DragonForce = FRIGGIN' RIDICULOUS~!!!

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- My boss at work lent me a CD from a group called DragonForce who play heavy metal so friggin' ridiculously-sped-up that when I first heard their music it almost made me end up like this dude from the movie Scanners:


Take Dream Theater, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, give each band mass quantities of meth, cocaine, Jolt Cola and you pretty much have DragonForce. Also, if you had told me that the guitars tracks were sped up through a sequencer or Pro Tools I would believe it, not that I doubt the talent of these musicians but god damn, this type of metal is overwhelmingly fast... and I've listened to all sorts of thrash/speed/death/grindcore/industrial metal where guitar riffs travel at light speed for the past 20 years.
This mentality of "how many thousands of notes can we fit into a measure/bar" ironically gets old real fast, I understand there's a market for this metal but at some point, besides the core musician/hardcore fanbase, people will get tired of this shit. The thing is, music is an art form and not a competitive sport where we need to see which band can play the fastest, finesse is the key, even a band like Dream Theater understands that.
Check out their Myspace page and listen to the music for yourself... but beware, or else...

Some pro wrestling promoters and bookers need to watch "STAR WARS"

By Art Shimko
arts767@verizon.net

-- So I just finished watching Return Of The Jedi on HBO and almost 24 years after seeing it in the movie theater I still felt the emotional highs and lows, even with some seasoning here and there via special effects and such the main point of good vs. evil and watching it unfold was not in anyway compromised nor was the character development. The main and secondary characters in the films each had a unique personality which wasn't so complicated you couldn't figure out what their deal was. You could feel out who had good intentions and who didn't and which side they were on, in other words George Lucas didn't re-invent the wheel when he wrote these stories. He did create an elaborate world yet kept the story simple with the universal themes of good vs evil, friendship and romance.

Lucas also gave the audience a cliffhanger with Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo was frozen and taken off to the Emperor and Luke found out Vader was his father leaving that movie on a depressing note which made me and lot of people anticipate the conclusion in Jedi... would we see Han Solo again? How does Luke deal with the fact that his enemy is also his father? Would the Galactic Empire reign supreme?

All these questions were eventually answered.

I still got choked up during the scene when the Emperor (Palpatine) is shooting lightning at Luke after he refuses to kill Vader and join the dark side and after Luke's begging for Vader's help he eventually comes to his senses and saves Luke by throwing the Emperor down a reactor shaft in the Death Star. That moment really struck a nerve in me, to see the most evil motherfucker in the movie make a "babyface turn" (becoming a good guy) and save his son. The part later that got me also was Luke taking Vader's helmet off so he could see Luke before he died. And of course in the end the Rebels prevailed.

So... what does that rambling intro above have to do with pro wrestling? Well maybe a bit more than you think.

I was listening to Figure 4 Weekly's Bryan & Vinny show yesterday and they were breaking down the basic story of tag match of when two guys are beating on one guy it's seen as cheating but when the other partner tags in and starts beating on those two guys at once the crowd cheers seeing the one guy beat the shit out of two men. Basic story, simple, no gimmicks needed. Same thing with Star Wars, which I believe folks like... Vince Russo... Dutch Mantell... Jeff Jarrett (see a pattern TNA?)... John Zandig and anyone in charge of booking CZW this week... Stephanie McMahon and some members of the WWE creative team... and any other pro wrestling promoter and booker incorporating illogical angles into matches... ALL need to watch the Star Wars trilogy and understand the simple story of good vs evil and how you get that point in a story.

Fans are getting sick of endless mic promos and segments that have no payoff as well as gimmicks like an X-shaped scaffold and reverse battle royals or even just every match on a pay-per-view or TV taping having some type of gimmick as if the promoters and bookers lack any confidence in their product or maybe they want to try and "bring in new fans" which always cracks me because non-wrestling fans already despise it and if they watched 30 seconds of an Impact, WWECW or WWE TV on a night where logic holes are aplenty and people who can't even read from a cue card have a live mic on TV doing storylines about shooting someone's father or putting someone's girlfriend in an ankle lock to set up a match, their disdain for pro wrestling would grow even further.

Guys like Russo and the TNA bookers need to understand that simple storytelling, building up to a finish, basic psychology and less to no gimmicks in matches and on their show are all the fans basically want, enhancing the product can come later. Why are you trying to do something "new" and "innovative" when you can't even get the basic shit correct the first time?

CZW could also refer to this statement, although they're one of many indy promotions that rely on irrelevant spot-fest matches and ultra-hardcore-violence way too often, and hey I can enjoy a spot-fest or a garbage match if it sets a unique pace on a show with no other gimmicks but I would rather seeing good pacing to a crazy-ass spot/move or use of a "weapon", but CZW has had other recent problems with their product including nonsensical booking, fan backlash and bringing in people WHO CAN'T FUCKING WORK.

One thing I ask CZW, TNA, WWE, etc. Please make me care about these characters, give me a reason this guy is after his opponent instead sticking two random guys in a ring who'll smash each other's skulls with chairshots. And it can be simple, not like this guy went to city hall or the library to find out his opponent's criminal past and expose his dastardly act. Because at some point I'll lose track of the story and not because I lack an attention span but because the story gets so convoluted and I end up stop giving a shit.

I know some people are thinking, "Art, these guys don't necessarily need to watch Star Wars to understand basic storytelling." I would have to disagree, yes there are other sources to refer to in learning what makes a good story. I picked Star Wars because after all these years I can still watch these movies and they never get old; the characters, the sub-plots, the struggle for survival, peace and the destruction of the Empire, it all remains fresh because these are basic concepts presented in an entertaining manner and doesn't get sidetracked by "outside interference".

The story of good vs evil is as universal as music and romance, it's a story everyone in the world understands and embraces and why? Because we all want to see the good guys win, when the bad guy's superior in a match, or in any situation, mercilessly beating the shit out of the underdog it feeds our desire more and more to see the good guy make his comeback and get his revenge.

Star Wars may not be an example most would think of in referencing to for how to book a wrestling match, all I'm saying is the back story is so basic, even with all these characters in the first trilogy alone, if done correctly the story of a match can be told without any problem. Sure there's always going to an idea or two thrown in to enhance the product and I understand that. My problem with "over-booking" and throwing every idea out there will just crowd things up and confuse fans.

And when I mentioned earlier how promoters attempt to bring in non-wrestling fans into their shows, I think promoters need to understand and satisfy their real fans first, the ones who come every month to live shows, buy a DVD and puts the product over online and to friends.

Once that's taken care then promoters and bookers can think of ideas to help cross-promote their product with something mainstream to get into the conscious of the rest of the folks who don't follow or haven't followed wrestling in years. Because frankly, I'm tired of seeing a god damn baseball player in a fucking wrestling match.
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Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or referencing commentary from this site please include a link to meanfilipine.blogspot.com as opposed to "Strong Style Shimko", "From The Mean Filipine Blog" or derivatives. Thank you!

What was on Vince McMahon's mind with RAW?

By Wacko Bob


To say RAW is off to a good start in 2007 would be the ultimate new years lie, feeling that RAW would be one special show coming off of a PPV the night before. But seeing that there was hype for both Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell to both be expected on RAW for more of what sounded like it would be a debate seem to really take over any real importance over what was really happening on the RAW brand since one night before. To see if they could pull off something between to stars of TV that have a real life feud going on that's been making headline all over the news for weeks. To see how they were setting this up was anything but entertaining as well when you got two people that are not even good impersonators of Donald Trump or Rosie O'Donnell, in fact they both were real bad in every way. And they were having not a debate but a real bad wrestling match that just dragged on and on. Something with no real substance to it and was only gonna happen one time only. So why did they do this? Why did they feel the need to do this? If this is suppose to be your show then why would you want to have something that really showed a major mockery to your business and to your millions of fans?


To see both impersonators first back stage then in the ring made almost anyone I talked to sick. It also made me sick as well to have to see this display of bad wrestling and bad story line and a bad publicity stunt. And if Vince McMahon did not see it as bad then something was wrong with him to either be the master mind behind this or just simply allowing this. Because the fans in the arena that night let him here it. From chants of Boring, to chants of TNA, to even chants of VKM as well. And to say that Vince McMahon was ignoring that would show that maybe he did not care because he was trying to cover a segment of the show that needed to be filled. But for sure there had to be a better way of filling it. The crowd showed that they did not want to see this match between these to people playing Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell. Their intelligence was really insulted with this hype and what it really turned out to be. And fans let it all air that night for all to hear on TV as well. And Vince McMahon needed to hear all that because even a rich man in wrestling like him needs to be shown what not to do. The RAW show even without this mockery that they did was not that good either. But this action of total disaster was the thing that really stole the show.


To look back at some of the things WWE has done over the years, like in 1996 when they brought back Razor Ramon and Diesel and hyped that as those to returning was a flop in the end because people were looking at it as being the return of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to the WWE. Even though it was not what the fans wanted to see for the most part it was not as bad as what we saw this past Monday on RAW. And even TNA can rest easy now with the whole VKM story line now to because hearing the fans in the arena that night chanting VKM showed me that they would much rather see that lousy angle over thing whole thing with these to bad impersonators in WWE TV for a one time story line. WWE has been guilty of a lot of things from phony gay wedding angles to The Fake Razor Ramon and Diesel coming in to what they believe would be success. And you can only go so far to where you fans will say enough is enough and they will want to go elsewhere on the TV dial and with there dollar as well.


This week's RAW for what it was will not be looked at for its great wrestling show. It will wind up being looked at as embarrassing and a way to cover spots at the same time trying to get some publicity. There have been bad RAW shows and bad angles but nothing will ever top this and overall what we all got to see this past Monday night. WCW under Time Warner might have been crazy for making David Arquette the world champion but WWE really might have outdone that with what they did on January 8, 2007. It was not a good show and it was not a good idea.
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Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or referencing commentary from this site please include a link to meanfilipine.blogspot.com as opposed to "Strong Style Shimko", "From The Mean Filipine Blog" or derivatives. Thank you!