Work of Wrestling host Tim Kail is joined by resident Bret Hart-expert, Al Monelli, to finally discuss Bret's New York Times Bestselling autobiography Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling.
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I held Anakin Skywalker in my hands, and I felt nothing.
For the first time in my life, an action figure wasn’t anything more than a piece of cheap plastic. His poorly molded head stared up at me, devoid of magic. His unarticulated arm was stiff so that a lightsaber would go in and out the hilt extending from his hand, making it appear as though the blade could be turned on and off; the kind of gimmick I always hated even as a little kid. Toys with “Chop action!” buttons, bells, and whistles assumed I didn’t have an imagination. His fixed pose felt like an insult to my intelligence.
My mom sat next to me in the car, watching me open two more figures inspired by Attack of the Clones: a similarly stiff Obi-Wan Kenobi and a tiny Padme Amidala. We were in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, our custom during these sacred action figure openings.
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While I spend most of my time these days writing arts criticism related to professional wrestling, at heart I'm a fiction-writer. That's what I've done my whole life, and that's what I'll continue to do long after I've written or said my last word on pro-wrestling. While I love the writing process itself, I am not enamored with the "literary world".
Readings, wine-tastings, workshops, conferences, literary-networking, talking about books, waiting six months for a response...all of it interests me a lot less than working on something and then sharing it directly with you free of charge.
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