So I’ve finally decided it’s time. Time to change my life. Time to leave my fatass trappings behind and walk down the righteous path to losing weight and  living healthier. For both selfish and righteous reasons, I need to get thinner. I don’t need to be one of those creepy, gaunt, lanky tall guys who looks like their entire body would fall apart like a tower of jenga blocks if they took a slapjack to the back of the knee, but I also don’t need to be rolling around like a taller Bam Bam Bigelow, God rest his soul. So this is it, my ultimatum. Starting next Monday, Jan 30, I will be beginning a 30 day juice fast cycle and trying to ride it out as the beginning of changing my gluttonous ways.

My friend Carrie was the one who planted the juice fast idea in my head. She had watched a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead where a man in his lower 40′s, who had had a history of health issues and a rare skin disorder, tours across America while ingesting nothing but juice from whole fruits and vegetables that he juiced himself. It was quite an inspiring journey, seeing how he had started out his adulthood thin, had added on the pounds over the years and finally got to the breaking point where he decided he needed to change his lifestyle and used 60 days of juice fasting as his kickstart. He managed to drop dozens of pounds, his skin condition eased up and he was able to move off of the plethora of medication he had been surviving off of for years.

What was even more impressive was when he found a man with the same rare skin disorder who was far worse off and about a hundred pounds even heavier during his travels. The 2nd man reached out to the documentarian and managed to change his life, overtime dropping from over 420 lbs to about 220, losing the majority of it during a 60 day juice fast. Now, I do realize as a student of the media that most documentaries are made to prove a point rather than objectively point out the facts, but Carrie herself is someone who has a very difficult time losing weight. She’s probably the healthiest person I know but has an extremely hard time shedding the pounds no matter how hard she tries. But this method worked for her, she fought her way through it, I can fight my way through it too. I’d recommend watching the documentary, seeing how two men’s lives have changed through… well… the power of juice.

Now, why specifically am I juice fasting? Well, I’m fat, but hardly ever sick and nowhere near dead. I have lost an impressive amount of weight previously. At my absolute worst point in Fall 2009, I weighed 367 lbs. This was the result of years of neglecting what I was eating, pouring tons of money into fast food and generally just not giving a shit about what I put in my mouth. I was healthy, I never get sick, my back or knees act up every now and then, but who’s doesn’t? I was encouraged to join a Biggest Loser competition at work, which is how I found my motivation to do something about it and make some money in the meantime. I managed to lose almost 40 lbs over 6 weeks, dropping to around 329 and I made some money for the most total weight lost (the real winner won by higher percentage). I walked every day (and quite honestly, fucking hated it), I cut down on my portions, I ate better when I went out, cut off all fast food, candy, soda and frivolous snacks. However, when it was all said and done,  it was only a matter of time before I drifted back into my old ways. I had gone halfway to living better and in the end I ended up living as crappily as I did before. I’ve drifted around 330-335 for the past 2 years and haven’t made any strides to losing weight since. That’s why I’m juice fasting now, I keep telling myself I’m going to change things, but I never do. I’m desperate case of routine and Taco Bell, it’s going to call for desperate measures to get me to change.

So, I mentioned I had “selfish” reasons for losing this weight. Quite honestly, my number 1 goal right now is to make sure that I am small enough to fit on the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” ride at Universal when I go to Orlando in May. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but I hear that ride is AWESOME, and I hear they are very strict about being able to properly fit in the restraints. My older brother Andy is about an inch shorter than me, but he was able to fit on it. He’s also probably about 50 or more lbs lighter than me. So that’s part of why I want to lose weight quickly, but I don’t want to completely starve myself or fall into other dangerous habits. Juice fasting will still give me the nutrition I need, just not the extra stuff I don’t. Also, the added benefit of being in better shape will hopefully help me overcome my life-long self-confidence issues. But we’ll cross that road when we come to it.

Now, as far as referring to myself as the “juicing gamer”? One advantage I do have is that I don’t snack at home that much. Thanks to me spending plenty of time being distracted by video games, being engaged and focused on something, I’m usually not worrying about stuffing my face after dinnertime. However, being at work is a bad munchy time, having a few bucks in my pocket and wanting to stop for Wawa breakfast on the way into work is a bad habit. Pretty much any situation where I can get bored and have a few bucks in my pocket is a bad situation for me, as I tend to turn those bucks into candy or chips. By denying myself the possibility to take those snack breaks, hopefully I’ll be cutting out a big chunk of my problem. Then, when I get home at night, I can focus on my games, my website and my writing to keep my idle hands busy and out of the cookie jar. Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out next week and is sure to fill my time with dozens of hours of distraction to keep my body focused on the game at hand, not on the ice cream in the freezer. Also, as I create my own juice concoctions, I’m hoping to come up with clever names for them after my favorite games (I’m already imagining up one called the “Golden Sun”).

Finally, I will admit that this week I’ll be going for one last hurrah of gluttony, one last chance to indulge in that which I am leaving behind. I’ve come up with the foodstuffs I will miss the most and will be waving good-bye to this week. I started tonight by getting some wings from Buffalo Quarters, I can’t make it all the way to the Pic-A-Lilli for the greatest wings on Earth and these are a good runner up. I will say goodbye to burgers at Bobby’s Burger Palace sometime this week. I may say goodbye to Pizza at Lorenzo’s in Philly when I go to see Lamb of God this Thursday. I would like to hit up Pat’s and say goodbye to Cheesesteaks. And this Saturday, I think a Famous Dave’s trip NEEDS to happen to say goodbye to delectable BBQ this weekend. This will be my final farewell to my life of gluttony, spending it with some of my closest food friends. Hopefully on the back-end of my 30 day juice journey we will meet again, and I will be able to balance you in moderation with a healthier lifestyle.

So, I will be blogging throughout my journey on my new site (when it launches), but I wanted this one chance to lay out my thoughts on why I’m doing, why I’m doing it and why will believe it will actually work for me. I have my friend Carrie to be my support and advisor, I will be buying a juicer next weekend with my paycheck and hitting up the oft-ignored produce aisle. I hope my blog will act as a reminder to myself of what I was willing to try to get better, and perhaps as a message to others to try it for themselves.

I know you’ve heard the phrase, “If I can do it, anyone can”. Well, I have no willpower, I love good food, it is my main vice, but if I can let it go to live better… anyone can.

Less than a month and a half here to go in 2011, and I’m already mentally cashing it in, yet I’m nowhere near done.  This has been quite the year for me, very eye opening to say the least.  Laid off in February, physically incapacitated for the better part of a month, ended my engagement of almost a year,  got a new job in June, and had quite a few rude awakenings besides that.  It wasn’t all bad, but that’s the timeline running through my head.  Expect a full writeup promise on the first, or maybe I’ll type it up early, and just throw it up then.  Boomaga and I attempted a podcast but that didn’t work due to the last one not getting edited.  Perhaps he can do that in his next week off, even though it’s, what, 6 months old now?  LOST EPISODE!  Anyway, before the year is over, I have at least one more show, one that I am incredibly proud to announce.

JCW makes it return to Philadelphia after 2 and a half years on 12/30/11, with the Wake the Dead at the Asylum Arena, some of you know it as Viking Hall or the ECW arena, the most famous bingo hall in the world!  Tickets available soon at ticketmaster.com.  Broadcast live over the world, order it LIVE at psychopathiclive.com!  You can also order the videos from the Dark Lotus show in Rochester and the full show of Hallowicked on demand, so, do that.  Both were real dope.  Ya boy was even on stage for ICP in Detroit…until I immediately fell off, 3 weeks later I have to get x-rays taken of my knee.  Whatever, still worth it.

As of the past week, I’ve been ripping through Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, leaving my legacy.  Ezio LOVES to murder those begging whores.  They deserve it.  I got through the story mode of Batman: Arkham City and loved it, I’ll be going back to it when I finish AC.  I also pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I’ve never been an MMO guy, and I completely blame the Rooster Teeth podcast for this one.  Fucking cockbites.

I quit drinking in January as part of a weight loss competition in January and just never started again, outside of the night it ended, so I have about 2 months until I can drink, or 4 depending on how I look at it.  I can feel myself fading in so I’ll leave you with these 2 things.  I can be reached at my public twitter account @counterfeitg0d, that’s g0d with a zero.  Second, take a step back from your life and re-evaluate everything.  You may find things are out of order and need to be changed, moreso than you’re comfortable with.  This had an alternative meaning, I just need to figure out how to phrase it.  Until next time, go buy the new Doomtree album, and the new Dessa album.  Both are hot lava.

So for the last week or so at my video game music Twitter feed, @Gametunes, all 17 of my followers have been blessed with some of the fines tracks from the epic gothic action series, Castlevania. Besides being my second favorite game franchise (Zelda comes first), Castlevania has produced some of the most incredible orchestrations in video game history, from the bleeps and bloops of the NES era to the symphonic pieces for the Playstation 2 games. I don’t count the Xbox 360/PS3 title Lords of Shadow, that’s not really a Castlevania game.

So, my week of Tweets has all led to this, my gift for Halloween, possibly the greatest and most well known track in Castlevania music history, Bloody Tears from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. Enjoy the increased orchestration and fidelity this track has been given in numerous installments through the years…

The Original: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

The Revival: Super Castlevania IV

The Genesis: Castlevania Bloodlines

The Synthesizing: Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

The Conversion: Dracula X (SNES)

The Epicness: Castlevania Chronicles

The Minimizing: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

The Reinvention: Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles

The Battle: Castlevania Judgment

There you go, only God knows when Konami is going to release another real Castlevania game, but with all hopes the series is not dead and will rise from its grave much like Dracula himself has been known to do now and again. And if there is to be yet another Castlevania game, I’m sure there’s another place for Bloody Tears to be revived.

I’ve been posting on the forums of Unikgamer.com for awhile now. It’s a great site dedicated to users building lists of their favorite games of all time and they have a small but dedicated forums community. These are people who really take their time and care about gaming and yet, it completely blows my mind that there are users on there who don’t see the problems arising from the proliferation of used video games thanks to the business practices of companies like Gamestop.

Gamestop is in the used game business. Yes, they also happen to sell new games and they’re going to push you oh-so-hard for that new game reservation but in reality, they sell used games first, and new games second. The reason they push new games reserves at all is because they hope you bring in your used games to trade-in towards that new game so Gamestop can reap the massive profits off your used sale. Let’s say you just bought Batman: Arkham City from Gamestop and beat it in a week? Well, you paid $60 for it from Gamestop, and they maybe made $5-10 off that sale. Then you trade it into Gamestop for $30 in credit, and Gamestop turns around and sells it to the next guy for $50, turning a $20 profit off that second sale. They double dipped, made money twice off the same product and actually made MORE off the second sale. That’s how Gamestop makes money, that’s also how Gamestop is undermining the video game business.

Now, I always hear the same arguments defending the practice of used games. “Used games have existed for decades, why is it a problem now?”, I also hear “There are used movies, books, cars and other products, why is games such a problem?” and finally, “Well, people have the right to do whatever they want with their property.”

The argument that “Used games have existed for decades and therefore shouldn’t be a problem now” is a fallacy. Yes, used games have been around for decades. But back in 1994 the majority of the game buying public probably didn’t know that the used games market existed. It was a niche market, mostly facilitated through the limited number of FuncoLand retailers out there. You know what hasn’t been around for decades? Used games sections in Gamestop that are larger than the new game sections along with a Gamestop at every single strip mall in America. Used games at Best Buy. Used games on Amazon. The accessibility of buying used games is so much greater now than it has ever been. It’s far easier to find a used game than any other used product. Now, I’ve bought my share of used games to save a few bucks, but if it’s a game I really enjoy and really want and can find it new, it’s worth paying for it. Nowadays the only used games I buy are games that are usually years old that I can buy for extremely cheap and if I were to buy a new copy of it at this point, it wouldn’t matter because it’s probably being sold at-a-loss from its original value. The proliferation of used games has never been stronger and Gamestop has more sales and deals on used games than just about every retailer has on new games. Gaming isn’t a cheap hobby and we all like to save a few bucks, but there gets to a point where if too many people are saving too many bucks, someone’s got to be hurting from it somewhere.

And a used car/book/movie doesn’t really compare to a used game. First off, movies have multiple revenue streams, they don’t JUST make their money from DVD sales. Movies also make money from theater runs, TV airings, and video streaming services, none of which exist for console games. Used books are more likely to have wear and tear from regular use than a video game, same with used cars. A console video game is something that only exists as a physical product that (ideally) maintains the exact same experience for everyone who uses it. What someone paid $60 for new and what someone paid $50 for used get the exact same experience for their money. So, why not go for the $50 one, right? Oh, because the company who actually produced it gets nothing for your $50 and at least gets a little cut from your $60.

Finally, yes, every person has the right to do what they want with their own product. If you choose to trade your game into Gamestop or Amazon or sell your game on eBay, that is your choice. I can’t give a valid argument against people who trade in their games, because that would make me a massive hypocrite. I would love to be able to keep every game that I buy, but sometimes I need a crutch to help me pay for more new games. However, most of the games I trade in are games I’ve owned for several months or years and have probably lost most of their new sales potential. What I think is wrong is the practices of retailers pushing trade-ins and used sales so much harder than new sales on recent releases, to me it seems to do more harm to the industry that allows them to exist. The practice of trading in games isn’t inherently evil or harmful to the industry until it gets out of control and the game manufacturers see their sales suffer from too many copies of their titles being traded in, and that’s exactly what’s happening. I went to Gamestop the other day to pay off my reserved *NEW* copy of Super Mario 3D Land and saw at least 5 used copies each of Dead Island and Deus Ex: Human Revolution on the shelf, two games that are less than two months old and they are already saturating the used games market. That’s where the problem is, games that still have new sales potential that is being taken away thanks to the pushing of quick trade-ins and used sales.

If you’re someone who wonders why the game industry keeps pumping out the same kind of games over and over (military shooters, sci-fi shooters, sequels), it’s because games cost more to make. The teams needed to develop games is larger than ever. Yes, little indie hits like Super Meat Boy and Limbo exist, and they’re just fine. But the majority of us enjoy big-budget games that take advantage of all the technological advancements that have been made in gaming over the last few decades. We’ve seen dozens of games studios get shut down and employees get laid off over the last few years for as little as ONE big-budget game title that fails to meet sales expectations. Well, the saturation of newer used games in the gaming market doesn’t help those sales expectations at all. There’s nothing that can be done to stop it, but all the companies who are actually producing these games can do is hope to deter it and I support that as someone who cares more about the future of video gaming than about saving 10 bucks.

That’s right, believe it or not, this…

Costs a hell of a lot more to produce than this…

What’s wrong then with game publishers/developers wanting to recoup the extra costs involved with making it? It boggles my mind that some people who call themselves gamers prefer to back up the retailer practices over the publishers/developers. Like the publishers are some big evil monster in the hills for wanting to make more money, and the retailers who are reaping the profits off used games are some noble, pious organizations.

If I have to choose the lesser of two evils, I’ll take supporting the entity who actually creates the games I want to play over one of the dozens of retailers I can purchase it from anyday. I can buy Batman: Arkham City from any retailer I want, Amazon, Best Buy, Target. But Rocksteady is the only developer who made it, WB Interactive is the only publisher who released it, and they both deserve my money for it. If Gamestop loses money and goes out of business, fine, I’ll buy my games at Best Buy. If EA loses money and goes out of business, there’s dozens of potential future games I’ll never get to play.

The first time I saw the machine, I was unable to resist it’s captivating spell. With it’s bright colors, flashy graphics, interesting characters, engrossing story, and best of all, buckets of blood dripping from every connecting strike, Mortal Kombat quickly assumed the role of one of my favorite and most played games of all time. More importantly, it was securing it’s place as one of the most influential games of all time thanks to it’s ultra-violent play style, and the ability to perform fatalities once your foes have been vanquished, the perfect way to ice the cake of winning. This would often send the person you just beat into a rage and create an experience you just can’t have through an online service.

Adding to the game’s mystique were the different versions of the arcade ROM. Invisible to most players, only the most hardcore players would notice the slight subtleties. The boot up screen is a dead giveaway because it’ll give the revision, but if you paid close attention you could notice things like the way the screens run, and the silhouettes that appear on the moon over The Pit. These small things would let you know what you could get away with, whether or not you could fight Reptile with certain characters, or at all.

It seemed not too much later, Mortal Kombat was released for home systems. Friends ended up with it for the Genesis out of chance, and I couldn’t have been happier. I didn’t care if the SNES looked better, I was always a bigger Sega fan anyway, and soon we learned that there was a code for this game, a code of honor, a blood code. Maybe it was harder to remember because I was always so excited, or because I hadn’t learned how to commit things to memory, or because my memory is shot in general, but at this point I never forget entering A-B-A-C-A-B-B. I remember being so happy that we now had a code to put the blood back in the game, even if the game didn’t look as close to the arcade version as the SNES version, who cares, WE HAD BLOOD! Later, when the DULLARD code came out, it got that much sweeter.

By the time Mortal Kombat II was ready to hit the arcades, the fever had hit the entire country, thanks to the release of MK on the Genesis, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Gear, and even Sega CD. Let it be known that while the Sega CD version was late to the party, it in no way got a quiet release. An awesome commercial was produced, and is fondly remembered with the screams for “Mortal Monday”. The questions of what secrets would be in this game were running rampant. We ended up with new characters in the form of Jax, who was intended for the first game but swapped out for Sonya in order to have a playable female, Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, Baraka, and the ability to play as Reptile, and a much younger looking Shang Tsung. Missing from the roster were Sonya and Kano, but as soon as you reached Shao Khan’s stage and saw them chained up, you saw why. The new bosses were Kintaro, another Shokan like Goro, and Shao Khan, ruler of Overworld, the one that Shang Tsung serves.

Kung Lao quickly rose as a fan favorite, partially thanks to the ability to control his hat after it’s thrown, and his ability to jump up and appear behind your opponent and attack them. A new set of fatalities was entered into the game, along with a set of friendships and babalities. This is where the genius of the team that created Mortal Kombat shines. Creativity like this along with tongue in cheek humor is what makes for greatness. Where as getting murdered in the previous game could be humiliating enough, now you run the risk of being handed a rainbow, or worse, turned into a baby.

Secrets and rumors abound, word was spreading quickly. The Dead Pool was an amazing stage fatality, quickly followed by The Pit II. Some fans quickly discovered that if you hold down on both joysticks after the stage fatality is performed on The Pit II, the body will slide off the spikes and fall back down to the floor, a great touch. Rumors spread of finishers like nude-alities and such, but these were never a reality, no matter what the kid at the local arcade told you, or how much he offered to sell you the codes for. Certain conditions would have to be met to enter some battles, such as when landing an uppercut, you may see a face appear at the bottom of the screen and yell “TOASTY!”. This Dan Forden, when seeing him pop up on the Portal stage, if you can hit UP and START in time, you are transported to a secret battle with a hidden fighter known as Smoke. Another hidden fight can be obtained by fighting your way up the ladder to the fight before the question mark, and only using Low Kick for one round. This will allow you to fight Jade. Other secrets include fighting Noob Saibot as a reward for winning 50 fights in a row, and playing a game of Pong for winning 250. Many false rumors were spread, such as ones about a stage fatality in the Forest, or other hidden characters. It didn’t help that in the hints for Jade it said “Ermac who?”, a joke based on the line ERRMAC on the boot screen of the original Mortal Kombat. An abbreviation for the term Error Macro, rabid fans pounced on this as the name of a fighter buried under lines of code that was just never used.

Again, a very wide release followed for home systems. Only this time, Nintendo allowed blood on their consoles, having heard the outcry of fans and seeing the number of copies sold greatly favoring the Genesis despite the graphical difference. Soon to be discovered was another debug mode, much more robust than the one that the DULLARD code unlocked in the first one, allowing things like one button fatalities and similar settings.

Even sooner to the arcades was the most comprehensive game yet, Mortal Kombat 3. Offering tag team modes as an alternative to the one on one that everyone was used to, MK3 also offered an impressive roster. Another thing introduced with MK3, officially, was a combo system. I’d had combos set up since day 1 with Sub Zero, but now they had actual combos set up and programmed in, instead of just a patten people figured out, that people couldn’t block. The ability to do a standard uppercut and send your opponent flying through the ceiling of the stage up to the next level was an exciting aspect, and it was always a race to see if you or your friend could pull it off first. Arguably the most controversial addition was the Run button. This made it harder for players to corner camp and try to control the flow of the match and run down the clock. Now, you could just run in and attack, and destroy that strategy. Another addition was Kombat Kodes. When playing in Vs mode, a series of 6 blocks would appear across the bottom of the screen and depending on what 3 buttons each of the players pressed, it would enter a code ranging from no throws, to no blocking. Let me tell you, turning off blocking was awesome. People that like to turtle didn’t think so, but they don’t count Turtling is a HORRIBLE strategy against a human opponent, and makes you eligible for ridicule and banishment.

New to this game were the characters Kabal, Striker, Cyrax, Sektor, Sheeva, Sindel, and Nightwolf. Kano returned, as did Jax but with metal arms, and Sub Zero was now unmasked and had a scar running over one eye. Shao Khan returned as the main boss, but the fight before him was now with a creature known as Motaro.

A new version of MK3 was released later in the same year, known as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Heralded to this day as the best version of MK to play by many fans, the only game that gives it competition is Mortal Kombat II. Added to the lineup are Ermac(this was met with an incredible level of applause by longtime fans), and Classic Sub Zero. These 3 were unlocked by entering a code at the Game Over screen. A very elaborate code that you never had enough time to put in. Smoke was also now playable, but was a cyber ninja like Cyrax and Sektor. Noob Saibot returns as a NPC character and is joined by a new fighter known as Rain. If you held the correct buttons before the fight started, you could turn him back into a human with a completely different set of moves.

Now, I know I’ve left out a lot. A staggering amount, actually. Everything from where Skarlet came from, to the 3 head Johnny Cage fatality gimmick, but it wasn’t my intention to cover everything. My original intention was just to explain the joy of playing games in arcades and as I kept writing, this evolved into an expression of how much I’ve loved Mortal Kombat over the years. The stories, secrets, and mythologies of this series have kept myself and my friends talking late into the night on many occasions, discussing scenarios of how we think certain events unfolded, or arguing about how something did happen. Not many fighting games have such a rich history and story, or one even worth learning. One day, I’ll own a UMK3 machine, and it’ll be fantastic. Until then, I’ll make do with the collections I have on my Xbox, and the incredible memories I have, pouring quarters into the machines at the now closed arcades all over New Jersey, getting my fix of Kombat and blood wherever I could.

Real short update tonight, I plan on a longer one later in the week about gaming, but this one is strictly about Psychopathic.  Now, I’ve been to a LOT of fucking shows.  Even so, some of my friends that I run with have me dwarfed by comparison.  Shit, I think one friend’s number is like 16 Mirror Mirror dates, and that’s just for ONE tour.  Anyways, this is the list of tours/events I’ve been to from what I can tell, 77 total.  That does count afterparties seperate.  After October, the way this looks, my number will jump by 6, up to 83.  Sadly, the 4th New Year’s Evil is looking like it’ll be the first that I’ll be missing.  I just wanted to throw this out there before I went to bed since the American Psycho being kicked off tonight has me stupid excited to see Blaze, Twiztid, ICP, and Dark Lotus all over again.

Juggalo Funhouse Supershow
Wicked Clowns From Outerspace
StrangleMania Live!
Rock The Dead
B/B Philly
B/B Old Bridge
Freek Show
Hatchet Rizing
Mirror Mirror*
Big Money Hu$tla$
GOTJ02*
Wraith Release Party
Shangri La Philly
Shangri La Philly
GOTJ03
Green Book Philly
Green Book Philly
Wicked Wonka
Black Rain
GOTJ04
Fright Fest 04
Psychopathic All Stars Asbury Park
Psychopathic All Stars Philly
GOTJ05
Man’s Myth Allentown
Man’s Myth Philly
Hell’s Pit Sayreville
Hell’s Pit Philly
Fright Fest 05
Guillotine Tour Philly
Guillotine Tour NYC
GOTJ 06
Blaze (KMK)
Tombstone of Terror
Fuck The Fuck Off
Hallowicked 06 TOUR
Tempest Release Party Philly
Tempest Release Party Allentown
Tempest Tour
Hallowicked 07 TOUR
Toxic Terror Tour
Opaque Brotherhood
Dark Lotus @ Gothic Theater
Hatchet Attacks Denver
GOTJ 08
Shock Therapy Tour
Monster’s Ball
Hallowicked 08 (Detroit)
Hallowicked 08 afterparty
Twiztid New Year’s Evil
End of Days Philly
End of Days Woopsta
GOTJ 09
Bang Pow Boom Philly
Bang Pow Boom Woosta/Rock and Shock 09
Hallowicked 09
Hallowicked 09 afterparty
Bang Pow Boom Sayreville
Bang Pow Boom Allentown
New Year’s Evil 2
Oddball Bonanza
Happy Daze Philly
Happy Daze Woopsta
Boondox in Allentown
Gang Ragz tour
GOTJ 2010
Blaze (KMK)
Rock N Shock 2010
Old Shit Philly
World of Webs
Old Shit CT
New Year’s Evil 3
ICP in NYC
Midnight Clown Cruise
The Bamboozle
Blaze/Boondox in Woopsta

So maybe that took longer than I expected, but it wasn’t my intention.  A raging tooth, work, and other issues got in the way.  Anyways, it looks like the WWE has played with fire one too many times and Sin Cara may be heading back to Mexico to play with his piles of money.  It hasn’t been the original Sin Cara/Mystico under the mask for a while now, and now they’re contemplating letting him go, but keeping the gimmick going due to high sales of his mask.  Fantastic.  The most noise you’ve had for a signing you’ve had since Danielson, and you botch it.  Speaking of, it’s spread far and wide that the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, have signed with WWE and are reportedly getting to skip developmental.  No clue on when they’re making their debut, but I am very highly anticipating this moment, and you should be too. On a different topic, Hulk Hogan needs to knock this shit off, there is already an MCW, it’s been running for a LONG time, it’s great(even if the WBM has never been there), and you’re going to confuse people.

Coming soon to a city near you, unless you live in Minneapolis(seriously, wtf?), is the American Psycho tour.  Featuring ICP, Twiztid, and Blaze, with random Dark Lotus pop up dates and Rydas afterparties, I can’t think of a better way to unofficially commemorate the Hatchet Rizing tour from 10 years ago.  The Philadelphia date was October 24, 2001, and I’ll be catching this tour in Woopsta on October 15th, and Philly on Philadelphia 16th.  I’ll also be catching Dark Lotus on October 14th in Allentown.  BEYOND stoked.  That venue is stupid tiny.  Then it’s out to Hallowicked in Detroit…Halloweeeeeen.  It’s definitely the greatest time of the year.

One last note, video games.  Blizzard: GIMME GIMME DIABLO III BETA KEY!  Pretty please?  I’ll stop bashing World of Warcraft for like, a month.  No?  That’s fucked up. I mean, I’m still going to buy it, but I want it now.  I do have to take the time to recommend the game Catherine to anyone reading this.  While LUDICROUSLY aggravating at times and it made me want to throw my controller at my 360, and my 360 through my TV, I persevered and completed this amazing game that would typically only be an import.  I highly suggest everyone at least give this insane puzzler/broad juggling simulator a try.  However, if you do not have patience, this may not be for you.  That’s all for now, say hi if you catch one of us out at a show.

I’ll be doing a full update later, but I lay here typing this at 5am on my new phone to test the Android app since I dumped my iPhone 4. In short, I  missed the best GOTJ in years,  but this tour is going to be epic. New tag team in WWE? Yes. SIN Cara gone? Kind of. All this and more…later. Maybe when I wake up, maybe Monday when I have off, but no ater than that. Also listing lots for sale on ebay like my boxed Sega Nomad. My ocd is a cruel mistress. I leave you with picture, as a foreshadowing reminder.

As I wandered the streets of San Diego’s famous Gaslamp district alone (because  my questionably sane sister was busy camping out with friends for the Twilight panel that took place the next morning) on the evening of July 20, 2011, a sign caught my eye. It was a small ad for Comic Con hanging from a lamp post that read, “Comic Con International: A Celebration of Popular Art.” I stared at it for a moment and realized the brilliance of that statement and how perfectly in encapsulates all that is San Diego Comic Con. What once started as a meeting between comic book collectors in a hotel basement decades ago has expanded to the country’s biggest convention of popular culture, with over 120,000 attendees this year. Comic Con has grown bigger than comics have, bigger than movies and bigger than television. If you are a fan of any aspect of pop culture, Comic Con has something for you, and more than you could ever consume.

I want to specifically focus on my experiences at Comic Con because with four days, totaling dozens of hours at the convention, I barely scratched the surface of all Comic Con had to offer. I went to SDCC with two big goals, to see the panels I wanted to see and to play the upcoming video games on display. I was shocked when I happened to walk up to the Capcom booth, creators of the Street Fighter series, that there were people bothering to take the time out of their weekend to participate in fighting game tournaments. Then, my sister mentioned to me that some people come to Comic Con to JUST do that. Some may spend all weekend in the theaters that show anime movies all weekend, others may spend the weekend trading comics, some are just there to hunt for swag and even others just play tabletop games all weekend. Sitting around, watching panels of upcoming TV shows and movies? I’m sure some attendees would consider that a waste of their time as they would rather seek out every nook and cranny of the exhibit floor that features hundreds of exhibitors, companies and vendors. Look at the news sites out there covering SDCC, whether CNN or IGN, they all posted tons of individual news stories about everything that went down. I can’t review the entire show, that wouldn’t do the true scope of SDCC any justice. I can only report on the panels I saw, the games I played and other special mentions. So here we go…

The Panels

• X-Play Live – I only attended this panel in hope of getting free stuff, of which practically none was given. It was lame, not funny and not insightful about the world of games at all. In addition, going on at the same time, WWE and Mattel were having a panel where current WWE Champion CM Punk crashed the party and I missed it. I won’t be making the same mistake again.
• Archer – While I found the 2^nd season of Archer didn’t quite live up to the first; the panel blew me away and gave me great hope for the future of the show. Show creator Adam Reed is a comedic genius who comes across as hilarious in real life as he clearly is through his shows. The show’s cast such as H. Jon Benjamin and Aisha Tyler brought a few chuckles themselves, but the real star was the new episode they showed off. It’s the first episode of a 3-episode story arc they’re going to be airing in September, and it rocked the house. Probably made me laugh more than any single episode in season 2 and I wish I could always watch Archer with a crowd.
• Batman: Arkham City – This was less of a panel about the upcoming Batman video game, and more a chance for Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, the voices of Batman and the Joker, to spin whatever anecdote struck their fancy. Granted, hearing Batman talk about driving through the LA riots to get to a Batman: Animated Series recording session fed my inner child of the 90’s very nicely. Hearing Hamill talk about lying to his neighbors about whether or not their property survived the Northridge Earthquake did not, but it was interesting to hear anyway. So,  after about an hour of practically no new information about the game, they did reveal a new trailer about the motivations of the Penguin and his special friend… Solomon Grundy! Oh, quick note, Conroy’s talking voice IS Bruce Wayne and it’s quite uncanny. No X-Men.
• Resurgence of Voltron – I can’t believe I had to sit through this shit while waiting for the next panel…
• Penn & Teller: Tell A Lie – Penn & Teller were on hand to reveal their new show, Penn & Teller: Tell A Lie, but that’s not what this panel was all about. It was about hearing the back and forth between Penn, Teller and their interviewer discussing their 30+ years in show business, their strong belief in skepticism and the childish feeling of joy and amazement they still feel when they see a magic trick and can’t figure out how it’s done. Penn & Teller are American pop culture icons and I was honored to be in their presence. If anyone can suspend my disbelief not only at magic, but also at the things I see in everyday life, it’s them. Oh, and the new show doesn’t look bad either, it premieres on the Discovery Channel soon.
• The Venture Bros – So after Doc Hammer, Jackson Publick and James Urbaniak wowed the crowd by dressing like Kid n’ Play, they revealed a few tidbits about what to expect in the future of Venture… very little. Apparently, the show has been signed for two more seasons, which Doc and Jackson have no motivation to write at the moment. They did reveal that Hank Venture and Dermott’s band, Shallow Gravy, will have a Behind the Music-like documentary that airs soon and debuted the music video for their smash hit song, “Jacket.
• NTSF:SD:SUV – This is a new show from Adult Swim that failed to impress me, but the panel was pretty sweet. In additional to the actors from the show, character actor Stephen Root (Milton in Office Space) made an unannounced appearance, asking a question during the Q&A and they actually filmed a scene for their next season during the panel, in which I have an excellent chance of appearing!
• Children’s Hospital – Another Adult Swim panel I didn’t care about much, but I will say that Rob Corddry, Megan Mullally, Ken Marino (The “I wanna dip my balls in it!” guy from The State) and the rest of the cast were really sharp and funny. It didn’t sell me on the show, but I really dug the cast and the poor unfortunate anonymous audience members they pulled up on stage to answer Q&A questions from the crowd.
• Black Dynamite – No lies, Black Dynamite is one of my favorite movies of all time. The little side jokes in BD are funnier than some entire other movies. The panel’s intention was to show the pilot of the new Black Dynamite series coming to Adult Swim, and I must say I wasn’t that impressed with the show. It had a couple decent laughs, but it strayed far from the satire spirit of the original movie. However, hearing the stars and creators of the movie reminisce about making the movie was something I’m glad I didn’t miss.
• Robot Chicken – Not much to say here, it was an entertaining enough panel. Seth Green and Breckin Meyer clearly stole the show while the show’s writers sat there in awkward silence. They also showed off some new material and revealed that Robot Chicken has won as many Emmy awards as Family Guy, which I actually don’t find that surprising.
• Chuck and Terra Nova – I had to suffer through these to get to the Futurama panel. Don’t care about Chuck, never did and Terra Nova really wasn’t that impressive.
• Futurama – Did you know that John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, has done a voice in every animated show ever? Because if you didn’t he reminded you several times throughout the panel by randomly remembering and naming off more shows that he’s done voices for. They also successfully spoiled the end of this season, thanks a bunch guys! It was great seeing Matt Groening in person, talking about his superior creation. My words, not his, but stack up the last few years of the Simpsons against Futurama, and Futurama clearly wins. Also, the panel ended with an exciting Bender-drawing competition between Groening and one of the show’s directors, pictured to the left.
• The Simpsons – Not much reason for a panel. None of the voice actors were there, they didn’t show off any new footage or talk much about the upcoming season. It was mostly Q&A time with Groening and some of the show’s writers and directors. Pretty disappointing.
• An Early Evening with Kevin Smith – Kevin Smith is a role model for underachieving fat kids everywhere. You listen to Smith just spout his stream-of-consciousness, shameless stories and anecdotes and you can’t help but become immersed in his world of words. He revealed a few details about his next movie, which is a loving tribute to his passion for hockey as well as his soon-to-be released Red State. We actually got to see a clip for Red State and holy crap is it different than anything else he’s ever done, but in a good way. Not like Cop Out.
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – I still like It’s Always Sunny but honestly, it’s slipping. They showed an all-new episode that only made me laugh a couple times. I didn’t find the cast to really be that entertaining or interesting during the Q&A. It’s a good thing this show is entering its 7^th season, because if this was their first Comic Con, there wouldn’t be a second.
• Sons of Anarchy – FX and Kurt Sutter are being very tight-lipped about what to expect next from SAMCRO, and with good reason. After watching the end of season 3, I wouldn’t want ANY of it spoiled for me. Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal just sat back and let Kurt and Charlie Hunnam lead the show. Also, did you know that Charlie Hunnam is British? Like really, really tea and crumpets British?! I had no clue until I heard the man talk; he hides it very well on Sons.

The Games

• Resident Evil: Revelations – Reminds me very much of the old Resident Evil games back on Playstation. Powerful monsters, limited ammo, lots of running and tons of stress on the nerves are coming to 3DS gamers.
• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – I love Zelda, but compared to the HD games around the floor, this really looked like crap in person. The “one-to-one” sword controls didn’t impress me much either, as Link often refused to swing in the same direction I was swinging. I’ll blame the conditions and limited time with the demo, but I was less than enthused with what I played.
• Super Mario 3D – This game is an interesting experiment Nintendo is trying. It takes the 360-degree control of the 3D Mario games with the linear start-to-finish level structure of the older 2D Mario games. The 3D effect was very nice, but the control definitely wasn’t as smooth or tight as Mario Galaxy was. I’m intrigued to see what kind of level designs Nintendo pulls out, but I wasn’t exactly blown away.
• Mario Kart 3D – It’s Mario Kart. It’ll be fun, what else can I say?
• Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater – The 3DS moves into the same territory as a PSP, a system that will be gimped because of the lack of a 2^nd analog stick. The controls were uncomfortable and awkward, especially when using the face buttons to control the camera.
• Star Fox 64 – I really wasn’t looking forward to another N64 remake, but this was very impressive. The game is absolutely gorgeous in both 2D and 3D with very bright, vibrant colors and a silky smooth frame rate. This 14-year-old game may actually be worth paying to play all over again.
• Kirby Returns to Dreamland – No lie, this was the most fun game I played all weekend. I played 4-player with three strangers and we just ran amok on Dreamland. Despite an uncomfortable amount of hugs that Kirby, Waddle Dee, Meta-Knight and King Dedede all gave to one another, simple easy gameplay and multiplayer chaos kept a smile on my face this whole demo. This definitely invoked the same kind of awesome feeling you get when play New Super Mario Bros Wii with you friends or family for the first time.
• Street Fighter X Tekken – The guy I played in this was actually cool, letting me get my feet underneath me before he kicked my ass. Still, this is definitely the spiritual successor to Street Fighter IV, combining some smooth attack combos from Tekken. I have high hopes for this fighter to be the best of both combo and special-move based fighter worlds.
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – I picked Chun-Li, Hawkeye and Strider and couldn’t get a move in edgewise against the infinite combo-looping asshole I played against who only picked characters from the original game. Seriously, what’s the goddamn point of trying a new fighting game if you’re only going to pick people from the last one? I bet that guy has no friends.
• SSX – One of the best demos I played. It keeps the classic, physics-ignoring, trick-heavy gameplay of the original but the mountain seems to offer a lot more freedom in where you want to go. The trail you’re is headed in one direction, but at any time you can vault off the side, perform some insane trick and land on the ground, heading in an entirely different direction. I have high hopes for this reboot come January.
• Saints Row: The Third – This was not a playable demo, just a 12 minute long video of insanity. I will say the ability to dropkick any person on the street, then beat them with a 4-foot long dildo and then finally suck them up into an actual man cannon, firing their flailing body halfway across the city looks like a ludicrous amount of fun.
• Spider-Man: Edge of Time – Move along, nothing to see here. It wasn’t a terrible demo, just nothing about it really stood out above the previous ho-hum Spider-Man games.
• Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Either the demo was really easy, or I just stagger enemies and paradigm shift like a beast! The game looked beautiful, the soundtrack was just OK and it featured a moogle yelling “Kupo!” at me a bunch. Although I found the playable characters to be irritating, the game as whole made a very good impression.
• Rayman Origins – Visually, this game is an absolute stunner. Easily one of the best looking 2D games ever made. Gameplay… I had more fun playing Kirby, quite honestly. Still looking forward to it, especially if it has online co-op, but god DAMN Kirby was fun!
• Batman: Arkham City – I got my hands on the controls of this one 10 minutes before the closing of the entire show and it was worth the wait. Visually, it’s fantastic and moves extremely smooth. Even when covering several city blocks in a short time, there was no hint of loading or slowdown. While the gameplay is pretty similar to Arkham Asylum, being able to just be a jerk and swoop down, kicking a random thug in the head and then grapple gun your way back to a roof before his friends show up is pretty satisfying. I used to be afraid that expanding Batman’s world beyond the Asylum would compromise the gameplay, but it certainly didn’t in this demo. It just gave Batman a bigger playground to beat up more bullies.

The Rest/Special Awards

• Best Overall Booth – Square-Enix – Beyond showing off new games like Final Fantasy XIII-2, Dead Island and the new Deus-Ex, the real highlight of Square-Enix’s booth was their shop. Square-Enix makes some gorgeous figures and statues for their games and they’ve started outsourcing their talents to other companies. They displayed and sold figures for Halo, Metal Gear, Street Fighter, Batman and other gaming franchise, not to mention some extra little Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest goodies.
• Most Expensive Booth – Capcom/Udon – I would’ve had more money to spend at the Square-Enix booth if I didn’t spend most of it here. Capcom had glass cases full of merchandise, everything from Darkstalkers strategy guides to Mega Man figures to full video games. I ended up buying a Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo messenger bag, a bunch of Street Fighter Kidrobot figures and Udon’s Mega Man Tribute art book, and other assorted wares.
• Best Movie Booth – Sony – There wasn’t really a lot to get excited about concerning movies. However, Sony’s booth had some nice theming, showing off the next Ghost Rider and Spider-Man movies.
• Best TV Booth – Starz – I’ll give it up to Starz on Spartacus hype alone. Well, Spartacus was all they had but they had lots of it! You could pre-order Gods of the Arena, get the skinny on Spartacus: Vengeance, get your picture taken with a gladiator and wench and see a preview of the upcoming Spartacus 3D Blu-ray.
• Way Too Much To Do Booth – DC Comics – While Marvel kept it relatively tame with just a huge Avengers-themed stage, DC was all over the place. You could get your comics signed by writers, play Arkham City, or watch their sizzle reel showing off everything from Teen Titans to Smallville, view collections of figures. The booth was packed all weekend, and with very good reason.
• Most Clever Cosplay – Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Deadpool – Seriously, this guy dressed as Deadpool walked around carrying a giant lifebar from MvC3 so he could beat people with it like Deadpool does in his hyper combo.
• Best Overall Cosplay – Tron Legacy’s Flynn – I wish I had a picture of this guy, but he was a dead ringer for Flynn from Tron Legacy. He looked like old Jeff Bridges, wore the white robes, had a glowing cane and a bright, glowing disc underneath his robes. Brilliant.
• Best Off-Site Event – Coco MoCa – Conan O’Brien’s “Museum of Conan Art”, an art gallery featuring artwork inspired by Conan’s recently invented hero, The Flaming C, complete with hors d’oeuvres and sparking cider.
• Most Unexpected Merch – The Tick – I loved the Tick cartoon show, and even have a little begrudging respect for the Tick’s live-action show. However, I was unaware that the Tick’s comic series is still running from New England Comics. Once I saw a booth splattered with Tick merch, I had to buy a shirt. SPOON!!!

 So there is my not-so-brief write-up of my experience and opinions regarding San Diego Comic Con 2011, and that doesn’t even touch the wide array of what I saw, did, laughed at and walked by last weekend in San Diego. Comic Con is not something easily described by one person, and it’s something that’s just as difficult to try to experience. There’s just too much to do, see and experience. My advice to my fellow media consumers is to do it once in your lifetime. Just once, try to make it out to San Diego for the ultimate media consumers’ experience. No matter what you’re into, you can fill your weekend with your interests. There were plenty of other panels I wanted to see, and games I wanted to play that I missed. That doesn’t even include about half of the vendors on the show floor that I missed. I was there all four days, but I could’ve been there an entire week and still missed something. San Diego Comic Con really is a special place where media fans can come together and celebrate that which they love, and I can’t wait until I can get back some other year.

It’s an incredible time to be a wrestling fan.  Of course, I’m talking about the Summer of Punk 2.0.  CM Punk made his TV debut on July 4th 2006 in Philadelphia at an ECW taping, the White Board Mafia was in attendance.  All other ECW issues aside, especially from that day, I was incredibly excited to finally see him step out from the dark matches and into the TV spotlight.  Since that day, CM Punk has been constantly challenging what people expect out of the WWE, raising the bar for both mic work and making it known that he’s straight edge, and he’s better than you.  More famous as a heel, one of my personal favorite rants was at Night of Champions when he scolded parents for letting their children be fans of Jeff Hardy, as the example being set was so poor that nothing good can come of it.  Instead, they should encourage their children to be fans of him, and his lifestyle of staying drug free, playing on Jeff Hardy’s apparent inability to keep himself off drugs in real life.  Now, I can’t claim be to be the original CM Punk fan.  In fact, all due credit goes to my friend Pete for even opening my eyes to him.  That being said, watching him rise to the top, jump across brands, and gain steam the whole way has been incredible, but I’ve always felt like he’s been held back, vocally.  2 weeks ago on Raw however, he took the mic, sat down at the top of the entrance way, and proceeded to unleash a shoot that’s unlike anything that’s been said on WWE programming since the first One Night Stand in 2005 when Paul Heyman told everyone exactly how he felt.  It was as if he crept into the hall of the mountain king, and proceeded to verbally shit down the throat of every single person that ever doubted him, bothered him at the airport at 6am, thought that he didn’t deserve the spotlight that he’d earned, and most importantly, every single person in the WWE corporate office that he thought bumbled a decision.  High on the list, the one and only Colt Cabana.  An incredible worker and very funny man by his own right, was signed and shoehorned into a gimmick so Jewish, I’m surprised he was allowed to wrestle on the Sabbath.  This past Raw, Punk came back out prepared with a microphone in case his mic got cut again.  I must say, he out did himself.  I thought the chants of “We want ice cream!” were the best chants in years, until the dueling chants of “Colt Ca-ba-na!” and “We want wrest-ling!) started.  Kudos, Boston, well played.  If it was anyone else, I feel I’d be able to say for sure whether they’d stay or go, but I think Punk is enough of a wild card that he could easily leave and not care, or resign as long as they allow him to make a few demands.  Namely, I’d expect him to want to bring Colt back, and let him keep creative license.  It’s not a prediction, but I wouldn’t be incredibly shocked to see him walk out with the title, defend it in a company like ROH, and then come back.  In a magical land where craziness happens, he’d drop it to Cabana in ROH and WWE would have to resign him but clearly, that won’t happen.  I don’t know anything for sure before going into the Money in the Bank Pay Per View on Sunday except that CM Punk is MR. Money in the Bank, and do not expect to call the outcome.

Below is my review for the wrestling documentary Card Subject to Change.  They don’t fit anywhere in the review, so I’ll make the comments here.  While they focus on indie companies and workers, I remembered seeing Corporal Robinson in an early trailer for this, and was awaiting his part in the movie, and it never came.  The more I thought about, the more this made me want a documentary on JCW and it’s history back to the days of NAW, even if I had to film it myself.  Clearly, they’re not going to let me just show up with a video camera and tape random matches and backstage happenings, and I have no idea who to even contact about that.  In all honesty, I’m pretty sure that Psychopathic has no interest in making a DVD of this nature, even though I feel JCW is now running the smoothest it ever has, and it’s definitely running the most frequently that it ever has.  That being said, I’m not happy I have to miss all the incredibly dope wrestling events at the Gathering this year, and I greatly look forward to the next JCW show I get to see, which will likely be the Hallowicked afterparty.  Enjoy the review.

Card Subject to Change is a documentary that I’ve been highly anticipating for years. Following the path of the independent wrestler, the film is like Beyond the Mat from the viewpoint of Randy the Ram and the workers he shares the spotlight with. Gritty and real, it shows the both the path of workers coming up in the business, and those that are no longer with companies like WWE, working on the indie circuit.

Among the wrestlers featured in the film are timeless fan favorites like Terry Funk, Sabu, Kamala, and Necro Butcher, along with newer workers like Rhett Titus and Corvus Fear. There is also a large focus on Trent Acid, and in the opening moments, a promoter says that he can’t understand why Trent isn’t signed to WWE or TNA but wishes he was more coherent at shows. Sadly, this is foreshadowing to Trent eventually succumbing to his personal demons, and dying from an overdose in June of 2010. To those that follow the wrestling world closely, it’s no secret that drugs are a staple of the industry, and Trent openly talks about this while being interviewed.

Taped almost exclusively in New Jersey, Card Subject to Change focuses more on much smaller promotions like NWS, National Wrestling Superstars, although does show a few clips from companies like CZW, IWA Mid South and Ring of Honor, and Pro Wrestling Unplugged. I would have preferred they showed more of a range of promotions and possibly shown the differences of each from the crowd in a VFW hall in North Jersey, to IWA Mid South in a bowling alley parking lot, to ROH at the most famous bingo hall in the world, located in Philadelphia at Swanson and Ritner, but I realize filming an independent documentary like this has it’s limitations. I remember early trailers having clips of interviews from guys like Ken Anderson and Corporal Robinson, but they’re missing from the full feature. Perhaps they’re still on the DVD as a bonus feature, but I was only able to watch the rental posted on iTunes thus far. Once I receive the DVD I’ll check and update this area.

The documentary also shines a spotlight on Lacey Von Erich and touches on her family’s incredible legacy in the wrestling world. Lacey speaks on what it was like to grow up in her family, and what she thinks her father and grandfather would think of her being in the business if they were still alive today. “Sensational” Sherri Martel also gives what was to be her final interview, and discusses how much she loved doing independent shows because there were no limitations to what she could do, unlike in the bigger companies.

I highly recommend this documentary to any fan of wrestling, especially anyone that follows the independent scene. You may find a new respect for the workers you see, along with realizing how dead on The Wrestler was. With today’s world being permanently connected to the internet, rumors can be proven or debunked in minutes, and the emphasis on keeping kayfabe is not what it used to be. The indies are the closest thing left to the territories of old, even if fans are following their favorite worker through 5 companies through online streams, DVD sales, spoiler reports, and social media sites instead of driving 3+ hours to a wrestling show based on a flier, hoping that the card that’s subject to change, doesn’t.