The Walking Dead - Cover Story

I've already posted about how much I love this show. Well season one is coming to a close this Sunday and I just want to take a moment to reiterate how fucking awesome this show is. Is it dark? Sure! Is it kinda depressing? Absolutely! Is it one of the best dramas on TV? Hell yeah!

What is more surprising is that the general public and the critics are also heaping praise on the show. Going so far as to slap The Walking Dead on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Check out Kirkman's reaction to that over on Screenrant.

And don't forget to tune in for the finale Sunday at 10:00 pm Eastern on AMC.

Cataclysm

I was a WarCraft junkie on and off for about 3 years before I was able to shake the habit. I quit about 3 months into BC and aside from a brief 10 trial of WoLK I've been clean ever since. That was until a few weeks ago when Wrath went on sale for $10, that was just too good a deal to pass up. Then the old world got the big shake up in preperation for Cata and I just had to check it out and see the changes.

Well, I was very impressed by what Blizz has pulled off here. The old world has seen massive improvements, it's actually almost like a new game at this point. Quest lines have been tightened up so that you flow from hub to hub much more naturally. The textures and music have also recieved a pleasant upgrade which just adds an extra touch of class the whole experience. They've tweeked the XP required for leveling to make the grind to 60 go by much faster, and the newly revamped talent trees are far superior to the 51 point monstrosities they had become.

On the whole this update represents a significant upgrade to WoW, and Cata hasn't even launched yet. If the new 80-85 content is half as good as the old world revisions, we are truly in for a treat. Of course that does mean that I am gonna sink at least another couple of months into this.

Epic Police Chase

This was just too fun to ignore, had to link to it...

There's a great list right now over on Cracked.com of the 7 car chases way more exciting than anything you've seen in the movies. This one, featuring a chase in South Africa, stands out as one of the best:

Now that is a cop that knows how to get the job done. It takes a special kind of crazy to leap into the back of a speeding pickup truck... especially when the driver of said truck had the balls to ignore incoming fire.

Walking Dead News

For anyone who may not have heard about this stellar new AMC series, let me give you a quick synopsis. The show follows a band of survivors, including former small town sheriff Rick Grimes, as they attempt to survive in a world overrun by the zombie hordes. I know, I know.. it all sounds very familiar, but the show is based on the comic book of the same name written by Robert Kirkman and has a very unique take on the story.

Instead of going into the usual horror mode of people trying to escape the horde, the emphasis in Kirkman's story is survival. They are not trying to go anywhere, this story does not end with the survivors triumphantly boarding a helicopter that will carry them to safety. In fact Kirkman states that his original idea for the comic book was "a Zombie movie that doesn't end." As a result, the story is much more focused on the survivors, their relationship with each other, and the effect the zombie apocalypse has on their humanity. It's really a unique creation, and one you should check out for yourself.

Right, now that I have the back-story out of the way, I can actually get to the news segment of this post. The good news for fans of the show, like me, is that AMC has officially renewed it for a second season. As if that wasn't enough, they have increased the episode order from 6 to 13. Season one can be considered more of a mini-series with just 6 episodes, but the next season will build on that with an expanded episode order. Lets not forget that it's pretty impressive for a network, even if its a cable network, to order more than double the episodes for a second season, especially after just 2 episodes have aired.

Here's a sneak peak at episode 3 "Tell it to the Frogs"

Behind the Scenes of SGU

When the show started I really, seriously hated the character of Telford (played by Lou Diamond Phillips). No offense to Lou of course, I think he's a pretty damn good actor. I just felt that the character has exactly zero redeeming qualities. Of course that was all solved by SPOILER the big reveal at the end of the season when we found out he'd been brainwashed to be an asshole and was really a decent fellow. END SPOILER.

Anyway, in a recent episode Telford and the crew encountered a race of strange little alien dudes. These aliens were, as you might imagine for a show set in another galaxy, entirely computer generated. That being the case, it's a rare thing for a show to waste it's FX budget on gags, but the folks over at SGU have done exactly that. Watch the following video where Telford cracks a joke with his alien buddy.

I don't know how much that stunt cost them, but I say it was worth it, don't you?

On a completely unrelated note, I apologize for the weekly postings of late, I find myself with a distinct lack of free time, I shall endeavor to post more frequently in the future, but no promises.

EDIT: I shall also attempt to avoid future instances of comma splicing. ><