the walking dead

Day 300: The Walking (Maybe) Dead

The Walking Dead Season 6.

The Walking Dead Season 6.

If you haven’t watched Episode 3  of Season 6 (“Thank You”) of The Walking Dead yet, skip this post.

*SPOILER ALERT*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite character is dead. Maybe.

From pizza delivery kid to Rick’s right-hand man, I’ve rooted for Glenn since he appeared and loved how his character grew throughout the show. While Rick has slowly lost his humanity, Glenn has never lost his.

Nobody would have blamed Glenn for killing Nicholas in the woods, yet he gave the man a chance to redeem himself. It was this good deed that might have cost him his life.

It sure looked like Glenn was ripped apart by zombies after Nicholas offed himself. It was a terrible way to go as the horde of walkers closed in on them, Nicholas committed suicide, and his body fell into Glenn, causing them to tumble into the waiting zombies.

There are theories that Glenn isn’t dead, though. I haven’t read the comic books, so I’m not sure if that plays into this. One theory explains how he is actually underneath Nicholas, who is the one getting torn to pieces, while another theory points to the fact that actor Steven Yuen didn’t show up on the Talking Dead, the after-show where the actors who have been killed chat about their work on the series.

I’m open to believing that second theory. The first could be plausible, too, with some nifty camera work. I didn’t read anything about a dream sequence, but that might be another way to explain it since Nicholas was having those weird zone-outs prior to killing himself. Maybe Glenn woke up Nicholas before he put the gun to his head?

As I typed that last paragraph I realized dream sequence would be a pretty lame cop-out. The show is too smart for that. I hope.

Whatever the answer is, I expect most of the main characters to die eventually. It’s what makes the Walking Dead so great: nobody’s untouchable.

Note: I haven’t looked it up yet, but wasn’t the music in this episode reminiscent of the classic Romero movies? If the zombie apocalypse ever hits, you can bet the sound of synthesizers will be playing somewhere.

Day 293: Full Geek Mode

Full Geek Mode

Full Geek Mode

I’m in full geek mode right now. After the Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer debuted last night, I read a handful of Star Wars articles and watched youtube videos (and, yes, I watched the trailer dozens of times).

One thing that I stumbled upon that I absolutely loved was this quote from Felicia Day: “Geekdom is the joy of connecting about things you love without fear of judgment.”

I’ve been connecting with Star Wars for the last 24 hours, but I’m not forgetting about my other geekdom joys. I’m finishing (finally!) A Clash of Kings, I’m all caught up with The Walking Dead, and I just started James Doohan’s memoir, Beam Me Up Scotty.

The only thing I didn’t geek out on tonight was Fresh Off the Boat, since it was off the air this week. This is probably a good thing or else I might start getting my geekdom worlds mixed up.

Day 285: There, Their, They’re

There, their, they're.

There, their, they’re.

Last night’s The Walking Dead premiere was great — I won’t go into the details here for those of you who haven’t watched yet, but I wanted to share the above comic. It’s got zombies … and a quick lesson on there, their, and they’re.

I’m sure everybody sees the same mistakes being made over and over again on social media. From misspellings to incorrect your/you’re usage, the Internet is a living, breathing grammar and spelling worksheet.

There, their, and they’re are easy to remember, but if you need a refresher, check out that zombie comic, then go to your Facebook page and practice your newfound knowledge on all of your friends’ status updates.

Day 284: Sunday Zombie Day

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

Sundays are always more fun with football and zombies. Although the Raiders lost again, at least season six of the Walking Dead was on tonight.

My wife and put together our zombie costumes with a little help from the 99 Cents Store and some of our old clothes. We went as slumber party zombies to the season premiere showing sponsored by our local comic book store.

As seen in the photo above, we ran into our friends Sasha, The Governor, and Michonne. Can’t wait for the mid-season party!

Day 244: Plants vs. Zombies

Plants vs. Zombies

Plants vs. Zombies

My nieces and nephew introduced me to Plants vs. Zombies years ago, but I never understood the hype … until last week.

After downloading the Android app, I quickly got sucked into protecting my home from all sorts of zombies. I learned how to plant sunflowers to generate sunlight that I needed for more powerful plants. I learned the ecstasy of a last-second save at my doorstep. And I learned the agony of having my brains eaten by my undead friends.

While it’ll never satisfy my board game cravings, Plants vs. Zombies is a fine way to fill up some free time … or stay up past one’s bedtime, as yours truly did last night.

Day 235: Couch Potato

Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead

With the Galaxy hosting the New York City Football Club, Tiger Woods in contention at the Wyndham Championship, and the premiere of Fear the Walking Dead, my Sunday was booked solid.

Unfortunately, Tiger quickly dropped out of contention, but that allowed me to get out of the house after the Galaxy game. The Galaxy looked like MLS Cup contenders again, thanks to Robbie Keane’s continued MVP form and Giovanni Dos Santos’ all-around excellence. Although I missed out on the game today (I tried to buy tickets after Gio had signed, which meant that it was already sold out), it was still fun watching the Galaxy dominate the game and I expect to go to the StubHub Center later this year for another championship game.

Fear the Walking Dead is on right now as I type this, but my wife and I are both finishing up some work before AMC reruns it. I hope it lives up to the hype, but I still prefer binging on shows 2-4 episodes at a time so we’ll probably watch tonight’s pilot before taking a few weeks off to stockpile episodes.

Nothing says couch potato better than zoning out on a bunch of zombie shows.

Day 145: Zombiefied

Rick Grimes is not feeling well.

Rick Grimes is not feeling well.

Over the last three days, I’ve been out of the house exactly once (for Saturday’s Star Wars Day in Rancho Cucamonga). Thankfully, my wife has gone above and beyond in taking care of me, nourishing me back to health while I spent most of my time in our room. When I was craving In-N-Out animal-style fries, she went out and got me an order to munch on while I zoned out on the TV. Now that’s true love.

Since I’ve been such a zombie lately, I decided to watch some zombie films. But either my illness gave me Attention Deficit Order or I’m getting a bad case of cabin fever, since I couldn’t stay focused for the entirety of Dawn of the Dead. I still wasn’t up for getting out of the house, though, so I searched for zombie short films and found some excellent viewing material.

Below are the youtube links for two of my favorites; one is funny and the other is surprisingly touching. The best thing about these short films? You can watch both in less time than the previews at your local movie theater.

Too Late

Cargo

Day 99: Caught Up

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

SPOILER ALERT: I’m talking about The Walking Dead, season five (scroll down to continue)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally caught up with The Walking Dead tonight. Wow. I thought that things had slowed down once the group reached Alexandria. Thankfully, I wasn’t ready to give up on the show and the last two episodes were brilliant: tense, emotional, and action-packed.

Once the group made its way to Alexandria and tried to return to a pre-apocalyptic way of life, the series seemed to lose its steam. While the focus has always been on Rick, Glenn and Maggie slipped to the background, as did Daryl. Carol was more prominent and she’s never been more charming and menacing. Noah’s death was heart-breaking, just as Emily’s was at the midway point.

As the utopian Alexandria came crumbling down, the show got its mojo back. It was great to see Morgan again and how perfect was his reunion with Rick?

As Mrs. G. and I binged on the final few episodes, it reaffirmed my taste in television viewing: I’m a binger, not a weekly show type of guy (except for half-hour comedies about an Asian American family). We began the second half of season five in real time, watching each episode as they aired. After a few weeks, we decided we liked watching episodes a handful at a time. Not only can we watch when we want to, but it’s easier to follow the story. For me, it’s easier to remember characters and details when I’ve seen them hours rather than weeks before.

Now that season five is over, I’m ready for season six. I won’t be watching the premiere, though. I’ll watch it a few weeks later, along with another handful of episodes.

Day 43: Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul on AMC

Better Call Saul on AMC

The much-anticipated premiere of Better Call Saul was this weekend and based on the reviews and social media reaction, it’s lived up to the hype. I thought the two-episode debut was solid and there were some nice tie-ins with Breaking Bad. It’s great seeing Saul in his pre-Goodman days as Jimmy McGill, a down-on-his-luck ambulance chaser. Like Walter White, we’re going to see one man’s transformation; unlike Walter White, we know exactly what Jimmy/Saul is going to become.

I have mixed feelings, though: not about the show itself, but of my viewing habits. Just like The Walking Dead (which also debuted the second half of season five this weekend), I like to get my television fix in two- or three-episode chunks instead of one-episode bites. Should I risk seeing spoilers on social media, just so I can stockpile a few episodes to watch in a few weeks?

It’s too bad that all shows can’t be released in a binge-friendly format like House of Cards.

Day 36: Fresh Off The Boat

Fresh Off The Boat

Fresh Off The Boat

ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat premiered last night and #FreshOffTheBoat trended on Twitter in Los Angeles and New York. From what I read, there was a lot of positive response, but I’m waiting to see how FOTB fares over the upcoming weeks.  This was a huge moment for Asian Americans since there hasn’t been a show with an all-Asian-American cast since 1994, when Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl debuted on the same network. My fingers are crossed in hopes that the comedy sustains its opening-night momentum.

I’ve followed the FOTB story for a few months, as creator Eddie Huang (he wrote the autobiography that the show is based on) ripped ABC for watering down and de-politicizing the source material. It fascinated me that Huang would sabotage his own show before the pilot had even aired and I worried that studio executives were doing him like they did Cho two decades ago.

Thankfully, the first two episodes weren’t bad at all. The actor that plays the young Eddie is terrific and all of the other actors were solid. I’m eager to see how the characters develop and I hope that ABC gives FOTB enough time to find itself. It’s a real shame that it’s taken 20 years for a show about, and starring, Asian Americans to reappear on the airwaves, but it’d be an even bigger shame if it wasn’t given a chance. And while I’m not expecting mainstream America to make FOTB the next Seinfeld, I am expecting other Asian-American-based shows to appear sooner than 20 years from now. At the very least, I’ll settle for a Walking Dead spin-off featuring Glenn called “I’m Korean, Not Chinese.”