You Suck!

Yes. That’s right. Kurt Angle Sucks. Only one month after his unconditional release from his WWE contract, due to circumstances regarding the physical pain and injury he has been enduring as the result of his career choice, he has now signed with rival (but as of yet far from equal) wrestling promotion TNA.

Maybe it’s just me, but something sure smells rotten in the state of Denmark. Angle has a documented history of injury as a wrestler, spanning back to his real amateur days when he won the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, while enduring a broken neck. Though WWE’s official stance is more than just a little vague as to giving any actual details to Angle’s “personal demons”, I daresay that such an intense athlete (though wrestling outcomes are predetermined, the performers are still athletes in the way they train and prepare) would be able to wrestle just a short month after being released from a contract due to personal reasons keeping him from wrestling at his peak.

Needless to say I needed some perspective on this. So I surfed around, and found a few articles mentioning the same basic story as this post on this blog:

TNA actually has a bona-fide superstar in their midst now, and no, I’m not talking Sting. He’s a shell of his former self. Christian Cage? Mid-carder. Rhino. Same. Scott Steiner, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash – all washed up. Team 3-D? Been there, seen that. Jeff Jarrett? Overrated. But Kurt Angle, on the other hand? Finally – for the first-time since the formation of the league - now we’re talking. Of course, this goes without saying that we all know Kurt Angle is once-again healthy, right? I mean, it’s not like someone would willingly ignore obvious signs of someone being close to going over the edge with drug abuse and other physical ailments – all for the sake of some ratings and name recognition, right? Nah. Not in wrestling. No league could surely be that callous . . . or could they? For it sure looks like TNA is doing exactly that. Someday soon, as is said, “in that very ring”, Kurt Angle just might kill himself. No kidding. We, as fans, will have a ringside seat to see it.

Well, at least some are willing to post the truth. Angle’s neck trouble, amongst others, has led to an addiction to painkillers. Brett Favre was in a very similar boat. But one can find their way out of it. So why the switch? Because the WWE has a written drug abuse policy, whereas TNA does not (and as such they can scoop up the junkie wrestlers from Vince)? Maybe, just maybe. Kurt MAY be that stupid, but the lot of his agents, advisors, family, and the like would have definitely stood in the way of this contract.

Continued reading in the post brings it all to the surface.

“I had fun in WWE at certain times, but I was never really happy . . . I don’t feel trapped (now) or held back like I did the first six years in my tenure with the other company. They held me back.”

Held you back, Kurt? From what exactly? World championships? No, you did that six-times, four WWE, one World and one WCW. Not to mention a WCW U.S. title run, WWE Intercontinental, European and Hardcore stints. And a tag-team championship run. And a King of the Ring. He was also routinely booked in top-flight feuds, could work equally well as a face or heel, and was never – ever – buried on any card, at any time, at any point during his WWE career. Where the bitterness comes from is anybody’s guess.

In making an obviously anger filled statement like that, it seems that Kurt really wanted out. Maybe, just maybe, enough so that he feigned his neck and drug addiction problems to the point Vince was forced to release him. My guess? He had been conspiring with TNA to leave the WWE for quite some time. But alas, unlike Bret Hart, who was upfront with Vince about leaving to WCW, Angle had to resort to lying.

As such Kurt, I used to respect you as a wrestler, but now, I can only say…

YOU SUCK!

That is all.

Impossible Trivia Revisited

Back when I was still working in hell, I had the sheer joy of listening to CFOX for twenty five minutes worth of a six minute drive (gotta love New West traffic). And I got to keep tabs on Damn Near Freakin’ Impossible Trivia. I loved the concept so much I even blogged about it.

Well, with the awkward hours I’m working these days, I rarely catch it. So, as such, though my questions may not be as damn near freakin’ impossible as CFOX’s, it’s still bloody tough. So as such, I give you

AGW’S BLOODY FRIGGIN’ DIFFICULT TRIVIA

Now, I will follow the same base format as CFOX. A question will be asked. If it cannot be answered, another question will be asked, requiring contestants to answer two questions. Then both are required to be answered. There could very well be a long gauntlet of questions before they are all answered. To ensure high quality trivia questions, each question will be posted on Thursday (hey, the day of this post… waddaya know). To answer, just leave a comment with your answer. Answer comments will be left in moderation until the following Thursday, so NOT to spoil the fun for other participants (Todd I’m looking in your direction).

Since I’m on a nil budget, winners will recieve either a photoshop style button for their blog, a vlog from me congratulating them, or some other props of my own devise.

On to this week’s question:

Name the company who uses this logo, and also state what they do. Company name MUST be hyperlinked.

That is all.

Douchebag

From Urban Dictionary (select definitions):

douchebag
n. fr. “douche”, fr. French, fr. Italian “doccia”

1. An object used for vaginal hygeine.
2. A person with a shitty personality that needs to “take themself the fuck down” or “go home and get their fucking shine box.” A douchebag usually assumes the form of a hair-gelling pretty-boy but can also be described as an overzealous, pompous, or vexatious asshole that most people wish were killed with a Mortal Kombat fatality.
3. An individual who has an over-inflated sense of self worth, compounded by a low level of intellegence, behaving ridiculously in front of colleagues with no sense of how moronic he appears.

This comment appears in Wikipedia:

Terms such as shower pocket, douchebag, d-bag, DB or simply douche are popular terms of insult or ridicule in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The slang usage of the term dates back to the 60s. Initially, it was used to insult a woman, however, over time it has become a term mostly used to refer to men.

Two South Park episode titles feature slang use of “douche”. The Biggest Douche in the Universe criticizes purported medium John Edward, and Douche and Turd parodies the 2004 United States Presidential Election.

I would like to add two definitions of my own:

4. Brian Griffin.

You see, Stewie wrote Douchebag on Brian’s grave in Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. Besides, I think it fits Brian’s character.

5. Any spineless asshole who crosses the line with Dawn.

I suppose I should give some context surrounding that last one. To start, the last few days, Dawn has been less than chipper, with my work schedule and her increasing realization that her friends she keeps in touch with online are staying in touch with much less frequency. This reality was hammered home when her friend Angel, declared she would be heading back to Arizona from Iowa to attend a funeral, and would be staying there permanently. Without her PC or going online. Losing touch with Angel took it’s toll on Dawn, and decided to write this post, if for any other reason, to help her deal with things right now.

Enter Douchebag. On the comments, this individual refers to themselves as Lol (ironically they do not make me laugh, let alone out loud). But for the purposes herein, Douchebag fits nicely. Douchebag leaves this shocking comment after a heartfelt post.

“Becca was a friend I met in the IRC chatrooms 2 years ago. She suffered a devastating blow of the worst kind earlier this year, when her husband to be was killed in a freak accident four hours before their wedding was to take place.”

You don’t believe that crap do you? Nowhere on the internet or in any newspaper was any car crash reported that day. It was all a lie. Why else do you think she vanished?

Wow. Douchebag, I sure hope you are not any sort of physician, because your bedside manner is just plain dogshit. What a completely loving response to a heartfelt post, don’t you think?

Needless to say, Dawn did not leave this comment unanswered…

As a matter of fact I DO believe her. I have no reason not to, plus having spoken to her, I know how shattered she is.

Not every accident is reported either - far from it.

Oh, and she didn’t vanish. She has been in touch with another mutual friend of mine just recently.

I would finally ask that you please don’t come to my blog and insult my friends whom you know nothing about. I don’t know you, or who you are, but I find what you’re doing rather distasteful.

And I soon followed suit…

Babe, I feel so sorry that you lost three close friends (well in contact) in the last little while. I know you put up with a lot of alone time with the crazy hours I do work, I do hope you get back in touch at some point.

Lol, I just have one question. What day was this crash supposed to have happened. Because, if you actually READ this post, it’s not mentioned. Do you like to stir shit and upset people as a hobby, or are you just plain daft?

But the ever clever know it all, Douchebag, herein had an answer to prove both of us wrong.

“Not every accident is reported either - far from it.”

A supposed fatal accident on the morning of a wedding would be ALL OVER the newspapers - especially the local papers - and there wasn’t one single mention on it. Not one in the entire world. Nothing on the internet. Nothing even on the Cornwall Police web site.

Stop kidding yourself. An old woman can trip over in a supermarket and it makes the news - You’re really trying to say such a “freak accident” as this is reported nowhere?

Find some links reporting the “crash”. Bet you can’t.

No wedding, no car crash. Probably no bridegroom either. Your “friend” was living a fantasy life. You’re not the only one to have been taken in by her.

Also, you said she’s been in touch with “a mutual friend” and not replied to your emails. Why would that be? Stop kidding yourself.

- “What day was this crash supposed to have happened”

Saturday May 27th 2006. I like the way you said “supposed”. You know it’s a pack of lies too

You got any links to this “crash” Jeff? RetardedRugrat is just going to rant and rave at me because she knows I’m right but perhaps you can find them?

Now, I would like to iterate that the point of this post is not to debate as to whether or not the crash happened. I stand by my woman 100%, 100% of the time. Rather, I am here to fully attack Douchebag, as it seems he’s in a fighting mood.

Douchebag, what are you trying to accomplish pointing out the fact that you can’t find a link to the crash. Are you honestly that vain that you have to surf site to site to find little flaws and flaunt the flaw as a justification to call a post/article/event a complete lie or scam? Does this little satisfaction replace the sense of failure you feel every time you stroke your three centimeter phallus? Of course the last statement is assuming you’re male, to which if you are, you are a poor substitute for a real man, as it is obscenely obvious you have absolutely NO BOLLOCKS.

But let’s look at this academically. If you’re right, wouldn’t it be more couth to broach the subject with a bit of discretion and compassion, seeing as at least one person’s (yup, that’s Dawn) feelings are taken into consideration. But rather, you decided to stroke your poor excuse for an ego, as your triumph over lies told over the internet continues.

However, if you’re wrong, which you are, then you’ve gone and upset the woman I love simply over your obsessive need to internet stalk and be right while making others wrong. Douchebag, your are a sick, SICK individual.

I seriously thought of sharing Douchebag’s email publically, but hesitated on two counts. First, it might violate terms of use with WordPress. Second, all it would do is send more spam to your spam folder. So, I had this two suggestion.

Since Douchebag more than likely doesn’t stalk my blog (well yet, until this post goes hardcore), so for those diligent readers who feel the same as I do, post a message to the comments, and I’d email comments to him EVERY EVENING, and provide updates. However, the fucking coward has neither a website listed NOR a legitimate email. ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING BOLLOCKS, YOU COWARD. STAND AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN.

As such, I open the floor to suggestions as to keep rubbing salt into a newly opened wound for Douchebag. Updates will be provided.

To Douchebag, I would like to say this. I am not a violent, vengeful, or vindictive man. But fuck with my family, and watch that all change.

That is all.

The one where he asks “What’s in it for me?”

Okay. Not in the true vernacular. But all summer something has been picking at me. And picking at me. And so forth.

Did I actually get a screen credit on X-Men: The Last Stand? Dawn and I did go to see the film on opening night. And to cap it off, I had to make a deal with Dawn (we have a standing agreement that we alternate movie choices when we go out) that she got two consecutive picks if we went to the Surrey premiere. Which were drawn out over the course of the summer, where only a little over a week ago it once again became my pick. So I have to wait for Superman Returns to hit DVD to see that. GRR.

Anyway, we show up that night, buy our tickets well in advance, and hang out at Chapters to run out the clock before we hit the theatre. Fourty minutes prior to screening, we make our way back and to our seats, only to find the only seats still available are in the front rows, looking up. D’oh! Once credits approach, we’re too close and they are running to fast up the screen to catch much of anything. Hell, I missed some of the other lighting techs that I worked with. So, another grey area.

I did have hope though. When I worked at Best Buy, one (and only one) of my co-workers said they saw my name WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT. So I have some hope. One week today, the DVD shall be released, to which I’ll be running and screaming to go pick it up. And maybe I’ll watch the film again too. Who knows. If my name hits the credits, I will be providing physical proof.

That is all.

To fiddle or not to fiddle Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

When I last left the discussion to where I stand regarding George Lucas’s constant fiddling with Star Wars, I made mention that I would review The Empire Strikes Back, Special Edition this weekend.

This review, however, is less black and white (or should that be Vader and Stormtrooper) than last week. There is an element I’m absolutely grey about. Luckily, my favourite of the whole saga is the one tinkered with the least. It is far more character driven than any other story, and special effects sequences took a bit more of a backseat to developing Luke, Leia, and Han.

What I like in the Special Edition:

Cleaning up the battle on Hoth. Something started for the 1997 re-release, but finally completed in the new millenium. For the original release, CGI was still far enough off to be a practical special effects medium. So, speeders, interior AT-AT shots, and other special effects shots were done via blue screen matting, just as the space scenes were shot. However, when you do this, it leaves a thin, black outline (not too much unlike that you get with a comic book character). In space, this is no problem. In the snow, this sticks out like a sore thumb. As such, they played reduced the opacity of the overlayed element to minimize this issue.

In the Special Edition, Lucas took his CGI team to bring speeders, AT-AT’s and vehicle interiors up to full opacity. Except for one problem. They didn’t get all of it in the first go. Tied in with the dogshit original CGI Jabba the Hutt from Episode IV, I get the feeling they rushed the job instead of doing it well. If you go back to the 1997 version, the view out of General Veers’ AT-AT, along with the two troopers driving it still was somewhat transparent. This is the most apparent upon approach to the shield generator. Thankfully, all of the transparency issue (that I could find) has been handled, and the overal visual feel is now on a level much closer to the stunning visuals of the prequels.

Ian McDiarmid being shot and substituted as Emperor Palpatine. This one is short and sweet. In the effort of maintaining a strong visual continuity, it makes more sense to have the Emperor look like he does in all other films

than this look, which was voiced by Clive Revill

Being as the six films should be viewed as one whole film, I do think it makes more sense with the change. I also like the added piece of dialogue, referring to Luke, the one who destroyed the Death Star, as the “offspring of Anakin Skywalker”. I like the added context of the seperation of Vader from his former self, and the defining of that moment as the point where Vader learns his child has survived.

As an added bonus, it’s really not all that hard to do ADR with the Dark Lord while he wears his meanacing mask. At least they got James Earl Jones to deliver Vader’s extra line, “How is that possible?”

Eliminating Garbage Matte Artifacts. As theatrical re-release of the films will probably be rare, home video shall dominate the wars from here on in. As such, on the video transfer of the film, Garbage Matte Artifacts exist around, most notibly, spacecraft, in the form of off-black boxes. This has been cleaned up. Again, no real change, just cleaning up and enhancing the print.

Approach to Cloud City. Elaborating on the Falcon’s approach to Cloud City gives that grander look at the environment that became a signature in the prequels. Hence, we get to see more of the universe, and maintain that all important visual sense.

Fixing the mirror shot of Admiral Piett. Just as the Empire thinks they have the Falcon (now piloted by Lando Calrissian), Vader and Piett have a brief word, to which Vader orders weapons to be set to stun. For whatever reason (probably Murphy showing up on set when they shot that day), the Imperial officer’s rank tags showed on the opposite (right) side of their uniforms, instead of the typical left (over the heart). ILM, not in 1997, but this millenium, has gone in and changed that. It’s not a huge issue, but it keeps the Comic Book Guy types at bay.

What I disliked in the Special Edition:

The CGI Wampa. According to my base principle of visual continuity, I would actually agree with the Wampa. However, dramatic sense overcomes visual continuity in this case for me. Due to the constraints, in the original release, they had to keep the Wampa hidden from camera. I feel this brought added tension to the scene, which was lost when the Wampa was added to the scene visually.

The walls on Bespin turned into windows. I agree that some windows should have been CGI’ed into windows (is CGI’ed a term?), but it just felt like a little overkill to me.

Vader’s return to the Executor. We really don’t need a scene to show Vader flying back to his Star Destroyer from Bespin. Are we as the audience really that much in the dark about how Vader got back to his Star Destroyer? We really don’t need to see the second Death Star’s docking bay remodelled as the Executor’s docking bay. And for that bit of ADR, that sure wasn’t James Earl Jones’ “this is CNN” voice.

What I feel grey about.

Temura Morrison’s voice being ADR’ed for Boba Fett. Yet another one I’d be in complete agreement with, this time for audio continuity (something I didn’t touch on as much for the original, as I would have spent months picking it apart… I cringe at certain parts of the audio for the original). Boba was the clone of Jango, so therefore the voices should be the same. But I ask you this. Shouldn’t all the Stormtroopers also sound like Jango, also being clones of his? However, from Star Wars (I don’t remember any stormtrooper dialogue in Empire), none were done. Fix the stormtroopers, and I might agree. Again, Boba and Stormtroopers are easy to ADR.

Well there you have it. I would like to add one side comment. With the integration of McDiarmid as Palpatine, and Morrison as the voice of Boba Fett, neither recieved a special edition credit for their work. I wonder if SAG payed any attention to that.

Next weekend, the final installment. Return of the Jedi, otherwise known as “Episode that ends in a Muppet War”.

That is all.

It’s getting to be that time of year

Sadly, this post starts with a confession. I didn’t even keep myself in the loop as to when the NHL pre-season and season was to start. It wasn’t until my dear friend Peter left a comment to my Mac Stress post, that it became painfully clear. Pre-season NHL games are now being played. Until then, I’ll be honest, it wasn’t even a concern. I had football to look forward to (even though the Reds are shocking, as per usual in the start of a season), and the Yankees (yes this pro-Canadian is a Yankees fan… deal with it) now have clinched the AL East yet again, I had adequate distraction from the pain we all feel here in Vancouver.

THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS ARE COMPLETE AND UTTER FUCKING SHIT. This time last year, I was full of hope (with my bollocks firmly in my hands), as the Canucks showed a lot of promise to be a major factor in not only the season, but also the playoffs. To make a long story short, Vancouver got very complacent and missed the post-season. We knew changes were to be made. Crawford got the axe. Not a shock there. Then this trade happened.

Canucks Acquire Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek & Sixth Round Pick In 2006 Draft From Florida In Exchange For Allen, Auld & Bertuzzi. Now to be fair, I do like the prospect of having Luongo, who has played for Canada in the last olympics, between the pipes for the ‘Nucks. And though I’m sad to see Bert go, I do understand that something has to be given up to accquire another. Keenan isn’t that daft to let Luongo go like the Habs let Roy go for nothing. And the loss of Auld was expected, as usually in goalie trades, netminders do go both ways (but not in *THAT* way).

But with both of them going, why, WHY did we have to get rid of Bryan Allen. Jovo’s contract was up, and with his signing in Phoenix, I think it was fair to say Nonis (read pond scum) knew he was gone. So why get rid of Allen? It wasn’t to make cap room, as we couldn’t even re-sign Anson Carter. It seems that to solve the problem in net, Vancouver gave up most of their offensive firepower and a good percentage of their defensive reserves in the process. Goalies historically have carried teams to the Stanley Cup, but now the Canucks need Luongo to carry them to the playoffs.

Newpapers, bloggers, forum posters and the like have referred to this process as “replacing the 2004-5 Canucks with a host of warm bodies”. Who is Tyler Bouck? Or Rick Rypien? Or Rory Fitzpatrick? These are the replacements for the Bertuzzi’s, Jovo’s, Allens, and Carter’s of the Canucks. I think we’re in trouble this season.

As a final note, several newspaper publications ran an article making this point. Dave Nonis should be given the key to the city, for single handedly ensuring that there will be no Stanley Cup riots in the streets for the next five years. Personally, I want his head on a stick.

That is all.

Has the Pope gone too far?

Wow. The blogosphere is strewn with posts regarding the Pope’s choice of dialogue during a lecture at the University of Regensburg. And to all of it, I must say… wow. There is a lot of hate between the faiths of Christianity and Islam. Not that it really should surprise me at this stage, but still, wow.

Before I go on any further, I must clear my traditional disclaimer regarding my posts. Firstly, I am neither Christian nor Muslim. Nor Jew. Nor anything else for that matter. My religious choice falls most accurately in that of Agnosticism. As to my discussion of said events, I will do my best as to not make either faith wrong, and simply look at the situation in a more academic point of view.

Since the terrible events of 9-11, one thing is clear. We must find bin Laden and neutralize the Al-Qaeda threat. However, I have been plagued with one ever present concern about the exercise. If bin Laden were to be killed, in say some act of public agression, would he not become a martyr and motivate many more to join his Jihad? As such, my perspective, and hopefully those actually in charge of operations in Afghanistan, would be to apprehend him while taking the greatest of care as to not yield that dire consequence.

Enter Pope Benedict XVI. Formerly Joseph Ratzinger, a bulldog who fought for the doctrine of faith for the majority of the papacy of John Paul II. Well, one week ago yesterday, he gave his now infamous lecture that many Muslims didn’t take too well. One thing, the one more than likely documented ad nauseum, definitely strikes home:

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached”

Now, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but this doesn’t feel terribly condusive to either finding a peaceful solution to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, nor a swift, non-repercussive solution to Al-Qaeda. Seems to me Benedict’s words, well, them’s fighting words. Of course there is the possibility that Pope Benedict XVI has the functional education of pond scum George W. Bush, but somehow I doubt it. Benedict strikes me much more as a learned man.

What strikes me though about all of this is the sheer irony of this. The claims Benedict made, mostly references to Islam defending their faith with the sword, to be exact. To elaborate:

1. One of the most common misconceptions about “Allah,” however, is that Christians and Jews both worship a different God than Muslims. This, however, is not true as “Allah” literally means “God” and all three religions are monotheistic and Abrahamic.¹

2. Islam is a faith which literally translates to make peace. The faith has, in past and present, been defended by force.

3. Christianity, a faith based in the teachings of Christ, supports a position of peace, love and respect. This faith also has, past and present, been defended by force.

4. Both Christianity and Islam have a history of violence against one another, over faith.

Is anyone seeing the irony here yet? Now I’m sure religious pundits on both sides of the fence will argue their respective positions until they are blue in the face. But I’m really not asking that question. Who’s right and who’s wrong? Is one religion false? Are the motives of the few the responsibilty of all? These questions are not what I intend to either ask nor answer. Rather I pose this question. What must the body count toll to until both sides realize this holy war is not the answer to the differences between two faiths with one common objective, that being peace?

George W. Bush, in response to the Pope’s bold statements, released this statement:

“My country desires peace. Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror. We respect Islam.”

Now I’m not going to argue the President’s official stance toward Islam. However, I shall iterate that his stance is far from reflective of his populace. Don’t buy it? Just do a Google search for anything that has to do with 9-11, the war in the middle east, and you’ll be sure to hit a vast plethora of blogs to which people’s real opinions shine through. And there’s a lot of hate on both sides for each other. How can we achieve a level of global peace when we as people can’t see past the differences in our own neighbours and try to find common ground? If we can’t do this individually, how can we do it globally?

We have a long, LONG way to go yet.

That is all.

¹. Article on Islam, from wikipedia.org. Full article address is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam.

Mac Stress

Yes, being in film, working towards being an editor, I do prefer using a Mac to using a PC. But, in film school, even myself found some stress using a Macintosh. Mind you, it hasn’t killed MY inner child yet. But I have seen this video a few times online, and find it absolutely fucking hilarious each time.

Enjoy.

That is all.

Can you tell I’m bored yet?

Yup, I’ve given a bit of a facelift to the look of this blog. Hope you like it.

And as a sidenote… IATSE, call me already!!!

That is all.

It’s about bloody time!

Well, WordPress can now allow us to embed video files (a la YouTube), so as such I have embedded all two of my video blog posts. More original video files should follow soon.

But in celebration of this, I am posting one of my all time favourite video files that made the rounds on the internet. Rainbow. A children’s program (to which Dawn watched growing up), though this clip doesn’t seem quite like children’s programming.

Enjoy!