Brandon Bones

It’s so impressive how condensing a narrative in the case of this show is never reductive. The fear being that whatever you combine or jettison from the original text will somehow take all the meat off the bone. Yet TLOU never loses it any of its heft. I could see a scenario where all the performances are still the same greatness but a haphazard adaptation spoils or at the very least makes it lesser. So far, not the case. Brandon Bones will remember that. I will keep this critique in my back pocket though. I never played the game. But I did watch a pretty spiffy fan edit 2 years ago that cut out as much of the game portion as possible. Which is how I fell in love with all of it. Much of that particular experience was bordering on self flagellation in how horrific and painful (cathartic) it could be. Which made TLOU seem more niche than it probably is (considering it WAS a launch title for the PS3). A mainstream audience will only have so much tolerance for that. Glenn’s death on TWD certainly damaged that show and having all 9 episodes of this show being akin to that would probably be a mistake. Save it for the home stretch. Bonus points for people who are familiar. They still manage to find ways to surprise. The sink hole caught me completely off guard.

https://winteriscoming.net/2023/02/05/the-last-us-episode-5-will-air-hbo-early-friday-not-sunday/ Neato! Early episode on Friday!

I continue to turn around my opinion on Jade. She was pretty great with Red and I can see these two having a long term series in the future. Long gone is a lot of that bad foot work that made her seem clumsy. Jade these days seems a lot more comfortable in the ring. Another great episode of Dynamite. Boom.

RIP Leaping Lanny. Around 2005-6 I was on the phone talking to someone when I got a beep on the other line. I excused myself to check it out and when I did I was stunned. ”Hello, this is Lanny Poffo for VISA.” There was no mistaking that voice. Me: “Lanny Poffo… the fucking wrestler?” Once a Masshole always a Masshole. He chuckled a bit and said “Wellllll… I’m over 50 now so I don’t leap so high anymore and I work for VISA so I’m not a Genius. But yes sir, it’s me”. I was just tripping out on how convinced I was it was him because THAT VOICE! He later mentioned working for VISA on some podcast a few years later. We talked for 10 minutes or so about wrestling. Never once mentioned Macho. Then when we said our goodbyes. He thanked me for remembering him and never even tried to sell me a credit card. Peace brother.

“A fan”? That doesn’t look like Tanahashi to me. Could be wrong.

Fair enough. So I don’t see him going back to Vince at least.

They’re a lot of younger guys these days doing a lot more of the week to week heavy lifting. Sammy, Action, Darby, Gunns, Acclaimed, Starks, JungleHook all taking up prominent amounts of time on Dynamite. There is also lots of room for all the aforementioned names to continue to level up. Makes me wonder if Jericho is about to get cycled out of the rotation or ramping up for his possibly final run. I don’t know what his contract status is. But he definitely took a back seat in that tag match. Nothing wrong with it. Good match.

As someone who is less interested in the actual GAME than I am in simming for the purposes of streaming my shows. The AEW game is very interesting to me to break up the some of the aesthetic monotony of the 2k games. However, a lot of the recent news about 2k23 has me very interested. Wargames aside. Getting advanced entrances back and the ability to compel some cut scenes in an updated universe mode sounds great. My instincts say it’s all “pie in the sky”. But I guess we will see. 2k22 subtracted a bunch of stuff I used in 2k19. So some good options to be creative with presentation makes the new game very tempting. Of course 2k23 might be the only option in town for awhile.

I’ve never actually played the game. But 2 years ago I found nicely edited YouTube vids of both games that played really well as a passive watch. I really got sucked into it. I love this story. I’m very invested in these characters. I’m so ready for HBO to bring some justice to this franchise. Boy did they, if this first episode is to be believed. It was excellent up and down. I figured Ramsey had about 3 seconds to sell me on her presentation of Ellie. She did. So did everyone else too. Everything else they changed was massaged nicely into the consolidation. Plus they even managed to expand a few things about Outbreak day that made some good sense. More.

I’d guess, based on what I saw from the first Saudi show, was they took a chance to put out some propaganda that would never survive an editorial process through any other avenue. No American advertisers to answer to and a fairly sizable audience to potentially reach.

Even though I voted Darby/Joe I’ve got no problem with either of the Acclaimed/TNA matches winning the week.

You’re not wrong. But I’d imagine any news blurb regardless of merit that can get MLW mentioned will be welcomed. I don’t really mean it as a diss either. MLW has an outreach problem.

The pop for that guitar shot. The conservative approach to Singhs selling is paying off. So much fun. I might have been being a douchey Gen-Xer drunk on irony in my admiration of this Jarrett run. But I’m genuinely enjoying him and this faction. It feels like an FBI-Nova/Chetti/Balls/Axl party match with a semi New Jack run in chaos garnish. I might not push it too much further with Jarrett being that he is an older guy that isn’t moving that crisply. Mostly because I’m kind of looking toward a Lethal/Singh team focus. Loved BCC/TF. Perfectly played to each teams strengths and status. Very unique in that it wasn’t technique acting as the counter putting the kibosh on the youngsters. It was Mox and his overwhelming force shutting them down hard. Applause. It appears that the days of playing Hayter and Baker as having no chemistry as a team is over. That was awhile ago, though I might spotlight them overcoming that a bit more considering how much currency they’ve spent historically. Plus it moves the mind away from the UNAVOIDABLE BETRAYAL!!! I complained awhile ago about Jade not always looking like she had her feet beneath her. Making a lot of her movements in ring kind of awkward. But she sure does now. I too WAS feeling like this part of her story being undefeated was coming to an end sometime soon. But after this week I think there might be more potential miles to go. Is there money in going to 100? Sabian and The Kingdom are acts that don’t do much for me. But I’ve had my mind changed a lot recently. So we’ll see.

Well now. That was quite awesome. It pretty amazing to me how I’ve really turned around on Swerve. Couldn’t stand him in MLW and he was primarily the reason I never got into them. All in spite of how dedicated I was to their podcast. But this evil villain character is working for me. Fox put him over strong too. The Gunns were pretty great too surprisingly. They need some character work soon to differentiate themselves. This is suddenly promising. Even Jade looked pretty good on this show. It’s good look to have her looking massive by comparison to everyone else in the ring. In a lifetime of super epic matches. It refreshing to see a good old short banger like Bryan and Nese. I get why it kind of a lost art. Years of pointless too short and shallow RAW matches sorta made me forget those kinds matches could have merit. But then again Bryan is like… the greatest everer. Shida… make friends with Sasha. Problem solved. Lots to look forward to. That LA show is looking like quite the something. Hopefully, everyone who has a ticket watched this show. That’s how you crowd.

I’m down for that Daddi Doom lady. Yes, I would. It would probably be the LAST thing I ever did. But yanno… love hurts.

I called for a Wardlow haircut in the Rampage thread. I goddamn got it! Yay me! Thank You Samoa Joe. You’re the man. Spike that football. Excellent show. Did anything else happen?

People just want the validation that comes from feeling like they might have a say in controlling the narrative on a popular topic. Problem is… you can’t force it without blowback. For every hair band or boy band that had a hot minute. They always fade into the ether as the flash in the pan that kind of thing always is. Naturally. But for every Star Wars Special Edition or whatever that doesn’t meet some peoples standards. Vitriol and dogpiles haven’t made it all go away. It’s shoveling sand against the tide.

Great Battle Royaling! Gimmie like two really good BRs a year and I’m good. For whatever reason the lack of effort in pro wrestling battle royals has always been apparent. But with a little wackiness and creativity. You can parade a bunch of plot seed or elevate a few acts without having to sacrifice much in credibility if it costs an upper tier talent. Bonus points for a dramatic finish to remind everybody what’s at stake. AEW (if you want to include All Ins Preshow) do battle royals pretty well. Wardlow. Shave that shit. There is a man on my tv. They say his name is just “Daddy Ass”. Hopefully, nobody can see me watching wrestling. Meanwhile, The Acclaimed make me happy. Even when they are injured they get work done on tv without really falling out of the rotation. Miro take notes. Doing a mix up in the roles of the tag match makes me think of SNMEs that were designed to extend a narrative without putting too much on tv. Lethal and Jarrett need some credit to carry them into the inevitable title match. I’m betting some near falls from Jarrett are going to have some peeps biting their finger nails. I also second the Lethal Injection being a particularly good bump from GrandBilly. Old men taking a few spaced out bumps isn’t so bad. Bring on Corpse Paint Santana.

Hello Friends. You some big motherfuckers! Just play some Twin Peaks music during the Rick Ross segment. It’s way better that way. Once the Laura Palmer piano part starts during the Parker attack it becomes a tragedy. Good cinderblock gimmick for once. I recall how annoyed I was years ago at that awesome Ambrose/Rollins match on RAW. It was ruined by the shitty fuck fuck cinderblock prop that just dissolved before it was ready. Boo! Hayters pump up on the clothesline was an all time shout out to the crowd. The crowd was so into her. Damn. Shida (for me anyway) is like every MCU announcement. Where I hear it and say: “Why the Fuck are they doing Guardians of the Galaxy?” Then I see it and it’s always awesome. The crowd does seem to forget her a little bit from all the stretch of absences. But she always reminds them of her greatness and wins them back. I’m going with the crowd in support of The Gunns growing up a bit on this episode was notable. Good stuff. FTR made them look good all while keeping their current narrative going. I’ll buy another one. Kind of a promo/character building episode this week. Or at least it would be thought of more in that way if the Main hadn’t hit a home run. I think long term this is a good thing. Knowable characters that are defined AND understood are key to maintaining the audience. Mox never really says anything you wouldn’t expect him to say. But his promos are thoughtful and expressed in ways that make it clear he is paying attention. Nothing is cookie cutter about him. Bryan relies on cheap pops and such. But he has the Foley like ability to make it charming and (in this case of San Antonio) for a reason. MJF showed he could actually keep it short and to the point. The long drawn out promos we already know he can do. But can he do a local house show promo in a small market like on Superstars? Probably.

Coincidentally, I watched the last two weeks of Rampage in a row. I 2nd, 3rd, and 4thd kudos for Sammy. It’s wacky and odd but it works. He and his wife only elevated the weird that works with the lengths they were willing to go to with the gross blood stuff and PDA. Yeah. He can be kinda cringy. But that’s not always bad for a heel.

And everyone else can cut a promo on the stage next to a spotlight circle projecting the perfect silhouette Batman signal of Cena standing there saluting.

That ratings chart/reaction combo are my posts of the year. Fucking BRA-VO! Thank you.

I am in awe of that Jericho match. Perfect pro wrestling. Masterful. He might have changed my Mox vote for WOTY. OCHOOOO! Good meaty story telling across the boards on this episode. AEW has shed its Punk skin. I heard somewhere somebody saying something along the lines of sprucing up the Dynamite set for a bigger show. Nah. Save that for the PPV. Let just Dynamite also be big. The weekly shows need to be important. All the time. More. Title matches on tv fucking rules.

Damn. The Grouch is spittin’. Damn.

Should I blade to make this post? Why not? All the kids are doing it these days. That is an absolutely perfect trilogy of tag matches. Applause, kudos, credits, and cartwheels in celebration FTR vs. The Briscoes. Worth every penny spent in both PPV and a pair of tickets to Lowell. I’m as guilty as anybody being entirely biased against Taven. He was the turd in the punch bowl at that MSG show and I’ve never gotten over it. He was pretty good here. Him following the code of honor at the end of the match also somehow managed to endear him to me. This must be a good strain. Nothing wrong with the content of Joe/Juice. Sucks it had to follow the above. Meanwhile, Juice is going to have some problems creating buzz if his hope is to get somewhere in transferring back to the States. 7 years in New Japan is a long time. Jericho was looking awfully Moongoose with that Ozzy tassels jacket. Kind of an original spot with Jericho chasing the ringside crew around. It’s all in the details. Say what you will about Hogan/Warrior matches. But that double clothesline spot was so well worked it’s emulated to this day and it’s great. The Swing reversal into the Walls was super. To think Jericho has been pulling that many tricks to catch that move for this long is something else. Then he quits to the fucking move? Never saw that coming. I’m certain there will be some debate over if it is appropriate for MJF dissing the NWA or CHAP shitting on the current status of ROH. But I’m going temporarily allow it as circumstances for either brand aren’t going to be worsened just because of these mentions. Later on I might change my mind.