Though a sequel, Left 4 Dead 2 is not a sequel in the traditional sense. It takes place in the same world as Left 4 Dead, but this one takes place in the Southern States. It features all new survivors to play as, new weapons, and new types of infected zombies. In press releases developer Valve Software said that after the release of Left 4 Dead they were coming up with all sorts of ideas to make the game better, and hence the development of Left 4 Dead 2. They succeeded.

Veteran L4D players are going to have an easy time getting into L4D2. It offers the same fast paced action as the original game, but this time with a little more punch. The variety of weapons has more than doubled. It won't take long to decide upon your favorites. Even better, L4D2 introduced melee weapons. Now this might not sound like a good idea, after all how are you going to take on a hoard of zombies with a baseball bat, or a frying pan, or a ninja sword, or even better, a chainsaw? In answer to that question, pretty damn well. Melee weapons are not dinky knives, or fists as seen in many games, they are tools that deliver a lot of damage to a lot of zombies at a time. When surrounded by a pack of zombies, often whipping out your melee weapon and taking a whack at them is the best way to get them off of you. Not to mention that in general the melee weapons are a hell of a good time.

L4D2 also introduces new types of scenarios. In the original game the finale for each episode consisted of fighting a huge hoard of zombies, while waiting for some type of rescue to come. Some episodes still have that in this game, but new finales have been introduced. For example the finale of the first episode consists of filling up a car with gas cans as fast as you can in order to escape.

As mentioned above the survivors are new as well. L4D2 introduces Coach, Nick, Ellis, and Rochelle. Each with a unique, and comical personality. Nick is the sarcastic one. Ellis is the redneck. Coach is the bad-ass. Rochelle is the scaredy-cat. All of them seem to be highly trained in weapon use. It won't take long to decide on your favorite character. Their personalities are much more fleshed out, and more entertaining than the characters in the original game.

Another new feature is daylight scenarios. None of this "zombies don't come out during the daylight" like you might see in zombie movies. They aren't vampires after all. Quite of few of the episodes are still set during the night, but daylight adds a little more interest to this game. Further, daylight actually has an effect on the zombies, as witches wander around during the day, instead of just curling up in the fetal position and cyring like they do at night. It also features some other interesting weather effects. The episode "Hard Rain" features a rain storm so bad, it's any wonder how the survivors are going to get out of it. You can barely hear other players over the microphone when the storm really acts up. And the real beauty of it all, is that none of these things are annoying, they make an extremely fun game.

The game is highly action packed, but the violence hasn't even been mentioned yet. This could possibly be the most violent and gory game to date. Zombies are getting their body parts dismembered left and right. Heads are exploding. Pipe bombs blow zombies in half, vertically. Arms and legs are literally flying everywhere. Any gamer that needs of fix of violence is going to love this game. The funny thing about it too, is that nothing can be taken seriously in this game, it's too funny to take seriously. Sure it's violent, but in a way that is part of the comedy.

Co-op team play is even more important in this game than ever before. Many of the levels are more wide open, and a special infected such as a smoker or jockey can quickly get teammates separated from each other, so sticking close together is a must. Also the game introduces a new difficultly setting called realism in which you can't see your teammates' IDs, so if they get separated it is going to be very difficult to find and rescue them if necessary. It's also much easier to experience friendly fire in this mode. Voice communication is key. No gamer should be in this game without a microphone.

Left 4 Dead 2 is going to satisfy anyone interested in a co-op, action packed experience. There is nothing more satisfying than barely making it into a safe-room and thinking to yourself, "And that's how you do it!".

Rating: 91/100

Alternatives: Left 4 Dead, Duke Nukem 3D

A Charlie Brown Christmas released in 1965 could possibly be the most famous and popular Christmas show in existence. I don't think there is any reason for me to explain the plot at all, because you've probably seen it, multiple times. Interestingly enough this is one of the few Christmas shows that actually features the Bible story in it, as Linus quotes "Luke 2".

The only thing I really have to say about this is that the Christmas play that the characters are rehearsing could possibly be the dumbest play to have ever been performed. After all, the only thing that the characters do is dance like a bunch of idiots. Linus complains about having to memorize lines, but there aren't any lines in their play, they just dance. Also, the dialog implies that maybe the play was supposed to be a traditional pageant with the shepherds and a manger in a stable, but Lucy says she's going to be the "Christmas Queen", and how that would fit in is beyond me. Also, I have never heard of aluminum trees before, maybe they were a 60s thing.

Yes, the film is silly, but get this, a second Charlie Brown Christmas special was released in 1992 entitled It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown. The DVD I have included this as a bonus, and I watched it several years ago, just to see what it was about, and it was awful. I remembered that it had no plot whatsoever, but I wanted to see for sure, so I watched it again tonight. I was right, it has no plot, it's just a bunch of scenes of the characters doing various things related to Christmas. It could quite possibly be the worst Charlie Brown show ever made.

So that's really all I have to say today. I know I didn't comment on Charlie Browns ridiculous tree, and how it constantly changes size and shape, but really nothing in this show obeys the laws of physics, so I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Anyway, check back tomorrow.

I'm not a fan of cold weather at all. I'd even go as far as to say I hate it. Yesterday we had quite a bit of snowfall, and I had some things to do. So I put on my galoshes and winter gear and headed out. To be honest it wasn't bad. The snow was gently falling and the wind was mild. It was kind of peaceful walking through the snow. I had a smile on my face. I sympathized with the song "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland". No, winter is not all bad. Really the only thing I hate is below zero temperatures and icy roads.

There is even one thing I love about winter, and that is hot cocoa in the morning. As a child I would boil up some water put the hot chocolate mix in a mug and stir it up. I'd let the warm mug would heat up my cold hands wrapped around it. Sometimes I'd stand outside on the porch because I loved the contrast of hot and cold together. When the cocoa had cooled down to a drinkable temperature I'd sip it slowly. I still like to do this to this day, though now I know quite a bit more about how to make a good mug of hot cocoa.

I prefer my hot chocolate with cream, but therein is a certain debate. Should the cocoa mix be flavored? Or should the cream be flavored? Certainly not both. I don't want my cocoa to be to rich, and if there are too many flavors none of them will be enjoyed. No, it has to be either strictly chocolate flavored cocoa or plain cream. In general I prefer the cream to be flavored.

I have a special "hot cocoa mug". It's got a snowman on it. I don't use it for anything other than hot cocoa. There are several drinks for this time of year, including eggnog and wassail, but for me hot cocoa will always be my favorite.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is a 1970 Rankin/Bass stop motion Christmas special. It is sort of based off the song "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town". I say "sort of" because other than the title and a few plot elements it doesn't have much to do with the song. The movie itself is just a story of the origin of Santa Claus, it could be entitled Santa Claus: Origins, though all of the supposed "origins" of the Santa Claus mythology are unique to this TV special.

This one is extremely popular, but honestly it's not the best one. The writing on this one isn't very good. For example the main antagonist is the Burgermeister Meisterburger, and he never really loses or gets defeated. The narrator just says, "Eventually the Burgermeisters sort of died out". Also, the songs are pretty good, but most of them have nothing to do with the show. The "put one foot in front of the other" song is really fun, but the way it is integrated into the show is a bit absurd. Jessica's song doesn't really make sense either. If you've seen this show you should know what I'm talking about.

One thing I like about these Rankin/Bass Santa Claus shows is the simple suit that Santa wears. It's red with white trim. I like the traditional Santa suit. I don't care for the Santa suits with funky designs in the fabric and weird looking trim. Red Jack, black belt, black boots, and the classic hat is what Santa should be wearing, and that's what he wears in these shows. I don't really have much else to say about this. Check back in tomorrow.

There have been quite a few movies named Jack Frost over the years. I've seen two of them. There is the Rankin/Bass 1979 stop motion production, the 1998 film staring Michael Keaton, and the 1996 comedy/horror film about a serial killer that becomes a snowman. I've never seen the horror film, and frankly I don't care to, as I've never been into horror. The Michael Keaton film I did like, but not enough to ever watch again. The film that has become part of my tradition is the Rankin/Bass TV special.

What's different about this show, from the other shows that I watch, is that it isn't really about Christmas. The Christmas holiday is in it, but it is more about the end of winter, and the coming of spring than it is about the holidays. You could watch this film in January and it wouldn't be out of season, though it would seem so, since this one usually gets lumped in with the Christmas shows.

In Jack Frost the character Jack Frost falls in love with a woman and asks his maker, Father Winter, to let him become human. Father Winter allows him to do so. Jack Frost ends up in a town called January Junction, working as a Taylor, and left with the task of finding a house, a horse, a bag of gold, and a wife. None of those things come easy.

It isn't really the most exciting Rankin/Bass show, the plot is less interesting, but there are some good songs. What I do like is that the story of Jack Frost is told by a groundhog named Pardon Me Pete, and Groundhog's Day plays an important role in the show. You see if the groundhog is scared by his shadow and goes back into his hole, he gets six more weeks of sleep, and Jack Frost gets to make winter for six more weeks. So Jack Frost appears as Pete's shadow every year, even if the sun isn't shining, so Pete can get "six more weeks of shuteye". This was a big deal for me when I was a child. You see, I'd see films like this, and like The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, and I envied how these animals could sleep for such a long time. I wanted to be able to hibernate until Christmas every year, so it would come sooner. I'd even say to my mom , "I'm going to hibernate until Christmas", then I'd get into a sleeping bag and pretend to fall asleep. Of course, even if I had been able to hibernate like that, I had to go to school which pretty much lasted up until a few days before Christmas, so at most I could hibernate for three days. Ah, such is the life of looking forward to Christmas as a child.

Well only about five days of these TV specials are left, then I'll start getting into feature films. Also, from here on out pretty much all of the shows are going to be popular ones.