Dear ESPN,
If you were going to steal the title of my thesis for a headline the least you could have done was call me and do a token interview, seeing as I am quite possibly the only person in the world who has written an academic work on how wrestling deaths are handled.
Thanks for nothing.
Ben
So are you officially famous in internet terms when something you wrote gets picked up by Deadspin?
If you like the Hellboy comics, or enjoyed the movie, you might want to check out the Hellboy Animated blog.
Once again I feel obligated to post something about the death of a wrestler.
Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room yesterday. No signs of foul play or suicide. He was 38 years old.
Odds are his death ahd something to do with his struggles with alcohol, drugs, pain medication and, more than likely, steroids. Eddie had supposedly been clean for four years and had cleaned up his life, but I won't be surprised if the autopsy results reveal that those demons caught up with him again.
What scares me about all of this is that right now I'm watching Raw and I knew what they were going to do as a tribute. You could say I wrote the book on it, because, well, I did. My masters thesis was on how the WWE handled the death of Owen Hart in 1999 and so far they're following the blueprint when it comes to Eddie Guerrero.
It's creepy. I have no doubt that the tears and sentiments coming from most of the performers is real, but it's so ridiculously bizarre to think that they've all been through this before. On top of that it's just weird to expect fans to cheer for contrived matches in between the sentimental tributes from the co-workers of the deceased.
To their credit the WWE did a good job in the first 3-4 minutes, opening the show with all of the wrestlers on stage, black bands on their arms, as they tolled the bell 10 times, just like they did for Owen. And Bossman. And Mr. Perfect. And Gorilla Monsoon. And The British Bulldog. And Brian Pillman. I guess when it happens this often it's easy to get it right.
The song they chose for the memorial video was fitting though, even if you know they chose Johnny Cash (actually a Johnny Cash cover of Nine Inch Nails) just because he's back in style because of Walking the Line:
Hurt
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stain of time
The feeling disappears
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
Coke is running ads on the radio down here talking about their quest to find the perfect package for their product.
"We tried metal bottles, wood bottles, plastic bottles..." and so on. Then they celebrate the fact that Coke is now available in glass bottles with... get this... TWIST OFF CAPS! Wow! What a novel idea. Glass bottles with twist-off caps! I've never seen that before. Oh wait... Coke has been sold like that for how long on PEI? Anyone? It's got to be at least 10-15 years for the twist-off caps now and who knows how long for the glass bottles. But here in Atlanta? It's cutting edge baby.
It's Saturday afternoon, you're bored and you need soemthing amusing to watch online, right? Well, you've come to the right place.
For the three people that still haven't seen it- Store Wars.
For the disc golf enthusiasts or just plain curious- The Hyzernauts, a group of incredibly good and somewhat odd European disc golfers. I recomend Andrei on fire and Buddy Hyzer.
Finally, some Canadians pulling a fast one on an American sports reporter by telling them that they're part of the Canadian Olympic Hide and Seek team. I don't know how old this is but if I get bored enough I'll do some digging in football schedules to see where and when this was. Funny stuff. Think Talking to Americans by the people. Download canadian_hideandseek.wmv
UPDATE
I got an email from one of the guys in the video. The game was between Tulane and Louisville and took lace on December 4, 2004 in New Orleans. Louisville won 55-7. Cox Sports broadcasted the game so I presume it was their coverage.
Walking to the bus stop after work last evening I realized something- the smell of freshly cut grass is going to remind me of summers at the cottage on PEI. More exactly always going to remind me of days spent at the beach that ended with climbing the rickety wooden or metal stairs only to run across freshly cut lawns in a futile effort to avoid getting grass clippings stuck to my wet feet. The run would be followed by a trip to the outdoor faucet to rinse of the mixture of sand, red clay and grass though it was inevitable that I'd miss a spot on the back of my leg or heel and end up with grass and sand in my bunkbed.
Those were the days.
Update your links accordingly- Dennis, aka Speakergeek, can now be found at www.speakergeek.com. It's all new and shiny lookin'. I'm looking forward to more frequent posts from the man that has introduced me to so much good music over the years. Come on Dennis, what do you have for me?
I'm going to a bachelor party on May 7 and I've been told the theme is action heroes. While it doesn't sound like the plan is for all-out costumes each guest is expected to be representing an action hero in one way or another. All of this led to discussions with both my roommate and my girlfriend about the difference between an action hero and a superhero since superheroes aren't allowed at the bachelor party. So what's the difference? Here's what I've come up with so far:
Superheroes
Action Heroes
None of these differences are clear cut and some characters are borderline. for example, is Batman a superhero or an action hero? He doesn't have any super powers but he wears a costume and has a secret identity. I say he's a super hero. How about Lara Croft? She doesn't wear a costume but has a trademark outfit (no unlike Indiana Jones). I'd label her (and Indy) an action hero. How about Luke Skywalker? Clearly not a super hero but is he an action hero or are sci-fi heroes a completely distinct category? What are your thoughts, and who should I be?
