While I haven't watched wrestling solid in a good while something has caught my eye. Ever since is debut Bray Wyatt has shown himself to be the breakout character WWE needs. Starting off as an even creepier Waylon Mercy, Bray Wyatt showed up with The Wyatt Family, a cult of backwoods loonies following the teachings of Sister Abigail, the supposed matriarch of The Wyatt Family who taught Bray everything he needed to know about becoming "The Eater Of Worlds" (as he calls himself). But somewhere in between losing to John Cena (and everyone else) and losing The Wyatt Family, Bray Wyatt has been dead in the water UNTIL his new gimmick surfaced, a creepy Mr. Rogers type mofo who has a dark side known as The Fiend.
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| YOWIE WOWIE! |
Bray Wyatt is an AMAZING promo worker...but in the ring...okay he's talented, no doubt and for a man his size he moved pretty quick, BUT are they gonna let him win? Wyatt can be a serious attraction in this day and age. The Era of The Undertaker is over and kayfabe is basically dead, The WWE needs someone who can connect to the modern-day cynicism of now and turn that into something cool. Bray has managed to do that but who would The Fiend feud with? And after hearing Dean Ambrose (now John Moxley) talk about how things work at The WWE maybe Wyatt is trading victories for creative freedom, fair trade? But for such a cool gimmick it'd suck if it had no teeth. Bray has been toothless for so long that if gimmick fails he's basically going to be a joke. Only time will tell what happens but I'm rooting for this guy!
Since we're on the topic of wrestling, let's talk AEW and MY GOODNESS what an amazing time to be a wrestling fan. My previous article was negative about the potential of a weekly AEW program but that isn't to say the program will suck, I've been looking at the roster and MJF is already my guy. I'll be excited to catch more matches and maybe even check out their weekly program if possible. I'm hoping AEW gets big enough to get a video game. TNA eventually got a video game (the less said about it the better) but it'd be REALLY nice to have a variety of wrestling games available, The Khans have the money, I'm certain and as a wrestling game fan, The WWE games are quickly becoming old hat. In fact, WWE2K19 is the first wrestling game to make me HATE wrestling games.
Everything else is fine EXCEPT for the MyCareer mode, HOLY CRAP what a botch! For starters, I started playing wrestling games back in WWF Warzone for the N64, and their "Career Mode" if you could call it that was fairly simple, you just fought a bunch of wrestlers until you become the champion, same with WWF Attitude. The SMACKDOWN games ("Here Comes The Pain") specifically had a GREAT story mode, you were just you and the backstage crew (mostly Tazz and Eric Bischoff) came up and offered you stuff, a faction, a manager, etc. etc. WWE2k19 gives your CAW a backstory...a dad...and a bug van. I'd be fine with the voice acting if my character didn't sound like a moron. And LOOT PACKS!? WHAT THE F*CK is this sh*t!? "Here Comes The Pain" & "Just Bring It" had unlockables but they were unlockables that were guaranteed to be given to you with purchase, with this Loot Pack nonsense you have NO clue what you're getting and you have to burn through credits to get random junk.
Now granted this is ONLY for "MyCareer" mode so it's optional...but for a gimmick that they only offer in the PS4 releases they had better make it worth it and to me, it's absolutely not. *sigh* Wrestling games have come a LONG way from the N64 days but MY GOODNESS! Back then those game had personality, these game just feel like they're carbon copies of each other with slightly better graphics and new features that you'll forget about 10mins after playing. Here's to hoping AEW gets a video game contract and makes some wrestling games with some Uphm! I really think an RPG approach to wrestling games is what this genre needs, until then I won't be holding my breath.
The next thing I wanna talk about is The DCEU & The MCU. I just saw "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and really enjoyed it but my with The Thanos Saga of The MCU done, I'm wondering what's next. After all, Marvel has been white-hot for years now and they show no signs of stopping or slowing down (which I think they should). Next on the docket is "Black Widow" but while individual movies are great (although a "Black Widow" this late in the game does nothing for her character now that she's dead) people are more interested in who's going to be the next big bad booty daddy of The MCU now that Thanos is gone. Some are saying Galactus and that looks like the case with "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3", Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange as very powerful personalities with Earth-shattering abilities. There's talk about The Fantastic Four coming to The MCU somewhere in the future and maybe even The X-Men but who knows for sure?
That being said, the MCU is in a VERY strange place now where the ultimate goal may not be to do a team-up but to do more standalone projects now, which means there may not be a big bad booty daddy for everyone to fight in the future and that's fine, after all The Avengers are all gone, Stark is dead, Captain America is old, Thor is gone, Hulk is still around but potentially crippled for life (maybe), Vision is gone and that's about it. There really isn't a nucleus for the new set of people to come together, these new set of heroes don't have a Steve Rogers or a Tony Stark to bring them together and any attempt to do so (as I see it now) would be awkward. So while I'm excited for Phase Four and interested to see what's next, I would be lying if I didn't say they should wrap it up.
And as far as wrapping it up, I finally figured out the problem with The DCEU, they can't do anything competently except for Batman, and this goes for comic books, TV shows, movies and so on. While this is obvious to everyone else, I had to take a little time to come to this conclusion because of the plethora of Batman adjacent and Batman-related media, most notably the upcoming "Pennyworth" show on the DC Streaming Service (that no one is buying). Let's talk about why this is bad, for starters just like "Gotham", "Pennyworth" is gonna have to put Batman villains in the series WAY before Batman (Bruce Wayne for that matter) is even a thing, and I guaran(as The Rock says "Damn!")tee they're gonna shoe-horn The Joker in it...somehow. Hell, Batman villains started showing up in "Arrow", that's how badly DC wants every character to be Batman.
Not hard to see why considering Batman has always been the most static of the DC characters, and by that I mean he DOES NOT change, even after several reboots Batman is still Batman the only changes is his age and whether or not Joe Chill was caught but at the end of the day he's still Batman. Superman is static as well and the only changing thing in his retcons and reboots are the times he was active but other than that he's the same. But Marvel has never had a staple similar to Batman and Superman. However, Batman is the most famous because unlike your typical superhero, Batman is at the end of the day just a man in a costume, and people like Batman's mortality and the fact that he's trained to get to where he is. Batman is the same reason we like Bruce Lee, the same reason we make Chuck Norris jokes. But as awesome as Batman is DC has a whole slew of character equally if not MORE awesome than Batman who, if given the opportunity to be their own character rather than Batman-Lite DC could make some money off them. That's the over-arching problem with The DCEU and what they're slowly starting to realize (or at least I hope they are).
Despite the fact that DC/Warner Bros. has lost my faith I'm still keeping abreast of what's going on with them, and it looks like they're rebooting the whole show save for a few things, but needless to say Batman & Superman are getting recast, and while Superman hasn't been announced officially as being recast DC/Warner Bros. isn't exactly making any intentions of doing a "Man Of Steel II" clear. But it looks like The Curse Of Superman has met it matches in Henry Cavill as it looks like his career is doing just fine. At this point, I don't think there's anything that can get me excited about The DCEU. I really hope they get their act together until then I'll just be shaking my head like a disappointed parent.
Now it's time to talk about something I haven't talked about in a while but bears repeating due to Disney's recent casting decision to make "The Little Mermaid" protagonist Ariel, a red-headed White girl a Black girl. Naturally, they're calling those who call this choice into question racist and we're all having a discussion about racism, representation, and all that (not so) fun stuff. *sigh* I've covered this topic (Here, Here, Here, and HERE) to the point where there is NOTHING new I can say as to why I as the pandered to demographic do not approve or applaud these actions and quite frankly if you applaud these actions as the pandered to demographic you just aren't thinking critically about what's being presented to you and I suggest you read the linked articles. And this goes without saying but this is no disrespect to Halle Bailey, I'm sure she's a lovely person and a fine actress and it's just unfortunate Disney had to put her in the cross-hairs of this nonsense, she's just a kid, she don't deserve this.
Since we're on the topic of race bending, let's talk about the recent case of NOT race bending. It was announced that the serial number of James Bond was going to go to a Black woman. This is NOT an issue. For those of you who've seen "Spectre" (all 2 of you, I enjoyed "Spectre" but I totally understand the hate for it) you know by the end of that movie James essentially took down his greatest foe (and the author of all the events in this current Bond Universe) Ernst Stravo Blofeld and it was basically hinted at (but without confirmation) that he was done and was willing to settle down with Madeleine. Naturally when someone leaves a position that position is given to someone else, hence James Bond is still James Bond but his serial number 007 is interchangeable and therefore will go to someone else.
What I'm saying is this new 007 will essentially be Ronnie Lobell from "24", and if you're having trouble remembering him (assuming you were watching the Jack Bauer power hour) don't feel bad, after Jack left (got fried from) his position as Director Of Field Ops for CTU, Ronnie Lobell took over, but Jack was still Jack, and James will still be James. What has me miffed however is the notion of #metoo creeping its way into James Bondy mythos. An article mentioned how Nomi, the new 007 would address James's standing this new #metoo era and that's nothing I'm too interested in. Bond25 is shaping up to probably be the most interesting Bond film yet because HOPEFULLY, he'll be taking on The Union, basically, a group of mercenaries and low-level thugs that function on a global level and I don't want villains as cool as these to be muddled by politics and pandering. I doubt Nomi will stick around for very long, she'll partner up with Bond, maybe save his skin a few times but let's face it, no one's sticking around for her. People see a James Bond movies for James Bond NOT 007.
Since we're on the topic of movies let's talk about an upcoming movie in 2020, the much-discussed Sopranos prequel film "The Many Saints Of Newark". The cast is star-studded, boasting Corey Stoll, John Bernthal and the one and only Ray Liotta. Just like "Jurassic Park" however the question of could they was asked instead of the question should they and in my opinion, no. It's been years since "The Sopranos" last aired and in that time between then and now we lost James Gandolfini, the time for "The Sopranos" has passed. And frankly, I'm a little tired of this nostalgia trip we've all been on where old properties are coming back. Now granted, this isn't exactly an old property as none of the old characters will be returning, rather this is a story focusing on Christopher's legendary father Dickie Moltisanti (more than likely) and his rise to power and eventual death. But the question is do we really care and are these questions we want definitively answered? I was under the impression that in "For All Debts Public & Private" Tony was manipulating Chris (for whatever reason who knows but even Chris seemed to accept the possibility in the end) as the cop that supposedly killed Dickie continued to profess his innocence in the matter.
Chris and Tony's relationship has always been met with unspoken mistrust on both sides and I'm worried the film might undo some of the mystique regarding Tony's past. But I'll need to see a trailer because John Bernthal in a gangster flick?! Ummm, YES, PLEASE! And gangster flick vet like Ray Liotta in the cast, man, this is just begging to be watched, but we'll see.
Now let's talk about something that has been sticking in my craw for a good while now and that's drug use in horror movies. The 2 movies I'm talking about are "Hereditary" and Ari Aster's latest offering "Midsommar". I've expressed my disdain for "Hereditary" but never quite expressed my disdain for the overabundance of pot smokers and drug-takers in horror movies in recent years (not that I see horror movies frequently), especially if teens are involved you can almost bet your bottom dollar that somewhere in the film they'll be in a group together smoking a bowl. Peter, the main character of "Hereditary" had no other discernible trait other than wanting to get high but these guys in "Midsommar" take the cake. These guys are popping all kinds of drugs, pills, pot, you name it.
I'm no prude, I joke about drugs all the time and I have no problem with characters using them, however, the sheer casualness is what I have a problem with. I don't know about you but these days it seems like it's a foregone conclusion that everyone (especially teens) smokes pot, and I'm willing to grant that considering back in the day sneaking a sip of alcohol was the thing and with each generation, a new "thing" emerges BUT when it comes to shrooms and hallucinogens (the kinda stuff you'd find at an Indian Reservation) that's where I have to question just how legit it is that college students have access to all of this and are just willingly taking them. No one hesitates or bats an eye, they're just like "Oh, these are drugs? Cool! Down the hatch!" and then settle in so they don't have a bad trip, and I'm like "You've done this before?".
Okay, maybe I am prudish when it comes to drug use but I have a hard time relating to people who are just willy-nilly taking drugs. And this goes double for a horror movie where I'm supposed to feel sympathy for these characters and I genuinely don't because I deem these characters as generally careless. I can understand a stoner's plight if there's more to them than just being a stoner, but in Peter's case, all he was was a stoner and seemed to be smoking pot just because everyone else did. Christian and his cronies in "Midsommar" were just treating midsommar like it was spring break and just taking whatever drugs were offered to them. It got annoying really quick. Why is it such a trope now that teens are off getting high somewhere and college students have taken enough drugs to know what to expect?
I'm just tired of drug use being treated so casually among characters who are otherwise every day average people. And this isn't to say that every day average people don't do drugs just...okay, in the movie "Sisters" the drug scene was so funny because as the sisters see what drugs are available they realize they're completely outta their depths and settle for buying some low-level marijuana...before being talked into buying Cloud 10, and John Leguizamo's character knows all this stuff and has been there. Most normal people would be like the sisters, but not college students, apparently they're holding, taking and dealing...go figure. I'm just tired of seeing college students and teens smoking bongs in horror movies, keep it in comedies where it belongs.
Switching gears let's talk about what I've been up to personally. So my Kickstarter campaign for Blue Mist crashed and burned and I'll be writing an article on why soon. But lately I've been enjoying my PlayStation 4 and playing "Tales Of Beseria" quite a bit. It's a random JRPG and outside of the box of the usual games I'd buy and the main character (Velvet) is a hottie, so...yeah. Outside of that I've got a lot of reevaluating to do when it comes to my life. I grew up with one goal in mind and now the more I see the more I wonder if my intended goal is where I truly want to be. For those who don't know I'm hoping to become a screenwriter, but the more I see from Hollywood the more I hear and the more projects are being tossed asunder due to the indiscretions of actors and the less welcoming environment for people like me (and I'm not talking about Black people), I'm genuinely thinking Hollywood (let alone California) is a place I could actually live.
This has caused me to reevaluate where I'm going in life and what I'm actually doing. So lately I've just decided to throw myself completely into Blue Mist but getting the capital to do it is difficult to say the least, not to mention my living situation is still less than desirable. I'm still working the new job (not sure if I mentioned what I do currently, I work at a gaming store) and trying to get a job with some advancement, as I told my boss: "I shouldn't be working for you, I should be you.". Lately I've been discouraged because I haven't been able to write as often as I like, draw as often as I like and I spend most of my time sitting around playing video games and doing dad life things, I love my son to pieces but personally I'm in the doldrums and unsure how to proceed in life.
I had a plan to attend Scriptfest by year's end only to discover that Scriptfest had been canceled and that...that's just not cool because I think I'm really good at connecting to people face to face and having to go through impersonal means is just unappealing and difficult for me...but what do I know, I tanked the last job interview I had. So making Blue Mist is my new top priority and it's just a matter of having the money to make it happen. Outside of those struggles I've been trying to establish my Geek cred by becoming a Game Master for a soon to be known but currently unknown TTRPG called "Tales From The Loop" (which Amazon will be turning into a TV show). I haven't started the campaign yet but I have a GM screen and people who are interested which makes me really happy. Only time will tell if I get around to playing it, here's to hoping. Anyways, that's all I have to report on today, hope to catch you guys later. Here's a GIF of Queen Beryl trying to divine my future from her crystal ball. Why? Because the music for the Negaverse was ALWAYS awesome.
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