Two Americans landed on our Moon in a tiny, fragile (oh so very fragile) vehicle, got out, walked around, got back in.
Later Astronauts would do more, more science, more exploring, but 45 years ago this weekend, America proved it could do ANYTHING, as long as it had will and purpose.
I must have been away, did I miss this being discussed on the news today? Did I miss the celebrations? Surely an event such as this is worthy of SOME comment in passing. No? Oh well. Return to your twitter and facebook and minecraft and farmville and angry birds.
Darylsurat
Shared posts
21 Jul 19:10
On Wrestling: chronicling the rise of NJPW's Tomohiro Ishii
by hsmeltzer@juno.com (Dave Meltzer)
DarylsuratWhen the inevitable day comes and they make a live-action version of specifically the gender-swapped version of Adventure Time, Tomohiro Ishii could play the Lumpy Space Prince.
Submitted by Dave Musgrave
Over the past two years, Tomohiro Ishii of New Japan Pro Wrestling has become one of the cool wrestlers to root for. As recently as late 2012, he was seen as a very talented and under-rated wrestler who flew under the radar. He started to gain some traction going into 2013 and then had some of the best matches in that year’s G-1 Climax tournament. In 2014, he has come to be seen by many as one of the best wrestlers in the world. All of this from a man who is thirty-eight years old and has been wrestling for almost eighteen years. While he may be new to most of us, he is not new to pro wrestling. So what has he been up to prior to the past couple of years?
Early Career
Ishii was originally trained by all-time great Genichiro Tenryu as part of the WAR dojo affiliated with Tenryu’s WAR promotion. Ishii made his in-ring debut at the November 2, 1996 WAR show when he lost to Choden Senshi Battle Ranger, which would seem to be the puroresu equivalent of Sgt. Slaughter’s old moniker Super Destroyer Mark II.
On October 12, 1997, Ishii won his first career title when he and partner Yuji Yasuraoka won the WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles from Masashi Aoyogi and Gokuaku Umibouzu. It was during this period of time that Genichiro Tenryu was starting to wrestle more in NJPW and there were less and less WAR shows.
In 1998, Ishii started wrestling for a small promotion called Capture International Basement Wrestling which ran shows in front of 100-150 fans. The promotion contained mostly lesser-known wrestlers and appears to have been the home promotion of Koki Kitahara who had exposure in NJPW, AJPW, SWS, WAR and CMLL to that point. Ishii continued to wrestle for the promotion through 2002 and eventually was working in main events.
Ishii won his second career championship on March 1, 1999 when he and Yuji Yasuraoka won WAR’s International Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles from Shinjiro Ohtani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Yasuraoka retired soon after and the titles were vacated on June 22 of that year. Ishii lost to Masao Orihara on WAR’s 7th Anniversary Show on June 20, 1999. Ishii lost to Shigeo Okumura at WAR’s September 7 show.
Ishii continued with Capture International in 2000 but also started with the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion. In Capture, he participated in the promotion’s three-round boxing glove matches and also had tag team main events in 2/3 falls matches opposing Kitahara and other opponents. On September 24 Ishii defeated Yuji Sugiwara on an Onita Pro show.
Journeyman Years
In 2001 Ishii branched out into a number of other promotions. On February 4 he wrestled in a ten-minute match for IWA Japan in which one of his partners was Terry Gordy (five months prior to his death) and one of his opponents was Doug Gilbert. He also toured with DDT throughout the rest of February.
In March 2001, Ishii started with Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon promotion for the El Numero Uno tour. Ishii teamed with Magnum Tokyo, Genki Horiguchi and other partners during this tour and also had singles matches with Stalker Ichikawa. Ishii was also able to wrestle against opponents such as CIMA, SUWA and Masaaki Mochizuki so this would appear to be one of the biggest tours to that point in his career other than his work with WAR.
Ishii continued with DDT throughout the spring and also continued with Toryumon, including a win over Genki Horiguchi and a loss to Masaaki Mochizuki. Ishii toured with Michinoku Pro in October 2001. On October 6 he teamed with Dick Togo and defeated The Great Sasuke and Hideki Nishida. On October 7 Ishii teamed with Togo and Gedo and defeated Sasuke, Nishida and Masao Orihara. He worked in DDT for most of the rest of 2001, having matches against Sanshiro Takagi and Takaashi Sasaki and also teaming with Sansgiro Takagi.
In 2002, Ishii continued with M-Pro, teaming at times with Gedo and Ikuto Hidaka. He also teamed with Hidaka in Onito Pro to defeat Kazua Yuasa and Gran Hamada. On February 17 Ishii participated in a tournament for M-Pro’s Independent Junior Heavyweight Title, losing to Yuasa in the first round. On March 5 Ishii lost a single matches to Yuki Ishikawa in M-Pro. He then teamed with Dick Togo in a tournament for the IWA Japan World Pro Tag Titles, losing to Ryo Miyake and Yukihide Ueno in the first round.
On June 2, 2002 Ishii participated in an eight-man barbed wire street fight, with one of his partners being Mr. Pogo and opponents including Atsushi Onita and Ricky Fuji. On June 13 Ishii teamed with Koki Kitahara in Capture International and won the 2/3 falls main event. Ishii spent the fall with WEW, teaming with Ikuto Hidaka to lose to Gentaro and Takashi Sasaki in a match for the WEW Tag Titles on September 14. Ishii also teamed with TNR #1 in a losing challenge to Gentaro and Sasaki on November 4.
Ishii spent 2003 wrestling for Riki Choshu’s new World Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. On March 16 he teamed with Shiro Koshinaka and lost to Atsushi Onita and Ricky Fuji in a no-ropes barbed wire and barbed wire board death match. He and Koshinaka lost to Onita and Ichiro Yaguchi in another barbed wire match. Ishii teamed with Kensuke Sasaki and lost to Takao Omori and Dick Togo on June 8. He had singles matches with Tamaoki Honma, Yoji Anjo, Koshinaka, Togo and Sasaki through the year. He teamed with Riki Choshu at times and also faced him in tag matches. Ishii finished out the year by wrestling in Zero-1 in December 2003.
Ishii continued with World Japan in 2004, including defeating Katsuhiko Nakajima in his first pro wrestling match on January 5. On January 11 Ishii and Choshu defeated Shinya Hashimoto and Naohiro Hoshiwaka. Ishii wrestled in a six-man match on Osaka Pro’s Super J Cup show on February 21. Ishii defeated Gran Hamada on WJ’s one-year anniversary show. He teamed regularly with Choshu, including a match on the second Hustle show. They faced teams that included a WJ match against Original Tiger Mask and Yuki Ishikawa and Zero-1 matches Masato Tanaka and Yoshihito Sasaki and Shinjiro Ohtani and Ikuto Hidaka.
On June 4 Ishii teamed with Tatsuhito Takaiwa in Zero-1 to defeat Low-Ki and Leonardo Spanky (Brian Kendrick) for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Titles. They successfully defended the titles against Jose and Joel Maximo on June 25. On the first Riki Pro show on Ishii teamed with Kendo Ka Shin and lost to Bad Boy Hido and Kintaro Kanemura in a match for the WMG Tag Team Titles. He and Takaiwa lost the NWA titles to Kaz Hayashi and Leonardo Spanky on September 19. Throughout the year Ishii teamed with Choshu and others in a series of cage death matches.
New Beginnings in New Japan
Ishii made his debut for New Japan on December 11, 2004 when he and Choshu lost to Manabu Nakanishi and Jushin Liger in Liger’s return match. The next day Ishii and Choshu defeated Takashi Iizuka and Togi Makabe. Ishii spent 2005 wrestling in a number of promotions including Riki Pro, Apache Pro, Big Japan, Hustle, Zero-1, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Futen, Big Mouth Loud and New Japan. He teamed with Choshu throughout the year including in matches against Osamu Nishimura and Togi Makabe, Daisuke Sekimoto and Shiro Koshinaka, Tatsumi Fujinami and Nishimura and Wataru Sakata and Mark Coleman. Ishii and Kintaro Kanemura lost to Bad Boy Hido and Tetsuhiro Kuroda in a Riki Pro match for the WMG tag titles on April 16.
On January 4, 2006 Ishii wrestled on his first NJPW Tokyo Dome Show when he and Tatsuhito Takaiwa lost to Tiger Mask 4 and Minoru during the era in which Brock Lesnar was IWGP Champion. The next day Ishii and Takaiwa defeated El Samurai and Jushin Liger on a Riki Pro card. Ishii started working regularly in NJPW from that time on, working in tag matches with Choshu and others and also losing in singles matches to wrestlers such as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Takashi Iizuka. Ishii started teaming regularly with Toru Yano in June 2006 and had a series of matches with Makabe and Koshinaka. They also defeated Jado and Gedo at Sumo Hall on October 9.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan formed the Great Bash Heel (GBH) faction in NJPW in 2006. The group initially consisted of Tenzan, Togi Makabe and Shiro Koshinaka and Ishii and Yano later joined the group. Ishii and Yano teamed for the rest of the year and participated in the 2006 G1 Tag League. Ishii then finished out the year with a number of NJPW vs GBH matches.
Ishii wrestled on the January 5, 2007 Tokyo Dome Show when he teamed with Yano and Makabe to defeat Travis Tomko, D-Lo Brown and Buchanan. Ishii continued with the GBH faction in a number of tag and six-man matches and at times they teamed against Choshu. On March 4 Ishii lost to Yuji Nagata in the first round of the New Japan Cup. Ishii also teamed with new GBH member Tomaoki Honma that year, including on Apache Pro shows. Ishii lost to Choshu in a singles match on a Lock Up show on July 29. Ishii and Honma lost to the unusual team of Akebono and Jushin Liger on September 17.
On November 24, 2007 Ishii defeated Daisuke Sekimoto in a number one contender match for the WEW Heavyweight Title on a Lock Up show. Ishii continued with NJPW into 2008, including teaming with Tenzan, Jado and Gedo in Tenzan’s return match on February 17. On February 24 Ishii lost to WEW Champion Mammoth Sasaki in a title match. Ishii lost to Tenzan in the first round of that year’s New Japan Cup on March 9. On July 12 Ishii defeated Mammoth Sasaki to win the WEW Heavyweight Title.
On September 21 in Kobe, Ishii and Takashi Iizuka lost to Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in a GBH vs Tenkoji match. Ishii teamed with Iizuka in the G1 Tag League that year, scoring their only tournament win over Tenzan and Kojima. Ishii successfully defended the WEW title against Tetsuhiro Kuroda on November 3 in the main event of a Lock Up show at Korakuen Hall.
In 2009, Ishii wrestled for NJPW, Big Japan and Real Japan Pro Wrestling. On the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show he teamed with Giant Bernard, Takashi Iizuka and Karl Anderson and lost to Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash. On the January 10 Lock Up show Ishii defeated Kintaro Kanemura in a match for the WEW Title. He wrestled in Real Japan Pro Wrestling in March. On March 8 he faced Wataru Inoue in the first round of the New Japan Cup and they went to a double countout. Ishii then lost to Inoue in a falls count anywhere match on the May 6 NJPW show. Ishii spent most of the rest of the year in multi-man matches as well as having singles matches against Inoue, Yuji Nagata and Tomoaki Honma. He teamed with Masato Tanaka in that year’s G1 Tag League. During 2009, Ishii also came to be associated with Shinsuke Nakamura’s new CHAOS faction.
Moving Slowly Up The Card
On the January 4, 2010 Tokyo Dome Show, Ishii teamed with Takashi Iizuka, Toru Yano and Abdullah The Butcher and lost to Terry Funk, Riki Choshu, Manabu Nakanishi and Masahiro Chono. Ishii’s stock seemed to rise this year with some singles wins as well as having singles matches against Yuji Nagata and Hiroshi Tanahashi. He did lose to Togi Makabe in the first round of the New Japan Cup. He teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura and Masato Tanaka in the J Sports Crown Six-Man Openweight Tournament, going to the semi-finals. On the September 29 Tenryu Project show, Ishii teamed with Suwama and Arashi to win the WAR Six-Man Tag Titles from Yoshihiro Takayama, Tatsutoshi Goto and Daisuke Sekimoto. Ishii and Tanaka again teamed in that year’s G1 Tag League and Ishii and had an impressive three wins, which was topped by only two teams in that year’s tournament.
On the January 4, 2011 Tokyo Dome show Ishii teamed with Yujiro Takahashi, Jado and Gedo in a loss to Wataru Inoue, Tiger Mask 4, Tomoaki Honma and Tama Tonga. Ishii teamed with Takao Omori on the January 10 Legend Pro show and defeated Tamon Honda and Deisuke Sekimoto. On February 26, Ishii lost the WEW Title to Kintaro Kanemura on an Apache Pro show, ending Ishii’s reign at just over two-and-a-half years. He teamed with Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano in June’s J Sports Crown six-man tag tournament and went to the semi-finals. On the August 21 Tenryu Project show he teamed with Genichiro Tenryu and Arashi and successfully defended the WAR six-man titles. By 2011, Ishii was positioned to the point that he was getting regular wins over young lions such as Hiromu Takahashi, Takaaki Watanabe and Kyosuke Mikami. He also teamed with Don Fujii of Dragon Gate in that year’s G1 Tag League.
Ishii teamed with Masato Tanaka on the January 8, 2012 Legend Pro show and defeated Alexander Otsuka and Tomoaki Honma. He continued in multi-man matches and in getting wins over young lions. He did have an Intercontinental Title Shot against Hirooki Goto on May 6. On August 26 he and Tatsuhito Takaiwa teamed in Zero-1 to defeat Shinjiro Ohtani and Daiichi Hashimoto. In November there was a tournament for the newly formed Never Openweight Title. Ishii went to the semi-finals following wins over Daisuke Sasaki and YOSHI-HASHI. Ishii lost to eventual tournament winner Masato Tanaka in the semi-finals. Ishii was able to gain a higher profile in that year’s G1 Tag League as the partner of Shinsuke Nakamura and they did have three wins in the tournament.
Turning Heads
Going into 2013 there was talk of Ishii as an underrated and under-utilized performer. It turned out to be a year in which his star began to rise. He was on that year’s January 4 Tokyo Dome show, teaming with Yoshi-Hashi and Jado to defeat Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask 4 and Captain New Japan. On February 3, Never Champion Masato Tanaka defeated him in a title match that main evented a Korakuen Hall Show. Ishii defeated Satoshi Kojima in the first round of that year’s New Japan Cup before losing to Hirooki Goto in the quarter-finals. He teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura in a losing challenge to IWGP Tag Champs Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. on April 5. On the June 22 Dominion Show, Ishii and Nakamura lost to Shelton Benjamin and Minoru Suzuki.
August 2013 provided the stage for star-making performances by Ishii in that year’s G1 Climax Tournament. He defeated NJPW top star Hiroshi Tanahashi on day two of the tournament in a match featuring great action and putting over of Ishii. On day four he faced and defeated Katsuyori Shibata in what many considered the match of the year (myself included). He also turned in strong matches against Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe. He didn’t get to participate in the finals of the tournament but was seen by many as the star of the tour. He was able to tour Mexico with CMLL in September and October. Ishii had a rematch with Shibata on the October 14 King of Pro Wrestling show and he again teamed with Nakamura in the G1 Tag League. He did also have a singles loss against Tanahashi on November 9.
Many were disappointed that his G1 Climax performances didn’t lead to a stronger run in 2013 for Ishii, but in 2014 he was given a unique opportunity to showcase his great matches. Tetsuyo Naito had won the G1 Climax and was primed to win the IWGP title at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, a show on which Ishii was notably not included. In the run-up to the Dome Show, Naito won the Never Title from Masato Tanaka in September 2013 and it was largely expected that the title would be merged with the IWGP Title as it had little visibility. Naito ended up losing to IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada at the Tokyo Dome and was then programmed into a feud with Ishii. They brawled with each other in a number of multi-man matches leading up to Ishii winning the Never title February 11 in a widely acclaimed match.
From there, Ishii and Naito had two more standout matches, with Ishii losing to Naito in the first round of the New Japan Cup on March 15 and Ishii later successfully defending the Never title against Naito on April 6 in another hard-hitting match. On April 12 NJPW held a show in Taiwan and Ishii defeated Kushida in a well-received Never Title match. He defeated Tomoaki Honma in a title match on May 3 in a match that garnered quiet appreciation. On May 25 Ishii defeated Kota Ibushi in a title match that many considered Ishii’s best match so far in a great year. He lost the title to Yujiro Takahashi on the June 29 show, ending one of the best title reigns in recent years for match quality at four-and-a-half months.
What Lies Ahead
Ishii’s opportunity to elevate a lesser title could be a springboard to great things for him. He is set to participate in the 2014 G1 Climax Tournament starting on July 21 with a match against Bad Luck Fale. He has matches scheduled against Satoshi Kojima, Shelton Benjamin, Tomoaki Honma, Doc Gallows, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Katsuyori Shibata and Yuji Nagata. This presents him with some fresh opponents who could be a challenge to have great matches with (see Fale) as well as opponents with whom Ishii has already had some classic matches. The semi-finals and finals are taking place on August 10, with NJPW returning to a format in which four men are set up on the last day to possibly win the tournament.
There are hopes that he could be the tournament winner and go on to face AJ Styles for the IWGP Title. This would be great use of a man who garnered little attention for a number of years and is now a fresh veteran who could have a great impact on the promotion. His style seems to have been shaped by various influences through the years, including the heavyweight slug-fest style of WAR as well as the lucharesu style of Toryumon. While he does appear to have spent a number of years being under-utilized in NJPW, perhaps the timing is just right for him to go to the next level and be the fourth star that they need alongside Tanahashi, Okada and Nakamura. He would also provide an excellent bridge to elevate whoever that might be with his great matches, such as Tetsuyo Naito or Katsuyori Shibata. Regardless, those wanting to see some great wrestling should check out the tournament to see if this is the start of a great run for Ishii or just another chance for him to show how great he is no matter what his position is in long-term planning.
20 Jul 18:37
Boys, Be Ambitious! OUT magazine
by Helen
OUT magazine, 1985 – ¥498 worth of anime goodness
This is a picture of my first anime crush – Char Aznable of Mobile Suit Gundam, here in Z Gundam uniform – adorning the cover of OUT magazine in November 1985.
Japanese anime magazines looked impossibly glamorous to the kids of old-school Western fandom. They came out regularly, they had all these amazing pictures, and wow, man, the colours! Not to mention the postcards, booklets, posters and other freebies.
Of course, when one actually read them they were just as full of press puffery as any Western media mag. But we didn’t know that back in the day; we just loved their style. We didn’t even mind that half or more of the interior was printed on the same cheap paper as weekly manga magazines. We were seduced by the gloss and glamour of covers like these with their alluring Japlish taglines.
OUT, published by Minori Shobo, began in May 1977 as a magazine “for tomorrow’s adults” devoted to youth culture in general, with anime as just one part of the mix. It was aimed at university students. Space Battleship Yamato featured in issue 2, and over the next few months the growing Yamato fandom influenced the magazine to feature more anime.
OUT ran anime parody manga (aniparo,) comic strips and serial novels by big names of the day – including Toyo Ashida, Masami Yuuki, Kenji Yanagisawa and Masakazu Katsura. Its features could be quite controversial, and its editorial policy changed with each new editor-in-chief (including the legendary Tetsuo Daedeok) leading to some radical transformations. The age of its readership being higher than average for anime magazines, the readers’ letters column was often the ground for debate about characters, concepts and content of current shows.
It folded in 1995, when Minori Shobo went bankrupt. A revival under a new publisher lasted only two years. Yet its devoted readers – males known as Aushitan and their female counterparts Aushitana – are still devoted enough to support websites in its memory and held a get-together in Shinjuku in 2012. Old copies are still offered for sale online and in Japanese bookstores.
An eighteen-year run is quite an achievement in the fickle world of media publishing, but keeping your fans for longer than the run of the magazine is an even greater one. OUT, I salute you – and I miss you too.
Darylsurat likes this
17 Jul 20:17
Alan4L's guide to Dragon Gate "Kobe World" and why you should watch this weekend on Ustream
by alancounihan8@gmail.com (Alan Counihan Alan Counihan)
http://www.ustream.tv/DragonGate
This weekend, Dragon Gate present their biggest show of the year live on Ustream from Kobe World Hall in Japan. They are building it as the 15th Anniversary show (15 years since Toryumon Japan began) and there will be 9,000 fans in attendance to witness some of the best pro wrestling you’ll find anywhere in the world. The show will have a major league feel with top notch production, cool entrances and all the bells and whistles you’d want from a big event. Before running down the card match by match, I just want to highlight a couple of key things about this show:
-Why it’s newsworthy to non-Dragon Gate fans:
This will be the first televised match of Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne) in two years. He got his first big break in Dragon Gate in 2006 and was a very popular member of the roster before signing with WWE. He will team with his good friend CIMA (Dragon Gate’s icon) against Masato Yoshino (the fastest wrestler on earth) and Ricochet.
-The match everyone will be raving about the next day:
The semi-main event Open The Twin Gate (tag title) match pitting Shingo Takagi & Akira Tozawa against The Millenials (Eita & T-Hawk). These four will tear the house down and if it’s not a MOTYC I’ll be surprised.
-The superstar performer you’ll be seeing:
Heel champion YAMATO who defends his title in the main event is arguably the best wrestler in the world right now. He’s the total package of charisma, skill and storytelling ability. He's really peaking right now and he’ll be going all out to make an impact.
So yes, they are the three key things I’d highlight as being why this is worth every penny of your $25 but there is so much more to be excited about on this card. Here’s the rundown:
1. Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Gamma vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Uhaa Nation and "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa
A shame that Mochizuki, still one of the best around at 44 years old, is in the opener but that’s just the way the cards fell on this occasion. Should be a really fun way to kick off the show. Stalker is a great comedy wrestler, Uhaa is an athletic freak, Liger is a legend, Fujii is a great curmudgeonly old guy and Gamma is…. also there. The crowd will love these guys.
2. Punch Tominaga & Mondai Ryu vs. Jimmy Kanda & Jimmy Kagetora
Should be a short match, mainly designed to get over Tominaga’s new heel persona. Both Jimmy’s are as solid as they come – very good wrestlers but they’ll have to deal with lots of chicanery here from the Mad Blankey duo.
3. Open The Brave Gate Championship – Flamita (c) vs. Dragon Kid
Flamita, only 21 years of age, has been pegged as one of the top prospects to come from Mexico in years. Our own Dave Meltzer has compared him to Rey Mysterio Jr. Dragon Kid, now 37 years old, was Flamita’s age when he defeated Eddy Guerrero on an episode of Nitro in 1997 under the monikor "Little Dragon". The fact that he’s here 17 years later, and as good as ever with no sign of being worn down from his style is a tribute to him. It will be interesting to see if Kid acts more as the base here to showcase Flamita, or if it’s more back & forth as far as the impressive high flying. If they click, it could be spectacular.
4. Open The Triangle Gate Championship – Mad Blankey (c) (Naruki Doi, Kzy & Cyber Kong) vs. The Jimmys (Jimmy Susumu, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!! and Mr. QuuQuu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin)
The Triangle Gate has been the show stealer many times in the history of the promotion and whilst this match probably won’t continue that tradition, it could still be a lot of fun. Doi is the top worker on the heel side but Kzy is super underrated, and brings a lot of charisma. Everyone on the face side is excellent with Genki in particular capable of producing some exciting nearfalls down the stretch with his flash backslide gimmick.
5. CIMA & Matt Sydal vs. Masato Yoshino & Ricochet
When Matt Sydal was released by WWE, DG fans salivated at the prospects of a match like this in Kobe. Now they’re getting it. Two of the biggest homegrown stars in company history each teaming with a top gaijin star – one from the past, one from the present. Nobody really knows what Matt Sydal is going to be like coming of such a long lay-off and severe foot and ankle injuries, but it’s impossible for this match to be anything other than great with the other three involved. Ricochet has broken out the double moonsault every year at this show (2011, 2012 and 2013) but has not done it on
any show since the 2013 edition. So it will be interesting if he feels he has one more left in him. He certainly doesn’t need to do it and has nothing to prove as his legacy as one of the best flyers ever is locked in no matter what. CIMA and Yoshino are world class. They’re arguably the two greatest performers to come out of the Dragon System and on the big show, they will deliver special performances.
6. Open The Twin Gate Championship – Monster Express (c) (Shingo Takagi & Akira Tozawa) vs. The Millenials (Eita & T-Hawk)
The storyline here has been great. It’s the best built match on the show. Monster Express have held the belts since December and have been fantastic as a team. However young upstarts The Millenials have been dominating Tozawa at every turn. T-Hawk has beaten him in multiple singles matches (including a MOTYC on May 9th) and in a recent trios match Eita locked him in his El Numero Uno submission which forced Takagi to throw in the towel to protect his partner. Tozawa is one of the best sympathetic babyfaces going and the fans will be behind him in a big way here to get the better of The Millenials and prove his worth to his partner. The show will mark a year since T-Hawk and Eita announced their return from their learning excursion in Mexico, and this may be their best chance to have an incredible next level match to put an exclamation point on a great year for them.
7. Open The Dream Gate Championship – YAMATO (c) vs. BxB Hulk
It’s YAMATO’s second Kobe World main event, and Hulk’s third. Hulk has come up short in both his previous appearances (2008 and 2011) but he’s got to be the red hot favourite to make it third time lucky. He’s coming off a babyface turn in May which thus far has been a success with the fans really getting behind him. They were the top two guys in Mad Blankey and the split was looming for a while, so the build is there. Hulk still has a bit to prove as far as being a main event player and this is the match where he needs to find the absolute best BxB Hulk and perform at that level. YAMATO on the other hand, there are zero doubts about. He’s incredible. This is his stage to really make his mark and he will, even if it’s in putting over Hulk. The match will build slow and could go upwards of 30 minutes, but it’ll be very heated in the latter stages. It should be great.
So there it is, what could be a contender for show of the year. DG always deliver big on these "Big Match" shows. They only do five a year and they make sure they’re special.
The show kicks off at 2am EST on Saturday night and 7am in the UK & Ireland Sunday morning.
http://www.ustream.tv/DragonGate
This weekend, Dragon Gate present their biggest show of the year live on Ustream from Kobe World Hall in Japan. They are building it as the 15th Anniversary show (15 years since Toryumon Japan began) and there will be 9,000 fans in attendance to witness some of the best pro wrestling you’ll find anywhere in the world. The show will have a major league feel with top notch production, cool entrances and all the bells and whistles you’d want from a big event. Before running down the card match by match, I just want to highlight a couple of key things about this show:
-Why it’s newsworthy to non-Dragon Gate fans:
This will be the first televised match of Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne) in two years. He got his first big break in Dragon Gate in 2006 and was a very popular member of the roster before signing with WWE. He will team with his good friend CIMA (Dragon Gate’s icon) against Masato Yoshino (the fastest wrestler on earth) and Ricochet.
-The match everyone will be raving about the next day:
The semi-main event Open The Twin Gate (tag title) match pitting Shingo Takagi & Akira Tozawa against The Millenials (Eita & T-Hawk). These four will tear the house down and if it’s not a MOTYC I’ll be surprised.
-The superstar performer you’ll be seeing:
Heel champion YAMATO who defends his title in the main event is arguably the best wrestler in the world right now. He’s the total package of charisma, skill and storytelling ability. He's really peaking right now and he’ll be going all out to make an impact.
So yes, they are the three key things I’d highlight as being why this is worth every penny of your $25 but there is so much more to be excited about on this card. Here’s the rundown:
1. Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Gamma vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Uhaa Nation and "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa
A shame that Mochizuki, still one of the best around at 44 years old, is in the opener but that’s just the way the cards fell on this occasion. Should be a really fun way to kick off the show. Stalker is a great comedy wrestler, Uhaa is an athletic freak, Liger is a legend, Fujii is a great curmudgeonly old guy and Gamma is…. also there. The crowd will love these guys.
2. Punch Tominaga & Mondai Ryu vs. Jimmy Kanda & Jimmy Kagetora
Should be a short match, mainly designed to get over Tominaga’s new heel persona. Both Jimmy’s are as solid as they come – very good wrestlers but they’ll have to deal with lots of chicanery here from the Mad Blankey duo.
3. Open The Brave Gate Championship – Flamita (c) vs. Dragon Kid
Flamita, only 21 years of age, has been pegged as one of the top prospects to come from Mexico in years. Our own Dave Meltzer has compared him to Rey Mysterio Jr. Dragon Kid, now 37 years old, was Flamita’s age when he defeated Eddy Guerrero on an episode of Nitro in 1997 under the monikor "Little Dragon". The fact that he’s here 17 years later, and as good as ever with no sign of being worn down from his style is a tribute to him. It will be interesting to see if Kid acts more as the base here to showcase Flamita, or if it’s more back & forth as far as the impressive high flying. If they click, it could be spectacular.
4. Open The Triangle Gate Championship – Mad Blankey (c) (Naruki Doi, Kzy & Cyber Kong) vs. The Jimmys (Jimmy Susumu, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!! and Mr. QuuQuu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin)
The Triangle Gate has been the show stealer many times in the history of the promotion and whilst this match probably won’t continue that tradition, it could still be a lot of fun. Doi is the top worker on the heel side but Kzy is super underrated, and brings a lot of charisma. Everyone on the face side is excellent with Genki in particular capable of producing some exciting nearfalls down the stretch with his flash backslide gimmick.
5. CIMA & Matt Sydal vs. Masato Yoshino & Ricochet
When Matt Sydal was released by WWE, DG fans salivated at the prospects of a match like this in Kobe. Now they’re getting it. Two of the biggest homegrown stars in company history each teaming with a top gaijin star – one from the past, one from the present. Nobody really knows what Matt Sydal is going to be like coming of such a long lay-off and severe foot and ankle injuries, but it’s impossible for this match to be anything other than great with the other three involved. Ricochet has broken out the double moonsault every year at this show (2011, 2012 and 2013) but has not done it on
any show since the 2013 edition. So it will be interesting if he feels he has one more left in him. He certainly doesn’t need to do it and has nothing to prove as his legacy as one of the best flyers ever is locked in no matter what. CIMA and Yoshino are world class. They’re arguably the two greatest performers to come out of the Dragon System and on the big show, they will deliver special performances.
6. Open The Twin Gate Championship – Monster Express (c) (Shingo Takagi & Akira Tozawa) vs. The Millenials (Eita & T-Hawk)
The storyline here has been great. It’s the best built match on the show. Monster Express have held the belts since December and have been fantastic as a team. However young upstarts The Millenials have been dominating Tozawa at every turn. T-Hawk has beaten him in multiple singles matches (including a MOTYC on May 9th) and in a recent trios match Eita locked him in his El Numero Uno submission which forced Takagi to throw in the towel to protect his partner. Tozawa is one of the best sympathetic babyfaces going and the fans will be behind him in a big way here to get the better of The Millenials and prove his worth to his partner. The show will mark a year since T-Hawk and Eita announced their return from their learning excursion in Mexico, and this may be their best chance to have an incredible next level match to put an exclamation point on a great year for them.
7. Open The Dream Gate Championship – YAMATO (c) vs. BxB Hulk
It’s YAMATO’s second Kobe World main event, and Hulk’s third. Hulk has come up short in both his previous appearances (2008 and 2011) but he’s got to be the red hot favourite to make it third time lucky. He’s coming off a babyface turn in May which thus far has been a success with the fans really getting behind him. They were the top two guys in Mad Blankey and the split was looming for a while, so the build is there. Hulk still has a bit to prove as far as being a main event player and this is the match where he needs to find the absolute best BxB Hulk and perform at that level. YAMATO on the other hand, there are zero doubts about. He’s incredible. This is his stage to really make his mark and he will, even if it’s in putting over Hulk. The match will build slow and could go upwards of 30 minutes, but it’ll be very heated in the latter stages. It should be great.
So there it is, what could be a contender for show of the year. DG always deliver big on these "Big Match" shows. They only do five a year and they make sure they’re special.
The show kicks off at 2am EST on Saturday night and 7am in the UK & Ireland Sunday morning.
http://www.ustream.tv/DragonGate
Darylsurat likes this
16 Jul 19:38
We Have '12 Non-blondes!': Fox News Host Defends Lack Of Diversity
by David
Two Fox News media critics on Sunday defended their network against charges that it had more blond white women than other cable news channels by pointing out that 12 members of the on-air talent were "non-blondes."
Over the years, liberal critics of Fox News have pointed to the number of blond women at Fox News as evidence that network President Roger Ailes uses his employees as sex objects. One composite photo that has been circulated on the Internet for years shows 56 different blond personalities who were employees or frequent guests.
16 Jul 19:29
Mark Levin Rant Targets The Daily Show 's Jon Stewart: "I Don't Trust Jews Who Change Their Names"
DarylsuratI see.
From the July 15 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Mark Levin Show:
Previously:
Mark Levin: The Go-To Radio Host For GOP Lawmakers Despite Inflammatory Rhetoric
Mark Levin Compares Obamacare Supporters To Nazi "Brown Shirts"
Mark Levin Compares Marriage Equality To Incest, Polygamy, And Drug Use
15 Jul 17:29
CNBC's Climate "Expert": "Demonization Of Carbon Dioxide Is Just Like" Demonization Of "Jews Under Hitler"
Darylsurat"Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews."
The cable business channel CNBC continued to push climate change denial on its network, hosting a professor who compared the "demonization" of carbon dioxide to the Holocaust.
Physics Professor William Happer has published no peer-reviewed research on climate change, yet co-host Joe Kernen introduced him as an "industry expert" on the July 14 edition of Squawk Box. After a softball interview with Kernen, co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin challenged Happer for "not believ[ing] in climate change" -- to which Happer responded by telling Sorkin to "shut up." Sorkin then asked Happer about comments he made to The Daily Princetonian in 2009 comparing climate science to Nazi propaganda. Happer doubled down on his comments, stating that "the demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler. Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews."
Sorkin also noted that Happer, who has suggested that people should be "clamoring for more atmospheric carbon dioxide," is the chairman of the Marshall Institute, which received $865,000 from ExxonMobil from 1998 to 2011.
While Sorkin's pushback was admirable, it's difficult to determine what benefit CNBC is giving its business viewers by once again hosting Happer to push climate denial, especially as it's becoming clear that unchecked climate change is inherently an economic issue that provides serious risks to businesses. A 2013 Media Matters report found that 51 percent of CNBC's climate change coverage cast doubt on the basic fact that the Earth is warming and that the majority of recent warming is manmade, contrary to a consensus of 97 percent of scientists. The channel recently came under fire for soliciting a story about "global warming being a hoax."
CNBC might also be able to find a few scientists who question whether HIV causes AIDS, whether secondhand smoke is dangerous, or whether vaccines cause autism -- as all three have a few contrarian "experts" supporting their cause -- but it wouldn't be responsible to give them a platform.
15 Jul 14:56
Ustream will carry all G-1 Climax shows
by hsmeltzer@juno.com (Dave Meltzer)
NJPW G1 Climax iPPV price listing:
UStream - http://www.ustream.tv/njpw for $15 or $25 each and $160 for all shows
7/21 Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center - $25
7/23 Aomori Prefectural Budokan $15
7/25 Yamagata Sports Center $15
7/26 Akita Prefectural Gymnasium $25
7/28 Sendai Sun Plaza Hall $25
7/31 Act City Hamamatsu $15
8/1 Tokyo Korakuen Hall - $25
8/3 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium - $25
8/4 Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium - $15
8/6 Takamatsu City Gymnasium - $15
8/8 Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium - $25
8/10 Seibu Dome - $25
There is a deal that if you order the entire G-1 package by 7/20, you can get it for $110.
There is a deal that if you order the entire G-1 package by 7/20, you can get it for $110.
14 Jul 23:19
Psy/Ops
by Patrick Macias
DarylsuratEvery word in this post indicates the destruction of the cosmos is upon us.
Ok, time to announce my upcoming creative collaboration with artist Uchiyama Yunico. His pictures + my text = weird girls. We will start dishing it out on the web starting this August. Keywords: Mind Control, Paranoia, Hallucination, 1985. For people who have been around here a while, it will incorporate elements of my long-threatened Espionage Rejects stories and L vs. L. Go! Now! Suburban Surrealist Science Fiction! Fight! Please look forward to it!
Uchiyama Yunico Links:
12 Jul 19:03
WWE press release on KENTA signing
by hsmeltzer@juno.com (Dave Meltzer)
DarylsuratThe notion that one of the best wrestlers in the world needs to "train" at Full Sail with everyone else is nuts, but there are ring composition and camera positioning differences to consider.
WWE® SIGNS JAPANESE STAR KENTA TO NXT®
STAMFORD, Conn., July 12, 2014 – WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced it has signed Kenta, one of Japan’s biggest stars, to its NXT division. The announcement took place during a signing ceremony at a WWE Live Event in Osaka, Japan with WWE icon and Hall of Famer, Hulk Hogan presiding.
Kenta’s intense and straight forward in-ring style has led to his success in Japan, as well as during visits to the U.S. He is expected to reach new heights of global success with WWE.
“Kenta is an incredible performer who brings the crowd to its feet when he steps into the ring”, said Paul Levesque, Executive Vice President, Talent, Creative and Live Events, WWE. “WWE’s signing of Kenta reflects our continued dedication to creating a diverse roster that appeals to our global fan base.”
“I am humbled to join WWE’s NXT division and look forward to honing my craft with the global leader in sports entertainment,” said Kenta.
Kenta will relocate to Orlando, Florida where he will train at WWE’s state-of-the-art Performance Center to enhance his talents both athletically and creatively.
12 Jul 17:00
Anime: A History
by Helen
DarylsuratI own this book and it's real good
Anime: A History
Short review for the time-poor or reading-averse:
Anime: A History is a game-changer. If you care about the history of anime you need to read it. Yes, there are a lot of words, but they’re all worth the effort.
Longer review for those who like to read me going on a bit:
Anglophone anime writing has suffered from a dearth of solid, factual background information on the labyrinthine obfuscations of the industry for over four decades. Jonathan Clements has changed that with one book – Anime: A History.
This is a book about the business of anime, its production and its audience reception. It started life as a PhD thesis, so it’s packed with facts, all impeccably sourced. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book, and will upgrade the citations of many a thesis in the next couple of years.
Given this, the bright red, girl-crowded cover might seem inappropriate, but Anime: A History is no tedious chunk of verbiage made purely to advance a clueless academic’s quest for tenure. From the earliest days of the medium, whose date of origin, first screened title and first auteur still have enough ambiguity around them to drive whodunnit lovers crazy, to the current century where fluidity of formats and markets has introduced whole new areas of uncertainty, Clements takes us on a thrill-ride through a hall of mirrors where nothing is quite as it seems and fifty shades of undisclosed lurk in the shadows. Having walked us through the cultural and technological developments of a century, give or take, he leaves us with the knowledge that, as far as anime history goes, almost everything in the past is still open to exploration and the future is uncomfortably negotiable.
Granted, a book that started life as a PhD thesis usually requires some flexing of the mental muscles, and this is no exception; but Clements hasn’t fallen into the trap of substituting academic gobbledegook for lack of research. His multilingual expertise provides access to huge amounts of hitherto unknown or scarcely explored background material, and his lucid, intelligent text leads readers down unfamiliar paths with enough clarity to make the journey of discovery enjoyable. The nature of historiography, the mutable reliability of witnesses, the loss of key sources and the shifting role of anime in Japanese culture are elegantly interwoven through the narrative. Key figures appear in a new light, and previously unknown ones emerge from obscurity. (The author’s delight in the discovery of the Shadow Staff, the wartime propaganda unit who were, in a fashion, just as much a bridge between pre-and post-war anime as Osamu Tezuka, is irresistible.)
The genesis of the book itself, as Clements explains it, mirrors the making of many anime: a patchwork of funding, spare-time jobs, family support and serendipity made the research and writing process viable. Like Tezuka, who downpriced TV anime to a level far below competitive and then looked for sponsorship and spinoffs to enable his studio and team to survive, like many of the early hobbyist-animators working at home, authors often guarantee the production of their work by cutting their costs to the bone and cross-subsidising themselves with day jobs.
Anime fans and scholars, historians, sociologists and media students will all find something of interest here. When it finally moves off the bedside table or out of your bag, Anime: A History is worth a place on your bookshelves: definitely a keeper.
Alainmendez, Darylsurat likes this
12 Jul 16:25
Guillermo del Toro Talks Manga in Q&A
by Scott Green
His mercha versus kaiju specular Pacific Rim made it pretty obvious that Guillermo del Toro has an affection for Japanese pop culture. He also had thwarted plans to adapt Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo's Domu manga. And, he had development plans with HBO for Naoki Urasawa's Monster. With an adaptation of his vampire novels The Strain hitting FX this weekend, he did a Reddit Ask Me Anything q&a, and, of course, the subject of manga came up.
Well, I am a huge anime and manga fan, as is my daughter. In fact, I have an entire cabin in my office in the garden dedicated just to manga and anime, where I keep my books and my movies. I have never seen Evangelion, I love the designs and am very familiar with the designs of the EVA robots and Angels, but I have never actually sat down to see the series. Some people pointed out - I don't know if Travis who wrote Pacific Rim saw Evangelion - they saw the gel that connects the people to the robots, I came up with that myself, without seeing Evangelion. I however fully acknowledge the influence of Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Tetsujin 28-go, Space Giants, Mazinger Z, and many many other anime that I have watched and enjoy. I love very much the work of Osamu Tezuka, whose work influenced me growing up as a child, and I love quite a bit of the work of Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon (big big time, whom I think was the finest narrator in anime other than Miyazaki and Takahata).
I also love the work Jiro Taniguchi, which I find incredibly contemplative and meditative,highly influential for me are the sculptures of Mirasawa, and the horror stories of Junji Ito, whom I met on my last trip to Japan. He was very very shy, and I kept slapping him on the back, which was not very Japanese. Junji Ito is the only author of comics that has scared the shit out of me. When the shark takes the stairs in GYO, grows the mechanical crab legs chasing them up the stairs, I literally threw away the comic and yelled "NO!" i was so absolutely scared.
I also think that I am very influenced by Japanese game designers. I am friends and a big friend of Hideo Kojima, and I have been lucky enough to be friends with Otomo-San. But the series I think would be FANTASTIC to adapt, but I would love to adapt live-action GANTZ. I love the books, I love the book i don't know if you're familiar with it, called BLAME - it's a really surreal, beautiful book, but I don't know if you know it. But it's written by Tsutomu Nihei. And I love the work of Katsuya Terada. But I tried my best as an anime fan to try to do the first live action anime movie with Pacific Rim. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted to achieve an almost superpure color palette of super-saturated colors. I was hoping to make the movie feel as dynamic and as vibrant as anime.
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
Lostphrack, Darylsurat and one other like this
11 Jul 14:51
Notes about a new promotion getting national televison and start date
by hsmeltzer@juno.com (Dave Meltzer)
DarylsuratKonnan wasn't lying! This sort of show is really the best way to educate people in the US to lucha libre
At the El Rey Network's pess conference for the Television Critics Assciation they announced they will have a one hour Wednesday night show tentatively called Lucha Uprising produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor fame. This will feature stars of AAA and will debut on 10/8 and air over the next eight weeks.
11 Jul 01:55
Anime World Order Show # 127 – You Need Credibility Before You Can Lose It
by animeworldorder@gmail.com (Anime World Order)
Seriously? We missed the entire month of June yet still say this thing is
updated weekly? No matter, what?s done is done. Or rather, what?s not done is
done. For this episode, Gerald reviews the classic 1980s Sunrise mecha series
Giant Gorg. Visit www.animeworldorder.com for full show notes and supplemental
links.
10 Jul 15:38
"Kill La Kill" Hug Pillow Coming to Comiket
by Scott Green
DarylsuratIt's a good thing my work monitor can't be seen by others because every day CRN does what ANNdon't to stay number one, and that's ass ass titties titties ass and titties
Character goods maker/retailer Broccoli has previewed the slate of merch that they'll be bringing to this summer's Comiket 86 doujinshi mega-event. In addition to a Kill La Kill full-print t-shirt (7,500yen), which be sold at Gamers after the event, there's a two side Ryuko/Satsuki hug pillow (9,500yen).
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
10 Jul 14:47
Last Emperor/Honneamise Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto Diagnosed With Cancer
Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder to halt performances to treat mesopharyngeal carcinoma
10 Jul 14:15
New Documents Prove Charles Koch Was John Birch Society Member During Civil Rights Movement
by karoli
DarylsuratThis should really be a huge story but I doubt it'll spread beyond the fringe left
We don't call them teabirchers for nothing. For years, a whole lot of us have been saying that even though Charles and David Koch don't have membership cards to the John Birch Society, they're peddling the same message in a different format.
Now we have evidence of that. Democracy Now! and Progressive Magazine have unearthed documents showing that Charles Koch was a documented, card-carrying, activist member of the John Birch Society during the Civil Rights Era.
From the transcript:
09 Jul 22:40
Kentucky Boy Is Raped After His Church Hires Sex Offender Pastor God Had 'Forgiven'
by David
Officials at a Kentucky church said this week that they knew their pastor was a registered violent sex offender when they hired him, and now he's facing more charges for repeatedly raping a 14-year-old member of the congregation.
The Gallatin Police Department said in a statement this week that 46-year-old Pastor Roy Neal Yoakem had been arrested Monday on charges of aggravated statutory rape, sexual battery by an authority figure, statutory rape by an authority figure and fugitive from justice, The Tennessean reported.
Yoakem is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy once inside New Gospel Outreach Church in Scottsville, Kentucky, and once at his home in Gallatin, Tennessee.
The pastor had been required to register as a violent sex offender after being found guilty in 2005 of abusing an 8-year-old boy in Kentucky.
"If (a convicted sex offender) has a secondary address or if they spend a certain amount of time a month in the state, they have to register here," a statement from Gallatin Police Department spokesperson Bill Storment explained. So, his primary residence is in Kentucky, but the Gallatin residence is considered his secondary address."
09 Jul 19:18
Ray Nagin Gets 10 Years For Taking Bribes
by karoli
Former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, the businessman-turned-politician who became the worldwide face of the city after Hurricane Katrina, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.
Nagin, 58, was found guilty Feb. 12 of fraud, bribery and related charges involving crimes that took place before and after Katrina devastated the city in August 2005.
Pre-sentence reports by prosecutors and others were not made public. Nagin, based on sentencing guidelines, had faced a possible range of 12 to 30 years.
A jury convicted Nagin of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes -- money, free vacation trips and truckloads of free granite for his family business -- from businessmen who wanted work from the city or Nagin's support for various hurricane recovery projects.
Nagin's trial was controversial due to alleged prosecutorial bias in the US Attorney's office. Given the way business is done in Southern states as a matter of course, I can't help but wonder how many others should be receiving the same sentence.
09 Jul 19:14
While shopping with his friend...
by MRTIM
DarylsuratThis is the straight-up truth though
firehose, Lostphrack likes this
09 Jul 14:57
Crunchyroll Adds "GTO 2014" JDrama
by Joseph Luster
Crunchyroll is adding another series to its lineup of JDrama simulcasts with the announcement of GTO 2014. The live-action drama kicks off with its first episode on July 8 at 9:00pm Pacific Time for premium members, and free members will be able to watch one week later. Future episodes will be broadcast every Tuesday at 9:00am Pacific Time.
GTO 2014 will be available in the following territories: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Netherlands, Central and South America including the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, France and DOM/TOM, and Andorra.
Additionally, all GTO 2012 episodes are available now.
Crunchyroll's synopsis:
A high-school comedy drama with an ex-delinquent-turned-highschool-teacher. His unique way of being with students causes changes in the minds of students. Onizuka is sent as a temporary teacher to the high school he graduated from in Shonan, Japan. At the high school, he faces difficult problems including a teenage pregnancy and a student refusing to attend school. Onizuka's past is also revealed through people who knew him from his past.
AKIRA, from the Japanese dance and music group EXILE, reprises his role as the titular Onizuka, while Yu Shirota is cast as Ryuji Danma, Yusuke Yamamoto plays Toshiyuki Saejima, Ryosei Tayama stars as Hiroshi Uchiyamada, and Hitomi Kuroki is Ryoko Sakurai.
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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.
07 Jul 17:00
VIDEO: Kids React to the Original Game Boy, Make Everyone Feel Old
by Joseph Luster
How you do think today's kids would react to the original Game Boy, which Nintendo released way back in 1989? Needless to say, it's a far cry from a 3DS, and depending on your age the latest Kids React video might make you feel reeeeeally old.
Were you around for the original Game Boy, or are you more like the kids in the video?
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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. His blog can be found at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter at @Moldilox.
06 Jul 05:03
Fans Pick Favorite "Black Lagoon" Character and Storyline
by Scott Green
DarylsuratI read their number one pick and immediately my mind went to the default place it goes whenever I encounter any such occurrences: I hear the "Giga Pudding" song except it's "PEDO PEDO!" instead of "PUDDI PUDDI!"
This spring, celebrating the long awaited 10th collection of Black Lagoon manga, a poll asked fans to rank the violent action series' characters and storylines. After 19308 votes were cast, the site for home magazine Sunday GX has now posted the results, along with a special smartphone wallpaper to honor the winning character.
『ブラック・ラグーン』第10集刊行記念！「キャラクター＋エピソード人気投票」ついに結果発表！見事１位に選ばれたキャラクターとエピソードとは！？ １位になったキャラクターのスマホ用壁紙も配信中！http://t.co/PtmA9vUf4w #BLACK_LAGOON
— サンデーGX編集部 (@SundayGX) July 3, 2014
1. Gretel - #Bloodsport Fairy Tale - 2433 votes
2. Revy - Lagoon Company - 2411 votes
3. Balalaika - Hotel Moscow - 1354 votes
4. Mr. Chang - Sun Yee On Triad - 1293 votes
5. Biu Yuen - Sun Yee On Triad - 894 votes
6. Roberta - # Rasta Blasta - 877 votes
7. Rock - Lagoon Company - 686 votes
8. Eda - Church of Violence - 535 votes
9. Madame Flora - #El Baile de la muerte - 491 votes
10. Sawyer - #Greenback Jane - 485 votes
11. Fabiola - #El Baile de la muerte - 406 votes
12. Shenhua - #Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll - 347 votes
13. Lotton - #Greenback Jane - 227 votes
14. Li Xinlin - #The Wired Red Wild Card - 156 votes
15. Ginji Matsuzaki - #Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise - 124 votes
16. Shao Wei Yeyin - #The Wired Red Wild Card - 103 votes
17. Dutch - Lagoon Company - 98 votes
18. Bao - Roanapur Residents - 74 votes
19. Hänsel - #Bloodsport Fairy tale 71 votes
20. Jane - #Greenback Jane - 68 votes
21. Masahiro Takenaka - #Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll - 57 votes
22. Yukio Washimine - #Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise - 55 votes
23. Maki - #Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise - 43 votes
24. Boris - Hotal Moscow - 41 votes
25. Yolanda - Church of Violence - 35 votes
26. Chaka - #Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise - 34 votes
27. Camarasa -#El Baile de la muerte - 30
28. Leigharch - #Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll - 26
29. Caxton - #El Baile de la muerte - 25 votes
30 Bando - #Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise - 24 votes
31. Benny - Lagoon Company - 23 votes
Top Episodes
1. #Calm down, two men - volume 2 - 1558 votes
2. #Bloodsport Fairy tale - volumes 2-3 - 1305 votes
3. #El Babile de la muerte - volumes 6-9 - 585 votes
4. #Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise - volumes 4-5 - 562 votes
5. #Greenback Jane - volume 6 - 402 votes
6. #Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll - volumes 3-4 - 336 votes
7. #Rasta Blasta - volume 1 - 325 votes
8. #The Wired Red Wild Card - volume 10 - 223 votes
9. #Black Lagoon - volume 1 - 110 votes
10. #Das Wieder Erstehen Des Adlers - volume 2 - 97 votes
11. #Chase for ring-ding ships - volume 1 - 94 votes
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
01 Jul 02:27
Entire Batman Manga by 8 Man's Jiro Kuwata Gets English Release
First ever complete English release slated for this year
Lostphrack likes this
30 Jun 18:17
Bas Rutten talks Jon Jones, Wanderlei Silva, coming out of retirement
by hsmeltzer@juno.com (Dave Meltzer)
DarylsuratI miss the days when Bas Rutten was just in everything, from the fake GTA television to Cartoon Network interstitials
Bas Rutten returned to Submission Radio and discussed his thoughts on Jon Jones and eye pokes, Wanderlei Silva and fighters returning to competition after TRT.
Bas also provides some classic stories and discusses a bouncing story that almost destroyed his life.
Full interview- http://bit.ly/1ogwrGj
Interview Transcript
On Eye pokes in MMA, if rules need to be changed and Jon Jones
“I think it should be changed, and I’m happy you brought that up because everybody says 'oh Bas Rutten says he's (Jon Jones) a dirty fighter'. No, no, no. What I said was, I answered a question 'based on the eye poking, do I think it’s dirty?' And I thought knowing Jon, how calm, cool and collected this guy is, and then holding the fingers literally two seconds there in the eyes - he can see that he’s doing that - then I say, yeah that’s not cool, because you know you're doing it. Maybe you think it’s not hard enough or something, but I guarantee you, at their gym they're not allowed to do it. And especially not with Mike Winkeljohn at the gym who lost an eye because somebody kicked him with the toenail in the eye. So he knows how bad it can be, and how bad it can be if he losses an eye and his sparring partner. I know that if I had my sparring partner doing that to me, I would give him one more chance, and then he's not my sparring partner anymore. I’m not going to help him out anymore. So that was the only comment I made on that.”
“So I’m not going to say he’s a dirty fighter, I say that’s a very creative mind, you know. And the way he comes up with spinning elbows and all that stuff, he's an unbelievable fighter. I was just talking about that fingers in the eyes. Because if this would've been the only fight, then okay. But it has been a repetitive thing now.”
"So I think he should get warned. And I think if they had warnings in the past, I think even a referee could say before the fight starts 'if you come close to his eyes, I’m gonna give you a red card right away', you know. That’s going to put a lot of pressure on a fighter and then hopefully it stops. That’s the only way I think. Because there’s nothing worse.”
On how close he was to fighting Wanderlei Silva back in Pride and his thoughts on the difficult situation Wanderlei is in at the moment
“We were pretty close I thought. What happened was, there was that show with the 91,500 people, it was Dynamo or something, I forget the name right now. Anyway, they needed an opponent for him. Now I was at the time, I didn't do any ground. But I was just training for the last six months Thai boxing, and it actually went really well, I was getting very strong. So I thought to myself, well since this is an event where you have Pride fights and you have K1 fights, I would love to fight him - because they asked me if I wanted to do it - I said I'd love to fight him, but not Pride rules, let's do K1 rules but with the Pride gloves. That’s what everybody wants to see anyway. They want to see us beating the crap out of each other in a striking war with pride gloves. And they said ok, well let's ask. And it never went through, and it wasn’t because they were scared, or 'oooh Wanderlei is scared', Wanderlei isn’t scared of anybody man, this guy fights everybody. So that was really not it, they just went with a different opponent and it didn’t happen.”
“What is happening lately to him, it’s a shame. This is going to be a tarnish on his career. I talked about it on 'Inside MMA' last Friday with Dana White, I was at the offices, at the UFC offices, and you know it’s true. With the athletic commission, once you walk out while you have to do a test, oh they're gonna make an example out of you, you know. Otherwise, when you get caught, maybe you can’t fight for six or nine months, but that’s pretty much the maximum penalty, you know. This is going to be much worse than nine months, I guarantee you that. They're going to go like 'ok, let's make sure this will never happen again', and god knows they're going to give him a couple of years. And with the age that he is right now, this could be a career killer, you know. And that’s a shame, because he's such a good guy and such a fun guy to watch, always exciting, I mean the fights he had in Pride where just the wildest, all the time you know. The Axe Murderer is the perfect name for him”
On fighters being able return to their prime after using TRT?
"It depends if you really over did it. There are some fighters that suddenly have a super low testosterone level and they are going to have a problem. We had a doctor on our show 'Inside MMA' and he was saying eventually it will come back, you know. Like what Chael is doing right now, those are ways to get it naturally, your own natural production back”
“It depends on how much they use, how they used it, I don’t know. I hope everybody of course can come back. Normally with a young guy you’ll never have that problem. 99.9%, the doctor said it’s always because of fighting. And that’s what he said, I’m just repeating his words”
On TRT and Chael Sonnen retiring
“It’s smart, because he couldn’t do it without it anymore, you know, and his own production is really low right now, so he just made the decision. He said, 'listen I know what was on the list, but I do have to use it if I want to have kids'. So I guess he had to make a big choice and there was no more fighting. And that's a heavy one for a fighter, especially for a guys who can talk as he does, because I guarantee you he was gonna make a lot of money on that fight. So was Wanderlei Silva.”
"I think that once you need TRT, you shouldn’t fight anymore. You should stop. You know, it is illegal, it is pushing it, they allow you four times the amount and in some states even 6 times the amount as a normal person. So then you're four or six times, you have more in your system than a normal person. You can’t tell me that it’s not cheating. You know if they can bring it up to a level of a thousand - is what apparently what everybody has - or around that, between five hundred and a thousand, and you stay under that, still it’s true that it's not (produced by) your own body, but then I can understand. But once you start saying 'oh, to four or six times more' and guys get clocked with sixteen times the (legal) amount, then it’s like dude what are you taking that’s gotta be an insane amount. Then I think it would be time for you to hang it up”
If he could pick anyone in MMA to fight from these days who would it be
“Well first of all I would fight at 205, so I would have a big problem with freakin Jon Jones, because he's a great wrestler and he really knows how to use his distance, and striking-wise you gotta fight this guy inside. But once your inside, he is really good with wrestling, and let’s face it my wrestling always sucked because I was, on the ground I could defend myself. But nowadays, once you get down and with his length, you know so, yeah that would have been a problem. Still if I would fight, people always say 'well who would win?', and I say I would win, you know. I would always say I would win. I think it’s the dumbest thing for a fighter to say 'ah, I don't know if I could really win that fight'. I think you have to be 100% with your mind going into the fight, that you're going to win the fight. There cannot be any doubts, you know. And just because of that, that's why I say I’m probably going to win the fight. But it would be a tough one."
Kevin James relationship
“He knows everything about MMA. He and Joe Rogan used to watch Pancrase fights when they were roommates, this goes all the way back. So when I came to America, I think within 3 months I had a phone call from his management, and they said 'Hey man, he would like to meet you', you know to train. And that’s how it started we became instant friends. So I know him, 17 years we’ve been doing a lot of little projects here and there.”
One the inspiration behind the victory dance in Here Comes the Boom if it was Bas’s real victory dance
“No, the script asked for a crazy dance, and in Holland you have these, they're called habbas. And these are all bald guys, and they go out and they dance to the crazy music and that’s the kinda dance they do a little bit..........and I go man, that will be it, I think that's the crazy dance. So I just watched a bunch of video’s like that and then a I started to putting one together”
Crazy story about how he almost killed a man when bouncing at a club
“I threw the guy outside but the door was still closed, so I banged him first against the door really hard. Actually so hard that something broke off the door, and I threw him outside and he walks all the way up to our glass that we had, like special plexiglass where they can't break it. And he looked right over at me and he did the thumb slice over the throat like he was going to kill me. Now these guys are serious guys, you know. And then at that moment when I know that they don’t have a weapon on them, I rather go out there, than (if) I’m gonna wait till the go to the car, or wait in the car somewhere around the corner, and then I’m done working and suddenly they show up and something happens. So that I took very serious. So I went outside right away because I wanted to take care of the problem right then. And it happened to be that he was a southpaw, and he loaded his punch up, I guess he was really angry. So before he loaded it up I went and kicked him in the head, and he was down. And it was a scary moment, one of those moments where I say, it could have made my life a completely different life, because he was sitting on his knees and he was really messed up, his lip was already hanging down, and then I wanted to kick him in the head, because I was still thinking about the death threat he made. So I kicked him full in the head, but he fell backwards. He was like out. So I kicked a hole in the air so to say, and that’s when I realized I was wearing steel-toed shoes. I go 'oooph', if that would have connected, I would have killed the guy. And you know, then I probably would have never been here. I wouldn’t have been a fighter, I would have been in jail in Holland you know?”
On his thoughts on being a part of Pride
“I loved it. I loved every show, it was amazing. Once you have a small show, and forty five thousand people are considered a normal show, that is something really special, you know. Doing another show in front of ninety one and a half thousand people, I mean that was the craziest thing. It was outdoor you know, and all these fighters, great fighters. I have such great memories from waking up in the mornings, everybody’s up early with the Jetlag, coming from America. So breakfast at the Hilton, man you can ask any fighter who was ever in Japan fighting for Pride, that’s the best. This is the best Breakfast. Everybody would sit there, take their time. We would have whole stories, you would be sitting at the tables for two hours, and all the fighters would come and join because it was always fun, we we’re cracking jokes, and then 'oh I'll get another pineapple juice'. It was amazing, you had a really good time”
On commentating a UFC event
“Never say never, you know. Listen, they have a great commentating team, but if he for fun says one time 'hey you wanna jump in?' I'll jump in, I would love to.”
Most Awkward Date
"I go with my wife, who is now my wife, we've been 22 years together - this is when I fought in Japan for like a year or something, or less, I think six or seven months - we go to Amsterdam. Now believe it or not, I was never had been at the Red Light district before, and she was never there either. So we said we're gonna check it out, because it’s a real fun place, it’s a safe place, because that’s where the tourism goes, they make sure that there's a lot of cops and it’s fun to watch because you see these ladies behind the windows, you know. And then you can knock on the door and you can go in there and they close the curtain and you can do your business, that’s how it works there. So I’m walking there with her, and this is the god honest truth, and these girls, like multiple, start knocking on the windows saying 'hey Bas! How are you doing?' and that was pretty awkward, and my wife looks at me, I go 'I swear I have never been here before'. And what happened was, that one of their, well there's not great way to say this, pimps, fought with me on the second Pancrase show. And because he was a shoot fighter as well from Amsterdam, and he fought as well, and his name was Yolp and he passed away, which is too bad because he was a really good guy. But anyway, he fought there, brought back the magazines with him in there, but because I fought him I was in the magazines as well and he was talking about me, so these girls recognised me from the pictures in the magazine, and that's why they started knocking on the windows.”
If Bas would consider coming out of retirement for a fight with Steven Segal
“You know it’s my knees. That is a big one, because right now I cannot train anymore, but I don’t know if I need a lot of time for that fight. So as long as I get in really good shape, I think my muscle memory and my head would you know, my mind will always be there. (My mind) Like knows the technique still, but the fact is it’s very hard for me to train. Everything hurts a lot, I don’t have a lot of power in my right arm, you know. I'm recouping now, actually it starts developing the biceps again, and I’m just planning that it keeps on going. But this arm has been like out of order for like four years, so it’s very hard for the nerves to start kicking back”
Best regards,
Denis Shkuratov
30 Jun 12:26
Japanese 20-Somethings “Don’t Know Gundam”
by Scott Green
"Gundam? Never heard of her?" Japanese lifestyle magazine R25 ran into a bit of a problem when it tried to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Gundam by surveying young men about franchise mecha. Polled by a market research firm, 51% of the sample set of guys in their 20s didn't know enough about the series to name a favorite design or mech they'd like to pilot.
The internet otaku ranks were a bit appalled by this “How could you not know?” and “Gundam and JoJo are compulsory courses.”
Some however did manage to frame the response from a positive perspective: “It’s great that half of the people knew about a work that was created 35 years ago.”
thumbnail via http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=39165423
Gundam Build Fighters' Rinko Iori "tried building a Gunpla too!"
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
26 Jun 13:46
Amusing Ourselves To Death: New Sciencegasm Meme Nails It
by Dr. Sammy
DarylsuratThey misspelled "Bieber" :colbert:
Thanks to Facebook, we all see new memes every day. Some of them are funny, some insightful, and a lot are of the preaching to the choir variety, which even though they're right as rain, they occasionally get tiresome. Like a lot of us, frustrated as hell with the sorry shape of our society and the deteriorating condition of our planet and the sheer hopelessness of mounting an assault against the mountain of cynical, corrupt cash standing between us and a solution, I guess I suffer from bouts of what we'll call Fact Fatigue. If we're intelligent, I fear, the truth is too much with us.
Every once in awhile, though, somebody sends one around that's so on-point you can't ignore it. Today, for instance, it was my friend Heather Sowards-Valey (she of Fiction 8 fame) sharing this one from Sciencegasm:
[sigh]
Is it possible to be more right?
26 Jun 13:12
"Tekken" Nina Williams Bishoujo Statue Goes on Sale
by Scott Green
DarylsuratAt a certain angle it looks like her spine's been twisted 180 degrees like a Mortal Kombat fatality, which I'm sure has the usual suspects [aka: obsolete 3D models] rolling their eyes, but it's actually fine
Figure maker Kotobukiya has introduced Nina Williams as their latest Tekken Bishoujo statue, set to be released in Japan in November and confirmed for North America import in December. The 1/7th scale, 21cm figure sells for 7,776 yen.
A Kotobukiya Japanese import! The hit line of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Bishoujo Statues continues! With its thrilling martial arts action, the Tekken series of video games from Namco has been a huge hit with players since the original arcade game in 1994. In the games, fighters compete in the King of Iron Fist tournament for control of the Mishima Zaibatsu Corporation, using their unique talents against their opponents. Next up after the noble fighter Jun Kazama is the bloodthirsty Irish assassin Nina Williams! Appearing in every Tekken game since the first and her own spin-off Death by Degrees, Nina makes her triumphant debut in the Bishoujo series based on an all new illustration by Shunya Yamashita.
Showing off her martial arts prowess, not to mention her muscular physique, Nina Williams poses just for you as she stands on one leg with the other preparing a lethal side kick for an unseen opponent sneaking up on her! The tough fighter looks great from any angle as she turns in mid-kick, looking behind her as she leans forward over one straight leg. Nina wears her unique combat suit, part blue and purple camouflage, part metallic silver, and part black straps. Her incredible sculpt captures all of the details of her clothing down to the creases in her boots as well as every curve of her taut muscles. It’s easy to overlook Nina’s deadliness for her beauty, but watch out for that kick!
Nina Williams stands nearly 8 ½ inches tall (1/7 scale) on her included display base. Whether she’s standing alone on your shelf or ready to attack another Tekken Bishoujo Statue from Kotobukiya, Nina is ready for action!
Available December 2014.
TEKKEN TM TAG TOURNAMENT 2 & © BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc.
They also previewed Classic X-Men Era Psylocke SDCC Exclusive Bishoujo Statue
With an entirely new colorway based on her classic X-Men outfit and a newly sculpted psi-energy field wrapping around her am and katana this rendition of Psylocke is the latest Kotobukiya Bishoujo statue to be offered exclusively to attendees of the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. Strictly limited to 1500 pieces worldwide this version of mutant ninja assassin will only be offered once, never to be reproduced again making her a much sought-after addition to the Marvel line of Bishoujo statues.
Sculpted by Busujimax (Takaboku Busujima), the classic era Psylocke Bishoujo statue reaches 8 inches high (1/7 scale) in a dynamic, strike-ready pose. Psylocke will be available exclusively during SDCC 2014 and thru a limited kotous.com non-attendee pre-order event.
Pre-orders will open up at 10AM on Friday, June 27th PST at store.kotous.com.
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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
25 Jun 19:55
Brian Myers/Curt Hawkins interview
by hsmeltzer@juno.com (Dave Meltzer)
Brian Myers / Curt Hawkins was a guest on The LAW: Live Audio Wrestling this past Sunday discussing his recent release from the WWE along with a number of other topics. The full interview is up at http://fightnetwork.com/news/48483:interview-curt-hawkins-with-john-pollock/ and also on iTunes. Below are some of the highlights from the chat:
On WWE release:
On WWE release:
I was with the WWE for eight and a half years, and I saw so many guys get let go and just sit around and feel sorry for themselves, and I feel like nothing good comes of that. To me, wrestling is wrestling. It’s what I love to do. If I was able to do it that weekend, why wouldn’t I? I was thrilled at the idea that...you know, originally I would be sitting home as a WWE employee like I was doing, collecting a check but not really having any fun. So I was like, “Woo! Alright, sweet.” Hit the ground running, you know?
For one, it’s been like a weight has been lifted. It was just going nowhere, and I sensed that, and I’m thrilled to be back being my own boss and actively wrestling every weekend, which is really just what I want to do. That’s all I can ask for. I’m a desperate hopeless romantic for pro wrestling since I was five years old, I just love it. I’m happiest in the ring; I don’t care whose ring it is or who owns it, I just want to be in there performing and I’m happy. And I know I’m a sucker in that sense, because it’s a business, but that’s what makes me happy and that’s the truth. What really happened, in my opinion, is when I got hurt in late summer 2012 - I tore my PCL and meniscus, and that was the first time I had to actively stop. I had to have surgery. Ever since then, I never was put on a full road schedule again. It was almost a year and a half of just sitting home and they’d randomly call me for something. It was just bizarre, it never got going again. I think a lot of it was a cost-cutting thing to keep a lot of talent off the road because they weren’t going to be used.
Locker room reaction to Zack Ryder's push:
The worst part of that whole thing is that it really kind of broke the spirit of the locker room. For years, we were told in all these pep talks that there’s a brass ring, you’ve gotta reach for it and it’s there for the taking if you work hard enough and get yourself over. And he did it; he defied the odds and actually does it, and all the boys are rooting for him, like “Oh wow, this is cool as sh*t. This has never been done before.” He got over without the office, without TV time. It was pretty mind-blowing. And then they did just crush it and take it all away from him. To me, I felt the example that set for the rest of the boys was pretty brutal, because then it’s like it almost feels hopeless. It’s like, you’re not going to get pushed unless they pick you to get pushed, and that’s kind of it. I thought, above all, that message they sent to the boys was the worst part. They crushed the spirits of a lot of people, like “Okay, so my hard work here isn’t going to pay off, huh?”
Working with The Rock for his comeback matches:
That started for his comeback match, the Survivor Series match in 2011. I got a call from John Laurinaitis one afternoon, and that’s never a good thing, so I’m like “Oh sh*t, what could this be about?” It was a conference call with me and Joe Hennig on the line, and he basically explained that Rock needs guy to train with to get ready for his matches, and he’s not gonna be at every TV and whatnot. We were basically like his punching bags for whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it. It wound up being incredible. Basically, I could be at home at any point and someone from the office would call me and say, “Hey, Dwayne wants to train tomorrow in Miami, we’ll send you the information” and WWE would basically set up a ring, they’d send a ring crew guy and a ref. They’d set up a ring in a warehouse near wherever he was filming. We did it in Miami, we did it in New Orleans. At the drop of a hat, my daily commute would be Miami and back in one day just to get a workout in with Dwayne. It was a blast. Honestly, he could not have been cooler. From jump street, he was the coolest guy. (Transcribed by Chris Maffei) Catch The LAW: Live Audio Wrestling every Sunday night at 11pm Eastern on TSN 1050 Toronto, The Team 1040 Vancouver and Sirius / XM 167.
--John Pollock (@LAWradio)
On Air Host / Producer
http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com
http://www.reviewawai.com
FIGHT NETWORK
171 East Liberty Street - Suite 230
Toronto, Ontario
M6K-3P6
On Air Host / Producer
http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com
http://www.reviewawai.com
FIGHT NETWORK
171 East Liberty Street - Suite 230
Toronto, Ontario
M6K-3P6