Wrestling promotions are sorta like fast food restaurants, mostly the places you'd go for a burger.
WWE is McDonalds. It's everywhere, it's convenient to the point of being annoying, and after you have some, you don't really feel good about it afterwards.
TNA is like Burger King. It's relatively easy to find, available, very similar to McDonalds in a lot of ways but different enough so that it can be considered preferable over McDonalds just for not being McDonalds. There's still a good chance you'll regret eating there.
ROH is at that Wendys/Sonic/Hardees level. If you're a fan of the place, you swear by it. If you're not, you probably don't know/don't care/don't have it near you/don't remember it exists.
Your local independant scene is your local greasy spoon hamburger joint. In the Milwaukee area I'll refer to Kopps but there are many others. It's the sort of place that puts out a really nice burger, different from the standard places but still mostly just a burger. For some reason you never go there as often as you like, despite the fact that you enjoy it. It's either not easy to get there, or is on the other side of town, or you just don't think of it until it's too late, which is a pity because you always enjoy the experience at some level different from the rest.
Don't ask me how Brian and I got on this topic last night but we did and it amused me so here it is!
02 October 2008
01 October 2008
Took me long enough
Finally got a haircut yesterday. Feel much better about that now. At least now, when I get motivated enough to seriously look for work, I can go into an interview without looking like a complete slob. That and I just feel better in general. It was thick. I was sweating in a bad way because of it, more in that 'this food is too spicy' way than 'I feel like I'm getting somewhere with this exercise' way.
Anyway, back to fiddling in the archive again. I have all these trading cards and collectible card game things I'm finding and I know there's going to be a pile of things to get rid off here. Not sure how to do it apart from eBay. I have too many cards.
So I bought more. Sigh.
Donruss has an 'Americana' line that I've been staring at of late and finally tested the other week. It's essentially American pop culture cards and they try to cover a little of everything. Since my interests tend to be a little of everything I'm unfortunately fascinated with these cards. Some of the pictures are very recent looking red carpet snaps which is a nice way to go 'So that's what Dwayne from What's Happening looks like now'. A few of the pictures aren't very flattering. There was one of Kelly Monaco that made me go 'cmon, she's prettier than that.' Some are older and are nice choices. There's a Bob Denver card and, instead of the easy 'Gilligan' card, the picture is of Maynard G. Krebs from the Dobie Gillis show. Neat!
There are special cards of course and they have these fabric sample cards taken from items worn by the stars, which is awesome and really creepy at the same time. I've gotten a Charlie Daniels ('Devil Went Down to Georgia') and an Erik Estrada fabric card.
I'm this much closer to Ponch now. Weird.
Anyway, back to fiddling in the archive again. I have all these trading cards and collectible card game things I'm finding and I know there's going to be a pile of things to get rid off here. Not sure how to do it apart from eBay. I have too many cards.
So I bought more. Sigh.
Donruss has an 'Americana' line that I've been staring at of late and finally tested the other week. It's essentially American pop culture cards and they try to cover a little of everything. Since my interests tend to be a little of everything I'm unfortunately fascinated with these cards. Some of the pictures are very recent looking red carpet snaps which is a nice way to go 'So that's what Dwayne from What's Happening looks like now'. A few of the pictures aren't very flattering. There was one of Kelly Monaco that made me go 'cmon, she's prettier than that.' Some are older and are nice choices. There's a Bob Denver card and, instead of the easy 'Gilligan' card, the picture is of Maynard G. Krebs from the Dobie Gillis show. Neat!
There are special cards of course and they have these fabric sample cards taken from items worn by the stars, which is awesome and really creepy at the same time. I've gotten a Charlie Daniels ('Devil Went Down to Georgia') and an Erik Estrada fabric card.
I'm this much closer to Ponch now. Weird.
30 September 2008
'Night of the Demons' review
A group of 'teens' have a Halloween party in a house that's possessed. Soon things get vaguely 'Evil Dead' and the mayhem begins.
Our buddy George was very keen to see this again, to the point that he was a bit disappointed that it wasn't already in my collection. For $6 I changed that and we watched it Saturday night. Some of the group dismissed it as 'cheesy' not long into the movie. While not necessarily disagreeing, I've been pondering the use of that term ever since. The early sections that they had issue with just seemed more of the time (late '80s) than cheesy to me. Perhaps, as I was still young at the time the movie was released and they were barely born, I have a concept of how life was at that time and it felt less cheesy because of such? Am I thinking too hard about this? Definitely. Moving on.
The problem is that there isn't much going on during the set-up portions of the movie. In theory, this is the section of the film where we establish the plot, the rules, and the characters. The rules take seconds to establish. There really isn't a plot apart from 'survive the party' so that doesn't take long. Since the characters are all stereotypes (goofy fat guy with sidekick, italian guy, virginal blonde, weird witch girl, etc), there's nothing to develop there. A couple of the young actors try to shade their characters with depth or at least relish the stereotype to a point where it becomes fun but, on the whole, not much happens for the first half of the movie. It's not creepy enough or funny enough or story filled enough to hold the interest. There's a little bit of trying from every side to keep things moving but it never completely comes together. Some of the acting is just not good. I thought one of the characters was annoying on purpose but after more time I realized the actress just couldn't bring it together.
On the plus side, when things get moving, they stay moving. The fx are good to excellent. I don't recall a really awkward 'yeah that's fake moment' in the bunch. The standout is a tube of lipstick going somewhere it shouldn't. We saluted it with a chorus of pained groans. Once the movie turns the corner to 'survival horror', there are a couple of 'oh, really?' moments but for the most part it holds together. The characters get separated right before the mayhem starts and I never lost track of who was where and what had last happened to them. The 'witch girl' also gives a dance that managed to be creepy and sexy at the same time. There is some attempt to subvert the stereotyping of these films at the end. Despite my complaints about the stereotypical characters, one of the female roles was played by an Asian and it was never mentioned as important in the film, as it should be.
In short, it was worth the $6 I paid for it. Recommended only to those who have an existing interest in '80s horror. I don't think this would interest anyone else. I mean, one of the guys that declared it 'cheesy' has such an interest so how would it appeal to someone without that interest? It's fun, has moments, but on the whole is nothing spectaular.
Our buddy George was very keen to see this again, to the point that he was a bit disappointed that it wasn't already in my collection. For $6 I changed that and we watched it Saturday night. Some of the group dismissed it as 'cheesy' not long into the movie. While not necessarily disagreeing, I've been pondering the use of that term ever since. The early sections that they had issue with just seemed more of the time (late '80s) than cheesy to me. Perhaps, as I was still young at the time the movie was released and they were barely born, I have a concept of how life was at that time and it felt less cheesy because of such? Am I thinking too hard about this? Definitely. Moving on.
The problem is that there isn't much going on during the set-up portions of the movie. In theory, this is the section of the film where we establish the plot, the rules, and the characters. The rules take seconds to establish. There really isn't a plot apart from 'survive the party' so that doesn't take long. Since the characters are all stereotypes (goofy fat guy with sidekick, italian guy, virginal blonde, weird witch girl, etc), there's nothing to develop there. A couple of the young actors try to shade their characters with depth or at least relish the stereotype to a point where it becomes fun but, on the whole, not much happens for the first half of the movie. It's not creepy enough or funny enough or story filled enough to hold the interest. There's a little bit of trying from every side to keep things moving but it never completely comes together. Some of the acting is just not good. I thought one of the characters was annoying on purpose but after more time I realized the actress just couldn't bring it together.
On the plus side, when things get moving, they stay moving. The fx are good to excellent. I don't recall a really awkward 'yeah that's fake moment' in the bunch. The standout is a tube of lipstick going somewhere it shouldn't. We saluted it with a chorus of pained groans. Once the movie turns the corner to 'survival horror', there are a couple of 'oh, really?' moments but for the most part it holds together. The characters get separated right before the mayhem starts and I never lost track of who was where and what had last happened to them. The 'witch girl' also gives a dance that managed to be creepy and sexy at the same time. There is some attempt to subvert the stereotyping of these films at the end. Despite my complaints about the stereotypical characters, one of the female roles was played by an Asian and it was never mentioned as important in the film, as it should be.
In short, it was worth the $6 I paid for it. Recommended only to those who have an existing interest in '80s horror. I don't think this would interest anyone else. I mean, one of the guys that declared it 'cheesy' has such an interest so how would it appeal to someone without that interest? It's fun, has moments, but on the whole is nothing spectaular.
29 September 2008
Mr. Newman
I'm keen to celebrate Paul Newman in some way but I don't think I've got any of his work on DVD. I might do and just can't think of what it would be. He wasn't an actor known for his classic horror roles or wacky comedy roles or science-fiction television roles, items that make up the bulk of my collection. This is not to say he didn't touch some of those genres; I'm just not sure where he and my collection intersect.
Thus concerns me only because I have a great deal of respect for the gentleman and it seems odd that he may not be represented in the archive. Here was a man that, by all accounts, had a positive but realistic view of himself, remained married to his wife of many decades, and did his best to give back to humanity. These are admirable qualities in anyone and are almost astounding for someone in the entertainment field.
So all respect to the gentleman that has left us. None of us is perfect and I'm sure he wasn't either but I'm of the feeling that there are lessons to be learned from his example, both on the screen and off.
Perhaps, if nothing else, I'll get some salad dressing. It's good you know.
Thus concerns me only because I have a great deal of respect for the gentleman and it seems odd that he may not be represented in the archive. Here was a man that, by all accounts, had a positive but realistic view of himself, remained married to his wife of many decades, and did his best to give back to humanity. These are admirable qualities in anyone and are almost astounding for someone in the entertainment field.
So all respect to the gentleman that has left us. None of us is perfect and I'm sure he wasn't either but I'm of the feeling that there are lessons to be learned from his example, both on the screen and off.
Perhaps, if nothing else, I'll get some salad dressing. It's good you know.
Normal Service to Return Soon
Brewers made the playoffs! Brewers made the playoffs! Woo-hoo!
We had a group outing to a local sports bar in an attempt to watch the Packer game and the Brewer game at the same time, which only sorta worked out. The Packer game was mostly disappointing. In all fairness, the Brewer game was pretty slow until the end.
When the Brewers won, we all hopped up and down, gave high-fives, hugged, and just generally got excitable. About fifteen minutes later the Mets lost and we did it all over again, plus a round of shots.
The team hasn't been in a similar position since 1982. I was 8 then and near the peak of my interest in baseball. I still like baseball to some degree. It's easier to enjoy when your team finally, finally!, has some success.
Woo-hoo!
We had a group outing to a local sports bar in an attempt to watch the Packer game and the Brewer game at the same time, which only sorta worked out. The Packer game was mostly disappointing. In all fairness, the Brewer game was pretty slow until the end.
When the Brewers won, we all hopped up and down, gave high-fives, hugged, and just generally got excitable. About fifteen minutes later the Mets lost and we did it all over again, plus a round of shots.
The team hasn't been in a similar position since 1982. I was 8 then and near the peak of my interest in baseball. I still like baseball to some degree. It's easier to enjoy when your team finally, finally!, has some success.
Woo-hoo!
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