Breaking Down Beck: 9/12 Principles, Part 2

Before we conclude our overview of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Principles, the first half of which we covered in Part 1, let’s take a quick look at 2009′s Misinformer of the Year courtesy Media Matters.

Principles 6-9 after the jump. Read more »

Aoki Adds Insult to Injury

Shinya did great harm

insults man like child, crowd too

heart breaks, much shame brought

Shinya Aoki may have won his fight against Sengoku title holder Mizuto Hirota at Dynamite!! 2009, but not before losing his integrity in the process.

Aoki dominated the roughly 2 minute long fight, initiating a single-leg takedown, which led to him pinning and mounting Hirota. The physical damage was done as Aoki was able to successfully control and attain a hammerlock on Hirota’s right arm, resulting in a cringe-inducing pop when Hirota, failing to tap, allowed his arm to be broken. Rather than an amazing submission, sadly, what is infamously going to be remembered more about this fight is Aoki’s childish and unsportsmanlike behavior as he emphatically flipped off an injured Hirota and then turned the insult to the crowd.

Reminiscent of Brock Lesnar’s one finger salute after his win over Frank Mir at UFC 100, this ass-worthy display by Aoki hits harder compared. Maybe it’s because it’s so unexpected from a usually mild-mannered and classy MMA great. No doubt it is that much more insulting to disrespect a fighter you just seriously injured. I mean, it’s Hirota’s fault for not tapping, but don’t be a complete fool and literally stand over him and gloat, showing zero sympathy or concern. It’s disgusting.

Shinya Aoki has been a fighter we have cheered for again and again, but today we don’t have a victory to glory in, only disappointment.

Video of the fight after the jump. Read more »

What Happened to Kestutis Smirnovas: Costar of One of the Greatest Comebacks in MMA History?

Well, according to his record, Smirnovas only had one more fight in K-1 Hero’s against Akiyama, which he lost. However,  after that he went 4-1-1 between 2006 and 2008 mostly fighting in his home country of Lithuania.

In 2008, he ran for Parliament  as part of the Liberal and Centre Union, but  his party as a whole had major setbacks and he did not get elected. Via the often spotty Google translator, I was able to read on his site, smirnovas.lt (translated) that he thanks his supporters and expects to do well in the future because he is still a young politician.  He currently seems to be a member of a city or county council.

His site also mentions that he is now a 3rd Dan black belt in Judo, attained a farming specialty in secondary school, and has a degree in education and physical education.

As noted in the title, Smirnovas was half of one of the greatest comeback fights in mixed martial arts: Sakuraba vs. Smirnovas during K-1 Hero’s 6. Check out the fight in its entirety after the jump. Read more »

World of Warcraft: Official Magazine Preview

Always looking to entice and renew the fan base, it looks like Blizzard is throwing out another line with the World of Warcraft: Official Magazine, which they have teamed up with magazine publisher Future PLC to create. The magazine, which is subscription based only (sorry you won’t be able to pick it up in stores), is scheduled to hit… well, right about now.

For those who, like me, may be a bit skeptical, or just aren’t ready to commit and plop down $39.95 for a one-year  or $69.95 for a two-year subscription to the quarterly magazine, there is good news for you as you can get a sneak peek via a generous 40-page preview clipped from the 148-page debut Winter 2009 issue.

Looking through the preview, the attractive ad-free layout prominently features quality artwork, and the content seems to feature behind the scenes, retrospectives, advice and tips on playing your class, as well as community based articles. This magazine surely won’t and isn’t meant to supplement online guides and news articles, but what it does look to provide is a quality archival volume for WoW enthusiasts.

[via WoW.com]

Final Fantasy XIV: New Screenshots and Updates

Square Enix has recently updated their Official Final Fantasy XIV site with new screenshots, additions to the story, and more information and images relating to the enhancements in character creation.

As is the trend nowadays, you will be able to adjust many features on your character including hair color and style, skin tone, eye color and shape, facial structure, as well as the addition of scars and tattoos.

This all comes after the opening of the application portal for the FFXIV BETA, which I have already taken a few moments to sign up for. I’m hoping I can get in to it, even though I was never very much impressed with the game’s predecessor. I gave FFXI a couple chances to make me a fan, but I could never really get in to the game or enjoy it. Maybe I was comparing it too much to WoW, which itself, like all MMOs has it’s bouts of tediousness, but I’m hoping FFXIV can finally win me over. I’ve read that FFXIV will attempt to be more user friendly and engaging, so that is good news. We’ll see when the BETA starts and more gameplay is fleshed out how true that really is and if Final Fantasy XIV turns out to be more than just a pretty face.

Speaking of, loads of new screenshots after the jump. Let the pretty begin! Read more »

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday spending time with friends and loved ones. I have to admit, Christmas came up on me pretty quick. I wasn’t very much in the holiday spirit, although the steady assault of Christmas music (>_>) and more so the recent (and awesome) snow fall back home kinda helped kick start it a little bit. In any event, the holiday season is always a good time to reconnect or just kick back and enjoy spending time with those you love.

I’ll be enjoying some R&R in Vegas awaiting the New Year with family. On that note, it’s funny how right after Christmas everything seems to shift to “year in review” mode. A tad annoying if you ask me, but I guess it has been as interesting as any other year. I say bring on 2010!

Submission of the Decade?!

Dream 12. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Zelg Galesic. This is currently my favorite submission.

I was watching it while listening to the Rocky soundtrack and low and behold it synced up amazingly well, so we decided to make it official and make a “highlight” video, though the fight in and of itself is one continuous highlight reel in this case. Truly epic.

Maybe I need to watch the Ryo Chonan vs. Anderson Silva fight to music…

Watch the video after the jump! Read more »

Senate Passes Their Health Care Bill

Now that both houses of Congress have passed health care reform bills, we will have to wait and see how they can iron out the differences and hopefully pass something that helps people in this country. It’s a pity the Republican’s did nothing but drag their feet and try to sabotage any change to the horrible status quo, often with misleading characterizations and statements as well as cynical outrage.

Will this country ever have real debates in the public sphere?

Read more here:
NY Times: Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul on Party-Line Vote

Who Are You Cheering For???

When asked why you would support a sports team, many people would cite family tradition or location as big reasons. If you picked a team because they won all the time you would be a jerk, or worse a Yankees fan. Other times it’s some more intangible reason like team colors or attitude, like being a Raiders fan. When it comes to fighters, all of the above reasons also seem to hold true, but people are often more forgiving of a bandwagoner in MMA than in a team sport. Most of the time Favorite equals Greatest (Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Megumi Fujii), and people too easily forget the glory days of a fighter after a tough loss, demand to see an endless string of victories, or come to believe some type of super human hype (Brock Lesnar) before they say they really like a new fighter.

I, on the other hand, find great joy in cheering for the underdog (Hitomi Akano vs Cyborg), the nerd (Roxanne Modafferi, Shinya Aoki), the crazy person (Jason Mayhem Miller), the quiet guy (Fedor), the heroic suffer (Yuki Nakai, Sakuraba vs Smirnovas, Galesic), or the unique stylist (Cung Le, Machida, Sakuraba). Often one fight will make me a die hard fan, add a cool back story, and I will be a fan forever (Hideo Tokoro).

So who am I cheering for? The previous names are all fighters I cheer for, but many of them are already pretty popular and they can all be considered great fighters. So the question is, who do I cheer for despite the fact they are not (YET) a great or very good fighter? Who do I, for some intangible reason, put my best wishes behind?

Answer: Shizuka Sugiyama!!!

Why am I cheering for this almost unknown female Japanese Zendokai Karateka MMA fighter, who supposedly was born in New York and likes rugby?

Is it simply because she’s cute? No.

Is it because she has a funny t-shirt or makes funny faces? Maybe.

Is it simply because her haircuts always seem to  grab my attention? Quite possibly, yes.

Or is it because she seems to have a lot of fun and is genuinely happy with life, especially when she wins ? Definitely, yes!

Pancake Landing will do its best to become the English language HQ for everything Sugiyama. In the meantime, check out more info about Sugi at her blog.

FielDS Dynamite!! 2009: Fight Card [Update]

Looks like there is more news on FielDS Dynamite!! 2009, the joint New Years Eve show between FEG and World Victory Road. I can’t wait to see Hideo fight again, and I’m really hoping Aoki will fight Kawajiri in his first title defense. Hell, I’m even excited about Minowaman getting owned by Sokoudjou.

Check out the official card so far after the jump. Read more »