Another two weeks past, and I have had a pretty good two weeks in the world of life and work. Nothing crazy, no mind-smashing frantic work pace, just getting things done that I need to. Of course, I wish this to continue because eventually it will lead me to a good place where I can resume writing. At the very least, I am doing a lot of reading in both the Shadowrun arena as well as other fantasy type books. It gives me a good handle of where to go next. Oh today’s sarcastic hint, today would a good day to file your taxes. Tomorrow, not so much.
Wrestlemania XXIX Results
Out of my 9 predictions, I actually got 7 right. Honestly, if I was really trying to “bet”, I would have probably got 8 right because I’d probably be foolish if I didn’t go for Undertaker in his match with CM Punk. But yeah, I missed that one and I also missed the Ryback/Henry match which I did not expect Henry to get the win there, it just did not make much sense at all. Furthermore, they go and push Ryback on the following Raw to face Cena over his newly won WWE World Title at the next PPV. Seems counter-productive.
On my extended predictions, I was mostly wrong all the way around. No heel-turn by Orton (actually Big Show decided to go back to not giving a shit), no Flair showing up at Miz’s IC title win (though considering this was on the pre-show and Barrett won it back the next night, I can see why), and no Cena tease for becoming a heel (because he’s Cena). However, the one I hinted towards did come true and that was Ziggler cashing his Money in the Bank at the next Raw and becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion. The best thing about it was that the crowd popped HUGE for Dolph which is a great sign to a good (and hopefully not short) reign.
Also, did anybody check out that crowd last Monday night Raw? That was five shades of awesome. Three words, FAN-DANG-O. For such a silly theme, to see fans get into it for a good part of the show was just hard to believe. Even after the event happened, they were still humming the song. I am interested to see if it keeps going heading into tonight. The crowd on the Raw after Wrestlemania typically is very amped up but that was a whole new level. Reminded me of an indy show but a whole heck of a lot bigger.
WWE ’13
Well, in the Wrestlemania hooplah, I took time away from Skyrim and decided to play the heck out of WWE 13 over the past couple of weeks. The Fan Axcess pack was only 800 points (usually 1600), and seemed an easy buy since it allowed me all of the DLC packs, access to creations that use content out of those packs and a whole crapload of little extras. Since I only spent $25 on the game on Black Friday last year, $10 doesn’t seem so bad for the full boatload of extra content. Furthermore, I was still using points from either my Xbox Live rewards or the card my brother in law bought me for Christmas, so it was a win-win.
I also went straight to work on the Attitude Era which at last check, I believe I was just starting the Mankind scenario. I literally plowed through Mankind, Wrestlemania XV and the Off Script sections in about a week. Off Script was a combination of the easiest scenarios and two of the most difficult (but on the surface wouldn’t seem to be). The two most difficult were the Godfather/Mark Henry vs the Road Warriors and then the dreaded, Chris Jericho/Road Dogg scenario.
The first one pits you primarily as the Godfather (you can be Henry too but he does not figure into any of the bonus objectives) against the Road Warriors. Among the objectives, do the Pimp Drop (Godfather’s finisher), have Godfather pin Animal and make sure he never tags Hawk. Except, Animal almost always finds a way to tag in Hawk at least once. It is very difficult to keep Animal away from his team’s side of the ring. I had to use a combination of getting Animal out of the ring on my team’s side and keeping him there and good ole-fashioned tag team wrestling. A few lucky reversals didn’t hurt either and I got it on about the 10th time.
Then the next one is pretty common among problems for just about everybody, and that is the player taking on the role of Chris Jericho against Road Dogg. The first objective is easy, perform the Liontamer (Submission finisher) on the Road Dogg. Then comes the fun part, performing a Power Bomb Finisher on the Road Dogg through a table. Oh and do this all in five minutes. Finishers if doing straight moves takes some time, unless you taunt your ass off. If you can do some rapid fire taunts anytime the opponent is not on you, you can build up some finishers in a hurry.
Once you get across I’d say both finishers in about 3 minutes, it will leave 2 minutes to get off the Power Bomb through a table. You will need all of that time most likely to get the table into the ring and get the move off without a hitch. Here is the problem though, this is a standard match and the ref after about 10 seconds will move that table out of the ring. Therefore you have to be quick or know how to keep the ref from picking up the table. But I can’t tell you how many times I had Road Dogg in Powerbomb position only to have the referee move it at the last moment. Also, if you don’t angle it right, the opponent will go right off the edge and not fully through the table. I stopped counting after a while, but I finally got this about 10-15 times through. Very frustrating, but very fulfilling as I was able to complete the Attitude era.
I am still playing the game, doing a combination of Universe and Online matches. For the record, I absolutely SUCK at Online. In about 11 matches, I have won once. I am able to reverse moves here and there, but on a consistent basis, I just don’t have the touch I guess. It seems like every time I put on a grapple, its get reversed. My goal was originally to get to level 5 (I’m a star short of level 3) but seriously, I don’t know if its worth it. I’m currently at 39 of 48 achievements, there are 4 universe ones left (no problem) and then the last 5 are online related. I’m pretty sure if I don’t get them before I finish messing with universe, then I’m not going to (which is fine by me).
Quick Hits
My friend, Will and I went to an actual indy wrestling league on Saturday night. The name of the promotion is Reality of Wrestling which is ran by WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T. They run the outfit out in Clear Lake and it was actually one of the best events I have been to. The crowd was really good, and the seats could not have been better (right next to the railing as the stars come out and full view of the ring). The actual event lasted about 2 hours, and I think we about 6 or 7 good matches. I’m still learning the guys since it was the first time I’ve seen them but I would certainly go back again. At $15 a head you just can’t beat it. Their webpage is currently down last time I checked, but their Facebook is running with full details for those in the area.
In books, I had finished House of Serpents by Lisa Smedman (Forgotten Realms) a few weeks ago (excellent trilogy of books overall) and also finished reading The Lucifer Deck (Shadowrun) by the same author. Also very good, had something of a grim ending, but given the situation, I’m not sure how one could have written it any other way. Now on the fantasy/sci-fi end, I am reading the Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. It’s basically a collection of short stories that Robert E. Howard wrote about the character. Fun stuff so far and pretty easy to read. I’ve had the book for a little while but had not cracked it open until now. But after watching the Solomon Kane movie and then spending $29 to get the imported region-free blu-ray (the Amazon video version was very terribly lit but thankfully the blu-ray was fantastic in every way), I figured it was a good time to start. Love the character, even if the story is rather churchy at times.
Speaking also in books, I found something of a rarity as I am an avid Robert Asprin reader. He died a few years back, so anytime you can get his book with autograph, its pretty awesome. At the price of $20, I managed to acquire a copy of Price of Victory, a collection of the last three books in the Thieves Guild anthology in hardback form. Inside, on the title page is the signature of one Robert Asprin (dated 2003). Also in the book once you get to the one of the short stories written by Janet Morris is her signature as well. Two autographs in the same book is pretty awesome no matter how you slice it and it was a nice way to cap off my Thieves Guild hardback collection.
So, confession to make. I got the bright idea to try out my copy of Dead or Alive: Extreme Volleyball 2, I was just bloody curious as the ole saying goes. Good lord, and I thought the Leisure Suit Larry game for 360 was awful (sadly DOA is still a little better but not much). From a very poor volleyball game to tons of poor mini-games to a ridiculously confusing gift giving system, I was done with it about 30 minutes in. Sure, I guess the women are nice to look at (Rumble Roses XXX still has them beat and has decent gameplay), but what’s the point if you just can’t play any of the modes except for Gambling?
Sunday was movie day at the ole Durr household. I actually got in 4 movies of varying length with my wife watching a couple of them as well. First, I tried to watch Mother’s Boys which had just made it to blu-ray for the first time. It’s an old Jamie Lee Curtis thriller that was supposed to be like Fatal Attraction. Jaime Lee is decent when she’s the victim in horror movies or trying to be alluring in a funny comedy (like a Fish Called Wanda), but here she was just so damn annoying. The movie doesn’t move along very well either. It made it about 35 minutes and I was done with it.
Next was Tai Chi Zero, a Chinese movie that mixes martial arts with steampunk. It’s a little odd and a great dose of silly fun. I’d give it about 7/10. I would gladly see the sequel (Tai Chi Hero) once it comes out in June on blu, I believe. After that, watched Talk Radio, one of Oliver Stone’s early works. It was alright, but there was just nothing to the movie. It was very straight forward and for a thriller, there were no plot surprises at all. 4/10 seems right. To cap off the evening, me and the missus watched Queen of the Damned. My wife has seen the movie multiple times and is quite fond of it. I admit, I quite enjoyed the experience and have no problem watching it again at some point. 7.5, close to 8 probably works for that one. By the way, Marguerite Moreau is quite the looker in that movie. Yes, I’m a sucker for plaid skirts.
Final Thoughts
I have been toying with quite a few ideas for writing just a small short story. I really need to get off the ground. Work is leveling out, and my creative mind is starting to get back into high gear. This is an awesome thing if I can just channel the blooming thing. Even if it was something that was say 10-15 pages along, as long as it made coherent sense, I would love to throw it out there. And I know for those that do read this blog, some of you might have become a bit confused that this is a video game/wrestling/book reading blog and not really what it was intended to be. But in these roughly 2500 word blogs, I’m still writing which is a very good thing. Anyway, back to the grind and wish the best for everybody reading out there. Thank you and always do what you love.
“Thank you and always do what you love.”
Thank you for giving me permission to continue to torture you.
No take backs.
/win