Um, but I I find it really inspiring because it it is a community that's coming together, even if it is, it does sound scary and forceful, they're doing what they have to do to keep their people safe. And uh and these these guards will also walk children across the street as they're going to school. Um, they go to help people that are having problems, um like domestic disturbances and stuff, because nobody's calling the police. Okay. Because the police are just going to cause more problems.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they can't be trusted, they're part of the institution that is uh harming people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And I knew more about the history of um Lincoln Heights, but I don't have it uh stored in my brain right now. So I'd I'd just say if you're more if you're interested in that, you should just check out what this community, uh what their historical significance is, because I remember it's very significant.

SPEAKER_00:

Their historical significance is very significant. It is. I'll have to look it up. Uh I did have one more fact.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, tell me, tell me.

SPEAKER_00:

Which is just it's about the cast. It has a lot of queer and drag icons. Margaret Show with their bedazzled uh screw gun in the preview. Can't wait to see more of that. Uh Nina West, Dominique Jackson, Katie O'Brien, and more. So it's a really star-studded cast in the best kind of way. And I just cannot two more days. I have to wait two more days to watch it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But we're we're we're gonna be up at uh 12 a.m. when it maybe you'll be laid off. Is that possible? It's possible. So I have tomorrow off because of snow Monday. Yes, yeah, snow. Tomorrow's the 10th. Yeah, Tuesday the 11th. I presume since they didn't tell me that I was laid off, I'm probably not. Um from my inside sources, they say uh a lot of people were laid off on Friday, this last Friday. Um, and if it if you weren't laid off this last Friday, it's gonna be this coming Friday. Which when you're listening to this, is two days ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh and this is definitely out right now. So again, please watch it. Go support this indie film by Tina Romero that should have gotten way more widespread promotion, in my opinion. Uh streaming on Apple, Amazon, Fandango. I don't love any of those, but I do love Tina Romero and this movie. I like Fandango. Yeah? Yeah, that's where we rent movies. Oh, okay. I don't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't like Apple and Amazon. It used to be called Voodoo, but they changed it to Fandango at home, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

It rebranded. I think it's gonna be on Shudder too. Oh yeah. That would make sense because it was produced by Shudder.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, let us know what you think. Uh you can send us a voicemail uh 614-699-00006. Give us your hot take verbally. You can send us an email at zombiebookclubpodcast at gmail.com. We'll probably make a post about this next week. You could just share with us on Instagram. There's so many ways to reach us. Let us know what you think. Tell us if you hate it, and then we'll never talk to you again.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I haven't even watched it yet. I'm kidding. Leah's ready to write you off if you don't like this movie. We can agree to disagree, or maybe I won't like it. Watch, watch we come back and we're like, I actually wasn't that good. Yeah, that would be, I just can't uh that would be really d devastating. Um, and I'd like to end this episode with a fuck the orange menace tip of the week. Oh, that sounds fun. Yeah. Or fuck fascism tip of the week. Fuck the plutocracy we're in, which is uh plutocracy basically means when corporations and really rich people rule your country instead of a democracy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um it's a basic one. It's one that frankly people have been saying forever, and we need to really get serious about doing it, which is don't feed the machine this holiday season. Don't do it. It's the only, not the only, one of the few points of power we have is where we spend our money. So it's nice to have, if you have the money to give gifts, uh buy local. Buy them from Black, Latinx, Indigenous-owned businesses when possible. Avoid big box stores. No Amazon, no Walmart. Uh, there is a boycott going on the week of Thanksgiving slash the day of mourning. But I would say let's just let's just boycott for the entirety of the holiday season, and any gifts you get should be handmade or from a local source.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Or just don't. Just hug each other and like be grateful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, hug each other like when we're paving roads.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Hug each other, and maybe the gift is like figuring out what your own version of Lincoln Heights is in your community. Yeah. Uh what's needed in your community? I mean, not every community is in a position where you need to be armed with uh uh a roadblock. And if you're not in that situation, what else can you do? There's a lot of hungry people right now, thanks to Orange Man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and you know, people with with uh with children have a hard, harder time um doing stuff like this because you know, there's there's expectations when you have kids. Like the kids don't understand that Jeff Bezos is trying to uh make us all slaves to the capital system even more than we already are. So like we gotta we gotta avoid Amazon, which means that you know you you can't have the teenage mutant ninja ninja turtles turtle van like you wanted on in the third grade. Mom. Actually, I did get that turtle van.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I I hear what you're saying, and I also hear like that the truth of the matter is like why Amazon, Walmart, Walmart. It's Walmart now. Yeah, Walmart, Walmart, Hallmark, whatever, all those online places, Best Buy, um, etc. etc., are easy. You know, you just punch a couple buttons and you get something, and doing something local takes more time. So I understand that a lot of the time, unfortunately, resistance requires more effort than not resisting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but I think if you're in a position where you can take a little time to buy local, and also just talk to your kids about it. I feel like kids can understand this. Yeah. They watch lots of movies where there's bad guys, and like Jeff Bezos is a bad guy. We're not gonna help the bad guy out this Christmas. Maybe instead we can get um some, or we can even make our own play-doh and like make our own Ninja Turtle. I know that's less exciting, kid, but then you get sued by Mattel. Do you want to help the bad guy? I think kids are inherently so generous and kind they're gonna understand.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. At least I hope they are.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I would I would prefer if the if our if the generations replacing us were much more uh generous and kind.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and maybe talk to your friends about it, talk to your family about it. Like I plan on telling my family, like, just don't buy me anything, please don't. I don't need anything.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I don't want anything.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, if anything, if I'm still unemployed, please give me some cash. Like cash money. Yeah, that's what's most helpful. And frankly, that is most helpful for a lot of people right now. Maybe, you know, bake some cookies for someone, whatever. Whatever is within your realm of possibility.

SPEAKER_01:

I want cookies.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I want I want oatmeal cookies.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So that's that's the tip of the week. There will be more.

SPEAKER_01:

And I mean, recent history has shown that this is effective. I mean, look what happened when uh when Disney tried to cancel Jimmy Kimmel. Yep. It wasn't even specifically Disney, it was the it was uh an umbrella corporation that also owns Disney. Or Disney owns the company. I don't know. But they're they're in the they're in the pipeline. So they're like, we're we're shutting down Jimmy Kimmel, and everyone's like, okay, then we're canceling our Disney Prime subscriptions. And then Disney's like, wait a second, I didn't know that this was an option. Everybody, we take it back. Yeah. Please, please don't un uh unsubscribe from Disney. We need your money. Yeah, it's a good reminder. People aren't riding enough roller coasters to to pay our bills. We need that money. Our shareholders are gonna be so pissed.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm curious how many people that are listening to this are trying to like build their own physical libraries again. Um, a friend of the podcast, Eric, his fiance, is actually working on, I forget what he said it was called, but he's making his own online server of the things that they love the most, um, which would be really cool to learn more about. But I also think like maybe we don't resubscribe to Disney. Yeah. I mean we don't. I mean, you and I don't have we've never had Disney, so this is a real easy thing for me to say. I am not a Disney kid. Um, and I, you know, we all need joy out there in the world, and none of us are, you know, we can't we can't live in a capitalist world within a way that is like perfectly aligned with our values. So like do what you can do. But I think one thing that we could all do is maybe just shop a little bit less slash completely from those stores whenever possible.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I was actually just talking to my brother this afternoon about like he wanted to watch some older movies, some older he was he was disappointed because his hollow Halloween season um wasn't as Halloween y as he wanted because he wanted to watch some old slasher movies, some old Halloween movies, and they just weren't available. They weren't on the streaming services, and these are just like I I don't I don't I don't know what to do. I can't watch these old movies that I wanted to watch. And like we started talking about like this we this is why we have to start like buying DVDs again. We have to go back to owning our movies that we buy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, or go into the library, like we were able to watch 28. Was it 28 days later or weeks later that was 28 days? 28 days later, impossible to find for a while. Our librarian had to like interlibrary loan it to get to us. Yeah, it was a whole process. It was um, but libraries, very valuable resources. So get a membership if you don't have one, they're very cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Support your local library, yeah. Um, but thanks everybody for joining us today on the Zombie Book Club. That's us. We talk about you too, because you're listening. Yes, part of the club. You're in the club. Um, if you want to support us, which at this point we've said that now you're part of the club, so you're actually supporting yourself by doing this. You could leave us a rating or a review, like on iTunes or Apple. What what is it called now? It's not iTunes anymore. That was like 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_00:

iTunes was the I think it's Apple Music was is was formerly iTunes, and uh it's Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts allows you to write a review, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, or wherever you listen to this, uh you could probably do something. Um leave as many stars as you can, or if they're hearts, leave as many hearts, whatever the icon.

SPEAKER_00:

Give us the most. Give us the most of that. Help counteract the couple of one stars we've gotten because somebody doesn't like that. We don't like the orange man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they're like they're like, you don't like the things that I love that are oppressing us. One star. Um, if you could also give us a call at 614-699-0006, uh, like we said a couple minutes ago. Leave us a voicemail up to three minutes. Um we love voicemails, yeah. You can also follow us on Zombie Book Club Podcast um or join the Brain Munchers Collective Discord that we talked about even in this episode where Ollie is the zombie in charge. Yeah, zombie the head Z I C. Yeah. Ollie decides who becomes a zombie and who survives.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a lot of weight on your shoulders, Ollie. Tell us how you're doing. Are you okay out there?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh all the links are down there in that description area.

SPEAKER_00:

Is our Facebook group link in our description area? I don't know. I think it's time to add it. We have a Facebook group. A lot of Gen Xers were like, where's the Facebook group? And I was like, I don't know how to run this, but there is one now. Yeah. Does anybody want to run a Facebook group for us? That'd be great. Yeah, I am so bad at it, but there is one for the Facebook. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Email us your resume. Um, there is no pay button. Cover letter. Oh my gosh. Of uh a five-minute video of you explaining your resume in cover letter, and then um a three-hour work assignment that we'll use to evaluate your skills as a Facebook uh group moderator moderator. Um, and then a three to five hour interview.

SPEAKER_00:

That is yes, there is a there is a process I'm in right now that involved all of those things and will involve more of those. It's I'm gonna just say it. This is this is why I'm busy, y'all, and not putting so many reels out there, and then we'll say goodbye. This job, which would be a very cool job, required my resume. And then I think there were like four specific questions that they uh wanted and answered instead of a cover letter, which was fine. And then I had to do a three-hour skills test that was timed, um, which I aced. Thank you very much. Now I have a half hour interview. If I get past that, I'll get another one-hour interview, and if I get past that, I'll have a two to three hour interview, and then they'll check references, and then maybe I'll have a job. Yeah, maybe. So that's what I'm doing with my free time.

SPEAKER_01:

But uh, thanks everybody for listening. The end is it's here. The end is here.

SPEAKER_00:

The end is here. Oh dear. We're not gonna even do the rhyme.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00:

Bye-bye.

Contributor

Dan

Host
Contributor

Leah

Host