The Walking Dead Season 2, Episode 2: Bloodletting

Looks like this week we got a slower character building episode in lieu of the usual zombie action. A result of the rumored budget cuts, perhaps?

Spoilers!

• We finally get to see Herschel's farm, which was a big storyline in the comic. Herschel seems like a wise and benevolent patriarch, but if he's anything like the comic version, he's got a nasty secret hidden inside his barn. I'm betting we find out what it is sometime around the mid-season break.

• Little by little I'm growing to like Shane. Reading the comic before seeing the show prejudiced me against him, but TV Shane is slowly starting to win me over.

• I'm still not caring much for TV Lori. Her son's bleeding to death in the middle of nowhere, and she's getting picky because the only person around with any medical training whatsoever is a veterinarian? Granted it's not an ideal situation, but where else is she going to take him?

• Keep an eye on Herschel's daughter Maggie. She'll soon become an important person in Glen's life.

• We find out that T-Dog's real name is Theodore. You know, on a show like this, that's the sort of thing you find out right before... ah, never mind.

• We got a LOST-style flashback this week. The only thing missing was the flashback "whooosh" sound effect.

• Herschel must have some magic fingers. He pokes around at Carl's belly for a few seconds and can somehow tell that the bullet split into six fragments. And without an x-ray machine yet!

• Apparently some zombies are more energetic than others. Last week the zombie herd shuffled slowly by, but this week they were chasing after Shane and Otis like cross country runners!

• Daryl IS the new Sawyer! He was carrying around his own personal pharmacy, just like Sawyer did in the early years of LOST. Was that blue stuff in his bag really Meth?

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Doctor Who Cybermen And Daleks Micro-Figure Sets

For the past four or five years British toy company Character Options has been producing an excellent line of Doctor Who action figures. They just recently started up a new line of Doctor Who Micro-Figures. These new toys are exactly like Lego mini-figures in look and size (about 1.75" tall) and should be compatible with all Lego systems. I've never really been a Lego fan (we had some kind of knockoff brick toys when I was a kid), but God help me, I just couldn't resist them. Sorry wallet.

Today I'm reviewing the Cybermen and Dalek Army Builder Multi Packs.

First up is the Cybermen pack. The Cybermen have had a lot of different looks over the years; these are based on the current model that debuted in the new series a few seasons back.

The head sculpt is well done and they're a perfect cartoonish representation of the Cybermen from the show. I like them a lot and can't stop fiddling with them while I'm watching TV.

By the way, the big letter "C" in the middle of their chests doesn't stand for "Cybermen," as most people think. The Cybermen from the new series are actually from a parallel Earth. They were created by a human named John Lumic, founder of Cybus Industries. Lumic was dying and was working on a cybernetic body in which to house his brain. Naturally, since he was tampering with the laws of nature and all that, the Cybermen gained sentience and ran amok, eventually spilling over into our world. So the "C" stands for Cybus Industries, not Cybermen.

The Dalek figures are OK, but I'm not as big a fan of them as the Cybermen. First of all these are the new Dalek designs, which I'm not crazy about. Secondly those globes around the bottom half of the Dalek should be gray or silver, not red. Character Options definitely cheaped out on the paint applications here.

My main gripe about the Micro Daleks is the sculpting. Lego (or Lego-like) figures should be cute or cartoon-like in their designs. There's nothing cartoonish about these Dalek figures. They're just regularly proportioned tiny Daleks.

This is a problem I've seen crop up before whenever a company makes cartoony versions of non-human characters. It's easy to make a human character look cartoonish, but when you try to do it with a non-human character (like R2-D2) it's very difficult. I had the same problem when I tried to make a cartoony Dalek for my Doctor Who Enemies Infographic. I'm not sure how to solve this problem, but I'm definitely not as big a fan of the Micro Daleks as I am the Micro Cybermen.

 

Like all Lego-ish figures, their parts are interchangeable, so you can rearrange them and tamper in realms where man wasn't meant to tread.

This Cleavers Logo Scares Me

Just in time for Halloween, here's the somewhat disturbing logo for the new local restaurant "Cleavers."

I see what they're trying to do there with the "V," but the giant sinister cleavers combined with the black and red color scheme... it just seems like it would work better as a logo for a new slasher movie rather than a deli restaurant. Not a fan of the weird kerning on the "E R S" either. I guess they had to do that to center the "V."

Scary logo aside, they do make some great sandwiches.

The Walking Dead Season 2, Episode 1: What Lies Ahead

After almost a full damn year, The Walking Dead is back on AMC! Huzzah!

I finally got to see the Season 2 premiere yesterday. I don't have cable anymore, so I have to wait until I can get over to KW Monster's house to watch it. But enough of my problems, on with the review!

Wow! Now THAT'S how you kick off a new season! My eyes were riveted to the screen for the entire episode. I was initially worried by reports that co-creator Frank Darabont had been fired from the show, and feared for its quality. If the rest of the season is anything like this episode, there's no cause for alarm.

Picking up right where we left off last season, Rick and his crew are tooling down a highway when they encounter an impassible traffic jam. As they scavenge supplies from the abandoned cars, they're nearly overrun by a herd of hungry zombies. Tempers flare, long-simmering resentments come to a boil and the group threatens to fly apart.

Although this episode wasn't based on any particular issue of the Walking Dead comic book, it did follow its general rule: Things Get Bad. Then They Get Worse. Then After They Get Worse, They Get REALLY Worse.

Some thoughts (SPOILERS, obviously):

• I know that the RV sort of became a character in the comic book, but come on! If I was trying to survive in a post apocalyptic zombie wasteland, I would for damn sure secure myself a more reliable mode of transportation that an old RV that breaks down every few miles.

• That zombie herd absolutely freaked me out. Their shuffling feet and undead moaning... yikes. I was certain that any second one of the characters hiding under the cars was going to get dragged out into the sunlight. And it just kept going on and on... I felt like I was under the cars with them.

• I guess I should cut Sophia some slack since she's just a kid, but... she's an idiot. Rick tells her to stay put until he comes back, so what's the first thing she does as soon as he's out of sight? Runs off looking for her mom. And then inadvertently endangers the entire group as they now have to spend two days in the same spot searching for her.

• Why didn't all the dead people in the traffic jam cars turn into zombies? Darryl pulled a dead body out of a car and hid under it to fool the zombie herd. Carl climbed over a dead body's lap to reach a satchel full of knives, and its eyelids didn't so much as flutter. Why are some of the bodies really dead, and some are only mostly dead? Did I miss something? Is the TV Universe is different from the Comic Universe? In the comic you become a zombie at the moment of death, even if you weren't bitten by one. Maybe in the TV Universe you have to be bitten to turn? Explanation, please.

• Some nice writing in this episode, especially Andrea's speech to Dale and Lori's speech to the group.

• Is Darryl becoming The Walking Dead's version of Sawyer? He calls the Asian-American Glenn "Short Round," and in the church addresses a statue of Jesus as "J.C," just like Sawyer used to do on LOST.

• I've seen a lot of stuff on TV in my time, but I never thought I would see two men gut a zombie and pull out its stomach contents to see if it ate a little girl!

• That final scene took me totally by surprise! I should have known that on this show, whenever something nice is happening and the orchestral music swells that that's a signal for the rug to be pulled out from under you, but they still got me. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I can't imagine that they'd kill off a little boy, but on this show... you never know.

Bring on Episode 2!

It Came From The Cineplex: The Thing (2011)

Oi, move along! Nothing new to see here, move along. Go back to your homes, move along!

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In 1951 Howard Hawks directed The Thing From Another World, which most fans shorten to simply The Thing. In 1982, John Carpenter directed an excellent remake titled The Thing. Now in 2011, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (whoever the hell that is) presents a prequel to Carpenter's movie, which is also imaginatively called The Thing. So for the record we have three movies with the same damn plot and the exact same name. That's won't be the least bit confusing when you go to the video store. Well done, Hollywood.
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If you'll recall, the 1982 Thing opened with a couple of crazy Norwegian scientists chasing a sled dog into an American scientific outpost, somewhere in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. The dog turns out to be the Thing, and wreaks havoc for the American scientists.
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Throughout the course of the '82 movie we learned quite a bit about the Norwegian crew's back story. They found an alien space ship buried in the ice and they found what appeared to be the pilot of the ship (also under the ice). They dug up the pilot, thawed him out, and all hell broke loose, culminating in the dog-chasing incident at the beginning of the film. There really didn't seem to be much left to tell regarding the Norwegians.
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Hollywood can't leave anything alone though and evidently thought we needed to know more about the brave little Norwegians, so they went and made a totally unnecessary prequel.
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So how does the prequel stack up to the '82 Thing? Sadly, not so well.
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Things start out on a promising note. After the Norwegian team discovers the ship and its pilot in the ice, Dr. Sander Halvorson enlists paleontologist Kate Lloyd (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, or maybe it was Summer Glau) to accompany him to the Antarctic camp and examine the alien creature. Curious, she agrees and the action shifts to the Antarctic. When Halvorson recklessly orders a tissue sample of the frozen creature, it awakens and hijinx, as they say, ensue.
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From the moment the Thing awakens though, the prequel is pretty much a note by note remake of the '82 version. The Thing imitates various humans and the cast gets picked off one by one, Ten Little Indians style. Virtually every single event in the '82 movie has an analogue in the prequel. They even come up with a test to see who's human! The entire "test" sequence is practically a shot for shot remake of the '82 test scene.

They even copied the original poster! That's the '82 version on the left, and the '11 version on the right. Both feature guys in parkas with something weird emanating from them. They even copied the logo and its kerning!
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One thing I noticed about the two movies: I can name every character in the '82 version. They took great pains to have the characters use each other's names as often as possible to give the audience an idea of who they're watching. The '11 version? Not so much. The heroine's name was Kate. I think there was a guy named Lars too... that's about it. I have no idea who the rest of the characters were. Bad form, movie!

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Since this movie was made in 2011, naturally it's chock full of CGI Thing effects. They're not bad, but they just cannot compare to the old school physical effects of the '82 version. I think part of the problem is that no matter how cool or realistic the new effects look, in the back of your mind you know that they were created by an army of people sitting at desks, staring into computer monitors. They were added after the fact.
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In the '82 version, all of the creature effects were physical. They didn't have computer animation back then, so when a guy's head splits off from his body, falls on the floor, sprouts crab legs and scuttles away, you know that it was filmed right there on the set. They used rubber heads, puppets and buckets of fake blood of course, but they were still real, actual items. Those effects still hold up to this day, almost thirty years later. There's just no comparison between the old live effects and the new CGI. I know, I know, I'm old and I like things the way they used to be. Get off of my lawn!
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Story wise, there's just no real suspense. Because this movie is a prequel, you know that there's no way Team Norway is going to defeat Team Thing. I mean, they can't right? If the Thing is there in the '82 version (which I guess just retroactively became a sequel- Oy!) then it can't die here. Another reason why prequels are always a bad idea.
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So since this movie is a prequel, we should expect it to line up perfectly with the '82 version, right? Wrong. They do a good job of recreating some of the sets from '82, so they get a pass in that department. There were a couple of other hiccups though. In the '82 version, the American crew watches a video tape of the Norwegians discovering the alien space ship. It's buried in the ice, so the Norwegians use thermite charges to uncover it. However in this movie, the ship remains buried in the ice until the very end, when the Thing enters its ship and fires up the engines (which amazingly start up after sitting under the ice for 100,000 years). The heat from the engines then melts the ice above the ship. Whoops!
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The new movie tries to dovetail their ending into the beginning of the '82 film, with mixed results. They get most of the details right, but the dog-shooting Norwegian in the prequel looks nothing like the '82 version. Even his snow goggles are way off. A minor detail perhaps, but if you're going to try to recreate a movie that loyal fans have been watching for 30 years, you might as well do it right.
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All in all, an exercise in pointlessness. It's as if the film makers knew they couldn't outdo the '82 version, so they opted to do a lukewarm remake and pretend it's a prequel.

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Take solace in the fact that if the current 30 year (give or take) pattern holds, we'll be spared another Thing remake until sometime in 2041.

My verdict: Prequels are a bad idea. This is a prequel. Go watch the original. I give it a C.

"Earthshock" Cybermen

I recently posted my drawing of the Cyberleader from the Doctor Who episode Earthshock, so I figured why not go ahead and draw one of the regular Cybermen as well?

Honestly it wasn't very tough to draw the Cyber-Minion. They're pretty much identical to the Cyberleader, except they have silver "handlebars" on the sides of their head. So I just flopped the Cyberleader image and changed the handlebars from black to silver. Oh, and I added the ray gun. And a new arm to hold the gun. And I reversed the highlights so it wouldn't look like the light was coming from two directions. OK, actually it wasn't as easy as I thought. Forget I said anything.

Both Cybermen and the background were drawn entirely in InDesign.

Happy Trails

For the past few years the city of Evansville (where I happen to live) has been quietly building the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage trail. It's a walking/biking trail that winds through the city, and in my opinion is pretty darn cool. I do a lot of recreational walking and lately I've become addicted to the Trail. For the first time in history, my tax dollars are being spent on something fun, that I actually enjoy.

The plan is for the Trail to eventually form a continuous loop around the entire city that'll be about 17 miles long. It's not quite there yet though. Right now the Trail is in several sections, but each year the city works to connect them. I can't wait until it's all completed.

We had some beautiful weather last weekend, so I walked along the Trail and snapped some photos that I'm sure will be of interest to only myself.

Even though the trail winds its way through some of the busiest areas of town, parts of it feel very secluded. The trees and hills do a good job of muffling the traffic noise so it's very easy to forget that you're really in the middle of the city.

I know it looks like the Trail is deserted in these photos, but I'll bet I passed at least a hundred people walking or biking on it. I just happened to take photos when there was no one around.

99% of the Trail passes underneath the streets, so you get a nice tour of the underside of the city's bridges.

Not all areas of the trail are secluded. This section winds past a skateboard park. I had to stop here, grab a skateboard from some young punk and teach them how we used to kick it Old Skool...

Then he and his friends beat me senseless with their iPads and left me for dead...

At one point the Trail turns into a bridge that crosses a deep ravine. I hope they're planning on painting this bridge soon, or this time next year you'll be able to poke your finger through the rust covered spans.

There's the ravine below the bridge. I guess that must be Pigeon Creek, since the Trail is called the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage. If you were adventurous and it was springtime when the water's higher, you could probably canoe down this creek and into the river.

No vehicles are allowed on the Trail, so I'm really not sure why this sign is necessary. Maybe it's to warn visiting Wookiee dignitaries so they don't bump their heads on the bridge in the background?

I really like the design of this bridge's supports. It's got a very industrial and steam punk look to it.

Not the most interesting of photos, but worth pointing out for the overpass in the distance. That's  Evansville's Lloyd Expressway, one of the busiest thoroughfares in town.

Whoever named this miserable stretch of road the Lloyd Expressway had a fine sense of irony. The concept was to build an elevated freeway that would allow drivers to get from one side of town to the other without having to stop. In reality the majority of it is not elevated, so there's a stop light and intersection every two or three blocks. You drive 50 mph for thirty seconds, then stop at a light for two minutes, drive another thirty seconds, stop again, ad nauseum. It's incredibly frustrating and rational drivers avoid it at all costs.

Just past the Lloyd you walk up a hill and see this sculpture. It's supposed to be a monument to the river or the history of transportation or some such hooey. Personally I think the artist secretly designed it as some sort of U.F.O. landing pad.

It also reminds me a bit of the old Hands Down game I had as a kid. Yep, I'm old.

Here are some close ups of the images on the sculpture's dragonfly wings.

Here you can see the Trail winding along with the bustling megalopolis of downtown Evansville off in the distance. If you squint you can just make out the bank where I'll soon be losing my job.

Around this area is the only spot on the trail that doesn't go underneath a street. You have to walk across a railroad track and a road. Other than this one section you'll never encounter a car anywhere on the Trail.

The Trail also forks right along here. If you go to the left, you'll walk along the riverfront and downtown until you reach the end of the Trail, probably two miles from this spot. If you turn right, as I did, you'll come to this bridge that's been turned into some kind of monument.

I'm assuming it used to be a functional bridge, open to traffic. Now it's an observation deck.

As I said, it's now an observation deck, so start observing.'

Wow, the economy must be worse than I thought.

"Sorry, didn't mean to barge in! Heh heh. Get it? 'Barge in?' You see, because, there's a barge... heh... ha... Is this thing on?"

Alcatraz. There's no escape from... The Rock!

This was as far as I went on the Trail. I could have kept going and walked down the riverfront to the end, but it was around this point that it occurred to me that however far I walked forward, I would have to walk the same distance back. My car was sitting back in the park where I started, exactly four miles away. I was beginning to wish I had a Batmobile, so I could speak into a remote and it would automatically come and get me. But no, I have a plain old car that can't drive itself, so I had to walk all the way back. I ended up walking eight miles along the Trail!

I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Doctor Who The Eleven Doctors Micro-Figure Set

For the past four or five years British toy company Character Options has been producing an excellent line of Doctor Who action figures. A couple of years ago I tentatively purchased a few figures from their 5" line, intending to get just the Doctor and Rose and maybe a Dalek, and that's it. You can probably guess how that plan turned out. Thousands of dollars and 300+ figures later (in their 5" and now defunct 12" scales), Character Options has been regularly raping my wallet for several years now.

And it doesn't look like the rapin's gonna let up anytime soon-- Character Options recently started up a brand new Doctor Who Micro-Figure line. These new toys are exactly like Lego mini-figures in look and size (about 1.75" tall) and should be compatible with all Lego systems. I've never really been a Lego fan (we had some kind of knockoff brick toys when I was a kid), but God help me, I just couldn't resist them. Sorry wallet. You were asking for it anyway, what with those low cut tops you always wear. Sorry, what was I saying?

First up in their new Micro-Figure line: The Eleven Doctors Micro-Figure Set. They come packaged in a resealable TARDIS-like display box.

The box opens up to reveal the Eleven Doctors in all their tiny glory. The flaps feature a photo of each of the Doctors along with a short descriptive paragraph. If you're one of those anal collectors who never takes his toys out of the package, this is the box for you. You can keep your Doctors imprisoned inside their plastic holding cells and still have an attractive display piece. Personally I like to take my figures out of the box.

Here we see the first three Doctors, who were played by William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and John Pertwee. The likenesses and details are pretty good for the cartoonish style and scale. You can easily tell who's supposed to be who (I say, that was a joke, son).

Most of the figures come with a small, easy to lose in the carpet accessory. The Second Doctor is seen here holding his recorder (I call it a flute, but by the Soiled Drawers of Rassilon, don't ever let the fans hear you call it that). The Third Doctor is holding his Sonic Screwdriver, no doubt ready to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. The poor old First Doctor doesn't get any accessories.

I must say I'm impressed that my ancient digital camera took such sharp photos of these tiny little figures. Usually if I try to photograph anything closer than three feet away it results in a blurry mess. Could it be that after having it for going on ten years I've finally figured out how to use it?

Next up are the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Doctors, played by Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker, who's no relation to Tom. Looks like Number Six here is trying to explain his ridiculous outfit to the other two, without much success. Four and Five come with Sonics, but Six gets shafted in the accessory department (ouch).

I wish they'd given Tom Baker more of his bug-eyed manic grin than they did. He looks positively serene here. Is it just me, or does the Fifth Doctor look a lot like mediocre new-age music composer John Tesh here?

Here are the Seventh and Eight Doctors, played by Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. Seven is holding his cringe-worthy question mark umbrella, and sporting his question mark-patterned sweater vest. I'm really glad they stopped doing stuff like that on the show.

Number Eight comes with a Sonic Screwdriver. Did he use it in his one and only appearance in the TV movie? It's been a long time since I watched it, so I honestly don't remember.

Lastly here are the three most recent Doctors, Nine, Ten and the current Eleven, played by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith. All three come with their respective Sonics. Eleven comes complete with a bow tie, because bow ties are cool.

Each figure also comes with a small display base, shaped like the current Doctor Who logo. You shouldn't have to use them though, as all the figures stand on their own with no trouble.

I should warn you that because these figures are technically made by and for Brits, you won't find them at your local Target or Toys R Us. You might be able to find them at a comic shop if you're lucky, but you'll most likely have to order them online, like I did. The best place I've found to order any and all Who related merchandise is Whona (Who North America). It's an online store devoted to Doctor Who items, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. How a Doctor Who store cropped up in the land of basketball and corn, I have no idea. They have a great selection, good prices, lightning fast shipping and amazing customer service. I know, I sound like a commercial, but I've ordered from them many times and they're awesome. If you're interested in picking up this set, you can find it here or here. While supplies last.

Much to my wallet's chagrin, there are many more micro figures already out in this line, with more to come. Highly recommended, especially if you're into Legos. Or if you like Doctor Who but don't have a lot of display space.

Things I've Noticed: Summer Glau And Mary Elizabeth Winstead Are The Same Damn Person

Yesterday I went to see the prequel to John Carpenter's classic 1982 movie The Thing, which in a white hot burst of creativity is also titled The Thing. Why they didn't call it The Thing: The Beginning or The Thing: Origin, I have no idea. Carpenter's film was a remake of the 1951 movie The Thing From Another World, which most people shorten to just The Thing. So now we have three damn movies with the exact same plot and the exact same title. Well done, Hollywood.

I'll save my review of the movie for another time. What I really want to talk about is that I sat through the entire movie thinking that I was watching actress Summer Glau in the starring role. Then the end credits rolled and I was shocked to see that I'd been really been watching Mary Elizabeth Winstead the whole time!

Look at them! They're the same damn person! That's Summer on the left and Mary Elizabeth on the right. I think. Maybe it's the other way around in reverse. Honestly I'm not even sure I used the right photos.

I have no idea why Summer A.K.A. Mary Elizabeth is playing this cruel hoax on the movie-going public. Maybe it's some elaborate scheme to bilk Hollywood out of twice the paychecks? Maybe she's some sort of double agent? Maybe she uses one of her identities for TV and one for movies?

Or maybe there really are two of them, and they're the result of a top secret decades-long government cloning experiment. The government gave her clone a separate identity so that the public doesn't find out about their clandestine experiment. That seems the most likely scenario.