Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wrestling Mayhem Show 162: Blame Kid Rock

The Mayhem Crew is rocking the fanmail, voicemail, and talk about the ups and downs of WrestleMania, including the best, worse, and why Kid Rock ruined everything bad about the weekend. We're here and you can't stop the Mayhem...

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This is Episode 161 for Tuesday, April 7, 2009. You can get the episode here on Talkshoe, subscribe, and as always, stay tuned to www.wrestlingmayhemshow.com for the latest! The Wrestling Mayhem Show is recorded live and can be heard/viewed from 8 PM to 10 PM Eastern on Talkshoe.com and BlogTV.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and your thoughts on the wrestling world by emailing us at goodtimes@wrestlingmayhemshow.com! Don’t forget you can find links related to the show’s news stories and more at our Delicious Links Page for Episode 162!A Little Bit SpecialStephen Lynch Buy at eMusic Buy at Napsters More On This AlbumBeirut "My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille" (mp3)from "March of the Zapotec & Realpeople: Holland"(Pompeii Records)
Buy at Napster More On This AlbumRaiding The VaultsRae & Christian "Play On (feat. The Jungle Brothers)" (mp3)from "Raiding The Vaults"(Yes King)
More On This Album

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Streak is the most prestigious title in professional wrestling today…

A piece I wrote for WrestlingMayhemShow.com..

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WrestleMania has come and gone. Kid Rock did an admirable job. The Divas were used. Kind of. New champions. JBL quit.

But the thing this Mania will be remembered for is the amazing Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, with the streak on the line.

The build up was fantastic. Undertaker, standing at 16-0 at the big show, reiterated that Shawn wasn’t any different from his other victims. But Michaels did something others didn’t do as effectively. Fight back in the mind games. The funeral, the walk in the cemetery, and the white druids. And through it all, Taker couldn’t get his hands on Shawn. It was enough to make you think “maybe this is the one”.

On a show where we had an excellent buildup to the main title match, another changing hands in a decent three way dance, and other titles wholly ignored or relegated to the untelevised “pre-show”, one thing seems to clear. Belts don’t matter.

These days, the belts are passed around the same faces that we don’t care so much anymore. It takes so much for us to care. A fan favorite that is just getting the chance (CM Punk, Jeff Hardy), A surprise title switch (Edge at No Way Out). This isn’t the day and age of the WCW title changing hands twice a Nitro almost on a weekly basis, but there’s still something missing.

The Streak is the greatest “title” anyone could have. 17 years. How many kids watching today weren’t even born when his streak started?? And this year, we had the perfect storm of this streak, and someone who could have very well taken it away. I could never believe they would consider Mark Henry, or Prince Albert, or even Kane taking this away. But so much is at stake. This is a win that could have changed history in the business. It’s more important than being the guy that ended the long runs of guys like Rob Van Dam (ECW TV Title), Nigel McGuiness (ROH Title), or even Bruno Sammartino (WWF Title).

Do you agree that Undertaker own the “greatest title ever”?

Monday, April 6, 2009

What I Learned From Web Design Day


As many know, I've been an avid "web guy" for a long time now, and have been itching to up my game beyond some of my recent side work. So when RefreshPittsburgh announced this Web Design Day, a small "one-day, low-cost conference for web professionals", I was sold.

The day was invaluable for me, as a person not currently "in the industry" on the web side, and seeing how they go about projects in comparison to my video editing day job. But there were a few large take aways:

Analyze your process

Josh Sager kicked off the day with a fantastic, and most valuable to my situation, presentation about his process when taking on a project. The biggest thing I got from it was the years of revision he's done to all of his processes. He shared his methods for conquering the pifalls over his years, and the idea of doing something of a post mortem on your project, and smoothing it over for next time. Being someone who hasn't been working these processes in any environment, this session was exactly what I was looking for, and I plan to be adopting a lot of methods I learned here.

Typography can be really exciting

I took typography in my Multimedia and Web Design courses, but never imagined people really get into the subject. Watching Samantha Warren just got nuts about the subject was really inspiring, and changed some of the ways I'll be looking at typography, instead of being a web design afterthought. While I was worried this would be a rehash of her recent talk at Refresh Pittsburgh a few months ago, that presentation was more based on some design methods, while this was about some typography inspiration.

Your web team is like Voltron

While I had an enjoyable listen to Chris Cashdollar of Philedelphia's Happy Cog about Magazine influence on web design, the biggest visual take away I got (aside from a new source of inspiration) was that your team is like Voltron. While sometimes feel my team is like a retarded Voltron at times on projects, it's a good visual that sparked a little bit of discussion that day.

You need a laptop at these things

The place was sort of light on the plug situation over at Left Field. Thankfully, we found some power strips and had our own little laptop commune. I think it's needed for note taking (I'm much better on the keyboard) and investigating sites and tools mentioned during the lectures. There are things I would have never gone back for, or would have not stuck in my head, if it wasn't for a visual on a page in my own browser.

Aside from these key points, I learned some critical design thinking about the seduction of a web page from Geoff Barnes, loved Cashdollar's magazine retrospective, and received a dip in the water with wire framing and User Experience with Jason Robb and Whitney Hess, respectively.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Wrestling Mayhem Show 161: Baby Seat Mania


The Mayhem Crew is rocking the fanmail, voicemail, talk Night of Legends, Wrestlicious, get a report from Mad Mike from the WrestleMania Press Conference in New York City, and talk WrestleMania! Oh, and Baby Seat!!!

This is Episode 161 for Tuesday, March 31, 2009. You can get the episode here on Talkshoe, subscribe, and as always, stay tuned to www.wrestlingmayhemshow.com for the latest! The Wrestling Mayhem Show is recorded live and can be heard/viewed from 8 PM to 10 PM Eastern on Talkshoe.com and BlogTV.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and your thoughts on the wrestling world by emailing us at goodtimes@wrestlingmayhemshow.com! Don’t forget you can find links related to the show’s news stories and more at our Delicious Links Page for Episode 161!
Harmony and DissidenceJackson United
“Stitching” (mp3)
from “Harmony and Dissidence”
(Acetate Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Puretracks
Buy at appliedSB / Groupietunes
Buy at mTraks
More On This Album


Harmony and DissidenceJackson United
“Stitching” (mp3)
from “Harmony and Dissidence”
(Acetate Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Puretracks
Buy at appliedSB / Groupietunes
Buy at mTraks
More On This Album


Seven League BootsPsychokinetics
“Bigtime” (mp3)
from “Seven League Boots”
(Psychokinetics)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
Buy at appliedSB / Groupietunes
Buy at mTraks
More On This Album

Monday, March 30, 2009

CRAPCast 19: There's No Rape at Jack's


This week, our Hip Hop CRAP Stars get read a poem from "The Dude", emcee lb attempts to "catch them all", Big Daddy Shit talks WrestleMania, and more!

You can join us every Tuesday LIVE at 7 PM EST on TalkShoe.com andBlogTV.com. Find more about Hip Hop Crap Stars atwww.monkeyflingspoo.com and stay tuned to our weekly stream and subscribe on TalkShoe!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Digital Greetings

Don't tell anyone, but today's my birthday. My 28th trip around, to be exact.

So I woke up. Went to my job. Didn't really want to be to big about it. I was expecting an unspectacular day doing unspectacular things at work. We didn't really plan anything, as we are apt to do most years, and I was content with it passing by without incident.

But then they started trickling in. Little by little.

And a flood happened.

More than 25 happy birthdays hit my Facebook page. I've never seen a happy birthday cavelcade like this. They came from my New Media friends, old High School buddies, local professional wrestlers, coworkers, etc. But some stuck out.

David Redd You, sir, are an INSPIRATION!!!

You breed creativity and violence.

You pilot 2 hours of mayhem EVERY W EEK!!

You have been known to lock horns with some So-Rog fella.

But there is ONE day out of the year in which you are no longer invincible!

and that is today! The day of your BIRTH!

BEWARE OF THE ATTACK!!!

PS. Happy Birthday Little Buddy


And old standbys I always dig...


Will Rutherford To Sorgatron, Lord and master of the onyx microphone, the one and only transistorized manbeast! A very happy birthday to you, my partner in digital crime!

To the bi-lingual...

Michelle Hammons As Dora would say, Feliz cumpleaƱos!

And even a big Twitter from Social Media's biggest rock star...

chrisbrogan Happy Birthday to @sorgatron , who is passionate about pro wrestling, and is a great guy to know.

So what did we learn today? That Social Media friends means no one forgets your birthday. Thanks everyone, for the warmest B-day reception I think I can recall.