Hey, readerland. A thought crossed my mind today and this seemed to be the best place to explore it, so here goes. This isn't really related to any of my usual topics (gaming, music, wrestling), but they might be included. Depends on how well this train stays on the tracks.
P.S. My thoughts go out to the people of Japan and, honestly, the whole world at this point. There's some bad mojo going down and we all need it. Hang in there, Louis.
I'm not sure where I heard it, but I once heard this saying: someone that's interested in only one thing isn't very interesting.
Personally, I find this to be true, especially when it comes to things like music. One of my fellow DJs has a show on Sunday (schedule.partyfmradio.net) that's called the Metal Massacre, where he plays (mostly) heavy metal. That's all well and good and everything, but from conversations I've had with him, if it isn't metal, it's crap. Unless it's Nickleback or the Insane Clown Posse. He plays both on a metal show. *shrug* For me, if you look over my library, I have a lot of genres in my almost 24,000 songs. I rarely can listen to the same genre or band for more than a couple of songs. The only exception I can think of is the Hilltop Hoods, a rap group out of Adelaide, Australia. However, they tend to mix up their sound enough for it to not be the "same" across an entire album and their DJ, Debris, does a great job with the samples. Here's an example. I've started my iPod on the playlist I usually listen to and I'm going to list off the first ten songs that come up:
1) (randomly selected with the "Close my eyes and spin the click wheel" method): Run Runaway by Slade.
2) Land of Confusion by Genesis
3) Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) by Train
4) Darth Vader's Imperial March composed by John Williams
5) Miss Murder by AFI
6) Blue on Black by The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band
7) I'm a Ramblin' Man by Waylon Jennings
8) Knock on Wood by Eddie Floyd (often miscredited to Wilson Pickett)
9) Let's Get Retarded by the Black Eyed Peas
10) Kiss Me Deadly by Lita Ford
Okay, depending on definitions of genre, it's kinda Rock heavy (does Train count as rock?) but I think it's a moderately decent representation of the types of music I listen to. Of course, it doesn't cover the Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Industrial, Goth, Darkwave, Classical, stuff from the 40's/50's/60's and 70's, Progressive Rock, Symphonic Metal, and probably a dozen other genres that I listen to on a regular basis.
I had a gaming friend for a while who was totally into Everquest. Okay, I guess. Having never played it, I can't understand why it's such a giant time suck, but whatever. At this point in time, I was running a D&D 3.5E campaign and was getting some feedback from my players about creating my own .campaign world. I got some really good feedback (I still have their emails. I should look over those again). I had asked for spell ideas or changes to the magic system and this player sent me an email saying that he had some ideas and they were very "Everquest-ish." He never actually sent me the ideas. Anyway, every time I was talking to him about the campaign, he would bring up something Everquest-oriented in order to relate. While I understand using something you're familiar with as a guide when talking about something similar, eventually, you have to let go of that hand hold and move out into something unfamiliar.
I've seen the same thing in sports. People are particularly attached to one team or even one sport have an extremely hard time acknowledging that there are other sports/teams that could be considered worthy of attention. I'm originally from Ohio, so a LOT of my friends and family are big OSU supporters and I understand rooting for your home team and everything, but seeing anything having to do with the University of Michigan referred to as "scUM" is a little ridiculous. Of course, that's just my opinion. See, I even understand when people say "we" when they're referring to a sports team they cheer for. It's wanting to be part of something larger than yourself. Almost everybody does it in one form or another. I know I did it when I was younger. The dehumanization of the opponent fosters a feeling of superiority. It all makes sense. Except that, ultimately, it's a game that has no real bearing on much of anything, so I don't see why people do it.
I've even had discussions with people who say that one particular sport is the ONLY sport that matters and all other sports are inferior. When I was younger, I thought football was THE sport, period end of story. As I got a little older, I got into basketball while still retaining my love for football. Baseball? Kinda, but not really. Never really got into watching it. These days, I'd much prefer to watch an ice hockey game to either football or basketball, because in my opinion, hockey is a much more exciting game, because it moves constantly and there's always something exciting going on. It's kinda like basketball that way, but it's better because it's ALWAYS a team sport instead of one or two guys trying to dominate the game.
Pro wrestling is another good spot for this topic. There are different types of wrestling in the world. There's the "American style" which you would find in the WWE and TNA. There's lucha libre in Mexico in CMLL and AAA. There's puroresu in Japan in New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and many others. Each of these styles has something going for it that I enjoy.
The American style tends to focus more on power moves (especially the concept of the finishing move) and the character and storylines of a wrestler. A good example is the Undertaker. He's a large man (something like 6'10" and close to 300 pounds) and his character is known around the world. If I were talking about Mark Calloway in this section, you'd probably have no idea who that was, but when I say "The Undertaker" even some non-viewers know who that is.
Lucha libre involves smaller wrestlers (usually) and a lot more of a high-flying, acrobatic style. Storylines are important here too and can last for YEARS. If you're a viewer of WWE and TNA, Rey Mysterio (Jr.) and Amazing Red are luchadors.
Japanese wrestling or puroresu is considered a sport in Japan, not "sports entertainment." It's taken quite seriously. Interviews are done after a match that might have just gone 20 minutes long and the person being interviewed is completely out of breath and sweating. Japanese wrestlers hit each other REALLY hard. Realism is important, as well as the buildup of the match toward the finish. I've written down the words "finishing move" so I can write a blog about that at a later point.
So, discussing wrestling with people, I find that some people will ONLY watch one type and will put down the others, which I don't understand. I know I've mentioned in a previous blog about Chikara Pro Wrestling. The main reason I like them, aside from their use of gimmicks, is that they blend all of these styles together into one giant vat of awesome. If you're a casual watcher or not a watcher but are interested, I would suggest watching some Chikara (you can find stuff on youtube) and enjoy.
Ultimately, I think people are more interesting when they have more than one or two things to talk about. My friend Adam (Hi, Adam!) is a good example. He's one of the more intelligent people I know and he always has something different and interesting to talk about. That, my friends, is being diverse and interesting.
Until next time, take care.
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