TUF + Rampage's big mouth = Quality TV

The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest, premiering this Wednesday, April 2nd on Spike. Instead of selecting coaches that legitimately hate each other this season (Shamrock/Ortiz, Serra/Hughes, etc.), the show looks to be taking a different approach by going with Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin, probably the two most affable, likable cats on the entire UFC roster.



Should make for an entertaining season, if only for the for the bizarre bits that will inevitably tumble out of the coaches' mouths. Case in point (post Rampage Jackson/Dan Henderson title fight):

Joe Rogan: I'm here with the champion, and still champion, unified champion! How's that sound Quinton?

Rampage: It sound real good baby, youknowhatimsayin', cuz I trained real hard for Dan, cuz I knew he was tough, but I never thought he would beat up my fist with his face. His, his...man, my fist hurt right now.

Joe Rogan: You were having problems with your left hand before this fight, how much did it hurt you during the bout?

Rampage: Actually, uh, my wrist did good, but it was just my knuckles goin' upside his head were hurtin'...it was a whole new injury now.

Joe Rogan: Great fight, very, very competitive fight, take a look at the big screen and talk us through some of the action here, tell us what you were thinking.

Rampage: I was thinking, "Boy, I better do somethin' or Dan gon' kick my ass." I saw him fall, and I missed em there, I was like, "Damn!" I tried to give him an ooo-whee knot, but then, I missed, oh, he hit me with a big uppercut, just doin' my thang, so I tired to give him one back, knowwhatimsayin', blow for blow, oh, ah! Damn, I dunno what I was gonna do, oh, I was gonna do a knee, but then he keep swingin', I missed my uppercut, I missed my hook, and I was like, "Damn!" Now this might be the end of the fight or somethin', I dunno where this at, but I tried to slam him cuz I ain't slam nobody in a while, but I say, "Oh, he's a Greco champion," so I figure I try and swing on him again, try to knock him out, but that's the last of...the thing, but he got a rock head, man.

Joe Rogan: Well, you had to be impressed by your grappling, how well you controlled him on the bottom.

Rampage: I was, I did good, a lotta people don't know, that I got JIU-JITSU. You know, my coach, man, he work hard. People don't know I got jiu-jitsu because I don't like submittin' folks, I like Big John McCarthy pullin' me up off folks, that's how I like to roll, you feel me? *stares intently at camera*

Joe Rogan: Well, Quinton, now you are the unified, unidsputed light-heavyweight champion of the world, congratulations! We can't wait to see your next fight. Ladies and gentlemen, Quinton Rampage Jackson!

Rampage: *takes mic from Rogan* Hey, I wanna praise God, he gave me everything I got, thank you so much! Thank you Dr. Ha-phoo for his wife, Ms. Robin...Ha-foo...if I say your name wrong, please forgive me, I'm kinda, you know...tired. Thanks to my family for lettin' me go on so long and do what I dreamed of doing, being the light-heavyweight champion of the UFC, the greatest sport in the world, WE TAKING OVAAH!

Masterpiece

Listening to:
RIP SLYME
MASTERPIECE

One of the younger ones brought me a drawing the other day. Her dad relayed to me that the picture was apparently a portrait of myself. It took me a moment to notice the resemblance, but it's actually stunningly accurate, right down to the absurdly large ears and the pair of protruding horns. I also have, on occasion, worn my sneakers on my hands, though I have no idea how a student could have possibly been aware of this particular nugget of information. There's also a curious bulge in the figure's bathing suit area, but I suppose I can take that as a compliment.



In all seriousness though, there are times when I feel alarmingly like a kindergarten teacher. I'm going to need a get a fridge in my room for all my budding artists' pieces.

The Rock DVD, Wrestlemania 24 preview

Tentatively scheduled to release this summer:



Finally. I'm not even that big of a Rock mark, but he's definitely on the short list of the greatest wrestlers of all time. What he lacked in technical prowess, he made up for with an absurd workrate and the versatility to have great matches with essentially anyone, and he's really on an entirely different level in terms of pure charisma. As far as the DVD set goes, if you take into account the fact that the Rock has graduated from wrestler to Hollywood movie star, his pro-wrestling body of work as it currently stands is about as definitive as it ever will be. People like to point to Hulk Hogan's sub-illustrious Hollywood resume and his subsequent returns to wrestling, but the difference here is that the Rock can actually act, and will thus never need wrestling again. Hogan? Not so great of an actor. Regardless, I'm definitely grabbing this one when it comes out. Aside from the Curt Hennig set that's also supposedly coming out later this year, this is the one release that I've been really looking forward to. Here's to hoping that they include the HHH/Rock iron man from Judgment Day 2000.

What's funny is that as boring as the current product can be, I'm always willing to throw my money at Vince whenever the WWE puts out one of these spiffy 3-disc DVD collections. The nostalgia factor is certainly a part of it, but I think the bottom line is that the product can still be entertaining once you cut away the unnecessary fat and get to the core of things. I've given up on watching 2 hours of RAW to catch one or two solid matches/segments, but much like with anything else, hindsight is 20/20, and if the WWE sees it fit to go back and spotlight a bunch of entertaining bits in a retrospective release, they should by all means do so. What they lose in ratings and PPV buys, I imagine they can stymie with DVD and merchandise sales, so there's really an often unperceived degree of symmetry there.

Sunday's Wrestlemania 24 card:

Bunnymania - Ashley & Maria vs The Glamazon & Melina
No comment.

Belfast Brawl - Finlay vs JBL
Could be a sleeper. If there's two things that JBL can do, it's cut a killer promo and do garbage matches, so he should be in his element here. Finlay is one of my guys; probably the smartest, most crisp brawler on the roster, so I'm not particularly worried about him carrying his end of the deal. Both guys have been well documented as stiff motherf*ckers, so I'd be a happy camper if this one got 10+ minutes.

ECW Battle Royal (winner faces Chavo, ECW champ)
I actually like Chavo a bit, so it's a little unfortunate that he'll likely job to the winner of the battle royal. It's even more unfortunate that the winner will likely be Kane or Khali.

Batista vs Umaga
More or less an excuse to get these two guys on the card - expect Dave to go over. Batista attempting to Dave-bomb Umaga provides the only real intrigue (and potential hilarity) to the match. Umanga has actually grown on me a lot though; he's taken a stupid, absurdly outdated gimmick and made it work better than it has any right to.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Chris Jericho vs MVP vs Kennedy vs Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito vs CM Punk vs John Morrison
Should be a good one. I'd put my money on MVP or Punk, but we're really tuning in to see Shelton and Morrison do some some silly, silly things off of ladders.

Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels
In a way, it's a waste on two counts. HBK is probably the best worker on the roster, and would have probably been better utilized as a challenger for one of the titles. Flair, in likely his last big match, should be giving the rub to a young up-and-coming player, something that HBK certainly is not. If the booking committee had a lick of sense, they would have booked an Orton/Flair match, with the "Legend Killer" Randy Orton taking out his onetime mentor and arguably greatest legend of all time in Ric Flair. An HBK/Cena/HHH main event would have worked just as well as the Orton/Cena/HHH one, with Cena going into WM as champ after winning the title from Orton at No Way Out. But I guess that probably would have made too much sense and would have required some foresight.

Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show
Is this a traditional wrestling match? You can tell I haven't really been following the product as of late, because I honestly have no idea. I'd pay money to watch a shoot fight between the two - if only to see Show kill Mayweather, perhaps literally - but as is? No thanks.

World Heavyweight Championship - Edge vs Undertaker
Probably the lone forgone conclusion of the night. Taker's really at the point in his career where he doesn't need to be anywhere near a world title, but if the intent is to give him one last run with the belt, so be it. Despite his age and size, Taker can still inexplicably go in the ring, and Edge is Edge, so the match itself should be okayish at the very least.

WWE Championship - Randy Orton vs John Cena vs HHH
The gold standard for triple threats remains the HHH/Benoit/HBK masterpiece from WMXX, and although this year's offering has but a slim chance of unseating the former, it'd be fair to expect a good match considering the participants. Cena, though he has the coordination and grace of a hunk of metal and throws those terrible wooshy punches, almost always brings it in the big matches. Orton, is spite of his penchant for crapping in gym bags and being a spectacularly well rounded douche, has had his moments as champ and has managed to develop into a fairly solid worker. From HHH, we can expect multiple entrance themes, props (sledgehammers, crowns, ugly boots, or otherwise), tons of knee-based offense, and JR gushing and saying the words "cerebral" and "assassin," usually in conjunction, several thousand times over. Logic says Cena goes over. HHH-logic says HHH goes over.

Sean Paul, my pupil

Listening to:
Do As Infinity
Do The B-Side

We've got a new student named Sean Paul. I was putting his information into the system today, and this kid literally has two first names, because his middle initial is "C." The image I immediately conjured up was someone resembling Sean "Get Busy" Paul, and I was somewhat disappointed when the preschooler who eventually walked through the door looked nothing like the reggae artist. Sean Paul (the student) was 4 years old, which means that he could have conceivably been named after Sean Paul (the dancehall singer), considering that "Dutty Rock" was probably blowing up about the time he was born. I've obviously no right to judge parents based upon what they name their children, but I'd say that it's potentially a fairly telling sign about our generation. I'm legitimately curious as to how many little Beyonces are running around out there.

The pros and cons of MySpace-esque mugging

Listening to:
Jill Scott
Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2

I've decided to kick the Facebook habit for the time being. It's really nothing against Facebook, but I initially got an account with the intent of using it primarily as a tool to communicate with out of state friends. Instead, it's become an exercise in MySpace-esque mugging, and somewhat embarrassingly, a means to spy on various semi-friends' weekend plans. While I guess there's technically nothing wrong with that, there's just something markedly strange about using a social networking website as the primary method of communication between yourself and people who live on the same island as you. Unfortunately, that's more or less what Facebook currently provides me. I still think the whole photo tagging feature is kind of novel though, so I wouldn't put it past myself to start using Facebook again once I have the opportunity to take more pictures, or once I have the opportunity to leave the island (whichever comes first). But really, It essentially boils down to me temporarily doing away with another online distraction. I've always felt that the MySpace-type sites were social networking tools geared towards lazy bloggers anyway, and if you've got the knowledge of self to sit down and write some real, honest stuff once in a while, things like Facebook become totally expendable. So that's that.

Someone from the branch office came down to the center today and noted to my boss how well I ran the class. I took it as a huge compliment obviously, but it's also a testament to how well my boss managed to train me over these past 6 months or so. I'd been close to hitting a wall of sorts, but sometimes that little spark you need can be as simple as someone noticing your efforts.

Zoom Flight 96 revisited

Damn. I'm straight praying that I don't see these anywhere, because I'm way over my sneaker cap for the season. So, so cold. I simply don't have the willpower to resist the royal blue colorway.

A bit of a mid-twenties crisis

Listening to:
伴都美子
VOICE 2 ~cover lovers rock~

If there's one thing that I haven't been having problems with lately, it's falling asleep. I wouldn't go as far at to call it a perk, but it's kind of a nice change of pace to not roll around in bed for an hour before finally knocking out. Unfortunately, I've also been nodding off whenever I try to settle into any kind of a leisure activity. There was a point in time when I considered sleep to be a hobby of sorts, but I like to think that I've since outgrown that somewhat teenage, grade school-ish method of thought. Regardless, I imagine that I'm falling asleep during my free time primarily because all of my hobbies revolve around me sitting in a chair and staring into a monitor of some shape or form. It's not that I necessarily need video games, anime, Rob & Big, or anything of the sort, but rather that I currently lack the motivation to simply get out and do something different. It's not that I'm still habitually lazy at 24; I've been channeling that type of positive energy and drive into the other areas of my life (hopefully to a certain degree of success), and isn't that all that really matters? The thing about hobbies is that I've conditioned myself to think that they should indubitably be fun, easy, and convenient, when that's not always necessarily true. After all, why challenge yourself during your free time when you're already challenging yourself during all of the day's working hours? There's the fairly obvious "to better oneself" answer that most outwardly accept and never really live by, but I have to honestly say that sometimes I just feel like being lazy when I can spare a moment to do so. Say what you will, but it takes time to drive to the beach, it takes dedication to learn a new instrument, and it takes money, really, to do anything. Not to say that any of the above are insurmountable obstacles by any means, but simply that my perceived inability to try new and different things is an issue that can be traced back to my understanding of the term "hobby" and what it should entail. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel that maybe I've been using my jobs and my frequent obligations to my family as an excuse to be a glorified couch potato whenever the opportunity presents itself. As such, I've decided that I'm going to try and do more of the things that I've always felt that I wanted to do, regardless of whether or not they are humanly possible within the confines of my schedule.

Fedor to UFC?

From MMAFightLine:

Fedor Emelianenko's management is currently negotiating with the UFC on a one-fight deal that could set up the Fedor Emelianenko/Randy Couture fight. Couture would have to drop his lawsuit with the UFC for the fight, but he has stated that it's the only fight left that he wants.

The whole one & done deal is a little disappointing, but other than the Couture fight, I guess there's not much else for Fedor to do in the UFC. After all, it's not like we have to see Fedor/Nog again, and though I'd like to see him go at it with Sylvia for some odd reason, the overall pickings are pretty slim in the heavyweight division. Regardless, this is huge news because it's FEDOR for chrissakes, and he DOESN'T LOSE. I'm actually surprised that Fedor's camp is negotiating with the UFC, especially in light of all that nonsensical trash that Dana White has been talking. I guess Fedor wants this fight just as bad as Couture does. Snags in the deal are more than likely, but here's to hoping that it gets done in the end.

意味無く愛

愛ちゃん、人斬り！！！　ちょっと恐いなぁ。



正直、全く意味分かりません。（笑）

Cool For Thought

Listening to:
Lupe Fiasco
The Cool

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be working at another center every Wednesday. I suppose I could use the extra cash, but I've really come to rely on having those Wednesdays off, especially since I work on Saturdays and usually end up doing my contract job on Sundays. I won't pretend to be overworked in the least, but any night when I can spare an hour or two to play video games or pop in a DVD is starting to feel like a huge treat. By my calculations, I've got about 3 and 1/2 part-time jobs at the moment, all of which can be potentially rough in the stress department, but none of which have successfully run me ragged (at least to date). Of course, the logical thing to do would be to just get one full-time position, but I'm kind of enjoying the opportunity to try my hand as a jack of all trades, even if it means I end up being a master of none. As flawed as I may be, "lack of versatility" is one thing that prospective employers won't be able to hit me with. The next step? Actually trying to put away a bit of that money.

Just had to get me one:



TRUTH

Thanks a lot AC

Damage: 11 points (3-5 3pt), 11 assists. Funny how AC magically discovers his 3-point shot just in time to bust my team's ass.

STAT Air Force Ones

I've had an eye on these for a while - "New Six" Air Force Ones, Amare Stoudemire edition. I told myself that I was going to cool it with the shoes, and relatively speaking, I sort of have. After all, the Jordan XX3 is out, and I very well could have dropped $185 on those instead. The key to avoiding buyer's remorse is having a selective sense of relativity.



I haven't decided whether or not I want to kick these around yet. I'll probably just stock them next to my PHX Adidas Superstars for the time being.

Kite Liberator coming soon

Hitting the shelves on 3/25/08. This is pretty huge, considering that the R2 version in Japan will be releasing the same week. I'm guardedly optimistic about the title, because if nothing else, we'll be getting a big-budget OVA with some crisply animated assassination scenes. On the other hand, Yasuomi Umetsu's body of work as a director is really too small to accurately gauge how Liberator will fare with just an R-rating. Kite and Mezzo, in spite of the brutal fights and shootouts, relied heavily on sex and shock-value, so it'll be a challenge for Liberator to maintain the raw edginess that Umetsu's previous works had.



I'm nonetheless intrigued, which is news in itself. Thoughts on the release when I get my hands on a copy. R1 Cover art (hopefully):