Ex Illis Demo Thoughts

Yep. I'm back. And hopefully I won't be taking as long a break as this last one...And I know I keep saying that.

So this past Saturday I was treated to an appearance of Eric Harlaux (formerly of the Asmodee game company) who I have interviewed a few times from Dreamation and Dexcon and who had been sorely missed at those conventions over the last year (for those who saw the Opening Ceremonies video at Dexcon (which we will have posted sometime soonish as my PC decided to kill itself and I have not had the opportunity to get it repaired) he had quite an entertaining impact on the shows). Eric stopped by The Only Game In Town in Somerville NJ to show off Ex Illis, a game that Bastion Studio is developing.

Ex Illis is a miniatures game with a twist. It uses a computer (or Ipod Touch) to replace the dice rolling that is common in war games. I was skeptical of this approach, especially since many minis players have their own superstitions when it comes to dice rolling, and you can actually see the outcome of the actions you are taking. I was given the opportunity to demo the game with the kit they brought with them.

My first impressions of the game: I like the plastic tiles that come with the Deluxe starter (I forget what they call it) because it gives a little depth to the playing field. I also appreciated the fact that the packaging that came with the Deluxe Starter was built to hold the plastic tiles, and they include little clips to prevent the tiles from sitting on each other and scratching the paint job that would take time to complete.

The miniatures themselves look pretty cool. Well at least the human models. The demon imps and the huge construct looking things were a little awkward, but what can you do. There is a wide variety of different units in the game and a few of the look fun to paint. The minis do come on a sprue and you would have to assemble and paint them, but for myself and other miniature players that is half (or even more) of the fun.

Now for the demo. The demo was set up for a 3x3 grid as our playing field. My opponent and I each had control of 3 units a piece. The program asked us for terrain pieces which allowed us to place a forest and some fencing in some of the grids. On the application it was as easy as dragging the forest to the square that it was going to be on, and then taking a forest that the store had and putting it in that same square on the real board. We then placed our units in our starting areas and pressed play and we were off.

The program we were using was being hosted on an Ipod touch (or Iphone as I don't really know the difference) and we were playing in Hot Seat mode, which meant we were both playing with the same device running the program. There is the option for both players to have their own devices which would prevent you from passing the device or standing up to allow the other player to be in front of the computer. The program tells you which unit has the initiative to go first, and unlike any minis game I have ever played, you aren't moving and shooting and doing other actions for all of your units all at once. It may switch back and forth as it did with my opponent, where I had the first unit that could do something and then he had 2 units that did actions, then one for me then one for him and back to me for my last unit and then my first unit again. Most minis games have one player do everything he is going to do and then have the other player do everything. I feel this gives the game a little more strategy and realism as you can react differently and assess threats better.

The program shows you what actions the unit can take, and there is a help toggle that lets you click on an action button and it will tell you what the action does, and the amount of stamina the action takes. You then toggle off the help and select what action you want your unit to take, from moving, to charging to ranged attacks, to a defensive stance. Let's say I have a unit charge into another square with my opponent's unit in it. The program will show an animation while it is calculating the hits, misses, and armor saves that happen in the game, and then tell you to remove how ever many models may have been killed. As the player you should have moved the unit into the square with your enemy. It was pretty simple and easy. The most complex thing that I had to figure out was what each of the actions did since I was unfamiliar with the icons that were displayed, but aside from that it was straight forward.

Now in the demo the point was to destroy all of the opposing units. I believe that is also the goal of the regular game. All in all it took my opponent and I about 15 minutes to play our our demo. Part of that was trash talking since we are buddies, but the game was fast paced.

I saw the paper map that the regular start comes with, and after comparing it to the plastic tiles the tiles are a lot better. They can be configured in different ways, they have depth and texture. The paper map was ok, it was glossy and colored, but nothing compared to the tiles.

I spoke with Giancarlo and Eric after the demo and gave them the good ol' Diabolik hard hitting, no punches pulled reaction to the game. I threw questions at them, such as whether there would be a way to play without the computer, which is a no since there are so many calculations that come into play. One of the pitch statements they used was that I wouldn't have to carry around my rulebook and codex to reference things. My retort was that I had to bring a laptop with my minis to play the game. They retorted with I could use an Ipod Touch, which I pointed out I did not own, nor did I have an intention of owning one. I also pointed out, and mainly because they seemed to be dismissing my opinion, that there could be times that I would not have a place to plug in a laptop where it would be a safe solution, in particular the room I was in doing the demo, especially if it was crowded. Aside from them dismissing that argument they were very excited about the game and they wanted us to ask questions.

Now the way I understand it is that the starter sets are supposed to be entirely fielded against each other. All 54 models (which to be honest is not a lot of models if you are used to minis games...) against another 54 models. The idea here is that your models earn experience points and they can level up and get better skills or spells or what have you. this is something that you never see with traditional minis games, aside from the smaller scale things like Mordheim. And I loved Mordheim because I was able to level up my guys and they could get injured or killed. From there they will be releasing more units about every month they say (I kind of hope it's like every 2 months to allow things a better pace).

All in all I will be getting into this game and I look forward to playing it. Plus sides are cool models, cool maps (with the deluxe one), earning experience, and quickness of the game. Downsides are needing the computer or Ipod, lack of opponents to gain experience when I have the free time, according to Giancarlo the fact that I would have to choose to split my models into 2 armies to play someone else or as one army which means I can't loan someone my models to teach them how to play. The software end of things seems to limit my ability to get people into the game where I would have to decide to split my models or use the whole thing. I suggested him looking into the ability to switch between the two, or have a demo mode set up in the software to allow me to switch and show someone using my models and then switch back and play someone with my full forces.

I look forward to this game coming out. To the point where I might be tempted to buy an Ipod Touch just so I can play the game without needing to move my laptop every time I want to play.

Check out the Ex Illis Website for more information.

Transformers 2 Review - Spoilers and Anger inside

I went to see Transformers 2 last night. I must state that this post will have spoilers. And anger. And let me say that I enjoyed the first movie. I was looking forward to this movie.

So the movie starts out by telling us that the Autobots have teamed up with the US Military to hunt down and destroy Decepticons because they are looking for something. So they airlift Optimus into China to beat up in a Decepticon (I have no idea if they named it or not) and it was hard to tell what was going on in the fight since everything looked like metal moving around with the camera a little too close at times.

And then we find Spike/Sam is about to leave for college. He's talking to Megan Fox and talking about him giving her his torn up sweatshirt from the first movie when a shard of the Allspark falls out of it... BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT WHO IS HELL BENT ON KEEPING THE CYBERTRONIANS A SECRET DIDN'T CHECK THE KID WHO JUST DEFEATED MEGATRON WITH A METAL BOX. Nope. He deactivated Megatron and they said good job, here's a pat on the back and head on home. We'll help your family pay for stuff and let you keep an alien car in your garage, but we won't check you for other instances of alien technology.

But I digress. So Spike/Sam goes to pick up the shard and it either shocks him or burns him and he drops it and it burns through the floor and the table and the floor and makes all the appliances in the house go crazy.....BECAUSE THE KID HAD CARRIED THE ALLSPARK AROUND THE GODDAMN CITY AND IT NEVER HURT HIM, BUT NOW THIS LITTLE PIECE HURTS HIM. Not to mention how the Allspark fucking made a shard.

Again, I digress. So he gives the shard to Megan Fox (so we have have more reasons to see her sweaty and in skimpy clothes) and she locks it in her safe. Yep. Let's not turn that piece of alien artifact over to the military so that Decepticons don't come and try to rape me, instead my safe is going to protect it and my virtue. Well not my virtue as I lost that when I deflowered Spike/Sam.

Soundwave hacks a military satellite and eavesdrops on the most non secure conversation about top secret topics I think I could imagine. So he finds out where this other shard of the Allspark is located and also where Megatron is being kept. So he shoots Ravage down to the planet and he prances around for a bit before vomiting down an exhaust shaft and releasing a billion marbles that all roll out onto the floor where the shard is kept, and they all transform into tiny little Decepticons and then they all form up into on really flat robot (never named but maybe it was supposed to be rumble) who steals the shard and then the Destructicons take the shard down to Megatron and awaken him and he jumps out of the ocean and flies into space where he easily finds Starscream who has been breeding little Decepticons without the proper amount of Energon (was this the first mention of Energon in the movie franchise?). Megatron belittles Starscream and then goes and talks to his Master, The Fallen. Now in a franchise where everything is named...why is this character named for his status and not a real name. And the back story they give him later doesn't even say he had a different name (or if it did it was not clear) so wouldn't you assume that in a group of 7 guys that are working together, the one named The Fallen is going to do something that makes him, I dunno, fall out of favor with you? I mean if he joined the group and said "Hi, I'm The Fallen" I think I would just slit his throat and not worry about being betrayed later.

And yet again, I digress.

So the fallen tells us that only a Prime can defeat him, but because there is only one Prime left he doesn't bother to go down to try and help get the thing that will give them Energon.

While this is going on Spike/Sam has had a map downloaded into his brain that should be leading to this the key to allow access to the machine that will gather Energon. He starts going a little crazy, but there is one blonde girl that is all sorts of interested in him even though if this were me no woman would have talked to me after what she went through. Megan Fox flies from LA (with a Decepticon in a trunk that isn't flagged by airport security, go figure) to wherever vaguely veiled place Spike/Sam was going to school just in time to see Spike/Sam making out with this girl. Well it turns out she is a Decepticon....YES A DECEPTICON THAT CAN TRANSFORM INTO A HUMAN....BECAUSE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY EASIER THAN TRYING TO TURN INTO A TANK OR A BUS OR A CAR OR A BOOMBOX. Then they would have, I dunno, been harder to detect. So hot terminator Decepticon tries to rape the mind of Spike/Sam because they have figured out that he downloaded this map from the Shard. WHY DIDN"T THIS MAP DOWNLOAD INTO HIM IN THE FIRST MOVIE?!?!?!? HE WAS HOLDING THE WHOLE ALLSPARK!

So female transforming terminator gets beaten by Megan Fox running a car into a big pot. Speaking of pot, Spike/Sam's mom getting fucked up on pot brownies was funny, but very unnecessary. So Spike/Sam and Megan Fox and the whiny roommate get captured and Megatron is going to remove Spike/Sam's brain and then they are rescued (without clear definition as to how the Autobots found them) and then Optimus (I think) fights like every Decepticon and ends up getting killed and then the rest of the Autobots show up. Why the other Autobots weren't with Optimus I will never figure out.

So Optimus is dead, Megatron and The Fallen declare that they want Spike/Sam's head and he goes into hiding. Then they go and track down this guy who runs a website that turns out to be the Section 7 commander (John Turturro) who then shows them classified stolen files that he conveniently had the opportunity to steal from Section 7 before he was fired. Then they go talk to the captured Decepticon that Megan Fox is carrying around who translates the symbols that Spike/Sam is seeing and that leads them to the Aerospace Museum where the shard of the AllSpark activates an Ancient Transformer that is disguised as a Blackbird who switched sides from Decepticons to Autobots but needs a cane to move around and is suffering from dementia. I'd love to know when he took the form of the Blackbird and when he was put into the Aerospace Museum because he would have had to be working at some point between 1964 and 1998 but he is acting like he is super old. Jetfire transports them to Egypt and then tells the story of the Matrix of Power and how The Fallen betrayed (SHOCKER!) the other Primes and they stole the Matrix of Power and hid it so he couldn't activate a giant machine that would destroy the Sun and convert it into Energon.

So we have Bumblebee, Mudflap, and Skidz and Megan Fox and annoying roommate, S7 guy and Spike/Sam in the desert trying to figure out the riddle that Jetfire left them with. So Spike/Sam figures it out and they head to the place that they think it leads to and then Skidz and Mudflap fight and break a way (conveniently) into the chamber where the Primes are hidden that conveniently had a whole building built around them. Spike/Sam lifts up the Matrix of Leadership and it disintegrates and then Spike/Sam scoops it up and puts it in a sock. Yep, a sock. I have no idea where the sock came from, but a sock.

In this process they have asked for the dead body of Optimus to be dropped off in the middle of the desert so that Spike/Sam can resurrect him and the NEST guys (the military branch that is working with the Autobots) go AWOL and get their command structure to back them without question. They then sit in the desert and wait for the Decepticons to attack or wait for Spike/Sam to show up to bring Optimus back to life. Then we get like 12 Decepticons that show up in the desert to blow stuff up and Spike/Sam and Megan Fox run 4 miles through the desert, run into Spike/Sam's kidnapped parents, tell his parents to get in Bumblebee and leave, but when Megan Fox wants to go with him he just gives up and they start running again. 5 minutes of fighting with his dad but 2 seconds with his girl. And then we get 22 minutes of Megan Fox running in slow motion with explosions going off around her. And Spike/Sam. But I wasn't paying attention to him. In fact I think the camera was actually centered on her so that we couldn't see him that much.

Devastator combines and starts eating stuff and one of the Skidz/Mudflap transformers ends up getting sucked up into his mouth and then he starts beating him up from the inside of his mouth. Then Devastator is climbing and destroying a pyramid that conveniently is built around the major Energon Sun destroying machine and John Turturro follows him up and calls in a Rail Gun strike on Devastator after we see 2 wrecking balls hanging on the underside of his body. Like a scrotum. In fact John Turturro points this fact out. WHY WERE THERE 2 WRECKING BALLS IN THE DESTRUCITCONS?!?!? Anyway, the rail gun fucks up Devastator and he falls apart.

Spike/Sam gets blown up and is lying on the ground while people are performing CPR and the Matrix of Socks is spilling all over him and then we see him talking to the other Primes and they bring him back and reform the Matrix and he stabs it into Optimus and Optimus wakes up. The Fallen then steals the Matrix from his chest and flies up to the top of the pyramid that Devastator was destroying and activates the machine with it. Then Jetfire comes down, kicks a little ass and then rips himself apart to allow Optimus to use his parts to become stronger. Optimus then gets to be a Jet Truck and he goes and beats the ball bearings out of The Fallen and Megatron and Starscream retreat and Optimus doesn't fly after them to kill them.

Then Optimus is standing on the deck of an Aircraft carrier with Spike/Sam and he says some things as narration about the history that the humans and the Transformers had and then the movie ended. And then we get little quick scenes of Spike/Sam back in classes and such.

So I must ask, why did they not use the rail gun to blow up the big machine that could destroy the sun? Why did Devastator have testicles? Why did the movie have no good ending? Why didn't Strascream shoot an injured Megatron in the back of the head and take control of the Decepticons?

All in all the movie felt like it was Michael Bay jerking off all over the screen for our money. Luckily I did not pay anything for the movie.

So if you have the option and aren't too heavily invested in the movie franchise, just skip this movie. You can spend that money on something much better.

MARKCON II

So I was invited to a super exclusive gaming convention taking place in a super secret location. There was a large variety of board games, card games, and a little RPG talk.

When I got there I was invited to play a gamer called Acquire, where players build hotel chains and obtain stock and see who has the most money at the end of the game. It was fun and slightly strategic.

After that I was asked to play Carcassonne Hunter & Gatherers. This was my first foray into Carcassonne as a board game (I played it on XBOX Live Arcade at Rich's house) and I did terrible. But I had fun and got to talk to some new gamers.

I followed up the Carcassonne with a VS game followed by a 10 person, 1 lap game of Formula De which was such a clusterfuck in the end. I started out at the back of the pack and ended up taking 5th place overall. We originally were going to run a 2 lap game and if we had we would have had 3 of the top 5 in the game crash on the first turn of the second lap. That is a great game and i look forward to playing it again (though with less players)

Betrayal at House on the Hill was next. I love that game. We ended up getting the Cannibal Feast scenario and I was the traitor. I got to cook up some human vittles after the feisty little girl tried to take me out.

All in all it was a fun experience and I met some really great people and gamers. We have a Magic draft and more random games scheduled to play. I'm looking forward to it. The con is great because it is invite only and I can actually play games. And there are some writers from Goodman Games attending so I have been talking about the D&D 3.5 vs 4.0 qualities. They both think 4.0 sucks, and we have plans to make shirts based off a comment that I made....

And it looks like Loudtwitter is working again so expect more randomness from me if that is the case.

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up T-Minus 2 Hours...

Watching April 9's Impact....

Sting calls out Jarrett....he wants to know why Foley was allowed to book a match between Joe and Sting.....Jarrett is the one "calling the shots" in TNA.....Sting wants a warm up match for Foley tonight.....Motorcity Machine Guns come out to the ring....Shelley calling out the fact that Foley is in charge....Shelley wants the MMG against Foley for a handicap match as a warm up for Lockdown.....

JB is with Foley....Foley is proud of the fact that Jarrett is taking the reins of the companys again....Foley says he is going to tweak the match....

A Jeff Jarrett DVD....hmmmm....not so much....

Don West is still heel marking....ironically he is talking about people discriminating against Bashir and then says that with Bashir's background he could snap....Bashir pins Suicide after a DDT on the X-Division title....

I love the blood effect on the cage in the video for Lockdown....

Rhino is offering to train the Petty Officer that came down at Destination X to become a wrestler....

The Rough Cuts with Team 3D have been pretty cool....I like shoot interviews normally and this is an interesting take on it...

Foley's tweak on the match is a First Blood Match with Sting as the special guest enforcers...and Jarrett at ringside for some reason...."Have a nice evening"??? Did he get hit with a lawsuit for the Have a Nice Day thing?

Booker talks about Sharmel being taken by Joe....

Joe's tattoo isn't real??? Damn....I guess Steiner wasn't lying about the facepaint...

The governor is Daffeney???? Cool.....

WHY ARE WE WASTING MORE FUCKING TIME ON THIS STUPID ODB DATE THING?!?!?!?!

MMG is offering to put up the IWGP Junior Tag Titles against Foley.....

Nash interferes in a match involving Beer Money and Steiner and Team 3D comes in to protect them....

Foley vs MMG....first blood match....Ref tries to stop the match because of some blood on Mr. Socko....Foley wants to bust someone open.....Sting hits Foley with a chair....which busts Foley open and the MMG win....Foley and Sting go at it....

One more episode....2 hours....I might actually get this done on the drive to the arena...

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up T-Minus 2:50

Yep....another episode....Watching April 2 right now.....

Joe doesn't want to be the captain of the team....AJ is asked to take the reins and he says no...he says that Jarrett should be the captain....Steiner comes to the ring and starts talking about his personal relationship with Jarrett.....trying to recruit Jarrett into the Mafia....

Team 3D being challenged by the MEM security....lol....

The Foley interview with Tenay was briliant....losing his mind is always a great angle....

Yay! Another Dr. Stevie segment....A fucking I'll Show You reference!!!!!!!! All I needed was a "You'll See!" and I think I would have fucking passed out....BRILLIANT!

Team 3D beats the MEM Security and then get beat down....Beer Money comes in and saves them in an odd sense of honor and respect....I actually have more respect for them now....

MEM is in the ring and Foley is in the rafters with a barbed wire baseball bat....and he booked a match for Sting (non-title) against Samoa Joe....

I get another Dr. Stevie segment....with the Governor???

I love the video package for Lockdown...it has Christian taking so much abuse....

Maybe I will get an answer as to why there is a Survivor winner.....Nash shows up...talks to her sexy...I guess there is consideration for her investing into TNA....whatever....

The fact that watching Samoa Joe wrestle the way he is now gives me goosebumps is awesome....I don't know why it happens, but it does.....I think the irony of there being a Nation of Violence where Joe is the only member is really funny....why is a steel chair the weapon of choice for wrestlers?.....Joe takes Sharmel out of the arena.....and the episode ends.....

2 Episodes left...2 hours and 50 minutes to watch them in.....

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up T-Minus 17:20

Still catching up.....March 12, 2009

Sting gets to pick someone and Angle gets to pick someone and they fight.....fun....of course there will be chaos....whatever....

Why is there a Survivor winner on TNA....they tried that on fucking WWE....

Don West started out not at the announce table and now he has joined it....still as a heel....

Gee...we go from The Beautiful People to My Pi Sexy?? I don't even care how to spell it....Holler...

Now I can get behind doing these montages of wrestlers during the show....but why aren't they showcasing the guy who just wrestled at the end of the next segment....

I love fast forward....since I watched episode after episode so I don't really need to watch the recaps.....

Cornette goading Booker into a match with Styles was well written...

Angle with a if you don't understand English don't come to the country....

The fact that Tenay and West keep referencing the fact that Tenay thinks people should take it to the ring and leave it in the ring makes me think that they are going to be fighting....

A talking Abyss is pretty fun to deal with....I wonder why they always gave him a handler....

Mick Foley at the announcers table because Don West walked out again....lol....

I literally laughed out loud when ODB mounted JB.....

Somehow I sincerely doubt that Foley would get laid out by a steel pipe if the man can fall off a table through a damn table....but that's the game they want to play...

You know Booker talking normal still doesn't make him any easier to understand.....

I've decided that I am going to get TNA Mobile now that it is free and once I am caught up.....

Once again....they are showing us the LAX montage video after they have finished wrestling and a whole other segment has finished.....

heh...."Rocco" from MEM security is recruited by Angle for this pick your avatar match because Angle can't get anyone else to represent him.....I could totally replace Rocco....I weight the same as him and I am bigger...

I have to get behind the fact that if Sting wins he is going to be taking over the MEM and not leaving the MEM.....it would make a better swerve....Sting could have sent "the hit" to take out Mick to make it look like it was Kurt....

Hmmm....Double J as the Guest Ref and Foley as Enforcer.....interesting.....I think that is where Sting is going to swerve and tell everyone that Jeff and Mick are working for him.....

Next up...Destination X.....13 hours left.....

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up T-Minus 21:30 Hours

Ok, I have 17 Hours of TNA to watch with 21:30 left before Lockdown starts.

I haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to watch TNA between school and such.

Things to note: Don West losing it on Tenay was cool. Especially since they were discussing letting him go form the company. Though I don't know who would replace him, but that matters very little to me unless it is Michael Cole.

Angle vs Sting in the empty arena was....odd. I mean it apparently got huge ratings, but it wasn't that great. It was a little different, but that was about it. I love the fact that they are fucking with the MEM while they are still a fairly fresh faction. It makes it seem like they aren't too invested in the outcome of it.

Joe showing up with a knife at Steiner's throat was fun. I also think it is funny that they have only been showing his profile that doesn't have the tattoo.

Suicide wanting the X-Division title is interesting.....He moves a lot like Kaz....maybe....

I love the recaps of Ultimate X matches.

And Foley having the Hardcore Rememberings is great.....makes me want to go find some of the things that he is talking about.....

Dan West being a heel is kind of cool.....

Petey Williams losing the Beer Money match and being let go was disappointing. I hope that he is moving on to something else like ROH or something.....

I didn't care about Lance Rock....

The mini interviews with the rasslers is cool....

James Storm slapping Roode in the ass and then coming back to slap Jackie was funny....

Booker losing the stupid accent is great.....

The Spend the Night with ODB contest is weird.....and creepy.....

I think the MEM track suits is stupid....them coming out in suits was cool.....

There is so much talking now in TNA....I remember when there was like 5 minutes of talking and tons of wrestling....why when they switched to 100% more television time did they switch to 350% more talking?

I just saw a sign saying "Bring Back Sabu".....

I hope that we get a Don West vs Mike Tenay match in the future.....

The Nation Of Violence idea is pretty cool.....

Arresting Styles.....hmmmm.....and then Don trying to sell it as serious is silly....though Tenay saying that you should settle these things in the ring...that is funny....I always wondered how wrestling organizations put over the fact that the wrestlers were willing to forego assault charges just to get in a ring with they guy who assaulted them.....

Oh yeah....the Dr. Stevie segments are great.....I hope that Dr. Stevie turns out to be Stevie Richards.....that would be cool.....

I think it is funny that Cornette took back the title belt from Booker T...the 'rightful holder' of a fake championship that TNA has decided to honor......

The fact that Beer Money Inc is playing stupid is pretty funny.....they actually almost thought that Team 3D was referring to some other tag team besides them.....

That was mostly from March 5......

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up that was from Twitter

My Loudtwitter shipping isn't working again. So here is everything from the last 2 days I have been Twittering. I have 24 Hours of TNA programming left...2 PPVs and 9 Impacts to go....

1. The Allex Shelly vs Chris Sabin match at TNAs Genesis is fucking amazing.....2:58 AM Apr 14th from txt

2. What's up with JB's new look? 3:09 AM Apr 14th from txt

3. Jackie in a suit is such a damn good idea.....she looks so much better than the redneck whore she was before. 3:17 AM Apr 14th from txt

4. Once I am done with Genesis I have 16 shows left before Sunday. Jesus. So much wrestling. 3:24 AM Apr 14th from txt

5. For the record, Jarrett did not get either of his shoulders up after the Angle Slam because his shoulder blades were down. 3:28 AM Apr 14th from txt

6. That was such a bad roll through to give Angle the win I almost think it was genuine. 3:30 AM Apr 14th from txt

7. Lol. A 6 way count-out. How could Cornette not have the authority to restart a match if he is the commish? *Shrug*3:48 AM Apr 14th from txt

8. I want a flaming tack glass table. . . . . and of course I don't get it. 3:50 AM Apr 14th from txt

9. Wow what a shocker. . . . Mick Foley gets the pin. . . At least he pinned Steiner. . . . and now I am going to try to sleep. More wrestling tomorrow. 3:53 AM Apr 14th from txt

10. Watching the TNA Impact from January 15. . . . curtain jerking a Heavyweight Title Match?12:37 PM Apr 14th from txt

11. I forgot I was right in front of a computer. . . . . easier to type here. . . . 12:44 PM Apr 14th from web

12. Trying to recreate the NWO is a bad idea. . . did TNA need a "heel" faction to get everyone to rally against?12:46 PM Apr 14th from web

13. Well yeah of course it helps. . . . but this is the NWO, tactics and all. . . . just not as original. . . . 12:47 PM Apr 14th from web

14. So Kip is back to being "Cute Kip". . . . fun. . . . 1:39 PM Apr 14th from web

15. Ok, watching the January 29 Impact and the fact that Main Event Mafia has taken over is brilliant. 1:51 AM Apr 15th from txt

16. Booker and Nash commentating is a beautiful thing. Steiner as the ring announcer is funny. 1:52 AM Apr 15th from txt

17. Crap. The best part of the whole episode was the commentary. I'd rather listen to Booker as Black Snow than Don West (or Michael Cole)about 23 hours ago from txt

18. So it went from great entertainment to talking about tough cowboys. . . . with just a little cameo from James Storm. . . :-( about 23 hours ago from txt

19. I think it is sad that now I am speeding through the rest of the show. . . . I would be listening to every word from Chet Lemon and Black Snow. about 23 hours ago from txt

20. I wonder if the new tattoo on Joe is real or not. . . . 90% sure it is real. . . . about 14 hours ago from Mobile Tweete

21. Whittling it down bit by bit. Now watching February 5th's Impact. . . . about 14 hours ago from Mobile Tweete

22. Umm. . . why would SoJo care if JB was in the room if she wanted to mess with Cornette. . . . about 13 hours ago from Mobile Tweete

23. Booker is acting more like Chris Tucker in 5th Element. . . . wacky. . . . about 13 hours ago from Mobile Tweete

24. Hmmmm. . . . how much did I care about that episode. . . . about 70%. The last few minutes at least put a spin on the MEM falling apart. about 13 hours ago from Mobile Tweete

25. 24 Hours of TNA programming to catch up on. . . . . . I have 90 hours to watch it in. . . . . 37 minutes ago from Mobile Tweete

26. Just started watching Against All Odds.... moments ago via not Twitter

Diabolik's TNA Wrestling Catch-Up Turning Point 2008

Yeah so the PPV starts out with the cut down version of the montage recapping the Respect issues....the MEM come out of a limo and everyone walks past JB...except Steiner who decides to talk...dear god...at least he is 85% understandable....

So there is a X-Division ranking match....I just wonder if they are actually going to stick with it and use the rankings rather than just give shots to whomever might want a shot....I always thought that was the best approach...give someone a shot at a title, if they lose they move to the bottom....if they win the former champ gets a rematch and then the loser of that moves to the bottom....now the irony is that the Motor City Machine Guns are not in the match because they have a Tag Team Title Shot....but they really should be unless they are not doing singles stuff anymore...I love the fact that Eric Young beat Jay Lethal to take the top spot in the X-Division and get a title shot...he really showcased a lot of ability in this match...not a bad promo from Eric Young....when he is serious it can be intense...though I like him more jovial....

It's funny that they would have the Motor City Machine Guns disrespect Mick Foley by telling him they don't care about his accomplishments....are we getting another factions splitting from the New Blood...I mean TNA Originals?

So the end result of this whole rigamaroll is that The Main Event Mafia won every match...shocker.....

Whatever...silliness....there you go....

Diabolik's TNA Wrestling Catch-Up 10/30/08 & 11/06/08

So I am not going to go point for point...it takes too long and I am trying to catch up, not slow myself down....and ironically there wouldn't be much to write about....

October 30, 2008

So Joe and Styles call for people to side with them....a group of people come down....MEM calls out for a war....and they have their own music like i thought they would after a week....they allude to the fact that there may be a 5th member to their NWO club....and it turns out to be Scott Steiner....

November 6 2008

The are calling Steiner the Hit Man for the MEM.....I so want Brett to come out and destroy him.....Steiner and Nash "Too Sweet" in the ring....Christ Steiner still can't cut a damn promo to save his life....Why are people cheering him when he is talking????He talks about curtain jerkers...but he is currently the curtain jerker since there was no one on the show yet....retard....Joe finally comes out and tells him that if they had been able to understand Steiner that they might have been offended....Joe lists the innovative things that TNA has done....he calls out the newest recruit to the war...Christian (which is ironic since I know that he is in WWE now)....I love (or hate) how Booker drops in and out of the damn accent....

I like the little montage talking about the MEM vs Originals....though it seems as if that was shot and should have aired before the announcement of MEM so it could allow for some foreboding on the situation...

Why does Angle need to keep threatening Jarrett's family? It is silly....attack his pride...not his family....

A TNA video with Disturbed....did I know there was a Disturbed album? I think I have it as the song sounds familiar....have to check the mp3 player....all I have to say is that TNA's post production ability is really good....

Despite my previous bitching about the creation of MEM I must say that despite the win in the 6 man tag match, they put the young guys over really well....which is what good heels do....so despite the fact I don't like the idea of another NWO, I think if they are willing to put the young guys over we will see some good wrestling...

Of course I wrote all of that before Samoa Joe and Scott Steiner got in the ring and I want to shove pencils in my eyes...wow if that wasn't an NWO clusterfuck finish, I don't know what is....

Well it is almost 4am here so I am going to post this and start back up with Turning Point tomorrow probably...I think there are 28 shows left to warch, not including this weeks Impact....So much wrestling....

Diabolik's (and Rich's) TNA Catch-Up for October 23, 2008

Diabolik: Well, in my normal vein of trying to catch up on TNA Wrestling (if you hadn't noticed by the deluge of posts on both Perfect Impact and on Diabolik's Total Nonsense and Ridiculousness) I was surprised by Rich showing up at my home this morning to hang out. So we decided to let Rich in on the things he has been missing and do a little back and forth blogging about the October 23, 2008 show.

So how goes it Rich?

Richard: It's goin...been a while since I've actually watching any TNA programing, and I'm interested to see what I've missed. Work, life in general and a great deal of other things have kept me away. But with the new Lockdown coming up, and the fact that we'll be there for it, I'm kinda hyped! Looks like we're ready to go here, we've got the first TNA in HD set up in front of us, and it looks like it might be a big one. It's in Las Vegas, and although it happened a while ago, looks like it may have been shot and shown live, so that's cool. Haven't had one of those since the two hour special, or so I've just been told. I'm also a sucker for HD, so I'll be looking forward to catching that on my TV after the catch-up, and of course if I have Spike HD on my FiOS box. Guess now all that's left is to hit play!


Diabolik: The Beautiful People...Wooo....can I sound more apathetic?
I'm sure they were the center of attention in Las Vegas....they look kind of like hookers....

Richard: Didn't know Kip was involved with this...even though I read his name in the catch-up. Wow, what's up with that? Yeah...they do kinda look like that.

Diabolik: Oh...so you just didn't get that Mr. Ass was a part of The Beautiful People now?
Yeah
Hoooray for that!
Sarcasm!

Richard: Is there a story that makes this any less weird?

Diabolik: No....but now they are using paper bags with Kip's face on them......on women.....
So Velvet Sky vs Christie Hemme.....

Richard: (sighs)
Diabolik: exactly.....

Diabolik: So Angle apparently called JB at Midnight the morning of the show and told him that he was going to one up Foley's announcement and that his announcement is going to change the face of wrestling as we know it.....go figure
Christie wins with the Flying Firecrotch Guillotine....
(sigh)

Richard: I am confused at the name of .... oh....that's.....wow

Diabolik: We were considering talking more about Christie's win...but I decided I didn't care....

Richard: One might thought they would have had a regular X-Division match to kick this HD episode off...you know, some eye-popping, high flying action...but you know...that's just me.

Diabolik: Well, Flying Firecrotches in HD wasn't enough of an eye catching event?
JB is sitting down with Angle and he says that he made some calls to important people

Richard: Lol, if those eyes want to catch vd maybe...

Diabolik: LOL

Richard: What's Booker's problem? He needs speech therapy.

Diabolik: Booker is in the same room as JB and Angle.....and he says he is from Africa......and yet also from Houston Texas.....
Nash is there too......at least I can understand Nash.....Booker keeps repeating RESPECT in his retarded accent....

Richard: Apparently, Nash doesn't get any....respect...sorry had to d it

Diabolik: Yay! We are getting another New Blood angle.....like we did in WCW.....which worked so well then.....

Richard: I don't remember the outcome, what happened that time?

Diabolik: Hmmm...let's see....Eric Bischoff tried to ban together all of the newer talent against the veterans to take over control of the company to shape it in a new way....but it was all new guys vs established guys.....

Richard: So, i'm assuming people didn't like that...

Diabolik: I didn't like that and I don't think that it was very well taken by the fans....this is also a little before they went out of business.....

Richard: RESSSSPPEEEEEEEEEECCCCCT!

Diabolik: So a faction of Booker, Angle, Nash and Sting?????
Damn it....
Are they going to be Team RESPECT?

Richard: ...I see, not a way to take things now....
God I hope not

Diabolik: THE MAIN EVENT MAFIA?!?!?!?!?!?!?
WHAT THE GOD DAMN FUCK?!?!?!!?
Dear God....
I quit

Richard: Wait, I heard Colin talking about that...he was all weird about it and didn't want to tell me things...

Diabolik: Yeah someone else pointed out the MEM angle but they wouldn't tell me anything else because I didn't want to know.....

Diabolik: Why does our African friend still come out to the Harlem Heat esque music and not some African themed music?

Richard: Don't know..why is he still from Houston?..and...Really, the pinky is back?

Diabolik: What the fuck is he saying? I can barely understand him

Richard: Dunno..."no more accents" just got chanted

Diabolik: What the hell....a new belt was in the suitcase?
The TNA Legends Championship.....
So is this like the FTW World Championship?
Ah thank you Christian for coming down and interrupting him....

Richard: "Double C!!!" ... and that belt looks kinda cool, but I would say have it a bit darker red...

Diabolik: or not exist at all

Richard: Indeed.

Diabolik: So we already have NWO esque invites to the Main Event Mafia to Christian......
who isn't interested.....
and Christian wants Booker to put up the Legends Title at Turning Point.....

Richard: ...it looks like Booker likes this too...

Diabolik: yeah sure....of course he does because for whatever reason having Christian....who doesn't want to join the group.....join the group makes them better.....like he wouldn't try to fuck it up from the inside anyway.....

Diabolik: Lauren is talking to Matt Morgan and Abyss about the Tag Team Text match (which when she first said it I was trying to figure out if you won by texting faster than the other people)

Richard: lol...It's good to see Double J back on the show, well, for me not having seen this is so long anyway.

Diabolik: JB is up with Jeff Jarrett talking about how Jarrett won't wrestle Angle again....

Richard: The Middle Eastern Nightmare, or "Divari", looks pretty jacked

Diabolik: X-Division title match with Bashir vs Jay Lethal.....
He does.....

Richard: Are you F'ing serious!!! That short?

Diabolik: ?????
Did I just blink and miss that match?
Lethal misses a fucking elbow off the top rope, Bashir comes over and DDTs him and that is the match?
there was like 4 wrestling moves.....
damn it.....it was for a damn title

Richard: I'm calling somebody was hurt before this match.

Diabolik: Let's see.....(rewinding the recording)

Diabolik: I don't see it.....could be...I just don't see it......(still reviewing the tape)

Diabolik: That whole match from bell to bell was 1:50.....
slowly becoming WWE.....

Richard: If that was planned, I just don't see how that highlights one of, if not THE best part of TNA.

Diabolik: Unless they were running long.....

Richard: It's the X division that got me into TNA in the first plac

Diabolik: i know....
but if they were running long why cut the best part of the company? Cut the interviews.....

Richard: Agreed.

Diabolik: Lauren talks with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe about the MEM (God I will hate writing that) and how that will affect the match of Styles/Joe vs Booker/Nash.....

Diabolik: Joe goes off about how he is going to hurt any of the MEM if they get in his way.....

Diabolik: So Rhino is all up in Bashir's face.....accepts his challenge and says he will deport him.....when did Rhino become an INS agent (that and the fact that he is a legal US citizen)
Richard: Isn't anyplace, also anywhere Rhino?

Diabolik: Bashir kicks him in the balls and beats on him.....

Diabolik: So the Hardcore Tag Team Gauntlet Match is next.....Beer Money Inc and Team 3D start it off......they are telling people to text in with what weapon should be legal in this match.....Ladder, Table or Chairs......IN A FUCKING HARDCORE MATCH

Richard: Can I text to have you guys stop doing his?

Diabolik: I wish.....if only we had watched this 6 months ago.....

Richard: Indeed.

Diabolik: Oh, So it was actually Roode and Brother Ray that started out and the next person in was James Storm.....
I missed the fact that it was a singles elimination match that will turn into a tag team match some how.....
Next in is D-Von......
Next in is Hernandez...

Richard: "Super Mex?"
Well, he is pretty ridiculous...

Diabolik: They have been calling him that because he jumps over the top rope every match.....
Next in is Homicide

Richard: ahhh, gotcha. Gotta tell you though, we're what, halfway in and now FINALLY seeing some good stuff?
matt morgan looks like he bathed himself in oil

Diabolik: He did.
Morgan comes down and eliminates Homicide and D-Von and Hernandez....
Morgan gets eliminated because he was trying to tell Abyss not to come to the ring.....
Tables are legal in a hardcore match.....
Yay!
shocker

Richard: Of course they are... and of course 3D likes this

Diabolik: Will I get a flaming table?!?!?

Richard: In HD?

Diabolik: Charcoal lighter fluid
ECDub chants

Richard: It's going on!
Diabolik: Team 3D left their lighter at home.... and lighters flying into the ring
This time they are letting the lighter fluid evaporate
So Abyss gets eliminated.....
I am so confused as to the rules for this match
and now it is Beer Money and 3D
and a We Want Fire chant
oh, what a waste of lighter fluid
they broke the table without lighting it
Beer Money Inc wins

Richard: No revenge for Abyss...I'm sad...and it looks like no fire...and a cheap end.

Richard: Does Kurt's entrance video tag him as the "Greatest Wrestler in the World"?

Diabolik: That is totally not true that the Angle from the previous week was unlike any we had ever seen......we saw him flip out in the WWE
and yes it does.....they tagged him that when he debuted

Richard: I suppose it would have been true...in 1996...Don't get me wrong, i like the dude, but, um...yeah

Diabolik: yeah well.....what can I say.....
Angle says once again that he is going to go to Jarrett's house to talk to his kids......
Jarrett shows up and says that they have the finest talent in the world and he has no business being in the ring......
which could be true.....

Richard: He names all the talent that should matter as well, if something goes down, Double J could be the one vet that stands with the "Young Guys" or whatever they may wind up being called.

Diabolik: Abyss is standing in the ring behind Angle....they go at it....Blackhole Slam attempt and Angle gets out....

Richard is offline. Messages you send will be delivered when Richard comes online.

So Rich had to leave before we could finish watching the show. So now you get just the Diabolik rant.....

Kong and Saieed are in the back bitching at Lauren...they are sick and tired of taylor Wilde....I still think this is a different person behind the veil....very americanish accent on the accent....too much emphasis on the rolling r's....

JB is with Taylor Wilde....I hate her hair....Taylor says that Kong has to end her career in order to take the title from her....Ooooooooooo....

Kong is on the way to the ring....Whoopee!...Cut to a commercial and then Taylor

Wilde comes out....Whoopee!....Yeah I am so totally stoked for this match....A chant for Lets go Taylow Lets go Kong.....interesting...the crowd is really into this....Kong wins the title with an Awesome Bomb....


...Dear god...more Main Event Mafia....Sting and Nash come to the ring for the Main Event....they come out to Sting's music.....Samoa Joe comes down....Then AJ Styles....I wonder how Nash feels about needing to enter with Sting's music....at least the MEM doesn't have entrance music yet....I give it a week....

AJ squares off against Nash which is a great juxtaposition of sizes....Nash ends up smashing Joe with the Title belt and pins him for the win...and then they play his music....I guess it didn't matter that he didn't have his music while coming down....Aj starts fighting off both Nash and Sting and then Jow stands up and puts Nash in a choke....Booker comes down and hits Style with the Legends belt....

We get Foley after that....

Foley is talking about how he made a lot of money and Jarrett told him he should make an investment....then the MEM comes out to interrupt....Ironically they had just been out....Angle starts talking shit to Foley....about Foley saying Kurt was shit....Angle headbutts Foley....Now Foley is a major shareholder in TNA....Ooooo....cause I didn't see that coming....though I thought they were going to make him a commissioner for the gimmick.....Foley tries to imitate Vinny Mac in the "You're Fired" voice by telling Angle that he is fried etc.....Foley wants to know if Angle wants to be a part of history or be history.....

So yeah....I'm not sure if Foley's Announcement really "crossed the line" or not.....but whatever...he is a part of TNA now and we will see what that brings....


So wow....a TNA Live event on tv and that is what we got? An NWO esque respect posse? A new title, because we never see enough fucking titles on a show....and no fire....I think Mick wept a little from seeing all that lighter fluid go to waste....

I have no idea how many more shows I have to get through before April 19.....and our apologies for Rich not being able to ramble back and forth with me....something about him needing to pick up his wife from work....

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up: October 16, 2008

So fresh off Bound For Glory we find out that we are going t have Mick Foley's farewell address. We also find out that Kurt Angle is on a rampage because Jarrett has said that there will be no rematch and Kurt is going to put the blood of every member of TNA's roster on Jarrett's hands. Wow like that has never happened.....

We also find out that Kevin Nash is getting back in the ring in this episode and he is fighting Consequences Creed... ... ... WHY IS HE FIGHTING CREED?!?!?!? There is no reason for it....other than a big man vs a little man.....Nash also explains why he attacked Joe....Because Joe disrespected him and Scott Hall so many months ago...at last that is brought back up and addressed....

Sting comes down and tells Joe that the only reason Sting won the match was because Joe needed to disrespect Sting and took it too far...AJ Styles comes down to confront Sting about the situation and ends up slapping Sting twice and a brawl breaks out.

Angle is beating people up in the back again....

So Angle beat up The Rock N Rave Infucktion and Christie is trying to head out to see them at the hospital when The Beautiful People find her and berate her and then beat her up and they Brown Paper Bag her with a bag hosting Kip's face on it. WHY?!?!?!? What a waste of time....

Angle comes down to the ring and attacks the ring announcer until Jarrett shows up...Angle demands a rematch....Jeff says he has business to attend to...Kurt threatens to go to Jarrett's house to visit his kids....

Foley comes down to the ring for his farewell address...he talks about how he is a junkie...a roller coaster junkie....he also cheap pops Orlando by referencing the Hulk Coaster in Universal Studios.....he says goodbye to the fans and heads up the ramp only to have Jarrett come out and ask him to join him in Jarrett's office so that he doesn't leave like this....

Cornette calls in and announces Matt Morgan vs Kurt Angle to teach Angle a lesson for fucking with the backstage....

Raisha Saeed vs Roxxi....Roxxi wins....Yeo...that exciting....

Matt Morgan talks to Lauren....

Christie Hemme wants to fight The Beautiful People in Las Vegas the following week (a Live show? and the first HD show)

Why are wrestling shows trying to go to HD? So we can see the steroid pimples or so I can see the muscle tear when a hamstring rips?

JB talks with Consequences about his match with Nash....

Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling... ... ... ... I'm gonna leave it at that...

Nash vs Creed....what a shock...Nash didn't job to Creed....Nash grabs the mic and talks about Joe running his mouth about Scott Hall 10 fucking months ago...he then insults the crowd....what is funny is that he is really trying to get heel heat and it isn't really working...people aren't reacting a whole hell of a lot....

JB finds Jarrett and Foley and they are not talking about what they were just talking about....

Lauren talks with 3D.....we find out that there will be a match between the Monster's Ball participants where the fans pick the order of arrival.....

Angle vs Matt Morgan....Angle wins....decent match....Angle keeps working over Morgan...Abyss comes down and Angle jumps him.....They cut away from Angle in the ring with Abyss in an ankle lock to go catch up with Foley and Jarrett....Foley says they are heading to Las Vegas and that he has a major announcement....what a lame way to make people want to tune in next week.....

Diabolik's TNA Catch-Up October 9, 2008

Ok, so I wrote up through the first 3 commercial breaks and I decided that trying to do recaps of the matches is long and annoying and hard if I happen to be busy and using the show as background noise.

So Jarrett has Angles Gold Medal and has big plans for it.

Christian doesn't want to take sides in this respect issue in TNA and is forced to be the special referee in a match between AJ Styles and Booker T.

Cute Kip vs Rhino with Kipp winning after interference.

Sonjay Dutt vs Jay Lethal vs Consequences Creed vs Petey Williams for the X-Division title shot and Creed wins the shot by pinning Dutt. It seems that Bashir (Daivari) is better at throwing out promos, but he is still just an angry misunderstood Middle Eastern American and yelling about it.

Karen Angle talks to Mick Foley.

JB talks to Rhino who wants to play the game of Gore the Whore.

Excuse me.....Steve "Mondo" McMichaels is the guest ref for Monster's Ball? WHY THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!? I haven't seen him in wrestling in fuck all and now he is in the match because ........ he used to be a horseman for like 12 seconds? TNA stop this stupid shit of bringing old ass people that no one knows back to the ring to try to get pops. What is McMichaels biggest contribution to wrestling? Marrying Sable.....

Abyss and Matt Morgan vs Beer Money Inc (which I must say I hated the name at first but I love it now) in a Monster's Ball match. Team 3D shows up at ringside and "guest commentators." Abyss and Morgan win.

Mick Foley comes to the ring and it is shared that he is only contracted for the Bound for Glory Match. He comes to the ring with a mic....and a corduroy sports jacket....He says he will deal with interference into the match harshly...Mick calls Kurt to the ring followed by Jarrett....Jarrett hands Angle back his gold medal.....a sign of respect? Foley makes them shake hands....Kurt thanks Jarrett for the medal back and asks him to tell his 3 little girls that Kurt apologizes for Jarrett not coming home after Bound for Glory....I liked that promo....very vicious but not outrightly....

Cute Kip & The Beautiful People vs Phino ODB and Rakka Khan is announced. Oooo Boy!

Once again Booker is talking oddly. Ok, I understood the King gimmick and I understood the Harlem Heat gangsta gimmick...not this one where he was from Houston and now from Africa apparently.....fucking stupid....

And watching the promo for the Women's match I must say that I appreciated the Roxy posing as Raisha Saeed and attacking Kong.....

Booker T vs AJ Styles with Christian Cage as the Ref....AJ wins by barely getting his shoulder up after a bridged suplex. Booker goes after Christian and then Christian lays out AJ Styles....And Booker vs AJ vs Christian gets announced.....

And then a contract signing......I hate these stupid things.....now if there was a contract signing for every single match I can understand it.....but seriously....and why is the contract being signed like 3 days before the match?? At least the stipulation here is that there will be no rematch after this match by request of both wrestlers....that is different.....Joe says he does respect Sting....and gee...what a surprise, the contract signing has broken down into a bout of fisticuffs.....WHY MUST THEY ALL END THAT WAY?!?!?!?

So now that I have finished this episode I have questions.....

Why is Booker trying to talk like he is from the ghetto of Africa? What the Fuck is that about?

Why was the Brown Bag treatment so fucking feared? It's a paper bag. Maybe William Shatner couldn't act his way out of it, but still.....ok, maybe be ashamed of the fact that you just got beat up by 2 girls and they stuck a bag on your head....but how hard it is to take off? Did they like bind it to your skull? Or cut your nose off?

I kind of wish I had been following the backstage info on why Gail Kim left TNA but I will look that up after I am done catching up.

So lets see....I have 29 episodes left and 24 Days in which to watch it all.....FUN!

Diabolik's TNA Wrestling Catch-Up Part 2

Ok. As I said in a previous post that this is my attempt to watch all of the episodes and PPVs between the last time I watched TNA wrestling to the Lockdown PPV that Rich, Colin and I are going to be seeing live.

I just finished watching the last of the September Impacts and just turned on the October 9, 2008 Impact.

I also talked to Rich and he said I won't ruin anything if I post "spoilers" for him. While they can't really be spoilers because they happened over 6 months ago, I wanted to make sure that he wasn't smacked in the face.

Ok, so in the drama of Samoa Joe winning the World Title and then fighting Booker T and etc.....we currently are building up to Samoa Joe vs Sting at Bound for Glory. Jeff Jarrett is back after a 2 year Hiatus due to a variety of things including his wife's passing away.

So September 18, 2008 marks the announcement that Mick Foley is coming to TNA. The following Impact (September 25) marks nothing about Foley except that he will be in the building the following show. I think this is the same episode where you find out that the Tag Team Invitational is going to be a Monster's Ball Match and Abyss flips out because he isn't supposed to use weapons (which I must say is a good move since it moves him out of the genre of "monster" who will come down with barbed-wire kitchen sinks and stuff and makes him be a "wrestler"). I honestly watched this one so late and forgot to write about it so I can't remember much, but I think that Kurt Angle starts shit talking Jeff Jarrett into making a match between the two of them at Bound for Glory.

October 2, 2008 marks the announcement of Mick Foley being the special enforcer for the Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle match. My thoughts are this: If you are bringing Mick into this company for longer than 1 month, why the fuck isn't he in the Monster's Ball Match with like Terry Funk or just about anyone else? Why is he the guest enforcer? I mean if he doesn't want to wrestle that is one thing, but come on. You are paying a man so that you can promote his name which is known for falling off cages and losing an ear and stuff. Now he gets to point sternly at the participants and tell them "No no, you can't do that?" I know the reality is that he is going to get involved and either screw over JJ or Kurt, but still.....I want to see TNA use their money to promote great matches.....but I digress.

Um....that's all I can really remember. From this point on I think I am going to run a pseudo recap like I used to read for WCW when I couldn't tape it and give the breakdowns of the shows as they happen.....or I might just not care enough and just point out the things of note.

And I want to point out the irony of me saying that. I think that TNA has better young smaller wrestlers than WWE and I think they are in a position to showcase them better than they can the Heavyweights. I like TNA for the wrestling and sometimes the storylines. I have been fed up with WWE programming for so long that I vowed to take a year off from watching it, and if I watch Wrestlemania this year and can predict 75% of the match outcomes based on the roll in footage and the crowd reactions, I am done with WWE forever. The reason I saw irony in my statement of "things of note" was because that was all I could remember because my brain has been so polluted by WWE programming to just notice the hype and skip the midcard. The midcard is the best wrestling that TNA (and WWE most of the time) has in it's arsenal.

So with that said (and I think it makes sense....I kind of lost track of where I was going at some point) I am turning on the October 9 2008 Episode of Impact to see the last show leading up to Bound for Glory.

More to come.....

Diabolik's Nifty Thing of the Day

Poking around looking for Watchmen things as the movie comes out tonight/tomorrow, I found these YouTube Videos, which apparently haven't caught on too well yet.












I found this site that has a bunch of Viral stuff on it.....

I know where I will be spending a chunk of my day....

Wicked Faire

So I just got back to Dreamation from Wicked Faire. I got there at 11:30 with a group of friends which is why I got there so damn late. Now I had heard that there were some issues with the hotel giving Jeff and all of Wicked a hard time about the parties and such. Last year at Wicked Faire there were issues when the hotel management changed and was trying to deny the Faire access to the hotel because of what it may do to the hotel's image or some such shit.

So I had a few friends that hit Wicked on Friday and I polled them to find out what was going on. I was looking forward to seeing some of my friends and enjoying the after parties. When I got there Voltaire was on stage and I ran into a great number of people that I knew from other Wicked events and some others that I had already seen this weekend here at Dreamation.

I was looking for a specific friend of mine who said she was in Voltaire and while I couldn't find her we went around and checked out the dealers that were open. I saw the weapons dealer that I know from a bunch of cons, the same one I had seen earlier in the day at Dreamation. My friend Michele tried on this cool pair of chainmail pseudo wings which she loved, but they were $250. Aside from that there was a T-Shirt place that was doing custom shirts on site which I thought was cool, but they had run out of my size before I got there. They had a pre-printed template that said "I'm not evil....I'm Diabolical" which they would have allowed me to to change to Diabolikal. They had some live music acts going on in some vendor rooms, along with some Bondage demonstrations. It was fairly well laid out as the hotel offered a huge ballroom that they could use for vendors and shows, along with some DJ mixing and dancing.

I got a little private dance of Michele and Mary dancing with each other in front of me while others stared jealously. It was fun. We ended up at a few different room parties which friends of mine were hosting and some drinks were had and some interesting conversations had. Unfortunately because of the hotel crackdown, there were cops trolling the halls on a regular basis and it forced everything to be very low key. I understand the hotel not wanting to be responsible if something happens, but at an event like Wicked Faire there should be a little wiggle room.

Either way I had an okay time. I think the potential of the con was much better, especially since it had a better layout for different events, and I must say that I know I wasn't able to get the whole experience with my limited hours available, but I found that the police presence made people uncomfortable and there was a lot less debauchery going on.

I know that having a convention in a warehouse or convention center is more of a pain in the ass when you are trying to facilitate an enviroment in which you want people to enjoy themselves and be able to move to a room to continue the party elsewhere. I wish there was a way to get a good compromise because I love the people I see at the con and would hate to have the only reason for me to show up at a con would be to shoot some footage or take some pictures and then see some friends and leave.

Well, that is what I have. I will post some pictures from Dreamation and Wicked Faire in the next day or so.

Now off to study for a quiz due in 15 hours.

DIABOLIK

Diabolik's Take on Dreamation

So I am sitting here as Rich goes to get some tacos to feed our bellies, and I wanted to share my feelings on the con so far.

I like this hotel a little better than the last Dreamation, but I still prefer the Hilton in East Brunswick just because of it's layout.

This hotel has an odd layout so it is cool, but much more spread out than I would like. I enjoyed popping in and out of rooms and seeing what was going on at any given time, here I have to travel around half the hotel just to get to the wargaming areas.

Aside from that, there is a movie theatre in the hotel basically. It seems that the hotel is connected to a building complex that has a Kiddie Academy and the Theatre and other stuff.

As for Thursday, I was disappointed by the lack of a Mafia LARP and the chance to talk to Tony D. As of right now Tony isn't even at the con yet, but he is scheduled to be here for a module at 2pm. His LARP is scheduled for Sunday at 10am. Rich and I set up and shot a 25 minute opening segment for the show and he and I edited it last night and it should be squared away and on the site and Itunes and YouTube soon. I really enjoyed shooting that segment. It was the first time since the reorganization of Bacon Ice Cream that we have covered a bigger convention and I liked not being super serious. I was always trying to be serious and professional, and now I say fuck it, this is me and deal with it. Plus I think it makes better content. We decided to go check out Dave Simpson's game Blood & Leather which I demoed back at last Dreamation. Played it twice and got the hang of it, pointed out s few little issues with it, but otherwise it is a good game.

Friday I was supposed to help run the MosterPocalypse demo for Dark Tower Games here at the con because I am a Press Ganger for Privateer Press. I was supposed to be here at 9am for it, but we learned that the hotel was not going to have internet access available, and we were told that it was $11 a minute (which we assumed was an hour, but we were told minute). This meant that I could not take the exam that I had to finish before 11pm on Friday would not be able to be done at the hotel. I tried to get up super early after we got back to the house at 3:30am and that didn't happen. I must have turned off the alarm without realizing it.

So Rich woke me up at 8:30ish and I got prepped and then took the exam. I got a 68 and I am rather pissed at myself for screwing it up, but hopefully I can pull that grade up. Anyway....

We got here after fixing our feedburner feeds which were screwing up the Grazr feeds, and fixing my Twitter account and just getting some stuff squared away. we got to the con a little after 4, chilled with some of the guys (I have to say that I am missing Eric from Asmodee) and then started editing footage. I was wandering around and I noticed Kate's super cute hair and wanted to investigate and it turned out the Jon from Firestorm Ink was running his Battle of the Bands LARP for CyberGen. He asked if I wanted to help, and as I offered at last Dreamation because, while Jon is a talented motherfucker, he can't juggle all the hats and get everything done. He asked me to be the company spokesman and try to get some of the bands to drop out of the competition.

I actively did everything I could to manipulate the bands to do what I needed them to do, and in the end I ended up charging one female band member with stalking the guitarist of the House Band, having a different band thinking that the other members of the band poisoned one of the members, and got one of the bands disqualified for tampering with the electronics of the show. It was a ton of fun to help out, especially for someone like Jon who appreciated it and also gave me the opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do.

After finishing the larp I headed back to the booth and Rich started playing Street Fighter 4 while I sat down and edited the footage I shot of the FoodMachine tournament and by the time I coouldn't see anymore I was nearly done, just looking for some internet to finish it up and it will be posted.

So Rich and I flipped a coin and decided to spend the night behind the booth rather than packing everything up and heading to the house. It went pretty well, I caught about 3 hours of sleep and woke up to run the Mosterpocalypse Demo at 9am. No one showed up. I spent a bunch more time taking pictures and talking to friends and just generally fucking around. Played a little SF4, wrote this blog post, talked to Jon about his new Facebook App. Aside from that I am sitting here waiting for tacos to arrive, taking in the atmosphere, and anticipating the soon to come debauchery of Wicked Faire.

More to come later.

DIABOLIK

More painting Nonsense

More stuff I am working on. I went from this:


to this:


In a matter of 3 hours. Lots of small details that I was trying to paint without losing the details.

Stuff Diabolik's been painting

I just got my first real digital camera, and I started messing with it. I have been taking pictures as I go when I am painting some models and I wanted to share them with people.

They aren't complete but I have a competition coming up on the 28th where I need to have stuff painted, so I am getting stuff done as fast as I can and then I will go back and actually finish them.

Let me know what you think.

More TV from Diabolik

I just watched the last 2 episodes of The Shield.......wow. If anyone isn't familiar with the show or hasn't watched it in a few seasons, go get the seasons on DVD and watch it. i loved the irony in how the show ended compared to how it started. It was almost uncomfortable to watch the last 3 minutes.

I woke up today, made it down to the store and checked the TV listings from last night so that I would know what I could expect on my DVR when I get home today, and what do I find? New episodes of Nip/Tuck started last night. And new episodes of Damages start tonight. Along with a bunch of shows kicking back off after the break.

Surprise things for Diabolik....I like the show Worst Week. It is a little over the top, but if anyone has just had their life spiral out of control in one day, that is this show.

And I really enjoy The Mentalist. I don't know why, something about the main character makes me smirk, and the fact that the overarching goal of the show has only been focused on in one episode and mentioned in 2 others makes me want to see what happens. Not like with CSI when the miniature killer struck 5 times in 3 episodes or whatever. This one is far more subtle.

That's all I have right now. Now I get to inventory a store full of miniatures.