Reviewing The 50 Megaton Tweet by R. C. Wade

5/5

50 years ago people wrote on the significance of our growing reliance on electronics. Stories of our toasters and televisions and vacuums turning against us were nearly mainstream, and one famous story told of aliens observing our planet and believing our cars were the true rulers and we were just an extension of it.

Enter our times today. Sure, robots haven’t taken over the world, but electronics might very well run how we look at things. Wade takes a look at the power of Twitter and Youtube and how we reacted to things that we are told and show. One tweet starts it all, a tweet that claims the president’s assassination.

This is the sort of story that 20 or 30 years from would find its way into a thick high school literature book and be taught as a lesson about how we once relied on social media to run our lives. People will chuckled, because hopefully something like this will not have actually happened. However, this is a completely plausible situation. Twitter has started enough rumors of death, to the point that it is weekly, and there is always someone who believes it. Even if you don’t believe it you see RIP Celebrity trending and you check to make sure that it truly is a hoax.

This is literature at its best and worst, giving us a look at ourselves. Do we like what we see?

Reasons to Read:

- Very quick, worth the 0.99

- An excellent look at reliance on social media

- Well thought out

Reasons Not To Read:

- You might not like what you see

- It does have preachy moments, and even if they fit in the story, some might dislike the opinions

Caption Scott Stanford Contest

I said I was going to giveaway a 2nd Podswoggle shirt during the PPV but I couldn’t come up with how exactly I wanted to do it. I wanted it to be Scott related. I wanted it to be the new network related. I thought about a hashtag but all of the ones I came up with sounded lame and the ones other people came up with, unfortunately, were too long. So, instead, you’ll have to get your funny on because I’m going to do a caption contest. The contest runs starting now and will close Saturday night at the same time predictions close. I will announce the winner of the caption contest at the same time I announce the winner of the predictions.

Here are the rules of the Caption Contest:

1. Use one of these pictures or any good Scott picture you have in your arsenal:

2. It must be related to the new tv show coming to ION.

3. Keep it clean.

4. You may enter as many times as you want.

5. You may enter by captioning it and sending it to me through twitter: @SolaceWinter or emailing it to me SolaceWinter@yahoo.com

6. You may enter by just giving me the caption through comments here and someone will caption for you.

Winner gets a Podswoggle shirt of their choice from the Swoggle Shop. Judges will be me, me, and me. Make me laugh!

WWE Main Event – Commentary Suggestions

WWE announced last week that they will have a new one hour show on ION. It’s been explained by several people as “Superstars with plot,” and when I said, “So like NXT?” I was told no, this was more runoff from Raw and Smackdown. Well, that explained the wording, since Superstars, especially as of late, is those guys that just can’t get any time on Raw or Smackdown.

Okay, so Superstars, with a plot. Does this mean that they will actually act out the things Scott Stanford is describing weekly during the matches? Oh, so does that mean they are going to do the right thing and use Scott Stanford as the commentator? I’m going to assume they are.

Now, Scott Stanford has proven he really can work with anyone on commentary. He’s had Lawler, Punk, Mathews, and Striker beside him and excelled with every single one. As most people will start chiming in and telling me that Punk is the best, you know a pairing of Punk and Stanford is not happening long term as Punk is a main eventer, and while the show may be called WWE Main Event, it’s not.

But your head might be in the right direction. An hour show could be the perfect time to give those guys, and gals, some talking time. An opportunity to work their chops with a commentator who is open to talk to just about anyone, and knows how to take control when commentary is faltering. Or make a wrestler the third man in a commentary team. Give us Scott Stanford, the very underused Matt Striker, and a wrestler as the third man, even if just during one match. Stanford and Striker work wonders together and no how to keep pace with the match, even when mics are too low and they are meant to be drowned out by sounds of managers, or dancers, screaming on the sidelines.

Why did I not suggest Regal, whom I do adore? Regal and Stanford have a lot in common in commentary, which includes bringing stories to the commentary table and giving you a reason to pay attention to a wrestler. Regal does it in an almost undermining way while Stanford holds to his enthusiasm. Regal and Stanford are excellent in commentary, but you don’t need two men working towards the same goals, and better for Stanford as he brings that enthusiasm to the table every time. You need someone who sounds happy to be there because more often than not in the commentary teams they rarely have that sort of excitement.

Of course, they could put Lombardi with Stanford and it would be my new favorite show of the week.

Who would be your ideal commentary team for the new show? And when I ask ideal I would prefer to hear realistic idealism!

The Raw Live Experience of Monday, April 30th

As usual, going to Raw is always a close call for us, so when we made it to Dayton to go see the live show I could not have been more excited. But, as usual, we had to wait for our tickets. Unlike other time we actually had them about an hour before show time (give or take a few minutes) and were able to join everyone in line.

This was a poor setup. Someone was directing traffic every 6 feet in those parking lots, but when it came to trying to enter the arena there was one person at each of the six gates letting people through the doors. If this was not bad enough, they did not let us in until a half an hour before the show. It had already been raining on us for ten minutes before that. A half an hour before show does not give you a lot of time to go buy things, run to the bathroom, or even really find your seats. We missed out on buying a Ziggler shirt for this reason. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it)

The opening dark match of the night was Alex Riley against Dean Ambrose. Um, yes, more please! Oh, really, no? Damn. Great match that had Ambrose win and then giving a promo. Riley looked good in the match, which had all of the little kids happy (did I mention this crowd was FULL of little kids??)

Next began the taping of Superstars and my favorite man at Raw tapings came out: Scott Stanford. I was pretty convinced he wouldn’t see us… again. They filmed the first match, which was Dolph Ziggler against Mason Ryan. Not a bad match, though Mason Ryan doesn’t even look real. Ziggler gave Scott his coat, I love those little tidbits, and I find it funnier that it’s always heels that are doing nice things for Scott, especially since Scott would likely be referred to as a “face” announcer.

After the match Scott looked up… and found us! He even waved to us! I would have done a happy dance, but this was when they announced that it was time for the signs to go up because they were going to do a cut in live on the USA network. Okay, as usual, we were not on the camera side but it was the perfect opportunity to hold up our Push Scott Stanford sign. Striker was the one who saw it, laughed at it (us) then pointed it out to Scott, who chuckled.

Next was Zack Ryder against Michael McGillicutty. I’ve loved Mcgillicutty as late, but this was Zack Ryder with Scott Stanford commentating it. Yeah, I had to be a Ryder mark. Boy was the crowd into these two matches. This crowd was very trained to yell for the faces, though. The only real controversy in the crowd was with Daniel Bryan later on (and whenever we were screaming, but let’s face it, we were drowned out a lot).

Superstars ended and my favorite man of the night walked away. Sad me!

Most of you have seen Raw so I’m not going to recap what went on with the show so much as tell you things we saw you might not have.

First, an actual sign confiscation. Never seen one, only heard of them. The sign read, “UFC Beats WWE”.

Also during the show, during Bryan’s match, two men came down the stairs on camera side and were holding “YES” signs in the aisles. The two of them were escorted out of the arena and never did come back.

When Cena’s arm was being destroyed little kids were crying everywhere. They were standing up and yelling at Tensai, Sakamoto, and Laurinaitis that they “sucked” (I heard this word more last night than I have the rest of the year) while tears streamed down their faces. Awww, so precious.

After the show went off the air John Cena stood, showed those little kids he was okay, and then walked out. Chris Jericho stepped out and mentioned Cena was unfit to wrestle so instead he was getting his rematch against CM Punk, which of course he lost. Good match, though.