Monday, December 15, 2014

TL;DR: Watch the first match, skip the rest of it.

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs...and Stairs was supposed to be the event that made the world forget all about Kevin St--I mean Owens debuting on Thursday. After the opening match between Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper, I had high hopes. That match was full of psychology, high spots, underdog stories, color--pretty much everything I grew to love about wrestling over the years. I was sure that we'd get a great show.

The rest of the show fell flat...on its face. Now, I won't go into detail about the rest of the event. I'm too mentally drained to do so. However, it was one head-scratching-ly painful sequence of events after another.

For the main takeaways, John Cena went over Seth Rollins (and we suffered through another stilted promo from the returning Roman Reigns). Of course, this still means that Rollins probably cashes in on Cena, but at this point I'm pretty much apathetic towards the whole thing. Then, we had AJ Lee contract "chemical conjunctivitis" because Brie Bella sprayed her with some water/hair spray/bleach/leftover bottles of Arrogance that they let out the vault after twenty years. About an hour later, Dean Ambrose electrocutes himself with a TV monitor into a Sister Abigail from Bray Wyatt. The match itself was alright, but the ending completely ruined it.

Yeah...this happened.

Again...watch the Ziggler/Harper match. Skip the rest.

Thoughts on TLC...and Stairs

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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

On the advice of my resident anime recommendee Dre, I checked this one out. Like Haruhi, The Devil is a Part-Timer is a slice-of-life anime that was based on a light novel series. And like Haruhi, it deals with a plethora of otherwordly entities living in the confines of a "normal" world. However, where Haruhi and company got into most of their misadventures because they wanted to keep Haruhi from being bored, and thus destroying the world, the characters of The Devil is a Part-Timer have a different motive.

Thoughts on The Devil is a Part-Timer

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A couple weeks ago, I learned that Ratsie's, a UMD and DMV tradition, would be closing in late 2015 to make room for a Nando's Peri-Peri. Now, I love Nando's, but there are certain givens when dealing with College Park. If you want drunken debauchery and people throwing up for no reason, you head to Bentley's. If you want some great live performances by up-and-comers, check out Looney's. And if you want post-party/post-barhopping food at a cheap price, you don't go to a Nando's! You go to Ratsie's.
After hearing this, I rounded up a few people and I went into "CP," as I tend to do from time to time. And I made it my priority to have a slice of Ratsie's pizza. Now, I'll be the first to admit. Ratsie's pizza isn't exactly five-star food. It's greasy. It's fatty. But, like a cup of chicken noodle soup, it's comforting. It's familiar. Ratsie's is like that old friend you know you shouldn't mess with, but you always find yourself with them when you're in the mood for fun--and not exactly regretting your decision.

Thoughts on the imminent closing of Ratsie's of College Park

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Monday, December 8, 2014



 I’m late to the party, but I figured I might as well give my own thoughts on this whole thing. It was announced on Saturday that former pro wrestler CM Punk has signed a deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). This effectively means that CM Punk, who will be going by that name in UFC, has effectively severed all ties with pro wrestling and is living out his dream to, at the least, “try [MMA] out.”

Thoughts on #CMPunkUFC

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Disclaimer: For those wondering, no I don't usually write posts during the 9-5 period. I just schedule them as such. Some I'll edit on a break or something, but none are really written during a work period.

So, I checked out I Am Santa Claus, this documentary described as the answer to the question "whose lap is my child sitting on?" It follows five men who look like Santa over the course of a year leading up to Christmas. Each of these men come from different walks of life. One is a older homosexual gentleman (and apparently pretty well-known among the bear community in Texas), one is a pastor outside of his Santa-ing, one is Mick Foley, WWE Hall of Famer (see, his appearance on RAW this week wasn't just for the heck of it). More after the jump.

Noelle Foley: the wit of her dad, but so much easier on the eyes.

Thoughts on I Am Santa Claus

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Today's anime review came as a surprise to me. I tend to not really go for "slice of life" anime, since they seem to be mostly the same. That and the whole School Days/"Nice Boat" debacle kind of ruined the genre for me for a while. However, after going through series such as Welcome to the NHK, I decided to give the genre another try. I kept hearing things about Haruhi online and from other reviewers, so I decided to check it out. The series is to the "slice of life" genre what Gurren Lagann is to the mecha genre. Tropes are thrown out at a breakneck pace, trampled on, manipulated, and twisted to serve a purpose. Both series are irreverent in their approach to their respective genres and both take viewers on an emotionally-charged ride full of high ups and pretty depressing downs. Plus, memes out the you-know-what.

Kind of a spoiler, but not really.

Thoughts on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

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So, last night, Vince McMahon sat down with Stone Cold (Stone Cold! Stone Cold!) Steve Austin on the WWE Network for a special edition of Stone Cold's podcast. Among the topics brought up were Vince's thoughts on CM Punk's recent podcast with Colt Cabana. Sure, we can talk about how Vince McMahon was critical of the locker room and its apparent fear to be bold, or his thoughts on Cesaro not connecting. However, I want to focus on his comments about Punk. Why? Not because I'm a "Punk Super Mark," but because of the potential impact they could have.

Some Thoughts on Vince McMahon's Apology to CM Punk

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Monday, November 10, 2014

Well, wow. Talk about "some guys have all the luck," eh?


Thoughts On CM Punk Joining Marvel

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Curses to you, Matt and Trey. Every time I think I'm done with South Park, that it's finally jumped the shark to me, that I'm "too old" for you, that it's complete dreck...you surprise me.


Make me cringe at some of the straight-up "wow!" moments, but surprise me, in a good way.

Thoughts on South Park Season 18 (So Far)

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I'm a pretty big wrestling fan. I know it's scripted. So are Love and Hip-Hop and New Girl.

Now that that's out the way, I just read that WWE is going to have Grumpy Cat "host" RAW next week.

A photo posted by Wrestling Inc. (@wrestlinginc) on

Thoughts on WWE Being Behind in the Times

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Monday, November 3, 2014

About eight years ago, on the first full week of my Freshman Year at UMD (that's 2006, for those keeping score), I logged onto Facebook and started friending people, based on similar interests. One of these people was a young woman by the name of Raquel. Our first conversation was about Labor Day plans and PS2 games, so it was (obviously) nothing too serious. As time went on, we both developed feelings for each other, as these things sometimes go. She and I would have late-night chats about nothing, but it would be the highlight of my day. Sadly, as these things sometimes go, whenever we tried to act upon them (read: got the courage to say "hey, I think you're cute. Maybe we should go out"), we both were with other people.

Thoughts on...Getting Engaged

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Another year of baseball is in the books. This year is a year sports writers almost dream about. You had Cinderella stories beating Cinderella stories (KC beating the Orioles; still salty about that), a new "dynasty" rise (the Giants), the Yankees and Red Sox not making it to the playoffs (hooray), and the Nationals kicking much butt, but kind of becoming unglued at the last moment.

This season also had tragedy in the form of the untimely death of Cardinals prodigy Oscar Taveras who, fittingly for the hype of his star, homered in his last at-bat.


Hearing the news of Oscar Taveras' death, it hit me more than usual. I heard this past Monday, during my usual morning ritual (waking up, dressing, heading off to work, etc). Perhaps it's because he was young and within my own age bracket, but I was stunned that this young man, someone seemingly so full of life and joyful over being able to do what he loved, he was gone. 

Now, I'd be lying if I said that I followed Taveras religiously. I saw he had a mountain of potential and homered in his first game. However, I stopped paying attention as much as the season went on. But, a death like this, it makes you stop thinking about baseball in a "oh, it's a game with a ton of overpaid athletes swinging bats at balls" type of way. Taveras was twenty-two, four years younger than me. A tragedy like this, it reinforces that you've got to be thankful for every day you're given on this earth, that you need to make the most of every moment.

Rest in Peace, young man.
-Johnthan

Thoughts on...the passing of Oscar Taveras

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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

(Or "It's like Lost and Scandal had a baby and Viola Davis is the adopted mother.")


When someone recommends that I check out a show, I tend to mull it over for a while (unless it's like Gurren Lagann or something, then I nose-dive into it). I mean, I've just gotten to the part of Breaking Bad where Walter tries his best to become surpass Gus Fring/Tony Montana and kills Mike and then realizes that he didn't need to. He ultimately did it because feels.

...Power-Tripping Hal?
So, when the blitzkrieg of ads/reviews/Twitter folks (follow me at @JohnthanSpeed, by the way; gotta start updating that thing) suggested demanded I check out the newest Shonda Rhines-influenced show, I reluctantly did so. Viola Davis is a great actress, Shonda Rhines has some good people in her circle with regards to watchable shows, and the ads didn't give away much. So, it had all the makings of either a colossal failure or a dominating success. There will be spoilers, by the way. Many spoilers. So, if you don't want to read them, look away.

Thoughts on...How to Get Away with Murder

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Monday, October 27, 2014


A day or so, I received a text from my friend Dre. For those that don't know (read: all except for maybe five of you), Dre is the guy who suggested I check out Gurren Lagann in the first place, the "random college adventures" guy, the Kamina to my Simon. So, when he said that my initial thoughts were a bit pedestrian, I stopped and thought about it.

I agree, wholeheartedly. And not just because he made me GRIT THOSE TEETH! a few times to snap me out of a funk. See, while writing the TTGL review, I was finishing up Wolf's Rain. But, now that I'm not bawling my eyes out like some of my fellow otaku did at the end of Angel Beats (a series which was good, but disjointed at times), I can give a proper follow-up to the original post. Besides, what good is writing about an unforgettable series in a way that's, well, forgettable?

(More) Thoughts on Gurren Lagann

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Thursday, October 23, 2014

The past couple days, I've been watching this series Wolf's Rain.


This series is possibly one of the most depressing/saddest anime I've ever seen. In many ways, it's the anti-Gurren Lagann. I mean, even the catchy pop-rock opening is pretty much replaced by cold openings and mood music towards the end of the series (and not of the "Libera Me to Hell" variety). As an aside, the soundtrack to this series is also one of the greatest I've heard, partly due to its diversity, partly because of its beauty. For the TL;DR crowd, here's a synopsis, via Wikipedia:
It focuses on the journey of four lone wolves who cross paths while following the scent of the Lunar Flower and seek for Paradise [a Nirvana-type place, with "real-world" repercussions once "found"]. According to an old legend, when the end of the world comes, a place known as Paradise will appear. However, only wolves will know how to find it. Although wolves are believed to have been hunted to extinction nearly two hundred years ago, they still exist, surviving by casting illusions over themselves to make them appear human... 
In other words, it's in the same vein as Watership Down in terms of depressing animated series that actually make you feel something (but with a somewhat werewolf-y anime twist to it). Anyhow, since this isn't exactly a "review" or anything (none of my anime "thoughts" are, per se), the series has me thinking. Aside from being depressed to the heavens by the turn of events that occur, it has a bit of a "you need to appreciate everything around you before it's gone" feel to it (the characters Hubb and Cher, their side story and how it becomes a major point in the series, is testament to this). Also, an "a lone wolf (pun intended) needs a pack sometimes" idea creeps in, along with a theme of "redemption," usually through acceptance and sacrifice. Finally, there's a mantra of stepping up and doing what needs to be done--even if it's difficult--interspersed into the events of the series.

In short, the series is depressing. It's sad. I admittedly got all "lumpy-throated" a few times throughout it. But, through this depression, it imparts a lot of "real-world" knowledge and wisdom. Sure, the story is uneven at points, but the message is something even the most callous person can relate to.

As a bonus, here's the anime's closing theme, "Gravity," in all its heartstring-tugging beauty. Who knew a cartoon about wolves could make me contemplate life and have a bit of infinite sadness?

Thoughts on Wolf's Rain

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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

So, since I'm trying to go for a safe-for-work approach on this blog, you'll have to excuse me if there are limited graphics in this post.

Kill la Kill is what happens when you take Gurren Lagann, set it in a Sailor Moon/magical girl high school setting, and add in tons of fanservice. I mean, tons. It takes "Gainaxing" to another level in terms of its...bounciness. Here's the series in a nutshell:

Ryuko Matoi is searching for the person (key point) who killed her father. This search takes her to Honnouji Academy, run by the totalitarian student body president Satsuki Kiryuin and attended by Ryuko's soon-to-be-bestie, Mako Mankanshoku (who's probably one of the funniest anime characters I've seen in a while, just because she's always turned way up).

Mako, you crazy, crazy girl.

Thoughts on Kill La Kill

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(This isn't an extensive review on the series, since many of those exist--and I try to do things out of the ordinary)


Thoughts on Gurren Lagann

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Thursday, May 15, 2014

Greetings and Salutations, all who happen across my little slice of the internets.

My name is Johnthan. I, at one point, used to record hip-hop music (mainly during high school and college). Now? I'm twenty-five(ish) twenty-six and work at an awesome nonprofit in Bethesda (we have a car in our office). I've always had a passion for writing, even going as far as to finish my undergraduate career as an English major (insert "you shoulda been a teacher" jokes here). I even, as an artist, ran a few blogs of my own that offered music reviews, pop culture reviews, and so on.

So, I figured that, in my spare time, I could talk on some stuff and maybe impact people positively (even if it's just recommending a new TV show). This is a personal space, but feel free to drop some knowledge of your own. Also, don't expect me to incite a riot or anything. That's not really why I'm starting this thing up.

Topics covered will range from anime, professional wrestling, pop culture, "serious" issues, and pretty much anything that I feel like talking about (whoo!). So, strap on in, sit back and let the magic happen.

And now? Back to work.

Greetings and Salutations (Updated 10/22/14)

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