Posted By John Sears on August 24, 2014

What’s this, you ask? Another Zombie beer? Indeed!

First up, a note: the official name of this beer seems to be simply ’3 Floyds Collaboration’. Weird, I know. The ZRC thinks it should have been called ‘Zombies on Bikes’.

What sort of beer is it? Well, it’s a Grätzer, a Polish smoked ale. Quite a traditional brew, and a bit of an oddity all around.

Here’s New Belgium’s description:

Basically, Grätzer is a low alcohol smoked beer. Maybe a bit sour. A nice change of pace when well-executed.

The Zombie Rights Campaign has a few mixed feelings about this beer. Not the actual liquid; that’s quite good, and strongly resembles a Grätzer made by Vintage Brewing Company here in Madison, so it seems consistent with the style as well.

We’re just.. a little worried about all that brains imagery. Zombies are often painted, with a very broad brush, as brain-obsessed savages.

Then again, the ZRC uses brains in our logo, so we’d be hypocritical to deny that, in the right context, the brain as a symbol can be pro-Zombie.

Here we have a group of contented looking Zombies out for a ride on their bicycles. Not hurting anyone, not menacing anyone. Sure, they’ve brought snacks, but is that so wrong?

We’re going to give this one the benefit of the doubt and say that the ’3 Floyds Collaboration’ is also Zombie Friendly.

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Tags: Zombie Products

Posted By John Sears on August 24, 2014

Bear with us on this one for a moment.

Why is the ZRC reviewing a salsa, you might ask? Well, we’re always on the lookout for new Zombie, or Zombie-related, products, and like it or not, Zombie culture is being used to market a bewildering variety of things today in our capitalist society.

Apparently including salsa. Hence this review.

See, it’s a GREEN salsa, with a Frankenstinian (more ZC term for ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’) as mascot. Starting to feel a bit more Zombie after all.

As you can see, the jar’s ad copy does use the word ‘Monster’, but in a fairly positive way. Frontera seems to think that Zombies or other ‘monsters’ are still the sort of people you could have a good time and share some chips with.

Which is encouraging.

As for the salsa itself, well, it’s not bad. Very mild, very big on the olive flavor. Something for anyone, unless they hate green olives.

The ZRC rates this salsa as Zombie Friendly.

http://zombierightscampaign.org/images/contentratings/rating_zf_small.png

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Tags: Zombie Products

Posted By John Sears on August 15, 2014

Another day, another fine Zombie product to review here on the ZRC blog.

Only this one is…. another beer.

Hooray!

Specifically, I am talking about the ‘Blackheart’ beer from 3 Floyds Brewing Company.

Now, we know 3 Floyds makes a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ themed beer, ‘Zombie Dust’, and will get to reviewing that eventually – it’s just hard to find here in Madison.

We’ll get to it eventually.

How about ‘Blackheart’, though?

First, get a closer look at that gorgeous bottle art; this beer seems to have a very cheerful Lich as its mascot.

We approve! Beer should make the drinker happy, whether Living or Undead.

But how *is* this beer?

Well, ‘Blackheart’ is supposed to be an English IPA. Nailing down just what an English IPA is can be a bit hard, but think of a somewhat maltier, somewhat less hoppy counterpart to American IPAs.

In this respect, ‘Blackheart’ does pretty well in our humble ZRC opinion, and the high score on Beer Advocate seems to agree. It’s definitely still a hoppy beer, but very drinkable.

A little restraint can go a long way. Something we just wish Robert Kirkman could learn.

Sigh.

Back on topic, ‘Zombie Dust’ aside, ‘Blackheart seems to be taking a step, or lurch, in the right direction for 3 Floyds. Plus it’s a pretty tasty beverage!

The Zombie Rights Campaign rates ‘Blackheart’ as Zombie Friendly.

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Tags: Zombie Products

Posted By John Sears on August 15, 2014

The ZRC recently reviewed ‘Mutant’, a very 80s, very bad, very Anti-Zombie film starring Wings Hauser which was re-released with a humorous commentary track by the guys at Rifftrax.

You might think, having made one awful, slightly unusual Zombie film in the late 80s, Mr. Hauser would have been content. But apparently there was appetite for more, because ‘Nightmare at Noon’ came out shortly thereafter, and it too has been given the comedic working-over by the Rifftrax gang.

‘Nightmare at Noon’ is kind of a Zombie movie, but in many ways is more like George Romero’s lesser known carnage film, The Crazies. The unfortunate souls targeted for somehow socially acceptable violence have traits of both temporarily aggressive humans and the Differently Animated.

Still, if you’re turning literally green, seem Undead and are oppressed by The Man, the ZRC can hardly ignore your plight.

‘Nightmare at Noon’ is just as awful on the subject of Zombie Civil Rights as its predecessor ‘Mutant’, but somehow manages to be a much worse film. Getting through NaN is a hard, bitter slog, full of intense boredom. It’s easy to imagine the filmmakers felt the same way, because ‘Nightmare at Noon’ is actually three movies in one.

First, it is, as previously mentioned, a bad Anti-Zombie/Crazie film, for about the first hour.

(Mad Scientist Ahoy!)

Then, when the people behind the camera apparently got sick of shooting *that*, they started making a bad Western.

(Like Rick Grimes, But With Even Less Effective Leadership)

Finally, when the bad Western got old, they crowbarred in about ten minutes worth of a bad helicopter movie.

(Zoom Zoom Zoom!)

‘Nightmare at Noon’ is thus at least memorable for the sheer concentration and variety of its cinematic awfulness.

The Zombie Rights Campaign rates ‘Nightmare at Noon’ as Living Supremacist.

Also as Incredibly Tedious and Seriously Confused.

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Tags: Movies, ZRC Reviews

Posted By John Sears on August 6, 2014

Zombies and beer. Zombeer. Could there be a better combination? Perhaps not, so the ZRC has taken it upon itself to start finding and reviewing those Undead Lagers, those Reanimated Ales, that seem to be unearthing themselves across our planet.

First up for review in what will probably (hopefully?) be a long series of Zombie-related beers is ‘Zombie Monkie’, from the Tallgrass Brewing Company in Kansas.

Right from the start, the can gives off a pretty menacing vibe. And Tallgrass’ description of this beer is not encouraging either:

A robust porter inspired by approximately true events…
Zombie Monkie is a dark, rich porter, carefully brewed for the post-apocalyptic world to come. Crafted with lots of roasty dark chocolate and specialty malts, then inoculated with enough hops to add a floral/citrus character in the finish. It’s hardy, complex, and interesting, because you might be drinking it for a long time. Zombie Monkie…
Grab A Can. Make A Plan. Take A Stand.

Positively redolent with Survivalist rhetoric, isn’t it?

As if Zombies automatically equal apocalypse, or won’t be supporting craft brewing. Really.

The can is full of little details to flatter the paranoid sort, like its ‘Tactical Grip’ coating (read: a raised bit of paint that admittedly makes it less slippery when covered in condensation).

The art is, I guess, supposed to be menacing, but it comes across as kind of sympathetic, or cartoonishly stylized. When the ZRC brought some to a recent social gathering the host said it reminded her of Gorillaz.

Which isn’t a bad thing.

And as for the beer itself? Well, ‘Zombie Monkie’ is described as a robust porter, so think of a porter generally, and add a bit more beer. It seems to age pretty well too; I recall the first ever can I had of it, some time ago and sadly did not review then, as less interesting and flavorful.

Still, the beer’s message is pretty clear, and pretty unfriendly to the Undead.

The Zombie Rights Campaign rates ‘Zombie Monkie’ as Anti-Zombie.

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Tags: Zombie Products

Posted By John Sears on July 24, 2014

Funimation recently began streaming ‘Tokyo Ghoul’, a new anime series about the Differently Animated, and after four episodes the ZRC can give it a provisional evaluation.

Some minor spoilers below the cut, along with our thoughts.

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Tags: Anime or Manga, Television, ZRC Reviews

Posted By John Sears on July 6, 2014

We’re big backers of the Undead Right to Vote here at The ZRC. However, it is good to remember that Zombies aren’t a monolithic bloc when it comes to politics, so we were pleased to see this recent comic on the possibility of Zombie voting challenges in the future.

Not sure about that ‘conquest’ language though. Just because the world ends up Undead it doesn’t mean it was through an apocalypse!

Via our good ZRC pal Wayne West.

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Tags: Comics

Posted By John Sears on July 6, 2014

Recently, as discussed on the ZRC’s twitter, I binge reviewed all of ‘The Walking Dead’ up on Netflix, in anticipation of the upcoming release of the fourth season in August.

There are a lot of things one can say about the world of ‘The Walking Dead’. (Mild spoilers below)

–Skulls are very, very soft. Be gentle! Everyone should wear helmets. Especially the Zombies. Err, Walkers.

–The CDC has a spiffy headquarters apparently modeled after the War Room in Dr. Strangelove. There’s a lot of that going around lately though.

–Everyone is really, really bad at spotting lies. It’s a schemer’s paradise! At least until a Season Finale.

As for characters, I mostly found myself wondering why everyone trusts Shane, nobody watches Carl, and nobody tells the Governor that it’s easier to recruit people to your budding civilization if you don’t shoot them repeatedly.

And then there’s Michonne. Oh, Michonne and her magic sword. Which never chips, never needs sharpening, never even seems to need cleaning.

Still, Michonne’s pretty likable compared to the rest of the cast. She may be a paranoid, violent, sword-toting carnage machine, but at least she keeps the monologuing to a minimum.

It hardly needs to be said, but ‘The Walking Dead’ Seasons 1-3 easily earned our lowest rating, that of Living Supremacist.

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Tags: Robert Kirkman, Television

Posted By John Sears on June 6, 2014

Here at the ZRC, we like to take occasional breaks from reviewing Anti-Zombie media. As previously mentioned, we’ve been steady players of the Bioshock series for a few years now (despite the potential Zombie-adjacent nature of some of its ‘Splicer’ adversaries), but the latest full-length game in the series seemed to move firmly away from potential Undead prejudice so all was good, right?

Well, the second (and last) DLC package for Bioshock: Infinite came out recently, and during our playthrough we discovered more than a hint of Zombie-bashing:

Really? The Zombie Rights Campaign understands the potential risk and drawbacks of Necromancy better than most, but we also believe lots of people might want a slightly moldy puppy! Zombie puppies are cute. It’s a known fact.

This is where I’d say, ‘For Shame, Irrational Games’, but they’re sort of out of business now, so…

Wherever you guys end up, try to do better by the Zombies next time, ok?

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Tags: Videogames

Posted By John Sears on June 3, 2014

The Zombie Rights Campaign is getting back into reviewing Zombie (or more generally, Anti-Zombie) media products this summer, and first up is the 1984, ahem, classic ‘Mutant’ starring Wings Hauser and Bo Hopkins.
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Tags: Movies, The Internet, ZRC Reviews