Friday, December 31, 2010
The Ogre's Den: Wrestling! Yay!
The Ogre's Den: Wrestling! Yay!: "Okay, so I'm a fan of professional wrestling. I said that in my initial blog post and I've never hidden the fact that I enjoy it. ..."
Wrestling! Yay!
Okay, so I'm a fan of professional wrestling. I said that in my initial blog post and I've never hidden the fact that I enjoy it. Now, in the internet wrestling community (IWC), there are only two types of fans: marks, who are either unaware that wrestling is predetermined or at least act that way and smarks, are the fans who know or think they know about the business. They don't care about the angles or gimmicks, they just like good wrestling. I guess that I personally fall into the second category, except that I don't think that I know everything about wrestling. I know as much as I need to in order to be entertained (hopefully).
As a fan, I want to be entertained. I don't care if a particular guy becomes the champion or doesn't, as long as the match is well put together and at the end, I've enjoyed myself. A lot of fans have gotten upset recently because Mike Mizanin (The Miz) has become the WWE champion. They feel like he isn't good enough at cutting promos or wrestling to be "The Guy" of the company. Personally, I don't really care. The guy entertains me and for me, that's what is important. Anyway, what I find really funny about the reaction from fans is that SO MANY of them have complained about how we see the same feuds and wrestlers over and over again facing each other and calling for something new, but when they're given someone new at the top of the heap, they complain. My belief is that more people are marks than they care to admit. They want THEIR GUY to make it to the top, but not someone else. If their guy doesn't make it, they pout.
Because I want to be entertained and see good wrestling, I watch a lot of Puroresu (Japanese wrestling) and I find clips or shows of Chikara Pro Wrestling. Chikara is awesome because they have several wrestlers wear masks (which I still love) and they still use gimmicks. Gimmicks are one of the things I miss from the early days of my wrestling watching. A gimmick is the character that a wrestler portrays. The Undertaker, for example, began wrestling as a wrestling undertaker. Funny how that worked out. He has gone from that to an evil cult leader to a biker to a sort of half-breed MMA fighter/corpse...thing. Anyway, Chikara still uses gimmicks, such as Create-a-Wrestler. That's an actual guy who takes his gimmick from the Create-A-Wrestler feature in many wrestling video games. Since this guy has started wrestling, he changes what wrestler he is with each Chikara season. So far, he has been Moscow the Communist Bovine, Ultimo Breakfast, Dasher Hatfield, and Create-A-Wrestler. How awesome is that? It's pretty awesome. And even more awesome is The Colony. Yes, a colony of wrestling ants. Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Green Ant. And the best part is all of these guys (and the few women) are extremely athletic and have been trained very well by the trainers of the Chikara Wrestle Factory, "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli. If you're a fan of wrestling and you haven't seen Chikara, check it out. It's worth it. Go to www.chikarapro.com for more info.
In puroresu, there aren't nearly as many gimmicks, but the athleticism is out of this world. And there are so many legends of wrestling in Japan. Great Muta/Keiji Mutoh, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa (RIP), Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Masahiro Chono. I could keep going, but I thought of those few off the top of my head. Anyway, wrestling is considered more of a sport in Japan than it is in the States. They hit harder and it's taken more seriously in Japan. The ring psychology in a Japanese match, most of the time, is great. For me, that's key and something else that's missing from a lot of American wrestling. If you're going from move to move, have it make sense. If your finishing move attacks your opponents midsection, for example, then more on the midsection throughout the match so that the finishing move makes sense. Working an arm or a leg or both throughout a match and then hitting a midsection finisher (I'm looking at you, John Morrison) makes no sense.
I'm getting off topic.
The reason I brought up the two different types of fans is because I find myself kind of in between the mark and the smark, I see a lot of interaction between the two and it can be both hilarious and infuriating at the same time.
On the one hand, it's hilarious because I see these people (usually marks) who are so strident with their opinions that they have the answers and that no one else does. This viewpoint is almost always based entirely on emotion and having been in that spot myself, I can relate.
On the other hand, it's infuriating because there are so many smarks who ALSO think they have all the answers or that they know what's going on backstage or how a particular angle is going to be run or how it SHOULD be run. These are the people that aggravate me because they're know-it-alls. They don't really have any FUN watching wrestling like the marks and those of us that fall in between. They're either right and they're happy or they're wrong and they're miserable and they complain about how the business is going downhill. Until they get something right and then it's all about how awesome wrestling it.
Personally, I couldn't stand to be squarely one or the other of mark or smark. How about you? Are you a mark, a smark, neither or both?
Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Hope you enjoyed the read. Have a happy New Year's Eve and be safe everyone. Until next time, take care.
As a fan, I want to be entertained. I don't care if a particular guy becomes the champion or doesn't, as long as the match is well put together and at the end, I've enjoyed myself. A lot of fans have gotten upset recently because Mike Mizanin (The Miz) has become the WWE champion. They feel like he isn't good enough at cutting promos or wrestling to be "The Guy" of the company. Personally, I don't really care. The guy entertains me and for me, that's what is important. Anyway, what I find really funny about the reaction from fans is that SO MANY of them have complained about how we see the same feuds and wrestlers over and over again facing each other and calling for something new, but when they're given someone new at the top of the heap, they complain. My belief is that more people are marks than they care to admit. They want THEIR GUY to make it to the top, but not someone else. If their guy doesn't make it, they pout.
Because I want to be entertained and see good wrestling, I watch a lot of Puroresu (Japanese wrestling) and I find clips or shows of Chikara Pro Wrestling. Chikara is awesome because they have several wrestlers wear masks (which I still love) and they still use gimmicks. Gimmicks are one of the things I miss from the early days of my wrestling watching. A gimmick is the character that a wrestler portrays. The Undertaker, for example, began wrestling as a wrestling undertaker. Funny how that worked out. He has gone from that to an evil cult leader to a biker to a sort of half-breed MMA fighter/corpse...thing. Anyway, Chikara still uses gimmicks, such as Create-a-Wrestler. That's an actual guy who takes his gimmick from the Create-A-Wrestler feature in many wrestling video games. Since this guy has started wrestling, he changes what wrestler he is with each Chikara season. So far, he has been Moscow the Communist Bovine, Ultimo Breakfast, Dasher Hatfield, and Create-A-Wrestler. How awesome is that? It's pretty awesome. And even more awesome is The Colony. Yes, a colony of wrestling ants. Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Green Ant. And the best part is all of these guys (and the few women) are extremely athletic and have been trained very well by the trainers of the Chikara Wrestle Factory, "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli. If you're a fan of wrestling and you haven't seen Chikara, check it out. It's worth it. Go to www.chikarapro.com for more info.
In puroresu, there aren't nearly as many gimmicks, but the athleticism is out of this world. And there are so many legends of wrestling in Japan. Great Muta/Keiji Mutoh, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa (RIP), Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Masahiro Chono. I could keep going, but I thought of those few off the top of my head. Anyway, wrestling is considered more of a sport in Japan than it is in the States. They hit harder and it's taken more seriously in Japan. The ring psychology in a Japanese match, most of the time, is great. For me, that's key and something else that's missing from a lot of American wrestling. If you're going from move to move, have it make sense. If your finishing move attacks your opponents midsection, for example, then more on the midsection throughout the match so that the finishing move makes sense. Working an arm or a leg or both throughout a match and then hitting a midsection finisher (I'm looking at you, John Morrison) makes no sense.
I'm getting off topic.
The reason I brought up the two different types of fans is because I find myself kind of in between the mark and the smark, I see a lot of interaction between the two and it can be both hilarious and infuriating at the same time.
On the one hand, it's hilarious because I see these people (usually marks) who are so strident with their opinions that they have the answers and that no one else does. This viewpoint is almost always based entirely on emotion and having been in that spot myself, I can relate.
On the other hand, it's infuriating because there are so many smarks who ALSO think they have all the answers or that they know what's going on backstage or how a particular angle is going to be run or how it SHOULD be run. These are the people that aggravate me because they're know-it-alls. They don't really have any FUN watching wrestling like the marks and those of us that fall in between. They're either right and they're happy or they're wrong and they're miserable and they complain about how the business is going downhill. Until they get something right and then it's all about how awesome wrestling it.
Personally, I couldn't stand to be squarely one or the other of mark or smark. How about you? Are you a mark, a smark, neither or both?
Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Hope you enjoyed the read. Have a happy New Year's Eve and be safe everyone. Until next time, take care.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Welcome back
Hey, everybody. Hope you had a good weekend and a good holiday. I certainly did.
We had a good gaming session last night, too. We're playing Pathfinder with me as DM and now five players (we might be getting a sixth in January). I got an odd comment last night from Dan, our bard. Since I, as a player, hate being railroaded, I try, as a DM, to make more things available to the players than just one thing I want them to do. Since this is the case, I had four different adventures planned and made sure to tell the players this ahead of time, so they knew they didn't have to accept the first adventure I threw at them. (They did anyway). But when I announced this, Dan said that it was strange because he had never gamed in a group where the DM put much thought into the adventures, so he had never had more than one option. Personally, I can't stand it when a DM only gives you one option or is so intent on having you do this one thing that if you try to do something different or try an option that he/she didn't think of, they fly off the handle because you're "ruining" it.
The way that I DM is that I have a beginning and and ending and usually 1 or 2 (maybe 3) encounters/activities that I want the players to handle during the course of the adventure. I don't plan anything out in much detail. That gives the players flexibility during the course of play to explore and do their thing without "ruining" the adventure. For example, the adventure we're running now, half of the group has been hired to find some artifacts for one guy and the other half has been hired to find the same artifacts by that guy's rival. So far, they've discussed three options: 1 and 2 are to find the artifacts and give them to their respects "employers" or 3) Get the artifacts and get both guys together and basically see who will give them the better deal. That's not written into the adventure at all, but it's an option. They have two out of the four artifacts, so I guess we'll see what happens next time.
On the music front, I'll be DJ'ing for PartyFm (an internet radio station) on Fridays from 1pm to 4 pm Eastern time and Saturday night/Sunday mornings at midnight Eastern, so come listen to my shows! I play good stuff! Really! My Friday show IS safe for work, so if you want to listen at work (and are able to...some of my friends tell me that their work blocks the connection), you're welcome to.
I was talking to Masta Artisan on Facebook chat today and we were talking about the beats he used for his album. He was telling me that he made all of the beats on his album except for one, which honestly, I think is pretty impressive. Not only is he an intelligent artist, but he crafts good music around that intellect. He suggested a track to me that I'll be playing on Friday, so come on in and check it out. You can listen to the station on http://loudcity.com/stations/party-fm-radio. You don't have to log in and it's totally free. Just click the "Tune In" button and then there's a link at the top that says "Launch one of your players" and then pick the icon for the program you use to listen, either Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, or RealPlayer. That connects you to the stream and you get to hear the awesome! You can also email me to make requests or tell me what you think of the show.
Okay, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading and have a good week. If you're planning on drinking on New Year's Eve, be safe.
We had a good gaming session last night, too. We're playing Pathfinder with me as DM and now five players (we might be getting a sixth in January). I got an odd comment last night from Dan, our bard. Since I, as a player, hate being railroaded, I try, as a DM, to make more things available to the players than just one thing I want them to do. Since this is the case, I had four different adventures planned and made sure to tell the players this ahead of time, so they knew they didn't have to accept the first adventure I threw at them. (They did anyway). But when I announced this, Dan said that it was strange because he had never gamed in a group where the DM put much thought into the adventures, so he had never had more than one option. Personally, I can't stand it when a DM only gives you one option or is so intent on having you do this one thing that if you try to do something different or try an option that he/she didn't think of, they fly off the handle because you're "ruining" it.
The way that I DM is that I have a beginning and and ending and usually 1 or 2 (maybe 3) encounters/activities that I want the players to handle during the course of the adventure. I don't plan anything out in much detail. That gives the players flexibility during the course of play to explore and do their thing without "ruining" the adventure. For example, the adventure we're running now, half of the group has been hired to find some artifacts for one guy and the other half has been hired to find the same artifacts by that guy's rival. So far, they've discussed three options: 1 and 2 are to find the artifacts and give them to their respects "employers" or 3) Get the artifacts and get both guys together and basically see who will give them the better deal. That's not written into the adventure at all, but it's an option. They have two out of the four artifacts, so I guess we'll see what happens next time.
On the music front, I'll be DJ'ing for PartyFm (an internet radio station) on Fridays from 1pm to 4 pm Eastern time and Saturday night/Sunday mornings at midnight Eastern, so come listen to my shows! I play good stuff! Really! My Friday show IS safe for work, so if you want to listen at work (and are able to...some of my friends tell me that their work blocks the connection), you're welcome to.
I was talking to Masta Artisan on Facebook chat today and we were talking about the beats he used for his album. He was telling me that he made all of the beats on his album except for one, which honestly, I think is pretty impressive. Not only is he an intelligent artist, but he crafts good music around that intellect. He suggested a track to me that I'll be playing on Friday, so come on in and check it out. You can listen to the station on http://loudcity.com/stations/party-fm-radio. You don't have to log in and it's totally free. Just click the "Tune In" button and then there's a link at the top that says "Launch one of your players" and then pick the icon for the program you use to listen, either Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, or RealPlayer. That connects you to the stream and you get to hear the awesome! You can also email me to make requests or tell me what you think of the show.
Okay, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading and have a good week. If you're planning on drinking on New Year's Eve, be safe.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Bienvenudos!
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone, and welcome to The Ogre's Den, my first blog. You might say I'm behind the curve, just starting a blog in 2010, but I prefer to think of myself as being ahead of the retro curve. Because I'm just that awesome. This blog will mostly be about three things: music in all its forms, role-playing games (mostly pencil and paper games, since I don't play MMORPGs) and professional wrestling. Sometimes I might just manage to incorporate all three.
So, which of the three topics should I speak on today? Let's start with music. I've found a new artist recently who, in my opinion (words I will probably use a lot as this blog continues), is one of the more intelligent hip hop/rap artists I've ever heard. His name is Masta Artisan and he has a new album out called Polarity Switch, which I think it downright awesome. The concept of the album is to take a topic, like rap songs where the rapper declares how much drugs he does, how many women he's slept with, or how incredible cool he is, and the first half of the album basically parodies the concept. The second half of the album (the polarity switch...get it?) is essentially answer tracks to the first half of the album. The album is really well done and has good beats behind the extremely well-done rapping. One of my hobbies is that I'm a DJ at an online radio station and for the past two weeks, I've played Masta Artisan and the response has been really good. I'm friends with the artist on Facebook and he really seems like an honestly nice guy, something you don't seem to hear much about in the rap world. I hope Polarity Switch sells about a bajillion copies and Masta Artisan makes it big.
In other music news, a friend of mine who makes electronica under the name 'stia' sent me some stuff to play on my show and I really liked it. You can find him on MixCloud and listen to about a dozen tracks, with a few to download for free. I'll say this: the stuff he sent me today was different, but really good. He also performs at a hookah bar in Denver, CO on Friday nights, so if you happen to be in the area and feel like listening to some good music, check him out. You can also find stia on Facebook.
On to wrestling. Probably the biggest news right now is that Low-Ki/Senshi/Kaval has been released from his WWE contract. A lot of people are blaming WWE for this because they "had nothing for him." I can understand why people might get upset. It's the job of the writing staff to FIND something for the wrestlers. I mean, he won their NXT season 2 and they had no plans for him once the show was over. While I do think that this is crap and that the WWE needs a new/better writing staff, I think that Low-Ki will be fine. He's an internationally recognized professional wrestling champion and has competed for numerous indy federations, so he'll have plenty of places to work and will probably make as much money as he did in the WWE.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'll update probably at the beginning of next week or so. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and take care.
So, which of the three topics should I speak on today? Let's start with music. I've found a new artist recently who, in my opinion (words I will probably use a lot as this blog continues), is one of the more intelligent hip hop/rap artists I've ever heard. His name is Masta Artisan and he has a new album out called Polarity Switch, which I think it downright awesome. The concept of the album is to take a topic, like rap songs where the rapper declares how much drugs he does, how many women he's slept with, or how incredible cool he is, and the first half of the album basically parodies the concept. The second half of the album (the polarity switch...get it?) is essentially answer tracks to the first half of the album. The album is really well done and has good beats behind the extremely well-done rapping. One of my hobbies is that I'm a DJ at an online radio station and for the past two weeks, I've played Masta Artisan and the response has been really good. I'm friends with the artist on Facebook and he really seems like an honestly nice guy, something you don't seem to hear much about in the rap world. I hope Polarity Switch sells about a bajillion copies and Masta Artisan makes it big.
In other music news, a friend of mine who makes electronica under the name 'stia' sent me some stuff to play on my show and I really liked it. You can find him on MixCloud and listen to about a dozen tracks, with a few to download for free. I'll say this: the stuff he sent me today was different, but really good. He also performs at a hookah bar in Denver, CO on Friday nights, so if you happen to be in the area and feel like listening to some good music, check him out. You can also find stia on Facebook.
On to wrestling. Probably the biggest news right now is that Low-Ki/Senshi/Kaval has been released from his WWE contract. A lot of people are blaming WWE for this because they "had nothing for him." I can understand why people might get upset. It's the job of the writing staff to FIND something for the wrestlers. I mean, he won their NXT season 2 and they had no plans for him once the show was over. While I do think that this is crap and that the WWE needs a new/better writing staff, I think that Low-Ki will be fine. He's an internationally recognized professional wrestling champion and has competed for numerous indy federations, so he'll have plenty of places to work and will probably make as much money as he did in the WWE.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'll update probably at the beginning of next week or so. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and take care.
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