This week in Melina Perez

For those of you who don't know who Melina Perez is, she is basically the only reason I have much interest in pro wrestling. You can find out more about her here: http://www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/melina/

My "love" for Melina, primarily stems from the fact the I have a fondness for pro-wrestling heels, and particularly those who can rock a mini-skirt. A 'heel' is basically a person who acts like a jerk, a snob, a crybaby etc. in order to get booed by the fans. Melina's character is that of a spoiled Hollywood socialite with a desire for gold (as in title belts) and an ego the size of Texas.

Now the WWE is crawling with 'divas' many of whom are primarily there because of their breast size and willingness to dress as revealingly as possible. I generally don't like those people. I like Melina because she is at least somewhat different.

Firstly she was trained to wrestle before she ever made it big. This is what is known as 'paying your dues'. Basically wrestling pays very little unless you wrestle in the WWE or in Japan, so those desiring to enter the wrestling business, must demonstrate a certain level of passion and a willingness to sacrifice comfort to achieve success. Wrestling training is painful and grueling, and even more so for a woman, as they often have to train against men. So a woman like Melina who chose to wrestle without any guarantee of success is seen to have paid her dues.

Secondly she has an ever growing understanding of the subtleties of 'working'. Pro-wrestling might not seem particularly subtle, but when done well it has a level of depth that is surprising. Someone like Melina has a good grasp of little things, such as making the proper facial expressions to enhance the emotional quality of a match:















The ability to do this may not seem like much, but lots of people and particularly the 'divas' don't seem to grasp this. Wrestling and in particular good wrestling is made great by the little things. Melina adds to the matches she is involved in because she understands what she is supposed to be doing.

And that's why I love 'her'. Oh yeah she's kinda hot too.

Credit for the pictures goes to http://www.ringbabe.net/

Album of the day for Nov 20, 2006

Lou Reed - Berlin (1973)


Lou Reed's Berlin is one of those albums that does everything in its power to be terrible, from the over-embellished production by Bob Ezrin and bombastic drum sound, to Lou's own writing block, and ever-worsening singing voice. Yet despite all its faults, it serves along with 1972's Transformer and 1982's The Blue Mask one of Lou's definitive solo records.


The lush production (most notable on "Men of Good Fortune" and "Lady Day") often veers to the point that it should date the music, but taken in the context of the both time and setting of the album it tends to add to the feel of the record rather than detract from it. The production matches both the decadence of Berlin and that of the Glam scene that Reed helped create, a fact that helps to set the mood of depravity that marks many of the songs.


I have no excuse for the drum sound, I hate it, it doesn't sound like Rock n Roll drumming at all, it just sounds pompous. "How Do You Think It Feels" is perhaps the most noticeable offender.


The seeds of Reed's writer's block which had been planted on his first solo record, Lou Reed, in which he primarily just re-worked some unreleased Velvet Underground tracks for release, become fully evident on this album, as the title track was originally released on Lou Reed. Add to that "Caroline Says II" which is a re-worked version of the Velvet's "Stephanie Says", the acoustic coda on "Oh Jim" mirrors the VU demo "Oh Gin", as does "Sad Song". While it might be unfair to criticize Reed for nicking from his own back catalogue, it does indicate his inability to truly free himself from his Velvet past.


Further evidence of his block is his use of stock phrases such as "2-bit friends" on "Oh Jim" a phrase that would appear on several other Reed songs, and his rhyming of 'vial' and 'vile' on "How Do You Think It Feels", along with many other clunky lyrics. As bad as they seem, they do add a certain charm to the record.


That being said some of Reed's verses are just brilliant, namely "How do you think feels/to always make love by proxy", a fact that helps to justify the excesses and limitations of the record.


This review may sound predominantly negative, but this album is truly a classic. Lou Reed has the rare ability to make records that are greater than the sum of their parts, and this album succeeds in spite of and perhaps because of its faults. That combined with Reed's ability to tell a convincing and engaging story as he does on "The Bed" and "The Kids" both of which are tear-inducing epics.