zan

So I said I was back and then immediately disappeared for another two and a half weeks, but whatever, man, I really wish I didn't have to have a job! But my mom's EI ran out and cremations cost $4000 and Edge is retiring next year which will surely involve a PPV in Toronto at some point, so I do. Have to have a job. For the rest of my life, probably. I've also been doing more physical journaling lately for some reason? Nothing substantive, but my usual daily logs and stuff that I've kept to Notion for ages now have all just been ending up in the bullet journal instead for the last couple of months, and I'm not sure why, but I'm enjoying it for the time being, so why question it? Maybe I'll finally succumb to the temptations to become a washi tape person. I already picked myself up an expensive leather journal folio that is mostly just an excuse for something else to hang a bunch of cute wrestling keychains from. Am I in my "Eschew the digital, embrace the analog" era? Maybe!

Even so, I do like maintaining this little corner of my online presence, even if I feel like there are vanishingly few people left checking it. So I will! Since my last, deeply depressing update, I have gone to see the following movies: Other Mommy (pretty bad!), Run Terry Run (very illuminating!), The Social Reckoning (eh), Street Fighter (will be due for a Speed Racer-esque critical reappraisal in about ten years or so), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (worth getting up early on a Sunday for), Whalefall (claustrophobic!), Wildwood (gorgeous), and Clayface (really fun, there was one scene I genuinely had a hard time watching!).

I also watched King of Pro-Wrestling, and there's just something about watching the big NJPW events live that elevates them like nothing else. The main event started at like five in the morning and I slipped into some kind of alternate stage of elevated consciousness powered by sheer exhilaration and sleep deprivation in the back half of it, once Oiwa and Tsuji really started cooking. It feels like briefly traveling to another plane of existence where nothing else exists. CMLL's Universal de Amazonas trilogy of shows was a lot of fun, too, I wish more promotions out there would commit to running the occasional all-women's wrestling show now and again! And there was Mystery Wrestling, too! Cecil Nyx vs. A Fan in a Some Holds Barred match for the fan's replica IWGP World Heavyweight title was a work of art, and I'm hyped as hell by Cool Ref winning All the Marbles! I also kept up with PRODUCE even though the guy in charge is thoroughly cancelled now, sorry for my bad allyship, but a Native-centric wrestling show airing on Thanksgiving (or Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day depending on where you are) was just too damn cool a prospect to pass up. Also belatedly watched Wrestle Princess VII for my quarterly TJPW fix; STARDOM is more my speed when it comes to joshi wrestling, and the overly cutesy vibe of Teej can get to be a bit much for me to watch a lot of, but every once in a while, a good Princess of Princess title match where those adorable girls just beat the everloving shit out of each other really hits the spot. Suzume's so fuckin' good, man. The RevPro FantasticMania shows were fun, too! Plus there was the usual AEW and ROH stuff, and oh yeah, there was another whole-ass PPV! That should get its own post, though. Maybe on Monday!

( Album #530/1001: Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty )

Today's lunchtime joshi match is Saori Anou vs. Miyu Amasaki from Night 3 of last year's 5*STAR Grand Prix! A solid match in a chill venue, Saori's just so fuckin' cool, you guys. She should fight Cool Ref.



We're getting our first snowfall of the season at the moment. It's really coming down, but it's still warm enough day-to-day that I don't expect it to stick around just yet, at least. We had three weeks of beautiful crisp fall October weather, and that's so much more than I've ever experienced before, so I'll take it. Thank god it's Friday.