George Lucas is the Internet’s most undeserving punching bag

George Lucas is the Internet’s most undeserving punching bag

Posted inFilms, Rants, Uncategorized
A movie comes out today, a small little thing that may have slipped past your notice. A few people might go and see it. The release of the first new Star Wars movie in many years makes today something of a geek holiday, but amid all the glee and celebrating the movie is going to be something else. Something far less positive: incessant bitching about what an awful person George Lucas is. Because on the Internet, no mention of Star Wars is complete without also mentioning how George Lucas, the man who created Star Wars, ruined everything you hold dear…
Mad Men’s Queen Bee: Celebrating The Power of Joan

Mad Men’s Queen Bee: Celebrating The Power of Joan

Posted inTelevision
The following is an excerpt from Celebrating Mad Men, available in paperback and for Kindle. When Mad Men debuted in 2007, no one other than Jon Hamm got more press than Christina Hendricks, the buxom redhead who plays the always-in-control office manager Joan Holloway (later Joan Harris). It wasn’t just her good looks and voluptuous figure that drew attention (though neither hurt), it was the strength of her character. Her self-assurance and confidence gave viewers the sense that Joan was always in control. In an office full of women withering under the demands of their often lecherous bosses, Joan was…
News & Media Overload: Living in fear is no way to live

News & Media Overload: Living in fear is no way to live

Posted inRants, Uncategorized
Read the comments on any news story involving a violent crime or follow any active news feed, and you will see comment after comment lamenting the state of the world and talking about how fearful we have to be of, well, pretty much everyone. If the comments at your local news site are anything to go by, you could be the victim of a home invasion at any moment. Your children are in danger of being snatched up 24 hours a day. That guy in your neighborhood taking a walk is probably a rapist. And so on. The problem with…
Why without George Romero, there is no The Walking Dead

Why without George Romero, there is no The Walking Dead

Posted inFilms, Geek Stuff, Television, Works by Eric
The following is an excerpt from Dissecting The Walking Dead: Slicing Into The Guts of Television's Hottest Show, available in paperback and for Kindle. Without George Romero, there is no The Walking Dead. His 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead, invented the modern zombie genre. Robert Kirkman himself has said on many occasions that his comic series and television show is essentially an extended take on Romero’s legendary film, borrowing all its core elements and reimagining them as an ongoing story rather than a single night of terror. In other words, if you want to understand where The Walking Dead…
Daryl Dixon and the Making of a Fan Favorite in #TheWalkingDead

Daryl Dixon and the Making of a Fan Favorite in #TheWalkingDead

Posted inTelevision
The following is an excerpt from Dissecting The Walking Dead: Slicing Into The Guts of Television's Hottest Show, available in paperback and for Kindle. Robert Kirkman insists no one is safe on The Walking Dead, but we know better than that. Rick Grimes isn’t going anywhere any time soon. It is, after all, Rick’s show. But there is a second exception to the unspoken “no one is safe” rule: Daryl Dixon. While it’s entirely possible the show’s writers can make this author look like an idiot before the ink on this book is even dry, it’s safe to say it’s a…