The Writer's Poke

2 Vince McMahon has a love/hate relationship with his job. He is so involved in the product, but he is a slave to the product. Sometimes, he seems like he'd rather be doing anything but professional wrestling, but he's never found a way out. He will always be a professional wrestling promoter, no matter how many other ventures he attempts. For years, Vince has tried to remove the stigma attached to professional wrestling. First, he changed the name. He called it "Sports Entertainment," and he prohibited announcers from using the term "professional wrestling." Professional Wrestlers ceased to exist. Instead, they were called "performers" or "workers." Recently, he even attempted to change "Sports Entertainment" into, simply, "Entertainment." I never appreciated the way Vince has tried to remove professional wrestling from the product, but it occurred to me that I have done the same thing with English in English cla...

This is a pretty song. Strong rock vibe, good lyrics, and a video with high-production values that compliments the song. Good stuff.

First, what a great cover. I love it when artists introduce songs from bands I've never run across before. It's like a win-win. I love this version, and now I know about Owl Creek... Cool :) "He got the sense he wasn't my type, by black eye and bloody nose" -- Love it!

Naked, as in naked with raw talent. But seriously, this is a metal cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." It hypnotizes me, and I can literally watch this video over and over ago. Not sure why, but Death Metal is the perfect genre for this song. Do you agree?

Somebody comes up with a simple, cool idea, and you wish you had thought and done it first... Such is the case with Dancing around the World. Very cool. Very important message, really. (Inspiration: Joseph Campbell)

Netflix Relief Fund with Jason Alexander from Jason Alexander Right now, people are starving in Somalia, but most Americans are more concerned with Netflix and gasoline prices. It's sad. I was at the car dealer's yesterday morning, and the Today show was on. I had little choice but to watch, and what was the focus of the show? The future Queen of England does her own grocery shopping. We also were told that royals today are willing to fly coach(!) and that they are career-oriented. Why is the Today show focusing on the royal family of England? Why are people more interested in this than the war in Libya? Yes, I know the answer, but... it's sad...

Never been a big fan of Shark Week, but if Brock wants to F5 a shark again, I'll be watching, for sure.

"You're still relatively young," my doctor said, "And so unless you want one, I won't give you a rectal exam." He told me the same thing at last year's physical, too, and my assumption is that he's no more eager to check my prostate than I am to have him check my prostate. That's the nice thing about being 38, though. I'm still "relatively young." Of course relatively young is a relative term, and when the checkout girls at the grocery store addresses me as "sir," I feel old. But I know I'm now too old to take any offense at being addressed as "sir." In fact, the last time I was at the grocery store, the bagger complimented me on my Nike t-shirt. I thanked him, letting him know that it even glowed in the dark. His remark, which I know he didn't intend to be the least bit snarky: "It's good to hold on to your youth." Damn. I'm getting old. What is special about your current age?...

Life is just a series of milestones. Do you agree? Whether you want to play the game of life or not, you’re in the game. The older you get, the more you start to reflect on what you have or haven’t accomplished. There’s no escaping reflection. Some people may be able to discard the value of milestones, but discarding doesn’t eliminate them. When people talk about having a happy or content life, what they are probably talking about is paying attention to the milestones, and being happy or content with their accomplishments. People only discard the value of milestones when they are not happy or content with their progress. For me, Writer’s Poke #300 is a bit of a milestone. When I started writing my blog a few years ago, I had the number 300 in mind. It was something to shoot for, but I didn’t know how long it might actually take to write 300 pokes. I’m convinced, however, that if I didn’t have the goal in mind, it would have taken a lot longer… and I might never have reached it a...

How in the world would Kenny Omega wrestle a 9-year old girl? That's what I wondered when I started watching this. Funny thing is, this girl can wrestle, and the three-minute time limit helped this match, for sure. I guess Tavi can be in the ring in less than 6 years...

Tavi lost her best friend last week. Damn you, Kansas City. A little bit more frustrating is the fact that she never got to say one final goodbye. Granted, a 3-year old doesn't understand "goodbye" or distance or moving, but one last goodbye would have been nice. They had sold their house, and they were staying at the hotel one last day. The "plan" was for Tavi and Abigail to swim together one last time. When Linda called the hotel that afternoon, however, they had already checked out. I'm sure they were preoccupied and busy, but still, they never even bothered to call to say goodbye, or to let us know that they were leaving. A week later, Tavi is still talking about Abigail, and I'm sure she will for some time to come. Loss sucks, but maybe being on the receiving end of inconsideration sucks even more. How do you handle loss? "Accept loss forever." -- Jack Kerouac

Perhaps what fascinates me most about Vanessa Carlton's song "I Don't Want to Be a Bride" is the idea of "want" itself. Do people "want" to be married? Statistics show that 80% of people marry at least once by age 40. And on average, women tend to marry at a younger age than men. Averages and statistics do not address the issue of "want," however. Marriage is a social institution designed to regulate a biological drive. That doesn't sound very sexy, but that's what it is, and to deny the social pressure to marry, or to deny the biological drive to pair and mate is to overlook a fundamental reality. In other words, to suggest that people "want" to marry is incorrect. People marry simply because it's a societal expectation and/or because they are driven to marry, in part, by biology. With regard to marriage, it seems that the only real way to utilize free agency would be to reject marriage all-together. Disclai...

In 1997, Kevin called me. The call was unexpected, as I hadn't seen nor heard from him in six years. I don't recall that we talked for long; he was just checking in because he had had a dream, and in this dream, I died. His call was just to make sure I wasn't dead. Although we have since become friends on facebook, I don't think Kevin has ever posted anything to my wall, and we've never exchanged emails. I'm not expecting another phone call anytime soon, either, as it's been fourteen years now since the last one. And then last night, he was in a dream of mine. In my dream, he didn't die. Instead, we were at the Mattoon, Illinois, Amtrack station, except it looked and felt more like Dante's Inferno. First class patrons used the train above ground, but the station had nine lower stations below ground. Kevin and I had first class tickets, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I went from station to station, all the way down to the lowest-level . ...

If this didn't result in the end of mankind, then probably nothing ever will...

Rudolf Schenker, Scorpions Marie Fredriksson, Roxette

Addiction is one of those funny words that has fallen into imprecise, general usage. Can someone really be addicted to Cheetos, for example? But when we are questioned about eating the whole bag, we might excuse our gluttony by saying, "These things are so addictive!" Granted, addictions are real, but what is the difference between an addiction and a lack of willpower? And, are all "addictions" necessarily negative? I have a passion for reading and travel and writing, but could I ever be addicted to these things? What about people? Can we be addicted to people? Does such a concept even make sense? I guess the overuse of the term bothers me, because it removes individual control, while at the same time apologizing for conduct that might be viewed as wrong by others. This weekend, I came home to find my white cat with an orange face. Apparently she likes Cheetos, too, but she never claimed to be addicted to them. What are your addictions? "Just caus...

In Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park , Ace Frehley had a black fill-in/stunt double. This was quite noticeable, to say the least, every time the "black Ace" appeared on screen. Now it has come out that Mila Kunis used a butt body double in her new film Friends with Benefits . Here's the difference: Mila was involved in the selection process of finding her derriere double, and she wanted to make sure that the butt selected matches the butt that is attached to her torso. In other words, when audiences watch Friends with Benefits , they will assume that the butt on screen is Mila's. The butt will not stick out like a black Ace Frehley. So, if Mila is willing to let audiences assume that the butt is in fact the genuine article, why didn't she just shoot the scenes herself? Someone should take the time to get to the bottom of this. After all, the film is promoting Mila Kunis, including her butt. Some generic butt is not what fans are paying good money to see. It...

I had this weird idea: Hitchcock driving a Beetle...

I can go days without seeing a single vampire. And to be completely honest, I cannot confirm that I’ve ever seen a real-life blood-sucker. Is there something wrong with me? Do vampires exist? If so, how do they manage to stay so well hidden from the general human population? If vampires made themselves known, a majority of people would most likely scoff and doubt. Because while many people are plugged into the vampire fantasy, accepting a vampire reality is a different story. Although I’m fairly open-minded, I don’t actually believe in vampires. I’m not even agnostic about it, really. Vampires don’t exist, and yet, I can see them in my imagination. In that sense, vampires are quite real. The problem with imagination, however, is that sometimes people forget what they can see in their minds’ eye exists only in that realm. And yet, even though vampires “speak” to hearts of many, it’s a voice detached from actual physical form. It is a voice that has, over time, filled a void. In o...

Do you remember Brokeback Mountain ? It won 3 Academy Awards, and according to wikipedia, it is one of the top 10 grossing romances of all time. But have you ever heard someone say, "Gee, let's make some popcorn and pop in Brokeback Mountain "? No, you have not. This is a movie that is good for one required viewing, but it's not a movie that most people will want to watch again and again and again. I don't mean to pick on Brokeback Mountain . Other movies that fit in this "just watch once" category include Million Dollar Babies and The Sixth Sense. For a variety of reasons, some movies are the equivilent of "one-view wonders." Of course some people feel the same way about the Grand Canyon. See it once, and you never need to go back. It might be the "bucketlist mentality." Watch it, do it, check it off, and move on. On the other hand, people often watch other "lower quality" films over and over and over. Harold and Kum...