Tag: television

Love Death + Robots S3: The magic is gone for me

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t have a lot of time to myself much less time to watch television, so I really do have to put a lot of time and thought into just what exactly I want to spend my limited time watching.  When I saw that Love Death + Robots was dropping its third season, I made a point to prioritize that, since I was a fan of the first two seasons.

However, it’s worth mentioning that the second season wasn’t really that close at capturing the magic of the first season, and I had hopes that S3 could work out all of the shortcomings of S3 and deliver a banger of a season that would be the perfect reprieve from daily life, at very time economical and bite-sized episodes that I really relish at this stage in my life.

Well unfortunately, it saddens me to say that such was not the case, and as was the case with S2, season 3 continued that downward trend for me.  The best way for me to describe it would be saying that David Fincher began to turn the knob up on how David Fincher-y he could make the series, in the sense that he’s notorious for allowing things to go off the rails on a long enough timeline, and by the time Jibaro, the last episode in the season was over, I was just sitting there thinking, what the fuck?

The funny thing is that Fincher served as a producer and the one episode that he directed was actually my favorite one, but the collection of stories as a whole were a little too all over the place, and if I really had to put my finger on it, I’d say that the season as a whole was definitely lacking in the whole Love part of Love Death and Robots.  I feel like the first season captured a good balance between the three core elements of the series which is why it was so good, and as the series and seasons progressed, the stories began to lack the balance which made it to alluring.

That being said, S3 still had a moment or two of collective brilliance, and if anything at all, the technology and varying artistic executions of each episode are still respectable and visually stimulating to see the variety.  I don’t think I’ll be as excited for future seasons, if there are any in the pipeline, but I’d still watch them, but perhaps at a much lower priority, because as much as I loved the first season, the magic is gone for me now.

Regardless, here’s my rankings of the episodes, as I’ve done with the prior seasons:

  1. Bad Traveling (#2)
  2. Swarm (#6)
  3. Night of the Mini Dead (#4)
  4. Mason’s Rats (#7)
  5. In Vaulted Halls Entombed (#8)
  6. Three Robots: Exit Strategies (#1)
  7. Jibaro (#9)
  8. Kill Team Kill (#5)
  9. The Very Pulse of the Machine (#3)

Sammy Guevara’s talent is getting overshadowed by his bullshit

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I remember watching the first episode of AEW Dynamite.  I wasn’t the least bit surprised that Cody Rhodes put himself into the first-ever match.  But the guy he was up against, Sammy Guevara, I knew jack shit about.  Why was he coming out in a panda hat?  How did all the fans in attendance seem to already know who he was?  Was I really that out of touch with the business and too insulated in the WWE Universe®?

Obviously, everyone and their mother knew that Cody was winning, but in spite of it, I remember being very impressed with Guevara.  It was clear to why he was given the distinct honor of getting to be on the very first televised AEW match in history, he was talented as fuck in the ring.  A cursory search afterward showed that he was trained by Booker T, and the five time five time five time five time five time WCW champion seems to have been as good of a trainer as there could’ve been.

As the Inner Circle formed, it was pretty clear that Guevara was the designated workhorse of the faction, as Chris Jericho was the leader, Santana and Ortiz were the designated tag team, and Jack Swagger Jake Hager was the heavy.  But even mired in one of the 52 factions in AEW, it really didn’t take long for Guevara to stand out among the promotion’s bloated roster, because he was an above average worker, had a massive skillset, could sell, could speak and had the general looks of an upper-tier guy.

However, it also didn’t take long for Guevara to end up in hot water, with him being documented as having once said he “would rape that shit” when referring to the WWE’s Sasha Banks.  But being a guy that the company had high hopes for, he was taken off tv for a second, and eventually the whole thing blew over.  He would have some outstanding feuds with Darby Allin and Matt Hardy to help make fans forget.

Not long after pandemic restrictions began lifting, AEW hit the road, and one of their first stops was in Houston.  A packed house was witness to Sammy cutting a supposedly heart-felt promo about his girlfriend Pam, which culminated with a marriage proposal that she accepted, much to the happy pop of a crowd that didn’t concern themselves with if Sammy was a heel or a face at that time.  This was in August 2021.

It wasn’t really long afterward that there were lots of rumors that swirled about Sammy Guevara and his “just friends” relationship with Tay Conti.  They were always seen together, photographed together, and it really didn’t take long for fans all over to connect the dots that there was something likely more between the two of them.

Eventually, Sammy and Pam broke it off and broke up, and Sammy and Tay came out publicly about the most obvious relationship since like Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.   Yes, it sucked that the implications were that there was an affair involved, but the sentiment of the internet seemed satisfied at having called it the whole time, regardless of the fact that Pam’s personal life was mostly humiliated and wrecked from how it all transpired.

What I think the problem really ended up being, was that kayfabe or not, both Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti have been obnoxiously now flaunting their relationship, which seems kind of insensitive and dickish, considering Sammy pledged engagement not even a full year prior.  But I’m not even seeking this shit out, but nary does a week go by where I don’t somehow see that the two of them are making out in public, or are on vacation together, or some photograph of Sammy’s shredded abs and/or Tay’s Brazilian ass that she’s very proud of.

And to make matters worse, they’ve taken their relationship to work, and it’s currently being used in a horrifically cringeworthy feud between Sammy and Tay with Dan Lambert’s stable.  However now that it’s being worked into the product, the fans, specifically AEW’s mark-y, tribalistic, basement dwellers out in public, have been able to publicly express their opinions about the players involved, and it’s apparent that I’m not the only one who seems to have soured towards Sammy and Tay.

I’m entertained that fans are turning on them, and it doesn’t really feel like it’s manufactured, deliberate heat, so much as it’s kind of a facet of X-Pac heat, as in fuck you, we’re booing you because you’ve done something shitty and we want you to know that.  I think fans have seen the narrative of their generally deplorable behavior, especially towards Pam, and are reacting accordingly.  Sure, as a performer, the goal is always to elicit a response from the crowd, whether it is good or bad, but given the circumstances they’re in, they probably shouldn’t be wanting any X-Pac heat.

When the day is over, Sammy will likely always have a job in AEW, because he’s far too talented in spite of the fact that he’s kind of an asshole douchebag.  I want to stay high on him, because he really is a tremendous talent, but on a personal level, I think he’s a douchebag.

Tay on the other hand, has shown a lot of improvement from her horrible NXT days, but is widely replaceable on the roster.  But both of them, their ceilings are going to be hampered by their bullshit, because as much as professional wrestling is a scripted, premeditated soap opera, the fans are still human, and exercise their right to voice their displeasure when they think they’re witnessing bullshit behavior.

Tony Khan buying Ring of Honor seems pretty notable

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

There’s a part in the WWE documentary, the Monday Night Wars, where Eric Bischoff talks about how when WCW was on top of the ratings game, they generally felt invincible. They didn’t really care much to what the WWF was doing and didn’t really see a lot of what they were doing as threatening.

Until the WWF got a hold of Mike Tyson to make some appearances and get into a storyline with D-Generation X and Stone Cold Steve Austin.  Bischoff is seen describing finding out about that news as a moment of, oooh, now that is something.

This would embark the WWF into the attitude era, where they would eventually catch and reclaim the ratings war back from WCW and never look back until WCW was dead and bought for pennies on the dollar by Vince McMahon himself.

That’s kind of the feeling I got when I heard that AEW owner/president/rich man child Tony Khan had bought Ring of Honor.  Oooh, now that is something substantial.

Obviously, I don’t think the WWE is ever going to die like WCW did, but in the general war of two between the companies, I do think AEW’s acquisition of ROH is a pretty notable instance that has a lot of potential to swing some momentum.

Aside from the general facts of AEW got something WWE wanted and the forbidden doors that an AEW/ROH association opens up, most people know that the tapes library alone was the primary prize in this whole thing.  WWE ultimately wants every living piece of professional wrestling media to do whatever they want with, but was denied by AEW. 

And with all that back catalog in tow, AEW now has some fuel to open the doors to their own streaming service, much like WWE sold to NBC’s Peacock.  Even prior to the news of the acquisition, news of AEW potentially broadcasting on HBO, as being a Turner product they fall under the same umbrella, was picking up steam.  And with a legitimate back catalog to bolster their own growing library, AEW stands to make some legitimate coin if and when they launch a streaming package.

Because when the day is over, money seems to be the biggest pissing contest between the companies.  Now the WWE isn’t at any risk of losing the dollars game, primarily because of the Saudi blood money they Hoover up every year now, but at least on the domestic front, AEW picking up ROH definitely is denying the E a lot of money in which they won’t be getting, which is a pretty symbolic win against an entity that seems pretty unbeatable.

Otherwise, I don’t think Khan’s purchase of ROH is going to make nearly the splash as wrestling fans might be rubbing themselves over. To me, the smart play is to let ROH operate as-is as long as they can while making small and subtle changes or integration plans.  When it’s not nearly as fresh on people’s minds is when to start firing shots, but that’s just my opinions.

But if I’m Vince McMahon, whether he’ll admit to it or not, seeing ROH dell to Tony Khan, probably is a noteworthy disappointment, and should make him go hmmmm.

Re: the Shoresy teaser

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m sure Shoresy is going to be an entertaining show.  He was obviously such a popular part of Letterkenny to where Jared Keeso flexed the spinoff into fruition, and even went so far as to produce an entire fluffy phone-in of a season in order to help establish it.  And the 30 second teaser of the show is about everything I’d have expected from a show where Shoresy will be getting the entire spotlight, except for the very ending of it.

Spoiler alert, the teaser does the one thing that is never done throughout all of Shoresy’s appearances in Letterkenny.  I mean it was inevitable that it was going to happen, considering the show is now entirely about Shoresy and not just a cameo where he makes crude sexual jokes about Jonesy’s and Riley’s moms.  And everyone knows that it’s Keeso playing a second role, but still there’s something about the premature reveal that I feel as if the show has already given away a layup of a buzz maker.

Or maybe they’re just that confident that the show will succeed, to where they don’t feel the need to bother trying to play the conceal game any longer.

Either way, I’m definitely going to watch the show when it eventually drops.  I’m no hockey expert by any stretch of the imagination, but seeing as how the last three seasons of Letterkenny were all leading up to this and they were still interesting, I figure Shoresy will be much of the same without any of the other residents of Letterkenny needing any screen time.

All the same, impressive flex by Keeso to have gotten himself another gig, especially considering Shoresy was probably a joke at first, but really snowballed in popularity to where all of this could even be possible.

I don’t want to be an emotional vampire

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Since starting my new job, things haven’t been easy.  I was provided the wrong laptop from the very start, which inhibited my ability to do the core of my work functions from the onset.  My household also (likely) contracted the ‘Rona, which I’ve already said my piece about multiple times already, but I didn’t want to bring that up just when I was starting my new job, fortunately everything’s been remote still to this point.

Then, there was the bullet I realized that I had avoided from the old job with numerous of my former colleagues and reports getting axed that fucked my head up, because I’ve come to the realization that my shitty old boss knew this was coming and had been planning for this for a while, and I just so happened to have gotten out before the hammer fell, but it doesn’t change the fact that I have survivor’s guilt as well as feel like some of my old reports are accusing me of knowing it was coming and not telling them, which couldn’t be any further from the truth.

More recently, I’ve found out that my dog has cancer, and until I get an ultrasound, won’t really know the full extent of what we’re dealing with, but given the fact that he’s like 16 years old, things aren’t looking too optimistic right now.

All while my second child is still a living nightmare when it comes to sleeping, as it’s feeling nigh impossible to put her down for naps while I’m on the clock at work, and I can’t expect my nanny to handle the two under two remotely competently without compromising the care on one of them.

Needless to say, things have been pretty rough on my side, while I’m on the clock, but the difference now is that I’m the new guy at a job I’ve just started, versus being the guy on his way out of a job I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of.  My flakiness now, I give a shit about, and feel like shit that I’m being flaky, because my head’s not on straight because of all the bullshit going on and/or my youngest being a gargantuan cockblock for my ability to work, because there’s no way I can concentrate on work when she’s screaming bloody murder instead of taking a fucking nap.

My new boss is chill, and probably would be understanding to some of the shit I’m going through, seeing as she has children and dogs, and clearly isn’t the micromanager that has it out for me in the first place.  But at the same time, I don’t want to unload all this baggage when I haven’t even completed my first month with the company.

Although I’m sure I would be okay and probably get some leniency and empathy, I just don’t want to be like the emotional vampire from What We Do In the Shadows, the girl who was Colin Robinson’s office rival-then-fling, who always had some unfortunate shit happening to her, so she could siphon off the emotional energy of all the people in the office.  Because that’s what I feel like I would be, if I would make too much of my bullshit known, and I don’t want to give that off, when I’m still in the stage where I’m still making first impressions everywhere I go.

But it really does suck just how inhibited I am sometimes while I’m on the clock, because I really do want to hit the ground running and do better than I feel I’m doing now.  Ironically, as much as I don’t want to go back in to the office, I feel like my productivity has a ceiling while I’m at home, and if I really want to shine at new job, I think I’m going to eventually have to embrace the need to go back.

I saw my first GCW show and it was pretty good

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As much as I like to pretend like I’m some wrestling mark hipster, and know every single indy wrestler out there, I’m not even close.  I don’t even know where half of AEW’s roster originated from, and when guys like Daniel Garcia or Wheeler Yuta show up, I have no fucking clue who they are.  I went to an indy show back in November and saw names like Effy and Marti Belle and had no idea who they were, much less aware that both were title holders in other promotions.

Honestly, up until the episode of Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring about Nick Gage, I had no idea what Game Changers Wrestling was.  And based on the episode, where Nick Gage basically repeatedly killed himself in all sorts of deathmatches, I frankly wasn’t enthralled with GCW, and came away with an impression that they were a promotion that was determined to one-up ECW in terms of violence.

But then after Zack Ryder was fired from the WWE, and Matt Cardona eventually showed up at GCW after a masterful troll job, impersonating Jon Moxley who had been bouncing anywhere and everywhere he wanted, I began to see GCW showing up on the general internet radar of professional wrestling, beyond the exposure they got on Dark Side.  Eventually, Cardona would dethrone Nick Gage as the promotion’s World title, and whether they want to admit it or not, it was off to the races for GCW.

Eventually, the actual Jon Moxley would really show up, and beat Cardona for their World title, which brings us to present time, where thanks to a lot of cross-promotion with talents from AEW, Impact, Ring of Honor and whomever else, GCW had drummed up enough exposure and attention to where a filthy casual like me was very intrigued and interested in their supposed major biggest show ever, The Wrld pay-per-view event.  The card looked intriguing, and I was genuinely interested, and excited to catch my first ever GCW show.

Continue reading “I saw my first GCW show and it was pretty good” →

A wrestling analogy I’m proud of

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I can’t say that I’ve ever watched much Impact Wrestling in my lifetime, whether they were NWA-TNA, TNA, TNA-Impact, Global Force Wrestling, or whatever iteration the promotion ever was under the ownership of the Jarretts, Dixie Carter, or whomever.  The peak of my viewership of the product was when a distant acquaintance and former schoolmate of mine, Sonjay Dutt was a regular performer, and I was curious to see a guy I went to grade, middle and high school with, live out the dream he always had as long as I had known him, in being a professional wrestler.

But in this day and age when professional wrestling seems to be doing pretty well, with the WWE and AEW sitting comfortably on top of the industry, there are all sorts of tiers beneath  the top of the mountain, and if I had to make a pick, Impact Wrestling would probably be the #3 promotion in North America.  Followed by other promotions like the NWA, maybe Ring of Honor again one day, along with a litany of even smaller independent promotions.

Much is being made these days with all the talent that’s been liberated (read: fired) by the WWE, and how AEW is hoovering up many of the names as soon as their non-compete clauses expire.  Personally, I think AEW’s roster is bloating to unstable proportions, but they’ve yet to collapse under the weight of their talent and their payroll yet.

I saw the card for Impact’s Hard to Kill PPV, and thought that damn, that’s a pretty loaded card.  Numerous championship matches, and what I really like is how Ring of Honor champions are just kind of randomly showing up at other promotion’s shows, to defend ROH blets, and Jon Gresham only adds to the credibility of the card.  In a different point of my life, I’d literally drop what I was doing and hop on a flight to Dallas to try and watch this with my brother, that’s how decent of a show I think this has the potential to be.

AEW has been doing a lot of impressive stuff over the last few weeks, and I hear the chatter, but as I’ve made fairly clear that I just have a hard time caring about the things they’re doing.  In all fairness, I have a hard time caring of what the WWE is doing lately too, but the difference is that I still have Peacock access and can see their PPVs.But despite my general ambivalence towards Impact historically, I’m finding that I’m rooting for them in the midst of all these wrestling promotional battlegrounds.  And I made an analogy that made more and more sense the more I thought about it, and I have to say that I think it’s pretty accurate.

The WWE is obviously the Yankees; they have money, they have history, and they’re the biggest baddest franchise in the business.  AEW is the Dodgers, who are blending all sorts of new-school strategy and flinging obscene amounts of money out on the market to bring in top-tier talent to bolster their roster, even to excess.  But that makes a promotion like Impact, the Oakland A’s, a cash-strapped promotion that does well enough, but has to really maximize the value out of every asset they have and try and play smarter than the richer competition in order to survive.

And when it comes to sports fandom, who doesn’t appreciate the plucky underdogs, especially when going up against the big bad rich opposition?  Hoping for Impact to do well has no consequence or conflict to any allegiances if I had any, and when the day is over, the successes of other promotions outside of the WWE and AEW are better for the industry as a whole.

Whenever wrestlers are released from WWE, most of the time I’m usually like, man that guy/girl would be perfect for New Japan, or Impact, but just about everyone ends up in AEW, due to the money they’re flinging.  I don’t hide that I have these general ideas about promotions, and I think most big white oafs always stand a chance at being the next big bad foreign heel in NJPW, and if there’s one thing that Impact has always done well historically, is that they’ve always cultivated good women’s wrestling.  Even long before the WWE did, Impact doesn’t get enough credit for their contributions to women’s wrestling, and Hard to Kill has some pretty good women’s matches on deck that I most definitely wouldn’t take a piss break through.

Almost makes me think I should perhaps seek out some replicas of the Knockouts Tag Blets, so that my girls can be double champions.