December really flew by, huh? So much so that there isn't really much of anything to talk about. A little, but not much, so I could probably still spring forth 1000+ words to make this at least readable. Hope everyone had a happy holiday, whatever you celebrate, and let's get to talking about what went down in December.
Wrestling front, there's some serious allegations being made towards Chris Jericho at the moment I'm writing that I'm not going to talk about. If it escalates in the coming month then we'll see, but for now, let's talk about what was honestly a pretty brisk month for wrestling. WWE-wise, it's still all about CM Punk. After a lukewarm first promo back, his subsequent appearances have had those promos that got people excited for him working with Reigns, Rollins and more. They were safe promos, obviously, especially if the stories that he's pretty much on a behavioral clause are to be believed. Again, I hope this goes well. I still have my doubts because the worst traits of Phil Brooks always boil back up to the surface, but for now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least interested in the CM Punk/Seth Rollins match at Mania.
On the AEW front, it was an okay enough month if you're a fan of the in-ring work as it was carried by the Continental Classic tournament which offered pretty much top level wrestling from beginning to end. Ending with what should be the obvious outcome that still had nobody expecting to really happen with Eddie Kingston taking the Continental Crown and retaining his other titles. The other major angle heading into AEW's Worlds End Pay Per View was the mystery of who was the Devil that seemed to be stalking MJF and taking out anyone associated with him. And in a shock most saw coming, it was his Brochacho for life, Adam Cole who now leads yet another heel stable in AEW, a company that can be shaky when it comes to making heel stables work.
I'm cool with the revelation since it's really the only obvious route and given there's a clear starting point to all of this at All In London, it doesn't feel as half-assed as, say, Rikishi running over Austin. The downside is that with MJF and Adam Cole both injured and both likely out for a while, this is going to be a prolonged storyline. So it'll ultimately be up to AEW to keep the momentum until we get to the fireworks factory. With Samoa Joe as the new champ, it'll also be interesting to see where the AEW World Title factors at the moment. And my current thought for the defense at Revolution should be Samoa Joe vs Sting in Sting's final match, with the stakes being that in Sting's final match in AEW he can go out as a world champion. He should lose, but it would be more of a dramatic storyline than any other possible final Sting match plan aside from maybe him facing Darby... or Ric Flair. Still worried.
I finally got to play Super Mario Bros. Wonder this month and yeah, I really like it. I don't think it changes the Mario formula that much, but the new additions and the wonder-ized versions of levels are fun and full of inventive ideas. I also stayed true to my word and have only used Daisy so far. Might use other characters but nah, this game gave me Daisy and I'll take Daisy any day. Otherwise, still playing WWE 2K23 for the heck of it and got some recent platinum trophies with Spyro 1 and 2. And I've also considered getting back into collecting retro games again, currently starting with the PS2. Depending on how January goes, I'll have an update as to how it went.
In other game news, we had the Game Awards this year and... it sure happened. I'd write a large article on it, but I'd probably be told to wrap it up. Not long after the show, E3 finally announced that it's dead and done. Which really sucks. I mean, it's a corporate games function that mostly lost its value in a digital age, but there was always a more fun and exciting feel to that time of the year to see what the industry was up to. And it felt like a celebration of video games. To lose that and keep the Game Awards which is just about trailers and commercials with awards tacked on as a piss poor attempt to act like this is a celebration of the industry as a whole feels like the rawest deal ever.
More comics picked up this month, mainly Simpsons-wise. There's just something so interesting about this era of the comics coming just as the show is entering its quality peak. Hoping to get my hands on more next year. I also finally got a copy of Slime Doesn't Pay! and I do plan to cover it for the book blog next month. I also am getting back into collecting DVD sets for TV shows, starting with getting the complete Pinky and the Brain (minus the Elmyra season, so a perfect set) and buying back sets for Duckman and Rocko's Modern Life. As I grow more just disinterested in the paid streaming services, I might dabble more in buying sets. Besides, Rocko's episode guide on Paramount+ is a goddamn mess, so the DVD set is so much better.
So with 2023 now in the rear view, what were my thoughts on my blogging quality this year? I feel I did okay with one blog and not so much the others. I still want to work on the movie blog, maybe next year if I finally get interested again in just watching movies. And I do plan to finally get to the TV horror blog eventually next year. But the focus is still Raiders of the Bookmark for me, which depending on how good my work rate is next year will hit 500 posts, which is wild to think I got that much energy out of what is ultimately a very trivial concept. But as the blog also reaches 100,000 views next year, I can at least say that it was a little worth it.
I don't have many plans for resolutions or stuff for next year, but I hope to keep myself motivated on improving my drawing skills. I do feel like I'm seeing little improvements here and there with how I've gotten with it. Maybe it'll improve next year, maybe not, but we'll see, I guess. Hell, I'll need any distraction in what is going to be a fucking headache of a year with a potentially horrific ending. Not just involving the presidential election but the inevitable death of Twitter, which given Elon is still teasing a full paywall to the site doesn't make me super optimistic. But we have a way to go until then.
And that was December. It mostly came and went. Christmas was super quick as usual and other than that, it was mainly business as usual for the things I'm interested in. It's a new year in front of us, so time will tell if we start off strong in January and I'll have more to talk about, but until then, have a happy new year.
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