"...this is the voice of fate..."

I guess I've been lax. I look at the last time I posted here, and really it's not good enough. I keep on thinking of things to post, but never quite get around to it. If only Google or Apple or one of these TV tech types could do a thing where you think words and they appear on your blog. You'd need some kind of code word to start it off, and another to end it, otherwise every single thought you had would appear on your blog. In a way that might be quite interesting, but I suspect that if every thought a person had were to work its way in to a blog it would make for very odd reading. 

So, I have to stick with typing up this stuff. At least a post a week from now on, I think... 

As it's New Year's Day, tradition dictates I should do a look back at things I liked and disliked in 2013;

As the last post, spoilers are encoded using rot13; got to rot13.com to decipher. They're not just random letters! :)

Likes;

The Walking Dead; both the TV show and the comic. The later of which I read every single issue of this past year, all 118 issues. What I like is that the TV show, although based on the comic, takes the basics of the comics and does its own thing, so that (for example) in the comics during his big attack on the prison The Governor pubcf bss Glerrfr'f urnq; whereas in the tv show it's Urefpury jub fhssref gur fnzr sngr. There were two episodes that really stood out for me, Clear; the episode where Rick, Glenn, and Michonne head off on a mission on their own. It's really just them (plus one other character) for the duration and it's a really powerful episode. 

The other one was the mid-season cliffhanger episode, which was an episode with events in it that many people thought would have been in the season 3 finale. It's one of those episodes that changes the direction of the entire show, and provides closure to one of its most memorable characters. Well, two of the show's most memorable characters. I also loved that the final shot of the episode was exactly the same as the last panel of issue 48.

Like I say, the comics give a flavour to what's coming, and 3 key comic characters are m,aking their debut in the back half of the season. And I'm *really* hoping there'll be an episode called "Fear The Hunters"... I'm also hoping at some point we'll get to see Negan (and Lucille!) in the TV show... but I suspect, as he doesn't make his debut until issue #100, we'll be talking, at the very earliest, a debut for him at the end of season 5 (or even the mid season cliffhanger of season 6)... Question is, will his debut have as much... impact? :)

South Park; a mixed season this year. The goth/emo episode was almost as bad as a towelie episodes, and the Game of Thrones/PS4/XBox trio of episodes was dragged out by at least one episode too many (though the final payoff joke at the end was inspired!). But, this season did have one of it's very finest episodes yet. And it was surprising...

One of the main criteria for a South Park episode is generally how offensive Cartman is during the episode. Or, how offensive the episode is as a whole, leaving you saying "I can't believe they did that!" (see also; Boyle, Frankie.). However, the last episode of the season, called "The Hobbit" had almost no Cartman in it. and had very little in it that could cause offence. There's a girl in the cheerleading squad called Lisa Berger, who lacks elan and style and is thought of as fat and ugly. Through a series of events, a picture of her is Photoshopped to make her look more attractive, and all of a sudden because of this altered image, she is suddenly popular. Then, all the other girls get pictures photoshopped, and they are all popular. Despite their actual appearances being exactly the same as before; only Wendy resists.

The whole theme of the thing is handled so very well indeed; the manipulation of images to create an artificial impression that people cannot live up to. The boys here are shown as very shallow indeed, only liking the girls once they have their altered pictures being more drawn to the pictures than the real girls. Wendy is ostracised for not following the pack. And, I tell you the final scene of the episode is just heartbreaking. When the episode ended I was dumbstruck. I was expecting some final gag, some final thing to lift the mood at the end, but no... quite wonderful indeed. 

And, looking at the clock (I said clock), it's getting late, so I'll do more of this tomorrow.