TPB Review: The Walking Dead vol. 7

by: Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Cliff Rathburn

Collects: The Walking Dead #37-42

Premise: An apocalyptic zombie epidemic has swept the area, or the nation, maybe even the globe. Nobody knows how far and wide this epidemic reaches, why it started, or how to even stop it. This series follows a small band of survivors as they deal with the changing world around them. As the tag-line reads: "In a world of the dead, we are forced to finally start living."

Review:
This review contains very minor spoilers for many previous volumes, you have been warned!

And so it continues, volume 7 of this series is cleverly titled "The Calm Before" as in "the calm before the storm." So you know some shit is going to go down soon, probably starting on the last page of this volume. But really, you have to get through the calm before you can get to the shit storm.

Really, for this series at least, this was rather a relaxing chapter. In this chapter, Kirkland tries to reconnect you with the main band of survivors in this book and reconnect you to their world because previously we were jumping back and forth between characters in different locations at the same time. So here we have a reuniting of sorts. It's really a character driven volume and not a lot of action really happens. We also get less of the larger thematic, societal elements and more of the character psychoanalyses. Every character gets their moments and is in their element.

Since this is a very character-driven volume, Adlard is at his best here, etching the emotions expertly and making the characters come alive. Adlard is at his best when Kirkman decides to do character moments, and since this is a volume full of them, Adlard really takes the show here.

Kirkman also does a fine job here pulling back on the exposition a bit. Kirkman is a very wordy writer and a very state the obvious writer, while he still hasn't kicked that habit, he does pull back a bit, letting Adlard take the reigns more often. In terms of plotting, Kirkman still fills up this volume with logical events and development. Rick just warned the prison gang about the other town, so the gang gets prepared for the other town to attack. Pretty simple and straight-forward, which is perfectly fine for this volume. This volume really focuses on a lot more happier moments and the few victories in life and in this series, are small things that we probably would never consider. Sure these are life moments for anybody, but how monumental is the moment when your life could end at any time. This is really the theme Kirkman attacks here, it's mainly good moments in this book, but Kirkman really shows the consequences of previous life-moments, the not so happy ones.

If one has been following the series up to this point, they may feel the repetition. It's a downtrodden book, with a band of survivors, and the themes on the destruction of society and the human angst and brutality. So what next, how long can Kirkman continue this?

Who knows. It's still a fun ride and Kirkman throws in new twists every once in a while to try and keep it fresh. But at this point the shine is wearing off. Kirkman is really twisting with the wind in this series. It's been fun but at some point that type of plotting just won't cut it. At least not with me.

Final Thoughts: This particular volume is rather up-front about what you're getting right in the title. It's a slower volume, but very rewarding for those who have followed along. For others it's probably not the best place to start. This volume takes a look at the psyches of the characters instead of dwelling on the large-scale nature of society which has been the focus for most of the series. If you're into that thing, it's good, I just think Kirkman has shown more skill at handling bigger themes.

Final Grade: 7.5/10

TV Review: X-men: Evolution Season 1

The Lowdown: A re-imagining of the popular comic and film franchise, X-men, where the title characters are de-aged into teenagers in a high-school setting.

The Review: To begin, I'm a huge fan of the X-men's 90's Animated Series, I grew up watching it as a little grade-schooler, and have rewatched episodes throughout my high-school and college years. I just finished a 5-month rewatch of the entire series from beginning to end about a month ago. It hit me that I never really watched the Evolution series. Also with a third series, Wolverine and the X-men, making waves, I decided to contiue my trek through the animated X-verse.

Evolution season one is an odd ball. First of all, most animated films and tv series tend to have children in mind, but the creators also understand that many parents and family members will be watching the series, so they attempt to make it fun for those adult family members as well. Well season one, is kid's fluff. It's themes rarely hint at something deeper than high-school drama and much of the first season is mired in dull repetition, and the desire to get as many introductions out of the way as possible. Speaking of the introductions, the first 5 or 6 episodes have the same formula of introduce two new characters, have them come into conflict over something ridiculous, have one join the good team (The X-men, YAY!) and have one join the bad team (The Brotherhood, BOOO!), rinse, wash, and repeat. The single time they throw a twist into this is with the Rogue character, and not surprising, it is one of the better arcs and storylines of the season, providing some of the better episodes, but still decidedly not great episodes, of the season (for example, Rogue Recruit and Turn of the Rogue).

Ok, so the first half is formulaic, what about the second half? Does it get better? Yes the second half is better, but not by much. Although the formula of introducing characters is no longer there, the repetition of the same baddies vs. the same goodies every episode is still there. Also the plot lines aren't good at all, and a couple are downright boring and uninteresting (Spykecam, Survival of the Fittest). Of course there are a couple of bright spots in the second half as well, the episode dealing with Nightcrawler's lineage is rather good, and the episode dealing with Wolverine is the only real gem in a downright boring season.

Speaking of character driven episodes, it's a very different team than the 90's animated series, Cyclops, Jean Grey are still around, with new characters Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, and a character created for this series, Spyke joining the pack as young teenagers. There are few adult characters in this team including, Charles Xavier (of course!), Storm, and everyone's favorite, Wolverine. Thank goodness, they didn't go the incredibly idiotic route of making Wolverine a teenager.










DOH! STUPID MANGA!







Anyways, the characters is really where the evolution series excels over the original 90's Animated Characters, the characters don't feel like caricatures of the comic book series, they feel like true organic characters. This really helped by the better animation, the 90's animated series always had a static animation style, while it was retro and kind of cool because it looked like a moving comic book, it really wasn't that great in terms of animation.

Speaking of the characters, the teenage characters take center stage here, dealing with pretty typical teenage problems along with their powers. Rogue gets a huge update in terms of look as she becomes more of a goth, or rocker chick. It really does work for the character they try to portray in this series though. Kitty becomes a valley girl, who talks, like, you know, like, she chills at the beach all time, you know, like, suntan. Believe me it grates early on, but the voice actress does pull back a bit after the series goes on making Kitty a better character, instead of just a stereotype, you know. Anyways, Jean and Scott get a huge boost in terms of character, again, they're both more real and feel like real characters. Jean is still boring, but at least her nice-girl nature comes out more (in the pretty good episode Mutan Crush). Cyclops, Cyke (Scott) is also more fluid showing both the terse leader and a little more loose. The biggest problem with the cast is that Nightcrawler has essentially become comedic relief for the series. Sure Nightcrawler was goofy at times, but this was over the top, and actually far better suited for a character like Bobby Drake, Iceman. So far, I loathe this version of Nightcrawler and Spyke...well...Spyke can stick it. You see what I did there. I like that the characters are more fluid and emotional and can be developed, I just don't like how immature some of them are and how the writers never took advantage of the character development that could be made. Ultimately, the characters were plainly split up into good guys and bad guys, even Magneto whose whole motivation in the comics is to be in a way right, just using the wrong methods, was really seen as just a baddy who is a master manipulator.

Overall: The first season is pretty dreadful to get through, but it certainly isn't all bad. The creators struggle to find their footing in creating a proper balance between loyalty to the heart of the X-men comics plots and being creative and taking risks in their reimagining. I've heard it does get better, so I'll be sticking with it. Hopefully you stick along with me.

** out of *****

WWE Review: Night of Champions 2009

Night of Champions 2009

Chris Jericho/???? vs. Priceless: Really one of the angles that I found most intriguing just flew out the window. It was a rather lame pick, don’t you think. Sure it caught me by surprise, I don’t think anybody really expected the pick to be who it was and I really didn’t like it. But Big Show brought it in the match showing that he can mesh well with Jericho as a partner and that he can play a good beatdown or cleaning house segment. The match was a little slow as to be expected, Big Show and Jericho dominated at first, showing off some fun little tag-team moves that involved Big Show using his size to pick up, throw, or whip Jericho into their opponents. The match was a tough one to play out, because both teams were essentially heels, but they noticed that the crowd favored Jericho, so the match played out as if Jericho/Show team were faces. The ending was hot, fast-paced, and exciting. While it wasn’t a great match…it was a decent start to the show, with a hot ending, and a showcase for the new make-shit team. ** ½

CM Punk Interview: Punk cuts another fantastic snobby, preachy lecture on the crowd cementing himself as one of the best heels in the company. Hopefully they keep it up because his character is becoming awesome and more multi-dimensional.

Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer: A pretty sufficient match, Christian looked like he led the match, and thus was able to keep it pretty high intensity and nicely paced. It really was never boring, but just over-all inconsequential (which is how I’ve felt about the ECW brand in general). Nonetheless, Tommy Dreamer was able to keep up with Christian and they had a nice match with some fun reversals sprinkled throughout to show the knowledge the two have of each other. ** ½

US Title Six Pack Challenge Melee of Doom: So I guess it’s a new rule that you’re only allowed to be in one title match each night, because they swiftly took Big Show out of this match and replaced him with Primo. Primo makes more sense in this match anyways. This match involves lots of cool MOVES~! and not much else. They played up a couple of rivalries, mainly the Colon feud and the Swagger vs. MVP rivalry, but the match at its core sense was a quick-paced spotfest. There were a couple of times where the timing was off, but overall it succeeded in what it set out to do, providing a quick-paced high octane, balls to the walls, lots of near-falls match-up. Fun but no story and ultimately inconsequential. ** ¾

Orton cut an interview: that added nothing to the PPV. Thanks, Orton!

Melina vs. Michelle McCool: Michelle McCool has grown on me over the years, she’s obviously gotten better in wrestling, and in terms of charisma and character, she’s also become one of the prime divas in the WWE. Honestly nobody ever expects much from these women’s matches, and they’re used primarily as a cooler between more prominent matches, but this match was a fun little ditty where both women tried to go beyond the norm in terms of typical Women’s matches. It doesn’t have the best pacing and the crowd doesn’t give a shit, but still if you watched it, you got some decent timekiller. The basic story is that, McCool really gets rocked in this match for most of it, and only makes small cheap shots throughout, barely getting through the match by the edge of her nail. It puts over both women, Melina as a confident, maybe overconfident, passionate wrestler, and McCool as the sniveling cheap heel. ** ½

Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. John Cena: I found it very strange that this was going on so early, I was almost positive that this would have main-evented the evening. The match itself was actually better than I expected and while not incredibly innovative, it told a fun story and I had no clue where they were going to go with it. Ultimately the story that started off was pretty typical for triple threat matches, John Cena and Triple H uniting to take on the greater evil of Orton, Orton banking on the two faces to get in each others way, which happened a few times, Orton taking advantage every time it happened. What was different was how the match ultimately came around full circle with Cena and HHH ending up on the same side again. Since this has never really happened before it forced a new, creative ending. It’s quite confusing, but it also adds intrigue to see how they proceed from here, probably something lame like a rematch with another referee but we’ll see. Admittedly the best parts of the match were during the second half with HHH and Cena going at it, I’ve grown to hate Orton because he paces his matches so slowly, and in this match, every time he got involved the pacing slammed on the brake and almost caused a wreck. It’s really grating on me, but HHH and Cena kept up the entertainment factor with a ton of reversals and Orton did his part sneaking in quick moves near the end. Overall, a decent match with a fun story, and a creative, although inconclusive, ending. *** 1/4

Mickie James vs. Maryse: This wasn’t very good at all, and that’s too bad, because I had thought Maryse was better. She impressed me a couple of times in a couple of matches before. But this one was not meant to be. Mickie James seemed to be on but Maryse’s timing was off, her maneuvers looked ugly, and the pacing was all over the place. ½ *

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio: This was Ziggler’s test match, if Ziggler impressed here WWE management would continue his big push. For me, Ziggler didn’t impress. Certainly he was okay, but you just don’t have okay matches with Mysterio. The match was slow paced, and Ziggler used a ton of headlocks and full nelsons, slowing the match way down too often. The high spots were high and they had a little story going where Ziggler was getting some huge moves, each one bigger than the one before, but nothing seemed to work but in between all that was boredom. By the end the crowd only popped a couple of times and popped for the typical finish. Yay? I wouldn’t say Ziggler is done, he’s not, he just needs a lot more experience and hopefully with that experience he’ll become more like Edge and less like Randy Orton. ** ½

CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy: I was really looking forward to this match, as not only did it have a great build to the match, it also had two great characters and a couple of entertaining wrestlers. Unfortunately, the show had killed me by this point, and things didn’t seem to click in this match, at least not as well as they should have. Punk I felt was excellent though, his mannerisms, his cocky attitude, it all fit his persona. As the match got further and further along and Hardy kept hanging in there, Punk was less cocky and more shocked and desperate. It was a decent match with a nice groove (I don’t agree with the ultimate decision) but it took a little bit to get going. That might be to how dead the crowd was, or how much lackluster “stuff” came before, but it just was not as good as I was hoping. *** ¼ But wait a minute….

REWIND: So after cooling off, I gave this match a re-watch. It held up much better without all the crap that preceded. It was better than I had first said. It wasn’t nearly as slow as I first thought and the pacing was actually just right. They didn’t seem rushed and really took their time to tell the story. Punk is still awesome in the match, he’s working double-time and really taking to the coda that less is more. The slaps, the jeers, the awesome facial reactions, all that mattered much more than MOVES~!. Cm Punk really is a huge boon in the company as he gets over characters and the story of the match, with this one telling the story of a cocky, overconfident CM Punk trying to prove a point. But it takes two to tango, and Jeff did fine as his usual consistently entertaining self, pulling in huge hope-spots and perfect timing on the comebacks. The end-game was okay, not the greatest, I actually would have liked it more back and forth, as it felt like Hardy just squashing Punk. The Swanton finish makes sense, because Punk did so well of avoiding it twice earlier, but I wish the finish didn't feel like a Hogan/Cena/or ever Mysterio from earlier in the night finish. Much better than I initially thought though. *** ¾

Final Thoughts: I didn’t like this show, it was just tough to get through. If you really narrow it down there’s only one match that’s worth watching and that was the main event. The rest of the card was offensively bad, it wasn’t good either, just bland and kind of boring. Some of the other PPVs this year have had not so great cards but one or two really good matches. Ultimately, I wouldn’t recommend it. 5/10

Top WWE PPV Matches of 09:

1. HBK vs. Undertaker (Mania 25) - **** ½
2. Jericho vs. Rey (The Bash 09) - **** ¼
3. Raw Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 09) - **** ¼
4. Jeff Hardy vs. Edge (Extreme Rules) - ****
5. Edge vs. Cena (Backlash 09) - *** ¾
6. Mysterio vs. Jericho (Judgment Day 09) - *** ¾
7. CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (Night of Champions 09) - *** ¾
8. Mysterio vs. Jericho (Extreme Rules) - *** ½
9. Smackdown Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 09) - *** ½
10. MITB (Mania 25) - *** ½
11. CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (The Bash 09) - *** ¼
12. Christian vs. Jack Swagger (Backlash) - *** ¼
13. Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH (Night of Champions 09) - ***1/4
14. Jeff Hardy vs. Edge (Royal Rumble 09) - ***
15. CM Punk vs. Kane (Backlash) - ***
16. Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 09) - ***
17. Edge vs. Big Show vs. John Cena (Mania 25) -***

18. Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton (No Way Out 09) - ***

NEXT!

No this isn't a review of that crappy movie starring Nicholas Cage. This is to let you know what I got coming up in terms of reviews.

Just so you guys know, I have been working on
some reviews. I've watched a lot of movies lately (Taken, Milk, The Hunting Party, Revolutionary Road, and more) but you know if I were to try to backlog the reviews for the films I've been watching they'd be all sorts of terrible because nothing would be fresh.

Though if you must know I liked all the films to varying degrees. Revolutionary Road was easily the best of the bunch, but is too nihilistic in it's viewpoint and way too depressing. The Hunting Party was a fun little political film. Taken was a a fun action movie and was probably the one I enjoyed the most. Milk was good and moving, but ultimately impersonal for me.

So what's coming up next,

TPBs/Comic Books:
Well within the next week, I'll have another volume of The Walking Dead finished, I plan to get through a review of volume 8 before I move onto any other series. I've changed my approach in how I read these stories, I read about an issue or two a day instead of divulging 1 1/2 to 2 trades per day. It really helps in the read and the pacing of the book. This is a book you should really take your time with to notice how good it can be at times.

After Walking Dead I have a couple of ways I can go, I've got Bendis' Daredevil series which I can re-read or the X-factor visionaries by Peter David followed by X-factor the new series by Peter David OR the short-lived District X series. I'm leaning towards Bendis' Daredevil followed by Brubaker's Daredevil.

WWE:

I'll definitely have the Night of Champions Review up with-in the week.

I'm also working on a dvd review for the Allied Powers 3-disc set. I might release it disc per disc due to the length and the amount of time it'll take me.

TV:
Been watching X-men: Evolution lately. I recently finished a complete rewatch of X-men The Animated Series that took me close to 5 months and I figure I give the newer series a try. I'll have Season 1 finished and reviewed by the end of the week.

MMA:
I was thinking about checking out Affliction PPV with Fedor vs. Barnett but Affliction canceled the show and just folded. I'm really hoping that UFC really does a better job of negotiating with Fedor this time around because I'd really like to see how the man does in a more expansive heavyweight roster. Outside of UFC, Fedor really doesn't have any challengers.

Don't know which is the next PPV I'll watch. UFC 101 doesn't really have a main event that interests me, I'm not really a fan of BJ Penn or Kenny Florian but Anderson Silva is fighting Griffin and that looks to be a good fight. It's just I don't know if I'd pay the full moola for it. If anything I'll watch it at a local sports bar, like ususal. The card after that has Big Nog (Noguiera) vs. Randy Coutre and I love Nog, so I'm always interested in watching him fight. Hopefully he has a better showing than his fight with Mir.

CONCLUSION:

Ultimately I'll have at least three things up this week:

WWE Night of Champions 2009 Review
X-men Evolution Season 1
The Walking Dead volume 7.

Till the reviews come up. Arrividechi!

TPB Reviews: The Walking Dead vol. 6

by: Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Cliff Rathburn

Collects: The Walking Dead #31-36

Premise: An apocalyptic zombie epidemic has swept the area, or the nation, maybe even the globe. Nobody knows how far and wide this epidemic reaches, why it started, or how to even stop it. This series follows a small band of survivors as they deal with the changing world around them. As the tag-line reads: "In a world of the dead, we are forced to finally start living."

Review:
This review contains very minor spoilers for many previous volumes, you have been warned!

I saw volume 6 as part of a much larger arc spanning volumes 5-8. It may be backwards to suggest that volumes 5-8 are one big long arc, because essentially, this book is an ever flowing continuation, is one big long arc in it of itself. But what separates volumes 5-8 is the introduction of a new (in a way, competing) band of survivors with their own town, own rules, own laws, and their own type of barbarism.

Kirkman's dialogue has gotten better and better, as the survivor crew is less speechy and more conversational but the plot elements have dropped a bit, as the survivor crew have less time to deal with the inner antagonism and have made the antagonist an outside group, an external threat. It's unfortunate that Kirkman shifts much of the barbarism in the series to one man from the new town. This new town has its own inner conflicts the arises from depravity of this charismatic dominant leader. But still much of the depravity and the main antagonist for a few books is one man from one town.

In a way it's kind of an acronym of how we see other foreign countries, especially the Orientalist view Middle Eastern cultures. The barbarism of the other groups is escalated, and the barbarism of their own group is depleted a bit, but in reality it's not completely true. In volume 4, the inner conflict of our main characters reached a breaking point, and characters said some truly hurtful things to each other. But the presence of an outside foreign threat, has made this group come together more because all the other people in the other town are barbarous. Yet that's obviously not true.

Charima can get people power, power can get people to do other things for you, and getting other people to do things for you can lead to movements, wars, genocides, and overall a messed up world.

Another great aspect of this series, and in this book in particular, is how it deals with the many ways of survivor's guilt. Michonne's character, has been put through tremendously horrific experiences, she reverts back to a baser version of herself, one that's just as barbarous as the character from the new town. It helps her cope with the horrible things that have gone on and that version allows her to survive where her other version may have given in already.

This is just one aspect of coping that we see, everybody seems to cope in such different ways. Rick becomes detached from his more center and desensitized to violence and committing violence. Glenn and Maggie focuses one of the few happy things in life that's left, Love, their social support of each other, the kids are similar creating a social support system amongst themselves.

Of course normality will never ever be reachieved, but as the book continues as the crew gets closer and closer to some environmental semblance of normality, the personalities of the people inside the crew get farther and farther away.


Final Thoughts: As the series continues, this book moves continues the prototypical zombie themes and goes into some deeper themes. The plot elements take a step back as they introduce a very black/white villain but Kirkman writes the villain so well, that you just can't help hating him. Obviously I'm mixed in my opinions of this book and this series. I like a lot of it, but I also don't like some of it. No doubt it's one of the most solid books going though.

Final Grade: 8.0/10

MMA PPV: UFC 100

As my love of wrestling slowly wanes as my favorite wrestlers get older and closer to retirement (Shawn Michaels, Mysterio, Jericho, Edge) or die off (Benoit, Eddie Guerrero) and the stale storytelling and booking continues to swamp the company (with some absolutely abysmal years in 2003 and 2006-2007), my love of MMA slowly grew.

It all started with Pride, really one of the first matches that I ever watched in Pride was Fedor Emelianeko vs. Kevin Randleman, in which Fedor was given a suplex (possibly german) that would have hospitalized most men, if not killed them, and Fedor came back to get a submission. It was amazing. That fight along with the fight where Quinton Jackson lifted Rickardo Arona and powerbombed him, started my interest in MMA. It's many years later, with many PRIDE events watched on DVD, including in my opinion the best fight ever in Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson II at PRIDE 28, I've cemented my new love. PRIDE has been bought out, and there's a new king in town, UFC. While that's a completely false statement, UFC probably has always been the king, but I never saw fights that were nearly as exciting as what I saw in PRIDE.

Anyways, last weekend I did watch one of the biggest cards in UFC history, and I highly anticipated it. The show had a lot of hype going in, and in this reviewer's opinion, it fulfilled the hype.

Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Alan Belcher via SPLIT decision (30-27 Akiyama, 29-28 Belcher, 29-28 Akiyama): While others thought this was a good match-up, some proclaiming it match of the night, I really didn't see the spectacle that others saw. While the superman punch was cool, the match wasn't wholly exciting. Both men were pretty even, a little too even, and both men were gassed by the end of the second round. A lot of people are calling an upset here, but I really think it could have gone either way, Akiyama had some great takedowns and some good ground game throughout all three rounds that probably swung the vote a bit, either that or he paid him off.

Dan Henderson defeated Michael Bisping via RD2 (3:20) Knocked the F*ck Out: Put it simply, I'm not a fan of Bisping and I am a fan of Hendo. The fight was really the knockout Henderson needed to put him back on top as a truly devastating fighter and the threatning contender he needed to be to fight Anderson Silva again. I think Bisping is a bit overrated in that he hasn't really beaten anybody big up to this point, quite like Henderson has. Plus it didn't help that he acted like a little shit in the build-up to this fight but really that kind of stuff makes money, and made me really want to see Hendo eat his words, which is what happened. Really a great fight to understand what not to do against Hendo. Hendo has a devastating right hand and Hendo just sat and looked for an opening, as Bisping became more and more panicked.

UFC Welterweight Title Bout: GSP defeated Thiago Alves via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-45): Watching GSP fight is like watching magic, it's just awe-inspiring. Thiago Alves was touted as his toughest opponent and GSP ran a clinic on him. I never get tired of watching GSP fight, even when it's total domination like it is here, because he's just so freaking graceful, so freaking good. Even after being injured in the third round, he still came back and dominated Alves for a long period. GSP is one of the best fighters in the world. Period.

UFC Undisputed Heavyweight Title Bout: Brock Lesnar defeated Frank Mir via RD2 (1:48) KO: You know almost everybody I know who follow UFC in the mildest sense can't stand Brock. I love Brock! I think he's an awesome force, and him being a dick really adds to the drama of the fights. Overall what it comes down to is money, and Brock being a dick, makes more people pay to see him lose. Also Brock, in so few fights, has already become a good fighter, any which way you put it, the man knows how to use his size, use his strength, and he's learned from past mistakes in the Mir fight and completely shut out Mir.

The comments afterwards had me laughing all the way. Brock's heel promo was great. And honestly, when Mir comes back into title contention, people are going to want to see what happens, because people will believe that Brock and Mir hate each other. Honestly, Brock is good for business and I'll keep watching just to see what Brock does next. It's a good time to be a UFC fan, a strong Light-heavyweight division, an exciting Heavyweight division, and excellent champions in all the other divisions, unless something goes really wrong, UFC should have a strong closing to the year.

Jon Fitch defeated Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28): Crappy match for multiple reasons, like timing, placement on the card, pacing of the match, no interest in either fighter...etc... I was really hoping to see either the prelim match that was a blood bath or Coleman vs. Bonnar on here instead. And no, I didn't really go watch either of them later. Just the way it is.

Great Show. Really great show. Or Maybe it's because all the fighters I wanted to win, won. Boo to the rest of you. Also Brock becomes the biggest heel in the sport, is excellent for both entertaiment and business.

Wrestling Review: ECW One Night Stand (2005)

WELCOME TO THE EXTREME!

To be honest, I never got ECW, and I mean that in the most literal sense. I don’t live on the east coast, so I never got the syndicated television show, I never ordered one of their PPVs, and I watched maybe one episode of their watered down cable television show on TNN. Most of my experience of ECW comes after it had already been bought out, I watched the Rise and Fall of ECW documentary dvd, I watched their first PPV Barely Legal 1997, and I watched a couple of matches such as Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko their final match, a Chris Jericho four way, and Chris Benoit vs. Al Snow. All of these gave me some idea on how ECW actually was. Unfortunately my knowledge on the promotion isn’t that great and my nostalgia is almost non-existent but after watching that documentary I still understand and appreciate the importance ECW had on the wrestling world. I think Paul Heyman said it best in the documentary (which reminds me, if you haven’t seen it, you should see it, it’s quite excellent) suggesting that ECW was a counter-culture, where people felt part of something special, got along, and actually felt like they were participating.

On June 12, 2005, WWE produced what was basically a tribute show to the fallen organization Extreme Championship Wrestling. It was basically the last true ECW show in the spirit of ECW. Splintered throughout the show are ECW superstars from its entire history, some get a split second of screen time, some get an entire match or promo to themselves. Overall, it’s all done to relive the times and celebrate the organization.

We start off with an introduction of the announcer, Joey Styles, and the color commentator, Mick Foley, for this show. Joey Styles gets a standing ovation and a chant of his name, in what is the first of many memorable moments on this show. Joey Styles typically announced all ECW shows by himself, which is a tremendous challenge, and he certainly rose up to it. But traditionally, there’s always been an announcer and a color commentator, WWE was certainly not going to let Joey do this show by himself, and Foley was a great choice for color commentary.

Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho: This is how you open a show with a fast paced, high intensity match-up. Chris Jericho and Lance storm started out in the business together, had their first match together, and initially this was going to be Lance Storm’s last match as well. Due to their respect for each other and their knowledge of each other, there is plenty of counters, some great mirroring of each other’s moves, and a pretty clean match most of the way through. But if anybody is knowledgeable of Lance Storm’s history in ECW, they would know he took part in a tremendous tag team/stable called the Impact Players, and eventually they interfere when Lance Storm needs them most. The match is a great opener as it gets the crowd going, has some great wrestling, is fast paced, and tells a decent story. They packed about 14 minutes of action into an 7 minute match, it’s pretty stupendous. *** ¼

ECW Remembers: This segment is basically a tribute to any of the wrestlers who have died and were a big part of ECW. It’s tasteful and exactly what it should have been.

Tajiri V Super Crazy V Little Guido: ECW was notorious for their three way dances, many of their major main events were three way dances. So this was in a way a tribute to that style match as well as the quick cruiserweight style that WCW squandered and WWE later killed. The match is really a bunch of cool MOVES~!!~ but it’s a fun match. The interference actually helps tell a bit of a story for the match as Super Crazy is the only misfit who doesn’t have an entourage with him, and while Tajiri and Guido try and use their entourage to their advantage which ultimately eliminates Guido, Super Crazy uses his own craziness and skill to overcome the odds. ***

Early Days of ECW – Recap of some of the memorable moments in ECW History, these are spread throughout the Show, showing different time periods, and are really fun to watch.

Rey Mysterio vs Psicosis: Another tribute to ECW of old, is the lucha style, which Paul Heyman basically initialized in the states before WCW, again, squandered it from him. This was supposed to represent the lucha style of old, but I’ve seen Rey Mysterio vs. Psichosis in action at the Super J Cup 1995 and it’s far and away amazing the stuff they used to be able to do. Rey Mysterio has since adapted to a WWE style, lower-risk, and has had many knee surgeries by this point, the two men hadn’t had a match with each other in at least 5 years, and there was no way they could re-create the magic and the chemistry of their previous matches. And they didn’t, and they crowd killed them for it, as they worked a petty match with no meaning except for being a pale comparison, and one or two dives to make up for the match. Those two dives are cool, the rest of the match was nothing to write home about. **

Smackdown superstars enter the arena/ Joel Gertner tries to interview Smackdown superstars/ Rob Van Dam promo in the ring: These are some of my favorite segments but it really reinforces the anti-establishment spirit, and the smaller company facing off against the big bad corporations. It’s also a blast just because the Smackdown guys are really pissing off the crowd and the crowd is going balls-out on them with their chants. Also there’s nobody better than JBL to be the man to represent the WWE’s anti-ECW forces, he’s a dick in the biggest way and basically the devil when it comes to a crowd that’s as smart and rowdy as ECW fans are. RVD has never been the best promo, even his worked-shoots aren’t all that great, but you cant tell he really went all heart on this one and how upset he was that he couldn’t wrestle on this show. Also there’s no denying how important RVD was to the ECW company.

Rhyno vs. Sabu: Like I said I’m not familiar with the history between these two guys, but Sabu has always been an insane, high-spot machine. The perfect length, with Rhyno attacking RVD, Sabu helping out his friend, and RVD getting a measure of revenge. Some crazy stuff, especially with RVD hurt as he is, and perfect for what it was, awesome crowd reaction to Sabu’s appearance, and honestly it wasn’t all that good but it’s too hard to deny excellent booked. ** ¾

Raw superstars enter the arena: Again more of the same, with the Raw guys having a great time. Promo is cut off this time around and actually wasn’t as good.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit: What could have been a match of the year contender any other time is a mild match here. To be honest, I can only half blame the wrestlers (I heard Eddie was upset before the match because he was booked to lose), because frankly the crowd was only half interested, paying more attention and hounding Edge more than the action in the ring. It’s really square one, stripped down, and half-speed Eddie and Benoit. It’s unfortunate because these two are two of the greatest wrestlers of the twentieth century. ** ¼

As a side note, I'll get into the whole Benoit debacle when I go back and watch his documentary again some time in the future.

Joel Gertner tries to interview Eric Bischoff: More hounding of the fans by the Raw superstars. On second thought this constant hounding is a great way to build to the fever pitch with the Heyman promo and the eventual ending.

Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome: It’s hard not to like this match because it’s pure, unadulterated, hard-hitting brutality. It’s got endless chair-shots and insane table-spots. The match is also incredibly risky and probably would be slammed if done today in a more wellness oriented WWE world. Nonetheless, the match is excitement inducing and that’s impossible to deny, the two men brutalize each other in attempt to put on a showcase of the Japanese and EXTREME stiff style. *** ¾

Paul Heyman promo: Paul Heyman gets his moment in the sun as he soaks in the cheers in another emotional moment and gets verbal revenge as he unleashes a verbal barrage onto Eric Bischoff, Edge, and JBL. Its entertaining, but at this point it’s very dated. But when this aired, man was it great. The Raw/Smackdown invaders took it in stride and had some great reactions as well, especially Edge doing a spit take. This was done to give Heyman his “final” moment in the sun and to add more fuel to the ending fire.

Dudley Boyz V Tommy Dreamer & Sandman: This match isn’t much of an actual match but is more of an ECW main-event clusterfuck complete with run-ins and interference galore, buckets of blood, weapon shots of all kinds, and call-backs to classic ECW matches of old. This is meant to be the ultimate ECW nostalgia match and it succeeds on that level as the Dudleys, Dreamer, Sandman, and a slew of guest stars really hit the punchline of what ECW was all about. As an actual match, it lacked fluidity, storytelling, and slick execution. But this night has always been more about moments than about matches. ***

Stone Cold starts a riot: This was the most WWE-like situation the entire show as it not only featured the WWE Anti-ECW crusaders but it featured current (or current at the time) WWE megastars on the ECW side as well, outside of TAZ moment. It’s still the segment that’s been built to all night, and it’s an absolute blast of a segment (outside of the terribly unprofessional scenario between JBL and Blue Meanie). Unfortunately I think the build to the segment was greater the segment itself and thus it is outshined a bit. Also the segment is a tiny bit overlong, but it ends with a great moment with Sandman and Steve Austin sharing the spotlight together.

Final Thoughts:

It’s not the greatest PPV match-wise, but it’s top to bottom a very monumental and entertaining PPV, one of the most entertaining ever in my view. It’s got a ton of moments, some really fun matches, and some bad-ass bloodshed and brutality along the way. Definitely get a chance to watch this. And if you can find the actual PPV show with the actual music, you’re better off than what’s on the DVD. 9/10

TPB Review: Justice League International vol. 1

by J. M. Dematteis, Keith Giffen, and Kevin Maguire

Collects: Justice League #1-6 and Justice League International #7

The Lowdown: It's the 1980's. A band of C-list stars (and Batman!) make up a newly reassembled Justice League. Not only do they have trouble getting on the same page but the mysterious Max Lord is pulling strings behind the scenes. Hilarity Ensues!

The Review: I guess I should get one thing straight before starting with this review: I don't read DC comics. Outside of a couple Superman books and a variety of Batman books, I generally am pretty absent-minded when it comes to most of the wider DC universe and it's characters. It was only a year ago that I found out that there were hundreds of Flash's and hundreds of Gren Lanterns.

So why did I take a chance on a Justice League book, well...hype, mainly. Possibly curiosity as well. I've heard excellent things about this run, plus right now I need a good laugh. So I dived into the Justice League International vol. 1.

Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as good, clever, or funny as the critical acclaim would have me expect...at least it isn't yet. Rarely did I ever laugh out loud during this book and frankly it's still stuck in a fairly typical superhero story genre and it rarely ever breaks out of that. The few times it does, you can see some great machinations at work. The constant bickering between Green Lantern Guy Gardner and Batman is one of the highlights of this book and actually comes to a head in a chuckle-inducing climax. Unfortunately I thought the aftermath of that rivalry was very wearisome. Guy Gardner is a highlight character of this book and he's a constant thorn in the rest of the Justice League's side due to his less than thrilling personality. In other words, he's a dick and his antics provide the most fun in this book.

But even the antics of Guy Gardner couldn't push this book into the upper echelons of greatness. Like I said before, the plotting is thickly rooted in 1980's superhero tales with a couple of the "nyuk-nyuks" on the side. The stories have a lot to deal with the themes left over from the cold-war, such as nuclear holocaust, international policies, and the brink of World War 3. The stories are certainly outdated for this new age of reader. Oftentimes I felt the stories were downright boring and if it weren't for the potential of better things to come I would have not considered continuing. Also the characters, like I said I'm not knowledgeable of the DC universe so characters like Blue Beetle, Black Canary, Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter, Mister Miracle, Captain Marvel, Guy Gardner, they meant nothing to me. This book struggled to make all the characters stand out, even though each one has at least one defining characteristic. Like I said before, Guy Gardner was the funnest of the bunch for me. Blue Beetle who is typically the one that garners the most attention didn't do much for me.

The artwork on the other hand is also pretty conventional. But Maguire excels at facial expressions, showing little nuances from panel to panel, and the art in the panel of the climax of the Gardner/Batman rivalry is fantastic. Also we have a very rowdy bunch in terms of variety in costume design, making it very easy to tell which character is which. All the characters look different and that's something I've had a problem with, with other artists first starting out on a series. His action gets lost in the shuffle but this series is less about action anyway. Maguire is perfect for the job and often times he does it well.

Final Thoughts: It's still a pretty conventional superhero book at this point and honestly it's not the greatest book, but it is the starting point and a decent introduction to most of the characters. Things pick up in JLI #8, but you really should start here to get acquainted with the going-ons. Also you can't miss the classic Gardner and Batman interactions.

7.5/10

Movie Review: L.A. Confidential (1997)

The Premise: Taking place in 1950's Los Angeles, this movie looks at the underbelly of this sunny, beautiful city focusing on the notorious police department.

The Review: This film comes in under the radar for me. I don't remember anything about it, I may have even watched it or bits and pieces of it when it came out but honestly, I was in the seventh or eigth grade and was only just beginning my love for film at that point.

Watching it now, I realize what a fantastic film. One of my favorite film genres is the police drama, add to the fact that I love period films, and this film just combines the two. Taking all the contrivances of film noir and updating it for a modern audience with a sleek and sexy look and a pacing the audience is used to.

Ultimately, the film is about three different types of cops, the straight laced, slimy, "by the book" cop (Pearce), the superstar, "sold-out" cop (Spacey), and the tough, thuggish, "end justifies the means" cop (Crowe), and their trek through all faucets of Los Angele's criminal underwold. All three characters have characteristics that could easily be mistaken as "bad guy" chracteristics, but the world they inhabit is so full of gray that the main characters have to be gray in order to fit into that world. The characters are basically shallow caricatures of three different types that develop into full-fleshed characters by the end of the film. They're taken as far as they can go and back again, without changing the core characteristic of their character. The actors also play the characters so masterfully and are able to portray the entire depth of their characters that they may be the best people in a cruel world.

The only thing I can think of being wrong with this movie is that the plot moves at such a breakneck pace, that it's sometimes overwhelming. There are many characters to keep straight in name and look, the plot points come at you, you attempt to digest and suddenly we're on to another piece of the puzzle, it's overwhelming and sometimes confusing. This isn't a film you should shut your brain off for, don't blink or you might miss something.

The crime and corruption goes so deep that the movie jumps from police racism, to murder, to high-class hookers, to low-class rape, etc...and all without the blink of an eye or a hiccup along the way. This movie has two major themes going for it, the moral grayness of the world shown in the in-depth police corruption and the duality of the world - the fantastical image versus the reality. This being a period piece helps exude the fantastical image of Hollywood in the 1950s, with the lights, the glitz, the soundtrack, the cars, the set design, everything is so masterfully done that you can't help but be drawn into this world. Then you get drawn depper and deeper, as the movie peels layers and layers off, and you wouldn't want to live int this world, but you also can't help but be in it and continue watching the layers get peeled.

Favorite scene: The interrogation scene, the tension-building is at its finest.

****

out of 5 stars.

TPB Review: Hardboiled

by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow

The Lowdown: Robots, sex districts, blood, and guts. It's crazy, it's short, the less you know about the premise the better.

Review: No this isn't the greatest craziest action movie of all time directed by John Woo but it's the craziest, greatest action comic of all time. It's hard-boiled! Ok maybe not THE greatest, but definitiely the craziest!

Geoff Darrow pulls out all the stops and is pretty much uncensored in his art, showing every nitty gritty little detail, and I do mean EVERY detail. Darrow leaves nothing for the imagination not in the panel not between panels, this is the most detailed book I've ever seen. Each page is jam packed and could take 15 minutes to look at, and his full page spreads are amazing, making the world, the action, everything, really come to life. At times it's overbearing, it's cluttered, but that's the point of the book as Frank Miller so devilishly shows in the loudest and subtlest writing of all time.

It's really just a giant clash as Frank Miller's story of a malfunctioning robot becomes a larger than life critique on the absurdity, on the materialism, and basically on the meaning of life. For a book that's full on with everything else, there's not a ton of dialogue here and the dialogue doesn't use too many swares, which makes the world all the more creepy, the degradation of society doesn't come with what we say but instead with overindulgence, materialism, corporations copywriting our wants, and basically overpopulation. The book lets the art speak for it, but the concept of the story is certainly an intersting one, there's only one main character and couple of other characters, but they all support a couple of ultimate concepts.

Basically asking the question, what's more important to some, to be blinded by a beutiful dream, or live in the awful truth. As shown by one of the characters, Wileford, a giant slob of a man using machines to feed him all kinds of junk food, using machines with little naked women on them to please him, it's all one big critique on how we want so much, but it's all such bullcrap and meaningless, and ultimately unhealthy for us and society. Look at the size of the police car in this book, look at all the crap on it. WHY? It's completely and ridiculously absurd, absolutely hilarious, and kind of reaffiriming the same themes we've heard many times before. Too much of any thing is probably not good for us. Maybe I should heed that advice.

Final Verdict:

Loud, crazy, and Miller and Darrow draw a thin line between genius and insanity, high art and low class absurdity. Definitely not for everyone.

8/10

A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex by Chris Jericho

Many autobiographical wrestling books have come and gone, with few standing head and shoulders ahead of the pack. Who would have thought that Mick Foley's trilogy of books would have been better than some of the autobiographies from the biggest names in the business (many of them much bigger than Foley himself), such as The Rock, Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, and arguably Eddie Guerrero and Batista. While I have only read a few of the books mentioned (Shawn's, Austin's, and Piper's) and briefed through many of the others but none of them seemed to be better, heck most of them were way below par with Foley's. Untill now!

Who is it? Obviously by the picture it's Chris Jericho. What is the X-factor that sets up Jericho and Foley's books as the best autobiographes in wrestling? Well it's the fact that they are actually written by them. Jericho and Foley both opted not to use ghostwriters. The others used ghostwriters and therefore, there is a large sense of disconnect between the wrestler and the reader. Those books weren't in the wrestler's own voice. While some were better than others, it's still a third party telling the story. Jericho's book blows all that away.

Well a new king of the autobiographies has dethroned Foley, and his name is Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho learns from the achievements and mistakes of Foley's three books and improves upon the formula.

First off the structure makes the book very fun to read, we still get the same sense of worldliness and adventure but it's streamlined in order to decrease the confusion and exasperation of lines like "and then I traveled to (back to) _______ (insert country)" being used over and over again. It helps with the overall flow and pacing of the book. I guess with can thank Peter Forntale for this.

At the same time, I'm not swearing out Peter Forntale's name because his participation made the book better rather than worse. Like I said, ghost-writer's often detract as the wrestler's voice and personality gets lost in the book. But NOT HERE, Chris Jericho's voice comes straight through the book and punches you in the face. It's great and I feel like I'm having a conversation with the man rather than reading a summary of an interview. Jericho's voice feels honest and balances humor and comedy with the somber and sometimes downright depressing moments very well. Very few times his voice borderlines arrogance as he praises himself as the best wrestler and sometimes putting others down due to looks or failing at the sport, but mainly it's his attempt at providing the most objective subjectivity he can about his colleagues in the business. I mean he is one of the best in the business, so he's definitely allowed some lee-way in saying it.

Finally, the book's theme is also fantastic. It's a true "follow your dreams" success adventure story. His book reads like a full life, complete with ups and downs, positives and negatives, but overall his strong spirit pushes the reader forward. It's a truly tremendous experience to read this book and honestly leaves the readers elated with the happy ending that are few and far between in the wrestling business. Sure it's not the end of Jericho's career, but like life, with the end of one journey just means the beginning of another. It's the perfect end point for this part of Jericho's story, finally achieving his dream of being in the WWF.

My biggest problem with the book is less one with the actual book and more personal problem. It's a great inspiring book that motivates people to chase their dreams, but what if you just don't know, like I don't, what you want to do. It leaves you with a sense of emptiness and life rushing by while everyone else chases their dreams. The book at first left me highly elated but after a while I was very downtrodden as I felt like that passion that reads so well in the book, is missing in my life. I want it, and I hunger for it, and I want to do something important, and something that makes me happy but I don't know what that is. How can you chase the unknown?

Overall, it's an absolutely fantastic book. Probably the most satisfying Wrestling autobiography you'll ever read. I borrowed mine from the library and now I want a copy for my own to add to my personal collection, even though I've already read it.

10/10

Movie Review: Gridiron Gang

The Lowdown: Another uplifting sports tale based on "true events" that sees The Rock as juvenile probation officer Sean Porter to teach the delinquents responsibility, discipline, and community through the sport of Football.

The Review: Inspirational sports stories are one in a million. They all follow a tried and true success formula to at least make a successful movie. A few films take the formula one step farther really getting into the characters' heads, analyzing their relationships, and having a unique trait to make their movie stand out. Gridiron gang certainly has the unique trait (the focus on delinquent teens, lost causes locked into the institutional cycle and many times locked into the cycle of violence) to hook the audience but it offers little else to break through the glass ceiling to the short list of great sports films.

I'm not suggesting this is a bad film, because it's not, it's serviceable at the least and decent at best. It does offer a unique hook and utilizes that hook to the fullest, not only playing into the common themes acquainted with teenage delinquents but also providing commentary to our institution's especially the justice system. Many of these kid's would have never gotten the second chance they deserve if it wasn't for The Rock's character, Sean Porter. Not only does it critique our country's institutions but it also critiques our country's ability to treat the economically disadvantage and ultimately shows the desperation of the lower classes and how many of these kids are victims at birth.

As far as the kids in the film go, they're pretty prototypical characters, providing a short range of different ethinicities and cultures in order to diversify the film a bit and show that people of all color can be denied a second chance, and incorporate a theme of racial unity into the film. The kid's character's often have one unique trait and stick to it and essentially support the main character played by The Rock. The Rock gives one of his best performances (second to The Game Plan) which certainly isn't saying much. But keep in mind his performance wasn't only one of his best but rather good. The Rock is perfect for the part because he has a background in football and he seems to be truly involved and interested in the tough love character he portrays. He's able to portray a wider range of emotion in this film and able to touch upon deeper tones than his bland action films from before. While the acting is some of the Rock's best, the story and scripting is bland.

The direction of the film often jumps from being gritty to being too holywoodized. Some of it takes us straight to the heart of the film, being in the middle of a gang war and other times, it's overly dramatic and unreal with slow motion. Also the film fails to break out of the typical sports cliches of underdog team, caring coach, and sports sequences that bring absolutely nothing new to the table. It's already hard to bring drama to these films, but sometimes it felt like they weren't even trying.

The only thing that really kept from dogging this film is the documentary footage in the credits, when I saw the footage I noticed that the coach really did give inspirational speeches similar to how he did in the film, it really brings a truer feel and depletes the hollywoodized look, and actually makes me wish I just watched the documentary more than the film.

Overall: It's certainly not a great film, but it's serviceable and it's worth watching for those interested in seeing The Rock develop (like me) as an actor and those who can't get enough of their football films.

** 1/2

Book Review: Hardcore Diaries by Mick Foley

Hardcore Diaries by Mick "Mankind" "Cactus Jack" "Dude Love" Foley is the final entry into the trilogy of autobiographical BESTSELLING books that Foley delivered. It's also my least favorite of the three but by no means a bad book.

This particular book focuses on a few months in the year 2006, with a few anecdotes filling in the gap between his last book and this book. The most intriguing part of the book is the titular Diary portions dealing with Foley's and WWE's creative processes.

The main arc involves Foley's pitching of an idea for an epic storyline that he hopes will go down in wrestling history, the creative and political hurdles he has to dodge in order to get his ideas on screen, and the subsequent fumbling by the WWE in the faith and execution of the storyline. It's interesting looking back on this back as the relationship between Foley and Vince McMahon and as a result Foley and WWE becomes soured probably leading to his decision to leave sometime in 2008.

The Wrestling portions are the biggest draw for me as I've always been interested in the creative processes of the WWE and they get a major spotlight in this book. Also while I never loved Foley as a character/wrestler, I've always respected him, his work, and his mind. He shows here in his description of his epic storyline, his dedication to creating promos, and ultimately his dedication to the art of wrestling that he has one of the greatest creative minds in the sport...or at least he convinces the reader that he does with the storyline he's cooked up.

It's unfortunate that Foley's arc in this book takes him from highly dedicated to his craft and wanting to entertain the audience with the greatest possible (the whole reason the idea crops up is because he felt like he underperformed in his match with Edge at Mania 22, which was a very good match mind you)...to a person who has been disarrayed with WWE and feels it's not worth the time he dedicated if epic ideas are going to crapped on. I really felt sympathy for the man as he went through this downer period near the end of the book, and while I agree there are more important faucets of life than a storyline idea, that storyline idea is part of your passion and ultimately the creative process, the storyline, the performing, and the passion Mick had for his art was lost (if not lost, at least knocked down a severe degree) due to the corporate fumbling of his idea, and his experience with that fumbling.

Ultimately while the look into the creative processes of the wrestling world and Mick Foley's world is rather exciting, there are many many tangents along the way, sometimes even within the same chapter. Having written in a diary/journal myself I understand that diaries often take tangents where you end up in a completely different place than where you started, but in a book it feels unfocused, muddled and confusing. It's unfortunately the nature of the project. Also I felt the anecdotes were sometimes placed at random in-between the diary sections of the book, small complaint, but it still bugged me as I was often so sucked into the present day portion of the book that these other portions (describing his 2004 comeback in the WWE, his literary pursuits, and several other anecdotes) broke the momentum.

While a few complaints, there's one tangent that's absolutely spectacular and that's his desription of his trip to the Middle East to visit the troops. It's one of the most harrowing descriptions, and Foley's experience really hits home. It's also not as politically black and white as WWE often portrays it as Foley lets his political views shine through, and his experience with a resident civilian child being a victim of the war makes this small section of the book unforgettable and an absolute highlight.

Final Thouht:
Although there's some problems with the book, and Foley isn't exactly a literary expert, it's still a fun ride that I'd certainly reccommend to anybody interested in the WWE's creative process, Mick Foley the person, Mick Foley the performer, and really if you've read the other two books this one is a must as well.

7.5/10

Wrestling Reviews: WWE's The Bash 2009

Wrestling. Yes, I used to be a huge wrestling fan, it used to be the only type of entertainment I used to watch and for a little while there wasn’t enough I couldn’t consume, I was watching American mainstream (WWE), the independents (mainly ROH), and Japanese wrestling from all time frames, current and older.

Lately I’ve really cut back, I’ve been in and out of WWE since as far back as I could remember. What follows is a detailed description of time-frames in which I was into wrestling, favorite wrestlers, etc… I used to watch Hogan as a single digited little kid in the late 80’s before falling out. Watched in the mid 90’s at the height of the HBK era and watched the humble beginnings of Million Dollar Lackey Steve Austin and stayed with for a long while through the amazing Hart Foundation feud, Screwjob, Austin era collectively called the Attitude era of the late 90’s and into the rise of HHH and Rock in the early 00’s before falling out somewhere around Rock’s winning of the title at Backlash 2000 (I was a huge Rock-Hater and huge HHH “The Game” Supporter). I came back around Summerslam 2002 the moment I heard my favorite wrestler of all time HBK was returning. I watched here and there through my college years, never a devoted watcher but followed everything through the Internet and was really into it during Eddy and Benoit’s big pushes in 2004. Around 2006 I fell out again, very upset by the death of two of my favorite wrestlers in Eddy and Benoit, the new direction of superhuman John Cena and PG-DX, and I cut even more back barely watching through 2006 and 2007. My interested was piqued again during 2008 with Flair’s retirement and Shawn’s subsequent storyline/feuds with Batista and another one of my favorites Chris Jericho’s rather recent return.

I only watch PPV’s now with a couple critically acclaimed matches along the way, and I find it to be a pretty fun way to watch WWE and minimizing the garbage they put out. So what follows is the first entry into the journal of what I think of the PPV matches of WWE. Starting with the WWE’s most recent show, THE BASH 09.

The Bash 09

ECW Scramble (Christian vs. Jack Swagger vs. Finlay vs. Tommy Dreamerv vs. Mark Henry): The scramble gimmick makes a return here. They’ve altered the rules a bit for this match, this time around the intervals are 3 minutes instead of 5, with a final interval of 5 minutes after everyone has been in the ring. It’s a good change as this match doesn’t have enough storytelling potential for a longer match. I’m not a huge fan of any of these wrestlers to be honest, the one I like the most is probably Finlay. Jack Swagger has gotten a tremendous amount of critical acclaim from the internet fans, and honestly the kid has potential but he’s really not there yet and usually bores me more often than wows me (outside of one match with Christian at Backlash). The match itself is what’d you expect, nothing new, and a twist on the same old ECW title feud over the past year. They didn’t really tell any stories at all, there was no focus, just everybody fighting for the title. It wasn’t disappointing, just there, the crowd was into it, and that certainly helped the match. It’s good for what it was, a decent opener. ** ½

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho: It really is a crime that these two went on second for the second PPV in a row, Jericho’s feud with Mysterio has been one of the highlights from all of WWE for quite some time now. This match was no different, they continue to bring the good each and every match. This time around, they built upon all their previous matches to bring us the best encounter yet, full of hard-hitting strikes, high-flying awesomeness, and amazing reversals. It was an adrenaline rush from beginning to end. The psychology was sound starting with sound heel-work by Jericho, slowly building to a Mysterio come-back, before going into an all-out war. Moves that worked before in previous match may not have worked this time, with the opponent ready with a reversal, the mask continued to play a big part of the story with another very creative ending that played off of their last match, and everything hit on all cylinders with surgical precision. I’m not even sure if they plan to have more, this could easily be the feud ender or they could increase the intensity of the feud and keep going. Whichever they choose this was an outstanding match, the best of the series, and easily the best series of matches this year. **** ¼

Dolph Ziggler vs. The Great Khali: It takes a very special video package to get me interested in a Khali match, that’s what the video package was for this match, very awesome. I don’t care about either of these wrestlers, but the video package alone made me care about this feud. It’s a very interesting booking concept with a smaller athletic heel wrestler constantly outsmarting his more powerful, bigger opponent and a very easy one to mess up too. This feud would have been perfect if THE Brian Kendrick was still on Smackdown. The match was exactly what you’d think it would be and booked exactly as it should have been, with Khali lumbering around hitting his powerful, slow, offense and Diggler trying to take advantage of his speed and try and even up the match any way he could. The match wasn’t great, and honestly, nobody expected it to be, also the booking leads us to believe that Khali is going to be matched up with another big man in order to give us more boring slow lumbering matches. * ½

Well our next match is the tag title match and it hopefully the young guns will impress, hold on Teddy Long comes out and we’ve got a change, the old match is out and a new team have been entered in.

The Brothers Colon vs. Priceless

The Brothers Colon vs. Priceless vs. Edge/Jericho: This is awesome. Both Edge and Jericho bitched to Teddy Long about something, then Vinnie Mac berated Teddy Long, so it leads to this. That’s sequential, logical booking for you folks. The story of the match is interesting as the two teams that were originally in this match are upset by the new addition so try to make sure that the new team never gets tagged in and goes about their business wrestling the match. Of course, none of the pinfalls mean anything and everybody is waiting until Edge/Jericho interfere, snap, or sneak a tag, making it rather dull when the focus isn’t on one of those two guys, but it’s a fun story nonetheless. ** ½

Melina vs. Michelle McCool: I don’t remember the last time a women’s title match was on PPV, but you know the divas always impress me as they seem more competent and more willing to learn than divas of old (like Torrie Wilson) and some of the divas are great wrestlers in their own right (Beth Phoenix). Competent but forgettable and set up to be the piss break of the PPV as people calm down for the triple main even headed their way. * ¾

CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy: What a match…I’ve always been huge on CM Punk and loved his ROH run from 2003-2005 but with his difficulty adapting to the WWE style and his black and white character in WWE has made me a little less high on him. Also WWE seems to run through a cycle of faith constantly gaining and losing faith in CM Punk leading to a type of stop-start booking for him. CM Punk had a title run last year, but it was merely as a transitional champ and he constantly had the knees cut out from under him. This time around, they seem to be doing an excellent job booking Punk not only as a champion but as a character. The black/white is replaced with gray as his character uses controversial tactics but is still gentlemanly and competitive. It makes for a very fun match, with a great slow build. Punk keeps Hardy’s spottiness in check giving the match a great structure and giving Hardy some awesome out of nowhere reversals and hope spots. I actually loved the non-ending and can’t wait to see where it goes from here, it had the crowd literally in the palm of their hands with that ending. But after that, the restart really kills momentum of the match. I love it because it’s used so sparingly and perfect for the new Punk character…but I can understand if most people didn’t like it. *** ¼

John Cena vs. The Miz: Everybody knew this was going to be a joke going in, that’s exactly what it was. Cena schools The Miz, Miz gets an opening, goes to work for a bit, Cena says UH-UH and finished him off. If you thought things would go different, than you were fooling yourself. Cena is one of the most over-protected superstars. It was a fun short ride, and pretty much a showcase to see how far Cena is from the undercarders. Not a great match in the least…but fun. **

Randy Orton vs. HHH: This pairing has very little drama and chemistry, yet they still push this feud like it’s epic, Ben Hur against Massala. Add to that the stipulations suck, there haven’t been many good stretcher matches (I can only think of one and that’s Batista vs. HBK), the Legacy’s interference was expected, and the story was just lackluster. When all is said and done, this was the best match these two have had with each other in this few feud, HHH’s high-risk tactics and Orton’s desperation comes out fully which in a way puts a twist on the typical story. In all honesty it’s not enough to save the match or the pairing from being stale, but it is there and the thought is appreciated. ** ¾

Final Analysis: The show has the final? Match of the best feud of the year in Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho. So definitely check that and the Smackdown title match, everything else is pretty skippable. It’s pretty typical of what’d you expect and what the WWE layout has been, anything involving the new Smackdown Six (Jericho, Mysterio, Edge, Morrison, Punk, Hardy) is good, everything not involving those men is lackluster. Hopefully Raw can pick up the slack because they’re really holding back these PPVs.

Top WWE PPV Matches of 09:

1. HBK vs. Undertaker (Mania 25) - **** ¾
2. Jericho vs. Rey (The Bash 09) - **** ¼
3. Raw Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 09) - **** ¼
4. Jeff Hardy vs. Edge (Extreme Rules) - ****
5. Edge vs. Cena (Backlash 09) - *** ¾
6. Mysterio vs. Jericho (Judgment Day 09) - *** ¾
7. Mysterio vs. Jericho (Extreme Rules) - *** ½
8. Smackdown Elimination Chamber (No Way Out 09) - *** ½
9. MITB (Mania 25) - *** ½
10. CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (The Bash 09) - *** ¼
11. Christian vs. Jack Swagger (Backlash) - *** ¼
12. Jeff Hardy vs. Edge (Royal Rumble 09) - ***
13. CM Punk vs. Kane (Backlash) - ***
14. Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 09) - ***
15. Edge vs. Big Show vs. John Cena (Mania 25) -***
16. Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton (No Way Out 09) - ***