WWE Survivor Series 2012

Trying something new here, gonna try to review whatever pop culture events I become aware of when I see them, and since my work schedule is crazy and I don't have time for tv, it is pretty much limited to video games I play, movies I watch, and WWE Pay Per Views.  I've already explored the concept with my Pokemon updates (dubbed Pokeymans as a joke), and further with my brief review of Skyfall.  While I'm trying to nail down format, I know I can do wrestling pretty good due to my note taking.  I'm not doing a move by move breakdown of every match, but I'll hit the important points, and opine as to what my feelings were towards the match.  I will also freely admit that while I like certain guys whether they are heel or face, I find heels more interesting, since they have more nuance and depth.  A good heel is a beautiful thing to watch, the way they can bait the crowd and push buttons to generate massive heat is a wonderful thing to behold.  CM Punk, for example, is a great heel, his Straight Edge Society was incredible, and his current title run is great, the way he and Paul Heyman work off each other.  Another prime example of a great heel is Daniel Bryan, sure he is treated like a face now, but I remember a Smackdown in late January that was held in Omaha, which I managed to attend.  During that show, Bryan was World Champion, and was feuding with Big Show (still face at the time), and cut a promo in the ring that told everyone to be more like him and to be vegan... in Omaha, Nebraska... known for its world class beef.  The crowd reaction was great, although nowhere near the reaction he gets now following his screwing at Wrestlemania, and the subsequent Yes! and No! chants that are almost deafening with a great crowd.  Well, I guess I better get to my review of Survivor Series.

First match was a Survivor Series elimination match featuring the Prime Time Players (Titus O'neill and Darren Young) Primo & Epico, and Tensai Vs. Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, Rey Mysterio, and Sin Cara.  Brodus Clay was eliminated first by Tensai, then the face team went on a five elimination streak to win the match 4-0. Tensai was eliminated by Justin Gabriel, Titus O'neill and Epico were eliminated by Tyson Kidd, and Primo and Darren Young were eliminated by Rey Mysterio.  Overall a good start to the show, a bit sloppy at times, but decent action, and a good pace to set for the rest of the show.

Next match was Divas title and it was Kaitlyn vs. Eve (c)
Pretty good for a Divas match, Kaitlyn is a lot more physical than the typical Diva, and that physicality kept things interesting.  Eve retains, and if they want to match these two up again at the next show, I'd be cool with it.

US title match Antonio Cesaro (c) vs. R-Truth
Loving Cesaro's run with the US title, great at getting foreigner heat, and his gimmick of being a former rugby player kicked out for violence really works.  Pretty good match, decent pacing and action, Cesaro retains vowing an American won't beat him for the title.

Painfully bad segment between AJ and Vickie Guerrero, I really couldn't care less about the "scandal" storyline.  Only good thing was Tamina Snuka making her return, looking forward to an actual feud between AJ and Tamina, they are both young and talented and should be fun to watch.

After that was the World Heavyweight Championship match between Big Show (c) and Shaemus. Good match, but the ref-bump DQ finish I thought was kinda stupid, oh well given Shaemus' reaction after the match, its gonna be a chairs match at TLC.

Next is the Survivor Series match between Team Ziggler (Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow (my guy, probably the future of the WWE) David Otunga (had a great promo for TLC) Wade Barrett, and Dolph Ziggler) and Team Foley (Kane and Daniel Bryan (my guy as well) Kofi Kingston, the Miz, and Randy Orton)  Damien Sandow is first out after trying to leave the match early, eliminated by Kane who upon arguing with Daniel Bryan is elimnated by Dolph Ziggler.  David Otunga taps out to Daniel Bryan's No! Lock, Kofi Kingston gets knocked out by Wade Barrett, Daniel Bryan taps out to a Cross Arm Breaker by Alberto Del Rio.  Wade Barrett is eliminated by the Miz who is in turn eliminated by Alberto Del Rio, who gets eliminated by Randy Orton, who in a thrilling finish is eliminated by Dolph Ziggler.  Exciting match, loved seeing Ziggler pick up a clean win in a big match, would love to see the storylines coming out of this match.

Main Event Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship  John Cena vs. CM Punk (c) vs. Ryback
Great match with superb timing and action, all three played their parts well, Ryback-unstoppable monster, CM Punk-cowardly yet cunning heel, and Cena-Superman.  High points, CM Punk hitting the Macho Man elbow drop on Cena and Ryback while Cena had an STF locked in on Ryback, Punk and Cena teaming up to put Ryback through an announce table, and a chase sequence around the ring that would have been better with Benny Hill music.  The finish of the match had Ryback destroying Cena and Punk and before he could go for a pin, three security guys run into the ring and jump Ryback putting him through the Spanish Announce Table, giving Punk a chance to cover Cena for a three count and the win, Punk retains, and is now the WWE champion for one full year.  Turns out the three security guards were in actuality three rising stars from          NXT including Seth Rollins (current NXT champion), Dean Ambrose (internet darling) and Roman Reigns (former NFL player related to the Rock somehow) early speculation would be for a stable under CM Punk to help keep the title on him until the Royal Rumble where presumably the Rock wins it off him.

I thought this PPV was fantastic, with good matches and a great finish, can't wait for Raw to see what the aftermath will be.

pokeymans 5

Just caught a shiny Golbat (green skin instead of blue) its lvl 54, and along with my slugma and raticate is my third shiny pokemon in Generation 4 games.

This Sunday is Survivor Series, so expect a review of that soon.

Really the only reason for this post was my shiny Golbat.

Pokeymans 4

In a brief run in training my Wurmple from 25-30, my Golbat achieved lvl 57 (training run was brief since my area I train in is Mt. Stark, and Wurmples suck ass).

In other news I heard a rumor of the possibility of Christopher Nolan directing one of the new Star Wars movies, and it is now my number one desire for upcoming movies.  That and hoping Warner Bros. doesn't fuck up the Justice League like they did Green Lantern and Jonah Hex.

skyfall

Mild spoilers for Skyfall, if you want to know if I liked it?  I did, should you see it? Yes.  I try to avoid major spoilers if possible, but minor ones may be discussed and might  ruin plot twists, depending on your perception.  You have been warned.

I went to Skyfall the other day, and I gotta say, it lived up to the hype.  The opening chase scene was great, loved the little nods to previous Bond movies with special attention payed to the 60's movies in general, and being a thematic follow-up to Casino Royal, I thought it worked quite well on that level.  I know Quantum of Solace came after Casino Royal and before this, but Quantum is largely ignored as the sequel bait in that movie is not referenced, and Skyfall feels more like a follow-up to Casino Royal than anything else.  Thematically there is a definite narrative of old vs. new, and given the ending, I would say it is also everything old is new again.

Acting wise, two people really carry this movie, M played by Dame Judy Dench in probably her biggest role in a Bond film, and Silver played by Javier Bardem who is both unsettling and intimidating in ways that aren't traditional in a Bond film.  Can't remember the character name, but Ralph Fiennes does a great job as M's heir apparent.  The actress who played Eve did quite well too, though I don't think I've seen her in anything before, and the new Q was pretty entertaining, and I hope he stays with the franchise long term.

Non-plot spoilers for various references and Easter eggs I noticed.  the Aston Martin DB 5 was a can't miss nod to Goldfinger, the bottle of 1962 scotch is a reference to Bond himself, being from Scotland and debuting in 1962, not sure if it is a direct reference or just a thematic one, but Q giving Bond a gun and a radio, and only a gun and a radio just felt like a 60's spy thing.  The line about exploding pens is a reference to Goldeneye.  The last scene of the movie might as well be the beginning of Dr. No.   The title sequence the Adele's Skyfall feels like an opening to a 60's Bond film, and I loved every moment of the opening.

some of the negatives I noticed were that the third act was maybe a little too slow, though there were some good character moments, and I liked the "lethal Home Alone" sequence.  Would have liked to see a watch laser or a pen gun or something, but I guess they wanted to keep Bond low tech to contrast with Silver who could hack anything, anytime, anywhere.

Really? Just go see it, its great.

in Pokeymans news, my Giratina is lvl 72 having gained a lvl while helping train Ludicolo from 25 to 39.  That is all, see you next time I got something important to say.

pokeymans 3

Giratina got to lvl 71 as I was training a Huntail from 25-33.   In other news I left work early due to some stomach bug or something, hopefully I'll be better by Monday.  in other news, getting comics tomorrow and seeing Skyfall, reviews to follow.

pokeymans 2

A recent training run saw my burmy go from lvl 25 to lvl 40, as well as seeing my Heatran go up a lvl to 71.  In other news, Golbat sucks ass (has hardly any defense and gets one-shot with ease) if not for being my Flier (more for mobility than anything else) I would probably switch him out for someone more useful.

pokeymans

hello my non-existent readers, I have returned from a four year absence.  I've been pretty busy with the whole job thing, working 50+ hours a week and all.  In the last four years I have gotten a new car (Pontiac G6, was my mom's, has some suspension issues but otherwise is a good car) a new job (I work at a factory that makes gas meters that go on your house so the utilities company knows how much gas you use) a new apartment (actually moved twice since my last post and my best friend is my roomate now) and the reason I came back here again, I have been playing a shit-ton of Pokemon lately.

So I have been playing Pokemon Diamond for some time now, and I had managed to acquire all 493 pokemon (in that generation at any rate, I haven't played much of Black and White, and even if I had, I can't transfer any of them backwards, so 493 is the limit) everything that was possible to get legitimately, I got the correct way, certain impossible legendaries had to be gotten by cheating (Jirachi, Celebi, next to impossible to find any legit) everything else is 100% legit.  Anyway, I have one of every possible pokemon, including all 28 unown, and I have been power leveling them all so I can get them all to lvl 100.  As of this post, I have all of my Pokemon over lvl 25.

Today I managed to get my first lvl 100, my Lucario is the first one to get there.  Then shortly thereafter my Garchomp hit 100, then my Luxray, then my Starapter, and finally my Bibarel.  All told, I got 5 pokemon to lvl 100 today while training my Pachirisu (which went from 25 to 33).  Since my leveling team all hit 100, I now need a new team, so my next highest level pokemon are my lvl 97 Infernape (my starter from Diamond, and the pokemon I've had the longest in this game), lvl 70 Heatran, lvl 70 Regigigas, lvl 70 Giratina, and lvl 56 Golbat.  Of those five, only Flamer (my Infernape) has been a part of my main team.

so in conclusion, my list of 100s now includes
Pokemon                                                          party
Lucario                                                             (Pachirisu, Lucario, Garchomp, Luxray, Starapter, Bibarel)
Garchomp                                                         (Pachirisu, Lucario, Garchomp, Luxray, Starapter, Bibarel)
Luxray                                                               (Pachirisu, Lucario, Garchomp, Luxray, Starapter, Bibarel)
Starapter                                                            (Pachirisu, Lucario, Garchomp, Luxray, Starapter, Bibarel)
Bibarel                                                               (Pachirisu, Lucario, Garchomp, Luxray, Starapter, Bibarel)

I'll be back next time I have an accomplishment to share.

wow

So Nebraska got crushed by Missouri, Cubs got swept...again, Packers lost by the narrowest of margins, the economy sucks, I got rent and bills to pay, I don't get paid till friday and my car has issues. Other than that life is good. Obama is kicking McCain's ass so bad that McCain is resorting to the same failed strategy that lost Hilary the nomination. I have gotten into a game called Travian and have spent a lot of time travianing in the last week or so. I belong to the Apocalypse Now alliance on Travian US 1, which is pretty cool, and I started an alliance on Travian Com 1 called Rogues. all-in-all it is pretty good. What sucks is I have to wait to get my comics till friday when I get paid.


Oh well, see you next time my non-existent readers.

-Tiggerpete-

worst case scenario

Today just happened to be the worst case scenario that is possible in the course my job. The day started out pretty benign, went to Monkey Works to get new comics, several were pretty good especially Star Wars Legacy which was the beginning of the Legacy vector tie-in, and the ending of vector will happen soon which should be awesome (I try not to include spoilers).

After that, I went to work and was having a good day even after the Cubs game started. First inning went fairly well, they even scored two runs to take a 2-0 lead. Top of the second, Dempster walked the bases loaded with 2 outs and managed to strike out the remaining batter, that made me hopeful that things were going to be fine. Then the fifth rolled around, Dempster had walked the bases loaded again, when the sky collapsed and all hope died. As soon as that hit left the bat, I had to pull over for a minute and swear.
DEMPSTER FUCKING GAVE UP A GRAND FUCKING SLAM!
That was the beginning of the end as far as destiny was concerned. After I got back from my delivery, I had to endure all of the shit that my coworkers were giving me. Whats worse, is there were a lot of dishes that had built up while I was gone, so all there was to do was to wash dishes and listen to all of the score updates and shit everyone kept giving me. Around the seventh inning, I switched to my rally cap, and prayed a lot for a comeback, but it was all pointless as I had to listen to the Cubs piss away homefield advantage.

As I was finishing up the last of my dishes, the phone rang and it was a delivery order with five minutes left till close. My manager came back and asked me if I wanted to take it. I said no repeatedly and my manager said to take it anyway, which makes it ready ten minutes after close, and when I took the delivery, the person only tipped me a dollar (which is the most commen and one of smallest tips consdered acceptable) and I had to listen to sports radio assholes screaming about the Dodgers "inevitable" sweep of the Cubs while I was driving. The only realistic thing that could have made things worse, was for me to get pulled over for speeding and the resulting ticket gets me fired. When all was said and done, I only had seven deliveries and left with only $18 after delivering for six hours.

Here's hoping for a Chi-town comeback and the final dropping of "losers" following "lovable"

-tiggerpete-

hooray for black monday!

So everyone knows that our economy sucks right? Well the Dow dropped the most it ever has in one day thanks in part to the congress (Republicans specifically) shooting down an emergency measure to keep the economy from going to crap. Way to go, you guys just turned your so-called "mental recession" into the opening scene from "Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo". Oh yeah, SNL did a parody of the Republican vp nominee Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric, WITHOUT CHANGING ANY OF HER WORDS! How does a party screw up so bad that their candidates are parodies of themselves?! The idea of "President McCain" scares the hell out of me. Having a war record only goes so far. Sooner or later people are going to have to realize that John McCain is a political chameleon, who sucks at blending in. I mean how do you explain voting 90%+ with a person who has an 80% disapproval rate? John Stewert said it best on the Daily Show, that when you want someone to overreact to something 10 days after it happens, John McCain is your man. I think that the ONLY pick that is a sane choice is Obama-Biden. At least Barack shows good judgement in picking a running mate.

Here is to the grand reopening of neighborhood bread lines and soup kitchens.

-tiggerpete-

p.s. if this isn't a recession bordering on a depression, then I am the Queen of England.

Huskers lost

You may not have seen it, but Nebraska lost to V tech today 35-30, but the sad thing is it wasn't even that close. If NU's defense hadn't done so well inside the 20, V tech could have scored at least 16 more points, and the end of the game wouldn't have mattered the way it was. Even with V tech kicking the crap out of the Huskers, they still had a chance at the end of the game. That was until the fumble on Nebraska's last play at midfield. Without that play, NU could have had one last play to try for the end zone from the V tech 40, which was 50 yards closer than where they got the ball at their own 10 with 25 seconds left, but they fumbled with less than 10 seconds left with no time outs, so they were done.

Other than that, not a whole lot happened today, other than all of the upsets in college football. One game left before the end of the regular season and the MLB playoffs begin. Cubs v. Dodgers/Mets/Phillies, should be a good warmup for the NLCS where the Cubs are going to finally make it to the World Series. I swear, the Cubs are by far the most deserving team in MLB history to win a championship. No other team has had to suffer for as long or as much as the Chicago Cubs and they will finally win this year.

So long for now.

-tiggerpete-

sleep deprivation

Right now I working off of 2 hours of sleep on a possibly misguided attempt to create a more normal sleep pattern. Since I am close to being nocturnal, I decided to stay up longer than I normally do so that I wouldn't sleep before I went to work. That way I would be tired when I got off work and could go to bed and get a good nights' sleep. That fell through and I ended up going to sleep almost two hours before I had to go to work, and I woke up a half hour before work. Thank God for caffeine pills or I would have crashed, figuratively and literally, since I drive for a "living" (living is in quotes, because delivery drivers don't make crap) and I have to stay up if I have to drive.

That said, tonight was the first presidential debate between Barack Obama, and John McCain, and although I had to work, I caught about a third of the debate on my car radio during deliveries, and it seemed to me that Sen. Obama made the most sense and I thought "won" the debate by a narrow margin, and has made this election Obama's to lose.

I am totally psyched up to go see Metallica at the Qwest center on Nov. 6, just got tckets the other day. Their new album totally kicks ass too.

getting quasi-late, sleepily yours,

-tiggerpete-

comic book night

Just got back from Comic Book Night which is every last Thursday night of every month at 7:00 at Monkey Works (local comics shop). It was Adam's turn and he chose to talk about Runaways. He gave a rundown of the story so far and the character relationships to each other and the outside world. It was pretty good and he kept it interesting, but it is set in the Marvel Universe, and I don't care too much for Marvel. Next time is going to be Travis or Joel, and I'm interested in what they'll come up with. I also am looking forward to when my turn comes again. My last turn I reviewed Booster Gold, and by the time my next turn comes along I hope to be able to review any of the crisis or maybe Seven Soldiers of Victory, or if I get it by then, I could review Watchmen, but right now I feel like reviewing Checkmate. I think I could at least get some of my friends to give the DCU a chance and not keep giving me shit for being a DC fanboy. (most of my friends that are into comics are Marvelites and think that DC has nothing to offer) No matter what I try, nobody wants to even give DC a shot.

I have nothing against Marvel and its fans, I just don't find it that entertaining or involving, and the stories are "too real" and detract from the entertainment value. I buy comics to read stories about intrigue, the fight between good and evil, and those who straddle the line and transcend all classification. Marvel tends to stick to the mundane and the boring, such as broken families, drinking problems, and seems to exist in a world devoid of Wit and Humor. I know that the world isn't sunshine and lollipops, but that is no excuse to all but eliminate comic relief. the DCU has gone through just as much, if not more, shit as the Marvel universe, but the DC manages to keep its feeling of not being depressing. I don't tend to spend money to be depressed, and Marvel is a complete downer. I can generally be depressed for free.

This is going longer than I intended, so I will pick back up tomorrow.

-Tiggerpete-

Hello all!

Greetings and salutations to any and all who stumble upon this blog. (God knows nobody would intentionally look for my blog)

I am going to assume that you (the reader) don't know me. That is probably for the better since this is my little soapbox with which I can share my views on anything without fear of backlash from disagreeable parties.

A little about me... I am currently a pizza delivery driver living in a rural Nebraska town. I go to church infrequently, am currently on a break from college pending a better outlook on life, and I spend most of my time (and money) at the local comic book store whose owner is my best friend.

I love movies, video games (RPGs specifically), tv, sports radio, anime, Star Wars, comic books and graphic novels (DC specifically), Magic the Gathering, puzzles (Su Do Ku, Kakuro, crosswords), politics, Chicago Cubs, Green Bay Packers, Nebraska Cornhuskers football, Creighton Blue Jay basketball, and Tom Clancy novels.

I am a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (Xi Alpha) since fall '03, I have been a music major, Elementary Education major, Broadcast Journalism major, Laboratory Science major, Academic Transfer major (general education), and a Business major, as well as having plans to go back to school to get a degree in psychology. This is obviously unprovable, but I figure I am the most educated person on the planet that holds no degrees, or at least the most well rounded.

I am a registered Republican, but I consider myself independent, and am currently hardcore for Barack Obama. Living in Nebraska, one has to choose a party in order to vote in the primaries. I choose Republican, because most of the time real issues are settled in the primaries and most Democrats don't do that well in the election, aside from our governor, and Sen. Nelson, both of whom I voted for.

I drive an '04 Chevy Malibu classic, which is not as good as my dearly departed '01 Chrysler Sebring (I loved that car).

I was never "cool" and I don't think I ever will be, I was really introverted in high school and didn't have many friends, that changed when I went to college and I joned Sinfonia. I am currently, and have always been, painfully single, due to the fact that all of the girls in this area are either uninteresting, or unavailable. for various reasons. That and the fact that when an interesting girl is available, I lack any ability to make a move or even say a sentence that makes sense. I don't feel I have impossible standards, its just most girls are either underage, involved with other guys, lesbians, sluts, stupid, or married. That and I don't even know how to ask a girl if she is single, without making an ass of myself.

Oh and by the way, my ideal girlfriend would be my intellectual equal (or as close as posible), witty (like me), compassionate, sports fan, interested in similar things and as far as I am concerned appearence doesn't really matter to me as long as the personality is there.

I would love to keep going, but nobody would keep reading. I hope to keep this updated regularly and would welcome feedback @ tiggerpete75@gmail.com

have a good day and come back again.

-tiggerpete-