- The reason for the subtitle of this edition, "Tree Hill," is that one of my favorite shows on TV, One Tree Hill, is ending tomorrow night (April 4) with the airing of its series finale. Now, some of you might be thinking, "Why would a guy on the verge of turning 40 who's into football and at one time hip hop dancing be a fan of a show about teenagers in a small town that was designed with a different and younger audience in mind?" Well, before I get into that, I want to tell how I found the show in the first place. Until about 3 or 4 years ago, I had never really heard of the show (my attention was elsewhere) and I initially had it confused with another show on the old WB I was vaguely familiar with, that being Everwood. Once I actually watched an old episode on SoapNet (that being the school shooting episode from season 3), I realized this wasn't Everwood. Given the great acting performances in that particular episode alone and some realism I didn't expect to see, I decided to watch more episodes. After watching a few episodes, I was hooked...and wondering why I hadn't found this show before. Since SoapNet aired 2 episodes a day and at several times had marathons over some weeks & holidays, I caught up with the first 5 seasons pretty quickly and caught or would catch on the CW or wherever I could find it airing.
One Tree Hill, like many other shows, has its share of fantasy, dramatic license, and sometimes unrealistic situations (a high school girl in Maxim, several psychos tormenting people & big time musical acts somehow playing in a small town come to mind). Given that, there was so much else in the show that really drew me in. First, and I just want to get this out of the way now, there were some ridiculously beautiful and hot women on that show. As a guy I do highly value that aspect of the series. Beyond that, the show had some really good actors and acting performances on an individual level and as a whole. Examples I can think of off the top of my head include Paul Johansson's portrayal of the complicated Dan Scott, James Lafferty's and Sophia Bush's portrayals of the maturation and growth of Nathan Scott and Brooke Davis respectively over the years, Barry Corbin as Tree Hill High basketball coach "Whitey" Durham, Hilarie Burton's role as the artistic and musically inclined Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, Peyton's pursuit of and eventual marriage to Chad Michael Murray's Lucas Scott...I could go on and on here. Each character had a distinct role in the series, especially the five main characters: Haley James, Nathan Scott, Brooke Davis, Peyton Sawyer, & Lucas Scott. Bethany Joy Lenz' Haley was the backbone; Nathan was the "man on the b-ball court" on the journey to becoming "the man in life" (for lack of a better term); Brooke was the sex-crazed cheerleader who grew into a woman most girls would dream of being as adults; Peyton was the "survivor" who went through hell in her life to get to her promised land; and Lucas was the thoughtful one who took a stand when it mattered most.
I can't say this about most television shows (including reality shows) and movies but One Tree Hill has had a major effect and influence on me over the past few years. The show came along in my life at a time when I was dealing with the passing of a good friend, that trouble I had over the "single" & "gauntlet" editions of DJRT in 2009, and the start of several changes in my life that affect me to this day. It helped comfort me when I didn't have friends around or things weren't working. The show itself had several themes that reflected points in my life either past or present, the most prominent of those themes for me being the transitions that several characters had to go through during the series (season 8 especially stands out for me in that aspect). It also influenced my musical tastes to the point where I am now more willing to see live acts and concerts as opposed to just watching them on TV and opened my eyes not only to newer acts but acts I've missed out on prior to my exposure to them on OTH (Gavin DeGraw & Tyler Hilton come to mind here). As pro wrestling influenced me as a teenager and comic books did during my initial stint at Ohio State, One Tree Hill has had just as strong influence on me as an adult....that's how much the show means to me. To OTH creator Mark Schwann, the cast and the crew, I want to say thank you for a great run and for creating such a great TV show that helped get a poor scrub like myself through tough times and bring him some joy and wisdom especially when I needed it.
- As I alluded to earlier, I'm turning 40 next week. As far as my birthday itself is concerned, I really don't want to celebrate it whatsoever. My head's not in it and my heart's not in it. I had a great birthday last year but with where my life is right now, the internal turmoil I'm going through emotionally, mentally, personally...whatever-ly...I'm cool with turning 40 but dealing with my birthday itself isn't worth it right now. Maybe next year it'll be different, I don't know but this time, just...no.
- The night before St. Patrick's Day I attended the anniversary show for MCW Pro Wrestling. It was the second MCW show I attended and once again I had a great time. Matt Hardy was at the show and wrestled "Superstar" Bill Martel in a really good match. He signed autographs before and during the show and even came out during the main-event to help out MCW commissioner Shasta fight off Murder Inc. I've heard how many people in pro wrestling go to an indy show acting all above-it-all and stuff, so it really stood out to me how much of a professional Matt Hardy was and how he went above and beyond for an indy show helping out MCW at the show the way he did. I wish more big-timers were like that. As far as the rest of the card went, these guys really worked hard and it paid off. They had to replace a cage match with a barbed wire match for the main event because the cage wasn't able to get into the building. I loved the new attitude from Bobby Beverly to start the show (he needs a name change to compliment the attitude change) and the title matches, especially the tag title match. The Painkillers, a new tag team in the company, really impressed me with their tag team work in that match and Justin Diaz & T-Bone Banks were great too. Patrick Hayes got the Elite title back from Justin Mane with help from a now-heel Ethan Wright...Justin Mane got as big a reaction as Matt Hardy did and both participants did a great job in that match. At the show I got the chance to talk with Nick Andrews, Larry Lavender & Matthew Justice. I took some pictures at the show which you can find here (keep in mind that some pics came out better than others): 03-16-12 - MCW XII - 12th Anniversary Show - Alliance, OH (Marlington Middle School). After the show, I went to the after-party at Rey's in Alliance. They had a "taco burger" (more like a sloppy joe with taco stuff instead) that was really good. I got to talk to Bobby Beverly, Bill Martel & Patrick Hayes there as well as the other talents and commissioner Shasta. If you are a wrestling fan, I recommend checking out an MCW show when you get the chance. I've put the link to MCW's website on my Links page here on DJRT for you to find out more about MCW and watch its Riot Television show (which you can also find on YouTube).
- I've made some changes to the blog, some of them significant. The biggest is the addition of the DJRT Store which you can find here through the main menu above. I am now selling t-shirts, ladies tees, and other stuff in the DJRT Store with my logo on them. I'm hoping to add more in the future. Go check out the page and get your DJRT gear today. To start the store, I got rid of the Contribute page since it wasn't doing much for me here. Additionally, I didn't know until a week ago that the player script I was using for the last few editions of Song on Repeat wasn't working for other people so I replaced it with a nice new player script that should work (so far it has...beautifully, I must say), so you should be able to listen to the songs again and future Songs on Repeat. Also, as I mentioned at the end of the last edition, I have added an official Pinterest page for DJRT alongside the other social media links up at the top of the page. Go check that out and if you have a Pinterest account don't forget to follow me there as well.
- For the first time in a while I decided to fill out a bracket for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. This was probably my best overall year even though I didn't pick the eventual winner (darn you, Kansas...darn you!). I picked 3 of the Final Four correctly and my East bracket was darn near perfect with me only missing an opening round loss...both of which were firsts for me. I picked my alma mater Ohio State to take it all but that didn't pan out...I was close though. My prognostication skills seem to be sharper than I expect them to be...maybe it'll get people to actually trust in them and my judgement more...it probably won't though.
- Over the past couple of weeks I've started getting into social media games on Facebook. I used to do YoVille a couple years back and started getting into that again. Along with that, I am now also playing CityVille, Zynga Slingo (the game that got me into all this), Words with Friends, and Press Your Luck. If you're on my Facebook, look for me on those games if you haven't already.
- Song on Repeat: "Foolish Heart" by Steve Perry. I've been dying to use this one for a while but other things popped up that pushed the song back to this edition. It is one I do listen to on repeat regularly so I thought I'd share that here. Here's the song (in the shiny new player I talked about earlier):
- SLP to the following: Xavier, Aunt Sue, Aunt Sandy, Holly, Bob, Lynn, Ernest, Bill Martel, Minka, Justin Mane, Dave, Griff, Aunt Claudia, Larry Lavender, Matthew Justice, Patrick Hayes, Heather H., Derrick, Mindy, The Painkillers, MCW, & Cheryl.
If I came off as a bit blunt, it's because I'm going through a lot in my head right now and the accompanying stress isn't making it easier. I also had my first-ever bout with vertigo last week along with the usual sinus-related stuff. It's been rather rough for me recently so I hope you understand. Until next time folks...take care and God Bless.
DJ
