Vanessa Becknell

I first got my hands on Isaac Marion's debut novel Warm Bodies last fall. I haven't seen a zombie love story since Return of the Living Dead 3, and (Melinda Clarke's fantastically pierced nipples aside) we all can admit that was a bit of a crap-fest, so I...

Brian Brushwood could very well be the embodiment of all things we at Donnybrook love -- he's everywhere, he does everything, and he'll probably get it all for free just for being so awesome. Vanessa sat down with Brushwood to discuss his numerous vlogs, podcasts, and books --...

CAUTION: If you haven't caught last night's Mad Men yet, don't proceed without knowing this is chock full of spoilers. OK, you've been warned...

I'm still trying to get over my summer breakup with The Walking Dead, and this video sent to me by one...

This is the story of how I dared to spend an entire week in bed with Don Draper. Okay, maybe that's misleading. But whatever. I think I was probably the one person in America that had never seen Mad Men. Don't hate me! I'm but an innocent babe in the...

The Walking Dead finale this week was BANANAS and a great way to end the season: some questions answered, some new ones raised, a new character to ponder over the summer, and everyone important made it out alive (a big "Sorry!" to all TWD fans that were hoping...

We saw a perfect mix of compelling dialogue and intense action Sunday night, more screen time for characters we've wanted to see (great moments for Daryl and Andrea, FINALLY some dialogue for T-Dog!) -- you just might have to read an entire post of gushing, (well a shortened post, there...

As the TV & Film Department Editor at The Donnybrook Writing Academy, I've covered the Simmons-judged food competition series Top Chef for the past few years now, so cracking her book open and giving it a read seemed like a logical choice for my first foray into Book...

I'm not sure how many people still tune into (or have ever watched) The Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I've covered various incarnations of it over the past couple of years for Donnybrook but haven't touched on this season's Battle of the Exes until now -- and really it's not even...

Currently based in San Francisco, Los Angeles native Jason Mecier is my Mosaic-Messiah. Taking the concept of our obsession with celebrity and pop culture made famous by artists like Andy Warhol, Mecier builds on that concept by revving it up to 11 -- incorporating "found" objects that his...

Beware: SPOILERS Abound! (That totally rhymed, but I'm going with it.)

I'm having a lot of problems with the last episode of The Walking Dead, and this time it isn't with the dialogue, which I thought was stellar last night -- but in order to bring up heavy stuff like...

I've always had an odd taste in music. Maybe not "odd" per se, but most definitely varied. I grew up in a house of music lovers -- my father loved everything from classical to country, my mother liked anything that reflected her Latin roots, my oldest brother still composes classical...

My dearest little Walker-Baits -- I had to flip over from covering the Oscars just so I could see this weeks The Walking Dead -- and I'm so glad I did! Holy shit!!! I think this was the best episode we've seen since 2.1's "A Very...

Fort Collins' favorite son, comedy-rock god Magic Cyclops, first rose to everyone else's attention after his hilarious audition for American Idol -- the bit (which anyone watching could see was HILARIOUS and anyone there on the judging panel obviously didn't get) went viral, and a national treasure was...

Once again, much to the consternation of column bestie Cristina, this week's The Walking Dead ended with... more talking! Ugh. Getting a little tired of this -- I think they should rename the show after the Chris Hardwick hosted gab-fest that comes on afterwards, The Talking Dead --...

The Actor/Director/Overall Awesome Person sits down with Alistair (Vanessa) to talk about his Genie-nominated film, Son of the Sunshine, and a romance is born.

Set in low-income Ontario, Canada, Ryan Ward's Son of the Sunshine tells the story of Sonny Johnns, a young man suffering from Tourette's Syndrome,...

If you haven't had a chance to check out Top Chef this season, you seriously need to. Not because of the cheftestants' popularity -- to be honest, the personalities we're seeing this go around in Austin, while pleasant for the most part, are lacking any real flair. There...

If you know anything about me you know I'm totally obsessed with puppets. Not sexually -- let me get that out of the way because I know my readers, and you are all sick, deviant people and I love you for it -- but seriously -- I'm apeshit for puppetry....