As long as it isn't like yellow snow.....

Yeah, it's definitely not "black hat/white hat" like it used to be in the 1980s and earlier. In the late 1990s when wrestling was stagnating the WWF launched their "Attitude" era which saw the rise of stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock and in WCW you saw many of your favourite babyfaces like Hogan turn heel as part of the nWo. This notion of the "cool heel" or "tweener" really changed wrestling. Now that there were heels that were cooler than the babyfaces and fans were more-or-less conditioned to cheer for the "cool" guy instead of the "good" guy.

Also... now that the cat is truly out of the bag in terms of wrestling shows being theatrical athletics with pre-determined outcomes the whole notion of kayfabe is almost entirely gone. Nowadays you'll see babyfaces making public appearances alongside heels and heels visiting Make-A-Wish kids in the hospital which NEVER would have happened pre-1980.



Yeah, that ECW on Sci Fi channel is an abomination. I still follow the results on the web and take in the occasional PPV with some of my friends who are more hardcore fans than I am. What soured me on watching wrestling was how inconsistent their plot devices were.

I can suspend my disbelief so that I can accept things like a guy being dropped on his head and being fine ten seconds later as long as, within that "universe," that's the consistent presentation. WWE really started making me unable to suspend my disbelief. For example... a common plot device used when a wrestler needs to take time off (often for surgery) is to have some major violent act perpetrated against him to "write him out." Back in 1998, Stone Cold Steve Austin needed neck surgery which would require approximately a year's recovery time. So, they had him mysteriously "hit by a car" on camera. It was obviously a staged stunt and everyone watching at home knew it but it explained why he was away in terms of storylines.

Fast-forward to a year or so later... Triple H and Stone Cold are having a match at a PPV and Stone Cold locks Triple H in a car, raises the car 30 feet in the air with a crane, and then drops the car to the ground which was the closing image of the PPV with the announcers screaming "MY GOD!!!"

24 hours later on Monday Night Raw Triple H walks out totally fine. WTF?!?!?! I can accept a "universe" where people can sustain this kind of injury and be fine but don't insult my intelligence by making it that wildly inconsistent.

I forget where I heard it but I love this saying...

"Wrestling is comic books for people thaty can't deal with word balloons."

Needless to say, I loved wrestling in the 80's when I collected comics.

I'm reading The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, it's the 2nd book that has the appearence of the title character. Legend by David Gemmell is the first and a great pulp fantasy book and a fun read. I highly recommend it if you like reading fantasy.

I just started reading "Whitechapel Gods". Steampunk goodness.

Well crap....I finished the latest Dresden novel, Small Favor, and now I'm in the LONG slow wait for the next one. Damn....

Any way, I'm now onto The Sellsword by Cam Banks. It's a Dragonlance novel.

Just about finished with Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. Really good - much better than I expected, truthfully. It's full of interesting anecdotes and recollections from his years working in New York kitchens. Good stuff.

Nearly finished 'Snow Crash' by Neal Stephenson.

'Infected' by Scott Sigler looms large on my bookshelf, and will no doubt have my eyespace soon.

Oh I loved that book so hard. Have you read any of his fiction?

No, although I'd like to. I actually had never heard of the guy until visiting my Dad last month. He intro'd me to Bourdain's show No Reservations, which I enjoyed, and then a friend had the book, so I borrowed that...and that brings us back to now, where I'd like to read some of his fiction. One of these days.