WOW! How do ya like that! I finally did four posts in a month! It took nearly a full year, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of this blogging stuff.
It would seem Christopher Nolan's latest flick, Inception, has inspired quite a few people out there. And why wouldn't it? It was a good movie and it's really easy to parody. The latest victim of the Inception mash-up bug is none other than the 1984 classic Ghostbusters.
What can I say? Anytime you can make Ghostbusters serious, ya know ya got talent! Personally, I feel the Dumb And Dumber/Inception mash-up was funnier (Let's face it, that one's even harder to make serious!).
Still, I'm waiting for somebody to really take some initiative here, so I'm putting out a challenge:
WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE DO A THREE STOOGES/INCEPTION MASH-UP!!!
Come on aspiring filmmakers. You know you want to! Now that the challenge is out, maybe somebody will really get creative!
Well, that's all for today. I hope to be back next time with some new comics for the viewing public, and perhaps maybe even a couple of Super Bowl Ads from the past! Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
BEHOLD: THE SHARK!!!
Hello blogsphere! I'm back and ready for some action!
You know, I got a lot of feedback about my Shockmaster post from last February. The most asked question I got about that one was Who the hell thought this was a good Idea? (Ole Anderson apparently). The other question I got asked a lot was Why would the wrestler agree to do such a ridiculous gimmick?. The answer is quite simple really. It's their jobs. The gimmicks aren't always the greatest, obviously, but if one wrestler says no, there are a thousand others out there that would be more than happy to do it just because it means getting a steady paycheck. I bring this up because there once was a wrestler who firmly believed that beggars can't be choosers, and that feeding his family was his top priority when it came to his profession. And that man was the late John Tenta.
Most people remember John for his WWF stint as Earthquake, where he had main event runs with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. He would also win the World Tag Team Championships with partner Typhoon (Fred Ottman, the future Shockmaster). John would later surface in WCW as Avalanche, where he had a main event run with Sting. Things seemed to going great for Tenta, save for one problem: Eric Bischoff didn't like Tenta very much. So after a solid start, it was time for a gimmick change.
Which brings us to this polished turd...
That's right. He became a member of the Dungeon of Doom! Or, as most longtime fans refer to it, Kevin Sullivan's Circus of the Absurd. A little backstory here. When Hulk Hogan first came to WCW, the initial success was phenomenal. After a couple of months though, Hogan began to wear on WCW fans, who more accustomed to action rather than spectacle. WCW, in their infinite wisdom, thought that the best way to make the aging Hulkster look unstoppable was to feed him a whole stable of monsters that he could more or less destroy with ease, Thus creating the Dungeon of Doom. This practice wasn't new to wrestling, as Devastation Inc. ruled over the World Class territory a decade earlier. The problem here was that the monsters Hogan was facing were so ridiculous that fans couldn't take any of the seriously, such as the Yeti, a horny mummy, Lochness, an 800lb. blob, and the Shark, a man fish.
As the Shark, Tenta painted teeth on his beard and spoke about wanting eat all "Hulkamaniacs" out there. He even sacrificed his tiger tattoo (an homage to his Alma Mater, LSU) by having it changed to Shark. Naturally, WCW dropped the gimmick after a couple of months, never even bothering to reimburse Tenta for his tattoo. With long term planning like that, is it any wonder WCW went under.
After his run as the Shark ended, with a memorable promo in which Tenta yelled out "I'm not a shark! I'm a man! My name is John Tenta!", Tenta hung around WCW until the spring of 1997. He would return to the WWF in 1998 as Golga, a member of the Oddities, but was released the following year. He made a one night return at Wrestlemania 17, competing in the Gimmick Battle Royal, and spent the rest of his in ring career in Japan.
In 2003, he wrote the forward to Wrestlecrap: the Book, which is pretty much where I learned the answer to that oft asked question Why do they do it?. Sadly, John Tenta passed away in 2006 after a long battle with cancer. Whether he was heel or a face, John Tenta will always be remembered as one of wrestling's best big men inside the ring, while being one of wrestling's kindest outside of it.
Well, that's all for today. I can't say when I'll be back, but hopefully it will be next week. In the meantime, y'all take care now, and I'll catch everybody next time!
You know, I got a lot of feedback about my Shockmaster post from last February. The most asked question I got about that one was Who the hell thought this was a good Idea? (Ole Anderson apparently). The other question I got asked a lot was Why would the wrestler agree to do such a ridiculous gimmick?. The answer is quite simple really. It's their jobs. The gimmicks aren't always the greatest, obviously, but if one wrestler says no, there are a thousand others out there that would be more than happy to do it just because it means getting a steady paycheck. I bring this up because there once was a wrestler who firmly believed that beggars can't be choosers, and that feeding his family was his top priority when it came to his profession. And that man was the late John Tenta.
Most people remember John for his WWF stint as Earthquake, where he had main event runs with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. He would also win the World Tag Team Championships with partner Typhoon (Fred Ottman, the future Shockmaster). John would later surface in WCW as Avalanche, where he had a main event run with Sting. Things seemed to going great for Tenta, save for one problem: Eric Bischoff didn't like Tenta very much. So after a solid start, it was time for a gimmick change.
Which brings us to this polished turd...
That's right. He became a member of the Dungeon of Doom! Or, as most longtime fans refer to it, Kevin Sullivan's Circus of the Absurd. A little backstory here. When Hulk Hogan first came to WCW, the initial success was phenomenal. After a couple of months though, Hogan began to wear on WCW fans, who more accustomed to action rather than spectacle. WCW, in their infinite wisdom, thought that the best way to make the aging Hulkster look unstoppable was to feed him a whole stable of monsters that he could more or less destroy with ease, Thus creating the Dungeon of Doom. This practice wasn't new to wrestling, as Devastation Inc. ruled over the World Class territory a decade earlier. The problem here was that the monsters Hogan was facing were so ridiculous that fans couldn't take any of the seriously, such as the Yeti, a horny mummy, Lochness, an 800lb. blob, and the Shark, a man fish.
As the Shark, Tenta painted teeth on his beard and spoke about wanting eat all "Hulkamaniacs" out there. He even sacrificed his tiger tattoo (an homage to his Alma Mater, LSU) by having it changed to Shark. Naturally, WCW dropped the gimmick after a couple of months, never even bothering to reimburse Tenta for his tattoo. With long term planning like that, is it any wonder WCW went under.
After his run as the Shark ended, with a memorable promo in which Tenta yelled out "I'm not a shark! I'm a man! My name is John Tenta!", Tenta hung around WCW until the spring of 1997. He would return to the WWF in 1998 as Golga, a member of the Oddities, but was released the following year. He made a one night return at Wrestlemania 17, competing in the Gimmick Battle Royal, and spent the rest of his in ring career in Japan.
In 2003, he wrote the forward to Wrestlecrap: the Book, which is pretty much where I learned the answer to that oft asked question Why do they do it?. Sadly, John Tenta passed away in 2006 after a long battle with cancer. Whether he was heel or a face, John Tenta will always be remembered as one of wrestling's best big men inside the ring, while being one of wrestling's kindest outside of it.
Well, that's all for today. I can't say when I'll be back, but hopefully it will be next week. In the meantime, y'all take care now, and I'll catch everybody next time!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE VERY EXPENSIVE!
Hey folks, just a quick update today. Now that I'm cleared to go back to work, my schedule has picked up a bit. So instead of the wrestling post I had planned for this week, I'm posting this little gem that I discovered on youtube last month.
A little history here for those who don't know about this show or simply don't remember it. Doug was a cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon, and later ABC, during the 1990s. It featured a boy with an over-active imagination named Doug Funny, who lived in a crazy town called Bluffington where everybody was a different color and worshipped a rock band called the Beets. It was an odd but endearing show that ran for quite a while. The people who did this video put a lot of effort into it and did a pretty good job of working in a bunch of references. The scene where Roger shows up was particularly funny.
Well, that's all for this week. Hopefully, I'll be back next week with a wrestling post that you can really "sink" yous teeth into. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
A little history here for those who don't know about this show or simply don't remember it. Doug was a cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon, and later ABC, during the 1990s. It featured a boy with an over-active imagination named Doug Funny, who lived in a crazy town called Bluffington where everybody was a different color and worshipped a rock band called the Beets. It was an odd but endearing show that ran for quite a while. The people who did this video put a lot of effort into it and did a pretty good job of working in a bunch of references. The scene where Roger shows up was particularly funny.
Well, that's all for this week. Hopefully, I'll be back next week with a wrestling post that you can really "sink" yous teeth into. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
Friday, January 7, 2011
WELL, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!
Well folks, I'm back. I haven't been busy or anything. The reason I haven't been posting lately is because I've been sick. For weeks now, I've been promising to talk about the USO show I did at MCAS Miramar last month, and I guess it's high time I make good on that promise, especially since that call is part of the reason why I've been laid up for so long. You see, the conditions in that airplane hanger were so frigid, that I caught pneumonia! For weeks, I just chalked it up to asthma and thought nothing of it, but it turned out to be a bit more serious than that and as a result, I had to stay in bed for a couple of weeks.
As for the show itself, it was a tough one. We worked for nearly two weeks putting it all together and just getting generally roughed up. The stage itself was quite a sight when it was all over with, but I would say the performances were a big let down for most. Katy Perry isn't a good live performer. Without ProTools and an Autotuner, there ain't a whole lot left. Nikki Manaj (I don't know if that's how her name is spelled and I don't care) is also a terrible performer. She was botching cues left and right and was just being genuinely unpleasant backstage. I had to hide underneath a step unit used for the opening number that was supposed to have rap number by Minaj, but on the night of the show she just stood there. Wouldn't give an inch. Later on in the evening they had to restart "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" because Minaj kept blowing her lines. For those of you who watched the show, that was the second take of the song, and it was really obvious that the servicemen in attendance weren't letting her off the hook for screwing up. In all, Heart were the only good band that performed at the show, and they totally blew the roof off the joint.
Like I said, it was a tough show to do and it definitely left an impression on everybody who worked on it. The craziest thing about this show, however, had nothing to do with the performers or the crew. It was all the former classmates I ran into who were working as production assistants for Chloe Productions. I've only kept in touch with a few people from San Diego State since graduating, so I wasn't really expecting to run into anybody so soon, let alone eight former classmates. It was great to see them though and great to see that more than a few of us are working in the field we studied for. Life as a stagehand may be a bit more difficult than that of a production assistant, but it's far more profitable. I have no regrets about staying home after graduating.
But now, it's time to move on to my other profession, the one that doesn't pay the bills. I now present to you my first comics of 2011.
According to my Mom, this actually happened to my Grandma about 25 years ago. Whether it's true or not remains to be seen, as I just don't have the heart to ask my Grandma if it really happened!
Anyway, that's all for this week. Hopefully I'll be back next time with a new wrestling post, one that'll have many of you "swimming" for higher ground I'm sure. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
DECK THE HALLS WITH SANTA'S EVIL BROTHER!!!
Hey folks! Welcome to another exciting edition of "Bad Wrestling Theater". Today's gem comes from the wacky world of the mid 90's WWF. A world ripe with wrestling clowns, plumbers and dudes with yellow jockstraps over their heads (don't ask).
It was the December '95 In Your House pay per view, and longtime heel Ted Dibiase was in the ring bashing Santa Clause, prompting perennial midcarder Savio Vego to come defend jolly old St. Nick's honor. Just as things started to clear up, Vega was attacked by none other than Santa Clause, who had apparently sold out to the Million Dollar Man. Of course, it wasn't actually Santa Clause, but his evil brother, Xanta Klause, who came from the South Pole and stole presents rather than give them.
Yeah, it was pretty bad, but it did result in great Ted Dibiase promo that went "When it comes to the Million Dollar Man, everybody has a price! Even dear, old Santa Clause! HA HA HA HA HA!" What can I say? Only the Million Dollar Man can say that and make it work.
What's that you say? You don't remember any of this ever happening? Well, there's a pretty good reason most longtime fans forgot about this angle. It only lasted a few weeks, if even that! You see, somebody at the Titan Towers must have remembered that Christmas only comes once a year, so it was pointless to push the character past December. That and the gimmick wasn't really getting over anyway. The man behind Xanta, on the hand, had a bit more luck than the character. He would travel to Philadelphia, surfacing in ECW as Balls Mahoney, having good runs in both the original and the reincarnated versions of ECW. Most recently, he appeared at the failed Hardcore Justice pay per view that TNA put on.
And in case you're curious as to who Ted Dibiase selected to be his new Million Dollar Champion, it was former WCW star "Stunning" Steve Austin. Of course now, he was known as the "Ringmaster" and no, he didn't wear a top hat and coattails, which is a bit surprising given the state of the World Wrestling Federation at the time. No, his gimmick was that he was really good, which fans questioned, especially when compared to fellow wrtestlers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Needless to say, the "Ringmaster" didn't work, so Austin was more or less left to his own device and thus "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the foul-mouthed redneck antihero, was born. Not long after, the first chapter of Austin 3:16 was written when Austin won the '96 King of the Ring, launching the infamous "Attitude" era of pro wrestling.
And since it's Christmas and I haven't been posting as often as I'd like, I present a special treat for everybody. I give you the Charlie Brown Christmas special, the way it was meant to be seen.
You know? I think they're on to something here. Anybody for a Grinch/Metallica mash-up?
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully, I'll get another post in before Christmas, but if I don't, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a safe Holiday Season. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
It was the December '95 In Your House pay per view, and longtime heel Ted Dibiase was in the ring bashing Santa Clause, prompting perennial midcarder Savio Vego to come defend jolly old St. Nick's honor. Just as things started to clear up, Vega was attacked by none other than Santa Clause, who had apparently sold out to the Million Dollar Man. Of course, it wasn't actually Santa Clause, but his evil brother, Xanta Klause, who came from the South Pole and stole presents rather than give them.
Yeah, it was pretty bad, but it did result in great Ted Dibiase promo that went "When it comes to the Million Dollar Man, everybody has a price! Even dear, old Santa Clause! HA HA HA HA HA!" What can I say? Only the Million Dollar Man can say that and make it work.
What's that you say? You don't remember any of this ever happening? Well, there's a pretty good reason most longtime fans forgot about this angle. It only lasted a few weeks, if even that! You see, somebody at the Titan Towers must have remembered that Christmas only comes once a year, so it was pointless to push the character past December. That and the gimmick wasn't really getting over anyway. The man behind Xanta, on the hand, had a bit more luck than the character. He would travel to Philadelphia, surfacing in ECW as Balls Mahoney, having good runs in both the original and the reincarnated versions of ECW. Most recently, he appeared at the failed Hardcore Justice pay per view that TNA put on.
And in case you're curious as to who Ted Dibiase selected to be his new Million Dollar Champion, it was former WCW star "Stunning" Steve Austin. Of course now, he was known as the "Ringmaster" and no, he didn't wear a top hat and coattails, which is a bit surprising given the state of the World Wrestling Federation at the time. No, his gimmick was that he was really good, which fans questioned, especially when compared to fellow wrtestlers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Needless to say, the "Ringmaster" didn't work, so Austin was more or less left to his own device and thus "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the foul-mouthed redneck antihero, was born. Not long after, the first chapter of Austin 3:16 was written when Austin won the '96 King of the Ring, launching the infamous "Attitude" era of pro wrestling.
And since it's Christmas and I haven't been posting as often as I'd like, I present a special treat for everybody. I give you the Charlie Brown Christmas special, the way it was meant to be seen.
You know? I think they're on to something here. Anybody for a Grinch/Metallica mash-up?
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully, I'll get another post in before Christmas, but if I don't, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a safe Holiday Season. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
FINALLY, SOME CHRISTMAS COMICS!!!
For those of you who have ever wondered why Mike and Mindy don't talk, here's why: they have terrible singing voices.Anyway, short update for today. I know that I promised to talk about the Divas show this week, but I just don't have any time right now. But I promise I'll get to it soon. Too many surreal things happened on this call not to cover it.
Anyway, enough talking. Let's get to the comics...
Hope this was helpful to you.
For those of who have never been to Tijuana before, or simply don't know, that's the legendary Zebra Donkey that Santa is partying with. There's no real back story to the Zebra Donkey. It's a Tijuana tradition that's been around for decades, mostly for tourists who like to get their pictures taken with it. And now you know, and knowing is half the battle (cue G.I. Joe theme).And since it's Christmas time, how about a holiday jingle...
Truth be told, I wasn't much of a fan of Home Alone 2. I mean, I'll watch it if it's on, but the first Home Alone was much better. I do like this song though, especially the great saxophone work of Clarence Clemons. That's the E Street band backing up Darlene Love by the way (sharp-eyed observers may even recognize former Late Night and Tonight Show drummer Max Weinberg). Darlene was just announced as an inductee to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, so congratulations to her.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'll be back next time with a Christmas wrestling post. Until then, I'll catch y'all later!
Monday, December 6, 2010
GOOD GOD WHAT A TIME!
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been unimaginably busy. I was put on the call for the VH1 Divas Live show that was shot at MCAS Miramar, which took eight days to put together, two days to rehearse and shoot, and three days to load out. You would not believe how beat up I am right now. I even lost ten pounds! As a result, I haven't had time for anything lately. I even had to cancel an SCCS appearance at the San Diego Blood drive that the Chargers do every year. So rather than post a couple of rushed, shabbily-drawn cartoons (as opposed to the shabbily-drawn cartoons that I take my time on), today I'm just gonna post a holiday treat so all the readers out there know that I'm still alive, just busy. And what better way to kick off the holidays than by spending a little quality time with the McKenzie Brothers, Bob and Doug.
You know? I don't drink, but a beer does sound pretty good right about now.
Anyway, I hate ending my post on a sad note, but I have to make mention of two recent losses: Irving Kershner and Leslie Nielsen. Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, which is not only the best of the Star Wars movies, but one of the best movies period. It works on pretty much all levels and had some of best visual effects ever. I learned a lot about lighting for film by watching the scene in the carbon freeze chamber. He was a good director (Robocop 2 aside) and he will be missed. Anybody who has read my comics has probably figured out that the films of Jim Abrahams and the Jerry and David Zucker were a huge influence on me growing up. As funny as those guys are, a big part of the reason those films worked was because of the actors they cast in them, and there was none better than Leslie Nielsen. His deadpan delivery would always have me in stitches and the scene at the opening of The Naked Gun where he beats up all the terrorists is still the funniest part of the movie, and that's hard to say, because so many scenes in that movie are outrageously funny. I'll really miss Leslie Nielsen, but I take comfort in the fact that he leaves a great list of films to look back on and that he kind of closed the circle, doing an Airplane! reprisal at the end of Scary Movie 3. Goodbye Leslie. This world was a much better place for your having been here.
Well, that's it for this week. I'll be back next time with some new cartoons, another holiday video, and a bunch of pictures and tidbits from the Vh1 Divas show. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
You know? I don't drink, but a beer does sound pretty good right about now.
Anyway, I hate ending my post on a sad note, but I have to make mention of two recent losses: Irving Kershner and Leslie Nielsen. Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, which is not only the best of the Star Wars movies, but one of the best movies period. It works on pretty much all levels and had some of best visual effects ever. I learned a lot about lighting for film by watching the scene in the carbon freeze chamber. He was a good director (Robocop 2 aside) and he will be missed. Anybody who has read my comics has probably figured out that the films of Jim Abrahams and the Jerry and David Zucker were a huge influence on me growing up. As funny as those guys are, a big part of the reason those films worked was because of the actors they cast in them, and there was none better than Leslie Nielsen. His deadpan delivery would always have me in stitches and the scene at the opening of The Naked Gun where he beats up all the terrorists is still the funniest part of the movie, and that's hard to say, because so many scenes in that movie are outrageously funny. I'll really miss Leslie Nielsen, but I take comfort in the fact that he leaves a great list of films to look back on and that he kind of closed the circle, doing an Airplane! reprisal at the end of Scary Movie 3. Goodbye Leslie. This world was a much better place for your having been here.
Well, that's it for this week. I'll be back next time with some new cartoons, another holiday video, and a bunch of pictures and tidbits from the Vh1 Divas show. Until next time, I'll catch y'all later!
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