Cyclopean Columns

Tonight I went with my wife and daughter to go see Clash in the Capital VII, a local pro-wrestling event, and the first event of Professional Wrestling Alliance (PWA) Canberra, formerly Capital Pro Wrestling (CPW). We know several of the wrestlers, one who is a good friend, and had an absolute ball.

I only became a fan of pro-wrestling recently, seduced into it by my wife's love of the sport since she was a teenager when she used to watch Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant with her brothers. I now join the multitude of fans who scoff when the uninitiated say it's "Fake" - these guys are real athletes doing really dangerous stuff, who cares if the winner was decided beforehand? You get a great combination of soap opera and pantomime, along with an outlet for all that bloodlust. After all, it's not a good pay-per-view unless there's a bit of claret spilt.

Anyhow, tonight we got to see great tag-team action, throws, death-defying leaps and some great theatre. The final match was a "Hard Core" match and featured wrestlers being smashed over the head with street signs, garbage bins, chairs, a keyboard and even a baking tray. The climax of the match included a cricket bat wrapped in barbed wire, a barbed wire table, three smashed tables, a 10' ladder and (last but not least) a generous sprinkling of thumb tacks across the ring. Mick Foley would have been proud.

In all it was spectacular, it was fun, and it certainly wasn't fake! The barbed wire left very real cuts on these guys, as did the thumbtacks. They really do throw each other from the top rope halfway across the ring and 5 feet down onto the canvas. I would never do it myself, but it is a wonderful escape and worthy of a look.

Strange and varied are the things that we humans do when bored. I found myself at a loose end on Friday night, and for reasons I have yet to fully understand, I turned to my digital camera.

"What interesting things can I take photographs of?" I wondered.

Not being drunk or on a dare, I'm not sure why this ended with me thinking;

"I know!!! I'll get my kit off and do some nude self-portraiture!"

...but it did.

I had no idea how difficult it would be to properly arrange oneself modestly and artistically within the time limit of the camera's self-timer. There were mistakes. Some of the pictures were less than flattering. Some of them revealed a part of myself that I'm just not going to share on the internet. Frankly, some of them sucked because I was off-centre in the frame or they were blurry.

But a couple of them had promise. So today I did a bit of editing, some photoshop magic, a little crop here and there... and came up with something I felt I could share with the rest of the online community. I'm not going to make it too easy for folks to see this - you'll need a dA login as it is categorised as "Mature Content" (tee hee hee!) - but if you follow this link you'll get to see at least a little more of me than many have before. And I promise, no weenie or even nipples!

I'm a busy person. At least, I think I am. I never seem to have time for very much, especially posting to my blog. Or doing all that massively-multiplayer stuff online that all my friends (and wife) seem to get so involved in.

It's not that I don't want to - heavens no! I have seen the gorgeous graphics that are contained within Guild Wars, and the hours and hours and hours (did I mention hours) that my friends and spouse spend and enjoy playing the game. Ditto for other friends who are mad about World of Warcraft. Interesting aside, these two games seem to polarise people the same way as being "cat people" or "dog people" does. Anyone out there know folks that play both games?

I would love to get involved. Alas, I seem to lack:

1. The time
2. A second decent computer to run it (wife gets first dibs on the laptop)
3. The time

However, all is not lost. I have gotten involved in a different sort of MMORPG of late. After a six-month liaison with Urban Dead, I stumbled across Cities. This is a similar sort of HTML table-based graphics game, but with a fantasy bent where Urban Dead was, well, zombies. The focus of the game is you against the environment and the monsters and quests within it, rather than a direct PVP confrontation. I've been doing bunches of quests and such, and I really enjoy it. Best thing is, it is Action Point based, so there are strict limits as to how much time I can spend playing it on any given day.


So, if you're willing to ignore the lack of gorgeous animations and immersive gameplay, and are imagination-rich and time-poor, Cities might just be for you. Tell 'em Earl Cthu1hu MD sent you!