Technico Support

But is is showing stuff out of order. Outside the random flashbacks here and there, we do have two main storylines at once with two different timelines: the ensuing two weeks after the host uprising, and now. And I'm already wishing they color-coded this shit a la Fear the Walking Dead or better Call Saul because I'm getting confused as fuck.

I'm okay with "tough talking assholes who aren't such badasses when they get into a real fight with a worthy enemy," but that one guy thinking with his dick at the exact worst moment was just a bit much. And I get that something is going to be a big reveal because of it, but god damn do I not need a side story about Ghost Nation Guy next week.

I enjoyed how Lucha Underground shit on the gimmick, with Cueto saying something about how nobody would be allowed to "cash in" the Gift of the Gods at a moment's notice because, as a good promoter, he needed time in advance to advertise the match and make money. The "cash in" thing had some internal logic at first, with Edge doing it twice because he was a scumbag heel, Punk doing it once because Edge was the victim and again because he was going heel. Now it's just an accepted part of the gimmick that MitB is essentially a license to steal a title, which is just dumb.

It's a testament to the writing of the show. Lesser writers would make him a one-note villain. Instead, thee are many times you can understand exactly where he's coming from.

That's one of my favorite quotes. I remember hearing that Caine would pick roles by asking "where is it shooting?" Followed by "how is the weather there?"

Yeah, so far it just sounds like he can't prove actual damages and his only grounds for pain and suffering are "people are tweeting mean things to me."

WWE doctor Chris Amman is suing Punk & Cabana for libel. It stems from Punk appearing on Cabana's podcast after his departure from WWE, wherein Punk essentially labelled Amman a quack and/or corporate stooge, less concerned with wrestler health than he was about just getting guys back in the ring. Punk apparently had a horrible undiagnosed staph infection for a long time and Amman (Punk claims, please don't sue me) just kept giving him the same antibiotics (Z-Pack) and sending him back out there instead of paying attention to the symptoms and actually diagnosing him.

The Punk & Cabana vs Amman trial is going on right now. A Chicago Tribune reporter is there and they're apparently playing the entire podcast -- intro all the way through plugs and upcoming events -- for the court.

Absolutely. After a few weeks of fun "theme" episodes, where each pretty much followed one storyline or set of characters, this was very much a "lets soft reset and get everybody on the same page before we move forward" ep. Disparate storylines and timelines plus the end of a long day plus two bourbon and cokes made this one a little rough.

Who knew there was a demographic for a "Tina Yothers in blackface" figure?

Yeah, let's keep sending people out in tropical storms because it's a compelling visual. Keep fucking that chicken, TV news.

27 years and a trip down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and just today I learned Axl is whistling "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" at the start and end of Civil War.

The Photoshopped belt on Jericho's shoulder, floating there like the fake Bruce Lee face in Game of Death, really tops it off.

It's amazing. You'd hear off and on, "El Generico is such a great babyface but the real guy is kind of obnoxious and weird and not exactly likable unless you really know him." And then they let that guy be that guy and it's awesome.

By "the actual Mandarin," you don't mean strict adherence to the comics villain, right? A cartoonishly yellow-skinned Asian stereotype with magic rings would have been awful for a lot of reasons, and it still wouldn't have fixed all the other things that made the film suck.

Man, Iron Man 2 was such a dull letdown that I felt bad even though I saw it for free (tech demo from Dell). Still, I let myself get excited for Iron Man 3 like a moron. I know what I want to see from Iron Man, and it's not PTSD Tony Stark getting facetime like keeping him out of the suit was mandated by his contract, and remote control Iron Man suits doing all the work.

I voted the same as @The Natural, and have pretty much the same views, so there's not much for me to sum up at all. 1a: Placeholder for Guardians of the Galaxy when 3 comes out 1b. Captain America: 3 good movies 2. Avengers: 2 good movies and one turd (Ultron) 3. Thor: Original was above average, Ragnarok was really good, didn't see Dark World but it looked very average 4. Iron Man: 1 was good, 2 and 3 were crap.

heh

WWE really might be a perfect fit for network TV, where there's always going to be another singing competition or police procedural. Safe and dull, filled with me-toos.

I feel like this is the tail end of the rights fees bubble. The entertainment industry is risk averse and very much into "conventional wisdom" and just doing whatever worked for somebody else. Execs see everybody chasing "DVR-proof" CONTENT~!, but all the good stuff is taken, so now they're paying out the ass for a tier 2 pseudo sport that can't get top advertisers. Wrestling is not going to get great ad money directly; it'll just help the network's overall numbers like it does with USA. Traditional TV just isn't working anymore. People are DVRing or streaming on demand in increasing numbers. Rushing to snap up any and all programming that's considered DVR-proof reminds me of when movie studios tried to kill the VCR and when the record industry tried to beat streaming. It's an aging industry dealing with changing times by digging in its heels, resisting change, and clinging to its old model instead of figuring out how to work inside the new one. I feel like, if Fox is around in some form in 10-20 years, we'll all have a laugh over the time they overpaid for pro wrestling to shore up a flagging product.

I was waiting for Nice Guy Eddie to mention this!

Can we still blame Doom and Marilyn Manson or are my references too dated? But seriously, it's been 19 FUCKING YEARS since Columbine and we still can't figure out how to solve this shit. More like "we still lack the will to solve this shit," I know. "Your dead kids don't trump my constitutional rights," indeed.

Shhhh, nobody tell her she's actually in King's Dominion