When I would complain about some trivial disappointment as a child (or even a teen -- and, really, disappointments at that age never feel as trivial as they are), my mother would say, "Well, it's not the end of the world." Fortunately, she didn't live to see contemporary pop culture.

You may have to walk through the Valley of Death to reach a better place, but live like a zombie long enough and you might wish you'd made that walk. It took me 29 years to do it. It ain't no easy thing. But it's hard being a zombie.

"Shadow Walk" follows a team of soldiers, a priest and a scientist into a mysterious portal where the characters must confront their fears -- and establish whether they've stumbled onto a gateway to hell.

What is happening in the real world is a WHOLE LOT scarier than zombies taking over the planet. Which seems unlikely. The death of the oceans seems to be very likely.

I thought it was a fad, and it would die out. I was wrong. Zombies don't die, and neither does our fascination with them. All this leaves the unanswered question: why?