Movieline.com: What do you think it is about the [zombie] genre that’s so compelling? The vampire story is having a resurgence right now, and you can see all those elements of sex and lust and danger, but what is it about zombies that attracts such a devoted following?

Fleischer: People have written their dissertations on it—apparently, there are theories that it has [sic] to do with fear about the future. Actually, when times are tough, zombie films do well. That was the case with Night of the Living Dead which I think was '68, and obviously that was a pretty rough patch in American history. Dawn of the Dead was during the recession in the 80’s, in the Reagan era. I think people have a lot of anxiety now about the economy and the future. I don’t know what the direct correlation between zombies and the economy is, but there definitely seems to be a relationship between America doing badly and zombies doing well.

Hmmm. Any thoughts on the correlation? I've seen more than one reviewer mention the possible connections.

And how about The Invention of Lying? I know it had a rather soft opening weekend—which means it won't be around all that long—but don't overlook the possibilities with this one. Seriously. Why am I so adamant that you pay attention? Well, check out this review from CT Movies. Interesting, eh?

Top Five Television Shows (according to Nielsen TV ratings, week of September 28)
1. NCIS , CBS
2. NBC Sunday Night Football, NBC
3. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS
4. Dancing with the Stars, ABC
5. CSI, NBC

Notables: If you want to make millions of dollars, create a television show that has some combination of the letters C, I, and S in it. Because people will know your show has to do with "crime" or "crime scenes" or "investigative work" or "services" offered by law enforcement. Above all else they will know your show is about the one thing we all ache for each day of our lives: justice.

Oh—and we also ache for football and have-been stars who like to dance.

And for those keeping score at home to see which shows are worth keeping an eye on, based on early Nielsen research, here are the top five new shows of the television season. I'll let you explore the themes of these shows to figure out if there is anything you want to pursue. There are certainly some big issues being explored in these offerings—especially in the comedies that are listed, interestingly enough.

Top Five Books (according to USA Today research)
1. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
2. Have a Little Faith, by Mitch Albom
3. Arguing With Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government, by Glenn Beck
4. The Associate, by John Grisham
5. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer

Notables: The newest from Tuesdays with Morrie author Mitch Albom—Have a Little Faith—looks somewhat interesting. Check out this article and this review to find out more.

Top Five Web Searches (based on the Google Trends report for Thursday)
*Exercise caution when searching; some topics may be inappropriate.
1. obama nobel peace prize
2. lcross impact
3. nasa moon bombing video
4. lcross video
5. moon impact

Notables: President Obama won the Novel Peace Prize for "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." He is only the third sitting U.S. president to do it. Interestingly, when I was poking around CNN's coverage of the breaking story, two writers at Time have been quick to point out that this is actually bad news for the president. Simon Robinson writes: "The award…risks adding to the huge burden of expectations that Obama carried when he entered office. The reality of governing has already proved how ridiculous many of those expectations were." Nancy Gibbs adds an even tougher word on the issue, saying, "The last thing Barack Obama needed at this moment in his presidency and our politics is a prize for a promise."

The rest of this list has to do with NASA's newest moon mission.

***
As you have probably noticed, I've decided to drop the two sections on top albums and top singles. Why? For months nothing interesting has been happening. For example, consider this week's top single: Jay Sean's "Down." What can one do with that? Explore the lyrics, and this is what you will discover: As the song begins, Jay is trying to lift the spirits of some girl. She is, you know, down. In fact, her "sky is falling down," she's so down. The perfect remedy (in Jay's opinion)? "Just let it be. Come on and bring your body next to me."

In case you were wondering, Jay is not a counselor.

That's a good thing, too. Something tells me getting played by a player will fall just short of lifting a girl's spirits.

Later in the song, he also wants to make it clear to the girl that he is "down like the economy." I'm a little confused. I know that "being down" is a good thing—but down like the economy? Is the economic downturn good?

When you look at this song—and the stream of Black-eyed Peas songs that I've had to weather—do you see why I'm sort of tired of these sections of the roundup? So, here's the deal: When something comes along in the world of music that is interesting—something that is quite huge and substantive (dominating people's radios or iPods)—I will let you know. Promise. I think a wiser use of my time is to study other trends. (And this will get me out of reading lyrics that make me feel a few shades dumber.)