I just heard that Mike Alfonso (professional wrestler Mike Awesome) was found dead a few days ago of an apparent suicide. A very sad day not only because we all lost a special talent, but also in such a manner that suggests a great emptiness was in his life. I remember when Rick "the Renegade" Williams was found dead (also at his own hand) and thinking how tragic it is to live a life where you believe you have no other options than to leave it behind.  My thoughts & prayers go out to his wife, kids, family & friends.

Mike was an impressive worker in the ring and a terrific person outside of it.  I will never forget the Awesome Bomb nor shall I likely ever see another "big man" fly over the top rope like Mike again. His time as "That '70s Guy" in WCW was amusing to watch, but it was his days as the Gladiator in Japan (most notably in FMW) and his run as the ECW champion that I will recall most fondly. His feuds over the years with Masato Tanaka in FMW, ECW, Zero-One, MLW & finally in WWE (at ECW's One Night Stand 2005) are still some of my all time favorite matches and is one of my top favorite feuds of all-time. As a TNA fan, I also appreciated his short stop there & wish they had brought him back.

You will be missed Mike!

Art Monk gets passed over again for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That is SO totally not right!!! I won't argue his qualifications because they speak for themselves and don't need to be defended.

Short blog I know, but I had to vent my frustration.

The other day my friend Evan & I were talking about DVD box sets. The question was posed..."What shows that are NOT out on DVD would I most like to see released?" An interesting question that took some thought. Not allowing for anything new that just hasn't been released yet because it hasn't really existed for long enough yet (like say something from within the last 5 years), I compiled my top 10 list below.

In no particular order...

1. Crow : Stairway to Heaven (Seasons 1)

1998-1999 - An excellent series that took on the spirit of the original Crow movie. Mark Dacascos played Eric Draven almost as well as Brandon Lee.

2. Friday the 13th : the Series (Seasons 1-3)

1987-1999 - Not related to the movie series at all with the exception of the same name.

3. Star Wars Holiday Special

1978 - George Lucas has insisted for years that he will never release this late-70's Star Wars Holiday Special, but the fans want it, so come on already. I know it was campy, but it was also fun.

4. After M*A*S*H (Seasons 1 -2)

1983-1984 - The short-lived sequel to M*A*S*H. I am amazed that this hasn't shown up on DVD yet.

5. Ultraforce (Season 1)

1995 - Cartoon series aired on USA featuring the super-hero team Ultraforce.

6. Gary & Mike (Season 1)

2001 - One of the few earlier UPN shows that was great to watch. To bad so few people saw it since it ran before many of us had a UPN channel. Clay-animation at it's best.

7. Birds of Prey (Season 1)

2002 - The short-lived WB series that featured the "Daughter" of Batman.

8. Marvel Comics Cartoons

I know this should technically be several entries as this includes around 6 different series', most of which have multiple seasons (Silver Surfer [1998-1999], X-Men [1992-1997], Spider-Man [1994-1998], Avengers, Hulk [1996-1997], & Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man [1994-1996]). DC has released tons of box sets already (Seasons of Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, Super Friends, & more) and they have all been relatively successful, so it totally confounds me that Marvel just sits there with their shows & does nothing with them. Personally the one I would most like to see is the Silver Surfer. I'd also love it if they would throw the never before aired pilot episode for the Captain America series (that never came to be) as an extra on one of the other DVD box sets if they made them (probably the Avengers one).

9. Mortal Kombat : Conquest (Seasons 1-2) and Mortal Kombat : Defenders of the Realm (Season 1)

1998-1999 (Conquest); 1995 (Defenders/Realm) - The Conquest series was a cool live-action series in the same vein as the movies. It aired for a couple of years on TNT and included a young Kristanna Loken (T3 & Painkiller Jane) as a cast member. The Defenders of the Realm series was an animated series on USA Saturday mornings.

10. Savage Dragon  (Season 1)

1996 - Based on the Erik Larsen character, much like the Mortal Kombat  & the Ultraforce cartoons, this was a relatively hard to see cartoon series that shuffled around syndication.

Honorable Mention:

Transformers (Generation One) Japanese episodes.

Here in the US, the Transformers cartoons we grew up on ended after the Rebirth episodes in 1987, but over in Japan, they continued on for several more seasons (includes the Scramble City, Battle Beasts, HeadMasters, MasterForce, Victory, & more!). Now, I know this is unlikely to happen, but I'd love to have those Japanese episodes released here with either subtitles or dubbed over English. That might be weird though to hear the characters we've known for so many years in a different voice. Believe it or not, I know that Kid Rhino (who released the 98 US Transformers [1984-1987] episodes plus the Animated Film on DVD) was actually considering doing this at one time. I hope it happens, but I won't hold my breath. Also, as long as we're on the subject of Transformers, when are they going to put out their cousins, the Go-Bots & Rock Lords, out on DVD too?

Well, there's my list for your discussion. Post up your own list, I'd love to see it.

Later,

Davyd

Great news everyone! I can think of no better way to break in the blog section of my page than to announce that Angie & I are expecting our first child. It is due sometime in the 1st week of May, 2007. For those of you that know the health problems Angie has fought the last couple years, you know that this is truly a miracle.