Two Reasons to Watch

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Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock have fought twice. Ortiz has won both fights. Most folks in the know expect him to win again when the two warriors square off in the octagon on Tuesday night. So if everything points to another Shamrock win, why is everyone so interested?

I believe that it’s because of two reasons: 1] They really, and I mean really hate each other and 2] because when anything can happen when two skilled men are trying to knock each other out.

You can see the pre-fight weigh-in on Monday at 8pm on SPIKE. Then tune in to watch the fight for free at 8pm on Tuesday on SPIKE.

Predictions?

"Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan vs Cowby Bob Ellis

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When I was growing up in the midwest in the late 60’s and early 70’s I was a huge pro wrestling fan. My favorite tag team wrestlers were The Blackjacks [Mulligan & Lanza] with manager “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan.

Sometimes Heenan would even get involved in matches [usually against his will]. If you watch today’s video you’ll see a match where Heenan was signed to wrestle crowd favorite “Cowboy” Bob Ellis. Despite the fact that Heenan had recently busted his knee, he went down to the ring on crutches to seek a short postponement… of maybe six or seven months… click below and you’ll see what happens when the match is forced to go on.

 

Gray, Brown and Gone

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Recently some pics turned up from three movies that I’m keeping an eye on.
The first is from “I am Legend” starring Wil Smith. JoBlow.com posted up a shot of Smith in character. Ain’t It Cool News also posted some location shots. I’ve got to say that I’m a bit surprised by Smith’s gray hair. Maybe his character is a bit older [nothing wrong with that] or maybe he’s just trying out the Tom Cruise “Collateral” look.

Meanwhile over at Ain’t It Cool News [again] they’ve posted some location shots of Kurt Russell on Tarantino’s “Death Proof.” Most of you remember [and now all of you know] “Death Proof” is Tarantino’s contribution to his GrindHouse double feature with Robert Rodriguez.

The Baltimore Sun recently posted some shots of Bruce Willis on location filming “Live Free or Die Hard.” I’ve enjoyed all of the “Die Hard” movies. The original even started a whole new sub-genre to the action picture. I hope that “Live Free” is a welcome addition to the others in the series. Willis has never hidden the fact that’s he’s bald and has appeared in movies without a hairpiece… so why do these pictures look so different?

Comments?

Chaykin’s Blade

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If you’ve been keeping up, then you know that I’m looking forward to Howard Chaykin’s art on the soon to be released Blade comic series from Marvel. Heck, you’ve probably read my post about it here and here. And since you’ve been keeping up, you probably already read this interview with Chaykin.

I guess the only thing left is to buy the comic!

 

Today We Die!

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My buddy, John Beatty, and I have been taking trips together since we were teenagers. So about 30 years ago, before we headed off on a short trip to Orlando, one of us looked at the other and said, “I really feel like we’re going to get in a wreck today.” Of course we didn’t, but that didn’t stop the creepy feeling that that simple statement gave us.It became a kind of joke with us. We’d be pulling out for a trip to Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, or any destination and one of us would say to the other “I really feel like we’re going to get in a wreck today.” Over the years the statement even occasionally changed to “I really feel like we’re going to be killed in a car wreck today.” Of course whoever is driving then has to make sure that the prediction doesn’t come true. So far I’m 100% and John is pretty close to that.

So in honor of a stupid statement that we continue to toss at each other [of course NEVER when my wife or kids are riding with us], I give you Today We Die!

Scary Funny [2006]

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When I was in college I worked at a Burger Chef. I was the “morning manager” and it was my job to go in at 5am and oversee breakfast preparations. I was the first one in and then two or three other employees would arrive as we got closer to opening. One morning, Denise [who was going to school to be a hair stylist] and I decided to play a prank on Phil. We took one of her wig “heads” and placed it in the ice machine. We then put ketchup around the head. When Phil arrived it was still dark out. Before he could even get out of his car, I was calling for him to hurry up and come in. He hustled over and in and I quickly locked the door. I told him that a police officer had been by to warn us that a killer was loose in the area. [And as I told the story, Denise played it up by looking quite frightened and nodding her head]. I said that the cop had told me that at least three people had been murdered with an axe! He said that we should be especially careful and report anything out of the norm.

Phil thought that maybe we shouldn’t open. I assured him that we were safe inside and that soon customers would arrive and it would be light out. I said as long as we stay inside everything will be fine. We all began prepping.

One of Phil’s jobs was to stock the soda bins with ice. He did his other duties, but you can be sure that when he was ready to get ice, Denise and I had positioned ourselves where we could see him. Phil went over, opened the ice machine, saw the “bloody head,” let out as scream and started to run backwards! LOL! Of course he realized that it was a mannequin almost as soon as the scream left his mouth… but by then it was too late. Denise and I were laughing so hard we couldn’t stand. Even Phil started laughing… of course for the next few weeks we all were on guard for pranks.

 

“A History of Violence” / Z-View

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I finally got around to seeing “A History of Violence” and it totally lived up to my high expectations. If you haven’t seen it yet, and plan to, then by all means avoid the rest of today’s post since it will contain spoilers.I was impressed with all aspects of the film. In fact, “A History of Violence” now ties “The Dead Zone” as my all time favorite David Cronenberg film. The cast was equally impressive [Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bella and the always excellent Ed Harris].

I’d also like to give special mention to William Hurt. Hurt is not one of my favorite actors, and since “Body Heat” I can’t think of any of his roles that I’ve really liked… that is until now. He was perfect as Richie Cusack. Absolutely perfect! [And if you happened to catch Hurt‘s role as the hitman in TNT‘s recent adaptation of Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes, he was just as good, if not better!]

The thing that kept staying on my mind after watching “A History of Violence” was the dual nature in all of us. All of the major characters in the film displayed a duality that was interesting, but it was Viggo’s character that set everything in motion. So… was Viggo really Tom Stall or Joey Cusak? The things that Joey did made him a crazy killer, but the same actions made Tom Stall a hero.

Tom’s wife thought he was the greatest man in the world until she saw what he was capable of. Then she was repulsed and attracted to him. How does that work? And why?

“A History of Violence” works on so many levels. I guess even movies have a dual nature.

If you saw the movie, I’d love to hear your thoughts. “A History of Violence” rates an A+