Tuesday, February 27, 2018

The Walking Dead Season 8 Midseason Premiere Review: 'Honor'

(Photo Credit: AMC) 
The Walking Dead
Season 8 Midseason Premiere
By Garrett Yoshitomi

In recent years, The Walking Dead has crafted the two halves (A and B) of its seasons into roughly standalone story arcs, with season A wrapping up its major plot points, before the show bounds off into season B. There are some exceptions to this, however. The first half of season six famously ended on a cliffhanger- with poor, little Sam Anderson whimpering his way through a herd of walkers, only for the second half of season six to open, unsurprisingly, with his death at the hands (and mouths) of said herd. Chalk season eight up as another exception to this trend; and what’s more, it’s the first time where the midseason finale ended after the big plot twist/reveal, rather than before.
I’m talking, of course, about the death of Carl Grimes, which was confirmed as soon as Carl revealed his walker bite, in the closing moments of the midseason finale. Unlike with the Negan lineup cliffhanger, The Walking Dead spared us the ratings desperate “Will. Carl. Die???” ploys, and made it fairly obvious in their season 8B promotions that the show would be saying farewell to Carl. Now, you could argue that The Walking Dead is still playing the ratings game, holding viewers hostage by intentionally saving Carl’s actual last episode for the midseason premiere, when he could have easily been completely killed off in the midseason finale. In which case, you would be absolutely correct. However, this is The Walking Dead we’re talking about, and if you haven’t adjusted your expectations by now, you’re in for a long season.
(Photo Credit: AMC)
‘Honor’ essentially picks up right where the midseason finale ends, with Carl showing his lethal walker bite to Rick and Michonne. And, while it’s a touching episode for sure, the timing and structure is awkward, especially since it’s the first sight of The Walking Dead we’ve had in almost three months. These problems can be traced back to the midseason finale, specifically with how unnatural of an ending point Carl’s walker bite reveal was. It would have made a lot more sense to air the midseason finale as 8A’s penultimate episode, and use ‘Honor’ as the actual finale. Carl’s death feels a lot more like the closing of a chapter, rather than a genuine jumping off point. What’s more, while watching this episode, it’s difficult to become fully invested in Carl’s fate because the shock of his death came and went with the airing of the midseason finale back in December. It’s not an inherently bad episode, by any means. For those Netflix bingers who will pass through season eight in the blink of a Sunday afternoon, episodes eight and nine might actually feel like a relative highpoint for the season, in terms of quality. But, for those primetime warriors following the show as it airs, it’s hard to overlook the 11-week gap of real time wedged in the middle of an otherwise sound narrative.
In addition to the timing issues, this episode is also hurt by the same nonlinear storytelling that plagued almost the entirety of season 8A. Remember wondering, during the midseason finale, how exactly the Saviors managed to escape the walker-surrounded Sanctuary? Well, we finally get our answer in a brief scene, at the beginning of this episode, that essentially takes place before ANY of the events of the midseason finale. This type of jumping around is easier to forgive if it happens with all of the storylines in an episode, but it’s inherently confusing when an episode has an A-plot taking place in the immediate present, while the B-plot starts off, chronologically, an entire episode earlier.
(Photo Credit: AMC)
Obviously, part of the reason why we didn’t get to see how the Saviors escaped, is because the writers are trying to maintain their foreboding sense of mystery, as the show’s main antagonists. This characterization worked well back in season six, when the Saviors were first introduced. Their ability to pop up eerily at every turn, in the season six finale, helped give the Saviors an almost supernatural aura, while also establishing them as a seemingly insurmountable threat, the likes of which our heroes had never faced before.
But, in the past two seasons, we’ve spent enough time with the Saviors to know that they are anything but the magical teleporters that the show sometimes lends us to believe. The Saviors are a cunning group, with a vast amount of resources, and the willingness to use those resources in whatever way necessary, in order to survive. If anything, having the Saviors magically escape situations is actually undoing a lot of this character development, and it would be much more compelling to see them capably conquer dangerous situations, just like the show’s protagonists.
As for the impact Carl’s death will have on the show? I think it’s going to be significant, though, it might not be apparent right away. Despite all the growing up that Chandler Riggs did right before our eyes, Carl was still very much a child growing up in the zombie apocalypse, and his unique perspective was a useful storytelling device, when the writers allowed themselves to use it. It’s likely that most of this role will fall onto Enid; which is fine with me because I think she’s an underdeveloped character worth exploring. Of course, comic readers will lament at the fact that they’ll never get to see show Carl develop into the eye patch-wearing badass that’s graced the pages of The Walking Dead graphic novel in recent years. But again, these storylines will probably live on through one or more characters, such as Enid or even Siddiq.
(Photo Credit: AMC)
Carl’s death also marks the start of a new era for The Walking Dead. Carl was one of the OG Atlanta survivors- a subset of characters that are becoming increasingly endangered, as The Walking Dead turns eight years old. Of the twenty Atlanta camp members from season one, only three remain- Rick, Daryl, and Carol. For most of The Walking Dead’s run, Carl, along with Rick, were seen as the show’s two untouchables, but with Carl’s death, it’s clear that no character is truly safe. Even if this core group of Rick, Daryl, and Carol do stay alive in the short term, major character deaths, like Carl’s, are going to become much more common place, especially if The Walking Dead is going to last for another twelve seasons, as showrunner Scott Gimple believes.

It’s hard and rare for actors to stick with the same show for almost two decades. (Mostly because shows don’t usually last that long, but still.) Contract negotiations stall, new opportunities will always come calling for the leads of a widely popular series, and ultimately, sometimes shows need to take a different direction, writing off certain characters, in order to survive and stay relevant. Sometimes, these new directions are happened upon by accident, in the wake of a cast departure that initially seemed damning. I know we all love Daryl, but what if Daryl was written off, and replacing him was a new, better Daryl? Hard to imagine? Sure. Even harder to pull off? Definitely. But, change can be good, especially for a show like The Walking Dead that has a lot of creative potential but hasn’t quite managed to get the pieces right.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

(The Big Disrupt) Apps: Lesser-Known Apps for Photographers






There is an old saying among all photographers, "The best camera is the one you have with you.” This is absolutely true because when perfect moment comes up, any camera is better than having no camera at all, right? Since we all carry our smartphones in our pockets everywhere we go, the best camera we have is usually our smartphone. The cameras on the recently launched smartphones are almost as good as yesterday's DSLRs and paired with some great apps, sky is the limit.  

There are plenty of apps that can improve your photography game, but finding the right ones can be time consuming and exhausting. That's why we created this list of the most useful apps for photographers. This is not your typical list, here you won't find popular apps like Instagram, Photoshop or Camera+. We decided to focus on less popular ones which can make a huge difference when it comes to stepping up your photography game. 




Yr.no 

The weather is a very important factor for photographers who do a lot of outdoor photography, so having the right weather app can make a difference. Yr.no app supports more than 10 million locations from all around the world and you can also use its GPS function, so the app could find the weather forecast for your nearest location. This is a lot more accurate than manually typing the name of the nearby city. The app is proven to be one of the most accurate ones when it comes to hourly predictions and it has a beautiful and simple user interface. 

Price: Free 
Available on: iOS and Android 

PDF Converter Ultimate 

If you happen to have a lot of pictures trapped in PDFs or you have some PDF brochures from which you would like to extract pictures, then PDF Converter Ultimate is the right choice for you. With the help of this handy app, you can convert all your PDF pictures to JPEG format in a matter of seconds for better editing later. Alongside JPEG format, the app supports conversions to more than 20 popular file formats and vice versa. It can even convert scanned documents because it uses industry leading OCR technology. It could be said that this app covers all the bases and it also has a user-friendly interface, so there shouldn't be any inconveniences.  

Price: Free 
Available on: iOS and Android 

Pocket Light Meter 

When you want to calculate exposure, there is no better tool than a light meter. Because of its bulky design, it is not suitable for carrying it around with you all the time. Wouldn't be great if you could use your phone as a light meter? Well, with Pocket Light Meter you can. As the name suggests, this app measures the light using your phone's camera and lets you tweak shutter speed, aperture, and ISO in order to see how it will affect exposure in your image so you can adjust your settings accordingly. 

Price: Free 
Available on: iOS and Android  

Sylights 

If you have a lot of clients and do a lot of commercial photo sessions, than this app can come in handy. When next time your clients require you to recreate some previous shoots you did together, there is no need to pick your brain in order to remember what the lightning was. Sylights lets you create lighting diagrams so you can thoughtfully note where everything was on the your shooting day and when another opportunity comes you can easily use your phone to refresh your memory. The app can also be used as a reminder, you just open the diagram and see what equipment you need to pack. 

Price: Free 
Available on: iOS 

My Tide Times 

Like Yr.no tells you what the weather will be like on the desired locations, My Tide Times tells you heights and times of the tides for every location you need. The app can be very handy when shooting near the see and will also keep you safe. It supports more than 9K tidal stations in over 40 countries so your desired location will likely be covered.  

Price: Free 
Available on: iOS 

Conclusion 

In this article we talked about some of the most useful apps that do everything except taking pictures. This list is just the beginning, and we would appreciate your suggestions for other great apps photographers could use. 


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