Posted By John Sears on June 8, 2013

We’ve all heard of Stubbs the Zombie, one of the few videogames ever made from an Undead perspective. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were more?

Well, there might be, if ‘Ray’s the Dead’ gets made.

The ZRC became aware of ‘Ray’s the Dead’ from this reading this article, in which one of the creators dispenses some unique insights on Zombie videogames:

“Ray’s the Dead” came from a mutual longing to see more zombie games that were actually about zombies, Chris Cobb told NBC News. Cobb co-founded Ragtag with his friend and colleague Matt Carter after they left “Stubbs the Zombie” creator Wideload Games.

“There’s no doubt that there is a tremendous amount of not only zombie games but just zombie everything these days,” Cobb said. “But, in my opinion, there aren’t really many zombie games out there at all. I mean, there are plenty of games where you just shoot the zombies. But there are very few games where you play a zombie and get to do zombie things.”

The Zombie Rights Campaign agreed heartily with this assessment; there are all too few games where you play as a Zombie *character* in this sadly Living Supremacist entertainment sector.

But we need more than Zombies as playable ciphers; we need Zombies as appealing icons of tolerance, and that, sadly, is where Ray’s the Dead falls down:

The titular protagonist of “Ray’s the Dead,” therefore, is “a notch above the rest of the zombies. He’s kind of calling the shots.” While Cobb admitted that the developers “are still figuring out what aspects of the zombies are automated,” he said that players will have to strategically position their zombies to prepare for ambushes and other types of tactical gameplay to outwit stronger human opponents.

Must… must it always come back to violence? To conflict?

*sigh*

We were so close on this one. I could almost FEEL the Zombie Friendly potential.

Sadly, since we saw the news story this post was based on, the fundraiser for Ray’s the Dead was cancelled on Kickstarter, so there is currently no way to bribe the game creators toward a Zombie Friendlier path.

The game is not cancelled, however, merely shifting development plans, so we’ll keep an eye out for future developments.

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Posted By John Sears on June 8, 2013

We have rivals on the internet, fighting for the hearts and minds of the public vis a vis the Differently Animated. The ZRC expected this, and our traditional nemeses like the Zombie Research Society are well known and understood.

But I have to admit to being blindsided by the idea of an Anti-Zombie Style blog.

A zombie invasion is inevitable. This is a fact. When the zombies attack, there will be chaos, confusion, mayhem and havoc in the streets. People will be focused on survival as well as ridding the world of these blights on society. While these activities are important, a person has to keep their mental state in mind as well. Why can’t a girl (or guy), still be fabulous while killing zombies or trying to find a cure that will rid the world of these monsters? There are many guides out there on how to survive when the zombies show up, but this is a guide on how to not only survive, but to survive in style.

Et Tu, Zombinista? ‘blights on society’? ‘monsters’? Words can hurt, we assure you, even if a particular Zombie no longer feels physical pain!

It’s a true horrorshow over at Zombinista, from posts on the best boots to stomp Zombies (ugh) to corsets as fashionable body-armor (weird). They even have their own catchy theme music (courtesy of John Anealio) to promote hatred, which is novel, if unpleasant.

Naturally, we disapprove of Living Supremacism, no matter how ‘stylish’ it might be, here at the Zombie Rights Campaign. Maybe we’re not ‘hip’, but tolerance? Tolerance goes with anything.

Category: Zombie Media, ZRC News | 2 Comments »
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Posted By John Sears on June 1, 2013

ZRC Correspondent and Pro-Zombie artist George Pfau brought us a hot tip about this bizarre (but given World War Z’s imminent release, likely to become less unusual) simulation of the Anti-Zombie end times being conducted in Nebraska, err, right now:

Among the sturdy berms of Nebraska soil piled high at Heartland Public Shooting Park, those who remain alive are hunkered down. Armed with pistols, rifles and shotguns…this is where humanity will make it’s final bid for survival.

During the long nights, the Zombie horde moves ever closer.

During the long days, the last remnants of humanity prepare their defense.

The final battle between the still-living and the undead is drawing near.

As darkness ebbs on the Cornhusker State, will you stand with us, against the hordes of flesh eaters that are mobilizing on our borders…

To be clear in case any of our readers haven’t been out in the last few days (it happens), there is NO ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ currently ongoing. Nor should one be expected; that’s just Living Supremacist. However there is an active simulation of said apocalypse going on, and guns are involved, so we suggest that Zombies in the Nebraska area take special caution for the time being.

There’s no sense in becoming a tragic statistic.

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Tags: Anti-Zombie Public Event

Posted By Jenny the ZRC Art Director on June 1, 2013

Art-and-codemonkey here: I’m tired of getting emails letting me know that spam comments are being held in the moderation queue, so I’ve hacked up the template PHP enough to stick in a CAPTCHA plugin. If anyone has any difficulties they should let us know by… well, perhaps not commenting, but the Twitter and the Facebook are always open.

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Posted By John Sears on May 25, 2013

The Zombie Rights Campaign knows how hard it can be to find a good social outing for a mixed Living/Undead crowd around Halloween. There tend to be a lot of… overly enthusiastic fans of the latest Anti-Zombie media around that time of year, and misunderstandings often result.

It can be awkward.

So we keep an eye out for promising and potentially Zombie Friendly events in the autumn, a good chance for the Differently Animated to limber up their aching, sometimes tenuously attached bones before winter’s chill sets in. Bonus points if they support any good causes.

In that vein, I think we have a winner in the Avon Zombie Walk:

IT’S OFFICIAL!!!
Our walk date is October 26, 2013 from 6-8 for the actual walk.

The purpose of AZW is to collect food for the Hendricks County Food Pantry Coalition and although we are including a lot of fun stuff, this is the main focus.

We ask the each walker bring at least 10 non-perishable food items. This is just a suggested amount. If you would like to bring more, we would appreciate it greatly. If you cannot bring that amount, we thank you for bringing what you can.

See? Open and inviting, an event where they don’t care about the color (or relative decomposition) of your skin, but how many canned goods you can haul in.

And Zombies, as we have pointed out, are often quite strong. In a good way.

There are a slew of Zombie positive events planned as well, including one we’ve never heard of before in conjunction with a Zombie event:

Fun stuff we are hoping to include are a cake decorating contest and a thriller dance. Check out the events page for exact times. In conjuction with the walk, we’d like to have a pre-walk movie and flash mob events but details have yet to be worked out.

Zombie cake decorating. Zombie cakes! Oh this could be delicious (get it?) fun. I’d love to see some Zombie cakes.

It sounds like just the sort of thing the fine residents of Avon, Indiana should get behind. For more information, they have a website and a Facebook page.

Do it for the Zombies.

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Tags: Zombie Public Event, Zombies Doing Good

Posted By John Sears on May 25, 2013

Is eating bone a Zombie behavior now? Per se? When I think about bone-gnoshing, I think hyenas or some such. I’ve never seen Zombies stereotyped as like to eat bone itself. Usually bone-chewing only comes up in the context of crunching into a skull to get at the supposedly quite tasty brain (we don’t judge).

But there are, it seems, ‘Zombie’ worms in the ocean who eat whale bone. With acid.

Which in turn makes me think more of the Alien xenomorphs…

Hmm.

At any rate:

So-called zombie worms — and yes, they actually exist — like to munch on whale bones for dinner. The creatures also use the bones for shelter. Spread throughout the world’s oceans, zombie worms are quite adept at making the bones of whales and other large marine animals look like Swiss cheese.

…

A study published in the May 1 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that rather than being “bone-drilling” worms, they’re actually “bone-dissolving” worms: The worms’ skin produces acid in large quantities to break down bones.

It’s a bit ‘Don’t Use the Zed Word’, but also fairly harmless to Living Zombie relations. Your thoughts?

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Tags: Don't Use the Zed Word, Journamalism

Posted By John Sears on May 19, 2013

Now that the school season is over it’s good to get our ducks in a row and start planning for road trips, conventions and general mischief-making on behalf of the Differently Animated. Here’s what we have so far:

When: June 21st
Where: Madison?
What: World War Z

It’s not a public event per se, but the ZRC will definitely attend an opening night screening of World War Z. And then probably drink sorrowfully, in mourning for all the innocent Zombies who lose their Unlives on screen. Out of prejudice. If it’s anything super-swanky we’ll put details on the blog. No one should drink sorrowfully alone.

When: August 30th-31st
Where: Columbus, Indiana
What: The Dark Carnival Film Festival

The ZRC has been at every Dark Carnival Film Festival, even before we were officially the world’s foremost Zombie Rights lobby, and we’ll be back this year as it moves to a new home in Columbus, Indiana.

We love picketing a new town. If you’re in the area, come out for some great movies, some probably quite offensive movies, and picketing.

When: September 6-8th
Where: Indianapolis, Indiana
What: Horrorhound Weekend

One of the biggest horror conventions in the country again returns to Indianapolis and the ZRC will be there trying to talk some sense into a very Anti-Zombie industry. As has become our custom, we will be sharing booth space with the talented Michelle Hartz, who we have heard is working on a VERY interesting new Undead-related book. I would not be surprised if you can pick up a copy at Horrorhound too.

When: Halloween
Where: Undetermined
What: Picketing! Protests! Capitalism!

We always do something on Halloween and this year will be no different. Maybe Chicago, maybe Madison, maybe a town near you? We’ll keep you updated.

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Posted By John Sears on May 19, 2013

The grueling academic year is done and we here at the ZRC are ready to work toward a brighter and more Zombie Friendly future once more! Thank you all for your patience. Every movement begins with… well, impatience really. But we still appreciate it.

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Posted By John Sears on April 19, 2013

Hi Zombie Readers. Basically Akismet has completely fallen down on the job for the last few days, so as an interim measure, to leave a comment going forward you have to have at least one comment approved by an admin first. For actual humans, Living or Undead, this will not prove terribly problematic.

This isn’t the Spambot Rights Campaign. We don’t want you, spambots. Shoo.

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Posted By John Sears on April 16, 2013

The ZRC is always delighted to see Zombies and the Living brought together in a good cause, and so we were very pleased to hear about ‘Zombie Day’ this Saturday, April 20th in the Chicago area.

I will now shamelessly post the details from their Facebook page to benefit those who have not joined the Zuckerberg hive mind.

shbury Coffee House 8695 s. archer avenue willow springs,il

yes the event is finally here!

Zombie day!
A fun filled day of haunts, horror and all around good times.
We are raising money for Arts of Life, an art program to benefit the mentally/physically disabled.

We will have vendors from every which way of the horror community coming out and helping us out. Contests are to be announced soon.
Admission is $5 and donations are greatly appreciated!

Zombie Day Schedule

10:00-11:00am Vendors arrive/setup
11:00 am Doors open
11:30 am 1st film (TBD)
1:00pm Film Break
1:30pm Best Zombie stumble Contest
1:45pm 2nd Film-Night of the Living Dead
2:15pm Film Break
2:45pm Zombie Games (Zombie Tag, etc)
3:30pm 3rd Film (TBD)
5:00pm Best Zombie Costume
5:30pm Announcement of Auction winners
5:30-6PM Cleanup
*Schedule may vary in time

Tragically the ZRC cannot attend in person; the art director will be on the Left Coast for business travel and I have a brief to write for law school that, despite my hopes, has nothing to do with Differently Animated issues.

Unlife goes on though, so YOU, dear readers, should consider attending.

Do it for the Zombies.

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Social Justice, Zombie Public Event, Zombies Doing Good