DESK... Apply Directly to Forehead
For those of you who know me from way back when, you know what kind of admiration I USED to have for one Terry Gene Bollea: a man most of us still know as Hulk Hogan.
Frankly, when I heard about his comments about "understanding OJ," and then his idiotic backpedaling trying to say things were in the context of a "larger conversation," I was flabbergasted.
To borrow one of your own sayings, "Brother, you're not getting it." If there's one failing most professional wrestlers have, is that they forget that they still have a great deal of celebrity going for them once their in-ring careers are over, and Hogan was undoubtedly the most recognizable of all of them. Does this guy, because he's not touring with a company anymore, just think that he can just blurt out some ignorant shit about understanding the motivation of a double murder and apply it to his own life that candidly? I always thought that Hogan would be above that sort of thing, but it seems that for all of his past success, this period of his life is becoming inexorably marred by his desire to keep on working in entertainment in some form or fashion.
That brings me to the subject of what's going on with Eric Bischoff. Has this guy actually accomplished anything without putting some former wrestler or other celebrities - mostly Hogan and his family - in harm's way to make "reality television" programs? How much damage, I wonder, was done to that family because there was this push to make them all famous.
I get that, too. Every child of a professional wrestler likes the carny and extended family aspects of working in the entertainment business once they get to meet the rest of the gang and they get the smiles. There are a lot of second the third generation wrestlers out there. Vince McMahon himself is technically a third generation promoter and generation 5 of the McMahon family is starting to toddle as we speak.
And frankly, I'm dealing with some of that myself.
Now that the anime industry is falling off, I have a really hard time - tougher than I used to - with anyone attributing any degree of "celebrity" to what I've done. Most of my work has been the vocal texturing of other projects through background and incidental characters... and it's all work I've been happy and proud to do. But damn, I can't imagine that I'm actually living through this time - where there is simply no work for a guy like me to do either behind the mike or at the keyboard. I had a chance 3 years ago (man, I can't believe it's already been that long) to see the inner workings of the indie wrestling scene, and I get how addictive even working small shows on a regular basis can be. You damn near feel like you're telling the Lex vs. Superman story 8 times a night at one of those things.
I see where Hogan's going and I'm thinking to myself, maybe not quite rightly, that I'm glad I didn't ascend that high because it sure looks like one hell of a fall from grace when you imply that killing your soon to be ex wife and her kid boyfriend is somehow something you "get."
If I were Hogan, I'd be "getting" some therapy. Seriously, brother. Sometimes all it takes to be "great" in some people's minds is for you to just be upbeat and accessible to people in the right way.
OK... enough catharsis for now. Sleep beckons...
Frankly, when I heard about his comments about "understanding OJ," and then his idiotic backpedaling trying to say things were in the context of a "larger conversation," I was flabbergasted.
To borrow one of your own sayings, "Brother, you're not getting it." If there's one failing most professional wrestlers have, is that they forget that they still have a great deal of celebrity going for them once their in-ring careers are over, and Hogan was undoubtedly the most recognizable of all of them. Does this guy, because he's not touring with a company anymore, just think that he can just blurt out some ignorant shit about understanding the motivation of a double murder and apply it to his own life that candidly? I always thought that Hogan would be above that sort of thing, but it seems that for all of his past success, this period of his life is becoming inexorably marred by his desire to keep on working in entertainment in some form or fashion.
That brings me to the subject of what's going on with Eric Bischoff. Has this guy actually accomplished anything without putting some former wrestler or other celebrities - mostly Hogan and his family - in harm's way to make "reality television" programs? How much damage, I wonder, was done to that family because there was this push to make them all famous.
I get that, too. Every child of a professional wrestler likes the carny and extended family aspects of working in the entertainment business once they get to meet the rest of the gang and they get the smiles. There are a lot of second the third generation wrestlers out there. Vince McMahon himself is technically a third generation promoter and generation 5 of the McMahon family is starting to toddle as we speak.
And frankly, I'm dealing with some of that myself.
Now that the anime industry is falling off, I have a really hard time - tougher than I used to - with anyone attributing any degree of "celebrity" to what I've done. Most of my work has been the vocal texturing of other projects through background and incidental characters... and it's all work I've been happy and proud to do. But damn, I can't imagine that I'm actually living through this time - where there is simply no work for a guy like me to do either behind the mike or at the keyboard. I had a chance 3 years ago (man, I can't believe it's already been that long) to see the inner workings of the indie wrestling scene, and I get how addictive even working small shows on a regular basis can be. You damn near feel like you're telling the Lex vs. Superman story 8 times a night at one of those things.
I see where Hogan's going and I'm thinking to myself, maybe not quite rightly, that I'm glad I didn't ascend that high because it sure looks like one hell of a fall from grace when you imply that killing your soon to be ex wife and her kid boyfriend is somehow something you "get."
If I were Hogan, I'd be "getting" some therapy. Seriously, brother. Sometimes all it takes to be "great" in some people's minds is for you to just be upbeat and accessible to people in the right way.
OK... enough catharsis for now. Sleep beckons...