The cheers that you've been hearing may be from horror fans around the world.

It's been announced that George Romero is finally going to get to see his fourth "Living Dead" movie make it to the big screen! Written and directed by George his-own-bad-self, it'll be titled Land of the Dead. [Leaving behind the "time" theme of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.]

In this one, the zombies have overrun the world and the few people still alive are forced to live behind fortified skyscraper walls. Only now the slow-moving brainless zombies are starting to change...

The film is set to begin production in October. For full details click HERE!

Since many ZONErs are comic fans, you probably already know who Mike "Ringo" Wieringo is. For those of you who don't...

... Mike has worked for Marvel, DC and Image Comics. He also is co-creator of the Tellos comic series with writer Todd Dezago. Mike is currently teaming with writer Mark Waid on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four which continues to receive rave reviews.

What's really cool, in addition to the comic work that Mike's doing, is that he has his own website. There you'll find a bio, a gallery, and a bunch of other neat sections... but my favorite is Mike's blog which he has been updating regularly of late.

I'm about to drop him a line and let him know how much I'm enjoying his art updates. Check out his site and you may want to do the same!

Critics have praised Barry Eisler's first two novels, Rain Fall and Hard Rain, calling Japanese-American John Rain, the cynical, romantic, conscientious assassin, "one of the most memorable characters in recent thrillers."

Yeah, I'd go along with that.

In fact Eisler's two novels featuring John Rain have been some of the best novels that I've read in the last few years.

So you can imagine how much I'm looking forward to his latest, Rain Storm.

And if you'd like to take a look, just click HERE.

Bob Peak. You may not know the name but I'd guarantee you know his work.

I just spent another session at his web site [always longer than intended]. I've seen most of his paintings many times before, but there's just something about them that calls you back.

Peak was called the "Father of the modern movie poster" and I'll bet that you'll agree that at times his paintings were better than the movies they were promoting. Peak also did dozens of Time and TV Guide covers...US postage stamps... and examples of his paintings hang in the Smithsonian.

If you'd like to check out his work, click HERE. But don't be surprised if you stay a little longer than anticipated.

As most of you know, Michael Mann
and Tom Cruise are teaming on Collateral.

It's the story of a hitman [Cruise] who hires a cab driver [Jamie Fox] to drive him to five locations in one night.

What the driver doesn't know [at least at first] is that a hit is taking place at each stop.

The initial teaser trailer was released a few weeks ago, and while it looked interesting, I wasn't completely sold.

The full trailer is now available, along with some more stills from the film. I've got to admit that NOW the movie is starting to look better. The producers have to walk a thin line in how much they show though... they need to show enough to get interest up, but if they give away too much, then no one will want to see the movie.

Knowing too much can be a bad thing. If you don't believe me, just ask the taxi driver.

Since my weblog is geared towards fun stuff, I usually don't discuss politics too much. But this story was just too good not to mention.

Florida's Governor, Jeb Bush, was speaking to a group of 200 honors students and opened it up for questions. An 18 year old student asked the Governor if he could answer an FCAT Math Question.

FCAT is the test that students are required to pass in order to get a diploma. And while I think the idea of FCAT is a good one, I do have some problems with the way its implemented... but I digress.

According to the article, "the governor gave a steely grin and then stalled a bit. "The angles would be ... If I was going to guess ... Three-four-five. Three-four-five. I don't know, 125, 90 and whatever remains on 180?"

As you've probably already figured out, the answer was wrong.

Does that mean that the Governor is stupid? No. Does it mean that he shouldn't be allowed to be governor? No. Does it mean that he couldn't pass the test? No.

I don't think that we should judge a person on the basis of one test. But that's what they do with the FCAT.

July looks to be a good month for Big John Beatty.

The first issue of the two issue story in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtes is out now. Big John provided the inks over Rick Remender's pencils to Steve Murphy's story and Scott Cohn kicked in some beautiful tone work to top it all off!

I'd NEVER bought an issue of TMNT before and had it not been for the really nice job these guys did I would have let this issue sit as well. Heck, their work together is so nice, I'd have bought it even if Big J wasn't my buddy and I wasn't a fan of Rick's work. Check it out and you'll become a fan too!

And if the issue of Tales of TMNT wasn't enough, John has started his weekly blog. This time out he talks about Southern Comfort... and it ain't what you're thinking.

Finally, the Big B has started accepting commissions again. He took a few before Heroes Con and really enjoyed doing them. Click HERE if you're interested in a commission.

Like I said, July looks to be a good month for Beatty... I wonder what August has in store...

Comics Continuim has coverage of MTV's Total Request Live behind-the-scenes look at Sin City. Brittany Murphy, who plays Shelly, hosted and was joined by Sin City creator and film co-director Frank Miller, director Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. For full details click HERE.

What makes this story even cooler is that Miller came on board as co-director! And the cast they've assembled is unreal. Bruce Willis is Hartigan. Jessica Alba is Nancy Callahan. Michael Clarke Duncan is Manute. Josh Harnett is Dwight. Mickey Rourke is Marv. Bennico Del Torro, Michael Madsen, Clive Owen, and Nick Stahl also appear.

I stopped watching MTV years ago, but if they continue to provide coverage of Sin City, they've just earned back a viewer!