New adventures in Minecraft

Landscaping: done.

The area around my tower now looks more or less neat, and I've succesfully put together the cactus death maze. The tower is now nearly finished; one more project to go!

This was my first house:

It's not much, but it was home for a while.

This is literally the hole I dug into the hillside on my first night in Minecraft, to hide from the living dead and the exploding death cacti. It's just north of my epic tower, and was my first base, where I put together the equipment I'd need to start building the tower.

Before I head out, there's one more project I need to finish: a tunnel connecting my house with my tower. It looks like this:

As soon as the tunnel is ready, I can pass securely from the tower to my first house, and start heading north. And after a little digging, it's done! I can now reach my first house from the tower in complete safety, with the cacti above my tunnel completely oblivious to me.

The only thing left to do in the tower complex is to continue my walkway west. Next time, I'll head north and west in search of snow! Until then, here's a view of the sunset from the end of my walkway. That's where I'm headed.

**

You see, you've seen the desert and forest, but there are more biomes in Minecraft. There's snow, and it just so happens that for a project I've come up with, I'm going to need some snow. There's none around my tower, so it's clearly time to go adventuring to find some! Illogically, I headed south, and after finding a nice island just to the south of the hill my tower is next to, I built a little tower outpost.

To the north, you can see my tower:

But alas, looking south, all I see is the ocean and some more green islands. No snow or ice in sight!

Clearly, heading further south is going to call for a major boating expedition. As you can see from the view from my walkway, it's just more woods and ocean to the west, too, with the same story to the north. I'll try east, I think, and I head over to the big sandy hill you can see from my panoramic sunrise window, and build a little outpost on that. After spending the night there, it turns out I've made camp on Creeper Hill. This is what I saw when I came out in the morning, after killing two cactuses at my door in the night:

Fuck.

Not to worry: I've indoctrinated myself with one important Minecraft lesson. When you come out your front door, RUN. I left the exploding cactuses of death in my dust and headed way out east.

My strategy is to keep going in one direction until I find snow. I don't really know how the world is generated, so I don't know if going north would be smart or not. So I don't get lost, I intend to leave a cairn like this on prominent hillsides:

That's my east outpost in the distance. Once you see the cairn, you can get to it, and then you can see the outpost. Build the next cairn in sight of this one, and so on. I mean, it's not like I'm going to run out of places to explore, either; from what I've heard, the game will generate new terrain up to eight times the surface area of the earth before running into difficulties!

I'll digress for a moment. There's a lot of Minecraft stories floating around the Internet, because this really is the most awesome game ever. One thing that a lot of them have in common is that people keep getting lost. On the face of it, it seems really easy to get lost: the terrain is generated, so there aren't that many very distinctive landmarks. But it isn't.

For starters, the sun always rises directly to your east and sets directly to the west. And the clouds always move from south to north. So really, if you're above ground, you should always be able to tell which direction is which. Now, assuming you have any idea which way you're headed, you should also know, at least roughly, where you're coming from. If you have any idea what the landmarks closest to your base look like, it shouldn't be that hard to find it again.

I realize that forests and undulating terrain make this a lot harder in practice, but still, I don't really see how one goes about getting lost in Minecraft without making a determined effort to. It's possible that I'm orienteering without realizing it, of course. It would be interesting to do a study into how people orient themselves in unfamiliar terrain; do they look at landmarks? Try to determine which way is north?

Back to exploring! Just over the hill with the cairn is an interesting, fairly flat spot with lots of exposed rock.

This would be a great place to build something big; I'll have to keep it in mind. The water is so low it would be easy to fill it in. No snow yet, but no sooner have I crossed the spot I just described:

Pumpkins! Wow. I didn't know they had those! What's more, you can make a jack-o-lantern out of one!

It couldn't be easier: pumpkin + torch. And looking approximately northeast from Pumpkin Hill: Epic Island.

Yeah, no sign of snow, but I gotta see that place! And it doesn't disappoint: an epic hill, with multiple cave entrances and at least one exposed coal seam, and more wood than you can brandish an axe at. I just might stay here for a moment...

Next up: Epic Island and beyond!

Christmas Gift Ideas

Every year I toil away at my computer, trying to find ways to entertain you.  And yet, none of you ever send me any gifts come Christmas time.  That is ridiculous.  I expect that will change this year.  You feel bad that you have not bought me anything and want to make up for it.  The only one of you that is exempt from this is Michelle since she bought me the first four Sookie Stackhouse books for my birthday (I think she may have mentioned how I should read them every time I wrote something about True Blood).  Here are a few ideas for you:

DVDs
At some point in life I will buy either a PS3 or a BluRay player, therefore I have been cutting back on the number of DVDs I purchase.  That being said, I would love it if someone bought me the first season of Community.  I hear it is quite hilarious.

Books
I actually would prefer if no one bought me any books for awhile.  I am quite behind on my reading list.  I have the Wheel of Time, the Sookie books, a few other random ones sitting there screaming my name.  It is just too much.

Comics
If one of you would be so kind as to head to the Comic Swap in State College and pick up my subscription list, that would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

See folks, I do not ask for much.  Now get out there and get these simple things done.

Leslie Nielsen 1926-2010

Actor Leslie Nielsen died on November 28 at the age of 84. The many fine films he made during his career which spanned more than sixty years will be his lasting legacy.

But the role we will all remember him best for was, of course, Commander John J. Adams in Forbidden Planet.

Winter is Coming Soon!!!

Clip Preview

Here is the first full preview of HBOs newest show Game of Thrones.   Needless to say, I am extremely excited about this show.  It feels like the books, if that makes sense.

More Star Wars Insanity

I realize my last post was about Star Wars, but blame SpikeTV--they are showing the originals today.  Anyways, I just watched one of my favorite parts, the above video includes the part where Vader chokes the nonbeliever.  It then got me thinking...

-Everything Obi-Wan tells Luke is basically a lie.  I know, he says that it is the truth from a certain point of view, but does this seem like good Jedi behavior?  When I met your father, he was already one of the best star pilots in the galaxy...ummm when you met his father, he was a little boy.  I highly doubt he was that great of a pilot.

-Your uncle did not want your father to get involved.  Uncle Owen did not really know Anakin, and he most certainly had no say whether Anakin was involved.

-Obi-Wan does not remember R2D2?  I guess senility is also a major Jedi trait.

-Vader's great speech about how the power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.  Ummm, really?  Have we ever witnessed anything that would lead us to believe that the Force can do anything close to this?

-Obi-Wan says that he has not gone by that name since before Luke was born...did anyone at the end of Revenge of the Sith call him Ben?  I do not remember that.

-How shitty of a protocol droid is C-3PO?  I get that his mind must have been wiped a few times, but he does not know that Jawas are from Tatooine?

-In Return of the Jedi, Luke is escorted to the Emperor with handcuffs on.  The Emperor then releases them with the Force.  Why would they even bother putting them on a Jedi?

-Also, when the Emperor is taunting Luke by saying that he should just reach out and take the lightsaber and strike him down, why doesn't Luke just use the force to slowly turn it around and flip the switch on so it stabs the Emperor?  There are plenty of places in these films where we see Jedi use their power for something mundane (Obi-Wan is way too lazy to shut doors by hitting a button), but they fail to use it for something useful (why not use it to flip the off-switch on a lightsaber during a battle).  Am I the only one who thinks of this stuff?

Okay, I promise that I am done with this now.

Sexy & Sweet Burlesque

Verdict:

GO SEE!

REVIEW:
Burlesque oozes sexiness of course thanks to the racy costumes and dance numbers--- and sweetness from Christina Aguilera's loveable character. Singer turned actress Aguilera is pretty great in her debut acting role--- playing a girl with a hidden killer singing voice who moves to L.A. in hopes of making it big and finds herself working at Burlesque Lounge--- first as a waitress, then as a star. Singer/Actress Cher is simply fabulous as the owner of Burlesque Lounge. Stanley Tucci is a hoot as her gay best friend and stage manager of the theatre while Cam Gigandet supplies plenty of eye candy. Burlesque is nothing but pure fun. The performances--- from the song to dance numbers are wonderful to watch. Aguilera and Cher fans will love this flirty film without a doubt.
 

It's Doctor Who's lovely assistant!

Or, in other words, happy birthday Karen Gillan!

Star Wars Stupidity

I am sitting here right now watching Star Wars Episode I:  The Phantom Menace on SpikeTV (I watched the last half of Episode III) and it occurred to me there are plenty of idiotic things about these films when compared to the originals.  I am sure people have pointed these things out before or found explanations, but it is still fun to make fun.

-If you are trying to hide Anakin Skywalker's children, why would you take one of them to Tattooine:  the place where Anakin was born?

-Also, why the hell would you keep his last name as Skywalker?  Did Luke ever have to register his T-16?  I am sure the Imperial DMV would have Skywalker on file.  Darth Vader and the Emperor did not keep a search program running to alert them if that name ever came up?

-Why does the Emperor refer to Luke as the son of Skywalker when talking to Vader?  Why not just say "your son cannot become a Jedi."  I guess that would have killed the big shock ending.

-Allow me to get this straight, Yoda and Obi-Wan escape from the Emperor and Vader and go into hiding.  What was their master plan?  Never train either child and just hope that the two bad guys die of old age?  Why not move to the farthest corner of the galaxy (I am guessing Tattoine) and train both of them both to be Jedi Knights.  Also, why wouldn't they both be out searching for other surviving Jedi?  Instead they just wait for them all to be killed or later hunted down by Vader.  Great plan.

One of my favorite posters from the prequels

-How does Princess Leia tell Luke that she remembers her mother as being very sad.  Padme dies when they are born.  Sorry, she loses the will to live.  Apparently that is a diagnosis in that universe.  I wonder what House would say?  He would definitely want an autopsy.

-Yoda and Chewbacca were good friends.  I somehow find it hard to believe that Luke and Chewie never have that discussion.  I am sure that Han would ask Luke where he learned how to be so badass and Luke would be like "oh, this old Jedi Master, Yoda trained me."  Or could Han have mentioned the weird ramblings from Luke to Chewie after Hoth?  I am almost certain one of these conversations had to happen.  Maybe Luke and Chewie once drank some beers and lamented over their dead friend.

-I always forget that Anakin is like Jesus.  He has no human father.  Quite creepy.  I wonder what Jesus' midichlorian count would have been?

Girlfriend of the Week

This weeks GOTW is a dedication to a beautiful Native American woman:  Charisma Carpenter.  I did not know she was party NA until about eight minutes ago, but that is good enough for me.  You may remember her from Buffy and Angel or whatever else she has been in.  Apparently there is a big uproar about rebooting Buffy, check it out if you want a good laugh.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and I hope you have a fun Black Friday!  Enjoy buying cheap things.  I am at work, since about 2:30 a.m.  My life rocks.

Exploding cactus of death

See that cactus in the middle of the screen, with an angry face and weird legs, coming right at you? That, dear reader, is a fucking exploding death cactus, the scourge of Minecraft. If it gets close enough to you, it explodes, killing you and destroying anything nearby. The damn things are totally quiet, so you can never tell if one is coming up, ready to blow up both you and your hard work.

Exploding death cacti and other monsters spawn in dark places, meaning caves and outside at night. Here's the view from my window in the night; I've highlighted three death cacti and a zombie. There's a couple more guys on the other side of the water, too. This is why proper lighting is essential for all indoor and outdoor areas: otherwise you'll run into a cactus in your house. Nobody wants that.

Your first nights in Minecraft are spent cowering in a primitive shelter, with the sounds of zombies, skeletons and giant spiders terrifyingly close. Luckily, the living dead in Minecraft can't abide the sun, and spiders calm down in the day as well, leaving just the ever-present, silent menace of the goddamn fucking cactus. You'll be fixing your first shelter more than a few times after a dawn visit from a death cactus.

If, like any self-respecting journalist, you choose to live in a fortified compound where the cacti can't get to you, they'll still try to. At night, they cluster around you, and in the morning, the cacti are there. Waiting. So, what to do?

For starters, I built an elevated walkway to an exit far enough from where I spend most nights to avoid the immediate attention of the cacti. But they're still there; the main body of my tower is finished, but I still have to do the landscaping around it, or my tower will look like it's been built on a rubbish heap. So I used my nous to come up with a way to make the grounds around my tower look more attractive that will also deal with the death cacti. Here it is: the cactus death maze.

Unlike its ambulant, explosive cousin, the stationary cactus is your friend. Anything that touches a regular cactus takes damage, and this can work in your favor. As I said, at night, the monsters try to cluster around you; the undead will come straight at you, while the fiendish exploding death cactus actually tries to ambush you by hiding behind a corner or an obstacle. But in either case, they're aiming to get as close as possible. And when the only way to get closer is to go through a cactus death maze, it doesn't end well for the monsters.

Putting together a cactus plantation is amazingly easy, too: the cactus grows incredibly quickly, and as long as you take care not to get hurt while handling it, you'll have a protective cactus screen set up in no time. Fight cactus with cactus, I say.

In the screenshot above, you can see what the north side of the tower looked like before I started the cactus death maze. You can also see that the spire of the tower is getting pretty tall; in fact, it's finished! Here's a view from further away:

There's a maximum height you can place blocks up to, and my tower has now reached it. That means that once I finish tidying up around it and planting my cactus death maze, the tower is finished! When I was rebuilding the first parts of the tower after cactus attacks, I didn't think I'd ever finish, but there it is! I'm actually quite happy.

Next up on Minecraft: new adventures! The tower is done: what's next?

Last time, I closed with a picture of a sunrise through my window; here's a similar sunrise, seen from above the clouds. Have I mentioned that this game is awesome?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving.  I will be out at my grandparents, eating great food and hopefully winning at poker.  What do I have to be thankful for?  Where should I start?  A great girlfriend, great family and friends, good job, a good football season so far for the Steelers, hope that the Pirates will someday be decent, Mountain Dew, beer, great TV shows like Sons of Anarchy and all the other ones I watch, the sun, books, comic books, the Penguins kicking ass like I expected, the couch Lindsey bought, my bed, razors so I do not look like Chewbacca, and myself.  Yes I am thanking for myself. 

What's Playing? 11/26 Weekend

***

This weekend in theatres is filled with fun looking films (with the exception of the historical The King's Speech about King George VI).

Burlesque (I'll let the title speak for itself) starring singer/actress Cher and singer turned actress Christina Aguilera looks so much fun and is my top pick.

Tangled, Disney's version of the tale of Rapunzel, with Mandy Moore voicing the long haired maiden looks cute and funny.

"The Rock" Dwayne Johnson stars in the action Faster, that looks cliched but is guaranteed a good popcorn flick. 

The Nutcracker in 3D about the Christmas story of the Nutcracker looks fun.

The based on true events, The King's Speech doesn't sound interesting by the plot, but the trailer makes it out to look very interesting and even funny.

The movie I recommend last is the romantic comedy Love & Other Drugs. It looks unexciting and unfunny.

The rundown of movies opening in theatres this weekend goes like this:

Burlesque

 What's It About?

A singer from a small town heads to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big and finds stardom at The Burlesque Lounge.

Why See It?

-Christina Aguilera's film debut. 

-You're a Cher fan.

Why Skip It?

-You don't like musicals.

-You don't like Christina Aguilera or Cher.

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810125282/video

 *

Tangled

What's It About?

The Disney take on the fairytale Rapunzel.

Why See It?

-You're a fairytale fan.

-You're a fan of Mandy Moore.

Why Skip It?

 -You're over 12.

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810121160/video

 *

 Faster

What's It About?

A man seeks revenge on the murderers who killed his brother.

Why See It?

You're a "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson fan.

Why Skip It?

It looks like any other "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson action movie.

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810147419/video

*


The Nutcracker 3D

What's It About?

The popular Christmas tale of a young girl and her magical nutcracker.

Why See It?

You love the Nutcracker story.

Why Skip It?

You'd rather wait until near Christmas to see it.

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809912514/video

*


The King's Speech

What's It About?

 The based on true story of King George VI who enlisted in the help of a speech therapist to help him with his speaking problems.

Why See It?

 As boring as it sounds, it looks interesting and funny.

Why Skip It?

You think it looks boring.

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810124453/video

*

Love & Other Drugs

What's It About?

A pharmaceutical salesman selling Viagra and a woman with Parkinson's disease fall in love.

Why See It? 

-You're a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal.

-You loved the book the film is based upon.

Why Skip It?

 The story is too uninteresting.

Trailer:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810116437/video

***

E N J O Y
*the*
M O V I E S

***

Vacation Planning

Lindsey and I have been discussing where we want to take a vacation next year.  We are thinking about going some time in October or November (be a nice way to celebrate both of our birthdays).  Apparently her first choice would be Newfoundland.  I quickly put the kibosh on that idea.  What the hell would we do in Newfoundland?  It does not sound very relaxing or fun to me.  I told her that maybe someday we could visit the Canadian province.

We then discussed going to a beach.  She said she wanted to go to a beach where they have the huts.  We looked it up and we found that on the Cook Islands, you can stay in a beach hut for pretty cheap.  In fact (if my New Zealand dollar exchange rate is correct), it would be about $56 a night.  Unfortunately, a plane ticket might be a little bit ridiculous. 

Also, I think the beach hut thing would be cool at some point.  Judging by the pictures, it looks like you are out in your beach hut.  It does not look like your typical tourist trap.  That definitely appeals to me.

Then we talked about the idea of going to a resort.  I guess they are a great deal if you do the all inclusive.  The first one we looked at was the new Sandals Resort in the Bahamas.

The place looks amazing.  Then I started reading about it on their website.  Apparently this is where many of the world's top CEOs, such as Steve Jobs, like to go.  Something tells me this might be out of our price range. 

Doesn't the beach look beautiful?  I had to know how much it would be.  I am willing to pay a little bit more for a nicer product.  We figured our best bet would be to fly out of Baltimore, these are the prices for two people with airfare.

Holy shit!  I am thinking you can probably buy a house on one of these islands for about $32,000.  The cheapest room option would be just under $10,000.  I doubt this is the destination in our future.

Lindsey then said that she did the resort thing before with her family and that she really wanted to do a cruise.  If you remember, I had an awesome time on a cruise.  So, that is what we have decided, we want to take one of the longer cruises (preferably a seven day) to some part of the Caribbean.  Ideally, we would leave from Baltimore, that way we do not need to book a flight.  Sadly, it seems the Baltimore cruises are either really short, or past ten days (we only get ten days for vacation). 

So, I am inviting all of you to think about joining us on a cruise.  I know that many of you will read this and go "oh, that does not mean me" and if you think that, you are an idiot.  This is an invitation to anyone and everyone.  If you are interested, leave me a comment and I will begin looking into group rates if we can get enough people.

Baseball Predictions: How Did I Do?

I think the title explains this post, right?  Unless you are an idiot...anyways, let us get started.

NL East
Okay, I got this division completely right from top to bottom.  The Phillies stumbled at times, but honestly, with that lineup and that pitching staff who could stop them?  My IDP about Josh Johnson was completely wrong, in fact he tried to make me look like an idiot.

NL Central
I at least got the third place team right.  The Reds came out of nowhere.  At the beginning of the year, the Astros were just as bad as the Pirates, who knew they would start winning and the Pirates would never win again.  Life is pretty unfair at times.  Homer Bailey almost made my IDP come true on May 12th.  He did not throw a no-hitter, but instead he shut-out the Pirates at home and only gave up four hits.  Also, he did not go 9-11, but instead 4-3 (nothing spectacular).

NL West

Wow, I got this one completely wrong.  I guess I did not take into consideration how good Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff were going to be.  That is actually pretty impressive to be that wrong.  Shows you that baseball is completely unpredictable.  Wow, I barely got this IDP right:  Adrian Gonzalez hit 31 home runs this year and obviously did not get traded.  Woo-hoo, 2 out of 3 on the IDPs.

AL East
At least I got the Red Sox right (oh and apparently Adrian Beltre was the answer, since he had a monster season).  I knew that the Rays and Yankees would be the top two and one of them would be the wild card.  I just got it backwards.  Sue me.  Also, I believe at some point I heard a rumor that the Red Sox were thinking about Garrett Jones (until Ortiz started crushing the ball and Jones showed that he was human).  So I will give the IDP a push.

AL Central
Another one where I got nothing right.  Wow, I really sucked this year.  My IDP about Bonderman was completely wrong.  He did not get traded, did not strike out a ton of guys, nor did he really get hurt.  Hell, he started 29 games...his most since 2006.

AL West
And absolutely none right again!  Woo-hoo!  I rock and roll.  My IDP about Ian Snell did not happen, but he did at least suck out there in Seattle.  I guess that was something I got a bit right.


Playoffs
I at least had the Yankees and Phillies in their respective championship games, unfortunately they played the wrong teams.  I cannot imagine many people predicted this years World Series.  Again, this is the beauty of baseball, the teams that everyone expected to win it, did not.  Cool.

Awards
I did get the two Cy Young winners right, which I think is pretty damn awesome.  This may have been my worst prediction year ever, but predicting two of the award winners is pretty damn impressive.  I realize plenty of people might disagree with King Felix winning, but if you look past the record, he was much better than the others.  Also pretty cool that I said Halladay would win over twenty games.

Since I am still not sure whether or not Escobar was eligible (not that he would have won this year), but my secondary pick was Heyward, who finished second.  So since I put him second, I will pretend that is what I meant.

I did not realize Neftali Feliz was still rookie eligible, but again, I cannot complain, my AL ROY finished second in the voting.  Pretty cool when you consider how many rookies are potentially out there and how it seems every spring you hear about someone and then they fizzle out.  Heyward/Jackson/Feliz all delivered this year.  I honestly did not think the Giants would bring Posey up this year, or maybe not until late in the year.

If you told me that Carlos Ruiz would have 12 more votes for NL MVP than Chase Utley, I would have called you mentally challenged.  Well, I would have been the one looking pretty dumb.  Joey Votto wins the award.  At least Pujols got second place.

I at least got the AL MVP correct!!!  Oh, umm, back in 2009.  Look, my predictive powers do not know the limitations of the earthly concept of time.  At least Longoria finished sixth in the voting.  I did not really see Jose Bautista or Paul Konerko jumping into the top five.

As for the Royals, I was only eight games off with that one.  Umm, unfortunately, none of us were even close with the Pirates.  57-105.  Goddamn that is a terrible record.  I look forward to next season, and not just because I get excited about the prospect of making insanely bad predictions...

The Eye of the World

I recently picked up the first three books of the Wheel of Time series.  Greg Howley constantly talks about the series (not just in his review, but also in many of the comments here).

The first book is fantastic.  The characters are great, my favorite is probably Perrin or Rand.  My favorite little thing from the entire book is the way that both characters wish they had the others ability to talk to girls.

At first I was not thrilled the way the book ended.  We kept getting this idea that Rand would face Ba'alzamon, but not for a long time.  I figured Rand would learn about his powers and become a master swordsman.  Instead (oh and this could be a spoiler), Rand becomes Superman and destroys Ba'alzamon (I doubt he is really dead though).

The more I thought about it though, the more I loved it.  By the end, Moraine realizes that Rand is the Dragon Reborn.  It sets up for Rand to become the true villain.  He may have a great inner battle to fight throughout the rest of the series.

Here are some of my predictions for the rest of the series:
-Perrin will at some point return with the wolves and maybe find others like him.  He will become the leader of an army of men like him and tons of wolves.

-Perrin will be the one to end up with Egwene.  When they were together, it seems that Perrin has feelings for her.  He would get jealous when she danced with that one guy and always felt awkward when looking for the right things to say.  Also, Min said that Egwene and Rand will not be together the way they want...

-Speaking of Rand, I think he will end up with Elayne.  She thought he was handsome and he thinks she is beautiful.  He will be the Dragon Reborn and she will be his queen.  Maybe he will destroy the world, but I think he will end up helping to rid the taint of the Dark One.

-The next question is who is Rand's father?  I am sure that his mother was his actual mother, but her father was someone extremely important.  Maybe a king, I am guessing he was one of those Anielman (was that the name?).  Lan must have been a body guard or maybe a Warder.

-Will Moraine be a good witch or a bad witch?  I have no clue.  Will she try to stop Rand (I think the term is gentle him) or does she want the Dragon Reborn to become powerful?  Maybe she believes the world needs men Aes Sedai...

TV Stuff

Oh Emma Bell, you will be missed...or you will be the hottest zombie in the area.

The Walking Dead
I have a feeling people are going to start grumbling about how slow the show is moving.  A zombie show cannot be fast-paced.  A zombie movie focuses more on the fear and the chasing.  This show needs to explore the relationships between people and how life would change in a situation like this.  As I said before, if characters are killed too early and too often, their deaths will be meaningless.  On a side note, Kirkman does a great job of exploring this idea in the comic:  watching children grow up around death and how it seems to mean nothing to them after awhile.

In the latest episode we get a nice little moment between Amy and Andrea at the beginning (every time they focus on the lake, I think a zombie is going to attack someone from under the water).  In the comic, I never got the idea they were 12 years apart, but this works so much better in the show.  At the end of the episode, the zombies attack the camp and Amy is bitten (bit?) and soon after dies.  I kept expecting her to come back while Andrea was hugging her.  Unfortunately for Amy though, her death was not all that meaningful.  We just did not get a chance to really like her.

I do not remember if the Mexican storyline was ever part of the comics.  If not, it was definitely cool.  I loved how once the grandmother came down the steps, they all dropped the act of being tough gangsters.  I also loved how Rick gave them some guns to help protect the old people.  It was definitely a cool moment.

Boardwalk Empire
Is Chalky one of the scariest men on TV?  First he tortures a KKK leader by first telling a wonderful story and then cutting off a finger.  Next he chokes an Italian guy to death because he was involved in his friend's lynching...

Speaking of great deaths, what about Jimmy shooting the other Italian guy?  "Oh what, you gonna shoot me for running my mouth?"  Jimmy:  "I wasn't going to, but now I am thinking about it."  Then BAM, he shoots the guy in the head.

The only complaint about this show would be how obvious they like to make the symbolism.  Did we really need that final shot of Margaret looking at herself in the mirror, after Nelson asks if she recognizes herself anymore?

Happy birthday Miley Cyrus!

Today, American pop and TV sensation Miley Cyrus, better known as Hannah Montana, turns 18. Happy birthday, Miley!

She started her world conquest as a cute teenage girl on Hannah Montana, but at 15 years old, she posed for a Vanity Fair photoshoot by Annie Leibowitz, producing images of shock and awe like this one:

Now that Hannah Montana is drawing to a close, Miley is set to concentrate on her music career, and recently gave us Can't Be Tamed; a decent enough pop song, sure, but this is what the video looks like.

Perhaps the most surprising piece of Miley Cyrus trivia I can give you is that Hannah Montana was popular with my fellow inmates in prison, and not for all the wrong reasons.

She turns 18 today, which in most people's books will probably make it OK for me to tag this post with "Hot". Not only is she cute, she's sexy, and in all honesty, Hannah Montana was a surprisingly good show. I don't know what we can expect from her in terms of music, but we can always enjoy the fact that she's hot.