Tag: trolls

Long past mainstream now, smarks

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the weekend, I went to a Ring of Honor house show with my brother while I visiting Dallas.  Despite my general revulsion of the idea of going to another WWE event in my life, I was looking forward to this one, because I’d been to a ROH show back in like 2013, and enjoyed it a great deal. 

Back then, Kevin Steen was the world champion, and I was exposed to wrestlers whose names I’d heard before but never actually seen, like Roderick Strong and Jimmy Jacobs.  I saw some guys I’d never knew existed, like the Briscoes.  And there were a few familiar faces still proving they could still work, like Steve Corino and Rhyno.  Shelton Benjamin was on the card and got a massive beatdown after the match; apparently he was on his way back to the WWE, and as is often the tradition in the biz, a wrestler must go out on their backs as to repay the promotion for keeping them employed.

Plus, the crowd was smaller, and not a clusterfuck of humanity like a big-box WWE event can get, so I found it wholly to be a way better experience as a wrestling fan.

But that was over five years ago, and a lot has changed since then.  Most of the names and faces I saw back then have moved onto to the WWE or gone to New Japan.  After TNA collapsed, a lot of their wrestlers entered ROH, among other promotions.  And this little stable known as Bullet Club that was just being formed in 2013, is now probably the biggest brand in the industry today, and yes that is taking the WWE into consideration as well.

Overall, the ROH show in Dallas was pretty decent, in spite of the particularly weak ending, which saw a title change of the ROH Television championship going to a big oaf wrestler known as Punishment Martinez.  The fans in the crowd hated the shit out of him because he had a slight resemblance to Roman Reigns, and derided him with taunts of being Roman Reigns, therefore we hate you.  It’s a title awarded to a guy that doesn’t quite embody the reputation of ROH, which is fast, exciting technical wrestlers, but who really knows what direction they’re trying to go?

It doesn’t really matter.  I’m not that hardcore of a fan anymore to add ROH to my weekly list of promotions to keep my ear to the ground for to care that much.

Continue reading “Long past mainstream now, smarks” →

The very definition of social media being miserable

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Not news: man uses app to order Chick Fil-A

News: that man is Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and this occurrence happened to be in the midst of pride month

And because Chick Fil-A on the internet, is known first and foremost for hating the gays (despite it usually being known as one of the better fast food chains in actual human dialogue), the users of the CEO’s very own company that he runs, go full internet on him, meaning insufferable passive-aggressive shaming, finger pointing and being the keyboard tough guys so many turn into when they feel all safe and cozy behind the anonymity of the internet.

The CEO of Twitter getting obliterated by his very own platform, all because he wanted to enjoy some delicious chicken.  This epitomizes how miserable social media is, when a guy can’t be a little bit pleased with saving a little cash from use of technology, without the masses of keyboard warriors and the finger-pointing Chick Fil-A Watch scrambling to the tops of their soap boxes to shame and go way out of their way to publicly shame others.

And as I’ve said before, I would wager an ungodly amount of money that in spite of the holier-than-thou attitude so many people portray themselves on the internet, whether they’re gay, gay-supporting, or whatever, the people that love to act like they boycott and hate Chick Fil-A, still eat Chick Fil-A from time to time.  It’s just fucking food, and it’s okay to eat it, and surely without the necessity of the judgment of the internet.

Bottom line is that social media is garbage.  The analogy I keep going back to is that it’s like the whole world is connected to AOL at all times, and anyone can IM anyone at any time, with mostly useless nonsense, spam and negativity.  My weekend was kind of soured because of something I found out about over social media, and it’s put me in a mode where I don’t want to really look at it for a little while.  And I’m just some nobody in the world; I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for any sort of celebrities or actually important figures out there.  When the day is over though, I don’t really care.

I’m over having my Star Wars fandom invalidated

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m a fan of Star Wars.  This shouldn’t really be that much of a surprise, as I am very nerdy and have many nerdy interests.  However, throughout the years, I have been told that I am “not as much of a fan” of Star Wars as other people because of a myriad of reasons, with more recently because I don’t have a strong definitive opinion about The Last Jedi.*  Or the fact that I’m not remotely associated with the 501st or have a Rebellion or Empire sticker tattooed on me or brandished on my car.

*I didn’t think it was the best SW film, but I have not declared a jihad against it either

With the standalone Solo film around the corner, I’ve noticed people on social media being super curmudgeon about its release, and how they’re going to make zero effort to watch it and have basically denounced Star Wars as a franchise.  Or any other rhetoric along those lines.  I mean that’s fine and all that they’re not looking forward to it, but I think it’s a little excessive to be lifting a leg and farting all over those people who don’t take SW as serious as a religion.  Perhaps consider learning how to temper expectations, because even the best people in their fields don’t bat 1.000, and it’s only with the possibility of failure where the cream of the crop can truly rise.

But because I tend to not be so extreme in any direction about my excitement or apprehension about Star Wars, or anything really, I often get accused of being something of a filthy casual fan, who knows little about the franchise, and whose opinion about the franchise doesn’t matter as much as someone who, has SW tattoos, emblems on their car, or dresses up as Stormtroopers at Dragon*con.

The thing is, just because my fandom in Star Wars isn’t as vocal, as outwardly or so open to the rest of the world doesn’t mean that I’m no less of a fan.  I could name planets that aren’t mentioned in the canon films like Kashyyyk.  I played my fair share of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and Knights of the Old Republic.  There has been a lot of Star Wars in my life over the years, it’s just that I’m not so obnoxiously outward with it as the whole rest of the narcissistic world is.

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Now that’s some hardcore ownage

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Applause for draconian punishment: dumbass teenager who threw a firework that resulted in a gargantuan forest fire sentenced to pay $36 million dollars in restitution

Step aside, Smokey.  You ain’t done SHIT in 64 years.  Kids have continued to play with fire and idiots have continued to inadvertently start fires that have resulted in god knows how much damage and carnage to nature throughout the last century.

But Hood River County Circuit Judge John A. Olson sentencing a 15-year old to pay $36 million dollars in restitution?  Now THAT’S going to make some dumbasses think twice on whether or not it’s worth playing with fire and risk starting a blaze and getting caught and facing the gavel themselves.

I really love this story, because far too often, America has seen people who have done terrible things get away with merely metaphorical slaps on the wrists.  Draconian punishments would undoubtedly make people think twice or three or four times on whether or not a bad choice is worth the punishment, and if only America would go a little dark side and apply more of them, then maybe this country wouldn’t be so full of shitheads.

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I think I’m a Trevor Bauer fan

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I hide the fact that when it comes to baseball, as much as I like the broad stroke enjoyment of the game such as visiting new ballparks, seeing a power hitter clobber a home run, and seeing a walk off victory, I take a tremendous enjoyment in the smallest things as well.  Things that seem too small and insignificant that they hardly can be said to have occurred at all, but when you know what to look for and see it happen and know what might or might not happen as a result, it’s no less enjoyable.

In other words, there’s a tremendous amount of nerdy shit that I love about baseball that aren’t the flashy, most attractive things about the game like home runs, strikeouts and throwing 100 miles per hour.  That said, every now and then on the internet, there will be stories and articles about baseball that aren’t talking about the Boston Red Sox’s hot start, the home run potential of the New York Yankees, or the Los Angeles Angels of Orange County, Anaheim via Interstate 5 South’s Shohei Ohtani, but something more intricate and harder to comprehend for the casual baseball fan, and these are the ones that tend to pique my interest, or at least be reliable for a good 10-minute read.  Stories about like overlooked statistics and baseball skills, the intangible evidence of clubhouse chemistry, and some other real Moneyball Doctor Manhattan kind of shit.

Throughout the last few years, among the more interesting stories that have come and gone within the game of baseball, there’s been a name that I’d been seeing popping up sporadically: Trevor Bauer, a starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians.  I’m pretty sure it started when he was in a game where he passively mimicked the batting stances of several of his teammates in a game, which was noteworthy solely for the fact that he is an American League pitcher having some fun with his at-bats during Interleague playing in a National League ballpark.  Baseball sometimes tends to take itself too seriously sometimes, so I could appreciate a guy like Bauer who manages to find some way to have some fun and bring some laughs into the glorified kids’ game.

Then there was this story about how a baseball player helped a baseball fan with her math homework over Twitter, and lo and behold, it was Trevor Bauer.  It was here did I learn that Bauer went to UCLA and was pretty much a pretty smart nerd, and if there were ever a type of player that I tend to favor, it’s the brainy types that embrace knowledge and learning as opposed to just believing that god and their natural talent can carry their careers.  And the fact that Bauer took the time to do something so simple and meaningful to a young fan, it’s endearing in my opinion.

Continue reading “I think I’m a Trevor Bauer fan” →

The whitest, most privileged feud since Duke vs. Yale

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Have your slave butler get the popcorn: the NRA is outraged with the YETI cooler company for deciding to cease their partnership as an NRA vendor, demands that their mindless, gun-crazy followers and underlings boycott

Is there anything more entertaining than two icons of things white people like feuding with each other?  In one corner, we have the YETI cooler company, the fairly young company that manufactures supposedly high-end coolers and drink receptacles that white people go gonzo over.  And in the other corner, we have the ageless and timeless National Rifle Association, the biggest punching bag save for the president himself for the left, rife with criticism for the fact that there’s a shooting almost every single day, primarily by white people, but that doesn’t change the fact that the alleged majority of NRA due-paying members are white.

And at first blush, it looks like the young white company has decided to distance its partnership with the company helmed primarily by old white people, and the old white people are none too happy about it.

Honestly, this does make YETI look a little more favorable in my eyes.  No, this isn’t going to make me drop what I’m doing and go drop $200 on a fucking cooler, when a $5 Styrofoam gas station box and 50¢ worth of ice accomplish the exact same thing, but it will take YETI out of my crosshairs as something to criticize because I for the life of me can’t comprehend why white people go so bonkers over a company that makes overpriced coolers and has the branding of all caps Arial Black on a black rectangle that makes me wonder what the fuck I’m doing with my career; yeah, it’ll prevent me from elaborating on that thought, with 700 more words.

But it doesn’t change the fact that seeing a good old fashioned white-on-white conflict makes me giddy with ironic anticipation at seeing two sissies getting into a slap fight.

Seriously, YETI vs. the NRA is the best white-on-white feud I’ve seen since Duke got paired up against Yale in the 2016 Men’s NCAA basketball tournament. 

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You know what fucking sucks?  Live tweeting

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It was Sunday, April 9th, 2018.  I was sitting in an airport terminal waiting for my flight from Orlando to Atlanta to start boarding so we could begin our journey back home.  Mythical gf and I had just spent a lovely weekend at Disney World where we couldn’t possibly have gotten any better weather than we did.  We dined on a lobster bake at Disney Springs, imbibed in refreshing beverages at the Hangar Bar.  We leisurely ate around the floral world at Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival, and I caught a Heracross in Pikachu Game, the South American exclusive while there.  And due to some strategic planning on account of some typical Florida rain, we managed to ride the Avatar ride that typically has anywhere from a 3-4 hour wait with regularity, in under an hour.

It was a lovely trip.

However, Sunday, April 9th 2018 was also the same day that Wrestlemania 34 was scheduled.  Obviously, seldom am I ever going to prioritize a wrestling show over mythical gf, and I didn’t even bother crosschecking when WM was going to be when we planned our trip, not that it would have impacted anything in the least bit.  But the fact of the matter was that I still wanted to watch the show when I got back home and had a good 3-6 hours of free time because when taking into account of TakeOver and the pre-show and all the promos, who really knows how much time the ‘rasslin is going to account for.

This is often how I keep up with wrestling these days, watching things after they’ve aired, so that I can really flesh out the main storylines and plots without having to sit through all the commercials and extraneous fluff.  Obviously, I run the risk of encountering spoilers on a regular basis, but seeing as how WWE programming runs every single week, and multiple times a week, and the fact that personally I don’t know a tremendous amount of people that are really still into wrestling, it’s typically never really a problem to indulge in wrestling the way I do.

Except, when it comes to the big pay-per-view shows; like Summer Slam, the Royal Rumble, or, Wrestlemania.

Continue reading “You know what fucking sucks?  Live tweeting” →