The Best In WWE Right Now

I need to re-purchase Photoshop and some FTP software, so updates are limited right now, partly because I have lots of photos to upload (on which some entries depend). There will also be lots of photos from wrestling event, as I’ll be going to both Wrestlemania 25 in Houston and a WWE Smackdown! & ECW taping at the Garden in April. With this mind, it seemed good to focus on some WWE wrassling.

I could go on and on about the things in professional wrestling that I don’t like, but it probably wouldn’t accomplish a whole lot. So I thought I’d focus on my favorite things in the WWE right now:

• Chris Jericho: He’s gotta be the best thing in wrestling right now. There’s no one better on the mic and he’s such a convincing bad guy because a) he believes he’s the good guy and b) he’s got a strong, logical framework for his actions. His feud last year with Shawn Michaels was great because everything he said about Shawn being a liar and hypocrite was correct, even though Jericho went about his revenge like a scumbag. There’s no one more enthralling in pro wrasslin right now and while no one is quite sure who he’ll face at Wrestlemania, it’s safe to say he’s a contender to steal the show. Here’s an example of his promos:

• Randy Orton & The Legacy: This may just be the most compelling wrestling storyline I’ve seen in a long time. Randy Orton, a third generation wrestler, decides he wants to cement his legacy and “The Age of Orton” by aligning with two sons of legendary wrestlers: Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. The three accomplish a lot, including Orton winning the Rumble, till Orton snaps and attacks Vince McMahon. See it here:

  So, as it stands, this is now a personal feud with HHH, as his family has been threatened by Orton, who seems genuinely unhinged. It’s brutal, emotional and everyone is putting forth great performances. This is all about being the best in the business, about the lengths people go to in order to be the best and for sports entertainment, that’s a great story.

• Jack Swagger: the name won’t be familiar to you, but I urge you find a copy of his battle with Christian on ECW this past week and argue that Jack isn’t one of the most promising new talents in the business. He’s got a unique look, a good technical style and knows how to work match psychology. He’s supposed to be the bad guy, but his energy is infectious and he’s so damn talented in the ring that he warrants cheers. Here’s the first part of that aforementioned match:

• Miz & Morrison: While Tag Teams aren’t at the level of prominence they once were, the team of Miz and Morrison remind you why fans love tag action so much. They’re fun in the ring, with some of the most athletic moves you’ll see on any pro wrestling show and are a lot of fun on the mic. In an age of pseudo-real characters and very serious storylines, it’s nice to have a fun team who want to be the best—but also want to have fun, make money and get laid. Here’s one of their recent—and most exciting—matches.

Arune Interviews Matt Striker

If you’re a wrestling fan, you know Matt Striker from ECW and I recently had the opportunity to speak with him for Marvel.Com.

Click Here To Read The Interview

Arune.Com Will Return SOON

Folks, Arune.Com will return to regular programming soon– stay tuned for regular weekly updates. There’s a lot to write about, but for now, a few thoughts:

• How great is the Legacy storyline on WWE Monday Night Raw?
• College football is actually really fun to watch and I generally enjoy it more than NFL games.
• The newest Scott Pilgrim graphic novel is out in stores– get it NOW!
• I really haven’t much enjoyed Battlestar Galactica since the end of the New Caprica storyline.
• Meanwhile, 24 is firing on all cylinders
• Went on a few Hockey Trips– I shall update everyone on these soon, including my trip to this year’s Winter Classic in Chicago.
• I’m really excited for both G.I Joe: Rise Of Cobra and the new Star Trek films.

Arune Is Now At Twitter

Folks, as you can tell, I’m too busy to blog properly now, but you can follow me at Twitter right here. It’s not a substitute for what I do here, but consider it a bunch of Arune.Com “minisodes” till I have time to blog again.

And go see the best comic book movie ever, and one of my favorite movies ever– The Dark Knight! It’s a masterpiece and something everyone should see in the theatre.

I’m Still From Canada, Eh

Yes, as many know, I’m now officially an America– and damn proud of it– but it’s not like I’ll ever forget where I came from (Canada) and my ethnic heritage (India). In the case of the former, there’s been a few things lately that remind me where I’m from.

• GTA– as many of you know, GTA generally stands for Grand Theft Auto, the popular video game series, but that acronym always makes me think of “Greater Toronto Area,” since that’s what they call the suburbs around Toronto.
• OPP– whenever I hear “OPP” in that song you know you’ve all heard, I think “Ontario Provincial Police”, not the real meaning.
• Z– It’s “Zed” not “Zee”, though I must admit that saying “Zed” on the phone sure confuses people.
• Hockey apparel– to me, it’s something you can wear year round, whereas people here have a lot more sports to support (and wear apparel for) than I did in Toronto.
• Victoria Day– I joked about taking it off tomorrow…but know one knew what the day meant– learn here.

Random Encounters In NYC

I’ve written about strange encounters around New York before and figured I’d update everyone on some of the more recent interesting meetings in my life. The above image from The Dark Knight (the sequel to Batman Begins) has no relevance to anything in this entry– I just thought it looked cool.

1. My buddy Mike and I went to the Yankees game on Friday night, which turned out to be quite a fun time, since the Yanks finally snapped a three game losing streak. The weather was a bit miserable and I wore a long sleeve Yankees shirt to keep warm, which I was still wearing when I went to my favorite local bar. As soon as I entered the bar, I noticed a woman staring at me and ignored it—I figured I was just imagining things. The bartender came up to me, smiled and said the woman had asked if I was a player for the Yankees. Later, once a few other guys there learned I recently became an American citizen, they started asking me to flex and saying, “America’s got some more muscle now!” while squeezing my arms. Just an odd night overall.
2. On Saturday, I was in Central Park and ran into one of the many cartoonists who hang around, offering to do caricatures for the many tourists passing by. He tried stopping my by getting very close to me and saying “You like your picture? You very good looking. I draw you.” Maybe it’s just me, but even if I were inclined to sit and be drawn, I’d be creeped out a bit.
3. No matter where I go in New York, as long as I’m wearing a Montreal Canadiens hat, someone stops to talk to me about hockey. Some friends at work have joked that the logo looks a bit like the logo of the Chicago Cubs, but I’ve always dismissed it as them joking with me. This weekend, I was stopped by numerous people who said, “Oh, you’re a Chicago fan?” to me and really meant it.

Go See Iron Man

By now you’ve probably heard of– if not seen– Iron Man, the newest super hero film abot a Marvel Comics hero (and the first film from Marvel Studios). The basic plot, as described on most sites is “Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who builds a high-tech suit of armor to escape captivity” though there’s much more to the film than that. In a nutshell, this is an action-packed film with superb acting, a thrilling plot (that does have a few speed bumps) and is really one of the few adult super hero films in some time (the other than comes to mind is Batman Begins).

Let’s begin with the special effects. This is a film that begs to be seen on the big screen because of the dazzling visuals, which amazingly enough, never draw you out of the film. Sure, you’re watching people in high tech armor battle it out, but it all looks very real. When Iron Man soars in the sky, you see him move in a very realistic way complete with the appropriate additions on his armor to show just how he’d cope with these fast speeds and turning quickly at high speeds. Little details, like the complicated process of putting on his armor to the often humorous results of the armor development process, make Stark’s transformation into Iron Man seem completely plausible.

Now, onto the the rest of the film, which is similarly excellent. Tony Stark has always been an atypical hero not only because he’s an alcoholic and not much a nice guy, but because his transformation into super hero happens later in his life. He’s not Spider-Man, going through changes in high school, or Batman, nursing childhood anger that will transform him later in life. For Tony Stark, it’s coming face to face with his own choices, and their inherent consequences, that forces him to change. Add in stellar performances from a top notch cast, plotting that doesn’t waste a minute with a surprisingly mature ending and you’ve got the reason why Iron Man set the box-office on fire this weekend.

I’m keeping this short because I don’t want to spoil much for anyone, but make sure to check out this film. Don’t like super heroes? Don’t worry– this isn’t your typical super hero film. It’s a fascinating look at a man realizing what he’s meant to do by confronting the sins of his hubris and trying to embrace his nobler intentions, all wrapped up in an exciting action film.

Here’s a look at the trailer if you need further convincing:

Thank You Canadiens

As many people probably know, the Montreal Canadiens lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, thus ending their playoff run. Yeah, it’s not fun to see your team lose, but I can’t be too mad. I know some people are probably livid, depressed or some other not-happy emotion, but I think this article sums it up well:

No one gave them a chance. Few expected them to even reach the playoffs. Even following a second-round defeat to the Flyers, the Canadiens couldn’t help but hold their heads high after proving so many critics wrong this season.

I’ve never been one of those guys to boo my own team or curse them for losing. Chances are they’re working hard and are hard enough on themselves without the fans giving them hell. Last night’s loss sure as heck didn’t make me happy– I haven’t been able to look at hockey websites till now– but it doesn’t depress me either. We gave it our all. We did our best. As a fan, my team gave me a great regular season, worked hard in the playoffs and lost to a team who played phenomenally. Only one team can win and it wasn’t our year. Doesn’t mean I don’t wish they weren’t going to win it all, but sometimes life happens and I don’t see an upside in trashing the same people you’ve cheered for when they’ve played their hearts out.

To everyone on the Canadiens, thanks for the great year and all the great memories– you’re the best to me. Next year, during the 100-year anniversary of the Canadiens, let’s bring the Cup back home!

Go See Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I don’t often recommend comedy films for the simple reason that I don’t enjoy most comedies. In particular, I generally haven’t enjoyed most of Judd Apatow’s films– Superbad didn’t make me smile one and I turned off Knocked Up after 30 minutes because I was bored– but his newest release, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, still looked appealing to me. Jason Segel, who wrote and stars in the film, is a scene stealer in CBS’ How I Met Your Mother (and has impressed in other roles), and the idea of exploring how he gets over a big break up seemed appealing. Here’s the film’s premise (courtesy IMDB):

Devastated Peter takes a Hawaii vacation in order to deal with recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah. Little does he know Sarah’s traveling to the same resort as her ex … and she’s bringing along her new boyfriend.

Turns out this film was funnier and far more thought-provoking than I expected. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I was most impressed by the balanced portrayals of all the various characters. Normally you’d hate Sarah because she’d be portrayed as unreasonable, but she’s shown to be a reasonable person who makes mistakes but has a sympathetic rationale guiding her actions. Her boyfriend steals every scene he’s in, with some of the funniest music I can remember in any film I’ve seen. Even Peter, naked (literally) and wallowing in his own self-pity, should be the kind of character who annoys me, but he’s also another nuanced character in his own right. I credit both the actors and the script for making every character– from the main characters to some of the throwaways– completely likable in their own way.

The film tells a thoroughly comparing story that eschews the cliches of most romantic comedies. No one schemes incessantly and there’s no silly misunderstandings. The people talk, act and communicate like real people. It’s also one of the few films where I felt like the characters really cared about each other and had reasons to be attracted to each other beyond those of the physical nature. While this is a Rated R film and there is a lot of sex humor, it never feels sophomoric or immature– it’s a very mature look at relationships in our lives. Plus, I can’t stress this enough, it’s actually quite a funny film because it so effortlessly– and accurately– deconstructs the absurdity of our lives, the choices we make and the things we do.

Bottom line, see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. You’ll leave with a smile on your face and a desire to see it again because you’ll know you laughed so hard that you probably missed some of the jokes.

Finally, here’s a clip from the film that’ll give you an idea of the humor:

Being a Habs Fan

Yup, it’s been some time since an entry, but I’ve got two good reasons—a busy time at work and the NHL. The latter has been especially all-consuming, as we’re almost done with the first round of the playoffs and my Montreal Canadiens (aka The Habs), have been exhausting of late. As of writing this, they’re heading into game 7 of their series with the Boston Bruins. They beat Boston eight straight times during the regular season, had a 3-2 series lead going into today’s game and lost in an exciting, action-packed 5-4 game.

It’s actually pretty amazing how exhausting it can be just to watch a sports game where you actually care about the outcome because the excitement is so high for that period of time. The NFL knows how to use this excitement well, keeping their seasons short and making sure fans are on their feet every Sunday, stocking up on team merchandise to celebrate each game…because every game is that important. When it comes to hockey, the 82 game season is really all about making it into the playoffs and then those best of seven playoff series become a “second season.” So not only do we cheer our teams for all these games, we’re also forced to realize it could all end really quickly if our team can’t win four games against a team they may have dominated in the regular season.

A lot of people probably think it’s stupid to get so worked up about sports since it’s just, well, sports and I can understand their perspective. “Stupid” is completely the wrong word, though the one I’ve heard most often, but when you look at the entirety of life, a sports team not winning a game seems rather meaningless. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a natural human reaction given the joy we derive from these games and if kept in perspective, it seems like an entirely healthy escape to me. I could watch a movie and immerse myself in fiction. I could read a book and create a world in my mind. I could listen to music and surrender myself to the words & voice of another. Or, as I do, I could just spend a good two hours watching skilled athletes play a game for the glory of their adopted homes. I don’t see any empirical assessment that makes my choice any worse than the other choices. I’m not saying it’s better either—just that I believe it to be a valid, reasonable choice given my many options.

So, with that all in mind, I spent this evening watching my Habs lose and, I’ll admit it, being fairly pissed off when they lost. I didn’t yell or curse. I didn’t break anything or stomp around. I did, however, just feel really pissed off. It makes no sense because it’s just a game and supposed to be a nice diversion from reality. Everyone wants their team to win and 99% of will be disappointed, so I shouldn’t expect to be in that 1% each time the playoffs come around. In trying to understand this anger, in trying to rationalize my own response and find some peace, I discovered something else:

It’s really great to be pissed of by a hockey game.

No, really. If I’m able to spend two hours watching a game (on my Montreal Canadiens recliner—thanks Mom & Dad!), giving myself over to the passion of the game and ignore any other negative things in my life, that’s pretty good. If at the end of the game, all I really have to be angry about is the result of the game, well, that means I’ve got a pretty good life, eh?