Basic updates 1

Been a busy week, which has kept me from writing here much... or at all. On the other hand, I have written about twenty pages for my first classes as a graduate student, and am waiting for the grades on the first of those essays that I have turned in. Hopefully they won't turn out too badly; I did work pretty hard on them, after all. Some news and notes, though, just in general:

1: I love writing for my hermeneutics and New Testament historiography class. The work is fascinating and I absolutely love learning more about Jewish culture and religion.

2: I am excited for TNA picking up two new women, Kat Waters and Christina Von Eerie. Hopefully this means we'll see these two ladies and my favorite wrestler, Daffney, in a program , and that TNA has realized that dark, pale and tattooed is just as beautiful as tall, tanned and blond.

3: I am pissed off all over the place about Serena Deeb getting released form WWE. She seemed like a nice lady and is a greally great wrestler, and has seemingly been released for basically NOTHING. It just makes me wonder who she refused to sleep with, especially since Batista isn't there anymore. They used to treat the whole Divas division like his personal brothel.

WWE NXT 2: Go Kaval!

So, Kaval got a chance to show off his freestyle rap skill tonight. He doesn't have quite the "flow" that Lord William Regal has (who does?) but he managed to rip everyone else on the NXT roster to shreds and to subtly plug TNA, the company which gave him his first big break back in 2002/2003. A little bit later, in a match against Husky Harris, Kaval amazed again with some of the stiffest kicks that I've ever seen in a wrestling match and a really, really brutal looking Warrior's Way off the top rope, and when Layla closes her eyes she hears his voice (!). I was disappointed to see the old school brute Husky cast aside in favor of Miz Jr., but it's good to see Kaval getting the recognition he deserves.

In other news, given Linda McMahon's recent remarks on Lance Cade I will not be purchasing anymore WWE pay per views or financially supporting them in any ways. I will give my support to Ring of Honor and TNA, companies which at least sort of treat their workers like human beings.

WWE Summerslam

Heck of a Pay per view tonight! I'm normally not a huge fan of WWE, especially since the release of Mickie James and the necktie debacle which lead to the (temporary) release of Bryan Danielson, but the show as a whole was pretty good tonight. Melina looked like an absolute dream of an Aztec sun goddess, and her absolutely wonderful shriek (I adore lady wrestlers that scream) echoed throughout the arena. I was afraid that her knee had buckled during the match, and she may end up needing to work a slower, more methodical style, but she in general looked great and dominated Alicia Fox totally.

The night's big story, however, was the American Dragon's return. Here is your proof, naysayers, that a small man without an obvious gimmick (like a luchador) can 1) get pops in a big arena and 2) absolutely, totally and completely dominate the ring with his pure intensity. Okay, I'll admit it... I kind of giggled when Danielson stomped to the ring looking like this very, very angry Hobbit, but then he got in there and absolutely kicked the crap out of Darren Young and tangled him up in a seriously vicious looking submission hold. The whole match looked good (even grandpa Marvin Marsh, aka Bret Hart) but the highlights were Danielson's total mastery of the ring and Skip's total domination of Morrison and Truth. I may write more later when I am not so 'wow!' but, well, this is just proof that WWE can still surprise me and make me excited, and I'm glad about that.

Joshi 11: TNA Xplosion, Daffney vs. Hamada

This match makes me, along with many other fans of women's wrestling, wonder why TNA Xplosion is a B-show, relegated to the United Kingdom and the internet and why, oh why, we only ever get matches involving the Beautiful People and Angelina Love on TNA Impact on Thursday nights. A short list of things I noted about the match:

1. They need to turn Taylor Wilde heel, like, yesterday. The girl cannot cut a face promo to save her life, and continually comes off as an unlikable little drip anytime she gets near a microphone and opens her mouth. From mocking Daffney a few weeks ago before their match, to her little 'talk to the hand' moments when discussing her feud with Sarita tonight, this girl was made to be a jerk. Funny thing is, too, that she doesn't really come off like that at all, in other venues like her twitter, but she seems like such a naturally snarky little machine on camera that I can't believe they don't run with that a little bit.

2. Daffney is hilarious. Her character work is almost perfect... the slurry voice, the sort of vague expression and the sense of 'wow, I really am a total psychopath... and I'm really happy with it!' make her totally engaging. I've been a fan of hers for years, since WCW, and don't even mind when I don't get a tweet back cause she gets so many and has had so many knocks on the head, and just don't understand why TNA won't push this girl to the moon as a manager, mouthpiece, wrestler... something. Her new teeny top hat and dress combo was nice, too... the blue, black, her very pale skin and her eye make-up mesh together and give her a sort of ethereal, unearthly look.

3. The match itself was good. Hamada looks as stiff as heck--how can somebody that adorable be that vicious?!?!--and Daffney sells like a champion. I really don't get why some reviewers said this was a terrible match, and am convinced that they are just somewhat prejudiced against women's wrestling or, perhaps, just don't watch the matches and grumble about them anyway.

4. Taz sounded drunk, like he usually does. He does a good job of selling the girls like they're made out of gold, but some of his lines are real groaners (and/or oinkers... I mean, jeez, dude). Although I will always love him for giving us the 'Zombie Hot' moniker, he often just sounds dumb. Don West wasn't much better, though, and either is miles better than most of what we get in WWE, so I won't complain too much.

5. Post match brawl was a little weak, due to time constraints, but I'd love it if this set up a little feud.

American Joshi 11: Why Daffney is more awesome than awesome.

1. She's one of the two best screamers in wrestling, and is the original Scream Queen. MsChif has a rawer, throatier shriek, but Daffney can go higher and has better vocal control.

2. Her finishers, the Lobotomy and the Daff-knees, look legitimately painful but she never botches them and makes me think she's killed some poor girl.

3. She may fall down, go boom and hit her head, but in a couple of week's Daff always struts back to the ring and shrieks her little lungs out.

4. I'm not normally into girls with tattoos--the blue tends to look dingy--but Daff's green, red and yellow ink is incredibly vibrant against that lovely, porcelain pale skin.

5. One of her newest tattoos, in fact, is a little Ganesha.

6. She's a Southern home girl, from Atlanta, GA (and Cybil,TX), got her start in WCW and currently works in TNA, both of them Southern promotions.

7. She was something interesting to watch in WCW in 1999 and 2000.

8. She seems like a sweet, genuine, funny, goofy chick and has a good creative mind for wrestling character development.

9. She wears tiny top hats.

10. She took the drop onto the tacks and had to get twenty tacks dug out of her head.

11. She can have convincing chemistry with anyone, including the delightfully large-headed blond Canadian midget Taylor Wilde and a hibachi grill.

12. "I'm a boogeeeeeeeeer!"

13. She's a better Sarah Palin than Sarah Palin.

14. Pale, quirky brunettes have got it going on.

15. She has the most wonderful, underrated promos in wrestling.

16. She's zombie hot and/or a pale, sadistic tomato what screams a lot.

17. She makes a creepy, pink shark mask kinda cute.

18. "Santa's gonna knock you out! Santa's gonna knock you out! Santa's gonna knock you out! Santa's gonna knock you out! Huh!"

School Stuff 2: Began reading today

Today I started reading on the history of the early church and on the historiography of the New Testament, as part of my first semester as a seminarian. I am very excited about both of these subjects and am already learning a lot. The most interesting aspect I have learned from the church history book is about the three different strands of early Christianity... a heavily Jewish sect centered itself in Jerusalem (which followed circumcision of the flesh), a strand which blended Jewish prophecy/law and Greek moral philosophy arose under Paul in Antioch in Syria (which followed circumcision of the spirit) and a third, more mystical strand arose in Ephesus, dedicated to the beautiful, esoteric Johannine writings (and which, like the Antiochan school, followed the circumcision of the spirit). This area, in Ephesus, was also where it is believed that Mary (mother of Jesus) died, and is where the first Marian cults arose and gained prominent in AD 600 or so. The Council of Ephesus, held in this area, is where it was promulgated that Mary was the 'Mother of God,' a decision which both promoted the divinity of Jesus and their own particular patron. Ephesus was also an area associated with Artemis, a pagan goddess associated with virginity and childbirth, and this could help to explain why a Marian emphasis arose in this area.

I also did a great deal of reading, tonight, on how the New Tesament developed as a canon over the years. Most interesting, probably, were the rigidly defined, medieval "levels of interpretation." One was supposed to read the book first literally, then tropologically, then morally and then analogically. In direct opposition to this was the Renaissance interpretation, which came from the Northern European Christian humanists like Erasmus, which held that the the other interpretations would flow out of the literal interpretation rather than existing as discrete entities. This reading also revealed a long tradition of critical theological reading which belies the notional that critical readings of the New Testament are a recent phenomenon. I look forward to reading more tomorrow!

WWE NXT 2: I'm beginning to think this thing is rigged O.o

Okay, WWE NXT, could we at least pretend that what we're doing is on the level, here? We know that you have a strange, sick fascination with Joe Hennig... my sister does too, even though he is about as interesting as an episode of Wrestlicious: Takedown. Your fascination with Alex "Reggie" Riley is more understandable--I like the guy, too... he's entertaining--but your dedication to denigrating men who've already proven themselves as wrestlers and gotten pretty darned over in spite of your attempts to bury them is grating. There is no way that Low-Ki's kick would have been weaker than Alex Riley's punch... the quadriceps and posterior chain are so much more powerful than the arms and shoulders, even with added torque from the lats, that it makes the whole thing look vaguely ridiculous.

Anyway, it's good to watch Kaval and Husky Harris fighting each other here... again... tonight. Maybe Kaval will finally get a pin against this big boob, as this interactions have become a little bit tepid considering the poor little Dragon Ball Z character hasn't gotten to win a match in almost forever, and I can't really get excited over him getting clobbered again and again and again and again. Oh well... he got to kiss Layla, my precious little English muffin, last week, and that makes him a winner in an entirely different and more impressive arena!