Productive while not being productive

I had a lot of free time last night, so I decided to get more recording done on Pokemon FireRed. Recorded about 4 hours worth of footage. As of this point, we're nearing the end of the main game, though there is still a bit of side quest stuff to do after that, so we still have a little ways to go before the series comes to an end. A Youtuber with the username mikeJRthe2nd is supposed to be playing Pokemon LeafGreen to go along with my run, however he hasn't uploaded in about a week, not to mention he is extremely far behind in comparison to me. I hope he starts uploading more soon. I don't want my subscribers to have to wait that long before I stomp a mudhole in him and walk it dry for our online battle. Sorry Mike, but I have no intentions of losing and I'm pretty confident in my team. I'll have to wait and see what he brings to the table though, but whatever he brings, I'm sure I'll be ready for him.

The newest episode of the podcast went up over at WeDoTech.net. Check it out. I somehow managed to make the thing sound normal. When we first recorded it, it had that audio problem of certain voices only coming out of one side of the speaker. Some voices came out of the left, while the others only came out of the right. I despise that, but was somehow able to fix it. According to James, this is probably our most entertaining episode to date. You'll have to find that out for yourselves.

Right now I'm listening to Deep Purple's rendition of the classic Beatles' song "Help!" Great version. It's nothing like the original, but I love it just the same. It has a far more laid back, trippy vibe going for it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it on the playlist, but if you have a chance to check out the Shades of Deep Purple album, I recommend doing so. Definitely one of the better covers I've heard from a band. When it comes to covers I generally like them sounding as close to the original as possible without being generic carbon copies, but sometimes a cover can be totally different and still sound amazing, and this is one of those examples. In the playlist I have the original version of Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple as well as a cover of it by Jorn. Also a great cover. It's a bit heavier, but keeps the main essence of the song and works just as well. Highly recommend giving that a listen as well.

In wrestling news, Smackdown was on last night. Not as strong of a show as last week, but still very enjoyable. To start the show off, Matt Hardy came out to cut a promo on Drew McIntyre, who's been constantly attacking him over the past couple of weeks. Drew comes out, cuts a very Scottish sounding promo on Matt Hardy, he gets in the ring and they brawl. Unlike TNA, this didn't take up the first half hour of the program though. It lasted roughly 10 minutes tops. After a few punches, McIntyre got the upper hand on Hardy. They both managed to get outside the ring and McIntyre was just laying a beating on Matt by this point. Security, referees, and officials were trying to separate the two, but Drew wouldn't stop. Teddy Long, the general manager, comes out and suspends Drew. That didn't stop him, so Teddy decided to strip him of the Intercontinental Championship. That didn't stop him either, so Teddy fired him. I'm sure he's not really fired. It's probably just an easy way to get Drew off of Smackdown and onto Raw without having to bring the Intercontinental Championship with him or to have him lose a match and lose the title. Either that or they're going to bring Vince to Smackdown and have him throw a fit and fire Teddy Long. I'm sure there are plans to make Vickie Guerrero the next general manager anyway since she manages to get crowd heat like the sun. After that incident, we have a short match between MVP (Montel Vontavious Porter) vs. Luke Gallows. Of course there was some Straight Edge Society shenanigans, but Rey Mysterio comes out and attacks CM Punk, causing a distraction for Gallows, causing MVP to hit the Complete Shot on him. The Complete Shot is a move in which the person doing it jumps up and grabs their head and slams them down face first. Shelton Benjamin used to do it. His version was called PayDirt. After the Gallows/MVP match, CM Punk is in the ring with the rest of the SES and calls out Rey Mysterio. He calls him a coward because he attacked Punk from behind. Rey Mysterio then comes out and says that Punk is no better because he has a masked man attacking Rey constantly. Punk says that Rey is painting the inside of his mask with hallucinagetic drugs and denies the existence of this masked man. Rey claims that Punk is the one hallucinating and that he still feels like cutting Punk's hair off. Punk tells Rey that he pinned Rey at Extreme Rules. Rey then reminds Punk that he beat Punk at Wrestlemania and according to Rey, that makes them even. Rey then challenges Punk to one more match at Over the Limit. Rey says that if CM Punk loses, he gets to shave him bald, however if Rey Mysterio loses, he will join the Straight Edge Society. Rey Mysterio finally made a proper face promo against CM Punk and said that he likes CM Punk's message about not doing drugs, drinking, or smoking cigarettes, however, he doesn't appreciate the messenger or his method. Rey then says to Punk that he would gladly join the Straight Edge Society right then and there if Punk chooses to shave his head. Punk refuses of course and claims that Rey Mysterio is playing trying to stir trouble. Rey then tells Serena and Luke Gallows that Punk doesn't care about them because even though they did everything he told them to, Punk never shaved his head and simply makes them do all the work. Serena and Gallows stare at Punk for a minute, but Punk assures them that Mysterio is simply trying to fool them. After that, they pretty much leave, but the match is made at Over the Limit. Not bad. Punk and Mysterio had some decent matches for the past couple of months, and one more wouldn't hurt. I'd argue that this is the 2010 equivalent of the Rey Mysterio/Chris Jericho feud of last year, which was one of the best feuds in recent memory. The next match features Kelly Kelly and Tiffany, aka Generic Blondes 5812u37987591724375123659060127475912 and 5817439571949512054095091543275613258 vs. Team LayCool, as in Michelle McCool and Layla. It was a typical Diva's match, so pretty much a piss break. Team LayCool won the match, but I couldn't care less because the match was a bore. I really hate to sound sexist, but Diva's matches really are no better than piss breaks because most of them can't wrestle to save their lives. Some of them can, but the only one that can that gets any kind of a push is Beth Phoenix. Mickie James and Katie Lea Burchill were fired and Gail Kim is jobbing on Raw and botching like crazy because she's working with people who can barely do a collar/elbow tieup. After that, Teddy Long is doing an interview in the back and proclaims that since the Intercontinental Title was vacated, there will be a 4 man tournament to decide a new champion. The first match in the tournament is Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler. Excellent match for television. Nice back and forth action, lots of near falls, high impact moves. Good stuff. If you have a chance to check it out, please do. Kofi Kingston won and moves on to the finals. The next match in the tournament is Christian vs. Cody Rhodes. Also a good match and worth checking out. Christian won the match and will face Kofi Kingston in the finals. I expect a good match out of those two and I can't wait until next Friday. Thank you WWE, that seems like a good birthday present. The main event of the night was the All American American, World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Swagger taking on Kane. It was nice seeing Kane use amateur wrestling techniques in the opening of the match. Nice back and forth action, and Kane definitely made Swagger look good. Big Show came out during the match wearing a suit and sat on commentary with Matt Striker and Todd Grisham. I am loving Big Show as a face. He tends to let his personality and natural charisma come out when he's a face rather than when he's a heel. I liked that Big Show and Matt Striker made a throwback reference to Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show a couple years ago where Big Show got superplexed through the ring. Jack Swagger ended up getting disqualified when he kept doing shoulder thrusts to Kane in the corner, which was exposed. After the match, Jack Swagger went outside the ring near the Big Show to pose with the title. Big Show stood up and was ready for action, however, Kane got up and attacked Swagger from behind. Jack Swagger got the upperhand by attacking Kane's injured ribs, but Big Show quickly grabbed Swagger and gave him a chokeslam through the announce table and that ended the show. Good show all around, but last week's show was better. I'm still very optimistic about both Raw and Smackdown though.

Well, that's pretty much going to do it for today's entry. Enjoy the podcast, the playlist, and until next time, take care.