The Walking Dead Season 2 E12: Better Angels (Part 2)

If you have not read my review of episode 12 (Part 1) from this season, you may do so here: The Walking Dead Season 2 E12: Better Angels (Part 1)

Picking up where we left off, everyone is trying to figure out what happened.  Shane comes out of the woods and lies to everyone about what happened.  Shane, Rick, Daryl and Glenn form a search party to hunt down Randall.  Daryl questions Shane’s story, things just aren’t adding up.  To make things quicker they divide up into groups of two: Shane with Rick and Daryl with Glenn.

Daryl finds some tracks and continues to discover just how off Shane’s story was.  There was obviously a struggle between Shane and Randall.  They hear and see a walker out in the woods and it attacks them.  Glenn manages to kill him only to discover this walker used to be Randall.  The odd things is, there aren’t any bites on his body, his broken neck is the only injury he has.  They don’t understand how he turned.

Meanwhile, Shane leads Rick through the woods.  Rick seems suspicious of Shane and after a while lets him know that he knows what he is planning.  They talk about this murder, about Lori and Carl.  Shane says that Rick’s family is broke, and he has no idea how to fix it.  Rick moves closer and closer to Shane, slowly pulling out his gun, handle first, to give it to Shane.  Rick attempts to talk Shane out of this but the look on Shane’s face says it all.  While Shane is distracted grabbing Ricks gun, Rick stabs him with a knife he had been pulling out with his free hand.  Yelling at Shane about making him do this, his friend’s life pours out and Shane dies in front of him.

Rick killing Shane is one of the best scenes in the entire series.  If you remember back to the first scene ever on the show, of Rick and Shane talking, you remember just how close these guys used to be.  Shane even risked his own life to save Rick once and now it has come to this.  With two seasons worth of build up, it’s a tense moment that probably took most people by surprise (as it did Shane).

We see a flash of zombies (Shane’s perspective).  Rick thinks about what just happened as Shane’s body starts to reanimate without him knowing it.  Carl shows up and draws his gun on Rick.  Rick thinks Carl wants to kill him for murdering Shane.  Actually zombie Shane was walking towards Rick and Carl kills him.  This scene was a reference to the comics where Carl kills Shane.  Rick checks Shane’s body while the camera pans out to show a herd of walkers heading their way.   The walkers had been out in the woods and heard the gun shots.

Gracie Breakdown: Ryron Gracie vs. Andre Galvao

Massive Gracie Breakdown loaded with techniques.

Fedor: Undisputed King of MMA Review (Part 1)

Today I am going to review the book from the great Fedor Emelianenko.  I have to say, this book is fantastic.  For starters, it’s very well rounded.  From it you will learn a series of striking combinations, clinch techniques and ground fighting techniques.  Not only did Fedor dominate the hardest weight class in all of combat sports for a decade, but he remained humble while doing it.  That is why he is my favorite fighter of all time.

The techniques in this book aren’t overly complicated or fancy, but they work.  The book is broken down into three basic sections: Striking, Clinch, Ground Fighting.  Also, unlike with a lot of other fighter’s books, these are techniques Fedor actually uses.  Learning these techniques will actually allow you to fight with a style similar to how Fedor actually fights.

Striking:  The striking section has some very interesting and unorthodox techniques.  For instance, since most people are trained to lead with a Jab/Cross combo (and everyone is used to defending against it) Fedor uses a Cross/Left Hook intro many times to take his opponents off guard. He also uses hand traps (which are hardly ever used in MMA) to set up his opponents.  You can see this in action in several of his fights, including his extremely dominate performance against Tim Sylvia.  By clearing your opponents lead hand out of the way, it not only takes him off guard and misdirects his attention, but it opens him up for a strike.

The book starts out by showing single punches/kicks and all of their variations (there are multiple variations of even the jab for instance).  After learning the basic mechanics of each punch/kick, Fedor shows how to string them together into combinations.  Each punch sets up your opponent for another strike.  There is a lot of great material here.

After learning to strike from a distance we see how to strike from the clinch.  By being in close and controlling your opponents head and body, you can lead him into your punches, elbows and knees.  Fedor has been very successful in the clinch position during his fights, so learning a few of these combos would be beneficial for any martial artist.

In Part 2 we will cover Throws from the Clinch and Ground Work.

Iron Man 3 Official Trailer

Looks great!

The Walking Dead Season 2 E12: Better Angels (Part 1)

If you have not read my review of episode 11 from this season, you may do so here: The Walking Dead Season 2 E11: Judge, Jury, Executioner

This episode has a great opening.  We see Dale’s funeral spliced with scenes of the group pulling together and hunting down walkers.  The survivors are finally securing the farm and being aggressive.  Shane and Rick get into it over releasing Randall but it doesn’t last long, Rick tells Shane how it’s going to be.  Hershel and Rick ask Andrea to keep an eye on Shane for them, to make sure things don’t get out of control.

Carl goes to Shane to talk.  He tells Shane about the gun he stole from Daryl, the walker he saw and how it’s the walker that killed Dale.  Hershel allows everyone to move into the house for safety reasons and because winter is coming.  Lori makes an odd decision to talk to Shane, thanking him for all he has done for her.  She even tells him the baby could be his and that she did have feelings for him also.  Considering she had just tried to talk Rick into killing him, I’m not sure what she is doing.

Shane goes to Rick to discuss the walker that Carl saw.  Shane gets mad at Rick because he won’t deal with it.  He feels Rick is more concerned with setting Randall free than being a Father to Carl.  Shane may be unstable, but he has been right about Rick to a large degree.  Rick makes a lot of weird decisions, like saving Randall in town, that put not only everyone freeing Randall at risk, but everyone at the farm as well.  And Carl does need his Dad and discipline.

Glenn and Andrea have a heart to heart about Dale and his final moments.  Both of them were close to him in different ways.  Both let him down at times as well.  Rick decides to take Shane’s advice, he talks to his son, man to man.  Rick gives Carl a gun.  In this world, you have to be ready to defend yourself at all times.  It’s hard enough as a man, but as a child or woman, you have even less of a chance of making it.

Shane starts acting crazy in the barn in front of Randall.  T-Dog comes to get Randall and set him free but he is gone.  We cut to Shane out in the woods with Randall.  Shane asks Randall where his camp is.  He says he wants to join their group because this one is done.  They walk off camera and Shane breaks Randall’s neck.  To make it look like he was jumped, he slams his own nose into a tree.  Again, Shane’s action are out of control but letting Randall go was a terrible decision.  They never should have saved him in the first place considering the group of guys he traveled with.

The Walking Dead Returns to Dish Network

Even without Dish Networks 14 million customers, The Walking Dead season 3 premiere received a rating of 10.9 million viewers.  But after a very long standoff, AMC Networks (consisting of multiple channels) is back on Dish Network, ending months of a blackout.  This is good news for Dish Network customers since The Walking Dead is so popular.  It’s also a good lesson for customers of a product, what you say counts so let your voice be heard.

Mark Millar on X-Men: Days of Future Past

Mark Millar, creative consultant for Fox on their Marvel properties, on X-Men: Days of Future Past:

“Vaughn is going for a big sci-fi style thing with X-Men: Days of Future Past,” Millar said. ”It’s X-Men meets The Terminator, You’ve got robots, you’ve got time travel, you’ve got superheroes – it’s got everything in one film.”

It should be interesting as a stand alone film.  With it being a possible (or alternate) timeline, they can do anything they want with the characters.  It’s a pretty different story than anything we have seen before in the movies.

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Mary Jane’s Role in The Amazing Spider-Man

The Mary Jane role is proving to be only a very small part in Amazing Spider-Man 2 but blossoms into an integral lead for the planned third movie as the studio seeks to build to the classic “Death of Gwen Stacy” story.

Shailene Woodley has apparently been cast in the role.  It will be interesting to see how they handle the love triangle and if and when Gwen Stacy dies.

Justice League Movie Planned for 2015

This is an interesting choice considering that Marvel’s The Avengers 2 will be coming out that same summer.  Unlike The Avengers, Justice League will spin individual movies off of it, rather than have individual character movies come first.  I think DC would have been much better off to build up each of the characters through their own films first, then have a Justice League movie.  Christopher Nolan was asked, but declined to produce the film.  I suppose we shall see how it turns out.

The Iron Man 3 Sneak Preview

Short clip, doesn’t show much, but here it is!

Hugo Weaving on Transformers

This should start an interesting war of words.  The people who made Transformers can’t be that upset, the first one was so bad I just turned it off half way through and never did finish it.  I never saw the 2nd or 3rd one.  It certainly wasn’t the Transformers I grew up with in the 80s.

“That’s a weird job for me because it honestly was a two-hour voice job, initially.  I was doing a play and I actually didn’t have time, anyway.  It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it.  They wanted me to do it.  In one way, I regret that bit.  I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless.  It was meaningless to me, honestly.  I don’t mean that in any nasty way.”

Official Synopsis for Iron Man 3

Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of Tales of Suspense (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with The Invincible Iron Man (#1) in May of 1968.

Iron Man 3 is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures and DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing and Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Stephen Broussard, Victoria Alonso, Alan Fine, Charles Newirth, Stan Lee and Dan Mintz are executive producers. The film releases May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Video: RoboCop and His Motorcycle

As I have said before, I am pretty disappointed in RoboCop’s design. He looks like a guy in a suit, like Batman, rather than a Cyborg. It looks like another crappy reboot no one will want to see in the making. It does have a great cast though, so we will see how it turns out.

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Chris Hemsworth on Thor: The Dark World

On director Alan Taylor:  “I love the way he adds an incredibly organic element to the fantastical world of Thrones, and I think that’s what Thor could benefit from. It’s grounded in reality, no matter how mythical or science-fiction-like it becomes. There’s a truth to it all. Certainly, working with him now, you can see he doesn’t want Thor or the Asgardians to seem like some distant race or god-like. He still wants them to be relatable.”

On into getting into character:  “For Thor there’s a lot of ongoing reading and rereading of the script. I have a guy that I work with a lot who’s a voice coach, but also far more than that. We pull scripts apart and go into who these people are; his whole attitude of approaching a character is, instead of trying to mimic something or work out technically how you do that, it’s more why does someone speak like that. What’s in your personality or nature, or your past that has moulded you into sounding like this? That then raises a whole lot of questions about the character – which is great. You do that all the way through the film, even afterwards it’s hard to switch off sometimes.”

On why Thor has an English accent:  “For whatever reason, it just seems to fit that world. Probably for no other reason than that it’s the way it’s been done in history. We associate Shakespearean speak [with god-like beings] because so many British actors have done it over the years. It resonates with the audience. Also, we had Anthony Hopkins, who is Welsh but has similar tones. I certainly couldn’t play him as Australian because people would think, “That’s Crocodile Dundee!”

The first Thor was a movie I didn’t expect a lot from but ended up being pleasantly surprised.  The change in directors is a little worrisome because you never know what you are going to get.  It could be better but it could be worse as well.  It doesn’t seem like this one takes place on earth at all, but deals more with Thor’s realm.  This is fine with me since Thor has already come to earth twice to deal with problems.

Shailene Woodley Possible Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2

This could be our next MJ in the Spider-man movies.  From what I have heard, she isn’t a very good actress and I don’t know that she looks the part at all but rumors are she is close to being cast.  So it looks like they are going to start a love triangle in the sequel to The Amazing Spider-man.  One has to wonder if Gwen Stacy will meet the same fate as she did in the comics or if they will mix things up for the movies.

Hulk vs Doomsday

If you have not read my last installment of “VS”, you may do so here: Batman vs Daredevil

When you think of some of the biggest and baddest creatures from the Marvel/DC Universe, The Hulk and Doomsday have to come to mind.  These characters are almost mirror images of each other.  Both are giant raging monsters who smash everything in their path.  So what happens when what’s in their path is each other?  Let’s find out!

Hulk:  Born out of gamma radiation, whenever Dr. Bruce Banner becomes angry,  he turns into a giant green rage monster.  Though the Hulk is a good guy and has gone through several changes over the years, we will be dealing with the savage Hulk.  The version who doesn’t think so much and mostly just smashes.  The more angry the Hulk gets, the stronger he becomes.

Doomsday:  Created on Krypton, Doomsday was born out of pain.  His only real desires are to kill, destroy and bring pain to others.  Most famous for killing Superman in a one on one battle, Doomsday is obviously very dangerous.  Like the Hulk, Doomsday has had a few changes over the years but we will once again stick with the savage, mostly unthinking version.

The Fight:  Both of these guys are big, bad, and love to destroy everything in front of them.  While the Hulk can become stronger the more angry he gets, Doomsday can adapt to become more and more powerful so that he won’t lose to the same person twice.  Doomsday is basically just the Hulk on steroids and covered in bones (sharp enough to cut even Superman).  This fight is going to be a slug fest, there will not be a lot of technique used.  And wherever it takes place, not much will be left standing.

Doomsday was able to do something the Hulk never has (in crossover comics), defeat Superman.  I think Doomsday is stronger, can take more damage and is just all around more powerful than the Hulk.  Though it would be a good fight, while it lasts, Doomsday will be left standing when it’s all said and done.  On top of just being physically superior to the Hulk, Doomsday also has his bone claws, which serve as both offense and defense.  As much as I like the Hulk, I just don’t see how he wins this one.

Winner:  Doomsday

Full Metal Alchemist E1: Those Who Challenge the Sun (Part 2)

If you have not read the first part of this review, you may do so here: Full Metal Alchemist E1: Those Who Challenge the Sun (Part 1)

Picking up where we left off in the first review, Al and Ed meet a girl named Rose who Edward is obviously infatuated with, so they follow her to the temple.  Rose speaks to Father Cornello about giving Al and Ed a room while they stay in town.  Father Cornello has told Rose that he can bring her boyfriend back to life, which is why she is so dedicated to him.  Ed and Al see him performing miracles, which appears to just be alchemy.  The strange thing about them is that he seems to be ignoring the law of equivalent exchange.

Edward has little trust for Cornello but Al is more open to giving him and chance, to find out if he is the real deal or not.  Cornello even brings a bird back to life in front of everyone, possibly supporting his claims of being able to bring Rose’s boyfriend back to life.  Cornello gives orders to take out Ed, because he works for the military and is therefore evil.  We also see Cornello talking to the mysterious woman from earlier who somehow knew who Ed was.

Edward confronts Rose to tell her the truth about Cornello.  He says that he is a fake and alchemy is the only answer…even though alchemy has never brought anyone back to life.  Al is shot in the back of the head by one of Cornello’s men, causing his head to fall off.  This is where we find out Al lost his body during the transmutation to bring their mother back to life.  He somehow became a suit of armor.

Cornello’s power comes from the Philosopher’s stone, an object which allows an alchemist to ignore the laws of equivalent exchange and does away with the need for a transmutation circle.  Cornello unleashes a Chimera on Ed, a creature that is a combination of animals, formed using alchemy.  During the battle, Ed creates a spear out of the ground (he can somehow use alchemy without a transmutation circle as well) and we learn that Ed now has a metal arm and leg.  Using these weapons, he defeats these animals and is left ready to face off against the real threat, Father Cornello.

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The Walking Dead Season 2 E11: Judge, Jury, Executioner

If you have not read my review of episode 10 from this season, you may do so here: The Walking Dead Season 2 E10: 18 Miles Out

We open on Daryl beating the crap out of Randall.  Daryl is torturing Randall for information about his group.  It works but the news isn’t good.  Randall’s group is made up of about 30 people, armed to the teeth, who love to murder and rape.  This certainly doesn’t make Randall look very good since he does live with these guys.

Rick decides the best thing to do is execute Randall.  He is a threat to the farm since he can lead everyone back to them.  Dale wants to talk about things with everyone.  He talks Andrea into guarding Randall so Shane can’t kill him before everyone has made a final decision.  Shane comes by and has a talk with Andrea.  He says the group won’t go through with it and tells her his plans for taking over the group.

Things are getting interesting now.  We have this unknown group of people Randall was with and we have Shane as a threat from the inside.  The walkers may not even be the biggest threat anymore at this point!  Carl sneaks into the barn where he is spotted by Randall.  While Randall is trying to manipulate him, Shane comes in and tells Carl to stay away from here.  Randall is dangerous.

Dale travels around the farm and does his best to rally support for Randall to have a trial, without much luck.  Carl, becoming increasingly annoying all of the time, is rude to Carol.  After getting a chewing out from Rick he wanders over to Daryl’s part of the farm and steals his gun.  Seriously, what is up with this kid?!  He walks out into the woods, by himself, and stumbles upon a walker stuck in the mud. Instead of running away like an intelligent person, he is an idiot like always and starts throwing rocks at the zombie.  Of course the walkers starts to get free and comes after Carl but he escapes, losing Daryl’s gun in the process.

Dale and Shane have another confrontation, which actually ends somewhat peacefully.  Shane agrees to do what the group says.  Hershel and Glenn also have a heart to heart about Maggie and Hershel gives Glenn a watch that is important to him.  Later on, everyone gathers in the house and has a big debate about if they should kill Randall or not.  Dale argues that the group is losing their humanity.  Andrea, surprisingly, agrees with Dale.  Almost everyone wants to stay out of it and let Rick handle it.

Daryl, Rick and Shane take Randall to the barn to execute him.  Rick is ready to shoot him while Randall begs for his life.  Carls walks in and says to shoot him.  Rick, feeling guilty, decides to simply hold Randall prisoner for now and decide what to do with him later.  Rick tells Lori he couldn’t go through with it because Carl wanted to watch, he has become hardened.

Big Spoilers…..

Dale is walking in a field by himself and hears a cow making noise.  He sees that the cow has been ripped open and when he turns around a walker is there.  The walker takes him down and rips open his stomach with his boney fingers.  Everyone else, hearing the noise, comes to help him but it’s too late to save him.  After killing the walker, Daryl puts a gun to Dale’s head and pulls the trigger to put him out of his misery.  The walker who killed Dale was the very one Carl had been throwing rocks at.  Carl was the one who lead him in the direction of the farm.  I can’t stand this kid, it would have been nice if they had killed him off instead of Dale!

Guillermo del Toro on the Hulk TV Series

“Right now all I know is the official word I was given is that there’s a writer they want,” says del Toro. “They are very interested in me meeting with him. He’s very, very busy. The official word is we are holding, but I don’t know… After ‘Avengers’ having the success it had, perhaps the fate of the project may change. Right now officially what I know – and I’m not hiding anything off the record or anything – is that we were told we were waiting for this writer, and we were going to do it with him.”

I have heard about this Hulk tv series for a while now but I am not sure why they would develop a tv show instead of a movie.  The Hulk stole the show in the Avengers and is one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe.  Not to mention a tv series would be pretty expensive to produce.  Also, would it be separate from the Hulk in the first movie and the Avengers or would it be following the same version?  I hope they drop this idea and proceed with the Hulk 2 instead.

Iron Man 3 Trailer to Debut on October 23

The teaser trailer for Iron Man 3 will be release on October 23rd at 12:01 a.m.  I will be curious as to the feel of the film since it will have a different director than the first two Iron Man movies.  Of course with three appearances on film already, Iron Man has already been established, so the director, Shane Black, can just stick with that.

The Walking Dead Season 2 E10: 18 Miles Out

If you have not read my review for episode 9 from this season, you may do so here: The Walking Dead Season 2 E9: Triggerfinger

We open on Rick and Shane, beat up and running from walkers.  What in the world is going on?!  Guess we will have to wait and see because after the credits it flashes back to before this incident.  We pick up on Rick and Shane driving to a place to drop off Randall, they stop to talk about Lori, Otis and how things are going to be.  Shane apologizes to Rick.

Lori and Maggie have a conversation about Glenn and how men will blame the little lady for their problems.  Lori thinks Glenn needs to man up.  Still driving, Rick and Shane talk about using knives instead of guns, because it draws less attention.  Shane sits gazing out the window and spots a lone walker in a field.  He relates to it, as he now feels alone, having lost Lori and been (in his mind anyway) rejected by the group.

Arriving at what looks to be a good drop off spot for Randall, our heroes kill some walkers using their new method.  I don’t think this makes much sense, they cut their hands to wipe blood on something so the walkers are drawn to it.  The thing is, walkers always come after them anyway so why cut your hand?  Also if they keep cutting their hands with the knives they already used to stab walkers, wouldn’t that infect them?  Guess not!  Shane sees two dead police officers who appear to not have any bite marks on them, assumes it must be due to scratches.

Beth (Hershel’s daughter) has a talk with Lori and attempts to steal a knife from her tray of food, to kill herself, but Lori puts two and two together after their conversation.  Back at the drop off spot, they start to leave Randall when he mentions he knows Maggie, they went to school together.  He knows where the farm is.  Just some more consequences of Rick’s really dumb decision to take this guy back to camp with them in the first place.  Rick knew this guy’s group had tried to kill them multiple times and that they rape and murder people, why would you bring him to the camp with your wife, child and friends?!

As unstable as Shane is, he is usually more right than Rick.  He doesn’t go about it in the right way, and he can’t be trusted because he will kill innocent people to carry out his own plans.  Once again Shane is a hot head and wants to kill Randall right on the spot.  Rick wants the night to think it over.  Shane tells Rick that he can’t keep his family safe which leads to a big brawl between them.  Shane throws a giant wrench at Rick but he dodges it, spending it crashing through a window…which was filled with walkers they didn’t know about!

Walkers start coming out through the broken window while Randall uses this opportunity to try and make an escape.  At the farm, we see a few disagreements.  Andrea and Lori bicker over suicide and job placement, while Maggie and Beth have a similar suicide conversation.  Shane makes it to a bus for cover, where the episode began.  He is doing his best to fight off the walkers but there are so many of them he can’t keep it up all day.  Things go from bad to worse when he spots Rick and Randall leave while all the walkers are attempting to get into the bus to get him.

Andrea takes watch of Beth from her sister Maggie.  Leaving the female version of Shane, who constantly does stupid things and thinks suicide is great probably isn’t the best choice here!  Andrea leaves Beth alone to do whatever she wants.  Beth attempts suicide but changes her mind after already injuring herself.  She now wants to live.  Maggie finds out what happened and tells Andrea to never come into the house again.

Rick is on his way out of there when he sees those two dead police officers from earlier.  It reminds him of his old life where him and Shane worked together and were best friends.  Shane loses his knife while fighting off the walkers and all seems lost when Rick and Randall come out of nowhere in a vehicle and take out the zombies to save Shane.  Randall thinks he is part of the group now but they put him back in the trunk and have another conversation.  On the way back to the farm, Shane sees the lone walker in the field once again…

Batista Donates MMA Debut Money to Charity

“God Bless you, @davebautista, and thank you for the donation of your mma purse to cancer charity. It made your debut even more special! “  twitter.com/DaveBautista

You have to give the guys props.  Donating his salary to charity was a cool thing to do.  If you haven’t seen his MMA debut, you may do so here: WWE’s DAVE BATISTA VS VINCE LUCERO

The Walking Dead Season 2 E9: Triggerfinger

If you have not read my review for episode 8 from this season, you may do so here: The Walking Dead Season 2 E8: Nebraska

We open with Lori in a wrecked car, upside down, with a zombie trying to get through the windshield to get to her.  Why this PREGNANT woman with zero fighting or self-defense skills would attempt to go save her husband (when she doesn’t even know if he is in danger or not) makes very little sense.  I’m rooting for this zombie to make it through the windshield because Lori is incredibly annoying.  Oops, Lori wins.  She manages to kill the zombie while he is breaking through the glass and escapes the car, only to be attacked by another walker.

Back at the bar, where Rick had just gunned down two bad guys, more people show up outside.  Dave and Tony were apparently not there alone.  The people outside don’t take things very well when Rick tells them he killed their friends and they have a shoot out through the walls of the bar.  Meanwhile, at the farm, people start to notice that Lori is missing.  Shane goes out to look for her and discovers her flipped over car on the side of the road.

Hershel and Glenn attempt to escape out the back but run into some gun fire.  Hershel shoots one of them, only wounding him.  It would have been better if the bullet had killed him since since he gets brutally eaten by a pack of walkers while he is down.  During the strangers escape, one of them jumps off of a building in an attempt to make it to his friend’s truck, only to impale his leg on a fence post.  Surrounded by hordes of walkers, Rick makes the really awful decision of trying to save this guy, putting everyone’s life in danger.  Pressed for time they decide to cut his leg off but in the end they end up simply pulling it out of the fence post.

Shane find Lori wandering out in the middle of the road.  She still wants to save Rick so Shane lies to her and says Rick already made it back to camp.  Things at the farm are a mess.  Daryl yells at Carol when she wants to talk to him about pulling away from everyone.  Lori gets mad at Shane for lying to her.  It comes out that Lori is pregnant and Shane admits to Lori that he did kill Otis.  Shane says what he and Lori had was real and Lori tells him that Rick knows about them.

Dale warns Andrea about what a bad guy Shane is but she doesn’t listen.  She is about to head out with Shane to look for Rick and the gang when they pull up the driveway.  We find out everyone made it out, including Randall, the guy with his leg stuck in the fence.  This sets off a heated exchange between Rick and Shane over bringing this guy back to the farm.  He is a threat to everyone but Hershel tells Shane to shut up.

We next see several conversations between characters.  Maggie and Glenn talk about how Glenn froze up in the firefight.  Shane and Andrea talk, Maggie yells at Hershel and so on.  The most important conversation is when Lori manipulates Rick by telling him that Shane thinks the baby is his and he can do a better job protecting her than Rick can.  She basically trys to talk Rick into killing Shane.  We end on Rick not looking very happy with the situation.

WWE’s DAVE BATISTA MMA Debut

He has basically no striking ability but his takedown was pretty nice. Perhaps after a few more fights he could be matched up against Bobby Lashley.

Jeff Monson: Thank the Russians for their attitude towards me

Jeff Monson, who is fighting Alexander Emelianenko on Nov 15th, has been giving seminars in Russia.  I am excited to see this fight.  Monson fought Alexander’s brother Fedor a little less than a year ago.

“I arrived in St. Petersburg to see my friends. I like to spend time in this beautiful city. Here I have any friends. I want to thank the company M-1. Thanks to her, I became popular among Russian fans. Every time they have a warm welcome for me, so I decided to give back to them to reciprocate. I want to help those who have decided to learn grappling. I’m in great condition. Now I am preparing hard for the next fight, which I have scheduled for November 15. I intend to have a good training to during the battle to be ready one hundred percent. Thank the Russians for their attitude towards me. There is a feeling that everyone here treats me as if I was his cousin, “- Jeff Monson

Strikeforce Going Out of Business

According to multiple high profile (and usually accurate) sources, Strikeforce will be closing it’s doors soon.  After two high profile fighters dropped out of the upcoming card, Showtime has decided to end the promotion.  This will be the second time Zuffa (owners of Strikeforce and the UFC) will have had to cancel a card.

Around 1.5 years ago, when Zuffa bought the majority stake in Strikeforce, UFC President Dana White claimed it would be “business as usual” for Strikeforce.  This lie had barely finished falling from his lips when Zuffa started taking all of the high profile fighters from Strikeforce and moving them to the UFC.  As Zuffa had already done with Pride Fc, WEC, and other (superior) promotions, they buy them and then work to dismantle them by taking all of their high profile fighters.

I have to say, my love of MMA is at an all time low.  Most of the promotions I loved have been dismantled and all that is left is a watered down WWE wanna be version that attracts the lowest common denominator in society.  The sport has become plagued with terrible reffing, horrible judges decisions and corrupt leaders.  I must not be alone in my feelings because UFC PPVs and TV ratings have been in the dumps for a while now (with a few exceptions here and there).  It’s sad that a sport which was once about skill and honor has become about over hyping a bunch of mediocre fighters and brainwashing fans.

I hope M-1 Global or some other organization can take Strikeforce’s place on Showtime.

Inside MMA ‏@InsideMMAaxstv
DEVELOPING @Strikeforce tenure on @sho_network potentially ending. Nov. 3rd event in jeopardy.
FrontRowBrian ‏@FrontRowBrian
Hearing @Strikeforce is being disbanded immediately. It is no more. Another promotion goes by the wayside.

@arielhelwani
Re: the Strikeforce rumors, according to a Showtime official in the know, as of tonight, 11/3 and beyond is a go for them.

FrontRowBrian ‏@FrontRowBrian
There was also a Facebook post from the wife of a Zuffa exec saying SF was shutting down. The post was then deleted. This was earlier todayFrontRowBrian ‏@FrontRowBrian

I got rumor from excellent source. Cross checked it with a high profile journalist who said he/she heard same thing from 4 excellent sources

Full Metal Alchemist E1: Those Who Challenge the Sun (Part 1)

Welcome to my first review of Full Metal Alchemist.  Just for a little background information, there are two versions of this show.  This one (which I will call the American version) and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Japanese version).  These shows were made at separate times but the first couple hand full of episode are almost exactly the same because they were based on the same manga.  This version (which is older than Brotherhood) got ahead of the manga so it has it’s own separate reality after that where as the Japanese version follows the manga since it was made at a later time.

The show begins by teaching us about the law of equivalent exchange.  To create, something of equal value must be lost.  This law will be a running theme throughout the show.  We see two children, Al and Edward, who are trying to bring back their dead Mother using Alchemy.  This is a forbidden form of Alchemy and breaks all of the laws of nature.  We soon find out why.

In the process, Al is lost and Ed loses his arm and leg.  It’s a bloody mess.  When the smoke clears, all that is left is some sort of creature in the form of a woman who looks to be in pain.  We now skip to the present, we find Edward and Al (in a giant suit of armor) walking in the desert.  The show has an extremely dark and violent opening, but it quickly turns goofy.  This happens a lot in anime.  It gets more serious and dark as a show progresses.

They come into a town where they believe they see water fountains.  Unfortunately, these fountains are filled with wine, not water.  A restaurant owner stops them and turns on a radio where some sort of sun worshiper broadcasts a message everyone wants to listen too.  This person on the radio can apparently perform miracles, which has captivated the town’s folk.  Al bumps his head as he stands up, which knocks the radio off of the stand it was on.  He uses his alchemy to fix the radio and now everyone thinks he can perform miracles as well.

They think Al is the legendary Full Metal Alchemist because of the suit of armor he wears.  Edward is offended by this and the people commenting on him being short.  This is a running joke in the show.  People make fun of how small he is and he comes back yelling at them, exaggerating what they said about him (because it’s a sensitive subject for Edward).

Troll 2: Part 2

If you have not read the first part of my Troll 2 review, you may do so here: Troll 2: Part 1

With Halloween coming up in less than a month, this is as good of a horror movie to review as any I suppose (at least it’s funny in how bad it is).  We left off just as Joshua was about to have a  nightmare where he turns into a plant and the Goblins want to eat him.  This crazy kid sees his dead grandfather on the side of the road and says he has to throw up in order to get his dad to stop the car.  After he has another conversation with him about Goblins, he looks again and he has been talking to a hobo.  Just how does his grandpa know so much about Goblins anyway?!  None of this is ever explained lol.

Our family arrives in Nilbog and trades homes with some weird family.  How did they even work out this swap anyway because it seems like they have never even spoken before?  Anyway, they go in the house to find the weirdest looking food ever laying out for them.  They apparently have no problem with this and decide to just dig in!  Ghost grandpa comes and apparently has time stopping powers now.  He tells Joshua that he has to stop them from eating the food or the Goblins will eat them.  Instead of just taking the food out of their hands while they are frozen, he decides to pee on everything haha.

Arnold (the guy in the picture above), one of the friends in the RV, sees a girl running in the woods and tackles her face first, in order to help her somehow?  They are surrounded by Goblins but Arnold bravely tells them off like he is Superman….only to be speared in the chest.  They get away and make it into a “house” where some weird, overly dramatic woman lives.  She asks Arnold if something is wrong, because the blood gushing out of his chest wasn’t a clear indicator.  She gives them a smoking green drink that they don’t question at all.  This girl with Arnold has already fallen for this once, you would think she would learn.

The girl turns into some kind of goop and the Goblins come and eat her.  Then comes the classic line in the movie.  I won’t even ruin it for you but it’s all over the place online.  The sister decides she wants to talk her boyfriend into leaving his buddies again.  I’m not sure why everyone hates his friends so much.  Back at the RV, the guys are all in bed together without shirts on….okay, I get the picture now lol.

One of the friends, I have no clue what his name is, wants some supplies so he goes off jogging to the store, even though they are in an RV.  The local Sheriff picks him up and offers him a ride to the store and something to eat that looks like a hamburger bun with green goop in it.  He just eats it without question!  The people in this movie never seem to question any of this strange food constantly being offered to them.  One would think they would at least ask what it is.  Guess not!

Robert Downey Jr. suits up on the Iron Man 3 set

What do you guys think?  I’m not sure I like the new Armor very much but it might look better on film.

David S. Goyer On Writing Man of Steel

I like that they are taking a realistic approach with this movie.  What Superman would look like if he existed in the real world.  The trailers and the footage I have seen has me pretty excited so far, I just hope this Superman movie lives up to expectations.  Goyer and Nolan did a great job on the Batman films, I hope they can do the same with Superman.

Moderator: You are quite good at writing two kinds of stories: fantasy completely original stories, with a supernatural aspect, and also adaptations (especially from comic-books) that you reinvent in an original way. We know you’re working on a new comic-book adaptation, a DC Comics adaptation. What does this work have in common with you previous works?

David Goyer: Are we talking about Man of Steel? What Christopher Nolan and I have done with Superman is trying to bring the same naturalistic approach that we used adopted for the Batman trilogy. We always had a naturalistic approach, we want out stories to be rooted in reality, like they could happen in the same world we live in. It’s not that easy with Superman, and actually this doesn’t necessarily mean we will make a dark movie. But working on this reboot we are thinking about what would happen if a story like this one actually happened. How would people react to this? What impact would have the presence of Superman in the real world? What I really like to do is writing “genre” stories without a cartoonish element. I did the same with Da Vinci’s Demons, and I’ll do the same with Man of Steel.

Junior Dos Santos: ‘Fedor Is the Greatest of All Time’

“Fedor is the greatest, no doubt,” said Dos Santos. “For me, in a matter of admiration, he is the greatest of all time. He is a heavyweight who beat everybody. He certainly was ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet.’ If he came back to fight, it would be incredible for the sport. I’m a big fan of his.” – Junior Dos Santos

Recently Fedor won a poll in Brazil, with 73 percent of the voters declaring him as the greatest of all time.  Surprisingly, Anderson Silva came in second with only 12 percent of the votes.  It’s good to see Junior Dos Santos speaks his mind and isn’t afraid to say what he believes.  I have a lot of respect for him.  Unlike a lot of MMA fighters these days, he acts respectfully and with class.

Forrest Griffin took Xanax before Anderson Silva fight and failed drug test

It came out after the third Tito Ortiz fight that Forrest Griffin was on TRT for that match but apparently that wasn’t the first time he had taken something before a fight (though Xanax isn’t going to help him any).  It’s amazing how these fighters fail drug tests and they manage to keep the results hidden.  If Forrest hadn’t of admitted it in a recent interview, no one would have ever known.

Other failed drug tests have been covered up by the UFC as well, including Tyson Griffin failing a drug test at UFC 123 (for marijuana).  It does make one curious just how many other fighters have failed drug tests in the UFC and we simply never knew about it.

“I failed my drug test I think for Xanax,” Griffin said. “I had a doctor’s prescription, I was just, I didn’t do it before the fight, I did it the night before, I was nervous and I couldn’t sleep.”