Monthly Archives: January 2009

Road sign hacked: Zombies In Area, Run!

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Seems like someone has been playing too much Left 4 Dead on the old 360. Road signs in Austin were hacked overnight, leaving morning commuters surprised to find two road signs which was meant to warn about upcoming construction instead warn of “Zombies In Area, Run!”

A city spokesperson reported the messages were up for a few hours, until the construction project manager corrected the error. Still, the H.G. Wells War of the Worlds moment deserves recognition. The padlock protecting the sign was cut, and the computer inside was protected by a password.

My favorite part on the KXAN.com story about the hacking? The station’s attempt to get comments. Get this last paragraph:

Do you believe in zombies? Do you have a zombie escape plan? Let us know what you think about zombies by participating in our message board.

Posted in TV

Do you have the crazy?

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It’s hard to keep up with all the horror media these days, so sometimes it takes a good film being sent my way by a friend. Spokane Steve sent me this DVD, which sat on the shelf through Thanksgiving, Christmas, a slew of new blu-ray movies until New Year’s Day, where I was so tired of playing Fallout 3, the wife and I threw The Signal (2007) into the Sony and were pleasantly surprised. Here is the trailer:

Now don’t watch if it you can’t take gore, because there is plenty. Humor, too. The story is told in three parts (Transmission I, II and II), written and directed separately. The film’s official site is here. The following is yahoo.com’s blurb:

It’€™s New Year’™s Eve in the city of Terminus and chaos is this year’€™s resolution. All forms of communication have been jammed by an enigmatic transmission that preys on fear and desire driving everyone in the city to murder and madness. In a place once marked by conformity but now sent into complete anarchy, the rebellious Ben must save the woman he loves from the bedlam in the streets as well as her crazed sadistic husband. But the only way he can tell who to trust or who has given in to violence is by uncovering the true nature of The Signal.

Anyway, The Signal gets a big thumbs up from me. Nothing like watching a good end of the world via technology-creates-apocalypse flick to get the New Year started right. You can watch it at Amazon.com’s VOD here. Whatever you do, don’t judge the horror flick by the first three minutes.