Lakers Lose, Dodgers Win

I don't know 'bout y'all but I don't think I'm alone in being shocked that the Dodgers would be the ones making big headlines in LA Sports in May while the Lakers are simply limping towards the finish line.

Now, as we all know, "it's still early" so there's plenty of time for both of those situations to change but right now, this is how it looks...

The Lakers aren't sharp. They didn't look sharp against Utah when they were coughing up lead after lead after lead. They won the series but didn't impress anyone while they did it. In fact, the talk of basketball since then was just about anything but the Lakers. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the co-favorite for the NBA Title. Of course, there was still some drama to be had today with the announcement that Kobe has the flu [my mother thinks he might have swine flu... now THAT'S drama.] That'll certainly be one of the excuses used tonight after they coughed up the home court edge they "worked" all season for. But the fact is, I saw the same team I saw against Utah. Flashes of brilliance mired in lots of... eh. I still expect they'll manage to beat the Rockets but when they run into the Nuggets? The Celtics? The Magic? The Cavs?

Well, that may be another story.

And speaking of another story, down the road at Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers were putting the finishing touches on another impressive victory. Yes, so far it's only been at home but a record-setting 11-0 to start the season at home still has to impress even if they're only playing .500 on the road. Yes, the pitching is still leaving a little to be desired and the bullpen is likely going to be "nervous time" instead of "game over" for most of the year.

But the offense...

Dear, dear me... the offense.

I have NEVER seen a Dodger team have an offense like this. This is an AL-style offense. Pure offensive production that is just... well, too much fun to watch.

No winning streak lasts forever and this one is no different. It'll end soon enough and that'll be the real test for this team.

But until then, I hope the Dodgers enjoy their moment in the sun of LA sports.

April 2009: The Month In Music

Here's a weird one for you...

I added 30 songs to my iTunes library in the month of April but for one reason or another [if you couldn't tell from my posts, April was kinda a rough month] I never listened to any of them. Alas, you get no Top 5 of April 2009.

But I will provide the ongoing saga of The Music of 2009!

20. Vato - Snoop Dogg feat. B-Real
19. More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
18. Stay Alive - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
17. People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
16. My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson
15. Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
14. I'm Not Gonna Teach... - The Black Kids
13. Alone (Heart cover) - Allison Iraheta
12. Half Asleep - School Of Seven Bells
11. November Was White, December Was Grey - Say Hi
10. Come Saturday - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
9. The Good Ol' Days - The Lodger
8. Secret Heart - Feist
7. Let It Slip - The School
6. Number One - Miss Fairchild
5. Green Means Go - The Color Wheels
4. We Rule The School - Belle & Sebastian
3. Jai Ho - AR Rahman
2. Latika's Theme - AR Rahman

And our BRAND NEW #1...

Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle - The Mountain Goats & Kaki King

Movie Added: Sugar

My best laid plans of seeing three movies today fell by the wayside for some house hunting...

BUT, I did manage to get to see one of the movies on my list - Sugar.

Sugar's the story of a young man from the Dominican Republic looking to make it to the big leagues as a pitcher. The story follows his path from one of the youth camps in the DR that baseball fans often hear about to spring training and... well, to preserve a non-spoiler setting, we'll just say "on from there."

I really dug the movie as I thought it painted a very strong [and probably very realistic] picture of what that transition must be like for those players. As a baseball fan, of course, I dig all the Spring Training and "on from there" stuff as it seemed more realistic than a lot of the past baseball movies have handled that topic.

The ending I also found to be very satisfying as it was one that you can take as either a depressing ending or an uplifting ending, depending on how you perceive the rest of the movie's plot as well as the main character's desires.

Give a bonus point to some excellent music including a Spanish cover of "Hallelujah" and you've got a very solid basehit on your hands. Maybe not a homerun - but definitely a line drive to the gap.

BLUE'S REVIEW: Definitely see this if you're a baseball fan. If you're not, you may not enjoy it as much but I think there's enough there for you to warrant a viewing. Fair warning though - there are some subtitles involved so be prepared for some light reading.

You Make The Call!

Lolla vs ACL - Which One Would You Choose?

The Force Is With Me

These posters are awesome...

Now That's Interesting

Yesterday, MMA sites were all aflutter with the news that Anderson Silva had signed for his next fight. He'll be fighting at Light Heavyweight later this year against the former LHW Champ Forrest Griffin.

Wow.

Just when I think the UFC doesn't have many more fights that I'd pay to see, they somehow manage to dig one up. The mere thought of this one makes me a little giddy. Silva's taken a lot of heat over the past six months or so since he's had two fights in a row that were less than explosive - and far less than entertaining. We miss the Silva who decimated Rich Franklin - twice. Oh, and by the way, how weird is it that Franklin is training with Anderson Silva? Bizarre.

Anyways, in my humble opinion, a fighter like Griffin who will go balls-out to throw down in every fight he's in is exactly what Anderson Silva needs. Plus, it's a top LHW contender for Silva in what many think is babysteps towards Silva going after two titles.

Personally, I still want to see him destroy GSP but after his last couple fights, I'm less convinced that would happen. But the fight is apparently still being discussed. They want another GSP defense and at least one more Silva win before they look at it seriously.

A Silva win over Griffin might just pave the road into what is, on paper, the biggest fight that the UFC can deliver right now.

Fucking Torre!

The Title of this post were my exact words after reading the results of tonight's game.

Okay, I need a Yankee fan to be reading this post and let me know if Torre is known for this and somehow I just missed it last year. Is he really this bad at handling his bullpen? I know he has a reputation for riding a pitcher to total fatigue but... mercy Jesus, how many fucking times can you go for a five out save in the first month of the season?

So, they summoned Broxton from the 'pen in the 8th again. And he blew the save. Then they take him out.

I just don't get it.

How many five out saves?! HOW MANY?!

Can someone tell him I'd prefer to have a closer with A LIVE FUCKING ARM after April?

Sweet Jesus.

I'm sooooo frustrated with the bullpen and Torre's handling of it so far this season.

Can someone get Grady Little on the phone?

...

Well, let's not be rash.

Bullpen Part Two

Gah.

Another win given away by a tired and ineffective bullpen. Bellasario was the culprit tonight, failing in his efforts to hold the lead in the eighth inning.

So, what now?

They say Eric Milton looks pretty good in AAA. Apparently, he just picked up the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week award which is good news. Jeff Weaver also appears to be somewhat ready as well.

The problem is - both those guys are starters. So, they plug one of them into the fifth starter hole and slide James Macdonald into the 'pen? Makes sense, I suppose. At the moment, that probably helps quite a bit since most of the starters are having trouble getting past five innings or so.

Other than that, all we can do is wait. Wait for Cory Wade to heal up and pitch again and hope that Torre doesn't pitch him until his arm falls off. Wait for Kuo to regain his confidence and pitch like it. Wait for some of the other 'pen guys to show some consistency. Heck, while we're at it, we can wait for Kuroda to get off the DL which... who knows what that means to the rotation.

The offense is... okay. Lots of missed opportunities still but that'll always hang out there probably. I'm not real concerned about the offense as long as the pitching comes around.

Mass Hysteria

After a day of washing my hands at work much more frequently and with everyone cracking swine flu jokes, I come home to find this headline on Yahoo...

Is swine flu 'the big one'?

Public health experts have long feared a new flu could appear and kill millions worldwide.

Wow.

Is that really necessary?

I understand the need for sensationalism to achieve maximum clickthrough rates but... come on... really?

Even if it's true, is there a need for it? Can it accomplish anything more than generating a mass panic? Not to mention it'll jam emergency rooms with people convinced they're suffering from it.

Randomness

Here's a few random thoughts on this late Saturday evening...

** With their win tonight, the Dodgers are tied with the Cardinals for the best record in baseball. Yes, yes - it's still early, I know. But even under the "it's still early" umbrella, I don't think anyone could have predicted that. Plus, after my complaining about the bullpen recently, Ramon Trancoso steps in tonight and delivers four innings of shutout ball in Coors Field of all places to get a four-inning save. An awesome performance for him.

** The Lakers take one step closer to getting out of the first round. The games are sloppy and quite ugly at times but they've definitely been entertaining. Kobe had one en fuego of an evening to make up for the other night's shitfest. Now, if only we could get Bynum to snap his head out of the clouds and play some decent ball.

** Cheesecake Factory's Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake is a gift from the heavens or as I put it earlier - "Oh my god, I think my mouth just orgasmed."

** Swine flu? SWINE FLU?! Are you fucking kidding me?!

** A pair of ROH shows went down over the weekend in the Midwest and for the first time in a long time, the writeup of a match's result made me really want to see that match. Jerry Lynn defending the gold against Roderick Strong in a bloodbath somehow sounds amazing to me even though I haven't much cared for Lynn in years and I can't stand Roderick Strong usually. Weird.

** The list of "indie" movies that I need to see in the area is growing rapidly. Sugar, Sunshine Cleaning, Anvil, and Tyson are all out there and teasing me to come see them soon. I've pretty much resigned myself now to the fact that I probably won't get to see Watchmen on the big screen. Que lastima.

** The NFL Draft was today... I guess. I still don't care.

** I realized tonight that I still never got around to reviewing the screening of Caprica and the BSG Panel we attended on Monday. Damn. Soon hopefully.

** I had an idea this morning for a quite dirty sex comedy... in the shower. That's quite ironic in an Alanis-like-raaaaaain-on-your-wedding-day kind of way, don't you think?

Alright. I work in the morning and I feel like I haven't had a decent amount of sleep since Tuesday night. Peace, love, and soul to all my adoring fans!

Coachella on YouTube

God bless the Internet.

The Internet has allowed us to see and hear things just days after they happened - usually in excellent video or audio quality as opposed to the "old days" where you would wait weeks or months or even years for some barely audible crap.

This post was supposed to just make fun of the naked guy who got tasered at Coachella but when I ran the search for Coachella 2009 on YouTube, there was so much other very cool stuff that I wanted to share instead.

So, fuck the naked guy!

...err... well, not really.

But enjoy!

A Bullpen, A Bullpen - My Kingdom For A Bullpen

I'll ignore the fact that the Lakers just lost and focus on the Dodgers very quickly.

Yes, they won.

But it wasn't for lack of effort!

For the second time in two weeks, Joe Torre has summoned Jonathan Broxton from the bullpen to pitch a five out save.

Now listen here, Joe... I don't know how they do things back in NYC but out here, that's a recipe for disaster.

A two inning save in 2009 should be saved for the most desperate of situations. I'm talking a huge game in September or October with playoff implications. Not twice in the first three weeks of the season!

It worries me. The 'pen is likely going to be a rough spot all season and right now, Broxton's the only thing going well in it. So, if you abuse him [as Torre is infamous for doing] then there's nothing left. For Christ's sake, they're already talking about bringing up Weaver to pitch out of the bullpen.

You've got Bellasario who is basically an unknown. Kuo who is injury-prone and apparently has confidence issues now after his royal fuckups last week. Cory Wade is injured because Torre ran him into the ground last week. They're hesitant to use McDonald much since he'll probably need to start until Kuroda comes back at least.

It's getting ugly out there. In the past, I was perfectly confidence (most of the time) when the 'pen took over the game. Now, I'm nervous as soon as it happens. And no, calling Broxton in early doesn't soothe my fears.

"It's still early" - I know.

But this wound needs to be treated before it gets worse.

Oh, and in a parting shot, I figured the Lakers would lose one in Utah. It's not like they could play any worse than they did tonight, right?

Dodgers: Week Two

It's rough to write about how awesome Week Two was after two pretty shitty losses but I shall!

A week ago last Monday, the Dodgers opened their first homestand of the year against the Giants... and proceeded to beat the crap out of them.

Then the Rockies came to town... and proceeded to get the crap beat out of them.

In six games, it was some obscene amount of runs and hits that was just amazing considering Manny hadn't really done much yet.

But the road has a way of fucking everything up. Yesterday, it was poor starting pitching and a lack of timely hitting [especially in the 9th.] Today, the bullpen gave it up.

It's a long season though so there's no need to get stressed out about it... yet.

I'm looking forward to the weekend series against the Rockies as it's sure to be an offensive showcase. Of course, I also thought that'd be the case in Houston.

Andre Ethier was NL Player of the Week so that rocks.

All winter, everyone speculated that the offense wouldn't be the problem. So far, they're right.

This is a very disjointed post. I need to stop writing so late in the evening.

Ahead Of His Time

Maybe a little better?

Not like you can tell but..

...some BSG & Caprica cast members.

PaleyFest

Event sponsored by Zune. Photo taken on an iPhone. Sounds about right.

Ohhhh, Laker Fans!

I didn't get to see the bulk of the game but what I saw was glorious.

Okay, maybe not glorious but I was happy that I was able to see the end of the game during my lunch break - even if I did have to clock in a couple minutes late so that I could catch those waning seconds of action.

And yes, it would have been cooler if there wasn't a nutball about five feet away who was talking to himself the whole time. "Take 'im to the hole, Kobe!" "Ohh yeah! Make 'im your bitch!" and other assorted quips. Scary.

From the stuff I've read since I got home, it sounds like it was a bit of a weird game with the Lakers piling on in the first half but slacking off a bit in the second half. They got the "W" so that's all that's important... for now. But soon enough, they need to show the kind of killer instinct that they'll need to finish teams off later on.

Now, as for the other LA sports team. How 'bout them Dodgers?

Oh, and I have a really distasteful joke about the Just-Swept-By-The-Twins California Angels...

...but I shan't make it because I think it's even too distasteful for me.

So, for now... I'll simply enjoy what was an awesome day for LA sports fans.

Movie Added: Pineapple Express

Potentially, there could have been more added to this list today.

We went to the Block of Orange today with the intent of going to the movies. Now, I must add that we went there much to my dismay. Of all the shitty malls in SoCal, The Block has GOT to be one of my least favorite. But we were going anyways because we wanted to have dinner there.

But then... it happened.

THE FUCKING TICKET MACHINES DIDN'T WORK! WHAT THE FUCK?!

So, we had dinner and left. Now, that may seem a bit extreme but... well, when you're going to a place under protest, it doesn't take much to make you bail out.

No movie there.

We came home and I told the Missus to watch the copy of Rachel Got Married we rented last weekend so we could return it.

Holy shit... that movie was bad. I mean, colossally bad. Horrifically bad. It was... bad.

It was too annoying to watch so I bailed out about five minutes before the Missus turned it off because it was driving her crazy as well.

So, in the end...

Pineapple Express
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It has weird, silly comedy that a lot of people just might not get if you've never smoked weed or been around people when they were. There were scenes that I could relate to that I'm sure others would not. But all in all, there was some funny shit there.

Blue's Review: If you like goofy, silly, drug-addled comedy... SEE IT!

SILVA!

Haven't written much about MMA lately cause there hasn't been much of interest to write about. I've given up on The Ultimate Fighter after last season's disaster with that jackass Junie so that's been removed from my DVR permanently. I did see the Strike Force show on Showtime last week and I did dig that quite a bit. It had some definite highlights and was a fun show to watch.

But this weekend on the other hand...

SILVA!

Ahhh, the return to the cage of my favorite MMA fighter. I love me some Anderson Silva. The comparisons they write to Silva being like Tyson was in the 80s seems to ring true to me. I can totally picture people gathering nationwide waiting to see just how badly Silva's going to outclass his opponent. He's the most explosive striker in the sport and a true joy to watch in the cage.

And then there's Chuck.

Chuck's at a major crossroads in my opinion. Another loss has GOT to make him seriously consider retirement. He needs a win and an impressive one because at the moment, I have no desire to see him fight anymore. It's becoming kind of sad actually. Chuck was once the UFC's biggest draw - but how much longer can that last if he can't win a fight convincingly?

It should be a fun night of fighting.

Dodgers: Week One [and change]

I was supposed to write this up on Monday and got distracted. I was hoping to do one of these every Monday - at least, that was the plan - throughout the season as a kind-of "This Week In Dodgers" update. We'll see how that goes since we're already behind schedule.

Opening Week was... interesting.

We had a sluggish offense for most of the week although that seems to be improving quite a bit. Pitching was somewhere in the middle. Good performances by a couple of starters, really bad performances by a couple of others. And then there was a couple of bad bullpen outings.

But it's still early!

This week has gone better but I want to save that for next Monday in my ongoing attempts to do this.

Anyone Got A Chair?

I don't know why but on my way home today when I was stuck in traffic, Terry Funk wandered across my brain.

And then came this...

Before Anyone Points It Out...

Yes, I did just read the story about someone getting stabbed in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after yesterday's game.

Sigh.

What can you say?

My high horse is tired of running around that topic so until all of MLB cracks down on their security levels, I'm afraid we'll be seeing more and more of these stories all season long.

By the by, I was very disappointed to read that the Dodgers had lowered the price of beer at the concession stands this season. I understand and appreciate the desire to lower prices for the fans but that's not the right price to lower. It's quite obvious that "the bad apples" can't figure out how to handle their liquor so they really don't need an excuse to drink more.

I made a comment at some point last season that I wouldn't be opposed at all to seeing alcohol sales at the Stadium shut off completely. I understand the financial hit but isn't it worth it to create a family friendly environment where parents aren't afraid to take their kids to the game? Long-term, that's a much better business plan than making the short-term dollars off a bunch of drunken idiots.

Dare to dream.

A Quick Thought

I just had a comment go through on last year's "Crosstown Rivals" post that got worlds of attention and spiked my traffic for a handful of days.

No, I don't know why Angel fans are responding to a year old post but I'll let you draw your own conclusions about that.

But I'm not doing this post to make fun of Angel fans!

...


Well... I am. But in a different way.

The comment went like this...

"does anyone get the feeling that the people who attend the doyyer games all look like parolees from LA County and fear that you will get shanked"

Now, I'll take the high road here and not mock the spelling and/or grammar and/or punctuation of this obviously well-educated youngster... sorta.

But what I will point out is...

Is this really the week that an Angel fan wants to point out the chance of someone getting assaulted and killed at a baseball game?

I'm just saying.

Movie Added: Semi-Pro

Caught this one on HBO On Demand earlier today. It was a fun ride. I enjoyed it a lot more than Blades of Glory which is really the closest comparison I can make. In fact, when I started the movie this morning, the Missus asked, "Haven't we seen this already?" A few moments of discussion made her realize she was thinking of Blades of Glory. I guess Will Ferrell has a formula in place now for sports comedies, right?

Anyways, I thought the movie was pretty fun. It was no Anchorman for sure but that's the high bar for Will Ferrell movies. Almost nothing else comes close. But this one was better than Blades and probably better than Talledega Nights [which I really didn't enjoy that much even though I thought I would.]

Blue's Review: This was definitely worth the free viewing on On Demand and I think it probably would have been worth a DVD rental too. If you're a fan of Will Ferrell and you enjoy his schtick, this one is probably a fun way for you to spend 90+ minutes.

Movies Added: Role Models & The Transporter

Picked up a handful of movies at Blockbuster today to help pass the weekend by. I had read last week that the Blockbuster chain announced in a SEC filing that they are considering closing the brick and mortar versions of their stores and moving to a strictly online business model. The store was pretty dead when we were in there so... might not be a bad idea.

Anyways... my thoughts on these flicks...

Role Models
I didn't really care to see this one and when we were trying to decide what to get, this is the one I fought the most. I just couldn't imagine paying to see anything with Stifler in it and let's face it, that's all he's going to ever be to anyone. He could be working in a heartfelt, World War II period piece about the Holocaust and he'd still be Stifler to me.

Hrm.

That might be fun actually. Write that down!

Anyways, the movie wasn't as bad as I feared. There was nothing fantastic about it but it had a few touching parts and some amusing scenes. All in all, it's a comedy that doesn't completely annoy me and those are few and far between anymore. Oh, by the way... he basically played Stifler in this. This easily could have been an American Pie spinoff minus the grossout humor.

BLUE'S REVIEW: I wouldn't pay to see it but if you see it on your favorite movie channel, I might give it a watch.

The Transporter
I know, I know. I'm probably one of the last people in the world to see this one. I just hated the second Bourne movie so much, I fear almost all action movies that look to be cut out of a similar cloth. This one was more in the vein of Shoot 'Em Up - which is actually the other way around by far. I liked it... sorta. Again, I wasn't blown away by it and would never buy it but it was a decent watch with some fun chase scenes and wacky martial arts stuff. The action wasn't as jumpcutty as Bourne so that was cool.

BLUE'S REVIEW: Yeah, if you haven't seen it, it's worth the rental.

No Comment

Nothing I can say.

A Tale Of Two Pitchers

By now, I'm sure most people have heard the very sad story about the death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart late last night. The story goes something like so...

** Adenhart made his season debut last night and seemed to have pitched quite well.

** His father was in the crowd to watch his son pitch. After the game, they had a meeting with Nick's agent, Scott Boras.

** Sometime after that, Adenhart went to a Fullerton club with two CSU Fullerton students.

** While leaving the club, someone who was on a suspended license for DUI ran a red light in a minivan, hitting the car carrying Nick and the other two people - killing them all. The good Samaritan then proceeded to make a run for it on foot. Jackass. Luckily he was caught where he hopefully will spend severe amounts of time in jail.

It really is a sad story to read - especially stuff about his father going out to the mound today and crying. Just tragic, tragic stuff. The paper even has Boras crying when he talked to the press. The other players throughout baseball seem to be a bit shocked - I'm sure it's quite a, "That could've been me" moment.

I don't know much about Adenhart other than what I've read today but I just wanted to pay some sort of respects tonight.

In a slightly related note, another Angels pitcher, Ervin Santana, was in the store today and did not get recognized by anyone but another customer. What can I say? I wouldn't have recognized him either.

Excuses, Excuses

It's been a weird week on this site for me. Usually, the week of Wrestlemania and Opening Day puts me at no shortage of topics to write about and this week is no exception but I just haven't really found the time/energy/desire/whatever.

At work today, someone asked me, "How's the writing going?" I get the question a lot as everyone knows that I've written a screenplay and that I have other stuff I'm working on. I usually give some semblance of an answer about, "Collecting ideas", "working things out in my head," "piecing stuff together"... something like that. Today, I very bluntly said, "It's not." Which, in all honesty, is the truth. I have some notes jotted down about some ideas and one screenplay with about twenty pages written but... well, yeah... that's hardly an actual effort.

He commented that it's tough to do when you're working full time. Of course, I agreed. I mean, someone was giving me a ready-made excuse about why I'm not writing. Of course, I agreed! Then I added in a little something about how it's really hard to write at the moment because I don't really want to shut myself off in another room when I get home and my aging laptop has problems with multiple and inadvertent characters appearing out of nowhere.

All of which is true!

But still... I feel kinda like I'm letting myself down. I mean, this was part of the reason I went for the low-pressure, check your brain when you leave, retail jobs, you know? So that I could put more focus on the outside-of-work activities. So, if I'm not doing that... what AM I doing?

I'll let you know when I have an answer to that.

Moonwalk Springboard Elbow!

I may never mock dance fighting again.

By request

Jericho/Benoit vs. HHH/Austin-Raw
Uploaded by Stinger1981

Quick Mania Thoughts

I'll probably feel like going into detail a little more tomorrow or the next day but some quick thoughts...

** Michaels/Taker was all that I thought it would be and then some. They held nothing back and laid it all on the line. The building was absolutely electric throughout the whole match and that was certainly the match everyone had come to see. Nothing else came close.

** MITB was a lot of fun as usual with Shelton and Kofi bringing the insanity. Punk winning was a bit of a surprise and I was REALLY hoping he'd use the case tonight. Ah well.

** Whoever booked the finish of HHH/Orton should be future endeavored. I can not think of a worse possible "clean" finish than that. Absolutely terrible.

** STEAMBOAT~!

** If I'm Miz and Morrison tonight, I'm extremely pissed off. Two of the men who were consistently the most entertaining throughout the entire year and they don't even merit a match on the show? Bullshit. On the same topic, no one wanted to see Kid Rock... don't get that one at all. And after seeing Mickey Rourke milk his entrance to the ring, I think I'm pretty happy the Rourke/Jericho match didn't go down as planned.

That'll do for now. Overall, my initial impression was that it was a good Mania and could've been a great one if the match order had been shuffled slightly and with a few key changes.

Top 25 Friday: A Wrestlemania Edition (part 2)

Alright, alright, alright! Let's finish this!

Wrestlemania XIV
I really wish I could remember the Shamrock/Rock and Dumpster Match a little better but absent that, I'm going to have to assume that Austin/Michaels was my favorite match on the show. The interesting thing about that one in retrospect was just how amazing it was considering what condition HBK was in that night with the back injury. The other interesting thing is the long-time story that Shawn started to balk about losing to Austin the day of the match and Taker had to pay him a visit, firmly telling him that he WOULD be "doing the job" all the while taping his fists. Yep. I'd be convinced.

Wrestlemania XV
Man, that lineup looks horrid. I don't know if anything on that show would have been watching except the Main Event. I remember the Hell In The Cell being awful. A couple of DQs in key matches doesn't help. This was at the heart of the Russo Era so I can recall the Hardcore and IC Titles being switched like... the week before the show, killing all the buildup for both matches. Weird. Let's just assume Austin vs The Rock was the only thing worth a damn at all although I bet Shane vs X-Pac was fun too.

Wrestlemania 2000
The one and only Wrestlemania that I was able to attend in person and it's widely remembered as one of the worst Manias ever. Sigh. Just my luck. Everyone, of course, remembers the Main Event as it was one of the only times the show ended with a heel triumphing - just killing the crowd. I recall the IC Title Match being pretty solid but without a doubt, the show-stealer that day in Anaheim was the Tables and Ladders match with Edge/Christian vs The Dudleys vs the Hardys. This was the precursor to the TLC match and it did a damn fine job of setting the bar. I remember cringing and roaring with every nutty spot and being absolutely stunned when my brother-in-law's girlfriend decided to go outside to smoke in the middle of that match. Ahhh, good times.

Wrestlemania X-7
Damn it! One year removed from one of the worst Manias, they knock it out of the park with arguably the best top to bottom show in Mania history. There is very little on this show that wasn't absolutely awesome. Even stuff like the Hardcore, IC, and Euro Title matches at the bottom of the card were fun. There's so many choices here but I think I've got to go with the TLC match. That hanging spear by Edge still is one of my favorite spots in wrestling history and it had just the right amount of craziness with Lita, Spike, and Rhyno getting involved. Just a fantastically fun match that I could watch over and over easily.

Wrestlemania X8
Another really fun show where the Main Event was completely blown away by an undercard match [or two.] I really want to pick Taker/Flair here because my memory of that awesome Arn Anderson spinebuster out of nowhere is so damn vivid.



But in the end, I've gotta go with that amazing Hogan/Rock match. It was just surreal to see with Rocky riding such a huge wave of popularity - he got booed! And the hated Hollywood Hogan, for at least that night, was the hero of the masses one more time. The match itself is nothing fantastic but the atmosphere makes this one a must-see.

Wrestlemania XIX
Oddly, I barely remember this show. There are certain things I remember - Brock botching the SSP, Piper interfering in Hogan vs Vince, Triple H going over Booker after all signs pointed the other direction. But my brain won't process if any of those were great. But I seem to recall HBK vs Jericho being amazing. I'm going with that one.

Wrestlemania XX
Goldberg vs Brock! Just kidding. Man, how bad did that match end up being? This is one of those shows a lot of people have gone out of there way to avoid talking about in the hype leading up to tomorrow's show. Why? Chris Benoit. A lot of people still aren't able to face the fact that they were once entertained by a murderer. I've chosen to try and separate the athlete from the person... key word is "try" because it's a difficult thing to do and I'm not always successful. The three-way with HHH, Benoit, and HBK was easily the best match on this show. I can vividly recall screaming at the television for HHH to tap out and being so elated when he did. Plus, you get the post-match embrace with Eddie and Benoit and it's just a money, money shot. The hard thing to separate on this one is that part of the reason you wanted Benoit to win so badly was because he seemed like a good person who just always got the shaft. FYI, at Booker T's fanfest this weekend, there was going to be a presentation about the Benoit situation where they talked about some of the results of the brain exam they've done on him after the fact. Should be interesting.

Wrestlemania 21
I don't remember being wowed by HHH/Batista and I recall Rey/Eddie being disappointing. That leaves MITB, Taker/Orton, and Angle/HBK. I'm actually going with Taker/Orton although my brain recalls Angle/HBK being outstanding. Taker/Orton had something special to it because for the first time in quite a while, you actually could believe The Streak might end that night. So, on all the near falls, there was a little something extra. The RKO Spot off the chokeslam was amazing. The Cowboy Bob interference was golden. And all of this was before Orton got REALLY good. My new wishlist for Mania Taker matches? John Cena and Randy Orton. Both of those guys would look to have SUCH a legit chance to end The Streak, the place would be coming unglued on every near fall. BOOK IT!



Wrestlemania 22
It'd be easy to go with the really good Cena/HHH Main Event or the very memorable Shawn vs Vince No Holds Barred match but in the end, you've got to pick Mick Foley's Wrestlemania Moment. Foley vs Edge in a hardcore match was EASILY the best hardcore match that Wrestlemania has ever seen and it rivals TLC for the best gimmick match in Mania history. They pulled out all the stops... who the hell would have imagined a flaming table at a Wrestlemania? Completely and totally my favorite match on the show.



Wrestlemania 23
The 20 year anniversary of Mania 3 should have had the Hogan/Big Show showdown. I don't care what anyone says - it really would've added something special to the show. Not to say it wasn't filled with special stuff. Vince getting his head shaved was very cool for one thing. But I've got to go with Cena vs Michaels as the best match on the show.

Wrestlemania 24
Gee, I wonder. There was one match that was destined to steal the show on this night and it did exactly that. Ric Flair. Shawn Michaels. Can it end any other way?



And that's that!

But "wait!" you cry - that's only 24 matches!

It certainly is. But now, I'm going to pick the match most likely to join this list in a little over 24 hours.

Shawn Michaels.

Undertaker.

Mark it down!

For the record, if we look back at the list, MY Mr. Wrestlemania results...

Honorable Mention:
Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper, Steve Austin, The Rock, Christian, The Hardys, The Dudleys

5. Edge
4. Bret Hart
3. Hulk Hogan
2. Randy Savage

And the one and only Mr. Wrestlemania...

1. Shawn Michaels!

If I get time before the show tomorrow, I'm going to pop back in and do a little fantasy booking 'cause that's how I roll.

Top 25 Friday: A Wrestlemania Edition (part 1)

In honor of this weekend's big show, I thought I'd do a rundown of 'Mania past. Keep in mind that this list would probably change weekly... maybe even daily... but I went through each 'Mania and selected my favorite match from that show. Not necessarily the best match but my favorite. Also keep in mind that I haven't seen some of these shows in ages and I'm going off an admittedly dusty memory.

Enjoy!

Wrestlemania I
Honestly, with all the history behind it - Wrestlemania I didn't have very many matches to be all that nostalgic about. In fact, there were quite a few stinkers. But if I had to pick one, I'll go with the crazy spectacle that was the Main Event. Hulk Hogan & Mr. T teaming against Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff. You had Snuka in one corner and Cowboy Bob in the other. You had Ali outside the ring as a guest ref. There was Billy Martin and Liberace and the Rockettes. It truly was a WWF/E scene to remember.

Wrestlemania II
The match quality in the second 'Mania increased a bit even though the "feel" of the event was a bit off since it was broadcast from three separate arenas. While the Steel Cage Main Event of Hogan and Bundy was memorable for a couple of reasons - a] it was the only traditional cage match in 'Mania history [although I thought that was where Orton/HHH was heading a few weeks ago] and b] it was the blowoff to the nice little feud that started when Bundy busted up Hogan's ribs. It's also notable because I vividly remember seeing the results in my local paper the next morning with a picture of Hogan on the ropes booting Bundy in the chest. But even with all that nostalgia, my favorite match of the night has to be the Bulldogs winning the tag titles from Valentine and Beefcake. Even as a kid, I knew the Bulldogs were something special but I didn't quite realize how ahead of their time they were for several years to come.

Wrestlemania III
Now THIS is historic. This is the first Pay Per View I ever ordered and we didn't even get it at my house. My Aunts had to order it for me at their house while my grandpa dragged us out to Palm Springs to see the Angels vs the Red Sox in a spring training game. I didn't get to watch the tape until a week or two later although I couldn't resist sneaking a peek at the results in the newspaper the next day. I LOVE just about every match on the WM3 card so I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite but if forced to, I have to forgo the epic encounter between Hogan and Andre and go for one of the greatest matches of all time in Steamboat vs Savage. That was the match that made me realize there was more to wrestling than Hulk Hogan style matches. I was already starting to be convinced by the Crockett NWA shows and this just was the icing on the cake.

Wrestlemania IV
Ugh. This wasn't a good show. It was probably more memorable for the matches we DIDN'T get to see in the tourney like Steamboat/Savage II rather than the ones that we did. In the end, I guess I'd pick Savage vs DiBiase but even that wasn't anything I'm dying to revisit anytime soon.

Wrestlemania V
Alright, I'll admit it. I was a sucker for the Megapowers and their blowup. I was so anti-Savage that I'm surprised I didn't try to burn my Macho Man t-shirt - yes, I had that purple/pinkish shirt and wore it proudly to a house show that year with a Savage/Honky Tonk cage Main Event. So, Hogan vs Savage in the Main Event with Liz in neither man's corner? I'm sold. It didn't hurt that was a hell of a match to boot.

Wrestlemania VI
This one's kind of a no-brainer as I can only recall one match on the show being any good at all. Hogan vs Warrior was a million times better than it had any right to be and Pat Patterson is cemented in my mind as a wrestling genius because of it. And yes, I was rooting for Hogan in this one and to this day will slow-mo that three count at the end because damn it, Hogan got the shoulder up!

Wrestlemania VII
Well, it's definitely not the Hogan/Slaughter Main Event that suffers the indignity of being the only Main Event in 'Mania history to actually PUT ME TO SLEEP while watching it live. Incredible. No, the easy winner on this one was the magnificent Warrior/Savage "retirement match." My god, I didn't think it was possible to drag a better match out of Warrior than Hogan had a year prior but Savage did it and did it with style. Everything about that match is just golden from the Warrior's amazing jacket he wore to the ring that my friend Brian and I insisted we'd wear to school if we owned it to the surprise appearance of Elizabeth to the multiple flying elbows to the tearful reunion. Absolutely magnificent.

Wrestlemania VIII
Sadly, Wrestlemania VIII will always be remembered more for the match we didn't get - Hogan vs Flair - tan either of the really good matches we did get. I think I'd put Hart vs Piper a notch above Savage/Flair on that one. While Savage/Flair had that really great Liz angle going, Hart vs Piper just played out so beautifully. That spot where Piper is going to crown him with the bell and then tosses it aside because he doesn't want to win that way? Gets me every time.

Wrestlemania IX
This is one of the only Wrestlemanias that I can honestly say it took me years to actually see and I have very little recall of the show at all. I DO remember sitting at home "watching" it on Scramblevision and WTFng my head off during the Hogan post-match angle in the Main Event. But if I have to pick a match... uhhh... well... I seem to remember the Steiners vs the Headshrinkers being nutty. I don't really know though. Probably the Mania I've seen the least amount of times.

Wrestlemania X
This is really a two match show and you always see very split opinions as to which match was better. While I love Bret/Owen, I'm going with the ladder match simply because at the time, I hadn't seen anything like it and was absolutely amazed at the things those two men were doing to each other with that ladder. That was a star-making performance for both of those guys that night at MSG.

Wrestlemania XI
Weird 'Mania. There's not much to be excited about on this one since the I Quit match with Bret and Backlund was a turkey after it looked so awesome on paper. Diesel and HBK was solid as well but truth be told, I've got to go with the LT/Bigelow match. I just had absolutely zero hope of it being any good going in but in true WWE spectacle fashion, they "worked it out, dawg" into something very memorable.

Wrestlemania XII
Probably the 'Mania I've seen the second least amount of times. It was a long time before I ever saw this one either as I had a lot going on at the time and just never got around to seeing it for quite a while. I know that HBK/Bret takes a lot of heat for not being a very good Iron Man match but I remember liking it when I saw it. I'd definitely put it above anything else on this show which is generally considered notable because it had the Mania debuts of Austin and HHH.

Wrestlemania XIII
This is actually a show that I like quite a bit and I think it's more than the one match show most people see it as. I dug a handful of matches including HHH/Goldust as well as the Chicago Street Fight but in the end, it is without question Austin/Hart that takes the win. It's right up there in the list of the very best Mania matches of all time so it's an easy choice for this one.

I'll end Part 1 of this right here and pick up with Part 2 in the morning...

Mindlock

My brain is frozen and no amount of Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook will unfreeze it.

With Wrestlemania just days away now, let's show a little love for the last WM in Houston, Texas - one of the best 'Manias of all time, Wrestlemania X-7

March 2009: The Month In Music

I skipped a Mixtape Of The Month for March because I never got around to doing the one on movie scores that I was hopeful of doing. But I will keep going with the listing of March's top songs according to my iTunes playlists!

In February, I added 120 songs during the 28 days. For March, that number dropped drastically to just 39 songs in 31 days. And I actually only managed to listen to 30 of those. To make the Top 5 for March, the song only had to be played in its entirety FIVE times.

Let's take a closer look!

Top 5 Played Of March 2009

Honorable Mention:
No Wedding Cake - Fol Chen

5. Voices Carry - Til Tuesday
Every once in a while, you stumble across a song on the radio or on TV or just rattling around your own brain that you thought for sure you had in your music library that you turn out not to have. Once you add it, it's all downhill from there.

4. God Knows - El Perro Del Mar
This song kinda... enchants... me. It has such a nice, sickly sweet melody that kinda draws me in with a 50/60s oldies vibe to it. The lyrics are just kinda... there. The vocals don't do a lot for me. But that damn melody keeps me listening to this song over and over again. I think I'd actually love an instrumental of this song.

3. Home Sweet Home - Carrie Underwood
This year's American Idol kiss-off song makes #3 on the list with a bullet. To some, the idea of Carrie Underwood covering Motley Crue makes them repulsed and swearing off music as a whole. To me, it made me not able to stand up for a little while ifyaknowwhatimsayin!

2. Saddle Up - The Boy Least Likely To
I'll be totally honest. When I saw this on the list, it was the only song in the Top 5 that I had absolutely no idea what it was. Now that I'm listening to it to remind myself... nope. Still don't remember it. But apparently it's inoffensive enough that I listened to it all the way through when I heard it several times this month. And as I'm listening to it now... I'm not even sure I like it that much. Weird.

1. Alone - Allison Iraheta
It's that time of year so I expect a few Idol songs to pop up on these lists over the next couple months. I think it was on the very first of the Top 13 shows when 16-year old Allison belted out this awesome version of Heart's "Alone" with just enough of the rock chick gravel growl to make me smile. Oh, and she got totally hosed by being stuck in the Bottom 3 this week. I was very harsh on her version of "Don't Speak" since... well, she kinda fucked it up and I've heard that song so many times done so well by No Doubt. Also, the weirdness of realizing she was actually about three years old when this song was famous... yeah. Weird.

And in the ever-growing running tally... The Top 20 of 2009 to date!

20. November Was White, December Was Grey - Say Hi
19. Stay Alive - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
18. People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
17. Number One - Miss Fairchild
16. My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson
15. Seattle - The BPA
14. Alone - Allison Iraheta
13. You You You You You - The 6ths And Katharine Whalen
12. I Was Never Your Boyfriend - Tigers Jaw
11. Let It Slip - The School
10. More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
9. The Good Old Days - The Lodger
8. Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
7. Secret Heart - Feist
6. Come Saturday - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
5. Green Means Go - The Color Wheels
4. We Rule The School - Belle And Sebastian
3. Jai Ho - AR Rahman
2. Thank You Mario But... - The Mountain Goats
1. Latika's Theme - AR Rahman

I'll do the Seeqpod list shortly. Having some Internet issues right now.

I'm Still Sick! Well, Not Really But I Can Pretend!

Fine! I'll write something.

After all those days where my brain got to refresh, you'd think I'd have something of value to contribute tonight but I don't really feel like I do.

I did just read a kind of interesting thing about Wolverine on Ain't It Cool News.

Apparently, a very good quality studio workprint [their words, not mine - not sure what the hell that means] leaked onto the Internet for the Wolverine movie in the past day or so. So, all hell is breaking loose with people sending reviews off this print.

Good lord - what a nightmare this must be for Fox.

People are already highly suspicious of this movie's quality and somehow, someway a print has "leaked out." I haven't read any of the reviews and seem unlikely to but there seems to be only two possibilities here to me...

1] The movie's as bad as we all fear it is and a disgruntled Fox employee decided, "I'll show those greedy mutant hating fucks!" and tossed it out on the Interweb to KILL any chance the movie has at doing well. And "well" is a relative term here because for a movie like this, it needs to be measured in several hundreds of millions to be considered "well." That's Scenario #1 - and the one I feel is most likely.

2] Door #2 paints a rosier picture. Let's suppose for just a moment that Fox actually managed to create something that didn't stink worse than the shit on the bottom of a bowling shoe. Let's project that they know expectations suck for their movie and that buzz is in the shitter. Is it that hard to imagine that they'd leak it themselves to build the hype back up? Most of the people downloading it are fanboys who would run out to see it in the theaters anyways - especially if they like what they saw. Not so much of a stretch, huh?

That's one side of the story. The other is AICN's refusal to print reviews off the print.

Their official statement on it talks about the studios laying people off and piracy and all the key buzzwords to be "appropriate" on the topic... but then basically encourages people to say whatver they want in the "talkback" comments section. This strikes me a copout.

On the one hand, I think it's a noble position to say you won't post reviews of a pirated video. Good for you. If that's your decision, stick to it. Although, I'm sure a bunch of people will call them hypocrites because their entire success as a website is predicated on being able to get "the scoop" before the other websites, which basically requires people to rat out their employers and spill their guts about stuff that's not supposed to be public yet.

But I digress...

On the other hand... and you really need to read the article to get the full feel of this... but the section about how they can't/won't censor people in the talkbacks about it and the handwringing they act like they went through to reach that decision...

Just seems fake to me.

I love AICN to death and is at-least-daily stop for me but on this one, I think they're just doing a shiny bit of ass-covering.

Just the way I see it.

Almost Back

Feeling much better now but not all the way back to write a full post.

So, tonight... you get two choices...

We can either make fun of PC users specifically...



Or mankind in general...



The latter of these was inspired by Sunday night's Amazing Race and the fact that the Missus has never seen that clip. Enjoy!

Still sick

And now you can add irritated, annoyed, hurt, disappointed, and a few others.

No writing.

Sick. No write.

Sent from my iPhone

Everything Old Is New Again

I'm feeling a little under the weather tonight - hopefully it's just the Santa Ana winds irritating my throat and not a cold coming on. Cross your fingers.

In the meantime, in the late-80s, I used to watch this show every Saturday morning - something that drove my grandfather crazy.



Poor Susie Spirit. Anyone else remember the EIGHT BILLION REPLAYS when she broke her arm during a match? Hell, I don't even remember if she actually broke her arm legit.

Anyways... the point of this post is to show everyone what the "Mouth Of The South" Jimmy Hart has up his sleeves...

A Sense Of Accomplishment

I came in here a little over an hour ago to write this post and just now finally started. The delay, you ask?

Facebook.

Not updating status or checking others' statuses or any of that. It's the gimmicks. The games, the quizzes, the contests. All of those little addictive things we all encounter on the Internet everyday and promptly forget about shortly thereafter. I've got several games going on Facebook that I haven't checked in days/weeks as any of my SuperPoke Pets Friends could tell you! Poor Sexual Harassment Panda!

But where they really sucker you in is stuff like the trivia challenges. You see one of your friends doing something like, "The Songs of the 80s" with their score listed - almost daring you to try and spend a few minutes to break it. You give it a shot, maybe you break it and maybe you don't but soon enough, you find yourself trying another trivia challenge... then another... then another...

Maybe you finally break free. Maybe you go back to your Home page to discover someone has listed their Top Five favorite beers. "Well, that sounds easy enough" you remark only to spend the next ten minutes trying to remember what beer you usually buy at the store when you have the money to buy whatever you want. Then it's your Top Five favorite sports teams - a definite challenge when you really only consider yourself a fan of three professional sports teams. That one bugs you so you stray...

...what's this? Someone got HOW MANY points on Bejeweled Blitz?! Impossible!

And so it goes.

But in the end, it's the feeling of accomplishment that Facebook provides that is the true drug of choice. In some warped way, it doesn't FEEL like an hour wasted when you can look back and say...

** Blue picked the Lakers, Dodgers, Red Sox, Kings (LA, that is!), and Cubs as his Top Five Favorite Sports Teams.
** Blue picked Corona, Red Stripe, Fuller's London Pride, Sapporo, and Stella Artois as his Top Five Favorite Beers
** Blue scored 2187 points on "80's songs - Who Sang It?" trivia challenge
** Blue scored 1458 points on the Friends trivia challenge
** Blue scored 2787 points on the Star Wars Quote trivia challenge
** Blue earned a 25k Star Medal in Bejeweled Blitz
** Blue earned a 50k Star Medal in Bejeweled Blitz

SCORED! EARNED! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

How could that POSSIBLY be a waste of 60 minutes? Now I can go to bed and...

OOOH! WHO IS YOUR CLASSIC WRESTLING LEGEND ALTER EGO QUIZ!!!

Errr... what was I saying?

Bah! What A Letdown!

I've been cursed this week with a really wonky work schedule where I just happen to be closing every night. It puts me in a cranky mood to know that I won't be home before 9 or 9:30 each night so I have to find things at work to get me through especially since by the time I get home, I won't be in the mood to do anything more than eat dinner, watch a little TV, and then go to sleep. My writing (which has admittedly been slow anyways) is almost non-existent in a week like this although I did jot down a little bit during lunch the other day.

But I digress...

My "get me through" focus tonight was that I got to come home and watch Idol and more importantly, Lost.

I started with Idol which should've been cool since it's Motown Week which is incredibly hard to fuck up. And while no one really fucked it up too badly, I just wasn't feelin' it, dawg. There were a few that I thought were decent but nothing that I'd run out and buy immediately. It especially pissed me off that the Fall Out Boy guy that I don't like did something that I actually kinda dug. What's wrong with this world?

But then there was Lost which was sure to save my day, right?

Maybe I'm just too cranky or something but I was pretty bored through most of it. The flashback stuff, while gap-filling, was kinda dull. The big payoff at the end I kinda saw coming so... well... not sure that I cared. I am curious about Farraday's apparent "there are certain things that can't be changed" WHEN SAYID PUTS A BULLET IN CHILD BEN!

Ah well. Better luck next time.

Tomorrow will be even worse because there is no TV on Thursday that I look forward to enough to get me through eight hours of afternoon/evening shift.

Random thought... if you write a children's book and your name isn't JK Rowling, are you forever pigeonholed as a children's book writer?

I told you it was random!

Blood From A Stone

Blue's Reviews: Ring Of Honor's debut show on HDNet

I'm a fan of Ring Of Honor... well, sorta. It's been a long time since I've bought anything from them - DVDs, PPVs, whatever. But I do follow their ongoing action through their Newswires and Message Board plus the occasional viewing of something that wasn't purchased. I know, I know - it's horrible but "in this economy" whatcha gonna do, brother?

As a fan of their shows, I was eager to see what they could put on for a weekly television show. It has always seemed to me that a "workrate" based promotion that had a business model built on having high quality matches to sell DVDs might have a problem making the jump to TV. So when it was announced that ROH had landed their own TV show, I was intrigued to see how things would shake out. I was even more intrigued to see it land on HDNet since smaller "indy" wrestling promotions don't tend to be known for their high production values.

The premiere episode was on Saturday night while I was off watching minor league hockey and this is the first chance I've had to watch it. I decided to do this as a liveblog/Blue's Review combo post so... here goes nothing!

** Opening credits are kinda cool. The style of it already makes them look cooler than TNA in my opinion. The end of the credits reminds me of the old ECW PPVs where the title sequence would end with the "E-C-DUB!" chants. This one gives you the "R-O-H" chant but it seems a little subdued. They should crank up the volume on that one a little.

** Weird piece with the announcers. The network hired a "traditional" i.e. non-wrestling announcer to handle Play-By-Play while going with ROH's regular color man. They intro'd the show wearing headsets on some green screen background. The PBP guy will take a little getting used to methinks although in a way, he kinda reminds me of an old school wrestling announcer who just seems like a normal guy stoked about the show. He keeps calling the show a "wrestling series" which is... interesting. I guess they felt they had to explain why the show's called Ring Of Honor as they're talking about the long-forgotten Code Of Honor gimmick where everyone had to shake hands before and after the match. I thought that hadn't been used in ages but... well, I guess you have to explain it somehow. Prazak, the color guy, seems really subdued. Not very colorful. In hyping the Main Event which is Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black, they didn't even mention that they're former stablemates and tag partners. I hope that changes by match time.

** They toss it to pre-match comments called "SMACKTALK!" with Delirious. I'm cool with that since I'd like to see more pre-match comments from lower card guys on the other wrestling shows. Delirious is a funny choice for this because his gimmick is that he speaks in gibberish but it's funny to see them play it straight. Nice graphic for the Smacktalk too.

** They switch to entrances which look alright so far - maybe a little indy. But the graphics during the entrance are awesome. They go MMA style with it, putting over the history of the character, his strength as a wrestler, and some of his signature moves. The split screen makes the entrance a little small but this is a perfect way to introduce new characters to a new audience. Oh, on an interesting note, they actually have Delirious listed as a former member of the Age Of The Fall which he was still in when they taped this. It'll be curious to see if they sweeten the crowd noise to adjust for that.

** Holy crap. I've never seen the ECW Arena look so good. The ring looks fantastic. The ringside area looks a little dark.

** Generic Jerry Lynn promo but it'll do. The entrance graphic is apparently called the "1...2...3!!!" which is clever. They immediately show that they're not afraid to mention the other guys by putting over Lynn as a former ECW World Champion. They also highlight his feud with Nigel McGuinness which is a nice way to put a name in a new viewer's head.

** The ring looks kinda small. Really small actually. I had read an interview with the ROH Owner saying that the show was shot "MMA-style" but that he couldn't explain what that was until you saw it but that it looked different than anything on current wrestling television. Well, he's absolutely right. It looks like it's being shot with a boom camera instead of a hard camera right now. Having a different "feel" could be huge for this show.

** The match is okay. Nothing mind-blowing but better than you'd see most of the time on the other shows. They get in a banner advertising upcoming ROH dates which is pretty cool for them. The PBP guy isn't too bad yet but he's a bit of a screamer which I may tire of if he doesn't keep it in check for when he needs it. Not much character/angle development on commentary though which is disappointing. They're calling the moves which is good but with a new audience, it helps to get over why these guys are fighting.

** Backstage interviewer! Puts over Tyler Black as the "fastest rising star in Ring of Honor." They talk a little bit about his past with Jimmy Jacobs but... it's still not really giving the history. Tyler's promo goes into more detail with it. It's not a bad promo by Tyler actually.

** Still hyping the Main Event in graphics. That's a good strategy. Try to make it feel special and make people stick around to see it.

** Kenny King vs Sami Callahan is up next. No commercial yet. There was a lot of debate as to whether or not we'd be seeing any commercials on these shows. MORE SMACKTALK!

** Heh. They put over Callahan as a brawler right when he applies a hammerlock. I really like the camerawork so far. Some unique shots getting captured. Kenny King really looks like a star in there so far. He carries himself really well. Nice spinebuster by KK. Some weird dead time on the mic there. It's almost like they don't know what to say at times if they can't call a move. To a new viewer, Kenny King looks like the biggest star on the show so far. Callahan is a good worker but he doesn't come across as anything special other than his unique look. ROH might have some money in Kenny King.

** Backstage interview with Jimmy Jacobs. Pretty effective at getting the Jacobs/Black Main Event some more hype. This is a textbook wrestling show straight out of the 80s minus the straight out squashes.

** Commercial! One commercial for another HDNet show, one for ROHWrestling.com, couple more for some more HDNet programming, and right back to action. Not bad.

** ROH History segment! That's pretty awesome. Shots of Joe, Punk, Jamie Noble, Abyss, London, Muta, etc. Lots of crazy spots. Flair! Heenan! Foley! Bruno! Low-Ki! Pretty cool segment but since it's old footage, it's not in HD which is a little distracting.

** Rhett Titus Smacktalk easily gets him over as a sleazy heel that you want to see smacked around. Putting him over as Kenny King's tag partner now. Now, that's a team I want to see. Brent Albright Smacktalk. Hint. If you have to talk about how intense you are, that might be a problem. "Get out or tap out"

** This should be a big squash. lol @ Rhett's hip swivel before going for the suplex. One-armed suplex by Albright is cool. The crowd is kinda dead for these matches, it seems. Rhett's facials are cartoonish but awesome. Rhett's coming across as a dastardly cheapshotting heel while Albright is just dull right now. I'd love to see Rhett Titus team with Jimmy Garvin in his prime. Albright gets the win with a half-nelson suplex into "The Crowbar." As much as I loved Titus' schtick, Albright would have been better served with a sub-60 second squash here.

** Highlights from Rising Above PPV to show the Jacobs/Tyler split. They're doing a great job of trying to shoehorn the history of their feud in now. Adding in the Aries element now too. Good stuff. MAIN EVENT IS NEXT! Tale of the Tape... awesome.

** TELEVISION TIME REMAINING! FUCK YEAH!

** The match is a little blah so far. After putting over the rivalry, they're not doing much to make this a hate-filled brawl. Tyler wins which is probably the right decision but the match was worked very odd considering how they were hyping it up. It ended with not some big highspot or brutal spot but with a bridging cradle.

** Nigel vs Jay is hyped for the next show and that's that. Oh, post-show PPV commercial. Cool.

Sooooo...

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty effective debut show. I would have liked to see a little more character development on the undercard and they should have had the Main Event be a little more "can't miss" I think to build some hype up.

I'm pleased and I'll be checking it out next week. The question is though... if someone who had never heard of ROH had seen it, would they tune in next week? Not so sure about that.

My Name Is Humpty

It's been stuck in my head all day.

Blargh

Just got home from some minor league hockey action. I was planning to write tonight about Ring of Honor's debut show on HDNet but I don't think I'll be watching it before I sleep.

So, here's a little teaser of what I'll be seeing when I get to watch it [tomorrow night?]

Fraaaaaaaaak

Well, it's over.

Granted, it's not as a crazy of a conclusion to me as it is to others since I've really only been watching Battlestar Galactica for somewhere South of a year. We sprinted through the DVDs and got through the first half of season 4 thanks to a Sci-Fi HD marathon before the 4.5 premiere. But we watched along with everyone else for the final episodes and as disappointed as I was with a handful of them, I was greatly nervous about tonight's show.

The Series Finale is a difficult one. It's much easier to remember really bad/weird Series Finales than it is to remember good ones. Things like that bizarre final Cheers or the lackluster Seinfeld closer are a lot more likely to stick in the craw than the awesome Newhart finale or maybe something like Friends or the like.

But BSG, as they often did during their run, has re-set the bar for the standard of awesomeness in a Series Finale. And of course, you have to now turn your attention to Lost to see if they can top it. Prison Break, Scrubs, and a couple of others may end between now and then but after tonight, all eyes turn to Lost to see if they can actually manage to wrap up all those loose ends they've created thusfar.

I don't want to spoil BSG's finale for the masses who may not have seen it yet but let's just say there's the near-perfect blend of action, suspense, heartbreak, jubilation, and just about any other emotional heartstring they can tug on. There was some glorious shots and some images that'll stick for a long, long while. And there was just a touch - okay, maybe more than a touch - of cynicism about the world we live in.

I may write more in a few days when I've had a chance to absorb it a little more but for now, I say it was a glorious farewell to one of the best shows that television has ever had the honor of airing and things just won't be the same without it.

At this point, I can barely even remember Lost from this week after sitting through tonight's two hours so BSG obviously wins the final round and it was soooooo damn good, I'm tempted to give 'em bonus points so they win the Final Showdown!

Ahhh, Texas

You know, Texas and the inhabiting Texans take a lot of shit from a lot of people including yours truly. A lot of it is probably uncalled for and just playing off some bad stereotypes.

But...

Dallas school accused of staging fights

The Dallas school system was rocked by allegations Thursday that staff members at an inner-city high school made students settle their differences by fighting bare-knuckle brawls inside a steel cage. The principal and other employees at South Oak Cliff High knew about the cage fights and allowed the practice to continue, according to a 2008 report by school system investigators.

...

The report, first obtained by The Dallas Morning News, describes two instances of fighting in an equipment cage in a boys' locker room between 2003 and 2005. It was not clear from the report whether there were other fights. Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told the newspaper that there were "some things that happened inside of a cage" and called the fights "unacceptable."

...

The allegations came to light during a grade-fixing investigation that eventually cost the high school its 2005 and 2006 state basketball titles. School officials were suspected of altering students' grades so that they could remain eligible to play for South Oak Cliff, a perennial basketball powerhouse in one of the poorer sections of the city.

The newspaper reported Thursday that Angela Williamson, a parent, said she was ignored when she attempted to bring the matter to the attention of district administrators after her son, Cortland, told her that students stood around clapping and screaming while watching a fight he participated in. He and another student fought for five to ten minutes in the cage in 2004. She said the students acted as if they were in an arena.

Wow. Just... wow.

Now, granted... from the description of the school as being in one of the poorer sections of the city, I'm going to use some blatant profiling to say... "They could have been settling their issues in a far worse manner."

But this is the kind of thing that makes Dana White wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because there's no chance in Hell that any TV report of this story doesn't mention "ultimate fighting," "cage fighting," or something of the like. It's the same kind of thing that gives people like John McCain ammunition to call MMA "human cockfighting." All they would've needed was one of these kids to drop dead and you could have had a big time rollback on states allowing MMA inside their borders as irrational as that would be.

Oh, and the fact that this came to light during a grade-fixing investigation is just the icing on the cake. It's not bad enough that "institutions of higher learning" pull this kind of shit so that they can get their names in the headlines for going to a Bowl game or a tournament but now high schools think it's a good idea too.

So, grade-fixing and students beating the crap out of one another for the amusement of the masses?

It's gotta be Texas. Hook 'em Horns.

I was about to post this but one more thing just came to mind. When I was in high school, I always thought it would be awesome for a school to invest in building an American Gladiators course for gym class...

...but this, as Balki Bartokomous would say, is ridiculous.

THROUGH HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE!

For a few hours today, the most exciting piece of news I'd seen all day - and yes, this does come on a day when the President was about three miles from my workplace - was the following...

March 17, 2009
DETROIT, MI - Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tim Sylvia was involved in a fight at a bar in downtown Detroit Michigan with 7 foot, 320 pound WWE Superstar, Glen 'Kane' Jacobs.

No details are currently being released on how the fight started. A witness says the two were arguing and Tim Sylvia instigated the fight. Jacobs quickly took Sylvia to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the face. The bartender along with a bystander helped pull Jacobs off Sylvia. Sylvia was said to have suffered a broken nose and a black eye.

The police were notified but since the fight was not prolonged and neither men wanted to press any charges, no arrests were made. Sylvia was driven by a friend who was with him to the hospital to treat the broken nose. Glen Jacobs left the scene with his wife shortly after.

More details to be released as they come in.

In the end, this story seems to have been debunked as a total falsehood but for a few fleeting hours, I enjoyed the hell out of the thought of the Big Red Machine wrapping that gloved hand around Tim Sylvia's throat and chokeslamming him through a couple bar stools.

So, before you go to bed tonight, if you can slip in a little prayer that this story turns out to be completely and totally true, it would be a tremendous help.

Thanks! TTFN!

Woooo! EDDIE!

It's weird. While I'm not the world's most knowledgeable Pearl Jam fan, I thought I would know a story like this one. Yesterday while digging through my favorite mp3 blogs, I ran across a post on the awe-inspiring I Am Fuel, You Are Friends about Pearl Jam working on a new album with a tour to follow.

And no, that's not the story.

There was a link in the post that led to the Rolling Stone website for an article about the same topic.

And no, that's not the story.

There was a link in THAT article that led to an AMAZING piece by Cameron Crowe from many, many moons ago - right back before the self-titled Pearl Jam album came out. It's a really good, lengthy piece on the band. It actually kinda reminds me of the line from Almost Famous...

"It's a think piece about a mid-level band struggling with their own limitations in the harsh face of stardom."

Hrmm.

Anyways... the point of all this is that in the middle of that article from 1993, I stumbled upon this revelation...

"Alive" set the tone for everything that would follow. The first song on Ten was also the first song to bring attention to the band. It was clearly Vedder's creative breakthrough, and the band's initial video celebrated a cathartic live performance of the song. In an early Los Angeles Times review, writer Chris William had even compared the song to the Who's "My Generation." Today, "Alive" is a Gen X rallying cry, but tonight, sitting in the Nightlite, Vedder reveals the true meaning of the song.

"Everybody writes about it like it's a life-affirmation thing — I'm really glad about that,' he says with a rueful laugh. "It's a great interpretation. But 'Alive' is ... it's torture. Which is why it's fucked up for me. Why I should probably learn how to sing another way. It would be easier. It's...it's too much."

Vedder continues: "The story of the song is that a mother is with a father, and the father dies. It's an intense thing because the son looks just like the father. The son grows up to be the father, the person that she lost. His father's dead, and now this confusion, his mother, his love, how does he love her, how does she love him? In fact, the mother, even though she marries somebody else, there's no one she's ever loved more than the father. You know how it is, first loves and stuff. And the guy dies. How could you ever get him back? But the son. He looks exactly like him. It's uncanny. So she wants him. The son is oblivious to it all. He doesn't know. what the fuck is going on. He's still dealing, he's still growing up. He's still dealing with love, he's still dealing with the death of his father. All he knows is 'I'm still alive' — those three words, that's totally out of burden."

Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" blasts on the jukebox as Vedder continues. "Now the second verse is 'Oh, she walks slowly into a young man's room...I can remember to this very day...the look...the look.' And I don't say anything else. And because I'm saying, 'The look, the look,' everyone thinks it goes with 'on her face.' It's not on her face. The look is between her legs. Where do you go with that? That's where you came from.

But 'I'm still alive. 'I'm the lover that's still alive. And the whole conversation about 'You're still alive, she said.' And his doubts: 'Do I deserve to be? Is that the question?' Because he's fucked up forever! So now he doesn't know how to deal with it, so what does he do, he goes out killing people — that was [the song] 'Once.' He becomes a serial killer. And 'Footsteps,' the final song of the trilogy [it was released as a U.K. B side to 'Jeremy'], that's when he gets executed. That's what happens. The Green River killer...and in San Diego, there was another prostitute killer down there. Somehow I related to that. I think that happens more than we know. It's a modern way of dealing with a bad life."

Then he smiles as he says, "I'm just glad I became a songwriter."

Wait. What?

Alive, Once, &Footsteps were a trilogy of the same story? How the fuck did I never know that before?

That revelation stunned me so much, I knew I had no choice but to make a post about it.

And yes, I brought the music.

Enjoy!


SeeqPod - Playable Search

It's A Potpourri Of Awesomeness!

It's been a long day and I really feel like I'm going to be incredibly burned out all week long thanks to two very busy "off days." As a result, you get this...

Random Thoughts

** I'm watching Planet Earth on Discovery HD right now and the Oceans episode really makes me want to stay out of the water. Between the sharks they showed earlier and the scary looking fucking Manta Rays they just showed, I likely could have nightmares.

** Super-excited to find out what will be a part of iPhone 3.0 software on Tuesday. It still amazes me how much buzz a company can create for a relatively minor event - well, some companies anyways.

** Manny's got a sore hammy? Color me nervous as fuck.

** TNA's PPV sucked? Color me unsurprised as fuck.

** I listened to the /filmcast episode this week where they talked about movie scores. It was some damn good stuff and made me want to do an all-score version of the Mixtape Of The Month. Maybe not this month but soon. Oh, and it also made me realize how much I love the score for Karate Kid. Go listen. Tell me I'm wrong.

** WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!? THE VAMPIRE SQUID FROM HELL?!?! Jesus christ.

** ROH has their debut show on HDNet next weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing how they manage to package their DVD-driven business model on television. It's a show I'll certainly want to see more than TNA Impact at least.

** Got a Vegas trip coming up next month. The Missus and I are taking my mom so that should be... interesting. It could also be quite disastrous. How fitting for Vegas that it'll be quite the gamble.

** Still haven't seen Watchmen. I'm a pretty pathetic comic book guy these days. I still have a bag of comics sitting on my end table that I haven't read yet - bought them at least two weeks ago.

** Coolest Internet application I've seen in ages? Two words. Simplify Media.

And that should do it for tonight.