Category: The Bite Commentaries (2024-2026)

The current Bite commentary series, touching on the stuff that isn’t always fun and with a sharper tongue than usual. I try to do at least one of these a month, but not always.

THE BITE COMMENTARY #20 – Forty-Five

“Oh! You’re having a birthday? That means you’re one step closer to death.”

That’s a line from the old Sailor Moon anime spoken by Minako “Sailor Venus” Aino in response to Usagi “Sailor Moon” Tsukino’s declaration that her birthday’s coming up. It’s supposed to be a funny line, but at the same time, there is a hint of truth behind that statement. Every year that goes by, the door to the great beyond inches its way ever so closely. Fewer of those ahead than there are behind us. That sort of thing.

That’s what these birthdays start to feel like after a while. One step closer to death.

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THE BITE COMMENTARY #19 – The (Not So) New 52!

Next month – August 31st, to be precise – will mark the 15th anniversary of The New 52!

The 2011 attempt by DC Comics to reboot their entire universe, kicked off by the five-issue event comic Flashpoint – which would be used as the basis for the Ezra Miller Flash movie that James Gunn declared “the greatest superhero film ever made” or something – which was done in a rush and without any prior warning ahead of time to give creators time to flesh out their plans, save for a select few involved who got to keep their continuities going despite the whole thing being a “clean slate” for all.

Five years later, the New 52 would slowly be phased in favor of a “Rebirth” that restored elements of pre-New 52 continuity.

There are a lot of pieces and articles out there that can dive into the whole history of The New 52 – here’s one example here – but this commentary is less about how the world viewed The New 52, but rather my own reaction to the whole deal… or perhaps a lack thereof.

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THE BITE COMMENTARY #18 – The Wrestling ReCap

So we’ve spent a whole month (June) not talking about wrestling… hence the reason why I didn’t specify the name of that extreme television program that aired on SciFi in 2006 (and also because it’s no longer around, so… oops, I guess). But now that that moratorium has come to an end, we might as well catch up on everything that has happened since the last time we touched wrestling, which would have been around the time of the post-PPV edition of Dynamite back in May.

For long time visitors of this web venture that has spanned multiple services over the course two and a half decades, consider this a sort of return to the old school format that this Bite commentary used to adopt before its first retirement in 2012. Hell, those who remember the short-lived Wrestling Rants of 2002 might see this as equally at home.

Believe me when I say that we’re going to have fun with a lot of these things.

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THE BITE Commentary #17 – 20 Years Of A Rebirth

Twenty years ago – June, 6th, 2006… or 06-06-06 as the cool kids called it – I posted the 50th edition of the original Bite commentary series.

It was the first commentary post that I did since the series sort of went on a silent hiatus in 2004. Most of the post was reminiscing about the very first commentary that was posted in 2002 – June 23rd… we’ll wait until next year to post a special on that piece of business next year… assuming we make it that far, of course.

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THE BITE COMMENTARY #16 – One Year Later

I don’t feel like whipping up a new banner for this one, so here’s a picture of Maya sleeping with a copy of Robotron 2084 for Atari 7800. If this doesn’t warm your heart, it’s probably because you don’t have one.

Normally, I’d be posting a written review of sorts since that’s sort of the regular deal (and I sort of skipped one last week to make way for our other regular feature of letting the world know on every 31st day of the month that I have yet to watch the Star Trek: Section 31 streaming television feature starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh), but when I saw the date, I opted for this commentary instead.

For you see, today marks one year since I was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism that left me short of breath and was on the verge of taking my life… or so I’ve been told.

I haven’t been keeping you folks up on the recovery process because, well, there’s not much to report; I take medication every day, I go for in for the barrage of checkups on various things, and we continue accordingly. And then there are some folks who have no clue what I’m talking about, so this is what today’s commentary will be about; a refresher of what happened last year, what we’ve been doing to get better, and where we’re at now.

Your usual happy-feeling fun time will resume tomorrow unless I can find another fun video for the Extra Bits. Beyond that, sit tight.

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THE BITE COMMENTARIES #15 – Star Trek Through Apathy

Star Trek is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. The original series first aired in 1966 and has been on a roller coaster ride of sorts since that time, having seen multiple motion pictures, feature films, and animated projects under its belt. It has ridden the wave of fan support that produced a multitude of side material such as novels, comic books, interactive games, action figures, starship models, and other things. And it currently has a hit show on the Paramount+ streaming service. It should be a great time for Star Trek.

“Oh, but here comes crusty old Dave to rant and rave about how the current product sucks and how he misses the old days.”

Well, you’re half right. I do miss the old days when I actually looked forward to new Star Trek shows and movies. You’re kinda wrong about the show sucking, though. I’ve yet to see Starfleet Academy – never been big on young adult fare and me being a not-young adult anymore doesn’t help matters either – but I’ve heard generally favorable things from those who have. It’s hard to be invested in a franchise whose future seems to be in a state of flux, what with all the rumors surrounding ownerships and mergers. Will there even be new Star Trek after this current crop ends? Should there even be new Star Trek at this point?

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THE BITE COMMENTARIES #14 – The Malaise Of Modern Wrestling

So the Royal Rumble happened last month, emanating from the benevolent and progressive kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is the first time that WWE has held the Royal Rumble event outside of North America, where citizens of the benevolent and progressive kingdom of Saudi Arabia bore witness to the usual extravagant event that had already been paid for by the prince.

Normally, around this time, I would post some thoughts on the Rumble event under the Royal Ramble banner of this blog… but this year I’m going to do something a little bit different. See, a funny thing happened this year that I didn’t think would ever occur in all my years of watching wrestling. The Royal Rumble came and went… and I completely forgot about it.

Perhaps this had been due to the fact that last year’s event was held in February rather than its usual end of January slate, but the fact remained that I was rather busy that weekend and when I got on my computer late Sunday, I noticed that there were news bits on the Rumble and that’s when I went “Oh wait. That was today.” It’s not even a matter of forgetting it was taking place early (other side of the world, after all). It was a matter of forgetting that it was even a thing.

It was at this point that I realized… wow, I missed the Rumble. And I didn’t care.

What happened?

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THE BITE COMMENTARIES #13 – John Cena Gives Up

Yes, we’re talking about this a month after the fact. And yes, the dust has settled a bit. And yes, there will continue to be discourse surrounding the end of John Cena’s legendary WWE run. And I had not really planned on giving this subject matter much more thought than the one post I did last month… but a couple things occurred that caused me to give this more thought than necessary and this, along with a message that came my way a short while ago, sort of dawned this epiphany of sorts as it relates to this whole deal.

Unfortunately for those hoping for another voice in the “John Cena Shouldn’t Have Lost” or “John Cena Shouldn’t Have Given Up” camp, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. In fact, I’m going to highlight something that you folks SHOULD have figured from the very beginning of this whole Last Time business.

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THE BITE COMMENTARIES #11 – The Force Undead

So, if all goes according to plan, today’s post should publish on the very same day that, ten years ago, the first Star Wars film of the Disney ownership era as well as the start of a new Star Wars sequel trilogy – The Force Awakens – hit movie theaters to usher in a new era of Star Wars that is new and different… although you wouldn’t have been able to tell from watching the movie.

At the time of release, people considered it to be a return to form after the polarizing prequels. For some, it felt like Star Wars again… for others, it felt too much like Star Wars; to the point of almost being a carbon copy of the original film from 1977.

And then The Last Jedi came along and pretty much shat the bed that The Force Awakens set with its dogged insistence in subverting your expectations; something that has become a meme over the years in and of itself. Regardless of your opinion on the film – and I’ve made my feelings perfectly clear – the fact is that the second chapter of the new trilogy was a divisive film and brought about an air of uncertainty among the Star Wars faithful. And then Solo came along… and finally, The Rise Of Skywalker ended the sequels and any subsequent hope for further annual Star Wars feature films, relegating the franchise to limited series runs on Disney+.

What began as a sign that things were going to be okay… turned out to be anything but… and when one revisits The Force Awakens ten years removed from its initial release, with all these other films out there and everything that has happened, is the movie as good as it was? Has it aged poorly? Was it ever that good to begin with?

The answer is… complicated.

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