20 Places to find ZombieCatBacon Universe content - an update

There hasn't been much activity on any of the ZombieCatBacon blogs since the year began. However, there has been quite a lot of ZombieCatBacon activity. I've been playing with various social media outlets, shared blogging formats, and a number of "pin boards" to share content relevant for each of the "channels" I enjoy writing about or perusing at my leisure.

You can find the various ZCB channels playing at the various locations listed below. (The asterix shows the most active locations for that channel)
The Comicro (comics):
*Facebook page - give us a Like, won't you?
Pinterest board - Follow me!
Tapiture board - Pinterest for guys?
Gentlemint board - not sure if Gentlemint works for me yet, we'll see
Twitter feed - called Zombie Cat Bacon, but a lot of comic stuff here
*The Escape Goat newsletter - love the way this newsletter compiles content from my favorite sites - sign up today!

SnackyPOP (snacks and drinks) (duh):
*Facebook page - give us a Like, won't you? Please?
*Pinterest board - Follow me! Now!
Tapiture board - Pinterest for guys? Yeah, and not too racy either
Gentlemint board - Gentlemint is chasing Tapiture, I think
Twitter feed - interesting links to new locally made snacks and craft soda news
The Daily R'n'R newsletter - this newsletter is a mix of a lot of stuff, all of it Important - sign up today!

Pulpwear (cool graphics, vintage posters, classic illustration):
Facebook page - The page is newish, and lonely, but you'll always find something cool to see. Give us a Like here too, won't you?
*Pinterest board - Follow me! Love me!
Tapiture board - Pinterest for guys? Also new
Gentlemint board - Gentlemint is chasing Tapiture, I think. And not succeeding.
*Spreadshirt - the Pulpwear shop, with many nifty t-shirts. New designs coming soon!

I'll provide an overview of the other three (United States of Whiskey, BBQHoney and Voyage of the Darned) later this week.

As far as the Mothership goes (ZombieCatBacon), I am toying with developing a central "go-to" point for all this stuff. A ZombieCatBacon nexus of my universe, if you like. I know a Venn diagram of my interests would look rather odd, but judging by the traffic, comments and email I get, I know there are many of you that are drawn in by one thing and discover something else you weren't expecting. And that's the fun part of doing all this stuff. The interaction and engagement I've received over the past year tells me I'm onto something. I just have no idea what that is.

Onward!

Olivia Munn and meat on hold

Back in January, the lovely Olivia Munn gave a local smokehouse a Conan O'Brien shoutout:

The result of Olivia's brief mention was a rush to Maplewood Meats, both in-store and online (and hey, good for them!). As they're local to me, I recently got my hands on their venison meat sticks, and they're fantastic. Then I remembered I saved a Washington Post article from late January about jerky, and how it's taking over the world, at least the meaty part of it:

Why beef jerky, the manly, protein-packed snack, has become so damn popular

As the "junk food" conglomerates are looking to replace lost soda pop revenue, they're turning to snacks like beef jerky. Hershey's has just rolled out their own brand, Krave (which I think is a breakfast cereal brand too), and category sales are up, way up.

I thought about Maplewood and their new-found brand awareness, and I figured there's a "Maplewood Meats" everywhere. And as I usually do, I wondered "who's the best and where are they and can I order them online?"

So I'm gonna start compiling some lists/data/links and then deliver to you, dear reader/snack lover, the info you need to make solid snack consumption decisions. While I research and sample, I'd appreciate any submissions of local craft meat wizards with whom you're familiar. Just stick them in the comments, or post on SnackyPop's Facebook page here.

See you next week!

A billion dollars a day, plus chocolate and seltzer

As I continue to search for new, interesting, local, healthy snacks, I typically see the usual suspects on every shelf everywhere, crowding out the aforementioned "craft" snacks. How did they get so ubiquitous? And, are some of the brands we buy actually just offshoots of a big megacorp (the answer is, too often, yes). Recently, I came across this rather intimidating chart over at the Oxfam America website:

Yikes! If you are trying to avoid putting your hard-earned greenbacks into the pockets of multi-nationals, good luck with all that. The dominance of these ten companies is staggering in its scope and depth. However, you can go to BehindTheBrands.org to see who owns your favorites and how they treat their suppliers and farmers.

Or you can keep supporting local companies and help your local economy and community thrive, like these five chocolate bar specialists.

Finally, seltzer is good.