Vine

How many of you know that I have a Vine account? So far it has been utilized infrequently although there are some interesting 6 second videos seen on there. Especially the last two. All you have to do is upload the app to your phone - it is mostly on iPhone and Android phones. Many have Vine accounts but so far has only either shared other "vines" or never uploaded anything. I may share a widget here in the future although like I saw it has been used infrequently.

"Body Slam" #RIPRoddyPiper

Roddy Piper

One day I had been driving myself crazy thinking about the name of this movie. Body Slam starred "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Sam Fatu and Dirk Benedict who was on the TV series The A-Team. The first two are actual pro wrestlers in fact Piper - who died Friday aged 61 - is a legend in his own right who had been inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.

One time I had been thinking about wrestling movies and thought of Ready to Rumble and I had even forgotten about the more recent film The Wrestler. Also there had been this film starring Hulk Hogan called No Holds Barred. Most of those films other than Wrestler I'm sure no one takes seriously. No Holds was a bad movie and there are those who might consider the storylines to promote Rumble helped cause the untimely demise of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Regardless the death of the "Hot Rod" as Piper was also called during his legendary career forced me to look up this film. It was something I saw in the early 1990s on one of those cable movie channels either HBO or Showtime. It was something to watch and when you think about it quite cool to see other wrestling legends other than Piper. Nature Boy Ric Flair & Classy Freddie Blassie was also shown in the film even if in cameos.

Well, as a wrestling fan anyway this was certainly a movie to consider watching. It probably told a story about wrestling as they probably only could have in the late 1980s. Wrestler told a much different story about pro wrestling having been released in 2008.

Since it has been years since I have seen that film, it's time to be on the lookout and check it out. It's a great way to remember the legendary Roddy Piper as surely many of his fans are reminiscing about his time in the public spotlight. He wasn't just a wrestling who fans either loved or loved to hate, he was also an actor who made other movies in addition to Body Slam.

When you think about it, it's hard for me to think of any classic matches he had. Probably because I missed them for the most part. He had an angle fighting Hogan's nWo in the 1990s and I vaguely remember his return to the WWE universe not long after Vince McMahon purchased WCW. Perhaps it's also time for me to find some of Piper's greatest moments as a pro wrestler.

May the Hot Rod rest in peace!

"The Late Shift"

[VIDEO] This is one of the opening scenes of The Late Shift. Shown on HBO in 1996 this film was based on a book written by Bill Carter which illustrated the fight for NBC's Tonight Show after Johnny Carson called it quits in 1991.

I liked this movie when it was released but at that point in time I was still a teenager. There was a lot about this movie that went over my head back then but understand it more now than ever. As a matter of fact in recent years we've seen more shifts in late night TV. Jay Leno retired twice, the Tonight Show essentially has gone through three hosts since at least 2009. After Jay, Conan O'Brien and after Jay again Jimmy Fallon with both Conan & Jimmy having hosted Late Night.

As we see in this movie and of course in reality Letterman moved over to CBS to host their Late Show after failing to get his dream job at Tonight. It was fun to see the positioning of both Letterman, Leno and all the players who made their pitches. In terms of what happened since Letterman retired from hosting Late Show.

If I recall correctly at times Comedy Central has shown this film. Now while this story involves two comedians at least, this doesn't strike me as a comedy, more as a drama. Some of what we see aren't meant to be funny although we see the actors who portray these comedians portray their roles adopting each comedians mannerisms. The comedians tell their jokes for the most part and as a result it seems the drama is portrayed by network executives & agents.

BTW, the scene above shows Letterman after a show lamenting how the crowd responded to him. He's definitely hyper even with a message to comedienne Sandra Bernhard that starts this scene off right. It's amusing, but an important part of this drama.

ALSO, this book has a sequel which revolves around "the late shift" that occurred in 2010 again with NBC's Tonight Show. After 7 months hosting NBC's signature late night franchise O'Brien was pushed out in favor of a returning Jay Leno. I'd like to see that adapted into a film in the near future.

#HawksWin Puck Dynasty

I saw the final period of last night's game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lighting. Today we learned that the Black Hawks won the cup on home ice for the first time since their second Stanley Cup victory in 1938.

It was cool to see the cup come home in Chicago. The last two times the cup was won by the Hawks it had been in Philadelphia and Boston respectively.

I never would've thought in years that the Hawks would have a cup dynasty in this decade. Surely Black Hawks fans would've just hoped for at least one in their lifetime, but three in six seasons is just incredible. Been waiting a longtime myself as a fan and it didn't just happen once it happened thrice. We can say dynasty akin to the Bull's dynasty of the 1990s.

Just think that I gave up the last few minutes of Monday Night Raw to see another cup come to Chicago. It's not like anything was missed that I couldn't catch up to later.

Now to the conclusion of the NBA Finals. Two teams who aren't know for championship success with one team - Cleveland Cavaliers  - never having won NBA title facing a team - Golden State Warriors -  who has had that success. And the Warriors are up by a game in that series!

States I've visited

More accurately, states I've either visited or passed through. Will I ever visit all 50 states?

Click above photo so that you can also share a map of all states you've visited or if you wish passed through.

57 nerdy things about the original 6 "Star Trek" movies

From the first Star Trek movie in 1979 to the last film featuring the cast from the original series in 1991 we see a list of trivia from those original series films.

I found this bullet point to be the funniest one. It involved a certain computer seen in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - yes the one with the whales...

31. Hello computer?!? The Apple Mac wasn't supposed to be in the factory, and the original Commodore Amiga model was originally supposed to be in its place. Commodore Business Machines refused to send a sample machine for filming and simply told the film crew that they had to buy one. Apple just sent a machine and a member of staff to help out.

Commodore also stated it didn't want to be associated with Star Trek. Facepalm...

Excuse me what's a Commodore?

BTW, here's the scene in question Scotty is trying to use a 1980s Apple Macintosh machine but speaking through its mouse. Well it was an hilarious scene and even better while Scotty may not know how to use a mouse he typed the hell out of that keyboard! [VIDEO]

Not bad for a guy who seemed to have started off only with two index fingers at first!

Gene Roddennberry's intro to "The Cage"

[VIDEO] Star Trek's 50th anniversary is coming up next year. So hard to believe it's that old as I remember the 30th anniversary - a program aired on TV in 1996 that had been recorded on VHS tape at home. Even better hopefully a new Trek film will be ready to go by next year.

In the above video Trek creator Gene Roddenberry gives us the rundown on the first pilot "The Cage". Little did I know that not only this pilot never aired on TV in the 1960s (it first aired in 1988 according to the Trek wiki) it had also been shown in black & white. Although when I've seen this episode it was always in color.

Most of what Roddenberry said isn't entirely unfamiliar to me. The idea of a TV pilot, his concept of the series, and perhaps the network's expection. That network being NBC who did air the series between 1966-1969. It's recognized that the series from this pilot to it's eventual cancellation was very different from not only other series from it time but also the sensibilities.

Of course there were other concerns such as advertisers. Tobacco companies advertised in those days. These days well we want to really discourage smoking and that means we won't see many smoking ads on TV now.

Judging by some of the effects and the sets Roddenberry was walking around this had to have been taped at least in the early 80s. According to the video description this came from a DVD featuring a color version of this pilot episode. And that seems to contradict Roddenberry who said there had been only black & white footage of this episode. Even though we see here both color and black & white footage.