#128. Poetry, Shelton Benjamin

Since the last entry, I've compiled another poetry collection, Waking the Sandman, which is somewhat slimmer than Ex Patriot yet no less a vision unto itself, which, as yet, is what I seem to be going for. Bear in mind, both collections are from material written in the last year and a half, meaning I've got a backlog of poetry that could fill collections of considerably larger proportions, if I were to come into such a position. Two poems at least can be found right here at the Monk, for those of you Theoretical Readers with a bit of ambition in you. Sandman includes poems written within a span of months, which roughly corresponds to the development of the keynote (but not eponymous) poem from E P. I've never felt as much excitement about my own work, seeing it collected like that. Now if I could only see it published, too...

In the wrestling vein, I was recently thinking how beneficial it would be to move Shelton Benjamin back to Smackdown. He's seemingly run his course on Raw, and the blue brand could always use a fresh infusion of talent, what with all the injuries, (not that new talent like Kennedy, Lashley, Birchall, and possibly MVP aren't proving some valuable worth), a continuing drain on headliners (JBL retiring, Rey Misterio taking a possible six month break), and suspect ongoing worth of others (Undertaker and his part-time schedule, the question mark of Batista, whose continued worth suddenly seems up in the air). No, Shelton ain't a razzle-dazzle star, but he knows how to get it done in the ring, and can pull off the highlight moves (two Money in the Bank showstoppers, for instance) with the best of them. Put him on a show where he won't be lost in the pack. And if you really want to, add Charlie Haas and reunit the World's Greatest Tag Team.

Really? Haas should have made a bigger splash on his return than he did, if not in his card against Benjamin, which went nowhere quickly, then in his card against Viscera (somehow, he ended up with him). That's not going to go anywhere, and it seems less than likely that he's going to find much luck otherwise, so why not bring the band back together, at least in the shortrun? Can you imagine the kind of match you could have been TWGTT and London & Kendrick? And when that's played it's course, Haas-Benjamin could have another go of it, and then you could have both competing as singles again. Only, instead of trying to have them on separate brands (it just didn't work last time), see what they're like on the same one. They could compete, right? Give them heat together, but apart from each other. You don't always have to wrestle to have a feud going. It'd be a game of oneupsmanship.

Well, a guy can dream, anyway...Meanwhile, Carlito is rewarded with a card against Randy Orton. They're both winners.

#127. Quarter Bin, Visionary Comics, Poetry, Yaris

I've only just noticed a problem I had on this blog, which was the link for Paperback Reader on the right. I don't really know what caused it (clicking previously, suffice to say, would have been useless), but it's fixed now. Which is good, because my column, The Quarter Bin (with some apologies due the Newsarama column similarly entitled, It Came From the Quarter Bin, which I've only just become aware of) there is only heating up eight weeks in (eight already!). I haven't written something that regularly since college, and then not even on such a consistent basis (consistency not being a primary feature of the Monk in some obvious regards). And I've got the nex several weeks planned. Inspiration can be found within several of the other columns at the site, including Dan Head's Comics You Should Be Reading, which I've only recently started reading regularly. I've even been motivated enough to respond with a few e-mails. I never do that. I probably should.

I've got an undiscovered frontier ahead of me, so to speak. I'm waiting to hear back from Visionary Comics concerning a script submission in another Breaking Into Comics contest. They said it'd take about two weeks for one. It's been about four. At least I know some of the editors like my work, having responded (yes!) favorably to a different submission package outside of the contest. It included an excerpt from my Astrals script. Similarly, I await word on my first submission of Ex Patriot. Heady times. Speaking of which, I quit my full-time job, in part because of the girl I've alluded to in the past, though we've since made things...at least more square than that particular night. I'm living on what used to be my part-time job now (that and my sister, without whom I don't know where I'd be), with a few more hours thrown in. And once again I get to enjoy the crudity (if there's a proper spelling for such a word, I don't want to know) of the job market. Barnes and Noble had a recent chance to shoot me down. They took it.

Recently I was thinking, if I could have a new car, it might be the Yaris. The latest cute car.

If you want to know what else I may be up to, you should check in with Waterloo at Lower Decks, another link on the right. I've been watching a lot of movies, and there's a bunch of music I've been listening to that I may devote an entry to at some point. I'm working on another Star Trek story, gearing up for NaNoWriMo, prepping more poetry, getting my Lost groove on, and of course watching wrestling. The new PWI 500 is coming up soon. Expect word on that, too. So, that's all for now, Theoretical Reader!

#126. Mr. Kennedy!

Wouldn't you know it, the Chavo-Rey feud actually happened, maybe not as I'd liked (and hey, even I admitted it wouldn't). The match is set for this Sunday's SummerSlam, along with a number of other notable matches, including DX taking on the McMahons (the criticism about DX's return is that they're watered down, but...really? if anything, it'd be that the so-called power struggle...hasn't involved the WWE title...but it doesn't have to...this has been, has ever been, about egos), an Edge-John Cena rematch (this may be Cena's defining feud as a champion, at this point in his career), Batista reclaiming the world title, from King Booker (which takes nothing away from Booker), and Randy Orton taking on Hulk Hogan (does it really look like they're...setting Orton up to win?). Orton, meanwhile, may not be preparing to take on DX, as I speculated, but he does seem, if rumors are to be believed, on target to feud with Triple H once the DX angle does conclude, which puts me on the board anyway...

Two future stars of the company have been getting some good exposure lately. Ken Kennedy actually got to step into Batista's returning program when Mark Henry had to bow out with injury. Wow! Mr. Kennedy couldn't have asked for a greater gift, and hopefully he'll be capitalizing on that soon. Carlito, meanwhile, may have just had a career-making match on Raw last night against Edge, now that he's gotten a subtle push upon hooking up, onscreen, with Trish Stratus (who, along with new women's champion Lita, is actually scheduled to depart WWE in upcoming months). I'm also pretty excited about the new tag team the Highlanders, who appear poised to be the final nail in the coffin of the soon-to-be split up Spirit Squad. And as another follow-up, Orlando Jordan's last act on Smackdown, effectively christening the Vito-Wears-A-Dress angle, couldn't have been a better hindset Best Move He Ever Made (aside from, y'know, the whole Chief of Staff thing, or being trained by Rocky Johnson), since Vito has become one of the most entertaining wrestlers around, certainly the wrestler in my experience to make the most of wearing a dress (sorry Perry Saturn). He genuinely seems pleased about the exposure, and is more than game to make the most of the gimmick in his ring style. This is one of the better stories of the year, but don't expect anyone else to be saying that...

WWE saw failure in its Saturday Night's Main Event programming, recently failing again in its second outting. It couldn't have been more oblivious about the way to turn it around. Carlito they at least had on the card, but somewhat more prominent booking may have allowed new audiences to explore some of the more exciting aspects of the current product (DX is for nostalgics, folks, in the end of it, and Hogan's recent peak was...2002? with all due apologies to VH-1, of course). And the company (and Vince, specially, apparently, who never understood what it was supposed to be about) really dropped the ball with Paul Birchall, who could've made an appearance on the show. Pirates are hot right now, y'see. Paul had the gimmick in the works months ago, and then he was myseriously put on the shelf months ago, onscreen as part of Mark henry's rampage. But how stupid, stupid, was WWE not to try and capitalize on the recently released blockbuster (in the truest sense of the word) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest? Not to even mention that Birchall's a marvel in the ring, too? And having Kennedy on the program, even if UPN made it difficult to poise Smackdown for the card, would have been another brilliant move. Seriously. Let the audience know that there are new superstars in the making. It's what the casual fan wants, right?

I'll get back with some nonwrestling thoughts next time, I promise...