Andrew (bookseller era)

Trying to reshape the future of television.

I write and build stuff.

Est. 1990. (He, Him, Etc.)

http://andrewroach.net

Original posts CC-BY-SA 4.0 - Share them, but link to the original.

Blog: http://ajroach42.com
Bookstore: https://hemlockbazaar.com
Television: https://newellijay.tv
Pronouns: He, mostly

Public Key

npub18tkhnc0ur9kd90jzqrazkeyfjh927huasn2nl06gljctsls6dv8qe87vtz

NIP-05 Address

ajroach42_at_retro.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsr4mteu87pjmxjhepqp73tvjyetj40t7wcf4flhay0ev9c0cdxkrs0kly7q

Author Public Key

npub18tkhnc0ur9kd90jzqrazkeyfjh927huasn2nl06gljctsls6dv8qe87vtz

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Last Notes

2024-09-12 04:11:04

So One Piece, right? Is it any good?

2024-09-06 02:53:48

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I took that quote from this article: https://medium.com/@jkriss/anti-capitalist-human-scale-software-and-why-it-matters-5936a372b9d
and then built a whole ideology around it: https://ajroach42.com/the-small-things-manifesto/

2024-09-06 02:45:35

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The wrestling of my childhood was still regional in small ways, still carried vestiges of the old Southern Wrestling.
The wrestling of my dad's childhood was absolutely regional.
The wrestling of today is a behemoth. It has scaled.
Scale is a trap.
Scale is the mind killer.
Scale is the beast that kills subtly and nuance and creates characters named Paul Bearer and The Undertaker who are somehow both Pro Wrestlers and a necromancer and his undead servant (or is *that one* the undead servant? or is that one the BROTHER of the undead servant?)
70s and 80s wrestling wasn't always subtle or tactful but it was an art form, and that art form was compromised for mass market appeal, and that is to it's detriment.

2024-09-06 02:41:37

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I grew up watching the wrestling of the 90s, but I grew up watching the wrestling of the 90s as it was done by the folks who were still trying to stand against what the WWF was doing.
Yes, WCW was also doing Wrestling for the 90s. Yes, they had a lot of sloppy "I'm so strong, and I can shake off your punches, don't try to really wrestle me" matches, but they also had Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Rock and Roll express, and Goddamn Ric Flair. They were carrying the torch for the NWA right up until they stabbed the NWA in the back, and even then ... They were the standards bearer for Southern Style wrestling in the 90s, more than any other organization.
The difference between what WCW did and what WWF did is obvious in retrospect. and all through the 90s WCW was trying to do more and more WWF. They hired Hulk Hogan, they hired Lex Luger, they did the NWO invasion (which was a very Southern Style angle. It was straight kayfabe, all the way back. But it was centered around some very WWF performers.
It was a contradiction, and that contradiction tore it apart.

2024-09-06 02:39:46

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But there's this thing, right, where wrestling changed a lot in the 90s.
A lot.
That paper I link to up thread says, roughly, that it went from something skillful and subtle to something that could be understood by any child no matter how new they were.
It went from something with a language and a culture, signs and symbols and signifiers, to something that just kind of had the shape of that language and culture but without any of it's significance.
And we get to talk about that. This show gets to be about that.

2024-09-06 02:34:55

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And perhaps most importantly, I have contacts for a bunch of announcers, wrestlers, refs, and other associated folks. A lot of them are in the area already.
We're doing a fan focused show, but if I can get some of the associated folks to also comment, and perhaps to also remember what it was like to be a fan, we'll be in great shape.

2024-09-06 02:30:17

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The angle for the show:
We interview fans. We get their stories of watching wrestling as kids. We get snapshots of them at shows, we get snapshots of them in wrestling t-shirts.
It's a fan focused show, centered on one performer per episode and the impact that performer had on fans.
We focus on specific wrestlers, and stories about specific wrestlers, in each episode. We intercut with whatever b-roll we can find and whatever photos we have. We can throw some biography in there, where appropriate.
We'll miss most promos, which is a shame because they are very important, but we can talk *about* the promos, which is almost good enough.
And by focusing on a single performer at a time, we can spend the time to do some deep research and source home movies and what have you.

2024-09-06 02:08:43

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In the meantime, I found an absolute Trove of public domain wrestling photos, mostly snapshots, from a couple of private collections.
I'm working through them right now and trying to figure out which ones we're going to get better scans of.
And I found a fair amount of pre 1950 wrestling footage that is also cleared in the public domain.
And I have an angle for this show

2024-09-06 02:00:14

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After that, I was put in touch with the author of the paper I was talking about earlier (the paper: https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3328&context=gradschool_dissertations )
We're swapping emails right now to figure out if there's any other avenues for us to explore.

2024-09-06 01:57:18

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He seems like a really cool dude. We talked for a while. He's been in the room for a lot of really important stuff, and he recorded audio and video for Lots of it.
And he's digitized most of that, and wants to share it. So we're talking about what that's like.
He's an incredibly charismatic dude. Here he is with Flair in 79, after the Rogers match, and again shortly before Flair's last match.
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/088/120/507/609/381/original/0f48db3c50f4b048.jpeg
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/088/120/507/274/086/original/e278ddc98706e514.jpeg

2024-09-06 01:50:05

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George does not own the Flair/Rogers footage anymore. He sold that particular footage to the WWE.
It's really remarkable stuff, and I hope they paid him proudly for it. (For reference, Rogers was the inaugural WWWF heavyweight champion (before WWF, before WWE, but part of the same linage), Flair was the inaugural WCW heavyweight champion.)
It absolutely makes sense for the WWE to own that footage.
But he still has the rights to a lot of footage.
So we're discussing what that might look like.

2024-09-06 01:40:07

#Wrestling Footage update for #NETV
In 1979 The Nature Boy Ric Flair wrestled The Nature Boy Buddy Rogers on Thanksgiving Night showdown at the Scope Coliseum in Norfolk, Virginia.
As far as I'm aware, this is the only night these two faced off. Rogers was 59. Flair was 30.
It was not a televised show, and for decades it was believe to be lost.
But there was a camera in the room. An 8mm camera in the audience. Community Media. baby.
https://archive.org/details/wwe-wvr-buddy-rogers-vs-ric-flair-nov-22-1979-fully-remastered-4-k-60-fps
See, there was a dude that filmed it. He went to nearly every wrestling event that happened in south VA for 15 years, and filmed at least the main event at all of them.
His name is George Pontas. I spoke to him for over an hour today.

2024-09-04 19:38:05

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So I'm just emailing anyone I can find that is tangentially related to the history of wrestling trying to figure out if they have any wrestling footage from the 70s or 80s that isn't currently owned exclusively by Vince McMahon.

2024-09-04 19:37:55

I want to do a wrestling history show, where we introduce a couple of historic wrestlers, show a promo, show a match, and then do it again.
But Vince and the WWE own ... all the historic footage from most of the major promotions in the NWA. Billy Corgan owns the current incarnation of the NWA, but they basically own no historic footage anyway so it doesn't matter, and the handful of leads I have keep going cold.

2024-08-24 00:30:07

Hey video game developers:
I want to do a video game showcase program on our new cable network.
This might take the form of an esports style tournament or it might take the form of just having someone play the game for twenty minutes and talk about it.
I'd need to get clearance for the materials in the game so that we can broadcast it. Small but growing in person audience, plus medium sized and growing web audience.
Does this sound like your cup of tea? Reach out to have your game included! (Here is fine, or via email.)
Boosts appreciated.

2024-08-22 20:19:29

I'd like to extend my congratulations to @npub1mau…r49j on another successful crowdfunding campaign.
I really love the work that they do, and I'm looking forward to these books.

2024-08-19 17:05:20

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Just like ...
Let's do a secular Amish thing, but stopping in the Pentium 2 era?
Let's build some resilient communities with appropriate and intentional technology.

2024-08-19 16:51:21

Alright, so where are the neoluddites, who is smashing the machinery, and how can we reorganize society?

2024-08-12 18:47:09

When someone links to a mastodon thread, I can view it. When someone links to a bluesky thread, I can view it. When someone links to a threads thread, I get a login wall.
Protect the open web.

2024-05-21 23:14:08

Wait, did Microsoft just make 2024 the year of Linux on the desktop?