Zombies Gone Wild

Bug being a huge George Romero fan (Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, ...) was excited that Diary of the Dead was being released...except it was only being shown in 30 theaters, none of which were in Ohio.

He checked online every day for additional theater releases. The closest theater was in Homestead, where part of the movie was to have taken place in Pittsburgh.

I don't mind zombie films. Heck, one of my favorite movies is a zombie film (sorta) - Tokyo Zombie. But we...I...had to find another reason to travel to Pittsburgh.

Exactly two years ago, we traveled to Monroeville Mall, where "Dawn of the Dead" was filmed in 1978. It was en route to our vacation at Niagara Falls, albeit a detour in the opposite direction. Niagara Falls in February is AWESOME.

Anyway, I remembered that there was an IKEA there! I was hoping that it wasn't in some farflung suburb. It wasn't. Yay!

Bug found out that there were a couple of Sonics in the area too. (Surprise!)

So we went on our journey last weekend with my scribbled notes because work has been a major stress headache that I had no time to prepare for this trip that we firmly decided to do 2 days previous.

As expected, everywhere we went we got lost. At least we had beef jerky. Chomp chomp chew chew chew.

We eventually found our way to the Loew's theater in Homestead, which was on the waterfront. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city. This was our first time driving through downtown Pittsburgh. It has a character that is hard to explain. I wish I could have taken along a camera. The colors and architecture of mismatched old and new, blends so well together! It still sucks to drive in this city because the streets wind, instead of being in a grid, and then they end on a highway on-ramp.

The movie was all right. I wasn't told anything except that it was a zombie movie, so I was sort of surprised that the movie was centered around students making a zombie movie, and find themselves in a real life situation. It is from the point of view of the aspiring director of the film, who becomes the cameraman of his documentary. The first incident took place in Homestead, PA. Talk about seeing a movie at the right place.

Next, finding IKEA. We were lost and not lost. There were moments we had no clue where we were going on the highway. And then I saw a huge oasis of big box stores. Jeez. Everything was big, bigger, and biggest. We were lucky to find a close spot near the front of IKEA-zoo.

When we walked through the packed door, I am convinced there was a sound of trumpets and angels singing. Then I saw the kids running around to the left in a playroom (wow!), and everyone being shuffled forward. This place was like a carnival in the summertime, packed with wandering people a little livelier than zombies, but without the cotton candy.

The prices were wonderful and the styles so useful! Shelves that would fit our apartment perfectly for $30. Bed for $99. It's a great store that even Bug wanted to return to once we have the funds.

We wrapped up our tour of the store with a meal. Apple pie that was PACKED with apple slices. Not just sloppy wedges of apples in sloppy and gooey sauce, but neatly piled spiced apples that were layered neatly in a crust.

I got the special - meatballs with lingonberry jam and mac-cheese. Yummy! Bug got the chicken marsala with steamed veggies. I fell in love with the veggies! There was a yellow vegetable that looked and tasted like a carrot. Mmmm! We walked out STUFFED, brimming with ideas, and clutched in our hands 2 bags of coffee and 2 bottles of lingonberry jam.

Now, to get to Sonic...with our full bellies. The directions said it would take us 12 minutes. It took us over an hour. We got lost 3-4 times. We were about to give up when I decided to ask for directions at a Sheetz.

Of course, it was one block away.

I wanted a burger, no onions, with mayo, ketchup, and mustard. Bug ordered it without onions and everything else on it. The person on the speaker asked, "plain, no onions?" I asked Bug, "please confirm that they will put in mayo, ketchup, and mustard. She said plain." Twice. He didn't.

I got my burger. As I suspected, it had no onions...no mayo, no mustard, no ketchup. We got into a HUGE argument. He got the burger fixed, but I was still FUMING and threw his food on the floor of the car - chili cheese tots, chili cheese coney, and a burger. When it got in the way of my feet, I threw them in the back seat. The trip home was a very quiet one. Chomp chomp chew chew chew.


Of course, as things seem to go, Bug looked online to see if they added more theatres a couple days later. Yep, it is playing at one theater locally this weekend.

- Cassaendra