Wednesday, October 17, 2012

TV Character Profile: Cosmo Kramer

Name: Cosmo Kramer

Show: Seinfeld



Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld, played by Michael Richards. The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's former neighbor across the hall. Kramer is the friend and neighbor of main character Jerry Seinfeld, residing in Apartment 5B, and is friends with George Costanza and Elaine Benes. Of the series' four central characters, only Kramer has no visible means of support; what few jobs he holds seem to be nothing more than larks.

His trademarks include his upright hairstyle and vintage wardrobe, the combination of which led to his categorization as a "hipster doofus"; his taste in fruit; his love of occasional smoking, Cuban cigars in particular; his bursts through Jerry's apartment door; frequent pratfalls and his penchant for nonsensical, percussive outbursts of noise to indicate skepticism, agreement, annoyance, and a variety of other inexplicable responses.  Kramer appeared in all but two episodes: "The Chinese Restaurant" and "The Pen", in the second and third seasons, respectively.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Women of Wrestling: Natalya


 Natalya

Neidhart is a third-generation wrestler and member of the Hart wrestling family. She trained in the Hart family Dungeon under the tutelage of her uncles Ross and Bruce Hart. In 2000 and 2001, she worked for the Matrats promotion, before debuting for Stampede Wrestling in 2003. In 2004 and 2005, she wrestled abroad in both England and Japan. In June 2005, she became the inaugural Stampede Women's Pacific Championship, and won the SuperGirls Championship the following year in October 2006.

In January 2007, she signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to the Deep South Wrestling developmental territory, before wrestling in Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). While in FCW, she managed her cousin, DH Smith, and her boyfriend, TJ Wilson. She debuted on the main roster in April 2008 as Natalya, allying herself with Victoria. The following year, she moved to the ECW brand to manage the debuting Tyson Kidd. They were later joined by David Hart Smith to form The Hart Dynasty and moved to the SmackDown brand. In April 2010, The Hart Dynasty won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship and were moved to the Raw brand. In September, Natalya began focusing on singles competition, which culminated in her winning the WWE Divas Championship in November. The following April, she returned to SmackDown as part of the 2011 supplemental draft.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Women of Wrestling: Maryse


Maryse is a French-Canadian glamour model, professional wrestler, and business woman, better known simply as Maryse. She is best known for her time with WWE between 2006 and 2011.

After spending years modelling, including winning Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada in 2003, Maryse was hired by WWE in 2006, after she participated in the WWE Diva Search competition. Despite her elimination, she was sent to WWE's developmental facility, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky. She signed a deal with WWE in August 2006 and was assigned to OVW for wrestling training, where she made her ring debut in December 2006. She appeared in vignettes on WWE television. During this time, she continued working at OVW, but was later transferred to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), another WWE developmental facility, to further her training.

In March 2008, Maryse appeared on SmackDown, competing in a swim suit competition. Three months later she made her television in-ring debut. In December 2008, Maryse captured her first title with the company, the WWE Divas Championship, and would hold onto it for seven months, the longest reign in the titles history. In April 2009 she was drafted to the Raw brand, during the 2009 WWE Draft. She won the Divas Championship for the second time in February 2010, making her the first wrestler to have held the championship on more than one occasion. In March 2011, she became the co-host of NXT. Maryse was released from WWE in October 2011.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Women of Wrestling: Candice Michelle

Name: Candice Michelle

On the July 17 edition of Raw, Candice was the Special Guest Referee during a tag team match of Stratus and Wilson against Victoria and Mickie James. James entered the match without being tagged in, so Candice threw her out of the ring. Afterwards, Victoria tried to clothesline Candice, but she ducked out of the way, allowing Stratus to perform a Stratusfaction for the victory. As a result of her participation in the match, Candice became a fan favorite.[39] On the Raw following Unforgiven, Candice won a match against Lita. The next week, in her second match against Lita, Candice was pinned after she was speared by guest referee Edge, in the first round of the WWE Women's Championship tournament. On the November 27 edition of Raw, during the Diva battle royal, Candice suffered a legitimate broken nose when Victoria kicked her in the face. She had surgery on November 30 to repair her deviated septum.

Candice returned at New Year's Revolution on January 7, when she went to the ring with Maria to fight off Melina as she tried to interfere in the Women's Championship match between then-champion Mickie James and Victoria. Candice made her in-ring return on January 22 when she and Mickie James defeated Victoria and Melina in a tag team match with Candice scoring the pinfall. Candice then resumed her feud with Melina, who claimed in her blogs that no Playboy cover model was capable of defeating her in the ring. Candice took offense to this, which led to a Bra and Panties match between the two, which she lost. During this time, Candice began training on her off-days to improve her in-ring abilities. Weeks later, Candice was beginning to receive more air-time and higher profile matches, and she won tag matches that pitted her with Mickie James against Victoria and Melina. She also picked up several wins against the latter two in singles matches, which culminated at One Night Stand, where Candice defeated Melina in the first ever match held in a swimming pool full of pudding. Candice defeated Melina to capture her first WWE Women's Championship at Vengeance, becoming the first ever WWE Diva Search contestant to win the Women's Title. Candice retained her title against Melina in a rematch at The Great American Bash as well as debuting a new finisher called the Candywrapper.

Beth Phoenix became the number one contender for the Women's Title after winning a Diva battle royal at SummerSlam. At the Unforgiven pay-per-view, however, Candice successfully retained her title in their match by countering one of Phoenix's moves with a crucifix pin. Their feud continued when Phoenix pinned Candice during a non-title mixed tag team match on Raw on September 24. At No Mercy on October 7, Candice dropped the title to Phoenix, ending her reign as Women's Champion. On October 22, Candice legitimately cracked her clavicle during her rematch for the Women's Title against Phoenix in a two out of three falls match; Phoenix ran into the ropes, causing Candice to fall face-first off of the turnbuckle onto her face, neck, and shoulders necessitating a rushed finish and putting her out of action for 14 weeks.

Friday, December 23, 2011

TV Show: 'Hey Arnold!'

Title: 'Hey Arnold!'
# of Seasons: 5


The show stars fourth grader Arnold, a boy who lives with his paternal grandparents, Phil and Gertrude, proprietors of the Sunset Arms boarding house. In each episode, Arnold often helps a schoolmate solve a personal problem, or encounters a predicament of his own. The show also focuses on Arnold's classmate, Helga, who often treats Arnold cruelly and bullies him constantly. However, a recurring theme of the show is the fact that Helga pretends to dislike Arnold to hide the fact that she is secretly in love with him.

Many episodes involve urban legends, often told by Arnold's best friend, Gerald. These episodes often feature over-the-top events such as those that involve superheroes or headless horsemen.

Hey Arnold! takes place in the fictional American city of Hillwood. Craig Bartlett stated in an interview that the city on the show is based on large northern cities, which includes Seattle (his hometown), Portland, Oregon (where he went to art school) and New York City (from which many landmarks were borrowed), also with references to Nashville, TN Grand Ole Opry; as well as Hawk Mountain near Allentown, PA, as mentioned in the Sally's Comet Episode. Bartlett, having grown up in Seattle, bases many of the show's events on his own experience growing up in the city. The Pig War mentioned in the episode with the same title took place on the boundary between what is now the State of Washington and British Columbia. Evan Levine of the Houston Chronicle commented "With its backdrop of dark streets, nighttime adventures and run-down buildings, all seen from a child's point of view, the series combines a street-smart attitude with a dark comic edge."

Thursday, December 22, 2011