Columns

Probably due to the success of American Horror Story, it seems that horror TV is seeing a new resurgence. While many would simply go the safe route and place themselves in the genre of "thriller" or "mystery," two new shows in particular can be classified as true horror due to their relationship with cinema history. Both of these shows tell the stories that audiences could only speculate about for decades, and reveal the origins of two of the most iconic characters in horror history. Of course, I’m talking about Bates Motel on A&E and Hannibal on NBC.

Hannah’s downward shame spiral has now ventured into dangerous territory for her emotional and mental health. Last week, Hannah was beginning to show signs of a return to the OCD days that plagued her in her adolescence. Now she has fully submerged into its murky depths. In this episode, her OCD tics are in full swing including repeatedly picking her wedgie in the elevator until she reaches eight and blinking her eyes until that count is also eight, the number that makes her comfortable.

From gutsy, iconoclastic solo artists to fiercely independent veteran acts, this week looks like a great week for new music. The big news, of course, is that David Bowie has finally come out of hiding, emerging from a cloud of rumored bad health that surrounded him, not to receive a knighthood, but to unleash The Next Day, his first record since 2003's Reality. Critics have been going ga-ga about this record since word of it broke a few months ago, and it's easy to understand why. Not only did it seem very possible that we'd never hear from the Thin White Duke again, but both of the singles released so far, "Where Are We Now" and "The Stars Are Out Tonight", are vintage Bowie: cool, calm, collected, and about 100 years ahead of their time.

Here at Anime Invasion, while I do my normal weekly reviews of the shows I have been following for this season, I also would like to make a few comments on the state of anime and big news surrounding it. Many big things have hit the internet this weekend, such as the Domino’s Pizza ad in Japan which featured “Scott, President of Domino’s Pizza” introducing the new app featuring Vocaloid Idol, Hatsunke Miku (which I can say I begrudgingly downloaded onto my iPad). While you can only order pizza from it if you are from Japan, you can still use the app to take pictures with the virtual pop idol herself (which, to my shame, I have done).