Trouble for The Walking Dead

As Slashfilm reports, an anonymous source has said that the AMC show The Walking Dead has fired (or indirectly fired) the showrunner Frank Darabont right before the second season gets in full swing.

I know that Darabont was probably not the easiest guy to get along with (what auteur-like director is?), and he probably took too long and spent way too much money, but I think AMC may be shooting themselves in the foot here.  Or maybe not, maybe they're making a good move.

The question is, did they go in to this too hastily to begin with?  Did they do the initial six episodes for the first season and spend way too much money thinking they would have had bigger numbers?  I thought the show did pretty decently, I was definitely hooked in even though I had problems with the characters and story at times.  Was it that Darabont wanted a greater hold on the show to make it more distinctly his own?  I had a feeling that the first season was just a first act and that Darabont was about to kick it in gear all the way to the final shocking and amazing moments near the end of the show.  (Remember The Shawshank Redemption?  That movie knocks you off your feet in the final act.)

Now they've hired a man named Glen Mazzera to take over.  Listen, I don't know this dude, and I can't say for certain whether he will do a good job or not, but looking at his credits I truly fear for the show.  Mazzera has been the showrunner or executive producer for such procedurals as The Shield, Life, Crash, and Hawthorne.  None of those shows appeal to me.  None.  So will he do a good job?  Probably, but it may not have the same touch and style that made me tune in each week.

As for the concern that Mad Men and Breaking Bad have taken a majority of AMC's budget for original series programming:  If that's true, they should have seen that coming.  Seriously guys, you have two ground-breaking and hugely popular shows that cost a ton of money.  Now you want to add a costly genre series to the mix?  That's just too much, too fast.  AMC is still a young network when it comes to original series.  Granted they have knocked it out of the park, even when not quite landing a series (Rubicon, The Killing), they still have class and style that far outweighs any other television station on the planet right now (besides the BBC).

I truly hope things get resolved and that our second season far outshines the first, but in all honesty - these setbacks, delays and bad karma moments have me scared that this show is going to be done for by mid-season.  Sad face.

What do you think?  Did you like the show?  What didn't you like and will you be watching next season?

Read More

How Sci-Fi Changed My Life

Okay, now that I'm changing my direction in writing, I wanted to give you a bit of background in to how Sci-Fi has effected my life and how it has molded me into the person I am.

When I was a young lad, most of my reading experience was with scripture, or baby books, or Roald Dahl (still a big fan of his today).  One day my mother wanted to encourage me to read more, so she handed me a copy of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and encouraged me to read it with her.  The book was so different from anything that I had experienced before.  It was so mature and it spoke to the loneliness and angst that I was feeling at the time.  The visuals told within the book opened up a new world in my mind and I could feel myself right along Ender watching it all unfold.  This was the first time that I could say that I envisioned the entire book.

Later on, for a friend's birthday, I went to the theater to watch the movie The Fifth Element.  We had some crappy seats, and I remember being annoyed by that until the movie began.  Once it got started I couldn't think, look or listen to anything else.  My mind and body was glued to the screen.  It was so fantastical and quick.  It was funny, but action-packed.  I remember thinking at that exact moment in my life "This is what I want to do with my life."  From that moment on I focused my time and energy into becoming a filmmaker.  I wrote stories that were in the same style (and looking back on it now, probably copied almost entirely) as the movie that had knocked me off my feet.  It has been an obsession that has lasted me for a majority of my life. I even had to buy the Blu-ray when I could afford it because the DVD just wasn't cutting it.

In the last year or so, another Sci-Fi piece of literature has effected me so much so, that it has helped drive my decision to focus my life in pursuit of writing and becoming more adept at Sci-Fi.  It was a script.  An unproduced, but up and coming spec called I'm.Mortal by famed writer/director Andrew Niccol (who also did Gattica and S1m0ne).  He has now finished production on the film and the title has changed to the generic In Time, but I warn you - do not think of this film as generic.  It has impacted me in a way that few may understand and even more may find ridiculous, but to me it is significant.  I eagerly anticipate the release of the film, but I know that because I love the screenplay so much I may be disappointed (it kind of happened with Source Code).  Either way, I am excited by writing and talking about Sci-Fi now and I hope to be able to do as good of a job as Mr. Niccol someday.

So those are only a few examples of how it has effected and changed my life.  What about you?  Have you been effected by Sci-Fi (good or bad)?  What experiences have you had that made you love/hate it?

Read More

A New Look. A New Direction.

Hey Blog Friends,

It's been a good while since I have done anything on this blog.  I've been very pre-occupied as of late (systematically destroying my life and ruining my career).  Maybe that's a bit dramatic.  Either way, I want you to know that I am now undertaking a process of transforming both my life and my goals.

The first transformation will be with this blog.  I am officially changing the direction.  From now on this blog will be specifically targeted to discussing and sharing things of a science-fiction nature.  I'll be discussing books, movies, and television that are inherently Sci-Fi.  I'll be doing reviews of these things but also talking about them from a writing perspective, hoping to both sharpen my skills and create a large network of interfriends that will help me learn and enjoy this passion along with me.

So what does this mean for my non-science-fictiony friends?  Well, I would hope that you would continue to be my friend despite my focus change.  If you really despise Sci-Fi and want nothing to do with it - I encourage you to friend me on Facebook where I will only discuss things of Sci-Fi periodically.  Most of my space used on that and Twitter will be reserved for discussions of my life and updates on what is going on.  I will warn you though, Twitter will be blasted with re-tweets of Sci-Fi news and updates of the blog.  Facebook is probably your best bet... if you haven't friended me there yet, let's correct that right away.

Thanks for your patience as I learn and adapt and grow with the new direction.  Hopefully in a year or so I will have all the bugs and kinks worked out and we can enjoy the blog daily.  Until that time, please let me know if you have any suggestions or changes that would help in creating a more pleasant reading/viewing experience.

Bless you and all that you do for me.

Best,
Eric

Read More

Fat

I need to get fit. I've gained about 20 pounds in the last few months - probably because of all the free snacking time and heightened sit-down-edness that I'm experiencing at the moment.

This week I have been working out daily and regulating what I eat by only eating two fistfulls of food every two hours. Of course I'm trying to regulate what type of food as well, I've been leaning towards the natural fruits, veggies and grains. I'm also tracking my calories on the iPhone app Lose It!

My goal is to get below 180 lbs by the end of July. This would make me very much happy.

Encouragement and good job's are well in order as I progress. Wish me luck!

Read More

FORGETTING - A Sci-Fi Novella

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT:

I am publishing a book online.  It is free to read via Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  The book will be released one chapter a week.  By following/liking/RSS-ing the book in any of these formats you will be able to keep up with the story each week.  It will run from the beginning of March to the end of May, with a special e-book release on June 15th (with extra goodies and a visually pleasing format).  You will also be able to get the book on iBooks, Kindle, Nook and other readers June 15th.

FORGETTING written by Eric John Anderson
A Sci-Fi Novella via Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr

The first chapter will be unveiled this week over the three platforms, here are the links:
http://twitter.com/#!/ForgettingBook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forgetting/152901354764063#!/pages/Forgetting/152901354764063http://forgettingbook.tumblr.com/

The first portion of the book is online now, get linked up right away and enjoy!

Read More