We hope you'll find this blog an educational, entertaining, and inspiring source of information, whether you're recently undead, a long-time member of the differently animated, or a still-living friend of your fallen, yet risen again, brethren. Everyone with an interest in zombie rights is welcome!
I know I probably sound like a broken record of late, talking about how the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ is being used by mercenary and unethical capitalists to accumulate lucre while spreading hate, but they really will try and sell you anything with fears of Zombies.
Tactical Sammiches are available in Pepperoni and BBQ Beef, the only flavors double certified* for post apocalypse survivor ration shelving.
At 300 calories of pure tactical goodness, CMMG Tactical Sammiches have a shelf life of over 2 years if maintained at 80 degrees or less. The sammiches can be stored at 100 degrees for up to six months, in case you’re stuck somewhere warm when the radioactive commie zombies attack.
That’s 7 of these delightful quasi-food products per person per day. Yum. And they’re charging $5.95 a piece for them too, so it’ll cost you $41.65 per day to secure a food supply safe from those ‘radioactive commie zombies’ (water and vitamin supplements to ward off scurvy extra). Talk about efficient!
Seriously, people? Sammiches to survive the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’? This is just getting sad.
Sorry we missed it; next year the ZRC has to go, from the sound of it:
Tiki Terrace restaurant, 1591 Lee St., was taken over by zombies Sunday as the undead gathered for the third annual Retro Zombie Tiki Terror party, hosted by Kitty Zombie and John LaFlamboy of Zombie Army Productions.
ZAP are the creators of Statesville Haunted Prison, and The FEAR Haunted House at Navy Pier. They produce films, such as The Moleman of Belmont Avenue, and regulary host zombie themed events in the Chicago area, including the annual Zombie March and Zombie Prom.
Outstanding work, Zombie Army Productions. Just keep your Army working for peace and the ZRC will be right there with you.
Unfortunately I came to this story a bit late, but it’s still a fascinating example of how a complete lack of cultural sensitivity can lead to even initially well-intentioned people making terrible faux pas.
Creators of a railroad safety mascot named Brainy are sending him to the Memphis Zombie Massacre on Friday night to tantalize the crowd and film a public service video.
The pink, wrinkled spokescharacter for Norfolk Southern Railroad’s Train Your Brain rail-safety awareness campaign was crafted at the suggestion of an engineer who’s obsessed with zombies.
Memphis-based marketing communications agency archer>malmo administers Train Your Brain for the railroad. archer>malmo has been seeking zombie volunteers to participate in filming of a video near Central Station Friday afternoon before the zombie walk.
Train Your Brain emphasizes that train-car collisions and trespass injuries and deaths can be prevented if people pay attention to warning signs and signals, observe caution at highway-rail crossings and keep away from railroad property and equipment.
Brainy makes the rounds of festivals and rail-safety events, posing for pictures with kids.
The Memphis Zombie Massacre will be held for the fifth time at 6:30 p.m. in the South Main arts district. People dressed and made up as the walking dead will pretend to seek out human flesh for feeding purposes. Gray matter is considered a delicacy.
Here we have an individual ‘obsessed’ with Zombies who comes up with a brain-like mascot for an informational campaign
about railroad safety, a laudable goal. From there, the soulless marketing drones and railroad higher ups get the idea to send ‘Brainy’ not just around to local festivals and rail events, but to anything Zombie-themed. In this case to a ‘Zombie Massacre’ event where Living people in Greenface mock the plight of the Differently Animated.
Because, of course, Zombies are obsessed with brains, and therefore the Brainy mascot would be a big hit at a festival full of Zombie Intolerant people playacting as their favorite boogeymen.
*rolls eyes*
Spare me. I’m sick of talking about this particular myth, actually. Zombies are not all universally fixated on grey matter, and promoting that ugly stereotype in the name of public safety is a pathetic spectacle, one for which Norfolk Southern Railroad should be roundly condemned I might add. Attending a ‘Zombie Massacre’ at all is a disgrace for a mascot supposedly meant to educate and inform rather than divide and conquer.
Judging from the photos page, Brainy is marketed primarily at children. The ZRC takes particular umbrage at marketing Anti-Zombie propaganda to children; the absolute last thing we need as a society is to have hatred and distrust instilled into the malleable, err, brains of the next generation with a ‘lovable’ mascot like Brainy.
I can’t say for certain whether this was an intentional insult to the Differently Animated community or just the result of profound ignorance, but on their behalf, the ZRC wants to say: you should be deeply, deeply ashamed of yourselves, Norfolk Southern Railroad. Your outreach and attempts to educate the public have now turned into open hatemongering.
The protests here in Madison are back in full swing as a tent city of sorts has been approved and permitted by the City of Madison just across the street from the Capitol* dubbed Walkerville.
Things are festive, people are in a good mood, and I went down to observe and take notes on a novel new method of peaceful protest that the ZRC might employ itself one day.
Here are some pictures to enjoy.
(The Capitol police maintained a very heavy presence across from Walkerville on their own turf; they worry me as I’ve seen some of their bad behavior during the crackdown in the Capitol. Hopefully they will stay on their side of the street.)
(Tents going up)
(It wouldn’t be a Madison political protest without drums)
(There may be such a thing as being TOO prepared)
(Even dogs carry signs now)
As usual, here’s the set of pictures from today at Walkerville and here’s the collection of all the photos taken thus far in the Madison Protests by the ZRC.
*Which is still, STILL illegally locked down after all these weeks I might add.
Do you like zombies? Do you like to dress up? Do you like to dance? Do you like to help fight Juvenile Diabetes? Do you live in Utah or will be in the area around September 9th 2011? If you answered yes to any of the previous questions (specifically the last one) you may just want to check out the Zombie Prom thats going down this year!
They even have a subversive little video to promote the event with some of the best Zombie dancers since Thriller:
More on the event can be found at the Utah Zombies website here.
We’re particularly pleased that they seem to be taking an inclusive attitude toward the Differently Animated, similar to that of the ZRC:
This is an All ages family event! no prom date needed. while it is prom themed, prom attire is not required for this zombie event. We welcome Zombies of all types!
Zombies have families too!
Sounds like a good time, people in Utah should look it up and say ‘Hi’ from The Zombie Rights Campaign.
Yes I know this story came out months ago… I think we were told about it in February. Still, news of the day often takes precedence, and besides, I foolishly wondered, how much more could Max Brooks really contribute to the canon of Living Supremacist fiction?
The premise of ‘The Extinction Parade’ can be summed up quite easily, which The Daily Beast helpfully does, actually:
From Max Brooks, bestselling author of World War Z, an original story about a global war between humans and zombies seen through the eyes of Vampires. Or you can just call it the vampire version of An Inconvenient Truth.
Truthfully, this premise is very, very similar to webcomic ‘Last Blood’: vampires need people to feed on. Zombie Apocalypse removes people, ergo, vampires go hungry. What will the blood suckers do?
If you couldn’t get enough of World War Z… shame on you. Seek help. Still, ‘The Extinction Parade’ is very much in that style, with a deeply researched exotic setting, the use of unusual geography and situations and the first-person perspective on the ‘war’ against the Zombie population, who undoubtedly didn’t deserve it, except in Max Brooks’ fevered imagination.
You don’t think civilization is going to be destroyed someday by an army of the undead?
Max Brooks wrote this great book called The Zombie Survival Guide, and it’s good fun. But I think Max in the back of his mind thinks it could possibly happen. He does these lectures and he brings all these weapons onstage and explains the best way to kill a zombie. I keep saying to him, “Max, none of this is real! It’s not gonna happen! Believe me, it’s not gonna happen!” (Laughs.) But maybe he’s right and I’m wrong and I’ll get hoisted on my own petard.
When *George Romero* thinks you’re taking Zombies too far you might just have an issue, Max.
Just maybe.
So yes, ‘The Extinction Parade’ is ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ crossed with vampires, who are oddly very much in the Anne Rice/immortal decadent hedonist fashion. Weak, self-indulgent, ineffectual, prone to introspection, fans of luxury and indolence, and thus incapable of taking decisive action of any sort in the face of a global emerging threat to the ecosystem.
Yes, this is an anvil being dropped about climate change, and it’s dripping with scorn by analogy. We as a species deserve it I suppose, but as much for our prejudices and hatreds as our inaction on global warming, and Max Brooks seems to have no problem with the former so long as it targets those without a heartbeat.
‘The Extinction Parade’ is more of the same from Mr. Brooks, perhaps not as taut and finished as ‘World War Z’ but it’s also free and you know what you’re getting into. The story is offensive to Zombies, and also to our Solidarity partners in the Vampire community, who have probably gotten tired of the fop portrayals by now, just as Zombies tire of being accused of all smelling bad and chomping skulls.
The Zombie Rights Campaign rates this story as Living Supremacist.
It’s reasonable to think that cell phones would survive the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. We’ll call “immediate aftermath” one week. Suspend disbelief with us and assume all cell sites and wireless networks wouldn’t dissolve simultaneously, because it’s an apocalypse brought on by zombies, and zombies aren’t smart. It’s not like they’re going to make a plan to knock out the national electric grid.
We’re guesstimating that leaves the average user with a window of about one week to get what they can out of their cells before the stone-age hits. What can post-apocalypse survivors get out of cell phones? Same thing they got pre-apocalypse—apps, baby. Useful apps that could possibly mean the difference between life and horrible, eviscerating death.
Oh goody, what kind of ‘apps’ are going to save us from this non-existent threat you’re peddling, Living Supremacists at ‘The Smoking Jacket?
What indeed. Their site highlights an app about general military knowledge, a sort of med-school-in-a-box app, an app for detecting pollution… and yes, eventually, a pornographic application.
Because watching *that* is precisely what will keep the ‘horde’ from breaking down your barricade.
Added bonus is that the Smoking Jacket site seems laden down with popups and annoying ads, so browse with caution.
We see the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ used to push all sorts of things here at the ZRC. Swords, books, movies, houses… but now smartphone apps?
It’d be unbelievable, except of course that it’s all true. A fool and his money are soon parted, and the Anti-Zombie merchandising industry is counting on its victims being really, really foolish.
Really, I wonder what’s up with Europe. They seem to be going more than a little deranged with their Zombie-bashing of late, which we’ve talked about here on the ZRC recently (as well as their oppression of even those who resemble Zombies a bit too much):
What do all these countries have in common? Sadly, it’s the persecution of the Differently Animated on film. Joining, of course, such long-term Anti-Zombie stalwarts as Spain (the [REC] series, the Blind Dead series), Italy (Fulci, Argento) and England (28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead)
As you can see, there has been an explosion of Anti-Zombie filmmaking across Europe in the last year or so, and it’s coming from unexpected quarters. Alongside this phenomenon has been an intensification of the previous Anti-Zombie film production of the usual suspects; ‘The Curse of the Buxom Strumpet’ from the UK brought on some really serious star power, while [REC] as a series is picking up speed, with two more sequels on the way at once.
What’s driving this? I’m not sure we’re in a position to answer that question yet. Austerity-driven escapism? The rise of militant far-right political movements causing anxiety about immigrants? Boredom? Who can say.
A must-see, refreshing surprise for horror fans, Rammbock: Berlin Undead (user reviews) follows its successful limited theatrical run with a nationwide DVD and VOD release June 28, 2011!
Called “a story of love set against a zombie apocalypse,” this is one “romance” flick that the guys in the relationship will be begging to watch on date night.
…
“Heartbroken and clueless, Michael (Michael Fuith) arrives in Berlin to win back the affections of brooding ex-girlfriend Gabi (Anka Graczyk). But he’s in for a little disappointment: she’s not home and the city is rapidly overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of zombiefied Berliners. His only companion? The plucky Harper (Theo Trebs, “The White Ribbon”), a teenage plumber’s apprentice at work in the apartment complex. From their overnight redoubt in Gabi’s bedroom, the unlikely duo must escape the infested building, outwit the undead and find her…before it’s too late. Rammbock is hide and seek…with zombies!”
Brother. There’s a trailer, naturally:
To me, it sounds a bit like ‘Shaun of the Dead’, looks a bit like Zach Snyder’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’, and is obviously thoroughly offensive to Zombies.
Better get working on that travel advisory, I guess.
I’ve talked previously about how the Zombie Rights Movement could take inspiration, if not exactly tactical advice, from the world of comic book superheroes the ‘X-Men’. How perhaps the best method for those who are Different to change the minds of the general fearful mass of humanity might be to simply, and visibly, do good works on their behalf.
Only without the spandex costumes.. because Zombies, while sometimes quite different from Living people on a basic biological level, are ultimately just People too. The Undead aren’t *that* different, after all; it’s not really feasible or wise to try the world of costumed crimefighting when some charity fundraisers and the occasional Lurch are both more accessible and a lot safer.
However, those who don’t believe that Zombies *are* people sometimes feel the need to exaggerate the ability or Different-ness of the Differently Animated, to make the ‘threat’ seem graver or assuage their egos (because they are, in fact, threatened deep down by a fantasy)
Thus this piece from the ‘Zombie Research Society’:
As a Neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley and member of the Zombie Research Society board, Bradley Voytek, PhD knows what he’s talking about when it comes to both the human and undead brain. That’s why a recent post on his blog is so disturbing.
Voytek points out that ordinary people can tap into extraordinary sensory abilities often thought to be super human. We have the power to become living comic book heroes, like Riverside teen Ben Underwood who could ride a skateboard using echolocation with his own clicking sounds.
…
Zombies are widely believed to be relentlessly driven by one overwhelming desire: to find and eat the living. They don’t worry about an overdue car payment, or getting a promotion. They don’t worry about buying a new TV, or if their hair is out of place. They don’t even worry about avoiding a sharp tree branch, or advancing attack.
Ah yes, ‘widely believed’. Other things ‘widely believed’ in this world include the existence of Bigfoot, UFO abductions and the Loch Ness Monster.
The ZRS piece references a slightly longer blog post on the general issue of ‘super’ senses, which boils down to a hypothesis that attention, and the ability to focus properly, sharply limits the use of human sensory organs, which are far more sensitive than commonly believed. In other words, if a person focuses really hard, they can see a candle from an enormous distance, but they might miss the sounds of crickets nearby. There’s even a neat video to explain the effect:
However, as longtime ZRC readers, I’m sure you can spot the obvious flaw in this reasoning: perhaps super senses can be developed by excluding conscious thoughts and other attention-depriving activities. Perhaps if Zombies really were unthinking automatons they could be the hunters depicting in so much Anti-Zombie fiction.
But of course, they’re not. Zombies are people too, with the same hopes, fears, and yes, day to day distractions as the Living. Plus they’re not solely animated by the desire to eat you.
Zombies care about politics.
Zombies care about how they’re treated in the media.
Zombies even play music in Ska bands. Well, at least one Ska band, but several Zombies *in* that band.
My point is that, while it may be true that the Living and the Undead alike have the potential for ‘super’ senses, the same attention-sapping and life-enriching concerns that deprive the Living of the use of these senses most of the time affect the Differently Animated.
Here at The ZRC we produce a lot of Zombie Friendly, positive imagery of the Zombie Community to help further peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding between the Undead and the Living.
Some others out there have very different goals, however.
Odious, isn’t it? Not only does it attempt to spread the irrational fear of Zombies, it does so using imagery of hearth, home, and a helpless child. Then having spread said fear it goes the extra mile and openly incites violence against the Differently Animated!
Truly a heinous piece of ‘art’ if ever I’ve seen one.
The ZRC rates this hate-speech in pictorial form as being Living Supremacist.
