Hero of the Day- Rick Grimes

I woke up today... In the hospital

What's a heroes list without a zombie killer? I was trying to think about who would fit the criteria for ultimate zombie-killing badass and the answer was pretty obvious: Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead. Hey, you have to have some kind of balls if you are going to take on a crap load of zombies in the middle of a city. And considering that he was in a coma before taking on those zombies, that says a lot too. Not to mention he had the iron balls to do something extremely hard: Shoot a little girl in the head at point blank range right in front of her mother. Yeah, that's pretty intense. Needless to say she had turned into a zombie at that point, but it's still hard to shoot somebody you knew only a week ago. For that reason, Rick has earned a spot here. Always doing what needs to be done, even when it's hardest.

Hero of the Day- Michael Corleone

Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again

It's Monday, finals start today, we're all depressed, so why not talk about a depressing character. Michael Corleone, the lead character of The Godfather movies, the first two ranking as two of my favorite movies of all time, and by far one of the most depressing protagonists to grace the screen. I know a lot of people think of him as a villain, but I honestly always saw him as more of an antihero than a villain, considering that's what Al Pacino was best at and that's the kind of character that dominated a lot of movies in the seventies. When we first see Michael, he starts out as a young college kid with a promising future. He has a nice girlfriend, was in the marines and fought in World War 2, and even may have had a political career ahead of him. The only thing that didn't fit into Michael's vision for his future was his family. He makes it pretty clear that, although he loves his family, he detests the fact that they are involved in organized crime and wants nothing to do with them professionally. However, after the attempted murder of his father, played by Marlon Brando, Michael is forced to make decisions that he really did not want to make and he eventually ends up becoming apart of his family's syndicate, and then taking over it as the new Don after his father retires and passes away soon after. Although he goes down a path that would end up tearing his life and family apart, we can't help but feel bad for him. Even though he makes some less than admirable decisions over the course of the movies, we still couldn't help but connect and sympathize with him. Think about it, when it comes down to it, you have to ask yourself: What would you have done if you were put in that position?

Movies that I am excited to see next year

I know it's a little early to do this sort of thing, but I'm taking a break from studying for finals and thought I would do this. These are the movies that I am most excited to see in 2012. When I was putting this together, I realized very quickly that 2012 will be the year of the geek. Sure, we had a lot of good comic book movies come out this year, but 2012 is going to have some of the most anticipated movies in a long time.

• Skyfall- For a while, there was talk of abandoning the James Bond movie franchise. Thankfully no such thing has happened yet and the 23rd installment of the franchise is due out November of next year
• The Woman in Black- Daniel Radcliffe's first major role since leaving Harry Potter behind, and it is based off of one of the creepiest ghost stories of all time. I recently read the book and it really did creep me out quite a bit. This movie is due out in February of next year
• Ted- Mark Wahlberg plays a man who wished his teddy bear to life when he was a boy. Unfortunately, he is now in his thirties and the bear is still following him. It is directed by Seth MacFarlane who is better known for creating Family Guy and I'm kind of excited to see this. My guess is that this one will be out around summer.
• Prometheus- Ridley Scott returns to the genre he helped define by making a prequel to the first Alien movie. This will be his first sci-fi movie since Bladerunner and to say I'm excited to see this will be the understatement of the month. Release date is in June of next year
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- After years of hanging out in film limbo, the Hobbit movie is finally being made and by Peter Jackson, thank God. If you were like me, you have been keeping your fingers crossed about this movie since Return of the King came out. This one is out around Christmas time, so the year will probably end on a high note.
• Django Unchained- Quentin Tarantino doing a western. No more need be said.
• Coriolanus- Ralph Fiennes doing a modern day adaptation of one of Shakespeare's plays. And Gerard Butler is in it, as well as war, explosions and death. You would have to pay me to stay away from this movie.
• The Avengers- Kind of a no-brainer. They've built it up so much over the past few years, it's almost impossible not to be excited for this movie. Though to be honest, there was a period of time where I thought they wouldn't do it. It sounded like one of those projects where people would get really excited and then the studio would find some excuse like not being able to find a director or the cast couldn't get together. No matter, it's finally happening and I am absolutely psyched to see it.

Those are some pretty big movies. Now what could possibly top them in terms of excitement? I'll tell you after I hit the "Enter" button multiple times for the sole purpose of building suspense...

• The Dark Knight Rises- What's that? You didn't know I was hyped for this one? Away with you then! You cursed wretch of a being! May thou call the pits of Hell thine home! Seriously though, I am extremely excited to see this one. I've already got my t-shirt to wear to the premiere. That's right, I'm gearing up for the premiere and we haven't even seen a full trailer! I saw the midnight premiere of the last movie, and for this one, I'm sparing no expense, I'm going to go IMAX for this movie!

Hero of the Day- Maximus

What we do in life echoes in eternity

I don't know why, but I felt sort of obligated to put Russell Crowe on this list. Could be because we share the same birthday or because he is just an all around badass. Anyway, when I think about it, the movie Gladiator did not have anything all that special or unique to it. It was basically just your basic revenge plot. Not to say that the movie is bad or anything, but it's just a plot line we've seen before. With that said, the character of Maximus is one that we really can get behind. We see him as a great military leader, he's charismatic, his men's spirits get lifted just by him walking by, we see him talk about wanting to be home with his wife and son. And on top of that, he was just super badass. He killed three guys in the span of about thirty seconds and then proceeded to kill another guy later on even though he had already been cheap-shotted and was on death's door. Not to mention that like William Wallace, he had a lot of great quotes to go along with him. There is the quote above, but there is also that classic "I will have my vengeance" speech amongst many others. Even though he was your basic revenge protagonist, Maximus was just a really cool character. He's a little different than some of the other heroes featured on this list because most of the people here have all started as average joe's whereas Maximus already was that great strong military leader that we all wanted to be. Other characters we might have seen them work their way up, where as with Maximus we saw him go backwards. Kind of a nice change of pace to be honest with you. So yeah, while I said that Gladiator was your basic revenge story, there are a few things that make it stand out, this arch being one of them.

Hero of the Day- Frodo Baggins

I know what I must do. It's just... I'm afraid to do it

Of the three main characters in Lord of the Rings, this one is definitely the  most relatable. That doesn't make him better than Aragorn or Gandalf, but it did make him easier to connect with the audience, at least for the first movie. He was the fish out of water protagonist that is commonly found in stories like this. And since he is unfamiliar with the issues of the outside world, when the other characters explain it to him, they are also explaining it to the audience as well. He is much like Luke in that when we first see him, he isn't anything all that special, he isn't a warrior or a genius, he isn't even that strong or brave. But circumstances force him to make decisions that he wouldn't have made on any other day and next thing you know, he is on a journey that will either change the course of his life forever or end it altogether. The main difference between the two stories is that there was really a point where we thought that Frodo might not make it out of this. In Two Towers, we really see the effect that both the ring and the long journey have had on him. His skin has lost its color, he is growing weaker and he's starting to loose it a little bit. By the time he finally reaches Mordor in Return of the King, he practically looks like a walking corpse. The thing that I love about these movies is that you really get the feeling that everything is on the line here, and that's not just the case with Frodo, if you watch the build up to some of the battle scenes like Helm's Deep or Minas Tirith, there is a moment where you basically realize that everything is on the table, and if they loose tonight, then that's it for them. Of course Frodo was carrying one of the most powerful objects in existence around his neck, so you can see why the stakes may be a little high for him.

Batman Forever

There I was, sitting on the edge of my couch, when a sudden sensation began to overtake me. It was not one of the body, but rather, one of the mind. I began to see and hear strange things in my head. Bright flashing colors, a man in a suit with massive nipples on it, I saw bats flying everywhere, I even saw Tommy Lee Jones, or at least I thought it was Tommy Lee Jones, I can’t know for sure. Apparently, in this vision that I was having, the Tommy Lee Jones that I was seeing would be extremely hammy and have purple slime all across his face. It was at the moment that I saw a thin Val Kilmer that I realized something: This must have been the moment when the drugs began to get the better of me. I began to feel light-headed, and the room all around me began to spin. The odd thing was that I wasn’t planning on taking any drugs, I was just going to watch a Batman film and must have, at some point, indulged in some very heavy yet very pleasing narcotics, for this is not the Batman movie that I was planning on viewing. For this movie had Jim Carrey in it, as well as bright flashy colors and neon lights, and even people who looked like Darth Maul, if he was drawn during the same sort of acid trip that I was having. And suddenly, something else had occurred to me. I slowly began to realize that I hadn’t taken any drugs, and that this experience was one of complete sobriety and reality. It was then that I began to feel something terrible: Panic. It crept all over my spine. All these awful realities began to take hold of me. Alone, in a room, watching this acid trip of a movie where Jim Carrey tries to play a villain and Tommy Lee Jones is one of the hammiest actors appearing in the film. The more I think back on it, the more I wish I was on drugs, for if a movie like this is allowed to exist, then clearly the world that we create for ourselves when we go into a drug induced delirium has more sense to it than the world that surrounds us in a state of sobriety. I would go further into this movie, but my brain cannot possibly fathom the idea of returning to such a dark and difficult time in my life. If you wish to indulge yourself in this experience, go forth at your own risk. Some may not want to, but those of you who do, buy your ticket and take the ride.

Yours truly,

Hayden S. Thompson

Thank you to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and to Nostalgia Critic for inspiration of the material

Hero of the Day- Gandalf

All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you

While this guy isn't necessarily a hero (in that he is a protagonist), Gandalf still deserves to be mentioned. He is the classic archetype not only for mystical and mysterious old characters, but also as an archetype that serves as the mentor to the main character, much like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Dumbledore. However, the only difference is that those two characters died, but were still able to guide the main character from beyond the grave. Unlike those two farts, who died and stayed dead, he died but came back twice as awesome as before. And he would go on to put Saruman in his place merely by saying "Your staff is broken" which is essentially the same as looking him in the eye and saying "F%^& you! You think you're awesome? I fought a huge ass demon". If you don't know what I am talking about, you either haven't read the books or seen the extended versions of the movies. Please remedy this as soon as humanely possible... Seriously, I'm not kidding. You will become a better person by seeing these movies. Jesus wants you to see these movies. Are you going to let down Jesus? On the month of his birthday? Dude, you are cruel!