I lived in Washington on that day so I remember very well what it was like.  Just because we’re a few years removed from that tragedy PLEASE don’t ever forget.  Let’s Roll…

I’m happy to say that there were literally hundreds of people there to celebrate this wonderful woman.  Through the tears and laughter is became once again apparent to me just what a wonderful woman Claudia was.  Hearing stories from people from all times in her life was an absolute treat.  There was so much love in that room and it was all for Swami.

Rest in peace Swami.  You will be missed and never forgotten.  Thank you for everything that you gave of yourself and thank you for touching so many lives.  Love you lady.

To make a long story very short, Swami isn’t doing all that well these days.  I (like Pip) am not one to ask for prayers from others, but if you’ve got some to share please send them out.  She could definitely use them.

Thew, Richard, Lauren… I said it before and I’ll say it again.  If you need anything say the word and I’ll be there in a matter of hours.  Believe me when I say that it’s not just lip service.

Get well soon Swam… love ya.

I don’t remember the exact circumstances (shocking) but seeing Buford holding his beer aloft in what I can only describe as “praise” is awesome.  We’re certainly getting older but it’s memories like these that will keep my 406 days right at the top of the list.

• How many moons does the earth have?  At least 7.
• The hottest part of a chili?  It’s the central membrane.
• A jalapeno = 4,500 SHUs (Scoville Heat Units) which means it needs to be watered down 4,500 times until you can’t taste it any more.
• The hottest chili is a “dorset” which chimes in at 923,000 SHU – holy shit!
• What effect does alcohol have on bran cells?  It doesn’t actually kill them (YEA!!!)  In fact, it just makes new ones grow less quickly.
• A hangover actually comes from the brain shrinking due to dehydration.  The brain itself feels no pain… it’s actually the membrane around the brain.

A couple of hundred pages of stuff like that.  Some are more interesting than others for sure but it definitely held my interest.  My one big bitch was that there was many times way too much info about a particular nugget of info.  For example telling me that Columbus did not in fact discover America but some other dude did is kind of cool.  Going on for a page and a half about said dude’s back story and where Columbus actually landed was not.

Some folks may really like this.  For me there were some interesting stuff and other stuff that I just skipped over.  Definitely a good bathroom book!

Event:

For the second year in a row, WrestleMania is being held at the Trump Plaza.  This is also the second event in the anthology that goes to two DVDs.  After a WrestleMania IV card that had 16 matches, the WWF followed up with a 14 match card… that seemed to last FOREVER.  That’s not to say that there aren’t any gems in here cause there are.  Unfortunately we get off a really rocky start with current WWF Women’s Champion Rockin Robin singing America The Beautiful.  Two words… fucking brutal.

Hercules defeated King Haku (with Bobby Heenan)
The opening bout is former Heenan Family member Hercules vs. King Haku.  Bobby Heenan gets on the mic before the match begins and tells the crowd to get on their feet for the King.  My response to this is if he’s so damn good why the hell is he in the opening match?  This isn’t a bad match for what it is.  Pretty clean throughout and Hercules seems to have learned from his slip-up at WrestleMania IV and bridges out of a double pin at the last second to get the victory.

The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man) (with Slick) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
Up next is the first time that Mr. WrestleMania Shawn Michaels is on a WrestleMania card as part of the Rockers.  Akeem is absolutely laughable.  The “African Dream”?  Really?  Who at the WWF thought turning the One Man Gang into a jive talking African Queen was a good idea?  In any case, the Rockers actually put up a decent fight for a good long while with some great quick tag team wrestling.  The end comes very quickly though when Shawn Michaels goes off the top rope and gets power bombed.  Holy shit.  Throw in a splash from the over sized Akeem and I’m surprised he ever got up from that one.

Brutus Beefcake and Ted DiBiase (with Virgil) fought to a double countout
Beefcake is the “Barber” at this point and I could never get over how bad his HAIR was.  I suppose that’s the definition of irony huh?  In any case, Brutus is having a bad hair day against the well coiffed Million Dollar Man.  I do have to say that I LOVE me some double clothesline.  Every time I see one I geek out like a total mark.  DiBiase gets the Million Dollar Dream on Beefcake but he makes it to the ring and we get a pretty weak double countout.  Beefcake the proceeds to get Virgil in the sleeper to end the madness.  Waste of time.

The Bushwhackers (Luke Williams and Butch Miller) defeated The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) (with Jimmy Hart)
Before the next match, we get a package where we’re shown Luke and Butch eating like a couple of idiots.  I suppose this is in here to show us just how “crazy” they are but it’s a complete waste of time.  The match isn’t much better either.  The Rougeaus are now heels going against the “power” that is the Bushwhackers.  Ho hum.  There’s one pretty humorous moment here when Butch (or Luke I can never tell which) gets body slammed and grabs a handful of one of the Rougeaus’ nut sack.  Hilarious.  A couple of minutes later the Rougeaus celebrate prematurely and get beaten by the Bushwhackers finishing move… a double stomach buster.  Um… kay.

Mr. Perfect defeated The Blue Blazer
Mr. Perfect makes his way down to the ring with no music which sucks cause his music is one of my favorite themes of all time.  He actually slips on his way down to the ring which is ironic seeing that he’s “perfect”.  The Blazer looks awesome here in the early going.  Damn do I miss Owen.  Blazer has the advantage and goes to the top for a big splash.  Perfect brings the knees up at the last second for a BRUTAL looking collision.  Not sure how you can “fake” that one.  Even after that mishap, Blazer manages to take control over most of the match.  After a really close call, Blazer pleads with the ref and turns around right into a Henning forearm.  Perfect follows up wit the Pefect-plex for the victory.

WWF Tag Team Championship
Demolition (Ax and Smash) (c) defeated The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) and Mr. Fuji
Before the match gets started we’re shown a vignette of Fuji running a 5k.  We follow that up with Run DMC and the “WrestleMania Rap”???  Gorilla says that a little bit of rap goes a long way.  In this instance I have to totally agree with him.  The WWF typically does some sort of “filler” during the big show but this is crazy.  The match itself is about what you’d expect from 4 big guys and a run down Master Fuji.  Some good back and forth between Demolition and P.O.P. with Fuji only getting involved when Demolition is completely beat down and then out quickly.  The end comes when Fuji goes to the good ol ceremonial salt in the eyes gimmick and it backfires when he gets his own man.  Demolition takes advantage and hits their “finisher that wouldn’t hurt but looks cool” on Fuji for the win to retain their titles.

Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin) defeated Ronnie Garvin
Next up is Garvin and Bravo with a random appearance by Jimmy Snuka.  He’s on his way back to the fed and apparently Vince wants to send him out so folks can remember what he looks like.  The match itself is a good fair match.  Garvin is going crazy with the cradles… inside cradle, sunset flip attempts, etc.  At one point Bravo goes for the gayest looking bear hug in the history of wrestling.  Bravo hits a side suplex out of nowhere for the win.  After the match, Ronnie gets the “Garvin Stomp” on Frenchie in a typical “face loses but has to get revenge on the manager” moment.

The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana)
Even after all of these years, its still weird to see Blanchard and Anderson in the WWF – they’ll always be WCW guys (and Horseman at that) to me.  Strikeforce is back together for the first time in quite a while but have everything running smoothly at the beginning of the match.  Nice little side by side dropkicks send the Busters to the floor.  A while later Strikeforce gets a double figure four right in the middle which is really cool visually but Arn breaks up with a rake to the eye.  Tito fucks up and hits Martel with the flying burrito (forearm) which sends Martel outside.  Martel selling it like Tito took his head off.  Time for a totally telegraphed heel turn.  Tito is getting double teamed and Martel is still on the outside hurting.  Martel refuses to extend the arm to take the tag and eventually leaves Tito in the ring to fend for himself.  Tito gets his ass kicked for another couple of minutes before getting hit with a spike piledriver.  I’ve got to say that Tito pretty much carries the match here.  Well done Chico.  We get a post match interview with Martel who’s always been terrible on the mic and this is no exception.

At this point we get an in-ring segment with Brother Love, Morton Downey Jr. and Roddy Piper.  Downey is smoking on the way to the ring which is king of funny.  Downey and Brother Love go at each other for a couple of minutes and then Piper makes his way to the ring.  Brother Love just kind of disappears.  This ends with Downey blowing smoke in Piper’s face, Piper getting pissed and spraying him with a fire extinguisher.  I remember this being much cooler than it was.

After the Piper/Downey thing we’re shown a preview of the Hulk Hogan “classic” No Holds Barred.  We might as well rename it the “Hulk Hogan Federation” at this point.  I mean, is there ANY chance in hell that he’s going to lose the main even with Vince so far up his ass?  Gene nearly laughs when he says how this movie is going to be a “blockbuster”.  After that segment, Jesse Ventura is all fired up about how Hogan is coming to Hollywood because it’s “his” town.

We get a pretty decent recap of the Mega Powers at this point.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but one really interesting nugget here.  During Hogan’s interview they actually overdub his voice when he says “WWF” so it says “WWE”.  Are you kidding me?

Jake Roberts defeated André the Giant (with Bobby Heenan) by disqualification
Big John Stud is the special guest referee for this match.  Andre is still a heel at this point after his WrestleMania III and WrestleMania IV Hogan encounters.  Looking at this now it’s really sad.  I’ve always been a big Jake fan but this seems like a big step down for Andre.  Andre is really looking bad at this point in his career as he can barely move around the ring.  At one point Andre gets hooked in the ropes (as he always does).  If there’s ever been a signature move in wrestling, this is it.  The entire match Jake is going for the bag to try and get Damien.  The end of this match turns into a complete clusterfuck.  Andre and Stud get into it, DiBiase grabs the bag and hightails it, Jake goes after DiBiase, blah blah blah.  Damien finally makes his appearance and Andre takes off out of the ring.  Pussy.  Seriously are we supposed to believe that Andre is scared of a snake?  Dude would eat it in like two bites.

The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine (with Jimmy Hart)
This is pre “Rhythm & Blues” for Honky and Hammer but in retrospect you can see it coming.  Even after all of these years Honky sells an atomic drop better than anyone in history.  The Foundation is running on all cylinders with some great tag wrestling.  Hart slingshots Anvil in over the top right into the bad guys.  Actually Anvil looks incredible here and actually pulls out a standing drop kick?!?!?  I don’t care what you say, that’s damn impressive for a guy that size.  The end comes when Anvil throws Jimmy Hart’s megaphone to Bret who nails Honky with it.  Here’s a question… what do you think the lifetime average of the megaphone is?  Might be time to leave that one in the locker room there Jimmy.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) defeated The Ultimate Warrior (c)
Before this match we’re shown footage of the Rude/Warrior pose down at the Royal Rumble that set this match up.  God damn is Rude ripped up.  Rude’s got some sweet tights complete with the IC title already on them.  Warrior hits the ring and we’re off and running.  Warrior is manhandling Rude whipping him into the corners really hard.  Rude selling like a motherfucker.  Warrior goes right into a bear hug to slow things down.  Remember people… Warrior’s got all kinds of charisma, but can’t wrestle worth a shit.  Rude breaks the hold with fingers to the eyes and follows up with a huge dropkick off the top that looks great.  Warrior powers out before the one count and goes into multiple body slams followed by another bear hug.  Warrior goes for a big splash in the middle of the ring and Rude gets his knees up right in the breadbasket.  Rude tries to swivel his hips a couple of time and just can’t do it cause his back is injured.  End comes when Rude gets dumped out of the ring.  Warrior goes to suplex him back into the ring.  Mid-suplex, Heenan grabs the Warrior’s leg which causes Rude to fall on Warrior.  Bobby holds on to the Warrrior’s leg so he can’t kick out and Rude gets the title.  Beat down on The Weasel post match.

Jim Duggan and Bad News Brown fought to a double disqualification
This is essentially a throwaway match and I’m shocked that it’s so late on the card.  There’s essentially not one wrestling hold here at all and by the time the match is over we’ve got bats and chairs in the ring.  Are we really supposed the believe that Bad News is a bad ass?  Not so much.

The Red Rooster defeated Bobby Heenan (with The Brooklyn Brawler)
If the last match was “essentially” a throwaway then this one is completely a throwaway.  My only question is who in the hell did Red Rooster piss off to be booked against Bobby Heenan?  Actually, I’ve got another question as well.  Who did he blow to be booked second to last on the card?  This one is nothing that you wouldn’t expect.  Rooster pins Heenan a couple of minutes in and then for some reason celebrates.  Not sure why he’s happy.  Perhaps no one told him he’s got a red mohawk and is wrestling as a farm animal.  Brooklyn Brawler beats on Rooster after the match.

WWF Championship
Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage (c)
This one made my list of Top 10 WrestleMania matches and watching it again totally validated that pick.  Savage comes out first complete with theme music and pose down.  Liz gets her own entrance with music as she’s not supposed to be in either man’s corner (though she still has Macho’s music).  Ventura points out that the champ should enter the ring last I being the old school dork I am I completely agree with him.  The crowd is totally behind Hogan from the get go.  Hogan starts out with the dreaded “closed fists” and Savage follows up with his standard double axe handle.  Hogan takes over after throwing Savage out of the ring.  He follows up with a couple of elbow drops (though not the Savage variety) and an eye rake.  A few minutes later, Savage takes over and Hogan is bleeding above the eye.  I’ve seen this match a hundred times and I just didn’t remember Hogan bleeding here.  Savage does some showboating and allows Hogan back into it.  Hogan slams Savage over the top and Liz goes over to help.  Savage playing the heel shrugs her off.  Hogan gets the advantage again and goes to slam Savage against the post on the outside and Liz steps in the way.  A few moments later Hogan is down and hurt and Liz comes to HIS aid.  Finally the bullshit love triangle ends and referee Dave Hebner sends her away from ringside.  Time to get down to some wrestling.  Savage hits the double axe handle on Hogan as he’s draped across the guardrail.  Hogan chokes a la Rick Steamboat.  Macho then continues with the choking tactics using tape from his wrists.  Macho then hits the HUGE elbow right in the middle of the ring.  Hogan “Hulks up” out of nowhere: block, punch, shake head, point, punch, punch, punch, slam, leg drop victory.  Real American and the crowd goes home happy.  A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

General Thoughts

• This is a LONG show.  This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for so much throwaway garbage that we’ve been given.  These backstage vignettes have GOT to stop.  I’d much rather have a 3 hour show full of action rather than a 4 hours show with an hour of crap thrown in for filler.
• If I was in the arena I’d be pissed.  If you don’t count the Piper/Downey segment there was over a half hour between in ring action.  That’s unacceptable.
• With the exception of Perfect/Blazer and Savage/Hogan this is a pretty lackluster show.  That said, if you’re at all an old-school Hogan fan, you NEED to see this one.

I turned my back for a second (stupid move dad) and when I turned back around C had his plate (once again complete with powdered sugar) on his head.  I tell you what… I love this boy but I think he’s destined for the short bus one of these days.

He was having such a great time giggling to himself that I couldn’t help but laugh.  I decided to grab my phone and take a picture of him and I was lucky enough to get this “in action” shot of him getting ready to launch his fork across the kitchen as he’s prone to do.  This signifies to mom and dad that the meal is now over.

We followed up this meal with some leftover chili and cornbread for lunch.  Ever see a near 2 year old with cornbread eyebrows?  I have   Love you C-man!

As I was talking to the G-man this morning I asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner.  Like it was no big thing, he calmly replied, “Broccoli and champagne”.

That’s my boy.

Kratos vs. Perseus

Like movies, I obviously have a love for video games. One of which being the God of War series on Playstation, which seems fairly obvious because of it’s primary subject matter BEING Greek mythology. I’m playing through God of War 2 on the PS3 to prepare for the upcoming sequel and reached a level where the main character (Kratos) is forced to fight Perseus, the hero from the “Clash of the Titans”. I had no idea this was coming, so I was delighted by the instant nostalgia. It’s a relatively tough battle, as Perseus is well equipped with the famous items the gods gifted with from the movie (the sword, shield, and helmet of invisibility). During the cut scene that led up to the fight, there was some kind of strange familiarity that made it all seem especially nostalgic. After finishing the level, I had a crazy hunch and looked up God of War 2 on IMDB. Low and behold, Harry Hamlin himself reprises his (voice) role as Perseus. I couldn’t help but admire the undeniable coolness of that moment. Is it hard to believe that Harry Hamlin is doing voice acting for video games? Not especially. Is it awesome that someone at a round-table production meeting for this game probably halfheartedly suggested that they get him to do the voice… and they actually did? By the gods… yes.

If you’re at all interested, here’s the low-res cut scene. If you’re not, I won’t hold it against you because I’m a bigger nerd than you.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Like The DaVinci Code and it’s predecessor Angels & Demons, this book follows Dr. Robert Langdon as he goes on a treasure hunt.  Set in Washington, D.C. and dealing with Freemasonry, The Lost Symbol is an outstanding follow up to Code.  Langdon gets an early morning phone call summoning him to Washington for a last minute speaking engagement on behalf of an old friend.  When he gets there, Langdon quickly realizes that he’s been set up and there is no speech to be made.  In reality, Langdon must use all of his training and cunning to save his friend’s life while solving the riddles that have been put before him.

The villain in all of this is the tattooed Mal’akh who has an obvious obsession with Langdon’s friend Peter Solomon who happens to be a 33rd degree Mason with access to all of the Mason’s most guarded secrets – including The Lost Word.  Mal’akh has kidnapped Solomon and will kill him unless Langdon follows the clues that the Masons have left throughout history.  In addition to the Mason’s clues, Mal’akh proves to be a brutal advisory that Langdon must outwit while trying to elude the CIA who’s also on the case.

COMMENTARY:

This is not an “easy” read by any stretch of the imagination.  Brown’s got some sentences that seem to run on forever and the stuff that he’s talking about while fascinating can be confusing at times.  Brown does an amazing job of describing not only the character of Mal’akh but also the brutality that he emits.  I couldn’t help but thinking of the “Dragon” character from The Red Dragon when thinking about Mal’akh.  The tattoos are an obvious correlation, but the mentality of the character is what really got me.  He really thinks that what he’s doing is completely justified.

You can tell when a book is well written when you continue thinking about it long after you put it down.  There was one chapter in particular that really got me – the drowning.  The way it is described is stunning and really had me on edge after I closed the book.  Pure brilliance.

I don’t think this is Brown’s best Langdon novel (that title lies with Angels & Demons) but it’s definitely worth the read.  Brown has an uncanny knack of keeping you guessing till quite literally the final page.  With the success of the previous books and movies you can pretty much guarantee that Tom Hanks will play Robert Langdon once again.