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Monday, May 30, 2005

Good Knight Hockey...

So, congrats to first time Memorial Cup winners, the London Knights. That was one helluva season they had…they’ll go down as one of the all time great junior teams. Not to mention the fact that they managed to shut out Rimouski and the “Next One” Sidney Crosby. That’s quite a feat. So London has a dream season and winds up winning it all on home ice in front of the hometown fans. Very cool.

You have to feel for the Rimouski goalie Desjardins though. He did everything he could back there to keep his team in it, but without any goal support, there was only so much he could do. After making unbelievable saves and basically standing on his head for his team, you could tell he was heartbroken after the loss. Either way, his profile should be higher now and should have betters hopes for being drafted…

Speaking of which, the NHL is still run by a bunch of idiots. Bettman and Goodenow are apparently adamant on killing the game completely. Now ESPN has declined to pick up the 60 mil option to broadcast games. Hmm, I wonder why? Well, why pay for something the NHL is giving NBC for free and isn’t even guaranteeing will be on the ice for this coming season? It makes no sense what these guys are doing – they keep fighting about the pieces of the pie, while the pie keeps getting smaller. I mean, which would you rather have – 10 percent of a growing $25.00 or 50 percent of shrinking $5?

Plus, after watching the junior hockey during the season, it is apparent to me that the on ice product of the NHL still sucks. Some games are more boring than watching paint dry. Compared to the junior hockey I’ve seen, I’d rather watch the young guys play than the pros. And, after watching some old games from circa ’88, the quality of the NHL currently went way downhill.

IF the NHL ever makes it back to playing, they are going to have their work cut out to convince anybody to even watch it again, not to mention trying to get advertisers and networks back in the fold to help pay for their ridiculous salaries…

Oh well, at least I’ve got baseball to watch – and frankly, right now, I’d rather watch a ballgame than a hockey game…and I’m from Canada!
Later…

Friday, May 27, 2005

Just Stupid

"Sith" Fans Maimed in Light-Saber Mishap - Yahoo! News

Hmm, if I were to make a homemade 'light saber' using fluorescent light tubes filled with liquid fuel, what could possible go wrong? Well, these two idiots found out. You get burned, that's what happens. How surprised could they have been when their 'sabers' exploded? I mean, being a fan is great and all, but this is just moronic. Oh well, we almost had a little 'thinning of the herd' by natural selection, but no such luck...

Fla. Gun Law to Expand Leeway for Self-Defense

Washington Post

So, are YOU packin' heat yet, Mickey Mouse? I guess now you'll have to carry a gun if you want to survive the mean streets of Floridian retirement communities. This is the loosest gun law I've seen - it's pretty much like the wild west. With this law, Floridians no longer have to try to walk away or prove that they couldn't...they can just open fire. In some ways, I like that there is more power given to potential victims, but this seems a little wide open. Around here, it's next to impossible to protect yourself, others, or your home without getting in trouble with the law. If someone breaks into your home, slips on the freshly waxed floor, and cracks his head open...the robber could probably sue the home owner, that's how crazy it is. So, definately, things need to get more in favor of the victims instead of the lawbreakers, but giving everyone access to a gun and free wheelin' rights to use as they see fit seems a bit much...

Either way, keep your head down in Florida...those trips to Disneyland just got a lot more dangerous...

Music Roundup

So…been a while…working long shifts leaves little room for blogging…let’s see what’s new:

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood finally made it official with him getting to one knee and popping the question in front of 7000 fans. Luckily for him, she said yes, and so they are now engaged. Interesting that this happens right at the time of Trisha’s comeback, but otherwise, it really is no big surprise. There’s been something special between these two for some time….
At the event where this happened, Garth wasn’t planning on singing until Buck Owens talked him into it. He sang George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning” and his own “Friends in Low Places” using Bucks famous Red White and Blue Guitar. Now, Garth singing Amarillo (one of my all time faves) is something I wish I would have seen…

Speaking of music – check out Trisha’s latest single, Georgia Rain. Excellent song, and a rather picturesque video. You can see the video at her website. Also out lately, Toby Keith’s Honkytonk University album has finally hit the stores and by now he’s on his second single and video from the album. (That’s one long time from first single to album release) I’ve actually read good reviews of it and have really liked the two songs I’ve heard so far. His latest, “As Good As I Once Was” is pretty good, and kinda funny too. So is the video. The reviews have stated that the album is closer to material that he did prior to his last couple of more “American bombast” type albums. I liked some of his earlier stuff – the song “Tired” from the ‘Dreamwalkin’ album is fantastic. Maybe I’ll check out his latest…

Also, Dwight Yoakam is set to release a new album June 14th called “Blame the Vain”. It’s his first self produced album as well. I listened to it the other night on CMT.com listening party, where you can listen to the whole album. Pretty good actually. The title track is well written and has a good groove. He also covers songs from Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison. The cover of Elvis’ “When I First Came Here” is really good. I’ve been on a Dwight Yoakam listening streak lately, especially the tracks “The Heart That You Own” and “Suspicious Minds”, so it was good news for me finding out about this album. Actually, the only way I found out was browsing New and Future releases on Amazon.com. This album needs more promotion…

Speaking of Dwight, his song “The Heart That You Own” was the first song of his to be featured in a movie and on a soundtrack. The movie was White Sands, starring Willem Dafoe (in a rare good guy role), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and one of my other favorites, Mickey Rourke (as an interesting bad guy). I had rented the VHS of it years ago and thought it was alright, but recently watched it again on my DVD and liked it more now. The widescreen for the scenic shots is much better, and there is some nice cinematography to look at as well. I picked up the DVD used for a dirt cheap price and its always nice to find a good movie in one of those ‘hidden gems’ moments. That was the second movie I watched that day with Mary Mastrantonio in it. (It was a Saturday I wasn’t feeling too well, so watching movies and ballgames was a nice way to spend it :) I hadn’t really heard of her much outside of Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner. I watched her in the movie The Abyss that day as well. Pretty good sci-fi movie too with Ed Harris. ‘Course what I remember of that movie was the bits of it I watched on an airplane flight years ago…as a kid and I had no headphones, so needless to say it didn’t make much sense at the time. Watching it now wasn’t bad – and it was a nice way to kill 3 hours…
Later…

Friday, May 20, 2005

Wins by a Stronach Nose...

So, the Liberals maintained their Canadian government in about as close a call as you can get, from what I've read. Apparently, Martin is safe for now thanks in a large part to Stronach's ship jump, an independent back bencher vote, and the deciding vote from the Liberal speaker (how conveeeenient :) If Stronach had stayed on the Tories side, and voted Tory, the Liberals would have lost. Lucky, lucky break for Martin, I suppose...now we can all get back to our regularly scheduled fleecing by the government...

I read a few Tories aimed some verbal jabs at Martin and Stronach, including this one that made me laugh, "What are you gonna do, buy another one?" (no proof of such of course, but a funny line all things considered).

So I guess we wait till some underterminded time for the next election...supposedly after the big report comes out, and we all know how long reports take. Someone was telling me today that by the time that's done and we actually have an election, most Canadians will have forgotton all about this and the Liberals will probably win again...I'm not saying that'd be good or bad, just probably accurate.

At the end of the day though, I wonder how much this waste of time cost Canadian taxpayers? How much money was wasted here? Obviously, no one was actually getting any work done, so if we're paying their checks, then they just hosed us again...

Sith Happens...

Well, I read that the new Star Wars flick made an unprecedented 50 million at the box office in its first day alone...yikes...that's a good weekend for a film, let alone one day...it can't be that good...

It sure makes Lucas look like a genius for managing to maintain the rights in what was a complete fluke way back when...it wasn't expected to do much, so the studio basically threw him a bone by offering him the rights, which he gladly took. As he said, you take whatever you can at that point. His plan was to sell T-shirts with the logo and pictures on it at comic-cons around the country, where he figured he'd make some extra money selling to the teenage 'geek' crowd...who knew - look at it now. Star Wars merchandising is everywhere, and Lucas is laughing all the way to the bank...

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Bad Weather

Newfangled Forecasting Enrages Britons - Yahoo! News

So, the Brits don't like the 3D weather viewing...they want their suns and clouds back...so much for progress. I do like the mention of the gruff weather reporter saying, "It's April. What do you expect?" ...classic...

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Jumping Ship

Belinda Stronach stuns political observers, moves to Liberals, joins cabinet - Yahoo! News

Wow, this must actually mean something in Canadian Politics if it makes headline staus on Yahoo.com, the US site. Rarely does anything from Canada make it onto the Yahoo front page headlines....so, I read it...

Hmph...interesting. Nothing like jumping ship right before an election. Guess she and everyone else knew who was going to win and she decided she wanted to be on that side. Still, this whole thing really, stinks...I mean, something's rotten in the state of Denmark, to coin a phrase...besides, that noise you just heard is a gold digger smashing through a glass ceiling...(thanks goodness no one reads this blog, or that would have just opened the floodgates of Flames :)

From a purely business standpoint, which is her background, it makes a great deal of sense. Align yourself with the strongest horse in the derby, so to speak. However, from a political viewpoint, what does it say for what you stand for? Your position on issues? If you simply jump to the winning team, does that mean you'll fight for the issues the people who voted for you expected you to solve? I think the answer's pretty obvious...

Oh well, it's the most interesting thing to happen in Canadian politics since Mulroney stepped down, handed the reigns to Campbell, and she deep sixed the party ;-)

Transcendental Soliloquy

It’s a vacuum, covered by paper,
Feel is full, but knowing empty,
A fool’s thoughts hiding a fool’s truth
Propped up just before it falls,
Keep it standing a little while longer

When the other is there, it’s not so bad
But twice as empty when it’s gone,
A hole in the middle, surrounded by nothing
The wind blows through, then it’s gone
Back to where it was all along.

Never going to change it; knew it,
Sometimes better isn’t after all,
Knew what it was, saw it all
The choice made, worse without
Stand back and let it fall…

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Dying Ducks

Remember when Nintendo was the big dog in gaming? Ah, yes, the glory days of duck hunt...nothing like shooting a light gun at the TV...good times...

Anyway, nowadays Nintendo is third in the gaming world, behind Xbox and Playstation. The other day Xbox announced their new system will be out before Christmas (obviously to take advantage of Xmas sales for Xbox). Nintendo announced today that it's new system will be out next year, post Christmas, which will take a hit sales wise. Oh well, can't fight Microsoft :)

The interesting thing is they say this thing will be about the size of 3 DVD cases stacked on top of each other. Can't wait to see that...is this thing gonna even have a fan for its new IBM chip and ATI graphics?

Whatever...I still prefer the days of Sega NHL93, Streets of Rage, and Nintendo Duck Hunt. Now those were fun...
later

Friday, May 13, 2005

DVD Douple Dips

Well, news is that for all the ground breaking stuff done with the film Sin City, the old double dipping DVD standard will not be broken. Word has it that a bare bones release will be available at the end of August, and that the proper expanded edition will come later. How much later is still to be determined...

Also, the rumor mill indicates the Special Editions of the Kill Bill movies should be coming along soon. They better get those out if they plan on trying to rip customers on another re-release for the new HD-DVD format coming along by the end of the year. Speaking of which, there is some good news that the opposite camps on high def DVD are actually meeting and at least talking about trying to come up with a singular format. They better get their act together on it, cause a divided format will only confuse customers who probably won't see that big a difference anyway to warrant the cost of a hardware upgrade.

Elsewhere, the new XBOX was unveiled, and it will be looking to use high def DVD, so a singular format better be there if game boxes are going to include it as well or its going to be a mess.

Hopefully greed will be overcome by common sense....yeah, right, when has that ever happened in commercialism?
later

Busted!

So, the Chili finger’s philandering fellow has been found. Apparently, it belonged to an associate of the husband of the woman who now quite apparently planted it in her own chili. He lost it in an industrial accident and wound up giving it to the husband. I think most people can connect the dots from there. So this con game is over. Hopefully, no more fingers in food stories for awhile…

Monday, May 09, 2005

When'd that happen?

So, hands raised if you saw this coming - Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger have reportedly gotten married on a beach in the Virgin Islands where Chesney has a home...I guess she thought his tractor was sexy...

They sure kept a tight lid on this one. I would imagine that if you're in showbiz, it's the way to do it. I mean, just look at the debacle that Bennifer became...speaking of which, Bennifer 2 or Garfleck, is making the waves in the gossip columns. Reportedly, Jennifer Garner is pregnant and Ben Affleck has recently popped the question. So the Daredevil / Elektra connection lives on. Hmm, from one Jennifer to another I guess...

Oh well, slow news day...who cares about this stuff anyway?

Thursday, May 05, 2005

NY doctors charged with giving Viagra to the mob - Yahoo! News

NY doctors charged with giving Viagra to the mob - Yahoo! News

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York doctors were charged on Thursday with giving large amounts of Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs to mob members in return for construction and auto repair work done by mafia-controlled businesses."

Wow, just weird...plus I don't think the words "end of the FBI probe" should have been used in this article (haha). The one crime dude allegedly was running a virtual pharmacy with all the pills he was getting from the docs. This in exchange for construction (I wonder what they erected...uh, I mean got up, put up, Built...whatever) and auto repair (lube job and new pistons?)......oh man, just too many jokes...I wonder if this will hurt their 'stature' in the mob community? oh yeah, I got a lot more, but I digress...

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Box Office

Yahoo! Movies: Weekend Box Office Report

This is good news - Hitchhikers Guide gets top spot at the B.O. with an opening of 21.7 million. Even better news is that the no-reason-to-make, money-grabbing XXX:State of the Union came in a dissappointing (to the studio) 3rd with 13.7 mil. The trailer and clips I saw of it did not inspire money-spending confidence on my part. Even the CGI looked bad...

Apparently movie goers thought likewise. Can't wait to see Hitchhikers Guide myself this week, while I think XXX 2 has "wait-for-cable" written all over it...
later