CBS's Justice League of America(1997)

In 1997 CBS acquired the tv rights to The Justice League, except for Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Despite not being able to use the big three of DC Comics, CBS pushed ahead and produced a Justice League pilot, which failed to even show in the US.

Taking place in New Metro, USA, the show opens with two meteorologists tracking a tornado coming towards the city, one of the meteorologists is played by Miguel Ferrer, best known for his role on Crossing Jordan, the other is played by a lady who would go on to "star" in Son of the Beach, a Baywatch parody.

Justice Leaguers get a distress call and begins to assemble, having to put their regular lives on hold: The Flash getting kicked out of his apartment, Fire dressed as a giant banana, and The Atom teaching high school science.

In place of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Women, we get Fire, The Atom, and later on, Ice; second and third string characters that only the nerdiest of nerds would recognize.

The only antagonist that they're going up against is The Weatherman, who is very very very loosely barely based on Flash villain, The Weather Wizard.

The Weatherman, sporting an East L.A. gang member look, demands 20 million dollars or he'll destroy the city. Golf balls begins to rain down on the city and hit a damsel that is clearly in distress. 

Green Lantern shows up and shields her with an umbrella he created with his power ring. They share a moment as she's oblivious to the fact that she is standing right in front of her boyfriend with a small mask on his face.

 Meanwhile, in another part of town, granny is having bushes thrown at her while she tries to get Mr. Whiskers to come out from under the house. Fear not, The Atom and 90's special effects come to the rescue.

Green Lantern and Fire rescue some construction workers, with Fire making sure to get in the quip, "break time is over,boys."

The Flash gets rid of the tornado and the episode shifts to a sitcom formula. 

The homeless Flash gets taken in by Green Lantern and The Atom and the three have a ham-fisted conversation about The Flash's life that goes on far too long. 

Blonde meteorologist is in the weather center's basement and science happens,giving her freezing powers. She boots it out of there freezes a body of water while trying to rescue a drowning man.

The League infiltrates some gala event to get files on The Weatherman. The Atom has a Superfriends moment and limbos with a security laser, complete with Limbo Rock playing in the background.

Blonde lady discovers Miguel Ferrer meteorologist is The Weatherman and smash cut to The League bringing blonde lady under a bridge and in a secret door.

I was hoping that they'd maybe bump into The Power Corps from the Double Dragon movie, but dream never come true in made for tv movies.

Instead of a young Alyssa Milano, we get a fat Martian Manhunter wanting Blondie McMeteorologist to join the Justice League.

I have to point out that the Martian Manhunter is one of the strongest characters in DC, on par with Superman. So why is he playing Zordon to The League? 

David Ogden Stiers was the man behind the manhunter, he was 55 at the time and had granddad bod. 

The Weatherman's demands weren't met and now he plans on destroying 60% of New Metro's population with a tidal wave. Green Lantern flys off like Mary Poppins to confront him and everyone else springs into low budget action.

Green Lantern reaches The Weatherman, who unleashes deadly stock footage waves onto the city. Fire and The Atom are green screening their way through the city's sky.

Pandemonium hits when Green Lantern fails to stop the tidal wave, but blonde lady gets her Queen Elsa on and freezes it.

The Weatherman is caught and becomes an afterthought to middle aged white in costumes talking to each other. Blondie short-hair gets sworn in and the credits start to roll, highlighting the actors.
Fire was played by Law and Order: SVU's Michelle Hurd, Matthew Settle, our low rent Green Lantern, would go on to be featured in Band of Brothers. John Kassir, who played The Atom, is best known for voicing The Crypt Keeper, and Kenny Johnston, hobo Flash, would go on to do stuff. oh, and ice ice blondie was played by Kim Oja.

I didn't find this to be particular bad, the effects and costumes are a level above Power Rangers quality, but I can look past that, considering that it's a tv production from the 90s.
The characters were nothing like their comic counterparts and the show pushed more of out of costume small talk, more sitcom than superhero.

John Cena and Randy Orton Vs. The Raw Roster

The more things change, the more things stay the same. This was ever apparent at Wrestlemania 32, The Showcase of the Immortals became the showcase of the 90's, as 17 wrestlers that were active during The Attitude Era appeared on the show.

The WWE wasn't completely to blame for having to rely on retired and part-time talent, there was a wave of injuries that plagued their roster heading into the Granddaddy of them all.

The biggest names on the dl were John Cena, Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins, who was WWE World Champion when he got put on the shelf. This put WWE into panic mode and the fans weren't,and still aren't sold on Roman Reigns. In his place as champion, the WWE went with the obvious choice for World Champion, Triple H.

This kid is going places

Today, I'll be jumping in the WABAC Machine, going back eight years to 2008, the WWE World Champion at the time was Randy Orton, with John Cena nipping at his heels and Triple H muscling his way into the title feud.

RAW-March 17th, 2008

Coming from my hometown of Lafayette, LA. The main event of the night was John Cena and Randy Orton tagging together against the rest of the Raw roster. This match was devised by Triple H, with the added stipulation of if either man walkout on the other, then that man will be booted from the main of Wrestlemania 24.

An IWC nightmare

Send out the jobbers

Being pitted against more than ten men is quite a handicap, oh what am I saying, this is Orton and Cena, their rockets were strapped snugly on their asses.

This is the most personality he's ever shown

That yellow-toothed, foot fetishist, baby killing Snitsky starts things off and gets the heat on Cena, but it's all for not, as Santino tags himself in. 

 







The Canadian-Italian misses a salute drop and gets rolled up for the 1-2-3, but Trevor Murdoch gets the heat back for the midcarders with clubbering an a clobbering on Cena.

Cena figures he's sold enough and gets Murdoch in the STF(U), his tag partner, Lance Cade, tries to make the save, but gets stopped by Orton.

Cade eats an RKO and follows his partner by being eliminated. Umaga takes out CENTON with a double clothesline right before the commercial break. The Samoan Bulldog still had some monster left in his booking, but it was more monster of the week.

We're to assume that Umaga tagged in Super Crazy, who was eliminated by Orton during the commercial break. JBL Pearl Harbors Orton and works him over till he tags in Jim Duggan, who gets a bigger crowd reaction that Orton's entrance.

Duggan gets in a few punches and tags in Cody Rhodes, who tags in Snitsky? Sorry, that's actual Val Venis.

Venis tags in Carlito, who tags Hardcore Holly, who tags in one of The Highlanders, who gets eliminated by a flying fameasser.

David Hart Smith, who now wrestles as "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith Jr., gets five-knuckle shuffled and an AA. I'd like to point out that Smith's real name is Harry Smith and that he was born in Canada, but I guess "The Canadian Bulldog" Harry Smith doesn't have the same ring to it.

 Paul Burchill's main event time gets cut short as Orton RKOs him from outta his corner. The fat, bald, and pale Val Venis is the next to go, but he'll be back on tv in less than two years time, getting a clean victory over Christopher Daniels in TNA and then leaving two months later to go smoke pot in CMLL.

Cody Rhodes gets back in the match to take a RKAA, leading to a schmoz breaking out. JBL and Umaga stay on the apron while everyone left in the match beat down on Cena and Orton.

Everyone lines up to take a chairshot from Cena, except for Brian Kendrick, he just sneaks out of the ring and heads to the back.

Orton ducks a chairshot from JBL, hitting Umaga instead, but he's a Samoan, so it has no effect on, if only they'd give this gimmick trait to Roman Reigns and The Usos.

Umaga spikes Orton and then turns his attention to JBL, who boots it to the back with Umaga trailing him. With Orton and Cena both down, it's time to play the game, and that game is steal all the heat.

This feud would continue past Wrestlemania 24, adding JBL to the mix at Backlash, but we know what JBL is.

Acadiana Roller Girls: Jello Wrestling for a cause

Come one, come all as your Acadiana Roller Girls host the end of Summer event that you don't want to miss!

LIVE ROLLER GIRL JELLO WRESTLING

Partnering with FoodNetAcadiana(http://www.foodnetacadiana.org/)

The girls of ARG look to have a good turnout for this upcoming event and will be displaying a side of them that we're not use to seeing.

Above is just some of the lovely ladies of ARG and there's yet to be confirmation of which girls will be in action, but seeing any of these girls taking part in such a "sporting" event is more than worth the ridiculously cheap and affordable $5 cover. If for some reason you don't have the fiver to cover it, I'm more than certain that you have some canned goods collecting dust in your cabinets.

As always, I'll be there with my trusty point-and-click camera, capturing all the action and since it's a wrestling event, I might just show up with my lucha mask.

 So come out and show your support and have a great time.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The sleeper hit that started a franchise

A Nightmare on Elm Street was 1984's sleeper horror movie hit and helped put struggling writer-director, Wes Craven, on the map. The film also made actor Robert Englund an icon in the horror movie world, and the character of Freddy Krueger a household name.

Craven's concept for the film was groundbreaking: a murdering maniac who stalks his teenaged prey in their dreams, the one place you think you'd be safe. He toys with them till they're psychically and mentally exhausted, then he goes in for the kill, usually in the most bloody of ways.

The inspiration for the film and the character of Kreuger was from numerous sources: A newspaper article about a group of Asian immigrants who died in their sleep, a very frightening encounter Craven had with an elderly homeless man when he was a kid, a schoolyard bully named Fred Krueger, and oddly enough, the synthpop song Dream Weaver by Gary Wright. There was also a Nazi official named Friedrich-Wilhelm Kruger, but that's just coincidence.

Creating Freddy

Here is a picture of the make-up tests done on original Freddy actor David Warner. He had to drop out of the role because of scheduling conflicts, and the rest is history.

The character of Freddy Krueger was originally suppose to be a child molester. There was a wave of molestation going on in California at the time and this must of subconsciously got to Craven, but he used his better judgement and changed the character; He didn't want the public to think he was trying to cash in on the latest scandal.

The red and green sweater that we've all come to know and love was based on DC Comic's Plastic Man, and Craven chose those color after reading an article that stated, red and green were the two most clashing colors to the human retina.

The decision to have a talking, mask-less killer helped set Krueger apart from the typical lumbering, silent, hooded villains like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees. In creating a weapon for Krueger, Craven thought that knives were too commonplace and had the thought, "how bout a glove with steak knives?"

In this series of articles, I plan to review and discuss every Nightmare movie, some of the more noticeable and out-there merchandise, and the effect that this franchise has had on pop culture.

SWEET DREAMS

Roller Derby: Acadiana Roller Girls vs. Cajun Roller Girls

The soundtrack of the night was Rancid. The athletics were covered in tattoos and eyeliner, with knee-high socks and fishnet stockings a part of the uniform. The sport was Roller Derby.

It was Saturday night, August 8th,2015 that I attended my first roller derby bout, it was a game between the Acadiana Roller Girls(pictured above) against their rivals, The Cajun Roller Girls.

I have to admit that going into the game, I really knew nothing about the sport of Roller Derby, I did a little research before hand and I had seen the movie Whip It a couple of times, but I never experienced it in person, which I can now confidently say, is the best way to enjoy the sport. 

ARG's Tenta Cruel.
Notice the star on her helmet, which means she the current "jammer" for her team and able to score points. 

My night started off with a hot budlight as I waited for the bout to start, like I mentioned before, Rancid was played throughout the majority of the night, really setting the mood for this punk-rock sport and the introduction of these roller derbying riot grrls. 

From left to right: 315. Poise N Ivy, 606. Bette Yer Bollocks, and 32. Red Glare

I have to admit that I didn't understand how the scoring system worked until about halftime, I was preoccupied with watching these lovely ladies smash into each other and the fact that this is the only sport in which bopping your opponents with your hips and butt is considered a great defensive maneuver. 

Luckily for me, the program that I received at the door explained the rules and scoring system in Roller Derby 101 and also had referee hand signals. The rosters of both teams were also showed, helpful so that you don't confuse your Hot Mess with Nequita TeKillYa or Psycho Beast with say, Talk O'Holic.

During halftime, I was able to take a quick pic of Delirium Trigger, one of the co-captains of The Cajun Roller Girls, who were up at the time and would eventually win.

The bout and my night was over after roughly two hours of gameplay. I got a lot of great action and static shots and even took some video.

In closing, I had a great time, it was a cool experience, and I plan on attending future bouts whenever I can.

Marvel's Cinematic Universe needs recurring villains

Marvel is riding high right now, thanks to their massively successful, license to print money, runaway juggernaut film and tv division; If Stan Lee isn't swimming in a vault of money like Scrooge McDuck, then he ain't living life right.

With movies and tv shows planned to come out till 2019 and the President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, saying that they have things planned through 2028, this franchise doesn't look to end, which is great for uber nerds like me, but I do think the series has one thing lacking, recurring villains. 

A good rogues gallery can make a superhero that much more interesting, what would Batman be without The Joker? Captain America with no Red Skull? ect. Recurring villains can also get someone invested more into the story.

I'll be going every MCU movie released so far and run down the villains from each film to see which villains could possibly make a return in the MCU.

1.IRON MAN- The main villain from the first Iron Man film was Obadiah Stane, Tony Stark's second-in-command and the man who sold him out to a group of Middle Eastern radicals. Stane died at the end of the film while in the huge Iron Monger armor,so he won't be making a return...Unless it's time to introduce Ezekiel Stane, Obadiah's son.

In the comics, Ezekiel continues his father's war against Stark and converts his body to that of a cyborg and is equipped with an exoskeleton. 

2. The Incredible Hulk- Emil Blonsky takes a viral cocktail of the Hulk's blood and some super-soldier serum to become The Abomination, a monster that rivals The Hulk in strength and size. Blonsky survives the end battle with The Hulk and is never mentioned again. 
I think The Abomination would make a great center piece for a villains team and I would love to see him return.

3.IRON MAN 2- Tony Stark goes up against two bad guys in this sequel. Russian scientist Ivan Vanko teams up with Stark competitor, Justin Hammer, to create the Whiplash armor and a fleet of Iron Man like drones. Vanko explodes himself in the finale and Hammer gets arrested. Hammer is seen to be in prison during the Marvel One-Shot short film, All Hail the King, leaving the door open for him to return.

4. THOR- Loki. Moving on.

5.Captain America- I assume that the founder of Hydra and Captain America's biggest nemesis, The Red Skull, is dead. He tried to hold the Tesseract and ends up being dissolved into light. He's cheated death many times before in the comics, but with actor Hugo Weaving getting out of his multi-picture deal with Marvel a long time, The Red Skull is a long shot to return.

6. The Avengers- Loki. The Chitauri aliens could be featured later as Marvel has expanded into space with Guardians of the Galaxy.

7. IRON MAN 3- The Mandarin was a fake, a front for the film's real villain, Aldrich Killian, another rival of Stark's. Killian runs Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M. for short, a known evil organization in the comics. In the film, Killian uses the Extremis serum to become a unstable human weapon, but ends up getting killed by Pepper Potts.

Interesting note: All Hail the King, the short film that followed IM3, has a member of the Ten Rings terrorist group, break Trevor Slattery, the fake Mandarin, out of prison so he can be brought to the real Mandarin, leader of the Ten Rings.  
 A flag for the Ten Rings can be seen in Iron Man, it's in the terrorist camp.  There's no current plans for an Iron Man 4, but if they ever was one, we could possible,but not probably, see The Mandarin and his Ten Rings group team with Ezekiel Stane and Justin Hammer to finally destroy Tony Stark.

8. THOR 2- Loki is back again and he'll be back for Thor 3: Ragnarok. The Dark Elves were pretty much jobbers, no one wants to see them return.

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9. Captain America 2- HYDRA! Strands of the yin to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s yang are still going strong in the MCU, so expect to see splint groups and ex-members to pop up. The Winter Soldier makes a possible hero turn by the end of the film and Brock Rumlow, Hydra's spy in the house of Fury, will return in CAP3 as Crossbones.

10. Guardians of the Galaxy- The main baddie, Ronan The Accuser and his right hand man, Korath The Pursuer, both bite the big one, but Nebula, Ronan's third, makes an escape before the film's climax and is still at large.

11. Avengers 2- Remember Hydra? They're back and lead by Baron von Strucker, who doesn't last long before being killed by Ultron.
Ultron is just a ridiculous A.I. program, so even though the Avengers destroyed all of his bodies, he could theoretically return in anything electronic. 

12. ANT-MAN- This film has two villains, one minor and one major. The main villain is Darren Cross, crazy scientist who develops the Yellowjacket suit and plans to sell the technology to Hydra. Which is were the film's minor villain, former SHIELD agent, Mitchell Carson, comes into play. Carson is working for Hydra and also with the Ten Rings group to buy the yellowjacket tech. Carson gets away in the end,while Cross shrinks into nothingness in his battle with Ant-Man.

  No matter what happens in the MCU, I'll still continue to enjoy the series and geek out like I'm a little kid at Christmas.

Roller Derby: Death-defying dames on a skate track.

The high contact sport of Roller Derby has seen a resurgence in the past decade. What once started as endurance races in the mid 1880s has evolved to the DIY, full contact, counter-culture sport of today. 

 Thanks to a New York TV deal back in 1948, Roller Derby broadcast helped increase live attendance and sell out Madison Square Garden. By the late 1950s and during the 1960s, the sport was broadcast on several networks, but attendance for matches was dwindling. Fast track some odd 20 years and America sees the 1989 debut of RollerGames, which presented the sport with more theatrics and storylines.

Roller Derby would have its last tv run with 1999's RollerJam on Spike TV, but it was obvious that the sport had it's influence in the 1975 film, Rollerball, 1998's Futuresport, and the 2002 Rollerball remake.

The majority of today's derby leagues are all female with a punk/rockabilly feminist aesthetic. Soccer moms and lawyers are putting on their knee-high socks, Dead Kennedys t-shirt, and helmets and pads for a rock-em and sock-em good time.

2009 saw Roller Derby put in the spotlight again with the film Whip It, written by Shauna Cross, basing it on her novel Derby Girl.

The film had good critical reception and helped the sport expand its fan base. The film also perfectly showed the culture of the sport and it's DIY or die attitude.

On August 8th, I'll be attending my first Roller Derby match as two local teams to my area, The Acadiana Roller Girls and The Cajun Rollergirls, continue their rivalry. This is all for a good cause, as the teams are collecting school supplies with the local United Way  and hope to "stuff" a school bus with supplies.