Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

With Sharknado, the third time is the charm, and by now, let's face it, The Asylum is just having fun. After protecting Los Angeles and New York City in Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One, Ian Ziering's Fin Shepherd has to save the entire east coast, from Washington DC (which gets demolished better than it did in either Independence Day or Mars Attacks) to Orlando. Camp silliness rules, and guest stars and product placement are everywhere. Could you expect anything else? Truly, Thunder Levin and The Asylum are laughing all the way to the bank.

The opening destruction of Washington was just as exciting as the James Bond intro it was trying to emulate. It was funny, thrilling, and ridiculous - and it sets the mood for the rest of this flick. Be warned, despite the inherent silliness, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is remarkably plot heavy. While Tara Reid, Bo Derek, and the rest of Fin's non-acting family tour and promote Universal Orlando - he's making his way there from DC in an armored Shazambago.

Two of the best things about this flick are the drivers of that Winnebago - Cassie Scerbo as Nova from the first Sharknado and her sidekick Frankie Muniz. I'll take Cassie over Tara any day myself. Also look for cameos by Lou Ferrigno, Ann Coulter, Michael Bolton, Anthony Weiner, Chris Jericho, George R.R. Martin, Penn and Teller, Ne-Yo, and hell yes, even David Hasselhoff.

Like its two predecessors, this flick is a hell of a lot of fun from start to finish, and as it aired last night, plans were finalized for not just Sharknado 4, but this being a regular event. I'm down. And don't forget to vote in the Twitter contest for #AprilLives or #AprilDies... Why does this remind me of Jason Todd? Semper paratus!

iZombie

Full disclosure up front. This comic guy has never read the iZombie comic book by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. Based on the creators, I probably should have been into it, but it slipped past my radar. When it was around, the book was critically acclaimed, fan loved, but killed by less than satisfactory sales. Somehow, it made it to the CW, in the easy slot after "The Flash."

The concept is not that new or original of one. I remember the character Deadhead from George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards shared universe book series. He could obtain the super powers of anyone whose brain he ate. Recently, the New 52 version of Super Gorilla Grodd also eats brains to gain the victim's intelligence. Of course, neither of them are zombies, whose normal modus operandi is to eat human brains.

The TV series "iZombie" is a loose interpretation of the comic, as I understand that even the main characters are different. In the show, Rose McIver plays Liv Moore, who while at a party was the victim of a zombie attack. Retaining some of her consciousness, she has chosen to use her 'powers' for good. So working for the medical examiner's office, she eats the brains of cadavers and retains their memories, allowing the good guys to find out how they died, and who killed them. Yeah, it's a bit like a demented version of "Pushing Daisies" in that way.

At first the pilot reminded me a little of one of my old favorite shows, "Reaper," with its humor. I loved the intervention scene, and the comic opening. But then it quickly turned into a police procedural. Seeing as Rob Thomas, of "Veronica Mars" fame, was one of the show developers, I started to see a pattern very quickly. The pilot was fun, I might watch further episodes, but on a tentative step by step basis.

What I Liked in 2011

Rather than go whole hog and do a best and worst of blog entry this year, and besides I'm already a week or so late for that anyway, I'm going to be tardy and lazy, and just do lists. Sorry, but I'm burnt, that's all you get this year. Here are the lists, bests, favorites, take your pick...

Movies - in no particular order - Hugo, Ra.One, Captain America: The First Avenger, Super 8, Midnight in Paris, Attack the Block, Thor, The Help, Source Code, and Bunraku.

Television - also in no particular order - "Hell on Wheels," "Game of Thrones," "Boardwalk Empire," "Treme," "Doctor Who," "Mad Men," "Dexter," "The Hour," "Shameless," "Castle," "Chuck" "Louie," "Sons of Anarchy" and "The Walking Dead." And yes, I know that's more than ten choices. Deal with it.

With the birthday gift of a Nook late in the year I have started to read again so I wanted to give a shout out to a few books as well. I liked A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Horns by Joe Hill, Supergods by Grant Morrison, Kraken by China Mieville, and Reamde by Neal Stephenson.

I didn't really listen to much new music this year. I bought a lot of stuff from "Glee," and new albums by Kate Bush, William Shatner, Adam Warrock and Robyn, as well as soundtracks to Ra.One, X-Men First Class, and "Treme" spent a lot of time on my iPod.

Comics - T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents by Nick Spencer, Aquaman by Geoff Johns, Secret Avengers by Warren Ellis, Frankenstein Agent of SHADE, Action Comics by Paul Cornell, and the new Defenders series from Matt Fraction are all up high in my opinion.

And, in short, that's what I liked in 2011...