Fedor vs. Rogers Set for CBS! Plus, TUF 10 Debuts

Mark your calendars! It looks like come November 7th Fedor and Strikeforce will make their network TV debut on CBS. According to MMAJunkie.com, the deal was announced today, but it is yet to be determined where the event will be held and what other bouts will be on the official card alongside Fedor vs. Rogers.

The return to prime time network TV is pretty huge for MMA in general, and we can only hope that Strikeforce can capitalize on the opportunity and succeed where the EliteXC failed previously. Strikeforce has already had success with recent events broadcast on Showtime, and I hope they can keep the ball rolling. They’ve certainly been dealt a good hand with Fedor on board, so it’s not too surprising that they’re playing him out on a broader stage. I can’t wait to see what happens. Read more »

Gender and Athletics

It seems the whole Caster Semenya athlete sex/gender controversy is about to come to a head. It has been reported that the results of “gender tests” have been revealed by news reports, but the International Association of Athletics Federation will not release them officially (Hughes). Many people seemed to think that it was just stereotypes gone awry; one blogger even mentioned it had something to with euro- ethnocentric standards of beauty stating, “The issue seems to directly question race, beauty and who gets to set the standards. White and western is more female and more beautiful, black and African is less so” (Andrews). This is in contrast to quotes I read from some of Semenya’s competitors, that were to the affect “Just look, she is a man.” Read more »

Review: Star Trek

I have never been made this upset by a movie remake, and that says a lot. At worst, I expected this movie  to mess with the continuity of all the other films: make people meet when they shouldn’t, get dates wrong, have technology be too advanced or too futuristic etc. But what happened was even worse…

Star Trek, which has a sequel coming, has changed the way Star Trek movies are made by concentrating on action and special effects more than story, acting, suspense, drama, and politics. They have effectively killed or wounded the drama of deep space opera films for years, even decades, to come. By having an over the top pace, blatantly stealing from the other Star Trek films as if they are out of date, and by disregarding or plain messing up on straight forward rules about time travel and the laws of sci fi science, this movie has hurt all science fiction movies even more than Star Wars Episodes I-III. I will never again be able to watch a new true to form Star Trek movie because from now on they will be reduced to this macho over the top action flick junk. I had a hard time figuring out Kirk’s age in the film, but I am quite sure he was made captain before he made it out of Star Fleet Academy, which would mean he went from not even having a real rank to skipping 5 officer ranks in a few days.

“So if I join a 3 century old organization and I yell at people enough, I can make captain and run the whole show in a few days on machismo alone?!” Yes. Apparently you can. Read more »