Here are a few things you should know about zombies:

the way to kill them is via blunt trauma to the head, or destroy their brain; they don’t talk; they don’t have a consciousness; and I Am Legend was a really crappy zombie movie. This is all, of course, coming from zombie aficionados Robert Klem and Edu Cerro, two thirty-something tattoo artists who work at Samuel O’Reilly’s Tattoo Parlour on the Westside of Santa Cruz. The two men, plus their other tattoo artist

Kubo's world of assemblage

I highly recommend that if you can sequester yourself away with Lucien Kubo and hear her talk about the atrocities of war, life as a Japanese American, and how both things relate to her artwork, it will be a meeting well worth your time.

The wax artist takes over the walls of Lulu's

Pretentious he’s not. Ask 35-year-old artist Ben Hecht what his artist statement is, or what’s the point of his work, or some other abstract artist question, and he might just shrug his shoulders, smile, and say, “I don’t know.” And that is incredibly refreshing. He’s not caught up in the overly analyzed and thoroughly confusing verbiage that some artists use to explain their work, and hence, one can relate to him—and understand him. Hecht brings new light and a fresh perspective to a generation of young artists. “I make it (art) intentionally ambiguous,” Hecht says.

The Santa Cruz trio of lady troublemakers proves its TV show is still rad

Her book explores what she calles "The Middle of Somewhere"

She’s known for laughter, not literature. But that’s all about to change this month as local actress, improviser and co-owner of The Fun Institute, Clifford Henderson, releases her first published novel. The book, “The Middle of Somewhere,” by the small publishing company, Bold Strokes Books, is a story of a lesbian woman finding her way in life. Henderson will speak about her book at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29 at Bookshop Santa Cruz; her novel sells in local bookstores.

The waterproof artist finds her spot in the camera lineup

"Hi, I want to do surf photography. I don’t have any gear ... What do I need to do?” Armed with a casual portfolio of shots she’d taken of friends with an old Minolta during down time as a marine biology major, Nikki Brooks said this to the prominent Larry “Flame” Moore, former photo editor of Surfing magazine, back when she unceremoniously knocked on his door without an appointment in 2003. Moore, ever intuitive, welcomed the audacious 24-year-old into his office for a chat and ultimately became Brooks’ treasured first mentor.

The author of 'The Hour I First Believed' talks about coping with bestseller stardom.

A number of years ago I came to believe that Wally Lamb was one of today’s great storytellers. I knew of the hubbub surrounding his second Oprah Book Club novel, “I Know This Much Is True,” and taking a chance, I cracked it open to see if it lived up to the hype. It did. Then I went back and read his first novel, “She’s Come Undone.” Again, the rave reviews were accurate. Now, in 2008, Lamb’s third novel hits bookstores. Curiously titled, “The Hour I First Believed,” the read is full of rich and complex characters and plenty of heart-wrenching storylines. It also uses Columbine High School in Colorado as a backdrop to the story. Quite simply, the book is pageturner. It chronicles a troubled couple, Caelum and Maureen Quirk, who both work for Columbine High School. Maureen is onsite the day the horrific shootings take place and the tale story follows the duo as they reel from the tragedy. GT recently caught up with Lamb, who heads to Bookshop Santa Cruz at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6.

Three-dimensional artists bring art to the avenue

She may have had a highfalutin job and a six-figure income, but Marilyn Kuksht wasn’t living a fairytale. She was 40 and a senior vice-president of a bank in San Francisco. But something didn’t feel right. So she took a little time off to go scuba diving. Somewhere, floating through the deep blue, she came across a stunning site off the coast of Cozumel.

Her father would make her take showers with him when she was 6 years old. There, he would masturbate. She would go to bed at night, pull the covers over her head and play dead. Someone would climb into her bed and in the morning she would go to her fourth grade classroom with a burning

Mountain Community Theater goes to the outer limits

Miguel Reyna started watching The Twilight Zone when he was just 8 years old. His ‘assignment’ was to record the shows for his mom who worked an evening shift. For the next four years, the young Reyna became addicted. “Your mind is blown away,” he says of the popular 1960s television show. “Watching those Twilight Zones gave me the chills at a young age and really put a different lens on life for me. Up until this day, the suburbs [anywhere] look like The Twilight Zone. The show is dated in the acting and dialogue, but they it’s relevant and timeless through the stories.”