Brilliant, hilarious, and pointed. The experience of reading this is a series of switches between laughing out loud and muttering “damn” under my breath.
Rest in peace, Iron Sheik. We hardly knew you, which was always the point.
As someone who grew up in the Iran Hostage era, it still makes me laugh to remember how earnestly the news commentary people wanted America assured that calling American “The Great Satan” was just a type of everyday Persian hyperbole. It’s still the best nickname we’ve ever received.
Truly, no article or commentary that so seemlessly mixes obscure biography, social commentary, history, and popular entertainment can really be complete without reference to Bruce Campbell’s chin! Burn Notice is a great show.
Nerd note: pre Vince McMahan pro wrestling had plenty of fakery but it wasn't quite as blatant. They would have matches between face characters that actually looked like a real competition. And it was only heel characters would would punch and throw elbows. Most importantly, they would have sequences where the wrestlers would be evenly matched, struggling with half and full Nelsons and whatnot. This was particularly true for the wrestling in Florida, where they had a world champion known for his Figure 4 Leg Lock.
The Richmond VA wrestling was sillier. It even had brass knuckle wrestling. And lotsof Ric Flair appearances. But even there, there were sequences of even matching.
The WWF/WWE matches that I have seen were ridiculously overscripted. One wrestler would utterly dominate for a while. Then, the should be defeated wrestler would shake his head and make a surprise move and utterly dominate for a while. Quite boring.
I laughed. I cried. It was better than CATS.
Thank you for closing with the Sheik from the top rope on Caillou - needed that today.
Brilliant, hilarious, and pointed. The experience of reading this is a series of switches between laughing out loud and muttering “damn” under my breath.
Rest in peace, Iron Sheik. We hardly knew you, which was always the point.
The Iran take I didn't know I needed.
l don't understand half of it, but l haven't laughed this much in a while
The more of the references you know and understand, the better this is.
In toto, it is a masterpiece.
l readily agree…since l ve already screen-shot four passages that are priceless
We're all either actors or audience, mostly audience. The Bard would be proud.
"If it's on TV, it's a TV show"
-- Marshal McLuhan
As someone who grew up in the Iran Hostage era, it still makes me laugh to remember how earnestly the news commentary people wanted America assured that calling American “The Great Satan” was just a type of everyday Persian hyperbole. It’s still the best nickname we’ve ever received.
"Politics is the entertainment branch of industry," after all. We're all rubes underneath.
How do you do it? Just how? A work of genius and a work of art! In writing!
If I could shake your hand I'd rip your arm off with the sheer enthusiasm of it.
The best stacker by miles.
Truly, no article or commentary that so seemlessly mixes obscure biography, social commentary, history, and popular entertainment can really be complete without reference to Bruce Campbell’s chin! Burn Notice is a great show.
Epic, just epic…best finishing move of all time, the camel clutch…it would make you huuuumble.
I just got triggered by Caillou. I hate that little bastard.
Great read!
That was fun!
Nerd note: pre Vince McMahan pro wrestling had plenty of fakery but it wasn't quite as blatant. They would have matches between face characters that actually looked like a real competition. And it was only heel characters would would punch and throw elbows. Most importantly, they would have sequences where the wrestlers would be evenly matched, struggling with half and full Nelsons and whatnot. This was particularly true for the wrestling in Florida, where they had a world champion known for his Figure 4 Leg Lock.
The Richmond VA wrestling was sillier. It even had brass knuckle wrestling. And lotsof Ric Flair appearances. But even there, there were sequences of even matching.
The WWF/WWE matches that I have seen were ridiculously overscripted. One wrestler would utterly dominate for a while. Then, the should be defeated wrestler would shake his head and make a surprise move and utterly dominate for a while. Quite boring.
Whenever I see a politician speak it reminds me of my favorite wrestler.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZUOirlZbA4&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
This is the greatest.
It was about time that someone had opened this can of worms.
Great piece. Especially fond of the details and lengthy dialogue.
thankyou for that, a great read for this X er.
I grew up watching him and others antics
Summing up in one word this essay; weird, -but hey, today, what isn't?