Kaertos

Wow... the first Genesis since the original that I am not involved in some way. Feels a little odd, I have to say. Good luck to everyone. This is the big show of the year, and the card looks terrific.

89. The Midnight Carnival in general, Operation: POOFNAR in specific.

So far my biggest problem with a DVD recorder is that the quality when recording (at least according to what I have read) more than an hour on a disk is just as bad as VHS. I'd rather stick with the cheaper VHS blanks until DVD recorders (ok, reasonably priced dvd recorders) can tape 4 hours on a side at high quality.

I agree Johnny, but frankly there were a lot of things conspiring to make that promo less effective as a storyline tool. However, it does not diminish the fact that it stands alone as a spectacular promo and, I think, the best King has ever written.

I have a nomination for promo of the year... The Suicide King talks about the Hell in the Cell... This promo is the first thing on the show.

Yes, but then again I'm sure there is a huge number of ST fans who, like myself, simply lack the funds to drop $2,000 on various Star Trek seasons. It's ridiculous. I don't know how I forgot Duck Tales, and while we're at it, how about some TailSpin?

Nigel is awesome. My wife is considering going to the show only because Nigel will be there. We saw him a bunch of times when HWA still did shows in Dayton.

I have to second WKRP. That needs to be released now. As far as TV shows go: Family Ties Tiny Toons Animaniacs Real sets for Justice League and JLU Reasonably priced Star Trek (any and all) - I have no idea why most season sets of hour long TV shows are between $30 & $60 and ST is $110. Movies? Ferris Bueller - Special Edition Original Editions of Star Wars (not because I hate the special & DVD editions, just because I am a completist)

Well, having sat through most of the previous Clone Saga I have to say i was a little upset that they were pulling this into Ultimate also. However, so far I think Ultimate has done very well, and I think that there is a chance, albeit a small one, that this could be pretty good.

You are Masahiro Chono. Although you are getting on in years, you are still a strong competitor. Oh goodie, even the quiz is telling me I'm an old man.

I was excited about this show before it came out, but, at least to me, the mini-series was just unwatchable. I didn't like the new Galactica design (but I love the rest of the stuff, to be fair) but, hey, it's only a ship. The they started the whole Number 6 stuff with Baltar, which was just a pandering attempt to get stereotypical sci-fi geeks to watch the show because she's a hot blonde. The characters were two-dimensional and, frankly, annoying. The writing was ok, but it seemed like they were going out of their way to disassociate themsleves from the original. I guess what I missed is that the original had a sense of dignity about it. They were good people, and none of the people in this show, at least in the mini-series, is a good person. Oh well, if you like it, then run with it. But I just didn't like it.

Yeah Z, I didn't throw that in to cause controversy or anything, and after reading your post I thought, "Was I really that involved?" I mean, it has been three years ago. Eh... in retrospect, it was the best thing for the fed, even if it led to me booking .

I voted "Hockey's Back?" mostly because I just don;t care one way or the other. I used to root for them to do well even though I didn't watch Hockey because I thought it was good to have four major sports. After the strike though, I really don't care. Frankly, I wouldn't be suprised if the NHL folded in the next few years simply due to lack of a TV contract.

Ah, the SWF Kliq. Z's response was a great primer on what the Kliq was (mostly), but as to how it came about, I can throw a little history at you. King and I were friends long before the IGN/SWF stuff, as were Thugg and X. At one point Stubby threw me into a PPV Main Event against Thugg and X for the World Title in what was supposed to be the end of a long HVT/X storyline. Thugg and X were ticked and yelled about it a lot, I got pissed because it wasn't like I had asked to be included and was getting crap from them over it. In one of my posts, I think I said something like "this feud doesn't need the World Title anyways and I never got my one-on-one rematch" (a recurring theme with me, as it would turn out). Thugg and X were livid, flamed me, I responded, got flamed in return, King jumped in and had my back... needless to say it was a huge flame war that most people basically backed away from and avoided. I thought it would be better to be the bigger man and apologize, so I sent Thugg a PM. His response was very cool, basically saying that he was in the wrong and knew that I had nothing to do with getting booked into that match. We started chatting on IM here and there and struck up a pretty good online friendship. Thugg caught King online and apologized to him, and thus was that friendship born. King and Edwin and I were tight because we were in the Midnight Carnival together, so during the next discussion, we ended up kind of making a united front... and thus the Kliq stuff started. The one part of Z's explaination that I would like to clarify is the "more or less because they always worked angles in very close proximity to each other" line. It isn't inaccurate, but remember that this is back in the day of more spontaneous storylines and, at the time, King, Thugg and I were a huge percentage of the Main Event scene, so we ended up on opposite sides of a lot of matches. Most of the stuff we worked against each other back in the day (when we were all active) was mostly unplanned, promo here and there to build to a match at the PPV type stuff. The best part for me was the fodder for all kinds of backstage nonsense that I could write into "Breaking Kayfabe", playing up the idea that the Kliq were all buddies backstage even if we were on opposite sides of the heel / face divide, something I finally paid off at the end of my Hell in the Cell retirement match. Now, about Stubby... Z says "The other superblock (headed by Thugg and Mark) wanted a much more diplomatic approach that included Stubby's willing concent to any changes." While technically true, my feelings were actally told only to King and after the offer about the Christmas PPV was made. I knew something was up, but wasn't following events closely enough to know things had gotten as bad as they were. My first real posted comment on the matter wasn't made until after the ouster and I was already a part of the new CC. Z says "Mark and Thugg were generally under the impression that nothing was going to be done without their approval" I wish I had that much pull in the Fed at the time. Here's the story from my point of view: My wife and I met King and some other friends at a Chili's for dinner around Christams time. While we are waiting for a table, King turns to me and says "You been to the boards lately?" When I said no, he said, "You won't believe what's going on." He then went on to tell me about the whole situation, most of which was news to me. By this time, Thoth's ultimatum had already been sent. King filled me in and mentioned that he would probably be the next head of CC. He then asked me if I was willing to step up and help him book the shows. I agreed. We started booking after the 2002 - 2003 break. I do remember posting a single opinion on the whole thing, but I do not have access to it any longer, as I kept it on the mod boards because I thougt I shouldn't be commenting in open forums, considering the position I found myself in.

One of my favorites has always been the opening of Superman. The old theater curtains open, the kid reads the opening of the first Sperman comic, then fade to the "real" Daily Plaet, then into space for the credits zooming by. Add in John Williams awesome music and you've cinematic history. I wish they would do one of those AFI specials on this topic.

I know this sounds crazy, but why didn't you tell your potential new employer that you had vacation time planned when you went in for the second interview / signing papers thing. Then you're covered because you know what way the wind blows there. If he is a jerk and says "No, no way, too bad." you know this isn't someone who is going to care if you are sick or not, you'll get crap no matter what. If he is a normal boss and says, "Well, if you had it planned..." you know this is a guy you can tell that you need a day here and there off. Just don;t abuse it.

Well, the important part there is that Taker is almost an institution and over with the crowd. Gangrel... not so much.

I don't know how to break this to you, but most jobs I have had in the "real world" have a "You can leave at anytime with no notice and we can fire you at any time with no notice" line in the employee handbook, unless you are salary. That having been said, after the pile of feces that was 50% of Raw this week, the dickery with Matt Hardy and the destruction of the women's division as a going concern (I mean, come one, they put the aborning "Victoria - Red-Headed Spazz" program on hold for the freakin' Diva Search), this pile of releases of, in general, good men and women to have on the roster makes me really unenthusiastic about WWE. Oh, and I just got an e-mail wanting me to pay $40 to go to a live event an hour and a half away from me. I think not...

So a radio station in town is doing a "Whatever Weekend" gimmick. Basically, they are taking requests and will play anything within reason. My wife, being the amazingly cool person she is, put in the following request: Song: Love Rollercoaster by The Red Hot Chili Peppers Dedication: "With love and pandas, to all my friends in the Carnies" I thought you guys might like that. If anyone is interested in checking it out to see if they can hear it, go to WMMX.com, you can listen online. Take it Easy - GSMS

Chris: I don't mean to say that the ysalamiri couldn't exist or that I dislike the "concept" of pushing awaythe Force. Both they and the Yuzhon-Vong seem more to me like writers with no better way of coming up with an adversary for the Jedi than by finding all of these neat races or species that either make the Force not work or "aren't a part of the Force". Rendclaw: I'll be honest. I don't think it's possible for any novel to "feel" like Star Wars. The movies are far too fast paced and visual for the more relaxed medium of a novel. I think the Zahn novels (at least the first three, I haven't read any of the other ones) were as close as it will ever get. I think Obi-Wan wanted to kill Anakin at the end, but even seeing his best friend in agony and totally lost to the dark side, he didn't have it in him to just finish it. Remember, he wanted Yoda to send him after Sidious instead of Anakin because he knew he couldn't kill him. It's part of the guilt he feels throughout the Original Trilogy, that not only was his training apparently insufficient to keep Anakin from falling to the Dark Side, but when he had the chance to kill him and end it, he couldn't. It's that guilt that exiles him to a remote corner of the galaxy almost as much as watching after Luke.

I bought the first Thrawn trilogy when it came out and I enjoyed it, even if it didn't really feel like Star Wars. I couldn't get over the ysalamiri as one of the worst plot devices ever or the "just happen to have Luke's hand" stuff. But it made up for it with the awesome character of Thrawn. he felt like a Star Wars villain even if none of the other new characters fit. Then I read the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson... and I decided then and there that I had better ways to spend my time than reading any of the expanded universe stuff. It was just... bad. In every way. Besides, for me it doesn't add anything to the story to know the EU stuff. It's not like Lucas paid any attention to it when he was making the the prequels. Oh, and as long as I am ranting on the EU, I almost got back into it when they changed publishers and decided that all of the novels would tie together in one long story arc... then i found out about the yuzhon-vong or whatever their names were. Living beings outside the Force kind of messes with the whole cosmology of the Star Wars universe, doesn't it?

so go to their on-line request box and request it. It is a whatever weekend...

I think Anakin has an inferiority complex. Seriously. I mean, way back in TPM, he gets ticked when Padme asks "You're a slave?" "I'm a person and my name is Anakin." He never really gets out of that mindset, always trying to prove he's more than a slave-boy from a backwater world. He wants to prove he is the best because (he thinks) everyone still thinks of him that way. Add that to his love of Padme and this was a Jedi waiting to fall.

RobotJerk said: I don't think so. From my understanding of the way the Force works, there is no "Light Side" per se, just "The Force" and "The Dark Side". The Jedi use the Force while "at peace, passive". Emotion does not enter into it. The Force is in balance. The Sith use the Dark Side while full of passion and emotion. They channel their hate and anger and fear into it. The Force is then out of balance. As a friend of mine said, it is more of an eastern philosophy than a western one.

I think the prophesy was read correctly, but something was omitted. Luke did not fulfill the prophesy, Anakin did by killing the Emperor and redeeming himself, thus destroying the Sith. Thus the part of the prophesy we heard was true. I just think the Jedi were unaware that they would have to sacrifice the Jedi Order to fulfill the prophesy. In the long run though, I think it is better that the Jedi were destroyed as they were starting to turn from the true "Guardians of Peace and Justice" road. They were arrogant and prideful and would have fallen to the dark side eventually.