Sparse Roundup

In lieu of a real writing post–one soon to come, I promise– here’s a couple links, related and unrelated to writing.

Most of you probably know that I’m pretty old-fashioned.  Something in me shrivels up a little every time I send a text.  But this is the age we live in, and it’s how I keep in touch with people.  If I could knock on my momma’s door every day I would.  It’s good to know, though, that in spite of the advances of technology and the regression of most methods of conduct, some folks are trying to set an example.  I give you The Art of Manliness and 1001 Rules for my Unborn Son.  Both of these sites hark back to an older time when being a man didn’t mean slick hair and muscles, it meant being educated, gentlemanly, and moral.  A quick look through the Art of Manliness will yield articles like “30 Days to a Better Man Day 14: Write a Letter to Your Father”.  This while Asylum’s comparable articles are “How To Surreptitiously Ogle Women” or some such nonsense.

Next up is a topic near and dear to my heart, but one I play close to the chest when it comes to my writing.  i09, a site I’ve never heard of, has an article up about the changing trends in apocalyptic literature.  It seems that, lately, people don’t care or write about how the apocalypse comes about, they just care that it happens.  The Road explains precious little about its apocalypse, as the current shining example.  And apparently this is happening a lot.  People just want the aftermath–they want to see people struggle.  This topic has had me thinking for a while.  The number of groups on Facebook that involve zombies in some manner is 1,400.  The most popular group has over 80,000 members, and that group is “The Hardest Part About a Zombie Apocalypse Will be Pretending I’m Not Excited”.  Ask any of your friends, seriously, any, if they’ve given thought to the zombie apocalypse–in particular, not even just “the end of the world”.  I’d wager if you ask ten you’ll come back with 9 yes answers.  It’s this weird drive we’ve got, particularly these younger generations, for a real, pan-level struggle.  We don’t want WWIII because that involves morals.  We don’t want a pandemic because that can’t be fought clearly.  Zombies provide a tangible enemy without any moral hangups.  We want to fight.

Chew on that for a while.