Have you been super duper stressed about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse? Or maybe you don’t really believe but you watched one too many episodes of The Walking Dead and now you can’t sleep until you can shoot a squirrel off the shoulder of an undead pizza delivery guy. Well, rest assured that a zombie apocalypse is totally nothing to worry about. Cracked.com offers 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly).
Around here, it felt like fall would never get here. In fact, it’s still in the low 80s. *grumble grumble*
But anyway.
The best thing fall is…the new tv shows.
Okay, maybe it’s a toss-up between the new shows and Thanksgiving dinner. But, while Turkey Day only lasts until all the leftovers run out (or you get sick of them), there are at least a few shows to keep your mental belly full all season long.
Here’s what’s on my list:
The Blacklist
James Spader strikes a Hannibal Lecteresque pose with his own fascinating twist and everyone has a secret agenda. Good stuff so far.
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Sleepy Hollow
Apocalypse. American history. Mythology. A classic American scary story and an anachronistic hero. What isn’t there to love?
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The Walking Dead
This is one of those shows I hate to love. It just gets more and more intense every season and there’s no guarantee your most loved characters will survive (or stay sane).
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And one that’s premiering Friday:
Dracula
Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Oh my. It has to be good.
I see all the shows on my list are pretty dark. Apparently, I have to branch out a little. Guess I better go research some comedies.
Right after I watch the last episode of The Walking Dead again.
Seems like the apocalypse is everywhere these days. Books. Games. TV shows and movies. And it’s not really a new thing. From the dawn of humanity, folks have been fascinated with the end of the world as we know it (some times more than others). Why is that?
I am talking about World War Z. Before you :facepalm:, exclaiming “Not another zombie movie!”, check out the trailer…. Continue reading “Who’ll Win the War?”→
I am NOT hiding under the bed. I’m…um…looking for dust bunnies.
With the smell of Halloween still in the air (that is chocolate on your hands, right?), it’s good time to ask you about the stories that thrill you the most.
Heart pounding. Heavy breathing. Laying awake at night, scenarios running through your head.
I recently read Jonathan Maberry‘s Rot and Ruin series, the story of four friends who’ve grown up in a zombie devastated world. As they try to find their place in this world, they have to choose between safety, an illusion crafted from stagnation and denial for many of the survivors, and freedom in a land where everything wants to kill them.
While the novels deliver all the shambling, flesh-hungry zombie terror you’d expect, it also packs a huge emotional punch. Good horror makes you care about the characters but Jonathan Maberry makes you care about the monster too. Continue reading “How Sympathetic Can a Zombie Be?”→
Fall is officially here. If the continued hot weather has you confused, just check out the sudden blossoming of Halloween decorations and candy displays in all the stores. Actually, the Halloween stuff’s probably been up since August. I’m expecting Thanksgiving stuff to start popping up by next week.
Anyway, it’s Fall and you know what that means…the return of some of our favorite tv shows. Dexter is already set up for a fascinating season and, in just about two weeks, American Horror Story and The Walking Dead are creeping back to tv screens everywhere.
Some time ago, I came across this TED video with J.J. Abrams talking about what drives his creativity.
He talks about the Mystery Box, the idea that what we don’t need to know every detail about a story to enjoy it. In fact it’s what’s left to the imagination that really makes the story. The monster we don’t see. The conversation we see but can’t overhear. The closed door. Continue reading “How Much Should Be Left to the Imagination in Fiction?”→
