Hogan is back! And heading to TNA...

Wrestling fans have something to get excited about, as the world of wrestling is about to get a lot more interesting. Hulk Hogan, the man who revolutionized the sport and arguably brought both WWE (then WWF) and WCW to the top of their game is now back! But in TNA.

You have to wonder if this will have the same effect as when Hogan jumped ship from WWE to WCW. At that time, Vince thought that Hogan was washed up and not worth the money. Turns out, Vince was wrong. In 1996, Hogan helped WCW Nitro sky rocket in the ratings, overtaking Monday Night RAW in the ratings for 86 weeks straight.

TNA could be on the verge of something huge here. With Kurt Angle, Mic Foley, Kevin Nash, Booker T, Sting, Scott Steiner and now Hulk Hogan, TNA has some of the best of the best from days gone by, as well as some amazing young talent like AJ Styles, Eric Young and Jay Lethal.

With Hogan debuting this Thursday, October 29 on TNA, I'm definitely setting my PVR to see what happens.

Shane McMahon resigns from WWE

Shane McMahon announced that he will resign from WWE effective January 1, 2010.

Shane issued a statement that said, "It is with great sadness that I announce my resignation from the WWE, effective January 1, 2010."

"I have never even considered a future outside the walls of the WWE. However, sometimes life takes an unexpected turn and while it is the most difficult decision I have ever made, it is time for me to move on."

This comes as a complete shock to most in the wrestling world, and now people are beginning to come up with theories as to why.

On Bill Apter's 1wrestling.com, he has suggested that Shane may be considering starting up his own MMA promotion. It is well known that Shane has been an MMA fan, but I don't know about this one.

Fans on Apter's site have suggested that Shane is going to TNA wrestling, but I don't think anyone seriously believes that one.

No matter what Shane does, I see this as an admission of defeat for him in the battle for control of the future WWE.

Vince McMahon bought WWE from his father, who took control from Vince's grandfather. Shane was always the logical fourth generation figurehead of the company after Vince steps down. Until Triple H married Stephanie.

Triple H marrying Stephanie has put him in the middle of booking sessions, given him creative control and direction, and helped him to become champion practically forever (until John Cena came along and they needed to put the belt on a fresh face). Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those Triple H bashers, I think he is a good wrestler and deserved the title when he had it. He does work well with others as you can see by the way he has put Cena over in the past.

I know most people think that with Shane out of the picture, Stephanie is the next likely person to run the company, which is true. But would she run it in a Linda McMahon way, where she is the CEO and her husband, Triple H is the chairman of the board, pulling the strings and actually in control?

Only time will tell, but it is definitley odd when the supposed heir to the throne leaves his place in the kingdom.

The Watchmen

I finally booked some free time to watch the directors cut of The Watchmen. I've read many conflicting reviews for this movie. Many people hate it, and few seem to love it. I think I fall in the minority. I won't say that I loved it, but I certainly didn't hate it.

I thought the movie was well done. Granted, I haven't read the graphic novel, so I can't make the same comparison that everyone else has been making.

Since I'm new to the story, I was genuinely surprised by the plot twists and the way things unfolded.

The special effects were good, the characters were interesting, and I enjoyed the darker tone and social commentary presented.

If you haven't read the graphic novel, watch this movie with an open mind and don't expect it to be the X-Men. As for me, I'm going to track down a copy of the graphic novel.

EB Games Deals of July 2009, Games Days!

Anyone looking for a good deal on some new games should definitely check out EB Games (Canada) this month. They're having their Games Days specials again, where they have daily door crasher with really good deals.

How good?

I picked up Tom Clancy's End War for $10 (regular price $59).

They also had the new Tomb Raider game on for $10, Metal Gear Solid 4 Collectors Edition for $10 and a lot more.

There's also some crap deals, like Build a Bear Workshop for Wii for $10. You win some, you lose some I guess.

The deals are not advertised on the website, and are announced daily. If you want to keep up with the deals, check out this forum link below.

http://www.cagcast.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228775

Star Trek (2009) movie comments

Star Trek. The final frontier. These are the voyages of.... well, a brand new crew and time continuity.

I saw the new Star Trek movie. I had my doubts going into this movie. I though, "Why are they recasting everyone and changing continuity? Why not just have new crew in the future?".
Why? Because this is Star Trek, the Hollywood blockbuster, not Star Trek the TV series. And honestly, that's not a bad thing.

The known and loved Star Trek timeline is changed right off the bat in this movie, with a Romulan mining vessel coming through a worm hole into a time just before the original series (TOS) time line. They battle a starship which the father of James T. Kirk takes over after the captain is taken by the Romulans. Kirk senior sacrifces himself and the ship so that his pregnant wife, who at this very moment gives birth to Baby Kirk, can survive.

It is this moment that makes this movie ok with me. The timeline and universe are changed minutes before the birth of Captain Kirk. I've read other review of this movie saying that the Kirk character in this movie is too different from the Kirk character in TOS. That's understandable now. The original Kirk grew up with a father, this one didn't. The original Kirk was inspired to join Starfleet, this one wasn't.

However, the changes aren't just in the character of Kirk. All of the characters are tweaked from their original versions, the technology looks updated, but similar, and the pace is far faster.
Where the last few Next Generation movies felt like an extended episode of the series, especially Insurrection, this new movies feels like a stand alone feature film. It still has ties to TOS, and even the timeline of TNG, but you could watch this movie without any prior knowledge.

I give Start Trek an 8.5/10.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine review

Well, I finally made it to the theatre last night to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was better than most the reviews had made it out to be, but I do see what some of their nagging issues were about.
First of all, it was a pretty decent action movie. There were some decent fight scenes and the special effects were good. It's when you get to the overall storyline that things tend to get a bit weak.
Since Wolverine's on screen debut in the original X-Men movie, he's always had a "mysterious past." He's trying to figure out who he is, and why he is the way he is. By the end of this movie, everything is explained. However, after all of the explanation, you sort of sit there and say "that's it?" To me, alot of the explanations seemed overly simplified, like there should be more to it. The entire Weapon X procedure scene takes up about 5 minutes of screen time. In fact, they don't even explain it to Wolverine until he's laying on the table and they casually say "We're going to bond adamantium to your bones to make you indestructible." It just seems like there should have been more prep work to it. Maybe a montage of tests and calibrations being done. Instead, he gets on this table, lowered into some water, and a few minutes later has an adamantium skelton. I think the X-Men cartoon did this scene better, especially the dramatic break out. In the movie, Wolverine hops of the table, takes a bullet to the forehead, gets pissed off and runs out the door.
In X-Men 2, they showed a flashback of him running out of the facility at night with bloody claws. In this movie, he runs out in broad day light and jumps down a waterfall naked. It just seemed to be missing the intensity.
I also preferred the memory implants used in the comics that have made Wolverine confused about his past and who he is. The way he loses his memory in the movie is again a little too overly simplistic and a bit out there.

SPOILER ALERT:
He loses his memory by being shot in the head with an adamantium bullet. One shot takes him down, and then he is shot again in the head. It is said that "An adamantium bullet is the only thing that can take him down," and it does. They then say that it won't kill him. That his brain will heal but his memories won't. I think this could have been done differently. Instead of getting shot in the head, they could have had Silverfox use her powers to make him forget about everything for some reason. That's just me ranting though.

A lot of people have also been complaining about the appearance of Deadpool in this movie. I think they went a little too far with his extra powers, but I didn't mind him. I just wish that in all of these X-Men movies that the villans weren't under some sort of mind control. Toad and Sabretooth in X-Men are mindless henchmen somehow under Magnetos control. Lady Deathstrike is under Stryker's control in X-Men 2. And once again, Deadpool is a remote control puppet in this movie. I would have liked to have seen him have some motivation for going after Wolverine here.

Anyways, the rest of the movie isn't all that bad. I would give it 3 1/2 out 5.

Check back again soon for my Star Trek movie review!

Last night, X-Men Origins: Wolverine made it's theatrical debut. I'm sure there were plenty of lines and excited fans all across the country, but I wouldn't know as I had a night out at the bar with the guys instead.
I had two reasons for this. One; I want to go on a night where the crowds won't be so huge; and two; it's my birthday!
Anyways, back to the point of all of this. I am excited to go and see Wolverine. He's always been my favourite X-Men character. I've read some of the reviews for the movie, and they aren't incredibly favourable. They say it's enjoyable, but not a great movie (see this review on ign ). I'll leave myself to be the judge of that. You can't always trust the critics opinions on things like this after all.
A friend of mine had downloaded the "leaked" work print of the movie, and we watched the first 15 minutes of it. Aside from the horribly unfinished special effects, it wasn't that bad. I had to tell him to turn it off after 15 minutes though as to not spoil the movie. I hate spoilers, but sometimes, it's just too hard to avoid them on the internet.
Anyways, check back here on Monday and I'll have my full review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Welcome!

Welcome to madmic23, the personal ramblings of..... ME!

This space will be used for general discussion on all of the things in life that interest me. That mainly falls into categories of technology, video games, pro wrestling and other crazy stuff that most people don't really care to much for.

However, I remember reading a quote from Stan Lee, the man behind Spiderman, who once said "I'm not vain enough to think that I'm the only person who thinks like me, so I'm just going to write something that I like knowing that at least someone else out there will like it too."

I'm pretty sure that's how it went. Or maybe it was someone else. Whatever.

Anyways, that quote will be how I write my blog. Those of you who are following along, welcome, and enjoy the show.