Nirdu is The House

Been a week since my last post, and that is almost entirely due to the almost non-functional computer that I now have. It works half the time, doesn't work half the time. Viruses, spyware, nonfunctional programs, random shutdowns. Whatever. I'll fix it when I feel like it. If I actually have the ability to fix this wretched machine.

WORLD CUP! This thing is great! Even though, in the end, the "big name" teams always win or I end up disappointed. The United States dropped out in the first round after a lot of hype. Japan had a dismal showing, due in part to a bad group draw. Korea ended up losing to Switzerland and dropping in the first round... I really wanted Korea to advance. So many European teams advance, Brazil moves on... so boring. Now I'm cheering for Netherlands (my pick), Spain (perennial losers needing the big one), and Ghana (not a fucking chance).

Scraping paint is not fun, especially when the sun is beating down on you. It is productive work, though, and that I like. Though I can never match my restless brother's project-of-the-day levels of energy, I feel good putting my energy towards something. It's much better than spending half the day doing nothing and half the day doing damn near nothing. I don't consider writing productive, and I don't feel like I've accomplished anything after "creating".

Peter: Everybody in 1955 was on fire. I never knew that.

So my computer IS dead. It got hit by a big spyware invasion and has completely broken down to shit nothingness. It won't turn on, virtual memory runs out, it shuts down (giving an odd 60 second warning). I'm going to be without a computer for a while. I'm typing this update on my dad's UBER shitty computer. Think of the computer you had in like 1997 and... yeah that's about the quality. At least it works. But now I'm going to be without a computer... I might not make it. The 'puter kept me sane.

Anyway, I'll still try and update, but don't expect much.

It seems like everybody around me has all these grand plans to travel, or at least go on extensive road trips. Yet here I am, Cmdr. Want-to-travel, hanging out in Maine. Bo-ring. It makes sense, though. It's not like I deserve to go anywhere. It's my own fault for not having a job and therefore money. I'm cool with that, I don't care.
But I want to go PLACES. ELSEWHERE. NOT HERE.

My mother is spending a month in North Carolina. I think my brother is going there at some point, too. In August, my parents are going on some convoluted road trip or throughout the Northeast. My younger brother went to Florida earlier this year, and his girlfriend has gone there twice. A friend of mine is going to England in a month. Another friend took a road trip to Minneapolis. And it seems like everyone is going to Boston at some point. Then there are any number of journeys to islands, coastal getaways, and excursions to other points in Maine.

I don't even think I have enough money to travel to Bangor!

Well... I DID just go to Connecticut. But that's it. I was supposed to go to Florida some time this summer, but with my sister preparing to move to Montreal I won't be able to go.

Outside of Connecticut (probably) in September and Boston in October, I'm not going anywhere 'til Japan next year...

Pffft, what do I care. Abandon me and go on your fanciful trips, you moneyed people of affluence with your jobs!

... I think I've got spyware problems again. Time for me to destroy this computer from top to bottom in anger! YAY!

Patches O'Houlihan: Necessary? Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine?
Peter La Fleur: Probably not.
Patches O'Houlihan: No, but I do it anyway because it's sterile and I like the taste.

The first set of group matches in the World Cup are over. Every single country in the competition has competed and have shown their form for the 2006 World Cup. Some countries have come out strong, others have come out disappointingly weak.

The United States was absolutely creamed by an aging Czech Republic, which doesn't bode well for the US since they still have to face a strong Italy and an unpredictable Ghana.

England won on a lucky mistake from the Paraguayans who put the ball in their own goal. They're just through by the skin of their teeth. They'll probably down Trinidad and Tobago, but Sweden could sweep them under.

The Netherlands had a good showing in their win, my pick for overall winners get the important win.

Mexico and Portugal win decisively and look likely to advance in their group against two weaker sides.

Japan were absolute choke artists. They were up by a goal for an entire hour, but in under ten minutes they gave up three goals to a weak Australian team. With Brazil and Croatia as they're next opponents, Japan WILL NOT advance. A poor showing for a team that had so much hope. Just a wretched group draw for them.

France gets an unfortunate draw and Korea gets a much needed win to be at the top of their group. Korea could advance if they manage to beat Switzerland, who will likely beat Togo as well.

Spain fucking WRECKED the Ukraine. They won 4-0 in a lopsided match. International choke artists Spain may be in line to win their first ever World Cup. For a country where soccer is more important than family, it's a shock they've never won. After this showing, this may be the year.

My predictions are looking shaky after this first round, but with two matches left for every country, ANYTHING can happen.

Peter Griffin: This comedian sucks. He couldn't make me laugh even if I was laughin' my ass off and he was the one makin' me do it. Come on, skinny, make me laugh!
Lois Griffin: Peter, that's a microphone stand.
Peter Griffin: Oh, well, excuse me for thinkin' that a microphone stand in a comedy club should tell a joke or two. I guess I'm just old-fashioned that way.

There are no words to describe how happy I am with last night's ECW One Night Stand PPV, but let me just try.
ROB VAN DAM IS THE GODDAMN WORLD CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006 is so far, the BEST year of champions EVER!!!! Like we were discussing last night, Rob Van Dam was the last of the best wrestlers never to get the title. Well, he sure as hell got it and a lot of confirmation, it's official. Rob Van Dam will forever be a World Champion. It was supposed to be a screwy ending with a title stripping, but in the end he gets to hold it until he drops the title! HAPPINESS! GREEN!

The show was unbelievably spectacular. The actual wrestling was so far beyond the normal quality of a WWE show. The match times were great, and matches were for the most part given a lot of time to create well thought out matches.

The main event was surreal, the heat against John Cena was huge. This main event was something I wish I could've been there live to witness. Cena was booed out of the fucking building. The chants were legendary. "Same old shit", "You can't wrestle", and "Die Cena, Die" were the best. Rob Van Dam could do no wrong. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but who gives a fuck. Rob Van Dam is the champion!

Masato Tanaka vs Balls Mahoney was the big disappointment of the night, but it really wasn't BAD per se. It's just, Tanaka stole the show last year and this year he jobs to a jobber. Oh well, it was still cool to see him. They should've shelled out the $8.50 for his FMW theme music, damnit.

Edge, Foley and Lita vs Dreamer, Funk and Beulah was probably the best "deathmatch" that a WWE production has ever put on. This was classic BJPW, IWA:Japan, ECW style blood, guts and fire. I was literally in awe as they all went nuts on barbed-wire boards and ladders and tables. I thought Terry Funk was dead on at least 8 different occasions during the match. Props to all four men in this match for putting on one of the most brutal matches I have ever seen in the E.

Rey Mysterio and Sabu was sickeningly cool. Rey came out dressed in classic WCW/luchadore gear, and Sabu was... Sabu. The high-flying shit was great, the flying was great, the spots were great. That is, of course, until the big spot. The diving DDT to the outside through the table was SICK! The way the table broke had both Sabu and Mysterio fall about four feet down straight onto their heads. The match was thrown out since... y'know... they both almost died.

Tajiri and Super Crazy vs Guido and Mameluke was a really fun match. I marked like a fucking 10-year old when I saw TAJIRI do the HUSTLE pose. Only two of us got that one, but we both fucking loved it. After the match the Big Show came down and we all let a big sigh, but once he got in there he managed to win most of the crowd over and actually impressed me. For the first time in about 5 years, he looked impressive! He did more moves in 20 seconds of beating up five guys than he had the rest of his career. Maybe ECW will be good for him. Maybe he can tap his inner Nirdu.

Kurt Angle vs Randy Orton was a lot of fun. It was a very technical, current-ROH style match. It was exciting to see a technical Angle with no limits, and Orton wasn't even that bad. The crowd was behind Angle all the way. These were his people, he could do no wrong just like RVD.

Anyway, if this is what ECW is going to be, I am VERY happy to have it back. This show reminded me why I love wrestling. The big level guys were going all out to have GOOD MATCHES!!!! The WWE used to be about building up to big matches and then delivering pure gold. Now they're about building up to a build up which builds up to a build up and then having a five minute PPV match. ECW is something all new, it's like WWE but with a focus on quality wrestling over "quality" storylines. Now, I look forward to the ECW a lot.

ECW has been reborn and it has evolved.

I'VE GOT WORLD CUP FEVER, MOTHERFUCKERS!


It's time for the pinnicle of international sports, the World Cup. This year, all of the matches will be broadcast live from Germany. This is the ultimate in international sports competition, above even the Olympics. Every country and many dependencies are involoved in qualifying for the final 32 places in the tournament. I am way more excited for this edition of the tournament than the last time around, because in the last four years I have managed to really increase my knowledge of both the sport and the structure of the FIFA system.

Now, I know soccer isn't the most exciting sport, but it really depends on how you watch it. I've really grown to appreciate it in the past twoish years. Scoring in this sport means more than in almost any other. A single goal is an event and an accomplishment, not a guaranteed and almost gloryless endeavour.

None-the-less, soccer in America equates to little coverage and little care. For the next World Cup in 2010, I want to be living somewhere where it will get some damn coverage. Since I'll be outta Japan by then, I'll probably move to Togo or Malaysia. It's got some hard competition against the NBA Finals and the... regular season baseball. They can manage to get 3000 baseball games on a year over here, but only 6 soccer matches. Not that I care, especially.

NOW, onto my sort-of predictions.
My round of 16 matchups
Germany vs Sweden
Argentina vs Portugal
Italy vs Croatia
France vs Saudi Arabia
England vs Ecuador
Mexico vs Netherlands
Brazil vs USA
Spain vs South Korea

Quarter Finals
Germany vs Argentina
Italy vs France
England vs Netherlands
USA vs Spain

Semi Finals
Germany vs Italy
Netherlands vs USA

Finals
Germany vs Netherlands

WINNERS
NETHERLANDS

I made a lot of risky picks, to be sure. But really, I don't know shit about what could happen. All I know is I don't want Brazil to win, I want someone new. Why not the Netherlands? It's a strong team and is one of the powerhouse European nations that have never one the cup, alongside Spain. With Ruud van Nistleroy leading the charge, I think the Dutch are going to win the whole thing. Or be knocked out in the first round, I really don't know. I'm watching either way.

VIVA LA COPA DE MUNDIAL!!!

So on Saturday I went and saw Ring of Honor live in Connecticut. That was one motherfucker of a single day trip, let me tell you. Although I must admit, there couldn't have been 4 cooler people to go on the trip with. It was quite some fun, from Puerto Rican floats and hilarious insult fests to french fry farts and revolving doors. The only problem I had with the trip is that I had to come back to Maine in the end. This place really is dismal. And this area is at the ass end of nowhere. Why do people live here? After I'm done in Japan, I'm not coming back. I'll move to someplace closer to civilization. It takes three hours to get from here to the border with NH. That's ridiculous. If we lived anywhere else this trip wouldn't have been so daunting, or so damn long. Le sigh...

Now on to the show.

We had general admission tickets, but for some reason this show had the GA section right by the entrance ramp. We arrived a little early and ended up getting seats directly next to the entrance ramp. Twas cool. So was the dome-like structure the event happened at. The floor was artificial turf for an indoor soccer field.

The main event was a spectacular Briscoes vs Aries & Strong match. This was for the tag titles. That didn't matter, the actual match mattered. These two teams are so experienced in double-team manuevers that this match was a sight to behold. Everyone was out to impress here. The Briscoes (who I've now finally seen live) were on fire, but Aries and Strong were really showing why they are two figureheads of the company. The finishing sprint could've been a little better, but it was a great match.

The Homicide vs Danielson match was a little disappointing. It was obvious that Danielson would retain, but I thought the match should've been a little better. It was good, that's for sure, but these two don't really have that special something that Danielson-Strong, Danielson-Aries or Joe-Punk have. The match was decent length, though I expected an incredibly long match. Hell, Delerious got 50 minutes. But it ended by "referee stoppage", an allusion to the recent Hughes-Gracie UFC match. Fuck that. It's fine how ROH is experimenting with different style finishes, but only using them in Danielson title matches is getting predictable and boring. No more roll-ups, towel throw ins, ref stops, or any of this please unless you spread it around the card. At least the ending really pumped up the crowd. Everyone was on there feet chanting "bullshit", myself included. I wanted a conclusion damnit. I wanted to spit on Fatpants, which means ROH is doing a good job.

Reyes vs Takagi was a standard match. Takagi was pretty good for the short amount of time I saw him. Reyes was Reyes, slightly above average match for him. Was just a showcase of Takagi's ability. Coolest part of this whole thing was when Julius Smokes put his cigar out in Joe's face. Might I just say, J Smokes is THE BEST FUCKING MANAGER EVER! If you provoke him, he'll fight back, often with hilarious results.

Whitmer vs Daniels was a well wrestled match, if a bit slow paced. The crowd really wasn't getting into it, as people still don't want to like Whitmer. Maybe if he didn't look like a skinny Snitsky. SHAVE YOUR HEAD, CUT YOUR HAIR. It'll help, believe me. Either way, this match was cool as after the conclusion it pulled Daniels into the CZW feud.

Pearce vs Cabana vs Delerious vs Blade was actually a very good match, finish aside. Delerious is fucking comedy GOLD. He is perfect in his character, even more so than ever before. That kid's a star. Pearce did not impress, and I don't like the idea that this CW Anderson wannabee is the future of ROH. He's not. Cabana was his classic self, though somehow he took a back seat in the comedy realm to Delerious. Blade was good, but outclassed by Cabana and Delerious. The ending I really didn't catch, but I guess Blade or Pearce tapped out. Nobody really caught it because the crowd went silent when the bell rang. Most people seemed confused as to what had happened. Cabana earns another title shot.

Daizee vs Sara Del Ray was a good women's match. I guess if that's what SHIMMER is, it may be a good company. Daizee impressed me more than Sara, but Sara played her role well. Better than I expected, actually. Some pretty creative spots in there.

Hagadorn vs Dempsey was really blah, the only highlight was Hagadorn winning the students trophy. Shane Hagadorn is the best of the students and he is only one of two students I think are any good, the other being Pelle Primeau.

Jimmy Rave vs Davey Richards opened the show for some reason. This is the Super 8 winner getting his shot at ROH, as they usually do. He really impressed me in this match. Rave is the best exclusive heel the company has full time. Rave is perfect in this role. He should be higher up the card. I guess this was Richards' test, and he made an impact. I think he'll become a mainstay in ROH.

I don't care about the preshow matches.

Well there's that report. Oh and Samoa Joe was there and kicked ass even though he didn't fight, and I saw Steven Richards walking by at one point. ROH is returning in September, and it seems like we're all going to go again.

Sooooo... we WON'T be seeing a title change at this weekends ROH show it seems. Why you ask? Because ROH already has like 50 defenses for both the tag and championship titles set up. June 10th Danielson IS defending the title in FIP. Aries & Strong are defending the tag titles in Dragon's Gate. It's just ridiculous how this is set up. Ring of Honor looks too far into the future and sets up too many title matches so that the aura of a potential title change is gone.

I know Homicide won't be winning the title anymore. That sucks, because I was believing he had that chance. Now I know he doesn't, so the main event on Saturday is cut and dry. Oh well, it'll still be an incredible show and a fun ass time.

Ring of Honor should never, MOTHERFUCKING EVER tell the public title defenses beyond the next one coming up. I understand that it "helps sell tickets", but if they just told us the next defense and allowed our minds to assume his other matches are title matches it would be great. That way the aura will still surround the title. I want to believe that Homicide can win the title, but if I see that Danielson has 8 more defenses this month, I know 'cide can't do it.

It's not like I want Danielson to lose the title, it's just I want to believe I can see a title change. Although, Gibson did make me believe last year.

El Mariachi: You want me to shoot the cook?
Agent Sands: No. I'll shoot the cook. My car's parked out back, anyway.