Happy New Year

Yes, it’s that time again! And I must admit I haven’t posted a blog in too long!

 

On the other hand spending a week without going online more than 5 minutes was really refreshing and charged my batteries.

 

Those who follow my twitter were still updated and those who were waiting for me to update this, I’m sorry.

 

I have some good stuff planned for next year though to make this place even more fun and happening.

 

Thank all of you for the birthday wishes, I appreciate it.

 

I would also like to take some time to thank all my fans from the bottom of my heart (that’s an American saying if I’m not mistaken) for all the support. I’m living my dream and without you that wouldn’t be possible, so thank all of you! Keep supporting the great sport of wrestling! And me :D

 

So what’s new? Well in January as many of you know I’ll be going to Japan for Pro-Wrestling NOAH and I’m super exited! I’ll of course keep you updated via this very blog and I’ll have pictures too!

 

This blog won’t have any pictures, so don’t be upset. Also December didn’t have a Q&A, but January will start off with one.

 

Wow, that’s a lot of information! Now to the fun stuff. I went to the movies two times in the last week (well lets say 7 days).

 

I saw Sherlock Holmes and thought it was great! Fun dialogue and fun action! On top of that Robert Downey Jr. is the man and Kurgan rules too. So does Jude Law.

Also cool about this movie were the trailers before hand. IronMan 2 looks tremendous and I can’t wait! Robin Hood is with Russel Crowe and Ridley Scott, so it has written awesomness all over it. There was also a trailer for Clash of the Titans and that looked like a great movie experience too! Can’t wait for all of them!

 

Then I saw “It’s complicated”. Notice how I don’t use “” for all the movie titles? I’m just so inconsistent! Now thanks to 30Rock I’m a huge mark of Alec Baldwin (well not just thanks to 30Rock, but he just rules to the moon in that series), so that was my selling point on the movie.

 

Once inside the theater I noticed that I probably wasn’t the target audience for that movie. I enjoyed it anyhow and was taken back to the days when movies first got invented when everybody clapped at the end… Good times.

 

Well, that’s about it for today, I’m planning on spending my evening quiet by watching TV and eating good food!

 

To all you guys out there, HAPPY NEW YEAR, may it be a “Very European” one!

 

Salü,

Claudio

 

PS: Yes, I’m Claudio Castagnoli and I wear a suit!

The usual...

or maybe it's not going to be the usual ranting and raving.

Well to be honest I don't like rave music and I don't rant that often.

A couple of things happened this and last week. The CHIKARA season finale DVDs are available through www.smartmarkvideo.com and if you haven't done so already, you should pick them up! They're great, trust me I'm a doctor.

Second is actually nothing that happened, more something that will happen and that is ROH live on iPPV this Saturday from the Manhattan Center! Check out gofightlive.tv for details and to pre order it for not even thirteen bucks.

Since I've had time to think over the last couple of days I was thinking about my fellow Europeans. And I have a couple of things I would like to do and ask.

Now who would appreciate blogs in German? Please leave me a comment (everybody can comment without registering) it's quick and easy. Just let me know and if the demand is there I'll definitely do it (and also brush up on my German).

What other European Countries are following me on here? Unfortunately I'm not good enough in French and Spanish that I could write a blog but I'd like to represent all the Europeans!

So I'm thinking about doing some "Europeans Unite" type thingy where I can keep in touch with especially my fans from Europe. I feel like I should represent all of you, and that's "Very European" of me.

I'm already planning on having a message board or something to that effect for the 2010 World Cup where we can all talk and enjoy that grand event. Because I'm already pumped for it!

I'm proud to be Swiss, I'm proud to be European and I want you guys to know! I'm also working on a new T-Shirt design and would like you guys opinion on it! So vote!!



That's about it for today, I will talk more in the upcoming days including a look back at 2009, yes it's almost over and a look forward into 2010!

Stay European and salü,
Claudio

Minarets and Woods

And I'm not talking about the forest, I'm talking about the golfer.

But first things first. A faithful blog reader (who has a great blog herself) Asked me what the deal with the whole minaret issue in Switzerland is. And how the Swiss democracy works (who's the only true democracy in the world may I add). It's also the role model for most of the democracies in the world today.

So what happened is that some people decided they don't want minarets in Switzerland and launched an initiative. Which means that if you collect 100'000 signatures you can get Switzerland to vote on a change in the federal constitution. In this case they wanted the constitution changed that minarets are not allowed to be build.

Switzerland voted and 57.7% said they don't want minarets in Switzerland. Only 4 (of 26 cantons) were against the initiative.

Now the initial collection of signatures is called "initiative" or "people's initiative" while the actual voting is called "referendum". If the parliament approves a new law etc, Swiss people can also get a "referendum" by collecting signatures and then have the public vote on it.

I'm not a huge expert and the above is a very short explanation but hopefully it clarifies a little.

What do i think of this? Well the people of Switzerland voted, accept it.

Which brings me to my second topic (how I don't know).

I was sitting at the Chicago airport at 4.15 in the morning and there was this huge reportage on CNN about Tiger and his alleged mistresses etc. Now I understand not many people watch TV that time of the day, but really? That's the most important thing that's going on?

It's all over TV and news and everything. Why are people so obsessed with other peoples lives?

Too much Tiger on the news... There are wars going on in the world, political issues and more important things than some dude sleeping around.

We should all try to have as much interest in our own live, not that of other people. Try to make a difference ourselves. One day at the time.

Thank you for reading and salüüüüü,
Claudio

Working out…

I haven’t written anything about workouts in quite a while!

 

So what have I been up to? Well I decided to get a personal trainer and nutritionist so I don’t have to do all the research myself. While I’ve done ok in the past I decided that the help of somebody who’s an expert in that field can’t be a bad thing. And I learned a ton already.

 

So I’ve been lifting 4 days a week for the past couple of months and I love it.

 

On top of that one of my friends lost over 20 pounds following a few small rules I gave him regarding diet and exercise! If you guys are interested I’ll ask him to write a little write up on what he did (or I’ll do it ;))

 

But what I figured I’d write about is music. Yes I really enjoy listening to music at the gym. It gets you motivated and keeps you pumped during workouts. So here’s an excerpt of my current playlist.

 

Ne partez pas sans moi – Celine Dion

Vous qui cherchez l'etoile, Vous qui vivez un reve… Who doesn’t like a powersong that starts like that!

 

Da Draussen – Fettes Brot

Hamburgs hip hop Dinosaurier 92er Baujahr makes me feel old, but still ROCKS.

 

Engel – Rammstein

From the famous Luchador Rammstein, you know?

 

Wie Jetzt – Samy Deluxe

Wie zum Beispiel die phantasielosesten Wesen, auf einmal Phantasie entwickeln, wenn sie über einen reden. Oh how true…

 

Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen

The Boss rocks!

 

You shook me all night long – AC/DC

I think I listen to this song every time at the gym and I’m still not sick of it.

 

Juke Box Hero vs. DJ Hero – DJ Hero Soundtrack

D-J- HERO, great mash up!

 

Happy – Leona Lewis

Leona is awesome! And this song is great. You might know it from the commercials from “Precious”. The whole CD is actually really good with this song as it’s flagship.

 

Do you Mind – Robbie Williams

Speaking of great British musicians, here’s the king of pop. You Americans are missing out in the worst case! Do-oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh you mind?

 

Stack that with NRG-X Labs Overdose  and you’ll have a kick butt workout!

 

Salü,

Claudio