One last post before the holiday…
That’s (Sports) Entertainment
So wrestling was fun. Just got home from a Ring of Honor event with Rob and Robin. It was the first live wrestling in quite some time for all of us. I went in totally blind; other than being familiar with the ROH name only, I had no idea who’s in it, let alone what the storylines were. I used to follow that stuff quite closely, but have since lost track of things (around the same time as most folks, as well as for the same reasons perhaps), and I guess you could say that I’ve been interested in getting back into it.
I’ll spare the details, since I’m still new to the company and am still ignorant of a few things, plus I’ve got a bunch of stuff for tomorrow, but I’ll just say that it was a pretty good show over-all. Lots of great action from some pretty decent workers (that’s a sorta insider-ish term for wrestlers btw). Not knowing who anyone was, nor what the hell was going on, actually added to the enjoyment; as Rob astutely pointed out, not knowing what anyone’s finisher meant that you really couldn’t tell when a match was going to end, adding a large degree of surprise to each match.
But I will say that two standout performers for me was El Generico, the generic luchador (masked Mexican wrestler, for those no in the know) and Shingo, a Japanese wrestler who had crazy awesome (shining) mullet action going.
Though the real stars of the show was, of course, the crowd. I had forgotten what a wrestling audience was like, and tonight I saw all the staples…
- Scrappy, angry white teenagers, in either old WWF/ECW shirts, often black, or hooded sweatshirts, also black. Often quite vocal and eager to join in on whatever chant, often to praise the hero, boo the bad guy, or to ask whatever “hot chick” in the ring to show the goods.
- Morbidly obese fat guys, often with their heads shaved bald. These guys are also very vocal, but mostly with women; its pretty clear in the first two seconds that girls don’t give them the time of day, and wrestling shows provide perhaps the only place for them to get their hatred towards the opposite sex out by yelling at the valets or managers.
- Older dudes, obviously single white males who aren’t very vocal; they just sit back and watch while sipping beer, after beer, after beer.
- Young teenage kid with handmade sign declaring his admiration for his favorite wrestler.
- Mid-twenties guy with about thirty handmade signs, either praising or tearing down a wrestler, or to advertise his blog.
- A few girls (about one for every seventy five dudes), all of whom are girlfriends that their boyfriends managed to drag to.
- Older woman who’s there with her five year old son, so looks initially bored, but later scared and/or disgusted, primarily when…
- … Said five year old yells out “FUCK! ASSHOLE! TITS! FAG! PUSSY!” all night long.
- Crazy guy with homemade belt (the guy who’s the champion of his own made-up wrestler federation in which he is the only member).
- Insanely creepy-looking dude, either with really bad acne, or very bad teeth, or really greasy, unkempt hair, or also very fat (often more than just one or two of the traits mentioned) with a glassy eyed stare or shit-eating smile on his face, telling the whole world that this is the greatest moment of his entire life. This is heaven. Often he’s the guy who yells “SUCK IT!!!” way too loud and too often, but since this wasn’t a WWE show, instead he had numerous tiny flags from various countries which he’d wave for whomever applicable wrestler. Kinda cute, but ultimately very, VERY sad.
- And some random Brooklyn hipster.
In Case You Were Wondering
Didn’t have enough time to mention this in my last post, but yes, I have seen the new Transformers trailer. And my response is…. ughhh.
I don’t know why, but I had actually forgotten that Michael Bay was the director, or at least what that would actually mean. Hence why when I saw the exploding barrels and highway chase scene, I went to myself “Oh… yeah. I forgot. Great.” But yeah, the trailer looks like total shit. I get the sense that the movie will be more about the humans than the Transformers themselves, which will probably be portrayed most silent, killing machines for the most part. Mind you, going for a Jurassic Park-like feel is not such a bad thing, since treating the Transformers themselves with grandeur is a nice approach, but me thinks it will be done to excess. Though I’m mostly annoyed with end part of the trailer, with the little girl grasping her stuffed animal and watching some Transformer merging from a pool, since it such a lame-ass attempt at being Spielberg.
I also love how the sound that the Transformers made when they transformed in the cartoon has been modified in the trailer to be the creepy “kill, kill, kill” sound that you hear in scary movie trailer. I bet whomever douchebag that came up with that is very proud of himself.
The Sounds Of That Special Time Of Year
Once again, its Christmas Eve! And despite the fact that the holidays does indeed begin to loose its luster the older you get, I try my very best to forget about all that and get in the festive spirit.
One thing that really helps is music. And I know that most folks hate Christmas music, but I don’t! Plus I’d like to think the stuff that gets me in the mood the most is not necessarily all that lame. So for you listening enjoyment (and in case you don’t have it already), please check out The 8bits of Christmas!
And if you do indeed dig all that, then how about The 16bits of Christmas!
NOTE: Actually, I just made up that name. The album is actually a Game Sound Legend Series release called “G.M.O. Christmas Songs”, but I kinda figured that the 16bits of Xmas was a bit snappier, even if all the tunes doesn’t sound all that 16-bit, though a few definitely have a slight SNES-synth sound to them. Besides, the last song (and my favorite cut btw) in 8bits of Xmas sounds more like Genesis music to me.
But, if video game-y music is not your thing, here’s a more “traditional” holiday song that many are sure to know and enjoy.
BONUS TRACK: Oh, and here’s yet another classic Xmas song for the entire family.
Anyway, it?s now past 2:30 in the morning and I still have presents to wrap, as well as Christmas NiGHTS to play (plus, the 3am classic SNL to watch…. hopefully it’ll be a holiday episode from the early 80′s, one featuring Eddie Murphy… haven’t seen the Gumby Christmas Special sketch in ages). So till next time… MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
