Welcome to Friday Night Smackdown or Yeah, I Know This Post Comes 3 Weeks Late

It happened on a Tuesday, but it was a taping for Friday Night Smackdown...right before a LIVE broadcast of Tuesday night ECW on SciFi. It will all make sense in a minute.

I've had tickets for a live professional wrestling event 3 times in my life and this is the first time I've actually been able to attend. The first time, I was away camping for the weekend when I was 16 years old; I had 4 tickets for WWF Wrestling at the Boston Garden and couldn't find anyone to drive me...even for a free ticket. I didn't go. The second time was this past August...I just went in for gall bladder surgery...it was a Friday...Monday Night Raw went live on Monday and I was on my couch recovering and pissed off that I was watching from home and not from my Premium Club seat at the stadium. This third time, I was determined to go. Friday Night Smackdown and ECW together at the TD BankNorth Garden. It was a 3 hour show and our seats were AWESOME...right on the wrestler's entry ramp...up close and personal to the action and the pyrotechnics. Good thing I brought earplugs.

Although it airs on Friday night...Smackdown was first, and my favorite part of the evening. People that you see on TV that are larger than life were walking right past us...Rey Mysterio, Finlay, Katharine's personal favorite "Kane", The Great Khali, The Undertaker, Batista, and Hornswoggle! OK, well Hornswoggle is a "leprechaun" so maybe he's not larger than life, but he's one of my favorites. We were THIS close:

So, I've heard that the matches look fake at a live event...they don't always hit as hard as they want you to believe, but believe me...the action is real and looked to me better than on TV. The leaps off the ropes, the suplexes, the slams of the 400lb men onto the mat from the top turnbuckle, the smack with a steal chair during the Last Man Standing Match. And it's not just the men...the Divas are doing all the same flips, rolls, and throws...and they're TINY.

The pyro was awesome...we could feel the heat from the fireworks and the explosions.

The matches were fun to watch, the commercial breaks during ECW were a bit annoying...seemed like there were more commercials than wrestling for that show, but that's the way TV works. And at the end of the night, World Heavyweight Champion Batista walked his way around and slapped hands with all of the fans around ringside...pretty cool of him to do that.

They put on an excellent show; I'm amazed they're able to do some of the things they do night after night and not have three times the number of injuries. Finally, I got to see a live show...Katharine was there too, don't let her tell you different...she cheered loud for Kane (both times he came out).

And we'll be there next November when the Survivor Series comes to town...that will be fantastic.

What Did We Do Without the Internet?

As I looked through my window this morning and watched the snow fall yet again...I turned to weather.com to see what we were in for in terms of accumulation. Considering there's still over a foot of accumulation on the ground from the last storm, compounded by piles and piles of shoveled snow...this information is important and begs the question, "why DON'T we live in Florida?" But that's a post for another time. This is about the Internet.

So I realized, as I turned to weather.com for all my wintry weather answers...what did I do BEFORE the Internet. I actually recall sitting on my couch in front of the TV waiting and watching for The Weather Channel's Local Forecast on the 8s. They only showed the weather at 4:08, 4:18, 4:28, etc...you get the pattern. And at the time, I was in South Georgia, so knowing where the tornadoes were was IMPORTANT! Anyway...now I'm thinking...great; for quite some time now, I've had The Weather Channel and the Internet to keep me informed. But there wasn't always a weather channel. It used to be...I had to wait for Dick Albert and the Channel 5 news at 6pm to tell me what the weather would be for the next day or two. You didn't get updates by the minute or on the 8s then.

What the hell people did before that...I don't even want to think about it. The Farmers Almanac? The corner psychic. So I guess there has been progress in the world. I'll remember that the next time I buy a carton of milk at the store and it's sour immediately upon opening...leaving me without breakfast this morning to crank about the weather and the way it used to be.

TELEVISION: Ghost Whisperer Season One (2005) - Discovering Great New Shows During a Hollywood Writer's Strike

So, last night (technically this morning) I was up until 2AM watching the last four episodes of season one of the Ghost Whisperer. I admit it...and Katharine might not admit that she watches it with me, but she does...and she was up until 2AM as well. There...I've told everyone. It's a big deal because all women seem to hate Jennifer Love Hewitt and anything she's ever done. I don't get it but maybe a bunch of you will comment here and say why that is.

In case you haven't seen the show, it's about a girl that can see and communicate with the dead and she has to figure out why they haven't crossed over and then help them do so. Of course, in each episode she has to convince people that she's not nuts...I'm not sure how I would handle being in that situation. People would tell me I was crazy and I'd be like "screw you and your loved one too," and that would be the end of that. You can't ignore the ghosts that come to you though (sometimes they don't know they need her help, but they continue to haunt her anyway until they get it). You can't kill them. I think that would be annoying and I wouldn't want to help the annoying ghosts. Sometimes she sees the ghosts and tracks them down to help them...I would not do this. I would already have enough ghosts to deal with...the ones that come to me.

So anyway, season one was excellent...lot of great stories (the two part season finale was especially fantastic) and there always seems to be an interesting twist. I wasn't sure how they were going to make each episode different but they pulled it off. The relationship she has with her husband in the show (I don't know who he is in real life since I've never sat through the credits) is a little unrealistic though...it's my only complaint. He makes most unromantic guys look bad...they're a little sickening sweet to each other. Not many real people are like that, but I'm sure at some point in the series he dies and she has to deal. I'm only on season one...please don't spoil it if that happens in season two or three. So check it out if you have nothing to watch during the writers strike. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Another Rock Band!

How many bands can one band member be a part of? It's too early to say WHICH BAND IS BETTER, they both have strengths and weaknesses, but I'm thinking that we could have a battle of the bands and find out! Considering I'm in both of them, it's a win win situation for me, and it could probably be easily concluded by looking at the number of fans each band has. So far, I think each of the bands has a van and a tour bus. The A-Team had a van and the Partridge Family had a bus...didn't help either of them. Both bands have yet to unlock San Francisco as a venue...we need more fans for that, and more fans requires a higher difficulty.

Before I can host a battle of the bands...I need to get a new guitar. We rocked SO hard that we literally broke the Rock Band Guitar! Thankfully, the manufacturer actually believes in customer service (a rarity these days) and is sending me a new guitar 2-day air for FREE, so I should have it for the weekend. Phew...I started playing the drums last night and need a little practice. That, and I played bass on HARD for the first time...it was hard.

So get ready...it's going to be RTFM vs. The Drunken Cupcakes...none of the other band members know it yet (well, they do now if they've read this far), but we're knee deep in competition already! Anyone want to place a bet?

XBOX 360: Mass Effect (2007) - Should Be Call Mass Addiction Since I Did Nothing But Play it for About 35 Hours of Free Time Straight

WOW...there's nothing I can say about Bioware's Mass Effect that game critics everywhere haven't already said. Best game of the year is an understatement...this could possibly be the best game ever! I can't tell you too much about it because half the people I know are playing and I just finished it. I will NOT SPOIL the plot for anyone (and please don't in your comments either).

Mass Effect lets you play the role of Commander Shepard, the first name you get to choose and you also get to choose whether you're a male or female commander. Male or female changes the story slightly which is cool right from the start. I'm not going to detail your mission...let's just say that you're job is to save humanity and leave it at that. You can be good...you can be bad. You can be helpful or not. You can kill people that get in your way or in some cases, take them along with you for your mission. Holy choice making. This along with a pretty good shooter combat system and customizable character skill sets...oh...and AMAZING graphics, make this the best game I have ever played.

If you've ever played Knights of the Old Republic games on the original XBOX, the format will be familiar to you, but it's taken to the next level in Mass Effect. I can't rave about this game enough...I'm on my second play through. The first time, I played Shepard as a man and I pretty much played it neutral (I tried to be on the evil side, but some things I just couldn't do). My second time, I'm playing a female Shepard and she's going to hate on everyone. Katharine will play the goody goody Shepard, so I'll get to see how that story goes at some point too. She's warming up with a repeat play of Knights of the Old Republic so she won't get there for a little while.

Old Toys Vs. New Toys

Earlier today, I came across some of my old Star Wars figures from the 1970s and 1980s, and I was noticing how todays toys have so much more detail than my old toys did. I didn't care about detail at the time...I played for hours and hours, but check out this original R2D2 action figure that uses stickers for all of Artoo's textures next to one I picked up a year ago that looks like a tiny clone and actually beeps and burps like the real thing.

Yeah, it's true...it's sitting on top of an original Empire Strikes Back carrying case. You'd think that all of the originals would be worth something, but...no...they're not. Sometimes all this new details is cool...other times, it creates inaccuracies. For example...the new improved Darth Vader firgure is bulked up like a bodybuilder. Darth Vader was not a bodybuilder...he was...ahem...Hayden Christensen. Or if you prefer the original trilogy, like I do...he was David Prowse, Sebastian Shaw, and James Earl Jones...none of which were bodybuilders.