Dusty Finish

Anyone keeping up with new releases and want to recommend me some good shows? Just caught up on my backlog and I'm looking for something new to watch. Mostly interested in mecha series or some sort of scifi/fnatasy drama. Generally detest silly comedy or fan service. Don't like the "fighting" shows as a genre, though I did quite enjoy Bleach (and mildly liked parts of Naruto and Inuyasha). Series I've particularly enjoyed include Ghost in the Shell: SAC and Fullmetal Alchemist (prob my favorites), Death Note, Flag, Blood Plus, Gilgamesh, Hell Girl, Broken Blade, Durarara, Rahxephon, Noein, etc. Ideally looking for something newish to the US that's come out on DVD in the past year or two. Or something that's newer that I can find fansubbed. Jormungand has caught my attention lately. Any good? Thanks.

Mike Awesome is related to Hulk Hogan through marriage. According to Meltzer, one of Awesome's aunts married Hulk Hogan's brother. This aunt and brother had a son, who grew up to wrestle as "Horace Hogan." So Awesome and Horace Hogan would have been cousins, Awesome's father wasn't a Hogan, so Hogan's brother (Horace's father) was technically an uncle-in-law.

Eh, give him two days and a couple new forged prescriptions. He'll be ready to go by showtime.

I'd say it's far better than S1 of Eureka. I enjoyed the later seasons of Eureka, but never thought it was exceptional. Really intrigued by Helix. Very curious to see where last night's revelation that goes. The arrival of some new players should make things interesting. I do wonder how long they can keep this going. So far, the characters aren't very interesting. The show works off of mystery and a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere. I can't see the show being set entirely in the research station for much longer. I'm expecting that, in season 2,

Has Mick Foley ever talked about steroids? Just watched the "Loser Leaves Town" match he had with Eric Embry in World Class and he's 250 lbs, if that. There was a period not long after that (mostly in WCW) where he seemed bigger every time I saw him. At the time, I assumed he was taking something. Later, in the WWE, he kept getting bigger still, but that seemed more flab than mass. He seemed to be putting on weight in those days. In WCW, he seemed to be adding mass.

I kinda think they got trapped by the Robin/Ted relationship. They obviously didn't intend Robin to be the one, and probably never envisioned the pairing working as well as it did when they created the show. I think the series would end with Ted and Robin together except.... well, that firebombs the whole premise and buildup of the show. Barney and Robin strike me as a couple of the "messed-up-people-who-make-shitty-relationship-choices-but-need-somebody" variety. I like the show as is (though it probably should have ended a year ago. Most of this season up until a few weeks ago has been dire), but I kinda wish they had introduced the mother sooner and integrated her into the cast. They've spent eight years building up a Robin/Ted relationship that seems like it should have worked, but didn't. At most, they're going to spend a couple episodes on Ted/Mother. In general, I hate the character progression where said character gets to be happy at series' end, I.E., after years of being poor/alone/screwed up, the characters suddenly get what they want and ride off happily into the sunset. Too many shows have started doing that in recent years, because audiences have started feeling like they deserve some sort of big resolution of every show and a happy ending for most charactets, instead of just letting the series end with a normal ep. That's not really the case here, as they've had a lot of this planned out for years. But.... if HIMYM were being renewed for years 10, 11, and 12, Ted's would start a relationship with Cristin Milioti's character, it would bomb hard - probably over Robin - and in three years, they would do this season redux with a different actress/character in the role of the mother.

I'd throw Kana in there (if we're including joshi), though she probably couldn't get past.... eh, Santino Marella? Sharkboy? That Cheeseburger dude from RoH? But, yeah, she had a better year than most people who will be in the tourney. I'm not showing up for March Madness, btw, so don't expect me to vote for her. The tourney's reputation precedes it. I'll pass. Arguing with people on the internet over whether Harry Smith has better punches than CM Punk doesn't appeal to me much.

Heyman is the only definite, in my mind. Dudleys should go in eventually, and probably RVD as well, but I can think of dozens of WCW/territory guys I might put in first. Personally, it'd be a long time before I gave much thought to Raven or Dreamer.

Recently watched two imports I enjoyed highly. -- The Fall (Ireland). Great 5-parter starring Gillian Anderson. Plot could have been a standard serial killer procedural, but manages to find a fresh take on the material. Cast was strong, though mostly unfamiliar to me. Besides Anderson, the big names were Archie Punjabi (supporting player on the Good Wife) and the guy cast as the lead in 50 Shades of Grey, Jamie Dornan. -- Rake (Australia). This was fun. Much better, and more distinctive than the US version that just started airing on Fox. God, I wish they simply aired this on US tv. Better written, probably better acted, and they didn't neuter the main character. I guess a Fox exec watched the Aus version and decided a adulterous drug addict wouldn't fly as a lead in the US. Kinnear plays the US lead more as a likeable loser with some issues. Roxbury's character is truly repellant at times. Lost in the translation to the US is much of the bite of the series. The original show is more social satire, an indictment of a system that allows Cleaver Greene to mostly thrive despite himself. Rake really needed to be brought to cable, not network tv. The show necessarily had to ditch the sex and drugs of the original, and the result is kinda bland so far.

I saw a Tanaka/Herman ECW match in New Jersey, back in the day.

I thought it was a good episode, but I wasn't really satisfied with the resolution. As said above, the resolution seems to be Ted finally realizing he has to let go and move on, but..... I still don't really buy Barney/Robin as a lasting couple, or Ted/Robin as a couple that couldn't make it work. Barney/Robin seem like one of those pairings that only works in TV when the writers realize they need to swerve the audience. There seemed to be a point where everyone kinda expected Ted/Robin to stay a couple, even though that made no sense since Robin had been established to not be the mother.

This thread makes me want to run out and read some Jonathan Carroll. I don't read sci-fi/fantasy/horror any more, aside from the odd Tim Powers novel - but I still vividly remember discovering Jonathan Carroll and ordering import editions of his new books. Back then, I was basically a fan boy, not a collector. Much later, I would start collecting first editions and buying import editions to own the legitimate first edition (instead of first US edition or whatever), but back then, I simply didn't want to wait until Carroll's novels were published in the US. I'm sure I discovered other authors that way, but Carroll is the one that stands out. As for Axolotl Press, I'm sure I bought directly from you a few times. It's been more than 20 years and I don't have the book any more, so it's hard to remember what was purchased from whom. Ziesing was probably my main hookup for stuff I couldn't order through my local bookstore. I'm really kinda surprised he and Cindy are still around. I remember calling in orders and talking to Cindy before she put Mark on for us to discuss an order. No internet. You actually had to talk to people if you wanted to get something done fast. Someone mentioned James Blaylock earlier. I liked Digging Leviathan and Homonculus well enough, as well as his other steampunk/St. Ives books, but Land of Dreams was/is one of my 10 favorite fantasy novels. Edit: Just realized I still have the Ziesing Books 1st hardcover edition of The Anubis Gates. Also still do have the 1st edition of a couple early Carroll novels (Child Across the Sky, Bones of the Moon).

Makes even less sense since the idea supposedly was to give him a small stable of hosses that would do most of the in-ring work agaInst UT. Basically, the template for the speculated/rumored Wyatt Family feud.

Sting is willing to sign, but WWE doesn't view him as a big deal and no one is really in a big rush to sign him. Dave seems to think that the earliest they'll do a match with him is next year's WrestleMania, and by then he won't be that big of a deal anymore (because of how they will book him, of course). He painted a pretty bleak picture if someone was excited about him coming in and being similar to what he was as crow Sting. Sounds like the plan is to use him as a comedy guy/GM, and it'll sort of be a waste. That's pretty sad - and a blow to people who were fantasy booking him to end the streak (or, at least, wrestle Undertaker in one of the top matches at WrestleMania). I can see the WWE's perspective on this one. Sting will be 55 in a month, was last a bonafide main eventer in 1998, and wasn't a huge draw for TNA. Add in how much time he's taken off in the last 15 years and the company is probably right to wonder how many of its fans remember Surfer/Crow Sting that well. If they're just going to use him as a midcard comedy guy (Ugh. Sting teaming with Santino. Ugh.), I'd prefer to see him just sign a legends deal so he eventually gets a WreslteMania hof spot and a DVD compilation.

Tadpole Splash = most protected finisher in the WWE.

I expect they'd be less snarky towards Harris if he hadn't been a TNA star first. Also, did anyone really think Harris/Walker was a can't miss prospect for the WWE? First time I've ever heard that said. The company couldn't have put him in the same category as Angle, Jericho, and Show. I kinda thought Harris was a longshot to get over in the WWE. From what I remember of him, decent worker, but without the mic skills or charisma that would make him a "can't miss".

I didn't know that you were "that" John, but I used to own a copy of Axolotl Double A-2. I may have bought it directly from you. It's been a few decades and I don't have my collection any more, but I used to own a fair number of Axolotl editions. I probably bought them directly from you or Mark Ziesing. In '88, most of my less mainstream purchases (i.e., small press or British first editions) came from Mark. I don't think I even had internet back then. Probably not.

I haven't really kept up with horror/dark fantasy for years, but Jonathan Carroll is definitely worth a read.

As a line, I like Marvel Now quite a bit. Most of the titles are at least as good as they were before the relaunch.