Braun Is The New Show

I want to revisit the blurb that I wrote back in February 2008 regarding a WWE PPV that saw the return of the Big Show and his first act is to get punked by Floyd Mayweather… this after, well… here’s the blurb.

“So last night, Paul “Big Show” Wight made his return to WWE, only to get punked out by a boxer. Word has it Wight was supposed to make his return last month at the Rumble, but some creative forces thought it would be a bad idea to have him lose the Rumble. But getting punked out by a boxer is a good idea?

“Whose bright idea was that? Meh…”
Moral of the story? If you think WWE fucking up someone as big as Braun Strowman and turning him into just another geek is anything new, you clearly haven’t been watching this company for as long as I have.

Power Rangers Reflections #21 – A Friend In Need

It’s A Friend In Need… indeed! It’s the Season 3 premiere of Mighty Morphin! It’s a 3-parter! It’s the first time we’re introduced to The Masked Rider before his eventual short-lived television show! It’s the first crossover between Power Rangers and Masked Rider, long before Super Sentai and Kamen Rider would do such a thing decades later! It’s… not worthy of a full write-up.

So we’re doing the points system here… but a bit differently, because this multi-part episode has three different plotlines going on and the points system is the way to go since we can focus on each of these plotpoints separately.

Continue reading “Power Rangers Reflections #21 – A Friend In Need”

The Full List Of Eight Games On Anniversary Collection: Castlevania

For curious parties, news broke as it relates to the full game listing of Konami’s upcoming Castlevania collection that is due for release May 16th. The eight games to be included are:

– Castlevania (NES)
– Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES)
– Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES)
– Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
– Castlevania: The Adventure (GB)
– Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (GB)
– Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis)
– Kid Dracula (Famicom)

Purchases are region-specific, so if you buy this in Japan, you get the Japanese releases while non-Japan purchases gain the English versions. So, a fair standard lot of games, with the only real standout being Bloodlines seeing a re-release for the first time in decades as well as the first time non-Japanese audiences (who wouldn’t have resorted to imports or emulation, that is) will experience the Famicom Kid Dracula… although in hindsight, I would’ve preferred the MSX Vampire Killer instead. Still a fairly basic collection for those who never experienced the early games.

For the record, I’ve yet to play Konami’s recent arcade collection, but I might give it a shot somewhere down the line. If nothing else, it should be a good indication as to how the rest of the collections would turn out.

Our Lady…

So I just heard the news as soon as I got back late last night.

For those who haven’t heard, a fire broke out at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The fire had been contained, but not before causing considerable damage that resulted in the spire and roof collapsing in on itself. At the moment, there have been no fatalities; although one fire fighter was injured in the fire control.

It’s difficult to put into words what one feels when they hear something like this happen. It’s not just a fire taking out a building, but something that has existed for hundreds of years. It’s not an iconic structure, but a piece of history lost to the whims of nature. And while the main structure has been saved and there will undoubtedly be efforts to rebuild the structure, the sad reality is that you cannot replace what has been lost.

The Notre Dame Cathedral will survive, but it has been drastically changed from this terrible tragedy. Whatever they rebuild in the place of what’s been lost might look similar to what came before or it might even be completely different, but it will not be the same as what was once there. It can never be that.

We mourn what is lost… but then we get together, we grow stronger, and we continue onwards. Life goes on.

So, that was my sad attempt at being inspirational. I’ll resume the usual senseless ramblings tomorrow.