The fourth episode of The Walking Dead is airing this Sunday at 10pm on AMC, and if you’re not watching it yet, you should be.

For those of you who don’t keep one foot in the comic world, The Walking Dead is a graphic novel by the famed Robert Kirkman. To sum up, the protagonist Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to a zombie apocalypse and sets out to find his family. In my humble opinion, the story is completely heartbreaking and disturbing, and I would put it on par with the likes of The Road.

Since AMC is known for “great storytelling,” it was only a matter of time before they picked this up for a series. Before the series aired, people were describing it as “the next Mad Men… but with zombies.” Now don’t get me wrong. I’m completely certain that both Betty Draper and Peggy Olson would survive a zombie attack (Betty because she sucks the life out of everyone around her; Peggy because she has a firm handshake). But The Walking Dead is no Mad Men yet.

I think what sets Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner apart from everyone else is his profound attention to detail; every single set piece, character expression, and voice inflection is there to serve a purpose. No emotion that show triggers is accidental, and I really feel like Weiner and his writing staff deserve more credit for making these fucked up characters so sympathetic.

The Walking Dead is different because there’s an obvious bad guy: the hoards of zombies trying to eat everyone. Of course, there are a few living characters who are trying to figure out how to survive and still maintain some shred of humanity, but for the most part it’s pretty black and white. The television show, in a lot of ways, is a pretty much just a gorefest right now, and while you feel for the characters, you’re mostly just freaked out by seeing those scary as shit zombies close up. In the comic book, however, you find yourself breaking out into a sweat when one of the characters is in danger. Until the television show captures that emotion, I won’t compare it to Mad Men.

That being said, the show is still pretty fantastic. It was just signed on for a second season, and I think the next coming episodes have the potential to give Mad Men a run for its money.

Watch it: Sundays at 10pm on AMC.

Originally posted on Broke-Ass Stuart.
Thanks to IMDB for the photos.

I’m sleeping on it and hair spraying the stray ends back into place tomorrow morning, so let’s cross our fingers that they win Game 2!

Last July, Sina asked me and Nate if we would come down to San Diego to help sling comic books and other Kirkman merch at Comic-Con. Comic-Con isn’t really my scene – I have very little patience for dealing with people with next to no social skills – but I obliged. It was weird, but I did such a good job hiding my discomfort and disdain for men in costumes taking my picture and making awkward advances that Sina’s company, Skybound, flew me and Nate out to New York last weekend for their production, Comic Con (note the lack of a hyphen in this one – important distinction).

There are some key differences between the SD and the NY Cons. Most notably, San Diego has no shame when it comes to revealing wardrobes. When I was in SD, I saw a gaggle of poorly constructed Princess Leia slave outfits so flimsy that when they swished around, I saw their muffs – for some reason, they thought it best to not wear underwear. More power to them I guess.

There was none of this in New York. People dressed up, but they were mostly men who would LARP in the middle of the floor for attention. We were selling these zombie plush dolls with removable heads at our booth, and they were a big hit with burly, tattoo covered guys with thick Long Island accents: “Hey uh, lemme gets a look at one of those plushies. Yeah, I’ll take two of ‘em.” I realize these particular men weren’t in costume, but their tough guy acts were my favorite performance pieces of the weekend.

This New York trip coincided with my three-year anniversary with Nate. We spent it on our plane ride back to San Francisco and got home just before midnight. He went to our corner liquor store, bought some cheap champagne, and toasted to us with a Carrie Bradshaw quote: “To all the sex we’ve had in this city.” Final note on this post: my boyfriend is the best.

If you ever turn into a zombie, I'll let you eat me.

I’m tired today.

A part of me wants to comment on this woman’s decision to post a picture of her double chin on her Yelp profile, but I’ll refrain. I don’t want to be a bully.

“Why do we have to be all flowers and lollipops. Why can’t it be like fighting but we are actually learning. That’s called back-door education.” – Kelly Bensimon

Spooning Leads To Porking

This photo was flagged as “inappropriate” on a Yelp business page, but I found it poetically appropriate for my blog.