I just clicked on my computer to discover sad news: Randy "Mach Man" Savage is dead. He died from a car accident, having had a heart attack then losing control of his car. His wife, Lynn, had minor injuries. From all reports, he was happy, having just celebrated his one year anniversary with his wife. And while Jordan just announced it on this blog, I thought I'd crosspost my blog elegy from my personal blog.

While Hulk Hogan gave wrestling the cross-over appeal in the 1980s to become a global entertainment form, Savage was one of the few wrestlers who kept fans ringside, whether in their homes or at arenas, glued to the action in the ring. He was the technical half of the Superpowers, the man who stole the show the night Hogan slammed Andre in his beautiful match with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. He was Shawn Michaels before Shawn Michaels. He made us believe that a little man could take on all of Hulkamania and hence the world.

While Savage was stellar in the ring, he was the champion of the mic, delivering insane promos that bordered on the poetic. He was a wordsmith as much as he was a matsmith. He taught me the importance of the "larger than life," the creative break with reality, the ambition to chase the dragon of inspiration, to bow down before the kingdom of madness. To say he will be missed will be to say we will miss a part of ourselves, the generation whose childhood hero wore cowboy hats, sunglasses, and entered the arena to "Pomp and Circumstance." He lives on as the part of us that's willing to go beyond the realms of possibility, in art and in life, the part of us that's cocky but loveable, the part of us that will do anything for his lover.

And as you knock on the gates of the kingdom of madness, know that you've left behind a legacy in and out of the squared circle. I hope they crown you prince, for you've done your service, paid your dues, shown each of us how to be a little more mad too. Oh yeah.

R.I.P. Randy Savage

Today marks a sad day as I just learned that Randy Poffo a.k.a 'Macho Man' Randy Savage passed away in a car accident due to a heart attack. The accident occurred in the Tampa area, so it has been all over my local news. As a kid, Macho Man was one of my favorite wrestlers due to his eccentric interviews and ridiculous outfits. In the ring, he was a constant source of entertainment and a character I would often find myself using in video games. The flood of Randy Savage posts on my Facebook newsfeed act as a reminder that he was very well-known in pro wrestling and his Slim Jim commercials. I will never forget his catchphrase, "Ooh yea!", nor his entrance to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance." Later today, I will be walking to Wilson Farms to purchase a Slim Jim in his honor.

Avada Kedavra

We talked a bit about harry Potter at the end of class, and its inspired me to make a blog post about it.



In a world full of spectacular magic and infinite possibilities, there is something eerily simple and final about Avada Kedavra. In just two muttered words and a flash of pale green light, a death eater can permanently end a wizard or muggles life. Wizards and Witches can instantly graft bone, replace spliced flesh, or otherwise cure any of the assortment of odd magical injuries, but the quick death of Avada Kedavra is final. This serves as a dark contrast to sense of power and immortality I had imagined wizards to have as a young muggle reading the books and this always scared me to death. As much as I don't mind seeing Robert Pattinson zapped to death, I have to feel for the guy.

Raise Your Weapon

A few weeks ago, I posted about Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks," a song that featured violent lyrics over a chilled out beat. Today, when cruising the internet for some new music, I found this track titled "Raise Your Weapon," by the Deadmau5. I originally thought that the song would simply be gritty and loud, but it starts out with a progressive tone and turns into the grossed out dubstep we all know. This got me thinking about the influence of violence in all types of music. We are used to seeing violent lyrics in hip hop. We rap along with Lil Wayne and The Game as they talk about shooting people and slapping hoes. However, in the past few months, have encountered several songs that don't seem to be simply about gang violence. Artists like Deadmau5 have most likely not encountered the kind of violence that gangster rappers have, but they seem to be infatuated with the idea. Violence in house music is an interesting thing, because house was made for the clubs. Yet, in this song, chorus is simply "Raise Your Weapon" repeated over and over again. We cannot really understand the actual meaning of the lyrics themselves, because they are so ambiguous. We can only listen to the thumping beats while hearing a girl sing about weapons. The mystery behind this (violent?) song keeps me interested.

One of the Best Fight Scenes Ever

This scene is from the movie "Kickass." I first saw it with a couple friends who convinced me to watch it. I originally thought the movie was going to be awful, but after watching it, I realized that it is actually a great film. The movie is reminiscient of Kill Bill, but the movie itself is kind of a satire of violent superhero movies. What is really interesting about the movie is that the superheros, Kickass, Big Daddy, and Hitgirl, have really cheesy outfits and the dialogue is not incredible, while the fight scenes are insanely awesome. Check out the one posted above, its shot in a really cool way and uses some awesome perspectives. The violence in this scene is some of the most stylized that I have ever seen. Its worth watching this movie after finals are over. It's awesome

Bad Lieutenants

Other than sharing the same name and general premise of being about a crooked police officer, the two movies made by Abel Ferrera and Werner Herzog couldn't be more different. Abel Ferrara's is full of dread and nihilism, Herzog's is exuberant and joyfully absurd. While Ferrara themes are existentialist and the tone nihilistic, with the main character played by Harvey Keitel eventually being gunned down for his sins (after begging for forgiveness from a vision of Jesus Christ himself) in the end, Nicolas Cage's character in Herzog's version gets away with everything in a comical scene in the end. All at once, he realizes that his gamble on a sports game paid off, gotten away with murder and corrupt acts, and the gangsters that were trying to kill him are dead.

Looking at these movies side by side, we can see that both have distinct visions of what life is like and whether redemption is truly possible. Ferrera is overwhelmed by angst and sees each vile act a person commits eventually coming around back to them, whether through karma or through the weight of guilt. Herzog sees life being all a game in the end. What does it matter if you do vile things all your life, as long as you are okay with it and get away with it?

One mesmerizing scene captures the tone and point of view of Herzog's version perfectly. After a gang shootout, Nicolas Cage's character instructs his gang to shoot them again after they are dead, because "his soul is still dancing". We then see a breakdancer (surely only visible to Nicolas Cage's crazy character) dancing around the room. Life or death, what's the difference anyways?

Jason Bourne

The Bourne movies are interesting because Jason Bourne doesn't fight for his country or any particular cause but instead solely for his own survival. He is forced into an impossible situation; he is hunted down by the CIA all the while having amnesia and not knowing anything about himself except his extensive military training which he is forced to use to survive. Jason Bourne goes to impressive lengths to avoid conflict whenever he can, but when he does finally have to fight the action is exhilarating. There is no slow motion and usually no music during the fight scenes, all we hear is the exaggerated sound effects and grunts. The violent scenes in the movies are swift and in the latter two filmed with a shaky camera and disorienting editing which puts us straight into the thick of battle. Watching Bourne singlehandedly disarm and take down armies of agents and using his smarts and his incredible martial arts skills is amazing to watch.

My favorite fight scene is his with Desh in The Bourne Ultimatum. Unlike some other action movies, which take a more stylized approach to violence, we truly get the sense that these men are actually fighting for their lives and will do anything, including using whatever household objects they can find around them, to survive.



The Bourne series is also very different from many other action movies in that Jason Bourne is constantly weighed down by guilt for killing other people. In The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum, we see that he goes to great lengths just to get the chance to apologize to the daughter of one of the people he was assigned to kill. Throughout both movies, we see him constantly expressing grief and psychological torment for the things that he did in his past life as a hired assassin and also for the lives he has to take now to survive.