The last time professional tinkerer Christopher Hackett was featured in a NY Times story, it was when an confetti gun he invented exploded in his face, an "ordeal ordeal that ultimately involved the emergency room, the Police Department’s bomb squad and 65 days on Rikers Island." Now, he's got our attention for his latest project, a book and television show about "how to survive the apocalypse, in style." more ›

Hey, New York City hardware stores: it's time to take a tip from Westlake Ace Hardware in Lenexa, Kansas—the store has launched a Zombie Preparedness Center, for both the living and the undead. They provide tips on rot prevention and how to delay decay, for the undead amongst us; and for humans, they deliver defensive tools and tips on zombie proofing your home. If you've read Zone One, you know this is something we as New Yorkers need. more ›

Marshall Tames, a 67-year-old Athletic Director at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, was arrested and charged with assault last week for allegedly slapping a female security guard when she didn't let him pass a checkpoint at the school quickly enough. According to witnesses, Tames demanded that the guard let him through a metal detector, but when she instructed him to wait, Tames grew angry and slapped her. more ›

We're sure you've been sitting at your desks for the past few months, wondering what happened to our hard-hitting zombie coverage. Well, to be honest, the city's undead were getting a bit lazy, but late-October Halloween madness seems to have taken hold, and the creatures are back on the streets. Yesterday, the zombie hoards gathered at Beauty Bar to kick off their Halloween Zombie Crawl. First they made their way to Union Square to briefly participate in a canned food drive at Whole Foods, then staggered back to the bar for the 5th Annual Zombie Beauty Pageant with Drop Dead Gorgeous. more ›

Yesterday, a contingent of the undead wandered around Manhattan, searching for fresh brains and taking up midterm election issues. And because New Yorkers will grab any opportunity to dress up, yesterday's sixth annual all-day Zombiecon was a cornucopia of fake blood, disembodied brains, and paler-than-normal skin. This year's more ›

Now that zombies have infiltrated the streets of Brooklyn (and influenced the borough's reading habits), they're getting a little more highbrow. Starting today, MF Gallery is showcasing "Zombies Attack Brooklyn," all new Zombie art from artists like Dave Brockie, Johnny Crap, and Dennis Dread. more ›

Rising under the threat of "When there is no more booze in hell, the dead will walk the earth," hundreds of zombies rose from the grave in Williamsburg to drink, play and dance. They met around 5 p.m. on Saturday for a pub crawl down Bedford Avenue, ending up in McCarren park for zombie football with "Play Dead" author Ryan Brown. Everyone then headed to Knitting Factory Brooklyn for a night of undead dancing. more ›

Last night the Park Slope Barnes & Noble was overrun with zombies! The bookstore held a signing for Roger Ma's and Y.N. Heller's "Zombie Combat Manual," which featured a live combat demonstration and a "zombifying" makeup artist. However, many attendees brought their own makeup and costumes, turning the Cookbook section of the Barnes & Noble basement into a B-movie horror scene. Ma said he wrote the book for everyone who goes to Lowe's and "looks at shovels as possible weapons against the undead," and after a brief reading he brought out his zombie dummy "Bob" to demonstrate the "Straicirs Technique" of circling the enemy and striking from the side. Attendants got a chance to try the technique with a variety of weapons. more ›

Brooklyn is a dangerous place. There are muggings, exploding manholes, and if you're not careful, zombies. And for those of us who have no idea how to defend ourselves in the increasingly inevitable zombie apocalypse, Roger Ma is here. Taking the sage advice "In times of peace, prepare for war," the Brooklyn native has assembled a handy guide, The Zombie Combat Manual, for any lay person wondering what the best short-range weapon would be most effective in hand-to-zombie combat. It includes a full conditioning manual, guides to different weapons, and even witness reports detailing zombie attacks and battles. The book is mostly a gag, but is surprisingly powerful, with stories of life on the front line that parallel any other wartime narrative. Ma talked to us about the impending zombie threat and his favorite bagel place. Hopefully never the twain shall meet. more ›

Last week, the zombies were out in full force for the opening of the Woody Harrelson zombie movie Zombieland. Apparently they didn't get enough, because they were in Union Square for another Zombie Crawl—obviously they are practicing for Halloween or just want to get some more mileage out of their costumes. more ›

With the month in which we celebrate All Hallows Eve upon us, a bunch of New Yorkers got a head start on ringing in the arrival of October by making themselves up as zombies and descending upon the center of the city. The Zombie Walk was a promotional event sponsored by the new movie , the film that was apparently so intense to shoot that Woody Harrelson got a TMZ photographer confused with one of the zombies he had fought after it had wrapped. more ›

Woody Harrelson says that he had some unsavory characters on the brain when getting into an altercation with a TMZ photographer at a local airport earlier this week—zombies. The cameraman is accusing Harrelson of breaking his equipment and hitting him after he was following the actor and his daughter out of a terminal at La Guardia. Harrelson released a statement about the incident saying, "I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character. With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie." CNN points out that in the film, Harrelson plays "the most frightened person on Earth" looking for refuge from zombies. A Port Authority spokesman said, "We're looking into this allegation and if it's warranted, we'll turn it over to the proper authorities." Harrelson is a longtime advocate for the legalization of marijuana. more ›

If you were on the streets of Manhattan yesterday and managed to get back home with your brains in tact, count yourself lucky--ZombieCon had rounded up quite a few zombies for a run around Wall Street, Macy's and other points. (Weekend subway service is not too slow for the undead.) more ›

No need to wear your Sunday best (or even comb your hair) today, just roll out of bed and channel your inner-Zombie. Starting at 4 p.m. the NYC Zombie Crawl will take over Williamsburg:

What better way to scare all those McCarren Park sun-bathers (who will still be in tight black jeans) then by dressing up like a zombie in the middle of spring, imbibing some mid-day booze, and tromping through the neighborhood. more ›