Random Thoughts 1: The NHL
I haven't watched many games this year, certainly not as many as last year. But then, the stone tools and bearskins Charter Cable of Ft. Worth does not OFFER the NHL Center Ice package - bastards! But with the trade deadline coming up, I thought I'd better say a few words.
Nashville overpaid for Peter Forsberg. They've also tinkered with the team chemistry and now it's possible the Mojo that had them in first place most of the season is gone. Two prospects [though Upshall was playing the in NHL] and two draft picks is too much for an injury prone veteran like Forsberg. Yes, he CAN still be dynamic when he's at 75% or better. But I think this was a move to keep him AWAY from Detroit or Anaheim more than anything.
Buffalo looked great all year long, but they seem to have found the LA Kings injury bug there; all the players going down at EXACTLY the wrong time. Now with co-captain and only Cup winner Chris Drury possibly out for the rest of the year with a concussion, it looks like they're going to HAVE to make a move for some veteran help.
You ALL better be watching the New Jersey Devils. Yes, I know that defense first system makes games SOOO BORING to watch at times, but Martin Brodeur is HANDS DOWN the best goalie in the game right now and maybe be the best EVER. Patrick Roy will remain a great goalie in my heart if only for his personality, but Broduer may move St. Patrick down a peg in all the record books a mere decade after Patrick just re-wrote the book.
Carolina just picked Anson Carter out of Columbus to replace the injured Eric Cole like they picked Mark Recchi out of Pittsburgh last year. They've played mediocre most of the year and Eric Staal is having that sophomore slump a year late, but they can still be dangerous. Carter adds size and a scoring touch and a line of Carter - Josef Vasicek - Scott Walker would be a hell of a banging line that can chip in points.And don't count the Tampa Bay Lightning out of the mix either. They seem to have gelled and are making a run in the South-least. If they get on a roll and get halfway decent goal tending, they could be dangerous with those scorers. With Atlanta faltering [again] in this division, one of these teams can get on a tear and make some noise in the playoffs. I'd LOVE to see those two teams in a seven game series against each other.
How about the resurgent NY Islanders under formerly blackballed Ted Nolan? I liked Ted in Buffalo and I understand he feuded with the GM, but he's showing it was no fluke that he built the Buffalo team that went to the 98-99 finals. What's going on in Ottawa? They've fallen off the table this year. No one's talking about them, which makes them an ideal sleeper team, but that team just fell apart. And the NY Rangers? defense [or lack of] is costing them games and Henrik Lundqvist is merely good instead of spectacular.
In the West, you still have to like Nashville and Detroit duking it out for the Central. It's too bad St. Louis and Chicago are in that division, too because those two get waxed by the Preds and the Wings 8 times a year. Yes, both have shown signs of life lately but too little too late again. Just like the Bruins of Boston.
The formerly Might Ducks, now just Anaheim Ducks have also shown some fallibility recently, but don't be fooled - this is a team on a mission. It's too bad Dallas is going to have to be the ones to kick them in the ass [Ladislav Nagy?] since San Jose continues to show they can be very good when they want to be - they just don't seem to show it against Dallas or Anaheim or Nashville...
The great race in the great northwest will see the Colorado Avalanche missing the playoff for the first time in forever. Joe Sakic is great, but poor salary cap management two years running cost this team too much. But they only have to look at Dallas to see how to rebuild quickly. First, buy out Pierre Turgeon... Calgary is going to win this on the strength of the always superb goal tending of Miikka Kiprusoff and Vancouver will ride Roberto Luongo to his first playoff games ever. Unfortunately, that leaves last year's Cinderellas the Edmonton Oilers on the outside looking in. I hope the Oilers come up with a way to keep super sniper Ryan Smyth and don't deal him at the deadline. Seeing Smyth in any other than Oiler Blue or team Canada red will just be WRONG and something I thought the salary cap was supposed to fix.
Random Thoughts 2: Anna Nicole and Other Train Wrecks
Does anyone really give two tugs of a dead dog's cock where the hell Anna Nicole Smith is buried besides Howard K. Stern and her mother? And her mother wants to dig up Anna's first husband [Mr. Smith] and bury him and her together in 'the family plot.' How long had they been divorced? Is Anna's mother planning on making a buck selling tickets to her daughter's grave?
But still, the quote 'news networks' unquote had to run that trial all damn day and talk about it all night?
Look, Anna went to the Bahamas to have her baby to try and get some peace and quiet and NOT be under the microscope of the media. Unfortunately she fucked that up by dying... now she will never get a moments peace as people prop her up as 'the New Marilyn,' martyred by the media, unable to cope with reality....
Then Britney got all high and shaved her head. Now she and Lindsey Lohan are in rehab saving a spot for Nicole Richie and Paris. God, we are so fascinated with celebrity and then we wonder why they crack up after living in a fishbowl on display 24/7? Who would have thought that K-Fed was the 'responsible one' in their marriage?
Friday, February 09, 2007
Television - the Drug of Our Nation
Television, the drug of our nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
- Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprissy
I didn't hear the news until I went for coffee about 345 this afternoon, since I do not listen to the radio anymore on my way into work [I have found that BAD radio bogs down too much in "Daily Donovan" and crap]. While it is clearly a tragedy that Ms. Vicki Lynn Hogan / Anna Nicole Smith has suddenly ceased to be of this mortal coil, I am immediately disgusted by the 24 hrs of retrospective and speculation that begins before the body is even fuckin' cold.
Okay, a young lady literally drops dead for no good or apparent reason and within hours the rumor mill is going: "was it drugs?" "what happens to her baby?" "what happens to the money she won from the Marshall estate?" "Does this mean we'll never find out who the father of her baby is?"
{for the record, I am saying brain aneurysm, though a series of strokes or a tumor would explain her odd behavior somewhat.}
But what strikes me most right now is this: Television does good death and television does good disaster and for whatever reason, we as a society are unable to look away.
Good grief, the headline on Yahoo is all ready Candle In the Wind. It's sadly appropriate as the song is not really about Marilyn Monroe per se, but how America loves to put its idols up on a pedestal and then watch them crack up under the pressure of out expectations. The lucky ones [James Dean, Monroe, Jimi, Janis, Morrison] die young and we're spared watching them in slow decline, eventually faltering and failing and fading from view. Which is why Neil Young was right: It's better to burn out than to fade away.
America loves to watch tragedies, train wrecks and deaths. Look back at the last year, the hours and hours of 60 channels broadcasting the funeral of Gerald Ford, the days and days of coverage and replay of water rising in New Orleans, the ongoing pictures of burned up cars and streets and people carrying away the wounded and the dead in Iraq and Israel. Look at the "news coverage" Britney Spears flashing her ugly shaved crotch at the media got, how her break-up with her untalented husband gets coverage, Lindsey Lohan to rehab, etc. etc. Look how long Jerry Springer has continued to show the ugly underbelly of our nation to us, people so desperate for something they'll do anything to be on TV and get their five seconds of -- what exactly?
We love to watch others crash and burn because it makes us feel smugly superior to them. We're not, but it makes us feel that way, either because we continue to keep our faults out of the media or because we say "I've got it better than them. I'm not that low / bad." We get our hardcore jollies being voyeurs to 'the Stars' and yet we remain surprised when they turn out to be PEOPLE with the same trials and tribulations and problems and [sometimes] failures as the rest of us. I don't get it.
Television, the drug of our nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
- Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprissy
I didn't hear the news until I went for coffee about 345 this afternoon, since I do not listen to the radio anymore on my way into work [I have found that BAD radio bogs down too much in "Daily Donovan" and crap]. While it is clearly a tragedy that Ms. Vicki Lynn Hogan / Anna Nicole Smith has suddenly ceased to be of this mortal coil, I am immediately disgusted by the 24 hrs of retrospective and speculation that begins before the body is even fuckin' cold.
Okay, a young lady literally drops dead for no good or apparent reason and within hours the rumor mill is going: "was it drugs?" "what happens to her baby?" "what happens to the money she won from the Marshall estate?" "Does this mean we'll never find out who the father of her baby is?"
{for the record, I am saying brain aneurysm, though a series of strokes or a tumor would explain her odd behavior somewhat.}
But what strikes me most right now is this: Television does good death and television does good disaster and for whatever reason, we as a society are unable to look away.
Good grief, the headline on Yahoo is all ready Candle In the Wind. It's sadly appropriate as the song is not really about Marilyn Monroe per se, but how America loves to put its idols up on a pedestal and then watch them crack up under the pressure of out expectations. The lucky ones [James Dean, Monroe, Jimi, Janis, Morrison] die young and we're spared watching them in slow decline, eventually faltering and failing and fading from view. Which is why Neil Young was right: It's better to burn out than to fade away.
America loves to watch tragedies, train wrecks and deaths. Look back at the last year, the hours and hours of 60 channels broadcasting the funeral of Gerald Ford, the days and days of coverage and replay of water rising in New Orleans, the ongoing pictures of burned up cars and streets and people carrying away the wounded and the dead in Iraq and Israel. Look at the "news coverage" Britney Spears flashing her ugly shaved crotch at the media got, how her break-up with her untalented husband gets coverage, Lindsey Lohan to rehab, etc. etc. Look how long Jerry Springer has continued to show the ugly underbelly of our nation to us, people so desperate for something they'll do anything to be on TV and get their five seconds of -- what exactly?
We love to watch others crash and burn because it makes us feel smugly superior to them. We're not, but it makes us feel that way, either because we continue to keep our faults out of the media or because we say "I've got it better than them. I'm not that low / bad." We get our hardcore jollies being voyeurs to 'the Stars' and yet we remain surprised when they turn out to be PEOPLE with the same trials and tribulations and problems and [sometimes] failures as the rest of us. I don't get it.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
When the Blues Strike Back
It's been a long week. A long couple of weeks. A long season. It's been a while since I had a scheduled day off and I am just a little burnt out. I am tired of suffering fools gladly and I wish some people would just do their fucking job right for a change. I have just slammed down the first of three MGD 12oz in front of me and I will slam down two more before I finish this little rant. God, sometimes a cold beer is just what you need on a cold night; the crispness of the night matched by the crisp taste of the beer. And some Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac [oh, that TONE! No one gets that fat sustained Les Paul sound like Greeny!] on the box...
I guess I am just a little toasty. Some things have been going really really right. Like finances; I got paid an extra bit for the icy day last week [or was it 2 weeks?] and the carry over sick time that they said does not get paid - GOT PAID! So I got an extra day and a half of pay for this period! And I had figured my taxes wrong and I am getting back more than I thought [and DO NOT forget to take the deduction for the telephone excise tax - $ 30 is $ 30] But every other little thing is so so spooty and wrong. Like having to dial things three times at work because I just can't dial anymore. Bad typing. Thank God for spell check here!
[2 down the hatch!]
I guess some things got settled for better or worse in my personal life that I don't feel like going into. It's like letting go of something you've just been hanging onto because it's there... that's not exactly right... maybe letting go of the ties that bind or setting free the thing you love... I dunno. There's no heartbreak or regret this time [that could change]. I guess I knew it and I just fell back into a rut because it was there. Maybe I am over thinking this. Maybe the beer is having an effect; where did another one come from?
Anyway, I was just wondering when I last did something for FUN. I want to go see a movie and laugh because I can't cry. When was the last time I sat with friends and just drank some beers and yukked it up? Maybe play some guitars or go to a hockey game or go bowling or something?
God, I am thinking about my 40th birthday... I want to have some big Last Waltz blowout! "Bring together all the spokes that make up the wheel." I know we are going to Heddary's, just like my 30th [surprise party]. My niece Shelby was just a baby then! Where is Marie Shoop? Could I find Jennifer C. or Tammy Bagumba? Will Bobbi and/ or Debbee come in? Could I work up the nerve to ask someone else? It just makes me think about the people that have come and gone... and miss some of the ones I have lost touch with through their fault. Some people don't want to ... I mean relationships are a two way street, right? And some people just take other people for granted, right? Anyway, I haven't done that for a while. Their loss. They'll miss the party, eh?
Anyway, I am just missing some contact tonight. I'd like to have someone to talk to and maybe watch a movie with. I am SO low maintenance.
"There's a difference in being lonely and being alone
"And right now I don't want to be by myself"
-the Buck Pets; A Little Murder
It's been a long week. A long couple of weeks. A long season. It's been a while since I had a scheduled day off and I am just a little burnt out. I am tired of suffering fools gladly and I wish some people would just do their fucking job right for a change. I have just slammed down the first of three MGD 12oz in front of me and I will slam down two more before I finish this little rant. God, sometimes a cold beer is just what you need on a cold night; the crispness of the night matched by the crisp taste of the beer. And some Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac [oh, that TONE! No one gets that fat sustained Les Paul sound like Greeny!] on the box...
I guess I am just a little toasty. Some things have been going really really right. Like finances; I got paid an extra bit for the icy day last week [or was it 2 weeks?] and the carry over sick time that they said does not get paid - GOT PAID! So I got an extra day and a half of pay for this period! And I had figured my taxes wrong and I am getting back more than I thought [and DO NOT forget to take the deduction for the telephone excise tax - $ 30 is $ 30] But every other little thing is so so spooty and wrong. Like having to dial things three times at work because I just can't dial anymore. Bad typing. Thank God for spell check here!
[2 down the hatch!]
I guess some things got settled for better or worse in my personal life that I don't feel like going into. It's like letting go of something you've just been hanging onto because it's there... that's not exactly right... maybe letting go of the ties that bind or setting free the thing you love... I dunno. There's no heartbreak or regret this time [that could change]. I guess I knew it and I just fell back into a rut because it was there. Maybe I am over thinking this. Maybe the beer is having an effect; where did another one come from?
Anyway, I was just wondering when I last did something for FUN. I want to go see a movie and laugh because I can't cry. When was the last time I sat with friends and just drank some beers and yukked it up? Maybe play some guitars or go to a hockey game or go bowling or something?
God, I am thinking about my 40th birthday... I want to have some big Last Waltz blowout! "Bring together all the spokes that make up the wheel." I know we are going to Heddary's, just like my 30th [surprise party]. My niece Shelby was just a baby then! Where is Marie Shoop? Could I find Jennifer C. or Tammy Bagumba? Will Bobbi and/ or Debbee come in? Could I work up the nerve to ask someone else? It just makes me think about the people that have come and gone... and miss some of the ones I have lost touch with through their fault. Some people don't want to ... I mean relationships are a two way street, right? And some people just take other people for granted, right? Anyway, I haven't done that for a while. Their loss. They'll miss the party, eh?
Anyway, I am just missing some contact tonight. I'd like to have someone to talk to and maybe watch a movie with. I am SO low maintenance.
"There's a difference in being lonely and being alone
"And right now I don't want to be by myself"
-the Buck Pets; A Little Murder