Joe Rogan: Renaissance Man Wednesday, September 1, 2010 2:14 pm
Back when I was just starting to get into the UFC, around 2006 or so, I invited a friend of mine to watch one of the first PPVs I ever bought. He was a fan of both boxing and pro wrestling, so I figured that Mixed Martial Arts would be right up his alley. He didn't even get past the intro. Within a few seconds, he rolled his eyes, got up to leave and said "Dude, I'm not watching anything that has Joe freakin' Rogan as a commentator".
At the time, I admit that I had my doubts as well. What the hell did Joe Rogan know about the UFC, and how the UFC expect to get any credibility by using a B-list actor as their guide to the sport? The whole thing looked pretty amateurish when he first signed on with them, back in the days when they still did the "tournament" format and didn't have any weight classes.
Flash forward to 2010: Rogan is now a very, very rich man. Along with UFC President Dana White, UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer, and his broadcasting partner, play-by-play man Mike Goldberg, he's is one of the four faces that are synonymous with an organization that's gained a value of over a billion dollars in less than a decade. He's also highly respected as one of the best commentators in sports broadcasting; always able to talk about a fight in terms that hardcore fans of the sport can identify with, while at the same time subtly explaining nuances that might be confusing to a newcomer. If I'd written that sentence just five years ago, I would've been laughed at.
However, he's now so completely involved with the UFC that people have almost forgotten about his long journey to get there. Let's start at the beginning. He first appeared on TV screens back in the mid-90's, as the charmingly dumb Joe the Repairman on Newsradio. It was a character that Matt Leblanc went on to blatantly steal when he portrayed Joey Tribbiani on Friends. Here he is swallowing his pride and "tapping out" to fellow castmember Andy Dick.
Before Newsradio, Rogan got his start the same way that most comic actors do: by working the stand-up comedy circuit. He doesn't do it much these days, but he was pretty funny back in his prime. (Language is Not Safe For Work.)
After Newsradio, Rogan snagged the first major gig of his career, which was hosting the groundbreaking game show Fear Factor. This was a time when reality TV was just starting up, and there'd never been a show this raw and disgusting on primetime network television before. Remember how huge this show was back in its heyday? It pulled down huge ratings, and even gave Rogan the opportunity to spout its' famous catchphrase: "Fear is not a factor for you".
Rather than show you a clip from that, here's a skit from the equally massive Chappelle's Show, in which Tyron the Crack Head appears on Fear Factor. For everyone keeping score at home, Rogan got to do a parody of his insanely popular show on another insanely popular show. Life was definitely starting to get good.
And that brings us up to present day. Joe Rogan has quietly become one of the most recognizable faces in entertainment, all while ignoring the fact that he still doesn't get any respect from the sitcom, gameshow or sporting world. I'm sure he consoles himself the same way Reiner Wolfcastle does: on a pile of money, with many beautiful women.
"Hoarders" Is Misleading Sunday, August 29, 2010 8:21 pm
As I've discussed before on this very blog (and a little on the show), I love me some Hoarders. I even like the blatant TLC knock-off called Hoarding: Buried Alive. As a self-confessed neat freak (and low-grade germaphobe), it's the ultimate way for me to live what can only be described as my worst nightmare, all while watching from my oh-so-organized and tidy home.
However, a friend of mine recently pointed out to me something that I'd begun suspecting: not everyone featured on the show is an actual "hoarder". The majority are people who have legitimate mental illnesses, which makes them powerless to their compulsions of excessively shopping, collecting, and above all, never throwing anything away. However, the rest of them are just pigs.
Allow me to demonstrate. Here's a clip about Mary, a woman who can't stop collecting stuff like hats, costume jewellery, cook books... you get the idea. Her collections have completely consumed her life and taken over her house. But she's not what you'd call gross, ya know? All of her collections are (mostly) organized; they're also just totally out of control, and she's run out of space. She's a hoarder.
Now here's a clip about Judy, who claims that collects things, but really just willingly brings a lot of junk into her home. When it got out of control, she chose to ignore it and continued bringing in more useless stuff. She now lives in what's the equivilant of a garbage dump with a roof. She's a pig.
See the difference? The sad part is that Judy isn't even one of the worse "garbage people" to have appeared on either show. That honour usually goes to women in their 50's and 60's, who stopped caring about their own well-being so long ago that it's not uncommon for cleaning crews to find the mummified remains of rats, cats and small birds. In their house. And yet, they rarely seem to find anything wrong with that, or understand why everyone else is horrified. I'll spare you by not showing any of those clips, because it's the type of thing that you can't unsee.
But despite the fact that the title isn't exactly accurate, that it regularly exposes me to things that make my stomach turn, and that it spotlights depressing people at their absolute lowest points, I know that I'll keep watching. Probably for the same reasons that everyone else does: because no matter how badly we feel about our lives at any given time, at least we can always say "Boy, that person is messed up".
The Internet's Latest Victim: The Cami Secret Saturday, August 28, 2010 12:03 pm
There used to be a time (I'm guessing back in the 80's) when bizarre products could air their zany commercials without fear of widespread mockery. If you happened to catch one of these low production value gems, you could only talk about it with other people who had also been exposed to its unintentional hilarity; otherwise, you'd have to explain it to them the best you could, never being able to do it proper justice, and hope that they also saw it in the near future, so that they'd finally understand why you got so worked up about it in the first place.
Luckily, it's 2010, and sharing a horrible, small-budget commercial for some weird invention is as easy as the click of a mouse. Even better is the fact that we also now have the ability to download any commercial, mess with it a little bit, then re-post it to the amusement of everyone, all within a few hours. For instance, the latest fly-by-night item to get the "low budget commercial" treatment is the Cami Secret. Rather than explaining what it is, I'll just let you bask in all its cringe-inducing wonder.
Yep, it's just ripe for parody. And whoa nelly, did someone do a bang-up job in giving this thing the treatment it deserves. I present to you... the Boob Apron. (Please note that some of the language in this recreation is Not Safe For Work. If you're a kid and are watching this, you have bad parents.)
Never before has the phrase "We were all thinking it" been so appropriate.
There's Something In The Japanese Water Wednesday, August 25, 2010 1:38 pm
As a casual baseball fan, I enjoy watching an insane catch as much as the next guy. To their credit, the men of Major League Baseball come through with amazing plays every game, but there's only a few catches every year that have that jaw-dropping, "Oh-my-god-how-did-he-do-that?!" quality.
On the other side of the world, Japan has a pretty good pro league themselves, and one of their shining moments has been Masafumi Yamamori's unbelievable scaling of the centerfeild wall to commit absolutely robbery, way back in 1990. Let's watch.
In just the last couple of weeks, a couple of present-day Japanese ball players decided that Yamamori's catch wasn't such a big deal and set out to prove that they could do the same thing. First you had centerfielder Masato Akamatsu of the Hiroshima Carp (yes, that's the team's real name) going at least three rows into the stands after scaling the wall, and denying an almost-certain homerun.
That was followed just a few days later by Soichiro Amaya actually standing on the top of the wall to once again pull off an insane grab. If his uniform looks familar, it's because he was also playing centerfield for the Hiroshima Carp. AND it's off the same pitcher!
With this kind of athletism being displayed on an almost nightly basis, it's a wonder that more MLB teams aren't loading up their roster with Japanese players that seem to be able to defy gravity. But hey, it really doesn't matter to me, since I'll be able to see their incredible catches no matter where these guys are playing. Thanks, internet!
Rumours Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated Monday, August 16, 2010 6:43 pm
Hey there! You may have noticed that I'm not where I usually am this week. That's because I've been booked for some other engagements, like watching a Toronto FC game, seeing Green Day in Toronto (which is sold out), hitting Wonderland and catching The Trews with Thornley at the Hanover Airport this Friday night. Hopefully you can make it out to that last one, because it's going to be a fantastic show. Otherwise, the always entertaining Ted Easton will be driving the runaway train that is The Stampede Home. Give him a call and ask him if he really talks like that all the time.
And if you could also join the official Facebook group of The Stampede Home, that'd be super.
See ya on the 23rd!
Talkin' Rock with Finger Eleven's James Black Thursday, August 12, 2010 4:22 pm
Fresh off their awesome performance at our second annual Big Music Fest, Finger 11 lead guitarist James Black called up The Stampede Home to discuss their upcoming record Life Turns Electric (in stores on October 5th), as well as some of his more interesting choices of pants.
Life Imitates Art (And COPS) Tuesday, August 10, 2010 6:13 pm
As I previously written about on this very blog, I love me some COPS. But one thing that's always perplexed me is how none of the people being interrogated/chased/arrested never look at the camera. The show's been on for over twenty seasons (and is massively popular among the demographic of people that's usually featured on it), but no one ever seems to clue in that when a police officer shows up with a film crew, they're probably going to be on COPS.
Thankfully, the same rules don't apply to County Law. It's a show based on the COPS format, but is filmed and broadcast entirely within Montgomery, Alabama. That's where this golden piece of video comes from, as a woman could care less that her sister is being hauled off by the po-po, but gets pretty damn excited over the prospect of being on her favourite TV show.
Please tell me that I'm not the only one who was immediately reminded of this scene from the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous.
And just because it's been in my head for the entire day...
"COUNTY LAW!"
Russ and Colin, Shootin' The Breeze Saturday, August 7, 2010 1:19 pm
Just in case you missed it, here's my interview with Trews frontman Colin MacDonald from this past Friday afternoon. Colin talks about the huge success of "Highway Of Heroes", their upcoming new record, and what The Herd can expect when they play Hanover Raceway with Thornley on August 20th. Enjoy.
A Justified Ass-Kicking Thursday, August 5, 2010 3:56 pm
Last night, entertainment website TMZ.com posted footage of former UFC fighter Roger Huerta getting involved in a bloody street fight down in Austin, Texas. As you'll see in the clip, tensions were already rising when a man appears to come up from behind a woman and flatten her with a blindside punch to the head. That's when the 27-year-old Huerta confronts the assailant and delivers the beat-down of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the fight moves outside the range of the camera during the retaliation, but it clearly shows the end result, with the sucker-puncher lying flat on his back.
Huerta is now fighting in the Bellator Fighting Championship, after he choose not to renew his contract with the UFC last year. So far, no arrests have been made, probably on moral grounds alone.
Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife! Wednesday, August 4, 2010 5:09 pm
Over the course of the last week, we've once again been able to see first-hand the awesome power of the internet, and its ability to literally make someone an instant celebrity. In this case, our subject is Antoine Dodson of Huntsville, Alabama. I could spend a whole paragraph giving you the back story, but it's way more fun to watch it from where it all began.
Less than twenty-four hours after that video made its way onto the worldwide web, it was already the #1 most-watched clip on YouTube. One company was even selling Antoine Dodson t-shirts (like the one seen on the upper-right) in less than a day. And when you combine an angry, semi-flamboyant, comedy gold-spittin' man with talented computer geeks, you get gems like this.
Antoine has now become far bigger than the original story, prompting the news crew (including the original reporter) to go back to Antoine's house, to get his reaction to becoming the latest overnight internet star.
I think it's only right to point out that the whole "woman almost raped by home invader" story has now been put on the backburner, in favour of giving an unassuming jive-talker his fifteen minutes of fame. It may not be right, but it's damn funny, and it's how we do things in the year 2010.
