Jerky, Kitties and Other Assorted Nonsense

Several things to discuss tonight, the first of which has forced your Uncle P to create a new category, Zombie Snacks, because the item below certainly can't be described as Zombie Pastries:

Oh, those wacky Japanese! This is an image of the package for a new product available at select Japanese stores: Zombie Jerky. The actual product is dyed blue, like bloodless zombie flesh. The folks at i09, where I found this story, don't say what the jerky is actually made from, though Kobe beef would probably be cost-prohibitive (i09 reports that it sells for about $4.50 a bag, U.S.). And I really hope this isn't Soylent Blue, or something equally disturbing.

Of course, disgusting candies and other treats have been around for a long time. Take these Fear Factor Creature Parts or these Chocolate Dog Poo Treats for example. Not really something I'd want to eat, either. And since I'm not really a fan of jerky in any form (it always tastes like spice leather to me), I don't see myself buying any Zombie Jerky in the foreseeable future.

In Zombie News,:

The Wrap has a rather extensive interview with the Godfather of Zombies, George A. Romero, in which he talks about "the zombie business, Fred Rogers’ tonsillectomy and being paid to cut a fart in Hollywood." You can read the whole interview here. Romero's sixth entry into the genre, Survival of the Dead is currently available OnDemand and playing in select theaters, now. While I actually enjoyed Romero's hand-held, 1st person Diary of the Dead, I think he may have actually 'jumped the shark' with this Hatfields and McCoys tale of survivors on an Irish island battling zombies and each other. When I get a chance to finally see it, you can be sure I'll review it.

And then there is this story about family bonding and the 5th Annual Boston Zombie Walk, over at The Boston Channel. Oddly, it made me feel both old and relevant at the same time.

And this week in Zombie Nonsense, the clip below may not be new, but it's new to me. The Kitty Zombie Apocalypse never sounded so good as it does in this sick little crossover into Zombie Music. I give you "Meow:"

I don't know... Is there something really wrong about kittens committing suicide, or is it just me?

And this week's Zombie Clip of the Week is also an oldie, but a goodie. Night of the Zombie is a very amusing short about...

wait for it...

Zombie Abuse! Enjoy:

More shambling, soon.
Prospero.

The Beginning of the End?

That's a still from last year's Norwegian Nazi Zombie film, Dead Snow, which I still have not seen, despite its having been released on DVD. And that's a shame.

My DVD player stopped working a few months back and while I can certainly afford a new one, it seems there have been more pressing things on my mind. Maybe I'll look for it OnDemand. Though, to be perfectly honest, now that I am in the midst of directing the annual JTMF show, I simply have very little time for anything else. "But Uncle P, you blog almost every day." I know, but that's usually late at night (it's after 11 PM here as I write this) and by the time I'm usually finished blogging, it's bedtime. And how lame is it that I am sitting her at 11 PM on a Saturday night, blogging? The less said about that, the better, I suppose... sigh...

Anyway, since I posted a picture from a zombie movie, I may as well talk about Zombie Films. Below is the first installment of a new Webseries, "Universal Dead," starring D.B. Sweeney (Fire in the Sky), Gary Graham ("Alien Nation") and Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth; Legion):

Now you may be asking "Does this really qualify as a Zombie Film?" Well, eventually, yes. And on a completely TMI side note, I find the grey-haired soldier assigned to protect Graham to be exceptionally hot... I'll be posting more episodes as they appear.

And this week in Zombie Science, this happened:

Of course you and I both know that this can only lead to the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse. And for when it does happen, Archie McPhee's blog Monkey Goggles, has provided us with a handy guide to Zombie Etiquette, which you can read here. Remember the name J. Craig Venter, as he will no doubt go down in history as the man who set everything into motion.*

Finally, in this week's Zombie Clip of the Week Zombie College's Scott makes his way through Zombie Territory to buy Zelda a brownie cake in an effort to prove his love for her:

Mmmm... brownie cake! I mean... er... um... Mmmm... Braaaaaiiiiiinnss!

Have a good week all!

More sexually ambiguous food-related humor, soon.
Prospero

*And you know I'm kidding here, right? I am sure Dr. Venter looks nothing like Gene Wilder, nor are his intentions evil or zombie-related in any way (or are they?).

Live Long and Eat Braaaaiinnnns!

Lots to chew on tonight...

First, some Zombie Fiction:

Geeks of Doom has a sneak peak at the cover art for "Night of the Living Trekkies" which, as I am sure you can imagine, revolves around a zombie outbreak at a Star Trek convention. You can see the very amusing artwork here.

And in an amazing Zombie Music/Zombie Fiction/Zombie Film cross-over, a new novel (with the inevitable film adaptation) has been announced in which the Fab Four become zombies. The Film Stage has announced the plot of "Paul Is Undead," in which a re-animated John Lennon takes a zombie band "on a tour of terror across Europe and the U.S." Sounds kind of tasteless to me, and I can't honestly imagine the estates of Lennon and Harrison signing off on the project (McCartney and Starr became whores long ago, though). But the idea does bring this to mind:

In other Zombie Film news:

None other than Sir Ian McKellan (no stranger to Fanboy Fare, what with his appearances in the LOTR and X-Men films) is next set to appear in E'gad, Zombies! a zomcom set in 18th Century England. According to ReelzChannel.com, 22 minutes of the film have been shot and it is currently being shopped at the Cannes Film Festival. Here's the teaser trailer (via):

I don't know about you, but it looks pretty funny to Uncle P.

And the Godfather of Zombies, George A. Romero (whose Survival of the Dead is making the rounds OnDemand before its theatrical run) has announced that he has two more films left to make in his of the Dead series. While I (and many others) thought Land of the Dead was the least successful in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed Diary of the Dead and plan on checking out Survival soon. According to BloodyDisgusting.com, if Survival of the Dead does well commercially, he'll shoot the two-film finale of the series back-to-back. Romero also recently announced he plans to foray into 3D with a remake of Dario Argento's classic horror film, Deep Red. I say, enough with the 3D and the remakes, already!

And this week in Zombie Science:

Apparently, a broken satellite known as Galaxy 15 has gone rogue and may well interfere with transmissions from AMC-11, a satellite which transmits signals for Comcast. This could mean that millions of Comcast subscribers won't be able to see the "Lost" finale on May 23rd. yet another reason I am so happy to have switched to FiOS. The story is here at G4 and on BoingBoing, where I first read about it.

And, in Zombie Nonsense (see, I told you there was lots tonight):

Does Howard Johnson's hate zombies? Well apparently they do in Fargo, ND. Fargo's 3rd annual Zombie Pub Crawl was held today, with hundreds of folks dressed as zombies set to take part. But the Sidestreet Grille & Pub in the local Howard Johnson's hotel has posted signs reading: "NO ZOMBIES ALLOWED!" They claim they don't want to deal with the mess, but I suspect they're just a bunch of scared pusses. Read the full story here at Inforum.com.

Last, but certainly not least, the Zombie Zone Zombie Clip of the Week.

The loonies at RobotKitchen make these weird and wonderfully hilarious animated clips using toy cars, dolls and action figures. Please enjoy "Zombie Kill of The Week 3:"

Ah.... nothing like decapitating zombie Barbies, is there?

Well, I guess that's it for this week. Don't forget to check out Caliban's Revenge for your daily dose of weirdness; film; theatre and ramblings.

More living death, soon.
Prospero

May is Zombie Awareness Month

This week in Zombie News:

Had I known, I would have posted this last week, but thanks to a friend on Facebook, I just recently found out about Zombie Awareness Month.

According to the Zombie Research Society, May is 'Zombie Awareness Month.' Participants are encouraged to wear gray ribbons in an effort to remind everyone that the Zombie Apocalypse is nigh. Truth be told, your Uncle P welcomes the Zombie Apocalypse. Unlike the Nuclear Apocalypse; the Global Warming Apocalypse or even the Biblical Apocalypse, the Zombie Apocalypse affords Horror Fans, Movie Geeks and Lunatic Fringe Militia the chance to prove their mettle in the face of a nearly unstoppable Army of the Dead (like how I snuck that in there?).

Now here's a video from a fellow who has obviously put way too much time into thinking about the Zombie Apocalypse:

If nothing else, I suppose its a good lesson in weaponry...

And while I linked to a rather awesome picture of a Spider-Man tattoo in last week's Zombie Ink post, in no way did I mean to reference a tattoo of the Marvel Zombies version of Spider-Man as seen in this abomination (via). Really? You spent your hard-earned cash to have that image permanently inked onto your skin? Buddy, they saw you coming a mile away.

Finally, this week's Zombie Clip of the Week:

Scott risks being devoured so Zelda (oh, how I love a Fitzgerald reference) can have some brownie cake. Now that's true love. It also amuses me that sexual ambiguity and Zombies seem to go together, perfectly. I wonder why that is?

More selfless acts of flesh-eating, next week.
Prospero

Mmmm... Human Flesh... D'oh!

Not much to talk about this week, but let's start tonight off with some Zombie Ink, shall we? You all know of course, that I have a few tattoos. They are one-of-a-kind custom tatts that I thought very carefully about before committing them permanently to my skin. They are works of art and self-expression and they have very personal meaning to me.

And I'm not just a Zombie fan. I love lots of other things, including "The Simpsons," which even at its worst, is still better than a lot of stuff on TV. But other than the annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode, I would never have thought to combine the two. Especially not as a tattoo. I just cannot imagine walking into Living Arts and saying "I want a tattoo of Homer Simpson as a zombie. Oh, and I want it on the top of my foot."

First of all, the top of the foot is probably one of the most painful places to get inked. There isn't a whole lot of flesh there and the needle comes awfully close to the bone. And secondly, isn't getting a Homer Simpson tatt (even a non-Zombie one) a little like getting a Calvin and Hobbes or a Hello Kitty tatt? And even though it's probably not that big, the number of colors (I count at least 7) in this tattoo means it wasn't cheap, either. Seriously, if you're going to get a cartoon character tattoo, at least make it an awesome one. Remember folks, tattoos are very expensive to remove.

There isn't a whole lot of other Zombie-related stuff going on these days, other than this Zombie Fiction story over at BoingBoing about Amelia Beamer's novel The Loving Dead:

"...THE LOVING DEAD is about zombies, all right, but it's zombies with Xanax, zeppelins, Trader Joe's, iPhone apps, sex, humor, adventure, NPR, IKEA, and Indiana Jones! It's a rollercoaster ride of a read and a true original!" - author Connie Willis.

Sounds like a fun read, no?

Finally, the Zombie Clip of the Week:

This is an oldie, but a goodie:

I can certainly imagine that if Dick Cheney had told George that Zombies were behind 9/11, the moron would have staged just such a press conference. Though it would hardly surprise me to find out that the Bush campaign had actually recruited the Living Dead to vote for him. I mean, they're the only ones I can imagine were mindless enough to vote for that idiot twice. And on that very political note, I shall wish you all a good week.

More gore, soon.
Prospero