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Guessing there was some news with the Iron Claw movie which is why various Von Erich articles were among the most read on Wikipedia yesterday

@Andrew POE!, if/when you get around to watching The Curse, please check in with us when you've finished episode 9 and have not watched 10 yet. I would just love to see your predictions for what you think will happen in 10.

Quick hits on new stuff that I've read because I've been doing mostly of re-reading of stuff I've read before since about six months ago: King by Allan Levine - Yeah, I think I pretty much know everything I could want to know about this particular Canadian PM. He was uncomfortably emotionally entwined with his mother, he was an ardent spiritualist, he was very anti-Semitic. That's the WLMK story. That and having a Nixon-like ability to revive what was seemingly a dead political career after a huge loss or setback multiple times in his life. The Exchange by John Grisham - As fun as his last book The Boys From Biloxi was, a vintage Grisham airport bookstore page-turner, this was not. I think I liked it better when Mitch and Abby were floating around the Caymans with a few million bucks in their secret bank account. I'm more interested in whatever Mark Sway is up to than finding out that Mitch and Abby are boring yuppies with two kids living in NYC or reading about them experiencing a far less entertaining legal thrill ride than they did in The Firm. A Little Yellow Dog by Walter Mosley - I've long loved the film adaptation of Devil in a Blue Dress, but I never had gotten around to reading an Easy Rawlins mystery. I finally did, and what do you know, it was a page turner. I committed myself to leaving this one at my bedside and just reading a couple chapters a night before I went to sleep as a cool-down device, but I did cheat a bit yesterday as I got closer to the end, and I finished it last night. I'm resolving to go back and start reading these Easy Rawlins mysteries from the beginning (I think A Little Yellow Dog is the fourth Rawlins mystery). I'm bummed that HBO canceled their Perry Mason adaptation, which was a gorgeous and well-acted show, and I would have loved a Perry Mason/Easy Rawlins L.A. Area Mystery Night on MAX if HBO were still prolific in putting out great shows. I also read a couple of complete stinkers (besides the new Grisham) that I've already sold back to used book stores, the most notable of those being Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History, a book of counterfactuals centered around major American sports happenings that includes two decent counterfactuals, one to disprove an assumption that people generally have about the effects of adopting Title IX, and a bunch of crap. There's a book about English and Scottish football counterfactuals called What If? that is actually a series of thoughtfully researched counterfactuals interlaced with some solid narrative writing about how the counter scenario might have turned out, and I expected at least that level of writing in Upon Further Review. I didn't get it, and thus this is one of the worst books that I've read in awhile.

The Paper Mario: TTYD remake and Nintendo World Championships both release on Thursday rather than Friday, which I wholeheartedly support going forward for Nintendo first-party releases.

I mean, Square Enix publishes like a million games so that's just steady as she goes.

Regarding good overbooked matches, Raven vs. Saturn at Fall Brawl '98 doesn't get really good until the overbooking. It depends on well-executed overbooking to go from "solid match" to "great match." Then again, if something has a lot of ga-ga, but the ga-ga enhances the match, then it isn't really overbooked. It's well-booked. I submit that we change the term overbooked match to the term gagaful match. Or jibberjabberful match, I'm not picky.

"Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat." - Ancient Klingon Proverb

I ended up buying Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Asako I & II and Happy Hour on Blu Rays. All three were coming off Criterion Channel within the last two months and rather than 'binge watch' (where I would lose any connection to the viewing experience and it would be a race against the clock), I did that instead. I had gotten Drive My Car on Criterion blu ray too. (I also got Damnation and Satantango on Blu Ray. Watching Satantango and Happy Hour would be a full day) What's weird is other online reviews I've seen hated Evil Does Not Exist. One person on an AMC reddit actually said he almost walked out of the showing, seeing other people walk out.

I had no idea this match was booked, nor any idea who this kid was, so I assumed it was just an insane typo when I read the Triller show teaser at 7:59pm and saw "Dax Harwood vs Dynamite Kid Tommy Billington." Shit, Randy Orton didn't start out just straight up wrestling as Barry O.

I looked it up and saw "deathcore" and said no thank you haha. Sorry.

RIP JFA drummer Mike "Bam-Bam" Sversvold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB4ZxVBgi8U

Square Enix announced a new multi-platform strategy where games will "include Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs" They also said they would be focusing on "quantity" over " quality"

I prayed for this and it happened is still my favourite line from a wrestling promo in 2024.

Uncut Gems on Imax! Thanks for the tip. I'll be there too. I'm happy for you to have both Good Time and the Curse waiting for you. Can You Forgive Me is another McCarthy dramatic turn worth taking a look at. I like a lot of docs, but I get what you're saying and especially about ...Heaven. Loved it. So stoked for Evil Does Not Exist. I loved Drive My Car. And really liked both Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Asako I&II. Also, thanks for the heads up on the Karen Dalton doc. I'm a fan since the Light in the Attic reissue campaign 15 years ago. I won't expect too much. I'm just in need of filling in some details on her story.

Two really great matches tonight - Desperado/Fujita in particular felt really special. I don't think he's even making he final 4, but I certainly would not be against New Japan deciding to hitch their wagon on Fujita now, he has a connection that, Wato or YOH for example, did not have at this stage in their career. Hiromu vs DOUKI was great too, they just naturally gel together I think. Also really enjoyed Titan/BUSHI and Eagles/Moloney in particular. Overall it was a fun show with a hot crowd.

The schedule is releasing on Wednesday which means in the lead up the NFL will release bits and pieces as teasers This morning they announced that the season opening game will be Ravens vs Chiefs (Thurs, Sept 5)

Is it though?

I was wondering how long it would take for the Thibs minutes to catch up to the Knicks, and it has done so with a vengeance. Honestly, would anyone be surprised if Indy takes the series now? Combine the injuries with the dudes playing 45 minutes per game, and it's just not sustainable. If they somehow survive this series, Celtics sweep them easily.

EVIL and the House of Torture fucking suck.

Surely it's not a case of EVIL being over in Japan but Gedo just refusing to back down at this point, right? The Twitter/Reddit meltdown how been hilarious though

for those who just can't get enough of MAIN EVENT EVIL... oh joy

Random-ish YouTube video: Audrey Hepburn on Johnny Carson Watch as the conversation sorta veers into and out of obvious awkwardness. People found out eventually that Carson was introverted off camera and Audrey is really quiet. Since this was when Carson was 90 minutes, watch them walk for 10+ minutes. Also, Audrey sounding really Dutch at points (well, that’s one of her native languages)

And this was before Thibs left his players in down 40 in the 2nd half.

Now, I will be the first to admit that we'd probably at BEST be 2-2 in this series, but goddamn has the reffing in the Panthers series been atrocious. My friend Josh, who is a panthers fan even texted me with "I can't even make a choking joke about the Bruins because I don't think we win that game if the ref didn't give that goal." Combine that with the sucker punch and yeah, I don't see the Panthers-Bruins rivalry going away anytime soon. I have a feeling at least once in 2024-25 we'll have a line brawl.

The Flair Paisanos thing would be an amazing thing for some wrestling fed to parody if not for one fed being run by a Ric Flair superfan and the other fed being one that kinda sorta employs Flair At the risk of the Bucks parodying the Paisanos video