Tag: old man

I’m surprised anyone is surprised about Cody Rhodes

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The wrestling internet is abuzz right now with the news that Cody Rhodes has left AEW, just a few years after he basically helped launch the entire promotion from the ground up.  And not just leaving AEW, but also tons of reports about how he’s on the track to returning to the WWE, the promotion that AEW’s cult-minded fans basically think is the antichrist.

Initially, I thought that this could be the start of some elaborate work, but as the last few days have progressed, it’s seemingly like it really is legitimate; unless this too is some Uber-meta working going on, designed to swerve all wrestling fans into oblivion, but as scuttlebutt keeps trickling, this is seemingly not likely.

But when it really comes down to it, I have to say that I’m more surprised that today’s average wrestling fans are actually surprised by this at all.  This is where I’d like to think that I’m wiser and smarter than today’s wrestling fans which isn’t saying that much but I did used to call myself The Oracle among my friends, based on how good I was at predicting wrestling bullshit, but the reality is that I’ve just watched and witnessed a lot of professional wrestling in my lifetime, and there just seemed to be a lot of common patterns and scenarios, and on a long enough timeline, nothing is original or unique and history repeats itself all the time.

When AEW started taking off, I actually made some predictions on which former WWE guys on the roster would eventually make their way back to WWE after some time in AEW.  Chris Jericho, for sure will be in a WWE ring again at some point in his career, as will guys like Shawn Spears, Mark Henry, Big Show, to name a few.  But one guy I didn’t hesitate one bit with was Cody Rhodes, regardless of his standing, position and contributions towards the creation of AEW.

All it took was two episodes of Dynamite, and I stated to varying friends that I could 100% see Cody Rhodes going back to the WWE.  It was just a feeling I had, and maybe it was all the times I’d seen Chris Jericho return to the WWE that fed this hunch, but I just knew that Cody would probably end up back in the WWE himself at some point, no matter how much he meant or accomplished with AEW.

The initial thought process was that in spite of the fact that Cody was a VP of the company, along with Kenny Omega, and Nick and Matt Jackson, the four of those wrestlers were very different personalities.  Whereas Cody clearly had a mind, hungry for the business side of the industry, Omega and Bucks were still too busy circle-jerking over inside jokes and spending way too much time trying to create YouTube content instead of running a company.  Eventually, these approaches to running AEW would clash and when it comes down to it, it’s three versus one.  

There’s been plenty of speculation about rifts and disagreements between the VPs of the company, as well as Tony Khan’s stripping of power from all of them, and I basically said that a time would eventually come where Cody would get tired of all the bullshit of running a company, and would probably prefer to just be a performer, focus on wrestling and make WWE money in the process.

And here we are, just a few years removed from the birth of AEW, and Cody Rhodes has walked away, and appears to be on the fast track back to the WWE.

The thing about the WWE is that there is a 100% never-say-never attitude when it comes to talent returning to the fold.  It doesn’t matter how much anti-WWE shit a guy spews in another promotion, or if they say racist shit (Hulk Hogan), or even admitting to incest and murder (Marty Janetty), if a guy can bring interest, eyes, fans and money to the company, the WWE will open their arms.

Cody Rhodes helping launch the WWE’s most prominent rival since WCW has little bearing on the WWE’s decision to bring him in, because Cody still won titles in the NWA, Ring of Honor, New Japan and AEW since his last departure from the company, so in the spirit of raising one’s own stock and value, Cody has accomplished that.

Sure, I think his ceiling back in the WWE will be no higher than Christian after he came back from TNA, no matter how much creative ideas and influence he’s promised to get him to sign back up, but Cody Rhodes returning to the WWE is a big deal, big name, and a guy with an impressive resume and not just Dusty Rhodes’ kid anymore.

Frankly, anyone who didn’t see this coming at some point is either just too young, hasn’t watched enough wrestling in their lives, or maybe I really am just that more insightful and observant to the industry than other people are.  But Cody going back to the WWE was about as much of a layup as Wilt Chamberlain playing hoops in his own era.

This could be a good mid-life crisis car, if I weren’t already there

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Obviously I don’t have the time to stay on top of car news, much less any real news in the world, my city or even my own community, so I have no idea how long this has been in the works, or how much of not-new news this is.  But I recently saw some photos of the 2023 Nissan Fairlady Z, and I couldn’t help but be very impressed with its aesthetics and think it’s one of the more visually appealing cars I’ve seen in a very long time.

Frankly, I suppose I’m the one becoming out of touch and the world of design is leaving an old like me behind, but I haven’t been impressed with lots of cars of today.  They’re boxy, ugly and turning into space ships as far as I’m concerned, and I am disliking a lot more cars than liking them as they’re being released, supply chain be damned.

But the new Nissan Fairlady, now this is something that’s sleek and classic looking, with just enough touches of modern technology that creates an aesthetically pleasing package that is just enough throwback, but implementing a lot of popular elements of today.

From the front, and the side, it doesn’t look too far off of the current 370Z in terms of silhouette and lines.  Maybe looks a little thinner, which I’m good with because I think the current generation looks too fat, caving into the pathetic fat widening of the citizens of the world today.

But it’s the rear end that catches my attention and makes me take longer looks and show some interest in the vehicle beyond just the first aesthetic glance.  It has a very retro-looking hatch, and I love the taillight cluster that definitely harkens back to the 300ZX that was discontinued in the late 90s.

Yes, if I had to pick, I would probably definitely be an ass man, all about that butt.  And the new Fairlady definitely has one that stops and makes me the meme.

The funny thing is that as a whole, the entire car reminds me more of a classic Nissan 180SX in terms of shape and silhouette, but it has the taillight cluster of a 300ZX.  And given the fact that the front does not have retractable lights, it almost feels like a modern take of the Sil-Eighty that I always dreamed of getting/creating myself.

All this being said, one of the first things I said to myself was that this car could very well be a strong candidate for my inevitable mid-life crisis car.  But then I realized that I’m basically already 40 now, which is the stereotypical age in which men stereotypically start going into them, stereotypically getting a muscle car, and dressing like stereotypical douchebags.

And considering the ages of my children, and the inevitable need for a large dad-mobile, short of me becoming wealthier than I am currently and being able to afford an extra, fuck you car, or be willing to recklessly become car-poor, my mid-life crisis car might have to be pushed back a decade or so, to where this car will probably long be gone, and the used versions of them will be modded to oblivion and be basically worthless.

But I can still appreciate great car design, and fantasize about what ifs.  Maybe I’ll turn back the clock, LARP as Gordon (Liu), the guy in the market for a new car, and go test drive one, just to feel what it feels like and get it out of my system.

Self-aware old man moment

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

When Seth Rollins began calling himself “the Drip God,” I was curious, but didn’t really think anything of it.  Then, on an episode of My 600 Lb. Life the blob of the week’s son was wearing a shirt that just said DRIP on it, and it jogged my memory that I was curious.

I asked mythical wife if she knew, since she works with kids every day, that she might have picked up on some of their slang, but she didn’t really have any idea either.

So it was off to Google to find the answer for me, and I discovered that it was, of course, coined by some of today’s (c)rappers, and it’s to describe what used to be classy, swag, or just plain stylish in layman’s terms.  Sure, it makes not an iota of sense to me, and sounds fucking dumb, but at least I knew the general context of what the kids are calling drip these days.

But that’s when I realized just how much of an old man moment I just had, being so out of touch with new slang, that I had resorted to Googling it, in order to find out.  Given its general idea and origins I kind of wish I hadn’t, but when the day is over, I’d rather be in the know than not, even if it’s subjecting myself to stupid trash slang.  I guess that kind of mentality is prolonging the inevitable aging and separating from the generations beyond mine, no matter how in touch I may or may not try to be.

Albert Pujols is totally going back to St. Louis right?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t been paying attention to baseball enough this season to know just how poorly Albert Pujols has been.  I mean, I knew he was very much on the decline phase of his career, as Father Time is undefeatable and even the deity-like Albert Pujols would eventually meet his maker as well, but I was still pretty surprised to see when the news broke that Pujols was going to be designated for assignment, which is a way to say released, by the Angels.

I mean this is Albert Pujols we’re talking about; as much as I was amazed by him throughout his career, he just seemed like one of those guys, that if anyone were going to show any ability to stand up to Father Time, it would had to have been him.  The guy has over 600 career home runs, only behind Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and two cheaters, has over 3,000 hits and has won multiple championships, which makes him an easy first ballot Hall of Famer, and these are the guys that tend to play forever.

But like I said, time catches up to everyone, and even the almighty Albert Pujols has reached the end.  I just never thought he would ever be someone who would have gotten DFA’d, but that just goes to show just how much the game has changed these days, and the Angels, no matter just how much talent they amass, just can’t seem to ever succeed, but by DFAing Pujols, they seem to think that there’s a chance to turn things around despite being last place in the AL West, instead of letting Pujols have a farewell tour, like many of the greats before him have had.

Regardless of the baseball geek logic and arguments, there’s no way Pujols ends his career this way right?  He’s totally got to go back to the St. Louis Cardinals, right?  Sure they’re currently in first place, have Paul Goldschmidt at first, and have literally no need for Albert Pujols, but I’d be hard pressed to believe the vast majority of Cards fans wouldn’t want to see the prodigal son return to St. Louis.

Either way, I don’t really care so much as this is more of one of those icons of a nostalgic time makes the news and gets my mind churning.  About nostalgia.  Because Albert Pujols totally needs to go back to the St. Louis Cardinals, and despite how much I dislike their squeaky clean franchise, it just seems like a storybook ending that could possibly happen, in spite of logic.

Man though, this is just all also a reminder of just how much time flies.  I remember when Pujols signed with the Angels on a ten-year deal, and hearing that this was the final year of said deal, I’m just kind of like wtf, it’s really been ten years?  When I was a kid, there was a big deal when the Washington Bullets signed Juwan Howard to a seven-year deal, and how sad I felt when he almost left before coming back to D.C.  An eternity later, I was living in Georgia, eating out at a restaurant on my own dime, and seeing a Houston Rockets game on television, where Howard was coming off the bench, and was in the last year of that same deal.

Now, I’m seeing the ends of ten-year contracts as if they’re single seasons of a Netflix show, and the professional athletes I’ve watched play their respective games are aging and deteriorating at a rapid pace, and I’m once again reminded of just how fast time seems to fly the older I get.  I feel like in two years, Ronald Acuña, Jr. is going to be 38, playing first base and relying on nothing but home runs to justify his existence in MLB.

An observation about the Final Fantasy VII remake

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I’ve made any secret that I think that Final Fantasy VII is probably one of the most overrated games in the history of the industry.  Personally, VI is still my favorite among all that I’ve played, followed closely by IV.  But all pale in comparison to Final Fantasy Tactics. 

Regardless, just because I thought it was overrated didn’t mean that I didn’t play it; of course I played it.  Did all the stuff that all players back in 1997 did, breed chocobos so you could get a golden one, which was the only way to get the Knights of the Round materia which basically put the rest of the game on easy mode thereafter.  I beat Emerald Weapon, but was never able to beat Ruby, but by then my interest had already waned and I didn’t feel any real need to bother and try. 

Needless to say, the game didn’t really leave a long lasting impression on me personally, and I was always fascinated to why so many people thought this was the pinnacle of video games, and continued to do so for literal decades afterward.

So imagine my general ambivalence-resentment at the nearly decade-long song and dance of a FFVII remake being developed and released, that ultimately dropped over the last year, to which I was disgusted to find out that even that was still just a portion of the game, which people basically had to pay a full price for a part of a game, and a remake at that.  Obviously, I wasn’t going to shit on everyone’s parade who was ecstatic for more FFVII, but I was pretty irritated at the general low-ambition business model of remaking an old game instead of trying to develop and tell new stories.

Recently, I’ve been getting video suggestions for FFVII remake videos on YouTube and because I’m now a parent with low tolerance for searching and wanting to instead be presented, I’ve watched several over the last few days, because I was seeing things and/or characters that I didn’t recognize from the original version, plus watching gameplay videos satiates any curiosity I might have about the way the game plays or looks without having to commit the money or the time investment into finding out personally.

Clearly, because the objective of the remake is to drag things out as long as possible so they can sell individual chapters of the game at full MSRPs over a window of time, the remake has definitely taken some liberties to flesh things out tremendously, and give a lot more spotlight to characters that were definitely more tertiary in the original than they are now.

But in the process of fleshing things out more thoroughly, I’ve noticed that the game has taken the time to really inject some more personality and character into the individual core characters as well, and 23 years of technological advancement has given the visuals the ability to interpret stuff like facial expression and body language to do all the talking that the dialogue might not have been able to do itself in 1997.

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I’m going to be screwed when/if the pandemic ends

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As is often the case, I struggled immensely to come up with things I wanted for gifts for Christmas.  In the end, my general listed pretty much revolved around all sorts of sweats, compression gear and athletic apparel, and I was fortunate enough to be thought of by enough people to have gotten quite a good bit of it.

That being said, since none of this stuff really serves me much purpose outside of the gym, or at home, or while working out at home, when and if the pandemic ever ends and I have to start going back on-site to work, I’m pretty much going to be screwed as far as the usefulness of all this stuff is concerned.

I’ll definitely be better equipped for the gym, outdoor running, or when I feel like feeling like a sausage at home, but in the grand spectrum of time spent in this kind of stuff is going to pale in comparison to the kinds of clothing that I’ll be expected to wear in the workplace, or going out for societal functions again, not that I couldn’t just be that guy who always wears athletic gear everywhere he goes.

It’s just kind of funny though, since this just feeds the narrative that as we get older, the more and more practical our gift choices become, and how ecstatic we are to get things like socks, accessories and mundane clothing.  Because this isn’t in the least bit facetious or resentful for my gift haul, I couldn’t be any happier with all the things that I got, because they’re all things that I’ve wanted, but been too cheap to spend my own money on, and now I don’t have to, but can have all the athletic gear I always wanted in the end.

A sad reminder of how much I miss the gym

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A week ago, I ran 13.1 miles to fulfill the obligations of the Disney Dine & Dash Wine & Dine Half Marathon that mythical wife and I signed up for months ago.  We were itching for redemption to run it this year, as we had to bow out the year prior with lots of sour grapes on how runDisney handled it, because of a little unexpectedly quick turn around on pregnancy, but we signed up for it in 2020, thinking we would have our opportunity to redeem ourselves as well as introduce our little one to her first Disney trip.

Among other things ruined on account of coronavirus, this too was denied to us again for a second year, but we opted to stay registered and run our half marathons virtually.

Mind you, in spite of having obligations of a half marathon, I’ve basically been living on auto-pilot for large swaths of the year, and I hadn’t really done any proper distance training leading up.  I run regularly, but only around three miles per run, mostly for maintenance and health purposes, and not necessarily with a distance goal in mind.  Regardless, because I was planning on doing run/walk, I was still confident that I would be able to pound out 13.1 miles without killing myself.

Sure, some preparation probably would have made things easier, but I did just that, and finished my half marathon’s distance without dying.  I admittedly hit a wall a little faster than I had hoped, and by mile 10 I was running out of gas pretty quickly, and my right calf was telling me that it was very unhappy with my choices in life, but I still finished, and under my goal time of 2 hours and 30 minutes to boot.

I figured I would be in pretty rough shape afterward, seeing as how such was usually the case whenever I’d done any prior 10K or 10-milers in the past, with training, but the following day, it was nothing more than the atypical tender quads and achy ankles, leading me to be quite satisfied that I wasn’t a complete train wreck of a physical specimen after having not been to the gym in literally eight months.

A day ago, as is something that always has to be done this time of year, I went outside and raked leaves, as I have three very large trees on my property, and therefore have a metric fuckton of leaves to have to rake.  It was a massive pain the ass last year, as I had but a cheap wire rake that I had procured from Amazon, so I decided to not be a cheapskate and get myself a real, effective rake, even if it meant that I had to leave my house and go to a Home Depot to buy one. 

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