Pre-Breaking Bad Series Finale thoughts: Should Walter White Die?

We're about an hour away from the finale of Breaking Bad and to say people are excited would be an understatement.  This finale seems so unlike other anticipated series enders, partially because you really have no idea how they're going to tie things up.  The only other major finale that I can think of is Lost, and even with that show, you had an inkling of what might happen.  Generally speaking, you understood who was good, who was bad, and which side everybody was on.  This feels different, though.  Not necessarily better -- I just can't even imagine what's going to happen.

It's funny, a couple of years ago, I criticized David Chase for passing judgment on Soprano viewers for wanting Tony to get killed off.  According to Chase, viewers have no right to want Tony to get his comeuppance after cheering him along for all these years.  I argued that fans were ABLE to root for him with the expectation that he would eventually get what he deserves.  And yet, here I am, with Walter White.....and I really don't want him to die.  I'm honestly not sure what he deserves, but I really want him to find redemption, not retribution.  Which is interesting, because while David Chase defended Tony Soprano....Vince Gilligan seems to present Walter (in interviews, anyway) as somebody who can't be saved.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  He's Scarface now.

I don't really see it that way, though.  This season has seemed to be about bringing Walter back to the light side, so to speak.  He ultimately chose his family over his empire.  And despite numerous offers and temptations, he's stayed away from the meth game.  Even in the past few episodes, he's shown moments of humanity.  He consistently fought on behalf of Jesse, and it wasn't until Skyler of all people encouraged him, that he decided to put a hit on him.  And even when he did that, he wanted to make sure it was sudden and painless, and that his girlfriend wouldn't be the one to discover the body.  He also put his own freedom at risk in order to protect Hank.  And when Hank was again in danger, he was willing to give up all he had worked for to save him.  And when none of that worked, and when he had lost everything, he STILL did everything he could to protect his family.  He certainly hasn't been explicitly villainous.

The only current situation where Walter is the "bad" guy would be with Jesse.  While many of Walt's actions could be considered justifiable, his sometimes harsh and selfish treatment of Jesse typically cannot.  He let Jane die when he could save her.  He poisoned Brock in order to turn Jesse against Gus.  And now, he put a hit out on him.  It's the one situation where you really can't root for Walt.

So what do I want to have happen?  Honestly, I kinda want Walt to get a "happy" ending.  I want him to make peace with Skyler and Walt Jr.  I want him to work things out with Jesse.  And if he dies doing so, I'm okay with that.  But I'm not sure I want him to be vilified and to end up with nothing.

What do you all want to see?

Read more!

Trending Topics: Once Upon A Time Season 2 Review - [a case of the summer]

Yeah, I know summer has officially been over for almost a week now, but I've been pretty tired and worn out, and haven't had much time to post the final Trending Topics -- which was supposed to be completed last week.  And my "go to" topic for the entire summer, should I have nothing to discuss, was always going to be a review of the second season of Once Upon A Time.  And since the next season premieres this Sunday, this is really the last opportunity for me to discuss what happened last season.

If you recall from my review of season one, I questioned the decision to break the spell within the first year.  While not a bad move, I felt like there was still fuel in the fire.  Perhaps have Emma realize the truth and have to spend the rest of the year trying to convince the others.  There could be some interesting scenes between her and Henry and the "villainous" in-the-know pair of Regina and Mr. Gold.  And there could be some humorous scenes where Mary Margaret attempts to get some love advice from gal pal Emma, who is grossed out knowing that her friend is actually her mother.  But after seeing how the season played out, I really didn't have a problem with the curse being broken.  The characters still had a certain level of complexity -- attempting to reconcile their heroic fairy tale personalities with their flawed Storybrooke ones -- which meant that the two stories being told (the present day storyline and the flashback from the Enchanted Forest) felt different, while still connected.

Even the introduction of magic -- another mini-criticism I had -- ended up being a wise decision.  Quite frankly, with everybody now in the "know," how on earth could somebody like Mr. Gold or Regina protect themselves from a town full of angry and justifiably vengeful former warriors?  Magic was a necessary evil in order to level the playing field, so to speak.  And the existence of magic in this world ended up being an important plot point as well.

This season also saw the introduction of some fun new characters, particularly Hook.  We also met Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Cora (who appeared last season, but fleshed out a great deal this season), and of course Neal/Baelfire.

And while the Neal/Baelfire reveal was anything but shocking, it added a really fun, complicated level to some disturbing relationships.  Let's see....Regina is Mary Margaret's stepmother.  Mary Margaret is Henry's grandmother.  Regina is also Henry's adopted mother.  And Mr. Gold is his grandfather.  So deliciously twisted!  And, again, it created some fun new relationships.  I loved the scene, for example, when Regina came to Mary Margaret's apartment and Mr. Gold protected her, partially because favors were owed but also because she was family.

And I loved the deeper connection between Regina and Mr. Gold.  These two have always had a tense, complicated relationship, and this season really solidified that.  It seemed like a constant wrestling match to see which of these two were actually the lesser of two evils.  At the beginning of the season, it seemed like it might be Regina (who had mercy on Mary Margaret and Emma when they returned from the Enchanted Forest, while Gold didn't seem to have an issue with them dying).  However, as the season progressed, it was Mr. Gold who seemed more likely to see the light.  Between Neal and Belle, Mr. Gold had proverbial angels on his shoulders urging him to be good.  Regina, meanwhile, was being manipulated by her mother, who wanted her to be as dark as possible.  As a result of this evolution, these two had some fun scenes together.  I particularly enjoyed when Mr. Gold paid his respects at Cora's grave, and urged Regina to let go of her hate and to not seek vengeance upon Mary Margaret.  It seemed like.....friendly advice.  It was also interesting to learn that Mr. Gold was the one truly responsible for Regina's journey into the darkness.

My one criticism of the season was that the show came dangerously close to falling into a Sylar/Heroes situation.  Heroes suffered a great deal, in my opinion, because they couldn't commit to a direction with Sylar.  Sylar was the show's breakout character (although I still favor HRG) and it seemed like the showrunners wanted to capitalize on his popularity by featuring him more prominently.  Yet the evidently didn't want to make him such an explicitly evil villain, so as a result he kept wavering from one side to another.  It seemed like he might have seen the light, but then he'd do something incredibly evil (at a whim).  Then when it seemed like he'd returned to the darkside, he'd just as quickly show some compassion.  In the end, he just seemed like a sloppy character without any relatable motivation.  Once Upon A Time came extremely close to doing this with Mr. Gold and ESPECIALLY Regina.  Much like Heroes, these two were your breakout characters and the ones the audience seemed to most enjoy.  And much like Sylar, they both seemed to sway depending on the direction of the wind.  I would say Mr. Gold had slightly more motivation and, as a result, seemed more grounded.  But I didn't feel the same way about Regina.  She seemed at the peak of evil when the season began and then just as quickly seemed to try to integrate herself into the very group she had tried to kill.  Then, out of no where, she seemed to reconcile with her mom and went back to her killing ways.  And then, again, she's suddenly back to being selfless.  She just seemed to switch sides too quickly and without the strongest motivation.  And even Mr. Gold wasn't completely spared -- his war with Hook had me wondering who I should root for from time to time as well.

Ultimately, the show seems to have settled on both of them becoming reluctantly "good," and I think that's the wisest decision.  Having the curse broken dramatically shifted the relationships that were established in the first season.  And putting Mr. Gold, Regina, Hook, Emma, Mary Margaret, and David on a boat heading towards Neverland significantly changes things once again.  Hook stole Mr. Gold's wife.  Mr. Gold killed her and then cut off Hook's hand.  Regina had Mary Margaret's father killed.  Mary Margaret was responsible for the death of Regina's mother.  Emma is the birth mother of Regina's adopted son.  And now, they're all together in close proximity fighting for the same cause.  The possibilities are endless and intriguing.

I was disappointed to learn that Once Upon A Time had experienced some ratings woes, because overall I thought it was a strong season.  And I stand by my assessment that it's one of the most clever shows on television today.  While I won't be able to watch the finale "live" (the second hour conflicts with the series finale of Breaking Bad, which will be FAR harder to avoid spoilers from), I'm looking extremely forward to its return.  Here's hoping for another great season!

Read more!

Throwback Thursday: The defending champions - [a case of the summer]

Since this is the final week of my [a case of the summer] series, this will also be the last Throwback Thursdays.  I'm actually quite disappointed that I didn't devote more time to this feature, since it always got good hits and it was a lot of fun to do.  However, for whatever reason, Thursdays ALWAYS ended up being the toughest days for me to sit down and write.  Something always came up.  As a result, this feature definitely got the shaft this summer.  Having said that, I do think I might bring it back here and there.

The final edition will look back at a photo collage of my office's softball team.  In 2011, my firm started an Inter-Office Softball Tournament, with the six offices in the area competing against each other in a tournament.  In 2011, we won in dominant fashion (we suffered one loss, but mercy ruled in two games -- including the finals).  In 2012, we reclaimed the championship with an undefeated performance.  This year, our team has been split into two (our own little brand extension, if you would) due to a recent merge.  This complicates things, but I'm still eager to see if we're able to take home the trophy once again.  Let's hope!

Take a look back with the below photos:

Read more!

LIVE Raw thoughts - September 16, 2013

11:04 - Now THAT is the ending we have all been waiting for.  Raw was pretty lackluster tonight -- there were some good matches and a couple of great segments, but overall it dragged on -- but that was an awesome ending.  It was about time that the roster filtered out and came to Bryan's rescue.  Great visual and somewhat overdue.  Well done.

Only odd thing....what was with Kofi Kingston taking that Roman Reigns spear?  The segment was an absolute assault of the Shield, yet Kofi takes a random beating?  Seemed odd...

10:35 - First on screen acknowledgement of Brie and Daniel Bryan as a couple, and it was surprisingly restrained.  Purposeful or not, the Bellas are extremely unlikable characters, so I'd be extremely hesitant to pair them up too much on TV.  I do like the idea of Bryan being an inspirational favorite backstage, though.

10:24 - I'm glad that the Usos haven't completely been forgotten now that the Prime Time Players are the new flavor of the month.  Good for them, this was a fun match.

10:20 - "Here's what you missed if you don't have the app" .....as we show it to you now.

9:51 - Orton doesn't seem to be eliciting much emotion from Miz's parents.  His dad seems particularly uninspired.

9:35 - Why would Miz be happy about this match?  What does he stand to benefit?

9:22 - Actually, Natalya, wasn't that a tag team title match?

9:14 - As an extension of the below comment -- seeing Big Show punch out Dusty out of mercy would have been that much better as well.  No drawn out apologies or whining.  Just Big Show realizing that Dusty's fate would be much worse if he was on the receiving end of a Shield beatdown.  Again, less is more.

9:12 - Less would be SO much more with this Big Show thing.  We don't need to see him blubbering and crying in order to understand his ordeal.  Frankly, seeing Big Show punch him and then hug him and set him down, without crying, would have been a lot more powerful.

9:09 - This is a fun segment but I swear....if Big Show cries....

9:03 - Is there a more ill fitting theme music than the one Stephanie McMahon has?

8:52 - "Attention!  We're going to need all of the minorities on the roster to stand around Dusty Rhodes!  And, randomly, Natalya!"

8:47 -  I see guys like Fandango and R-Truth and it truly accentuates how many guys are treading water right now.

8:36 - Careful now....Brad Maddox might be welling sensibly fitting clothes!

8:32 - Had to laugh at Dolph Ziggler pointing at Jerry Lawler before hitting that 10th elbow drop on Ambrose.

8:22 - With things going the way they had, I really wish they hadn't taken the World Heavyweight Title off of Dolph Ziggler.  Alberto Del Rio hasn't exactly lit the world on fire, and the crowd is STILL into Ziggler despite not being treated all that great over the past couple months.  Do something with the guy!

8:10 - Somebody learned a new word....  #cadence

8:02 - I love the "Respect the Beard" t-shirt and all, but I really wish Bryan would bring back his awesome leather entrance jacket.

7:53 - Looks like I was half right.  He went "YES!  YES!  YES!" for BOTH sides.  And, for the first time ever, the side plate features color!  http://instagram.com/p/eVxOwqAFOp/

7:46 - Alright, sounds like Night of Champions was unfortunately lackluster (which is surprising, since WWE almost always delivers on their PPV's), but Daniel Bryan walked away with the WWE Championship.  Two questions:  Will the decision be reversed?  And what will Bryan's sideplate design be?

I would imagine we have a few options here.  One is the circular "DB" design he occasionally sports on his trunks.  Another is the classic American Dragon logo.  And then there's the idea I would do:  "YES! YES! YES!" (or just one) on one plate, and "NO!  NO!  NO!" on the other.  Although he has sorta drifted from yelling "NO!"

Read more!

Summer of Excitement: Murphy's Law - [a case of the summer]

I don't want to short change the fun weekend I had or the exciting work week I experienced, but I just HAD to devote this edition of Summer of Excitement to Thursday -- the day that everything that could have possibly gone wrong most certainly did go wrong.  Let me give you a brief backstory.

On Tuesday my colleague received an e-mail from a partner saying that he would be giving a presentation on Thursday night and he wanted to know if she could help him set up for it.  She was unavailable, so I told her I could since I would be working in that particular office on Thursday.  On Wednesday all I was told was that we'd need to bring a projector and screen.

So I arrive at that office on Thursday and a little before lunch the partner asks me "So, do you have a projector?"  This was the first thing that went wrong.  I was (apparently incorrectly) under the impression that each office in our firm has their own projector.  As it turns out, this is the ONLY office that does not.  I reread the e-mail I sent and determined with a great deal of certainty that no reasonable person could have possibly interpreted from the wording of that e-mail that this office does not have their own projector to provide.  So I get on the phone with my office to see if we can have our projector and screen couriered to us within the next couple of hours.

And then the next hit comes.  My normal office does not have a portable projector screen.  We only have the one that comes down from the ceiling.  So following lunch, I had to run down to the local Staples and actually go out and buy their office a projector screen.  Sheesh.  But the pounding didn't stop there.  We plan to leave at about 5:30, and at 5:00 I'm told that they need 20 copies of this 56 page presentation.  Finally me and the partner decide that he'll stay and wait for the copies, while I head to the building that the presentation will be held at (about 20 or so minutes away) to set up.

So this building is part of a complex, where it and two other buildings share one underground parking garage.  I'm lugging my laptop bag and projector in one hand, and this fairly heavy projector in the other.  So I walk over to the elevator and take it up to the first floor.  I look around and am unable to see any names I recognize.  I then realize, of course, that I'm in the wrong building (thing that could go wrong #4).  I go outside, where it's rather hot and muggy (and I'm practically in a suit) and walk into the right building.  However, I quickly realize I'm in the wrong wing (#5) and must go back outside and walk around to the entrance on the other side of the building.  In the process, I apparently knock the keycard to my building off of my bag, so that's gone now (#6).  I get inside and find the right room, only for the partner (who had just arrived) to tell me "Why don't we just use the whiteboard on the wall?"  So we didn't even end up using the darn screen!  I'm counting that as #7.

The presentation went really well and it was actually quite interesting (and hey, overtime!)  But we could also hear a terrible, terrible storm outside.  So when everything ended at about 8:30 and I went to head home, I discovered that all of the essentially roads for me to get back to my house were closed due to flooding.  What should have been a relatively quick, 15 minute drive ended up being about a half hour.  Yikes!

Thankfully, it wasn't a bad day and I was dealing with extremely pleasant people.  So, I was able to have a sense of humor about it (although it did eat into a large part of my day and it was rather stressful).  But man, I REALLY could have used somebody throwing me a bone in at least ONE of those situations!

Read more!

Trending Topics: Breaking Bad - Why (SPOILER) is screwed.... - [a case of the summer]

And here's Part 2 of this week's edition of Trending Topics!  And since it's extremely spoiler-worthy, I'm going to be doing a page break.  This post will discuss the happenings of last Sunday's episode of Breaking Bad, but nothing beyond that (I don't read spoilers).  So if you want to have a hearty discussion on the final moments of the 9/8 episode, click below!

Continue reading "Trending Topics:  Breaking Bad - Why (SPOILER) is screwed.... - [a case of the summer]"....

Read more!

Trending Topics: AJ's Tattoo - [a case of the summer]

I was originally going to do this week's Trending Topics about the latest episode of Breaking Bad, but then another matter came up that I wanted to discuss.  But then I realized that it was a REALLY big episode and that I still wanted to talk about it.  So instead of doing a Throwback Thursday this week, I thought I'd do TWO Trending Topics!

This first edition is about AJ Lee's curiously controversial tattoo.  For those of you unaware, the current Divas Champion tattooed the date of her title win, in tick marks, on the back of her neck (shown above).  Joey Styles sung her praise on Twitter and personally I thought it was pretty cool.  Then JBL and Jerry Lawler made fun of her, publicly, on Raw and it really bothered me.  Why are you trying to make your Divas Champion feel like a fool for being proud of her title win (right before a PPV where the entire premise of the show is that prestigious championships are being defended), while simultaneously trying to build up the credibility of their reality television show?  It came across, to me, as mean spirited bullying and as a fan of the girl (since her NXT promo video), it annoyed me a lot.

Then I visit the Blog of Doom to discover that dirt sheet guru Dave Meltzer rather obnoxiously criticized her as well, saying that "people within the industry" look down at people who get excited about "secondary" title wins, and that they're referred to, in a derogatory fashion, as "belt marks."  And Meltzer himself took a rather holier-than-thou stance on the matter, looking down on her as well.  So THAT annoyed me even further.

But what made things worse?  While the majority of people sided with AJ, there were actually people who sided with Meltzer.  Are you kidding me?  Apparently we now need to check with others to see if it's okay to be proud of something?  So what if wrestling is predetermined, it was still an exceptionally proud moment for her.  And why shouldn't it be?  This is one instance, I believe, where they actively decided to put the championship on the best person on the roster.  And since winning the title, as a heel, she's achieved clean, submission victories over Kaitlyn, Natalya, Naomi, and Layla.  She's actually perhaps the ONLY champion who doesn't lose regularly.  As a lifelong wrestling fan and as somebody who had an uphill battle in achieving success (due to her size and less-than-traditional good looks), why shouldn't she be extremely proud of all she's accomplished?

Personally, as a wrestling fan, I appreciate that there's a competitor out there who loves what she does and is proud of what she's achieved.  We sit here, getting riled up by Edge and rooting for Daniel Bryan because they're lifelong fans who want to be there, and then we judge AJ for essentially being the same?

And frankly, who are any of us to decide what anybody else should or should not be proud of?  And certainly it's not the silliest thing any person in the wrestling industry has tattooed onto their body.  On CM Punk's DVD, he insinuates that he once got a tattoo of a waffle because he had really good waffles that morning.  And even if that's not true, how about the fact that he has a giant Pepsi logo tattooed on one arm, and a giant Cobra logo on the other?  Or how about the Undertaker, whose entire body is pretty much a tribute to his character?  Or Mysterio, who has symbols from his mask on his chest?  Personally, I think all are fine (again, I think each has a lot more personality and significance than some stupid tribal design), but the point is that she seems to be put under a microscope that others are not.

And if this is a matter of "this is fake, why does she care about a nonathletic accomplishment?"  Others have brought up the Emmy Awards comparison, and that's accurate.  But how about the fact that there are several actors out there who have gotten tattoos to commemorate "fake" things.  The lead actors of Lord of the Rings got tattoos to commemorate their role.  Likewise, Kiefer Sutherland got a tattoo for his role as Jack Bauer.

So, yeah, I'm Team AJ.

Read more!

LIVE Raw thoughts - September 9, 2013

11:10 - I was a little worried two things were going to happen.  I was first worried that the show would end, AGAIN, with Orton standing over a beaten Daniel Bryan (I don't mind the beat downs, but the visual of him standing over Bryan's body with the title over his head is getting old).  I was then worried that they'd give the heroic moment to Big Show, and not Bryan, by having the giant punch Orton.  They teased both, but resisted both as well.  In the end, the right thing happened -- Bryan took advantage of an opportunity and took down Orton himself.  The final moment of the episode was Bryan standing over Orton, holding the title high.  It was a refreshing ending and I'm glad they went with it.

10:44 - I wonder if Edge will have a specialty Smackdown t-shirt like the one he had for Raw?

10:41 - Nothing expresses anger like destroy a 30 year old television.

10:36 - It just occurred to me that Christian got changed into his wrestling gear just to pretend to get beat up.

10:35 - And the Internet will now explode with airbrush jokes!

10:27 - Ricardo Rodriguez is not nearly as entertaining and charming as he used to be in this role.  This pairing with Rob Van Dam is just a poor fit for both of them.

10:25 - Does anybody on this show not cry?

10:18 - The expected result, but it was a fun match.  I particularly enjoyed seeing Goldust hit Cody's finisher.

10:02 - Always been a big Goldust fan.  Exciting to see him back in the ring.

9:54 - Just remember, I always said that the Miz shouldn't ever be a face.

9:40 - That spinning thing was pretty f'n cool.  Like Kofi, I REALLY wish they would do something with Cesaro as well.

9:37 - I still think Santino works better as the oblivious heel than the lovable face.

9:30 - Not mentioning that ADR has Mexican flags hanging around the corners for the ring until AFTER the match is over.  Your observant announcers, folks!

9:17 - The announcers are really annoying in this segment.  The announcers kept harping on her being jealous of not being on Total Divas, despite her repeatedly saying that she only cares about the championship and not being on the show.  But hey, let's get over the show and not the championship, right?  And then they kept belittling her professional accomplishments and making it seem like she's a loser for not being on Total Divas.

9:13 - I've never watched Total Divas, but I find it funny that on WWE television, JoJo is portrayed as a face while Eva Marie is portrayed as a heel.  Yet if you check out WWE.com, their reviews of the show seem to portray Eva Marie as a go-getter and JoJo as a bitter, sore loser.

9:07 - We've had public job evaluations, why not public medical exams?

9:06 - The "This is awkward!" chant is awesome.

8:55 - While somewhat protected, that was a pretty decisive loss for Ziggler.  I'm not really sure what's going on with him.

8:46 - So Dolph Ziggler went from fighting the machine to wanting to prove himself to Triple H?  They've really dropped the ball with him.  The crowd was RED HOT for him after his title win and even following his face turn.  Now he's just floundering.

8:41 - Peculiar backstage segment there.  I understand what they were going for -- it makes sense to have a face sympathize with Big Show, instead of judging him -- in order to keep the fans on his side.  But I wonder if Booker T was the right choice.  In a lot of ways he's perfect.  He's retired, so he doesn't need to worry about his own crowd reaction.  But at the same time, I'm not entirely convinced he has SUCH a deep relationship with the audience that people would say, "Well, if Booker T's okay with it, then I guess he can't be all that bad."

8:37 - Wow, is this the first time Jerry Lawler has ever been dressed like an adult?

8:31 - I REALLY wish they would do SOMETHING with Kofi Kingston.  When was the last time he was in a legitimate angle?

8:25 - Have they explicitly stated one way or another whether the Intercontinental Championship is on the line at Night of Champions?  I mean, all indications point at "no," but I'm surprised they haven't outright said so yet.

8:19 - Effective segment, and I was glad that Triple H played a straight up standard heel.  Didn't try to get the crowd on his side at any time.

8:11 - One of the great things about Daniel Bryan -- and something we missed, to an extent, with CM Punk -- is that he doesn't need to act cooler than the room.  When he's standing in the middle of the ring and the crowd is erupting for him, he can smile and look happy.  It makes it more fulfilling for the fans.

8:05 - Man, I miss Edge.  I still maintain that the World Heavyweight Championship would be treated with a lot more respect if Edge was still around.

8:01 - Everybody's entrances these days are so bland and generic that it's almost surreal seeing Edge come out with the smoke and pyro.

7:03 - Alright, I'm getting things off to an early start so that I can kick off a pre-Raw discussion.  I was going to do a Trending Topic on this, but figured things might change by the time I write it later this week.  Anyway, this discussion will be on the Big Show's story from last week.  Like others, I found the whole thing flawed.  They wanted us to feel a certain way without writing the story behind.  All that Triple H had done was sign a match between Daniel Bryan and the Big Show -- a match that had happened numerous times in the past.  It didn't seem decidedly evil, yet they kept harping on the fact that Big Show was adamantly against it.  Why?  The one argument they COULD make was that Big Show was aware of the damage Daniel Bryan had suffered after weeks of 4 on 1 assaults from the Shield and Randy Orton, and that he was in no condition to fight.  But that wasn't the route they took.  Again, they wanted to create an emotional response without actually giving us a story that warrants that.

And as far as the match goes, there were no consequences.  So what if Big Show won?  So what if Big Show lost?  With nothing on the line, there was no reason to get invested.  Let's say fans care about Big Show getting fired....why would they root for Daniel Bryan?  In their eyes, he's only making a difficult situation worse for the Big Show.

What would I have done?  Glad you asked.  Triple H's firing spree was already established through Cody Rhodes.  So why not Triple H sign Daniel Bryan vs. the Big Show.  And since Daniel Bryan is the #1 Contender for the WWE Championship, he needs to be winning.  So if Daniel Bryan loses against the Big Show, then he's fired.  Now Big Show has a motivation to not want to fight.  Then you have Triple H say "if it appears to me like you're holding back, you're going to be the one who is fired."  Now there's something on the line, and the fans can relate to the internal struggle.  They'll still root for Bryan (their #1 face) because they don't want him to lose.  But they'll sympathize with Big Show's struggle because they don't want him to be unfairly fired, either.

And, thankfully, they haven't even booked themselves into a corner.  They can have the Shield run in and attack Bryan, earning him the DQ victory, which would prevent him from getting fired.  Then you go with the original ending of the Shield holding Bryan and Triple H forcing him to knock him out.

Read more!

Summer of Excitement: New York Renaissance Faire - [a case of the summer]

This weekend I finally went to the New York Renaissance Faire, which was a nice little combination of Medieval Times and Oktoberfest.  It may sound odd that I said I "finally" went, but that's actually the case.  Actually, the first year we went to Oktoberfest only happened because we intended to go to the Renaissance Faire, only to find out that it stopped in September.  We ended up doing the Oktoberfest celebration each year instead, but I happened upon a bulletin for the Renaissance Faire and said, "Hey, let's give this another shot!"

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect.  It was $22 just to enter (which already put it behind the extremely free Oktoberfest entry) and the crowd that had assembled for this thing pretty much covered the entire gambit of society.  You had young couples with kids.  You had tattoo covered bikers.  You had people in very elaborate costumes.  You had middle aged people.  You had older couples.  It seemed like any and every one came to this thing.

Inside was an equally puzzling experience.  Like I said, there were people in these extremely expensive and elaborate costumes....yet they didn't seem to do a whole lot.  My friends and I settled for much of the day at one of the outdoor bars they have there, and we were pretty surprised to see that these people who dressed up essentially did the same thing.  They'd grab some beers, sit at a table, and just drink and talk.  I don't mean to imply that they're not "regular people," but I'd expect them to be a bit more into the novelty of the gathering.  I'm not sure what I expected them to do, but I guess I thought they'd do more.

The authenticity was also surprisingly inconsistent.  You had cool "hold fashiony" things like steak on a stake, turkey legs, and Mead.  But then right next to that they'd have pizzas, fajitas, and a frozen banana stand.  And to be perfectly honest, there seemed to be a lot of employees who were there in costume, but didn't seem to do or say anything that committed them to any sort of role.

Having said all of that, it was a pretty cool experience.  It's a huge park with rustic looking buildings to at least appear to be from that time period.  And they did have cool things like jousting and shops that offered unique jewelry and, yes, deadly weapons.  Perhaps coolest of all, though, is that they had a rotten tomato throwing booth!  That's right.  They had a guy standing inside of a building, and one wall had three holes in it -- for his head and hands.  And he'd stand there and yell insults at you as you threw tomatoes at him.  When I went up, he immediately called me "Justin Timberlake" (which means what?  That I'm a pretty boy?) and then told me that I was "very angry."  I guess I threw the tomatoes with extra intensity.  I have to say, though, that this dude really must feel it when he takes a shot directly to the face from a full grown adult.

And you think you have a bad job.

But hey, overall it was a really fun and interesting way to spend the day.  And plus, it was beautiful out and who doesn't enjoy having some beers while outside on a nice day?  I also can't get "Huzzah!" out of my head.

Read more!

Trending Topics: Ariel Castro - [a case of the summer]

So the big news of today (other than John McCain playing poker) is that Ariel Castro -- the man who kidnapped and raped three women for over a decade -- committed suicide while imprisoned in a correctional facility in Ohio.  What I want to discuss, though, is a troubling interview I heard this morning with Castro's lawyer.

The lawyer stated -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- that Castro's family received the news of his death not from the correctional facility or any medical examiner, but rather from the media.  And Castro's lawyer called that "disturbing."  Yes, THAT'S the disturbing thing about this whole situation.

Listen, I get it.  You're the guy's lawyer and you have a legal and moral obligation to look out for his interests, even in death.  But certainly there's something to be said about common sense and general decorum.  This is a man who kidnapped three women and kept them imprisoned for over a decade.  During those ten plus years, he raped them and even murdered numerous unborn children.  He physically abused these women, to the extent that they sustained permanent damage.  How immensely distasteful for this lawyer to judgmentally voice his opinion on the actions of media and the correctional facility considering everything that his client had done.

I'm not saying two wrongs make a right.  But I do think that lawyer should have shown a bit more discretion when deciding how to respond to this circumstance.

Oh, and my thoughts on the media are aimed squarely at the fact that most of them don't seem to realize that it's "hanged," not "hung."

Read more!

Summer Of Excitement: Irritating Bar Flies - [a case of the summer]

So while Labor Day Weekend is the recognized end of summer, it's not actually the official end of summer.  That isn't until late September.  As a result, I will continue my [a case of the summer] series until the weekend of September 21st.  I'll try to keep things exciting.

This week's Summer of Excitement installment isn't devoted to one particularly thrilling event.  Truth be told, a lot of little things happened that throughout the week -- some professional, some personal.  Professionally, I had to overcome one major obstacle (I hope I did) and I had to undertake some tasks that I had never done before.  It was challenging and took a lot of work and perseverance (and perhaps thick skin) to get through it.  But I did.  And I also began to build some new work relationships, which is exciting as well.  The promotion hasn't been all sunshine and jellybeans, but it's been fulfilling.  And, yes, exciting.

However, if I were to pinpoint anything for this installment, it would be what happened at the bar last night.  I ended up having to work late Friday (see above paragraph) despite the office closing early, so I didn't end up doing anything that night.  On Saturday, I had a delicious home made seafood dinner at a friend's place and then checked out a few bars.  I was supposed to go to the beach on Sunday, but the weather prohibited that.  I ended up watching numerous hours of Arrested Development and Beyond Belief:  Fact or Fiction (day well spent, in my view).  I really wanted to catch the new episode of Breaking Bad, as well.  But once the episode was over, I still wanted to go out, since I didn't have a chance to do anything Friday night.  So a friend and I went to our local pub -- a place where, genuinely, everybody does know our name.

Yet, for some reason, things weren't quite right.  Perhaps it was that it was a Sunday night.  More probable, perhaps it was because it was the "last" night of summer celebration.  But when we walked in, the music (while rather good) was absolutely blasting.  You could barely even converse.  It was far louder than it ever had been in the past.  Second, practically everybody there was obnoxiously drunk.  My friend and I were sitting at a booth, and another group of people were sitting at a tall table in the corner of the bar.  These guys (part of their group) would walk several feet away from their table and would start dancing, somewhat graphically.  That's all fine and good, except for the fact that they were doing it RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR TABLE.  And then a couple of their friends would join, and all of them would be dancing loudly and annoying practically in our laps.

The annoyingness wasn't limited to that group, either.  I went up to the bar to get a refill, and while waiting for the bartenders' attention some guy started walking by.  I moved over slightly, figuring he was trying to pass through the crowd to get to the nearby bathroom.  Instead, he stands right in front of me so that HE could get a beer.  Despite the fact that I was clearly standing there waiting.

And then worst of all, there was a bar fight.  Actually, more accurately, there were THREE.  The same two guys -- a middle aged man and a somewhat elderly looking guy -- got into an actual, legit bar fight on three separate occasions, within the span of ten minutes.  Like, they had to actually be broken up each time.  Yet, for some reason, they were allowed to come back inside each time.

I went out.  I had a couple of beers.  And it was a fine enough time.  But it wasn't worth being around people that I found obnoxious.  So, yeah, I got home around midnight and just watched some more TV.

Read more!