Before this season of The Walking Dead, I considered myself a pretty huge fan. Now my love has greatly diminished. Though we haven't yet watched the season finale. Maybe that will totally wow me, and my love will blossom again.
I liked the story behind the prank. Nick Santonastasso has no legs, and only one arm, and he's a huge fan of The Walking Dead. He exploited what makes him unusual to get the attention of people from the show. I respect that. A lot. Santonastasso went to a grocery store and approached people, pretending to be a zombie. Then he put the video online. It was fun.
Well, Nick Santonastasso got the attention of someone. Andrew Lincoln played a trick on Norman Reedus. They hid cameras in a room with Reedus, along with Santonastasso under a food cart. Then when Reedus is alone, Santonastasso jumps out at him.
Santonastasso's missing his legs and arms, and he has zombie make-up on; but does any of that matter? No! If you had anyone jump out from under a food cart, I think most people witnessing that would be horribly startled.
I think they could have came up with something better.
For me, the only redeeming thing about the video is that Andrew Lincoln's so adorable in his eagerness to do the prank.
Now that I've been a negative bitch, I shall go ahead and say some positive things.
So...this is what I still like.
1. The Quiet Artsy Episodes I get it. There are zombies, and they can be killed and mutilated in all sorts of exciting ways. I do enjoy the zombies, but I'm one of those who's more interested in the human stories. I like the episodes this season where there was less action and more psychological insight. I think my favorite was the one with the Governor seeking out redemption....so sad that he failed. Then I also loved the episode with Beth and Daryl.
2. The Music This is probably what I love most about The Walking Dead. According to IMDb, I have Thomas Golubic to thank for that. He's the music supervisor, which means he chooses the songs.
I've been introduced to some great songs, thanks to Golubic. I have a Walking Dead list on Spotify.
I'll list some of my favorites....
1. "I See A Darkness" by Johnny Cash, and that has led me to loving other Cash songs. I had heard of the guy vaguely before The Walking Dead....knew there was a movie about him. But I never really listened to his songs.
Until then, I've decided to make a list of things that have made me lose the love, along with a short list of things I still do love.
I'll start with the negative. Sorry.
1. The communicable disease storyline. Are zombies not enough excitement? Do they not provide enough conflict? It's like the creators of the show imagined they might be getting boring, so they decided to throw in something new.
What really bothered me though was the confusion between viral and bacterial infection. Hershel compares the illness the the Spanish flu, yet asks the survivors to bring back antibiotics.
Now if we look at that in a dictionary sense, it's probably okay to use that word. Antibiotics can refer to a medication that kills any microorganism, not just bacteria. But in terms of medical lingo, antibiotics are known for targeting bacterial infections.
It's hard for me to imagine a medical professional (such as Hershel Greene) would use the term antibiotics when referring to antivirals.
The feeling I got was that the creators of the show didn't do diligent research.
I lost some respect.
2. Talking Dead time increase I used to love The Talking Dead. I thought it was funny and cathartic. I loved the montage of episode deaths. I loved the insights from random celebrities. But then the show changed from being a half hour program to a full hour one. For me, it was too much. About half-way through, I start getting antsy. I want them to hurry up and get to the preview scene for the next episode. Really, I just wan it to be over and done with, so I can go and do something else.
A few episodes back, we quit The Talking Dead.
3. Twitter I've learned my lesson now. For me, it is not a good idea to follow celebrities involved with the TV shows I love. I don't know. It kind of ruins the magic. I begin to see the actor more than I see the character.
Also...I'm not a big fan of over-promotion, and with my excessive amount of Walking Dead folks on my Twitter feed, I saw way too much Walking Dead promotion.
Every time I checked my Twitter, I was bombarded with The Walking Dead tweets and retweets.
Of course, this is my fault. I shouldn't have done so much following. I remedied that though. I unfollowed all Walking Dead folks. We'll see if that changes my feelings at all...over time.
4. The practical joke that Andrew Lincoln played on Norman Reedus.
I liked the story behind the prank. Nick Santonastasso has no legs, and only one arm, and he's a huge fan of The Walking Dead. He exploited what makes him unusual to get the attention of people from the show. I respect that. A lot. Santonastasso went to a grocery store and approached people, pretending to be a zombie. Then he put the video online. It was fun.
Well, Nick Santonastasso got the attention of someone. Andrew Lincoln played a trick on Norman Reedus. They hid cameras in a room with Reedus, along with Santonastasso under a food cart. Then when Reedus is alone, Santonastasso jumps out at him.
Santonastasso's missing his legs and arms, and he has zombie make-up on; but does any of that matter? No! If you had anyone jump out from under a food cart, I think most people witnessing that would be horribly startled.
I think they could have came up with something better.
For me, the only redeeming thing about the video is that Andrew Lincoln's so adorable in his eagerness to do the prank.
Now that I've been a negative bitch, I shall go ahead and say some positive things.
So...this is what I still like.
1. The Quiet Artsy Episodes I get it. There are zombies, and they can be killed and mutilated in all sorts of exciting ways. I do enjoy the zombies, but I'm one of those who's more interested in the human stories. I like the episodes this season where there was less action and more psychological insight. I think my favorite was the one with the Governor seeking out redemption....so sad that he failed. Then I also loved the episode with Beth and Daryl.
2. The Music This is probably what I love most about The Walking Dead. According to IMDb, I have Thomas Golubic to thank for that. He's the music supervisor, which means he chooses the songs.
I've been introduced to some great songs, thanks to Golubic. I have a Walking Dead list on Spotify.
I'll list some of my favorites....
1. "I See A Darkness" by Johnny Cash, and that has led me to loving other Cash songs. I had heard of the guy vaguely before The Walking Dead....knew there was a movie about him. But I never really listened to his songs.
2. "Tomorrow is a Long Time" by Bob Dylan. They played this on the finale of the first season. It's a
beautiful song.
beautiful song.
3. "The Parting Glass" by The Wailin' Jennys. I fell in love with this song after hearing Emily Kinney sing it at the prison campfire.
.
4. "Hold on" by Tom Waits. I was obsessed with this song too. Emily Kinney has a way of making me fall in love with songs.
5. "Up the Wolves" by The Mountain Goats. They played this song at the end of this season's Daryl and Beth episode.
Why is it, when a song becomes more popular because it's featured in a TV show or movie, an old fan of the song gets annoyed?
Is it bad to be introduced to a song this way? How did the complainer first learn of the song?
In some ways, I think the person's not actually annoyed. It's just a roundabout way for them to brag about the fact that they knew about the song before the general public.
In the case of "Up the Wolves", YouTube user Contextneeded says, Don't you hate it when a fanbase from out of nowhere comes and fucks with something you like? But how are we messing things up? Are we taking something away from him by liking the song?
I do think popularity can ruin things. Like tourist attractions or your favorite small town. It's not fun to be in a swarm of people taking selfies. And then you get long lines everywhere. But with a YouTube video, how's popularity going to diminish the experience of old fans?
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