This article is mainly for my own reference and for those curious about the difference between the two stories.  I will say that if you haven’t read the comic books yet, you should do so or stop reading this post now as I’ll be ruining a great deal of the TV characters ultimate fates in the comics and the comics are well worth reading.

The largest departure from comic to screen is the continued life of Shane.  His story in the comics is in large part the same as the television show except for one tipping point.  He does not make it to Hershel’s farm; he is instead killed by Carl for throwing a self-righteous pity party and attacking Rick in the woods.  This murder in defense of his father starts the Carl character out on the road to becoming a tragic Alpha male like his father and frees the reins for Dale to swoop in on Andrea.  Aside from the side trek to the CDC in the first season the continued life of Shane is the largest flapping of the butterfly’s wings in the series.  Because of Shane, poor T-Dogg is continuously left with nothing to do, so much so that the character actually laments it to Dale on the series.  In the comics, T-Dogg is actually a character by the name of Tyrese who serves as Rick’s right hand man, father of another survivor, and gets to tap a better looking Carol (mother of Sophia) and the as yet unpicture sword swinging badass Michonne.  Between Shane and the invented solely for the series Daryl, T-Dogg’s largest contribution has been getting accidentally cut on a pipe.

Also, season 2 of the series in reality takes place over maybe 1 issue of the comic and that is being generous.  Carl is shot by a non-morbidly obese Otis.  Hershel helps to heal him.  Rick asks why his group has to sleep in the fields when there is a perfectly good barn, and Hershel nonchalantly points out, that that is where the dead people are kept.  That’s it, three frames of the comic.  But since Shane survives, the ripple effect once more kills Otis. In the comics, an accidentally escalated escape from the barn proves to Hershel that he was wrong in stockpiling them, after the death of some of his children, in the comics Hershel had more than just the daughter who bangs Glenn. Hershel lost a son, a zombie son and the son’s fat girlfriend in the Comics Barn incident.  It is this tragic loss that eventually brings Hershel to cede control to Rick.

After leaving the farm, the group of survivors come to a Prison, which they manage to secure through the help of Tyrese and Rick. They meet Michonne, and run afoul of some other locals in nearby Woodbury, namely the memorable villain THE GOVERNOR.  I have no idea if they will continue along this path in the series, but if you have not read the comics, I strongly recommend them.

Summation of Key Differences:

Comics:

Shane dies. Hershel loses many children. Tyrese plays a major part in the show.  There is no Daryl or Meryl. They never go to the CDC.  Carol is much more attractive and Sophia’s mother.  Her husband was not abusive. Sophia does not die or end up in the barn, she remains Carl’s lil girlfriend.

Show:

Shane lives.  Tyrese becomes T-dogg and has nothing to do on the show.  Ed is the abusive husband of Carol. CDC doc whispers a secret to Rick.  Shane murders Otis. Shane bangs Andrea and fractures the group. Pretty much every scene with Meryl or Darryl.

Feel free to point out in the comments any other distinctions I missed or got wrong.

Despite the travesty Forrest Griffin called his last fight in Brazil, he is a moneymaker for the UFC; a name.  Rashad Evans is also a name, and the erstwhile #1 Contender for going on 2+ years.  Miguel Torres however, is a minority with a Mullethawk and a WEC import to the organization.  His release from his contract was not shocking.  He will be the scapevato in all of this.  Ironically,the press conference incident was the most prominent and ignorant of the three.  I say ignorant because Rashad Evans is so bad at shit-talking he couldn’t even properly frame his out-of-line remark towards Phil Davis. At least the other two instances were gramatically clear and correct.

“Because I’m going to put my hands on you worse than that dude did them other kids at Penn State.”

 

First of all, MORE IS MORE. I think they bet the farm on this fight, and while it’s great exposure I don’t think it sold any future pay-per-views in America. I’m hoping the numbers were good because I would like to see this sport become an ADVERTISING JUGGERNAUT like the NFL instead of a 59.99 HD Chiseler each month. Not airing the Benson Henderson/Clay Guida fight before the main event was a mistake. I think a casual fan would have been drawn in by the high energy back and forth more than the chump style knockout suffered by Cain in the main event. I do not think that Cain was knocked out by Junior Dos Santos, I do think that Cain quit. Cain was up too quick after the ref stopped it. I think he was in a terrible position and CHOSE to stop intelligently defending himself in order to stop the shitstorm of rights and lefts raining down on him.

They say that fighters learn a lot more from a loss than they can from a win, if that’s the case when we see Cain V. Dos Santos 2, count on takedowns early and often. I’m sure a lot of it can be written off to ring rust and the shoulder surgery, but I think that Cain may have bought into the pre-event hype. Joe Rogan couldn’t stop singing the praises of Velasquez and his lack of weaknesses prior to the fight. Unfortunately no one can condition the side of their head to collision. If they could, football fighters would not wear helmets and Mackens Semereizer would not have been TKO’d on the undercard.

Like it or not, trauma to the head causes unconsciousness, end of story. As the belt changes hands, we gain yet another “NICE GUY” Champion. From the school of GSP and Bones Jones (who tries to talk shit but can’t), Junior will be killing his future opponents with kindness (and vicious overhand rights).

Personally, I think Submission of the Night should have gone to Dustin Poirier vs. Lamas, but that’s just my opinion. Either way as a UFC fan I remain one, I just don’t know how many new AMERICAN fans were brought in. Certainly the 60 million viewers in Brazil will help the sport grow and grow. This will become an insanely popular WORLDWIDE sport, but Americans pay for the PPV’s that Europe gets for free on ESPN, and it’s going to take more than 64 second ass whoopings of pudgy ring rusted champions to get them to part with their recession cash.

I believe my man, Jay Z would dispute your ruling, Computer.

When did I become so boring?

At the time of this writing my youtube captured altercation with Pat Breslin’s almost black friend Showtime is just under 44000 views in 7 months on youtube. A video from the same night breaking Pat Breslin’s balls has 160 views. They’re both from 2008 and posted 3 years too late. The popularity of this video bugs me for many reasons. For starters, I am piss drunk. This was the second show that night and I was downing Yuengling like the Volstead act was being signed at midnight. Also, I am dressed like an asshole wearing a Soul Joel shirt over a hoodie. So not only is the joke out of date but my attire is as well and I am indirectly advertising for some dude that doesn’t even talk to me anymore and unlike all the other bridges I torched I have no idea why.
So drunk,check. Poorly dressed, Check. Funny, not as funny as the matured version of the original joke is today. Why not let 40000 people see it? To put it in perspective the spanking video one of my oldest and most search friendly videos has 10K views after 5 years. This video now has more hits than my website after 6 years.

A few months back, I was talking about this video with comedian Andrew Schulz and he had an interesting take that may or may not have been his own, I forget if he attributed or not as it was rather loud in the bar area, but the gist was this:

People are generally unimpressed with material. Comedy has an adversarial relationship with the listener, essentially: Make me laugh, assclown.

If you succeed, they are pleased but not impressed because that is what you are supposed to do, however, if you fail its glorious because you have lost your pedestal and are just like them an unfunny jackass who requires others for entertainment.

It is the same principle behind heckler videos. Material is something you wrote on your own, its yours, so it is the enemy. A heckler however is outside the norm. It is a once in a lifetime situation, and therefore by discovering and sharing footage of this event the viewer not only conspires with the comedian but is able to claim some ownership in the humor itself.

I was just nodding at the time because I could only hear every other word and I would have knifed him for a cigarette but 40K viewers later, I’d have to say he was right. The sentiment above was his, the paraphrasal mine. Should you take exception take it up with him or the guy he may or may not have been paraphrasing.

Our first Quarter Ninja is expected this January. I’m hoping for a boy, Jess is hoping for a girl. Either way one of us will be happy. We should know the sex by the end of August, either at the 16 week or the 20 week Ultrasound/Sonogram (I can’t actually tell the difference between those two things).

BOY BOY BOY BOY.

Let me know what you think!

I get what Youtube is for. I also get that it’s a gnarly beast that can’t be depended upon. However, when I log in 1 month after posting 3 videos and see what video at 150+ views and the other two at 8 apiece, it hurts my feelings.

So I’m posting these lackluster received videos to halfninja, and to facebook, and to ikill.me in the hopes of boosting them to the mid-three digits. They don’t have to be blockbusters, just seen enough that I’m not ashamed of them when strangers somehow stumble upon http://www.youtube.com/chrismcdevitt