Tag Archives: Review

Books, Essays, Non-fiction, Opinion, Philosphy, Review

The Way of Men (Book Review 2012)

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Having just read The Way of Men by author Jack Donovan, I have come to the conclusion that my idea of masculinity has been wrong all these years.
Strength and masculinity have been considered, for years, abstract concepts. That is to say, everyone has their own interpretation on what makes men, men and they are whitewashed hypocritical versions of masculinity to borrow a phrase from Anton LaVey.

Men will often refer to gangster movies as the ideal man movies but in reality, suggest that being a man is something completely different.
In The Way of Men, Jack posits the question of what masculinity is and if there is indeed a true way to BE a man and if indeed there is a true way to be a man, then what is the way of man?

The Way of Men is suggesting that manhood is the way of the gang. Men, traditionally being the hunters of the tribes would naturally have to get along to succeed and keep each other and their tribe alive.
This traditionally makes sense, especially on a Selfish Gene scenario. With Richard Dawkins suggesting the cost benefit scenario that all males of various species adhere to by nature.

Mans true nature is to be territorial, aggressive, dominant, strong and strategic, even to the point of being thieves and going so far as to steal wives from competing tribes. Yet men can also be compassionate and fair.

Men are born with the desire to compete for resources and as horrible and vulgar as that sounds to reduce woman to resources that is the way it has been for centuries. It was the way evolution intended it and the way our human biology still sees it.

It also seems to be suggesting and I could be wrong, but crime, in the traditional sense is really men being locked up for being, well, men.

It is not suggesting a release of prisoners or anything of the like but rather just suggesting that we lock men up more often for being themselves.
It is the fact that society no longer needs for men like that, that leads to frustrated young men turning to drugs and other avenues, often leading to criminal activity for lack of ability to express their true natures.

The Way of Man can be seen as a call to action. For young men to grab society by the balls in only the way men can and assert ourselves to not be breed out of extinction. We must reclaim masculinity and not make our young men feel demonized for their natural predictions.

Men are a completely natural thing and if we allow ourselves to, we will be destroyed.

So then I pose the question: What is the future way of man? The answer is the way of the dinosaurs.

Five out of Five Stars.

Binder of Woman, Celebrity, Music, Non-fiction, Review, Writing

The Luchagors:Review

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Luchagors-

     I’m going to stay away from what I did in my last musical review, which, as you may recall linked past to present career paths, and instead look at this from a perspective of a band as if I just found them. I think going this away removes a past bias for the performer in one aspect of their life and creates a far more objective outlook at the present. Although I guess I’m wicked late to reviewing this, though.

     So this is the debut album for a band called The Luchagors. Which, according to the internets is wordplay combination, Lucha Libre and Horror flicks. Right up my alley, as I greatly enjoy both. I haven’t had the chance to see them live, so it is just for the album which you can easily find on Itunes or Amazon.

     The band consist of members: Amy Dumas (Lead vocals), Shane Morton (Guitar and vocals), Jay Hedberg (Bass and vocals.), Racci Shay (Drummer). The latter apparently replaced Troy King on drums.

     Right from the first song titled White Boy, the songs are catchy, fast paced, angst filled with all the good stuff punk music is known for. The theme through most of the lyrics seem consistent through several songs, which are that of a woman scorned. An indictment on an unknown person, most likely an ex, whom seems like a little bitch and a going through the motions of regaining independence of her life and eventually resulting in self-fulfillment of a brighter future.

     Granted that could just be a hell of a lot of inference on absolutely nothing, but you can view the lyrics and judge for yourself.

     The vocals are strong, the music crisp, and the lyrical content is interesting, even if it is somewhat banal for lyrical content. Originality can be overrated, though. You can pick up on many of the bands influences if you know about enough about punk rock. I managed to note and find The Misfits influence and I’m sure many more experienced punk rock listeners will find more.

     The run time is over a half hour long, so you won’t spend too much time having to sit down and really and give much thought to it. Given the edgy sound and style, it still manages to be fun. Which is more than I can say about most edgy bands. Usually they’re dark and brooding. Like back before vampires were twinks who sparkled. I digress and… seriously, fuckin’ sparkle? Never mind.

     If you want something you could speed through, say, shopping or at the gym, this is an interesting and excellent choice. Pick up a copy and you can finally stick it to your hipster friend about how you found and like a new band, but they probably never heard of them. That alone would be worth picking up this gem from 2007, never mind actually enjoying it. Enjoying it would just be a bonus. You could spend $9.99 on far worse, like say, 50 Shades of Grey, or you could listen to something that is at least 25 shades of enjoyable.

     This album gets the fingerofapproval

Reviews, Wrestling

Degrassi: The NXT Generation.

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      I never shy away from expressing a love for things that I greatly enjoy and for the last 26 years of my life, one of the many things I have enjoyed greatly is professional wrestling.

     When I was younger, I spent the majority of time exclusively watch the World Wrestling Federation, which is now and from here on out within this text, World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. WCW did absolutely nothing for me and I did get to give TNA a go as a teenager, which came off as nothing but a WWE clone. I sadly never got to watch E-C-W in the original run of the show, but have since seen enough of it to know that I absolutely would have loved it. I still cannot bring myself to sit through WCW.

     Sadly, the last thirteen years of the 26 watching pro-wrestling had been filled with more misses than hits. It seems as if WWE has become more of a WCW clone than it had been in the past. I didn’t desire to watch WCW in its original run, never mind a weaker version of it. Yes, note that I said a weaker version of it.

     Fast forward to 2015 and I’ve had the privilege to enjoy watching NXT, which seems like an entirely different organization entirely. Yes, it is still WWE, but nothing like the current Raw or Smackdown shows. It is without a doubt the enema that pro wrestling has badly needed for over a decade and yet it is still owned by the same company.

     The overall enjoyment one gets from the televised taping of the show makes paying a monthly network fee seem like privilege rather than a chore.

     It seemly is following in the footsteps of a former company that did the same for its generation that also had three letters associated with it. I am, of course, talking about E-C-W. It is exactly that, but without the baggage of being extreme all the time. Which, when 99% of your matches are hardcore based, where would one have gone, short of live executions on television.

     The roster is deep with a talent pool filled of interesting and unique characters with gimmicks that seem to be better crafted, rather than intelligent insulting as WWE has been known to be in the past.

     The matches are longer, more exciting, and driven by an unknown force that keeps you riveted until the very end. It has gotten to a point that I do not watch Smackdown or Raw in favor of this show and while I wish I could say I get to watch it often, I haven’t had the chance to watch everything this brand has to offer, but it lacks the predictably of the main shows and favors wrestling over long, drawn out storylines that build up to nothing more than a filler mid-card match at the next Pay-Per-View.

     The woman’s division is outstanding and slowly eradicating the bias of many fans who for years have held out that woman cannot wrestle. You’ll never win anyone over, but I could not remember a time period were woman’s wrestling was an exciting and something to look forward to without the use of HLA (Hot Lesbian Action.) or being second fiddle to their boyfriends.

     The men’s division of NXT offers a mix of electic individuals that almost all seemingly work well together. The bad matches are few and far between and if you think any of them are hype, than I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news, because quite frankly, you’ll soon find yourself on the verge of a meltdown from a misjudging. I’ve made those, few and far between, so keep watching.

     It is at a point that all of these kids should be on the main roster as soon as possible to give Raw and Smackdown a reason to keep the loyal fan base tuning in.

     The genius behind this isn’t Vince McMahon or even the Pro Wrestling Messiah that is Paul Heyman, but none other than the King of King’s Triple H.

     I seemingly recall that many years ago, it was stated that if HHH had any control over the company it would be all about him, twenty four hours a day. Yet, all these years later, such a fear it is unfounded. I digress, but it should be noted to give credit where it is due.

     Maybe we should give him a chance to run the flagship brand for a couple of months as the level of the shows might vastly improve and be worth watching, much like when Heyman was operating Smackdown for a while.

     TNA should buy a network subscription and start ripping off NXT for ideas in the same way they rip off WWE’s core product. They might find there show improving. The smart bet would be to court NXT’s talent pool over main roster releases or legends as well.

     Within the next ten years, NXT is going to be THE brand to be watching and enjoying as it is going places and the road to glory is paved with gold.

     My only desire would be to see NXT ditch tapings and go full on live. At this point, it is the best reason to buy into the WWE Network, but is sadly overlooked when Daniel Bryan isn’t main eventing twenty four hours a day. Maybe it is time the Yes movement made its way back to NXT to give itself and the show the boost it desperately needs to catapult it well into the next frontier of WWE’s premiere entertainment and what would be better than a power struggle from within of HHH stealing Vince’s guys and gals and giving them the proper pushes and screen time they all deserve?

     It is the invasion angle we all would have loved when WWE brought up WCW back in 2001. It is the show that would of made a far better brand to be drafted to, as opposed to being a B+ player on a second rate show that, if it wasn’t for the last 15 years of buildup, would of probably had been ditched like a Shotgun Saturday night or Stevie(Sunday) Night Heat.

     If you are not a fan of pro wrestling, this brand could easily make one of you and if not, you are might be insane or worse, a fundy duddy, because this show kicks ass.

     Buy the network or find it on the local TV listings, because you will not be disappointed by giving this a watch.

     Five out of Five stars.