The Rock is also:

• a nickname for Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco bay.
• the island of Newfoundland, which I understand is rather descriptive though I have yet to have the pleasure of visiting.

The Rock (real name Duane Johnson) played college football for the Miami Hurricanes. He was a likely NFL prospect, but a serious injury during college changed that. He played briefly in a Canadian football league before giving up and starting to train as a professional wrestler under his father's direction.

He quickly earned a tryout with the WWF through his father's connections, and the WWF stuck him in one of their "farm" promotions for a few months to flesh out his style. During this period, he was known as Flex Kavana, and the character was just as dumb as the name suggests.

Eventually called up to the WWF in late 1996, he debuted under the name Rocky Maivia, a mixture of the names his father and grandfather were known as during their wrestling careers. He was pushed as a third-generation "blue chipper", and the fans absolutely HATED him. He was pushed down everyone's throats as a classic babyface (good guy), and the fans responded by chanting "Rocky Sucks!" at every opportunity.

After an injury forced him out of action for a few months, he came back in August 1997 and promptly turned heel (into a bad guy) by joining The Nation, a heel stable (group of wrestlers) of the time. Citing the fact that the fans hated him, he shunned their approval and gradually morphed into his current persona, The Rock.

Needing a credible wrestler to lead his "Corporation" heel stable, Vince McMahon recruited The Rock by having him win the WWF Championship at Survivor Series '98 in a screwjob reminiscent of The Montreal Incident that Bret Hart fell victim to the year before.


The Rock thus became the number one heel in the federation, eventually leading to a blowoff match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XV, where Austin regained his championship belt.

In the months that followed, the growing popularity of The Rock practically forced the WWF to turn him babyface, although he retained many of the heelish personality aspects that made him a star. When Austin went on hiatus in November 1999 due to a neck injury, The Rock became the star of the WWF in his absence.

Although his ring work itself is mediocre at best, he continues to give some of the freshest and greatest interviews ever seen in the sport of professional wrestling.

In 1902, the graduating class of Northwestern University decided to leave a permanent mark on campus. To achieve that goal, they obtained a six-foot tall boulder and, as their class gift, used it to create a drinking fountain at the center of campus. That boulder is now known as The Rock.

If they were return today, not only would they be amazed at how the campus has grown, they might not even recognize the Rock itself. Not only has it been moved since they placed it, but the Rock is also a different color than it was in those days. And a different color than it was yesterday. And the day before.

That's because it has become a cherished Northwestern tradition for campus groups of all kinds - student organizations, dorms, fraternities and sororities, even sports teams - to paint the Rock, covering it in color and symbols or messages.

This tradition began in the 1940's, and quickly gained steam despite official disapproval. Eventually, the administration gave in to reality and acknowledged the new tradition.

As painting the Rock became more and more popular, groups founds themselves competing for paint time. By the late 80's, the most important part of the tradition was not the painting itself, but guarding the rock before and after to establish painting rights. Sometime around noon, a claim staker would begin the first watch, and other members of the group would take shifts until the wee hours of the morning. Then the painting would begin. The job was not complete, however, until the last guard shift ended at dawn and the rock painters went home to get dressed for class.

Over the years, the Rock has seen many colorful and creative designs, and became a focal point for student expression from mundane to profound. Unfortunately, so did the grounds and buildings nearby. Everything from accidental spills to overzealous painting spurred the University to take action to curb future vandalism.

In the summer of 1989, when few students were on campus, the administration brought in a crane to move the Rock 30 feet to be placed in a special gravel-floored enclosure. During the move, the Rock cracked, and the student body was enraged. The Rock is still there, however, and still serves as a focus of campus life.

When this boulder was unearthed during excavation for the Social Sciences Building at the University of Calgary in 1968, the administration decided that it would be easiest to simply move "The Rock" to a section of the lawn east of MacEwan Hall.

Throughout the years "The Rock" has been the subject of much abuse. It has been tarred and feathered, set on fire, stolen by engineering students from the rival institution The University of Alberta in Edmonton. After it was recovered it was set in concrete to discourage any further attempts at theft. Once some unknown persons attempted to blow up "The Rock" with dynamite. The resulting blast broke off a fair sized chunk of the boulder and blew out the windows in some of the surrounding buildings.

During the school year "The Rock" is used as a meeting place and message board, being painted on more than a weekly basis. Some estimate that the layers of paint are over a foot and a half thick.

In 2000, to make way for expansion of MacEwan Hall, "The Rock" was moved to a section of lawn near a large stainless steel sculpture which remains untitled but is commonly referred to as the Prairie Chicken.

In addition to being a message board for most of the student organizations on campus, it has also been the focus of a unique fundraiser for the past 13 years. The "Race Around the Rock" is put on by the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, and basically what happens is we get these scooters and race around it for 24 hours, all while pestering anyone passing by for money.

On average it's managed to raise about $1500-$2000 for whatever chairity we're benefitting that year. For the past couple of years it's been the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada, but this year it shall be in support of the Calgary Emergency Women's Shelter.

The Rock (1996)

Directed by: Michael Bay
Written by: David Weisberg, Douglas S. Cook & Mark Rosner
Genre: Action

Cast: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, John Spencer, David Morse, William Forsythe, Michael Biehn, Vanessa Marcil, John C. McGinley

Plot:
A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead a strike force to break into the infamous Alcatraz prison after disgruntled soldiers threaten San Francisco with nerve gas.

Review:
Although once described as the "cinematic axis of evil", you have to admit that the Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer production team know how to produce a damn good action movie and The Rock is an example of one of their finest works. The plot is suitably light, the action is suitably heavy, the visuals are spectacular and the cast are excellent.

The plot involves a group of US Marines, led by the highly decorated Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel (Harris), taking 81 tourists hostage on the disused prison of Alcatraz ("The Rock"). Hummel demands $100 million in 40 hours as restitution for families of soldiers who died carrying out covert operations and hence were denied compensation, otherwise he'll launch 15 rockets contaning the deadly nerve agent VX. A strike force consisting of elite Navy SEALs, lead by SEAL Commander Anderson (Biehn), is assembled but the problem is that nobody knows how to get into Alcatraz. So they turn to the only man that ever broke out - John Patrick Mason (Connery). Together with an FBI chemical weapons expert, Special Agent Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), they must break into Alcatraz and neutralise the threat before time runs out.

What sets The Rock apart from other run-of-the-mill action movies is undoubtedly the "mismatched buddy" duo of Cage and Connery, with Cage's ordinary, "what the fuck am I doing here?" FBI agent contrasting perfectly with Connery's hardened, "I eat danger for breakfast" ex-con. The rest of the cast all put in good performances, giving the movie a touch of class not normally associated with action films. The action itself is suitably intense, well-filmed, and once the film gets going the pace doesn't let up. The Cage/Connery team are also very good at making the funny moments actually funny. I definitely recommend this movie to action fans and to those who detest Bay/Bruckheimer movies because I think this movie is a classic.

Rating: R for strong violence, language and a sex scene (US)

Links:
IMDB page - http://us.imdb.com/Title?0117500

Source:
IMDB