The last few days

Skype is awesome. Davekwon and (Sorry) Keith Jackson were at my place Tuesday night for a tape-delayed screening of the Royal Rumble, and in accordance with Lucas' suggestion, we Skype conferenced with he and Amanda during. I had downloaded Skype several years ago and not been terribly impressed with it, so I kind of anticipated disaster. But things have changed! This ain't your daddy's Skype! Or something. Anyway, everything went smoothly, we managed to sync up our videos of the event fairly well, and everyone had a great time. Probably going to try for this again after the Elimination Chamber pay per view, and then perhaps live for Wrestlemania XXVII.

As for the show itself, a really great pay per view overall. Edge and Dolph Ziggler got a ton of time, and Dolph looked like he totally belonged in there with a main eventer the caliber of Edge. Unfortunately, he was saddled with a horrible gimmicky name that is going to keep him from ever fulfilling his potential. That said, the crowd in Boston was biting on some of his near falls on Edge late in the match, so they definitely did something right.

Orton and Miz took a while to get going, mostly because Randy Orton is the most boring babyface in years. Actually, probably since the last time he was a babyface in 2004/2005. Eventually things started clicking and heating up, and once Miz pinned him, it was pretty good.

Women's match was nothing. Sorry.

The Rumble itself was awesome. I was against the idea of increasing the number of entrants from 30 to 40 just on principle, but it actually worked out really well. I won't go over the match in detail, but suffice to say there was tons of great comedy, mostly featuring Santino Marella. Also a couple of nice surprises with the returns of Booker T and DIESEL. Seriously, Diesel. Great show, and I'm excited for the rest of the road to Wrestlemania.

Franz and Ashley lost power for a couple of nights, which meant QUALITY TIME WITH FRA-DIGGITY for me. We watched Moon and determined that while it was entertaining and never dragged or anything, it had been over-hyped to us both. No spoilers here, but there was an obvious direction to take the movie in, and a less obvious one. They chose the latter, and the movie probably suffered for it. We also played (well, I played, Franz watched) Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands for a while. Which brings me to a larger point.

I had forgotten how awesome platform gaming can be. Everything I play nowadays is either an RPG, a sports game, or mission-based, and the platforming genre has completely fallen by the wayside for me. Most likely because most of the platform gaming these days takes place on the Wii or on handheld consoles. In short, I miss Mario. Very much. I probably should just bite the bullet and finally buy Little Big Planet though.

I had another topic I wanted to write about, but it's completely escaped me at the moment. Oh well, if I remember, there's a good excuse for another blog entry over the weekend. Until then, be good to each other, readers!

A direct appeal

My dad is now officially retired from Kraft Foods USA. He has to turn in his company car and his company laptop on Monday. So today, he told me that he bought a truck in the most nonchalant manner possible. It's a used Dodge, so it's not as if he went out and bought a brand new, fully loaded model or anything, but still, big changes afoot. I wonder how he'll adjust to paying for gasoline for the first time in about 30 years.

I watched Poltergeist last night for the first time since probably the '90s, and there's a movie that holds up. Somehow I had never noticed/picked up on Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams being stoners in any previous viewings. The movie makes much more sense now, as I feel this explains why they were targeted by supernatural forces much better than disturbed graves under the house. Especially when you tie in the Reagan bio that Coach is reading while smoking a joint.

As alluded to in the comments section of the below entry, mainstream wrestling sucks right now. The Royal Rumble is tomorrow, and unless something major changes between then and now, I won't be watching it live for just the second time since 1998. I missed it in 2007 for reasons I really can't fathom, especially because WWE was very good at that point. Anyhow, looking two months down the road, I think there's an excellent chance that I also won't order Wrestlemania, which would be the first time since 1998. As it draws closer, I may waver on that just because Wrestlemania Sunday does seem to be the one day of the year I can still get a good group of people over at the house for a viewing party, so we'll see. Still, not encouraging. DO A BETTER JOB OF ENGAGING ME, WWE.

A Questionable Remake

As I was reading the Observer this evening, something caught my eye. Something I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard about prior to learning it from Dave Meltzer.

"Maria Kanellis and Gene Snitsky shot an independent movie called “Manos” about a family lost on country roads and stumbles upon an underground cult of devil worshippers."

Yes. I know. This rasies a lot of questions, clearly. First and foremost, is Gene Snitsky going to play Torgo? Because in some ways he's perfect casting, but in most ways he's absolutely not.

Second, are Riff Trax going to be built into the DVD release or do we actually have to wait?

Third, REALLY?

Fourth, no, REALLY? You get a little bit of money, and then, of all the movies in the ENTIRE WORLD to remake, you pick Manos: The Hands of Fate? What is wrong with you?

Fifth, the news item was written past tense, as if the film has already been completed. Again, how did I not know about this!?

Sixth, we need to watch this soon, obviously.

Peace, Connecticut!

Short Takes at the buzzer

I Am Number Four looks way awful. As I get older, leading men in movies seem to get younger and my patience for them grows thinner. I'm completely aware that a lot of it is jealousy of younger, better looking guys making a lot of money, but I strongly feel that these movies would suck regardless of who's in there as the top star.

How many times do I have to watch John Morrison wrestle Sheamus on RAW? I swear I've seen this match in some combination about eight times in the past three months. I like both guys very much, just get them some new dance partners.

I watched the BBC's Emma miniseries from 2009 this past weekend, and it's very strange to watch the source material for Clueless years after having actually seen Clueless. I spent the entire 3 hours and 50 minutes piecing together who was who between the two films. I liked Emma better than Cher, but Paul Rodd's Josh kills Jonny Lee Miller's Mr. Knightley. Dating a Jane Austen devotee certainly has its perks and drawbacks.

That's all for tonight, back with more soon!

Do I remember how to do this?

Happy Bloggiversary, baby. I've got you on my mind.

Seven years, daddio! It was seven years ago today that I first set out to tell the world more than it ever wanted to know about me, the television shows I watch, and the concerts I go to. In that time, not much has changed. I've crept onward towards my undergraduate degree, been stymied at every turn by medical woes, and invented a nearly four year old religion. All in all, an awesome run, and I'm back full time to spread the word to each and every one of you, my faithful Blog Nation. Keep your ear to the ground, and your eyes on the screen, because the content you can expect is back in full force!

Starting tomorrow. I really don't feel like digging up a Jenna pic tonight.

WWE NXT Recap! Season One, Episode One!

I don't think the standard Workrate format is going to work for a show like this, whatever this even turns out to be. So let's just go with a straightforward chronological recap style. Hopefully I don't bore myself to sleep. Gonna try to do this in real time without pausing the program too, so wish me luck!

Totally wacky entrance video and song showing the "rookies" and their corresponding mentors.

All eight men stand side by side backstage, and Bryan Danielson is SO SHORT. The Miz looks the men over with disdain, eventually calling out Danielson. Dragon's wacky reactions to the Miz are fantastic. Miz wants to throw Danielson to the wolves. MIZ ORDERS HIM TO HAVE A CATCH PHRASE. This show is already incredible. Miz mispronounces the word "desert" somehow.

Danielson comes out, slapping hands and stuff. Commentators are Cole and Matthews, with The Teacher getting hosting duties. Danielson's promo is awesomely goofy. He wishes his pro was Regal. THAT'S A SHOOT, BROTHER! Miz cuts Danielson off and there's already too much going on in this program. Danielson threatens to stretch The Miz. I can't believe what I'm watching. Danielson's robe rules. The fans like him too. That's cool. Miz slaps Danielson and then RUNS SCURRED! This all happened in nine minutes. This recap is going to kill me.

Thanks AMERICAN BANG for the NXT theme song!

The Teacher interviews Danielson backstage about this wackiness, and it sucks. I blame Striker.

HOLY SHIT MAIN EVENT DANIELSON VERSUS JERICHO.

Carlito and his dude are out. This poor guy. We get a Michael Tarver video package. Good stuff, plus he's from Akron. Sorry, Danielson. I'm hitching my wagon to TARVER. That's what Bryan gets for being from Aberdeen, Washington. Fuck Aberdeen.

Carlito and Tarver in a tag match against Christian and rookie HEATH SLATER. From Pineville, West Virginia! And he gets a video package too! He's a rock star without instruments, apparently. And he can do arm bars! He makes an inappropriately explicit remark about his mother's womb. This guy can't win. Bell rings and it's Slater and Carlito starting us off. Something's weird about the way they're shooting the matches on this show. It's like every camera shot is off by an inch or so. It's more distracting than anything. I hope they get the artiness out of their system. Tarver is efficient in mixed martial arts AND a dangerous striker according to Michael Cole. What a moron. He can't possibly ever actually listen to himself on commentary. There's no way he'd still be this incompetent. Carlito and Christian play off the finish of their RAW match from last night, which is a nice touch. Christian pins Tarver clean. That'll get him over. Not to say that he should have beaten Christian or anything. Just kind of weird to have one of the rookies doing a job right from the get go.

Backstage, CM Punk and the rest of the Straight Edge Society look absolutely appalled by their rookie, whose name I already forget. The Black Face John Cena guy, though. Thanks, Lucas. He's facing the husband of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson... NEXT! Or should I say NXT! No, probably not.

Jared Young is his name. Or Darren Young. I don't know. It doesn't matter at this point. He's described as a "South Beach party boy" CM Punk is a disgruntled employee who wants nothing to do with this clown!

David Otunga is a handsome gentleman. That may be all he has going for him. Second ever Harvard graduate in the WWE! I miss Chris Nowinski.

Otunga is out with R-Truth, who may be wearing the exact same flannel shirt that I'm wearing right now. I knew we were simpatico. Rookie versus rookie here and it'll be interesting to see if the crowd gives them a chance. Botched spinebuster by Otunga, and he gets the pin. Wow. That was fast. He had one move to do and he blew it. Sucks to be that dude.

Another recap of the Miz/Danielson stuff for some reason. I guess they're counting on that relationship to carry the show. Even having seen just forty minutes of this show, Danielson is clearly the one they've chosen to break from the pack.

Jericho's music plays at 10:42, so this main event may get some time. His rookie is Wade Barrett, some Brit. He wears a rose in his jacket. What a queer. That's right.

And... back to commercial. That was weird.

Matt Hardy and his rookie, Justin Gabriel, appear next week. Good that they're not trying to squeeze all sixteen guys onto each show.

Jericho demands that Barrett introduce him. He has a THICK accent. Like, molasses thick.

Danielson bumps Miz on the way to the ring. My official prediction: Miz costs Danielson the match.

And... ANOTHER COMMERCIAL BREAK. Cripes all Friday.

Bell rings as soon as we come back. Danielson offers a handshake, and Jericho slaps the hand away. Lots of jawjacking back and forth. Not a lot to call. Just a basic match, executed very well by two really excellent professional wrestlers. Cole calls an "enzuigiri to the back of the head". What a fucking moron. Have I mentioned that? Cole is playing heel commentator apparently. That's fitting. ANTI-TECHNOLOGY! BRINGING UP DIRT SHEETS! Yeah, take that Meltzer! Danielson with a big time comeback, but eats a Code Breaker. Jericho takes his time, and then puts on the Walls of Jericho. Danielson taps almost immediately. Well, so much for my prediction. Miz with a beat down on Danielson after the match.

This show is not exactly what I was expecting. Though thinking about it, I'm really not sure WHAT I was expecting. I liked it though.

I Belonged to Facebook

Hard as it may be to believe, I caved. Last night, likely due to lack of sleep and general giddiness, I registered a Facebook account under the name Davenport Abernathy. For the next fifteen minutes I poked around, experiencing Facebook and all it had to offer.

Got it out of my system. Deleted my account so fast my own head spun. So for any stragglers here at the Blog That Wouldn't Die, if you want to keep track of my frequent but brief thoughts, I'm over at Gmail using their Buzz feature. Thank you kindly and goodbye, Facebook!

Fuck Off, Rocky

Because Adam Demanded It

And because it's only right... once more for old time's sake.

All hail the herald of the Blogaissance.

The Roffle Truth

I can't keep this blog up with any regularity anymore. I'm not saying I'm done with it for good, but until there's some kind of significant uptick in my general health, this is going to be my last post. It's been a good six years, and hopefully there will be many more to come. Thanks for the support, Blog Nation.