July 21st, 2009
Really?
So this is weird...
Tag Team Back Again! Straight from the “MMA today is really just the old days of pro-wrestling” department – Tag-Team MMA! Seriously!
The flaws with this sort of match arrangement are obvious from the start – whoever manages to catch the first tag gains a huge advantage and once one team member is tapped, the other is basically left in a handicap match against two opponents.
Purists will see this as a bastardization of the sport and I’d be hard pressed to disagree. Still, one can’t help but imagine how exciting such pairings might be in the UFC should Dana White ever lose his mind completely.
July 21st, 2009
Hideous Men Are Hideous
Read this
After debuting at Sundance to mixed and somewhat befuddled reviews, John “Jim from The Office” Krasinski’s film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s incredible short fiction collection “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men” will receive theatrical distribution by IFC September 25th.
I read the book while living in Uruguay during the production of “14 Days In Paradise” and loved every hilarious, dark and misanthropic page. The movie is already being compared to Neil LaBute’s savage take downs of modern mores and sensibilities with the hideous men from the book represented on screen in all of their particularly male vileness. Can’t wait.
July 17th, 2009
July 17th, 2009
"Good grief!"
Artist Tim O’Brien does weird and wonderful things with paint, including this “realistic” (and terrifying) portrait of good ol’ Charlie Brown.
More info about his work can be found here.
July 17th, 2009
JAY-Z = USA
Pinstripes bitches!
Jay-Z has 100 problems now that a bitch is, in fact, one.
Former G-Unit hustla The Game (not to be confused with this The Game) has decided to wage war against the one and only Hova (not to be confused with this Hova.) Blasting Jay-Z in recent freestyles, interviews and tweets (Damn that’s gangsta!) The Game has let known that he thinks it’s his turn on top of the hip hop mountain and that it’s time for Jay to retire somewhere in the French countryside with his girl Sasha “Beyonce” Fierce.
Beyond just being a lesson in Beef Development 101, International Relations professor Marc Lynch, writing for ForeignPolicy.com sees these recent developments as a potential metaphor for American hegemony.
It’s a fascinating article, tracing the various beefs Jay has fended off over the years (NAS!) while drawing parallels with America’s recent foreign policy issues. Before I even had a chance to come up with my own take on the subject, about a billion other bloggers did. Damn these internet cats are quick! Here’s what they had to say.
Also – I need to get a beef going with someone to step up my own game. Maybe Jordan Bimm will bite.
Also – I immediately regret calling The Game a bitch. I have no beefs with you sir.
July 16th, 2009
Here we go again…
Fish wrap
Now Magazine, the premier wank rag for Toronto’s bourgeois bohemian set has a pro-wrestler on the cover this week. It should surprise exactly no one that said wrestler (current NWA Champion Blue Demon Jr.) is a luchador. The hipster fascination with lucha libre – So exotic! So kitschy! So foreign! – has been in full swing for a couple of years now and lord christ almighty am I sick of it. The cooptation of lucha masks as symbols (of what exactly?) has seemingly entitled a generation of bandwagon clingers who wouldn’t know Mil Mascaras from Mac mascara to proclaim their love for “Mexican wrestlers” while keeping safe distance from the white trash, Coors Lite drinkers they associate with North American wrestling.
Blue Demon Jr., of course, is a bonafide legend and his appearance at Harbourfront this weekend is a fantastic opportunity for fans to see a genuine luchador. God knows I’ll be there Sunday to see him and the cadre of local talent being brought together by local rassler, trainer and all around great guy Rob “El Fuego” Etcheverria. But the Now article, authored by one Jordan Bimm – who displays a Wikipedia-deep knowledge of the sport – offers little more than a gloss on the subject. Perhaps it’s silly to expect more from a three page article in a free alt weekly, but simply dropping insider terms like “kayfabe” doesn’t make up for a lack of perspective, context or insight.
But my biggest beef with the article stems from the lede, where Bimm feels the need to begin with a mention of the Chris Benoit murder/suicide of ‘07. Not content to simply reference a tragedy having nothing to do with the rest of the article, Bimm also propagates the lie that the horrific incident was “roid-induced.” Though the popular media has latched onto the ‘steroids are to blame’ angle from the start, most experts cite the mental damage Benoit sustained from repeated concussions he suffered in the ring as the true “cause” of his psychopathic behaviour. Hell, the CBC even dedicated an entire episode of The Fifth Estate to the story. Little to no proof has ever been offered that “roid rage” played any role in the killings, beyond the simple fact that Benoit was, indeed, on steroids at the time. This is exactly the kind of bullshit Chris Bell railed against in the documentary “Bigger, Stronger, Faster*” which – if you haven’t already – you TOTALLY have to see.
Lucha Libre is awesome. But it’s fetishization by those who wouldn’t be caught dead attending an actual wrestling show is patronizing and annoying. Ring of Honor – the premier North American independent wrestling organization – has two shows scheduled for Toronto next weekend at the Ted Reeve arena. On hand will be some of the best wrestlers in the world, including Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries and Lance Storm. Hell, even wrestling legends Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair will be there. Still, something tells me ROH won’t be getting the same front page treatment as their hipster-approved Mexican counterparts. To do that might involve an honest-to-god investigation of a genuine subculture that hasn’t already been vetted by the cool kids – and that’s about as far as you can get from Now’s modus operandi.
"The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson
July 16th, 2009
Secret Crush #17
Lights
“Saviour,” the first single from Lights’ forthcoming full length debut “The Listening” is lovely and rad. Loves it like a French kid loves crepes.
July 14th, 2009
Brock Lesnar is Awesome
Heavyweight Champion of the World
re: my picks… 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, though GSP/Pitbull went to decision after five rounds I was right on calling Lesnar over Mir as a 2nd round TKO. And FWIW I did pick Henderson once I saw how skinny Bisping looked at 185. But yeah, blew that one.
Also — Lesnar’s post match promo ripping on Bud Lite, the fans and most of the rest of the world was pure genius. A fiery, hilarious rant that infuriated MMA purists and delighted the fans that have followed him from his days in WWE. Anyhow, now everyone of course has to pretend to be horrified by the whole thing and so here is Brock apologizing…
"My bad."
July 11th, 2009
UFC 100
Lesnar taps for the last time ever.
Easily the biggest fight card of the year and likely the biggest PPV in UFC history, UFC 100 should be an awesome night featuring some of the best fighters in the world. Predictions for the three marquee match-ups…
Brock Lesnar over Frank Mir for the Heavyweight Championship by second round TKO stoppage; GSP over Thiago Alves for the Welterweight Championship by third round submission; Michael Bisping over Matt Henderson in a battle of TUF coaches by decision.
I’ll be back later to brag about the accuracy of my calls.