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Sunday, June 23, 2024

Everyone Was #Mystic #KungFu #Fighting

Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 171: #AniMay Spectacle: "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" with James Slunder

Eva the Queen Kitty is mystical as any of the JJK student body

And this is why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is the top trivia team in Downstate Illinois. 
James Slunder comes to the rescue to make sure CatBusRuss does the month of Ani-May right. The team's self-proclaimed anime expert suggested our host watch the prequel to the "Jujutsu Kaisen" television series, the 2021 motion picture "Jujutsu Kaisen 0".

The result of this suggestion is a clash between generations of fandom. We use the term self-proclaimed expert to describe James because he was not around during the days of Streamline Pictures/Central Park Media and multicolored VHS tapes. Our host feels there has to be something from his tape collecting days that gives him the edge when it comes to being an otaku.

Anime has become a lot brighter and more colorful, and CatBus may sound like an old man shouting at clouds because it is too busy for it to have that nineties, Suncoast charm. He also did not watch many magical high school themed cartoons.

Fortunately, JJK0 (James says that is what the cool kids call it.) is "Harry Potter" on steroids. Who needs Quidditch when you wield a cursed katana alongside a giant, anthropomorphic Panda and a classmate whose voice is cursed to the point that he can only safely speak in rice ball ingredients. And of course you have some "will they, won't they" relationship to tease some tension. This is how they needed to sell the third "Fantastic Beast" flick.

Episode 173: Mortal Kombat (1995) & Collateral Cinema

Eva the Queen Kitty being blessed by the penguin god of thunder

CatBusRuss and Collateral Cinema's Beau Maddox have been interacting with each other since our host joined Bluesky. Over the past week, they finally have found a feature that the two felt good about collaborating on. "Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss" has covered Paul WS Anderson's "Mortal Kombat" before, but that was to pay tribute to French action star Christopher Lambert. Beau and Russ will take a look at this beloved feature from all angles. The effects that still hold up, the less is more style of direction, and the charm of special effects that do not hold up after 4K TV's came into existence.

Does this lead to the conclusion that the nineties, with hindsight, were a good time for video game film adaptations? Is Hollywood still underutilizing Cary-Hiroyuki Togawa and Linden Ashby? Should this script been delivered to John Carpenter?

We discover the two have their polarizing opinions of the work of Tom Green, so we quickly learn that conversational fireworks maybe a possibility. Perhaps it is that heat that lead to the pod's technical difficulties and not Beau's phone overheating. Russ hopes that throwing in his review of Sylvester Stallone's "Escape Plan: The Extractors" will be an adequate apology for those issues.

Policy of Truth: The Real Champions Partake in Sport, Not Sports Entertainment

*This blog post was started on June 9, 2024.

I am hoping to have some positive change finally occur in my life. This is kind of scary since the ball seems to be in my hand. The past couple of times that I have been in that position, it all blows up in my face leaving me in a further state of desperation.

June 22 Update: And as it turns out, corporate once again decides to leave me feeling like the world is just meant to shit on me. Thankfully, I have a great crew at the job I was hoping to advance in, so their support ended the day in which I allowed the bullshit of the decision without too much bitterness on my behalf. And I feel those who pushed me to try and obtain the position will fight for me to eventually obtain it.

Here is to my inevitable pink slip.

And of course, the latest girl I have been trying to win over finds herself ill every weekend. Fucking Bloomington.

And of course the costs that insurance does not cover means therapy is not exactly affordable. There are hopes that Mom and Dad may offer some help on the medical front, but they are well aware of my success when trying to make moves to better myself.

Beyond this, there has not been that much stress in my life. I think a part of me wants it around. It would at least justify the constant anxiety. The lack of it makes those ponderings of how I am going to survive financially seem pointless. In the end, all I have to remind myself that I have always made it work out since leaving the Heart of Illinois, why worry that it will not work out?

The biggest sense of unease is that I am just enjoying my day offs on my own. How can I be happy just nerding out? Optimizing my PlayStation hard drives keeps me busy, but I cannot say that I feel accomplished.  If there is anything satisfying about it, it is that it feels like a strive for perfection. Then the hypocrisy of letting that denounce Tyler Durden's "May I never be complete" is something to deal with.

With that said, this wrestling blog may need a new title. Then again, this is not going to be a post of about Orange Cassidy. I do need to get around to writing about the real tertiary championship. That still maybe a bit. There is always wrestling to catch up on with my days off.

Watching all the cool shows on my days off (NJPW Dominion is in my peripheral.) is something I can feel accomplished by. Life better pick up. It is tough to take pride in being a mark.

The Disgruntled's Real World Champions of Pro-Wrestling:

Title Histories from February 1, 2024 to June 9, 2024.

Pinterest @NCIK7

The 105th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Champion:
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland.

His reign began when he defeated DRCW Real World Champion/AEW World Champion Samoa Joe on April 21.

I am not going to place the title on the WWE Champion's, a man who left after never being able to win the AEW Championship. Strickland is indeed the more versatile wrestler and has been on a role since his feud with former champion Adam "Hangman" Page. Samoa Joe was the true Samoan champion, and Tony Khan may have slipped by not signing all the NJPW Tongan wrestlers to have Joe rule over.

My only issue with Strickland, is I am a traditionalist when it comes to footwear for a wrestler. Wrestling shoes (with kickpads preferably) or boots. Fancy basketball-inspired shoes are not for the ring. Even Tommy Dreamer had boots. I guess this is equals out with the tag team championship picture.

The 49th and Current Modern Poser Champion:
WWE Undisputed Universal Champion: Cody Rhodes

His reign began when he defeated Roman Reigns on April 7.

This was the most overblown spectacle of sports entertainment. Fans were more impressed by the run ins and chaos to notice that the two participants repeated the same match from the year prior. If you need to be sports entertained, check out Jon Mosley defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against EVIL at NJPW Dominion 2024.

The 53rd and Current Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:
AEW Women's World Champion: "Timeless" Toni Storm (2)

Her reign began when Rhea Ripley vacated the WWE Women's World Championship on April 15.

AEW had lost the DRCW championship when an injury rewarded their title to Toni Storm. One must appreciate the irony that the DRCW championship returned to AEW for the same reason. Ripley could have at least done the favor.

As for the WWE Championship, Bayley won the belt in a popcorn (just the vibe of the crowd) bout from a woman who cashed in Money in the Bank. It will take a great reign to make me consider putting it bag on the former hugger.

The 158th and Current Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Champions:
WWE World Tag Team Champions: The Awesome Truth: The Miz and R-Truth

Their reign began when they took the titles from The Judgement Day in a ladder match on April 6.

This was the title change that WWE fans were hoping for. It is a sad state of their tag team divisions if that is what they wanted. But, AEW decided to give Sting the ultimate send off and thus left their title vacated.

The 157th Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Champions: WWE Unified Tag Team Champions: The Judgement Day: Finn Balor and Damian Priest

Their reign began when ABC was defeated for the TNA World Tag Team Championship by Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers.

With how WrestleMania ended with Baylor and Priest losing two championships in one night, it seems fitting that they simultaneously held both the DRCW Real World Tag Team Championship and this DRCW championship.

Eddie Edwards's tag team partner is Davey Richards. Brian Myers's tag team partner is Matt Cardona. This championship combination is not a true tag team.

The 174th and Current Disgruntled's Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions:
TNA World Tag Team Champions: Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers

Their reign began when The Judgement Day lost the DRCW Unified Gnarly Men's Duo Champions on April 6.

The 173rd Disgruntled's Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles Champions: WWE Unified Tag Team Champions: Finn Balor (2) and Damian Priest (2)

Their second reign began when Sting retired as AEW World Tag Team Champion on March 3.

The 161st and Current OCHO: The Disgruntled's Secondary Champion:
(Intercontinental, United States, Global, Television, TNT, North American, X-Division, National Champion)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Sami Zayn (2)

His reign began when he defeated Gunther for the championship on April 6.

It is tough for me to come up with a WWE wrestler worthy of taking the title off of Zayn, which was what made Gunther's reign so grand. But, since this is not a body guy, I imagine that the world champions that the Austrian have bested will not allow him as lengthy a reign. But somebody has to have the long reign. Too bad Cody Rhodes is a babyface champion. Who can possibly be an unbeatable title holder?

Who has a fun title for ninth** title being added to this lineage? AEW's International Championship is looking like a secondary title.

**The OCHO is comprised of the:

  • WWF/WWE Intercontinental Championship (1)
  • WCW/WWE United States Championship (2)
  • ECW World Television Championship (3)
  • TNA/Impact X-Division Championship (4)
  • ROH World Television Championship
  • IWGP United States/Global Championship (5)
  • NXT North American Championship (6)
  • NWA National Championship (7)
  • AEW TNT Championship (8)