Posted By John Sears on July 10, 2011

We had another fantastically productive day at the North American Discworld Convention! Some highlights of the last two days:

–Yesterday Death came up to us (in costume) and jokingly complained about Zombies: ‘TALK ABOUT A REVOLVING DOOR!’
–Also yesterday, a young boy asked us what we were doing and we explained our noble Cause, to which he assented. We love youth outreach.
–Today, the Art Director talked to a little girl about Zombies, and she said that, ‘Zombies can sometimes go a little cuckoo but they’re not BAD!’ We could not agree more, little girl. Everybody has bad days, Zombies included. Let’s all be a little less judgmental.
–Attending the Maskerade tonight we saw some funny acts and skits. I may have some video to upload later.

Here are a few pictures from today. Time to get some sleep. Night all!

(I want this shirt!)

(A golem addresses the crowd this evening. Note: The ZRC supports the Unalive as well as the Undead)

Category: ZRC News | No Comments »
Tags: Books, Public Appearance

Posted By John Sears on July 9, 2011

We had a great time at the Convention today! Sold a bunch of merch, our shirt supplies are just devastated, we will reorder this weekend but it should take a couple of weeks to be back at full strength. Wristbands are getting low too!

Such fun. Plus we raise money for Lynn Sage that way and we have been doing serious outreach. It’s a real thrill.

I will be livetweeting some more from the con tomorrow, but here are some pictures to show you the festive atmosphere of Zombie Friendliness!

(our booth at the con, and on the left you can see our newest print, which I shall put images of up on the site soon)

(this is a very literate convention)

(Very Zombie Friendly place, did I mention?)

(Signs are up all over the place)

(aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! it’s almost Lovecraftian!)

That’s about it for the first day; I’m crashing so we can do it all over again tomorrow, Z-Rights fans!

The full set is at Flickr here.

Category: Zombie Media, ZRC News | No Comments »
Tags: Books, Public Appearance, Zombie Public Event

Posted By John Sears on July 8, 2011

We are all set up in the vendor space and selling merchandise/giving away literature and information about Zombies and their need for rights to all who come by!

Speaking of, come by! We’re friendly.

Category: ZRC News | No Comments »
Tags: Public Appearance

Posted By John Sears on July 8, 2011

The ZRC will be at the North American Discworld Con for the next four days, which is one of the longest con sessions we’ve ever been to!

It is located at the lovely Concourse Hotel in downtown Madison about, oh, a block and a half from the Capitol. We’re on the first floor behind the grand staircase in the vendor room, so feel free to stop by and chat or buy things.

Yes, buy things. Many things. Please? The Movement thanks you for your generosity.

Category: ZRC News | 1 Comment »
Tags: Books, Public Appearance

Posted By John Sears on July 6, 2011

It’s a busy week at the ZRC Compound, with poster work, pamphlet writing, print jobs and more, but we’re trying to stay on top of it.

I did have time to check out the latest episode of previously reviewed as Zombie Friendly web series, ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ however.

This latest chapter deals primarily with one of the most sensitive topics in contemporary Zombie Rights agitation: Zombies in the workplace.

We’ve addressed this topic here at the ZRC in a handy brochure, for example.

As previously discussed, ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ is a modern interpretation of a vintage British comedy series, so don’t go into it expecting a panel discussion on Zombie Rights issues and protected class status and such. That’s for the Zombie Rights Convention we hope to hold some day. Still, the topic is addressed with the usual slightly subversive sense of humor and a healthy dose of Zombie sympathy so we’re content at the ZRC.

We’ll continue to keep you updated. You can see Episode 3 here, or the main series at this address.

The ZRC continues to grant ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ a Zombie Friendly rating.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Television, The Internet, ZRC Reviews

Posted By John Sears on July 5, 2011

Annalee Newitz, who Wikipedia says is allegedly a journalist (we have our doubts), is the latest to try and tie Zombies to something that she personally finds unpleasant in a pop-science article.

Of course, she had to one-up the legion of quasi-writers tying Zombies to dying ants, mental illnesses or communicable diseases, so Ms. Newitz reached deep and found something new:

She ties Zombies to cancer.

Yeah, really:

Today a group of medical researchers reported the discovery of something very intriguing in a type of pancreatic cancer called PanNET. Turns out PanNET is associated with mutations in two genes that help control a part of your DNA that determines whether you die.

…

Unfortunately for people suffering PanNET, the extra long telomeres are what keep cancerous genes alive even when they are malfunctioning horribly. That’s why it’s probably more appropriate to call these cells undead rather than immortal. Yes, they’re alive, but they’re shambling along and trying to replicate and replace every other cell with a version of themselves.

*sigh*

We’ve been over this with people who have no understanding of biology before, on the stem cell issue; Undead is not equal to ‘Living tissue doing something weird’. Undeath represents a profound transformation from normal Living biological life, not some minor tinkering. A Living cancer cell is still, fundamentally, a Living cell; it requires the same nutrients, the same oxygen, the same heat and stable conditions as a regular cell, it just acts out a little.

This does not meet any reasonable conception of the Undead. Even the Infected types of Zombie are altered in ways that defy normal medical science and its understanding of the body.

But of course, that’s not really the point for Anti-Zombie writers like Ms. Newitz; the point is, hating Zombies is hot, and banging out a short piece using the frame of Anti-Zombiism is a lot easier than *thinking* or looking for a more accurate metaphor.

So here we are: cancer cells are Undead, and promising research that could extend lifespan is actually a key to creating Zombies, and that’s bad, because… of something. It’s not stated, but we can assume it is a bad thing from the venomous tone.

If a greatly extended lifespan with minimal alterations to the way our cells keep track of their internal clock is the threshold for Zombiism now, then I have two observations: 1) These Zombies have it pretty good. and 2) Zombiism is about to become much, much more popular.

Whether Zombie haters like Ms. Newitz like it or not.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Journamalism, Social Justice

Posted By John Sears on July 5, 2011

I know that it’s one of the most popular shows on television but I really wish that the mainstream media could remember that popularity is based on *hate*.

I mean, seriously. Just because it makes money that doesn’t make it right and it shouldn’t make it socially acceptable.

TV Guide, for those of you who don’t spend a lot of time in grocery store checkout aisles, is the cotton candy version of the print media that sort of reports on the only-slightly-less-vacuous medium we call American television. They went to Robert Kirkman for hints as to the second season of ‘The Walking Dead’.

Their hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners questioning resulted in no particularly useful information being divulged while giving the evil mastermind a platform to promote his evil show. Yay for American Journalism!

It’s the most talked-about whisper since Lost went to TV heaven: What did The Walking Dead’s Dr. Jenner tell Rick just before the survivors left the Centers for Disease Control in the Season 1 finale?

…

So, which theory is correct? Who knows? But Kirkman gave us the following cryptic clue: “It’s possible that one is close,” Kirkman said. “Your theories are maybe touching upon the larger piece of what [Jenner] said. … One of [the theories] said part of the main thing that he said.”

Good news though: Kirkman told us way back in March that the answer should be revealed in the new season. “We’re very mindful of the audience’s expectation,” he said. “There’s teasing the audience and there’s torturing the audience — and there’s a fine line. We’re going to have a lot of other stuff to deal with, but we’re definitely going to be dealing with [the whisper] soon and not torturing audiences with the mystery of that too much.”

Oh good. It’s good to know that the goal here is to live up to the expectations of the Anti-Zombie viewing public for ‘The Walking Dead’. I’m glad they won’t have to look anywhere else for their Zombie bashing; I mean, it’s not like there are books, games, music, comics and movies assaulting the image of the Differently Animated too, right?

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Journamalism, Mainstream Media, Robert Kirkman, Television

Posted By John Sears on July 4, 2011

As if you hadn’t been deluged enough already with ‘World War Z’ news, the mega-production of evil is rolling ever onward:

Now, having bought the rights in 2007, Brad Pitt has finally began filming his zombie film World War Z

And fans have been given their first glimpse of the living dead as filming continued in Malta yesterday.

…

In another scene they are hanging from their belts or by their feet and look like they are being cleared away.

Gruesome. Awful. Heinous. These are words that come to mind when looking at these awful images, published in the Daily Mail, of the beginning of the Pitt production of the seminal work of Zombie Apocalypse hate fiction.

I must warn you the following image is very disturbing and you should brace yourself, even if it is only fiction:

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In the above image, one of many The Daily Mail obtained, it is almost impossible not to see the haunting echoes of imagery of lynchings and violence against other oppressed groups throughout history, melded with a very contemporary setting. Apparently the Malta shooting is to replicate the scenes depicted in the book at Israeli border checkpoints, where Brooks makes a fairly transparent appeal to Israeli-Palestinian unity – in the face of overwhelming menace from the ‘Zombies’, naturally. Real ‘greater good’ stuff.

*rolls eyes*

That of course just adds further layers to the outrage, suggesting as it does that the solution to long-running conflicts amongst the Living is to pile on to the Undead. Togetherness through hate and murder? Count us out, Mr. Brooks.

The gruesome horror-show in the making is slated to soon wrap up in Malta and move onward to its next target:

According to local press, filming will continue on the island until July 9 when the production moves to Scotland.

Other reports have claimed that Glasgow will double as Philadelphia and was choson after ‘many months looking for the perfect city centre location to play an important part in the film.’

This helps to explain an earlier story about ‘World War Z’s calls for North American extras in the UK; they’re trying to make Glasgow look like Philly.

Riiiiiiiight.

The irony is that Pennsylvania has long been a hotbed of Anti-Zombie filmmaking ever since Romero, and yet they’re faking it in Scotland?

Which, coincidentally, is having its own Anti-Zombie film surge lately.

To recap: Brad Pitt is a very bad man, Max Brooks is a jerk, ‘World War Z’ is still full steam ahead, first in Malta, then in Scotland, and they’re more or less staging Zombie Lynchings for the movie-going public.

What an outrage.

From The Daily Mail via Horror-Movies.ca

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Max Brooks is a Jerk, Movies, Social Justice

Posted By John Sears on July 4, 2011

I really like it when Zombie events can help raise money for worthy causes, can bring people together in pursuit of some worthy goal.

But not all the Zombie-related charity events out there are Zombie Friendly, even if they are working toward one of those worthy goals. Case in point, ‘Zombie Buffet 5k’, a charity event in Nashville:

There is no amount of money that ZB5k or any event could raise that would adequately convey our gratitude to the Nashville Rescue Mission for the outstanding work they do for those who have fallen upon hard times in the area, but that won’t stop us from trying. This is why Bloc 434 Productions has set the lofty goal of having the Zombie Buffet 5k raise $100,000 for the Rescue Mission.

Further details are available at the charity fundraiser’s site, which indicates that this is a sort of footrace pitting the Living against the Undead:

Yes, the rumors are true. There is in fact a first of its kind event going right through the heart of downtown Nashville TN on October 29th 2011 that will pit runners against zombies. Yes, you may register as either a zombie or as a runner. Yes, runners can and will be turned into zombies during the race. And no, you are not alone in thinking this is the single greatest thing you have ever heard.

It gets better. Not only will you have the time of your life at the Zombie Buffet 5k, you will also be doing your part to help a truly worthy cause. Bloc 434 Productions, who are bringing you the Zombie Buffet 5k, have partnered up with the Nashville Rescue Mission in an effort to help raise $100,000 for those who need the help most. You will see at the top of each page of our site what it will take to reach the $100k goal and whether you wish to participate as a runner, or your company wants to be a sponsor of the event, you will be helping us move toward our ultimate goal.

The Zombie Rights Campaign, obviously, is outraged by this event. The messaging, the Anti-Zombie bias obviously on hand, even staging an ‘attack’ by Zombies on the Living, it’s all really terrible for The Cause and for furthering Zombie Equality.

They’re even holding it around Halloween, taking one of the Zombie Friendliest of holidays and using it as an excuse to Zombie Bash.

Bonus points of evil, their slogan: ‘Use Your Legs or Lose Your Brains’. Seriously.

*Sigh*

It is for a good cause, but as things stand I don’t think the ZRC can support it. I suppose you could register as a Zombie and refuse to participate in chasing people, but I don’t know that they would allow it, or indeed, allow any actual, peaceable Zombie participants.

A shame, really. I’d love to have been able to back this one. If only…

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Anti-Zombie Public Event

Posted By John Sears on July 4, 2011

Another day, another tenuous excuse to bash Zombies when talking about anything unpleasant to the writer.

Case in point: in 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, or to be more precise, it triggered the complete collapse of ridiculously antiquated and defective flood control systems, and the subsequent waters devastated New Orleans.

A Six Flags park on the East side of the city was submerged with seawater for a month, and never rebuilt or reclaimed post-Katrina. It is rapidly slipping into decay and has become a favored subject of urban explorers, and tragically, an excuse for Zombie bashing:

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and ripped the heart of fun and the amusement out of this park. Almost six years later, Six Flags in New Orleans is unnaturally silent, no lines and no laughter. This 140-acre surreal setting has morphed into a nightmarish land of twisted dreams. It seems as if the post-apocalyptic atmosphere might be the perfect place to make a zombie movie. As if lured by a distant echo of scattered screams and the ghost of good times, urban explorers venture out of curiosity and capture the moments and crumbling scenes. They share with us in a virtual urban exploration tour of this creepy abandoned amusement park – Six Flags New Orleans. Most of these photos are very recent, as in taken during 2011, nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina tried to swallow New Orleans and Six Flags. A special thank you to the urban explorers who risked arrest, and possible zombie attack, to go in and shoot these current shots of Six Flags, and then gave us permission to use their copyright photos.

Really? Why can’t someone make an AWESOME Zombie movie in a well-lit, peaceful modern setting? Why do Zombies ALWAYS have to be associated with prejudice and the ‘Apocalypse’?

I’ll tell you why: prejudice.

Tragically, this is not just the result of editorializing by angry Anti-Zombie bigots, but can be seen in the graffiti and vandalism that have taken hold in the abandoned park itself:

Yes, people really sneak into this abandoned park to live out their deranged fantasies of a Zombie uprising… against, presumably, the abandoned park? Its many daily visitors? I’m a bit lost on the plot here.

On the other hand, it is inhabited by terrifying creatures like this:

*shudder* Spooky.

This is a tragic coda to a national tragedy, and yet, still, even in a city long associated with a more positive and complicated relationship with Zombiism than the modern Romero stereotyping, we see Anti-Zombie prejudice creep in.

It’s abandoned, it must be a target for Zombies. It’s creepy, watch out for Zombies.

*rolls eyes*

I for one hope that some day this park is restored to its former greatness, so the citizens of New Orleans, Zombie and Living alike, again have it as a place to play, in spite of Anti-Zombie bigotry, engineering malfeasance and terrible storms.

Category: Zombie Media | 2 Comments »
Tags: Don't Use the Zed Word, Social Justice