This Machine Kills Zombies

Listen, I’m no zombophobe. In fact some of my best friends are zombies. But when you see the crime and violence that follows when zombies move into a neighborhood, it’s hard to discount it as a coincidence. I’m not naive though, RIPT. I know the zombie apologists out there will jump on this opportunity to blacklist and bully me. Well to that I say, keep your hands off my brains!

Oh, and don’t think of this shirt as anti-zombie but rather pro-shotgun. I’m simply touting the many versatile uses of a 20-gauge pump shotgun.

We think it is pretty cool that you were kind enough to offer one of your stunning personal paintings to a buyer of today’s shirt. What kind of methods do you usually use to create your fine-art versus your design work? Any real zombie blood used in these pieces?

I tend to start out with watercolor and eventually it becomes a mixed media piece as I add whatever is lying around. In general, my paintings are a lot looser and more experimental than my design pieces.

These paintings are a mixture of watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil, india ink and metallic paint. No zombie blood, but they glitter more than a shirtless teen vampire.

What’s your current day job like and what is your 5-year plan to become a fabulous, self-sufficient art tycoon and take over the t-shirt design world?

I work at an agency here in NY doing design work. I can’t go into too much detail but we have some great clients like Omni Consumer Products, The Umbrella Corporation, Cyberdyne Systems……real top notch companies.

5-year plan? It all starts which each and every one of you reading this and buying a “This Machine Kills Zombies” shirt. Don’t let the dream die.

A little known fact is that you are actually one of the elite RIPT Apparel curators. What is it that you look for when you are searching for designs that you want to put your good name on when it reaches the RIPT front page?

First and foremost I think about whether it would fit in with my wardrobe of Big Johnson t-shirts and Disney Land irregulars. Also, could you just add something Star Wars related? Thanks!

In all seriousness if you have a design that you’re interested in printing at RIPT, send it to me at joeangelillo@gmail.com. No promises, but I will look at every submission for sure.

RIPT doesn’t offer a lot of ‘type tees’ for sale. What is it about this design that makes you think you can break the mold? What do you say to anyone that might say “this ain’t art!”?

The idea of it as a “type tee” never really crossed my mind. The design itself is a homage to folk musician Woody Guthrie, who performed with “This Machine Kills Fascists” written on his guitar.

And I encourage them to dismiss it to the fullest extent. Art is completely subjective, so one man’s urinal is another man’s masterpiece.

So about the end of “Inception,” was Cobb still dreaming, awake, or…?

I haven’t been able to catch it yet, so thanks for the spoiler alert.

Geez, some movie fan you are! Anyway, last but not least, Zombie Muppets or zombie Golden Girls?

Hmm I think it comes down to who would be more vicious, Zombie-Animal or Zombie-Sophia? I would hate to fall victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia,” but only slightly less well known is this:”‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line”.

Mrs. Petrillo it is.

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