The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor

With Season 3 of The Walking Dead set to air tomorrow night on AMC, I thought this would be a great time to share my thoughts on the first novelization to be spawned from this fantastic comic book series.
Credited to series creator Robert Kirkman and newcomer Jay Bonasinga, Rise of the Governor provides the origin story for one of the first arch villain's to be introduced into the series.  Philip Blake, also known as The Governor, is one of the most diabolical individuals encountered in The Walking Dead.  As portrayed in the comic book, Philip is the leader of the survivor community of Woodbury.  Best known for keeping his zombie daughter Penny chained on a leash, brutally raping Michonne, and arbitrarily hacking off Rick Grimes' right hand, Philip is portrayed as a sociopath who has no qualms about destroying the lives of others for his own twisted benefit.
  The novel provides all of the back story for how he ended up as such a sick, depraved son of a bitch.
  The novel follows the journey of Philip, his daughter Penny, his older brother Brian, and two of his drinking buddies, in the first days and weeks after the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse.
While Robert Kirkman is credited as an author on the novel, it is glaringly obvious that he acted much more as a consultant.  Despite sharing the mythos of world of The Walking Dead, the tone of the novel is just too far removed from the typical feel of both the comic book and the AMC television show, to have actually been written by Kirkman.  The interactions of the characters take such a backseat to the journey that in the end, the reader ends up questioning the shocking twist that is revealed at the end of the book.
I really don't want to go into spoilers here, but I will say this: Right from the beginning I felt it was odd that a novel focused on the life of Philip would begin with a chapter focused on Brian.
Fans of the series should read this story for themselves, just to form their own opinions.

The Walking Dead: My First Comic Book

So I just finished reading all of the existing issues of The Walking Dead.  102 issues in under 4 days, all while working a 40 hour work week.  I will be honest, it became something of a compulsion.  I just couldn't stop!  I got sucked in.
Another confession: Before this I had never really read a comic book.  I know!  Shocking right!  I have no problem admitting to the world at large that I am a full on super hero geek.  But comic books weren't  really something that I had access to as a kid, and while I certainly was exposed to alot of mainstream comic book super heroes in my youth, it was usually through either big screen movies (Superman, Batman) or cartoon adaptations (Spiderman, X Men).  While I always recognized that these characters had their roots in the comic book format, it was never really something that I chose to delve into.  (The one exception to this statement was Marvel's Wolverine: Origins Graphic Novel when I was in my mid 20's because like every other Wolverine fan out there, I just had to know...).

The Walking Dead has been a really wild introduction to this medium.  I was first introduced to the franchise through the fantastic television adaptaion on AMC (only 8 days until the launch of Season 3!!!), but the comic has actually been around since 2003.  The premise: Small town cop, Rick Grimes, awakes from a lenghty coma after having been shot while on duty only to discover that his world is now populated by hordes of shambling flesh eating zombies, re-animated by some unknown global (At least I assume global) catastrophy.  All of the modern convieniences that we have come to rely on are gone, (electricity, running water, telephones, the interweb, grocery stores, everything!) along with established government and social order.  Small pockets of survivours band together in an effort to increase their chances of survival.  Scavenging for food, gasolene, and ammunition and securing defensible living quarters have  become the keystone for the continued existance these individuals. 

What makes this series so interesting to me is the interactions between the various surviving characters.  While there are zombies throught this series, it is the human element that really stands out.  In a society with all of its rules stripped away, The Walking Dead really puts it's central characters under a microscope.  The choices that they make when faced by such hardships are what really define them.  They are all faced with hard decisions, and time and time again they are put in situations where they have to make choices that directly impact not only their own suirvivial, but the survivial of those around them.  People that they have come to feel responsible for.  Because of the breakdown of society, there is no law enforecement or judicial system, so everyone is limited only by their own sense of morality and what they deem as acceptable behaviour to ensure their own survival.  Each and every member of the "core" group has their own motivations for these choices, often in direct conflict with the choices of other members of the group.  It is the dynamic of these relationships that really kept me engaged throughout the series.  They core group also frequently encounters other groups of survivors who are working at cross purposes to their own desires, and this is when the fireworks really start. The scripts are really well done, and much more focused on the human element than I would have ever expected from a comic book.

 Ofcourse I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic art work of The Walking Dead as well.  Drawn entirely in gray scale, the art lends an incredible amount of depth and detailt to the post-apocalyptic world that the characters inhabit.  The tone that this black and white rendering adds to the project as a whole is quite incredible.  As a contrast all of the the cover art is drawn in colour, and I enjoy the flashes of insight that these isolated glimpses reveal.   I have included some of my favourite cover art throughout this post so you can get a sense of what I'm talking about.  While these are only 4 of the 102 issues covers currently availale, I think all of these images speak volumes. 

Now that I am caught up to the current issue, lightyears beyond the television series, I honestly can't wait for the next issue to be released...8 days and counting.  This is something I hope to be able to follow for years to come!

Time traveling execution victims makes for very, very engaging cinema!

Got out last night to see Looper with a couple of friends and I have to say that I was very surprised by what unfolded on the big screen.
What I thought I was going to see was a movie about time traveling assassins from the future.  Pretty friggin cool!
All of the trailers had lead me to believe that the primary focus of this film was going to be watching Joseph Gordon Levitt track down his older time traveling self, portrayed by Bruce Willis.  While this was certainly a big part of the film, there is another sub-plot that involves Willis' attempt to locate and kill the younger version of a future crime boss that over rides the cat and mouse plot that I was expecting.
While the concepts driving the film are far from new to the film industry, think 12 Monkeys, Terminator, Back to the Future, their are also some very strong undertones of the InFamous video game franchise.
Set in the not so distant future, Looper shows us a glimpse into a broken, poverty stricken society run by crime lords with ties to time traveling crime syndicates from 30 years in the future.  Looper's are the society's assassins, 20 something young men, contracted to kill and dispose of targets that are sent back in time from the future for ease of disposal.  The target simply appears at a given time and place, bound, gagged, and hooded, with the Looper's payment - 4 bars of solid silver, strapped to his body.  The moment the target materializes, BLAM! The Looper blasts them with a specialized shotgun, designed to be deadly from within 15'.  The looper then disposes of the body, which technically doesn't exist in their timeline, and waits for their next assignment.  Its a pretty friggin cool concept.  However, there is a big catch.  Every looper agrees to the fact that at some point they will be expected to assassinate their older selves, sent back from the future to be executed, hence 'closing the loop'.  So the loopers live large, reveling in the moment, wasting their money on drugs, women, and fast cars.
Joseph Gordon Levitt gives a great performance as a detached, torn young man, so very distanced from the morals our that society so values.  Bruce Willis is also stellar as his older self...brought back from the brink of death and addiction by the love of a woman, Willis is driven by motivations that the younger version of himself, Levitt, can't begin to comprehend.
Without giving away too much of the plot, I want to take a moment to touch on one of the most disturbing torture scenes I have seen in a long, long time.  Early in the film, One of Levitt's looper cohorts fails to close his loop, allowing his future self to run off.  The younger version of this looper is eventually captured by the crime syndicate and it is explained that they can't kill him because of the ramifications it will have on the future. While the older version tries to flee the city, his extremities suddenly start to disapear, and he suddenly finds himself the bearer of a very specific, very new, very old scar.  As time ticks on, more and more of his body is suddenly displaced and replaced with scar tissue.  The theory  being that while the syndicate can not kill the younger version of the looper, they have ways of keeping him alive while inflicting horrible amounts of very specific damage. I thought this was a really interesting and graphic way for the film to depict the direct results of altering the time space continuum...alot of the audience around me cringed as the scene went on and on...and while no actual violence or dismemberment were shown, everyone knew exactly what was going on.
It was very intelligently done.
That last statement can actually be applied to the entire movie.  There are no loose ends.  The film makers allude to very specific details early in the film, then as the film progresses, all of these concepts are brought into play.  It was great to see a time travel film that didn't leave us asking 'but what if...?' or 'are they now stuck in a continual time paradox?', or 'does this mean that we are now dealing with split and divergent timeliness?'  These are things I have often asked about other films, because it is the kind of thing I like to spend time pondering.  Looper answers all of your questions in a very direct, straightforward manner.  Which means that the writers spent the time to figure all this stuff out, they didnt just say 'ah well...who cares if this plot point doesnt make sense. Just go with it" And that I appreciate.

Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man

Primer's Visual Guide to Understanding Common Suit0 Features

Stumbled Upon the above link tonight and it just so happens that it contains a wealth of information that I believe every man should be aware of. 

I urge all of you men out there to read the above article, as you will likely learn something that will come in handy down the road.

Most of the guys I know don't enjoy having to put on a suit, forget about knowing anything about how to properly wear one.
"How many buttons should they do up on their 3 button jacket?"
"How many vents should they have?" "How do they tie a full Windsor knot?"  These are all questions that either I have asked,  and heard asked by friends and family members recently.

I believe this lack of knowledge stems from our generations lack of respect for the suit in general.  Growing up, we all viewed suits as stuffy, restrictive, uncomfortable things worn only either by pretentious businessmen, or to a somber occasion like a funeral.  There were no fun, entertaining examples of reasons to put on a suit.

Now, in my 30's, I have learned to respect the suit.  And for this I would primarily  like to thank Barney Stinson.  Portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris on the hit CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, Barney is almost aways sporting a tailored suit and is always calling on his wingmen to "Suit-up" for a night on the town.  Barney has taught us that suits command respect, and often deliver LEGENDARY results that may be otherwise unattainable! While I recognize that I am congratulating a fictional character for his approach to life, and that this series was in reality dreamed up by a team of writers in a board room at CBS, I would still like to thank the team that created Barney for their take on the impact of the suit in today's society.

Case in point.
I recently had the opportunity to "Suit-up" in Vegas, and head out on the town,  and I can 100% affirm that people really do treat you differently when you are dressed in a suit.

Special thanks to HFJ for classing up the entire event.

My Night With Lois Lane

While this story is a few years old, I think it's a good one, so I am going to share it, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.  So there.

While I was out on the road, touring a Broadway-style show, I found myself stranded in Livingston Montana with a couple of days off.  If you have ever been to Montana, odds are that you know there isn't a damn thing to do there...so I figured I was stuck, when all of a sudden a very interesting opportunity came my way.

One of my lead actor's, who also happens to be a good friend had made arrangements to meet an old acquaintance for dinner and asked me, and another pair of company members to join them.  No big deal.  Its just a dinner, right?  Well, as it turns out, it was to be a night to remember as the acquaintance turned out to be Lois Lane herself, Margot Kidder.

Brian had directed Margot in a show at Stage West years ago, and they had maintained a pretty good relationship over the years so this dinner invitation was a chance for old friends to get caught up, and her to be hospitable to some of his traveling companions.

Margot picked the four of us up at our hotel in her Suburban, with 2 very large, very energetic dogs in tow.

Our first stop was Costco to pick up enough food to feed an army.  2 HUGE Pork loins, and salad fixings, strawberries...groceries, and alot of them.

Next stop, the local pharmacy so Margot could fill her "prescriptions".  Margot was very open and honest with us all night about her battle with mental illness, and I have to give her credit for being a very brave, independent individual.  She is also very politically minded, and a huge supporter of President Obama.

We were under the impression that this was to be a very low key evening in.  The night started with a tour of her lovely, modest home, and included what I still consider to be the highlight of the event.  In Margot's 2nd story den, above the mantle I discovered a framed copy of the famous Daily Planet Newspaper Article wirtten by Lois Lane "My Night With Superman."  This discovery really made my night.  I have always been a huge Superman fan, and as if meeting Margot wasn't enough of a thrill, seeing this piece of movie history really made my night.  I asked Margot about the piece, and she told me that it had been given to her as a gift by one of the props people many years after the movie wrapped filming. 

Turns out that Margot had invited 20 of her closest friends over for a dinner party to celebrate our being in town, and had plans to prepare a huge meal.  Unfortuantely, Margot's idea of prepping a huge meal was to attempt to put the pork loins in the microwave to cook them...Bless her, she was pretty much useless in the kitchen, but has a huge heart. 

So three of us from the show, the drummer, one of the two lead actors, and me, the stage manager, slaved away in the kitchen for most of the evening cooking the meal while Margot and Brian regailed us with some fantastic stories, all of which I have promised never to repeat, I will say I learned some things about Christopher Reeve that night ;)

While we slaved away over the hot stove, we may have sampled a few bottles of wine...okay more than a few...

Eventually, mostly thanks to our drummer's kitchen wisdom, and my unparralled ability to stir a boiling pot, we were able serve a pretty damn fine meal.  We had set up 3 or 4 tables in Margot's living room on the main floor to accomodate all of the guests.  Margot's guests included a number of local artists and notables including author Maryanne Vollers, who wrote Ghosts of Mississippi.  It actually was a lovely evening, with alot of fun conversation, and only one beret wareing jackass, a local retired war correspodant, turned philospher who got raging drunk and insisted on attempting to make very long winded toasts every 15 minutes for the remainder of the evening.  Margot and Maryanne eventually told him to sit down and shut up.  Pretty funny.

At the end of the evening we (the same three that had prepped the meal) did the dishes and helped put the house in order.  My memory gets pretty hazy about this part of the evening as I was happily hammered, but I do know that I washed alot of dishes!  Since a few of us were in rough shape, Margot offered to put us up for the night, but as we needed to be back on our tour bus the next morning to leave town, she wound up loaning us her vehicle and one of the sober actors drove us back to the hotel.  Good times had by all, except maybe the douche waffle in the beret, but no one cares about him...

Resident Evil: Retribution - 90 minutes you will never get back

Got out last night to see the latest offering from the Resident Evil franchise on the big screen.
I did enjoy the opening sequence - shown in reverse, it picks up exactly where the last film left off.  However, I thought it was a little odd for the film makers to then show the exact same footage in the usual (forwards) order immediately afterwords...just in case you didn't understand what you were seeing the first time around.  In case this convention was too much for you to follow...or you had never seen a film before...or just crawled out from under a rock directly into the movie theatre and chosen this film as your introduction to pop culture of western civilization. If that was infact the case then I am so sorry about your luck.
The rest of the movie was the closest the franchise has come to putting an 80's video game on the big screen.  Nonsensical plot, random flashy locations explained away with little care to the fact that they just don't make sense.  Big Boss fights throughout.  Big special effects that add nothing to the lack of story.
I will say that Mila Jovovitch still looks fantastic in the role of Alice, but that really isn't enough to carry a movie franchise.
For a film franchise that started out being all about a zombie apocalypse, they have strayed a long way from where they started.
And on that note, like every other Resident Evil film,  the ending leaves the door open for yet another sequel.
Will it be a sequel that I want to see? Not likely.
Luckily I wasn't expecting much from this film, and that is exactly what I got.  Unless you are a hardcore fan don't bother.

Fifty Shades of Green

So you put 8 theater folk at the table in the corner at a theater wedding, and you have to realize that things are going to get a little rowdy...especially when all of your center pieces are children's toys from the 80's and there is alcohol involved.

Allow me to present Fifty Shades of Green: A Muppet Sex Extravaganza, brought to you by the fantastic, twisted minds of Craig Pearson, Vinny Kolcz, Heather Landon, Jenine Kroeplen, Crystal Ellis, Jessica Bray, Just The Wife, and Yours Truely.

I hope this brings a smile to your face.