for real

Yo


This'll be a short message, devoid of cynism/sarcasm/random analogies. Hence the "short". 
I'm just writing this very little piece of blog-unworthy muck to reassure myself and that 1 reader that I'll be writing more often. Call it a promise that I'll desperately try to keep. Even if it's just for my own peace of mind.


Anyways, I've decided to rummage through online resources every week, to find a nationally televised pro wrestling show (bar TNA, I'm just not ready for that yet) and watch it. Mainly SmackDown! though. I'll watch RAW again when Michael Cole leaves the announcing booth, vintagely.


Besides that, I'll also abuse this little forum I've created for myself to praise music that I'm listening to a lot in the timeframe of the then blog in question. 


The previous blog was more or less a testament to what I'm trying to convey. Speaking of Testament ... hmm, nah. Next time, maybe.


arigatou~!


~D.

Entertainment, or so I've been told

Hail

I've promptly decided to write a blog, while I really should be doing coursework (Yes! I have started college again!)

This blog will be short, to the punch and completely at random.

First off, roughly 2 months ago, I found out Amorphis was releasing a live CD/DVD package called "Forging the Land of Thousand Lakes". I thoroughly enjoyed live versions with Tomi Joutsen providing vocals to "Sign from the North Side", "Black Winter Day" etc.. but at the same time I kept wondering how those songs would sound if they were actual studio quality, as in: studio record. 

I figured that would be a slim chance. It would never happen.

Fortunately, I couldn't be more wrong. 

On september 17th, Amorphis released "Magic & Mayhem - Tales from the Early Years" featuring re-recordings of fantastic songs from the first three albums with Tomi Joutsen doing vocals this time while former lead vocalist (and still rhythm guitarist) Tomi Koivusaari doing back up vocals on some songs. 

I came. Ahem. Of course, being the objective critic that I am, I checked out the album song for song and concluded that it was awesome, and thus I came.

Many would consider this record to be 'redundant', but at the same time, a true must-have for everyone who enjoys Joutsen's vocals. 

To give you an idea of Tomi's fantastic vocals:

At the very end, Tomi shows his fantastic grunting skills. As people have stated: "This man hides a monster"

Enough with the blatant plugging of one of my favorite bands. 

Whoever actually reads this (leave a comment while you're at it :D) will be pleased to hear that I finally bothered to catch up with TNA Hardcore Justice.

I can't help but be intrigued at the fact that people actually liked it. Of course, now having seen the PPV, I know just exactly why:

It's nothing more than a road trip to Ville de Nostalgie. It was pretty sad, really. While the various matches on the card showcased everyone's signature maneuvers (Kid Kash's flip dive, Dreamer DDT, ...) it was still not even half as good as what WWE did with ONS 2005. I specifically single out 2005, since 2006 and beyond were pretty much superstar infested crap doodles. The fact that they were limited due to copyright issues was laughable. Calling Balls Mahoney "cojones" and Justin Credible "PJ Polaco" made it seem that much more of a amateur gathering.

Seeing New Jack and Mustafa though was fantastic. While they brought virtually nothing to this show, besides showing up, it was a welcome appearance for me. 

It was good to see all these former ECW stars rejoicing in what they once did, and having fun at the same time. Though, TNA, don't get your hopes up too much. The buys for this PPV were probably above average, but that's all you're gonna get from it.

On a sidenote, Tommy Dreamer should book every show from now on. C'mon, it was pretty much the most consistent TNA show I've seen since forever.

Alright, time to get that coursework done and then just do jack all for the rest of the evening.

It's been a pleasure, bai

~D.

Semi-interested

Hail

Can you remember the days where you actually looked forward to the weekly wrestling shows? 

You know, the moment getting up and regretting it's wednesday because there wasn't any pro wrestling on tv, anywhere. I long for those days to return.

Sadly, we now live in a time where corporate sponsoring is much more important than fan's desire. As a result, we are left with two options. Either power through, gritting your teeth in the process or leaving it behind altogether.

It's a well known thing that pro wrestling up north is targeted at early teens and women now. The reason why is even more obvious. Kids and women take everything that's thrown at 'em for the simple reason that they don't know any better or don't care, as long as it's loud, somewhat entertaining. Today's pro wrestling programming in a nutshell.

There's light in the darkness, no doubt. Bryan Danielson returned to CFG* and Low Ki won NXT season 2. Sounds about right. We got Kane as the World Champ (yay!) and even longer than a day this time around.

For some reason though, It's become much more of a nuisance to read results of weekly shows. 

Let's analyse:

Monday night RAW™ features most of the same performers every week and for the rare occasion a mid- to lowcarder appears, you know they're gonna lose quickly/badly/obviously.

These days, if you want to watch decent wrestlers work a match, you gotta watch "WWE Superstars"™

I could go on endlessly about this, but keeping in mind the amount of previous entries, I more than likely have done that too much. It's a problem that remains, though. Something like religious fundamentalism.

On to something differently similar. TNA Hard Justice became Hardcore Justice for one time only. News broke out and people bashed TNA like a motherfucker. Rightfully so, I might add.

Then it became apparent that none other than Tommy Dreamer was booking this Night of Nostalgia. The noise died down so to speak. 

We're now several weeks further and I'll give my honest opinion on the matter. I won't give an opinion on the show itself though. After all, it's still a bunch of guys who couldn't work a good wrestling match so they decided to beat eachother with chairs and kendo sticks. With some exceptions

For some people, this was an excellent opportunity to showcase what they had left. Many others however, chose not to participate because they felt it would taint the memory of what the garbage fed once was. Ah well...

We saw Raven win, New Jack/Mustafa etc, etc. but throughout the entire experience, it still felt like a cheap, second hand show. Or as Michael Cole would put it: "vintage".

ECW actually fared well with a show like One Night Stand in 2005. A lot of ECW stars fighting in matches with little to no buildup, old rivalries supposedly rekindled. In fact, there's a certain beauty in thinking of two guys just going into that ring and beat the shit out of eachother, for the sheer enjoyment in doing that and for shit else. 

TNA of course built an nWo-like storyline around it (again) and called them EV2.0 . Why not downright say it, guys? Just call it "The Bum Rush". That's what it is...

This whole deal was just the so manieth "been there, seen that" deal that I've been having since I started actually watching TNA. I can hardly believe it hasn't been so long that there were half decent storylines going around in TNA. Now, we just get a half-assed attempt at what WWE and WCW did 12 years ago. 

I won't rant on Hogan and Bischoff anymore. It's hard to come up with funny analogies and the topic has been beaten to death. So I'll summarize:

"They're the text book example of a bad business move". 

How can you pardon someone for bringing "Bubba the Love Sponge" on national tv? Even Jeff "I have a trailer full of drugs. Wanna see, officer?" Hardy shakes his head in disbelief at how much of a joke that guy is. Seeing Barry Darsow fishing for shoes is more entertaining ... to give you an analogy.

Where the fuck is the wrestling?

~Del

*CFG = Connecticut's Finest Garbage