tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90551205316162886812024-03-12T19:59:32.724-04:00I Have an OpinionI'm Jessel. And I write about whatever strikes me. You can also ask me to write about things. Click the "ask" button, and I'll write about what you ask me to.Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.comBlogger359125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-70377281966273397832015-09-29T12:00:00.000-04:002015-09-29T12:00:00.351-04:00IHAO on ... Twitch streaming and Super Mario MakerI cannot in my life think of a game I have wanted more than Super Mario Maker. There are games I have wanted a lot. There are games I have paid a lot of money for. Tabletop RPG games that I need for my collection. Old school games for the systems I have that I love and refuse to get rid of. Rare and hard to find board games. But with all of those games, Super Mario Maker is the only game that has had me obsessing about owning it. Marveling at the menu system in videos I am watching. Yes, the menu system! Have you seen it? It is glorious. Part youtube, part tumblr, part reddit, part Netflix. It is absolutely perfect. And it is a stupid menu. With the best music!<br />
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I have found so many creators and youtubers and twitch-streamers that are putting out content just for me. For idiots like me who are drooling over the ability to make your own levels, to play level others have made, homages to old games of the past, new crazy stupid levels like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxY8pELhqM">Panga's Pit</a>. Watch that video if you want to see the most dangerous and ridiculous level of Mario ever made. <br />
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I cannot wait to have this game. Really, I can't. I'm becoming increasingly annoying about it with my wife, which is really stupid of me, considering all the other things we have to buy and get ready for a big move to our first home in just over a month. But I cannot help it. Every single element of this game was made perfectly and specifically for me, and millions of other people are playing MY GAME before I get the chance. I am scouring the internet to absorb as much as I can on youtube and twitch. GameXplains, GhostRobo Jr, so many other guys that aren't good enough to mention by name, they all have me chomping at the "chain" as it were to own this game. <br />
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The joy I am getting from Super Mario Maker, just as a viewer and a dreamer, is out-shined by my love of Ptken. Who is <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/ptken">Ptken</a>? He is utter magic, and you need to watch him. You need to sit in your living room with this man from across the globe and enjoy his tirades and laugh and wonderfully off-key and ridiculous greetings. "HUH-llo!" Honestly, of all the guys that I have watched since needing to cram my head full of this game I just do not have the money to own, Ptken is the absolute best. <br />
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I have watched him spend 40 lives on one lives on one level, and loved every second. Yes, the level is crazy, but even better is Ptken's amazing commentary. "I can do it-uh!" *dies* "...maybe." I do not speak a lick of Mandarin, but I am promised that "[I] can speak English here." And Ptken knows just enough curse words and phrases to make watching <i>amazing</i>. As I watched, more and more people started to follow him, and he always answered with a wonderful "Sank you follow!" to every single one. Watching him finally overcome that amazing level was glorious. I didn't need to understand a lick of his language, and together we all enjoyed life and watched him succeed so he could finally stuff his face with food, as he was apparently starving himself until he beat that level.<br />
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Next is a level with a school theme, and a section has him listening to a made-in-game song. He shushes everyone around, and we all listen to this awful song that a wandering goomba plays. And once it finishes, there is a moment of silence, before a, "HUH?!?" And then he dies. And we have to do it again. It is so amazingly enjoyable. The level is utter insanity, and not because it is made by some Japanese fella and he is from Taiwan. It is just insane, and all Ptken can say is what I say, "HUH?!"<br />
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A later level has everyone pissed and confused for Ptken that are watching as he is beset by troll-ish trap after troll-ish trap. A helpful English speaker points that out to Ptken, who takes a moment and responds, in English, "I know ... but ... I finish it anyway." And he finds a way to succeed through one stupid trap, only to be stuck with another one. But he doesn't give up. Just a string of "this is $#!+" and he continues. And he does it. And it is glorious. I know it isn't anything any other streamer hasn't done, but something about Ptken makes it magical. I feel his pain. His genuine pain and genuine outrage. But then he succeeds, with a resounding "Fah Que!" <br />
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The amazing commentary continues in later levels. Throwing a shell into a chain chomp with a "hay-shotted!" had me cheering and laughing! His "fah queues" and "sank you, Follows" and "lemme try" and "here we go" and "okay, dis wah E-Z" and singing and mroe "fah queues" ... He isn't an amazing player by any means ... ok I lied, he is. That level I linked to above? He's one of the like ... people who has beaten it. Yeah. He spends his time and beats his levels and enjoys the game. He is an amazing streamer. And man. If I had to wager a guess.<br />
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Hours I am spending watching him play. It is the absolutely best. Great moments of joy. Great pits of despair. "Woo-hoo"-ing along with an Ashley skinned Mario in one level. Squatting and dicking around to the music as he waits for stupid bloopers to go away. Plenty of "Whuh duh HAIL?!"s and "Sank you, Follow!"s. Everyone in the chat, cheering him on and spamming "EZ!" when he beats a level, no matter how long it takes. We have to demoralize the level as a sacrifice to Ptken! And to a game that I cry at night because I do not own.<br />
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Yet.Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-11782971799842400132015-09-27T21:41:00.003-04:002015-09-27T21:41:57.363-04:00FUTURE!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well golly, everyone. It has been a bit. <br />
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I never wanted to abandon IHAO. I love the name, I have put a lot of effort into the blog, and I love what I've done. But for awhile, it became a huge chore to find things I wanted to talk about. Reviews are good. Requests are good. But I wanted to do more. And every time I tried something new, I was thrilled. I love doing the Q&As, especially the really good, thinky questions. I love sharing things and talking about them, like Sentai and the playlists. I love writing new ideas and thinking critically, like with some of the wrestling articles and the new ending to Alien I wrote. And I want to do that more.<br />
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So here's the deal. I Have an Opinion is going to evolve. I will be writing as I am inspired. And what inspires me? Sometimes it'll be a review for a movie I've watched. Sometimes it'll be a playlist that I came upon for fun. But mostly, I want to turn to everyone that reads this. I love answering your questions and thinking deeply. So I want to do that more. <br />
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So here's the deal. Leave comments. Here, on facebook, wherever you can. And I will whenever I see one I want to write about, answer the question. What kinds of questions? Things you want to know my opinions on. Entertainment of all kinds. And I'm happy to move into the next level of doing I Have an Opinion. If things go well, who knows. Patreon, a podcast, there are a lot of options for the future. I know for a fact that I will be doing NaNoWriMo, and probably sharing that here. So that'll be cool.<br />
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So yeah... see you in the future. <br />
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~JesselDeewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-21469320446081815612015-04-22T15:06:00.005-04:002015-04-22T15:06:56.805-04:00Where has IHAO been?Well goodness, hello everyone. It has been quite awhile since ... Goodness, the end of January. I had so many big things planned, like a Mordecai review, a love song playlist, Wrestlemania review, getting a Patreon started, Oscar reactions, and a bunch of other things. So where have I been? Lemme tell ya ...<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Dee-di-loo, dee-di-loo, dee-di-loo ...</span></div>
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Imagine if you will a small town in Georgia. Ok, it isn't that small, as the Atlanta Olympics so many years ago brought in a huge amount of traffic and tourism, which is silly that there is still such a large amount of that. We are basically a suburb of Atlanta, though with a 45 minute travel time to the big city, so I suppose we ... aren't. Anyway.<br />
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In my little not-so-little town, there is a local theatre. A community theatre. One in which I am pretty active. I've acted in a handful of shows, about one a season, and for the past three years I've also directed a show each year. On top of that, we have an in-house comedy improv group that performed almost-monthly and rehearses weekly. I also teach an improv comedy class for youths, which is cool, and something I've been looking into expanding. Anyway, I did all of that pretty normally without much disruption to IHAO. Really, I had gotten into a pretty good groove. A friend and I reconnected and started doing weekly films, which only helped the site and our friendship, which is cool (friendship isn't an easy thing for me, for whatever reason ... I'll talk about that some time, too, since I'm blogging for whatever stupid reason right now). I'm also a house-husband, which is the best thing about my life, really, since my wife is so flippin' successful in her field (she's a clinical therapist). I'm not a great house-husband, but I like to clean for the most part and I like to cook a whole heap, so it works pretty well. Normally.<br />
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All in all, busy, but not overly so. Though it got cranked up starting in January. First came 12 Angry Men. I suspect you know the story: a group of twelve jurors have to decide the guilt or innocence of a young boy convicted of murdering his father. I played Juror #7, the guy who just wants out. It was a nice experience, with a good group of actors. And I was able to really do something with my character, really think about what was driving him, really push myself and the audience. It is not a thing I normally get to do as an actor, being a fat guy that tends towards self-deprecation and humor as a defense mechanism. It was a real good experience, and by itself would not have been much more difficult than what I was already doing.<br />
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At the same time, and before, and after, I was directing American Buffalo, the next show in that space at the theatre. It is an amazing show, and we are currently halfway through the run, which is why I can finally breathe again. The show has had some barriers and difficulties, like losing time because of losing an actor, and having to rehearse basically every night of the week every week until we opened last Thursday. But golly, is it a great show. Of the three shows I've directed, two of them have been able to capture my vision, which is awesome, and puts me above the curve. <br />
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Between 6 hours rehearsals, running around doing prep before hand, set building, costume finding, publicity concerns, and a million other things, we also had our improv group. My favorite misconception of improv means that there is no prep. That's just crazy. Improv is not the same as a play, certainly. Improv is much more like a sport, as my roommates and I have been postulating, which requires practice, running through techniques that make the show better, and improving those improv-ing muscles. Of course, it couldn't just be that though, as we had some shake-ups at the theatre of the local power structure. Resign-ings, promotions, quitiing, money-issues, publicity problems, all sorts of things.<br />
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I also should point out that all this work is unpaid. That doesn't make a difference mind you, but it does take its toll. When I'm rehearsing, I'm not cooking, which means we are spending money eating out. Also, because of time crunches, we are eating worse because we have to eat fast. Add to this above cocktail of scheduling, stress, and hardwork: depression, ADHD, insomnia, and the small amount of free-time activites I try to have in roleplaying games and board gaming, loneliness, food poisoning, sinuses from the changing seasons ... Well, I spiraled. <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">In this metaphorical gif, I get to be Emma Stone. So ... you know ... that's a plus.</span></div>
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It has been a long almost three months, is what I'm saying.<br />
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What does all this mean for IHAO, which was finally starting to get on a roll? I don't know. But I felt like I really needed to share SOMETHING. I'm the kind of guy who needs to talk out his feelings to stop ... feeling them. Well, stop holding on to them. And that's what I'm doing.<br />
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Once things start to get more constant, IHAO will as well, I'm sure. And I have some other cool stuff lined up soon, plus all the neato summer movies coming. So, see you folks soon. More than likely.<br />
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~Jessel<br />
<br />Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-58332954172330799302015-01-30T00:02:00.000-05:002015-01-30T00:02:00.066-05:00IHAO on ... Galavant season 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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ABC has been doing a pretty cool thing. You see, television is changing as a medium to broadcast entertainment. With Netflix and the increase in DVD sales, but mostly Netflix, television channels need to produce content not only more often, but more efficiently to keep the audience tuning in. But there has been no way to improve the actual amount of time it takes to make an episode of a television show: roughly 7 days for a complicated 30 minute show and 9 or 10 days for an hour-long show. Yeah, look at those numbers. Simple math let's you know that they have to start airing things before they are done filming an entire season. On top of that, human decency means that there are times when those actors, grips, props guys, producers and the like all get time off, like Christmas. Add in scheduling conflicts and random accidents, making a television show becomes a much larger endeavor. <br />
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So, like I said, ABC has been doing a pretty cool thing. They have been creating short-run shows, with smaller episode orders, to fill in the gaps of broadcasting when their regular shows have to take the breaks in broadcasting that are inevitable. Agent Carter is the post-WW2 super-spy Marvel show that filled the gap of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But considering I just cannot get into Agents of SHIELD, I also didn't really give Agent Carter much of a thought. But I have heard good things. Wait, I'm getting off track.<br />
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So, as I've said a few times before, ABC has been doing that pretty cool thing. And even cooler, their big show Once Upon a Time had to take a break, so they brought together a super talented group of people to make a short 8-episode musical comedy miniseries show, Galavant! Hit the music!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">See what I did there?</span></div>
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Galavant is a musical, made by everyone involved that made Disney's Tangled, except it is a tongue-in-cheek live action comedy. It is ... pretty good. Good enough that I wanted to talk about it with all of you folks. The characters are all interesting, the performances are all fun, the sets are amazing, the costuming mostly great, and the story is classic. It is one of my favorite things to talk about, actually, when it comes to how "silliness" affects narrative. There are a few ways to do it. There's to have a silly premise and then treat everything as seriously as you can, despite the silly, which I have really loved in <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihaf-one-piece.html">One Piece</a>. Then there's having a serious premise, which then some silly things can happen but you stay true to your goals, which is how I like to run roleplaying games. Then there's Galavant, which takes the piss right on the whole binary concept I just made up and goes straight down the middle. The characters are all thought out and serious, except thy are ridiculous and silly. The plot is a great fantasy plot, except some of the details are just ridiculous. The musical nature of the show leads to comedic songs all the way through and meta-jokes, like asking when someone learned how to dance after a number, but then there's other moments of just straight drama.<br />
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Galavant is not going to be for everyone, mostly because it doesn't do one things straight through. It enjoys every element it can have. Serious songs, silly songs, important character beats, ridiculous ones, they are all mixed in. And with that mixed bag, I would absolutely call Galavant a mixed bag. I enjoyed quite a bit of it, and then I found myself going "meh" for bits of it. Especially some of the songs, as they tend to always shoot for joke songs, and I really would like there to be a non-joke song every once in awhile so that I could just hear these good actors sing.<br />
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So why should you be excited for it? Because it is a cool new way of thinking about television! It is higher quality programming with a smaller episode order that is used as a win-win between bigger shows, but in fact is way better than the bigger show that surrounds it. Once Upon a Time looks fake and CGI-y all the time, and the acting is so ponderous and heavy that it gets bogged down. Galavant is able to do most of the same tropes, with better sets and costumes AND actors, with an amazing team, but it is a quarter of the length, so you can enjoy it and be done with it. On top of that, the season finale absolutely shows that ABC is planning to give its audience even more, which is only a good thing in my book.<br />
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I would say give it a shot. At 30 minutes and episode, and only 8 episodes, even if you don't care for a small part of it, it'll be over quickly, and you can move on to great other things. Me, I'm excited. Rutger Hauer, Vinnie Jones, that guy from<a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-frankensteins-army-reader.html"> Frankenstein's Army</a>, two hot chicks, Magnitude, and the only good thing from Psych, all working together to make something with the guys who made Tangled, the last Disney musical. <br />
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<b>Grade:B+</b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-66223055407857823722015-01-29T00:01:00.000-05:002015-01-29T00:01:00.403-05:00IHAO on ... The Binding of Isaac: RebirthI have not been watching enough movies recently. Part of that is because I'm acting in a play for the first time in a few years. Part of it is because I'm also directing a play. Part of it is because of watching animes like <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2015/01/ihao-on-fatezero.html">Fate/Zero</a> and <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihaf-one-piece.html">One Piece</a>. Part of it is depression and insomnia, the cocktail I'll never be rid of. But MOSTLY it is because I've been playing The Binding of Isaac.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">LOOK AT THIS AND TELL MY YOU DON'T WANT TO GIVE THIS A CHANCE, I DARE YOU!</span></div>
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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is an updated version of the original Binding of Isaac. It is a Rogue-like birds-eye dungeon crawling adventure game. Or ... let me try it like this. It is like those SNES and Gameboy Legend of Zelda games, if it was just dungeons, and the dungeons were randomly created every time you played, with 100x the items, secrets, specials, and other stuff. It has a bunch of hidden characters, a branching final dungeon system, and is just ... phenomenal.<br />
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How phenomenal? Here, let me explain it like this. I bought the game a little before Christmas, on the day it came out. I put 300 hours into it, then had a huge bug problem that erased every ounce of gameplay I had. So I started over, and am now farther than I was in half the time. The game has a bit of chance, but is mostly a skilled video game. It is a solo experience, but it creates stories to share with friends that play the game. It has insane secrets that make for huge accomplishments when you do find and unlock them. And better than all that, it is fun. You are a poor naked kid, shooting his tears at all the monstrosities in his basement as he climbs deeper and deeper into his Alice in Wonderland on an acid trip hell, fighting flesh bags, sentient poops, ghosts, skeletons, and carries around the remains of his beloved pets and stuff he found in his crazy mother's purse as she tries to kill him because God told her to!<br />
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The game does have a major problem, though. And that is the bug I mentioned above. The game was plagued by bugs and huge glitches for the first month it was out. It's why I haven't talked about it until now. Because those bugs and glitches were a HUGE problem. But enough time has passed that they are all fixed, and I absolutely feel I can recommend the game now! <br />
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It has easily become one of my favorite games, and with a really good run only taking around 25 minutes, it is a great time waster and brain-rester, which is a thing a depressed, ADHD, insomnia like myself needs. I swear, I play a little between each article or each chore, just to keep my brain working and focused. I cannot recommend the game enough. Go buy it on Steam right now, it is only $15 bucks, and considering I've put 454 hours into it, that means it is absolutely worth the price.Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-66672702122922747592015-01-28T00:01:00.000-05:002015-01-28T00:01:00.300-05:00IHAO on ... LootCrate and MeUndies (and other subscription services)I really enjoy shopping. Shopping for others, weighing options and watching sales for me, looking for deals, looking about stores ready to find a hard to find item. In college, my friends and I were all super close to an enormous flea market and we basically went at least once a month, if not every weekend. My amazon wishlist is ridiculously long, and I maintain it and prioritize it and everything. I just love that stuff. Why did I say all that? I needed a segue paragraph to get into what I actually wanted to talk about ... which you already saw as the title of the article ... which means I kind of just wasted time ... *ahem*<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZg_b1MerN92TDTzRTMacu-bd8fN5TqNreNUAHRACp_wKQ_6HXaqVmDy0L1KxH96GPWp0bt2204RWJDirGvuD9FNJu66g9MJgXcd2ZmcS0rJpSthVcJ74YPRrzawTJ4OBDfqEuzRPvkEAi/s1600/be+right+back.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZg_b1MerN92TDTzRTMacu-bd8fN5TqNreNUAHRACp_wKQ_6HXaqVmDy0L1KxH96GPWp0bt2204RWJDirGvuD9FNJu66g9MJgXcd2ZmcS0rJpSthVcJ74YPRrzawTJ4OBDfqEuzRPvkEAi/s1600/be+right+back.gif" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.lootcrate.com/">LootCrate</a> is awesome. My wonderful wife got me a subscription for Christmas, and the january box just came in. If you are unaware, the idea behind Lootcrate is you subscribe to their service, and each month they put together a "goodie bag" of nerdy stuff and send it to your door. Every month has a different theme, but they always try to deliver an awesome box. The Christmas box I actually ended up divvying up as gifts to other people, but the January box blew me away. A cool t-shirt, a super cool tie, some sunglasses, a weird little Dr. Mario/Dr. Who/toy mash-up thing, a comic book, a notebook thing, it was just filled with great stuff. On top of that, the presentation itself is amazing. The box can be folded inside out to have an awesome grey and orange (my favorite colors!) old school NES for your little toy to play on. I have him sitting up on top of bookshelf, gun in hand, presiding over the living room like a video game sheriff.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_gtgCc0uDgt8H9afDpS_QXsdL2HkurD_6NhBIU_xrz-F-n3wzNeoLL3lNO0YsEm8VEIvY6rJcu4V-deLhWsrA9sShsRLuyfGEQmDuoTRpF8_3DHjLWKyCFAaLKiRlDeIpeJqqPnCawku/s1600/20150127_135309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_gtgCc0uDgt8H9afDpS_QXsdL2HkurD_6NhBIU_xrz-F-n3wzNeoLL3lNO0YsEm8VEIvY6rJcu4V-deLhWsrA9sShsRLuyfGEQmDuoTRpF8_3DHjLWKyCFAaLKiRlDeIpeJqqPnCawku/s1600/20150127_135309.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">What do you mean this is an excuse to show off other stuff I collect, like rare Labyrinth books and Ravenloft stuff? :D</span></div>
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I am a big fan of LootCrate. But more than LootCrate itself, I am enamored with the subscription model of buying stuff that is popping up. <a href="https://naturebox.com/">NatureBox </a>is a heathy snack site I've been looking into for awhile now that does subscriptions of good snacks. They have a huge variety, you pick what you like, and they send it. But unlike LootCrate, you can also micromanage your order. Didn't like that Pineapple Cashew Curry something or other? Then you can for next month get something different from their frankly enormous menu. <br />
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I also just got my first order from MeUndies. I have only made one New Years resolution that ever lasted, and that was to never wear boring socks again. I love colorful fun socks. Well, MeUndies has awesome socks, ON SUBSCRIPTION! So I bought my first pair, then signed up for subscription, where you get one unique pair a month. But even better than NatureBox and LootCrate, if you don't like the socks for the month, just say "skip it" and it doesn't cancel your subscription, you just skip that month! EVEN BETTER, they sent me a free snapback and a letter thanking me for joining and being part of their "family." Yeah, it is marketing, but it is totally marketing that worked for me. My wife and I decided to try the underwear as well on subscription, and they are fabulous as well. The quality is amazing.<br />
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Even better than all that, if you guys want it cheaper, I can do that too! MeUndies has made life even easier and I can get you a big ole 20% off! Let me know and I'll hook you up, cuz!<br />
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I'm super excited about this model. I love the ones I'm involved in, and want to look into more. These kinds of subscription services are great for companies, and even better for us as consumers. Take a look, and if you want cool socks and underwear, I'll give you that hook up!Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-62604566167653064652015-01-27T00:01:00.000-05:002015-01-27T00:01:00.502-05:00IHAO on ... Horns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rgvtI5t8qJVrAPYVwhlhpGP9Xkwj1TtDHOZOk23ZY7ruafMpznRDz9CGK189-M3-9tVIcqOxGXz8H74HM-UKZ8dD9_mf6UdxcsIhn55vJeA7m4dKCOlCg3q6jy8Ws3XyLbH_bpk77RcL/s1600/horns+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rgvtI5t8qJVrAPYVwhlhpGP9Xkwj1TtDHOZOk23ZY7ruafMpznRDz9CGK189-M3-9tVIcqOxGXz8H74HM-UKZ8dD9_mf6UdxcsIhn55vJeA7m4dKCOlCg3q6jy8Ws3XyLbH_bpk77RcL/s1600/horns+poster.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
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Joe Hill is a writer I've enjoyed for quite awhile. Locke and Key is a comic book I could not put down and loved getting until my local comic shop screwed up my order and got me behind and missing pieces. I'll eventually fix it. In the back of one such comic of Locke and Key, Joe Hill put a few chapters of his book "Horns." It was awesome. I've been excited about it for a long time. Then I found out about the film version, and I got more excited! And I finally got it on blu ray after it never came around my town for a cinema release, and ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-yn6SOlpkouwb45y9PDmI-M5L7IvEDl8xqjFXaZZmMGyu1DeKypr5guxqbITBxPsfl5wIxWNcqQUmYJKbya9qZENeh_4qf82hEk8iorMnQw_QoTvIXW4F__1RYsBUeAnNL8HbA1oB7s8Y/s1600/drum+roll+street+sharks.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-yn6SOlpkouwb45y9PDmI-M5L7IvEDl8xqjFXaZZmMGyu1DeKypr5guxqbITBxPsfl5wIxWNcqQUmYJKbya9qZENeh_4qf82hEk8iorMnQw_QoTvIXW4F__1RYsBUeAnNL8HbA1oB7s8Y/s1600/drum+roll+street+sharks.gif" height="272" width="400" /></a></div>
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Street Sharks drum roll ...</div>
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It is fantastic! It is super super duper good. With a few minor problems objectively and one really really petty subjective problem, it is absolutely a great film, and probably would have made my list of <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-best-and-worst-films-of-year.html">Best movies of 2014</a> if I had been able to see it then. Luckily, is a frontrunner for this year instead!<br />
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Horns is a fantasy thriller about a depressed and downtrodden Ig, a young man who is seemingly wrongly charged with the murder of his long-time girlfriend. The entire town hates him, telling him to go to hell. Also, he wakes up with horns growing out of his head. And things just start going weirder, a little darker, a little funnier, and a lot more thrillingly.<br />
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Horns revels in its characters, its actors, and its story. It is an emotionally powerful narrative with awesome actors like Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple, and a truly edge of your seat mystery, all brought to a fever pitch because of all the imagery and actual demonic powers happening. The film has a very familiar narrative format, probably because Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King and the two of them have an incredible way of stringing a narrative together. Better than all of that, Alexander Aja, the director, does an amazing job with really pushing what a film can do. He uses amazing visuals, awesome camera work, and breakneck pacing to crank this film to 11. I mean, truly amazing visuals. The makeup work is just phenomenal. Probably the best makeup work I've seen in a film in years.<br />
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The film is mostly flawless. There are very few female characters, and most of them we only hear their dark and dirty secrets which wouldn't paint any character favorably, and in fact it doesn't beyond a small handful. And the treatment of its lead female for the purpose of plot could possibly really hurt some folks who are sensitive to women being "fridged." I understand the problem, but don't personally think it hurts things in this film. Much like the Bechdel test, women being fridged is not a quality problem, but a litmus test that shows a larger problem in writing. There are stories that need to be told and can be told when unfortunate things happen to people, and love and revenge and murder are all thrilling story components. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fridging. Also, I'm being purposefully obtuse about that wording just in case it is a little too spoilery for some. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPD4CyMg3hF2O6f1cpYX5IZyRyT6D5hNe-xn6osXjVYo7cEVUtQN2nLXMz7vzQ5on74jjPL9c4Lu7wgezxWklLItb9797UOkpidbY6SpTn2Q4BUHFgiy0fbtLSZApWwL1uJe5319FWMGz2/s1600/fridge+pug.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPD4CyMg3hF2O6f1cpYX5IZyRyT6D5hNe-xn6osXjVYo7cEVUtQN2nLXMz7vzQ5on74jjPL9c4Lu7wgezxWklLItb9797UOkpidbY6SpTn2Q4BUHFgiy0fbtLSZApWwL1uJe5319FWMGz2/s1600/fridge+pug.gif" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">This was the best fridge gif I could find. Also, link <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators">here </a>for learning more about women in fridges.</span></div>
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The other objective problem is that there are CGI snakes, and sometimes, the layering is pretty lazy. Like, they are clearly fake snakes. And ... yup, that's it. That's all the negatives I have from a filmmaking perspective. And they are completely negligable, in my opinion, because of the ride and performances this film gives us. The film is a DEEP film, with lots to sift through and a whole lot of amazing shots, effects, and symbolism, but none of it so in your face to ruin the experience.<br />
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I have one incredibly lame subjective problem that is not a problem, but I figured I'd share it: this film has a real pulpy feel to it. It is a dark, thrilling fantasy murder mystery. And there is some awesome nudity and emotional stuff (that is not a phrase I thought I'd write, huh) as well as satire and comic stuff as well as action, just ... so so much great stuff. And ... the emotional stuff didn't <i>quite</i> get me. I've become a softy, and the film didn't make me cry. Yeah, my only other negative is that this awesome movie didn't make me cry. Shut up, me.<br />
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<b>Grade: A++</b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-36373689053302180122015-01-26T04:01:00.002-05:002015-01-26T04:01:15.883-05:00IHAO on ... the Royal Rumble 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65NAnKg2TqbMM8Hq3LQHIHgb4aQ5Nu4J_IwmMWbpg3TNkjTnLnoGVy2vQCa2G-H4lRq-O-AuBU2PITTMSoc2NJ4j0soJ7oL2BKMVOz26-vNH6LZdRNxLkdfi5JEsCVN8H7XgQWvhJ8dx7/s1600/royal+rumble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65NAnKg2TqbMM8Hq3LQHIHgb4aQ5Nu4J_IwmMWbpg3TNkjTnLnoGVy2vQCa2G-H4lRq-O-AuBU2PITTMSoc2NJ4j0soJ7oL2BKMVOz26-vNH6LZdRNxLkdfi5JEsCVN8H7XgQWvhJ8dx7/s1600/royal+rumble.jpg" height="288" width="640" /></a></div>
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I ... I ... I am at a loss for words. My emotions are ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimyACr-QL6BIjbnJYR_dm4hV0CFo6PQMuT0_Azs83_dop4dqFpaAQBN5MGU6kuNSH2QDw7Va8jLNWJJVlbqhifTOnR9vZKqSSS5vTUNrzT9DJIALkS8XMBj9-9Gbht74Ogun32n0T164zh/s1600/Confused.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimyACr-QL6BIjbnJYR_dm4hV0CFo6PQMuT0_Azs83_dop4dqFpaAQBN5MGU6kuNSH2QDw7Va8jLNWJJVlbqhifTOnR9vZKqSSS5vTUNrzT9DJIALkS8XMBj9-9Gbht74Ogun32n0T164zh/s1600/Confused.gif" /></a></div>
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Ok, let me first talk about the party we had. 9 people, plus my wife and I, came together to party for the Rumble. It is my favorite PPV of the year, and we have a small betting pool we do where we all draft numbers and then we earn money based on the winner, the most eliminations, and the "Bushwacker" or lasted the shortest amount of time award. We all had snacks and we all had a good time as a party. The best part was having new watchers come, as well as my dad, who was a hit with everyone because he is funny.<br />
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What about the PPV? How were the matches? They were all pretty much crap, with an even crappier Rumble with an even CRAPPIER ultimate decision. And there was a pretty enjoyable Championship match. Let's ... ugh, let's dig into each of these pretty quickly. Gifs are from <a href="http://wrasslormonkey.tumblr.com/">wrasslormonkey</a>, go check him out.<br />
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<b>THE ASCENSION ARE MADE TO LOOK LIKE FOOLS</b><br />
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The Ascension were awesome in NXT. They had this amazing prestige, power, and presence. They had an awesome moveset and an awesome attitude. They worked hard, even in little reactions. They also got brought up to the main roster. And were immediately mocked by JBL, humiliated by Legends, and then had this match versus the New Age Outlaws where the legends run rough all over the Ascension, they were not allowed to do any of their normal awesome offense and instead just did restholds and got beat up, and then we are supposed to forgive it because of a poorly rushed Fall of Man. Ugh. <br />
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<b>THE USOS ARE POINTLESS AND THE MIZ-MIZDOW ACT IS OLD</b><br />
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A tag team championship match, featuring a non-team and the most boring faces in the company. The match itself was fine. Acceptable. And that is the best thing I can say about it. Uninteresting, unmemorable, a waste of time, but acceptable. Oh, and hey, watch one of the Usos botch the stupid Uso-spot that is in every damned Uso match.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKE0Z5KqIMip3U1L_fKJjgUVRF3zYgCPTgEZqz7EHZznv4wkqP972qHTkzKLoebmPe_hvTCKCdYWrOd1Rt68M9miyAWq5pHcqeTV8gasAwOb8zQx8Xa3gpc2yYQiVmYs9V08oahOajJP1/s1600/uso+botch.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKE0Z5KqIMip3U1L_fKJjgUVRF3zYgCPTgEZqz7EHZznv4wkqP972qHTkzKLoebmPe_hvTCKCdYWrOd1Rt68M9miyAWq5pHcqeTV8gasAwOb8zQx8Xa3gpc2yYQiVmYs9V08oahOajJP1/s1600/uso+botch.gif" height="310" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>THE BELLA TWINS AND NATALYA AND PAIGE JUST ... MESS UP EVERYTHING</b><br />
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I am a defender of women's wrestling in the WWE. I spent much of last year defending Paige and the Bellas, pointing out how good their matches were, how hard they were working, all of that. So let's start this new year by having a terrible tag team match. An eight minute long match that they messed up basic tag team rules, botched some crazy spots, everyone came out looking worse for being in it, and ended in confusion.<br />
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Yup, that's a ... sitout hair-pull drop-toe neckbreaker. Totally. Look at Brie's face. She is pissed at Natalya, super duper pissed. And she should be, because Natalya is the one who messed up every single spot in this match. She messed up a tag, she messed up this spot, she messed up every spot. Paige worked hard, Nikki worked hard, Brie worked hard, and it didn't matter, because this match was trash.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyKIRUrNWmRkUJifsc3wYSTe_rR6kp9IMUTo-nNvNTzAdGw8QNojbrayaI6LhZg7zgbJvzBkEjpr3iIPhTTb-5vZmwRzyQ6EFeEMDXE4pVRsoqyOYvChWh75g8mjlf10SCAlGsu9iO20x/s1600/Nikki+kills+Nattie.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyKIRUrNWmRkUJifsc3wYSTe_rR6kp9IMUTo-nNvNTzAdGw8QNojbrayaI6LhZg7zgbJvzBkEjpr3iIPhTTb-5vZmwRzyQ6EFeEMDXE4pVRsoqyOYvChWh75g8mjlf10SCAlGsu9iO20x/s1600/Nikki+kills+Nattie.gif" height="328" width="400" /></a></div>
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That is what you deserve, Nattie. At least in a year and 8 months we'll see a Total Divas episode about this. *eye roll*<br />
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<b>BROCK LESNAR WINS A DECENT TRIPLE THREAT, CENA STAYS TERRIBLE</b><br />
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Cena hit the AA so many times, the joke at the party was to keep going up the alphabet, where Cena ended at GG, which means "good game" online, which is a funny coincidence and why I remember it.<br />
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This match was pretty fun. In retrospect, it was really good in fact. But that is only after putting it against the terrible Rumble match to follow. Lesnar and Rollins worked real hard. Cena was Cena. The match built to some enjoyable nearfalls, and the final sequences were pretty good. I was certain Rollins was going to win, but Lesnar pulled it out after taking an amazing hit from a big elbow through the table.<br />
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<b>ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THE WORST RUMBLE MATCHES I'VE EVER SEEN</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This Rumble match was ... ok, here's a metaphor that is absolutely a great way to explain it. All of us watching this match was like all of us eating gross ice cream. The recipe is ice cream, and we all had a hilarious time eating it with each other ... but at the end of the night, you have disgusting ice cream in your belly and feel like complete crap.<br />
<br />
This match is terrible. Every single decision made in this match is the worst possible one. The fans clamor for the company to hear them, and are constantly barraged with a real life heel president who says "you'll like what I give you!" Roman Reigns is shoved down our throats, choking us as fans, and ruining him. The booes once Daniel Bryan is eliminated super early in the match is almost deafening. Once Roman comes out, it is even worse. Once he wins, even the Rock, who was brought in as a "surprise" to help try to get Roman over with the fans ... well, look at his reaction to the booes once Roman wins:<br />
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<br />
The highlights of this match were the two legends. Bubba Ray is back, which is cool, and I hope he sticks around. And DDP showed up, which is awesome.<br />
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I feel cheated when the faces I'm rooting for as a fan were all embarrassed and destroyed. A first time viewer heard the reaction and asked me "so, do they not listen to the fans when they make their decisions?" and I answer the very humbling and sad answer "basically, yeah, the fans are ignored." He shook his head and couldn't understand how a company works like that. <br />
<br />
The hashtag #CancelWWENetwork trended for a long time after the Rumble. Lots of people showed screenshots of their cancellations. I ALMOST want to cancel myself, but NXT and these reviews keep me around. The Miz, surprisingly, reacted the perfect way for this terrible, terrible PPV, featuring one of the worst Rumble matches I've ever seen:<br />
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<br />Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-91084065154987576652015-01-23T01:19:00.001-05:002015-01-23T01:26:08.948-05:00IHAO on ... Boyhood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is the second in my series of Best Picture nominee reviews for the 87th Academy Awards, the first being <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-birdman-or-unexpected-virtue-of.html">Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance</a>. A little backstory, since this movie actually has some: this movie took 12 years to film. It actually films in semi-real time a story about a child, and his growing up. Actors signed up and worked for 12 years in short stints, including our lead little kid actor. It is a huge stunt, and something that absolutely needs to be watched. So let's dig in.<br />
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*turns on the blu ray*<br />
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*turns off the blu ray ... almost three hours later*<br />
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Ugh.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Roll credits.</span></div>
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Boyhood. A film that took 12 years to make. 12 years to write this script. 12 years to come up with a story that was worth watching. Instead, we get a drama about all the moments that are just about people talking about the moments that were worth watching. Why show a divorce when you can hear people talk about it after they are emotionally over it? Why show a kid excited about a scholarship when you can just have him talk to a random NPC out-of-nowhere character we only see in this scene to talk about it? Why show a kid having a hard time with classes and homework when you can just have random characters show up and telling him that he is doing bad at turning in his homework and such? Why have plot when you can have conveniences and coincidences? There are multiple scenes where characters talk about things that happened in this kid's life that WE DO NOT GET TO SEE! WHY NOT? WHY DO WE JUST GET LIP SERVICE INSTEAD OF REAL FILMMAKING AND STORYTELLING?!<br />
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I do not want to disregard the gamble and the work put into this film. Filming for 12 years, making decisions on the fly, having to cast your actors at a young age and hope they continue to do well all throughout. And I won't even say that the gambles didn't pay off, with Ethan Hawke getting his big resurgence recently. But I cannot say this is a good movie. It isn't a bad movie, or even an average movie. But it is not a good movie. It fails to be about anything that mattes. It is like watching a fake documentary about uninteresting people. It is just people talking about things that happened between cuts in the lives of these fake people. There is only one sequence that kind of has anything actually <i>happening</i>, and that is the end of the "first act" if I can even call it that. What a novel approach to filmmaking, film a bunch of idiots doing nothing, talking about nothing ... well, not talking, more like mumbling.<br />
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I cannot understand how a film that's only achievement is that it took a super-long time to make, had no final script, and barely does anything beyond just being a movie. It doesn't strive to do anything but an exercise in filmmaking. It doesn't succeed at anything it tries to do, it merely accomplishes them. It isn't hard to be perfectly in "period" when it was shot in order over 12 years. It isn't hard to show a child grow up when he literally does that and you don't have to work for it or do any filmmaking, clever writing, or make up. This movie just wastes time, showing its theoretical exercise as some huge technical achievement, and people act like it is.<br />
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I am mad that so many people are talking about how amazing this film is, when it isn't! It is nothing. It is the lack of art. It is an exercise. Even I was bamboozled by it in this very review! I was all "this movie isn't mediocre, it is good, it really is!" and then I list all the terrible problems. All the details that prove that statement. This film will be remember as an exercise, and completely forgotten outside of that. I do not, cannot, and will not recommend this middle of the road, boring, LONG AS HELL, talk-fest that does nothing of value.<br />
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<b>Grade: C-</b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-17518865201055295832015-01-21T02:42:00.001-05:002015-01-21T02:42:55.406-05:00IHAO on ... Foxcatcher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWardp3FuhqiVO7sZ4rVzC6SZQRpU0RDdemlcvuA3ykORlpN0JE8AfWUT1EytcHMeQ3CQoWdzv7TCiX9iq0Zwls3xc5r59o6B-A9ahOBs85JFyBKvTC2XRnOIGiXYNAvjKaYNtUgWoK73b/s1600/Foxcatcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWardp3FuhqiVO7sZ4rVzC6SZQRpU0RDdemlcvuA3ykORlpN0JE8AfWUT1EytcHMeQ3CQoWdzv7TCiX9iq0Zwls3xc5r59o6B-A9ahOBs85JFyBKvTC2XRnOIGiXYNAvjKaYNtUgWoK73b/s1600/Foxcatcher.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
Foxcatcher is not a Best Picture nominee, but it is a best actor, best supporting actor, and a best director nominee, so I figured I should give it a watch. Plus, I was intrigued. The real life story is super interesting, I love wrestling as you folks reading may well know, but I also loved amateur wrestling. I was in my high school wrestling team for ... a few months? I only quit because the coach at the time told me I had to pick, wrestling, or all the other extracurriculars I was doing. So I picked choir, theatre, academic bowl, and everything else. Anyway, let's talk about the movie.<br />
<br />
I don't think it's very good. It is really slowly paced, the plot is kind of obtuse, and while all the acting and music and shots are good, some great in fact, the wrong stuff is being talked about. Let's talk about the plot. It is the story of the Schultz brothers and their dealings with John E. du Pont. There is a lot of information in the real world about it, but this is a fictionalized, condensed version of the whole encounter. I normally do not care for spoilers, but I can say that the movie deals with ... uh ... ok, so I can't say that.<br />
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That's one of the biggest problems with the movie. I did not think it did a good job of actually telling the story. We see some bits and pieces of things that happen, but none of what it means is conveyed in film. I suppose the film is kind of about ownership and being a prisoner and maybe some homosexual stuff and a little bit of betrayal, but not really, and ... ugh. The film has a good atmosphere that lasts way too long and ends up being a burden instead of a bonus. The film is so thick and so long and so "audience, figure this out all on your own" that it just becomes this big goopy thick mess of ... nothing. Oh, better metaphor, it is like oatmeal. Really thick, pasty oatmeal like my wife likes to eat it. There are bits of wonderful fruit in there, like the actors, or small scenes that are really emotional, but you have to eat heaping spoonfuls of grey, lifeless, flavorless gunk to get to those good tasting bits, which only make up probably a tenth of the film, if not less.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Academy's reaction to stupid oatmeal movie.</span></div>
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Let's talk about the acting. Steve Carrel does ... ok. Mark Ruffalo does ... Ruffalo-y. And Channing Tatum knocks the ball out of the park. So of course, he is the only that isn't nominated, which is a huge disservice to him. He has so many scenes he does so well in. And the others ... they just don't.<br />
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This movie feels like it was a script written to be about DuPont. Then the real Mark Schultz got involved, as a producer and as a consultant, so some extra focus got put on the Mark Schultz character Channing Tatum played. Then they found they had a GREAT actor doing an INCREDIBLE job, so they edited more of him into the film. And they were right, the Schultz stuff was the great stuff in the movie. But the original script was about du Pont, so the film and the director forced it to stay on that path, even though that is a disservice to the fantastic acting of Channing Tatum.<br />
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Channing, if you for some reason are reading this, I think you were robbed. You did awesome. And you are becoming a favorite actor of mine. Keep making movies, even crappy ones, and keep working as hard as you seem to be. I'll keep buying tickets.<br />
<br />
All of that said, this movie is still above average. It has a bunch of great components, it just focuses on the wrong bits and is a terrible slog to get through. It is on the low end of a B, but it is still a B.<br />
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<b>Grade: B</b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-54311907193883746522015-01-19T10:00:00.000-05:002015-01-19T10:00:02.477-05:00Arbitrary Numbers: Top # Triumphant SongsA new year's resolution for me in 2015 was to become happy with my body image. I'm not shooting to lose weight, I'm not shooting to be "sexy" or any of that. I just want to be happy. So I'm eating a little better and working out a lot more. Not like the gym or anything, I have never been able to strive in a gym environment. I got myself DDPYoga, and have charged myself to do it and to walk/job 30+ minutes MWF every week. My success rate as of this article being written is 50%. That is way more than I have done in the past year, though, so I'll take it. And I'll keep striving.<br />
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Because of doing a lot more walking, I listen to a lot more music than I had in the previous year. I put in short shorts, a long sleeve shirt, do my DDPYoga routine, then head out into the 30 degree weather and just start walking with my mp3 player as my only company. And every now and again a song come on that helps me work and fight and push on. I am not the most athletic dude, but I am a persistent one. Once I start working out, I generally keep going way past you would think a guy my size and shape could. Some of those songs ... they give me a feeling. I feeling I want to talk about.<br />
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These emotion playlist videos have been fun for me, and I thought I'd try to make sure I do one a month. And this one, I knew I needed something to strive for, just like with working out. So I'm going to pump myself up, get myself ready to fight, to win, to be a hero. I'm going to do the ...<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">TOP 8 TRIUMPHANT SONGS </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">(on my mp3 player)</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">[currently]</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b>
>> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRJigHMaAdd3jqdl2cHyUfzMyv1W8XlMS">CLICK HERE for the playlist to listen along</a><<</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>"Hero of the Day" - Metallica</u></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagnvhcqXINWlVGm3sE3h5FnBcVhQ4_vKKx7kyetuNdYMD9_EiZi8YzDyL_PCwCCjeW_V-nejcQPecLI4jfGxxusmQrXavRJi5dT90J9PlQJJflcZS3bYaDJm_pbwaR1ub_Dfk7dA5-stj/s1600/be+a+hero.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagnvhcqXINWlVGm3sE3h5FnBcVhQ4_vKKx7kyetuNdYMD9_EiZi8YzDyL_PCwCCjeW_V-nejcQPecLI4jfGxxusmQrXavRJi5dT90J9PlQJJflcZS3bYaDJm_pbwaR1ub_Dfk7dA5-stj/s1600/be+a+hero.gif" height="175" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is the song that started my mind along this path. Well, kind of. But it is the one I searched for to start the playlist. Yeah, normally I just random until I find one and go, but this song to me is the exact song I mean when I want to talk about triumphant songs! It is driving, engaging, but not just "epic." It is a very personal song.<br />
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Oooo, I can tell you all the first time I heard the song, too. In my freshman year of college, my new group of friends and I had somehow gotten into Dragonball GT. Not Dragonball Z, but the next one in the series. But there is a AMV for Gohan or Goku or Gowhatever with this song over it. It was excellent, and it absolutely resonanted with me. Not the lyrics, not the video itself with whatever character it was, but the music, put over those images. I see a heroes striving, pushing, fighting, never backing down, never losing, never failing.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>"Perfect Cell Theme" - Dragonball Z</u></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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Huh. Well, that's just kind of funny right there. I love randomized music and how it all works together.<br />
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This theme song for me has nothing to do with Dragonball Z. In fact, I'm pretty sure I never heard it in context of Dragonball Z. I only ever heard it in context of a fight my best friend in high school and I created between two of our own characters. I don't know who came up with the fight, or who brought the music to it, but the whole this is forever entwined in my brain space. Check it. Play the song, and read along with me. <br />
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Imagine a warehouse. Boxes around, crates, covered in tarps. The air is dusty, the light outside the man windows is bright and it makes the shadows longer and darker inside. At one end of the room is a man who looks a combination of Dave Bautista and Andre the Giant. A Behemoth of a man, enormously muscular, wearing the tightest grey jeans and a mesh tank top over his enormous frame. He grinds his teeth and stares across the warehouse to a young man. He's toned and muscular like a gymnast. He has short platinum blonde hair, kept at an even buzz with his slightly darker beard. He wears a navy long sleeved athletic shirt and matching tights, without gloves or shoes. He shifts his weight, and you can see sparks come off the concrete as his skin scrapes across it.<br />
<br />
Suddenly they both bolt towards each other, a massive Behemoth and an explosive gymnast ready to Crash into each other. Every time the gymnast slaps his hands on the Behemoth, a small explosion is created. Every pounding footstep creates small holes in the floor as he pushes himself forward. Backsprings and flips as he tumbles around the Behemoth, landing a few blows, before the enormous fashionable man smashes him across the face and the Crashes backwards into a crate, exploding. They keep fighting, and fighting ...<br />
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He and I spent hours, days, <i>months</i> creating characters like this and pitting them against each other. We played online chatroom roleplaying games with other characters. But this song, and this fight, was the most realized one in my brain. And man, does it get me pumped to feel like Crash as I walk quickly in my workouts. Come on, I'm not going to run full tilt, I gotta work up to it, sheesh.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-size: large;">"Playing With Fire" - Paula Seling & Ovi</span></u></div>
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Eurovision is awesome! Do you know what it is? It is basically a Europe-only Olympics for songs! It is fantastic, super fun to watch, and a thing I want to review this year if I can, because the years I've watched it I've loved it. One of the best things about it is the rules and the voting, but that's for another day.<br />
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A song I LOVED from the 2010 Eurovision was this one. It was fabulous, rocked my socks off, made me want to dance and fight and run and win! I feel like a champion, for really no reason, especially because the song did not do Romania very well that year, mostly because of a boring live performance. But I don't care, I love this song! More people need to listen to more Romanian pop songs, I think.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>"Dark City" - Machinae Supremacy</u></span></div>
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Goodness, how do I start talking about Machinae Supremacy? They are a ... electronic heavy metal band? They are fantastic, is what they are. I've loved heavy metal for the longest time. The driving rhythms, the dueling guitars, the fervor of the music, the pulsing and generally surprisingly heartfelt lyricism. But Machine Supremacy did something a lot of heavy metal bands I listen to never did: it made me think. I've loved Rhapsody of Fire and older hair bands like the Scorpions, I've enjoyed Dragonforce, and I've gotten into DreamTheater, but Machinae Supremacy's music really forced me to sit down and think about what they were doing musically. They weren't all double bass pedals pounding or wailing guitars. They always did something musically ... significant. And that was always awesome.<br />
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Dark City has been a soundtrack song in my life for a long time. I've wanted to use it in many places, and it was the original intro to my old IHAO videos before I switched to something a little more easily parced down. I found the song by ACCIDENT when I was looking for the score to the film Dark City. And I was blown away. This song absolutely has always resonated with me as a heroic triumph. As a theme song. As a way to enter the battle, to fight my enemies, to declare myself the victor. It absolutely is awesome to have on this list.<br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">"Kick Ass" - MIKA</span></u></div>
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I saw Kick-Ass in theaters. It was ok, a little better than that, really. I've soured on it since then, but never on the soundtrack! That movie had a rocking soundtrack. And this song, which I thought was amazing, was the winner! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6PwXH1nXosrkQ_eCiApbxDmSmC-pBM8uVWbQdLOkvdLJKtW35pVSXPoD6GggFetl2bIXhkOu38yzeRGrNfs7VMWQhmgu1SHKqFt4uJLVbLNEQHmi__y1vAnu0AqJ9ow_qYefpobmHRtvE/s1600/MIKA.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6PwXH1nXosrkQ_eCiApbxDmSmC-pBM8uVWbQdLOkvdLJKtW35pVSXPoD6GggFetl2bIXhkOu38yzeRGrNfs7VMWQhmgu1SHKqFt4uJLVbLNEQHmi__y1vAnu0AqJ9ow_qYefpobmHRtvE/s1600/MIKA.gif" height="178" width="320" /></a></div>
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MIKA is awesome. I had heard so many of his songs and never realized they were all the one guy because they always did so many different things. But his soaring falsetto makes me want to SING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS as I race towards my goal! I may not be that "young" anymore, but the song the rest of the song absolutely hits me in such a great way! Look, here's just the chorus lyrics. Sing them in your brightest falsetto and keep running ... metaphorically or not!<br />
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<i>We are young</i></div>
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<i>We are strong</i></div>
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<i>We're not looking for where we belong</i></div>
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<i>We're not cool</i></div>
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<i>We ARE free</i></div>
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<i>And we're running with blood on our knees</i></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">"Nothing Left" - Delain</span></u></div>
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Hey, remember heavy metal, me talking about it before? Well, let me mention that Delain is probably the BEST heavy metal band, period. It is a super-group, made up of the former keyboardist/song-writer from Within Temptation, the bassist from Nightwish, the drumer from Epica, guys from Orphanage, and the amazing jazz singer Charlotte Wessels. If any of those band names mean anything to you, then you know just how rocking Delain absolutely is.<br />
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"Nothing Left" is probably not the first Delain song I would have picked if I wasn't doing this via random. I'd probably pick The Gathering or April Rain; but I'm glad the God of Random did. The song is fantastic, and has a lot of really cool bits and pieces to the music. I love the name, and the metaphor the song strives to use as its central message in the lyrics. It gets me pumped and pushes me farther and farther. I will strive, I will work, I will win! LET'S DO THIS!<br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">"I'm on a Boat (explicit)" - The Lonely Island ft. T-Pain</span></u></div>
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Ha!<br />
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This brag-and-swag rap song by comedy MCs the Lonely Island is PERFECT! It straddles that bragadocious attitude you need to push yourself, it's funny, it's REALLY well produced. The song rocks. Everyone knows it. It also curses a lot, which for me is awesome. I may not curse on this site, but I like cursing. It's like when you stub your toe. Cursing reduces the pain, that's actually scientifically proven! So working out, pushing my fat body to keep doing the hard yoga stuff or just keep running ... yeah, cursing helps push me farther and harder. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>"We Are One" - 12 Stones</u></span></div>
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Let's talk about wrestling! Specifically, a thing <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/arbitrary-numbers-top-reasons-john-cena.html">I talked about before</a>, the <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/09/arbitrary-numbers-top-matches-that_23.html">Nexus</a>. This was their song, as they shook up wrestling for ... like, a week before getting completely derailed. But I was all in! I was ready! I was one, I was rooting for this new crop of characters all ready to murder John Cena. That didn't happen, but that doesn't stop the emotions, man! <br />
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This song is a driving rock song about solidarity! Even though I am listening to this song alone, I feel myself running alongside all my heroes, all the guys I love, ready for battle, ready to win. There's an awesome drum beat that is simulated marching steps, and it gives me a rhythm to move to, to stay in time with. I love that stuff. This song, and so many of the other ones on this playlist, are what keep me going after it feels like my thighs are going to burst into flame and my lungs around going to completely deflate. I'm gonna do it. I am one, I am one, I'm the chosen one!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">(( 0-0 ))</span></div>
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I bet I could find more and more songs like these, songs that get me going and keep pushing me to exceed my limits and excel. But for now, this is an awesome mix, and I'm happy to leave it as is. As I've done the past few times, you can check out the playlist here whenever you want. See you next month with another Arbitrary Numbers Playlist ... February will be love songs!Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-61911487868146245252015-01-16T10:00:00.000-05:002015-01-16T10:00:05.027-05:00IHAO on ... Oscar Season and the 87th Academy Awards Nominees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlO6fJc6Jsu55PWWRfnVqgwXARdBx-I5P5vCTsFONQmxoI6W85gvvc4gtN7EBSDYAZWW7PGPBgpBY-wg6IT-PIOB8lYj4gpLcJ8OSNm9HSidjcUer9tfPHEgTEKVfY8LZEgiBmPn-aqd3D/s1600/oscars+gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlO6fJc6Jsu55PWWRfnVqgwXARdBx-I5P5vCTsFONQmxoI6W85gvvc4gtN7EBSDYAZWW7PGPBgpBY-wg6IT-PIOB8lYj4gpLcJ8OSNm9HSidjcUer9tfPHEgTEKVfY8LZEgiBmPn-aqd3D/s1600/oscars+gif.gif" height="320" width="310" /></a></div>
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I do film reviewing as my main job here at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/deewunihao">I Have an Opinion</a> (click the link and like us on Facebook, too! Then share it! COME ON!). Last year I wanted to touch on the Academy Awards, but didn't really feel like I had the opportunity or time. But this year, I was paying attention, and I'm going to be reviewing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/87th_Academy_Awards#Nominations">every single Best Picture of the Year</a> nominee before the Oscars air, as well as a bunch of other ones, so that I can come to a conclusion based on what the Academy says. I already told you all what my <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-best-and-worst-films-of-year.html">Best Films of 2014</a> were, now its time to see where I line up with the Academy.<br />
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But, firstly, looking at the nominees list, I got a few things to say. *ahem*<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDl5ISoY8QrktVYMOpUOgWh2It23zac-2Y02beqc3Oos47MSBZRsLIPusDiMeucyzsvhuzRWbhbSMAQKuMBqk0oLShEAO4FY5qtyd8_obCpIKC8AEZE3SJnhuRoPl6iBiGBaUtksJfVd7b/s1600/deep+breath.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDl5ISoY8QrktVYMOpUOgWh2It23zac-2Y02beqc3Oos47MSBZRsLIPusDiMeucyzsvhuzRWbhbSMAQKuMBqk0oLShEAO4FY5qtyd8_obCpIKC8AEZE3SJnhuRoPl6iBiGBaUtksJfVd7b/s1600/deep+breath.gif" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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HOW IN THE LIVING HELL DID <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-interstellar.html">INTERSTELLAR </a>GET SO MANY NOMINATIONS?! <b>IN THE SOUND CATEGORIES NO LESS! </b>I don't care if you like the film, if you love Nolan, or you hated it like I did, every single person can agree that the sound in Interstellar is <i style="font-weight: bold;">ABSOLUTELY AWFUL TRASH!!!!! </i><u style="font-style: italic;">HOW CAN INTERSTELLAR THEN BE NOMINATED FOR <b>BOTH </b>SOUND MIXING AND SOUND EDITING <b>AND ORIGINAL SCORE</b>?!?!</u> <b>WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?</b><br />
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Ok, with that out of the way, let's touch on some other thoughts I had looking at the list:<br />
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- Awesome, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-birdman-or-unexpected-virtue-of.html">Birdman </a>hit almost every category I thought it would!<br />
- I really need to see Foxcatcher, so I'm throwing that on my list<br />
- <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/08/ihao-on-guardians-of-galaxy.html">Guardians of the Galaxy</a> really should have gotten more, but genre is a hard sell. It is also very interesting, and a thing I never noticed, but there isn't a way for the Academy to think about soundtracks or mix of songs as important to a film, which is nuts considering how many films that would affect, especially Guardians' Awesome Mix Vol. 1.<br />
- Editing is normally shorthanded to "movie with the most edits in it," but the nominees this year are a lot smarter and filled with way better technique. I'm very interested in what will shake out here.<br />
- <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/10/ihao-on-gone-girl.html">Gone Girl</a>'s only nomination being for Rosamund Pike, while deserved, really shocks me. I mean, I had a hard time with that movie, remember, but still, I thought for sure at least Fincher would get a nomination.<br />
- Seeing <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-nightcrawler.html">Nightcrawler </a>show up for screenplay is pretty fantastic. I've liked Dan Gilroy's writing, and I think this is a good script. Hell, I could see myself in a few weeks, when I do my official predictions for the Awards, going with Nightcrawler over Birdman.<br />
- Between <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-big-hero-6.html">Big Hero 6</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-boxtrolls.html">BoxTrolls</a>, and How to Train Your Dragon 2 - which I actually saw in theaters but walked away feeling it was so average I couldn't even muster up a review for it - I think the choice is easy.<br />
- If "Feast" doesn't win best animated short, then something is wrong with the world. It was for me the best part of Big Hero 6. I'm crying now thinking about it.<br />
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That's my thoughts so far. I'll keep you all abreast of each Best Picture nominee, and I'll try to do at least one a week all the way up to the awards next month! Until then.Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-30642740505616266042015-01-15T10:00:00.001-05:002015-01-15T11:23:13.967-05:00IHAO on ... Chinese Zodiac starring Jackie Chan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There was a rule in my household. A very simple rule that seems to have worked for all movies at all times: Jackie Chan movies are good movies. I've bought many movies based on this premise. I have yet to be wrong. Well, had. Because today, on the evening I write this, this rule of cinema law became broken.<br />
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Chinese Zodiac is terrible.<br />
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It is a real bad movie. Awkward camera shots, really terrible editing, awful dialogue and acting, weird music, and worst of all, most of the action is just ... boring. Or even worse, it lacks the special quality that makes Jackie Chan scenes so much fun. At the very end of the movie, in the <a href="http://twitchfilm.com/2012/12/jackie-chan-holds-guinness-world-records-for-most-credits-in-chinese-zodiac.html">Guinness Record setting</a> credits, you see a stunt fail, like you normally do for Jackie Chan films in the credits as fun bloopers and proof of hard work. And it is just ... a maybe two foot fall from a picture frame hung from the ceiling like a swing, and Jackie just laying on his back, getting up with all the speed and grace of a tortoise, medics and actors all around him trying to help him up. It was the saddest, most discouraging thing I had ever seen as a Jackie Chan fan. Chinese Zodiac makes me just so so sad.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The year of our lord 2012 - the day that Jackie Chan officially became too old.</span></div>
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So what's the plot? Lazy. Really really lazy. The whole movie is lazy from a story perspective. JC - yes, that is really Jackie Chan's character's name in the film - runs a smuggling group that steals priceless artifacts. They are hired to get some bronze statueheads that look and are treated like they are as heavy as a standard American football. The bad guys trick them, some weird political stuff, volcano sequence, happy ending after that. Weird action beats all throughout, with only two true Jackie fight scenes, both a little inventive but nowhere near worth watching the film for.<br />
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I am disappointed more than anything with this movie. I have lived 30 years of a life with the fact in my brain that the worst Jackie Chan film was the Tuxedo, which wasn't too bad, or Rush Hour 3, which was bad, but still slightly watchable. That was the worst. That was the bottom of the barrel. And now, my ignorance has been shattered. Chinese Zodiac exists, and is terrible. Unwatchably terrible. Edits don't make any sense, the movie has both too much plot and moves way too fast, I couldn't tell you a single name other than JC, and the action beats are all ridiculous at BEST and indeed get to a point that is ... well, pointless at the end.<br />
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Really, do not give this a watch. If you must anyway, you may find some joy in a few minutes of action in this almost two hour long slog, but they are not worth it. Please, just go to youtube for them. Camera fight and couch fight should do it for you. Just ... leave this film alone. I do not want you to experience the deep melancholy I have now reached. I watch these films to save you the pain.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">On top of this, One Piece Collection 11 got pushed back to February. :'(</span></div>
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<b>Grade: F</b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-28452148068718626432015-01-14T10:00:00.000-05:002015-01-14T10:00:01.060-05:00IHAO on ... Fate/Zero<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Normally, I try to make sure I have watched everything I review completely at least once, many times twice, to get a strong critical opinion, as well as personal opinion of the subject. But television shows become difficult to review because of that. I can put three or four hours into watching a film twice, or six hours for a wrestling PPV, but even the smallest of television shows take almost twice that long for me to watch and review. So I thought for this review I would instead give my impressions on the first five episodes, and a lengthy and personal backstory to the franchise it belongs to. Plus, the next collection of <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihaf-one-piece.html">One Piece</a> is coming to my home the day you all can read this because Amazon pre-orders are great, and I'm just in a crazy excited anime mood.<br />
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Fate is the ... prefix? category? ... think like "Dragonball" - it is a set of entertainment stories that all take place in a shared universe. That universe is a modern fantasy world, where mages and arcane pedigrees and ancient relics exist. Where the Holy Grail is summoned into being every somethingorother years and is fought over by seven Masters, all who have summoned Servants, each connected to a particular class of Servant: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Caster, and Berserker. It is a crazy imaginative world, and Fate/Zero is a pre-sequel to the main story, Fate/Stay Night.<br />
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In college, a friend took a chance and thought I may enjoy Fate/Stay Night, a visual novel video game semi-adult entertainment ... thing. It is like a voice-acted, slightly animated choose-your-own-adventure novel. It was amazing. It was mindboggling, and kept me up many evenings as I went through its massive story. The story is so massive it requires time travel-y, alternate future shenanigans to hear it all to completion. It got an anime I cannot wait to own and watch of its own. The plot of Fate/Stay Night is the events of the Fifth Holy Grail War.<br />
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Fate/Zero is the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War. And it is realized completely in one story, which is the anime I just started. So let's talk about that anime.<br />
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The first thing to know is it is a dense show. The entire first episode introduces you to so many characters and concepts, you almost have to know what Fate is before you start watching. I knew bits and pieces of the story that was told to me during the events of Fate/Stay Night, and I still got lost a little first time through. The second thing to know is that it is a beautiful animated anime. It reminds me of <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-attack-on-titan.html">Attack on Titan</a> and DeathNote, both of which are shows with amazing animation (and a whole lot of ridiculously overblown terrible plot ... man, I need to write my thoughts on DeathNote I guess ... or just point out I have the same opinion of it as I do on Attack on Titan ... yup, I did that. Mini-review, DeathNote gets a <b>C+-</b>). It is almost on par with a Studio Ghibli production of sheer artistic skill, though it is achieved in a different way. I ALSO really need to get more Ghibli films a chance, considering how much I love My Neighbor Totoro ... here we go, another mini-review: My Neighbor Totoro is an amazing film. Completely amazing. <b>Grade: A+++</b><br />
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I can go on and on about the technicals of Fate/Zero. The voice actors all do a GREAT job, with some recognizable voice talents in there like Crispin Freeman, Kari Wahlgren, Jamieson Price ... really, go look at the imdb page and just check out these actor's workloads. The animation is smooth and beautiful in all its magic and all its fantastical details and even beautiful in its mundane elements. They do an awesome job of using 3D animation represent a lot of the magic and the backgrounds, so that every move and cut and slash and fight and stab and magical attack and effect all have actual effects on the background. You ever notice how in cartoons, if a character was going to interact with something in the background, it would be a different color? Yeah, that is completely mitigated here and looks really great. Oh man, and the music! The score is absolutely gorgeous, and I've really come to love the opening theme.<br />
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The first episode should absolutely hook most anime watchers, though it is dense. The second episode should do even more. And if you aren't hooked by the third, I just don't know what is wrong with you, but I suppose there is no point in pushing on, to be quite honest. There is absolutely a barrier to the enjoyment of this anime, but by episode three Fate/Zero has established everything you need in a good way that has you invested in the story, hopefully. But, there is a huge problem ... this is absolutely a sequel. Yes, it takes place chronologically before Fate/Stay Night, but it assumes you understand the premise, it introduces elements that you are supposed to understand how they work quickly so it can move to new stories. It is not an easy anime. I like that, personally. It was the thing that got me interested in Attack on Titan and DeathNote, and while my opinion on both of those shows soured, that comes from them lasting much too long, in my opinion (obviously).<br />
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Fate/Zero has two seasons. Both on Netflix. Both no more than 13 episodes. And it finishes its story then and there. I think it is absolutely worth any one who found anything I said interesting so far a chance to give this show. That sentence was very poorly worded, but I'm not gonna change it. Watch Fate/Zero. I recommend, as a fan, and as a critic. I cannot wait to dive in even farther to the show.<br />
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<b>Grade: A++</b><br />
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Edit: I try to write these reviews ahead of time so that I can have a nice bank and keep myself up to date, just in case I get sick or busy and am unable to find time to watch things like I need to. Well, I did get sick, with a sore throat, so I spent this entire morning before my review got posted tearing through the first season of the show. I can say, without a single doubt, that this show is phenomenal. I would still recommend that if you are at all interested in the Visual Novel of Fate/Stay Night to not watch Fate/Zero yet, but if you aren't interested in the enormous amount of hours to put into Stay Night then I cannot recommend Fate/Zero enough. The fights are amazing, the animation is immaculate, and the story is intense and thrilling, all in one of the coolest anime worlds I've seen. This is probably the second best anime I've ever watched. It is intense, thrilling, and awesome. I have gone ahead and added a grading because I feel much more confidant in that grade now.Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-54587865506849397022015-01-13T08:59:00.000-05:002015-01-13T08:59:39.068-05:00IHAO on ... Horrible Bosses 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I did not see Horrible Bosses. I didn't see it for a very simple reason: I don't like Charlie Day, Jason Sudekis, or really Jason Bateman. If I don't like the three leading men in a comedy, yeah, pretty sure I don't want to see it. And it isn't really their fault. They are pretty decent actors. It is just they almost always play the EXACT SAME CHARACTERS. Jason Sudekis is smiling doofy idiot sex guy. Charlie is manic high-pitched tweaked out idiot. Jason Bateman is stuck up egotist know-it-all guy. Why do I want to watch that over and over again? Well, I was taken to the movies by a friend anyway, and he bought my ticket, so I watched it, knowing nothing of the first film. Nothing, I couldn't tell you an ounce of plot. <br />
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Before I get into this movie, first I wanna talk about the trailers. I haven't done a Trailer Trash in a long while, mostly because my tablet got broken and then replaced and the app I was using doesn't work as well on the new one. Is that a thing you guys would like to see back? Lemme know in the comments. Anyway, I hadn't seen a lot of the trailers in front of this film, and it looks like we are in for a lot of stupid comedies coming up in the next few months. I am not a stupid comedies kind of guy, not really. Sometimes I can get behind one, and sometimes the craft of the comedy is perfect, but in the end, I always prefer cool characters doing cool things, and comedies tend to focus on garbage characters doing asinine things. So be looking forward to those reviews coming this first few months of the year 2015.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">This is what my theater going experience is probably going to be like until April. Help me.</span></div>
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Ok, so Horrible Bosses 2 ... was way more enjoyable than I expected. In fact, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, the third act in particular. The movie opened with a bunch of Austin Powers style jokes and the kind of dialogue you expect from Always Sunny meets SNL meets Arrested Development, which irritated me to no end. The ... I guess they were too big to be "cameos" but man they sure felt like cameos for Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, and Jamie Foxx, whatever, their parts were ... meh. The actual plot tried to fit the idea of this whole "bosses" thing too many times in five minutes, as if being self-employed is some huge deal. But once we actually met Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine, and the plot actually started going with the kidnapping and stuff, the movies started to get me involved instead of just rolling my eyes and sighing at the stupid sex jokes and gross out humor.<br />
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Then Act 3 happened. And man, did it impress me. One of my favorite movies of the past few years was Tower Heist. It had heart, it was really funny, it was pulse-pounding, and it was a good heist film! That's what this movie turned into, for the most part. There was a small worthless section with Jennifer Aniston I could have done without, but yeah, it was pretty fantastic. It played out in a really cool way that I know I have seen before, but not done this well or like this. Sean Anders, who I had completely written off as a terrible director actually did some really great work! I am still legitimately impressed with how well the last third of the movie went.<br />
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I wish I could say the rest of the movie was worth watching for me. But I bet you if you like a harmless adult comedy, and like the comedians here, and don't care about stupid plot and characters, that this movie will not only be a comedy you'll really enjoy, but it may also actually impress you.<br />
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<b>Grade: B ... <i>ALMOST +</i></b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-16483179241250007512015-01-12T09:53:00.000-05:002015-01-12T09:53:26.374-05:00IHAF ... A. Lee MartinezIt is A. LEE MARTINEZ APPRECIATION DAY! Someone strike up the samba music, let's dance!<br />
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What do you mean, I just used this article as an excuse to post all my favorite dancing gifs? You, sir or madam, are ill informed. I used A. LEE MARTINEZ APPRECIATION DAY as an excuse to talk about one of my favorite authors writing today. So what is so great about A. Lee Martinez's writing that I have to do not one, not two, but SEVEN dancing gifs? Well, let me explain.<br />
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Back in college, and I am unsure how I came upon the book or who got me into it, but somewhere along the way I got a copy of Gil's All Fright Diner. An innocuous little book, with a splendidly silly, semi- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy looking book. Read the back, and I find it has vampires and werewolves and ghosts and zombies and cthullu-esque creatures, all mixing it up around a small diner. It was an odd conceit, so I read it. And it was really good.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">That was a lot of build up, with all the other gifs, for just "really good."</span></div>
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I liked the book. It read exactly like a film I wanted to see. EXACTLY, in fact, as I pictured Owen Wilson and Brad Garrett as the main characters Duke and Earl (they don't get the joke), a werewolf and a vampire who are just dudes, not monsters. And that's the magic of A. Lee Martinez books. But let me continue telling the story, there, chumbawumba.<br />
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I liked the book. I definitely didn't love it, but it was fun, with great characters, good scenes ... it really is a good book. So I went back to Books-a-Million and grabbed the other A. Lee Martinez book they had, In the Company of Ogres. That book ... I liked less. It had some bits that were good, and I liked the lead character, but as a pretty straight forward fantasy book, even with some tongue-in-cheek-ness to it, I felt it wallowed around in way too many characters and just wasn't that enjoyable. It felt like fantasy Stripes, like it was missing the meat that elevated Gil's with its really good characters.<br />
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So I shelved Mr. Martinez's books for awhile. A few years in fact. <br />
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So I suppose none of this is sounding the most positive it could be. But ahh, you are missing the wonderful thing here. A man is not defined by two books. He is defined by ... well I mean, too many things to calculate, because you cannot distill a man down just based on the writing of two books he wrote. And I never stopped thinking about those books, like them or not as the case legitimately was.<br />
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I eventually went looking for another book by him. I saw The Automatic Detective, which is a science fiction film noir. I gave it a shot ...<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">This editorial is already long. Come on!</span></div>
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Holy crap you guys, holy crap, the Automatic Detective is a flippin' AMAZING book. It did everything I loved about Gil's, with its real, fully fleshed characters, but then created this amazing atmosphere of pulpy dread, terror, and adventure. Mack Megaton, the book's protagonist, is one of my favorite characters I've ever read, period. And the book itself, a few years removed from In the Company of Ogres, really excelled. I was hooked.<br />
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Next up was Monster, another book with an incredible set of characters, and awesome big ole adventure, and really grounded emotions and thoughts. This time, we have a cryptid exterminator, who takes care of those goblins under the bed or the yetis that wander into your supermarket. Why this isn't a movie starring the Rock is BEYOND ME.<br />
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After Monster was Divine Misfortune, where worshiping a god was more akin to really bad online dating, and every pantheon of myth's gods existed. Once again, we got awesome characters in our human protagonists, an African-American couple, and their decided up god, Luka, a happy-go-lucky (literally, he is a luck god) raccoon. Once again, we got a great pulpy high adventure story. And even better, just like in the past two books, we get realistic characters.<br />
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All of these books might sound like they are Terry Pratchett in nature, comedy mixed with genre. But that's what you are missing! In fact, what a lot of people are missing about Mr. Martinez's books. There is a very subtle bias that readers have towards "genre" and "comedy." Both are seen as light, without substance. Just look at the Oscars, which to a fault award films that are dramatic or historic and actors who are dour or "realistic" with their amazing awards, even though other films come around that are better, with better acting, but because they may be Space Opera starring a raccoon and a talking tree, they may not get the same recognition. A. Lee Martinez's books have may have a colorful cover and a premise that is filled with pulpy wonderful goodness, but his books have a backbone of truly skilled writing and plotting, and characters with real emotions, choices, and relationships. When you think of these books, or really most forms of entertainment, as "genre" or "comedy," what you are subtly thinking is that they are worth less than other books or films or television shows. We need to stop that. And I think buying up all of Mr. Martinez's books is the best way to do it! <br />
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Divine Misfortune lead me to Chasing the Moon, an intriguing but not quite as good book centered around cthullu-esque mythos. But for every book of his I don't care for, three more arise that make me fall in love. In quick succession we got: Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain, which has one of the most complicated protagonists I've ever read, and was fabulous; Helen and Troy's Epic Road Quest, a send-up to the "Hero's Journey" with even more incredible characters, that I in fact <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2013/08/ihao-on-helen-and-troys-epic-road-quest.html">wrote a review of a year or so ago</a>; and <a href="http://www.aleemartinez.com/category/one-of-these-doomsdays/">One of These Doomsdays</a>, which you can find online for some crazy wonderful reason, as he isn't publishing it, which is BONKERS because I am LOVING IT! It isn't finished yet, and I hope he ends up publishing it anyway, because I want it on my shelf.<br />
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To top it all off, I've been going backwards and reading the books I skipped. I'm enjoying but struggling through Too Many Curses, and I still need to get A Nameless Witch. I also need to rebuy Chasing the Moon and In the Company of Ogres, as my own copies have been lost. To top all THAT off, I helped fund a short story book he wrote which featured a short story for each of his ten published books! That is coming in the mail to my home any day now, and I cannot wait to dive into it. <br />
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To top all THAT OFF, I am an avid reader of his website, as he blogs about film, television, writing, and all sorts of stuff. He and I don't see quite eye to eye on some things, but man oh man, we both tend to have the same opinion when it comes to "darker and grittier is better" that was sweeping through our entertainment not long ago. Even when I don't agree with him, I love hearing his thoughts. He shares them all the time on twitter and facebook as well. And he writes other short stories and flash fiction you can check out all the time. I was even able to send in a suggestion that he wrote a flash fiction of, which of course is awesome. <br />
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I am inspired to write because of A. Lee Martinez's books. I am inspired to write because of his opinions. I am inspired to work harder, to maybe see more of my writing published. And even better, I am inspired to read. I don't read as much as I used to. I suspect most people don't. So let's change that. It is a new year, so let's fix that! Go to amazon or Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million or wherever you can, buy an A. Lee Martinez book, your favorite I talked about, or my favorite, or the ones I liked least to see if you agree. Let's support an author who is writing exciting, incredibly well made books that don't have to choose between having good characters and good story.<br />
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And THAT is how I am going to celebrate my January 12th, A. Lee Martinez Appreciation Day.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I Have a Favorite ... author, A. Lee Martinez</b></span></div>
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A quick grade guide to each of his published novels I've read completely</div>
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Gil's All Fright Diner - <b>Grade: B+</b></div>
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In the Company of Ogres - <b>Grade: C-</b></div>
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A Nameless Witch - n/a</div>
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The Automatic Detective - <b>Grade: A+++</b></div>
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Too Many Curses - n/a</div>
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Monster - <b>Grade: A++</b></div>
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Divine Misfortune - <b>Grade: B+</b></div>
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Chasing the Moon - <b>Grade: B</b></div>
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Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain - <b>Grade: A++</b></div>
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Helen and Troy's Epic Road Quest - <b>Grade: A+++</b></div>
<br />Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-25291871680319250542015-01-09T10:00:00.000-05:002015-01-09T10:00:03.720-05:00IHAO on ... WWE's competition 1 - Lucha Underground<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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That's right Cena, you better run. Competition is coming, and not just from NXT.<br />
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I love wrestling. I <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-wwe-tlc-and-stairs-2014.html">talk </a><a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-see-no-evil-2.html">about </a><a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/09/arbitrary-numbers-top-matches-that_23.html">it a</a> <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/08/ihao-on-wwe-summerslam-2014.html">whole </a><a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/05/fantasy-booking-wwe-world-heavyweight.html">bunch</a>. NXT has been blowing my mind, and WWE has been leaving me cold. But it is a new year, and I want to see what else is out there. I don't have time for everything, so I am only watching what I have been and what just got a brand new start, and that's Lucha Underground and TNA. <br />
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TNA, on the other end of the spectrum, is trying its hardest to be just like the WWE ... 15 years ago. TNA has always been plagued by ridiculously overbooked nonsense and match stipulations that just don't make any sense. That said, it also tends to find great wrestlers that WWE didn't quite give a chance and prove the WWE wrong, just like with EC III, MVP, Samoa Joe, Low Ki. Then it fills out its roster with top Indy guys who aren't looking to jump to WWE, like Austin Aries, and home grown talent. And Kurt Angle. TNA almost went bye-bye because of poor ratings and slowly losing all their money. They lost their TV contract, and scrambled to get a new one on Destination America, which has nowhere near the reach as Spike TV. But they are restarting their show for a new audience on the 16th of this month, and I'm going to be the audience. That means that I'll have a review up of their show the following Monday.<br />
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Lucha Underground made a pretty surprising splash for me. It got a lot of honorable mentions in my <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-wrestling-bests-of-year-2014.html">Best of 2014 Wrestling</a> article, which is great because it has only had 10 episodes. The schtick is that of film quality backstage segments, strong character focus, and really good matches. The match quality of Lucha Underground sits in the middle zone of WWE: the average match is higher quality, but no match has really broken into the upper echelon of great matches that WWE always pulls out eventually every year. With its focus on Aztec traditions and masked characters, it is an incredible show to watch. They are starting their year, after giving us a lot of great episodes to introduce all twenty major characters on their roster, with an amazing match called Aztec Warfare. I have no clue what it is, other than it seems to be a seeded gauntlet, so I'm excited to find out.<br />
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Lucha Underground is up first.<br />
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Lucha Underground opened with a lot of spectacle as a lot of traditional drums and dancing kick off the show, really making this feel special. Aztec Warfare is a Royal Rumble style elimination gauntlet 20-man "Anything Goes" match. Two men start, then every small amount of time, another man joins the match. Last man to not get eliminated wins, and is the new, and FIRST Lucha Underground Champion. <br />
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No sugarcoating or beating around the bush, this match is great. Super great. It is a great way to opening wrestling for the year of 2015. What is so great about it? It has great moves, great moments, great characters, culminates a lot of stories, crowns a champion, and thrilled for a full hour of wrestling, including commercials. We get closure on a bunch of storylines, learn every character, all the wrestlers are treated as if they had a legitimate chance to win ... for the most part, anyway. This was really great stuff. El Mariachi Loco, Mil Muertes, Prince Puma, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Pentagon Jr., Sexy Star, man, everyone impressed all match. I cannot say it enough, this was a <b>GREAT </b> match! Even better, I am excited for the things to come.<br />
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I have now watched the episode, a full one-hour episode with a handful of 3 and a half minute breaks, that is just one match. It is phenomenal. Every single character, even the jobber kid, looks good, has a story, has a moment to shine, and looks like a credible threat to win. The way the story builds is perfect. The mirroring and closing out of a chapter in the story of Lucha Underground, which is just beginning, is flawless. The match does all the storytelling a Royal Rumble does, but with all the actual skill and credible finishes of a regular match. <br />
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My favorite thing in the whole match is that there was only two times someone stopped another luchadore from pinning an opponent. The first was Big Ryck, who is not a luchadore, just a brawling enormous mammoth of a man. The second is Chavo Guerrero Jr., who is so egotistical, he wants to pin a guy himself and keeps throwing guys off him to get the pinfall, even though it doesn't matter. That is exciting! How many times in a Royal Rumble match do you see guys helping save other guys from getting thrown over because they are wasting time between spots? Most Rumbles it happens. But here, every moment was perfectly executed. On top of that, Lucha Underground pretapes and edits their episodes, so every single move and shot is from the best, most interesting angle, and if something important is happening on the outside of the ring, we always cut to it. I LOVE Lucha Underground!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Lucha! Lucha! Lucha! Lucha! Lucha!</b></span></div>
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I implore you all, every wrestling fan or wanna-be fan, or just someone who likes Lucha, or just someone who likes Robert Rodrigeuz, or just ... everyone, really! WATCH LUCHA UNDERGROUND! Have a hard time watching Lucha Underground because you can't or don't get the El Rey Network, but want to give this a chance? You are in luck because Lucha Underground consistently shares videos on their facebook page. Absolutely go give them a look and a like.Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-52305176789693763902015-01-08T10:26:00.000-05:002015-01-08T13:09:36.157-05:00IHAO on ... Tusk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So Kevin Smith got high, did a podcast, and came up with a concept for a film. Three films, as best as I can tell, actually. And Tusk is the first. And Tusk is ... pretty damn unique. How should I tackle this one? Ok, let's start like this:<br />
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Tusk is a bad movie.<br />
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It isn't a terrible movie. It is in fact somewhere between forty-five minutes and an hour of a really solid thriller, an <b>A++ </b> kind of movie with some quirk but some great editing, writing, character, acting, and tension. The first act, the entire first act, is actually pretty superb. I would suggest to all of you reading that if you wanted to watch this movie, the weird body horror thriller, watch right up to that spot. Which spot is that? For lack of better word, it is the money shot. What does that mean? Do I have to stop being vague? UGH, fine!<br />
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Tusk tells the totally-not-Kevin-Smith-stand-in-character Wallace (Justin Long), a failed comedian now very successful podcaster, as he travels to Canada to interview an internet face guy. When that falls through, he spots an old man saying he has stories, so to not have wasted the trip he meets that old man, played by Michael Parks. Things go crazy fast, as the old man tries to turn Wallace into a walrus, as the title alludes.<br />
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As kind of dumb as that premise sounds, the first hour really succeeds. There is some great acting, great editing, and awesome tension. It isn't perfect, as there are some strictly not good jokes in there, but a lot of that is because the lead character himself is failed comedian, so he thinks a podcast called a Not-See Party is a good joke, and we understand him. Kevin Smith does a great job, Justin Long does as well, and Micheal Parks does some really nice stuff as well. And the theme is really great, with this driving rhythm and real tension to it.<br />
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So what happens at the "money shot" that kills the movie? And I mean, kills it, kills it dead, makes it lose all momentum and never regains it. Part of it might be that all the camerawork and filmmaking turns to a farce to instead focus on really terrible camerawork, bad framing, stupid music, and a script that likes to hear itself make stupid jokes. Part of it might be the extended extended cameo of Johnny Depp, playing an awful, time-wasting former detective Quebecer. That is really painful. Maybe its that all the lighting loses that tense warm glow that is both inviting and still dark and terrifying. Maybe its that the writing has moved on since the movie finally did what it wanted to do, showed the walrus-man, and now it is just expedient to plot and fills up the rest of the run time with bad jokes. Maybe it is all those things. Except no maybe, it is indeed all of those things.<br />
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I haven't turned a movie so fast in a long time. And it sucks, because Tusk was actually a really good short film! End the movie on that money shot, even with it being awful, jokey camerawork, and you have a really good, really succinct film. But the second half is so atrociously bad, that I can barely recommend it at all. Watch if you are curious or thinking you could potentially like it, and once the halfway point happens, know you are in for a bumpy, terrible finish.<br />
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<b>Grade: D+-</b>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-14871266555344958432015-01-07T10:00:00.000-05:002015-01-07T10:00:00.188-05:00IHAO on ... Pizza Hut Random Pizza!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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PIZZA IS WONDERFUL! Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. And that is the end. Cheese, dough, tomatos, and all sorts of amazing toppings, in a bunch of incredible combinations, in a bunch of styles, from super thick to super thin to pretzel crusts to sausage and cheese stuff to regular, all of it is glorious. I mean, some of the toppings I don't like, but even the worst toppings on a pizza are just a small price to pay for the gloriousness that is pizza. Just throw those mushrooms or black olives or whatever harmful veggie or meat you dislike away, because there is so much to love!<br />
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My love of pizza has been longstanding. Most kids my age loved pizza because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I do believe I liked the TMNT because I loved pizza. Pizza was as close to a religion in my household growing up as a circular food-based entity could be. Every Tuesday we would jump into my Dad's Dodge Ram and drive to the now defunct and empty Mazzios' pizza, which was the best pizza I ever had, for their buffet dinner. I learned about great music like Boston, Journey, and Queen there on their jukebox, and was filled with dreams of Samurai Showdown and every changing but always the same pinball games, as well as Puzzle Bobble, which was my favorite game and the only one my parents would let me waste my money one. Probably why I got so good at puzzle games, to not waste quarters between slices of wonderful pizza. My father would irritate the waitresses, which he always knew by name, by singing "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie." He did that for years. Still does in fact, 20+ years later. Eventually, Mazzios' closed down, because the world is unfair and everything is awful.<br />
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I grew up, I became older, but I continued my deep-down-in-my-stomach romance with pizza pie. I'd eat it at lunch in middle school and high school as much as possible. My father moved on to getting Little Caeser's for us about once a week (not quite that often, unfortunately) and we'd watch a movie or wrestling or maybe one of Mom's hour-long dramas on CBS. Church had pizza dinner for kids all through those years every Wednesday, and with a Dominos right across the street from the church, our youth group had it just as often. There were a lot of pounds gained during this period of life, and there would be many more.<br />
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I went to college, and the pizza just ... wasn't the same. It wasn't as good, my love wasn't as high, everyone ate Papa John's which I always disliked, and I just couldn't find a pizza I loved. Until Pizza Inn, which is apparently what Mazzios' was a named franchise of! I found it, I loved it, I went weekly once again, maybe more. But life happened, things changed, and I was forced to move back to my hometown. Now, I have a roommate that makes pizza and every now and again, nowhere near the weekly I'd love, we feast on Pizza Hut pizza. The online prices are incredible, and I never order from his pizza, because that's rude. And sometimes, a pizza gets messed up, so free-zza!<br />
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My life and pizza are intertwined. I carry 210ish pounds of proof, maybe more, I don't know how much bones weigh. So why talk about it all now? Well, that roommate is a lover of randomness. He decides everything either through randomness or through routine. He is an odd duck, but he did come up with a brilliant idea for New Year's Eve: random pizzas.<br />
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He put all the crust types in a randomizer, all the toppings in a randomizer, and all the finishers that Pizza Hut just added into a randomizer, then gets a crust, three toppings, and two finishers. And we had two Random Pizzas. And they were fabulous! The first was a meatball, ham, and spinach pizza with a honey barbeque sauce, regular crust, with pretzel finishing and asiago cheese. Glorious. The second sounds like a real pizza that could be one menu: green peppers, jalapenos, bacon, all on a medium buffalo sauce, thin sliced (a new amazing thing I never heard of between thin and regular), covered in honey sriarcha sauce and Ginger Boom Boom dusting the crust. That was my favorite, so spicy and glorious. I was in heaven. And it'll be a thing we do more often!<br />
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Not only that, you should try it! Have a party about it! Tell me in the comments if you do it, I would love to hear it! Facebook it, tumble it, link me along with it so I can see! Let's all have fun with a random pizza! How? By coming to my roommate's Pizza Hut at Thomas Crossroads in Coweta County, GA. Or make the random lists yourself using random.org, it's easy! I want #randompizza to be a thing! Fill up your instagrams, as well as your bellies!<br />
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<br />Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-36314666110380784352015-01-06T09:56:00.001-05:002015-01-06T09:56:39.562-05:00Arbitrary Numbers: Top # Super Sentai Theme Songs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Go go Power Rangers! <br />
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You just heard the guitar riff, didn't you? I am pretty sure everyone, no matter who they are or what their taste is in entertainment, gets a rush of pure unadulterated AWESOME when the original Power Rangers theme plays. It is one of the greatest theme songs of all time. Theme songs do a lot for a show. Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, Talespin, Disney has it figured out. Lots of shows did, I mean come on, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!<br />
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But today, I'm going to talk about another show. A show that has lasted for 39 years, with the newest 39th Super Sentai series starting THIS YEAR! It is about ninjas, the third Sentai about ninjas in fact, and my excitement over watching ToQger currently and watching Gokaiger with my wife that has gotten me all atizzy about the other Super Sentai themes. Why? Because they are flipping awesome, that's why! But how can I share that with you? Well, with an arbitrary list that counts down all my favorites I wanna talk about! I am going to countdown my favorites sentai themes, and even better, link them to you, then create a playlist so you can listen to my favorites ... or just listen to all of them, because they are all on youtube! I have them running on my computer as I write articles, as I begin my new exercise regime, and even on CDs I made for the car! <br />
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There are 39 main themes because I'm not going to include the additional themes, mostly because then ToQ #6 awesome harmonica theme would win downright; and while I could rank all 39 of them, that would take forever, and that's not really a list ... I mean, it IS a list by the strict definition of what a list is, but it isn't an internet list, which is about giving you a smattering of information so that you are titillated enough to check the stuff out yourself. So here is my criteria for how a song gets on my list:<br />
- Catchiness, or as I like to call it Get-Stuck-In-Your-Head-itude<br />
- AWESOMENESS, or pure power and sheer musical might<br />
- a lack of lameness; or the "no little kids singing"<br />
- Great on its own, or the "you don't have to like Sentai or this series to like this song"<br />
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Ok, here we go, my ...<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">TOP 9 SUPER SENTAI THEME SONGS</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dairanger</span></div>
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The song starts out with this crazy old school theremin sound until it gets into its groove and the "whoa whoa whoa whoa." This song isn't one that's going to murder you with awesome, no, and that is why it is on the bottom of my favorites list, but it is absolutely a catchy piece with this fantastic groove, silly drumkit beat. It is a nice lead-in and gets stuck in my head every now and again. I'll just be wandering around Wal Mart or Kroger or wherever, doing mundane nothing like grocery shopping and I'll just start going "whoa whoa whoa whoa." That's how I knew it had to be represented on this list.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gokaiger</span></div>
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You never forget your first. This song is bright, happy, and fully orchestrated, which I always love. It is simple and catchy and fun. Watching the show I wanted it to be more pirate-y sounding, and that is probably my biggest critique of the song, that it fits as a great Sentai theme, but not as a great Sentai theme for the only pirate Sentai there has been. This is the kind of thing you can expect from most Sentai, just a bright and happy song. Until we get into the more awesome and the catchier ones!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Denjiman</span></div>
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I would be remiss to not put a theme song from the early years, and Denjiman is absolutely the one! With its trumpets and real cool bass beat. It is also another great one to sing a long with. It reminds me of "Where There's a Whip, There's a Way" which is a fabulous song in its own rights. It has this wonderful 70s feel to it, and while that is dated, as I almost always saying, dated =/= bad. This is a time capsule of a cool groovin' song. Denji-, denjiman, denji-, denjiman!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">GoGoV</span></div>
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I love feeling like a hero! In fact, stay tuned, because next week there will be a new playlist review just like the <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/10/arbitrary-numbers-top-saddest-songs-on.html">Saddest </a>and <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/07/arbitrary-numbers-top-happiest-songs-on.html">Happiest </a>songs I did not too long ago, based on Triumphant songs! And I would be shocked if some of these didn't make the list, because this one and one a few steps higher absolutely take the cake for feeling like a HERO! The swell of the music, the orchestra moving at a fever pitch, the lead singer belting out his heroic intentions!<br />
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One of the things that makes me happiest is a nice epic build. And GoGoV has an incredible build up to the second chorus: SAVE THE EARTH! SAVE THE LIVES! I sing that at the top of my lungs and it makes me feel just absolutely epic. Not as epic as other songs, but it does the job for me. I considered starting the list here, but the other songs kept getting stuck in my head, so I had to include them. And I wasn't going to not mention this one.<br />
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SAVE THE EARTH! SAVE THE LIVES!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Go-Onger</span></div>
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I talked about <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/10/ihao-on-power-rangers-rpm.html">Power Rangers RPM</a> not too terribly long ago, and how much I hated how ashamed the show felt of its silliness, trying to hide the inherent silly nature of the Sentai they used with its "dark and mature" story, which I ultimately felt failed. Go-Onger<br />
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If you need more proof, a friend walked in as I wrote this article, and she immediately started dancing. Immediately. Because of just the song. She doesn't know anything about the source material or the style of show, but she does know she liked this song. Boom boom bom bom, Go-Onger!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Timeranger</span></div>
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Remember how I talked about epicness with GoGoV? Timeranger is on this list because it is supremely epic. It murders epic, buries its corpse, and yet a bigger more awesome Groot tree rises where the seeds of epicness were buried, alive and well, bring awesomeness and epic brilliance to everyone around him as his epicness saves the entire galaxy! <br />
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Timeranger's theme is also the only song with a female lead, and it starts in English, which helps me get into it as an American. It isn't a requirement, as the next three will show you, but it really does help. I love the swell of the music, the amazing choir, the squealing electric guitar, the amazing organ music ... it is just a smorgasbord of great music! <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hurricanger</span></div>
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We have now entered the super fricking fun and catchy section! The top 3 are all the most ridiculous energetic and catchy songs I've heard as themes. They are right up there with Ducktales and Rescue Rangers. These are themes that transcend language and show. They are songs we should be listening to all the time for fun, to work out, to cook, to clean, to sleep, to do everything!<br />
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Hurricanger is an inherently more hilarious song, with its silly beat and sound effects, sounding like the scoring was created in Mario Paint, and just an incredibly bubbly song and lyrics that are super singable, it is a great song. I really cannot get enough of it. The reason it does reach the top is it doesn't get me as pumped as the next to, and is nowhere near as serious with its ridiculous apprentice DJ soundboard music.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">ToQger</span></div>
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RAINBOW TRAINS POWERED BY IMAGINATION, WITH A BASICALLY SKA SONG AS THEIR THEME SONG! It doesn't fail like Gokaiger did, not sound like its theme, as you can always here the train track-styled rhythm all throughout. It has some seriously great music going on, too, like a really great second verse that is actually different sounding than the first. I know they are different words in most of these themes, but musically they all tend to be V-C-V-C-B-C, and that's all. But the second verse for ToQger has this amazingly cool kinda punky-ska drum breakdown before it gets back into the chorus. I really truly love this song. There is only one reason that it isn't number 1, and that's because of a language barrier that I'll eventually conquer. But what if there was a song just as hype and rocking, but I actually get the schtick of the Japanese without it having to slip into English for me to understand it? Hmmm .....<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shinkenger</span></div>
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A cool traditional Japanese sound evolves into the most blood pumping, sweat inducing rock song, just ... ever! With its background chorus of "chan-bara-chan-bara" I can always sing along even when I don't quite know the words, I can sing every word of the chorus because it is simple enough and catchy enough and even better clear enough that I learned it no problem. This is the song I leave on repeat over and over as I do my new workout regime. I feel like a rocking hero all the time and just work and work and never grow tired as this song blasts along! It is a dense song musically, with a lot of melodies, counter melodies, and really tight harmonies all throughout, some of it modern rock, some of it updated traditional sounding Japanese musical. It keeps its themes of the show, reinforces them, and is fantastically musical in nature. I love the song. I loved the song before I started caring about Sentai at all. And that absolutely means something to me!<br />
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There we are! All nine. I could talk about so many more, like Go-Busters or Kakuranger, but these are the ones I'm limiting this article to. And like I promised, here is a fantastic playlist, in order, or my nine favorites! Give it a listen, and enjoy these songs, which truly are for everyone, Sentai lover or not.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRJigHMaAdd3bh6vHpqoRFNKqalmbimwx">TOP # Super Sentai Theme Songs Playlist</a>Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-78566223927716798042015-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:002015-01-05T10:21:10.856-05:00IHAO on ... Slings and Arrows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love finding obscure, cool, movies and television shows. It is part of the reason I collect, it is part of the reason I love to host, and it is definitely a reason why I enjoy writing these reviews for this site. I go scouring the internet for cool things all the time, hoping to find more nuggets than garbage. And I found one. One that isn't even that hard to find yourself, and for some of my readers I think just may be the right show for you.<br />
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Slings and Arrows is very similar to an Aaron Sorkin show. It is a hour-long comedy-drama that tells the difficulties of the actors, producers, executive stuaff, directors, and everyone else at a Shakespeare festival in Canada, all based around the major production of that year. The first season focuses on Hamlet, the second on Macbeth, and the third on King Lear. Beyond that, the show itself is Shakespearean in nature as well, with Shakespearean plots and character archetypes being filled all through the show. There's even a ghost!<br />
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Much like I praised <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-birdman-or-unexpected-virtue-of.html">Birdman </a>because of its incredible way of showing the inner-workings of a production of a show, Slings and Arrows does very similar, but with more overarching themes and plots like a Sorkin show. It is superbly acted by Paul Gross as our leading man, playing a truly mad director with a passion for theatre. He is surrounded by incredible actors, including two of the show's creators and writers, Susan Coyne, who you may not know but will really enjoy and Mark McKinney (you probably know him from SNL and Kids in the Hall).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDI0dRuSkD9pYzm4rlISPqJhXOZbfnJoN9dcS6DTshhXOiVnUOyYVcS9KVbxcoA6EfkjqlqpAWvmJjRQQFiJXiFkgtUCA1KFp6exg7KoVknIM5dFjme9DYbkyn5WTbqyXrjt4-qwJZTUh/s1600/eye+roll.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDI0dRuSkD9pYzm4rlISPqJhXOZbfnJoN9dcS6DTshhXOiVnUOyYVcS9KVbxcoA6EfkjqlqpAWvmJjRQQFiJXiFkgtUCA1KFp6exg7KoVknIM5dFjme9DYbkyn5WTbqyXrjt4-qwJZTUh/s1600/eye+roll.gif" height="248" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
It is hard to talk about how good the show is. But that's absolutely my job, so let me try. The show's characters all care about one thing: showing truth and emotion through the words written by William Shakespeare. And that singular care makes the show alive with emotion. There is humor and romance and terror and tragedy and villainous schemes and heroic plans and ends just like every Shakespearean comedy, with a wedding. With only six episodes a season, the entire collection is absolutely worth searching out if you have any love of theatre, especially a theatre's inner workings and plots. I very much recommend the show to everyone who loves drama and just ... good shows.<br />
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Hey ... everybody, guess what? We're finally on Facebook! <a href="https://www.facebook.com/deewunihao">Come on over and LIKE US</a> right here! Get all your updates guaranteed! Share it around so we can get more fans! It'll be Keane!Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-38749565655657126782014-12-31T10:00:00.000-05:002014-12-31T10:00:08.165-05:00IHAO on ... Everything-Else of the Year 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9zpFByhwl8dLbG0kNHJtZcpwsgiYhN3ZkkkMjzdosy6-h-mIguq2ivCMm33d0sLvmJiYpSBowMlKIwjJDml0Adudl5_micGRx0oCwopPfQ0lAvCRGj33cs_O78mijseQ15u4uRBHlOOV/s1600/deep+breath.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9zpFByhwl8dLbG0kNHJtZcpwsgiYhN3ZkkkMjzdosy6-h-mIguq2ivCMm33d0sLvmJiYpSBowMlKIwjJDml0Adudl5_micGRx0oCwopPfQ0lAvCRGj33cs_O78mijseQ15u4uRBHlOOV/s1600/deep+breath.gif" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Get ready, this is a long one!</span></div>
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Welp, you guys did it.
You guys took a thing and made it more than mostly ridiculous. It is a terrible list that is worth no one’s
time, and I’m going to give you exactly what you asked for! It is going to be ridiculous, but honest as
best as I can. The only things I will
not be answering from the enormous list of “of the years” will be anything that
is not actually an opinion but a fact I can look up. I’ll also randomize these, and I couldn’t
remember who gave me these at all. So
let’s do this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Most Wonderful Time” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Christmas is great, as is Halloween, but I can absolutely
state that the most wonderful time of the year is early December afternoons,
when the sky is grey and the weather is chill, when the breeze is hard and
slow. That is always the most
wonderful. I love it, and always will.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Meal” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve eaten a lot of meals this year. On average probably 1.7 a day. There have been a lot of things made by me
and others that have been pretty outstanding, but for me, the meal of this year
was a month or so ago at Moe’s. The health
inspector had just come and was giving notes, so I got my Wrong Doug with the
grilled green peppers ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.
I have never had one as good as I did that day when Drew and I randomly
decided to go early.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“D&D character (in games I’ve run or been a part of this
year)” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I am currently running two Dungeons and Dragons games. I hope to be running a third World of
Darkness game soon as well. Of the two
games, to pick a single character would be hard, but I bet you my players would
absolutely agree that the character of the year is Livbl, a snake-oil salesman
from a chaotic swamp town we spent awhile in.
He was a scam artist, everyone knew it, but they kept letting his charm
and work ethic win them over until eventually one of the players bought out
every potion this flim-flam artist was selling in one big swoop.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Seasoning/spice” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Paprika. From Wal Mart.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Episode of television” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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There are only two television shows I watch at all currently
that aren’t wrestling or sentai. And
they both had an AMAZING midseason finale … so I’m going with both of
those. Flash s01e09 and Arrow
s03e09. Both were incredible, and both
shows continue to be my favorite shows in recent memory. Flash is currently a little better than Arrow
as a whole, but I love both of these episodes equally.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Theft” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I was real worried that I wouldn’t have anything for this
category, but luckily my good friend Jason helped me out by getting his car
window smashed and some stuff stolen.
Don’t worry or feel bad though, he is in surprisingly good spirits about
it. It was a nail-biter, but this one
just made it in time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Death” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Absolutely it is the devastating loss of the Ultimate
Warrior. You can read about it <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/rip-warrior.html">here</a>, and
I quote his final promo in my <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-wrestling-bests-of-year-2014.html">Wrestling of the Year</a> article as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Day” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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May 23<sup>rd</sup><o:p></o:p></div>
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<sup><br /></sup></div>
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<b>“Video Performance by Beyonce” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I am not a Beyonce fan.
That is to say, I don’t listen to her music or watch her videos. But I am a fan of other artists, and do watch
their videos, and one of them happens to be a Beyonce one, which is probably
the only video I watched that had anything to do with Beyonce this year, so<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPgoufy8PrE"> itwins by default</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Betrayal” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh goodness. Ok, so I’ve
sat here for probably two hours stuck on this one. I still have … 34 more of these to answer for
the year, and I have quite honestly no idea at all. I mean, I guess I need to go with … no, you
know what, I’ll go a little more subtle than what I was planning. I’m going with Adrian Neville’s betrayal of
his friendship to Sami Zayn as he fought to retain his championship. Adrian got as close to heel as a face could
ever get without actually becoming a full-fledged bad guy, called his best
friend unworthy and not good enough, and allowed himself to, while never cheating,
bend the rules of matches in a way that is absolutely a betrayal of his own
virtues and his friendship and competitive spirit with Sami Zayn. There we go.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“World Event” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bah. Ummm … let’s go
with the entire North Korea/The Interview debacle. That was ridiculous here in the states, but
also across the world. I don’t know if
affected anyone else around the world, but it is certainly a crazy event.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Best Hamming/Worst Hamming” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Worst is easy. Jim
Carrey in Dumb and Dumber To, which as I posted yesterday, was the worst film
for me of the year. He was an awful
caricature of himself, constantly chewing the scenary and mugging for the camera. Best Hamming … The Rock’s social media
comedy. He is ridiculous and fun and
hilarious and shout-outs to all sorts of people and is just he smiley-est and
dopey-est enormous Hercules of a dude.
Good work, Dwayne.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Engaged couple (wink wink hint hint nudge nudge please pick
Poseph)” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Some of the inside jokes and requests here are a little more
subtle. Like, it isn’t so obvious that
Michael Collins asked about “hamming.” But Paige is being pretty daggum
obvious. So I guess I’ll have to pick …
Joge! BOOOM! That’s right, I’m using a different
abbreviation of your names that ends up sounding like a stupid meme that I
hate! Much whatever, stupid joke, don’t
do it right.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAyc2zdvGKIRSdDa2dGuR_4Qn2g6ELnEKSRrEwl565aYq3A9E4DUuFl8jtUrvkxcopg2AUxLhyzKl1FwYkBfGtxPkQxPOE5gX1a0kC0Oum3WfY9QjamMPD587ZIKviop1LLFfKp2VMKQC/s1600/Joge.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAyc2zdvGKIRSdDa2dGuR_4Qn2g6ELnEKSRrEwl565aYq3A9E4DUuFl8jtUrvkxcopg2AUxLhyzKl1FwYkBfGtxPkQxPOE5gX1a0kC0Oum3WfY9QjamMPD587ZIKviop1LLFfKp2VMKQC/s1600/Joge.png" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>“Inside joke that no one else will know except the person
who was part of it and will confuse everyone cuz im not even gona explain it or
give any names” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Potato stockings, bra.
Potato stockings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Catchphrase” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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S. A. W. F. T.
Saaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwft!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdhSjduWGJM1ENKKLnmUHWUnCWqoy8yekJwvj5l2nZEvZtFfiyr_VXyoWYyX_cLltw_1_M87j3lzdozxw6FkCQDhuBDHuXABZnneE55du9GO1t__0WamfMRdISVcnD7PKwdA78llhWKR4/s1600/sawft.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdhSjduWGJM1ENKKLnmUHWUnCWqoy8yekJwvj5l2nZEvZtFfiyr_VXyoWYyX_cLltw_1_M87j3lzdozxw6FkCQDhuBDHuXABZnneE55du9GO1t__0WamfMRdISVcnD7PKwdA78llhWKR4/s1600/sawft.gif" /></a></div>
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<b>“Dog” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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P-chan, my wonderful pug, will always win this award until
the unfortunate year she is no longer with us, in which I will retire this
category to never be used again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Figure of Speech” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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It is hard to describe, but a really stupid thing we end up
doing in my household is to just mangle and ruin words in the worst possible
way. Such as “Daniel” becomes “Dangus.” “Drew” becomes “Drewbii.” “Melanie” becomes “Melalaualulalll.” It is awful.
And we do it all the time. So
yeah, that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Piece of Mail I received” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Uh … I mean, I’ve order a bunch of cool stuff for the site
and for myself. And I know for a fact
that the thing I am always the most excited to get is the next One Piece
Collection for my DVD set! I have the
first 10, all of which I got this year, and it has become a favorite show of
mine! I talked about it on the site in fact <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihaf-one-piece.html">RIGHT HERE</a>! And COLLECTION 11 comes out in
January!!! So yeah, those. Well, I have to pick one, so I’ll say that
the one I was most excited for was Collection 4.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“’Of the Year’ list” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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This one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Thing I hated” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Man, there are probably a lot of things I fumed and cussed
and moaned about this year. Most of the
times it is things on this site, like <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/06/ihao-on-tim-burtons-batman_9.html">the Batman review</a> or <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-interstellar.html">Interstellar</a>. But the thing I think I hated most this year
was the crop of memes that became popular right at the end of the year,
especially the abstract frog feeling thing.
Ugh.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Kabuki” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Uh … I mean, I watch a LOT of stuff, but … the closest I can
say is Ressha Sentai ToQger, I suppose, since it is a Japanese art form like
Kabuki. I love it so much, and other
sentai so much, that I’m think about starting a new series about it all. I’ll talk about it more next year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jaNMb4lmf8NgEGkHldFnOcXojoVDSuMQgTIx6th46u6D8PMozCSdyI87ZagGz10wlDXac2EegWqRm9a6qUdbogwHqV5Y5rXUmEVjM_YGoGm5OMI7ohUcMMi3TrgEf0v6x85ERQXkI9JX/s1600/toqger.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jaNMb4lmf8NgEGkHldFnOcXojoVDSuMQgTIx6th46u6D8PMozCSdyI87ZagGz10wlDXac2EegWqRm9a6qUdbogwHqV5Y5rXUmEVjM_YGoGm5OMI7ohUcMMi3TrgEf0v6x85ERQXkI9JX/s1600/toqger.gif" height="161" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>“Comedian” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This one is hard.
Wait, no it isn’t. It is totally
gonna be my (soon to be) good friend Paul!
He came and did a ten minute set for the best improve show that myself
and the rest of the troupe I am in did, and he performed to his largest
audience yet, which is amazingly cool! He
is real funny, and is working hard to be great at comedy. I need to do something with him next
year. Maybe something … wrestling
related. Maybe something … podcast
related. Hmmm …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Best class played (in Dungeons and Dragons)” of the year
2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All right, this one is fun.
In my two campaigns, these are the break downs of the classes:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The Books of Eight Campaign: Invoker, Thief,
Gypsy, Druid/Thief, Shaman, Fighter, Cleric (deceased)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Dunesko: Mirager, Fighter, Cleric/Thief,
Necromancer, Bard<o:p></o:p></div>
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There isn’t a lot of overlap, especially considering how
drastically different the two fighters are.
But really, my favorite class played currently is Shaman, which doesn’t
work like most classes as you cannot cast quickly, you have to plan things out
and ask favors of spirits, until you become more powerful and can chance doing
an immediate calling.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Oh, wait, it says “best.”
Yeah, I love utility classes, but Shaman is definitely not the best, no
offense to Alanthelis “Drew” Turner. The
class I think is the best, as in most effective and as a DM is the one I have
the hardest time to plan around, is Druid.
Druid OP, what can I say. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Awkward Moment” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have moments that were awkward for a lot of reasons, but
none I really want to talk about or think top out the year. The most awkard moment I can think of was
very early in the year when, during an improve show, I made a “blue” joke. A very funny one, too, but it was exceedingly
off-color, and it bothered a few people, though none of the people that it
could have bothered. Yeah, it was a race
joke. And the guys I talked to of the
race loved it. But it still bothered
enough people that I was told about it.
And I then had to go and talk to the parents of the kids I teach improve
to every year and apologize. That was
rough. Luckily, not a single parent
cared, thought I did anything bad, or thought I was a bad influence on their
kid. Or at least, not THAT bad. Ok, so maybe a few, but it didn’t actually
hurt my standing with any of the parents or the kids, and that was what I was
most worried about. It was not an easy
moment, and absolutely taught me that while I personally believe there is no
such things as an “off limits joke,” when I teach kids, I need to make sure I
am a little more above reproach if I want to continue to work with those kids,
and if I want to move up the ranks in the theatre.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Confession” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Does this mean I need to confess something? I mean, I could be scandalous I suppose. Or is this a thing that was confessed already
and should be remembered for it? Uhh … I’m
going to go with the later, because I’ll probably lose at least one friend if I
make a confession I was thinking about doing.
Of the confessions that have already happened … OH, a friend confessed
to me that he hated it when people use his last name as his name or nickname
and I hadn’t known it for YEARS and had not only been doing it, but had gotten
other people doing it to. That was … I
mean, that’s a big confession that made me realize I need to be a little better
with that kind of thing. We are better
friends now. :D<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Albino” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This albino pug:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Game” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Hey! That’s a real
category and not a joke one! I can
totally answer that for reals because I play some games and I like to review
things!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The game that epitomized the year 2014 to me was Twitch
Plays Pokemon. It showed a fascinating
love of the games, all building up to the newest generation and the newest
remake of an old generation. It got
people talking about and playing pokemon again, including me. Even more, it was a MASSIVE shared experience
that created some great story through the random elements of the game because
of the way the game worked. Seriously,
check out <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/twitchplayspokemon/wiki/historyoftpp">this write up</a> of the entire story of the game series. It is fascinating! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“#swagsockwednesday” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Ok, so looking at the hashtag on tumblr, my favorite one is
this one:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27gvvIUypgfHZvfuTb-rPyZlNz_RbAo9mYRzZn-nTECvBukOJS1BNb6Yb7mtjilUTsn7BBvlYphFFJkVmoUnee2_8dF9ZjoSCgXLITPouoaUJFP8p6FxP_IBEny1uf5dH-joihK1S-0Pl/s1600/charizard+socks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh27gvvIUypgfHZvfuTb-rPyZlNz_RbAo9mYRzZn-nTECvBukOJS1BNb6Yb7mtjilUTsn7BBvlYphFFJkVmoUnee2_8dF9ZjoSCgXLITPouoaUJFP8p6FxP_IBEny1uf5dH-joihK1S-0Pl/s1600/charizard+socks.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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And that’s because I bought those for him. Boom, I’m great. Go me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Protest” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Everything in Ferguson.
Just, all of it. Cops suck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Fruit” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I want to make a joke and put a gay guy, but I’m going to
actually answer this correctly. The
fruit of the year here at IHAO has to be … apples, I guess.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Movie Trailer (for a film I have not yet seen)” of the year
2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Seventh Son! That
looks like a frickin’ awesome fantasy movie with tons of action and magic and
monster and it just looks so cool! I’m
so tired of Tolkien and even more so Peter Jackson styled epic fantasy films,
and Seventh Son looks great and new and interesting! WOOOOO!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Cornucopia” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I think my mother-in-law had one she put on her dining room
table around Thanksgiving, so I guess that one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Character Death” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Absolutely, the one that sticks with me the most this year
is from John Wick. I cannot say who it
is, what happens, or any of that, but it was crazy emotional and has stuck with
me even to this point.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Ninja Space Cowboy” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Space Dandy<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Least Noteworthy Performance” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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See, this one is hard, because this is quite literally me
giving a note to the performance here. I
could cop out now and say I can’t answer it because of that, but nah, I’m going
to actually try. I suppose I’m going to
give it to … there was a blonde actress in an episode of Flash that worked with
Iris who I think got one line about how Barry would make a good boyfriend or
something. Yeah, her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Plot Twist” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The midseason finale to Arrow.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Choice Make Out Sesh” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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May 23<sup>rd</sup><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Color” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Interesting … I think I need to go with brown. Like, shoe-leather brown. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Campaign slogan” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Vote for Me”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Most unexpected compliment” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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My self-opinion is not very pleasant. And on top of it, I don’t take compliments
well. They make me nervous and anxious
and those words are synonyms. But I got
a compliment from a friend that just rekindled our friendship about my skill
level and where I could go in the future that really touched me, profoundly. I may be 30, but I still think of myself as
young for whatever reason, mostly because I mean that as a negative, like I don’t
have as much worth as other folks. So it
was just incredibly kind, and really shaped my decision on where I wanted to
move forward in my life. So yeah, that
one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Worst film” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Dumb and Dumber To<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Best non-CGI effect” of the year 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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This one is a hard one, because I’ve seen a lot of good
films this year, but most effects work is now in CGI land. And the thing that stands out to me is
actually from Guardians of the Galaxy … the costuming and makeup for most of
the cast. It was shocking, seeing behind
the scenes footage, or how much of the look of this movie was completely
legitimate. Awesome stuff.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And the last and final category of this year …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“Socks” of the year 2014</b></div>
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My wonderful wife got me LootCrate, and I was happy as all
heaven to get it! Even better, it had
GROOT SOCkS in there! The socks are
cool, comfortable, and were a hug surprise as well as a present. Those are the socks that win, absolutely.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All right everyone, thank you for reading my silly inane
list of reader suggested categories. And
I want to say to all of you thank you for reading what I’m putting out
there. You guys taking your time to
read, share, and comment keep me going and working hard at this, and have
really helped me want to push myself further, with better articles, more constant
updates, and more features and specials that I can share with everyone. Thank you all. I hope you have a great New Year’s Eve, and I
will see you all on Monday with the first review of the new year!<o:p></o:p></div>
Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-66096314012778104152014-12-30T10:00:00.000-05:002014-12-30T10:50:29.055-05:00IHAO on ... Best (and Worst) Films of the Year 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’ve built up to this one for … really no reason. I mean, I am mostly a film critic here at I
Have an Opinion, but I review other stuff, too, and arguably the things I get
the most views on are wrestling reviews, and those <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-wrestling-bests-of-year-2014.html">I did yesterday</a>, but …
whatever! I want to do Best Movies of
the Year, all leading up to the actual best film I saw this year, as well as my
thoughts on what makes that movie so good. And I suppose I'll do the Worsts, too, just for fun!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I suppose I’ll split the "bests" into two categories: best
movies I saw all year <i>not in theaters</i>, and then the best films OF the
year. I’ll link to them all and just
make life fun and entertaining while I do it.
So let’s take a gander first at every film I’ve reviewed this year that
I gave an A+ or higher, all with links now so I don't have to later:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Not in Theaters: <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-snowpiercer.html">Snowpiercer</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-monster-in-paris.html">A Monster in Paris</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/10/ihao-on-saw-iii.html">Saw III</a>,
<a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/09/ihao-on-human-race.html">The Human Race</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/09/ihao-on-bee-movie.html">Bee Movie,</a> <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/07/ihao-on-altered-states.html">Altered States</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/07/independence-day-special-ihao-on-white.html">White House Down</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/05/ihao-on-odd-thomas.html">Odd Thomas</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/05/ihao-on-rocky-iii.html">Rocky III</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-rocky-ii.html">Rocky II</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-rocky.html">Rocky</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-edtv.html">EdTV</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-someone-like-you.html">Someone Like You</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-wrestler-reader-request.html">The Wrestler</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/02/ihao-on-adventures-of-baron-munchhausen.html">The Adventures of Baron Munchausen</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/01/ihao-on-flypaper-reader-request.html">Flypaper</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/01/ihao-on-lovelace.html">Lovelace</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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In Theaters: <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-penguins-of-madagascar.html">Penguins of Madagascar</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/12/ihao-on-john-wick.html">John Wick</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-birdman-or-unexpected-virtue-of.html">Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-maze-runner.html">Maze Runner</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/08/ihao-on-guardians-of-galaxy.html">Guardians of the Galaxy</a>,
<a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/07/ihao-on-hercules.html">Hercules</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-oculus.html">Oculus</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/04/ihao-on-captain-america-winter-soldier.html">Captain America: the Winter Soldier</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I suppose now, I’m just going to go ahead and to the top 5,
counting down to the best in each category, and talk a little more about them! It should be known that this list is going to
be a cumulative list. By that I mean
that it will be my best to combine both what I think is the highest quality and
what I liked the most. You with
me? Fantastic, let’s do this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Not in Theaters Number 5: Rocky III</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjjW-nocYmoDHuBQxgNrGqK8Sd72zVwIHcphMhd5xW7N_UMqwEVlVUnM5R5p383PIx8xmk3Fh9LvtjlgncA4XL5Ac2DW2EmcRr309sI56d4u2EuZlVF7KspiSd6X6CmKOeVKiPp33sxuX/s1600/Rocky+III.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjjW-nocYmoDHuBQxgNrGqK8Sd72zVwIHcphMhd5xW7N_UMqwEVlVUnM5R5p383PIx8xmk3Fh9LvtjlgncA4XL5Ac2DW2EmcRr309sI56d4u2EuZlVF7KspiSd6X6CmKOeVKiPp33sxuX/s1600/Rocky+III.jpg" height="200" width="141" /></a></div>
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I loved watching the Rocky films this year. It was so amazing to learn that my opinion of
what a Rocky film was, based on the clips of III and IV I had seen, had no real
relation to what the series is actually about.
That said, Rocky III did the sports drama the absolute best I’ve ever
seen, without losing any of the character drama that Rocky gave us. It picked up its pace and became a fantastic
film in its own rights, the last great Rocky film. Clubber Lang is an incredible character, the
story so perfectly finishes up the major trilogy of the Rocky stories, and the
color and film work is just fantastic. I
really love the franchise now, and Rocky III just makes it into the top 5.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Not in Theaters Number 4: Lovelace<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkLm6xeDUrSAzWbQyHDpX5-Gcg8CzIl4I_LRp9qw2zLSLWehvu0t7u3e6JEEsKjqW8_-KcFdVTMh4nT6blx0h9q4DPDEn2r3WBrjlLjqQr_uL-XoDbH9At06lnnDAGUM2juTxlBu-d8fZ2/s1600/lovelace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkLm6xeDUrSAzWbQyHDpX5-Gcg8CzIl4I_LRp9qw2zLSLWehvu0t7u3e6JEEsKjqW8_-KcFdVTMh4nT6blx0h9q4DPDEn2r3WBrjlLjqQr_uL-XoDbH9At06lnnDAGUM2juTxlBu-d8fZ2/s1600/lovelace.jpg" /></a></div>
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Amanda Seyfried was phenomenal. She deserved an Oscar nod. And on top of that Lovelace is a complicated
film. It isn’t just a biopic about the
woman from Deepthroat. It is a really
well written, well acted, well plotted film.
We don’t just amble along linearly, no, instead the film works its magic
through excellent editing and pacing to really help us the audience get a
deeper experience. Lovelace was an
amazing film, and I am so happy to have seen it and to now own it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Not in Theaters Number 3: The Wrestler<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHFfOSnwUAluJbavXfZtZC7qdafz6qKt42lLbuLBhJEAKyAD1J52CfZhlftT9AbG0l-2IBduD1R1LkjqwOUS0DhyJKws1TXYib0dvMAhbwkfIcLvHNZ5dciLtb-49xzVbuNOqfUGlD6NC/s1600/wrestler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHFfOSnwUAluJbavXfZtZC7qdafz6qKt42lLbuLBhJEAKyAD1J52CfZhlftT9AbG0l-2IBduD1R1LkjqwOUS0DhyJKws1TXYib0dvMAhbwkfIcLvHNZ5dciLtb-49xzVbuNOqfUGlD6NC/s1600/wrestler.jpg" /></a></div>
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With all the wrestling talk I’ve done this year, I am so
happy to have finally checked this film out.
Darren Aronofsky continues to be one of my favorite directors. This is a quiet film that is real and
touching. You see real professional
wrestlers talking backstage, the curtain behind an industry that is still
shrouded in some small bits of mystery in a fascinating way. It is a character driven film, which I always
love, and Randy the Ram lives on as a real character. I believe that it is him. Watching this film and learning more and more
about life for older wrestlers, it is heartbreaking and personal. It is an amazing film.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Not in Theaters Number 2: Rocky<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMQ7aNO9colfXD_Q6_vnySZbTc01ON8yLJ8WGEJz3ekqN_mINKfa-SIPVRsbLrDbzuqhX4O7accq6M6rUlXEQTNUJikXEjvAGRE3uzjD5pkTRKUBX9dDcNmSoum4OxCziY1KX2rHc9OVp/s1600/Rocky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMQ7aNO9colfXD_Q6_vnySZbTc01ON8yLJ8WGEJz3ekqN_mINKfa-SIPVRsbLrDbzuqhX4O7accq6M6rUlXEQTNUJikXEjvAGRE3uzjD5pkTRKUBX9dDcNmSoum4OxCziY1KX2rHc9OVp/s1600/Rocky.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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Yeah, the third film made it on the list too. And Rocky II sits at number 6, just so you
know. Rocky won Best Picture in 1976,
but also Best Director, and even more interesting, Best Editing. Best editing nowadays is a joke category,
generally given to the films that indeed have the most edits in them. But when really treated like it is an art
form, excellent editing creates tension, it drives story, and it fuels
emotion. Rocky is an incredible film, an
incredible drama about one of the most likable characters in film history. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Recently, I was watching a video that pondered the question:
“If aliens came to earth, and you could show all of them one film to sum up all
of humanity, what movie would you show them?”
And Rocky was my answer. The
story of the true meaning of the human spirit, not to win or destroy, but to
survive, to go the distance. The story
of a man who wasn’t the brightest, nowhere close in fact, but a man who worked
and tried, and was given a chance. The
story of a man who fell in love, and who goes through the entire human spectrum
of emotion. A perfect film.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Not in Theaters Number 1: Snowpiercer</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinvmslhS5MDXQf5gU1GxwIm3uytYaFBSgQYtv2QoFsD64fhhnGyZPCyVP5s4XliKWRLbJK6sx6mSnCzZgcjDckLM1bnZDKbyjnssTx7DXNVaPyM7g2guQY3fgoUKafD8bvApaRgkbt9unD/s1600/snowpiercer+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinvmslhS5MDXQf5gU1GxwIm3uytYaFBSgQYtv2QoFsD64fhhnGyZPCyVP5s4XliKWRLbJK6sx6mSnCzZgcjDckLM1bnZDKbyjnssTx7DXNVaPyM7g2guQY3fgoUKafD8bvApaRgkbt9unD/s1600/snowpiercer+poster.jpg" /></a></div>
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So how can another movie top a perfect film from 1976? By being a more stylized, deeper, more
thought-provoking thrill ride of emotion, color, and crisp art. Snowpiercer IS art. It is the best modern film I’ve seen this
year, maybe the best actual film I’ve ever seen. It is deep, it is funny, it is violent, it is
thoughtful, it is mesmerizing, it is filled with amazing characters, it is chockfull
of tension, it is supremely well directed and edited, it has amazing music, it
has amazing visuals, it has amazing acting, it has amazing actors. It is dark, but hopeful. It is creepy, but understandable. It is human, but entirely foreign. And it shocked me with how many clever turns
and twists it could take without ever resulting in cheap storytelling or plot
convenience. It is the best film I saw
this year … not in theaters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m incredibly happy with that list. But I have two more lists to go. First, the best films OF the year! The films that I saw in theaters that blew me
away and were absolutely ones I want to own (and many of them I do!), I want to share with others, and
deserve awards.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Number 5: Oculus<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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Just narrowly beating out Captain America: the Winter
Soldier for the number 5 slot is one of the scariest, most intense, most
inventive new horror films I’ve ever seen.
See, I’m a Dungeons and Dragons lover, and my game world of choice is
Ravenloft, a gothic horror inspired set.
And Oculus hits every single one of my buttons, and does something that
very few films has ever done well: it uses perception and illusion as the ultimate
crux of the horror. Oculus is absolutely
terrifying, and beyond that, has Karen Gillan giving a really fantastic
performance. The film isn’t gory, it isn’t
foul, it isn’t sexist, it doesn’t have any of the pitfalls most horror movies
fall into. It is clever, horrifying, and
an amazing experience. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Number 4: Maze Runner<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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This is probably controversial, and in fact I may be the
only film critic to put this film this high on their year’s end lists. But I don’t care, I think Maze Runner doesn’t
get enough credit. Maze Runner is
deceptively simple, and is more than likely ignored for that fact. Its simplicity is not a negative, but a
positive, as its story is fueled by its simple setup of a dystopian
future. The film is societal in nature,
with incredible, memorable characters, all of which were young adults! That is NOT a common statement. The film is also beautiful, with an amazing
sense of size and color without feeling unnatural, even though you know it
is. The last … few minutes of plot are truly
unnecessary, and a bit of a let down, but they make up such a small percentage
that even they don’t kill the film for me.
I really suggest everyone give this clever, yet simple science fiction
film a chance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Number 3: John Wick<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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I want to curse and yell and shoot guns in the air! This is the best straight action movie I’ve
seen in probably 5 years. It is cool and
sophisticated and clever and original.
It has fantastic acting from all sorts of guys that many do not give a
chance, especially Keanu Reeves who is a criminally underrated actor that was
finally able to really show all his skill and all his range in a film. The action sequences are tight, exhilarating,
and awesome to behold. The plot is an
awesome take on a pretty standard story that breathes new life into the
film. The villains are vile, and our
hero is almost as bad, but yet we root for him!
The movie does such a tremendous job of getting us into John Wick’s head
and really falling for the character.
This film could have easily gotten number 2, and some days I could even
argue it was the best film I saw all year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Number 2: Guardians of the Galaxy<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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Of course this movie is on the list. In fact, me not putting it at number 1 might
shock some of my readers. Guardians of
the Galaxy is the first space opera since the original Star Wars films that
actually worked. It is grandiose, it is
hilarious, it is action-packed, it has just a touch of romance, it has amazing
visuals you just want to sink into, it has memorable characters that will never
leave the zeitgeist, and it is more than just a standard summer
blockbuster. It is a smart movie with a
theme and a plot that culminates not with a fire or a storm, but with a
whisper, to paraphrase the bible some what sacrilegiously. Every time I watch the movie, I am in
awe. It is in fact the only movie I saw
in theaters more than once this year. A
movie that beats this one would have to be something really special …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Number 1: Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Birdman is the most well-made film I saw all year. Period.
Every actor, every scene, every line, every performance, every bit of
the amazingly cool jazz drum score, every
camera move, every special effect, every. Single. Detail. Of this film
was thought out and superbly crafted.
This film is one of the hardest films to talk about this year as
well. It is a film that every time I
talk about it and some asks me to tell them what it is about, I have to ask “do
you mean ‘what’s the plot’ or ‘what’s the movie about?’” It is a deep, artistic film that covers every
single aspect of the film making and dramatic process, from writing to
production to acting to directing to set building to being a PA to personal
lives of the creative to what it means to be past your prime to journalism and
criticism to being an audience member.
Every single person who has ever been a part of a play or a musical or a
dance recital or in some part of the film making process needs to see this
film. It is absolutely my film of the
year, even more so because it represents for me a profound and dense statement
about films this year, with its focus on how you interact with the world, what
entertainment becomes popular, and what all work goes into a production. Michael Keaton is my actor of the year. Alejandro González Iñárritu is my director of
the year. Birdman is my cinematography
of the year. And it is absolutely the
film of the year!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, that was fantastic.
I love positive thoughts an opinions.
And … I know everyone loves a
train wreck of awfulness. So let me talk
about the worst films I was forced to watch this year, and my pick for the
worst film of 2014.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just like before, here’s a wonderful list of every film I
gave at least an F- to : <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-see-no-evil-2.html">See No Evil 2</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/10/ihao-on-saw-final-chapter.html">Saw: the Final Chapter</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/08/ihao-on-macgruber.html">MacGruber</a>,
<a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/06/ihao-on-popeye.html">Popeye</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/06/ihao-on-dr-seuss-cat-in-hat.html">Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/05/ihao-on-hungover-games-and-starving.html">The Starving Games</a>, <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/02/ihao-on-leonard-part-6.html">Leonard Part 6</a>,
<a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/02/ihao-on-brazil-dreams-trilogy-reader.html">Brazil</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Here we go, Top 5 worst films I’ve seen this year. God help me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Worst Film Number 5: Saw: the Final Chapter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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This movie makes me so sad.
It just … it craps on every single thing that the entire six films
before it had done as a franchise. Its
film quality, its storytelling, its creativity, its acting … Ugh. All of the Saw films before this one had
some surprisingly good actors in them.
But in this film, Cary Elwes is officially a WORSE actor for having been
in it, and he is the BEST PART of this abomination. How is it not any farther up this list? Because I can at some point see myself
watching this again, because no matter what happens, it is a part of a
franchise, and I will eventually watch it once more. The next four I will never, EEEEEEEEEEVER
watch a-gain!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Worst Film Number 4: Popeye<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Rest in Peace Robin Williams. With that out of the way, this film is
horse-crap. It doesn’t make any sense,
is filled with terrible musical moments and no dancing of any worth, none of
the fun of a Popeye cartoon is in it at all, and is just plain old ugly. Even Williams’ Popeye is muttering hard to
understand fool more akin to Donald Duck on Quaalude than Popeye. I will give it this, it has real nice
sets. In fact, that’s the only reason it
isn’t any higher on this list.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Worst Film Number 3: MacGruber<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Good cinematography.
Completely wasted, always moving, always fake and “cinema” looking but
perfectly fine in skill cinematography. That
is the only good thing I have to say about the worst SNL film ever made. They took a sketch that always took place
only in the countdown of a bomb going off and wrapped an entire film around the
ad libs and curse words and sex jokes of one of the least funny actors in
recent SNL history. Don’t get me wrong,
Will Forte is a funny writer, he wrote for That 70s Show and such. But this film is utter trite nonsense and
garbage. The fact that there are two
films worse than this that I saw this year clearly means that this year was
filled with pain like you wouldn’t believe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Worst Film Number 2: Leonard Part 6<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ugh. If MacGruber is
a parody film done wrong, then Leonard Part 6 is all the deleted scenes from
that terrible parody sprayed down with skunk stench and let out to dry. Almost literally actually, since there are
ACTUAL BLOOPERS MONTAGED INTO THE FILM.
This film makes Ghost Dad look like an Oscar contender for Bill
Cosby. And that is not a good
thing. I cannot say a single good thing
about this movie except that it isn’t as bad as …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Worst Film Number 1: Dr. Seuss’ the Cat in the Hat<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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That is this whole movie.
That right there. Look at it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Desperate attempts to make us laugh. Mike Myers laughs so much in the movie in
this vain attempt to make me believe he is telling jokes. He isn’t, though. He isn’t telling any jokes, or doing anything
even remotely related to humor. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is without a doubt the worst film I’ve seen this
year. In fact, it is probably the worst
film I’ve ever seen. This film is the
benchmark for terrible films. If a movie
is worse than this … I’m going to be very upset and very depressed, because I
know I’m going to have to watch it in Torture-Jessel-a-Thon 2 next year.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8HCF7gfKmlK1QL8Wap-qFxpiDxp7KP3_CNqe1dJ1To_VBLsv0UNl04uoA2lGyL2vhhJPpoy-EbwYG_AWMRaLhpZDIWvip5uuUzaZZU7tR7zhNzLKI_WRY43vxFulxdqS9VBR-zQ1AYKw/s1600/PLEASE+LAUGH.gif" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ahem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now, ladies and gentle-readers, I would like to present
to you, the worst film of the year. The movie
that I saw in theaters and absolutely was terrible beyond every single other
film …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Worst Film of 2014: Dumb and Dumber To</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjygeI6sn2WxIq60wf0BWQpgenRDpMyiC9Nvqb-mMDBTfEEmzLe3UdqnK49NZ5WHFNpfXYqJWAp_jTmANHk5qlXfUYgXDb5w_mbRakN14pUt8_6lG_I_tqsKdruo7kCLYILR018OiUnKe/s1600/dumb+and+dumber+to+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjygeI6sn2WxIq60wf0BWQpgenRDpMyiC9Nvqb-mMDBTfEEmzLe3UdqnK49NZ5WHFNpfXYqJWAp_jTmANHk5qlXfUYgXDb5w_mbRakN14pUt8_6lG_I_tqsKdruo7kCLYILR018OiUnKe/s1600/dumb+and+dumber+to+poster.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I could just post all the gifs again, but really, just
<a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-dumb-and-dumber-to.html">follow this link</a>. That is an entire
review summed up in ten or so pictures.
This movie was awful. And even
worse, it wasn’t awful enough to have the courtesy and be worse than any of the
other five movies on the worst list.
That almost makes me madder. To
be a movie that is so incredibly stupid that it is worse than <a href="http://deewunihao.blogspot.com/2014/11/ihao-on-interstellar.html">Interstellar </a>this
year absolutely deserves you an award.
The “Go Away and Die” award.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">//^\\</span></b></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<br />
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Thank you everybody, I hope you enjoyed this film wrap-up of
the year 2014. But I’m not done. Tomorrow, I have a list of 48 categories for “best
of the year” that I need to answer, including everything from “best episode of
television” to “best seasoning.” Yeah,
it is gonna be a weird stupid list. I’ll
see you tomorrow!<o:p></o:p></div>
Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-48428931722782484042014-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:002014-12-29T10:00:00.300-05:00IHAO on ... Wrestling Bests of the Year 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2W_EDLDe2LyTh5pHK_0PSopDEAC0BWuQR4-ma7VFYscWMe4WjDXIV4VfcntUBIpbvzqyus1hMv_iODHKS_aoIOpRE7Da2Yf3WN87IGbzI_B4LSa189jvWLRbecj-A6JFrB6ZfHnVMfD7/s1600/lackluster+pyros.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2W_EDLDe2LyTh5pHK_0PSopDEAC0BWuQR4-ma7VFYscWMe4WjDXIV4VfcntUBIpbvzqyus1hMv_iODHKS_aoIOpRE7Da2Yf3WN87IGbzI_B4LSa189jvWLRbecj-A6JFrB6ZfHnVMfD7/s1600/lackluster+pyros.gif" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Man has wrestling been rough and exhilarating at the same
time. This year, TNA all but died, got a
new home for the new year, and will be starting over. Lucha Underground started and is really
starting to make huge waves as they build up to their big AZTEC WARFARE match
at the beginning of 2015. NXT has been
destroying WWE so thoroughly in quality and in skill that WWE morale is
incredibly low. And Vince in a live
podcast buried everyone who wasn’t Bray Wyatt or the Shield. WWE PPVs have slowly gotten worse and worse,
and so many of the top guys or close to the top guys have gotten injured, fed
up and quit, show up only once every month if we are lucky, or are just
veterans who have no business continuing in the main events or upper echelon of
the company. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A lot has happened in 2014.
And with the help of some readers, I’ve compiled a list of “Of the Year”
categories. I’ve also got some garbage
joke ones, and I’ll answer those at the end, because I refuse to not answer
them, though I would like to actually talk about stuff like a real reviewer
first, ok Mom?!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here we go:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Best Jobber<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
A jobber in wrestling terms is a guy whose job is to lose to
put over their competition. They may
have a name and a gimmick, but they are not a featured player or
character. Their job is to lose so that
we can learn the schtick of the other guy.
The best jobber is one that bumped well, was interesting, left an
impression, but never overshadowed the talent they were enhancing. This year’s Best Jobber is …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVeOuU8oU8al0QfqLoxcKmvv9D66pzB1BF0GFE3XGHH6LpccExCJGmhIZWHWbpRSiFnFq2sKheiaNxjphUkiQ1JtWHZy2bre1G0YQCINGz0hdLeHd9dZRqZvwfrkB0LjeUlfpsZuQ5nJy/s1600/blue+pants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVeOuU8oU8al0QfqLoxcKmvv9D66pzB1BF0GFE3XGHH6LpccExCJGmhIZWHWbpRSiFnFq2sKheiaNxjphUkiQ1JtWHZy2bre1G0YQCINGz0hdLeHd9dZRqZvwfrkB0LjeUlfpsZuQ5nJy/s1600/blue+pants.jpg" height="320" width="193" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Blue Pants<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blue Pants is actually Leva Bates, a female wrestler in the
Indy’s who seems to be a friend of the female trainer for the NXT Divas and
came in to do a terrible favor: to lose to someone else. But Blue Pants put on her Kitty Pride cosplay, came out to no
music, introduced to the crowd by the most charismatic G in NXT, Enzo Amore,
and sparred with the debuting Carmella.
Carmella looked great, Blue Pants looked good and rolled with the role,
and returned for another match, once more jobbing to Carmella, but this time
the fans cheered and chanted for Blue Pants, Blue Pants, Blue Pants!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Kane,
the Undertaker<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Most in need of a Gimmick Change<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Oh goodness. Why did
I put this so high on this list? All
right, so lots of wrestlers get repackaged or work with what they are
given. Some have great gimmicks, some
are basically gimmick-less and just play themselves, and some flounder in their
gimmick. Ezekiel Jackson had a terrible
gimmick and terrible matches in the WWE, but now in Lucha Underground as Big
Ryck, he is treated like a monster, and his cigar grinding and “brawling, not
wrestling” approach changes everything about the promotion, and it was just a
simple gimmick change (and company switch, but shh). This year, the award for the wrestler most in
need of a gimmick change is … <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmjYNf8XrkXIW5nXamDg4dJPZ1W3jw26c_NxstVqWd2qG7Y4LJEWgwDK4I0aRf0mccqX8BSYEr2gPL2PPCIkKIW9Tw9lQbR0cH-QnkPzhtEyDAXQdWrar57odCz5rYuh44e3So1rjmK71/s1600/the+usos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmjYNf8XrkXIW5nXamDg4dJPZ1W3jw26c_NxstVqWd2qG7Y4LJEWgwDK4I0aRf0mccqX8BSYEr2gPL2PPCIkKIW9Tw9lQbR0cH-QnkPzhtEyDAXQdWrar57odCz5rYuh44e3So1rjmK71/s1600/the+usos.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Usos<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t look at me, I absolutely thought I’d be putting John
Cena or Randy Orton here. But let me ask
you, oh reader, what is the Usos gimmick?
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Think about it.
Samoans? I dunno, they don’t
really talk about it other than their opening chant, which then doesn’t affect
anything other than throwback moves to their father. Is it that they are twins? They wear face paint to make it absolutely
clear which one is which. Is it as the
good guy champs of the Tag Division?
They sure don’t get to talk or really do anything to show that other
than be in EVERY SINGLE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH for the tag titles. The last time they didn’t wrestle for the WWE
Tag Titles was Summerslam, and that’s because there wasn’t a tag title match on
the show. The same holds true for most
PPVs this year. But to be in every title
match for so long, and still be just … those colorful guys that are good guys
and have the same match all the time … that is infuriating. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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They need something. An
edge. A heel turn. A manager.
ANYTHING. SOMETHING.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Bayley, AJ Lee, Randy Orton, John Cena,
Bull Dempsey, Mojo Rawley<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Most Disappointing Release<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Folks get fired every year.
For lots of reasons. Some quit,
some get injured and retire, and some just fail drug tests or hit women or
something. And sometimes guys get fired
or leave or whatever and they had so much more they could have done! This year, the most disappointing release
goes to …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjg9Ct6Owl8n00o2L_HTOmK5BjN3w7Hsa7_T22zUqvYaJIoSjpsb-up3mmKPoYnA30BzFHYPnn57X-leIz-wuyNFm9Hq8wV0N0YqlSL5Q67abJOqvuLwbogm0smBpwmthUFx0lRV1t3ZV/s1600/josh+mathews.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjg9Ct6Owl8n00o2L_HTOmK5BjN3w7Hsa7_T22zUqvYaJIoSjpsb-up3mmKPoYnA30BzFHYPnn57X-leIz-wuyNFm9Hq8wV0N0YqlSL5Q67abJOqvuLwbogm0smBpwmthUFx0lRV1t3ZV/s1600/josh+mathews.jpg" height="224" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Josh Mathews</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main WWE commentary is the pits. It is just absolute and utter garbage. They have some talented dudes around that can
do good play-by-play and good color, but the worst release for me was Josh
Mathews. He was a really good
play-by-play guy, if a little bland and personality-less, but he played well
with JBL, unlike Cole and Lawler, as well as some of the newer commentary guys
like Byron Saxton, Alex Riley, and Scott Stanford. For a short time Mathews was doing the PPVs
and doing a real solid job. But he was
never given a real chance to do things as the lead commentator in a big
way. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And what’s happening for him now? He will be the new voice of the WWE’s largest
not-in-house competition on the new Impact Wrestling on Destination
America. And he’s going to do a great
job there, because he won’t have Vince yelling in his ear, Michael Cole saying
stupid things to him as heel color, and a company behind him that is trying as
hard as it can to improve. Who knows if
it will, but this is a bad blow for us WWE fans because we are stuck with the
same garbage we currently have instead of what we could have had. And that is absolutely disappointing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Evan Bourne, Aksana, Drew McIntyre<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Heel Turn of the Year</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes good guys go bad.
Sometimes relationships end.
Sometimes a new villain arises from the ranks of the heroes. And that is professional wrestling in a
nutshell. A great heel turn makes both
people in that turn a bigger star, like the Rock at Survivor Series 1998. A bad heel turn doesn’t matter, like Cesaro’s
hip-hopping from fan favorite to heel for Heyman to cheered for to made obscure
and held down to dwindle away what started as a great year. But that’s neither here nor there. The Heel Turn of the Year is …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSmj2Pn8knIev67eLqr6IiPyuTNLN95hoAf43m0fnb3t6ahsfVLKu3GBhpzyeX_X75Qic1GJiLU1QRF0sK6qBlcBCXIj5DPCCVtmU0VuZkxPiOOGn-By1O7PeApIUuEufwtEfdbFSkrWS/s1600/seth+rollins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSmj2Pn8knIev67eLqr6IiPyuTNLN95hoAf43m0fnb3t6ahsfVLKu3GBhpzyeX_X75Qic1GJiLU1QRF0sK6qBlcBCXIj5DPCCVtmU0VuZkxPiOOGn-By1O7PeApIUuEufwtEfdbFSkrWS/s1600/seth+rollins.jpg" height="320" width="221" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Seth Rollins<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no other choice.
Seth Rollins broke up the Shield, won Money in the Bank, became the true
heel that HHH needed to work for him against all those pesky do-gooders in the
roster. Rollins has been the fixture of
the bad guys every week, has rolled with the punches and changed every week,
and has been about the only good thing to come from this whole Authority
storyline that has lasted a year too long.
And he is only going to move upwards.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Honorable Mentions:</u> Kevin Owens, Chavo Guerrero, Nikki Bella</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Pageantry of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Paige is my good friend.
And I got her into wrestling because she fell in love with Dusty Rhodes
and his yellow polka dots. She loves the
ridiculous characters, the spectacle, and the huge stories. She loves the guys with the PAGEANTRY. And she asked me for my pick for Pageantry of
the Year. That one’s easy …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTHSAN553oUF_1EhFPjqx5vEJT9fIuZyggAHjsezHJCewbczL1uayxU1dsYSqo5BaRs28SLRcywN9BMMIQkWq85M8QVEgTJ1JlpBjNl3S8VToPaxBGkDQQ2lxp9JGdbntdrRZEmPQhc6V0/s1600/finn+balor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTHSAN553oUF_1EhFPjqx5vEJT9fIuZyggAHjsezHJCewbczL1uayxU1dsYSqo5BaRs28SLRcywN9BMMIQkWq85M8QVEgTJ1JlpBjNl3S8VToPaxBGkDQQ2lxp9JGdbntdrRZEmPQhc6V0/s1600/finn+balor.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Finn Balor<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Holy monster-under-the-bed crap, look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr5YcdNPmdo">this glorious video</a>! ((EDIT: Ok, so the video I wanted to share, that I had shared a lot, has been taken down by the WWE. I put the official WWE video, but it is more edited and also doesn't have enough of the Ascension's reactions to it, but I think it'll do enough for you to get my point.)) I don’t care if you hate
wrestling, love wrestling, whatever.
THIS is an entrance. THIS is
special! THIS is thrilling and
ridiculous and wonderful! And it cannot
be topped. Well, it could have been, if
Sting had given a damn and came down from the rafters or they gave him anything
beyond just walking out to generic garbage rock music instead of his actual
theme at Survivor Series. BAH!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Finn Balor, before he was Finn Balor, was known for this kind of thing, this kind of pageantry. It is not his gimmick, he just goes a little harder on special occasions, and that makes it even better than being Stardust who never turns it off.</div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Stardust at
all, Mil Muertes, Baron Corbin<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Tag Team of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Tag team wrestling hasn’t been important to the WWE for a
long time. But recently things are
changing. And since my limited scope
only has time to watch WWE and NXT plus Lucha Underground (I’m gonna watch
Impact in the new year, gah, gimme a break, I only have so many hours in an
insomnia-afflicted night to watch stuff, guys!), I already know who the Tag
Team of the Year is …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyh_VGfnPtqXOwHU40VGdFfnaYcT0_l1WiWGOq3hAf2sPlaLqwke_l-bw3WXgSI8BxLUHNbCR6KqvYVRG8eddJCZvyMfXxTmHygDnxdtHg7VPj7uu4pEbkUaiXYLAF0SkE_Fy2uN4r08v/s1600/the+Ascension.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyh_VGfnPtqXOwHU40VGdFfnaYcT0_l1WiWGOq3hAf2sPlaLqwke_l-bw3WXgSI8BxLUHNbCR6KqvYVRG8eddJCZvyMfXxTmHygDnxdtHg7VPj7uu4pEbkUaiXYLAF0SkE_Fy2uN4r08v/s1600/the+Ascension.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>The Ascension<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Face? Heel? Who cares!
These guys kick our butt, have an aura of awesome, and legitimately make
me mark out, which does not happen often any longer. When they rip apart jobbers, everyone is
yelling along with every kick and pin count YA YA YA! And when they are put against a real team,
they show that they can actually go and show a lot of skill and character. Watch Konnor’s reactions to Finn Balor in the
video I linked to above, they are priceless.
The Ascension is about to debut and shake up the WWE Tag Division, and I
cannot wait. I cannot wait for them and
the Brothers of Dust-struction. I cannot
wait for them to rip the Usos in half. I
cannot wait for them to dominate the division and actually make people care
beyond the antics of Damien Mizdow.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: The Certified Gs Enzo Amore and Big
Cass, the Brothers of Dust-struction<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Gimmick of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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A great gimmick is one that makes it clear what your
character is. It lets audiences
understand your character quickly and efficiently. A gimmick is creative lubricant that makes a
wrestler better. A GREAT gimmick takes a
mediocre wrestler and makes them extraordinary.
A terrible gimmick takes a great wrestler and reduces them to Adam
Rose. But what exactly is the Gimmick of
the Year …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2fbFN5WsdRXXf-LkkU7PVAKiP5AdyFeIObfGCbDd5fS41TsHnMxQP_ptQoox5ou5qRhITYCjigjMlsHnM40AlQBBKi7jEkdj7ubPeXKRZ8XrWUn6kZLw0O1yqufZ_LeM2jZG1fOm-Qgz/s1600/Enzo+and+Big+Cass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2fbFN5WsdRXXf-LkkU7PVAKiP5AdyFeIObfGCbDd5fS41TsHnMxQP_ptQoox5ou5qRhITYCjigjMlsHnM40AlQBBKi7jEkdj7ubPeXKRZ8XrWUn6kZLw0O1yqufZ_LeM2jZG1fOm-Qgz/s1600/Enzo+and+Big+Cass.jpg" height="213" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Enzo Amore and Big Cass<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That right there is Enzo Amore, and he is a certified G, and
a bona fide stud, and you can’t. teach. that.
And this right here is Big Cass, and he’s seven foot tall, and you can’t.
teach. that. And if you don’t like them,
then you are probably S-A-W-F-T, saaaaaaawwwwft!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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These guys take the awful Jersey Shore gimmick and breathe
life into it like you cannot believe.
Probably because they live that gimmick; that is who they are, turned up
to 11. That’s the best gimmick. That’s the Rock, that’s Mankind, that’s Stone
Cold, that’s Kevin Nash, that’s Ric Flair, that’s what you want from an
incredible gimmick. These guys are big stars
without ever having to win matches or show up all the time. Because when they do show up, the electricity
is palpable in the arena. They have so
much in front of them. And it isn’t just
the “Jersey Shore” aspects. It’s Big
Cass’ size and stature, but being cool like Big Daddy Cool Diesel. It’s Enzo, trying so hard, even though the
only offense he has is punching a few times and kicking around when he
talks. They are a great team, and will
only get better.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Damien Mizdow, Erick Rowan Genius, the
Ascension<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Most Improved WWE Superstar (no NXTers)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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I technically didn’t want to do this one because I wanted to
talk about wrestling as a whole. But let’s
be fair, I mostly watched WWE this year.
So I can easily do this one. Now,
what do I think is important to “most improved?” I would say that I as a viewer was turned
around on them, that their gimmick synced in better than before, their ring
work got better, and their promo works improved. Since I cannot do NXT guys, that is going to
sorely hurt who I can talk about. So I
guess that leaves only one option …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqSYouqgoChV9O9VC7Bg7ZK5vvwk-ia67In10_IF_qiBCV8Y05IujvI5gz6S1up2qnxh0zTwj15CfprbyriyP6qKmsc-Jk-q0mgbVHVqO6J24zWYejWWsw3gR3YFUwmbCbRGPeXZHrlc3/s1600/nikki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqSYouqgoChV9O9VC7Bg7ZK5vvwk-ia67In10_IF_qiBCV8Y05IujvI5gz6S1up2qnxh0zTwj15CfprbyriyP6qKmsc-Jk-q0mgbVHVqO6J24zWYejWWsw3gR3YFUwmbCbRGPeXZHrlc3/s1600/nikki.jpg" height="320" width="284" /></a></div>
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<b>Nikki Bella<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Brie was positioned to be the big star of the Divas division
along with Paige. But things got off
track because, frankly, Brie is a terrible face and Steph is a fantastic heel,
so Brie never took off. She coasted
along on her husband’s popularity after Wrestlemania, but she was soon
overtaken by her heel turning sister.
Nikki has improved in the ring in a huge way, having a new moveset as a
power diva that is impressive and really fun and different to watch from the
normal “run at you, pull your hair” Summer Rae garbage. On top of that, her personality is starting
to really shine through. She isn’t just
a “Bella Twin,” she’s Nikki. If you need
more proof, Brie turned heel just recently to go back to being with Nikki
instead of the “triumphant” babyface she was supposed to be. And now Nikki is Diva’s Champion for the
WWE. That says a lot, and makes me
happy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Tyson Kidd<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Even By WWE Standards This Makes No Sense<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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This was a weird one, and I was going to throw this into the
joke categories below, but as I thought about it, there really is an
interesting thing here to talk about.
WWE Standards means standard WWE wrestling and television. And that means that whatever I am to talk
about here needs to be ludicrous. And I
am pretty sure I know what wins the award for the E.B.W.S.T.M.N.S. …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyh9nlDXgDUz3GkWNzb1_RCuhHDykuoFr1bjHz_EHWl3KISi8pjWZOW__HPuSlhizF7kaXdcDD9wefwknaZYXSx8sqjTTZ9eUbjG9IN6cu_nW_1gjupWegEuqA99XIZohAQzxI-7P_88x/s1600/dean+ambrose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyh9nlDXgDUz3GkWNzb1_RCuhHDykuoFr1bjHz_EHWl3KISi8pjWZOW__HPuSlhizF7kaXdcDD9wefwknaZYXSx8sqjTTZ9eUbjG9IN6cu_nW_1gjupWegEuqA99XIZohAQzxI-7P_88x/s1600/dean+ambrose.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Looney Tunes antics stopping Dean Ambrose<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Dean Ambrose is the top face in the company right now. He has the audience in his hands. He is Stone Cold just before Austin made it
to the top. He is physical, engaging,
with great character and gimmick and promos and movesets and an amazing look
and … he is treated like utter trash, especially on PPVs. Let me just share some of the ridiculous
things that have happened to Dean Ambrose in just the past few months:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wgyvaJhk8f7hsihuXvhf23T4bYJ5WJEM08CUvykqlLfOiuPfT67blq2YKEXs7P_vMPaIBt9usKZ9bgXNR_sFRTqe5G8SOxuXf9Hq7G07nIGU_ZnrOjXL2X3X8OMf5c4sFLyu1Gl3vOq9/s1600/frraw.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wgyvaJhk8f7hsihuXvhf23T4bYJ5WJEM08CUvykqlLfOiuPfT67blq2YKEXs7P_vMPaIBt9usKZ9bgXNR_sFRTqe5G8SOxuXf9Hq7G07nIGU_ZnrOjXL2X3X8OMf5c4sFLyu1Gl3vOq9/s1600/frraw.gif" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3CneNZA8uJmHioSrMe6AGYZM6Ff1zXpOiqDAIGFkm3gf5fXSDLRSll0hjXLGZZNdlrMzab2qullgCxx7tFl3VeenQxib5zuFGGvaPEDDz5zapmenz_e8lxvYbLvXgo2kj3kyzS9p75WN/s1600/hologram.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3CneNZA8uJmHioSrMe6AGYZM6Ff1zXpOiqDAIGFkm3gf5fXSDLRSll0hjXLGZZNdlrMzab2qullgCxx7tFl3VeenQxib5zuFGGvaPEDDz5zapmenz_e8lxvYbLvXgo2kj3kyzS9p75WN/s1600/hologram.gif" height="161" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbF71U_HmXLoiXQhSoAbaxkN2NgvsG74qZL1lILNIDFMH_PRYbqVRY4UJMisnhcG8nOLdbcFFnGAGq5-5EGrg33sHRmuG9RFOTkgWMwj54NERxkyFe2Gpv9W7DZL95wjPoR2gppwQS-fZp/s1600/Surprise!.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbF71U_HmXLoiXQhSoAbaxkN2NgvsG74qZL1lILNIDFMH_PRYbqVRY4UJMisnhcG8nOLdbcFFnGAGq5-5EGrg33sHRmuG9RFOTkgWMwj54NERxkyFe2Gpv9W7DZL95wjPoR2gppwQS-fZp/s1600/Surprise!.gif" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is just bonkers.
It makes him look weak, as he constantly loses big matches and loses
feuds by moving on to new feuds. You
cannot build your company this way! WWE,
look, you have a face the fans LOVE rooting for and seeing, why are you forcing
Roman Reigns down our throats instead of using the already popular Dean Ambrose,
a man who out sold ALL OTHER WRESTLERS on Black Friday for your company in
merchandise?! Ridiculous.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Not mentioning NXT on Raw, 25 minute
promos to main events and no promos for anyone else<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Face of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Babyfaces are the wrestlers you cheer for. They aren’t necessarily good guys, but they
are the ones the fans love. Many times
they are heroes, or at least they are wronged, or their obstacles are
understandable, but not always. It is
hard to really explain the difference between hero, protagonist and
babyface. But there certainly is an easy
thing for me to answer, and that’s who is the Face of the Year …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7x1ES8fnV2TYRrUND5-VpTEN0gHCa7uYubJu3Ufevatb4Dsm0kDPtQf6yqk7TtR7Sp6poHAZdGVZzydW-sdkO3SsWhWT11FAnoTRPEev_YjX3_35F1LjJQ9iZT5uqKYv7UINiZy6I4R7V/s1600/adrien+neville+sami+zayn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7x1ES8fnV2TYRrUND5-VpTEN0gHCa7uYubJu3Ufevatb4Dsm0kDPtQf6yqk7TtR7Sp6poHAZdGVZzydW-sdkO3SsWhWT11FAnoTRPEev_YjX3_35F1LjJQ9iZT5uqKYv7UINiZy6I4R7V/s1600/adrien+neville+sami+zayn.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>TIE: Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These two guys have spent one whole year building a feud
that just recently culminated. Both men
have been the top guys of NXT. Sami Zayn
was, until just recently, the uncrowned champion, the people’s champion of
NXT. Adrian Neville, on the flipside,
was the actual champion of NXT, the face of the brand, and the fighting-est,
most honorable and skilled champion for nine months. The two guys were part of amazing matches all
year, have incredible reporte with the audience, and drove the entire brand of
NXT to be as awesome as it is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Their feud for these past few months have been some of the
most tense feuds I’ve seen. Their friendship,
their rivalry, the way that Neville slowly became more and more heelish as he
continued to do fight and fight for his championship, which is all he has ever
done, and as Sami Zayn worked harder and harder to prove he was capable of
being the top guy. And in the end, after
Neville became as heelish as he ever had been, he was redeemed by his
friendship with Zayn, and then the very next week was the fighting warrior who
was forgiven by the audience as he tried to redeem himself against the awful
heel who destroyed Zayn’s beautiful win.<o:p></o:p></div>
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These two guys deserve this “award” and designation. Daniel Bryan never had the company behind
him. Reigns became a caricature of
himself over the course of three months, then was injured and gone. Dean Ambrose only came into his own in the
last third of the year. John Cena is
awful. Lucha Underground is too new to
really have Johnny Mundo or Sexy Starr or Prince Puma at the top. These two deserve it, and there were no other
choices.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Heel of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every face needs a heel.
Every heel needs a heel. And even
more, every fan needs a heel. The story
of wrestling, the thing that makes wrestling so magical doesn’t work if there
isn’t a heel. That guy who may do nothing
wrong, never be a villain, but is always booed.
The ultimate obstacle, the ultimate other choice. Cheating, or being a rules lawyer, being a
monster or a chicken-crap-coward, there is no singular way to be a heel, and all
of them are good, as long as the audience fully stays against them. You won’t see Bray Wyatt as the winner here
because it was only recently he acted as true heel ignoring and hating the audience, actually
getting boos. No, there is only one
(two) people who deserve this award …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMkq6ZSGY2y8C0mcZ3rYK1jYpFrsALkCcJAiVJUP7X5mLvHcUXXx6db56tsN5Wp8TnLfONygAJ89dP09BI84xgZjhcMfZZXl1-r2G-UIev3UWWRq9chgQwCypGAzr8JQ1fT8kRqsCsGeM/s1600/triple+h+steph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMkq6ZSGY2y8C0mcZ3rYK1jYpFrsALkCcJAiVJUP7X5mLvHcUXXx6db56tsN5Wp8TnLfONygAJ89dP09BI84xgZjhcMfZZXl1-r2G-UIev3UWWRq9chgQwCypGAzr8JQ1fT8kRqsCsGeM/s1600/triple+h+steph.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Triple H and Stephanie McMahon<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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They are perfect as heels.
They knew this way back at the turn of the millennium, and they are back
doing it amazingly again. Stephanie is
so perfect, and had an amazing match with Brie after almost a decade out of the
ring. Triple H bumped for Brie, did the
job for Daniel Bryan, fought hard for his control, was a huge obstacle for
everyone, and the two of them were perfect as the bad guys on top. Last year, I couldn’t say that at all. Really, it was just this year, it was just
them running the show, tricked into giving Daniel Bryan a chance at
Wrestlemania where he SUCCEEDED against every odd, but then splitting up the
Shield, but then losing the legitimate power of Batista just before he became
an enormous commodity, but then they put down the pressure and made life
terrible for every face, until Survivor Series where the faces FINALLY beat
them! It was perfect, and these two
deserve to be the Heels of the Year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now I want to see Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn v. Triple H
and Steph as a feud.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Tyson Kidd, Seth Rollins, Don Cueto<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">IHAO's Top 5 Matches of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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This is the thing that matters most. This is the one. The Top 5 matches of the Year. The 5 matches that matter most, that are the
pinnacle of wrestling this year. I
reviewed most of them for this site, but let’s not spoil it. I could talk and talk about these matches, but really, their quality is what matters to me, and I want you guys to just go watch them yourselves. Let’s go:</div>
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<u>Honorable Mentions</u>: Johnny Mundo v. Prince Puma v. Big Ryck Triple Threat Ladder Match @ Lucha Underground s01e07</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>5) Daniel Bryan v. Bray Wyatt @ Royal Rumble 2014<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>4) Adrian Neville v. Sami Zayn @ NXT Takeover: (R)Evolution<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3) Daniel Bryan v. HHH @ Wrestlemania 30<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2) Charlotte v. Natalya @ NXT Takeover<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>1) Adrian Neville v. Tyson Kidd @ NXT Takeover</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsauyJrxMoje2h12W6HxqfSTvPIeudaWYaM1hHjUyQs1ddIxr7GAHFR87Q1uAFld5EwYtm67K3qrtx6RXiHVYvndHM9voIYbH-RYPmaNDf1fcHQytcKZQY-ffsD9wfxw966kgTZS71e20E/s1600/warrior+vince.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsauyJrxMoje2h12W6HxqfSTvPIeudaWYaM1hHjUyQs1ddIxr7GAHFR87Q1uAFld5EwYtm67K3qrtx6RXiHVYvndHM9voIYbH-RYPmaNDf1fcHQytcKZQY-ffsD9wfxw966kgTZS71e20E/s1600/warrior+vince.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention one more time
how disheartened, depressed, and saddened I am because of the Ultimate Warrior’s
sudden death just after he finally cleared his entire name with the WWE,
entered the Hall of Fame, and gave an amazing speech the Raw after, before
passing away. God bless his family, and may
he rest in peace. Thank you, Warrior.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>“</b><strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">No</span></strong><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">WWE</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white;">talen</span><span style="background-color: white;">t becomes a
legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. </span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">His lungs
breathe a final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something
larger than life </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the
story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> of those who honor him and make
the running the man did live forever. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">You, you, you, you, you, you are the
legend markers of Ultimate Warrior. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">In the back I see many potential legends.
Some of them with warrior spirits. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">And you will do the same for them. You will
decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">So much so that you will
tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Ultimate. You are
the Ultimate Warrior fans. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">And the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run
forever!" ~ The Ultimate Warrior<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> ---</span></strong><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></strong></div>
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Curt Hennig Award for Best Match
While Injured – Ryback, why not<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ironic JR Award for Maximizing Your Minutes – Damien Mizdow<o:p></o:p></div>
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Best Bow Tie – This one, I guess<o:p></o:p></div>
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Greatest Surprise Grunt – Uh … “ooergh!” ((EDIT: I thought of a non-joke answer, "SKRONK!" RIP Warrior))<o:p></o:p></div>
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Best Beard – Ziggler’s<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wrestler Who Would Most Benefit From Growing a Beard – Erick
Rowan<o:p></o:p></div>
Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9055120531616288681.post-43916316123802181692014-12-28T10:00:00.000-05:002014-12-28T10:00:00.875-05:00IHAO on ... 2014 - a Year in Review Prologue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpmiB-FVakXjpnOlH3FlPw0qshRfb6OzNUTki_z9qiXP169CTKA6u6ZLYPyLxr4axgx0AglSc3F3L2moxrB8bZkijfYFkrLbCu_2cwZchh7sP5iCRQjspUFKFqcd03MkWSbC_hrDEtMHD/s1600/happy+dance.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpmiB-FVakXjpnOlH3FlPw0qshRfb6OzNUTki_z9qiXP169CTKA6u6ZLYPyLxr4axgx0AglSc3F3L2moxrB8bZkijfYFkrLbCu_2cwZchh7sP5iCRQjspUFKFqcd03MkWSbC_hrDEtMHD/s1600/happy+dance.gif" height="227" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
*Blows a stupid plastic horn and throws confetti*<br />
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By the time Thursday rolls along, we will be in a brand new
year! 2014 has been a pretty great year,
but at the same time an incredibly difficult one in a lot of very personal ways. It
has been filled with wonderful entertainment as well as some real garbage. Insomnia and depression, but great friends and times spent with loved ones. And, most importantly, it has been the first (almost) full year
of steadfast reviewing I've done. I've
learned a lot in this year, and I have bigger and better things planned for the
future, including new kinds of articles and editorials, a facebook fanpage, a new potential for fan subscriptions to support IHAO, and <i>a lot</i> more reviews. <o:p></o:p></div>
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With so much having happened, I have a lot to cover. So I am writing THREE “Of the Year” articles
for 2014: Wrestling, Film, and Everything-Else!
I asked my friends on Facebook to provide categories for the Wrestling
and Everything-Else articles, and the Films will be an actual gathering of the
best (and worst) I've seen for this site this year. I hope to see everyone commenting and
enjoying themselves all week before we jump into a brand new year with new
reviews starting on January 5<sup>th </sup>(or maybe a little sooner!). See you tomorrow for WRESTLING BEST OF THE
YEAR 2014!<o:p></o:p></div>
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~Jessel<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJ5YQ7gqD_2MRYKZ75XVVFdPBPN5BsvY3tbw5ms21SrmId_qXyoB2rVDCzNE4oUTUk_RSVHoZeA58hqYA-MHwR3mytnOF6a3grKiaVW0DMJrVbI_bcjvR4KzwL12wu2sekO00_utWe_EE/s1600/epic+clean.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJ5YQ7gqD_2MRYKZ75XVVFdPBPN5BsvY3tbw5ms21SrmId_qXyoB2rVDCzNE4oUTUk_RSVHoZeA58hqYA-MHwR3mytnOF6a3grKiaVW0DMJrVbI_bcjvR4KzwL12wu2sekO00_utWe_EE/s1600/epic+clean.gif" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Time to clean up that confetti</span></div>
Deewunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298505961150484167noreply@blogger.com0