Pro-Wrestling and The Conservative Chicken Conspiracy

*Blog post started on April 21, 2020.

I have gotten to have fun with trolling conservative trolls on Twitter with the breakout of lockdown protests, but news just is not happening. Well, pro-wrestling wise is a different case, but to dive into that may expose some hypocrisies when it comes to my morals. I suppose that just makes me a middle-ground Democrat, but I dream of seeing a Chairman AOC.

All my sports fandom is screwed. WWE fired 40% of their workforce, a couple of dozen being on screen talent, after I suggested six onscreen performers (none of which were cut). The gut reaction would be to cut off my WWE Network subscription, but how can I resist the *"Dynamite Cop" ("Die Hard Arcade")* Money in the Bank matches?

Buzzfeed.com

*John McClane did not have to get to the roof to beat Hans Gruber, so "Die Hard" the movie comparisons are inaccurate. It would actually be better to compare these matches to "Critters 3".*

The only thing that hinders the next pay-per-view is that there are two of these corporate ladder matches. Making both matches unique will be hard to do. It probably would have been better to make one of them a traditional MITB instead. Of course, WWE and I are on totally different pages when it comes to wrestling-related decisions. As for ambivalence towards capital sources...

It seems that favorite football club, Newcastle United, is about to be sold to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Seeing owner Mike Ashley leave should be a glorious occasion, but taking the piss out of the fanbase is what he lives for. Can I truly be upset? The Chicago Cubs are owned by TD Ameritrade who has quite a bit of hateful values, if hating how they are destroying Wrigleyville was not enough.

I left Peoria after I realized that my only longtime friend that I spent time with was a racist, self-absorbed, borderline sociopath (Who has a kid since then if you needed further proof the world is only chaos. I suppose that just makes him a true Mortonite.). Deciding to head to a liberal hub without aspiration to further my hospitality education may have been decided on by that point, but wanting to get away from negative people may have been that guy's actions alone. And then Donald Trump was elected that fall, so you just cannot run away from the rhetoric.

And sometimes you do not want to run away. Growing up, Domino's was the easiest pizza to get delivered and my parents did not care about their politics. My grandfather, on the other hand, hated the Catholic-tude. If we ordered it while my parents took my dad's parents to a dinner with older relatives, we were to dispose of the evidence before they got home. It was a good thing I was a teenager because we were allowed no leftovers.

I wonder if I should have told a story about my grandfather's racism. It could have been easily framed as him being a Michigan State University graduate, so fuck anything that came out of Ann Arbor. Until I realized how important it was to support you local minor league teams, going to see the Peoria Chiefs as a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate was a no no.

It is not like I do not try to be woke with the rest of my life. I have only once paid for Chick-fil-a, which should serve as a great example of how much I loved my last girlfriend and fought for that relationship. If you want to hate me, let it be because I eat fried chicken-themed fast food period.

The Conservative Chicken Conspiracy:

Check out the rest of the blog at the "Rip 'Em System" tumblr along with the subtext of "No Holds Barred."

90-Min Rutger Hauer: "Surviving the Game" Before Newline Tried

*Blog posted started on April 17, 2020.

Four hours and 10 minutes left in the shift and I foolishly thought writing a movie review would get me through the rest of the day. Stimulus fever seemingly lasted for 48 hours. If you got they got their check, they cashed it out before the government knew it was gone. That had been the only story in the news, so I am back to needing to blog on and on and on.

For a second there, I thought I was in trouble. Fortunately, my Domo-kun messenger bag did make the trip from the car to the breakroom. It would be really awkward to ask the manager if I could run out to the car for my comic books.

This might be my biggest complaint about the COVID-19 lockdown that I cannot go troll hunting to cope. For printed media, it is probably a plus for print and bookstores. Comixology has not been sending the bi-weekly worthwhile email about what graphic novels and comic book releases. No brick and mortar, no new releases. I definitely prefer the paper and the collectability despite my not owning sleeves and cardboard backs (What else do you expect me to use my Pro Wrestling Crate boxes for?). Still, with movies soon to be a digital only medium, I am willing for comics to be the same.

As long as there are Funko Pop! collectables when we get out, we can stay locked up till 2021. The strike-shortened NHL 2013 season was a lot of fun in my opinion.

With all that said, I do have to thank the heroes at Netflix DVD.com warehouses. It is great to have the assurance that I will not pay an extra $2 to see a Rutger Hauer movie that has yet to be converted to HD.

Of course, people are surprised when they find out that I still have a DVD-rental subscription service. I may have just overblown the noble nature of this essential job. Are they having any issues social distancing in those distribution centers if 1 in 22,500 (population of Champaign divided by two) are requesting discs via mail?

I should not mock them when there are plenty of assholes who troll people just to say "Fuck you! Your wrong!" on Twitter and Facebook. They are just trying to survive, like Ice T in Ernest Dickerson's follow up to "Juice" (Please pardon that tacky transition.).

Surviving the Game - Why Can't F. Murray Abraham be Properly Billed?

Check out the rest of review at "Ninety For Chill: A More Acceptable Runtimes

"The Escapist" (2008): Can We Now All Relate to the Prison Break Genre?

*Blog post is of a 2010 movie review. More original content started on April 14, 2020.

With Verdana as my default blog font (As I typed, I remember that I have not previewed the appearance yet. It seemed to work out okay.), maybe I can come up with a rant before we get into my movie review, the 2008 prison break movie "The Escapist". It a nice coincidence that I have two hours left on my shift and need something to keep me busy until I can leave the capitalist cage, despite all my rage.

Does anyone know who did the cover of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" used in the "Final Fantasy VII: Remake"? Shazam could not help me out last night.

Absolutely nothing seems to be going on during the lockdown. Yesterday, it took me the better part of six hours to get my review for the third/fourth worst Rutger Hauer movie that I have seen "Split Second". Today, I was able to catch up with Wrestling Inc., ESPN, FiveThirtyEight, Huffington Post, CNN, NBC, and The Ringer in about four. The only jump I had was on Wrestling Inc.

That seems weird coming out of a holiday weekend, a religious holiday at that. COVID-19 is so dangerous that terrorists stay home instead of attacking a church or two. It makes me wonder if we should even open back up for business.

We are in prison. There are no outliers. Now is the time for Rehoboam. Apple, Google and Amazon have all of our information. Lets get to cracking on some algorithms to predict and direct. I am a nihilist. I am ready for my fate.

That observation might mean that I am basing too many of my Pokémon names around Dolores or Evan Rachael Wood. I used her last name a lot, but just now realized the gender neutrality of her first name. Why have I not used that for any of my Eevees?

Do I continue ranting about my current situation for the next hour or do I get on eBay and amuse myself looking for the right purple football kit or irresistible championship belt deal? In other words, do I buy into the prison system further or whine about it more?

At least I have stretched this blog entry out long enough that I know longer believe that I am cheating my readers. And at least I can scrap the idea of taking a critical run at "Alien 3." It is a flawed film that needs some love, but too give you a prison movie double-feature review seemed daunting.

The Escapist

Every British film not from Edgar Wright (Paul WS Anderson does not count) must be visualized as a play first. This explains the rich dialogue and the lack of any immediate character definition. They do not want to present the audience with caricatures, but it would be nice if we had some clue behind the depressing tale of redemption that is "The Escapist".

Frank Perry has spent 14 years in a London prison with little contact from the outside world. The first contact seems to be from his wife who writes him with bad news. It is news so bad that he can no longer wait for his parole hearing to get out.

He cannot do this on his own, so he has to gather the assistance of those with nothing to lose and the permission of the Irish cons who run the joint. If they can survive the three days prior to the break, they may stand a chance of obtaining freedom.

Wattpad - The world's most-loved social storytelling platform

"The Escapist" is a clever spin on how to edit a prison break film. The story telling method of jumping back and forth from the jail break and the build up results in a powerful ending, but does test the patience of the viewer. Each jailbird's motive is not made immediately clear, and aside from a rape and Joseph Fiennes picking a fight with future four-time WWE World Champion Sheamus, there is very little action.

It is a long, depressing story which furthers your hopes that they get out of prison, but it has difficulty keeping the viewers attention. If you cannot keep the audience's attention, why would they care about the escape.

If you can make it to the end, "The Escapist" pays off. Fortunately, the filmmakers and actors deliver on their end. Despite the tedious story, your are encouraged to tough it out. With a few tweaks, "The Escapist" would be the standard for the prison break subgenre. The film's method works, but you have to have a strong constitution to be rewarded.

Love Will Tear Us Apart and WWE Future Endeavor Suggestions

*Blog post started on April 7, 2020.

I am on my half day (With COVID-19, it actually was scheduled correctly.) and I feared that I would be rushing something to publish tomorrow. With only three/four hours on the clock and being the only non-salary employee, how would I have the time to get to writing when I hardly managed to get through nbcnews.com last night? It turns out this coronavirus is killing more than people, but news in general.

As the old adage goes, "no news is good news." Everybody is too sick to wage war with the exception of the right towards the left. My weekly Mom call (under 20 minutes this week) involved her buying in on the hydrochloroquine (Which auto correct only ponders whether that word should be one or two words. It is good to see that Microsoft Edge [I am at work.] is as active as Bill Gates.). This might just be her reason to warrant going to a duplex showing while I am waiting for the pandemic to subside before moving out of my current codependent situation. Just give her the drug.

Being stuck with an ex right now is at least a distraction from the lockdown. If we were not locked down, I would still be dealing with her innocent, inconsiderate nature. She does not mean anything by it, but when you live with someone who is very detailed and optimization dependent, you have to try to think twice about your actions. Recently, her approach was ask for forgiveness, not permission.

Needless to say, I was a little pissed that she acknowledged that she was not giving a shit about her environment instead of fixing it when it was breaking. How I manage trouble is recognizing that something is broken and try to fix it whether or not I know how to. It may end up going from being broke to destroyed, but at least I made the effort to save the day, not apologize after it can no longer be fixed.

With my optimizing nature (It is more of life hacking, if you know about my actual abilities of handling logic.) there was a way to leave the environment. The spare bedroom has the 2014 PS4 and 2012 PS3, and I have a Switch. Too bad I want to be comfortable. The living room is where the 4K is. Roger Corman deserves 4K.

The prior paragraph should indicate that I have not watched a new(ish) to me film with a runtime between 75 and 97 minutes. But after successfully getting another free month of the WWE Network (which I plan to let renew provided the month lacks a Saudi show) to witness WrestleMania this past weekend, did I need an oddball movie? WrestleMania 36 showed that I need your help/suggestions in getting my no/low budget, pro-wrestling zombie comedy "Main Event of the Dead" out of development hell (Send those ideas or ask for a story treatment by emailing russthebus07@gmail.com.). If you want the squared circle place in an alternate reality, I now realize that I may have been five years ahead of the curve.

If Bray Wyatt would have portrayed a Zeus, that would have warranted WrestleTalk's Oli Davis's six-star review.

Aside from an overly long last man standing match and an all too brief main event, I cannot really complain about the event except that it is another example of me giving in to people that lack empathy. Vince and Stephanie "Accurately Described by Scott Steiner" McMahon know not of the cause for lockdowns thus know of no safety risks. If I was not living that feeling right now, it was an adequate distraction since it left me fantasy booking as I try to wait out my former better quarter (Eva the Cat has her justified claim of half) to control the apartment.

The problem with fantasy booking is that WWE will just run back the "show of shows" for the nonsubscribers to see. So where does that place the employees who just are not being seen? I would suggest different places, and primarily a different country. AEW is still stacked, so unless performers are over on their own, I do not think they can get in there at this time. Vince McMahon cannot deny that he needs to make budget cuts especially if his goal is to take new pay-per-views of the network, which will obviously result in a revenue loss. Here are my cuts.

Should Be Future Endeavored:

Check out the rest of the blog at the "Rip 'Em System" tumblr along with the subtext of "No Holds Barred."

90 min. Amazon Prime: "Golgo 13: The Professional" and Sick Trump Fantasy

*Blog started on March 31, 2020.

My 67 and 72 year-old parents are doing fine during the pandemic. Dad is probably a little bored without the grandchildren to spoil. Mom suggested that I call him after I spoke to her. I am not from a broken home, they just have their own preferred spaces in the house. Thus, she could not have just handed the phone over to him. They either screen and/or ignore the landline.

The boredom I suspect from my dad was apparent because in our six-minute conversation, he wanted to fill out my proxy vote for my single WWE stock. I think he was a little let down that I said it was pointless with Vincent Kennedy McMahon owning hundreds of thousands multiple-vote stocks compared to my single single-vote one. But, with no sports, what were we going to talk about?

As for Mom, everything was on the table in terms of our 39-minute conversation, politics being the primary subject. I should say seemingly because it may determine the future of my niece and nephew, it is unavoidable. Perhaps I need to get her on Twitter (find me @maineventzombie), so she can troll millennials. A part of me thinks Mom wants to argue and she knows I am good for that.

Obviously, I do not watch all of the same sources of news that she does. Actually, we follow most of the same with the exception of her with Fox News and whatever soulless network on DirecTV that airs Bill O'Reilly while I have HBO and read the Huffington Post. Guest I am my mother's son...the disappointing one (It is tough to compete with the little brother with the CNA and CDL who outgrew being a roadie.), but her son none the less.

Her biggest issue was all the good things the stimulus had that she thought was House Democrat pork. The House Democrats are Nancy Pelosi (with the exception of The Squad who she feels need to be filtered while Donald Trump does not). Which ever brainwashing station her mind was drying from said that Pelosi's daughter wish COVID-19 on Trump. I did not bring up the president mocking Mitt Romney when he was responsible enough to go into self isolation, or my other blog post this week where I asked which one of the assholes on Pennsylvania Ave should come down with it.

This leads me to the tip toing around spoilers for 1983's "Golgo 13: The Professional". An affluent family incident is what the film is centered around. My sick Trump fantasy is that when he needs to past the reigns of his alleged fortune (Thank the gods my new passport came in before I saw this flick.) was that heir dying just after the exchange happened. I did not have this idea until looking back on this film, but to see the most evil American (How many undisputed war criminals held the highest office in the land?) lose his legacy seems like a fitting form of justice.

Since no one deserves to die (I got to stick by my principles.), Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric or Baron going "Inception" on Donald's ass is far more ideal. Science be praised for my rationality. Unfortunately, Trump is not a rational man. Unless his fortune is a total fabrication, he would probably only be willing to relinquish his reigns to look good, not because it would be the right thing to do. If this scenario came to be, he would love to see his offspring die so that he can still run things the way he thinks should be.

So, Donald J. Trump is more evil than a villain who trains his elementary school-aged granddaughter to shoot someone down at an airport, releases condemned serial killers, and pimps out his daughter-in-law to gain vengeance. If he were to read this blog (May as well tag him, I have not made a threat.), he would probably make sure that Baron was good with a 9mm. Good thing he does not seem to want to share Ivanka. I guess I best not @realdonaldtrump when I promote this blog. Thanks "Golgo 13" for further realizing how fucked my homeland is.

jposter.net - Authentic Japanese Movie Memorabilia

Golgo 13: The Professional

Duke Togo is the greatest hitman of the past two centuries (There was a brilliant "Golgo 13" anime TV show produced in the late ought's). Only his handlers may have a clue to where he came from or who he was, but when a near impossible assignation occurs, it is safe to presume that it was the man who goes by the codename Golgo 13. Thus, after oil baron Leonard Dawson's son was sniped on the day of succession, Dawson devotes all his resources to kill Togo. Because he could destroy the American economy by pulling his financial interests, the Pentagon and CIA have no choice but to accept this mission. The only question, is that enough to defeat the only man who can make the impossible possible?

"Golgo 13: The Professional" serves as an example of what your James Bond knock off should be. The graphic violence and ruthless nature make loud enough statements that the viewer wants to get to the next action sequence, exposition be damned. I would not be surprised if it did not encourage set pieces by directors like James Cameron, Len Wiseman and John Woo (which in turn suggests Quentin Tarantino).

The animation provides a perfect blend of action, comic book stills, and innovation. Switching from a still seemingly ripped from the manga to the kill shots sets a high standard for the action sequences which the film delivers on. While the CG is out of place, you cannot help but be impressed by graphics that are 12 years ahead of its time. It is still used well enough to provide inspiration for films to come (like the Harrier battle in "True Lies").

If I had any complaints, I could say that the traditional animation quality is not that of 1970's Disney, but it is on par with the time, so that was hardly worth noting. Some of the plot points are gut punches, and you ponder how can they come up with and show such sexual brutality. As I stated at the start of the critique, the stakes are so high, you just want to see them resolved. They serve as a great pacing device and since anime loves to take these liberties, at least it feels somewhat appropriate.

A genuine complaint that I do have is that I wish I could have seen this dubbed. With all of the characters having English names (The Sicilian mob boss early on in the film is Dr. Z whose daughter is Cindy.), it would have felt right. But after "Demon City Shinjuku", Digital Media Rights definitely would have avoided updating the old Streamline Pictures or Central Park Media English voice tracks to sound appropriate.

"Golgo 13: The Professional" is an anime that will please any action movie fan or animation lover. It presents a solid and occasionally awe-inspiring product visually and features a story that 80's Stallone and Schwarzenegger would love to have read for. The subtleness of a Bond film is present, so no movie-goer can claim that it is not their thing. This flick is not perfect, but you got to be impressed that it could be someday.

Productivity in the Time of Lockdown: 20 Questions

*Blog post started on March 27, 2020.

To Do List at the Day Job:

• Finish the critique of the proposed training/reference material: Check.
• Complete transcribing movie reviews from 10 year-old journal to blog posts. Check.
• Be the first to win "Drive Up Bingo": Check.
• Read through all the wrestling, sports, news and entertainment websites: Check.
• Relabel a large portion of this blog post labels to inspire random website traffic: Check.
• Remember to make sure my drawer is balanced. Check.

Technically, 20 Questions:

1. Do I have a priority issue? I will leave that to my supervisor, who is on my Facebook friends list.
2. Am I asking for a write up? That would at least kill time between customer droughts.
3. I have plenty of empty pages in at least two of the four journals that I had brought in. But since I am not exceptionally pissed at anyone personally right now, what is the point?
4. Anyhow, my first day off in two weeks is Sunday. Am I really going to use it to pen the next great novel? 
5. Do not ask me, "Should you?"
6. If I cannot beat Galar Pokémon League Champion Leon with my Gyrados, Manetric, Piloswine, Doublade, Gloom, and Cinderace, my day is all filled up. How can you ask anything else of me?
7. It's 2 p.m. I must be bored. Was that Matchbox Twenty reference a stretch?
8. I need to come up with some idea to fill the time. Is it safe to state some screenplay ideas I have?
9. With my codependency issues, should I trust you if the answer is yes?
10. If the answer is yes, where have you been to tell me how to get my low-budget, pro-wrestling zom-com film "Main Event of the Dead" out of development hell? If you would like a story treatment, send me an e-mail to russthebus07@gmail.com.
11. There are 17 minutes until my shift ends. Can I come up with 10 more questions?
12. Am I in desperate need of improv classes?
13. Will this be a weekly thing during the time of COVID-19?
14. Why have we not come up with a great, non-racist nickname for it?
15. How about calling it Fuck Bug-19?
16. Cunt is my favorite curse word. Would it be sexist to call it Cunt-19?
17. Which Trump are you hoping contracts it?
18. Was this a blog that was worth putting out, or just an exercise?
19. How desperate am I for interaction during lockdown?
20. Is it cruel to: After accidentally stepping on your ex-girlfriends cat, corner it because you know your cat senses its weekened state, and let my better half whack the shit out of him for three seconds?

*Blog post resumed on March 30, 2020

freethemesia.blogspot.com

I did watch "Golgo 13: The Professional" last night (a future post for ninetyforchill.com). "Westworld" showed us that the Wachowski Sisters are going to really need to step their game up for "Matrix 4". Leaving the weekend with a need to watch "Jupiter Ascending" seems odd, but pretty normal for me I suppose. That is kind of disappointing when I actually had a day off.

Damn laundry. Just because I got the load done for $2.25 instead of the typical $3.25 does not excuse you from feeling like a waste of time. In all fairness, my work shirts, jeans and underwear are not to blame. If only the neighbors immediately pulled their shit out of the dryer instead of waiting two hours, I would have had a little more freedom to move around. Were they conspiring with my ex? Once she got up, they offered a glimpse of being responsible neighbors.

When it comes to the ex, we are both operating as if the other is a cat. She thinks cats will do their own thing, so she does not care when and where she does hers. It is a good thing that I watch most programming with subtitles or I would have taken nothing away from "Tiger King" as she yelled at her grandma during a wellness check. There are three other rooms...and an in call volume control that should be all the way up.

The girl is acting like a cat. She has opposable thumbs. I have told her because of that, she cannot be feline.

Productivity, with an environment like that, am I expected to obtain any. Well, my Pokémon team did take the title away from Leon, so there is a little. It would have felt like more if the former better quarter (Eva the cat will always be entitled to half.) was not playing videos on her phone with the volume up as I was going through all my max revives to win the day. I suppose that makes my accomplishment even greater, but I would trade that for a perfect environment.

21. Is being autobiographical in your blog post passive aggressive? I suppose that is why Colt Cabana does not give CM Punk the shit he deserves on "The Art of Wrestling". But then again, he has friends to vent to.

22. Will I be so relieved to be on our separate ways, will I have anyone to talk to?