Mike Jurewicz’s Blog

Yes it has been awhile since I have wrote and I’m sorry.  Work has been consuming a lot of time along with dealing with things that life seems to throw my way.  But for the past couple days I have come down with a sickness that I get every 4 years, Olympic Fever.

Yeah there is the Winter Olympics but I never really got into those.  The summer games are just all the magic of what you think of when you think of the Olympics.  Countries battling it out to try to show who are superior at a given sport.  Being a former athlete I am just drawn to this because of my dream as kid to one day be on that stage.  Of course I never made there so I might as well watch right?

Right away I have gotten myself hooked on the Michael Phelps craze.  He in this Olympic games could break the record for most gold medals in a single games and the record for most gold of all time.  This kid is amazingly fast and so very fun to watch.  He has 2 golds already with 2 world records for those wins.  Now he has 6 more to go to break the record.

Then I love watching the track and field events which I believe start next week.  Being a former competitor in track this really gets me excited.  Track rarely gets seen on the big stage except for the Olympics.  This year we get to see 3 of the fastest men in the world as American and defending World Champion Tyson Gay looks to go against the 2 very fast Jamacians Asafa Powell and World Record Holder Usain Bolt in the 100 meters.  Then American and defending Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner will attempt to defend his crown in the 400 meters and will try to break the almost 9 year old world record held by Michael Johnson.  Plus you have the 200, 4×100 relay and all the field events.

I have also enjoyed watching some volleyball, fencing, gymnastics and soccer already.  I just love this time that comes around every four years.  It makes me feel like a kid again and relive some of my best moments in sports.  And most importantly it seems for 2 weeks the world seems to put some of their differences behind them for the thrill of competition.

I’m sorry for the lack of updates lately.  I’ve been working a lot and the beer blog is taking off a bit.  Well as much as a small time beer blog could take off.  I’ve also been working on a wrestling related website and trying to catch up on my video watch which I mentioned in my previous blog.  But something historic in my mind happened over this weekend.  The MMA upstart promotion Affliction hosted their first event.

While I will say I have not watch all the fights from this event yet, the two matches I have watched made me realize that this company is the real deal and they are the biggest threat to UFC’s crown as the premier MMA organization in the world.

Affliction Banned is a new promotion that was started by Affliction Clothing with the help of M-1 Global.  Donald Trump bought into the company a week or two before the event.  In my mind, a great move.  They can viably argue that they have the best heavyweight roster in the world with the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Tim Sylvia, Pedro Rizzo and Ben Rothwell.  All either top 10 or close to top 10 heavyweights int he world.  Also throw in some good to great middleweights like Matt Lindland and Victor Belfort and you have a really good all around roster.

So far I have watched the fights of Fedor vs. Sylvia and Arlovski vs. Rothwell.  Fedor silenced a lot of his critics, that said he hasn’t fought a competetive fighter in years, quite handedly.  His 36 second submission victory over Tim Sylvia was impressive to say the least.  Fedor was aggressive from the start and never let up until Sylvia was tapping from a rear naked choke.

I have been a fan of Andrei Arlovski for a few years now but have been disappointed with his last few fights.  He lacked the intensity that was a trademark of his and that garnered him the nicked “The Pitbull.”  I don’t know if he was frustrated with the treatment he received from the UFC or what but “the Pitbull” was back and in his true form Saturday.  He did not stop coming at Rothwell with flurry after flurry until he bruatlly knocked out his opponent.

I’m looking very much forward to seeing the rest of the bouts because I read that the Barnett vs. Rizzo fight is a great match as well.  Plus I am a fan of Matt Lindland and heard he put in a good effort as well.

Basically I believe that Affliction is a force to be reckoned with and depending on if Randy Couture can get out of his contract with UFC then we may finally get to see him fight that long anticipated match against King Fedor.

I think I’m due for a mark out moment by now.  I have recently made some purchases of wrestling DVDs that have put me so very far behind in my viewings.  Couple this with 3 seasons of Ghost Hunters and I should not buy any DVDs for quite a long time.  Here is a list of what I have to watch and what excites me about these.

• Straight Shootin Series with Shane Douglas & Terry Funk - Terry Funk is straight up a legend in pro wrestling and Shane Douglas was a great wrestler in his time and part of one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history when he threw down the NWA World Title and declared himself the first ECW champion.  This is a shoot interview with the two of them about their times in the business.  Lots of never before heard stories and their accounts on things that went down.
• ROH Presents Best in the World - It contains some of the best matches to occur in Ring of Honor with international talent or mega superstars.  It includes the 5 star classic match of Japanese legend Kenta Kobashi facing Samoa Joe.  I have seen some of the matches on this DVD before but others I have not so I am looking forward to this one.
• ROH Presents Greatest Rivalries - This DVD spotlights exactly what the title says, rivalries, and Ring of Honor has had some great rivalries.  From CM Punk/Raven to Samoa Joe/Homicide to ROH/CZW to the recent Erick Stevens/Roderick Strong it covers some the hardest hitting and bloodiest feuds to enter the ROH ring.
• ROH Dragon Gate Challenge II - This was one of the shows that I went to see on Wrestlemania Weekend in March.  It contained a series of matches placing ROH wrestlers against Dragon Gate wrestlers.  Great matches included Speed Muscle (Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico, New Hazard (Shingo & BxB Hulk) vs. Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) and a great main event as the No Remorse Corp (Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Rocky Romero) faced Erick Stevens, Go Shiozaki and CIMA.
• ROH Supercard of Honor III - The second of two shows I saw Wrestlemania weekend was packed with possibly the best wrestling show I have ever seen.  Almost ever match was great.  Plus I want to see if I can be seen during the Bricoes/Age of the Fall brawl in the crowd.
• ROH Bedlam in Beantown - I got this DVD for the sole purpose of seeing Kevin Steen vs. Necro Butcher in a street fight.  I read that this is a bloody and brutal fight.  I’m not a huge hardcore wrestling fan but Necro is probably the best at brawling in the game.  Also the visiting Japanese sensation Kota Ibushi faces off against Davey Richards in a match that was really talked about.
• ROH Tag Wars 2008 - This marks the return of the Murder City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) for one weekend.  On this show they take on Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black of the Age of the Fall.  This match is being totted as one of the best tag matches of the year.  I love me some fast paced tag action so this is a must.
• ROH Return Engagement - This card seemed packed with big things.  It includes the MCMG vs. the Briscoes in a rematch from their spectacular match from last year and many are saying this one outdoes that match.  This card also includes the start of the current Jimmy Jacobs/Austin Aries fued as well as Kota Ibushi vs. El Generico and Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen.
• ROH Southern Navigation - This was ROH’s debut show in Virginia and was the first shows of the year with Naomichi Marufuji and former ROH World Champ Takeshi Morishima on them.  Since Morishima’s last match in ROH he has returned full time to his home promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan, and became the GHC Heavyweight Champion.  There is a stacked 6 man tag main event and a rematch from earlier in the year between Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black.
• ROH A New Level - ROH has run many shows at the Manhatten Center’s Grand Ballroom but this was their first show downstairs in the historic Hammerstein Ballroom.  The card looks good too as Nigel McGuinness defends the ROH World Title against Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson takes on Marufuji, Morishima brawls with Necro Butcher and more.
• TNA Global Impact Japan - In January TNA went to Japan to do a co promotional event with Japan’s biggest promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling.  Most of the matches pitted TNA vs. NJPW.  I have already seen the Kurt Angle vs. Yuji Nagata match but very much want to see Christoper Daniels vs. Wataru Inoue.

As you can see I have a lot ahead of me to watch and again I have 3 seasons worth of Ghost Hunters DVDs to watch as well.  Guess I’ll get myself some brews and watch some wrestling.

A fellow employee showed me this right before I went on vacation and I have to say it is one of the funniest things I have seen in a good while.  If you are familiar with tech stuff at all you will enjoy this (Wurm).  Even if you don’t I think you can kind of get the jist of it.  Enjoy Web Guy vs. Sales Guy.

So I have been fighting off a cold since Tuesday, feeling better now just have that nagging cough, so I have been able to watch a lot of TV. I’ve watched Ghost Hunters a few times with my dad or brother and always found it entertaining but in the past week I have been into it even more so.

For those unfamilar with the show it is about an organization called The Atlantic Paranormal Society, TAPS for short, based in Rhode Island.  It was start by a couple plumbers named Grant and Jason.  Their fascination with the paranormal drew them to start the group.  Them along with other investegators with the organization go out to places that are thought to be haunted and investigate.  But one thing these guys do differently that I really like is they go in almost wanting to disprove the supposed haunting.  They will do lots of work to try to debunk things that people report and they themselves experience.  Being a skeptic myself this really makes me glad to see that they aren’t just jumping in there and trying to make every little thing they see or hear have to be “a ghost.”

I have to say that some of the episodes are rather weak with a lot of hype put in the commercials but a lot usually deliver something.  You have no idea how many times I get the chills when they catch something on a recorder of a voice.  Gives me the WILLIES!!  But I found myself bringing up and watching full episodes online over the past a few days and am just amazed by some of the stuff that is unexplainable.

I would put a little clip here but there are so many good ones from the show out there I just wouldn’t know which to choose.  But if you like stuff related to the paranormal, you like seeing people with open minds investigate instead of happy go lucky nuts or just like being a little frightened then check out Ghost Hunters every Wednesday on Sci Fi.

Over the weekend I took some time to take in the Guy Ritchie’s movie Snatch for the second time.  The first time through I really enjoyed it but had a hard time understanding some of the dialoge.  Between some thick English accents to crazy pikey dialect done by Brad Pitt’s character, Mikey, it can make your head spin at times to try to figure out what they are saying.  But this time I made it a priority that I pay attention to the words and I must say that I enjoyed the movie even more the second time around.

The cast is just packed full of talented actors who all interact extremely well with each other.  Conversations between Turkish and Tommy are brilliant but possibly out done by the three some of Sol, Vince and Tyrone.  The gang of bubbling crooks just can’t seem to get along for long enough to get anything done and the results are hilarious.

This movie coupled along with Ritchie’s previous gangster film, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells, are some of the best done gangster films I have ever seen.  It of course is no Godfather but it’s not trying to be.  It seems to take a more realistic approach in that things are going to go wrong at some point and you have to deal with them.  Maybe this is in a more hiliarious manner that they take care of things but even still.  This film has it all in my opinion.

I was just reading that a new Ritchie movie entitled RocknRolla is due out in October, probably just in England at first. It is supposedly suppose to be back in the same vein as Lock Stock and Snatch. I look very much forward to seeing this one and think Ritchie has niche for this gangster/comedy films.

And I have included a nice video of some of the funniest moments of the film for your enjoyment.

So Tom Waits started a limited US tour on Tuesday and I am again disappointed that he will not be coming far enough down south.  He hits Jacksonville, FL and Atlanta, GA and would consider going to those but I will be in Pennsylvania on those days.  I would highly recommend anyone in the following areas to go see him if possible.  He is truly one of the greatest American singer/song writers in history.

• Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - Phoenix, Arizona
• Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - Phoenix, Arizona
• Friday, June 20, 2008 - El Paso, Texas
• Sunday, June 22, 2008 - Houston, Texas
• Monday, June 23, 2008 - Dallas, Texas
• Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Thursday, June 26, 2008 - St Louis, Missouri
• Saturday, June 28, 2008 - Columbus, Ohio
• Sunday, June 29, 2008 - Knoxville, Tennessee
• Tuesday, July 1, 2008 - Jacksonville, Florida
• Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - Mobile, Alabama
• Thursday, July 3, 2008 - Birmingham, Alabama
• Saturday, July 5, 2008 - Atlanta, Georgia

And for your enjoyment a video of Tom playing Make It Rain back awhile ago on the Letterman show.

I heard this on the radio this morning and just had to look up the video. Got a really good laugh from it.

I think the title says it all. I’m going to put bands on a plane in this entry. But the big twist is that the plane is doomed. It’s going to crash and this time no Lynyrd Skynyrd or Randy Rhoads are going to be on it. And this is all figuratively and not personal. I have nothing against most of these bands personally, I just can’t stand their music. I don’t wish actual harm upon them.

So now board Flight 666 to 4 acres of concrete.

• Steve Miller Band - I love classic rock but I absolutely can’t stand this band. It just feels like they are trying so hard to be stoner, experimental rock but just fail miserably. The are the bastard step brothers or Pink Floyd and the Dead. Anytime I hear an opening riff to a song by them I immediately change the channel. I actually almost shot myself in the face when one time I changed the classic rock station I was listening to from a song of theirs to the other classic rock station and got smacked in the head by another Steve Miller song.
• Styx - Another “classic rock” band and I use that lightly. These guys are the farthest thing from rock that I have seen from that era. I want to blame this band for almost all bubble gum pop that has since come out. Hearing “IIIIIIII’M SAAAAAILING AWAY!” makes me want to take shots of Jack and go on a spree of slashing tired and throwing infants at Palm Tran buses.
• Korn - While yes I was a fan on them back in my high school days I have grown up and realized just how much this band poisons the earth. These guys must not have gotten the memo that Nu Metal is dead and that we are putting cover letters on all TPS reports. A guitarist left and became a huge Jesus freak. I was hoping he would have drowned in that river he got baptized in. The drummer left and they truck on. The get a new drummer and a new guitarist but they don’t even allow the guitarist to stand on stage with them during shows!!?? How egotistical do you have to be? Not giving up is usually a good trait but I have never begged so much for someone to please, please quit.
• ICP - Not really a band because you have to play instruments to be called one but nonetheless. They rap about nonsense that of course teens with nothing better to do can relate to and give them a reason to paint their faces and drink high sugared soft drinks. And when they aren’t making a mockery of hip hop they are shitting on pro wrestling by stepping foot in rings and even starting their own promotion. I watched a video of Jim Cornette rip them new ones when they interrupted an interview he was giving and it was great. And while I’m at it I would like to put the silly hatchet guy logo on the plane too. I know you can’t really kill a logo but I would love nothing more than to not have to see some fucking girl at a gas station or grocery store with that damn thing tattooed on their tit or arm of forehead.
• Almost all quasi hardcore/metalcore/emo bands - That shit got so ridiculously out of control. You had a new flavor of the week band popping up every….well week. Lots of these bands were filled with kids who couldn’t have been playing a guitar more than 6 months and jumped straight to dropped tunings before ever attempting to play in standard. Add this with horrible song structure including overdone breakdowns that seem to last a fortnight and “crucial” sing alongs. I’m also going to add in wearing skin tight girl jeans, which is okay if you have a vagina, and wearing make up, which again is okay if you have a vagina. Hey thanks for ruining heavy music and making it impossible to find a group of people that want to play good heavy music and not care about success or image. Good job guys!
• Disturbed - I always find it funny when people making fun of screaming for not being able to understand them when the lead singer of Disturbed just straight up says things that are not words at all. His rapping monkey vocals make me continually think we are de-evolving and are that much closer to making Mike Judge’s movie Idiocracy become real life. These guys took nu metal and mixed it with leather pants and studs of the hair metal days and added dumb looking labret piercings to top it off. He needs to either sign a promissory note that he will never sing again or needs to have his lips pierced shut.
• Bob Rock - Technically known more as a producer but is a musician. Rock’s claim to fame is producing all Metallica albums from the Black Album up to St. Anger, he also played bass on the last album. Anyone that knows Metallica knows those were the worst albums for the band. Metallica lost their edge and some absolutely shitty songs came out of their sessions with Rock. I mean they wrote a sequel to a song for fuck’s sake. While yes Lars was probably a douche before he met Rock, Rock single handedly brought one of the best metal bands of the time to their knees and turned them into a warehouse for singles and less than stellar musicianship.
• Godsmack - These guys not only play absolutely horrid music but Sully is possibly the biggest egomaniac on the earth. I think he truly believes he is a rock god. I read an interview with him a year or two ago where the person conducting the interview just ripped into Sully. He called him a hypocrite for his views on the war and the troops. He continually trips over his own words and keeps digging himself deeper. His treatment of CKY while on tour with the Deftones was grade A dick. And when I heard their cover of Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times” I wished that I had cancer in a bottle to spray on every person in might before turning it on myself. You can read the interview by going here.

Well that’s it for this piece hope you got a good laugh. I definitely did and a little angry. I hope I don’t see any babies today.