2014 A Year in Review

Back in January of 2014  I posted my goals for 2014...which ...well... I met none of this year. I am not going to to sugarcoat it.  Zip...Zilch...Nada.. Big ol' goose egg. I don't want to be "Mr. Negative" but... apparently I am. Take this for an example:

A friend of mine is making a documentary.  He needs a narrator for his film. and I am like, "Hello !!!, Right here! I studied acting.  I want to be a voice actor" and he told me that he didn't want to use because my voice was too Snarky..   and I am like, "O-K, true everything I saw is usually oozing with sarcasm...but there is that thing I studied called acting....I don't have to sound that way.."  But I digress...

While I didn't complete any of the goals I set for myself I did do quite a few things. I didn't do much for January and February as I was waiting to see if I made it into the JET Program (which I did not) Apparently I am no not a JET all the way (or even part of the way)  Not from my first cigarette nor my last dying day...  Pity as doing that would have accomplished both of my major goal (and would have given me access to my minor ones.)

So 2014:

Got off to a late start...

April 12-13
SHIMMER 63-66


May 20th

Coffins @ St Vitus - Brooklyn, NY

Coffins http://bnds.in/xadaW5
Bones http://bnds.in/t8uYb1
SevenSistersOfSleep

MAY 24th
VALKYRIE Womens Professional Wrestling debut show

June 25-27th
TNA iMPACT Wrestling TV taping

I did a Zombie run ( was June or July)

July 19th
VALKYRIE Womens Professional Wrestling presents "VALKYRIE II: Rise of the VALKYRIE"

8/7
TNA iMPACT wrestling Hardcore Justice
8/9
TNA iMPACT Wrestling TV taping

Friday, September 12

Shonen Knife @ The Wick - New York, NY

Went to Universal Florida's Halloween Horror Nights
October 2-7

Attended  NYCC 2014
October 9-12

Friday, October 17th
AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined presents Jawbreaker


October 18-19, 2014
SHIMMER 67-70


October 24th

VALKYRIE Womens Professional Wrestling presents "VALKYRIE III: Queen's Road"

November 4th

BabyMetal World Tour

November 22nd
W.U.W. Gran Prix the Beginning

November 30th

DTA Tours
Death
Obituary
Massacre
Rivers of Nihil

December 12th
NYWC Immortals Holiday 4

Not a bad year ---eh?  Not only did I do all that, I put in motion action that will allow me to fulfill most of the goals that I missed in 2014.  I will visit  Japan in 2015. I will attend a KanaProMania -Advance.  I plan on attending WAVE, 666 and a Super Sentai stunt show.  Plane Tickets bought, Hotel Booked, Tickets wrestling shows reserved!  Japan here I come.  Hopefully in 2015 I can complete my other unfulfilled 2014 goal and get a career.  I already have a "job" but I want a "career."  When you have a career  there are are not enough hours in the day...but when you have a job there are too many hours in a day.

Last Christmas

I have been a fan of Doctor Who pretty much since it was first brought to the United States I discovered Doctor Who in the 1970’s when it was broadcast on New York’s channel 9- WWOR-TV. The first episode I ever watched was episode 1 of “The Ark in Space.” I was hooked. Doctor Who quicjly became my favorite TV show. While the Christmas special is staple of the current Doctor Who series, back in the days of classic Who, it didn’t exit. In fact during it’ initial 26 year run, there were only 2 Christmas themed episodes. The very first episode to premiere on Christmas Day was "The Feast of Steven" It just happened that the episode was slated to air on Christmas day, so the BBC decided to make a festive episode. It is right in the middle of the 12 part Dalek Master Plan serial and really has nothing to do that story. It is sort of a side story. The other was the pilot to K-9 and Company. Some fans don’t count this as a Doctor Who xmas special as the Doctor isn’t in it…but it does feature K-9 and Sarah Jane and it does take place on Christmas. Back then, the internet didn’t exist. (yeah I know I am dating myself) Most of my information about Doctor Who came from British magazines and books that I stumbled upon.

I do know there was a Doctor Who Christmas connection even back then… but it was in the form of special recorded message and not a full flung special episode as it is now. It might appear on something like Blue Peter or maybe it was a special Holiday station ID for the BBC…either way it was something that aired once and as I don’t live in the UK, I never got to see. Some of these have made it youtube.
While I am happy to see a new and often times longer than usual episode of Doctor Who, the xmas themed episodes are sometimes not my favorites. When I saw the trailer to the current one, I groaned. Santa Clause?? Really. I feared the show had jumped the shark. While Doctor Who is a children’s show and it is known for its humour…I thought this might be going to far. But it is Doctor Who …so I was going to watch it anyway.
And I was presently surprised. It was brilliant. Very well written. And pretty scary for a christmas episode. The whole Santa thing was handled very smartly. The story deals with what is a dream and what is reality. Is Santa really there? Is he a figment of someone’s imagination… The story does take place on Christmas Eve and they are on a research lab close to the North pole. All the things that I thought were going to bring the episode down, like Rudolph’s red nose and Christmas elves just worked and made the story better. The Doctor, while trying to prove that Santa was a hallucination, asked Father Christmas, how he fit all those toys in his sack. To which, Santa answered, “it’s bigger on the inside.” The story is sort of like the move “Inception” except I like it a little better as at its base “Inception” was a heist-adventure movie and Doctor Who’s “Last Christmas” is more a horror story. This episode , like my other favorite Xmas special, “ The Next Doctor,” is just a great story…even if you remove all the Christmas elements it would be amazing…although the holiday elements enhance the story and make it even better. I really don’t want to spoil it, if any of my readers haven’t seen it yet. It must be available on BBC iPlayer, Amazon video or Itunes.

Christmas

I am not really a Christmas guy. I never really was and probably never will be. Having worked in retail the past couple of years has siphoned out almost all of my limited supply of yuletide spirit. When asked what my favorite Christmas movie is, I usually answer "Die Hard", "Gremlins" or "Heroic Trio 2." They take place on Christmas so they count...right? Or maybe "Santa's Slay"The movie is very cheezy but there is something about the concept that Santa is really a vile murderous demon that due to losing a wager was forced to be nice for 1000 years. But now Santa has finished his sentance and can return to his evil ways and start spreading some "yuletide fear."

There are actually a ton of evil Santa movies but this one is the best. It stars Bill Goldberg as Santa and has several cameos by actor's like James Caan, Fran Drescher, Chris Kattan, and Dave Thomas. If you Like Horror or Dark Comedy or maybe were a huge WCW fan, I ssuggestyou check out this movie.

Most people like the Jim Carrey Grinch movie, but don't care for it.  I will admit that Carrey's makeup is incredible but the movie takes to many liberties from the book and is way too long.   Jim Carrey is a phenomenal physical comedian. If they needed fill out the movie they could have just had Jim Carrey do some slapstick comedy bits while he robed  the Who's of the Holiday cheer. Instead the filmmaker's pad the movie with an unnecessary back story of how the Grinch became a Grinch.  Not only do I not care for added material, most of it seems like a ripoff of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol." If I want to watch Ebenezer Scrooge, there are hundreds of version of a Christmas Carol to choose from...I don't need bogging down the runtime of the Grinch.

While I hate to sound like a Grinch myself, I am also not a big fan of Christmas music.  Having to listen to hours on end, I have grown to dislike most of it.  A lot of it is really awful but are a few songs that get the Shawn Seal of approval. And here are a couple: 

Santa Dog is considered to be official beginning of the Residents musical career.  It is at least the first song the band released.  They have rerecorded it several times.  The version below is one of my favorites.  The Residents are always evolving and changing their musical style.  This was one of my favorite incarnations of there music.  Even though this version of Santa Dog is lacking the lyrics I love how powerful and somber it sounds.