Posted By John Sears on February 4, 2012

I can’t say I’ve kept up on Transformers as much as my kid-self would’ve liked. (Man I loved that Sky Lynx toy. A part of me always will)

Still, via reading the webcomic Shortpacked! I still get a dose of Transformers from time to time, and indirectly, that’s how I discovered that the latest Transformers series, entitled ‘Transformers: Prime‘ involves the reanimated dead.

Well, reanimated dead robots. Zombots?

At any rate, they are not depicted favorably. In fact, they’re even called ‘Terrorcons’, which I feel is below the belt:

Born from dead Transformers infused with Dark Energon, the Terrorcons are Megatron’s greatest asset—an undead army under his thrall. Each is powerful and relentless in its own right; en masse, their persistence and Dark Energon they radiate can sap the strength of their Autobot prey until they can pull it down and tear it apart. Thankfully, they are not invulnerable. Energy blasts of sufficient force can deter them, though the best method is to use bladed weapons to slice them to pieces—the smaller the better—as the Dark Energon charge cannot sustain itself within the smaller, disparate components.

I am shocked and appalled at the grotesque violence and also the Anti-Zombie editorializing in the Wiki writeup. Really? ‘the smaller the better’?

For shame.

Apparently bashing the Undead in the Transformers universe/meta-universe has a long and sad history, which the Transformers Wiki goes over in great detail. For literally decades, ‘Transformers’ has been defaming and demeaning the Differently Animated, both human and sentient robot alike.

All this with shows that are primarily aimed at young, impressionable children.

Truly reprehensible.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Anime or Manga, Anti-Zombie Products, Television

Posted By John Sears on February 4, 2012

I really don’t have a lot to say about ‘Revelations’ at this point; the ZRC doesn’t own a 3DS, which is apparently not as uncommon as Nintendo would like, and the old marketplace of ideas is pretty flooded right now with RE titles, remakes, HD releases and the like.

Still, for a summary of the game’s, ahem, selling points and an unfortunate typo on the box art, Anime News Network can hook you up.

The game itself comes out next week, I guess. Poor virtual, and now 3D, Zombies.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Videogames, What's Up with Japan?

Posted By John Sears on February 3, 2012

We’ve talked about ‘Zombie Bohemia’ here on the ZRC blog before, and expressed both our hopes and reservations about the concept. We’ve also been worried by previous behind-the-scenes type updates that pushed the blood and gore rather hard.

Well, a couple of updates were shared with the ZRC on facebook by none other than the director, Vince Brando. First, an interview with the Horror News Network, which is a mix of the good and the bad. For example, inspiration came from observing the late night inhabitants of Grand Central Station in NYC, who, apparently, seemed like Zombies because they were potentially violent and dangerous:

So there we sat, all night, watching some interesting folks shuffle around us. After we overheard the fifth or sixth person comment loudly about stabbing someone we thought it best not to actually fall asleep. We began talking about a much more comfortable topic, of course that being film.

…

I believe it was Chris who said that we could benefit from the opportunity of being able to observe this true New York grit in its natural environment. At about that moment I realized that the people surrounding us looked, acted and were probably just as dangerous zombies.

That’s obviously very troubling. Why should all Zombies be seen as dangerous threats?

Then there was this:

I’m lucky in the fact that whoever voices a negative opinion of our film will be promptly dismembered by my Zombie.

So you can understand our wariness.

The interview, however, balances things by talking extensively about the need to make the Zombie artist lead a character and not just a menacing figure:

In preproduction I originally had been told by a few folks outside the production that the zombie should be big and overpowering to scare the hell out of people. As usual, I did just the opposite having Will who is like seven feet tall play Anton and Shawn who is not nearly as tall play Michael the Zombie.

As I said, a real mixed bag. It’s definitely a movie the ZRC is looking forward to seeing.

If you want to see it ahead of us, ‘Zombie Bohemia’ will be included in the DC Independent Film Festival and may, according to Brando, be in the Chicago Fear Fest (which would be great for the ZRC, we could probably catch it there).

I wonder if our friends at The Dark Carnival Film Festival would be interested in screening it later this year? They are open for submissions (hint hint).

For now, we can also share with our readers a teaser trailer for ‘Zombie Bohemia’. Enjoy:

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Movies

Posted By John Sears on February 2, 2012

We’re on ‘Don’t Use the Zed Word’ watch today here at the ZRC, and here’s another example: ‘Zombie’ Properties, that is to say, real estate developments that fell through during the financial crisis and are now seeing some redevelopment prospects:

‘Zombie’ properties on Staten Island get a life

…

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The apartment building with its glass balconies and its skyline views at the corner of Richmond Terrace and Nicholas Avenue may look more like a lost opportunity than the promise it once held as part of the North Shore’s rebirth.

…

Neighborhood residents are hopeful that new ownership means an influx of people who will contribute to the North Shore’s up-and-coming hipster vibe — which finds expression in trendy restaurants, renovated storefronts, a minor league ballpark, a theater that attracts marquis names and a redeveloped home port on its way, all within walking distance of the ferry.

Minor point: I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be ‘marquee’ names. A Marquis is a nobleman, and the Maquis were French resistance fighters in World War II.

Grammar aside, the article makes no mention of Zombies aside from the title and the obvious implication: anything decomposing, but newly thought valuable, is, I dunno, rising from the grave somehow, and therefore like a Zombie.

I don’t really get that. If we extend the idea of Zombiism that far any sort of salvage, resale, used goods or found art is ‘Zombie’ material. Moreover, unlike many cases of Don’t Use the Zed Word, the article itself doesn’t make any Anti-Zombie jibes or jokes. It just lets that title float out there, collecting google interest.

Which I suspect was the point all along. Shame on them.

The actual article is far more about Hipsters and attracting them to an area, presumably because it’s thought that they have lots of disposable income? No offense, Staten Island, but would anyone with a lot of money drink PBR? Just asking.

Meanwhile we still have this largely unZombie article to deal with. Sigh.

Get back to the ZRC when we have, I dunno, a nifty Zombie themed apartment building or something. Ok, Staten Island?

Ok.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Don't Use the Zed Word

Posted By John Sears on February 2, 2012

The ZRC isn’t going to field a lot of commentary on the Republican Presidential Primaries, at least not at this stage; to our knowledge none of the candidates has taken a position particularly pro or Anti-Zombie Rights.

This isn’t stopping some political wags from trying to bring Anti-Zombie rhetoric into the race though. Case in point: The Huffington Post made this video comparing the repeatedly resurgent campaign of Newt Gingrich to various Anti-Zombie movies:

Brother.

Leaving aside the questionable taste of including so much, well, actual violence in a video about a Presidential hopeful, can we just say that the Zombie Rights Movement doesn’t appreciate this mainstreaming of Anti-Zombie violence into political dialogue?

This is no way to discuss the issues, and don’t think we’re unaware of your not-so-sly attempt to mock Mr. Gingrich by comparing him to a Zombie (as if that’s a bad thing), HuffPo.

For shame. Really. For shame.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Don't Use the Zed Word, Politics

Posted By John Sears on February 1, 2012

Last year I worked for some time on a secret project, one which I kept even from you, dear readers and Zombie Rights allies, but am now happy to disclose: I have formally set out on a quest to help take our advocacy of Undead Equality to the next level by becoming a lawyer.

Specifically, a lawyer specializing in Zombie Rights.

Why, you might be asking yourself, go into law? Well, as we’ve documented extensively here on the blog over the last year, Zombie Rights as an issue is gradually becoming more mainstream. Zombie Rights rallies, once unheard of events, are now not uncommon. Zombie Friendly tv shows, movies, even videogames are becoming more commonplace, and society is questioning, at least in a hesitant fashion, the constant dehumanization of the Undead in the media.

Madison’s current Mayor Paul Soglin campaigned for the Zombie Vote last spring.

As this occurs we’re seeing two very noteworthy trends. First, Zombies and their advocates are moving the forum used to call for change increasingly into the world of politics and the law. Our Zombie of the Year for 2011, Hannah Eiseman-Renyard, for example, has been carrying on a mighty struggle to get the UK courts to recognize that ‘Shambling While Zombie’ is not, and should not be, a criminal offense. (A very worthy goal)

Second, we’re seeing considerable backlash from the establishment to this bold step forward. One need look no further than our story last week about the vindictive persecution of potentially Undead voters in South Carolina, where an actual elected official said this:

“We must have certainty in South Carolina that zombies aren’t voting.”

Unbelievable? Sadly, it’s reality. Zombie Rights is moving into the halls of power but those same halls are full of devoted followers of Max Brooks and Robert Kirkman, and they are not going to give up without a struggle.

Anticipating these trends to some degree, and reacting as they occurred, last year I decided it was time to go back to school and gain the education I would require to help push Zombie Rights into the 21st century. I studied hard, took the LSAT in late October and applied to my law school of choice, UW-Madison, a very highly regarded school with an emphasis on law in the public interest, which seems like a perfect match to the needs of our burgeoning movement.

A few weeks ago I got my answer: I’ve been admitted, and will start in the fall of 2012.

What does this mean for the Zombie Rights Campaign? Well, first of all I will hopefully be taking on a new title in 2015; President and Chief Legal Counsel maybe. Don’t worry, I won’t be using billable hours with the ZRC.

Secondly, it may mean a decrease in our travel and convention appearances starting this fall, at least until I get the hang of academia again.

But thirdly, I hope it positions us well to move into the bold new future of Zombie Rights, where a case for the equal and just treatment of the Differently Animated is made in the streets, certainly, and in art and literature as well, but also in the courts and those pesky halls of power.

Zombie Rights protests: still an essential form of dialogue with the public.

The Movement needs legal representation, and I hope to proudly serve in that role.

Because Zombies need lawyers too.

Category: ZRC News | No Comments »
Tags: Social Justice

Posted By John Sears on February 1, 2012

Ok, so I’m not really *that* old. Nevertheless it was my birthday over the weekend, and as I said on twitter, upon reaching the advanced age of 30 I feel a certain kinship with our Mummy allies in the broader Undead Rights movement. Time stretches off into infinity, my misspent youth is in the distant past. Tragically some of it was spent playing Anti-Zombie videogames and watching Romero movies, but I assure you those days are long gone. Well, the ones where I enjoy it I mean.

Those poor Zombies.

Meanwhile I’ve been trying to line up a necromancer, since I’m getting to the point I’ll probably need one, but Baron Mardi’s rates are just extortionate. Would it be unethical to ask for a ZRC discount?

We did give him a shiny (well-earned) certificate. Though, do I even want a discount reanimation?

At any rate, here’s to the next decade and the continued struggle for Zombie Rights.

Category: ZRC News | 2 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By John Sears on January 28, 2012

This story saddened us a lot here at the ZRC, and I struggled with how to respond. It’s not every day that prominent politicians come out and explicitly state their intention to deny an entire community of American citizens their basic rights after all.

Yet that is precisely what we’ve seen this week from South Carolina:

But to hear some Republican officials tell it, you’d think that on Election Day in South Carolina, graveyards all across the state empty out and hordes of zombie voters lurch to the polls.

But dead people can’t vote. They’re dead.

…

Before the hearing, Horry County GOP Rep. Alan Clemmons, who led the hearing, said, “We must have certainty in South Carolina that zombies aren’t voting.”

Absolutely unbelievable, isn’t it?

Some background here: recently in South Carolina there’s been heated debate over a Voter ID measure which, similarly to the Wisconsin measure the ZRC opposed early in 2011, could be expected to pose an undue hardship upon the Differently Animated population. However, *unlike* in Wisconsin, voter-related laws in the Deep South have to be approved by the Feds because of federal civil rights legislation, so the bill is apparently on hold as of now.

Thus the bill’s supporters have been holding hearings about the ‘menace’ posed by voter fraud (which largely doesn’t exist according to the academic research), and at those hearings they’ve let slip one of the real reasons behind the proposed law: to stop the Undead from participating in the democratic process. Hence the above quote from Living Supremacist Rep. Alan Clemmons, who is unafraid to wear his Anti-Zombie prejudice on his sleeve.

The bill’s supporters have even got a list, allegedly of the names of ‘dead’ people who are voting, and in true McCarthyist fashion they’re going around touting the list to spread fear; fear of Zombies. The problem for the bill’s backers is that most of the people on the list aren’t dead OR undead, but alive, and on said list erroneously:

The reliability of that data, however, came into question today during another hearing on the issue where State Election Commission director Marci Andino testified that some of the voters the DMV data said were dead are very much alive – and were eligible to cast a ballot.

So in South Carolina we currently have a situation where the state Republicans, pushing a Voter ID bill, use the spectre of Zombies voting (as if that would be a bad thing!) to scare up support, and their Democratic rivals try to prove that the Zombies aren’t actually Undead, rather than defend the right of the Undead to vote in the first place.

It’s an ugly situation all around. Literally no one is speaking up for the rights of the Undead in South Carolina.

Times like these I wonder about the need for a Zombie political part to complement our work here at the ZRC.

We’ll keep you posted on this outrageous story as it develops.

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Social Justice

Posted By John Sears on January 27, 2012

Anime News Network brings us the latest tidbits on upcoming Anti-Zombie ‘games’ from our trading partners across the Pacific:

The Onechanbara games started off in the Simple 2000 series, essentially the PlayStation 2 equivalent of Roger Corman’s trash-cinema studios. And like the rare B-movie that hit it big, Onechanbara rose from its budget-label origins on a tide of zombie-slaying violence and underdressed heroines. Heck, it even became a film itself. This brings us to Kagura, the latest in the series and the first game to turn the tables.

…

The two new heroines use various methods of dicing their way through mindless undead hordes. Kagura gets two different sword attacks and a boomerang, while Saaya has a chainsaw, spiked gloves, and a morning star. The vampire element isn’t just window dressing, either, as Kagura and Saaya can heal themselves by gathering up their lost blood. They’re also able to do extra damage and gain new moves by vampirically draining bosses. Aside from these extra features, Onechanbara Kagura Z aims for the guilty, graphic pleasures of slaughtering dozens of monstrous creatures with each level, and there’s a two-player mode that divides the screen. The design of it all isn’t particularly novel, but one expects that from a series that was accurately called Bikini Zombie Slayers by its North American publishers.

Mindless? The Zombies are the mindless ones in, ahem, ‘Bikini Zombie Slayers’?

Somehow that doesn’t add up for us here at the ZRC. Tawdry and violent is no way to go through life, Japan.

On the other hand there’s a promising title featuring the Differently Animated coming out as well:

Many games explore the idea of immortality: Chakan, Lost Odyssey, and, technically, anything with an invincibility code. NeverDead goes one better, though. It follows Bryce, a demon hunter cursed in the distant past by a monstrous overlord named Astaroth (no relation to the Soul Calibur one). Their run-in leaves Bryce’s wife dead and Bryce himself a vengeful immortal, as these things often go. Some five centuries later, Bryce is the midst of a demon rampage in a modern city, and he still can’t die. But he can detach his body parts without much trouble.

Yes, ‘NeverDead’ has a protagonist who cannot conventionally die, it seems, and dismembers himself at will, putting parts back on when it’s convenient. Reminds me a bit of Reg Shoe, actually, who puts the mission first and then gets to sewing on anything that fell off along the way.

What a guy.

So in addition to ‘Lollipop Chainsaw’, which we covered here on the ZRC blog, Japan is giving us ‘Onechanbara Kagura Z’, a gruesome exercise in titillation, and ‘NeverDead’, which features an arguably Differently Animated protagonist?

Hmm. I guess it’s a step toward some balance in the Japanese game industry, anyway.

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Videogames, What's Up with Japan?

Posted By John Sears on January 27, 2012

Gizmodo approvingly writes up a bizarre and almost-hilariously-impractical Anti-Zombie weapon modification, hilarious that is except that some gun-toting survivalist nerd will probably try to use it for real on a poor, innocent Zombie:

The zombie fad will soon be as old and tired as steampunk, but ridiculous creations like this electric chainsaw accessory designed to hang off the front of an AK-47 can still coax a smile out of me.

The Zombie-X rifle was created by DoubleStar as a more effective tool for dealing with the imaginary apocalypse of the undead that’s never going to happen. The most notable addition to the modified AK-47 is a battery-powered electric chainsaw mounted to the business end of the rifle for imaginary melee attacks.

Excuse us, Gizmodo? ‘Zombie fad’? Zombies aren’t a fad, they’re a long-suffering oppressed minority group, and we wish you’d stop trying to reduce their diverse culture and community to some ephemeral impact on the zeitgeist.

Zombies are people too.

That being said, this electric chainsaw thing is ridiculous on any number of levels, not the least of which is the electric part. Seriously? So you’re expecting to have regular recharging sessions for this glorified toy while you’re on the run from the ‘Undead hordes’ during a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’?

Then there’s the matter of spraying blood and gore all over a gun, which has, you know, moving parts to clog with your unfortunate victims’ remains. This is an AK-47, sure, but even those legendarily reliable firearms will probably jam when you spray a bunch of bone and hair and gore over everything and down the barrel.

Much as I hate to admit it, Max Brooks, evildoer that he is, had a point when he stated, infamously, that ‘Blades don’t need reloading’. It’s true, unless your blade is a chainsaw, in which case it does, and an electric chainsaw, in which case it needs an outlet and some downtime for said reloading.

Survivalist nerds. They’d be funny if they weren’t such a threat to the innocent Undead population trying to go about their daily Unlives.

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Anti-Zombie Products