It’s January 18, 2005 and it’s the latest 2005 debut column in history! My name is Widro and you probably don’t want to hear my excuses about the last few weeks in this very slot. It’s all boring back-end work excuses, plus the real life world kicking my ass.
A quick aside before we get to the festivities — does the corporate world really make this little sense? It’s as if we are the ancient Greeks and every department in my company is a city-state vying for supremacy. You’d think things would work smoother if, you know, people WORKED TOGETHER on projects in the same company, but I guess that’s not how it works.
Hey I said that once.
Wrestling
WWE usually steps up with better booking and TV programming in the first quarter of every year, to coincide with the build to Wrestlemania. This year has been no different thusfar, and both Raw and Smackdown have been doing a good job of building towards the Royal Rumble and creating episodic, enjoyable programming.
The Rumble is shaping up to be really good. The card is just about set. It’s interesting that the two top matches on the Raw side were once matches penciled in for Wrestlemania 21, so neither are likely for that event. HHH vs. Randy Orton is evidence that Orton’s stock has dropped and he’s not in line for a singles match at WM21 with Hunter. At best he is in a 3 or 4 way with the other members of Evolution.
Scott has been running retro-rants for all the Royal Rumble events from the beginning! Here is a rundown of what he has done thusfar:
- 1989 Royal Rumble Rant
- 1990 Royal Rumble Rant
- 1991 Royal Rumble Rant
- 1992 Royal Rumble Rant
- 1993 Royal Rumble Rant
TV
Murtz has conducted a lengthy and interesting interview with Apprentice Season 2 contestant Chris Russo. You can read the interview here. It will be a great pleasure to have Chris on the Pulse.
He is not to be confused with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
Also, Matthew Romanada checks in with a recap of the latest episode of The O.C. which I think was a strong episode. DJ was a dud of a character, but think of it from his point of view — he got to bang Marissa for months without having to do much relationship-y stuff, and now got out. Bravo, DJ, bravo.
Movies
For some reason, I never got to see Anchorman in the theatres, but I finally got a chance to check it out on DVD. And it was VERY good.
I was expecting the movie to be a showcase for Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell’s annoying anchorman character, judging by the ads. However, the ads instead served to set up the character, and then the movie proceeded with a plotline, with much less over-the-top character development that I expected.
Overall the movie is much more in the Zoolander mold — a plot with a climax and resolution involving an exaggerated cast of characters in a finite world. Much like Ben Stiller in Zoolander, Burgundy seems like a joke to viewers but is revered by the populace in the movie. There is a love/hate relationship between both Burgundy and Zoolander’s main rival. There is even a bizarre underground gang fight in each movie.
Over on Inside Pulse, Tal debuts a new movies column called Reel Talk and Michaelangelo has a DVD review of Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Games
Tork has been a pleasant surprise. It’s always a crapshoot when you pick up one of these $20 games new, because something happened along the way to bump it from a full priced game to a value title. In the case of Tork, it was a first party Microsoft Studios game that was dropped out of no where.
Ubi Soft picked it up, and it has been an old-school platforming game to the max so far. I’m going to try to whip up a review for the site, but I’m still trying to get this pumped out each week so I’m not sure the review will happen.
Someone that IS doing reviews, or at least is back doing reviews, is D.E. Olvera and he has a review of Alien Hominid for PS2. I picked up the GC version and I’m not too impressed — is this really what 2D has been reduced to in less than a decade!?
And the lovely Sarah Graves checks in with a saucy preview of Wrestlemania 21 on Xbox, the series that will painfully end the Raw series. It’s being done by the same team that did Tao Feng (meh) but that does include John Tobias, who I must give the benefit of the doubt for his MK lineage.
Comics
In the mid-90s I was a comic book collector, focusing mainly on DC books and getting a bunch from the upstart Image guys as well. One fateful weekend I was punished by my parents and couldn’t buy comics for a month, and never really got back into them.
BUT because this site covers comics so well, I felt it was my duty to follow suit and return to the comic book world, at least enough to comment weekly!
I have decided my first return book will be Justice League, and I picked up #110 over the weekend! However, I have yet to read it. So I will let you know how it was next week.
In the meantime, you should check out the Nexus who are having a pretty sweet contest to give away a SIGNED copy of a “Small Gods” trade paperback! Check out a preview of the book
All applications need to be in by Friday January 21, 2005 to be considered for the contest, so don’t wait. Email Daron, the overlord of the Nexus
Also be sure to get the latest on Marvel and DC news
Figures
Toy Fair is only a few weeks away, and PK is already hard at work on the preparations. The big news that just came down today was that the Simpsons license had moved from Playmates to”¦ McFarlane!
I’m not sure what kind of detail that McFarlane figures could really add to the simplistic Simpsons models, but I’m excited to find out. As much as the Playmates collection was thorough, I always felt like the actual figures themselves were lacking — they were barely possible and made from super hard plastic.
Here is the full story
Music
I’m a little late in the game with year end awards, but I have my edition of essentials sitting unfinished, so instead I will feature it here in the Daily Pulse next week with some of my other awards.
I’m usually a huge fan of Wind-Up produced Marvel movie soundtracks, but the latest entry in the series is a huge disappointment. I picked up the Elektra Official Movie Soundtrack last week and it is horrid! There are almost no tracks that are radio hits. Many o fthe new bands are fronted by women and seem like Evanescence clones. And yes, Evanescense is in there, with a painfully slow ballad that rivals My Immortal on the shrill level.
On Inside Pulse Music, Gloomchen is way more reliable than me.
The Hot Seat moves into 2005 as scorching as it has ever been. For it’s first victim-err guest this year, Bebito Jackson of Pulse Games fame has gotten the nod. Does Bebito have what it takes to withstand the blistering heat? Let’s find out.
1) We always start with geometry — How many degrees are there in each interior angle of a regular pentagon?
Bebito: Pfftt….. are you serious? Who freakin’ cares! I thought this was about me getting paid? Oh i dunna know. 65.
Judges: Sorry that is incorrect. 0 out of 1
2) You are well known as a huge Sonic Team fan. Please rank these Sonic games in the order of goodness, starting with the best — a) Sonic Jam (SS) b) Sonic CD (SCD) c) Sonic Shuffle (DC) d) Sonic R (SS) e) Sonic 3D Blast (SG) f) Sonic: The Fighters (Arc)
Bebito: a, b, f, d, e, c
Judges: That is the exact order we were looking for. kudos. 1 out of 2
3) Once upon a time, you hosted a little something called the Down-Lo. If you are able, please contact your rumor monkey and let the Hot Seat Judges in on some hot Games rumor:
Bebito: *Calls Rumor Monkey* What’s the down-lo little guy? *Monkey Hands Bebito Slip Of Paper* Ok… let’s see here: Rumor Has it Nintendo of America is planning to make an announcement for Nintendo DS around the launch time of Sony PSP in US in March 2005. Also there’s gossip that Ubisoft is planning to release Prince of Persia 3 in US by the end of 2005. And Namco has registered a new trademark Sigma Star Saga in US on November 23, and it seems a new game with this name is under development.
Good boy… *Rumor Monkey Swings Away*
Judges: These are some boring rumors, the judges expect more from the monkey. 1 out of 3
4) Games Trivia — What was the first game ever released in America for the Sony Playstation (hint: it was a few days before the release of the console itself):
Bebito: Oh god. Only Lucard would know that. How bout Battle Arena Toshiden?
Judges: Wrong. The judges believe it is Total Eclipse Turbo, but the aforementioned Mr. Lucard asserts it is Dragon’s . Either way you’re wrong. 1 out of 4
5) In 40 words or less, describe your ultimate next Generation NiGHTS sequel.
Bebito: There’s no need for a NiGHTS sequel really. I’ve come to realize that. When you create the perfect game, how can you top it? Prettier graphics? That’s about it. So if you must, give me another NiGHTS edition with the exact same smooth gameplay with the visuals to turn our eyes blind from the beauty. Then all will be well with the universe.
Judges: A true purest, doesn’t even think the game needs a sequel. Nice. 2 out of 5
A mediocre display from Bebito, clocking in with only 2 out of 5.
For fans of the Hot Seat, The Hot Seat is heating up in February, and the lineup of Hot Seat guests is already starting to be filled! Plus, March is HOTSEAT MADNESS month with several guests
Wrestlemania 21 Countdown
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve mustered up a Daily Pulse, and quite a bit has been revealed on the Wrestlemania landscape. Well, some has at least.
By having Randy Orton take on HHH at Royal Rumble, that match is definitely off the Wrestlemania 21 card. The same is true of Shawn Michaels vs. Edge, which was just announced.
The Austin press conference tomorrow is almost certain confirmation that he will be at Wrestlemania in some capacity, perhaps announcing what his intentions are at the RR PPV. Combine this Austin news with the Hogan backstage reports from a couple weeks ago, and suddenly the dream match Austin vs. Hogan could be a reality.
I’ll get into more detail next week, but for now, here is my pre-Rumble hypothetical Wrestlemania 21 card., which is a combination of reported matches, my guesses and some creative use of the rest of the WWE roster.
Raw World Title
Triple H (c) vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton
Smackdown World Title
JBL (c) vs. John Cena
Undertaker/Kane vs. Snitsky/Heidenreich
Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle
Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho vs. Edge/Christian
Legend vs. Legend
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Hollywood Hogan
w/The Rock as the special ref
Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair
Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey? (I’m starting to just randomly guess so I’ll end it here and expound on this next week)
Comment On This:
To get our readers used to leaving comments, each week I’m going to pose a quick question that you could use the comment section for.
I saw the latest commercial in burger king’s “office” series and the boss guy upgraded everyone’s Angus to an Angus bacon cheddar, then fired one of the guys”¦
My question to you — do you think that guy is really fired?
Hit the comment link at the bottom!
Closing Time
The next few weeks at the Pulse are going to be heating up! We have a ton of pick ‘em games, sweepstakes and special features rolling out over the next few months. The time between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania 21 — RumbleMania season – is upon us!
