A Look At WWE NXT And A Bunch Of Random Stuff Too

A few entries ago, I mentioned my interest in WWE's new show replacing the ECW brand, dubbed NXT, in which eight Rookies are paired up with eight Pros to act as mentors in efforts to determine who the next big WWE superstar will be.  I watched the inaugural episode on Tuesday night and liked it a lot, though I wasn't really sure if I should devote a whole blog entry to it.  But after watching Spoony's 90+ minute rant on the most recent episode of TNA Impact, I felt inspired to do something a bit more in-depth on NXT.  And trust me, no one will be kidnapped by ninjas or gain superpowers just by wearing a ring here.

Bangkok Dangerous vs Bangkok Dangerous

After the past couple weeks, I've almost finally gotten through the huge stack of movies I accumulated during the closing of a Blockbuster Video store.  Actually I only have one movie left in the stack, that being Thirst (the Park Chan-Wook vampire flick).  Of course, I still have the Ringu anthology that I bought BEFORE I got all those movies, not to mention my copy of Rambo that doesn't work (along with my buddy's copy that I might burn instead).  Oddly enough, I had decided to put off watching both versions of Bangkok Dangerous until this past week for whatever reason, despite getting both movies early on in my period of plundering the Blockbuster shelves.  And yes, for those who are just starting to read this blog and/or had no prior idea, Bangkok Dangerous starring Nicolas Cage is in fact a remake of a Thai movie made almost a decade earlier.  Honestly, I think I had only a vague recollection of this and it completely slipped my mind until I went to Blockbuster and found just one copy of the original sitting on the shelf (compared to the 20+ copies of the Hollywood version that they were practically handing out at $3.99).  Immediately upon seeing them both, I got the idea to watch them both back-to-back and figure out what, if any, differences there were. 

I Totally Wish I Had Photoshop Skillz (The Wrestling Edition)

It seems as if I had any opportunity to practice Photoshopping, it'd be now.  You see, I spend a good chunk of my free time on the forums at WrestleCrap, where every so often there would be Photoshop threads where you take a certain wrestler (9 times out of 10, it's usually Batista) and put him in a weird situation.  Of course, seeing as I have no Photoshop skill and would rather crank something out quickly and be the first to have that idea posted instead of being beaten to the punch even if my end result is spectacular, I usually just crank something out real quick in MS Paint.  I only spend about 5-10 minutes on each picture, any more than 15 and I usually just give up and move onto something else.  I heard that GIMP is a good (and free) Photoshop substitute so I downloaded but I honestly haven't even installed it yet.  So behold my crappy pictures!  Considering these are about wrestling, which the "cool people" aren't watching anymore, I'll try to put them in context the best I can.

HIM Screamworks Review, Along With Another Movie Store Closing And More.

Coming off my Valentine's Day blog last week, I've been growing increasingly depressed.  First of all, if you think that blog was depressed, obviously you don't know me very well but I can see how it was a downer.  But honestly I wasn't as bummed as I normally am during V-Day due to being more paranoid about paying for car repairs.  But now that that's over with and the sticker shock is worn off (though I am mad about having to devote most of my tax refund to it), I think the Valentine's Day depression is coming a week late.  Honestly I was fine earlier this week then suddenly it all snuck up on me at once and I couldn't sleep (which is VERY rare for me) and I was getting major headaches from the stress.  So, with all of this stress caused by a holiday celebrating love while I'm suffering from a severe lack of it, I find it a tad bit ironic that I'm reviewing an album that focuses on love by one of my favorite bands.  Much like most American fans, I discovered HIM (short for His Infernal Majesty though they don't really acknowledge that anymore) due to Bam Margera's rabid fandom and his flashing of the iconic "Heartagram" at any opportunity.  And while constant shilling has died down in recent years, that hasn't stopped HIM from releasing albums stateside, the most recent of which being "Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice - Chapters 1-13."

The Pick-Up Artist Debacle

So here I sit on a February 14th morn, eating Oreos and milk for breakfast and typing away at my blog with no other plans for the day other than watching movies or maybe picking up a video game, possibly doing another job search (as if I weren't depressed already).  Truth be told, I've never celebrated Valentine's Day once in my life for a simple reason: I've never needed to.  Anyone who knows me knows I don't attract the ladies.  I'm kind, fairly funny and alright looking (believe me, it's taken me years to build myself up to become that modest) but usually either they don't notice me or I straight-up repel them away.  To make things worse, the few girls that I have attracted I just plain wasn't attracted to beyond being friends and hanging out.  I've never thought about them as romantic material, which I'm sure is some sort of reverse karma for all the girls that never thought of me at romantic material.  Believe me, I feel the pervasive sense of hypocrisy on my part.  Anyway, I've only had two "girlfriends", each of them dumping me after two months with the excuse of me being "too nice".  Yup.  So, with me not having any type of meaningful relationship, it's really hard to go about getting one when I don't know what I'm doing.  I needed help, professional help, simple as that.

Enter a goon with a fuzzy hat and goggles.

I don't really like using Sarcasmatron as a personal forum as I want people to laugh and be entertained.  I have done personal blogs for people to read but 1) It doesn't solve any of my problems and 2) No one gives a crap.  This will probably be the most personal entry on here but I feel it fits as it does have to deal partly with the entertainment industry.  So gather 'round as I tell the tale about how I almost-kinda-sorta-didn't-really get on The Pick-Up Artist.

The Final Blockbuster Haul, A Little Kid Points To His Junk, When LARPers Attack and More!

So I decided to go back to Blockbuster one last time before they closed for good a few days ago.  Needless to say, there wasn't much left and I didn't walk out with much.  In fact, I only ended up getting two movies, Thirst and Angel of Death.  Thirst is a vampire movie from Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook and Angel of Death is actually a movie turned into a web series starring Zoe Bell (aka the stuntwoman from Death Proof aka the only non-Kurt Russell person in that movie that I didn't want to punch in the face).  I also got another Boondock Saints II poster for my friend as they had one left at about $1.  Despite this being the last hurrah, I'm not sad as I've never stepped foot into a Blockbuster until now and probably won't again, even though there's still two more open in in town.  I'm just a sucker for snagging plenty of swag when stores close down.  First Media Play, then Circuit City and now Blockbuster.  So let's take a look back at the cumulative list of what I scored over the past month.

Ryan's Underrated Movies of the Decade

Since I'm being secluded to my apartment due to near-blizzard conditions, it looks like I might as well do some writing that doesn't pertain about me taking a trip to Blockbuster, though this one still has to do with movies.  Originally, I was debating doing this as a possible video-blog (I hate saying "vlog" as it sounds like a regurgitation sound effect) but since I don't own a video camera and by the time I might be able to afford one, this list would be pretty irrelevant.  Hell, it's a couple weeks into February so the whole "End of the Decade" gimmick is outdated by a month already.  Plus, this would've just consisted of me holding up DVD copies and talking about them so I figured I'd just type it out, cutting out the middleman and passing the savings onto you...or something.  I will put up a word of warning though.  I realize that I'm on the Internet so any of these movies I list as "underrated" while probably be met with scoffs by cinema snobs and internet nerds.  "Pffft, you call that underrated?  You obviously haven't seen Le Cirque De Scat Eaters, you troglodyte."  Sure, maybe I haven't seen that movie that I just made up for this argument (and oh god I hope it doesn't actually exist out there somewhere) but you have to realize that I live in Northwest Ohio, which is pretty much a cultural wasteland.  The odd thing about where I live is that there are quite a few opportunities to find something outside of the normal entertainment options (the Internet being the biggest of those opportunities) but people here are perfectly content to just listen to what Top 40 or Country radio tells them to, watch whatever crappy reality show is being shoved down our throats and pay good money to see a shoddy remake of an infinitely better movie.  So that makes me a goddamn visionary!  Or not, I'm just saying that's the way things are around here.  Anyway, with that tangent out of the way, here are my picks for some of the most underrated movies of this past decade.

The Super Bowl XLIV-aganza...Where I Write About Going To Blockbuster Again.

I swear, I'll stop going to Blockbuster...soon.  And since I could literally give two craps about the Super Bowl (which,after having some Chinese buffet for lunch, I'm sure it'll only be a matter of hours until I can), I might as well write about it.  I'm hoping this'll be the last time I go considering they close next weekend and I'll be taking my car in for repairs then.  Plus, there's not a lot more to choose from (though there's plenty of crap left that I could enjoy) but if they drop prices low enough, I might be able to squeeze in one last stop.  Anyways, here's what all I picked up this time.

Oscar Nominations, Ong Bak 3 and A Bunch Of Other Random Crap

If you haven't heard, this year's Oscar Nominations were announced earlier today.  Of course, considering all of the movies nominated in all the categories, I've only seen...well...oh yeah, ONE nominated movie!  So, I'm probably the last person to be dishing out predictions but I'll give it a shot anyway.  And how about we start with the ONE movie that I did see: Inglourious Basterds.

My Massive Blockbuster Haul (Part 3) And Some Grammy Thoughts

I have some good news and bad news.  Bad News: I went to Blockbuster...AGAIN, making it twice in the same weekend.  But the Good News is that I don't think I have much of a reason to go back anymore.  Since I had some spare cash, I had decided to go ahead and pick up that copy of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 for the Wii.  Unfortunately, I should've gotten that feeling earlier as the game was gone.  Ah well, I'm not too bummed about it.  I figured that'd just give me more money to spend on movies but as you'll see, I didn't get a whole lot this time.