piranesi

I was also expecting Bryan to bring some heavy machinery to get the upper hand tonight. As we've seen in the past, it can be a big mistake to put off too long the babyface showing that it's an even fight and making the corporation show some ass. The stage was so perfectly set for an Austin moment. That would have been so formula...but also so satisfying. I can't imagine how crazy the crowd pop would have been.

But I'm also a big fan of the show WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU. Is there anyone around who can help me with both things?

Ben Hur is going to have nail guns for hands isn't he.

If only there was already someone with a strong online presence who also has a history of standing against that phony jerk C.M. Punk who could defend me.

He mentioned Heyman and so I said "BOoooooooo!" because I'm such a big Punk fan and I wanted him to know I was on his side. But now I'm really hurt and I don't know what to do.

I was booing Heyman guys.

My first guess is in a family court. Paul Dean catering?

I can't even remember whose blood it was. The dude in the hotel maybe? At this point that would be way to circuitous a path to Dexter to work into the story I hope.

When Dexter's kid was at Quinn's was anyone else worried that he was going to have that blood-stained dog with him to set up another "Cop at Miami metro suspects Dexter" dead end? Like, eventually some guy at "that other lab" that they're always sending things to secretly is going to call and be like, "Yeah...I work at Labco. and, um, I'm pretty sure there's a guy named Dexter in your office who is killing the shit out of tons of people..."

It would be so much better if they didn't have aweseome extreme kickass music under the highlights. When did everyone decide that my sad stupid brain couldn't process anything without Poochy air-guitar stimulating my bro chromes? BRAH!!!!! Maybe sometimes you don't even notice it, but once you do it's all you can hear and I feel kind of insulted. Like they're daring me to find another place to hang out.

Maybe not just the B&W, but the photo is faded in a way that makes it seem like it comes from that time in the early 20th century when we assume horrible things were going on in out of the way corners in the advancement of "science." Like, if you take any photo of any bland government building and fade it just like that, and suddenly it looks like some horrible bedlam-style asylum where WWII era doctors were experimenting with LSD on mental patients. We just sort of associate "back then" with bizarre goings-on. Not to bring too much real world into it, but probably because that's the same amount of "white fade" or whatever its called that you see in pictures of Nazi Germany. If you tole me that photo was the site of some horrible SS murders that took place at a former spa, I'd be like "Of course it is. That's exactly what that is."

Why isn't this a franchise yet? Goddammit!

Of course you don't. What do words like tradition and legacy and infield drills mean to the likes of you? Just go back into your "purple haze" and try and read the future in your sideburns, son. I'm sure you think it will all be a grand freak out to flip the squares and easy ride on down to Mao Tse Tung avenue. Well I'll tell you what, Daddy-O, just when you think your beatnik paradise can't get any better, it will be too late to realize that the Pirates are a gateway drug. Next will be the Orioles, The Indians, and May God help us all, the Royals. I just hope that once your free love turns into a freaky hangover and your mushroom popping Xanadu leads to the nightmare of a World Series game at 1060 West Addison you'll have enough sense left in that Buffalo Springfield addled brain of yours to pick up the phone and call The Guardians. They'll be there. For the Game. For Tradition. Even for the likes of you.

Anthology shows are great for spotting old character actors. And they really run all the way back. Between THRILLER and ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and THE TWILIGHT ZONE to NIGHT GALLERY and TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE to MONSTERS!, THE HITCHIKER, THE OUTER LIMITS, to FREDDY'S NIGHTMARES, MASTERS OF HORROR. There was not a decade from the 50s up to today that didn't have one or two running, sort of in the cultural background. They make great time capsules in a way.

You hear that, hippies? That's the sound of the Rolling Stones flying away from Altamont. The "groovy" peyote orgy is winding down and all that's left to do is flee from the Hell's Angels, go back home, and take that internship at your uncle's accounting firm. Rest assured that the N.L. Central will be well represented in your absence.

The last 2% was covered by the 100% of Michael C. Hall we got tonight.

I just want to get in here before Craig and say that I know I should have hated this. It was a flat out bizarre sequence of scenes of people acting in ridiculous ways. At times it was practically bedroom farce (the hotel room scene with Deb, Hannah, Dexter, and Zach). And at other times it was a weird John Waters-esque black comedy (the dinner scene) and they ran wild with stuff that just evaporated just for a few punchlines... But every other time they've tried comedy on this show I've Haaated it. But I didn't hate this. It was just insane enough and the kid playing Zach was just oddly charming enough. Deb's storyline didn't fit in, or at least her just giving up...and once again they've used a whole lot of tesnion buildup toward something as just a big fakeout....but I laughed. I enjoyed it, especially the dinner in a grotesque way. It's not what this show was ever supposed to be...but at this point, I'll take it because there was no chance of recovering what this show was or could have been. And it had a neat effect of disarming us and hinting at a way forward to set up the twist. My wife was genuinely upset, and I can't remember the last time either of us gave a fuck about what happened to any character on this show, including Zach up to about 40 mins. into this episode. That in itself was pretty clever...short-circuiting us into liking and caring about a character just in time... It's like, if you had dumped this season exactly as it has been in my lap and said, "We need you to make us care about this kid now in one episode enough that this twist hits home." I wouldn't have been able to do it...I probably wouldn't have thoght of using comedy to get there fast. So whoever wrote this episode did pretty good with a pretty impossible task.

Maybe Rip Taylor wants his FUCKING GIMMICK BACK!!!!

It kind of sucked on Dish. They're not carrying the overflow games, even though they were essentially free to air, so no flipping around. One game in the morning, one in the afternoon and no rebroadcasts. Is the crowd at Sellhurst Park always so mental?

The thing I like about JASON X is that there is a way in which it actually is the most "true to the series" thing to do. From a realistic perspective, whatever else the series was, it was an drive-in exploitation franchise, of movies made on the cheap to feed off of teenagers. And what are the absolute most natural things for a true sleazy b-movie series to do once it starts to get long in the tooth? 1) Take 'em to New York City! 2) Take 'em to Space! I like that no matter how much money the series made, and how much horror nerds would wax poetic about it, to the people in charge, it was always and always will be a pure exploitation series. And JASON X is sort of the proof of that.

Yeah. It's pretty bad. I saw it in the theater and was super pissed at how bad it was. It didn't help that in my movie-going that year, it was right in there with some pretty amazing stuff. Offhand from that summer, fall I remember seeing THE FUGITIVE, JURRASIC PARK, and SCHINDLER'S LIST. Now, why I was expecting a F13th movie to hang with those maybe says more about my lack of perspective back then...but, man, 1993 was a pretty amazing year for movies. I think it was the last year I went to the movies to see something multiple times (both JP and SCHINDLER'S LIST). Then a few years ago it was on cable and I thought, "You know, I'm a different guy now. I revel in junk for the sake of nostalgia...I post loving rambles on movies like ZOMBIE HIGH...For God's sake, let's give it another gnope. nope. nope. aaaaaaaaaaaaand no." The commercial looked amazing, though. I remember that.

Aweseome but You're missing Slimon Bros.!

Okay. I just tried to watch the Fox Sport 1 highlight show. "Later in the quarter Blaine Gabbert...Blaine Yo Gabba Gabbert..." ...and I just turned of the Fox Sport 1 highlight show. If I want to be fucked by Chris Berman, I know where to go for that. I actually have a standing appointment every Monday.

Was that in the just the novel, or also the movie? I don't remember that part from the film, they never really explained the monster beyond "it's a haunted car with a jealous streak and a bad temper, just deal with it". Oh yeah. The movie has that prelude scene that shows the car being posessed as soon as it's built. I forgot about that. It's the book reveal that sucks. In the book, the first owner put his own spirit into the car. The movie just leaves it ambiguous. That's actually better and lets the jealousy angle work.

Man, Taker really got in touch with his feminine side after that first WM match with HHH.