Atlanta to Host WrestleMania 27 (hellz yeah!)

While WrestleMania 26 is still nearly two months away, the WWE announced Monday that next year's event will be hosted by Atlanta, GA.  The WWE along with the Atlanta Sports Council held a press conference Monday to officially announce that WrestleMania 27 will take place at the Georgia Dome on Sunday, April 3, 2011.

This will be the first that time that the WWE spectacular will take place in Atlanta. Sunday night, the city hosted the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view at the Phillips Arena.
"We are thrilled to bring the biggest sports entertainment event in the world for the first time to the city of Atlanta in 2011. The enthusiasm of the sellout crowd at last night's Royal Rumble was just a small sample of what to expect when WrestleMania XXVII takes over Atlanta," said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to focusing the eyes of the world onto the great city of Atlanta and making history at the Georgia Dome."
Wrestling has been a long-time fixture in Atlanta and was a hotbed for the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling. The city is a natural fit for the event and it should do very well there.

via fanhouse.com

Well there goes some more ¥,$, and vacation time for next year... Funny how I finally move to Japan, and NOW all these major events that I wanted to have happen in my own backyard are FINALLY happening?! I missed the MLB All-Star Game being in my hometown, St. Louis in '09; even though ATL is my home now, I'd have driven back there to at least have the experience... But say what you will about wrasslin'-- Its watched around the world, loved by its fans (including some die-hard fans here in Japan that don't mind paying ¥50,000 [US$510] for a seat... and not a very good one even!) And now WRESTLEMANIA will be in the Georgia Dome!! Well looks like I'll be making my visit back home this time next year one week longer... I'm getting tix the first day they come out!!! Hellz yeah!!

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/etc/bin/startup/save_us.y2j

There are only 3 things I watch on TV with any regularity... Anime, TLC/Discover, and WWE... And if you know me, you know I take wrestling seriously. It's all about the performance, and in-ring skills... But its about the mic-skills to back it up. 

Five mat-jockeys come to mind when I think about "wrasslin'" today:  The Rock, John Cena, DX (HHH and HBK) and Y2J-Chris Jericho.   Well guess what. 

RAW is Jericho once again!!  What next--  ...come on Rock...  come on, just gimme a "people's elbow" just for laughs one more time!!

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Out of the mouths of babes...

Name: Charice Pempengco
Age: At this time she was 12, now she's 15
Home: Philippines

I can't say anything else but damn... I pray to god someone at Avex/Sony in Tokyo has already signed her to at least do the next Bleach movie theme or something... or be on a track with Koda Kumi, Amuro Namie, and Soulhead... She can even sing with Misia...

If you look closely, she even has that "sista-girl" neck thing too!! Man this chick can sing!!

Check out her official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/charicepempengco

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Mou Nihon ni kaeritai:The Real Folk Blues

One reason I learned Japanese in the first place was because I wanted to read manga and watch anime in their original and uncut forms, and get the small nuances that make up Japanese humor and drama that can never be translated effectively.

This song, The Real Folk Blues is one example. It's the ending theme to Cowboy Bebop, an anime made in 1998, that I got to see on this side that same year thanx to my good friend Koh. Every time I hear this song, it reminds me to try harder and push through the sadness. The song does have some emotionally powerful lyrics, but the music itself can transmit that; it is blues after all, and that is the same language anywhere. Its sentimental for me because its the first song I think I understood in Japanese, and I used to play it a lot on the Kintetsu and Hankyu Densha (trains in Japan) in my headphones whenever I was having a bad time in Japan. One of my friends there heard me playing it, and got me the entire Cowboy Bebop soundtrack double CD. It was also my ringtone on my keitai (cellphone).

This is the actual live concert of the band The Seatbelts. The chick with the Native American headdress on keyboards is Yoko Kanno, the lead composer of the band. I wonder if she's taken... And that's Mai Yamane doing the singing. I am in love with her voice.

Enjoy.

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Densha Otoko (Train Guys)

natsukashi naaaaa.. I was there this time last year, and like the last 6 years, I'll be there again for sometime this year. Never ceases to amaze me how people can have fun and do things in public that us paranoid Yanks call out the nat'l guard, SWAT, Bomb Squad, etc for... I soooo miss being over there everytime someone calls the police for things like LED battery-operated signs with cartoon characters flippin the bird.. F this place.

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