SmashingLists

Month: March 2015

  • Top Ten Talkers in Pro Wrestling History

    Pro wrestling has long been the land of giants clashing against one another in feigned competition. What gets lost among the gladiator fights and battles with chairs, ladders and tables are the talking skills of these ring warriors. As far back as wrestling has been televised, which dates back to the beginning of television of itself, there has been an emphasis on ‘talking them into the building.’ Originally it was just a wrestler plugging an upcoming show and the terrible things he was going to do to his opponent on that date, to get the ticket sales moving. It has morphed into the Monday Night Spectacle that it is, complete with dramatic storylines, monologues and bickering and all out verbal warfare. So as wrestling has progressed there have been some great talkers to come along, but among all of them here is the cream of the crop.

     

    10. Chris Jericho

    Chris Jericho burst onto the American pro wrestling scene in the mid-90s in his early 20’s with local promotions around the mountainous area of the Appalachia’s. As a smallish wrestler, he found his way to Mexico where he became a bit of a teen heartthrob. After ruling Mexico and traveling Japan, Jericho entered ECW to gain his notoriety. Within a year, he was on the big stage in WCW and laid his legend as one of the best talkers the business has ever seen in short order. Upon his arrival in the WWF in 1999, Jericho further proved he was among the best, even holding his own against the king of the day The Rock in his debut segment. After Chris Jericho, the wrestling world would never, ever be the same again!

     

    9.  CM Punk

    While some fans may not know of Punk before his debut on the WWE owned ECW brand, his work in Ring of Honor and the indies was the stuff of legend. With incredible bouts and feuds with Colt Cabana, Samoa Joe and Raven, Punk was one of the best in the world before he ever stepped foot in a WWE ring. While he was good, it wasn’t until he dropped his “Pipebomb” promo on RAW against John Cena that he was recognized as great by the WWE Universe. With a mastery of realistic promos, Punk has ushered in a new style of storytelling by using the promo to hint at real life frustrations while still keeping the story intact and staying in character.

     

    8. Jake “The Snake” Roberts

    Jake Roberts personal story may be depressing, but his ring work and especially his promo work were nothing short of magic. Jake Roberts, never far from his python snake, would cut cerebral and dark promos at barely a whisper at a time when most promos were shouted in the general direction of the camera. With his dark demeanor and his subject matter about mind games with metaphors, many fans thought Jake was the incarnate of the Devil himself. His work will long be remembered as some of the most genius work any wrestler has ever done and his promos are taught to students of the game.

     

    7. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin

    Steve Austin may be the most popular wrestler to ever set foot in a ring. His “Stone Cold” persona was bigger than anything else during the late 90’s and his numerous catchphrases are still uttered to this day by long time fans. Yet, the infamous “Austin 3:16” promo that solidified his “Stone Cold” persona at King of the Ring 1996 was not the first time Austin stunned an audience with his poise and control on the microphone. As a member of WCW, Austin was impressive anytime he was given the stick, and is known mostly for his run with Brian Pillman in the team “Hollywood Blondes”. After his run in WCW ended, Austin had a short, but memorable run in Philidelphia based hardcore wrestling promotion ECW. His ability to go without a script and air his frustrations at his former company let Austin loose on the microphone in a way few knew he was capable of. His promos are still classic to this day, and proof that “Stone Cold” predated his bald head and black tights look, and that folks, is the bottom line.

     

    6. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage

    These two get lumped together not because they weren’t good enough to be here alone, but because their talents are almost identical. With intense and sometimes nonsensical cartoonish promos, Hogan and Savage defined the era of colorful WWF wrestling during the 80’s. With Savage’s distinct and often imitated voice and Hogan’s reliance on the word ‘brother’, these two made up for what they may have lacked in substance with style. Can you dig it, brother? Oh yeah!

     

    5. ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper

    Roddy Piper was perhaps 20 years ahead of his time. With a character as unpredictable as a live grenade and promo skills that allowed him to foray into serious acting roles at a time when most wrestlers did cheesy action films or played background characters, Piper was a gem. Anytime Piper got on the microphone, you just knew that magic was about to happen. While his in ring abilities declined rapidly after the early 90’s, his promo skills are still intact and he even tours his classic “Pipers Pit” talk show on indie wrestling shows all over the country and occasionally on WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

     

    4. Mick Foley

    Mick Foley is perhaps the most creative promo man in the history of the business. Always interesting and always realistic, Foley did everything he could to stand out in the crowd by giving incredible promos. Be it as Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love or as himself, Mrs. Foley’s baby boy Mick Foley, the master of thumbtacks proved time and time again that he was gold on the mic. As he aged and injuries took his toll, much of his worth to televised wrestling came in his acting and promo ability. Now working part time in wrestling and part time as a standup comedian, maybe Foley has found the right combination for the unique talent that is the master of Hardcore.

     

    3. The Rock

    No one wrestler represents the modern style of promo cutting than The Rock. With his stream of consciousness style rants that included a bevy of weekly updated catchphrases, The Rock became an icon in the WWF/E and with good reason. As his skills transcended to Hollywood, The Rock remains a part timer in the wrestling world and uses it to prove time and time again that he is one of the best to ever handle the mic. If you smell what he is cookin’.

     

    2. Dusty Rhodes

    “If you will,” as he would say, ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes was one of the greatest wrestlers to ever open his mouth near a microphone. With his ability to draw on the viewer’s emotions, Big Dust would make sure to talk the fans into the building no matter who he was fighting. Dusty could make a viewer believe that anyone was dangerous, and yet, with their help, he could defeat them. Dusty’s feuds during the 70’s and 80’s with the upper echelon of the NWA made him a legend in the ring and his passionate promos made him a god among men on the microphone.

     

    1. Ric Flair

    “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair is perhaps the most iconic wrestler of the 80’s and early 90’s outside of Hulk Hogan. His feuds with Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Sting, Barry Windham and many, many others made Flair the last of the ‘touring’ champions of the territory system of the NWA. Because of his touring nature, Flair was accustomed to doing several promos a day, promoting matches against a bevy of opponents in hundreds of cities a year. By playing the cocky bad guy who always found a way to win, with help from his Four Horsemen group (including Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard who were no slouches on the mic either), Flair would hold the title for the better part of the 80’s and 90’s and would slowly evolve from the ‘talk ‘em in the building’ style to the more storytelling style of the late 90’s and 2000’s. Even still to this day, Flair is highly sought after simply to come in and talk, a feat very, very few wrestlers could ever hope to achieve.

     

  • Top 10 Movie Worlds It Would Be Awesome To Live In

    The movie worlds are the creation of the writer’s imagination. It can only take us as far as the writer can express his/her imagination. The viewers can tell a good movie from bad when the world of it becomes so real that what the viewer would not give to be a part of that world, even for a little bit of time. The only worst part of it is the return to reality. I have summed up 10 movies in which I am pretty sure many of you have dreamed of spending your lives. Please tell in the comments about the movie world in which you would like to live in.

     

    10. The Incredibles


    We might have seen many things about super heroes. But the story of The Incredibles is of a family who have special powers since birth but aren’t allowed to use it. It’s like our daily life that suddenly we see some extra ordinary people saving victims and say “Hey, superheroes do exist”. By that fact I’m pretty sure I would want to be a part of this world, and might even get my hopes up to even be a part of such super powered family.

     

    9. Arrested Development


    Arrested Development was a TV series. And the reason behind the involvement of the only TV series in this blog is because of the story of the series. The story is not about some specific thing or person, but it is about an ordinary family who deal with their problems as a family. It seems like a boring and ordinary story but if you have actually seen it. The stuff shown is pretty good. How every member tries to back stab his/her family, but at the same time taking very good care of them as well. There are many series but all of them have some primary story or plot but this one just shows the life of a family. It would be hell fun to be a part of something like this.

     

    8. Back to the Future


    The Back to the future world is just as ordinary as the one we all are living in right now. But chances are that ‘IF’ any of us knew Doc we could have ended up in the adventure of a life time. Going back in time and then ahead of the present time is most likely to be the dream of many people. To see your history and the way you might end up is something very exciting to be a part of. You have to admit that you dreamt of having a hover board or wanted to try how a de-hydrated pizza tastes like. I would definitely want to end up in such kind of world where your life isn’t as boring as the people in the Back to the future.

     

    7. Marvel Universe


    Almost all of you might be aware of the Marvel Universe. For those who don’t know. It is the place where all the Marvel Heroes Exist. All of you have to admit that in some part of your life you wanted to become a super hero, you wanted to have all those amazing super powers. With the very existence of such a universe all those dreams could have surely come true. According to my perspective, in such a universe life wouldn’t have been such ‘NORMAL’. But what the heck, it’s your dream world isn’t it. Some of the popular Marvel Heroes which some of you might have loved to work with are: Spiderman, Ironman, Hulk, Thor, Captain America etc.

     

    6. DC Universe


    This universe is also as popular as the Marvel Universe. In fact these two are competing against each other as both of these universes have super heroes in them. Same as the marvel heroes, DC heroes are very much popular as well. Many of them are truly admired by people that they consider it would be the best thing ever to happen to them, if they could only exist in such a universe. The dream characters of DC universe are; Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash etc.

     

  • Top 10 Amazing Facts About the Human Brain

    The human brain is a beautiful thing. It is responsible for all of the technological achievements that we have reached thus far. And the best part is, our brains are continually getting smarter. But to develop a better understanding of the brain, as well as a new found respect, let’s cover the top 10 facts about the brain that you probably didn’t know about.

     

    10. Human Brains Consume More Energy than Any Other Part of The Body

    Even though your brain only makes about less than 3% of your entire body, it takes up a whopping 20% of energy to operate. What is all of this energy used for? Well, a lot of it goes towards the maintenance and production of cell-growth. The remaining energy is used to fuel electrical impulses in the body so that they work better with one another. While size is usually a factor in most cases, it isn’t when it comes to the human brain.

     

    9. The Human Brain Contains About 100 Billion Neurons

    Consider this: your brain contains close to 100 billion neurons. This number is about 16 times larger than the amount of people that there are on the planet. And also realize that each of these neurons can link to as many as 10,000 other ones. To put simply, this is a massive connection. The huge number of connections going on inside of your brain is what allows you to recall memories, develop ideas, and have a personality.

     

    8. The Neo-Cortex Makes Up 75% of the Human Brain

    While the brain may be relatively small compared to other parts of the body, the neo-cortex happens to be relatively large compared to the brain. As a matter of fact, the neo-cortex in the human brain is much larger than any other species of animal on the planet. This part of the brain is one reason why humans have become capable of so much. It has allowed us to transform from a primitive species into a technological one.

     

    7. Humans Use More than 10% of Their Brains

    This happens to be a rather overused and believed misconception about the human brain. To put simply, human beings use much more than 10% of their brains at any given moment. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise and even though the brain remains a mystery, scientists do have reasons to believe why this wouldn’t be true. In regards to evolution, only using 10% of our brains would be a hindrance and wouldn’t allow us to survive as effectively.

     

    6. Neurons Multiply Much Quicker During Pregnancy


    Did you know that neurons multiply by more than 200,000 neurons per minute in someone who is pregnant? While scientists aren’t exactly sure what causes this, it can be assumed that learning new ideas and remembering old ones should be much easier for someone who is pregnant versus someone who isn’t.

  • Music is Passion

    Music is Passion

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  • 10 Discoveries that have Changed History – Page 2 of 2

    5. Electricity


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    Discovered by: Michael Faraday

    If electricity makes life easier for us, you can thank Michael Faraday. He made two big discoveries that changed our lives. In 1821, he discovered that when a wire carrying an electric current is placed next to a single magnetic pole, the wire will rotate. This led to the development of the electric motor. Ten years later, he became the first person to produce an electric current by moving a wire through a magnetic field. Faraday’s experiment created the first generator, the forerunner of the huge generators that produce our electricity.

     

    4. Alien Life


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    Discovered by: NASA

    NASA’s paper, along with pictures of the microscopic earthworm-like creatures, were published in Feburary,2011 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Cosmology. A NASA Scientist Richard Hoover opened fragments of several types of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which can contain relatively high levels of water and organic materials, and looked inside with a powerful microscope. He found bacteria-like creatures that he calls “indigenous fossils,” which he believes originated beyond Earth and were not introduced here after the meteorites landed. “He concludes these fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in the parent bodies of these meteors, e.g. comets, moons, and other astral bodies,” said the study. “The implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets.” The journal’s editor in chief, Rudy Schild of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian, said Hoover is a “highly respected scientist and astrobiologist with a prestigious record of accomplishment at NASA.”  Earlier in december 2010 NASA began to tease us with tantalizing hints regarding the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft– which is currently sending back massive amounts of data from Saturn—had confirmed the existence of microscopic life on Saturn’s moon Rhea. Well then that would be the first example of extra-terrestrial life. That study drew plenty of criticism, particularly after NASA touted the announcement as evidence of extraterrestrial life. Scientists are currently attempting to replicate those findings. (Link)

     

    3. DNA Double Helix


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    Discovered by: Friedrich Miescher

    The discovery of the DNA was made by the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher. It was first called as a “nuclein” because it resides in the nuclei of a cell. This reconstruction of the first ever model of the DNA molecule contains some of the original parts used by Crick and Watson in 1953. Their breakthrough made it possible to finally understand both how organisms pass on their genes, and how the workings of cells are governed. This now-familiar structure is still at the heart of huge scientific endeavours.
    And with genome sequencing becoming ever cheaper, we’re only going to become more familiar with it.

     

    2. Rosetta Stone

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    Discovered by: Lieutenant Pierre-François Bouchard
     

    On Napoleon’s 1798 campaign in Egypt, the expeditionary army was accompanied by a corps of 167 technical experts. In mid-July 1799, as French soldiers under the command of Colonel d’Hautpoul were strengthening the defences of Fort Julien, a couple of miles north-east of the Egyptian port city of Rashid, Lieutenant Pierre-François Bouchard spotted a slab with inscriptions on one side that the soldiers had uncovered. He and d’Hautpoul saw at once that it might be important and informed general Jacques-François Menou, who happened to be at Rosetta. This exciting discovery in 1799 was the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs and unlocking the history of the ancient world texts. Prior to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and its eventual decipherment, there had been no understanding of the Ancient Egyptian language. It provides a window into the real history of Egypt rather than an imaginary one; all other decipherings of ancient languages since the Rosetta Stone’s initial decoding in 1822 are based on its precedents.

     

    1. The Earth is Round


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    Discovered by: Anyone with a window
     

    So, yes, the earth isn’t flat. But seriously, would you ever have guessed that all by yourself? It’s not like people on the other side of the world are walking upside down. And no, Columbus didn’t discover this fact; he was too busy infesting the natives with smallpox. Duh! So how did this little smidgen of science know-how change the course of humankind? Because no longer did people think that their boats would fall off the edges of the ocean. Trade routes opened up to capitolism and horrible 80’s B flicks like The Gods Must be Crazy. This little fact created a tiny fissure in the assurity of humankind’s all-knowing senses and mastery of the world. Simply put, it made us look like a bunch of asses.

  • 10 Notable Shipwrecks of the History

     

    10. Edmund Fitzgerald Ore Carrier


    We have a perception that all famous catastrophic shipwrecks have occurred in the sea. This is not true; there are a few, which faced death in the great lakes. One such shipwreck is the Edmund Fitzgerald ore carrier. This event took place on 10 November 1975 when the ship disappeared from the radar after a consecutive fight of half an hour with the 30 feet high great lake waves which were accompanied with high winds. This carrier not only carried a high number of ore but also it had twenty-nine members of the crew. People are unable to find the official reason how this happened. However, surveys were carried which showed that it was because of breakage of the craft which was eight hundred feet in length, which suggested was due to a fault or lake’s shallow water. The Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck until today is still off limits to people, serving as a memory of the largest non-war vessels demise.

     

    9. The Andrea Doria


    We have the Italian liner Andrea Doria at number nine. The incident occurred in the coast of Massachusetts on July 1956. It was said that this Italian liner collided with another liner from Sweden. The Italian Andrea and Swedish Stockholm would have never collided if there weren’t any fog.  It did not take long for the ship to sink after the collision but a mere few hours did the job. However, it is not the number of deaths that made Andrea Doria one of the famous shipwrecks because only forty six people died out of the 1660 people on board. The shock was that with technology in radar and radio communications, it was hard to understand how such collusion could occur. In addition, this ship fell under the category of the most expensive ships ever to be built.

     

    8. The Estonia


    A recent incident is what I would categorize it even though it occurred on 28 September 1994. With its sad demise in the Baltic Sea, it is important for people to know that this was a German ship. This was one of those horrifying incidents that killed more than eight hundred people. However, when it comes to the Estonia Ship, there were many reasons, which were associated with its downfall, some of them being controversial. However, majorly it was said that the ship had to face bad weather conditions but then again there were people who associated stories of bomb plantings in the ship.

     

    7. Steamship S.S. Republic


    Steamship S.S Republic faced its sad demise on October 1865 in a dangerous whirlwind off Georgia coast. People have the perspective that the poor Republic went down deep into the ocean with just ordinary goods which most of such vessels would carry. The inner story of the ship that most people still have no idea about is that this vessel contained huge amounts of gold, silver and ingots. These were being transported towards the south from the area of west coast, so that rebuilding of the war affected south should start. However, the demise of the Republic in 1865 caused a huge financial blow, noting the fact that the country was already facing economic problems. These problems were due to the long lasted civil war which ended after four years. In 2003 the exact location of the ship was found, however, a surprising fact is that this became one of those rare shipwrecks in which no lives were lost as people jumped off the boat before it sank.

     

    6. Union Ironclad U.S.S. Monitor


    On new years eve, this tiny vessel was fighting and sinking under a strong deadly whirlwind near Cape Hatteras, Virginia. This 1862 shipwreck went away un-noticed by people during that time and went down with her 16 of its crew members.  This ship, the monitor was an invention of a hardworking navy engineer, the mastermind, and was a revolutionary loss in the ship world. This ship was the first ever ship made up of all metal, small in size yet having warship capabilities. This later in the history worked as a prototype for the upcoming warships. This might sound funny, but it was known as a cheese box on a raft. Funny it is how this little thing actually changed the overall naval warfare when it went ahead in the battle with the south. Even though it did not affect much on the war, it craved a road towards steam powered warfare ships. It took over a century for the people to find the ruins of the shipwreck.