Braaaaains

I agree with Gawker/Defamer. This upcoming AMC zombie series, based on "The Walking Dead" comics, looks absolutely awesome.

I predict this will be the zombie version of "True Blood," even if a scene in the trailer is super similar to the hospital opening of "28 Days Later." Is that the only way to introduce us to a zombie plague, have someone unconscious wake up to an apocalyptic world? (The answer to that being obviously no, since "Shaun of the Dead" opened brilliantly with him staggering into a convenience store and not even noticing the zombies strewn around the road.)



Behind the scenes at Zombie School!



Creating the Bicycle Girl zombie. Wow.

Ants at the picnic

These ants are too scarily realistic -- I don't think I could eat one of these cupcakes.

(Via Not Martha.)

Garfield minus Garfield plus Chewbacca

Garfield Minus Garfield...that's old hat. But I just discovered Garfield Minus Garfield Plus Chewbacca! (Thanks to the Retroist on Twitter!)

Ha

Way to go, Bellevue bride.

Playing chicken

When I was a kid, we used to go to Wisconsin and Minnesota taverns on weekends with our parents, generally when they were driving up to our farm, and it seemed to me that I always had fried chicken.

I rarely eat it these days -- it's not exactly great for you -- but I'm saving this list from Seattle's Stranger of the supposed best places in town for it, just in case. (On this list, I've been to Ezell's...it was fine but really seems overrated by this town.)

Pass the monkey please

Love this lead in this NY Times obit. But I mean really, who didn't eat monkey and wear a loincloth at age 17?

Spooky

Mysterious crate arrives from London.

Not-such-a-Big Day

I remember distinctly going to the TV Critics' press tour and talking to the casts of two new-in-2006 shows, "Big Day" (about a wedding) and "Notes from the Underbelly" (about a pregnancy). I was oddly unnerved because the male star of "Underbelly," Peter Cambor, looked like my ex-boyfriend.

Anyway, both shows crashed, and "Big Day" apparently is now considered one of the worst comedy flops ever. Big indeed!

Hoarding

Heather Havrilesky has it right: Watch one episode of a hoarding show, and suddenly you're pitching out rooms full of stuff, in terror that the tiny bit of hoarder behavior we all have will take you over as it has the people on your screen.

Jelly belly

How Jelly Belly flavors are developed. Fascinating. I especially like the bit about how cheese pizza Jelly Bellys smelled so bad they tweaked them and turned them into barf flavor.

(Via Fark.)

Thumbs up

Roger Ebert writes a beautiful tribute explaining his relationship with the late Gene Siskel.

Like siblings, they might fight like cats and dogs when they disagreed, but if someone else attacked one of them, they were both united against that person.

Super Mario fun at the supermarket

Super Mario fun at the supermarket. Man, this is amazing. I'd want to stop anyone from buying a pack of pop and thus destroying the design!

Death on "Fantasy Island"

Yes, this Ask Metafilter question, about whether any client ever died during "Fantasy Island," was mine. Of course.

So far, no one has figured out an episode that really had a death happen during a fantasy. But you know Mr. Roarke really wanted to off some of those losers.

Thank yew, thankyewverrahmuch

Elvis' favorite recipes. You just know these are going to be gleefully bad for you even before you click. PB and banana sammiches, sure, but also meat loaf, burnt-bacon sammiches, Texas caviar and something called the "Fool's Gold Loaf sandwich."

Also, this is a beautiful slideshow of old Elvis pics. Damn, he was handsome, and pic #19 of the Memphian theater just takes my breath away.

Monday, Aug. 16 is the 33-year anniversary of Elvis' death.