Editorial 13/01/05
Thu, 13 January 2005
by: Hillelman
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Welcome one and all to Buttonhole- the Internet’s very own “geek nirvana”. My name is Sam and I’ll be your host on this trip. These are exciting times; launching our site, starting out all fresh and new and smelling sweet. The whole Buttonhole team really hopes to please as many readers as possible with our take on all things “pop culture” - whatever that really means, kinda sounds like an oxymoron to me.
If you have any suggestions for stuff you’d like to see on the site, or anything else you’d like to share, please e-mail me and I’ll do my best to respond to them all. Just make sure that you use actual English words so that I can understand whatever the hell you are going on about. The best letters I receive will get printed in this column. I’ll basically be using this editorial to let you all know what is going on at the site and as a platform for me to crap on about stuff. And hopefully get some feedback from our lovely readers- that means you!
The other place for readers to speak their mind is of course the buttonhole forums. Sign up and go nuts! Not TOO nuts though, or Fazz might boot you off. He loves to abuse his authority as forum moderator whenever the chance presents itself.
Hope you dig Buttonhole, if you like any of the topics we cover there should be something here for you and plenty of reasons for you to keep coming back. Have a look around the various sections and see what you can find, they'll be updated frequently.
For this first editorial column I thought I’d talk about something near and dear to my heart - and something we’ll be covering extensively here at Buttonhole - pro wrestling. Or, more specifically, why I think it is cool.
I get sick of attempting to tell people who don’t like wrestling just what it is I enjoy about it and why I am such a big fan. So, I will do my best to explain and get that out of the way right here and now. In future, when people bring it up, I can just direct them to this column. Okay, ring the bell and away we go.
Pro wrestling is a unique and bizarre mixture of many things. Athleticism, art, drama, humour are all part of the package. It features over the top storylines much like some soap operas or comic books. There are heroes, villains and constant melodramatic twists and turns. Wrestlers are entertainers who play outrageous characters and act out stories both in and out of the ring.
Yes, wrestling is “fake”- that is hardly a secret any more, nor is it supposed to be. The outcomes of wrestling “contests” are pre-determined. During wrestling matches the “opponents” are actually working together and trying to put on an exciting show for the audience. Every wrestling fan is acutely aware of this fact and these days the wrestlers themselves are completely open about it. We don’t need people to tell us, so please, just get over it. Movies are fake too, in case you didn’t notice. That’s a big part of what makes both movies and wrestling so entertaining; extreme characters doing things that would often be impossible in the real world. Wrestlers, unlike movie actors, have to perform in front of a live audience, without the use of fancy computer effects, stunt doubles or a director to yell, “cut” when things go wrong. And, for a wrestler, when things do go wrong it usually results in a severe injury. The term often used to describe professional wrestling is “sports entertainment” and that pretty much sums it up.
Though first and foremost a form of entertainment, wrestling is an extremely physically demanding profession and far less fake than many people assume. Almost every time they take part in a match the wrestlers do get hurt. They learn how best to take a fall and so forth, but many of the moves used remain painful and dangerous, so enduring agony is an unavoidable aspect of the business. When one guy hits the other in the head with a chair, the reason it looks like it hurts is because… well because he just hit his head with a chair! You can’t really fake some of these things, no matter how much training you have. So, despite the fact that wrestling is not a true sport (due to not being a genuine competition) wrestlers are definitely still athletes. A huge measure of dedication is necessary as wrestlers spend the majority of their lives on the road travelling from one town to the next and are usually required to perform night after night, regardless of injuries. It takes them years of constant training to learn and maintain their craft. To be a pro wrestler at the highest level takes a tremendous amount of skill- just as much, or more, than any real sport.
Sure, wrestling can be corny and pretty silly, but that’s a big part of the charm. It is a very creative form of entertainment, I have always loved it and I always will. If you don’t enjoy it… well that’s fine. But, in the words of Bob Dylan, “don’t criticise what you can’t understand”.
So there you go. What are your thoughts? If you are into wrestling, what got you hooked? Who are your favourites? Let me know- I’d love to hear from you about all this stuff.
For my closing note of this first editorial I’d just like to thank everyone involved with Buttonhole. Extra special mention has to go to Kris and Ando who put most of this site together. But the whole team is awesome and none of this would be possible without all their hard work and talent. I feel truly blessed to be working with such a fantastic group of people. Except for Jamie… I’ve never really liked that dude. Cheers to you all, the beers are on me… or in me, more likely.
by: Hillelman
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