Skip to main content

La Lucha Libre

I still watch a small amount of TV on a weekly basis, but a large number of that amount is devoted to programming in Spanish. Secretos Houston and Jose Luis: Sin Censura are still some of my favorites as they make zero attempts to hide how fake the storylines are. Plus, there's something really funny about watching really bad acting by non-actors. In so many ways, this is like watching WWE with its staged-but-entertaining appeal. In the last few weeks, I've found matters to be very funny with how "sports entertainment" is not just devoted to Raw, Smackdown and Saturday Night's Main Event.

I recently watched an episode of El Show de Maria Laria which featured masked luchadors talking about their problems with one another. Just the mere idea of masked luchadors sitting and discussing their problems with one another on a talk show is hilarious to me. Since these wrestlers were rivals in and out of the ring, they had quite a few fights on the set. Watching them fight made me think that the regular kinds of guests on Jose Luis and Maria Laria have a lot to learn from them. There is a definite science and formula to fake fighting that can pass as being real and that comes straight from the world of pro wrestling/sports entertainment.

Now I've become hooked on WWE matches dubbed in Spanish. Yes, the WWF/WWE has always been a sort of male-driven soap opera aimed at boys and men, but it's always been fun for me to watch. With its announcers doing play-by-play and translating the spoken dialogue in Spanish, I can't stop laughing, especially with the guy that has the wild sidekick role that Jerry "The King" Lawler has on the English version. This guy's voice is so high-pitched and overdramatic that this has become a main reason for me watch. Probably my favorite line from him is whenever Lady Jane is onscreen, he pronounces the name like "Layydee Jayyyne!" Something is just so funny about the tone and pitch of that voice of his.

Yes, I know this is silly television. I know this isn't stimulating my mind as much as writing a book, reading a book, watching a great movie, taking a walk, listening to music and so on does, but I know what's going on. It's easy for me to just watch and laugh, but I think that's one of the main points of these shows. This is not something I put full faith in or seek answers with. This is entertainment that is flimsy in nature but pretty fun in its intentional and unintentional ways.

Comments

I also recommend Laura on Telemundo, 10:35 PM Monday-Thursday and 3 PM M-F.

Like Jerry Springer, but with better fights.

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air...

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five

Originally posted on Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 : For some, Ben Folds Five was merely a one hit wonder. For others, the trio was a life-changer. Myself, I’m one of the latter. Being formally introduced with the “Battle of Who Could Care Less” video on 120 Minutes , I was very intrigued to know more about this piano-bass-drums combo. Once I heard Whatever and Ever Amen , I was hooked. As a matter of fact, out of all of my favorite bands, Ben Folds Five is one of the few that I liked right away and I have held the same kind of admiration ever since. Their three proper albums (and one b-sides collection) are staples in my record collection and they may very well be (or soon be) staples in your collection too. For a band that was once described as “punk rock for sissies,” you may realize how effortlessly these guys walked between fun, semi-goofy pop songs and some really deep and powerful stuff too. It helps that they had it right from the beginning and kept maturing. Ben Folds Five (1995) ...

Politics Shmolitics

Yesterday, the more pleas I saw for people to go out and vote, the more uncomfortable I felt. Plenty of the blogs I hit up everyday said something along the lines of "Vote and if you don't, don't complain." Folks, this is why I find discussing politics so alienating. There are plenty of reasons why I don't discuss politics on here or in my everyday conversations. The biggest reason is because I don't have a lot of interest in politics in the first place. By what I've seen, heard and read for the last eight years, political debates are usually pissing contests. Judging by the views I've processed, it would be easy to think that we're all slowly going downhill either on the left, right or down the middle. Yet I don't think we're going totally downhill or totally uphill. Debating the direction we're going seems futile, especially when adults start screaming at each other like they're in grade school. To my ears, political debates are s...