Scary Good

The Big Reveal

"She's a 'vampire bat,' get it? HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

At the conclusion of Season 6 of the wildly popular AMC zombie series The Walking Dead back in April,
the show's latest Big Bad, Negan, had captured most of the main cast and was menacing them with "Lucille," a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire. The "cliffhanger" season finale ended with him bringing the bat down on someone's head, but the scene was shot in such a way that the identity of his victim was unknown.


To say that this ending upset the show's fan base would be a massive understatement.

I basically agree with this analysis of why the show should have found a different approach (and this one was a close runner-up), but I can't agree with all of the caterwauling about the two deaths in last night's Season 7 premiere.

Both Glenn and Abraham have been major characters on the show, and it will take awhile to adjust to their absence this season, but it isn't as if this show doesn't kill off major characters all the freaking time! Lori, Dale, T-Dog, Andrea, and Shane were all principal cast in Season 1, and all of them were dead before the end of Season 3. Wrenching deaths of popular characters are this show's stock-in-trade, so I am bemused by the near-hysterical reactions I've been seeing this morning.

"You bipeds and your 'zombie apocalypse' fantasies crack me up!"

De gustibus non est disputandum, old friend...

Two Straight

After back-to-back road games in Pittsburgh and Oakland (plus their bye week), my beloved Kansas City Chiefs hadn't played in front of their home fans for nearly a month (not since their September 25 win against the Jets). They remained undefeated at Arrowhead Stadium this season, improving to 3-0 there after a 27-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints yesterday afternoon. It was their ninth straight win at home, and the first time the team has won back-to-back games this season, but Andy Reid's 300th career game as a head coach was not a thing of beauty.

"There are no 'style points' in the NFL."

QB Alex Smith and the Chiefs offense produced 326 yards and two touchdowns, plus a pair of field goals. It was a disappointing showing against one of the league's worst defenses.

The offense avoided any turnovers, though, and that proved to be the key to victory.

"Score!

The defense, which has been inconsistent thus far this season, struggled again, allowing the Saints 463 yards and three Drew Brees TD passes. They did force and recover
a fumble that halted a Saints drive.

The difference in the ballgame
was an interception by S Daniel Sorensen that was returned for
a touchdown near the end of the
1st quarter. That score put the Chiefs ahead to stay at 14-7, and provided the margin of victory.

"What kind of a Sunday did Skip have?"

Mixed...his beloved Steelers (playing without their No. 1 QB) lost at home to the Patriots and fell to 4-3, but the Eagles (who he kind of, sort of roots for) handed the Vikings their first loss of the season and improved to 4-2.

Wordplay

A pun AND a Styx reference. Well-played...

For as long as I can remember I have loved wordplay, puns, and other ways
of having fun with the English language.
Part of how that has manifested in my life is my fondness for products by companies that share my love of such things.

Recently my local Hy-Vee introduced
a new brand of premium ice cream called Til the Cows Come Home. There are lots
of competing products out there, of course, including those from well-established companies like Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's, but this company's offerings caught my eye because of the clever wordplay in their various flavors' names.


How could I be expected to resist something like Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa!
(it helps if you have a good memory for cheesy '80s pop music) or Mind Your Pecan Qs?

"I'm guessing you haven't resisted, am I right?"

It is possible that I may have sampled the company's wares, yes...

No Treats for You, Voters

From the pen of Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

One of the things I enjoy the most about The Walking Dead is its music. The show makes effective use of songs by relatively obscure indie bands and singer-songwriters, but the original scoring by composer Bear McCreary is also chillingly effective. The show's opening title music is one of the most recognizable and evocative themes in TV history, and has inspired fans to produce YouTube versions on just about every musical instrument imaginable.

When AMC released The Walking Dead: Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 back in the spring of 2013, many fans of the show (myself included) were disappointed that the album omitted the show's actual opening theme music, substituting instead
a weird electronic version called the "Unkle Remix."

About a year later AMC released
a second volume, but this one was even shorter than the first and still didn't include the show's opening theme. Unlike Volume 1, the second soundtrack album actually included none of McCreary's music at all.

Today's send-off is a fan-created montage of the show's opening credits from each of its first six seasons, showing the subtle changes the main title theme has undergone. (Fans of the show are fond of pointing out that the show's title card at the end of the opening credits looks more eroded with each passing season.) Enjoy...