Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Ogre's Den: Live for the moment
The Ogre's Den: Live for the moment: Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back from an extended leave of absence. Hopefully you missed me a lot. Today, let's talk about Matt Hardy. ...
Live for the moment
Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back from an extended leave of absence. Hopefully you missed me a lot. Today, let's talk about Matt Hardy. Also, at the end of this blog, there's a letter from me to Matt. Hopefully, someone will get him to read it.
First off, let me say that I have no idea what exactly Matt Hardy is going through right now. It could be drugs, it could be alcohol, it could be mental illness. It could be Matt just looking for attention. I make no pretense as to knowing what Matt is going through. What I can tell you, though, is that Matt needs help of some kind.
What I can also tell you is that wrestling fans are dicks. I've been watching people post about Matt lately, saying that he should just kill himself or that they can't wait for him to OD on whatever he's taking. Seriously? Are people that jaded that they WANT another human being to take their own life? I will be the first to say that I've been critical of Matt, specifically how he got out of his WWE contract, but I have never...NEVER...wanted another human being, no matter HOW much I hated them, to take their own life.
This is the kind of thing that makes me angry and makes me ashamed to be a wrestling fan, to be lumped in with these assclowns. I have actually contemplated walking away from wrestling for a while because I don't want to be associated with jackasses like these. The real problem I see with that is even if I stop watching for a while, the fans aren't going to get any better. They'll get worse. Whatever happened to fans being fans instead of morons and armchair bookers? Nope. Seems like everyone 'knows' what the WWE and wrestling in general should do instead of, I dunno, maybe, possibly enjoying what's available now. I'm getting off topic, though.
I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook and what some people were saying his wall was that Matt Hardy deserves no pity for taking an illegal substance or alcohol. Okay, fine. But...
1) It hasn't been determined for the public that Matt is on drugs or alcohol. Matt was arrested for driving under the influence, but as some people have said, he ran his car off the road and hit a tree. If he had even a minor concussion from that, the symptoms can mimic intoxication. Am I saying for certain Matt wasn't drunk? No. What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't make assumptions.
2) These people are saying that Matt doesn't deserve sympathy for what he's going through. Are these people so amazingly awesome that they have never EVER made a single mistake in their entire life? No. They are simply 'better' than everyone else. They 'know' that Matt is on drugs or whatever and because of that, they are 'right' in that Matt 'deserves' what he gets and 'deserves' no sympathy. Those people are idiots and they are pathetic. They think because they have the ability and authority to voice an opinion that that makes their opinion automatically 'right.' No even close.
You know what Matt Hardy deserves? Respect. You know why? Because he has done something that 99.9% of wrestling fans will never do and that's be a wrestler in the largest, most prestigious wrestling company in North America and arguably the world, the WWE. Regardless of whether he won the Big One or not, Matt plied his craft where it matters most: the top.
I also read a lot of blogs and forum posts about how fat Matt got after his appendectomy. It's true that he gained weight, but how many of you have had an appendectomy or some other kind of abdominal surgery? It can take up to a YEAR in some cases to recover fully from abdominal surgery. Matt was back in four months. You know how much your supposed to lift in the first, say, couple of weeks after that kind of surgery? None. You're not even really supposed to move. Yes, Matt was back less than four months later. Yeah, he had gained some weight. So would you, if you weren't supposed to move for a couple of weeks to a month.
I'm about 247% certain that Matt isn't going to read this, but hey. I know a guy who knows a girl who knows a guy, so who knows?
Dear Matt,
I have been a fan of yours since 1998, the debut of you and your brother Jeff, as the Hardy Boyz. I thought you guys were pretty cool. From your early days in the WWF through TLC matches and on up through your Cruiserweight Championship, the ECW Championship, and your awesome feud with MVP.
I will be the first to say that yes, I had some problems with the way you handled getting out of your WWE contract. It didn't seem very professional to me. But that's not my business. That's your business. I'm just a wrestling fan.
In a weird way, I feel like I watched you and Jeff grow up. You two came out in your match outfits as two skinny kids and I watched as you became Tag Team Champions and Singles champs of various levels. I watched you team up and I watched you feud. I watched you reach great heights and now I feel like I'm watching you fall from those heights.
Reading about your tweets and your YouTube videos makes me wonder if people aren't right about you. You're insane. You're on drugs. You're on drugs you that got from your brother.
Here's the thing, Matt: I know you can be better than that, if you choose to be. I know you probably don't want advice, especially since you probably have a ton of people offering it to you anyway, but as a long-time fan of yours, hopefully you'll take this advice:
Stay away from the social media for a while. All you're doing is drawing attention to yourself and your problems and yes, there is such a thing as bad publicity. If you really want to get your head on straight, the best thing you can do is cut out as many distractions as possible and work on getting yourself right. I'm not saying dump Reby and cut off all contact with Jeff, but people are waiting to see what's going to happen with you and your tweets and whatnot are simply leading them to the conclusion that you're going to be the next wrestler who dies early because of drugs.
Matt, you've had your detractors, but you also still have fans. For your fans, please, work on getting yourself together.
Sincerely,
Will.
aka
SkredlitheOgre.
First off, let me say that I have no idea what exactly Matt Hardy is going through right now. It could be drugs, it could be alcohol, it could be mental illness. It could be Matt just looking for attention. I make no pretense as to knowing what Matt is going through. What I can tell you, though, is that Matt needs help of some kind.
What I can also tell you is that wrestling fans are dicks. I've been watching people post about Matt lately, saying that he should just kill himself or that they can't wait for him to OD on whatever he's taking. Seriously? Are people that jaded that they WANT another human being to take their own life? I will be the first to say that I've been critical of Matt, specifically how he got out of his WWE contract, but I have never...NEVER...wanted another human being, no matter HOW much I hated them, to take their own life.
This is the kind of thing that makes me angry and makes me ashamed to be a wrestling fan, to be lumped in with these assclowns. I have actually contemplated walking away from wrestling for a while because I don't want to be associated with jackasses like these. The real problem I see with that is even if I stop watching for a while, the fans aren't going to get any better. They'll get worse. Whatever happened to fans being fans instead of morons and armchair bookers? Nope. Seems like everyone 'knows' what the WWE and wrestling in general should do instead of, I dunno, maybe, possibly enjoying what's available now. I'm getting off topic, though.
I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook and what some people were saying his wall was that Matt Hardy deserves no pity for taking an illegal substance or alcohol. Okay, fine. But...
1) It hasn't been determined for the public that Matt is on drugs or alcohol. Matt was arrested for driving under the influence, but as some people have said, he ran his car off the road and hit a tree. If he had even a minor concussion from that, the symptoms can mimic intoxication. Am I saying for certain Matt wasn't drunk? No. What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't make assumptions.
2) These people are saying that Matt doesn't deserve sympathy for what he's going through. Are these people so amazingly awesome that they have never EVER made a single mistake in their entire life? No. They are simply 'better' than everyone else. They 'know' that Matt is on drugs or whatever and because of that, they are 'right' in that Matt 'deserves' what he gets and 'deserves' no sympathy. Those people are idiots and they are pathetic. They think because they have the ability and authority to voice an opinion that that makes their opinion automatically 'right.' No even close.
You know what Matt Hardy deserves? Respect. You know why? Because he has done something that 99.9% of wrestling fans will never do and that's be a wrestler in the largest, most prestigious wrestling company in North America and arguably the world, the WWE. Regardless of whether he won the Big One or not, Matt plied his craft where it matters most: the top.
I also read a lot of blogs and forum posts about how fat Matt got after his appendectomy. It's true that he gained weight, but how many of you have had an appendectomy or some other kind of abdominal surgery? It can take up to a YEAR in some cases to recover fully from abdominal surgery. Matt was back in four months. You know how much your supposed to lift in the first, say, couple of weeks after that kind of surgery? None. You're not even really supposed to move. Yes, Matt was back less than four months later. Yeah, he had gained some weight. So would you, if you weren't supposed to move for a couple of weeks to a month.
I'm about 247% certain that Matt isn't going to read this, but hey. I know a guy who knows a girl who knows a guy, so who knows?
Dear Matt,
I have been a fan of yours since 1998, the debut of you and your brother Jeff, as the Hardy Boyz. I thought you guys were pretty cool. From your early days in the WWF through TLC matches and on up through your Cruiserweight Championship, the ECW Championship, and your awesome feud with MVP.
I will be the first to say that yes, I had some problems with the way you handled getting out of your WWE contract. It didn't seem very professional to me. But that's not my business. That's your business. I'm just a wrestling fan.
In a weird way, I feel like I watched you and Jeff grow up. You two came out in your match outfits as two skinny kids and I watched as you became Tag Team Champions and Singles champs of various levels. I watched you team up and I watched you feud. I watched you reach great heights and now I feel like I'm watching you fall from those heights.
Reading about your tweets and your YouTube videos makes me wonder if people aren't right about you. You're insane. You're on drugs. You're on drugs you that got from your brother.
Here's the thing, Matt: I know you can be better than that, if you choose to be. I know you probably don't want advice, especially since you probably have a ton of people offering it to you anyway, but as a long-time fan of yours, hopefully you'll take this advice:
Stay away from the social media for a while. All you're doing is drawing attention to yourself and your problems and yes, there is such a thing as bad publicity. If you really want to get your head on straight, the best thing you can do is cut out as many distractions as possible and work on getting yourself right. I'm not saying dump Reby and cut off all contact with Jeff, but people are waiting to see what's going to happen with you and your tweets and whatnot are simply leading them to the conclusion that you're going to be the next wrestler who dies early because of drugs.
Matt, you've had your detractors, but you also still have fans. For your fans, please, work on getting yourself together.
Sincerely,
Will.
aka
SkredlitheOgre.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Ogre's Den: Don't give me your Attitude
The Ogre's Den: Don't give me your Attitude: "Hey, Readerland. Two blogs in two (and a half) days? Belee dat, playas. Sorry. Just a little Teddy Long impression. Anyway. So, today..."
Don't give me your Attitude
Hey, Readerland. Two blogs in two (and a half) days? Belee dat, playas. Sorry. Just a little Teddy Long impression. Anyway.
So, today's topic is something that I've been hearing a lot about ever since the WWE went to their PG rating, which is (repeatedly, usually from people who weren't alive when Hulk Hogan was in the WWF) "Bring back the Attitude Era!" I'm here to discuss why this would be a bad idea. But first, a quick recap.
The Attitude Era (or Austin Era, as it's sometimes called), began in 1996 and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is usually credited with creating the Attitude Era with his Austin 3:16 promo. This would begin a rating war between WWF's Raw Is War and WCW's Monday Nitro. Raw is War went from a family-friendly posture to a more adult-oriented product in order to try to regain the lead in the ratings race. Nitro held the lead for 84 weeks, with Raw finally getting the lead back when Stone Cold faced Vince McMahon one-on-one for the first time ever. On October 26th of 19998, Nitro would beat Raw in the ratings for the last time. Raw would never relinquish the lead, holding it until WCW folded in 2001.
Some of the most famous things from the Attitude Era are Austin 3:16, the birth of The Rock, Mick Foley being thrown off of Hell in a Cell onto the Spanish announce table, the formation of Degeneration-X, the Montreal Screwjob, the death of Owen Hart, the Fingerpoke of Doom, and (from the same episode as the Fingerpoke), Eric Bischoff giving away the ending of the Rock/Mankind World Title match, causing thousands of viewers to change the channel from Nitro to Raw.
Then, there are the BAD things that happened during the Attitude Era. Such as: the Kennel From Hell Match, the Big Bossman stealing Big Show's father's casket during the funeral, Mae Young giving birth to a hand, Booker T. losing a match to Big T in which Booker lost the rights to use the letter T (yeah, I know how stupid that sounds, and it was), so Booker because G.I. Bro, Droz enabling Hawk's drug problems and possibly "killing" Hawk, and probably a lot more things that I've blocked out of my memory. Fortunately.
Anyway, I understand how some people who grew up with the Attitude Era can look at the PG era and hate it, because it's not the same thing that they learned to like when they were younger. However, myself being an adult during the Attitude Era, and understand that there were bad parts as well as good parts, I can watch wrestling these days without demanding the return of the Attitude Era.
Here's the thing a lot (and I mean a LOT) of people forget, when it comes to the Attitude Era: it was a necessity. The only way Vince McMahon and the WWE could compete with WCW was to push the envelope, set the envelope on fire, and keep going.
My main point here is that the Attitude Era was needed because of the competition from WCW. Is anybody else right now competing with WWE for dominance atop the professional wrestling food chain? No. TNA...excuse me, Impact Wrestling's flagship show, Impact, is doing relatively decent ratings, but those ratings are still below WWE's secondary show, Smackdown (roughly a 1.2 rating for Impact compared to about a 1.5 for Smackdown). With no one even really nipping at their heels, WWE has no reason to shift back to the Attitude Era.
So, a lack of competition led to the Ruthless Aggression Era, which gave us some of the greatest matches of all time, the Smackdown Six of Edge, Rey Mysterio, Los Guererros (Eddie and Chavo), and Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit (and no, the name Benoit is not a bad word) with all of the six except Chavo becoming World Champion, and the brand extension (maybe I'll do a blog on why the brand extension is a good thing). So, what happened then, is the question.
My own personal opinion is that the WWE realized that they were losing viewers now that the Attitude Era was over, so what they decided was that in order to get new viewers, they had to start all over. They decided to change to the PG Rating, although it's hard to get a consensus of when the change actually starts, but a lot of people I've talked to say early 2008, and they're pulling in the kids with characters like John Cena and family-friendly entertainment. The reason for this is hooking in those kids and making them loyal to the product, like WWF did with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior. You get the kids in, hook them with something they like and then, as they age, you can change the product back to a more TV-14 kind of thing.
The PG change was, theoretically, in early 2008, which means it's been three and a half years since they started bringing in the kids. I would say the average kid's age who watches the product is 7-to-9 (give or take), so that makes them 10-to-12 now, if they started watching in 2008. That means a couple of more years and the WWE could be making it's way back to a more TV-14 product. However, even with a change to a more mature product, don't expect the Attitude Era to return for a few reasons.
First off is that there are no megastars like Stone Cold and The Rock to be had as full-time performers. Nobody currently has the "It" factor like they did and I'm not sure much of anybody in wrestling these days has "It."
Secondly, there's no need for another Attitude Era. There's no competition, so nothing warrants the extremity of the Attitude Era.
Personally, I don't mind the PG Era. What I mind is that it seems like there's not enough storylines to go around. Or maybe it's a lack of quality storylines. If you have bad storylines, adding in cusswords and gestures gives you bad storyliens with cussing and gestures. Those things can't make a bad storyline better, regardless of what the Attitude Era showed us.
Stick with it, wrestling fans. It will get better, just like it always has.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, take care and be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
So, today's topic is something that I've been hearing a lot about ever since the WWE went to their PG rating, which is (repeatedly, usually from people who weren't alive when Hulk Hogan was in the WWF) "Bring back the Attitude Era!" I'm here to discuss why this would be a bad idea. But first, a quick recap.
The Attitude Era (or Austin Era, as it's sometimes called), began in 1996 and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is usually credited with creating the Attitude Era with his Austin 3:16 promo. This would begin a rating war between WWF's Raw Is War and WCW's Monday Nitro. Raw is War went from a family-friendly posture to a more adult-oriented product in order to try to regain the lead in the ratings race. Nitro held the lead for 84 weeks, with Raw finally getting the lead back when Stone Cold faced Vince McMahon one-on-one for the first time ever. On October 26th of 19998, Nitro would beat Raw in the ratings for the last time. Raw would never relinquish the lead, holding it until WCW folded in 2001.
Some of the most famous things from the Attitude Era are Austin 3:16, the birth of The Rock, Mick Foley being thrown off of Hell in a Cell onto the Spanish announce table, the formation of Degeneration-X, the Montreal Screwjob, the death of Owen Hart, the Fingerpoke of Doom, and (from the same episode as the Fingerpoke), Eric Bischoff giving away the ending of the Rock/Mankind World Title match, causing thousands of viewers to change the channel from Nitro to Raw.
Then, there are the BAD things that happened during the Attitude Era. Such as: the Kennel From Hell Match, the Big Bossman stealing Big Show's father's casket during the funeral, Mae Young giving birth to a hand, Booker T. losing a match to Big T in which Booker lost the rights to use the letter T (yeah, I know how stupid that sounds, and it was), so Booker because G.I. Bro, Droz enabling Hawk's drug problems and possibly "killing" Hawk, and probably a lot more things that I've blocked out of my memory. Fortunately.
Anyway, I understand how some people who grew up with the Attitude Era can look at the PG era and hate it, because it's not the same thing that they learned to like when they were younger. However, myself being an adult during the Attitude Era, and understand that there were bad parts as well as good parts, I can watch wrestling these days without demanding the return of the Attitude Era.
Here's the thing a lot (and I mean a LOT) of people forget, when it comes to the Attitude Era: it was a necessity. The only way Vince McMahon and the WWE could compete with WCW was to push the envelope, set the envelope on fire, and keep going.
My main point here is that the Attitude Era was needed because of the competition from WCW. Is anybody else right now competing with WWE for dominance atop the professional wrestling food chain? No. TNA...excuse me, Impact Wrestling's flagship show, Impact, is doing relatively decent ratings, but those ratings are still below WWE's secondary show, Smackdown (roughly a 1.2 rating for Impact compared to about a 1.5 for Smackdown). With no one even really nipping at their heels, WWE has no reason to shift back to the Attitude Era.
So, a lack of competition led to the Ruthless Aggression Era, which gave us some of the greatest matches of all time, the Smackdown Six of Edge, Rey Mysterio, Los Guererros (Eddie and Chavo), and Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit (and no, the name Benoit is not a bad word) with all of the six except Chavo becoming World Champion, and the brand extension (maybe I'll do a blog on why the brand extension is a good thing). So, what happened then, is the question.
My own personal opinion is that the WWE realized that they were losing viewers now that the Attitude Era was over, so what they decided was that in order to get new viewers, they had to start all over. They decided to change to the PG Rating, although it's hard to get a consensus of when the change actually starts, but a lot of people I've talked to say early 2008, and they're pulling in the kids with characters like John Cena and family-friendly entertainment. The reason for this is hooking in those kids and making them loyal to the product, like WWF did with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior. You get the kids in, hook them with something they like and then, as they age, you can change the product back to a more TV-14 kind of thing.
The PG change was, theoretically, in early 2008, which means it's been three and a half years since they started bringing in the kids. I would say the average kid's age who watches the product is 7-to-9 (give or take), so that makes them 10-to-12 now, if they started watching in 2008. That means a couple of more years and the WWE could be making it's way back to a more TV-14 product. However, even with a change to a more mature product, don't expect the Attitude Era to return for a few reasons.
First off is that there are no megastars like Stone Cold and The Rock to be had as full-time performers. Nobody currently has the "It" factor like they did and I'm not sure much of anybody in wrestling these days has "It."
Secondly, there's no need for another Attitude Era. There's no competition, so nothing warrants the extremity of the Attitude Era.
Personally, I don't mind the PG Era. What I mind is that it seems like there's not enough storylines to go around. Or maybe it's a lack of quality storylines. If you have bad storylines, adding in cusswords and gestures gives you bad storyliens with cussing and gestures. Those things can't make a bad storyline better, regardless of what the Attitude Era showed us.
Stick with it, wrestling fans. It will get better, just like it always has.
That's all I've got for now. Until next time, take care and be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Ogre's Den: Throw THIS on me...
The Ogre's Den: Throw THIS on me...: "Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back to drop some knowledge, so let's just get right to it. We were on a roadtrip/at the Mensa Annual Gather..."
Throw THIS on me...
Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back to drop some knowledge, so let's just get right to it.
We were on a roadtrip/at the Mensa Annual Gathering for the past couple of weeks and I met some new people. One of the guys (Hey, John!) and I were talking and I mentioned that I DJ for PartyFM (listen.partyfmradio.net 1 pm Eastern today!). He asked what kind of music I played and I attempted to explain my shows to him and we got into a discussion about different music styles that we liked and disliked and it turned out that we were both fans of progressive rock. Well, one discussion lead to another and I was talking about how I dislike music that seems overproduced or that has way too much going on at the same time in it. I've heard this called "The Timbaland Effect."
What's funny about that is that I'm also a fan of classical music and if you have a full orchestra doing their thing, everything is incredibly layered and complex and has a lot of different parts going on at the same time, but it almost never feels like it's too much.
I think this is the reason I've always been attracted to music from the 40's, 50's and early 60's, because most everything was simple. Vocals, guitars, drums, and maybe some keyboard. Bluegrass and blues are awesome for that reason. Even in their complexity, they keep things from getting too bogged down. I've heard some tracks, especially in hip hop and dance music, where the producer seemed to feel like every single second of the track needed to have some kind of sound in it, even during the break, when it really should just be the beat and maybe one effect. The listener needs a break from all of the sound to appreciate what they're hearing. If you continuously throw sound at people, they become used to it. You need to ease the throttle back sometimes or you'll blow out the engine.
Okay, I'm not sure that last analogy made any sense.
Anyway. What I'm trying to say is that while complex music can be beautiful, sometimes there is also a beauty in simplicity and some artists would be served well by learning that.
A friend of mine (Hey, Matt!) is a "creates music" DJ instead of "playing music" DJ like me and he produces really good stuff. He produces techno, but it tends to be very minimalist, which I think makes it great. Check him out at stia.bandcamp.com.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, but I'm sure I'll have more thoughts soon. Until next time, be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
We were on a roadtrip/at the Mensa Annual Gathering for the past couple of weeks and I met some new people. One of the guys (Hey, John!) and I were talking and I mentioned that I DJ for PartyFM (listen.partyfmradio.net 1 pm Eastern today!). He asked what kind of music I played and I attempted to explain my shows to him and we got into a discussion about different music styles that we liked and disliked and it turned out that we were both fans of progressive rock. Well, one discussion lead to another and I was talking about how I dislike music that seems overproduced or that has way too much going on at the same time in it. I've heard this called "The Timbaland Effect."
What's funny about that is that I'm also a fan of classical music and if you have a full orchestra doing their thing, everything is incredibly layered and complex and has a lot of different parts going on at the same time, but it almost never feels like it's too much.
I think this is the reason I've always been attracted to music from the 40's, 50's and early 60's, because most everything was simple. Vocals, guitars, drums, and maybe some keyboard. Bluegrass and blues are awesome for that reason. Even in their complexity, they keep things from getting too bogged down. I've heard some tracks, especially in hip hop and dance music, where the producer seemed to feel like every single second of the track needed to have some kind of sound in it, even during the break, when it really should just be the beat and maybe one effect. The listener needs a break from all of the sound to appreciate what they're hearing. If you continuously throw sound at people, they become used to it. You need to ease the throttle back sometimes or you'll blow out the engine.
Okay, I'm not sure that last analogy made any sense.
Anyway. What I'm trying to say is that while complex music can be beautiful, sometimes there is also a beauty in simplicity and some artists would be served well by learning that.
A friend of mine (Hey, Matt!) is a "creates music" DJ instead of "playing music" DJ like me and he produces really good stuff. He produces techno, but it tends to be very minimalist, which I think makes it great. Check him out at stia.bandcamp.com.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now, but I'm sure I'll have more thoughts soon. Until next time, be awesome to each other. #WWWYKI
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Ogre's Den: A King needs a Hall...right?
The Ogre's Den: A King needs a Hall...right?: "Hey, Readerland. Happy Rapture Day! Hopefully you get a ticket for the Heaven Bus! I'll miss you all! Anyway. So, with the unfortunate..."
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