I find this troublesome

What you should find more troublesome is that Runner was also the best Zombie movie of the 70s. Check out the final scene of him weaving to the finish. All the scene needed was a victim and it would have been the best zombie movie of all time.

I saw that movie many years ago, and saw it again very recently. As the previous poster suggested, the final segment of the movie, with Michael Douglas staggering to the finish line like a zombie from the "Thriller" video, was truly remarkable. Overall, a dreadful movie.

It's time for zombie discrimination to end. With the box office success of Zombieland and proliferation of the living dead in literature such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Zombie Haiku, you'd think people would view my resurrected brethren more favorably. Sadly, quite the opposite is true, as reanimated corpses are categorically depicted as brainless cannibals hellbent on macabre mayhem.

This is a stereotype, people, a rotten stereotype and this kind of blatant discrimination needs to end. The word zombie itself is a life-ist slur; Reanimated-American is the preferred nomenclature. The Z-Word is used routinely by the media to dehumanize the resurrected dead, while also finding a place in our lexicon as a synonym for mindless drone. Just because Christianity demands blind obedience and discourages free thought doesn't give you the right to name call.

Maybe take a second to think how your Lord and Savior, who also happens to be a reanimated corpse and who has reanimated others (I'm looking at you, Lazarus and Jairus' daughter), might feel about having my kind depicted so barbarically.

And it's a myth that the resurrection of the dead propagates from a rampant virus or radiation or other horrible pestilence. Ever stop to think maybe the dead rose by childlike faith? Just a thought, jerk-offs.

And need I remind you that at the end of days, you will all rise as zombies. No amount of shotguns, chainsaws, or boarded-up windows can save you from your fate, so you better start cleaning up your act now and treat us with a little respect. That means you, Woody Harrelson.

^^^

I heart UncleB

Now for some really disturbing stuff from a non imposter:

"Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had a somewhat more frank piece of advice for Americans – the government really doesn’t care what you think and isn’t going to end the war no matter how unpopular it gets."

"Dozens of activists, including the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War, were arrested Thursday at the White House as they protested the Afghanistan conflict and defended WikiLeaks."

"Speaking to reporters shortly after his release today in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange insisted he wasn’t particularly concerned about a possible extradition to Sweden, but rather was extremely worried about being sent to the United States.

Sweden is the one seeking his extradition at the moment, but reports suggest the Obama Administration is already in talks with the Swedes about the possibility of “acquiring” Assange.

Exactly what he could be charged with in the United States is unclear, though there are rumors of a grand jury secretly empaneled to investigate him. With a number of officials openly calling for his execution, however, Assange clearly would just as soon not find out what they might try to charge him with.

The Administration continues to insist that Assange is “not a journalist” and therefore that freedom of the press doesn’t apply to him. This doesn’t appear to have any actual basis in US law, but with officials salivating at the prospect of “acquiring” Assange and putting an end to the embarrassing leaks, this may be at best a sidenote."

You ever get the feeling we are "Back in the USSR"?

You write like an ahole

9:19

Yeah, this has to be the funniest stuff I've seen in a while. Almost as funny as crab lady.

"Running" is usually picked as the worst running-related movie of all-time on polls of such things.

Wow, from what I can see in that youtube link, it looks like a terrible movie. He slips and falls and awakens 2 hours (or whatever) later as a zombie? HA!

OMG, it has Eugene Levy in it too? I am 30 and have never heard of this movie. i am going to get it today on Netflix.

never mind, Netflix doesn't even have it. WTF is with this movie?

CousinB wrote:

The Administration continues to insist that Assange is “not a journalist” and therefore that freedom of the press doesn’t apply to him. This doesn’t appear to have any actual basis in US law, but with officials salivating at the prospect of “acquiring” Assange and putting an end to the embarrassing leaks, this may be at best a sidenote."

It is 1984. Words mean whatever they want them to mean.

Eugene Levy wrote:

OMG, it has Eugene Levy in it too?

Indeed it has. Guess SCTV wasn't enough to pay all the bills at the time.

OP-- thanks for dredging this up. Cheesily awesome!

But think of it this way: running and the marathon (hard and to your full potential, no less!) actually was in the American conscience enough that TV and movie studios made efforts to showcase it, as awful as these flicks were.

Another dandy is the made-for-TV "Marathon", which starred Bob Newhart and provided paychecks for some of the B- and C-list stars of the day: Herb Edelman, Dick Gautier....

Damn. I even read the book.

I'm such a loser.

Apologies: should be "consciousness," not conscience.

A Brit wrote: I'm such a loser.

]

No argument here.

Roger Ebert wrote:

So, I am watching the 1979 movie "Running" starring Michael Douglas who qualifies to run the marathon on behalf of the US in what I gather to be the 1976 summer olympics. Even if it is just a fictional Olympics games, aren't they conducted in the summer?

The marathon is run in Montreal, and there is a scene where he is running up Mont Royal (the day before the marathon, mind you...but that is not what bugs me). As he runs through the park, leaves (those that are still on the trees) are all the wonderful colors of...autumn.

Welcome to the Autumn Olympics Michael!! A total anachronism if I ever say one. My god this annoys me. The fact I am annoyed by this and not the terrible acting or plot annoys me more.

The filmmakers were very cleverly and subtly preparing us for the 1988 Olympic Marathon, which was held in early October.

Some of my teammates and I saw this fine flick in the theater. Even in our first season of cross country, we had several instances of "wait a minute--no way would it happen like that."

Of course it would have been cooler if the movie had inspired us to start running to school with ties as headbands.

Roger Ebert wrote:...the 1979 movie "Running" starring Michael Douglas...My god this annoys me. The fact I am annoyed by this and not the terrible acting or plot annoys me more.

Then I would suggest you not watch either of the Prefontaine movies. Talk about multiple inaccuracies. Didn't one of them go as far as to suggest Prefontaine injured himself in an acrobatic sex romp?

We are in the USSA, and the USSA has no money left.

You ever watch those old cartoons, where somebody runs off a cliff, keeps going for a few feet, then looks DOWN, realizes there is no ground under them, and falls like a rock?

That's America, baby.