The Walking Dead is Back
Our Holiday Hiatus is over and the Walking Dead is back! Tonight’s episode was a decent example of what the Walking Dead does really well, that slow burn type stuff, where we take a quick break to let the characters simmer on all that’s been going on. Rick looks like a Walker all by himself and spends most of the episode unconscious. Carl was the majority of the episode and spent most of his time trying to prove he didn’t need his dad. The kid is one of those characters the fans seem to hate, yet he never really got on my nerves. Lori and Andrea, possibly two of the most hated characters in television during their run, had a tendency to do stuff that was out of character. This wasn’t the actresses fault by any means, it was bad writing and I’ve already written about that before. Actually…I wrote…
Smaller Stakes, Smaller Villains, Bigger Impact
Like many people, I have the shows I watch on a regular basis. New ones are constantly popping up, American Horror Story: Coven (which crapped out a bit in the last fifteen minutes but otherwise was great) or Almost Human (which I really want to love but am having trouble) are a couple examples. Then there are my standards, the ones I’ve been watching for years. Breaking Bad was one of those, Walking Dead is another. The one that always sneaks up on me though, and probably gives me the most satisfaction when it comes, is Justified. At first, I just didn’t care for it. Its arcs didn’t make any sense, it meandered and rambled all over the place, and just seemed to be about rednecks with single digits of teeth murdering and coniving over small scale matters. Over the years though, it has gotten much better. The second season…
Mass Effect 3 Rewrite
I…I don’t think I ever wrote about the ending of Mass Effect 3. Huh. I didn’t just sit up in bed and think that. Forbes had a post detailing a fan’s 118,000 word rewrite of Mass effect 3. To give you an idea, Sorcerer Rising is right around 125,000 words. Anyway, it is available as a PDF, a ridiculously large PDF, and does a really interesting job of bringing it to a similar, but different, conclusion. I’ll admit, I’m still torn over the ending. On one side, I want to respect the creator’s right to end their creative work however the wish. On the other, I think that same creator does have the responsibility to fulfill the promise they’ve made to their fans. And, frankly, if you were expecting a yee-haw, kick all them aliens to hell, go back and marry your alien princess (totally would have married Tali), well, you…
Chock Full of Monsters
I’m trying not to dedicate a lot of my time to TV, but I like to keep a stock of television shows ready to be watched when getting ready for work or while eating. My TV habits are much more eclectic than my book tastes (which are fantasy, pure and simple) but what came as a surprise was American Horror Story: Coven. Coven tells the story of a sort of Homicidal Hogwarts for Witches down in New Orleans. That was such a fun sentence to type. The story revolves around a conflict between this Coven and Marie Laveau, a voodoo queen who has long been in conflict with the largely white (skin, not magic) group of witches. There are a lot of race issues behind their conflict but also seems to be based on beliefs about magic and tradition as well. That all works really well, but what has been so damn…
Project Update
I wanted to give a quick update on some of the things I’ve been working on. The second story of Virgil McDane, DITF (you’re not supposed to know what that stands for) is coming along well and I am shooing for an early May deadline. That should be more than enough time to get everything completed, get it to readers, and make last minute edits. It also will give me time to get a cover together. I am doing something different than last time, so we’ll see how that goes. Details will be announced as soon as I have them. I am quite happy with the way the second one is coming. There are some very rough parts that need to be completed, some plot holes filled in, and a general tightening, but it has been a lot of fun to write and I think will be a lot of…