Episode 5: The Mentalist vs. Psycho Goreman

Hey folks,

Episode 5 of the podcast is up! To listen click on the link below. 

This week, we go retro with The Mentalist (2008-2015) season 1. The show stars Simon Baker, who plays Patrick Jane, a consultant for the CBI (California Bureau of Investigation). Patrick is a former psychic whose family is killed by a serial killer after Patrick mocked him on a tv show. Now, he works with a team of cops that include the tough Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney), straight-faced and no-nonsense Kimball Cho (Tim Kang), the dorky and loveable Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman), and the rookie who is trying to find her place on the team, Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti). It is not all smooth sailing with Jane being on the team because of the brash and unorthodox way he handles cases. To get my thoughts on the show, click on the link below. 

The Mentalist Season 1 Dvd cover, image from Wikipedia

Next, we move over to the world of professional wrestling with the 2021 Royal Rumble. This year was the first time the event was held without a live audience. Due to the pandemic, a live crowd has not attended live events in months. 

The Rumble was held at the WWE Thunderdome (The Tropicana Field) in Florida. The kickoff show match was for the Women's Tag Team titles. Champions Asuka/Charlotte Flair vs. Shayna Baszler/Nia Jax. Spoiler Alert! Baszler & Jax are the new Women's Tag Team Champions due to interference from Ric Flair and Lacey Evans.

The match to start off the show was WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg. This match seemed to surprise some fans, because with Goldberg's last title match he won beating the Fiend in Saudi Arabia last February for the WWE Universal Championship. 

Royal Rumble 2021, image owned by WWE.

The match which lasted a lot longer than most thought saw the two wrestle for about 5 minutes. Spoiler Alert! In the end, McIntyre defeated Goldberg to retain his championship. 

Smackdown Women's Champion Sasha Banks vs. Carmella was next. These two have fought each other several times up until this point, so for me, there wasn't much to expect. Reginald, Carmella's Sommelier got dejected from ringside after he accidentally involved himself while getting in the way of the Boss. During the match, Carmella took a nasty dive on the outside of the ring. But she was well enough to continue. Spoiler Alert! Banks eventually picks up the win and retains her title with her signature move the Bank Statement and Carmella taps out. 

The women's Royal Rumble saw returning stars like Alicia Fox, Torrie Wilson, Victoria, Mickie James, and Jillian Hall. The number 1 entry was the longest reigning Smackdown Women's champion Bayley, followed by 2x Smackdown champion Naomi, and Bianca Belair. Spoiler Alert! Bianca Belair is the first African-American woman to win the Women's Royal Rumble and now she has the choice of challenging either the RAW or Smackdown champions. 

Spoiler Alert! Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Universal title.

Finally, the men's Royal Rumble was last. The match saw the return of superstars Carlito, The Hurricane, Christian, Kane, and Edge. Edge who entered at number 1 faced off with the number 2 entrant Randy Orton. Some fans had Daniel Bryan picked to win the rumble, however, it was (Spoiler Alert!) Edge who won despite receiving an out of nowhere RKO after the Viper had returned from being injured earlier in the match. Congrats to all the winners!

Movies:

Outside the Wire. Image from Wikipedia

Outside the Wire stars, Anthony Mackie (Falcon, Falcon & The Winter Soldier) and Damson Idris. Idris plays Lt. Harp who was reprimanded for performing a drone strike that killed two of his fellow soldiers. Harp is then sent to Capt. Leo who is a sentient A.I. to bring medicine to refugees outside of the wire. But Harp becomes suspicious of Leo's intentions and things go awry when Leo goes after the assumed terrorist Koval. 

For me, I didn't like this movie because I thought it was going in one direction and then it went in another. Normally, I don't have a problem with a movie doing that, but I felt it took too long to get to the point. Leo's mission to destroy himself. The fact that Harp gave Leo the free will to make decisions like to destroy himself so that the US government wouldn't make any more gumps like him...it seemed like it had been done to some degree before. Man vs. machine isn't a new concept. It is just tiring seeing the same thing in movies over and over.

I think Anthony Mackie and Damson Idris did a really good job. I just wish the movie was a bit different. 

Psycho Goreman. Image from Wikipedia.

Psycho Goreman PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE BRAIN CELLS, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WATCHING THIS TRASH. I can't begin to tell you how bad this movie is. With its Power Rangers-like villains. The overdone storyline, awkward break up of the mom and dad, to the absolute problem that is the sister. The child seems to get away with EVERYTHING. I spent more time wondering why her parents don't discipline her? The parents seem to let the children do whatever the heck they want. In addition, the alien who is banished to Earth. P.G. as the kids call him is the only thing good about this movie and that is a stretch. 

It is over 2 hours long and I wish to the heavens that I didn't watch this movie. I  get the movie is supposed to be based on dark humor, I was just left scratching my head at most of it. 

Books:

We talked about Hanleigh Bradley's latest project, Ember from the Silver Skates (#2) series of the Silver Springs Collection. Ember's review will be posted this weekend. I am excited to be reading it.

Music:

Finally, the Youtube channel, Soundmojo introduced a band from Canada called Wolves At Midnight. Their song West Coast is a catching pop tune. I enjoyed listening to the song. It has this early 2000's sound to it. It feels like something out of a CW show. That's not a bad thing at all. I often enjoy the songs that play in the background of a scene in a movie or tv show. 

The meaning that I got from the song could be interpreted in two ways. It could be about the love someone has for the place they grew up in, or it could be about the love of their life. The chorus is pretty catchy. Watch West Coast here.

  Click here to listen to Episode 5