Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Smackdown Addiction
Saturday
December 28, 2002
"Everyone I know has got a reason to say
You can put the past away"
-Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"
Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part III
Is there any such thing as video game rehab? If so, I might need the Playstation equivalent of methadone.
Reason being-- I'm hooked on the new WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth game for the PS2. It's amazingly addictive. Superb gameplay, deep interactive storyline mode, tons of characters, great create-a-wrestler mode, etc. It's a quantum leap from the previous Yukes PSX and PS2 WWF/WWE games. Believe me, this one is worth the purchase price.
My sister Mary Beth helped me create a profile on my AIM account (I'm on there as "LouPickney", by the way). Doing that required me to actually install the latest AIM program, something I'd resisted to this point (the last time I tried, my computer went haywire). Luckily this time it worked just fine. And humorously, she in fact did keep her promise -- she delete her link to my page from her "sub-profile" as punishment for me telling the Christmas morning story on here on Wednesday. I give her credit for sticking with her guns. Though that's nothing compared with two years ago when a reporter who thought she was more important than she actually was took umbrage with something totally unrelated to her on my site and complained to my news director about it.
The worst though had to be something that nearly cost me a job interview here in Tampa... I had a link on here to pics from Harlaxton 1998, and a few of them were from the infamous "cross dressing night" at the Bistro (which, for the record, I neither participated in nor attended). I put them on here basically so everyone could laugh at Smitty for dressing up like a woman (hahahaha). But the pics kind of freaked out the then-assistant ND, who nearly cancelled my interview because of it from what I've been told. Of course, I found none of this out until six months after the fact. At least now I can laugh about it, but I was none too thrilled when I first found out.
It's a sad irony, actually, that what I write is so very public, yet at the same time its potential negative effects manage to bypass my control. That's why I've been so intentionally cryptic about the situation at work from the past year. But I digress. Ultimately though, I'm going to speak my mind about things as I see fit. End of story.
I had a real Christmas surprise the morning after Christmas. I got home, dead tired, and picked up my mail. I had some Christmas cards from various friends (and I apologize for not sending any out this year, but if you knew the schedule I had for the two weeks leading up to Christmas, perhaps you'd understand). Anyway, one of them was from my ex-girlfriend Christine, who I hadn't heard from in about three years.
It's funny... Time passes and people move on and you move on and you finally get to the point where what's over is gone and sometimes forgotten, and you've passed a dozen other crossroads in the interim. And then a note drops into your life from someone you thought you'd never hear from again. Crazy how that can happen.
Speaking of crazy, my PlayStation 2 problems are back. Virtual Fighter 4 decided to quit loading for me awhile back, but now the Sega Sports Tennis game that my bro Matt got me for Christmas won't play. As my friend Brian Kargus would say: "UNACCEPTABLE!" This needs to be fixed, pronto. Which means getting on the horn with Sony again. And another $15 shipping and 3-4 weeks without my PS2. Ugggh. I think I really will go into Smackdown withdrawal if that happens. Yet "disc read error" cannot exist in this dojo. Meanwhile the hits keep pouring in on my site about Sony and PS2 and disc read errors. My May 1, 2002 commentary is almost always the most frequently hit commentary page for me in a given month, primarily because of other people who've experienced similar PS2 problems who are looking for answers (I don't think me whining about headaches is what's bringing in the big hits).
I watched the first season of Mr. Show on DVD this week (the first two seasons were a Christmas present from my parents). It's amazingly funny sketch comedy from HBO that for some reason didn't catch on with the mainstream like it probably should've. Of course, the first season was comprised of only four episodes, but they were nearly two hours long and quite funny. Can't wait to check out the six episodes of Season 2. And of course when Seasons 3 and 4 come out, I've already promised my friend Scott Massey that I'll buy him the DVD (since a few months back I stupidly taped over part of his Mr. Show VHS tape in an unsuccessful attempt to tape an episode of The Sopranos.... yes, I'm serious). And it was great seeing Sarah Silverman for obvious reasons. And no show I've ever seen has come anywhere remotely close to lampooning television news as well as Mr. Show...
I finally got around to downloading the uncensored version of the Prodigy video for "Smack My Bitch Up" on the advice of my brother Matt. Absolutely brilliant videomaking. There's little wonder why MTV banned it (they tend to be skittish about all things controversial; for being supposedly "liberal" they sure skew toward closed minded alot, which is why I say they actually lean more socialist than liberal). The video has that distinctively modern British feel, mixed with clashing images and a twist at the end that'll throw you for a loop. This is the sort of thing that iMesh and Kazaa Lite are ideal for. Probably not advisable for the underage or the easily offended, but it should be seen for the cinematographic value alone, if nothing else.
I remember hearing once that MTV used to air it back in the day (before bowing to pressure). Is that true? Clearly it must've required some major editing to fit that network's standards.
I love the holidays and all, but enough with the chocolate everyone. I tried the new (at least for me) Mint Chocolate Hershey's Kisses. Mmmmmm. Delicious yet evil. Yet so delicious. Please keep those far away from me, lest I blow up with table weight like Too Cold Scorpio. There's a reason I don't keep any chocolate in my apartment (cause it'd be eaten otherwise), especially mint chocolate.
My apologies to the guy at Fox 5 (WNYW) in New York who I talked smack about in the newsroom on Friday. See, CNN said that a reporter from WNYW did a PKG on this guy who set a record by playing the piano for 51 hours straight (I kid you not). But they didn't say who the reporter was. So in the middle of my workday blitz, I looked up the Fox 5 phone number (which was about as difficult as trying to find the code for cracking DVD's -- it took me four different searches to finally find it). Then, in a scene too stereotypical for screenplays, this guy with an NYC accident and an attitude to match answered the phone. He told me that he'd just gotten in and he didn't know about any package on a piano guy (or something to that effect). He suggested I call back later and that "maybe" they'd have an answer. Seriously, I felt like I was in a bad TV show pilot or something where the writer lazily falls back on regional stereotypes. Except this time it was true. CNN didn't have clue one about it ("If the affiliate didn't know, then we don't, either.") Lovely.
Finally I did find the reporter's name (hidden in a CNN rundown). Later on I was back in editing, and lo and behold Scott Massey happened to be shuttling through a CNN tape... right at the timecode of the piano man package. I noticed the mic flag -- it said "WB 11" -- which is WPIX, the WB affiliate for New York City. Not to be confused with WNYW. No wonder the guy at Fox thought I was crazy asking about a package... But all's well that ends well, eh?
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