Monday, September 29, 2008

The Workrate Returns

Inspired by a fine edition of RAW, I'm kickin' it 2004 style with a WORKRATE REPORT! For those confused, the format is simple: I comment on all of the good segments, then all of the bad segments. It's like the 1,2 system of lady profiling. No star ratings, no tedious 1-10 ranking system, none of it. Just what worked, and what didn't.

WHAT WORKED

Batista squashed Santino. And by squashed, I mean that Santino got literally zero offense in. This goes up here due to Santino's pre-match promo. HE HAS TEN TRILLION BRAIN CELLS IN HIS BODY. Bob Tista has but twelve! So the real winner? Santino Marella. JBL hit Batista with a rather meek Clothesline From Hell afterwards to set up a match I don't want to see.

JTG wrestled The Miz of Cleveland, Ohio and LOST. Decent match, and it's nice to see that Miz has finally gone all the way with the mohawk and actually shaved the rest of his head. These teams (Miz and Morrison and Cryme Tyme) have good chemistry.

The Pirate and his sister/wench faced Jamie Noble and Mickie James! The Virginias reunite for ProWresLove! King William Regal and his new lady in waiting, the lovely Layla, watched from a throne at the top of the ramp. On one hand, William Regal feuding with Jamie Noble is a huge waste of the King's potential. On the other, it actually gives Jamie Noble something to do, which is great. He won with a cross-arm bar that the Pirate immediately tapped out to. LIKE IT'S A SHOOT, BROTHER!

Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr and MANU, THE RESERVED SAMOAN went to find Kane, who was staring at a wall or something. They wanted to make sure they were all on the same page for an eight man tag team match later on. This wasn't an especially good segment or anything, but it scores points with me for reminding us all that Paul Bearer is Kane's father, thus making him a second generation superstar! Kane essentially told them to get bent and went off to find General Manager Mike Adamle.

Lance Cade came out in front of the crowd to cut a brief promo, drilling into our heads that he had pinned Shawn Michaels last week and it wasn't unthinkable that he could do it again tonight. Simple, effective, thumbs up.

EIGHT MAN TAG TEAM ACTION! This was such a fine spectacle. The 2nd Generation Rogues Gallery of Cody, Ted, Manu and Kane versus Rey Mysterio, EVAN AIR BOURNE, The Jamaican from Ghana Kofi Kingston and BACK TO THE MIDCARD CM Punk! Awesome dive section before a commercial break with the babyfaces laying waste to all of the heels, and then a LOOOOONG heat segment on CM Punk with several hot tag teases before finally getting Kofi in there as a house o' fire. He sadly ran afoul of Kane's choke slam and that was the end. Fun match though, and I have to note that while Manu looks completely wrong for his role with his hair tied back, once it comes down he actually resembles a man you might be afraid of. He needs to keep it that way.

Candice Michelle and Kelly Kelly battled Beth Phoenix and Jillian Hall. I love Kelly Kelly's offense. It's all flippy and peppy and she's really improving. This wasn't anything to write home about as a match, but Candice didn't botch anything and the finish, where Beth countered a Kelly Kelly roll up into her MOVE, was really awesome.

There's some one-hour Wrestlemania program on MyNetworkTV this Thursday. I have no idea what it is, but they aired a preview of it with all kinds of highlights from past events, and it worked its will on me, as I immediately set my DVR.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK

Shawn Michaels' promo backstage with Todd Grisham was not what was needed in setting up a mystery partner. Even in a joking manner, teasing Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and Bret Hart and then delivering Triple H is just a giant letdown.

Jamie Noble tried to get Jillian Hall to team with him against the Burchill siblings, but Jillian was all, "I'm gonna get myself a hero, shorty" and blew him off. Then Kerwin White's Caddy appeared and introduced himself to the pair. Whatever Jillian was trying to convey upon meeting this bleached blonde boor, she failed at, due to her complete lack of acting ability.

Mike Adamle announces that per Kane's request, his pay per view match against Rey Mysterio will now have Rey's mask at stake. What? With six days to go? This is how you build to a mask match? I can only assume that Rey will not be losing this one. It's interruption-palooza with Randy Orton, then JBL, and finally Batista coming out one after another to complain about Shane McMahon, the economy, and getting clotheslined respectively. Still building up JBL versus Batista, still don't care.

Santino is backstage talking to a honey on the celly and has to cover his tracks when he walks upon girlfriend Beth Phoenix, who is instantly suspicious. Usually anything involving Santino would automatically go on the top half of the ledger, but this teased breaking up of Glamarella is SO NOT COOL.

Deuce was in the ring with his awesome greaser music playing. Suddenly, "Them From the Great Khali" began to boom over the speakers and I wondered what the Hell was going on. Why would Smackdown!'s Great Khali be on RAW to squash a jobber? And then, Charlie Haas came out wearing a wig and a fake chin. He cut a Great Khali promo, did some Great Khali spots and it was, well... Great. Then, disaster struck. Charlie Haas ran out of Great Khali things to do so he started doing Charlie Haas things, including winning with a flying clothesline instead of a judo chop. Unacceptable. The Great Charli was somewhat underwhelming. Apparently I wasn't alone in this feeling as the REAL Great Khali then emerged from the back, and couldn't contain his laughter. It was an actual genuine moment in the life of Dalip Singh. So weird. Anyway, he laid out Haas with his JUDO CHOP and all was right in the world. Except, why was he there? Did he know that Charlie Haas was going to do an impression of him, so he arranged to be at RAW? And if he was so offended by this, why didn't he just lay Charlie out beforehand and spare us all? So many questions. I can't believe I wrote so much about this segment.

Chris Jericho and Lance Cade had a handicap match against a ladder. The idea was to demonstrate to Shawn Michaels all the ways he would be able to hurt him on Sunday at No Mercy. I know what they were going for, but this just didn't really click for me. Probably looked good on paper.

Main event was Jericho and Cade against Shawn Michaels and his SUPER SECRET MYSTERY PARNTER... Triple H. I was disappointed. And I wasn't even expecting much. Anyhow, this match was going along just fine until Jericho and Cade were disqualified out of nowhere. I guess for kicking Shawn's ass too much, as there were no weapons involved. Jericho knocked Hunter to the outside, and he and his partner, in this TAG TEAM match, double teamed Michaels for about three seconds before the referee called for the bell. Weak finish, and the crowd let them know it. Triple H came back with his sledgehammer, and Jericho abandoned his young protege to be walloped by DX. The ending visual, with Shawn pointing to Jericho before giving Cade a big splash off a ladder was pretty effective, but the DQ left a bad taste in my mouth.

And there you have it, sports fans. Monday Night RAW for September 29th, 2008!

Remember, tomorrow is Ring of Honor and Canadian documentary night at Casa de Napier. 7pm, don't be late!

Friday, September 26, 2008

My Boring Ass Life (by Kevin Smith)

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. The nature of blogs it to relate some aspect of your life to an audience, and I just don't really do much. Since Sunday I've:

slept, ate, watched RAW, watched ECW watched the 1992 Survivor Series, watch How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, and bought a used video game, Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 featuring ECW. Yes, that is the whole title. I haven't gotten to play it very much, as it's been a pretty bad week in terms of dizziness and my ability to focus on anything well enough to actually be interactive with it. I've also listened to a lot of April 2006 Figure Four Weekly audio content. Onto May as I downloaded that slate this afternoon. Yep. Life without a life is no life at all.

On a positive note, Abe is in town, and I spent the last couple evenings with him.

The Office premiere was good, even though I was worried sick through most of it.

Wrestling night on Tuesday at 7, with the Ring of Honor pay per view and Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Losing the Light

What a strange week it was. As most who are reading this know, a great big chunk of Columbus was left without power thanks to HURRICANE LEVEL WINDS, reaching the F-1 level. Thank God Brock Lesnar wasn't around, or we may have been wiped off the map.

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The time Brock Lesnar F-5ed a shark.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned around these parts before what a terrible pioneer I would have been, as I get squirrely going without electricity for about thirty seconds. Three plus days is absolutely out of the question, and I refuse to do it ever again. Add to that the fact that my cable company was without power for two days after that, and I was about ready to lose it, as Dave will happily attest to. So what did I do during the blackout?

Sunday - I sat around and waited for the power to come back on. This failed. I'm pretty sure I also listened to a battery powered radio long enough to hear the horrifying tale of NO POWER FOR DAYS and then downed a bunch of melatonin in disgust. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Monday - I had been going back and forth for a few days on whether or not I wanted to attend Ken Harris' baseball movie marathon. Ken is a heck of a nice guy, but he's more Dave's friend than mine, and I thought it might be awkward. However, upon learning that he had electricity, bonding become much easier, and I watched Artie Lange's Beer League, Eight Men Out, Major League, and The Natural while luxuriating in air conditioning and refrigerated beverages.

Tuesday - Wrestling night was sadly put on hold due to Mother Nature's spite, but Dave and I ended up at Amanda and Lucas' place for more electricity powered fun. They live about a ten minute walk from my house, I'd like to note. AND THEY HAD POWER. Life isn't fair. Anyhow, we played a very fun card game called Guillotine, involving beheading and treachery. Then, we watched some wrestling anyway, taking in the second disc of the RAW Fifteenth Anniversary set. The Vince Russo era sure was short on actual in-ring action. Funky D wandered down from his house somewhere in here, and things continued along a nerdy path, with Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and some old Japanese monster movie occupying the TV screen. This malarkey was thankfully cut short when Franz arrived with They Live, and everyone enjoyed the terror.

Wednesday - Still no power, but my i-Pod was in fine form thanks to a recharging at Lucas' pad the night before. Dave and I went to see Iron Man at Carriage Place, and it was worth every penny of the dollar and fifty cents I shelled out for it. Pepper Pots may be the most adorable moniker in all of comic fiction. I also purchased WCW/nWo Thunder from Trading Zone! This was worth not a single penny of the three dollars and eighteen cents I shelled out for it. And I learned that very swiftly, as I returned home to find that SCIENCE HAD PREVAILED and we had power! Alex Wright danced many times that night, in separate games spanning two different consoles! What a miraculous age we live in.

Thursday - I have absolutely no memory of anything that happened on Thursday. I swear to God. I wasn't drunk, or stoned, or anything. I just don't believe that anything of note took place.

Friday - Movie night at Lucas'! The host with the most, Franz, Kristy, and Andy (that's me) sat down to watch Pitch Black. And by watch Pitch Black, I mean take story meeting phone calls (Lucas), go to the store to get beer and Benadryl (Franz and Kristy), and think about how much I miss my first and fourth seasons of Farscape (um... me, Andy). The movie was no great shakes, but the beer and conversation afterwards were teriffic.

So there you go. I made it through, somehow. Today is another dreadful 4:00 pm Browns game, and I'm yet to go to sleep, so it's hard to say if I'll make it there. I GUESS WE'LL FIND OUT.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Wrestling Night HYPE

Before that, though, to get it out of the way...

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OHHHHH THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Sorry. But yes, THE AMERICAN DRAGON Bryan Danielson is your new GHC (Global Honored Crown) junior heavyweight champion for the Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion. He won the title on a Ring of Honor show last night (this morning) in Tokyo. YAY DRAGON.

Now, onto Tuesday night, which is in fact WRESTLING NIGHT. Sadly, the only lucha tape I could find (AAA's When Worlds Collide pay per view show from 1994) is in very poor shape and is pretty much unwatchable. That does give me an excuse to finally get a copy on DVD though, so there's your silver lining. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I'm still missing a big box o' tapes, but have no idea where they are right now, so it looks like lucha is out for this month. Luckily, WWE 24/7 has come along to save the day by uploading the 1992 SURVIVOR SERIES PAY PER VIEW!

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If this poster doesn't sell you on the show, I don't know what to tell you.

This is actually a rare early '90s WWF show that I've never seen before, so I'm pretty amped about it. Not to mention that the billed main event doesn't even take place! That's right, Ultimate Warrior presumably LOST HIS MIND and quit the company before the event but after the promotional posters were created! So we get Mr. Perfect replacing him in the tag team match and an ACTUAL main event of BRET HART VERSUS SHAWN MICHAELS FOR THE WWF TITLE! IN 1992! HOLY HOT DAMN! The downside to this pay per view is that there is only one actual Survivor Series elimination match, so that's a bummer. Still, old timey wacky WWF goodness, and a nice followup to our last feature, which was the Royal Rumble show from earlier in the same year.

ALSO, if anyone is feeling up to it after the main attraction (and if Keith remembers to bring it), I was thinking that a screening of this could be in order.

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"He pushes that gay/homophobic button, and he pushes it hard" - Bret Hart

It's been ages since I've seen this movie, and it really is one of my favorite documentaries ever, so I'm also excited for that.

It's just nice to be excited about ANYTHING right now, I'll say that. Ohio State gets blown right out of California and I don't bat an eyelash. Andrew asks me if I want to go see the Dirtbombs and I barely shrug. But give me a 1992 WWF pay per view and I'm on it like kittens on a bottle of formula.

With that said, I think it may be time for another feeding. OUT!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Gimme a Break

Sadly, the days of me being able to rock out more than thirty days of continuous content may be over. There just aren't enough Jenna Fischer pictures that I haven't exploited. SORRY.

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Gimme a Break. Nell would want you to.

On October 3rd of 2007, which you'll note is almost a year ago, I wrote about how Dave had placed the movie Flight of the Living Dead atop his NetFlix queue. I have to assume that he did not do this, because it arrived in his mailbox yesterday. Better late than never, I say. Especially in this case, because Flight of the Living Dead RULED.

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BEWARE MIRROR ZOMBIES

There are two things that could have made this movie better. One, it should have been directed by Kids in the Hall alum Scott Thompson. Two, I forget what the second thing was, but I'm sure Amanda or Lucas will remind me. Despite these shortcomings (one of which was so small I don't even remember it), I can't recommend it enough. One out of one seatbelted kung fu zombies gives it a small chunk of human flesh up!

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INDEPENDENCE FOR QUEBEC!

Oh, and before I forget, one of the heroes is the villain from Kindergarten Cop.

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This movie is perfect.

Broin' Down XVI went down on Tuesday, and I'd have to call it a giant success. Perhaps even a... GREAT success.

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Better than you

Official roster for the RepuBROcan Convention was as follows: Adam (Uncle), Adam (Young), Andrew, Andy, Dave, Franz, Keith, Lucas, and Nate. Nice turnout this month, as we grow ever closer to maximum occupancy.

Now... how to wrap this up...

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Welcome home, blog nation. Welcome home.

6:40 am update. I have not slept. This is not for lack of trying. I went outside about thirty minutes ago, watered the potted plants, played with the kittens, and now I'm writing this addendum. I'm not really sure why. I think I'm going to go watch the sunrise. Peace.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Under the Wire

Just some quick notes to take you out here tonight.

Broin' Down XVI: RepuBROcan Convention (credit to Uncle Adam on the subtitle this month) is Tuesday, so uh... come out and bro at 7pm!

I played Castlevania IV for a while today, or in other words, WON AT LIFE. That game is awesome. However, there's one enemy that I just can't get behind. I can put up with horse heads attacking you in the stables, or plants coming from the ground to swallow you up, but hedgehogs? Konami dropped the ball (NO PUN INTENDED) with this villain.

I so need Symphony of the Night.

Um... what else... former UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner was found dead in the mountains today. He was pretty awesome, so that sucks.

Hm... there are kittens in my backyard. They are adorable.

Also, Blair said "Oh my effin' God" tonight on Gossip Girl, which has rallied from a stumble at the end of last season and a weak showing in last week's premiere. It's won my heart once again.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Unhappy Hour

I went down to Ruby's for the first Browns game of the season this afternoon, and I'll say this: I don't like 4:00 pm games. It's just a weird time to start drinking on a Sunday. 1:00 pm is perfect. I can wake up, get ready, go down to the bar, order up a few chili dogs and wash them down with hearty pitchers of Labatt. Then I can spend the rest of the day sobering up and winding down. Throwing that off by three hours sends my entire world into chaos. Not to mention that the Browns were absolutely mugged by the Cowboys this afternoon, which I also blame on the start time.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Is it 34 yet?

Kind of a lousy day, health wise, so this will be brief.

And... there it was!

Friday, September 05, 2008

This is my Friday update. DEAL WITH THAT

Here I am again, on my own. Except, I'm here at Franz's, where I'm watching (sort of) a Michael Caine movie with (from left to right) Lee, Lucas, Franz, Amanda and Kristy. Mostly I'm just drinking Miller Lite and typing away on another man's keyboard. It's like MAGIC. THE GATHERING. OF LIFE. AND SUCH. Also, I went to Cousin Annie's with Funky D tonight, but sadly, the Future Ex Mrs. Napier was not there. Though she WILL be going to the LITTLE ART THEATER for the HORROR MARATHON, which you other jerks are not going to. JERKS. I love you all, JERKS. And so on. I might have found out something that upset me tonight, but I'm not one hundred percent certain. I'm trying to ignore it, but I can't get it out of my brain. POSSIBILITIES~! Hate, hate, hate. Speaking of hate, I hate music. All music. I just can't stand any music at all. It's like symphonic evil. Rap, rock, country, classical, ska, reggae, queercore, and everything between. It's all terrible. It's not all the same. It just sucks in a bunch of different, many-splendored ways. I can't help that I'm custom-made. I can't help it, but I'll tell ya this. I can't help that I look good, smell good, and can dance-all-night-long. WOOOOOOOO!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

The Obligatory Thursday Update

We're still a few weeks away from the start of The Office's fifth season, so Thursdays can BLOW me until then. Season Four came out on DVD this week, so time to go sell plasma or something.

Another reminder about the Little Art Theater's Horror Marathon on the night of Saturday, October 25th, lasting until the early afternoon of Sunday, October 26th. It's in Yellow Springs, so a pleasant hour long drive from Columbus, and we'll probably stop at that awesome dairy on the way there. Tickets are $25 and it's still at this point just me, Dave, and Erin, so we could definitely use some company. Contact me ASAP if you're interested.

I unplugged my cable box, waited twenty seconds, and then plugged it back in. Like magic, all my Flair content was at my fingertips. Good times. I think I'm going to go watch him and Roddy Piper from MSG right now. Peace!