In Japan, all things are superior

Okay, so everybody should read this. It's a post about a Japenese wrestling concern called 666 and the history of their "Heavymetalweight" Championship Belt, a belt that must be defended 24/7, meaning that anyone could pin the champion at any time and take the belt. And I do mean "anyone." Also, when I say "read" the post, I mean really read. Read the post, follow the link to the belt history, watch the videos, click on the comments and watch the videos linked there.

There is simply nothing about any of it that isn't completely excellent.

Okay, I'll throw you a bone

Sad that I don't post as often anymore? How about going to The Comics Curmudgeon instead? Here's what he had to say about a recent "Marvin" strip:

"This strip is funny (by which I mean “horrifying”) because it’s about the sex lives of babies."

That really just made me lose my shit and laugh out loud in the office.

Television, television

Okay, so Emory got a new widescreen HD TV. It is RAD. We just got our new HD satellite and so now we watch as many shows as possible in sweet HD. It looks good on all shows, but on some it's seriously a revelation. So now's a good a time as any to talk about how the TV shows are going.

Battlestar - We finally, finally got around to finishing off the third season. At this point it's almost cute how wildly the quality fluctuates during any run of Battlestar episodes. As usual, a dip in the middle followed by some radness at the end. Although it was probably a bad idea to give the finale to Mark "sledgehammer" Verheiden. I thought both the haunting music and trial stuff was used to much better effect in the first part of "Crossroads." Still, points to Apollo's big speech. Also, big points for Balthar, doing or saying anything, always.

Lost - Haven't watched last night's new episode, but did catch the Juliet-centril episode in HD. Guys, HD Lost is some serious shit. There's that moment in the flashback of this last episode where Juliet gets out of the sub and sees the island for the first time, and in widescreen HD that shit is seriously GORGEOUS. And striking, and mysterious, and foreboding. It adds so much to the atmosphere of the show, seriously. As for plotting, this season seems determined to trim the fat and actually give some answers, which is the best possible response to the backlash the show's been experiencing. I've been digging this season much more than the last, which the emphasis on The Others (Ben and Juliet are great characters) and the downplaying of the less interesting members of the main cast (has there even been a Charlie flashback episode yet this season?). So good on you, Lost. Don't blow it.

Drive - From Tim "Firefly" Minear come this bit of B-movie fluff. Nothing crazy-amazing about this one yet (three episodes in), but nothing wrong with it either, and there's lots of potential for awesome down the line. The greenscreen driving stuff works better than you think it would, too, even in HD.

24 - Still chugging along. The "Jack's gone rogue!" plot has been done before, but it's still early yet. There could be further twists up the writing team's sleeve. Again, HD makes all the difference on this show, as the night lighting goes from murky to moody.

The Sopranos - Two solid episodes thus far. For those who come over to watch it at Llama School, get ready for HD!

Wrestling - The CM Punk plot on ECW remains the highlight of the entire WWE.

The Office - Still my favorite sitcom.

30 Rock - I have yet to flip my shit about this show (like several others seem to have done), but it's consistently amusing, with at least one or two big laughs per episode. Tracy's Thomas Jefferson movie preview is a highlight.

Stuff!

Lots of stuff happening!

Saw Grindhouse last weekend, and seem to be in the slight minority in preferring Death Proof to Planet Terror. But both of them were a good time and we saw the show at Mann's Chinese and Tarantino and various cast members were there, so that ruled.

iPod: purchased! I am totally rocking the nano today at work. I named my iPod Croatoan, which is a reference to history, but mostly to Seven Soldiers.

Did I mention how we totally OWNED quiz night on Saturday? Seriously, first place. Go us! I was able to contribute by figuring out that it was Kato, not the Green Hornet, in one of the picture questions.

In case you didn't know this, Laurel makes great calzones.

We constructed a swell frame to put behind our Atrox table at APE. It's made of PVC pipe! We only had to go to Home Depot twice!

High-Quality Erotic Art is still going strong.

At last the final piece falls into place

So thanks to Emory getting a new 2Wire box and the efforts of my lovely girlfriend, my internet works again. You cannot imagine how awesome this is. Next step: get a new monitor (mine has not been the same since the move). And an iPod. But oh man, guys. Oh man.

Woo hoo!

Television Without Pity now covers The Wire. Enjoy the recaps of the greatest show ever.

E-C-Dub

On ECW last night they went ahead and did the 8-man tag match under extreme rules like they should have done at Wrestlemania. It was immeasurably better, and was one of the only matches I've seen on new ECW that actually captured the fun of the original ECW. It was completely great and really, really should have been the Wrestlemania match. The crowd would have freaked out. God, the WWE can be thick.

Okay, enough wrestling. Go on about your lives.

New video!

Quick! Go to The Atrox and check out our new video "One Night Stand"! (The title might change soon, but that's what's up for now.) It features our very own Frank Smith and the soon-to-be-famous Brook Lyons, whose help we greatly appreciate.

Wrasslin'

So Wrestlemania was last weekend, and a bunch of the kids came over to watch it. Leslie pulled out all the stops and made delicious Wrestlemania-themed cupcakes, and a delightful time was had. As predicted, the Money in the Bank ladder match stole the show, as Jeff Hardy basically sacrifices himself to take out Edge, diving off a 15-foot ladder to smash Edge body through another ladder. It was BALLS OUT. Then Matt Hardy convinced King Booker to get off a ladder by threatening Queen Sharmell. "I will give her the Twist of Fate! DON'T MAKE ME DO IT!" So the King climbed down and got the Twist instead. Kennedy eventually won, but not before doing a Samoan drop on a midget from the top of a ladder. That guy is EVIL.

Batista/Undertaker was impressive from both guys, and Taker unsurprisingly came out victorious. So yeah, Kennedy/Undertaker on the horizon for Smackdown. I was surprised that Benoit and Melinda retained their respective belts, and that ECW Originals got the win against the New Breed. Umaga/Lashley had enough ridiculous bullshit (including Trump attacking McMahon at ringside) to be entertaining. Cena/Michaels started out a bit slow, but at some point it just got CRAZY INSANE, with the two reversing each other's every move. It was a good finish.

I was wondering how they were going to get the tag belts off the invincible Cena and Michaels, and last night's Raw had the answer: a two-stage, twenty-team battle royale. And even then Cena and Michaels were only eliminated when Michaels turned on Cena, claiming that the tag belts were clouding his judgement. Then they put the belts on the Hardys, of all people. Not that I'm complaining. It was actually the coolest thing I've seen on Raw in quite a while. And tonight we're promised the Extreme Rules Originals vs. New Breed eight-man tag match that we should have had at Wrestlemania. Oh, wrestling. You're a good time.

Convenience

A new Doughboys restaurant has opened right around the corner from Llama School, and come May 1st, Laurel will be living with Frank.

The only way my life could get more convenient is if our fridge made its own Coke Zero.