Inside Out – 30-08-18

Off the bat I love this film the most out of the 3 on show and I love film generally. I jokingly say (with a hint of truth) “this film should be on the national curriculum in schools”. It teaches the average person about mental health, emotion, and generally life and how to go about it and isn’t that Disney in a nutshell? I love it for that and that alone and I thoroughly recommend it to any of my friends and family and anybody with two eyes.

 

23/08/2018 was an event!

You know the expression “when a door closes, a window opens”? Not sure if I’ve got that right as I’ve heard many a variation in my time including the order of that, ceilings, walls, etc. etc. as its its own Wonkavator. Either way it meant at 7:30pm though only in its infancy much like anything ever in this world any idea has to start somewhere and so it means the initial reaction from the planning committee was one of downplaying things. The plan for the night is amazing and I’d been a fan of the film Babe ever since I was young an it most definitely struck a chord with me as isn’t that all film is in the 21st century? Well it was always the case for me as it was a form of escapism and familiarity at the same time for the subject of a “sheep pig” was very much a “fish out of water” and isn’t that always how I felt? Some level of symbology there to say the least, but then in my life I’m learning that’s everybody ever and so I can’t be too “I walk alone” as it’s only in witnessing new things and new experiences and generally going about things differently I’m not all that alone. I saw an amazing video series by one Simon Miller from Whatculture fame as I seriously have diversified what even interests me nowadays and in taking a step back from “life” I’ve revisited professional wrestling (people come and go, but sport is constant. Only the pieces change, the game stays the same). Either way the symbology, metaphors, and simile was just amazing in such a thing as Babe and I’ll love it just for that. I googled and James Cromwell is still going at 78 years old and for that “mancrush“, he was a big part of my admiration of the film The Green Mile as well as The Longest Yard, as well as I, Robot, that man is an institution and only in writing this entry I found out that he was born in Los Angeles but raised in Manhattan as only these entries and film does for me.

Either way the next film is Inside Out and I love that film immensely as here I’am with the dvd and I may just have to watch it again some time soon, it should be on the National Curriculum its that good and oh so meaningful.

just keep swimming

This is some very good poetry and I have to say poetry isn’t my strong suit

The Matticus Kingdom

Sometimes parenting is like falling off a cliff
Into a bottomless pit
Every time you manage to get a grip
You slip
Fingers bloodied and torn
Nerves and mind completely worn
And you fall further behind
Another loss of time
Down, down, down into the darkest reaches
Where reside the demons of your heart and other creatures
Ready to prey on your guilt and faults
All because you had the temerity to fall
Rather than climb
Upward and onward where everything is fine.

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WWE 2K20 idea!

Thought floating around in my head is Kevin Owens as the cover of WWE 2K20 when it comes out in October 2019, either design it as “WWE 2K₂O” (with the heel tag-line of “Because Kevin Owens is your life source” – Could even touch onto something else I have in my head, try me Vince I’m a fountain of ideas with this) or as “WWE 2KO“, there’s a million more ideas with that and just generally floating about in my head. Vince McMahon and the WWE just has to sign me up and it’s that simple as yes, the idea of marketing and selling items is a straight-forward one for me but in this topsy-turvy world and in my ways opinions and thoughts can only get you so far and it’s THE NEXT STEP that’s a doozy. Mental and medical issues are real and it’s very fulfilling that we’re currently living in a time and in a world where people genuinely do everything in their power to learn more and more about these issues that we once thought we suffered alone and in silence.

Whenever Vince McMahon wants to issue a free copy of WWE 2K20 when it comes out I’ll be more than happy, thank you <insert CM Punk barrier/Kevin Owens cage exit kiss here>

Well That Was Wrestlemania Eh?

 

In making a mosaic of all the matches on the card, I forgot the main event…. huh!

The whole weekend is just a blur as to be honest it’s just too much of a concern when “a day” has become a “weekend”. I can see from the outside if it looks like I’ve regressed but in all honesty it’s more a familiarity thing as since I was 7 years old and as much as things change, they stay the same. This makes me so happy to write as what we have here is how I’ve found myself watching Wrestlemania but realising that I’m 32 so I can’t stay up like I used to and so I went to bed after Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles and that in itself is the concern. I ran a half marathon last year, I may just need to run another thing soon as this is just crazy. It’s all stamina or that this is a young man’s game?

I read on Twitter how Botchamania’s Maffew Gregg did the same thing, so without being too much of a stalker I better find out how old he is as it’s most definitely real, his tweet was funny though. Either way I’ve found myself watching Wrestlemania, one thing that never changes is how NXT:Takeover seems to outlast anything the “main roster” can hold as it’s amazing just watching it. I made an instagram post back in November at how the Takeover: Wargames could lose out to Survivor Series but that was a longshot as just look at the record as since the existence of Takeover and that’s what it does, it’s TAKES OVER, now even wrestlemania. Though Survivor Series wasn’t bad, it simply couldn’t beat Wargames, and so I’m watching Wrestlemania again and Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss is on and it’s simply that alternative escapism that I told you about as the story is about the friendship between the two as Alexa Bliss is everything that we remember about high school/secondary school as “the head cheerleader” is a bit of a “character” and so Nia Jax is somewhat of the alternative as the atypical “big girl that was picked on in said school”. This match happened as it was clearly all a ruse and such as Bliss used Jax as her “heavy” (pun intended). And it’s these things that makes wrestling that drama and I love it for that, a narrative story.  In real life Alexis Kaufman (Alexa Bliss) and Savelina Fanene (Nia Jax) are BFF’s (Best Friend’s Forever), much like Hollywood actor’s or TV character’s it’s their craft that warrants not just my respect but the respect of anybody that chooses to watch it. NXT simply does it shorter and better as it’s got a very “old school, 70’s/80’s vibe to it’s presentation and it’s thinking and it’s because their PPV’s are only some 2 and a half hours but Wrestlemania was 7 hours. Watching NXT makes me want more but watching Wrestlemania sent me to sleep.

I can’t stress enough, this is since I was 7 or 8 and much like football and sports in general, it’s a narrative and I love it for that, it keeps me human. Maybe in watching WWE, I know it just as well as the organisation. My reaction is shared and is very much agreed upon and to think the first match in Takeover was probably the best to open the PPV. Either way in picking up Wrestlemania again I’m at The Bar vs. Braun Strowman and his “mystery opponent” but yeah… The WWE just isn’t aimed at me I suppose.

Either way I just will always have that stigma is all, it’s ingrained into me as WWE and sports entertainment as a whole is that Star Wars, is that Twilight, is pure escapism. One of the best Wrestlemania’s in recent history that’s for sure though.

Seriously, WWE 2K vs. NBA 2K

When you say it like this it already sounds like an unanimous win for NBA, but if people just give me a moment you’ll learn that this entry isn’t an argument but more a “prove me wrong”. I’m currently playing NBA 2K18 after a life of “towing the line” when it comes to the sport and generally seeing the loves and hates I have in my life. To actually see things a lot more differently as friends, family, people, everything is a bit “up in the air” and so I find myself relearning things as well as trying new things and this means actually buying NBA 2K18 in the most “that’s not Alex” move. The sugar on top and in a way of “you can take the lad out of the haggle but you can’t take the haggle out of the lad” as I walked into Game and for nigh on three months was asking for a price check, it started at £50, then as it worked it’s way down as it was then £45, £42, £40. Now it’s £35 but in my masterstroke (£33 on Amazon) I haggled for a pre-owned copy for £22.50 and this was only last month so I’m chuffed with myself.

Since owning NBA 2K18 it’s presentation is the best translation from TV to video game I have EVER WITNESSED! Take this statement to the bank and “fight me” if you disagree, I say “fight me” but I’m a lover not a fighter so I simply ask for you to inform me in a diplomatic fashion a better video game. To think the game has an in-game talk show’eque feature called NBA 2KTV and it’s so perfect you’d think it was a real thing on TV, at a push Netflix or Amazon Prime. I have no words as it features real people (I see you Rachel Demita talking about a video game world as if it’s real and that simply helps “blur the lines” as yes I’m in my thirties and I still game but technically better a video game than murder or hooliganism #SadButTrue.

The most popular criticism I hear about WWE 2K is “if the developers are 2K, why are the presentations so different”. Clearly point one NBA and nil points for WWE. But this is a true statement, but technically when have you ever watched WWE and thought it was real? What WWE is is the same level of escapism as Star Wars, or Twilight, or Power Rangers but it’s clearly “predetermined” so the stigma is beyond a joke but then you get a couple individuals that may be “sports entertainers” but look how they then transfer to “real sports”. The key example is Brock Lesnar, that man may be the distaste of the “WWE Universe” for his schedule but he freakin’ earned it as we’re meant to “suspend our disbelief” when watching WWE but then if an individual doesn’t turn up on a regular basis we scream bloody murder?

Either way look at how Brock Lesnar transferred his skill into UFC and won, then CM Punk tried the same thing but lost. But because we are WWE fans we’re meant to back and support CM Punk more so though he lost in 2 minutes and 30 seconds or something silly like that. Brock Lesnar went on to become a Heavyweight Champion without a “predetermined” or “scripted” match in sight. And not just UFC and mixed martial arts but look at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, in particular Joe Hendry (Local Hero?). From Scotland he performs (literally edited that from “wrestles”) in Defiant Wrestling and commentated for the now defunct 5* wrestling. Unfortunate for that promotion as the idea was a noble one but the execution was “all over the shop” and so if there was any positives from the promotion was how WWE saw Zack Gibson and just how amazing an individual he is and if the stigma with sports entertainment is real then Zack Gibson is “Oscar-award worthy”.

I see WWE and sports entertainment as another escapism such as films, sports, anything along those lines as it’s all <insert a vice here>. The madness of life and our day to day’s, it’s a portal to another world sometimes and so it means to watch it and yes The Undertaker isn’t really undead but he is a fictional character that has lasted nigh-on 20 years and so I can’t hate the guy or the idea as his tenure has garnished appreciation. If this is the case I’m watching Joe Hendry or Brock Lesnar and they are merely two individuals that have somewhat transcended the “sports entertainment bubble” and warrant even the most sceptical individual’s adoration.

For that I have no idea how when playing both games people actually use that argument “how are 2K the same company?” as even the basis of the the two mediums are completely different. You can’t tell me after watching an NBA game that it’s scripted as I went to a mate’s to watch the 2014 NBA Finals (I learned the trophy is called the Larry O’Brien Trophy… The more you know). In agreeing with my friend to stay up and watch it with him as he’s a big basketball fan and though I’m not, he’s a good guy and so it just means that I appreciate the experience as to sit with somebody that liked it enough to answer those pesky questions I surely asked.

Now to my point, if with only watching Ultimate Deletion the Raw commentator Michael Cole actually began the segment apologising for what viewers were about to watch. The same apology that seems beyond silly now as there were members of “The WWE Universe” that weren’t happy how in the “1 hr cut version” for Hulu subscribers they actually cut that segment. You can’t apologise for a segment that so many people voiced their unhappiness for it’s cutting Michael. That man sometimes.

All of this is simply my own way of stating how the WWE is most definitely its own being and its own world sometimes as though “it’s fake”, that argument is as old as The British Monarchy and I just don’t see how Star Wars, Star Trek, Twilight or any film or television programme is any more real? This means that I’m watching it and it’s most definitely that “suspend your disbelief” and for that, it’s most definitely “real to me dammit“.

So when I hear “the presentation of NBA 2K is better and is notably more polished than WWE 2K” I question fans of NBA, WWE, as well as video games as in what world are the two ever drawn in the same breath except for “they have the same developer in 2K”. This means in my short experience of NBA 2K18, it may just even beat FIFA when it comes to sports games, unfortunately football/soccer is the nations sport so yeah. But in presentation and in execution there is not another video game based on sports (or sports entertainment) that comes close.

Awaiting those suggestions by the way faithful readers.

Under The Hood

The expression I keep using is “The car might look fine, but you need to check under the hood”, I mean it because I said it *giggles to himself* Unfortunately its everything else that life seems to throw in my face for simply looking at people and things like I used to is all so surreal for me. Each time I find myself thinking “I’m out of the woods”, then I’m pulled back in and not like I’m important or “the be all end all” of the world but yeah, I saw an amazing quote by Kevin Love of Cleveland Cavaliers fame, not as much fame as Kyrie Irving or Lebron James, but there is some remnants of fame in the man.

Amen Mr Love… Amen, and with such a surname my level of appreciation and man-crush for the man has grown exponentially. Do I appreciate him as much as I do Kyrie Irving, maybe not as to play for “my” Boston Celtics is the only way to go. But besides that little discrepancy that man is epic winning in my book and will forever be a winner (omitting the Celtics or the Orlando Magic, take those teams out of the equation and he’s my favourite player). Well this entry is more musings and more thoughts as we all know I get enough of them and my head just wants to explode sometimes.

Asuka… I’m writing for the first time since August don’t ya know?

I genuinely thought that I was “Ready for Asuka”… Turned out to be indigestion.

I look at the Raw just gone (1/1/2018) and I just can’t get my head around it, the match between Asuka and Alexa Bliss though solid, left me in a bit of a quandary. The match ended with Asuka beating Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss with an armbar but the internet rumbles were that “I could smell a title change” and some people said it was due before Wrestlemania. I’d love that but I’m not too sure if it’s feasible as the internet says Raw 25th Anniversary (22/1/2018), if the case then for Asuka to confirm that she’d be in the first ever Woman’s Royal Rumble on (28/1/2018). How can she be in the rumble if any title-change with Bliss beforehand would mean she doesn’t need to be in the rumble as that’s been the prize since the dawn of time.

Win the Royal Rumble (January) and you’re guaranteed a World Title Match with the champion at Wrestlemania (March/April).

So this is a post for anybody to fill in the blanks as there is with that dynamic, sooner the better. Thanks x

That awkward moment when within one year, neither man even “appears on WWE Television” anymore *rolls eyes*

Well this was a special deal, and it showed

Unless you live on Mars or under a rock OR under a rock on Mars, you must know by now that Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington took his own life on the 20th July 2017, found by his housekeeper in his California home as a result of hanging. Ironically on former Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog lead singer Chris Cornell’s birthday but he was another celebrity that took his life only 2 months earlier, this begs a serious question are the two linked somehow but that is neither here nor there and I just don’t know what to make of this one bit. I’m not even going to sugarcoat things as I’m so angry and so annoyed at the situation as I know humanity has been around long before I was born and will be there long after I’m dead *touch wood* but the only way I can say it is that it’s 11th August 2017 where I find myself in the Hounslow branch of Starbucks, I’ve never felt so heartbroken by a “celebrity death” and nothing has come close since maybe Princess Diana but I think I was too young in 1997. To think I was an 11 year old boy when that happened in that Parisian tunnel, but this suicide hit me as a 31 year old man as this is when I admit a thing scarcely mentioned, in fact even thought about… *deep breath* as I’m not the rock pillar you see today *sarcasm detected* but yeah… Linkin Park and Chester Bennington’s voice in particular got me through many a dark day and night as he knew just what to say. I doubt I’m special in this regard as yes not just mental health but teenage angst is oft “problematic”.

This means all the rubbish I’ve had to go through and all the drama and strife that goes through one’s mind when I was at a cricket match when an acquaintance mentioned it to me. A bit male banter, a bit “I don’t want to believe it” but I simply retorted “thanks for ruining my day”, even Middlesex winning a T20 match against Kent couldn’t soften the blow and to be honest it took another day or two before I genuinely took it in and believed it. I say a day or two but that cricket match was on 20th July 2017, to think I heard about The Garage doing a fundraiser for Mind as we’re in an age of time when these things can’t be hushed anymore but at the same time just to know that if people are willing to talk, people are willing to listen. So that night in London was well and truly out of my remit but then to be honest what a stone cold, amazing cause and it was just the tonic I needed to allure me out of my shell.

There’s something unique and rather niche about those into rock music, into alternative, indie, you name it as whatever it is in particular the style of music just breeds a certain following that means even in lining up to get in everybody was super nice and super helpful. The kind of situation that means I haven’t lost all hope in humanity but it is well and truly on life-support as I just can’t smile like I used to and it’s times I think back to Shawn Michaels when he gave up his World Championship back in February 1997. Either way this was how I saw everything I had lost somewhat and just taking some time out just to find myself and it was in Chester’s death that it was that jolt NEEDED to re-introduce myself with the “real world”, can’t feel sorry for myself all day I suppose and so yes Chester Bennington’s death is a sad one and it clearly can’t be forgotten, but maybe it’s “too soon” but I do honestly try to find the good in ANY situation and in this death I challenged myself and though I can only speak for myself I just pray that this death wasn’t in vain and it touched another human being as the night was a raging success and I read that it raised upwards of £4000 for MIND as well as has spun off plans for another night in Brighton that’ll hopefully raise even higher so dare I say it but “you’ve gotta crack some eggs, to make an omelette”.

One word: AWARENESS!