It was saddening to learn that former wrestling legend “Macho Man” Randy Savage tragically passed away last week. He and Hulk Hogan were the two primary reasons why the then-WWF exploded into the mainstream in the 80s and early 90s. Growing up with wrestling I always remembered him as the crazy guy with the colorful outfits who always yelled nonsense in his promos. “Freak out, freak out!” “Oh yeahhhh!” “Dig it!”

“The Mach” was one of a kind outside of the ring with his in-your-face style of interviews and extraordinary outfits that only he could make look badass because there is not another man who could pull off wearing that outrageous, over-sized cowboy hat and shades in tandem with hundreds upon hundreds of tassels and still come off as a tough son of a gun in the ring. And let us not forget about the lovely Elizabeth that always accompanied Randy. Inside the ring, Savage was one of the pioneering high flyers of wrestling, where all it took back then was a flying elbow drop off the top turnbuckle to dazzle crowds instead of the countless backwards flips in midair that we see today.

Randy was not all flash, either. He backed up his gimmick as one of the top in ring technicians in his day. Back when the World Wrestling Federation was primarily known as the Hulk Hogan Company, where the Hulkster would be squaring off against stereotypical wrestling villains and resting on his laurels, Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat stole the show at Wrestlemania III in a match that is still regarded as a classic today.

When Hulk decided to take time off wrestling to attempt a movie career, Savage was finally given the ball to run with the company and became the WWF’s heavyweight champion. When Hulk Hogan came back from filming his latest disasterpiece, he teamed up with Macho Man to form the quintessential tag team, The Mega Powers. This new partnership was not meant to be, because Randy was led to believe Hulkamania was running wild on Elizabeth, and thus the Mega Powers exploded into another classic Wrestlemania match with Savage between him and Hogan at Wrestlemania V.

After Savage turned villain, he transformed his persona into the Macho King, and dumped lovely Elizabeth for the not-so-lovely Sensational Sherri. I prefer not to remember the next two years of Macho’s career because I always will remember him as being one of the memorable heroes of wrestling. I will remember, though, him carrying the Ultimate Warrior to the best match of his career at Wrestlemania VII, where Warrior kicked out of three straight flying elbow drops to my dismay, and according to the stipulation, sent Macho Man into early retirement. Retirements are meant to be broken in wrestling and Savage was brought back to the forefront in half a year after suffering enough torment from Jake “The Snake” Roberts. I still remember being terrified as a kid when Jake made his pet snake Damien take a chunk of flesh off of Savage’s arm, and was ecstatic when Savage got revenge on Roberts.

It was around this time in the early 90s when Randy Savage became synonymous for being the on-air mascot for Slim Jim. The outlandish Savage was the perfect match for maniacal Slim Jim commercials. Too young to remember them? Then check out this link, filled with plenty of early 90s “extreme” advertising showcasing the Top 10 Randy Savage Slim Jim Commercials.

Randy Savage stuck around the WWF for a few more years, capturing the WWF title one more time time in another Wrestlemania classic against Ric Flair before being transitioned into an announcer, as the WWF tried to focus on promoting newer stars. Savage was not content on being an announcer however and quickly followed Hulk Hogan into WCW in 1994 and spent the remainder of the 90s feuding and aligning with the likes of Hogan, Ric Flair, Diamond Dallas Page and the nWo. Other than a couple brief cameos in TNA Wrestling in 2004, Randy Savage has remained out of the spotlight from the wrestling scene this past decade. His most memorable pieces of work in the 21st century was his appearance as the wrestler Bone Saw McGraw in the first Spider-Man film, and landing a minor voice role in the CG movie, Bolt. The less said about his rap album, Be a Man, the better.

Considering how many times WWE nowadays brings back legends like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and Rowdy Piper to make special appearances on television, it was surprising the WWE never brought back Macho Man for an official television appearance since he left the company that made him famous in 1994. According to the rumor mill, he did some dastardly deed that made him persona non grata for many years. As a matter of fact, this past year WWE and Macho Man started to patch some of those old wounds and were working together again, with Randy doing some brief promotional appearances to promote a new action figure of him, and Savage filming a commercial for the WWE All-Stars videogame released just a couple months ago.

While Macho Man may have been second banana to Hulk Hogan throughout a majority of his time in the ring, that will still not deny the impact he left on pro wrestling as one of the top draws and one of the most fascinating personas of all time. Have a favorite memory or moment of Macho Man? Please share and post in the comments below so we can all relive the Macho Madness! Now if you excuse me, I am going to watch my best of Macho Man DVD set and go on a Slim Jim binge.

It’s been a while since I’ve contributed to the site, but I’ve been busy with school and, more notably, filmmaking. Earlier this week I completed my second short film, “Hearts & Fake Faces.” I’ll let the film speak for itself, but be sure to let me know what you think in the comments below! You can subscribe to my Vimeo page for more. (I’ll be producing my third short “Pitch” this summer.)

A short film about love, heartbreak and moving on.

Hearts & Fake Faces from Mitch Thompson on Vimeo.

It was the mid-90s; probably 1995 or 1996. I was over at a friend’s apartment, sitting around watching TV. We were both a couple years out of high school, rather aimless, but full of big ideas. Out of the blue he said, “Oh! I forgot! You’ve got to see this movie! This guy’s girlfriend…she sucks thirty-seven dicks!”

Now, if this were a perfect world, I wouldn’t responded, “In a row?” Alas, the universe did not provide me with the appropriate line, so I simply said, “Good enough for me!”

And for the next hour and a half, I watched Clerks for the first time. And it resonated. Big time. After all, my friend and I were Smith’s ideal audience. I was a college student, working part-time at Sam’s Club and trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life. My friend was bouncing around from shit job to shit job, aspiring to be a professional musician, but without the true skills to back them up. We were, to use a clichéd term relevant to that era, slackers.

As luck would have it, my friend had also rented Smith’s second flick, Mallrats, which we immediately dug into. From there, I became a pretty big fan of Kevin Smith’s work. Not the über-fan who buys tons of merchandise, hangs on his every word, and travels to Comicon just to see him speak. More like an “ardent appreciator”. Though, admittedly, Smith’s work influenced a bit of my personality and humor back in those formative years when the characters who populated movies like Mallrats and Chasing Amy seemed to be drawn straight out of my life. I own all of his movies (including Jersey Girl), listen to the bulk of the shows on his SModcast podcast network, and at least skim through his mountains of tweets on a daily basis.

Despite all of this, I wasn’t sure I would like Red State. In fact, I feared it would be a mess. And it’s not because it wasn’t a comedy. I’ve read plenty of Smith stories that stray from the laughs and get downright serious. Hell, his Batman book “The Widening Gyre” was a masterpiece, showing a side of Bruce Wayne that nobody’s ever thought to explore in such an intimate way. But there were warning signs with Red State. The Weinsteins, usually home to all of Smith’s film endeavors, passed on the flick, forcing him to search for outside investors. Furthermore, no one from his traditional stable of players was set to be cast in the movie. And though real heavyweights like John Goodman, Melissa Leo, and Michael Parks were eventually announced, I wasn’t certain that Smith could get their best. And finally, the initial reactions from the Sundance screening were a real mixed bag with some claiming that Red State was a rambling, jumbled movie that didn’t know what it wanted to be.

I’m not going to preface this any further: Kevin Smith’s Red State is the absolute best movie of his career. (Which is terribly depressing considering the fact that he’s planning on giving up directing after his next flick). The movie is tense, uncomfortable, sharp, fascinating, and wonderfully-produced. And yes, for those Smith fans who aren’t comfortable with the idea of him not doing a comedy, the movie can also be very funny at times. The cast he has assembled is brilliant, with the aforementioned Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, and John Goodman delivering the standout performances. It’s a movie that will stick with you for days, and one that I can’t wait to see again when it hits theaters in October.
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Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

A very interesting look at the world of films and just how powerful the role of influence is in Hollywood. I don’t know about you but I found some of those Star Wars comparison shots to be fascinating.

You can find a further look at this idea (along with more great videos like this one) over at everythingisaremix.info.

Thanks to Daring Fireball for the link.

You can call me old fashioned, but I am a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan. His movies pushed the envelope for film making and he managed to put the everyman in unusual and suspenseful situations. He once said that is far more frightening to let the audience know what was about to happen instead of giving them the cheap jump scare. A lot of Hitchcock’s conventions still remain true at the core of almost every suspense film created. And yet, many modern day thrillers fall flat, mainly due to lack of story and character development. Instead of leaving you guessing what might happen next, they try and wow you with ridiculous stunts or excessive CG. It’s been a while since I felt that familiar mood and tone so common in a Hitchcock film; that is, until I rented Buried. 

Buried is the story of Paul Conroy (Ryan Renolds),  an American truck driver in Iraq who wakes up bound, gagged, and buried alive. Armed with only a zippo, pocket knife, and a mysterious Blackberry, Paul must piece together how he got where he is and more importantly, how he might be able to escape his fate. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Buried received a very limited release in October of last year. It was one of those films I was hoping to see, but sadly it never hit my market. I found this to be unfortunate, because there were plenty of trashy movies that I didn’t want to see that were everywhere in my market.  So I was excited to see it come to DVD this quickly. 
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Road Runner – Fur Of Flying from Animation-HD on Vimeo.

Awhile back, I read somewhere that WB was going to give Looney Tunes a comeback. It was easy to ignore since everything that was brought back in my childhood from Ninja Turtles to Transformers had a pattern with reminding me that being a little kid was not that cool; or the new updates just sucked balls.

Then this new business was uploaded last week. Coyote & Road Runner were some of my favorite cartoon shorts back in the day. This is probably because nobody spoke a word. There’s a certain timeless appeal of silent characters in short animation from Pink Panther to Tom &; Jerry. Thankfully, these new shorts are some surprisingly good reimaginings of the 2D classics. I would like to watch more. Matthew O’Callaghan is the director, Tom Sheppard is the writer, Greg Lyons is the producer, and Christopher Lennertz did the music. Since nobody can get Zombie Tex Avery to make anything nowadays, I think I’ll follow these new guys around and see where it takes me.

Road Runner – Coyote Falls 2010 from Animation-HD on Vimeo.

The bad news is since western animation instantly means “child programming”, these shorts are supposedly coming out on a new half-hour block called The Looney Tunes Show premiering on Cartoon Network next month. Since I get a hold of short video podcasts already, what I was hoping somebody would do is put their four-minute animations out there as a podcast/vodcast so my podcast catcher apps could let me watch short animations on my phone on my lunch breaks. I dunno how I haven’t found anybody who has done this yet. Why WB won’t give YouTube style web cartoon shorts its own podcast/”vodcast” is beyond me.

If Warner Bros. is back on the scene, can somebody point me toward the nearest “Bring back Freakazoid and Animaniacs” petition?

I was just a kid watching reruns of some classic TV shows from the 1960s, but I remember this opening monolog as well as William Shatner’s classic intro to Star Trek.  “Another challenge for the Green Hornet, his aide Kato, and their rolling arsenal, the Black Beauty. On police records a wanted criminal, the Green Hornet is really Britt Reid, owner and publisher of The Daily Sentinel; his dual identity known only to his secretary, and to the district attorney. And now, to protect the rights and lives of decent citizens, rides the Green Hornet!”

Believe it or not, The Green Hornet has been around for quite some time. He first appeared as a popular radio series that ran in the mid 30s through the 1950s. He later would grace the big screen in two successful movie serials. And then, of course, ABC would bring this crime fighter to televison in 1966 and 1967 during the height of the Batman crazy. Since then, one could only find the Green Hornet in televison reruns or the pages of some indie comic books. That is until Director Micheal Gondry and writer/actor Seth Rogen have delivered this hero to the big screen; and in 3D, no less. The big question is in this day of hit-or-miss super hero genre films, can Rogen and company deliver on one of my most beloved crime fighters? 

The cool thing about the Green Hornet (aside from his bad ass car, the Black Beauty) is he’s not your typical crime fighter. Instead of donning a mask and going out publicly to bust the bad guys, Britt Reid dons a mask and acts like local criminal. This allows him and his trusty valet Kato to get close to the criminals and break up their plans and let the police clean things up. 

The movie follows this formula quite well as Seth Rogen portrays Britt Reid. In the film, Britt is a spoiled playboy who inherits his father’s newspaper amd fortune after his untimely death. In his grief, Reid fires all of his father’s caretakers until he realizes that none of them can make a decent cup of coffee. ”Who used to make my coffee?”, he screams.  Well, that would be Kato (played brilliantly by Jay Chou) the former mechanic and secret martial arts wizard. Reid soon learns that Kato is a master inventor and has retro-fitted his father’s limo with bulletproof windows and other nifty gadgets. Together, they get drunk and head out to deface his father’s statue and in the process wind up breaking up a robbery. 

Reid comes up with a novel plan of using their new secret identities to pose as criminals so they can get close to the real bad guys. He uses the power of his newpaper to create the persona of the Green Hornet to generate attention and publicity. This does not sit well with the local crime boss, Benjamin Chudnofsky, (Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, from Inglorious Bastards) and he vows to kill the Green Hornet so as to not lose any more power. What follows is a funny-at-times series of car chases and bar fights that try and piece themselves together into a coherent film. 

I’ll be honest, I wanted to love this movie. I’m a big fan of the Green Hornet and Seth Rogaen has made me laugh more times than I can remember. While not the perfect choice for the lead role, I was hoping he could pull it off and provide some laughs along the way. (I’m hoping the same for Ryan Renolds as Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern film this summer). However, Rogen’s portrayal of Britt Reid for 3/4s of the film is down-right annoying. Rogen’s Reid is a spoiled brat who never takes anything seriously and is seemingly unaware that he is driving everyone nuts. This is not the Britt Reid I remember from my youth, and I’d be okay with that if it were genuinely funny. Sadly, oftentimes it’s not. And that just makes him unlikeable, a trait not associated with super heroes at all. In the last reel of the film, Reid “gets it” and begins to take his role of The Green Hornet seriously, and the last thirty minutes of the film are quite enjoyable. But I have to ask if that makes up for the first half; and I’m not so sure. 

Cameron Diaz portrays Lenore Case, Reid’s personal secretary. Case has a degree in criminology and unwittingly helps Reid and Kato plan their next steps as vigilantes. Case is an important character in the canon of The Green Hornet, and as one of two people who know his secret identifty she provides insight and helps the team.  Here, Case is a comedic love interest as both Reid and Kato want to date her and then begin fighting, jeopardizing their entire plan. In the end, they do reveal to her their secret identities, but there’s no time for Case to grow as that character and we are left making a huge leap of faith that she has bought into what Reid and Kato are up to.   

Christoph Waltz graces us with a fine performance after his Oscar-winning performance as the “Jew Hunter”.  Sadly, his talents are wasted on a trite script and an unusual desire to become a masked vigilante himself. I found this strange because as a confident suit-wearing bad ass he was perfectly menacing enough. I guess that wasn’t funny so they pursued this angle instead. 
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iPad: Once again, I’ll be honest and say that if it has the Steve Jobs stamp of approval on it, chances are damn good that I’ll own it. This device, however, was even a bit of a stretch for me in terms of justifying a purchase. My initial reaction to it, like so many others, was one of “I have this already. It’s my iPhone”. However, over the months since it’s April 2010 launch, I’ve found it vying for the spot as the single most used piece of tech in my household, second only to the television. For being something that I don’t “really” need, the iPad has managed to ingrain itself into the very fabric of my daily routine. It’s first thing I take out when I get to work, it’s the first thing my daughter asks for when I get home and it’s very often the last thing I see while reading a book in bed or watching a late-night television show with my wife. Say what you will about it, the iPad has managed to exceed my expectations by doing the impossible: carving out a niche in my already over-filled tech life.

Twitter: I was a fan of Twitter in 2009 (and put it on my best-of list then too, I believe) but this simple program has continued to show it’s usefulness in 2010. Part of what makes it so fantastic is it’s simple core structure; 140 character messages, nothing more. With this simple premise, however, Twitter has become my major news source, a vehicle for communicating with podcast listeners and keeping tabs on people I find interesting or inspirational. Hell, it’s even becoming a great vehicle for promoting your movie in the hands of Kevin Smith. Twitter shows that a simple, cleanly executed idea can become so much more when in hands of a creative and active user base. Let’s also mention that the fantastic mobile twitter app, Tweetie, was acquired by Twitter and their subsequent iPad and Mac offerings have become my favorite way to access the service.

Dropbox: This may go down as the most important program I installed on my devices this year. Simply put, Dropbox is a spot on the cloud where I can put my shit, to be accessed by all my devices that need said shit. While other programs and services do something similar, it’s the way in which Dropbox does it that sets it apart. It’s clean and simple with an interface that requires little thought. It’s automated, so it never feels like an FTP program and it’s fast so that uploading things isn’t a pain in the ass waiting game. The simplicity and ease of use make it a program that entered my workflow right away and stayed as an integral part of accessing things from anywhere. It’s a service I simply can’t live without now and it’s saved my ass a number of times. It’s my favorite new discovery of 2010.

The Social Network: I’m not sure, exactly, why I found this movie so inspirational. By all accounts, Mark Zuckerberg is I guy I just couldn’t stand to be around for more than 5 minutes. However, the story of how a college kid and his buddies managed to create a computer program that would embed itself into the very culture of America is a fascinating one for me. There is something about the story of an idealistic young man that takes a risk and becomes a success with that vision that really appeals to me. Sadly, it’s probably just me wishing I had the balls to do something similar but David Fincher’s film really spoke to me. It was also shot in such a warm and beautiful way, using the old Harvard campus to great effect, that it really sucked me into the world. Add the fantastic performances by the principle actors and the eerily quiet score by Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross and it was film that set the bar for me in 2010.

Cooking/Mexican Cuisine/Rick Bayless: In November of 2009, I had a rather life changing moment when I ate at Topolobompo, a gourmet Mexican restaurant owned by chef Rick Bayless. After eating what still stands as one of the most interesting and delicious meals of my life, I walked over to a counter that held a series of cookbooks by the chef. Standing there was a member of the cooking staff on break, reading one of the cookbooks. He spotted me browsing, turned to me and pointed at the book “Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen” and simply said “That one’s the best”. I took his advice and proceeded down a year that was dedicated to not only cooking traditional Mexican food but one where food was finally put into perspective in my own life.

I had cooked off and on over the years but never in a purposeful way. 2010 became the year where I dedicated myself to the idea of good food, prepared simply and in my own kitchen for my family. I wanted to capture the feelings that had been awakened during my meal at Topolobompo and by February, I had hosted my very first dinner party featuring Mexican cuisine. 2010 was the year of cooking meals for my family almost every day and with each new dish, my confidence as a cook grew stronger and stronger. I began consulting my mother on recipes she used to regularly make for us as kids, adding them back into the fabric of my life and passing those flavors onto my own children. In addition to meals for my family, I had the joy of cooking Paella with Moe on an outdoor brick oven for 30 friends, and serving Red Mole to a couple who understood it’s significance and history. Be it meals for everyday or celebratory moments of my life, 2010 was the year where I began to dedicate life to food and it’s proper place in my world. It has been one of the most joyful and satisfying endeavors I have ever undertaken.

Arcade Fire-The Suburbs: This disc captivated me during the summer of 2010 in a way that no other album did. It spun in my car, streamed off my iPod, iPad and Mac at every given opportunity. These songs had hooks and chord progressions that kept me engaged and they even managed to make the whole “concept album” idea palatable. Add to that the fact that they represent an Indie band that managed to reach the pinnacle of the venerated Top 10 list and you have something special. Now, if only everything hadn’t been ruined by their Saturday Night Live appearance which revealed just how goonie that lead singer guy is. Seriously, it’s like Lurch meets Kraftwerk.

I realize there are no videogames on this particular list and it’s not because I didn’t play them. I just feel like I’ve said all that on the podcast, so you can check that out if you’re curious as to my top 2010 games. With that, I’ll close by simply saying a big thank you to all the folks who have listened to us this year, helped celebrate our 5th year of podcasting and continued to make the show a fun thing by writing in and leaving us fantastic voice mails. 2011 represents the third year of Robot Panic’s existence and as such (if we stay true to form) it’s about time for us to start blowing shit up. I just want to thank you for being the kind of people who are mostly cool with that kind of thing and it’s nice to know we have such fun people along for the ride.