I'm a writer/editor who's been at the site since 2015. I cover politics, weird history, video games and... well, anything really. Keep it breezy, keep it light, keep it straightforward.
Star Trek: Picard had a couple of wobbly episodes and made some odd decisions in the season 1 finale, but is generally considered a success so far. At the very least, it was nice to catch up with beloved Next Generation characters like Riker, Troi and Data, as well as see the aged Picard at odds with a new Starfleet. But there was one big absence from the first season that everyone missed. Yup, I'm talkin' Worf.
R2-D2 and C-3PO have long been at the core of Star Wars. The pair introduced us to a galaxy far, far away in A New Hope and have appeared in every instalment of the Skywalker saga (plus Rogue One and The Clone Wars). But, after eleven films and many guest appearances, it looked as if we'd finally said goodbye to them in The Rise of Skywalker. I guess the lesson is not to discount the little guys, though, as Lucasfilm has now announced new animated adventure series A Droid Story and it's coming to Disney Plus.
The Walking Dead is set in an incredibly violent world. The last run featured the grisly Whisperer War, in which an opposing group of survivors cloaked themselves in rotting skin and used the walkers as a gruesome weapon, only ending when Daryl plunged two enormous knives into their leader Beta's eyes. It was an awesomely gory moment, but what else would you expect after multiple seasons of dismemberment, head-smashing and people being eaten alive?
Despite not being out until October 2021, Halloween Kills has just been put before the MPAA. They've given it an R-rating for "strong bloody violence throughout, grisly images, language and some drug use." Sounds excellent and precisely in line with what you'd expect from the sequel to the fantastic 2018 movie.
2020 has been a long and miserable year, but it's nearly over. There's some light at the end of the tunnel, too, with the first COVID-19 vaccines successfully created and already being administered to those most at risk from the virus. A mass vaccination programme is the only way we're getting back to some semblance of normality in 2021, so when my time comes, I'll be rolling my sleeve up and telling the doctors to give me whatever they've got.
We're now over a month out from Johnny Depp's high profile libel defeat and it's set to have a major effect on his career. The judge concluded that The Sun newspaper was not being libellous when it referred to him as a “wife beater,” a decision that Depp's legal team dubbed “as perverse as it is bewildering.” He's since lodged an appeal, but already has taken some hard knocks.
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is one of the most well-regarded comics of all time. 75 issues were released between 1989 and 1996 telling the story of the Endless, an immortal family that personifies basic elements of reality. The focus is on the Lord of Dreams (aka Morpheus/Dream/The Sandman), whose journey takes him across history, through weird dimensions and into hell itself. Many attempts have been made to adapt it over the years, but Netflix has succeeded where everyone else has failed and the show has now been filming for two months.
Batman Returns is a strange but memorable movie. The Caped Crusader's face-off with Danny DeVito's weird mutant Penguin isn't among the best Bat-films, but it certainly sticks in the brain due to its onslaught of surreal images and as a bonus, it's also a Christmas flick! But by far the most iconic element is Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman.