Fare Thee Well Rock God: Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister

by James

Yesterday I saw a god die and it made me angry. On the evening of 12/28 I went on Twitter to see what was going on. At first it was the usual joke formats followed by people pretending to be cool. Then I looked to see a retweet that said words that I never wanted to see “Lemmy of Motorhead has passed away”. I was filled with immediate disbelief and denial. It’s the internet, this must be a lame hoax. Turns out that it was not. My heart weighed heavy after coming to terms that a true god of rock had died. One of the first bands I liked along with Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Slayer was Motorhead. A band fronted by an ugly looking man with moles and facial hair of an evil biker and a rough jagged voice to match. His music was simple, fast, and hard which for a teen in high school was inspirational. I remember my Mom saying how he couldn’t sing and my thought was “Good, he doesn’t need to sing well. He’s Lemmy Kilmister”. When people talk about what Rock N’ Roll is they are describing Lemmy of Motorhead. He wasn’t concerned about being cool or having an image. He drank to excess and received oral sex while on stage, because that’s what a god damn rock god does. He wore daisy duke cutoff shorts and sang songs about sex, fighting, and living free. On the internet people like to say that they “give no fucks” but they are lying. Lemmy Kilmister truly gave no fucks and inspired millions with his music and silly interviews. I love his music deeply and have always held him up there as one of the main icons of rock and music in general. Yesterday I was angry because when this planet loses something so amazing and awe inspiring you should be pissed. You should scream to the heavens and mourn it’s passing. Then when all is said and done you pay tribute and honor them in how you think they would want to. Carry on the memory of this giant who lived among us. Drink up for Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister. There will never be another Lemmy Kilmister but there will always be Motorhead.

The artwork above was done by Gentlemen artist Aaron Alvarez who also shares my love for what we lost. It makes me happy to see that someone who touched and inspired me like Lemmy also did the same for my little brother.

Obscure Gent

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DOCTOR WHO: Series 9 Review

by Greg Randolph

As someone who was admittedly excited for the era of the twelfth Doctor to begin, I was also quite vocal regarding my disappointment and disillusionment with the result of his maiden go at the controls of the TARDIS. That wasn’t a slight against Peter Capaldi, but rather the stories themselves. Following the underwhelming, Alien-esque “Last Christmas”, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was in store for more of the same.

Readers please note:

If you’re familiar at all with my previous reviews, you’ll know I try to make them as spoiler free as I possibly can, sometimes to the point of being overly vague, all the while trying to keep your interest. If you know the formula of Doctor Who, you know that nothing can stay the same; it must constantly change and evolve.

There is a certain inevitability when someone, be it the Doctor or the companion must move on.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Review: Fear the Walking Dead: Season 1

by Greg Randolph

Well, friends and neighbors, where should I start?

How about we start with the positives and work our way down.

There were only six episodes.
The finale was somewhat entertaining.

Now for the negatives:

Though it’s been done to death, the “zombie apocalypse” storyline is still an intriguing one. When done right, that is. Fear the Walking Dead largely fails to capture any of the excitement, sense of urgency, or suspense associated with this scenario; choosing instead to crawl through the maiden season at a dull snail’s pace. I do give the writers credit for trying to put an emphasis on the characters. That however leads us to the show’s other major shortfall: those characters simply aren’t interesting. I don’t care about any of them; the exception being chubby, Hispanic high school student, Tobias, who actually has an idea about what’s going on. Unfortunately, he only appears in a few scenes in the first two episodes. I hope he made it. Everyone else comes off flat and far too boring for me to want them to survive the outbreak. Overacting would be preferable to what we get over the bulk of the six episodes. The introduction of Mr. Strand in episodes 5 and 6 might be the only other exception. In fact I’d be perfectly fine if the entire cast was killed off in the second season premiere. Even the unstoppable juggernaut known as Ruben Blades doesn’t really add anything to the mix. A Predator 2-style exit wouldn’t be unwelcome.

Since I reside near Los Angeles, where the series takes place, I was hoping to see some familiar sights but here again I was let down. We’re mainly confined to indoor locations, mostly a couple of houses, through the first few episodes with a bit of “downtown” and the LA River sprinkled in. Having been principally filmed in Vancouver, BC, I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. Sunken City being featured as the locale in the finale’s last scene was a nice touch and a personal treat for me since I go hiking there from time to time.

Here’s the bottom line:

A decent storyline (though far from an original one), and some brief glimpses of promise, primarily from the finale, couldn’t overcome the huge hurdles of: a lack of interesting, appealing characters, and five generally boring episodes out of a six-episode season.

I wanted to like this show. I thought it could have been that breath of fresh, undead air the franchise needed. I’ve been openly critical of the original show the last couple of seasons, but I find that I’m looking forward to its return.

If Fear the Walking Dead keeps heading this way, the only thing you need fear is narcolepsy.

1 zzzombie out of 5

La Jiggy Jar Jar Doo,