Cross posted from my LJ:
Thus far my summer reading has consisted of relatively dense material; revisiting A Brave New World, finally tackling my Thomas Transtrome collection, and recently taking a fresh look at Hart Crane, one of my favorite poets as of last year.
All that took a turn this morning when I picked up "HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN", the biography of the American wrestling icon by the same name, at the Medfield Shaw's while out buying a birthday card for my mother.
This book is phenominal. It reads like a (very) poor man's On the Road at the beginning as Terry, AKA Hulk Hogan, talks about his experience in the bush leagues and minor circuits of professional wrestling. City to city, bus to bus, job to job, highway to highway. . . Terry's got a very unique voice, the likes of which you wouldn't expect from the only man to ever bodyslam Andre the Giant.
Don't get me wrong. He shouldn't quit his day job. My interest in the book is also fueled by a secret interest I've had in wrestling in general ever since I saw a History Channel documentary about the, well, history of wrestling. The connections they drew between modern wrestling and not only Roman gladiators - but Shakesperian drama as well - perhaps didn't warrant as much analysis as was dedicated.
However, there is something very important about where modern professional wrestling, a phenomenon that hit it's BOOM period during many of our childhoods in the 80s, fits in the mess of our beloved newborn corporate police state's slimy afterbirth.
To put those pieced together, we need to not only look at matches like the Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt Slaughter Wrestlemania (where Sgt. Slaughter went Benedict Arnold and pledged loyalty to Sadaam), an event that stands as one of the most blatant examples of corporate war profiteering in modern time, that directly reflected just how on board and plugged in the entertainment 'biz' was to the war 'agenda', but also at how Hulk Hogan became a living legend - a folk legend made, not exclusively by corporate engineering, but also through a previously 'marginalized' and decidedly 'fringe' sport and culture - to look at how Hulk Hogan became a household name and a warrior/actor who could probably get elected president if he really gave it a go (which he almost did in 1992. . .)
There's something here worth talking about. Even if there isn't, this is perfect, relaxing, easy summer reading I'm more then willing to embrace even if I feel like a JACKASS reading "HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN" on the T.
Thus far my summer reading has consisted of relatively dense material; revisiting A Brave New World, finally tackling my Thomas Transtrome collection, and recently taking a fresh look at Hart Crane, one of my favorite poets as of last year.
All that took a turn this morning when I picked up "HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN", the biography of the American wrestling icon by the same name, at the Medfield Shaw's while out buying a birthday card for my mother.
This book is phenominal. It reads like a (very) poor man's On the Road at the beginning as Terry, AKA Hulk Hogan, talks about his experience in the bush leagues and minor circuits of professional wrestling. City to city, bus to bus, job to job, highway to highway. . . Terry's got a very unique voice, the likes of which you wouldn't expect from the only man to ever bodyslam Andre the Giant.
Don't get me wrong. He shouldn't quit his day job. My interest in the book is also fueled by a secret interest I've had in wrestling in general ever since I saw a History Channel documentary about the, well, history of wrestling. The connections they drew between modern wrestling and not only Roman gladiators - but Shakesperian drama as well - perhaps didn't warrant as much analysis as was dedicated.
However, there is something very important about where modern professional wrestling, a phenomenon that hit it's BOOM period during many of our childhoods in the 80s, fits in the mess of our beloved newborn corporate police state's slimy afterbirth.
To put those pieced together, we need to not only look at matches like the Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt Slaughter Wrestlemania (where Sgt. Slaughter went Benedict Arnold and pledged loyalty to Sadaam), an event that stands as one of the most blatant examples of corporate war profiteering in modern time, that directly reflected just how on board and plugged in the entertainment 'biz' was to the war 'agenda', but also at how Hulk Hogan became a living legend - a folk legend made, not exclusively by corporate engineering, but also through a previously 'marginalized' and decidedly 'fringe' sport and culture - to look at how Hulk Hogan became a household name and a warrior/actor who could probably get elected president if he really gave it a go (which he almost did in 1992. . .)
There's something here worth talking about. Even if there isn't, this is perfect, relaxing, easy summer reading I'm more then willing to embrace even if I feel like a JACKASS reading "HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN" on the T.