Tag: observations

I hope I’m wrong about this

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

But upon finally watching the conclusion of last week’s RAW, I’m going to say that the steam has just been released out of the Daniel Bryan/Randy Orton/Best for Business storyline.  When Orton confronted Brie Bella in the back was one thing, but as soon as Brie Bella ran out to ringside to helplessly plead with Orton and then watch him beat down on Daniel Bryan, the entire storyline to me, went from one that was a test to see if Bryan Danielson the performer, could hold the WWE’s torch in a time of need, to one that is now being used to conveniently hype the continuation of Total Divas.

I really hope I’m wrong about it, because as a fan, the rise of Daniel Bryan is the best thing that has happened to the WWE in quite some time.  This is the first year in numerous years where wrestling has managed to keep a hold of my attention on weekly basis throughout an entire baseball season, and I’m making conscious efforts to keep up with weekly shows, even if I am DVR-skipping most of the actual action, just to see where the storylines are going.  Because that’s what’s the best thing about wrestling now – the interesting storylines.

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The perils of winning

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I asked the wheelchair-bound man if I would be bothering him if I took some pictures while kneeling beside him.  He said that it wouldn’t be a problem at all.  I knelt down and took two quick snaps of Freddie Freeman fouling off pitches, and then an usher was on my ass like it was delivered from the sky like in Sharknado.  Telling me I couldn’t take pictures there, I couldn’t stand here, there, and that I needed a ticket.  I could have questioned him, but it was pretty clear from the onset that black-man-on-a-power-trip was going on, so it wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere.  I simply said okay, and left.

Earlier in the evening, and I use the term evening loosely, considering it was 5:15, almost a full two hours prior to the first pitch, sunny and beautiful, and with less than 300 people in the entire stadium.  I politely asked the usher in 103 if I could go down to the bottom of the section to snap a couple of pictures of some players taking batting practice.

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The Braves, playoffs, and what I think their chances are

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Oh noes, sports talk!  After I left Talking Chop, I don’t really have any outlet to gab about baseball anymore, and when the day is over, this is still my brog and ultimately I’ll write whatever I want to write about and post it, and not necessarily worry about catering to my seven readers.

In spite of my general apathy towards baseball these days, I’m still a fan of the game, and still a fan of the Braves.  When the day is over, I still want the Braves to win every single game possible, and I want the Braves to ultimately become World Series champions at least once more in the span of my life.

Over the weekend, the Braves came one step closer to fulfilling that ambition, when they mathematically clinched the National League East division.  In doing so, they’re guaranteed not only a spot in the playoffs, but avoid the bullshit one-game playoff game that was marred in controversy in its inception last year, which culminated with the Braves’ season coming to a close after a single game.

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The problem with “The Problem With…” Posts

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The short answer is that they’re almost always hypocritical in nature.  Often times the impetus of a Problem with ___ is the fact that the person writing it is in disagreement with something that is fairly commonplace in the time in which it was written.  They just don’t like something.  They’re compromised and biased against it.  Hell, I’m 100% confident that I’ll write something in this post that directly contradicts something else I’ve ever said if there was any of my seven readers who would be so dedicated to try and find said contradiction later on.

Anyway, a number of my Facebook friends have been sharing this particular link, where a blogger is pointing out that there is a problem with cosplay celebrity.  Here’s the very first sentence of the entire post:

My husband and I are both 501st.

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(Upstate) New York state of mind

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s kind of weird for me to mentally go back in time a little bit to be writing this post, but it was a pleasant enough of a trip to where I knew I was going to eventually write something about it, but time permitting, I simply didn’t have the opportunity to write when I got back.  However, being the reminiscing nerd that I am, I actually jotted down notes and blurbs about my recent travels through upstate New York that I figured I wanted to address when I had the opportunity to.

As for all the pictures I took in New York and Pennsylvania, I’m not sure how many people would be remotely that interested in what were primarily baseball photos, except for maybe some scenic stuff in Rochester, but anyway, I actually back-dated the posts to the dates of their original trips, and posted them as well.  Obviously, they’re also available in the “photos” section of my site, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure how many people actually use that function.

The weekend prior to the insanity that was Dragon*Con, I actually spent four days traveling through upstate New York, on my annual baseball road trip with my boy Huzzard, a tradition that has gone on strong for the last six baseball seasons now.  In lieu of an expensive Major League road trip where we could see like, one new ballpark in a major city, we decided to traverse the lesser-driven roads of America and see several minor league ballparks, which we both tend to agree are more rewarding, and frankly more economically efficient.

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Dragon*Con 2013 Parting Thoughts

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Overall, I can say that Dragon*Con was a pretty good time, and about what I expect out of the D*C experience on a yearly basis.  I got to see and hang out with a bunch of people, I took a lot of pictures, and I shared good food and drink with decent folks.  Sometimes I think it’s a little absurd that I dump a ton of money into doing such things, but eh, it’s once a year, why the heck not?

A couple of notable things happened during my weekend – like spending most of Friday night at the hospital because one of my friends called me and explained his dire need to go to urgent care out of the blue (nothing severe, but still necessary).  Then there was the ironically good sense of mind I had on one night to decide to sleep on the floor that prevented me from getting puked on that makes me realize how lucky I was on one evening.  And then there’s the always fun instances of watching a fellow nerd decide to handcuff himself in proposed matrimony that always is a joyous occasion at D*C.  Hospitals, puking and engagements, oh my.

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Positive ambivalence

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Earlier in the week, Darren Young, a current active WWE wrestler, came out of the closet and announced that he is gay, when he was approached by a meddling paparazzo at an airport.  Admittedly, it’s funny to watch how the paparazzo probably thought he could corner Young into an uncomfortable situation with a loaded question, only for this admission to happen, and completely turn the tables on him.

But the point remains, it’s somewhat notable that a WWE wrestler would come out of the closet while still currently active and fairly regularly used on television, considering that just about every wrestler or other professional athlete who also admit to being gay, all waited until their careers were already over and in the past before doing so.

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