'Tis the season to be forechecking

There’s no Christmas present quite like a 4-1 win over the Leafs. Fa la la la la la la la la.

.:.

Been watchin’ some movies. Not much else to do when it’s a squall out there.

The Illusionist (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was hard to like at first, and didn’t exactly thrill me with the ending, but in between it was pretty good. There was a very particular style to the film that I had to adjust to — the visual effect of being shot through amber, the simulated screen wipes that made the film look decades-old, etc. — but once I did, and I got into the film, it wasn’t bad. Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti are just good in anything, and pretty much made up for the useless Jessica Biel. It’s worth a watch.

Flags Of Our Fathers (imdb | rotten tomatoes) and…meh. I don’t know; I like war movies, and it was well done, but it was the same well-done war movie I’ve liked about six times in the past six years. I always compare them to Band Of Brothers, and they never stack up. Worth seeing, but there certainly won’t be anything shocking in it for you.

[tags]canadiens, leafs, illusionist movie, flags of our fathers[/tags]

Was Anna Nicole 2006? Or 2007?

From OpenCulture: an interview with Stephen King. Normally I have no interest in what King has to say, but this is pretty funny:

STEPHEN KING: So who’s going to be TIME Person of the Year?

TIME: I really don’t know, there’s a very small group of people who make that decision.

STEPHEN KING: I was thinking, I think it should be Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

TIME: Really?

STEPHEN KING: Yeah. You know, I just filmed a segment for Nightline, about [the movie version of his novella] The Mist, and one of the things I said to them was, you know, “You guys are just covering — what do they call it — the scream of the peacock, and you’re missing the whole fox hunt.” Like waterboarding [or] where all the money went that we poured into Iraq. It just seems to disappear. And yet you get this coverage of who’s gonna get custody of Britney’s kids? Whether or not Lindsay drank at her twenty-first birthday party, and all this other shit. You know, this morning, the two big stories on CNN are Kanye West’s mother, who died, apparently, after having some plastic surgery. The other big thing that’s going on is whether or not this cop [Drew Peterson] killed his… wife. And meanwhile, you’ve got Pakistan in the midst of a real crisis, where these people have nuclear weapons that we helped them develop. You’ve got a guy in charge, who’s basically declared himself the military strongman and is being supported by the Bush administration, whose raison d’etre for going into Iraq was to spread democracy in the world.

.:.

I have to tell you, a Canadiens win over the Leafs puts me in a good mood for at least a couple of days.

[tags]stephen king, time person of the year, canadiens, leafs[/tags]

Hah bumhug!

It’s a grey, grey day. I’m wondering now whether having such a clear and panoramic view of the world outside is going to adversely affect my mood on days like this? I may be a scrooge for realsies by Christmas.

.:.

Last night’s Canadiens game was a beaut. Watched it on fast forward last night after Nellie went to bed. Montreal scoring 13 goals in two games? That’s five games’ worth at their usual scoring rate. Anyway, they’re back at it tonight against Pittsburgh. I shall watch it while I blast away at this paper (which is progressing quite nicely, thank you very much).

.:.

Still with hockey, if you want to live, do not play against the Philadelphia Flyers. For the third time this year a Flyer has nearly killed someone.

Boston Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron was taken off the ice on a stretcher Saturday after a scary hit from behind by Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Randy Jones.

Bergeron was chasing after a loose puck in the Flyers zone late in the first period when Jones closed in on him and drove his head into the boards with his forearm.

The 22-year-old crumpled to the ice and lay on his back motionless while the Bruins went after Jones, 26. Medical personnel cut away Bergeron’s jersey and shoulder pads as they worked on him, placing his neck in a brace. They placed him on a board and then onto a stretcher, his legs taped together and his arms folded across his chest. There was little sign of movement. The game was delayed some 15 minutes as he was treated.

I don’t know what you’re coaching down there in Philly, but jeezus…let’s take it easy with the attempted homicide, shall we?

.:.

Here’s a whole bucket of dumb for you:

  • This Florida mother mutilated her daughter’s genitals so that she wouldn’t enjoy sex…and was acquitted of the charges brought against her.
  • FEMA staged a fake news conference about the California wildfires. The White House needs to form a disaster management firm to fix all the stupid things FEMA does. I suggest the name metaFEMA.
  • Britney Spears’ mother is writing a book about motherhood. It’d better be called, “I’m sorry y’all, I blew that one.”

.:.

OK, back to work.

[tags]toronto weather, canadiens, hurricanes, penguins, philadelphia flyers, patrice bergeron, florida mother genitals, fema news conference, britney spears[/tags]

It's that last 0.28% that'll kill you

Last night’s loss by the Canadiens almost killed me. Watching Montreal completely outplay Florida for 58 minutes and then give up the tying goal with 10 seconds left, finally losing the game on the last shot of the shootout…it was almost too much to bear.

After the game Alex Kovalev couldn’t hide his displeasure with coach Guy Carbonneau, re-igniting rumours of Kovalev’s imminent trade to Calgary. Keep it up, Kovalev, sez I.

.:.

Key strategic takeaways from today:

There will be a quiz next month.

[tags]canadiens, esquire magazine, iran, darth vader harmonica, matador parking lot, stephen colbert[/tags]