Star Trek Into Darkness breathes even more life into the franchise

As a child, there weren’t many weekends when I didn’t enjoy syndicated episodes of the original Star Trek series.  Both it and Star Wars were a way of life.  I was eight or so when The Next Generation premiered, and it furthered my love of Trek.  Although as I grew into adolescence I cared less and less about both science fiction and fantasy.  They just weren’t cool.  Then one thing happened that I thought put the nail in their coffin:  The Star Wars prequels.

Although I watched all three of them, they turned me off of sci-fi completely.  For years, there were no films or books in the genre I cared about.  George Lucas was akin to a Saddam Hussein or Adolph Hitler in my eyes.  He still is, truthfully, but there is now hope.  

The hope I speak of is J.J. Abrams.

An unexpected journey back to Middle Earth

Expectations weren’t very high when I popped The Hobbit:  An Unexpected journey into the DVD player last night.  After all, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is amazingly ten years old at this point, is easily the best fantasy movies ever made.  How can you ever top that?  To tell the truth, you can’t.

That becomes my biggest gripe with the first edition of The Hobbit.  The books were totally different works, as The Hobbit was made for a younger audience and reflects that, while The Lord of the Rings is quite serious and tells of a serious war for the future of Middle Earth.

The problem becomes that The Hobbit is a roughly 300 page book without the exquisite detail found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s other works.  Also, with the lighter tone there is only one option to extend it.  Basically, they’ve combined it with aspects of The Silmarillion, a dense work of Tolkien that reads more like medieval literature than a fantasy novel.

You can tell when they’re moving back and forth between the two very different works.  One second you are seeing something completely goofy and seemingly out of place, while the sequences from The Silmarillion lend a darker tone to the story.  Frankly, although the story is mostly derived from The Hobbit, the lighter toned scenes just seem quite out of place.  

More blame can be attributed to the short original work being stretched into three movies of three hours each.  Two movies would have been a stretch, but in a way it still works.  Jackson’s Middle Earth is a living breathing place, and I’m thankful to be a visitor yet again.

The story also crawls at the start, but once the fantastic action scenes and top rate cinematography take over, the pace quickens greatly.  I was left excited about the next edition, which thankfully debuts next month.

Quality:  7/10

Rewatchability:  8/10

Cena, Bryan to win at tonight's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view

My initial introduction to journalism was in the world of pro wrestling as a manager, referee, commentator, and booker/promoter for Texas’s Coastal States Wrestling Association and Louisiana’s Thunder Pro Wrestling.  Quickly, I’m going to offer my belief on how tonight’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view will turn out.

Curtis Axel vs. Big E. Langston

This match may not be happening, as I read earlier today that Axel has a legit injury.  This is a great move for Axel, who has petered on WWE television during recent weeks.  My belief is that this match would have been a win for the hilarious Langston, it was going to be through a disqualification as the big man hasn’t made his true impact on the WWE yet.

Rhodes Bros. vs. The Shield vs. The Usos

As a fan, I’m not into tag team matches that much.  In promoting they’re good for the talent because less in-ring time leads to less chance of injury, which is why you see so many tag team main events on the weekly live shows.  Amazingly, the tag division is going quite well for the federation currently, and there is a lot of talent in the ring for this one.  At the end of the match, look for the Rhodes brothers to come out on top.

A.J. Lee vs. Brie Bella

Lee is, quite frankly, a promoter’s dream as far as female talent goes.  She’s talented in the ring, cute, has charisma/stage presence, and a following.  The Bella Twins, from what I see as a non-fan of the Divas division, have one of those, a following.  Tonight, simply having a following could very well be enough due to the recent success of the Bella tv show on the E! channel.  In the backstage politics of professional wrestling, each respective twin dates main event level WWE talent in Daniel Bryan and John Cena, which makes their winning a little more likely.  Personally I’d book Lee to win, but this could honestly go either way.

C.M. Punk vs. Ryback and Paul Heyman

To use the vernacular of the WWE, I’m a Heyman guy.  He is a wrestling genius and solely responsible for some of the greatest wrestling moments in the past 30 years.  C.M. Punk, along with Daniel Bryan, are the two greatest assets to the WWE right now.  Sadly, Punk is paired with the increasingly-boring Ryback in the cell with the hope of there being a quality match produced.  Due to the fact that Punk is in the cell, I have a little faith.  This match is going to end with Ryback incapacitated, and Punk finally getting his hands on Heyman.

John Cena vs. Alberto del Rio

For children, this will be the match of the night.  I’m not into Cena, but can fully understand why he is at the main event level.  A match like this is only set up for Cena’s return.  Thankfully, that return involves him winning the title from a more deserving del Rio, instead of being thrown into the mix of the World Title with Bryan and Orton, he gets to compete for the lesser title.

Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton

I’m looking forward to this one.  As I’ve stated before, Bryan is the current shining star of the WWE.  He has the crowd in his favor, extreme amounts of in-ring talent, and an entertaining, although rehashed, storyline.  This one should be the match of the night with Bryan winning the title yet again.  Just be sure to expect further shenanigans from the McMahon family afterward.  

The Geeky DJ's SummerSlam preview

Once again it's time for the WWE's second biggest pay-per-view of the year, SummerSlam.

Personally, I feel that this year's card is much stronger than WrestleMania, and the WWE actually had a few interesting story lines developed coming into this big event.

So, sit back and enjoy my ideas on how this one should play out.

U.S. Championship:  Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

It's no secret that I believe ECW was the greatest United States based wrestling organization ever.  Its combination of well-developed storyline and interesting booking style changed the industry.  There also isn't much dispute to the fact that Rob Van Dam contributed greatly to that success.  His nickname was "The Whole Fuckin' Show" and in most cases, that's exactly what he was.  However, his performance outside of the hallowed halls of that dirty bingo hall in Philadelphia hasn't been as impressive from what I've seen.  Of course, you should keep in mind I didn't see much of him post-ECW.  I fail to understand why the WWE have picked him up on this current run with no real plans to use him.  He has recently been meandering from match to match, with no feud or even hope of one in the pipeline.

Dean Ambrose and The Shield, on the other hand, have been going strong since their debut last year.  They have consistently had feuds with main eventers and upper mid-carders.  Their faces are staples on Raw.  

This is also a dark match, scheduled for an hour before the official air time for the PPV.  There is no way Van Dam gets the title here.  The Shield will reign supreme.

Prediction:  Dean Abrose retains The United States title.

Natalya vs. Brie Bella

For those not in the know, the WWE recently launched a television show centered around the Divas on cable television.  I haven't seen it and won't.  Although the women of the WWE have consistently become better workers over the past decade, I just don't care.  I understand they need to advertise their new product, so there is two divas matches on the card for Summerslam.

Brie is apparently one of the bigger stars on the show form what I can gather.  Natalya is simply filling space in the ring for this one.

Prediction:  Brie Bella

Mutoh meets with TNA

Throughout my life, I've been a big fan of Keiji Mutoh, or "The Great Muta" as many know him.

The innovative Japanese wrestler, who has worked for both New Japan and All Japan pro wrestling companies in Japan, as well as WCW in the United states, is a true legend that is currently heading up the Wrestle-1 promotion.

It thrilled me to see a picture of him meeting with Jeff Jarrett of TNA wrestling for an undisclosed reason on Rajah.  One can only hope that a talent sharing agreement was reached and that we will see some Japanese talent headed stateside.

Trailer released for SyFy's cosplay reality series

Yes, I'm critical of both SyFy and reality television, but the network has released a trailer for their upcoming series Heroes of Cosplay and it doesn't look horrible.

The premiere is August 13 and I'll definitely see it eventually as I'm horrible at actually remembering to watch weekly shows.  I do wonder how cosplayers feel about this show.

Living legends square off in wrestling ring

Japanese wrestling, or puroresu, is quite different than what you get in America.  I was browsing YouTube today when I came across this gem that puts the living Tiger Masks (I, III, and IV) vs. Ultimo Dragon, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, and The Great Sasuke.

Every person participating in this match is a living legend in the wrestling business, despite you having never heard their name.  Take a few moments and enjoy the difference.