So you want to go to Senoia, Georgia and check out the filming of The Walking Dead? You might be disappointed. Since my last post on the filming in Senoia the production companies have pretty much locked down that corner of northwestern Georgia and made most public spaces off limits to The Walking Dead fans. There are still some places you can get close to like future set locales (hint, above), but you won't be getting any autographs and you won't get inside the walls of the fictional "Alexandria." More on the site above in a future post.
Like these photos?
See all the unedited photos at
This is the gate where the truck slammed into the church in October 18, 2015's episode titled 'Just Survive Somehow,' (Season 6, Episode 2). The church was removed some time ago as I posted in October 2014 (The Walking Dead: For Sale). At that time, the church which doubled as a sniper tower was a smoldering ruins. I only tried to get close enough to snap a shot inside the set with a long lens. A guard in an unmarked car quickly made a confrontational stance in the middle of the now-closed road. This area is greatly changed since my October 2014 post. The Wall now extends around the entire set so it is difficult to see anything going on inside.
The new church in the fictional and currently overrun-by-wolves and walkers "Alexandria" is visible here, over the wall.
The easiest spot to get a good shot of the wall and maybe see some cast and crew at the U.S. Post Office in Senoia at 68 Broad Street, 30276. I guess this is the one spot in town that the studio couldn't buy? Directly across the street from the post office is the new cast trailer park. There is now a large stockade fence with many "No Loitering" signs posted thereon (below).
The cast has to walk across Broad St. and by the post office to get to the set so this is the best place for catching a glimpse of some of the stars of The Walking Dead.
Check out all of our
THE WALKING DEAD
PORTFOLIOS
and the recent USA Today feature
which featured a some of our photos.
At this point, after encountering all the security at every turn, and after the long drive down from Atlanta, you might be thinking "Bite Me" in reference to the producers of The Walking Dead. This image was made in one of the windows of The Woodbury Shoppe where you can purchase an autograph from one of the stars for a small fortune (starting at about $50), and lots of Made in China crap that the producers are selling. It is the flimsiest of crappy crap. . . you know wear-them-one-time-and-they-shrink-two-sizes-t-shirts, $15 coffee cups, etcetera.
The area around the Driving Miss Daisy House is now also off limits due to the crew housing for The Walking Dead. See my post about this location at: The Land of the Walking Dead, from May 2013.
The Main Street of Senoia is still accessible but there isn't much to see here. This is the one-time set of the fictional "Woodbury" in The Walking Dead. Today it is pretty much unrecognizable as "Woodbury."
There are some shops and cafes but no real dining or shopping to speak of, and no public restrooms. Maybe not so much the "perfect setting for life," if you find the need for a bathroom. For those pesky human issues you'll have to drive out of town to the new McDonalds built into a gas station at the corner of Highway 85 and Highway 16 about two blocks outside of this main business district of Senoia. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce will read this post and install some public toilets. Don't hold your breath, however. It seems the town is now deeply indebted to Stalwart Films, LLC.
At every side street and every shooting locale that one tries to access they run into these signs (below).
Note that Stalwart Films is among other things a
Georgia Transport Company with an office
that's never open. So Hollywood.
But we did a little digging and found their phone and fax numbers:
678-723-1000 (office), 678-723-1001 (fax)
In case you can't read the sign it says:
Georgia Transport Company with an office
that's never open. So Hollywood.
But we did a little digging and found their phone and fax numbers:
678-723-1000 (office), 678-723-1001 (fax)
In case you can't read the sign it says:
Stalwart Films, LLC
600 Chestlehurst Road
Senoia, GA 30276
To the fans of The Walking Dead:
Thank you for your amazing support and we hope you enjoy your visit to Senoia! Youare vital to the success of the show, and all of us at Stalwart Films, LLC are appreciative of your support.
Also important to the success of the show are the residents and merchants of the City of Senoia. We strive to be a good Senoia neighbor around the clock, ad we ask that you help us maintain this community's support by respecting their private property. It is imperative that you do not intrude onto or through their property to get a closer look at our set. A friendly reminder: trespassing on private property is a criminal offense.
We also have permission from the City of Senoia to close Morgan Street to through traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. Please do not pass beyond the post barricades on east or west ends of Morgan Street.
The perimeter of the Alexandria set is clearly designated. Security officers are on site and the property is clearly marked with "No Trespassing" signs, barricades, cones and tape. All of the property within these boundaries, including the streets and alleyways is private property. We ask that you remain outside of these boundaries.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Our Interpretation
of Stalwart Film's statement:
They basically said "Thank you and f--k off," . . . that would've been more sincere. They have effectively secured most of the town of Senoia, Georgia. We did see pedestrians walking some of the closed streets but we saw more guards than pedestrians. It is virtually impossible to see the other movie locales in Senoia because of The Walking Dead exclusion areas.
You can still buy an overpriced cup of coffee in
The Waking Dead Cafe. . .
NO PHOTOS
NO AUTOGRAPHS
And remember, no photos and no autographs. I've ignored these signs for years but they are now posted everywhere. When did a photograph become
a matter of public safety?
a matter of public safety?
The crew now sell photos and autographs. In the first couple years of
production Senoia was a much friendlier place.
See my: Touring the Land of the Walking Dead.
So, if you're disappointed by the less than friendly
reception by the cast and crew of The Walking Dead
you might try some of these other nearby venues. . .
the annual, artsy Halloween scarecrow exhibit
is ongoing in
This is one of my favorites of this year's scarecrows. It is called "Bearcrow"
Another favorite is "Jinx," with a basket of puppies and kittens.
. . .and this Native American papier-mâché creation was very unique. . .
I'll have more on the Scarecrows in the Garden in an upcoming post. . .
Behind the Conservatory you'll find this special spot. A field of Swamp Sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius) framing the skyline of Atlanta. With Phillip (above) and without (below).
If gardens aren't your thing hop over to Midtown
and check out the incomparable
I'll have more on this in an upcoming post. . .
Still not satisfied? Then head to Downtown and check out the
sights in Centennial Olympic Park.
I'll have more on this in an upcoming post. . .
Above, the Georgia Aquarium as seen from over the shoulder of John Pemberton (Coke founder) and below, the Bank of America Tower.
You'll find plenty of Alternative Fuel Only Parking Spaces in Atlanta, and public restrooms too. . .
Of course you might have to mortgage the house to park and get in to see the big fish in the Georgia Aquarium. I think it was $100 before we actually got through security and in the front door. . . and I'm philosophically opposed to caging large marine animals. . .but it is an educational place so one has to make exceptions.
I'll have more on the Georgia Aquarium in another post. . .
We've Watched and Read:
 |
| Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison Photo: Stephan Rabold for SHOWTIME |
You know its time to take your medications when you tell one boyfriend that he's a lousy lay, and you shoot your true love with a high powered rifle and then somehow let him kidnap and drug you. Ah, Carrie Mathison and her issues, huh?
But aren’t you relieved to see the old Carrie back? And the old Quinn, and the rekindling of their romance, as they reunite in the forest in an (admittedly one-sided) embrace around the neck, loving words from Quinn marking the moment before the screen goes black? Carrie and Quinn give new meaning to the concept of codependency. We're so glad the two heroes are back together where they belong.
Because really—Jonas the lawyer (Alexander Fehling) has got to go. He looks great in his T-shirts, but beyond that, mad Carrie is right: He’s “boring, boring, boring.” There’s no way those two could have a future. Even Otto Düring (Sebastian Koch), patchy cheek stubble now denoting a dark sort of inner growth, seems a more likely candidate for a meaningful connection.
In this week's 'Homeland' Episode titled "Super Powers," Carrie goes off her lithium in an attempt to figure out who wants her dead. In the process she manages to get her boyfriend's son kidnapped by her true love Quinn, among other twists. In the end she's back in Quinn's arms presumably as a target for assassination but we know that this is Homeland and Carrie will prevail, somehow. . . .and it now looks like maybe its the CIA that ordered Carrie's assassination. . . I never did trust Saul (Mandy Patinkin) and I really don't have confidence in his overly ambitious, red-headed lover Allison (Miranda Otto).
Whatever happened to Saul's wife anyway? Is she like Jeb Bush's spouse, ensconced in some dungeon in a Palm Beach mansion so as not to embarrass the little man?
We're not done with 'Homeland' yet. Quinn uses a device referred to as a StingRay to locate Carrie. I know, you thought he was trying to get his hands on a "Stinger Missile." No. Something smaller but no less techno-complex.
So what is it and how does it work? First, the tradecraft in this episode it was again spot on and the storyline prescient. Quinn very quickly finds a creepy child-molester-looking van to kidnap [Jonas's] kid which was a little questionable, I mean do they sell those vans at used car lots around Berlin?, but the other part of the story line is really solid tradecraft with his use of the StingRay. A StingRay is what’s called an IMSI-catcher—International Mobile Subscriber Identity—and essentially he can do a lot of different things with it, but what he does in the show is one of the most effective uses of the StingRay, where one can locate the source of a cellphone conversation.
Now, it’s again maybe a little overdramatic to kidnap the kid, which forced the phone call, but it’s very, very good technique and a solid way of finding where Carrie is. And there are hand-held StingRay versions exactly like the one that he used in this episode. This is new technology, it was developed for the intelligence community, but now it is being used by police agencies and law enforcement—even local law enforcement around the U.S.A. It’s fairly controversial, but Quinn is using it exactly the way it was developed: to collect information about where targets of interest are.
So what is it and how does it work? First, the tradecraft in this episode it was again spot on and the storyline prescient. Quinn very quickly finds a creepy child-molester-looking van to kidnap [Jonas's] kid which was a little questionable, I mean do they sell those vans at used car lots around Berlin?, but the other part of the story line is really solid tradecraft with his use of the StingRay. A StingRay is what’s called an IMSI-catcher—International Mobile Subscriber Identity—and essentially he can do a lot of different things with it, but what he does in the show is one of the most effective uses of the StingRay, where one can locate the source of a cellphone conversation.
Now, it’s again maybe a little overdramatic to kidnap the kid, which forced the phone call, but it’s very, very good technique and a solid way of finding where Carrie is. And there are hand-held StingRay versions exactly like the one that he used in this episode. This is new technology, it was developed for the intelligence community, but now it is being used by police agencies and law enforcement—even local law enforcement around the U.S.A. It’s fairly controversial, but Quinn is using it exactly the way it was developed: to collect information about where targets of interest are.
 |
| Phallus indusiatus Mushroom Photo: Alex Popovkin, Bahaia, Brazil/Flickr |
Not likely. More likely this story heard around the world refers to an obscure, 15-year old study that has been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to a sensational claim made by a couple of scientists that a then-unnamed species of bright orange mushroom found in Hawaii caused spontaneous orgasms in a handful of women who smelled its odor.
Not just Bernie Sanders. . . . For true socialism in action, look to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Nearly one in four people in this country gets electricity from a consumer-owned or co-op utility — socialism throughout the heartland. And when President Obama considered privatizing a big government utility and dam operator, the Tennessee Valley Authority, he was met with squawks of protest from some of the most conservative precincts in America.