Guess Who's Back...

Back Again... Been back in town for about two weeks now. Took me one week to get over the jet-lag. Didn't take many fotos at all, my dad, uncle and brother-in-law took plenty, so I'll post them all soon enough for everyone. It was good to get away, pretty mellow trip, but very relaxing. Plenty of rest has helped me gain a few more inches on my vert!

Googled an interesting article on the publishing of indepedent magazines when I was trying to find out whatever happened to a Vancouver mag called Banana as I didn't come across it when I overnighted there for the J.E.W. show (which was great, but I'll save that for my holiday post).


Happy holidays everyone!! Best wishes and plenty of blogs for 2005!!

Holidays

Sorry for lack of posts, but I've been totally busy with work and play. Doesn't help that I'll be leaving for a 3-week holiday starting tomorrow night. Returning to the motherland, Hong Kong, to catch up with relatives and also spending a week in a villa in Bali. I just pushed back my flight from Vancouver to Calgary by 24 hours so I can stick around and catch Jimmy Eat World play @ the Commodore ballroom before I come back to reality.

All Hallow's Eve

I'm still surprised that I don't get more than 25 kids by my house. Don't they realize that the candy density tm is high for a condo complex? Mikey carved up a whole family of pumpkins and I had the scary music to put the ones that did come by. Watched a few movies that would match the night starting with Van Hesling as all the kids were coming by and then we turned off all the lights and a bunch of us caught Open Water (aka Blair Water Project due to its indie and scary nature). Not the best idea if you were planning (and I was) on going scuba diving anytime soon. At work, most of IT and HR dressed up and I had to say that the dude that rented the Scooby Doo costume was hilarious.

Music Reviews

Here's a half-dozen reviews of CDs that I picked up recently:

• Flutterby by Butterfly Boucher - She kept mentioning to buy her CD when she opened for Sarah McLachlan, so I picked it up for way cheaper online that what it was being hawked for at the 'Dome. If it were up to me, I would have made I Can't Make Me the lead-off single, with its clever lyrics and emotional singing, rather than Another White Dash.

• Hello Starling by Josh Ritter - Another opening act for another Sarah (Harmer). Caught this humble performance at the CPA, so it sounded great and it was a more intimate performance. His rendition of Kathleen sounded familair but it took me a few days later to realize that I did heard this track before... via Liz Phair's recommendation as he opened for her earlier as well. Bright Smile Dark Eyes mellowed the crowd out while everyone (but me it seemed) laughed at the s&m reference in You Don't Make It Easy Babe.
  

• So Jealous by Sara & Tegan - This hometown twin duo's latest disc is garnering some critical acclaim. I was impress by their previous work, If It Was You, so I was definitely looking forward to this one. Listened to the CD a few times so far, nothing's caught on yet, so I'm still reserving judgement on this one...

• Folker by Paul Westerberg - Total disappointment. This guy's releases yo-yo's in quality. A few interesting tunes and a few good lines, but few and far in-between unfortunately.

• Wayward Angel by Kasey Chambers - Another disappointment. Her last CD showed a lot of promise and potential but it I think she takes a step back this time around. Maybe I will have to give it another listen when I don't have such a negative
  
• Futures by Jimmy Eat World - One of the best albums of the year. I could go on about how great it is, but I recommend that you listen to the whole album, but their first single, Pain, is a good start. Work and The World You Love are my two favs, tho Liz Phair's help and vibe on the former are an unfair advantage. I'm sure I'll be writing more about this disc in my annual Top 10 CD list.

NHL Takes a Break

Like Ross & Rachel from Friends, the NHL and the NHLPA are "taking a break". Heck they're not even on speaking terms. So what if it's officially a lockout and not a strike? Either way, the only NHL hockey I'll be seeing will be on my Gamecube or my roommate's PS2 rather than in da 'Dome (chillin' with Jarome... thanks VIBE 98.5 for bringing back the flames playoff parody song).

The way they have drawn their lines in the sand makes matters impossible to settle. There is no middle ground on the "cost certainty" / salary cap issue to work towards. The implications of a long puck drought will affect both sides, but neither is willing to budge. Both sides will take a hit as revenues will be lower as the new TV contract takes place and as fewer fans will be back when (if?) everything gets settled.

The notion that this league is the fourth Major league after the NFL, NBA, and MLB is pretentious. At this rate, it is being lumped with soccer and lacrosse, as the PGA, NASCAR, and even tennis get more coverage across all forms of media. It may be tough for some to admit so, but the league's popularity has been slipping ever since Bettman took office and a work stoppage doesn't help.

So on the supposed evening of the Flames home opener where we would have raised the Western Conference banner, we went to Joey's Tomatoes instead. Many other fans did other things besides pouring over hockey pool stats or going to games and will continue to do even when the NHL comes back.

When Free Isn't Really Free...

So Oprah decides to give every audience member a new car, but now the people are complaining because they have to pay the taxes for it. Who says you have to take the car? For those that have to take a loan out for it... maybe that's a sign that you shouldn't own one? The Big 'O' just bought 276 cars and gave them away and now people are trying to knock her down? Just the biggest real life case of "looking a gift horse in the mouth" that I've ever seen.

PS. Sorry for the lack of rants... one more coming up tomorrow. A concert and CD reviews for sure as well.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Now you will have a real excuse to wear that parrot on your shoulder, time to breakout that eyepatch, and call everyone matey or wench like you really mean it! This Sept 19th is the third annual Talk Like a Pirate day. Is this the beginning of the next Oktoberfest, just another reason to party? Argh...

Man, this looks like the beginning of a slow oppinion-worthy week. I did go see Resident Evil 2, but nothing too memorable except for the one line after the policeman shoots the infected dog - STAY! Oh yeah, Milla was in it too. Dissappointed by Starsky & Hutch DVD. I will probably write a blog on the pending NHL/NHLPA strike/lockout/stoppage/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Either way, no NHL hockey except of the EA variety on my gamecube.

Sarah Sings Succinctly

Now say that quickly five times... It's been pretty much ten years since I had first seen Sarah McLachlan live. My how things have changed... Five albums later (Fumbling Towards Ecstasy just came out), three Lilith Fair tours (which I never attended), from a small Western County Fair outdoor show to the cosy confines of the Saddledome.

Was more impressed with her earlier songs, Hold On (which she began by singing You Are My Sunshine - her baby's favorite lullaby?), Possession, and an inspired version of Witness. She saved fan-favorite Ice Cream for the encore (intro: "You all have been good... Here's Dessert!"), but it didn't seem that there were too many hardcore fans who knew to sing along.

The stage was quite cool. Three giant pillars that supported the backdrops upwardly turned into trees which it branches covering the main stage. There were also two small stages setup on each corner which allowed for more intimate numbers.

Being the pentultimate show of her tour, it seemed a bit too polished and rehearsed to me along with all the motherhood jokes. The only thing that seemed fresh was the song the the roadies choose during their introductions - So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music. Don't get me wrong, Sarah still sounded great, especially when she went solo on the grand piano.

Upcoming CD Releases

Here are a few CDs that I'm looking forward to finish up the year:

• Lucinda Williams - Live [2 CD] (9/14) - seeing her live was a treat [Update 9/13 - Live at the Fillmore West will not be coming out tomorrow after all... either late October or 2005 now :-( ]
  
• Jimmy Eat World - Futures (10/19) - more edge and less poppy than Bleed American,but still going to be one of the top 10 albums of the year
  
• Paul Westerberg - Folker (9/07) - can't wait for another lo-fi disc from the former Replacements frontman
  
• Other September Releases: Tegan & Sara, Bowling for Soup (one-hit wonder?), Green Day (still alive?), Elvis Costello (which direction will he go this time? rock? mellow? jazz?), Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, Joss Stone (R&B diva?)
  
• Other October: Fatboy Slim (has his time come and go?), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (never passes spellcheck), Duran Duran (never passes spellcheck), Beck, Simple Plan, The Donnas
• (gone til) November: U2, Offspring
  

As for the CDs from my last mention, Finn Bros collaboration is very mellow and above average, Gavin Degraw's acoustic Chariot is great (but ineligible for my year-end Top 10 as it is a re-release), Taking Back Sunday is another EMO band that has finally broken out, and one more to note that somehow escaped mention was the latest from K-OS, Joyful Rebellion, the best hip hop record that I've heard this year.

2004 Athens Summer Olympics

TV coverage was sporadic this year. I was quite happy with the NBC's coverage for once. Once I turned a blind eye to their blatant patriotism, I was able to enjoy all their volleyball, both beach and hardcourt, coverage. I still don't understand why they don't broadcast enough events live. I know there is a 9 hour difference, but you'd think they would broadcast the premiere track & field event, the mens 100m sprint, live like CBC did. I remember last time around in Sydney, when CBC was showing the live gold medal match in tennis featuring American superstar Venus Williams, NBC was showing some cheesey dramatic peace on some weightlifter.

All the media covers how poorly we did, but did we really do that badly? Or was it just a case of high expectations? We did finish tied for 19th in the medal standings. Considering how few athletes we sent, did we sent enough support staff as well? Is that the main reason why those that were expected to medal didn't? With so many fourth place finishes, maybe they should hand out Copper medals in Vancouver 2010?

Are there too many sports and events being held? So many athletes and events get overlooked as there is only so much broadcasters can show. When a single swimmer can win more medals than 176 of the 202 participating countries, is it time to take a closer look how many swimming events are there? Just like figure skating was put to shame in Salt Lake, it's obvious that the judging in gymnastics need to be overhauled. Have it skip 2008 if it is unable to put its act together.

The Olympics do always provide some inspirational moments:

• Shotput being held in the original sacred Olympic grounds
• Wrestlers taking off and placing their shoes in the centre of the ring after completing their final match of their careers
• All the hugging after each and every point in women's beach volleyball

Can't wait for Turin's, Beijing's and Vancouver's turn, but all the pre-game negativity towards Athens should be erased with how everything went so well in the 2004 Summer Olympics. It is one of the smallest countries to ever host the games and after all the delays and the post-9/11 security concerns, they still pulled it off and deserve a hearty efharisto (thank you).

PS. Sorry it took awhile for this blog to be posted.

Gamecube Q4 Retro Releases

I've picked up a few cheap titles for my cube of the old-school arcade games emulated on various platforms. Found out that a few more are coming out by the end of the year:

• First off is a sequel, Midway Arcade Treasures 2, which includes Gauntlet 2 (a huge improvement over the original, you don't have to plug your joystick into the 3 slot if you want to play the elf. Other games that I remember are NARC, MK II & 3.
• Another one is actually not based on any arcade game but a first-gen home platform: Intellivision Lives! It will be interesting to see the success of this game. Don't know how exciting sprite-based graphics are anymore, it took like 8 blocks to render a character back then. My folks actually did buy us one of these units back in the day. I do remember playing Snafu (like the Tron racing game), which is one of the 60 games to be ported over.

Update (9/22): MAT 2 is slated to be released on October 4th

Flames Trade Analysis

Coming: Daymond Langkow (21 G, 31A, +4, 40 PIM) of the Phoenix Coyotes
Going: Denis Gauthier and Oleg Saprykin

Tough to lose Gauthier, but he was definitely the odd man out on the D-line. Flames should still have good depth with top 4 D of Regehr, Leopold, Lydman, & Warrener eating up most of the ice-time and Ferrence, Montador, Commodore, Phaneuf and Evans all ready to step up when needed.

Getting Langkow is great, especially when Reinprecht is so injury-prone. Allows Nilson to play wing even tho he did have some success centering Iggy. I guess anyone should be able to play with our franchise player tho, just ask Sakic & Lemieux. Saprykin is just a Nieminen-wannabe. Might as well keep the original. Pretty much a throw-in to even up the salaries.

Did we give up too much for Langkow tho? Guess it depends if Sutter knew Barnett was ditching Langow for Nedved. This is one of those rare trades that should work out for both teams. Phoenix's free-agent signings this offseason (Hull, Ricci, Nedved, etc) should improve their 14 games under .500 record enough to at least challenge for the playoffs. Also remember Nagy was having a breakout season before getting injured. I guess it depends if Boucher can bounce back from a mediocre numbers last year. I remember the Flames and their fans use to worry about their goaltending until we traded for San Jose's third-string goalie.

Alien vs Predator review

Opening the same weekend as last year's Freddy vs Jason. AVP re-used the simple formula of combining two movie franchises to generate box office $$$. The plotline to interwine the two is quite far-fetched, but we are talking sci-fi here, actually b-movie sci-fi, so maybe I'm just giving it a hardtime. I liked how they explained the Predator mythology a bit more tho. Can't really complain any more cause I bought the Predator DVD which included a free admission to AVP, so it worked out to only $24 for both.

With decent action scenes, not enough use of the Predator infrared vision, and stereotypical paper-thin human characters, I could only recommend this to Alien or Predator fanboys.

Blog name

Finally settled on a proper name for my blog. Might even register this as a domain, even tho .com is already parked. Is there another OPP blogger out there?

Another Car Pet Peeve

It usually takes a lot to tick me off, but on my drive home the other evening as I slowed down to a 4-way stop, a car on the other side of the road just screamed right through it! It wasn't even one of those "half" or "rolling" stops, it didn't slow down at all and went right through it. Probably going at least 60km/h. The intersection wasn't deserted, there were at least three cars on my side of the street and another car approaching on the intersecting road that could have been broadsided if it had arrived a few seconds earlier. I am just stunned as just a block away is two schools, so a lot of kids are always nearby and folks on their evening strolls are around as well. There's a 4-way stop by my office building that I've seen a few cars roll through as well. I don't understand how the potential for such a fatal disaster doesn't deter such idiots that go through 4-way stops. End rant...

Bourne Supremacy Review

Caught this sequel a few weeks ago on opening night, but forgot to write about it. It definitely builds on the original that came out two years ago. Just when you thought Jason Bourne was able to escape from his unknown past, a sting operation that goes bad brings him back into the CIA's sights.

Pretty textbook storyline with a familiar cast (Julia Stiles, Brian Cox, Gabriel Mann & Franke Potente are all back) and a few new faces (well, not that new if you watch LotR). Doug Liman (who's currently filming another spy caper, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.) was originally set to direct up to three Bourne movies, but he steps aside to just produce this one and lets rookie Paul Greengrass carry over his style from Bloody Sunday to give moviegoers a bad case of nausea.

In summary: Decent summer fare with good casting and shaky camera work. Still gonna try to catch Anchorman, I Robot, Harold & Kumar, and The Village before they leave theatres. Alien vs Predator and the Resident Evil sequel are the only other movies coming out soon that are worth catching.

25th Annual Calgary Folk Festival

Went to Kaffa for breakfast before heading to Sunday's sold-out Calgary Folk Festival. Staked out our territory on the main stage and headed out to our first workshop. The Raices Latin had Fiamma Fumana, who performed on Thursday, combined with flamenco and mexican bands played an uptempo set that had folks dancing on the sides. Caught Steve Earle's rebel mentality, at separate times praising and griping about social causes in both Canada and the US. Had a brash sense of humour too, "The first guy that mentions to play 'Copperhead Road' probably got hit in the head by a hockey puck. Of course, I'm gonna play it... Dontcha think I'm gonna play it !?! Sheesh... If that guy keeps going... I just might not play it..." If I was closer I would have heckled him to "get to the chorus!"

Had some tough choices to make for lunch as there was plenty of variety and then headed towards to more workshops in the afternoon. Saw Spirit of the West for the second time in a month as they combined with the Warsaw Village Band and then the Axis of Whatever which comprised of Nathan (a country-folk band from the 'Peg), Weakerthans (a band that played mellow tunes that didn't allow other artists to jam in), Wil (local solo artist), and aussie Paul Kelly (who brought along a slide guitarist that stole every song he jammed in).

Then everything shut down as the focus went onto the main stage with UK folk artist Thea Gilmore kicking things off with an impressive repretoire of songs that crossed many styles (folk, blues, alt-country). Didn't really get a good vibe from R&BCorey Harris and the african fusion of Youssou N'Dour, but you do have to give the folk fest organizers props for trying different things. We then packed up camp and headed towards the side of the stage away from the sea of tarps & blankets for Lucinda Williams. She had a very humble demeanor, especially when bringing in Steve Earle for a few songs. But her passion came through on my favourite songs 'Those Three Days' and 'Righteously'. So after a long day of music from a variety of genres, we headed out and look forward to next's year lineup.

Upcoming CD Releases

Here are a few CDs that I'm looking forward to over the next few weeks:

• Hives, The - Tyrannosaurus Hives: will it live up to the hype of their last album?
  
• Gavin Degraw - Chariot Stripped: an acoustic re-release (get the original CD as well)
  
• Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want To Be: another emo band but with an edge
  

Can't wait for new albums from the Finn Bros - Everyone Is Here (8/24), Lucinda Williams Live 2CD (9/14), and finally, a Top 10 Album of the year candidate (even tho I haven't heard one song yet), Jimmy Eat World - [title unknown] (October/2004)

Emmy Nominations

Here are a few of my favourite picks from this morning's announcement:

• Drama Series: 24 (So many plot twists! West Wing has resorted to gimmick shows a la E.R. giving Dr Greene a brain tumour)
  
• Comedy Series: Arrested Development (Great cast to go along with the great writers. Haven't caught the latest season of Curb Your Enthusiasm yet tho. We are only into Season 3 in Canada and I got the first two on boxset)
  
• Variety, Music or Comedy Series: SNL (Weekend Update should get its own nom. Wow! No Tonight Show with Leno! Is he gonna fire all his writers? He's dumbed the show down so much in order to beat Letterman in the ratings. Glad the Emmy voters noticed!)
  
• Actor, Drama Series: Kiefer Sutherland "24" narrowly over Martin Sheen "The West Wing"
  
• Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Janel Moloney "The West Wing" (and then they kill her character off!)
  
• Actor, Comedy Series: Larry David "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
  
• Actress, Comedy Series: Jane Kaczmarek "Malcolm in the Middle"
  
• Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor "Arrested Development" ("You should have seen the face he made when - well, he is my twin brother... I'll show you!")
  

Arrested Development is the freshest new show of the year. Let's hope it does well enough to stay on the air!

Upcoming DVD Releases

Here are a few movies that I missed out on and more TV show boxsets:

• July 20th- Starsky & Hutch, Boomtown Season 1
  
• July 27th- Hellboy, V: The Complete Series
  
• August 3rd- Knightrider: Season 1
  
• August 10th- Kill Bill Vol 2 (I'm waiting for the rumoured unsplit version), The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (I will get this just for the Star Wars clip alone but hopefully they have the Winter Carnivale too)
  
• August 24th- Girl Next Door, Futurama Volume 4

There's plenty more coming up in September, but I've already reserved my copy of the Star Wars Trilogy 4-DVD boxset set to be released September 21st.

Top Five Tunes

Here are a few songs (in no particular order) that I just can't get out of my head (kylie reference):

• Ch-check It Out (Beastie Boys): Check their website out for lyrics to catch all the references (Like Miss Piggy, "Who Moi?"), streamed Just Blaze remix, and even bitTorrent links to the video
• Somebody Told Me (The Killers): It's like Duran Duran got cloned for 2004. Will have to track down rest of this album
  
• All Falls Down (Kayne West featuring Seleena Johnson): Uses a Lauryn Hill hook from her messed-up Unplugged performance. Kazaa for the original version with L-Boogie
  
• My Happy Ending (Avril Lavigne): Can almost imagine her buddy, Chantal Kreviazuk, singing this one instead. Title sounds quite upbeat until you hear the whole chorus
  
• The Reason (Hoobastank): Yeah, have to admit that it's a pretty cheesy song, but hey I'll admit that I like Cheese Whiz too.

Quite the variety, I'll try to list some less popular/more obscure tunes next time...

July 20th Update: Add B-boy Stance by K-OS. More CanCon. Look for his vocals on a track off the Chemical Bros GH.

Ottawa Trip Notes

Tues- tdot flight sat between 2 women: grandmas, one reminded me of the grandma from Malcolm in the Middle. Schwarma. Zaphod Beeblebox: 2 DJs - industrial goth & house trance
Wed- bakery, Museum of Civilizations: totems, french play, Cameron IMAX, Earl Pub: Guiness promo, GG's Party: Shaye (aka 3 hot chicks) & Spirit of the West, Scott Free: figured out finale
Canada Day- bakery again, end of changing of the guard, mountie horses, Maryne, National Gallery: 3 stripes, pub, huge rainstorm, Griffin's pub: Blue promo, more (temp) tattoos, C.O.P.S. - Bad Boys & the bachelor Jessie Palmer, awesome fireworks, Irish pub
Fri- Spidey 2, bad souvenirs, lame photography museum, Asian fusion, Hull Casino: won $160, Zak's: $5 shakes
Sat- Parliament & Jail tours, more Zaphod: britpop, more normal crowd
Sun- Brunch, C.O.P.S. - Bad Boys II, caught Eurocup final - checked in @ halftime, boarded flight @ last call
Hostel- great location. Former jail (site of 3 executions) which was shutdown after 110 years due to inhumane living conditions (but it's fine now as a hostel!?!). Actually slept in a cell, bed felt like sleeping on a buddy's sofa. Electrical socket?

Hate to admit it, but Kel's kris kringle xmas gift, the Man Purse, was quite handy. We finally swapped Tenacious D for Ben Stiller Show DVDs. A few of my fotos turned out quite well. Just short of hitting the 4000 mark with my trusty ol' Kodak.

Final Score: Beaver Tails 3, Rotten Ronnies 0

Update (July 10th): I've posted my fotos from the trip to the travel section. Off to lunch and then the Stampede Grounds!

Short Jaunt

Trip to Ottawa, looks good so far. Plan to stay @ the hostel downtown, go check out the sites and scenery, and party it up on Canada Day!
So don't expect any postings for another week until I get back.

Election Time

Lost in all the Flames hoopla over the past few weeks is the fact that our country is in the middle of campaigning for the national election. Heck, I even watched a bit on the debate tonight (nice hairdo Harper). I've voted in every election since I turned 18 (except that I missed the most recent municipal one). With three of the major parties having new leaders and the polls citing that this is going to be a close one, I hope everyone uses their democratic right and votes as this is one of the most pivotal elections in the past decade.

I'd never tell anyone to vote for a particular party but I know that in some ridings (like mine), the winner is pretty much a foregone conclusion, so most people wouldn't bother casting their ballot if they thought the vote would be a wasted one. But with new election rules in place, your vote would be actually be worth $1.75. So even if your candidate and party doesn't win, your vote could support them with funding for the next election. And if we end up with a minority government, that could happen a lot sooner than most people think.

So on June 28th, do the right thing and vote.

Rainout and Car Watching

Vball was rained out, so no beach doubles for me for the past three Mondays (games 4 & 7 of the Stanley Cup taking me out of the other two). I then ended up @ Rally Pointe to have some popcorn shrimp with my fav sweet chili sauce.

On the drive home I noticed a girl actually brushing her teeth in the car. I seen a lot of people talking on the mobile or eating, I even caught a ride with a guy to work that used to drink his soup and I mean not soup in a mug, but actually scooping it out with a spoon. Oh yeah, he drove with his knee too. I first noticed the car as I rounded Canyon Meadows Drive by the restaurant when I saw the driver door go shut. She must have had to spit there or something...

Just a short one today on a weird observation of mine... Later, O.

Shrek 2 & Chronicles of Riddick Reviews

Caught both movies on Friday. I think the last time I caught two movies in the same day it was @ Chinook when I saw The Punisher and Kill Bill Volume 2. I'd rate these movies between the two.

I enjoyed Shrek 2 about the same as the first one. Ups the ante from the original by bringing in more main characters: Puss-in-boots, Fiona's Parents, the Fairy God Mother and Prince Charming: voiced by an all-star cast to join Myers, Diaz, & Murphy. Animation looked great as expected from PDI. More adult jokes & references compared to Pixar releases, look for a shot of Cameron's boy JT, the M:I dropdown and a few fart gags. They showed a trailer of PDI's upcoming Shark's Tale which visually looked weak when compared to last year's Finding Nemo.

If you haven't picked up the first Shrek yet, grab the DVD re-release which includes Shrek 4-D: a 15 minute short from the new amusement park ride and includes those old school red/blue 3-D glasses.

Never finished seeing Pitch Black but was looking forward to this just for the fact that it looked like a good ol' sci-fi flick and it had Thandie Newton who single-handedly almost got me watching E.R. again. For those that haven't seen PB, don't worry as all you need to know is that Riddick is one total badass that can see in the dark. As my roommate said think of it as the Hobbit for Riddick (and upcoming sequels). Decent storyline as Vin Diesel goes up against Pierre Trudeau, er I mean, Colm Feore's evil empire and delivers one-liners, in a most deadpan manner, like "There's only one speed: mine. If you can't keep up... Don't step up. You'll just die".

If you're looking for deep complex characters go see something else, but it does have good casting tho with Thandie, Judi Dench, Alexa Davalos, and Karl Urban (from LOTR). The ending totally sets up more sequels, so this is a must see for any sci-fi fan. There's even a animated DVD coming out Tuesday, that like the Animatrix for the Matrix Trilogy, fills in what's happened between the two movies.

Flames Closure

They came within one win of the Stanley Cup. Not bad for a team that was not even considered playoff-worthy when the 2003-4 preseason began as Vegas gave out 100-1 odds for the Flames to win the Cup. But Coach/GM Sutter's drive to give his team an 'identity' would payoff as the season progressed. Naysayers were just waiting for the Flames to go into their mid-season tailspin like two years ago but it never happened. Fans, even the players themselves, were watching the out-of-town scores in March as the team continued it hunt for a playoff spot. On April 4th, the team ended up a remarkable 12 games over .500, a 19-point improvement from last season. Peter Maher had dusted off his "Yeah Baby" to declared that after 7 long painful years that the Flames had made the playoffs.

At this point no one was driving around with the car flags and 17th Ave didn't have a nickname. Four out of five Canadian-based teams were facing each other in the first round giving Canadian TV & ad execs joy to know that at least two of them would be still playing in the Conference Semi's. The Flames stole game two in Vancouver and after winning games 4 & 5 had a chance to progress into the second round for the first time since 1989, the team's most glorious year. In front of the packed and now noisy Saddledome, they dug themselves into a 4-0 hole midway through the game but kept plugging away to actually force overtime. Even though the Canucks did score in the winner in the third session of OT, the Flames pronounced that they were for real and in game 7 proved so with Gelinas' quick OT killer.

The next two rounds would each take six games to finish and as each match ended, more and more people turned their attention to Canada's team; more and more people jumped on the Flames bandwagon; more and more people believed. Now for the first time in fifteen years, the Flames were back in the spotlight after knocking out all three Western Divisional winners becoming the first Canadian-based in ten years to be in the Stanley Cup finals.

I was able to personally experience 7 playoff games in the ex-library. The crowds didn't need any free t-shirt gimmicks to become the 'C' of Red. Suddenly a ticket to the Saddledome was a hot commodity with folks paying absurd amounts on eBay to forego watching the game with family and friends or a bunch of strangers at a local pub or sports pub. Everyone had a Flames jersey, as CCM had to chip in to meet the demands, making it the all-time top selling debut jersey.

With the final series and game seven still fresh in everyone's mind, there's a lot of disappointment of how we lost. But I think the Flames won the pride, respect, and joy of all Canadians. With so many accomplishments this season and to come oh so close, it just shows how far the 2003-4 Calgary Flames have come and what we have to look forward to in the upcoming seasons.

Powderfinger Concert

Pretty darn good show last night at the Mac Hall Ballroom. It must have been a treat for all the Aussies there to see them in such a small venue compared to their usual stadium BDO gigs. My guess about 4-600 people with half of them packed into the 'beer garden' section and at least half of the crowd with an Aussie accent as well.

Mostly played songs from Odyssey #5 as Vulture Street just came out in Canada on Tuesday. I thought he was just the lead singer, but Fanning at times played some guitar, keyboard, and even the harmonica at one point. Some songs sounded more bluesy than the album version, they even tried to start off one of them flamenco-style, and sometimes they'd distort the guitars a la Radiohead.
Forgot to grab the setlist at the end, but here's a few things that I remembered of their hour-long (plus encore) show: Great guitar solo during My Kind Of Scene, dedicated Sunsets to "the sandy beaches of ... Calgary", whipped the crowd into a frenzy at the end of their set with a long rendition of Treat Me Like A Dog and (Baby I've Got You) On My Mind, in their encore they paid tribute to Neil Young (they did after all name themselves after one his songs) by covering Cinnamon Girl (what's a show without a cover song?) and finished everything off with My Happiness.
I snapped a few webcam shots with my mobile, but I gave my email address to a guy that snapped a bunch with his Sony digital camera so I hope I hear back from him.
Update [6/07]: Greg has gotten back to me and is transferring a few pics (& videos!) over as we speak. Will post a link when I have it setup on the webserver.

The Punisher and The Flames Winning the Stanley Cup

Two unrelated topics? How could one Marvel Comic character be associated with our Calgary Flames' Stanley Cup runs in 1989 and 2004?

In 1989, B-movie star Dolph Lungren dyes his hair black to become Frank Castle whose family is murdered by criminals and transforms into the The Punisher. Shortly after this flick disappeared from theatres and into your local Blockbuster, the Flames went on their legendary playoff run with the likes of MacDonald, Gilmour, Nieuwendyk, Pepper, Loob, Hunter, a rookie Fleury, all backstopped by Vernon.

Fast-forward to this year, Marvel has hit the financial & marketing jackpot over the past few years with Spider-man and the X-men, it now begins to spools its other properties onscreen. After the Hulk and Daredevil in 2003, it brings back the white skull and the avenger that wears it with Thomas Jane as The Punisher. The day after it opens in theatres, the modern-day Flames midway through their first round playoff match fall behind 4-0 to the Vancouver Canucks in game 6 and then stage a near-impossible comeback to force the game into TRIPLE overtime. They do end up losing that battle in the Saddledome, but would go on to eventually take game 7 and their first playoff series in fifteen years.

The Flames would follow that up by beating the President's Trophy winner, the Detroit Red Wings, and then the San Jose Sharks, to become the first team to ever beat all three Divisional champs and play in this year's 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. Will history follow its own course? Stay Tuned...

Good news for the 'C of Red', Lion's Gate and Thomas Jane have both been quoted as saying there are plans for at least one Punisher sequel.

Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 19...89!

Last night, the C of Red in the Saddledome spilled onto 17th, turning it in the so-called "Red Mile" (Shouldn't we be using the metric system?). Got to see Vibe 98.5's Chicken-Suit man in person, a lot of people celebrating (even the cops were high-fiving folks as the went by them), a few sets of headlights (not too impressed), a few idiots (climbing up wet traffic signal signs) and finally here's proof that Elvis is alive (and he's a Flames fan)!! Guess his favorite colour is now red not blue.

Oh yeah, the game itself was pretty awesome. It went by really quick, not too many penalties which I think totally favours the Flames' style of play. Wanted to get one of those Western Champ caps after the game to go down 17th with, but the Fanattic only had the t-shirts ready. It was totally loud throughout the game, tons of standing O's, especially in the 3rd period. Had a totally jumpy gal in front of us. Good that she had one of those women's fitted jerseys on, bad that she blocked me from seeing the half the ice.

Three Words: Stanley Cup!!!

Hockey Talk

Going to my fourth Flames playoff game tonight. It's going to be sooo loud In Tha Dome!!! The first playoff game was totally crazy before the start of the 1st game against Vancouver, that the crowd (including myself) didn't even hear the announcement for the start to our national anthem. But I think after the outrageous triple OT game against the Canucks that the fans are now learning to pace themselves so they can cheer for the whole duration of the game. The flames are going to get a huge welcome back tho after taking out the Sharks on their home ice.

I don't agree with everything Don Cherry says on Coach's Corner, but he does discuss a lot of things that should be brought up. Ron is great as his sidekick/referee, can't wait for his next interview/debate with Bettman, but comes up with the worse puns to end the segment. I used to joke that during the regular season, Sat's night's broadcast of CC is the closest I'm going to get to going to church on Sunday and listening to the reverend's sermon.

Blogger 2.0?

Blogger's added a whole bunch of new features on Mother's Day (btw: Happy Mother's Day!). Changed up the template (have to spent to time to actually customize it a bit), created my profile, and enabled comments. Will look into emailing blogs in too, can see it being creatively used by those mobile-enabled folks.

my own gmail

Yeah BABY (3C Go Flames Go 3C)!! Through this very blogger (which is owned by google) account, I got myself onto the beta test! Pretty similiar to most mail websites that I've used except for the fact that I now have 1000 MB of storage! Down with Hotmail... their MX servers have been totally overloaded lately.

Google search: french military victories

Not as good as the original "weapons of mass destruction", but googling for french military victories is still a funny read.

My Compliations

Just finished submitted the 2nd half of my music compliations over to freedb.org. Some are really dated by now, but the rest are stand the test of time quite well. Instant Classics? In the past, I've lent out two discs, Retro I and a dance one, that I never got back and will have to recreate them before I can add them to the list.

New CD by Sarah Harmer

Haven't been able to get her new album All of Our Names out of my discman for the past two weeks. Heard her live at last year's folk fest, hope she tours through Calgary. 11 great pop-folks tracks, heard two beforehand; Silver Road on a compliation and got Greeting Card Aisle on Puretracks. Lead-off single, Almost, is the most upbeat. Great sailing/ocean analogy(!?!) use throughout the whole tune.

Flames/Knuckleheads Series

NHL.com News
SERIES G #3 Vancouver vs. #6 Calgary
Wednesday, April 7, 8:30 p.m., Calgary at Vancouver
Friday, April 9, 8:30 p.m., Calgary at Vancouver
Sunday, April 11, 7:30 p.m., Vancouver at Calgary
Tuesday, April 13, 8 p.m., Vancouver at Calgary
*Friday, April 16, 8:30 p.m., Calgary at Vancouver
*Saturday, April 17, TBA, Vancouver at Calgary
*Monday, April 19, 8:30 p.m., Calgary at Vancouver

Gmail: Reality or April Fool's Hoax?

When I read an article about Google's free web-based email service on canoe.ca last night I was totally in. Even signed up for it. But then when I mentioned it to a co-worker today he said it was a joke! Or is it? Slashdot says it's a prank, but technically it is quite feasible (unlike their lunar hosting). Scanning the email's text to display appropriate ads would be quite the business model. With the enormous amount of space offered, it would quickly grab a large portion of yahoo or hotmail users. Well isn't real, it got me for sure... when I was able to track down the real press release, it was quite amusing. The writer of the original article that I read must have no sense of humour at all. I guess I must put up my April Fool's sensors before I go to bed...
At work, I mirrored the all the .GIFs on the tools website that I manage, could have been a lot meaner by putting white text on a white background. I guess that would have been a bit unproductive. Since the call centre staff have to constantly use the website, I try to keep things interesting. During Christmas, I usually change the colour scheme from our usual corporate-based colours to a more seasonal one and even have snowflakes floating down the main page.