Icon. Showstoppah. Main Eventah.

Last night was a nothing night. Came home, worked out, paid bills, deposited checks, played with rabbits, bid heavily on an original signed piece by Simon Bisely of Lobo and one of Kevin Maguire’s first drawing ever of Booster Gold, and mainly watched some ECW. REAL ECW. Although that will probably offend two people I know that read this. The real adjective, not the ECW watching.

See, yesterday WWE released ECW: Extreme Rules. A two disc collection showing great matches from the old and the new ECW. Now if you don’t know me, I grew up with ECW. I grew up on Philly. The ECW arena is a place I frequented a lot as a lad, mainly because I wasn’t old enough to get into Nocturne. I was never a WWE fan save for when a wrestler from the AWA or NWA popped over. My feds were those two, and for the brief period it was around while I was in single digits, the UWF.

Then came Eastern Championship Wrestling. They were constantly putting at matches at a higher degree of quality then say Junkyard Dog vs Big John Studd or Hulk Hogan vs. The Earthquake. Some of the matches were technical masterpieces. Nothing like Chi-Town Rumble Flair/Steamboat, but for an Indy fed it was high impressive. Some were spot fests with a lot of high flying moves you wouldn’t normally see outside of a Great Muta match at the time. And then of course were the violently bloody brawls. Little skill was required but you couldn’t help being impressed by the sheer level of fortitude these guys had to take sick bumps.

And then, literally overnight, it was EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING. And I never looked back in the mid 1990’s. Honestly, would I rather watch some compelling and well written plots, or would I rather watch Mabel win the King of the Ring? Would I rather watch Tommy Dreamer die for his art or Sabu shatter his body and keep wrestling as if it was just a flesh wound, or would I rather watch Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake main event Starrcade in a complete insult to everything the NWA once represented to my circa 1989 self? ECW was at a level of quality the big two wouldn’t reach until they started raiding the ECW roster and plagarizing their storylines. The only real time I remember caring about wither WCW or the WWE in College was the formation of the nWo, which was very cool, and Degeneration X from October 1997 to March 1998. Other than that…they were to get my wrestling fix when ECW wasn’t on.

ECW and then Japanese guys like Muta, Chono, and Liger made me want to wrestle and take the craft seriously. In college I did several pro bouts and freaked Ronni out at some of the shit I did to my body. I’m lucky enough to have bled with Dreamer in an ECW right (well, more all over the place. Not so much IN the ring). I’ve gotten into two altercations with Raven, one on live WCW TV. I’ve been concussed by John Cena (who I can tell you was not a good worker in those early days, but is a hell of a great guy), and I’ve stayed casual contacts/acquaintances/kinda sorts friends with a few over the years. It’s also one of the reasons I have disdain for 95% of the IWC, because not a single one is in the shape to do most of the stuff they armchair quarterback, and if they got in the ring they’d make a Hell in the Kennel look like a classic. Oddly enough I have disdain for the IWC for the exact opposite reason I have disdain for Game reviewers. One is far too critical considering their lack of talent in the area, and the other is willing to give 9’s and 10’s to even the biggest piece of crap on the market. Is it that hard to be a critic these days? Oy.

Obviously I didn’t go into it professionally. And I’m glad because there’s no way I’d want to be trapped as an independent contractor having to pay for my own insurance and no real benefits thus watching my paycheck go towards things employers should pay for in the first place. Again, sorry if that offends a few of you, but it was a huge reason I didn’t go into the industry full time. I like comfort and money. Plus that swanton that fucked up my spine because the other guy flinched didn’t help make the case for the industry either.

Anyway, I only watched the first DVD last night simply because I had other things to do and I was watching it on and off. Here’s some quick thoughts on the content. I haven’t watched SE since 2001 save for the occasional time they come to MSP and when Widro paid me to review ONS2. Oh god was that ever awful. But I’m rambling…

(more…)

Man, I’ve now contributed 51 DVD’s to that site, and will add 12 more this weekend with those Discovery Channel flicks I got last week. I’m sure it says something about my tastes that I was the first one to add all of these films/DVD’s to the Database but I’m not sure what. Here they all are in chronological order.

(more…)

http://www.karostascietums.lv/new/en/intro-en.html

That’s it. I am planning a vacation just around staying here.

At Karosta Prison, the Latvian city of Liepaja , the rooms are indeed jail cells, largely unchanged since the last real prisoners left in 1997. The KGB ran the place in the 1970s, and the tradition of hospitality lives on: Should you choose the “extreme overnight” stay, you will undergo questioning, an inspection by the prison doctor, confiscation of your belongings, and a sleepless night on a pillowless, blanketless bunk. The occasional warning shot fired in the air may further disturb your slumber. Did we mention the delightful prison toilets?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/30/stonehenge.village.ap/index.html

Village excavated near Stonehedge. Both were built at the same time. Very cool to see STonehedge as the front page on most news sties today.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/30/war.powers.ap/index.html

GOP to Bush: Please stop sucking. Please just shut up.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/30/gas.station.blast.ap/index.html

West Virginia gas station explodes. Guin, this isn’t anywhere near you is it? 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/30/naked.guy.ap/index.html

Greased Streaker gets tasered by the police. If only he had been Deaf and it would have been a scene from Family Guy

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/01/30/postsecret.warren/index.html

CNN Discovers Postsecret.com. What, like two years after the rest of us did?

 http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/01/30/obesity.report/index.html

California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee are the best states in the US for preventing obesity in kids.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/01/30/bi.trend.cruises.ap/index.html

Neat information about the advancement in cruise ship entertainment. I think I’ll be taking a Mexico/Central America cruise in December.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/01/30/yearbook.lawsuit.ap/index.html

WTF story of the day. Member of the SCA has his Senior pictures taken in full Dungeons and Dragons garb. School refuses to publish photo as they have a zero tolerance on weapons and his +4 sword of repelling getting laid would promote violence.

 http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/01/29/thailand.airport.ap/index.html

Why Bangkok Airport is the worst airport in the world.

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400863.html

Ten ways to make any hotel room look sexier.

1. This would not fix Boatel. I would bet money on that. Dan, back me up.

2. Not one of their suggestions involves a Polar Bear. WTF yo?

http://www.charlesaddams.com/

If you’re looking for high quality Charles Addams prints and artwork.

Jesus, it’s so cold my car won’t kick over so it looks like I’m working from home this morning. I’ll call Dan or Scott about getting a jump in a bit. Well Scott in a bit. Dan in an hour or two as he’s probably still asleep. My big worry though is that it’s not the weather but some delayed shit from the flood. But that can’t be as it was just fine yesterday. Stupid cold! 

Last night was unventful. Picking up a package from UPS, hanging out with JEssica for 60-90 minutes, then working out to a documentary on the origins, history and evemtualities of the moon. Turns out the narrator was Patrick Stewart. Oh, and he’s one of those who says URINE-US instead of Uranus. Boo Captain Picard. Boo I say!

I realize people says Urine-us instead of YOUR ANUS, but still, aren’t you just getting a word that reminds kids of bodily functions with that? 

http://www.letsdish.com/

Holy shit is the March menu amazing. There’s 10-12 things I want to make! Totally doing this when that month.

Anyone else here in MSP care to come along and we make an event out of it?

No real substance here but here is a list, according to Wordpress of the twenty most used search strings to find my blog.

I have bolded the ones that are just plain…bizzare.

1 22.55% alex lucard

2 8.82% alex lucard livejournal

3 5.88% alexander lucard

4 5.88% alexanderlucard

5 2.94% best buy no interest until 2010

6 1.96% Best Buy no interest until 2010

7 1.96% Snagov monastery Translyvania

8 1.96% alexander lucard wordpress

9 1.96% icon plane

10 1.96% lohan crouch flash exposed st. francis

11 1.96% wwe fan access tour

12 0.98% Alex Gothie

13 0.98% Alex Lucard

14 0.98% AlexanderLucard.com nyogtha

15 0.98% Bloomington Smoking Ban

16 0.98% Danse Society forum

17 0.98% Icon Alexander Entertainment

18 0.98% Mecca Bah recipes

19 0.98% VEHICLES MADE FOR VAMPIRES

20 0.98% alex lucard 2007

Current Mood: Amused

Okay. Went to the doctor at 11:30. Prelims look good and surgery won’t be needed. He’s going to give it two weeks to see how much it heals on its own. The main cause seems to be my typing stance I’ll have to get a wireless keyboard due to how I type coupled with my speed and the amount I generally type in a week. Oddly enough, not even remotely a sign of carpal tunnel.

However my big shock was my weight. I’m up to 154 lbs! I know it’s still in my BMI range but all I could think was “OMG! I’m a fattie!” Especially when the last time I weighed myself was Nov and I was at 146 lbs. Mind you its colder and I can’t go running and I’ve been travelling for several months and thus eating restaraunt food and not my own. Eight lbs in two months. Even with working out at hotels and when I’m home. Oh holy crap.

Mind you the logical side of me says I’ve weighed 155 before, I’m still in better shape then 85% of the people I know, and no one on earth would honestly think I’m a chubbo, but the emotional side of me is “You gained 8 lbs! You gained 8 lbs.” Oy. This is what happens when you spend a good deal of your life as a wrestler. If this was like 10 years ago I’d get my ass reamed by putting on that much. It’s so instinctual now.  

Summer! I’m gonna need to get that bike thingie you have at work!

If you listen to podcasts download BBC Radio 4’s today for a perfect example of how shitty our American News Media is compared to the UK’s. Holy shit is this a knockdown drag out fight between the BBC and the UK Gov. Nice!

Also, since I can’t respond to the RSS feed, here’s some answers to questions left there for me

Holly/Ordinary - If it’s those two fingers, it’s always the Ulnar nerve.

Nic/Debridement - I’m about 7 miles northwest of the airport there in Albuquerque. I’d love to hear your ideas for activites in the area as we like a lot of similar stuff. Except Pokemon. I’m pretty sure you’re not into Pokemon.

Current Mood: Sore

http://store.aetv.com/html/subject/index.jhtml?id=cat2060002&VIEWING_CONTEXT=show&_requestid=327531

A&E.com currently has the usually priced $50.00 Gene Simmons Family Jewels collectors set for 4.99! The normal set is still 18.49. I bought the original when it came out and it’s a really good show and the best reality TV show I’ve ever seen. For 4.99, it’s an awesome deal and it comes with a CD and the A&E Biography episode on Gene Simmons. Very cool deal. BUY IT!