ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

A class to die for: Zombies 101 at University of Baltimore

BALTIMORE

Call it Zombies 101.

The University of Baltimore is offering a new class on the undead.

The course is being taught by Arnold Blumberg, the author of a book on zombie movies, “Zombiemania,” and the curator of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which focuses on American pop culture.

Students taking English 333 will watch 16 classic zombie films and read zombie comics. As an alternative to a final research paper they may write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks.

The university isn’t the first to have a class on the undead. Columbia College in Chicago has offered a course on zombies in popular media for years, and at Simpson College in Iowa students spent the spring semester writing a book on “The History of the Great Zombie War.”

Using Che Guevara image riles some Cuban Americans

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

Some Cuban Americans in south Florida are upset to see a picture of revolutionary Che Guevara promoting an irreverent car race.

The “24 Horas de Cuba del Norte” — or 24 Hours of Cuba of the North — is part of a national circuit of farcical auto races called 24 Hours of LeMons. Drivers spend less than $500 and race junk cars decorated like Halloween floats.

Other races in the circuit have names such as “The Can’t Get Bayou” in New Orleans and “The Rod Blagojevich Never-Say-Die 500” in Chicago.

But the use of Cuban revolutionary Guevara’s image in the Dec. 30-31 race’s logo crosses the line for some native Cubans. Critics say it’s like using Ku Klux Klan imagery to advertise in the South.

Race organizers say they don’t plan to change the campaign.

For Cleveland Clinic patients, hospital gowns get stylish

CLEVELAND

Designer Diane von Furstenberg helped the Cleveland Clinic come up with a more stylish hospital gown without the peek-a-boo back.

The gown, with the clinic’s logo printed on the fabric, features side ties. That eliminates the embarrassing open-back look that got unwanted attention in the hospital corridor.

The fabric was chosen to address a concern by most patients, one the clinic found surprising: that they were too warm in the hospital.

So the material had to be lightweight enough to be cool, but tough enough to withstand frequent laundering and having monitors and drains pinned to it.

Associated Press