notJames

How could a relationship between Jericho and Stratus lend credibility to the women's division? Trish is already the most marketable of the wrestling women. How can her playing Jericho's girlfriend do anything to give the other women a boost? The only way to give the women's division more credibility is to promote them as competent athletes in their own right and let them wrestle. Plain and simple. Any kind of play between the men and women will only reinforce the unwritten axiom that women wrestlers are inferior to the men, and are therefore not as worthy of the audience's attention.

What I meant was that only a career like Flair's would warrant a 3-disc DVD set, which DDP's doesn't. Sorry if that was taken the wrong way.

DDP's career does not warrant a 3-disc DVD set. No one outside of the dwindling die-hard wCw faithful even know or care who DDP is. To even think that DDP's career can parallel the greatness of Flair is laughable and best, and seriously deluded at worst. Sorry for the harshness, but it needed to be said.

Shouldn't angles be used to set up matches? What possible match(es) can come from this? Now way can they pit the Chrises against the ladies in any satisfactory way. If they bring in some random face(s) to defend the honour of the ladies, it'll come off heavy-handed, since no other principles have been involved in this love angle other than Matt Hardy. This was bad news from the start. It did nothing to start or further any feuds. All it did was allow the writers to "swerve" the viewers with needless backstage vignettes and soap opera pap. Garbage in, garbage out.

Give this Chyna-lovin' man a cigar, because he's given one of the few intelligent responses in this entire thread... nay, all these countless threads and debates and arguments about the Heatless Wonder. It's a complete return to HHH's god push. They told us he was the best no matter how much nobody bought it, gave him a 10-minute entrance with a killer theme song, and when that didn't work, they put every heat-drawing opponent in a line and let him mow through them until we were forced to buy him as a threat. And that's what's starting to happen with Orton. [And not for nothing, but this "anti-smark" sentiment is getting a bit tedious and heavy-handed. I'm sure some posters are swayed easily into buying into different "smark axioms" (i.e. Benoit is God, Vince is the Devil, Steph is a bloated cancer), but at the end of the day, each of us likes and dislikes who we want, regardless of how we came to that decision, and for the most part, that should be respected. Dismissing anyone's argument because it happens to fall in line with public opinion doesn't elevate you to a higher plane. It just makes it easier for people to identify, and eventually, ignore you.]

::slurp slurp slurp:: Just kidding, Notorious. (Or am I?)

When a film can make Adam fuckin' Sandler look good, that gets the nod from me every time. And Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman can do no wrong.

She might have been saying that they're articulate for a couple of "athletes", who carry the stereotypical dumb-jock stigma, rather than backhandedly complimenting them for being a couple of well-speaking black men... ... but that's just me.

Phone Booth was okay. I didn't go gaga over it like others did. It was basically a longer episode of 24 with Keifer as the unseen bad guy. 28 Days Later didn't live up to the enormous hype it got. Punch Drunk Love was masterful. Excellent story, great pacing, and superb performances from all the principles, even Adam Sandler, whom I previously despised in his other belligerent man-child roles. The others I haven't seen.

This list begins and ends with West Side Story. Anyone who disagrees is a filthy Communist.

I agree with saturnmark4life... get everything by the Smiths and dig in. Same goes for Morrissey's solo stuff, though I'm pretty partial to Viva Hate, Bona Drag, and Your Arsenal. XTC are unbelievably diverse and talented, so you definitely have a variety to choose from. Skylarking is one of my favourite all-time albums and is a must-own. Look for the 2000 remastered edition with both "Mermaid Smiled" and "Dear God". Each song appeared exclusively on the original UK and US albums versions respectively. Side-note: my computer graphics teacher in college told me that she was at the Paris show where Andy Partridge got stage fright and swore off live performances. I blame her for having never seen them.

In no particular order: Buggles - "Video Killed the Radio Star" A-Ha - "Take On Me" Weird Al - "Eat It" Van Halen - "Hot For Teacher" David Lee Roth - "California Girls" To tell you the truth, I don't really watch music videos, so these are more or less default picks... ones that stood out by either being really funny or innovative. (Damn, BAR beat me to "Hot for Teacher"...)

There isn't one movie that isn't worth checking out. I can name a myriad of titles that would fit that bill: Glitter Crossroads From Justin To Kelly Honey Gigli Battlefield Earth American President The Lizzie McGuire Movie XXX Fast and the Furious Titanic Gladiator Hard Rain Save The Last Dance Blue Crush Ready To Rumble Cat in the Hat The Grinch ... I could do this all day...

Feh. Rhyno's stock went way down hill after he left the Alliance and had to have neck surgery. He's a one-trick pony whose one trick has been retroactively co-opted by a guy whose initials are F.G.B. Without the Gore, he's A-Train, sans the height and fur coat. Personally, I don't mind him squashing Orlando Jordan every Saturday night. Hell, I'd take Randy Orton squashing Orlando Jordan every Saturday night, but that's another argument for another time...

I totally agree, JMA. That's what made Goldust so interesting in the beginning... that air of uncertainty in his character. Is he gay, or is he just playing mind games with the wrestlers? Do we hate him because he might be gay (the antithesis of the burly male archetype that wrestling audiences engender), or do we hate him because he makes unwarranted advances on the other wrestlers? I think they had a real goldmine (pardon the pun) with him that got unjustly squandered when they neutered his character and had him turn face on Lawler oh so many years ago. I must admit, though, that I got tired of his latest incarnation, that of the stuttering, Tourette's-affected backstage buffoon. The fact that he really didn't do anything of substance storywise pretty much sealed the deal for me that I just wasn't interested in him anymore. Sure, he can wrestle, but can so many other guys on the roster who actually make me care about their characters. In that sense, I'm not sad to see him go. As for him being over in TNA sans the Goldust gimmick, I think Runnels is in for a rude awakening. He'll get the initial big pop, get a few marquee matches in, then settle into the lower midcard to get some of the new kids over... for a lot less money than he was getting from Vince. And not to derail the discussion again, but this whole Orton debate stems from the fact that his push is criminally undeserved compared to what he brings to the table. His wrestling skills and style are underwhelming, and don't keep me or any average audience riveted to his performance. And bringing up any heat he may have gotten during the aborted RNN run has no relevance in this Evolution stint. What he's doing now makes him unworthy of this big push. And yes, this is a big push. When you're touted as a legend killer, have Ric By God Flair in your corner, and are allowed to get the upper hand on people like Foley and HBK, that's a big push. And forget his mic "skills". I need only remember him sitting with the announcers during the last RAW. Everything he said was unconvincing and uninteresting. Sure, you can blame the lame-ass script all you want, but his delivery, which is supposed to be that of a smug, arrogant blue chipper, was lazy, callous, and lacking in depth and conviction. Nothing he said conveyed the message that he really thinks he's the shit. And if he doesn't believe it, why should we?

She said "I'll never forget the first time you kissed me... Now I want you to fist me" "Liza and Louise" - NOFX

Oh TAG~!

I hate having to look at Stuart Scott. That lazy eye gets further and further from the center every time I see him. Creepy.

Nah... not enough delicious irony.

I have my iTunes at work set to play random songs throughout the day. Now although I have roughly 24 hours of music to choose from, the "randomizer" inevitably plays a few of those songs every single day, sometimes more often than I prefer. But every once in a while, Elvis Costello's "(Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" comes on and it makes me smile, because I know no matter how many times I hear it, I never tire of it. The lyrics are great, the music is upbeat and lively... what's not to love? The Descendents' "Clean Sheets" and The Bouncing Souls' "Fight To Live" also fall into this category. Any songs you people enjoy no matter how often you hear them?

Sad news and all, but unfortunately the gene pool needs a brisk skimming now and again.

From the Knight Ridder website: Knight Ridder is a communications company engaged primarily in newspaper and Internet publishing. The second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, it owns 31 dailies and operates the Real Cities network of 83 regional Web sites. Contrary to popular belief, Knight Ridder is not an television adventure series from the early 1980s.* *Okay, I added that one. Seriously though, it's instances like this that make me ashamed of belonging to the human race.

Daughter raped by brothers, murdered by mother (Bold emphasis mine) A Palestinian girl who was raped and impregnated by her two brothers was later murdered by her own mother – even though her daughter was the crime's innocent victim – in another of the disturbingly common, if vastly underreported, instances of "honor killings." The mother will be sentenced in two weeks, but a harsh penalty is not expected. According to a Knight Ridder report, court records show that Rofayda Qaoud was raped by her brothers, Fahdi, 22, and Ali, 20, in a bedroom they shared in the family's three-room house in the town of Abu Qash in the West Bank. When her mother found she had become pregnant, she insisted her daughter commit suicide, and even bought the unwed teen a razor so she could slash her own wrists. When the daughter refused, Amira Abu Hanhan Qaoud took matters into her own hands and murdered Rofayda to restore her family's "honor." Entering her sleeping daughter's bedroom last Jan. 27 with a plastic bag, razor and wooden stick, reports Knight Ridder, the mother told her daughter: "Tonight you die, Rofayda." Wrapping the bag around the teen's head, Qaoud cut her daughter's wrists, while ignoring her cries of "No, mother, no!" Qaoud then struck her daughter in the head with the stick to finish off the job, said the report. Every year, dozens and probably hundreds of brutal "honor killings" of Palestinian women and girls – most of whom are virtually blameless – go unreported, according to an anthropologist's recent study. In a story for World and I magazine, James Emery says women in the communities of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel and Jordan are killed by male kinsmen in an attempt to protect the reputations of their families. Emery says the women "are murdered in their homes, in open fields and occasionally in public, sometimes before crowds of cheering onlookers." Most occur among Muslims in poor, rural tribal areas or among uneducated urban dwellers, he says, although the practice is not explicitly condoned by the Islamic holy book, the Quran. In the feudal, patriarchal societies of the Middle East, writes Emery, "honor is based on what men feel is important, and reputation is everything." "Unfortunately," he says, "thousands of women have been killed in the name of honor because imagination and rumors are as important as actions and events." When a girl's chastity is in question, he says, her family feels the shame, even if she is raped or the rumors prove unsubstantiated. "A woman shamed is like rotting flesh," a Palestinian merchant told Emery. "If it is not cut away, it will consume the body. What I mean is the whole family will be tainted if she is not killed." Emery says the reasons for honor killings include allegations of premarital or extramarital sex, for refusing an arranged marriage or attempting to obtain a divorce, or simply for talking with a man. The murders normally are carried out by fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles, cousins or sons. Among Palestinians, all sexual encounters, including rape and incest, are blamed on the woman. "The issue of consent is irrelevant when it comes to honor killings," says Marsha Freeman, director of the International Women's Rights Action Watch. "It has to do with the woman being defiled. It completely objectifies the woman as being about her sexuality and purity. It makes her not human." Under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, at least 25 "official" honor killings occur each year, says Emery, but the actual number of deaths is much higher. Because honor killings are accorded special status, murderers serve little or no jail time, the anthropologist notes. Some men convicted of premeditated murder serve as little as three months and are treated as celebrities by family and friends upon release. Emery has done extensive research in Palestinian communities and has lived and traveled overseas for a number of years. He is an expert witness on Asian and Arab culture in civil and criminal cases and a lecturer on Middle Eastern terrorism. He says the murder of females in the Middle East is an ancient tradition that began prior to the arrival of Islam in A.D. 622. Arabs sometimes buried infant daughters to avoid the possibility they would later bring shame to the family, Emery notes. In the case of Rofayda Qaoud, the mother will appear before a three-judge panel on Dec. 3. She says her husband, Abdul Rahim, urged her not to do it, and said the Quran forbids "honor" killings. The Knight Ridder account says Rofayda gave birth to a healthy boy last Dec. 23, who has been adopted by another Palestinian family. Honor killings committed in the heat of passion generally carry a light term – six months to one year in jail. Qaoud's premeditated act is likely be earn her a stiffer sentence – perhaps three to five years, said the report. Yet the fact that she was attempting to save her family's honor means she's not guilty of premeditated murder, which can get the death penalty. The two brothers are serving minimum 10-year jail sentences for raping their sister.

That just about sums it up for me. It's pretty obvious the kind of ill effect that corporatization has on all forms of popular culture. Crappy music will always be here, no matter the year or decade or century, as long as there's a buck to be made. That's why when it comes to music, I do the following: 1. ignore mainstream radio and "music television" 2. keep a ear open for good opening acts of bands I currently enjoy 3. maintain a healthy relationship with my current music library The rest of the world can go piss up a rope.

Interesting side note: Darth Vader makes a cameo as the wheelchair guy's helper. No, not James Earl Jones... David Prowse, the guy in the suit.