Posted By John Sears on September 11, 2011

This particular charitable Zombie Walk I’m not sure the ZRC could have gotten *entirely* behind since it doubled as a game launch event for notable Evil Anti-Zombie game ‘Dead Island’:

Zombies aren’t usually known for being the most charitable or fun loving monsters, but come this Labor Day, a group of zombies will be just that.

GameStop is sponsoring a “zombie walk” on Labor Day to celebrate the release of the new zombie horror video game, “Dead Island,” while raising money for a local charity, the Center for Courageous Kids.

Zombies aren’t known for being charitable? Has this Cameron Koch fellow ever read our website? Here’s a hint, Cameron, try looking at the ‘Zombies Doing Good’ tag here on the blog and rethink that position.

Also, the ‘monster’ jab really hurts feelings.

At least, as well as trying to ‘celebrate’ this awful milestone in Anti-Zombie gaming, the event was to raise funds for a good cause:

GameStop will be taking donations for the Center for Courageous Kids throughout the night, as well as having a silent auction in which all proceeds will also go to the center.

The Center for Courageous Kids is a nonprofit organization based out of Scottsville where children with medical challenges can enjoy the camp experience. The camp’s goal is to uplift children by providing memorable, fun and safe experiences at no cost to the families, according to the center’s website.

Sigh. I dunno. These days there are so many charitable Zombie Walks that you might well be able to attend one in your area WITHOUT the Living Supremacist game.

I guess it’s ok to attend events like this in the future, and maybe try some outreach amongst those waiting in line for the ‘game’.

This one was in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Labor Day. More information at the link.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Videogames, Zombie Public Event, Zombies Doing Good

Posted By John Sears on September 11, 2011

This time in Amherst, Ohio, and benefiting a food bank:

AMHERST — A zombie walk Sept. 10, where people dress in full zombie makeup and walk like zombies in Amherst, will take place to collect food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

The zombie walk is for zombies of all ages and is family-friendly.

See? It’s for Zombies of all ages and family-friendly, and collecting food for a good cause. What could be better?

Along with the food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank, there will be a LifeShare Blood Mobile as the “Vaccination Zone.”

Admission is $5 plus two non-perishable food items. The walk starts at 3 p.m.

See, that there is just wonderful icing on a Zombie Friendly cake.

The ZRC encourages LOTS of Zombies and Zombie allies to show up. Seriously; go. Take canned goods and money.

Though for the record I’m not sure Zombies can donate blood, the Red Cross is very picky about that stuff, and most Zombies don’t need blood donations per se.

More information here. Note: the organization running the Walk, or at least its Facebook page, is a bit.. retrograde on the Zombie Rights issue, or at least their messaging is.

The solution, as always, is education and outreach.

Update: Oops, due to blog error this didn’t go up as planned before the Walk. Still, keep it in mind and we hope they do it again next year!

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Zombie Public Event, Zombies Doing Good

Posted By John Sears on September 10, 2011

Sorry I didn’t have time to update much today, it was *crazy* at the Kon.

First of all, had some setup issues, then there was a huge traffic jam I got caught in running a forgotten bit of supplies there, etc. However, all in all it was a fantastic first day.

(Our mostly set-up booth. We’re hauling in more stuff tomorrow)

I must commend the good folks at Square Up; their app is wonderful and is enabling us to make lots of extra lucre, and since the larger purchases at the convention tend to be Lurch for the Cure shirts, that means more money to donate to cancer research!

We talked to a lot of people about Zombies today and had a lot of fun; all the other vendors, the ones that actually showed up? They’re great people. The guests? Also great people, even if some are suffering from unfortunate prejudice that we have to help correct.

Dr. Cancer and the SKAmbies were there, but sadly we had to leave before their late night show tonight; still, it’s good to see them out and about, doing the Undead music thing. Inspiring.

(Dr. Cancer and a SKAmbie rocking the hallways)

I’m heading to bed; tomorrow’s a long day of working hard for Zombie Rights!

Category: Zombie Media, ZRC News | No Comments »
Tags: Public Appearance, Zombie Public Event, Zombies Doing Good

Posted By John Sears on September 8, 2011

This sounds like a wildly inappropriate contest. Needless to say, I entered only for the slim chance of taking this dangerous hardware off the streets:

Little Bit Zombie To Give Away A Zombie Killing Truck

In a great promotion from the folks behind A Little Bit Zombie, they are giving their readers a chance to win the truck that is actually used within the film to celebrate the launch of A Little Bit Zombie’s Website!

That, btw, would be this obviously inappropriate website here.

All you have to do is ‘Like’ a page on Facebook. Let’s try and ensure a Zombie Ally gets this vehicle, then we can use it to drive Zombies out to protest Anti-Zombie films! It’d be, I dunno, an ironic use of the truck, as the hipsters might say.

Hipster Zombies perhaps. Who we’d totally support.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Anti-Zombie Products, Movies

Posted By John Sears on September 8, 2011

We may have mentioned the existence of this upcoming documentary before on the blog, but for those who aren’t yet aware: a documentary entitled ‘MORE BRAINS! A Return to the Living Dead’ is coming out in the near future, documenting the production and behind-the-scenes work on infamously Anti-Zombie film ‘Return of the Living Dead’.

A trailer is now available, and I think it confirms our fears that this documentary would be used to, once again, inflame tensions and spread stereotypes about the Differently Animated:

A disturbing look at a ghastly historical event, I suppose. Perhaps it will take an even-handed approach and also show the hurt inflicted on the innocent Zombie Community by the film, the misunderstanding it spread?

Doubtful, but we can hope.

Thanks to BuyZombie for informing us of these developments.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Movies

Posted By John Sears on September 7, 2011

We received a comment here on the blog recently from an ‘animelover’ who seems to have trawled our archives back for months and discovered the post covering the ‘Zombie Walk Against Walker’, a prominent and highly successful bit of political activism by the Differently Animated here in Madison last spring.

For the record, as we are very fond of pointing out, the Walk was a mainstream event attended by BOTH candidates for Mayor of Madison, and the eventual winner, Paul Soglin, issued a staunch statement of support for the Zombie Community.

Well, this seems to have upset one Peter Zimmer, apparently the owner of ‘Anime Fan Zone’, a store in Milwaukee and it seems a slated fellow vendor at Geek.kon, who supports Governor Walker and his agenda with a certain boyish enthusiasm. (We do not.)

All that is well and good, and the ZRC supports strong beliefs in the field of politics or anywhere else, and would have been more than willing to discuss these questions after-hours at the convention, or even over a beer, as seems to be Wisconsin social custom for.. just about anything really.

However, Mr. Zimmer has taken to the Geek.kon Facebook wall, defaming the ZRC, accusing us of being, amongst other things, a ‘hate group’, and demanding, in essence, that either we leave or he will and demand a full refund.

First of all: we’re not leaving, Mr. Zimmer. We signed up for this event in good faith, paid our money many months in advance in good faith, and have a signed agreement to that effect with Geek.kon. We have spent a considerable sum of money aside from booth fees on the convention preparations, taken time off from work and ordered a lot of merchandise and put a lot of effort into this show. It’s important to us, as Zombie Rights Advocates, anime fans and Madisonians. We’re also holding another installment of our charity fundraiser ‘Lurch for the Cure’ at the Con, and donating some items to Geek.kon’s own charity auction. In other words, a busy, positive weekend for all concerned, up to this point at least.

If we are requested to leave by Geek.kon management, I suppose we would have little choice but to do so.. and then sue Mr. Zimmer and his organization for damages.

I am not kidding around here. This has gone *far enough*.

Hopefully nothing else will need to be said on that ugly subject.

Otherwise we are looking forward to a fun and happy weekend interacting with Zombie Fans and conducting outreach, particularly as regards ‘High School of the Dead’. We would also like to promote the viewing of the far more Zombie Friendly ‘Kore wa Zombie desu ka?/Is This a Zombie?’, which the ZRC reviewed here and heartily approved of.

Category: Zombie Media, ZRC News | 4 Comments »
Tags: Anime or Manga, Madison Protests, Public Appearance, Social Justice, Zombie Public Event, Zombies Doing Good, ZRC Reviews

Posted By John Sears on September 6, 2011

We’ve talked about ‘Project Zomboid’ before here on the ZRC blog, but now a review of the tech demo was brought to our attention and it highlights precisely the sort of Anti-Zombie gameplay we feared:

The world as we know it has come to an end. Zombies roam the land as humans struggle to survive, not only against the flesh-eating hordes but also against one another. Gangs scour the streets, breaking into houses and stealing whatever they can get their hands on using any force necessary. It’s a grim yet imaginative concept — unlike the outright unification created in other games such as Left 4 Dead, Project Zomboid presents us with what I imagine to be a realistic simulation of a zombie outbreak, with the threat coming as much from other humans as the deceased. Oh, but don’t worry: There are zombies. Lots of them.

…

However — with a helpful yet surprisingly startling musical queue — you soon learn that this house is inhabited by your first zombie encounter, who quickly shuffles to you with one desire: brains. A quick smack with your trusty hammer, and the zombie lies dead, its own brains sprayed across the floor, walls, and door. Grab the food, then get the hell out of there. Back in the house, it’s time to cook the soup you scavenged from next door. While that’s on, your wife informs you that she got the radio working. Naturally, you go upstairs to listen to the grim news of the zombie outbreak.

Yes, it’s basically a Romero-style Survivor Barricade simulator, complete with such ‘fun’ activities as scrounging for food, treating injuries in primitive and unsanitary settings and listening to the radio.

Well, even worse, the radio news. About the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’.

Apparently you have to pay a lot of attention to the little details of daily life like cooking and tending the stove, or you can burn down the house with yourself inside, say, like the reviewer from OMGN. It’s something like ‘The Sims’, only full of Anti-Zombie prejudice.

Naturally, we disapprove here at the ZRC. Strenuously.

(Not about the soup watching part, but the Anti-Zombie part.)

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Videogames

Posted By John Sears on September 6, 2011

Sadly, this one doesn’t sound hugely Zombie Friendly:

EL PASO- If you happen to be going to Downtown El Paso tonight, don’t get scared if you see a bunch of zombies walking around.
They’re not real. They’re taking part in a launch party organized by El Paso Comic Con, which is two weeks away. The Zombie Walk is a preview of some of the entertainment you can expect to see.

Warning signs were posted everywhere at Daxie Boy Toys comic book store in West El Paso. We were in a zombie outbreak zone. This is some of what you can expect to see at the zombie walk — the undead claiming the streets of downtown.

“We kind of came up with the idea after going to San Diego Comic Con. There was people walking through downtown, dressed up like zombies and they were attacking people all in fun,” said El Paso Comic Con Organizer Julian Lawler.

Outbreak zone? An emphasis on Zombie ‘attacks’? Warning posters? See, this is not the way to promote peaceful understanding, people.

It’s too bad I found out about this afterward or I could have dispatched El Paso Cub Reporter Andrew Leal to the scene. He’s a busy scholar/thespian so more advance warning (or any, in this case) would have been essential.

I’m not enamored by what was reported here though. We need to move past the old, unfortunate prejudices and stereotyping toward a more modern, open and inclusive sort of Zombie Walk. One with fewer ‘outbreak zones’ and more outreach.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Anti-Zombie Public Event, Zombie Public Event

Posted By John Sears on September 5, 2011

Confession time: We don’t have cable here at the ZRC. I pathologically hate commercials, and between Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, Crunchyroll and many others, there’s very rarely any need to sit through one. DVDs come out faster and faster, almost on top of a television show, many are sold on iTunes as they air, and if all else fails, we do have nearby friends with an enormous flatscreen to mooch off of.

Thankfully it appears we’re missing out on absolutely nothing from MTV’s new splatter-comedy ‘Death Valley’:

Most of the writing is more obvious, and not everyone will appreciate the violence and gore, both matter of fact and joyously over the top. The sound of zombie heads being shot, clubbed and squashed is this sitcom’s equivalent of a laugh track. In one episode a story line is built around a police car that’s stuck because its wheels keeping spinning in human entrails.

In the democratic spirit of MTV, however, there’s a little something for everyone. As the grumbling cops get out to push their car off the zombie corpse, the soundtrack treats us to a Dadaist folk-punk classic, Camper Van Beethoven’s “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” now more than 25 years old. Which ties into another MTV trend: nostalgia. It’s only two months until the return of “Beavis and Butt-head.”

Grotesque Anti-Zombie violence *and* mediocre writing? Sadistic dehumanization of the Undead as a punchline?

Count us out, at least until I can rent a DVD for a formal review/condemnation.

For those who need their outrage topped up, it apparently airs on MTV, Monday nights at 10:30, Eastern and Pacific times; 9:30, Central.

You know, instead of music videos or television about music or anything else that might have been on MTV before ‘The Real World’ started its long and pathetic decline into irrelevance.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Television

Posted By John Sears on September 5, 2011

The ZRC blog previously looked at ‘A Zombie’s Day Out’, a short film by Travis Betz, and that in turn led us to a previous film by Mr. Betz also relevant to our mission titled ’4 Years’.

’4 Years’ has an interesting premise, whereby a young woman about to be Zombified left her future Zombie self a video message with various instructions on how not to ruin the big date that she had scheduled prior to being ‘infected’.

However, and tragically, it indulges in numerous vicious Anti-Zombie stereotypes, especially ones dealing with the supposed low intelligence of the Differently Animated.

I have embedded the video below; I must warn our readers that it is somewhat NSFW (not safe for work) in terms of content, although watching youtube videos at work is probably a dicey activity at any rate.

The ZRC rates ’4 Years’ as Anti-Zombie.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Movies, Youtube Mischief, ZRC Reviews