Although Neistat is now a resident of California instead of the long time setting of his formerly daily weekly vlogs in New York City, he still visits from time to time. In his studio during his latest vid is a man named Ryan Serhant and if you want to live in NYC for a year here's an opportunity.
Free rent, free transportation (does this mean a free vehicle with unlimited gas or paid for NYC subway passes), and wow free food. I'm sure this is geared towards those who want to get into the entertainment scene of NYC or into some major industry that has a home there. Perhaps you want to work on Wall Street or find a broadcast outlet or perhaps you dream of making it on Broadway for example. I wonder if they'd give it to someone who just wants to live in NYC for a year.
Well go find out. Go to this site Free Year NYC and find out. If you dare, apply you might be lucky!
[VIDEO] I suppose from the YouTube channel Daily Dose of Internet we get a year end edition right after the Christmas holiday and we're yet days away from the New Year. Over 12 minutes of videos of education, scientific, newsworthy or even entertainment interests. I hope you enjoy.
I also hope you either had or will have an enjoyable holiday.
I found this article from Block Club Chi tonite as I was watching Monday Nite Raw. While I didn't first see this report here, Walter is the reigning defending WWE UK champion and he was in town for a wrestling show EVOLVE 142. EVOLVE is a promotion that has a relationship with WWE and many who are on the NXT roster have at one point wrestled for EVOLVE.
Anyway according to the article there have been a rash of vehicle break-ins in Chicago's Logan Park area. This is where Walter had been part of Evolve's event at the Logan Square Auditorium. Another wrestler's items were also stolen but I'm sure what authorities are looking for is Walter's UK championship in addition to his passport.
I've jokingly even tweeted asking if anyone in Chicago has Walter's belt and passport.
Still I first heard about this from the YouTube channel Wrestlelamia on Sunday. It's among other stories and if you click video within the brackets it will take you directly to the story about Walter's missing title at about the 9 min. 55 sec. mark [VIDEO]
Here's a more direct story from the YouTube channel Heel By Nature published on Saturday [VIDEO]
Here's hoping they find the belt in time for next month's NXT UK Takeover Blackpool 2 when Walter as the reigning champion faces his challenger Joe Coffey.
[VIDEO] Something for you all to enjoy during this year's Survivor Series. A regular featured I've noticed from WWE's YouTube channel and probably their other social media accounts as well. It's cool to see those who aren't participating in this year's PPV come out and share their observations of what's going on at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois - not Chicago Michael Cole...
[VIDEO] Tonite is the nite from the former Rosemont Horizon aka Allstate Arena in suburban Chicago, Illinois is NXT TakeOver Wargames. Of course tomorrow nite is WWE Survivor Series where all three brands of the WWE - Raw, SmackDown, and NXT - will feature on the PPV Sunday.
What you will see here once its posted is the pre-show for the latest NXT TakeOver which will be no more than a half-hour. Then at 6 PM we see TakeOver Wargames where not only two teams of four women will compete we will also see the men compete in this brutal match as well.
For the men the Undisputed Era draped in all the championships in NXT will face off against Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, with another teammate to be determined during TakeOver. And the main event will be a triple threat between Pete Dunne (former NXT UK Champ) vs. Killian Dain vs. Damian Priest for #1 contender for the NXT championship where it will be defended the next nite at Survivor Series.
Also former Universal Champion Finn Balor will face off against Matt Riddle.
Can't wait. there appears to be one match during the pre-show which you will be able to watch above as well. That's according to the Wiki article.
Survivor Series is this weekend and I'm choosing this time to remind you of the Montreal screwjob from 22 years ago. That notable event happened at Survivor Series on November 9, 1997. Amazing how the time flew by since then.
Short story Bret "The Hitman" Hart held the WWF Championship going into this match and his challenger "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels had a brawl for a number of mintues before their title match. Michaels used Hart's finisher The Sharpshooter which is how Michaels wins the title. What makes this a screwjob is that Hart never tapped or submitted the referee Earl Hebner just made a haphazard attempt to see if Hart would submitted and then he rang the bell.
Wrestling is a work or scripted but this was a shoot doublecross. WWF owner Vince McMahon didn't want Bret Hart to be champion as he was about to go to WCW and McMahon figured out how to get the belt off Hart. Wrestling may be a work, but in that business the championship belts especially these main event titles such as the WWE Championship or the WWE Univerisal Championship really means something as the face of a company like WWE.
Errr WWF = WWE the initials changed by 2002 got it.
Anyway I will refer to my post from back in April of this year for you to get the story of the "shoot doublecross". It's amazing that there are some who might debate whether this was a work or a shoot. That this was all scripted!
[VIDEO] Wrestlelamia discusses the latest news on what happened in Saudi Arabia when WWE talent attempted to flight to the next town for another TV taping.
The situation after last week's Saudi Arabia PPV WWE Crown Jewel has gone from some form of international intrique involving another government to just more internal disarray within WWE. We hear that Vince McMahon left his talent in Saudi Arabia while they were held in a "hostage situation". We also heard about McMahon being owned money to his contract with the Saudi Arabian gov't for WWE events there and even him cutting off the feed of the PPV to Saudi viewers.
As far as that "hostage situation" we heard the delay was due to mechanical problems and some military police was involved. We heard a lot of superstars weren't happy with this situation. Whatever the story it was enough to keep those talent who were expected to be at FOX Friday Nite SmackDown in Buffalo to have missed the show. Which resulted in NXT talent being utilized for SmackDown instead which also helped make this the highest rated SmackDown since the move to the FOX network.
Who knows what the truth was and at least from what I can tell it was handled badly by WWE's PR with a release stating WWE talent weren't passionate enough to make it to SmackDown on Friday nite. I'm sure for most wrestling fans this is something that might be looked at for a while yet.
I posted this to the Shedd School blog earlier this summer. I as a policy atttempt to post at consistent times there and at The Sixth Ward. Not that I heard much feedback on it, but at least anyone who continues to read the blog will know when to see the latest post.
Unfortunately I don't always follow that rule. Sometimes I don't always have a post on the ready and sometimes the post comes later than I'd like.
So often when I do find the opportunity to post here most of the posts here are random and perhaps for a time that needs to stop. Another thing is what can I post here that'll interest people.
A lot of posts have been wrestling and although I consider this blog a hobby, never mind the ads I installed here last year, I've posted about whatever interests me at any given moment. Perhaps I'll get back to some of the things that got this blog noticed.
Meanwhile unlike a lot of things I've done online over the years I want to put some thought into it and then execute. And at least for here it means post more consistently and predictably.
Often when I see period pieces such as The Current War I will be surrounded by the elderly. They seem more interested in historic films such as this which is basically a story of the competition between Thomas Edison and his direct current vs. George Westinghouse and his alternating current.
It's amazing to know the history of how homes and businesses receive their electricity. While it's noted that Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb (most of us may remember this from school hopefully), it was essentially Westinghouse who may not be as well known aside from a company that bore his name who won this "current war" with his DC power.
And I was somewhat bothered by the three or so Black men in the movie. One was a reporter, another was portrayed a wealthy man, and the last one worked for Edison. Upon checking out the wiki page the Black man working for Edison is a Black inventor named Lewis Latimer. And somehow I believed he belonged there, the other two perhaps it was just Hollywood being very inclusive in a period movie where Blacks just weren't yet treated as equals.
I shouldn't forget the contribution of one Nicola Tesla. He was portrayed in this film as one odd character. I'm sure he was a genius who made the difference the competition between DC and AC. Sorry to know that he never profited from his contributions.
A Chicago connection in this film is Samuel Insull who worked for Edison who undeniable resembles Peter Parker as Spider-Man 😛. Insull had some holdings in a few Chicago-area utilities such as People's Gas and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and he definitely had some local transportation interests that includes the South Shore interurban and a predecessor to the Chicago Transit Authority. Alas he was another who ultimately died penniless.
I remember seeing trailers for this film over two years ago and had little idea it got caught up in that scandal involving Harvey Weinstein. I'm glad another company picked this film up and redistributed it. I'm glad to have seen this film depicting one of the great achievements of the late 19th century. It was great to see how the world we we knew it a century later came to be. [VIDEO]
This news actually broke yesterday and is so monumental that Sport Illustrated wrote about it. I'm somewhat disappointed, but am I really. Did the man who led the former World Championship Wrestling to ratings dominance against WWE really desire to return to the business?
Based on his podcast 83 Weeks I don't know. It's great to hear his recollection of the so-called Monday Night Wars and of course the time he did start working for WWE in an on-screen role. But then Executive Director of Friday Night SmackDown seemed like a stretch even now. At the same time Bischoff has his own successes in the business.
I see that although there was some excitement with his hiring Sports Illustrated is over analyzing this as much as say a Dave Meltzer or anyone else in the pro-wrestling press. I see his role was only to watch and observe he didn't really have much creative input. It was speculated that he could help to transition the SmackDown brand to its new broadcast home on the FOX Network.
I hear in some reports that there was nothing good to say about Bischoff's time as the boss of SmackDown. Then I realize this is still the wrestling business, why am I thinking us wrestling fans are getting "worked"?
The first news of this I received from this YouTube channel Hannibal TV [VIDEO] BTW, this is a humorous thing to come out of this unusual story. It shows that Bischoff knows how to bounce back assuming this isn't a work. I'd want to buy this shirt, everyone who has ever held a job could relate to this.
[VIDEO] The National Wrestling Alliance under the ownership of musican Billy Corgan streams their latest edition of their hour-long program Powerrr on YouTube. The program itself is out of Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta, Georgia which began streaming at 5:05 PM (I'm using central time).
Atlanta had been the home of the former World Championship Wrestling which had formerly been associated with the NWA at least during the early 1990s. What this means is that the WCW world heavyweight title was actually the NWA world heavy weight title at least before WCW broke away from their association with the NWA.
The start time is a nice touch as on TBS programs usually start five minutes after the hour or half-hour as the case could be. I don't know what was up with that quirk on the former Superstation. It's a nice touch that Corgan's NWA is picked up.
Even if you don't get to watch this live I hope you enjoy. The first edition was pretty good!
[VIDEO] Here are some Star Trek concepts you'll never see and why not. The first one would've been a tourist attraction in Las Vegas that didn't happen because Paramount Pictures who owned the Star Trek franchise was concerned about eventually waning interest in such an attraction.
And everything else is about future projects that never got off the ground.
For example Star Trek: Phase II, an Assignment Earth spinoff, and a prequel set during the Earth-Romulan War.
Some of those could've been great however Paramount wanted to maintain Star Trek as a more utopian future not a very dark one. I think I can agree with that but some of those projects would've been cool.
And as for that Vegas attraction, did it have to be permanent? It didn't have to be built to last, they could do to this realistic version of the Enterprise that the city has done to other casinos that went out of style.... [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] From movie buff John Campea who might have been amongst the first people who saw Joker when it was released Thursday night. He wouldn't describe Joker as a typical comic book film.
I saw the movie this afternoon and while it's supposed to be a stand alone movie outside of the DC Extended Universe, I do like what they've done with Batman canon. I also know Batman canon has often been "retconned", regardless I won't give too much away but there are quite a few aspects of this film I liked. If you know Batman canon Joker really is an unstable character.
My favorite movie line if you will was something I tweeted once I left the movie.
“When I was a child I hated school. My mother says I should enjoy it because you’ll be working for a living.
Then I said no I won’t because I’ll be a comedian!
And now I’m a comedian and now no one is laughing!”
[VIDEO] This new "railcam" began streaming on September 18, 2019 so basically just yesterday. Thankfully this is sponsored and thus for the forseeable future this site will continue to be streamed onto YouTube hopefully.
What's exciting for me about this site is that you will see Amtrak trains here. Of course on most railcams operated by Virtual Railfan you will see a number of trains passing along which will include commuter, passenger, and freight trains.
So going through the Santa Fe Junction located in an area of Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO) known as West Bottom. If you click the link in the brackets to view the video you will see the number of rail lines that pass through at any given time. Kansas City Union Station which is a stop for Amtrak's Southwest Chief (with a decent layover according to the schedule) is said to be directly east of this junction. It's expected to see the Chief coming to and from Chicago and the Missouri River Runner between KCMO & St. Louis, Missouri passing through.
If this railcam has staying power it's probably very likely to be included on my Railcam page although what's shown in the vid itself isn't a regular station stop. We're just seeing all trains pass through.
EDITED Sept 4, 2019 changed embed and link to livestream.
[VIDEO] I've slipped on my consumption of Mark Dice vids. He talks about the publicity surrounding Dave Chappelle's latest stand-up comedy special. He contrasts Chappelle's comedy with what's going on in comedy today. Too many have gone political and comedians as artists have to toe the line between what's politically correct.
I'm glad I'm not a comedian now.
BTW, this will always be my favorite recent piece with Dave Chappelle. It just shows what he's up against now... [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] I don't yet know how I feel about this coming "call-up" as a staple of programming on the WWE Network will now have greater exposure on USA. I'm happy for the many talented NXT superstars to have a larger audience to show off their talents.
And the design with this is to better compete with an emerging rival promotion known as All Elite Wrestling. From what I have seen AEW is deep with talent from the indie scene of pro-wrestling. It will be exciting to see what AEW's talen will do against the largesse of the WWE which is the premiere promotion in the world of pro-wrestling....err sports entertainment.
NXT is WWE's developmental brand and has over the years signed talent from the indies. I get the idea that as many of these performers learn the WWE style what got them there is the craft they developed on the independent scene. What has always been true is you don't become a WWE superstar without experience elsewhere.
So all the same the NXT TV program will be live on USA and will be shown the same night as AEW's TV program which will air on TNT in October. This will be the closest to the Monday night wars as we will get for now. Perhaps NXT with some of their indie talent will compete with the indie talent of AEW. For this I'm very much looking forward to this move.
Let's just hope that Vince McMahon doesn't get too involved with the NXT brand and turn it into something longtime fans won't recognize. It doesn't need to become a new version of Raw or SmackDown or better yet the original third brand of WWE the former ECW....
Finally another note AEW has another PPV coming up this weekend called All In which will take place at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois (which is not exactly Chicago, but certainly surburban Chicago). On the same day NXT's UK brand will have their own TakeOver event in Cardiff, Wales. It's interesting to see two competing events although they won't be airing at the same time, I would be curious who gets the most eyes.
I'm guessing it won't be NXT UK TakeOver on the other hand it's curious that this was scheduled the same day as All In. It will be most interesting indeed.
Greyhound travel has changed from back in the day back when I was taking the bus to Atlanta, Georgia for school. It was likely easier to just take a ticket and use it to board a bus anytime as long as I got a ticket, especially if it was good for a whole year. Just last month on the way to Jacksonville, Florida I ran into a snag.
Well in the ensuing decade since I graduated, Greyhound had evolved to utilizing e-tickets. Last month I had bought tickets for my mother and I from Jacksonville to Atlanta while on the train on the way down to Jacksonville. They would be e-tickets, however, I made one error I had bought tickets for the wrong day which wasn't the day we'd arrive in Jacksonville. By the time we would arrive in Jacksonville our tickets would already have expired...
I needed to change the date we were leaving by bus from Jacksonville. The ticket agent at first said because our ticket had expired there wasn't much she could do unless she talked to a manager. Thankfully the manager gave her the go ahead to change our tickets. My tickets would have to be re-printed with our new departure date and thus we could leave on a bus later that afternoon.
What this means is that once we arrived in Jacksonville, FL in the morning around 9 AM from the Amtrak Station we'd have a long layover before our bus would depart by 4 PM. I walked around the area near the Greyhound terminal and got some footage in the general area. Some of which I have since posted to YouTube.
We boarded our bus after 4 PM and then were on our way to our next destination to change buses in Savannah, Georgia and finally to our final destination and the end of our traveling in Atlanta, Georgia.
[VIDEO] On July 17, 2019 I rode Amtrak's Silver Star through Ashland, Virginia which surprisingly is one of the sites of many Virtual Railfan webcams around the country. I expect this won't be the last time this happens. It was cook to see some of the landmarks especially the storefronts that I've only seen only if I tune into one of these cams.
I tried to see if I can find my train on the site, but I had failed to find the time frame where the train passed through. Bummer, but as I stated this probably won't be the last time. Who knows I might be going to the west coast again in the future. You can check out the three cams that I do show on this blog of three stops on the way...
Here's the live webcam from Ashland, VA. On VR's YouTube channel they do show some interesting things such as bears or even cars running onto the tracks for example. Of course you will see special trains or what not also.
[VIDEO] This clip starts off with talking about how WWE's Vince McMahon (he runs and owns the company if you want to know) handles people who sneezes around him and how McMahon himself sneezes. I've heard over the years he frowns on sneezing around him.
This clips ends after about 7 minutes talking about who might run WWE when McMahon either retires or passes. The answer from Prichard who currently works for WWE (and he's been a longtime employee ever though he's had years where he was a part from the company) has a more interesting answer. It's not as simple as Triple H will run it or Shane McMahon will run it. It's possible the WWE will remain in that family however as Triple H married into that family and Shane McMahon is his brother-in-law.
[VIDEO] I've been trying to just post videos to my YouTube channel more lately. When I do post it's often video shot from my iPhone.
So far I've been posting video from my latest vacation. So I took a train to DC changed trains there to take a train to Jacksonville, Florida (there is a pro-wrestling reference here as the owners of the upstart company All Elite Wrestling are based in Jacksonville as they own the local NFL club there). Then took a bus from Jacksonville, FL to Savannah, Georgia to take another bus to Atlanta, Georgia where my family had a family reunion.
Then we left Atlanta by train from a picnic to return to DC so that we can take the Amtrak Train back to Chicago. So basically the trains we took to get to and from Chicago to our various points we started out trip on the Capitol Limited and then transferred to the Silver Star we took Greyhound to our next destination and then later took the Crescent back to DC and finished our riding with a ride on the Capitol Limited back to Chicago. Whew!
So anway, I wanted to share this vid of my day at DC's Union Station where I saw the hustle and bustle during the week. It's super raw footage and this I didn't edit much, but it's an excuse to utilize my YouTube channel. It's time to come up with a real plan.
I probably should've started this process earlier, but after getting some notice with blogging this is probably the next step beyond that. As I said come up with a real plan to utilize YouTube and create some content people could enjoy.
[VIDEO] If you've been following Neistat's vlogs on his YouTube channel he already stated that he was planning to end his long chapter in NYC and moving to the golden state. In this latest one he finally packs up and leaves starting off with one of his boosted boards crashing through his glass door.
It's cool to see Neistat sharing his story about how he arrived in NYC at 20 years old with no education or money and having promises for himself when he was young. He also was a single dad and wished to be a wonderful father for his son. That's admirable and now he's married with another child and in some of his recent vlogs we see him with wife and child.
I'm excited to see his new chapter on the pacific coast. His past vids in NYC were a great setting for his once daily vlog, but what new vlogs will come from his new digs.
He makes me want to try living in NYC to see if I can make it, however, I get the idea that this ship has sailed. Although it's time for me to visit as I've never been, could I possibly make it as a tourist in the city that never sleeps?
[VIDEO] In 2016 I went on my west coast jaunt. The purpose was actually a family reunion however we wanted to make stops not only in Las Vegas, Nevada, but also the Grand Canyon. I haven't visited either location since my first visits as a child. And conversely I was too young to gamble and yet have very little interest to put my money on the line in such a fashion.
Either way, I've decided to start using my YouTube channel more and this video of my trip the Grand Canyon is one documented video of my visit. Not the best cut I have, but it's certainly raw and shows the magnitude of this massive geological formation. I'm glad I was able to capture it in pictures and on video.
In commemoration of my trip to the west coast I posted webcam feeds on this blog under "Railcam" that shows the three stops along the way on Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The Chief was how I got back and forth between Los Angeles, California and Chicago (in the case of my visit to the Grand Canyon my folks got on the train in Flagstaff, AZ which is one of the webcam feeds you see). It was an amazing trip that I hope to find another excuse to make in the future. Perhaps even during a future "polar vortex" episode in the winter time!
BTW, time to experiment with photoshop and create something of a YouTube brand image to advertise my channel.
Also here is one photo I shot of the Grand Canyon using an olloclip fisheye lens
[VIDEO] I've only posted one other Casey Neistat video here on this blog in the and it wasn't that long ago - just last month in fact. That earlier video posted to YouTube on May 20, 2019 shows an expensive NYC apartment high above the city. It was cool to see a unit under construction in a skyscraper. If only someone had done something similar when the former John Hancock Building was first constructed.
Well Neistat I've learned is a very famous YouTuber and perhaps the above video would help those of you who want to be famous YouTubers. Neistat is a self-taught filmmaker and yes there's a video with regards to him stating that he's a high school dropout. I will always encourage young people to stay in school and do very well, however, to do some of the things you want to do in life school isn't always necessary.
For example, if you have a willingness to DIY - do it yourself - to learn on your own you don't have to go to film school. The tools you can use to create your own masterpiece is right in front of you. If you have a computer you can get some inexpensive film editing software. Of course as far as filming start with the camera on your smartphone - iPhone or Android. If you don't want to use your phone find an inexpensive camera that allows you to shoot video.
I've been interesting in doing my own videography for years and I'm still learning. While I only use the iMovie app on my phone which Neistant references in this video, I'm eager to learn other editing software that are on the market. If you want to have an understanding of something it's OK to make mistakes. It's always a learning process....
[VIDEO] I have always been a mark for the World Wrestling Federation - oh I mean WWE. I truly admire Vince McMahon who had led the former WWF to great heights since he purchased his dad's company in the early 1980s. He truly had an entrepreneurial approach to the business and brought it to the next level where wrestling is mainstream.
I saw a podcast McMahon did with one of his former top guys - one Stone Cold Steve Austin - and he tried to differentiate pro-wrestling from what he does. As he stated himself professional wrestling was what his dad Vincent J. McMahon had done back when it was the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Instead, Vince McMahon does sports entertainment and McMahon has over a 30 year record of success in that space even if he does have some periods of concern as we're seeing now.
I've been following wrestling news primarily through YouTube channels such as Wrestlelamia as you see above and WrestleTalk and they often talk about the declining ratings of WWE programming. Even now while I still tune in faithfully largely finding myself tuning out programming at home more focused on my PC or even the social network apps on my smartphone. There are some entertaining segments on the program and there are segments I could be very happy without.
BTW, since I never really talked about it the Saudi Arabian PPV SuperShow Down it seems for most fans was a disappointment. There were a few good matches from the show, however, I chose to skip the Goldberg v. Undertaker match which has many fans saying that it's time for both of those legends to hang it up. Even I bought into the hype of the Undertaker hanging it up. Yet I wouldn't mind seeing Goldberg one more time however many fans just are ready for both to enjoy their retirements and no more big money for just one more match. Also remember WWE does have an agreement with Saudi Arabia for other shows for a good period of time and the Saudi family who rules that kingdom has money to burn (and reportedly for one more match from the late Ultimate Warrior).
So anyway some people see this year's SuperShow Down as symptomatic of what's wrong with WWE programming this year. Perhaps the decline occurred as soon as the McMahon family eliminated general managers from their two marquee brands. Who knows, but perhaps things are a bit stale and as WWE had some over the years its time to revamp the programming. I'd be excited for some reinvigorating entertainment from the largest pro-wrestling/sports entertainment company in the world!
[VIDEO] This video features the legal drama contained within "The Measure of a Man" which was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation airing during that programs 2nd season. Unfortunately this wasn't an episode I caught on it's first airing years ago since I only started watching TNG during season 6. This episode I only saw in reruns during the week tuning in to WPWR Power 50 here in Chicago.
The plot of this episode is basically a request from Starfleet Medical to acquire the Enterprise's Ops Officer Lt. Cmdr Data for the purposes of scientific study by a Cmdr. Bruce Maddox. Ultimately a hearing is convened by a Starfleet JAG to determine whether or not Data is the property of the Starfleet service and thus can choose to not subject himself to Cmdr. Maddox's experiments.
So this YouTube channel Legal Eagle examines the legal ramifications of this episode. I accept most of what you see in the scenes leading up to that fateful hearing where Data is determined to not be property of Starfleet and can choose not to be subjected to experiments. I wish I got the name of the lawyer who examined this episode in the above video.
It's fascinating to see the research done hear especially the principles we currently know about various rulings with regards to individual rights. He notes as the Dred Scott ruling as a precedent that could relate to Data's case. Dred Scott was a slave who moved to a free territory and was sent back to a slave state and then tried to sue claiming he was free only for his case to go to the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) and it was determined that free or enslaved Black Americans aren't US citizens and thus aren't entitled to the rights thereof.
Examinations. As you will see in the above clip Cmdr. William Riker was forced to advocate against Data as his next most senior officer (something dinged by this attorney in his analysis). He takes Data's arm as a form of an examination. It was noted that something similar was done in the OJ Simpson case with that glove that didn't fit. Even with a clip of the late Johnnie Cochran declaring that "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit".
Basically, I agree that this episode is mostly dramatic with a few really good examples of good procedure (while also noting bad procedure). I really like how he broke down the various arguments both good and bad. I wondered if the legal system of the 24th century would be very different from the legal system of the 21th century. Although it cool to see that some of the arguments and procedures seen here could actually work in today's courtrooms.
BTW, how appropriate that we're talking about this episode of TNG when the Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise will return with his own series to be streamed on CBS All-Access later this year. Who knows what adventures await the elderly and retired legendary Starfleet Captain.
On Sunday after the WWE Performance Center Combine broadcast on the WWE Network, I watched a 20 minute documentary featuring Eric Bischoff, Booker T, Shane Helms, Jeremy Borash, and Brian Bedol talking about a potential relaunch of World Championship Wrestling. The basic point of the documentary is about Bischoff who had been WCW President was trying to purchase the company from Turner Broadcasting with Bedol who was part of this company called Fusient Media Ventures. If it had worked, it would've meant that WCW wouldn't have been bought by the World Wrestling Federation as had actually happened by March 2001 just before WrestleMania that year.
By 2001, I likely has stopped watching WCW as it was increasingly trying to outdo the creative of WWF at the time. As Bischoff admitted in this documentary behind the scenes the situation was a messs and he wanted to buy WCW from Turner Broadcasting who at that point had been bought about AOL Time Warner. With Bischoff as head of a new WCW purchased from Turner he would've attempted to pull off a relaunch of WCW with a PPV known as The Big Bang.
With this said, I likely found out about the potential deal on a website known as 1Wrestling.com which in the days before social media - and I currently get most of my wrestling news from YouTube and this was four years before that site's creation - was how I got most of my wrestling news. Unfortunately there are no archives from before 2006, however, I'm sure there were items about Fusient and an apparent deal made between Fusient & Turner. I'm also sure there were items about the deal being undone by Turner's cancellation of WCW on TNT and TBS which effectively killed that deal. Thus the door was opened for the WWF err sorry WWE to purchase the company that briefly won the Monday night wars.
Little did I know in 2001 that the pro-wrestling or sport entertainment universe was changing. As WCW was going through their dying days, Extreme Championship Wrestling was going bankrupt. In 2000, ECW had their own primetime Saturday night program The Nashville Network until WWF moved to that network to become The National Network (eventually Spike TV or The Paramount Network much later). ECW soldiered on with their syndicated programming until they ran out of money to produce more programming.
So before WWF eventually bought WCW the big three top wrestling promotions of the nation was cut down to two and then eventually WWF errr WWE reigned supreme. And as happens while there have been other companies who tried to compete with WWE it's been said that wrestling is bigger than ever today. While WWE is experiencing some ratings decline recently that company has largely reigned supreme since 2001.
The latest company to emerge to challenge WWE is All Elite Wrestling which had their recently PPV on Saturday with Double or Nothing (and another called All Out at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois) time will tell if AEW can compete. What can be said for them now is that in the fall they will have a weekly program on the former network home of WCW Monday Nitro on TNT. And they put on a good show with the recent Double or Nothing. As stated the future of wrestling seems to be bigger than ever now!
[VIDEO] Amazing, simply amazing. Casey Neistat visits an under construction penthouse high above NYC. You can be above it all for a whopping $58 million, and that's money I can only dream about!
If I could even make that much, my mind can't wrap itself around the idea of buildings so tall. I could never envision going all the way up in the former Sears Tower or even the former Hancock Building. Ironically when I was younger and not so adverse to heights I was at the top of the Washington Monument.
All the same, if I could afford that penthouse Neistat visits I'll just spend some of that fortune on a smaller residence closer to the ground. However, real estate especially of this expensive type can be fascinating.
[VIDEO] After watching the WWE Network yesterday having seen both NXT and NXT UK I got wind of a short documentary about the search for a long lost match between Bret "The Hitman" Hart and a wrestler named Tom "Megaman" Magee. It never aired on TV and by accounts in this documentary Magee would've been the next face of the World Wrestling Federation after Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan back in 1986 was the star of the WWF.
You may know Bret Hart from his role in the Montreal Screwjob where he lost his title in a very suspicious (yes I'm being a tad nice here) and controversial fashion. Regardless during the course of the 1990s before he jumped ship to World Championship Wrestling he was the new face of the WWF. He was the face of WWF once Hogan himself jumped ship to WCW.
So Magee was to be the new face of the WWF it was said McMahon said it himself he was so impressed with Magee's match with Bret. And what's noted in other articles and in the documentary itself is that Magee wasn't quite ready and had the good sense to listen to the veteran Bret Hart. As The Hitman said himself if Magee did what Bret told him, there will be big plans for him. In other words listen to The Hitman and he'll make Megaman look good.
I don't know if the match itself is available on YouTube however Magee himself later wrestled another WWF legend a man known as "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in yet another unaired match for TV. Magee from his match with Hart and certain with DiBiase I think could fit in with the high-flying style of todays wrestling. He's jumping around doing cartwheels and doing backflips from the top rope. He may not have been a great worker, however, he kept my attention even though we're talking about matches from over 30 years ago. [VIDEO]
Magee unfortunately fizzled out, and as seen in that documentary on the WWE Network he holds no regrets about that period of time. He wanted to hear the roar of the crowd, however, whatever stardom he could've had before retiring from the business almost 30 years ago he admits he missed out on. He never heard the proclamation that he'd be the next Hulk Hogan, so at least that helped him not take himself too seriously. He doesn't seem very bitter about how his wrestling career fizzled he doesn't see much of a difference between hypothetically enjoying his WrestleMania moment to just walking the streets everyday with no one recognizing him. He knew that he had his time and perhaps it just wasn't meant to be.
As conceded by some of the people who were interviewed for this documentary - two of The Hitman's nephews wanted to watch this match when they in developmental and it never happened or Bret himself was said to have a copy and he couldn't find it himself. An archivist for Hart found the match in question and in aired on the WWE Network for the first time. This lets you know how long ago it was as the primary vehicles for WWF programming during the late 80s to early 90s was syndicated on Saturday's and Sunday's in the mornings.
Magee vs. Hart would've aired on WWF Wrestling Challenge with commentary by the late Gorilla Monsoon and the late Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Obviously they were talking up Magee and I would imagine a hot prospect in today's WWE would get the same treatment though in this case through their headset with Vince McMahon in the so-called "gorilla position" barking instructions.
With this said the match I saw kept my attention but let me just say it's a match to watch for anyone who's training to become a pro-wrestler. In that world, sometimes you have to make the other guy (or gal) look good as Bret did. The one whom the hype followed well he didn't get his time in the limelight, but the one who did most of the work to help make the other guy look good he legitimately became the star. Bret "The Hitman" Hart has a remarkable run as the star who followed Hulk Hogan. And even some of the people agree Hart was really good and earned the spot he held during most of the 1990s.
Finally, as a wrestling fan I never got into this hobby of collecting tapes of wrestling matches. I do believe that during the history of an independent promotion known as Ring of Honor it was tape collecting that helped get them in business believe it or not in about 2002-03 which was not long after the bankruptcy of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Tape collecting as a business doesn't exist without content, which is as true as making money off of YouTube videos.
Now, this tape if it was truly an important match if not a particularly quality one probably would get traded around now that's it's been found. It makes me wonder in a time of social media or even streaming networks if tape collecting of wrestling matches is still a thing. Are there still some dedicated wrestling fans looking for a match anywhere on this globe to watch. I've learned that a lot of those matches I had missed out on (say PPVs I never watched or just something so old I'd have never seen it anyway) I can find online now.
So after seeing this very special documentary has me wondering about it today.
[VIDEO] Sometimes I wish I could get in on these demos for devices that are soon to be released for sale to the public. I've been watching a few videos about this coming Samsung Galaxy Fold and the form factor of the device looks very cool.
Basically as the name suggests it's essentially a foldable phablet. That is it's a mobile phone while folded however as the situation dictates you open the device and you have yourself a small tablet device. Some of the reviews I've seen on YouTube state often that this is the future form factor.
These days we're already living in the era of the smartphone. I would say I've seen the evolution from PDAs to Blackberries and ultimately to smartphones such as Android devices or iPhones. Fairly recently I've evolved from using a flip phone in the original Motorola Razr to a Blackberry Bold and then finally to an iPhone which is still the phone I use to this day even if it's a phone of different generations.
So this fold intrigues me only to have myself wonder if Apple will come out with a similar device of their own in the future. Knowing the competition of tech companies perhaps Apple already is working on a hybrid iPhone/iPad mini device that folds like a Fold.
However, what I recognize now is that how could they market this phone? Could they market the convenience factor? Instead of taking a tablet on vacation with you or anywhere for that matter could you instead utilize your folded phone for that purpose? Could there be a practical application for anyone in the business world?
Well this remains to be see, however, the Galaxy Fold is said to be pricey at $2,000+. The question is how could they get any consumer to want to consider buying this very premium phone.
[VIDEO] If I believe the YouTube page this live cam became active April 25, 2019. You can also access this cam on my railcam page when you see the below image once you press play.
This had been alluded to in earlier videos on Virtual Railfan's YouTube channel where they had planned to place a 360 live video camera on a former railroad embankment east of the LaPlata, Missouri Amtrak station. Having seen the train come and go with the cams at the train station seeing the train from this embankment is a very interesting perspective. It's one I hope you would want to check out also.
[VIDEO] YouTuuba does a video about the process for producing some of his videos for his channel. This video is about 30 mins and shows the cameras he uses (mainly still cameras), the storage media he uses, the GPS devices for his train trips, and of course his editing process. Some good pointers for those you who are looking to find ways to really up their YouTube game.
I've only recently started uploading videos to YouTube. I have hours of footage I have yet to upload and edit from an old miniDV camera (I still own one, but haven't used it in years). Of course in recent years many of the vids were shot n an iPhone with the added accessory of olloclip lenses for cellphones. Most of the time I'm very satisfied with the results.
One the other hand I see what YouTuuba is saying. If you're planning on any photography/videography have some redundancy. You don't have to do everything on these wonderful smart phones no matter the quality of the image or video. Something I need to get into the habit of myself as I could shoot pics or video with either my iPhone or my iPad.
Though one thing is true in my case, the reason I do use my iPhone or occasionally my iPad is that often they're readily available. Especially my iPhone as it's usually always on me when out and about. As far as a camcorder especially my miniDV camcorder it's bulky and not as easy to fool with when you realize it's time to record a moment for history. It's not as convenient.
So perhaps I should invest in a camera similar to what YouTuuba uses. That or buy a camcorder more up to speed for 2019. MiniDV camcorders are very aughts and largely obsolete (I probably would have to search far and wide for a miniDV tape. Though memory cards as the one seen in the above video are currently readily available to consumers.
[VIDEO] A new take on a TV classic. The bridge of the original USS Enterprise seen on the CBS All Access series Star Trek Discovery. The Enterprise itself was redesigned for this series different from the 1960s model and now the interiors which we should see in the 2nd season finale.
You can read more about it at TrekMovie. And now I want to subscribe to CBS' streaming service. Time to binge watch a series!
[VIDEO] Tonite is the nite! Right now you can watch the WrestleMania kickoff show where you will see the cruiserweight championship defended by 205Live stars Tony Nese vs. the champ Buddy Murphy. I believe there will also be a pair of battle royals one with women and one with men. And for the men it will be the Andre the Giant battle royal.
This will be a long show with about 15 or 16 matches. I feel like it would be grueling but last year when I watched my first WrestleMania I had the time. Just not as much as last year.
[VIDEO] On the heels of my recent post regarding the Montreal screwjob and we're less than a week away from WrestleMania here's an hilarious segment from the HBO talk show Last Week Tonight. I got wind of it from a coworker recently and had been hearing about it online as of late through my usual pro-wrestling sources especially on YouTube and finally decided to check it out.
My response to my coworkers were harsh as I often assumed they were talking about not very well known talent. Then I see Jake "the Snake" Roberts depending upon the kindness of his fans for a needed surgery. Though it does underscore my point that these wrestlers as athletes and entertainers have to work very hard to take care of themselves. But then easy said...
Pro wrestlers especially the world famous superstars of the WWE are considered independent contractors. I'm not going to get into the legality of this, however, this distinction allows WWE and other promotions to avoid having to provide their performers benefits. Benefits that even I as a worker take for granted such as health insurance, 401K, even paid time off. Wrestlers seem to perform 365 with few breaks, of course that's not to say they don't take time off and hopefully it won't be because of injury.
A lot of these wrestlers once they retire die young. They noted a few high profile wrestlers who died such as Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, King Kong Bundy whom all died in their 50s or 60s. You will see in the above clip that Piper predicted accurately that he wouldn't make it to 65.
WWE is a company that made close to $1 billion as you see in the above clip. And aside from their regular pay per their contracts no other guarantees other than the dates they work. The performers as Piper states do get a wonderful entrance plan however not an exit plan. I would expect the wrestlers who truly plan for their futures outside of the business will often find a way.
Then again could a publicly traded corporation as WWE do a better job of taking care of their past and present performers? It's noted that some progress has been made to better protect the wrestlers from chairshots to the head and more concerns about concussions. However, perhaps WWE could allow their perfomers some benefits, especially as far as their health care.
BTW, I'm glad to be one of many passionate fans of the WWE Universe. I'm glad the fans stepped up to the plate when wrestlers request a little help for their own medical expenses. It just goes to show we appreciate their efforts to entertain us and we hope that companies like WWE will better take care of them in the future.
Finally, I've generally avoided late night comedy in recent years especially during the Trump era. I want to be entertained not subjected to diatribes with regards to a politician they're opposed to. A good job directed towards anyone in the political establishment goes a long way. However this piece is refreshing and at times had me rolling. It was serious but we're still talking about a comedy show, perhaps there are times when current events and humor can sometimes converge. This is one of them and consider the outrageous activies on Raw or SmackDown which lends itself to the humor of this segment.
[VIDEO] I saw the documentary Apollo 11 on Friday and it was great to see archival footage and even some modern graphics depict the mission that landed men on the moon. I can't believe it's been 50 years since that historic achievement in human technological history. The greatest engineering and technological challenge had been achieved and the names Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin will forever be part of human history.
It's fascinating to see the trip happen in just about real time, the trip to the moon from launch until lunar orbit was three days for Apollo 11. It was fascinating to see the Saturn V launcher being moved to it's launch pad, it was cool to see the preparations for this historic space voyage, it was amazing to see everyone there for the launch of this mission, and then all the footage in space. It was interesting to see the Apollo spacecraft probably filmed through a telescope of some sort get propelled towards the moon on their three day journey.
I can only imagine that the animations were with the voice overs were made by a public relations officer with NASA who described all the maneuvers the astronauts were expected to make. These maneuvers ensured that the astronauts will make their flight objectives. They get to their destination and they don't veer off course from getting to the moon and returning to earth safely.
I was almost reminded of the movie that was released last year with Ryan Gosling playing the Apollo 11 mission commander, Neil Armstrong - First Man. It's great to see the real story as it was shot back in 1969 shown to the public.
[VIDEO] I didn't have a wrestling post this week so, how about a post from WWE's YouTube channel about WrestleMania rings. It's appropriate because we're slowly but surely approaching next month's WrestleMania extravaganza, the grandest stage of them all.
We visit with Mark Carpenter who's been a longtime ring maker for WWE. I saw WrestleMania III last year and he was the one created those carts for the wrestlers which were made to resemble a wrestling ring. Then they found some other work for him especially for WWE's ring.
He created the rings and then made changes to the steel cages for WWE and now he has a regular job with them. He's the one who created the stage - err the ring - for the performers. You see in this video that he's working on a ring with a heating system that will keep the dynamics of the ring as if it's indoors. See at this year's WrestleMania which will be in at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, WWE Superstars will be performing out doors. That means they do need a ring that functions like the superstars are performing indoors and I would imagine the weather of New Jersey in early April won't quite be that warm.
I have a small collection of Monopoly board games at home. I used to play them with my cousins, but haven't pulled them out for years.
Never really appreciated the philosophical aspects of the classic boardgame other than it's very important capitalistic overtones. I never knew it has "left-wing" roots and some have termed it as more "Georgist" as it's underlying philosophy.
Regardless until I read the article from the Washington Post which was published back in 2015, I never knew it had a longer history than when the game first became popular during the Great Depression.
To Lizzie Magie, a 30-something single woman working as a stenographer in Washington at the turn of the century, the monopolists who controlled banks, railroads and oil fields seemed almost impossible to challenge.
But, night after night, Magie drew and redrew a board game that she hoped would be a teaching tool for her left-wing political ideals and spark changes that would ease the economic injustices of society. In 1903, she walked into a patent office and applied for a legal claim for her Landlord’s Game, today known to millions as Monopoly.
An impassioned follower of political economist Henry George and his single-tax theory, Magie designed the game to be a “practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences,” she wrote in a 1902 issue of the Single Tax Review.
BTW, it's funny how through social media old articles come alive years after the fact. I thought this was a recent article, but know it's only at least four years old. Interesting
[VIDEO] I've really enjoyed Jim Zimmerlin's videos of his model train collection. It's probably how I discovered his YouTube channel two years ago. I wouldn't be able to make an offer on his G-Scale model trains especially the Amtrak train he has.
Today he's combined videos of model train with German Shepherd puppies. Animal videos seem to gain traction on YouTube. We love seeing pets and their owners interact. We could be talking about dogs or cats or adult or puppies and it seems there's an audience for it.
For Zimmerlin, his vids on his cruises and his model trains got the traction for his channel. However, time will tell if this video combing puppies and a model train will itself go viral.
[VIDEO] Earlier this month I saw the masterpiece that is They Shall Not Grow Old. It's a documentary that features 100 year old footage from the first World Ward - one of two of the most deadly human conflicts fought in the 20th Century.
The beginnings shows men signing up and then being mustered into the armed services of the British Empire and then we get into the true artistic vision of the film. Footage from the battlefield remastered colorized and then set to modern speed as the many soldiers who fought on the western front during that war spoke to us about their experiences.
When I think of silent film often my mind is of people walking around like penguins. How the people move in those early films for my eyes aren't normal motion. Sometimes its the technology of the time also as when cinematographers shoot the moving pictures they're using a hand-cranked camera. Sometimes it might be faster or slower.
The director Peter Jackson - many of you may know him from Lord of the Rings - gives us a featurette at the end of the movie about the process of directing the film. It's absolutely fascinating how much work they did to make this movie. To integrate old interviews with the many soldiers who served on the western front with the century old footage.
It's not an academic look at the war - this is a history film for non-historians. Perhaps someone who saw this movie had relatives who fought in this conflict. My own family had their own connections to the conflict who went to Europe once America declared war on the German Empire. All the same the film allows those old vets who recorded their interviews during the course of the mid 20th century to share their thoughts about the war and why they served and their experiences.
We hear a lot of men say they had a job to do they were professionals and they did it. Some said they had nothing going on at home so they signed up. It wasn't uncommon also to be caught up in patriotic fervor. Some still admitted they were too young to serve but were accepted anyway for service.
What's strikingly familiar with these WW1 vets is that once they got home from the western front, most Brits were ready to turn the page from this conflict. They might have been happy that the vets in their family returned home, but they just seemed to want to forget about the war. I could say it might've been similar to the experience of Vietnam veterans once that conflict drew to a close.
As much as the British citizens were glad that the war was finally over it was all for naught. As history records the harsh treatment of the former German Empire which suffered a change in regime and other economic hardships as a result of a treaty that formally ended the war only lead to another world war. The supposed war to end all wars, didn't do the job unfortunately.
I try not to do too many wrestling posts on this blog although I've failed to truly cover a variety of subjects here including pro-wrestling. Today the world learned that former wrestling star King Kong Bundy passed away. I might vaguely remember him during his second run in the mid 1990s with the World Wrestling Federation. Without a doubt he was a menacing big man who feuded with the Undertaker and Hulk Hogan during this two stints with the WWF.
Now to switch gears over the years, this blog was consider part of "Blogginois" unfortunately the community that has existed in the mid-2000s have somewhat followed by the wayside however I found an Illinois connection to Bundy real name Christopher Alan Pallies. It's courtesy of Mancow's ig page.
I've always wanted to go to the Illinois state fair, however, it would be more likely to happen if I knew there were some wrestling events there. It doesn't matter much to me if those events included performers from an indy promotion.
Windy City Wrestling is that connected to the former Windy City Pro Wrestling that folded earlier in this century?
With this said, I had been thinking about doing research on any Chicago territory promotions. I've heard of names such as Bob Luce out there with regards to Chicago wrestling. Regardless aside from knowing matches took place at the old Internat'l Amphitheater in the Chicago Stockyards just off Halsted street, there's very little about local wrestling history that I'm sure of.
I don't know if Rich Miller is a pro-wrestling fan, however, I do wonder if he'd get a kick out of this cover from a past state fair.
[VIDEO] I've not only enjoyed listening to clips of various editions of the Bruce Prichard & Conrad Thompson podcast on YouTube. It's given me a lot of information as far as what goes on behind the scenes especially since the source material of Prichard's time as Vince McMahon's right hand man.
I've also enjoyed the editions made especially for the WWE Network called Something Else to Wrestle with. And with the news that Prichard is returning to WWE - which I recall is something he didn't expect to ever happen - now we wonder the future of the Something to Wrestle with podcasts.
What you see above is a clip of Prichard and Thompson talking about Prichard's role in WWE. They discuss Prichard's role and the future of the podcast.
And although Thompson is also said to be associated with the start up wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling, I would like to see more editions of the WWE Network's Something Else to Wrestle with.
I had no idea railroads have their own answers to any potential hazards of extreme winter weather on the rails. I never knew that here in Chicago Metra our commuter rail system could literally set the rails on fire at certain points.
Just as easily as it's best to de-ice an aircraft so that it could perform properly in cold winter weather rails especially needs to be "de-iced" to be able to perform properly in the winter time.
If you see fire along Metra tracks during the winter, don't panic. The Chicago area’s commuter rail service is fighting the cold with fire to keep switches working, and help with track repairs.
Winter weather can cause snow and ice to clog switches, which control which rail trains run on. Clogged switches can bring trains to a halt until the blockage is cleared.
To combat the problem, Metra uses a gas-fed system that runs adjacent to the rail, generating heat in areas where switches are supposed to make contact. This system is used in normal winter weather, not just extreme cold , explained spokesman Michael Gillis. The system is turned on when the temperature is between 40 and 32 and stays on when it’s below 32.
Extreme cold weather can cause steel to contract, causing breaks, said Metra spokeswoman Meg Thomas-Reile. While Metra uses continuously welded rail on most of the system, there are some locations near switches and some crossings where the rail is bolted together. Those areas are the most vulnerable to separating in frigid temperatures, although breaks can happen anywhere along the line.
Here's a graphic with regards to how Metra fights ice on their rails from Chicago Tribune Graphics
If you see fire along Metra tracks today, then don't panic.
I'm glad that for now we're out of the woods as far as the polar vortex and just remember next month will represent the start of spring. Warmer weather will be around the corner before we know it!
BTW, for an encore here's a video courtesy of Virtual Railfan showing something like what you see from the BBC. This time however in Deshler, Ohio [VIDEO]
