Can't stand the heat...

The warm summer weather is finally here, and for those advocates of stopping global warming I say act faster. Growing up I was used to the summers being warm but not like this, and I will admit I like the sun but am by nature a cool weather fan, which is fortunate in Canada where half the year it is below freezing or damn near. Anyway, to beat the heat drink lots, and though beer is tasty it will not cool you down as well as water..which is a shame really, you'd think with the advances in science they could fix that, but I digress. We live in a country where it gets to minus 40 with the wind chill in February and in the peak of summer is around plus 40 with the humid ex, this is a rather drastic change compared to the rest of the world. The ocean is not near and so not a moderator as it is on some coasts, but we must preserver. don't stay out to long unless necessary, wear sunscreen and all those other tips, but really just try and find a pool...

Yellow Gold

The irreverent, witty, and always amusing (Well, for the first 10 years) antics of the Simpson finally hit the big screen this past weekend, and soared to the top of the box office. There are some detractors as there are with any movie, and it could have been a little more all encompassing of the characters they created, as the focus was on the Simpson family itself, but the fact is that the movie was fantastic. It lost the Family Guy Esq random humor and returned to the wittier, clever gags that made it a success in the first place. The story was interesting, there were some touching moments and personal realizations that while played out with some humour were fairly well done. There were some more crude gags than the show itself would permit and this was part of the films charm. Taking it to that next level. The movie has something to offer for everyone and its length while short, did it justice as trying to cram much more in would have taken away from the overall quality of the film. The yellow tinged gang has never been better, at least not of late, and while the lesser lights of the series weren't used as well as could have been, they played their parts well when called upon. If you are a fan you won't be disappointed, and if you aren't you'll still have a great time.

Lowe Blow

In the new NHL with the salary cap, and free agency being an option for younger players, there have been an ever increasing amount of interesting offers to restricted free agents, two of which have come from Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe. He offered a whopping $51million to Thomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabers who subsequently offered up the dough and signed Vanek. Darcy Regher had already lost Daniel Briere and Chris Drury and wasn't about to let another star player escape, but he was less than impressed by Lowe's tactic and had a few choice words for him. Yesterday, Kevin Lowe tendered an offer to Dustin Penner of the Stanley Cup Champion (sigh...) Ducks of Anaheim. This time he is going to cross paths with Brian Burke, a man know to be honest to the point of rudeness. So how do you think Mr. Burke will react? Well, we will have to wait and see but odds are he will not be overly impressed. The offer wasn't quite as dramatic as the one tendered to Vanek but was for a good sum nonetheless, and as such it seems like Burke is trying to buy a team. Well, he needs to. He has not done a good job of holding on to players or creating an environment where they want to play, thank you very much Chris Pronger, and so he is doing what he feels is necessary to put a winning team on the ice. I hope he does. While it is kind of an unfortunate way to have to go about it, money is his asset, he has some to spend so he is trying to make good use of it. Plain and Simple. Regher can cry until the cows come home, but if he had any brains he wouldn't have lost TWO star players. We would all try to make our team better and this is how he has gone about it, not the most classy thing to do but effective in driving up salaries...huhn, should have thought that through a little more, but at least he realizes money talks. And love him or hate him, he has spoke up.

Do I want to be famous??

The plights, misdeeds and many odd goings on in celebrity land lately got me thinking, is it really worth the attention. Not only are famous singers and actors in the news these days, but the sports world seems to be collapsing lately too. Weather it's fixing games, dog fighting, sexual abuse, drugs/booze, there is no end to the exploits of the rich and famous. Granted incidents like the Stall brothers getting drunk and rowdy at a bachelor party only made the news because they are famous. True, their behaviour was not commendable but certainly not reprehensible. Maybe because I have a bias, I love hockey, but there are few who can say they never had a few to many and acted like a fool as a result. But they didn't go out drinking and driving, or bet with the mafia to fix games. These incidents are far to common lately in the celebrity world. Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton and the like are no role models and ought to be stripped of any influence or power over others as these people show no regard for their position in society. Weather they like it or not they are in the public eye, and though I have no idea what that pressure is like, or can do to a persons state of mind, (though I wouldn't mind terribly) I certainly think they can at least try to behave themselves and act like normal people. David Beckham and wife Victoria recently moved to LA and even the world famous Beckham was overwhelmed by the attention put on them. He noted they had over forty cars following them watching their every move. Is it just me or does this seem unnecessary? I am the first to admit that gossip can be entertaining and I do pay attention to these things if they seem interesting, but this is simply a sign of how far we have sunk a s a society. Yes my point of view has been stated before, countless times, but it just seems to me like it will never get better, which is a shame because there is a lot of good that gets overlooked in this world for stupid nonsense like this...not my blog of course. But, who am I to comment, who cares what I think right, after all, I'm just me....

Summer Time and the Living's easy...for some...

As I sit here at work, and look around me, I see...nothing. There's no one here. Perhaps because they all get vacation, maybe its because I work for the government and it's after 3, who knows. And I am aware of the irony of me writing this on work time. My point is being the low man on the totem pole is about as much fun as dropping the soap in a prison shower. I drag myself into work everyday, not that my job is overly hectic or stressful, I get well paid and am very thankful for what I have, but my point is that is somewhat discouraging to see people take vacation and have the first though in your mind be, 'vacation from what?' all they really do is come in here everyday, and that's it. I guess that's stressful enough for some, but it only makes me agree with my friends who think our government services are in drastic need of an overhaul. I am all for a more relaxed and less stressful work place environment, but there has to be some kind of line in the sand. Maybe I am cynical because any other job I have had was for little pay and much more work, but who knows. The summer months are certainly less stressful in most work environments, though not all, and as such I understand there will naturally be a decline in workload and personnel, but when you get no holidays, or very few long weekends, it bites. Plain and simple. The only people around are students, or newer employees who have not banked the years required to take a summer off. My parents always told me you have to pay your dues, and so I carry on, content with being employed, losing the desire to change the world...I'm not sure I enjoy paying those dues, but they are taken nonetheless...

Head First...

The FIFA under 20 Men's world cup wrapped up yesterday in Toronto and while I enjoyed the tournament there is certainly no shame in some of these players. There is no debate that soccer players are good athletes and that it is the most widely played, therefore popular, sport in the world. But that being said, why do they bring shame to their country and themselves by flopping around on the pitch like they had been shot with a deer rifle. The Czech Republic whose style I enjoy, a tough, physical, tight checking game produced no shortage of flips, trips and 10.0 dives from the South American side, who use this as an obvious tactic being a smaller side. Being a small guy myself I feel I can comment fairly on this matter, and can honestly say I found no pride in doing this when I played soccer, and it is dishonest and unnecessary. Perhaps I have been brain washed and sucked in by North American sports, but if any and I mean ANY NFL or NHL player tried these stunts they'd be on the next train back to the minors. The 'new' NHL rules are already starting to see an increase in guys going down more easily or letting go of a stick because they can get the call which I also disagree with, but this is noting in comparison to the absolute art form of the soccer player who cries bloody murder and acts as if his leg is broken only to return to the pitch and run at full speed mere seconds later. The young man who scored the Czech goal is a perfect example. He was bumped ever so slightly by an Argentinian defend and went down like a house of cards. This was a disgusting scene to say the least. The usually honest Czech side succumb to the call of the ref as they saw it was to their advantage which simply leads to more diving, and less fair play. Good on Craig Forrest of CBC for calling the players on this, and wanting the game to be about skill not acting. Other than this it was nice to see some high talent soccer and excellent fan support from the Canadian people, and people from all over the world. Let's keep the beautiful game that way and leave acting to the professionals, shall we.

That's Just Prime...

Now that I have had time to mull it over, here is my take on the Transformers movie: It was incredible - sort of. You see Transformers is one of those movies that, let's face it, is not for everyone. It is a popcorn movie, a special effects extravaganza made for fans of the series. People who knew what they were getting themselves into would have appreciated this fact, and enjoyed it. Myself included. The average person off the street, well there were plenty of cool special effects and one liners to keep you entertained for the duration. However those looking more deeply were, let's just say looking for more that you ought to have. They explain the story of cybertron, glossy over the various characters both human and non, and while they show them enough to perhaps understand them and who they are this is certainly not the film's focus and there is no in depth analysis of the world or human nature. No stunning revelations or brilliant social commentary. While these are present in part, there is not much there. One must realize however, that it's simply not that kind of movie. Shia Leboeuf, Megan Fox and the rest play their characters well, not that it required a great deal of in depth acting, but the cast did a solid job for the most part. The movie was longish but never dull and there were perhaps a few cheesy lines but these were certainly fewer in number than the clever ones. The CGI was incredible and was what drives this film. The transformers themselves were visually stunning and the effects were first rate. All right, enough cliches, go see the movie for yourself, sit back and watch a lot of stuff that may never actually be able to explode blow up.

Triskidekiphobia

Friday the 13th...bound to happen a few times a year this day actually invokes panic in may, especially those with triskidekiphobia or fear of the number 13. 13 has been branded with bad luck the way seven is synonymous with good luck. There seems to be no real rhyme or reason for these fears, they are just there. Like a black cat or a broken mirror looking back at you. All these things are associated with the unlucky, creepy or even supernatural. So, I say don't spend the day hiding away looking for witches or the like, enjoy your bad luck, after all luck is what you make of it...

Needle in a haystack...

OK, so most of my readers, (well what, three or four of you guys?) will note that most of these entries are not on a serious subject. Perhaps I find it easier to talk about things I enjoy then delving into the controversial, difficult to comprehend, or abstract. However I read something interesting in the paper that got me thinking. Ottawa had a crack pipe program and a needle exchange program, the latter of which was sponsored by the Ontario government, so addicts could bring in their used paraphernalia and get new stuff, presumably to keep themselves from becoming infected. Ottawa has now done away with this program in the interest that it makes the city look like it condones the use of drugs, which I agree it does. If you are handing out the means to uses these ILLEGAL substances you are certainly not preventing it. Now I understand the logic behind it, trying to prevent infectious diseases from spreading and the like, but these people are breaking the law and should take it upon themselves to protect themselves from coming into contact with these problems. We should not give them the means to continue to conduct illegal activity, no matter what the humanitarian side of us feels. Now I certainly don't think they are all bad people, many have just made very, very bad decisions and need help. So why not sink money into programs that help to keep people off drugs, like rehab centers and education to prevent people from using them in the first place. Or crack down on those supplying them in the first place. Handing out free supplies to use the drug that is keeping these people in trouble is not the answer, they need more intensive care than that.

Ban The Bet

That witty title refers to none other than Gary Betman, the shifty little man in charge of the NHL these days. He seems to be so driven to make sure than Nashville doesn't end up in Hamilton or some other true hockey market north of the border that he is willing to settle them in Kansas City, where presumably they have a rink...OK, a bit of a cheap shot, and I think the game would probably do better in KC than Music city, but I also believe that you could put a team in any big Canadian city, which means it is still smaller than any American market, and have more success. Not that there aren't good markets in the states but they are few and far between. Go to Hamilton, or Kitchner, or Halifax, bring back the Jets or the Nordiques just get the game where it belongs. It is clear that Betman doesn't want this to happen and I think he ought to be relieved of his duties for not putting the best interest of the game forward the last number of years. Yes the game has gone under some interesting changes and the on ice product is quite solid, but interest in the US is still waining at best so why not bring the league where people actually want it, care about it and love it. I wouldn't bring a professional baseball team from Houston to Ottawa so why did they move Winnipeg to Phoenix? Bring back the Jets or move to Hamilton or some other Canadian market where, and trust me on this, the game will thrive. If the league removed some of the teams from the US and moved them to Canada I guarantee that revenue would increase as would average attendance and interest as fans would have a home team to support and their game to show their love for. Gary - if it wasn't for Canada you wouldn't have a league to run. Players, managers, coaches - where do you think the vast majority of these guys come from? It ain't Nashville Gary...

The Right Stripes

The stellar lineup at the years Ottawa Blues fest headlined by acts such as Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Kanye West is terrific, but Sunday night possibly the best act of the week and a half festival hit the stage when the White Stripes played. They were phenomenal - both of them. There are only two of them...It's hard to imagine that a band with such a great sound only has two people on stage. They don't rely on backup or lip sync complicated stuff, they just rock - old school. OK, that sounded a little lame but it is true nonetheless. They are amazing musicians and song writers and their bluesish sound more than let them fit in at the festival. Jack White simply got on stage and played his guitar, while Meg kept a beat. Simple enough one would imagine, but he is such a great guitar player and the raw sound almost memorizes you while listening to it. The show is entertaining and exciting while allowing you to hear pure rock sound. I would gladly see them any time again, and recommend you go check them out. They sound so good live it's almost unbelievable. I would also like to note that they are touring all over Canada this month, and are probably one of, if not thee biggest band to ever attempt to do this. Playing anywhere and everywhere along the way simply for the joy of playing, gotta love that. Also, the white and red colours the band frequently sport don't hurt either...

Strange isn't always bad...

The majority, if not all, of Will Farrell's memorable performances have come in comedic roles. Though he has done some other films, it is the SNL, Old School, Anchorman and Talledega Nights characters that he is most known for. And with good reason, he is a very funny guy. However I recently watched Stranger Than Fiction and was thoroughly impressed with Farrell's acting ability. He does an excellent job of bringing to life his character as does rest of the cast. It was clever, witty, funny, compelling ans all things a good movie should be. It was widely enjoyed by critics and with good reason, it works on so many levels. There is something that we can all take from this and apply to our own lives, good or bad, and the story it self is very clever and very well written. The fact that there are few innovative movies like this anymore helps us to appreciate the ones like this that actually pull off unique. It is a great movie and is definitely worth the watch.

TSN - Hockey really does live there...

OK, so now that I have caught up on rest after the long weekend, we can get back to reality. The weekend saw a lot of big name players get a lot of big money, and surprise surprise the New York Rangers were at the front of the line. Picking up two of the biggest name free agents in Scott Gomez and Chris Drury will no doubt bolster an already fairly solid team and make up for the loss of Michael Nylander. Daniel Briere signed in Phily for mega bucks and the Leafs signed Jason Blake? A pesky, whiny, little winger who is probably my least favorite player in the NHL. He is gutless and not generally well liked in the dressing room. Here's hoping Paul Maurice tears him a new one. Other players like Jerome Iginla and Joe Thornton signed contract extensions with their respective clubs, and Captain Canada decided not to return to Canada but instead to play with Joe Sakic, an opportunity many would love, myself included, and the rest of the Colorado Avalanche. Edmonton finished cleaning house from the team that went to the cup finals just two years ago, (now that this season is over) and traded their captain Jason Smith to Philly for a younger more offensive player in Janni Pitkonin. I like Smith, he's a good character guy but Edmonton is moving in a new direction and with the fast ice in Edmonton younger quicker players seem like a good investment. Cheer hard Aaron, and fear not your Oilers may have a better season...As for the rest, the Habs singed several veterans and are likely to loose Sheldon Sourray in the next few days, the Sens lost D-man Tom Preissing to LA, and Pittsburgh is once again improving adding Peter Sykora and Daryl Sydor...look for the Penguins to win the Atlantic this year, and maybe even the East, as they have improved and the young players have matured and will only get better while New Jersey and Buffalo have lost key players. Ottawa shouldn't have much of a drop if any in the east. The Cup champion Ducks signed Matthieu Schneider possibly to replace a possibly retiring Scott Neidermayer, which is a downgrade no offense to Schneider, but Niedermayer is one of the best ever. They also signed Todd Bertuzzi hoping he can resurrect his career under form GM Brian Burke. The Red Wings added a defense man to replace Schneider in Brian Rafalski, the Michigan Native should help Nick Lidstrom on the PP. It was a busy few days and promises to keep being that way a least for the next few as players try to nail down jobs and cash. And on another note, the salary cap was again raised, now to $50 Million US per season, so remind me again why we had a lockout?...But anyway, props to TSN, who on our national holiday spent the day covering our game, and thankfully for them it turned out to be a worthwhile day, even if it did start very very slowly. Check out their web site or the NHL website for all player transactions.

Who was the best signing?..Let me know what you think.