| « December 2004 | February 2005 » |
I noticed the majority of my entries today are about television so I'm continuing this trend by sharing the five shows Taryn watches alone because I won't watch them with her.
Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in Winamp and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.
As previously declared, I won't miss a new episode of "The Simpsons". I've been watching for half my life and I'll continue watching until Matt Groening pulls the plug.
Here we are in season sixteen and I can see the ratings slipping. I'm frequently told that "The Simpsons" is no longer funny and I should have stopped watching years ago. I was watching last night and would be the first to suggest it wasn't a particularly strong episode. Still, I watch and will continue to watch, and here's why.
Although past it's prime and not nearly as consistent as it was throughout its first ten seasons, a new episode of "The Simpsons" continues to provide that one scene, line or sequence that causes me to laugh out loud. Even yesterday there were moments that I'm still recalling, still thinking about with a smile on my face. When I tune in on Sunday nights, I know I'm not in store for an episode from season four or five. I'm a realist. One brilliant send-up in an episode of "The Simpsons" in season sixteen provides me with enough joy to carry me through a typical week. Sometimes I'm witness to an uneven episode like last night's "Mommie Beerest" and sometimes I'm rewarded with a gem like "Midnight Rx".
We're fast approaching episode #350 and I'm not going anywhere. "The Simpsons" in season 16 isn't as good as "The Simpsons" circa season six but it's still a pleasure to watch and one of the funniest programs on TV. In Homer I trust.
There are a couple of programs I'm looking forward to watching tonight.
First, at 20:30 EST on CTV, it's the first of Kevin Smith's three-episode story arc on "Degrassi: The Next Generation". A love triangle between Joey, Caitlin and Smith? Cool...
Then, at 21:00 EST on CBC, I'm looking forward to "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire" on the "Passionate Eye". Former UN General Roméo Dallaire returns to Rwanda 10 years after the genocide to confront the memories that continue to haunt him. This is must-see-TV.
I never realized that how we purchase milk was viewed so peculiarly by those outside of Canada. We've always purchased milk in three bags totalling 4 litres. When one bag is finished it gets recycled and we drop another bag in the pitcher. Here are the steps involved for those unaware of what I'm talking about.
I suppose bagged milk would sound strange to someone who had only ever seen milk sold in cartons or jugs. After three decades of bagging it, I can't imagine buying milk in any other format.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 8 out of 10.
"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd". ~ Alexander Pope
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were excellent, there was great direction from Michel Gondry and a very cool screenplay by Charlie Kaufman. When Carrey underplays characters like he does here, he's awesome. It's quite the performance.
It's funny, but my reaction to this flick is pretty much what I expected to get out of "Garden State". Maybe I'm just getting old...
Mikael Tellqvist stopped 40 of the Cleveland Barons 42 shots while his counterpart, Dimitri Patzold made a costly mistake. Down 2-1 to the Leafs, Patzold went behind the net to play a dump in but inadvertently left the puck for St. John's forward, Jeremy Williams, who wheeled around and stuffed the puck into the empty net. The Leafs went 7-4-1 during their franchise record 12 game road trip, not bad at all.
| Current Record | Recent Games | Season Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| 28-16-0-2 58 points |
3-2 Win vs. Cleveland 3-2 Win vs. Cleveland 3-2 Loss vs. Hershey |
David Ling - 54 pts Kyle Wellwood - 50 pts Matt Stajan - 35 pts |
"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it."
- Clarence Darrow
Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to MikeBoon.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
I wait for your links (most are awesome), but todays was sheer crap. That wasn't music & seeing your choices with your mp3 collection, most of it is not music to my ears. Where has the combination of lyrics, harmonies & music gone, not the jive S**t that our kids listen to. Fortunately one of my kids would rather listen to Simon & Garfunkel, Beatles, Pink Floyd to relate lyrics & music together as one. An oldie but a GOODIE. Keep on ROCKIN' (60's-80's).
Twins from Bolton
Here's the thing about my collection of MP3s...they're mine. I don't care if nobody else enjoys a note. Earlier today I shared System of Down's "Cigaro", a great new single that leaked onto the web from one of my favourite bands. Perhaps it's time you start TwinsFromBolton.com where all music referenced will be right up your ally.
Mario Lemieux is using the new math. He says the chances of settling the NHL lockout in time to save part of the 2004-05 season are "50-50." I know this because I read it on this TSN.ca page. I almost didn't stick around though because my browsing was rudely interrupted by an obtrusive flash ad from Bell.
The days of pop-up windows may be long gone but this form of ad is just as annoying. The damn thing automatically forces itself over the text you're trying to read and just when you move your mouse to the tiny x to shut it down it moves again forcing you to miss and open the friggin Bell page. Shame on TSN.ca for resorting to such shifty practices and shame on Bell for thinking this might actually have a positive effect on somebody. Of course, Bell owns TSN.ca and therefore can shoulder all the blame for this one.
I'm adding this to my growing list of reasons to hate Bell and I'm putting TSN.ca on probation. If this continues, I'll become a Sportsnet.ca guy. Just watch me.
System of Down's "Cigaro" - Fellow fans of System of a Down, I share with you their new single. "Mesmerize/Hypnotize" is coming soon but this is a sweet taste that should tide us over. It's the kind of awesome mania you'd expect from this killer band. I can't wait to get my mitts on "Mesmerize/Hypnotize".
As I did last year, I'm hosting an Oscar prediction contest. Anyone can enter by completing this form. You have until 20:00 EST on Friday, February 25 to submit your picks. I'll post everyone's selections later that evening.
What's the prize you're wondering? The winner of this contest will be announced and celebrated in this public space. What's better than public praise?
Make your predictions. You only have four weeks left.
For the first time in 19 years, the MVP of the Super Bowl will not proclaim he's going to Disney World. The campaign kicked off in 1987 with Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms and that phrase has been utterred after ever championship since, until now.
Was Mickey frightened away by a certain wardrobe malfunction? His lips are sealed. If you're curious, here's a list of the people who participated in the "Disney World" campaign since its inception.
It went to another shootout last night but this time David Ling, Harold Druken and Kyle Wellwood made good and gave us the win. Tonight marks the end of a franchise record 12 game road trip.
| Current Record | Recent Games | Season Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| 27-16-0-2 56 points |
3-2 Win vs. Cleveland 3-2 Loss vs. Hershey 4-3 Loss vs. Binghamton |
David Ling - 53 pts Kyle Wellwood - 49 pts Matt Stajan - 34 pts |
"Kids are great. You can teach them to hate what you hate and, with the Internet and all, they practically raise themselves."
Garden State: 6 out of 10.
I couldn't wait to see this film. I have been hearing hype about it for months, about how it defines a generation and is one of the best films of 2004. I was looking forward to a well written, interesting little flick that would stick with me and bounce around in my cranium for days and days afterwards. "Garden State" left me unfulfilled and disappointed.
It's far from a bad film but it's not particularly great. It certainly doesn't live up to the hype. I kept waiting for an interesting twist or a killer scene, but it never happened. It's okay and the music is okay but considering the press Zach Braff got I expected far better.
I'm not a fan of the two week delay between the NFL conference finals and the Super Bowl. The big game should be played this Sunday while everyone is still interested. Two weeks of preamble and hypothesis is one week too long.
If you're curious, I think the Pats will win again. This is quite the hot streak the city of Boston is on. The Patriots have won two of the past three Super Bowls, possibly three of the past four, and the Red Sox reversed the curse and won the World Series for the first time in 86 years.
Excluding the Argos, the only major championships my city has won in my life time are the back-to-back World Series championships the Jays won in the early 90s. Boston's cup runneth over and I'm green with envy.
My favourite NBA teams
I'm a big fan of "Fight Club". You'll find it at #5 on my list of ten favourite flicks and I've watched the DVD several times. One of my favourite scenes in this great movie is the closing shot of buildings collapsing while Jack and Marla look out the window. At least it was one of my favourite shots until that day in September 2001.
After watching the horrors of 9/11 unfold on CNN the "building-collapse" scene from "Fight Club" lost all coolness. It became difficult to watch without thinking of that day and the two towers collapsing into rubble taking thousands of lives with them. This was the case for about two years afterwards, but then, as it always does, the nature of time kicked in.
I just watched a few scenes from "Fight Club" on my PC, including that one, and I didn't think about 9/11 once. Afterwards it occurred to me that time had healed that psychological wound. We're about three and a half years removed from that act of terrorism and although I can look back and remember the overwhelming fear and sadness of the day I didn't see the World Trade Center collapsing before the eyes of Jack and Marla, I saw credit card companies crumbling to the ground setting us free.
I am Jack's broken heart. Time has soldiered on and dulled the pain.
U2's "All Because Of You" and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" have very little in common. One bores me to tears and the other is one of my favourite tracks from 2004. "Maps" has more soul in one 3 second sample than "All Because Of You" has throughout. Unfortunately, there is a brief moment at the very beginning where I'm unsure whether I'm in for a treat or whether I'll have to turn the station.
The first few seconds of "All Because Of You" are eerily similar to the opening seconds of "Maps". Every day I hear this U2 single on CFNY Edge 102 and every time I think it's going to be "Maps". I'm frequently disappointed these days.
A scoreless overtime set up the shootout that saw each team go three rounds of five shooters before Andre Savage scored on the 15th shot to give the Hershey Bears a 3-2 shootout win over the St. John's Maple Leafs. Mikael Tellqvist made eight straight shootout saves before allowing the winner. It's been a rather rough 12-game road trip for the blue and white.
| Current Record | Recent Games | Season Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| 26-16-0-2 54 points |
3-2 Loss vs. Hershey 4-3 Loss vs. Binghamton 4-2 Loss vs. Syracuse |
David Ling - 53 pts Kyle Wellwood - 49 pts Matt Stajan - 33 pts |
CBC Newsworld recently aired the eight hour documentary "Death on the Staircase" over a period of six nights. We taped the entire series and were riveted for every minute of these eight hours. Jean-Xavier de Lestrade had complete access to the primary players and minute details of this murder mystery and put together a masterpiece.
I will say little about this case in case it airs again and you decide to invest your time in this gem. I'm emotionally drained from the entire ordeal, trial and verdict. I still can't believe it wasn't scripted and no names were changed to protect the innocent guilty involved.
They've announced the first two performers for this year's 34th Annual Juno Awards ceremony and they're two of my favourites. The Tragically Hip and Neil Young will perform live and suddenly I'm quite interested. Between the two artists I have 21 discs in my collection.
I'll be watching the Juno Awards live on CTV on Sunday, April 3, from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
Famous Players will chop the price of tickets at its movie theatres in the Greater Toronto Area by $4 starting this Friday. The cut will reduce the price of an adult ticket from $13.95 to $9.95.
This is a very good start. $14 for a ticket to see a movie was insane. $10 is a little more reasonable, although this will result in the end of discount Tuesdays. Lets hope Cineplex Odeon theatres follow suit.
Now if they'd only do something about the $15 popcorn and pop...
I share an MP3 from my collection every Wednesday. You have seven days to grab this week's MP3. Please right-click your mouse and select "Save Link As..." or "Save target as..." so you can download it to your PC before playing.
Otis Redding - The Dock Of The Bay
Last week I shared Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" and mentioned it would be amongst my ten favourite songs of all time. Another song that would be a shoe-in to appear on that list is Otis Redding's beauty "The Dock of the Bay". If you ever need to chill, this is the tune for the job.
Carlos Delgado has agreed to a $52-million US, four-year contract with the Florida Marlins. We've known for months that Delgado would be signing with another team for the 2005 season, but this announcement makes it final.
Delgado spent 11 years with the Jays and leaves as the all-time club leader in home runs, RBIs, runs scored, doubles and slugging percentage. He hit at least 30 homers each of the past eight seasons and has the season record for every formidable slugging statistic except home runs which still belongs to my old favourite George Bell. I loved watching him play. He was awesome, he was an interesting guy and he always seemed to go deep when I was at Skydome.
I'm sorry economic reality has ended his time here, but I'll still root for him. He was something special. I'm just glad James got a chance to see him homer before it was too late.
The 77th annual Oscar nominations were announced earlier this morning. For a complete list, go here. The major noms are below.
Best Picture
Actor in a Leading Role
Actress in a Leading Role
Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to MikeBoon.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning. Is it me or is everyone a little underwhelmed by the quality of the best movies of 2004? I remember when Shawshank, Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump battled in 1994. I remember when Philadelphia battled with Schindler's List in 1993. I haven't been truly impressed with a year at the movies since 1999 when Fight Club, Magnolia, and American Beauty all dazzled me. Have I raised my expectations or has Hollywood let me down?
I agree with you 100%. I miss the days when you had to see a particular movie. We had to see Pulp Fiction, we had to see Forrest Gump, we didn't have an option. I can take or leave the nominated movies these days. They're fine, but they're not intriguing enough to get me to a theater to blow that kind of cashola.
On a related note, I'll post the nominated pictures in a moment and I'll host an Oscar prediction contest anyone can enter.
According to a recent survey, three out of every 10 respondents failed to identify that Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust. This stat has been released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
This is sad but not difficult to believe. What I find shocking is the fact amongst university graduates only 72% chose Jews as the principal victims of the Holocaust. Not only does this eliminates the teens who have yet to care about anything that didn't happen within the past year but it's a sect of people who supposedly care for knowledge and have spent a good deal of time being educated. How is it possible that only 72% of university graduates in Canada know Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust?
That's pathetic. You'd expect the number to be higher simply because of movies like "Schindler's List", "The Pianist" and "Life is Beautiful". Shame on us.
I've updated and reformatted my copy of the SLS database. I list every song ever to appear on an edition of SLS in alphabetical order and reference the edition it appeared on.
From 311 to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it's all there...including a few I'd rather forget.
Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in Winamp and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.
Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to MikeBoon.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
Mike! Long time no chat. Good to see your site is running good. Well, now that all the chit chat is through ;) I'll get right down to business:
I'm glad Vince was traded. Ever since that last second playoff loss a few years ago Vince hasn't been the same player. He went through Nick Anderson syndrome. (aka - completely disappears from the face of the basketball universe) He turned soft. Yes, the coaching changes have something to do with it, and yes, the personnel changes might have had an influence as well. But the fact remains that (as he said) Vince simply stopped trying. I saw it coming for a long time and constantly called VC a "Bi**h" because he deserved it. Loyal fans defended him feversihly and I could not understand how their love could be so unconditional to a person who gave his best conditionally. Instead of playing hard and getting his team back to where they belonged he started complaining about hangnails and officiating. I hate to be an I TOLD YOU SO .... but I told y'all so. In my opinion, all his injuries the last 2 years or so were a cover up so that he could simply not try his best. I don't think there was a single injury that he could not have played through. Hell, in my men's league and other similar beer leagues across North America, lesser players suffer more serious injuries and simply play through it for the love of the game. And that is the difference between many NBA players and true sports fans like us. A love of the game. Where we see drama and passion, players like Vince see dollar signs, dollar signs and more dollar signs.
The city of Toronto ... and Canada, deserve better out of a franchise basketball player who is idolized by an entire country. Yes there will be rough times right away, but if the team adopts a Chris Bosh passionate attitude as opposed to Vince's sobbing demeanor they will be back in the playoffs sooner than later.
On a personal note, I'm involved in a basketball pool. And now that Vince is playing better, people have begun to pick him up. I thought about it for about a minute. But based on principle, I'd rather LOSE the pool than add Vince to my team.
Whew, I'll let someone else have the soapbox now.
The entire attitude of this Raptors team has changed for the better with the deletion of that virus. It's Chris Bosh's team now and we're better off for it. Don't look now but we're 7-3 in our last ten games, 1.5 games out of first in the division and a full two games up on Vince's Nets. Perhaps there will be playoff games at the ACC this spring after all.
Bunny Suicides - Several of these actually caused me to laugh aloud.
Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to MikeBoon.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
Here you go Mike, just had to share this with you. :)
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/24912/
Mike H.
Good link. Judy Bachrach takes a nice play out of the Jon Stewart handbook. "Stop hurting America".
According to Cliff Arnall of Cardiff University in Wales, today is the most depressing day of the year.
His formula reads: 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ divided by MxNA, where W is the weather, D is your debt (and small d is the amount of money you'll get on your next payday), T is elapsed time since Christmas, and Q the length of time since you abandoned a New Year's resolution or other self-improvement plan. M is a sort of all-purpose category for motivation levels. NA is the necessary action for making your life better.
On the bright side, tomorrow will be a better day.
I've posted four new pictures in Pictures. One is from James' actual birthday and the other three are from his party.
This morning we saw Michelle's first tooth. There's a little white nub emerging from her gums in the front on the bottom. The purpose of this entry is to archive the date so we'll always remember she cut her first tooth a week before turning six months old.
James, meanwhile, had a blast at his birthday party yesterday. I should have a picture or two to share later today.
Johnny Carson was 79. He was host of the "Tonight Show" for thirty years.
While the rest of the continent remembers Johnny Carson from late night TV, I know him best for his guest appearance on episode 9F19 of The Simpsons, "Krusty Gets Kancelled". When Krusty went looking for tips on how to deal with leaving the world of television, he visited Johnny Carson. Carson participated in The Krusty Comeback Special going so far as to juggle an automobile. At the conclusion of the episode, Bart proposes a toast "To Krusty, the greatest entertainer in the world. Except for that guy." He's pointing to Carson, tap-dancing and playing "Good Night Ladies" and The Simpsons theme on the accordion while balancing a board on his head atop which sit Grampa and Jasper. Good night, Johnny.
By the way, Steve drafted him in our Dead Pool and has been rewarded with 21 points. That puts him only 47 points behind Ryan for the lead.
The Maple Leafs lost a close one to the Sens last night as Jason Spezza scored twice to lead Binghamton. The win tied the Senators' franchise record for most consecutive victories and marked the first time Binghamton defeated the Leafs this season.
| Current Record | Recent Games | Season Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| 26-16-0-1 53 points |
4-3 Loss vs. Binghamton 4-2 Loss vs. Syracuse 4-2 Win vs. Hershey |
David Ling - 51 pts Kyle Wellwood - 47 pts Matt Stajan - 33 pts |
This site has been hand coded in valid XHTML 1.0 for quite some time now, but it was XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Yesterday I changed my DOCTYPE declaration and tweaked each page so it's now valid XHTML 1.0 Strict. See for yourself!
Because I was already writing in valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional it wasn't that big a leap. Mainly I just had to move my image alignment and hspace into the CSS where it belongs. CSS is a wonderful thing.
In September 2003 I converted these page to XHTML 1.0 Transitional and now I've converted them to XHTML 1.0 Strict so where do I take them next?
"Wilma, I promise you; whatever scum did this, not one man on this force will rest one minute before until he's behind bars. Now, let's grab a bite to eat."
- Lt. Frank Drebin, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Lenny Wilkens is likely to resign this week as head coach of the New York Knicks. The Knicks have lost nine of their last ten games to drop to third place in our awful Atlantic Division.
I hated Wilkens when he was coaching the Raptors. I was shocked when the Knicks hired him a year ago and wrote this entry in which I openly laughed at Knicks fans. I was 100% certain that this hiring was a huge mistake and I couldn't wait until he was run out of town.
Schadenfreude!
Unwilling to wait for it to become official, I cancelled the 2004/2005 NHL season back on Christmas Eve. I'm glad I did as its given me a period of time to accept what I cannot control. Any day now Gary Bettman will call a press conference and explain to this country that we can forget about a Stanley Cup playoffs this spring.
Lord Stanley's sacred mug has been awarded every year since 1893 except for 1919 when Spanish influenza interfered. It's one thing for the NHL to shut their doors but it's another to keep The Stanley Cup locked away until this lock out ends. Rod Payne, a lawyer from Edmonton, is fighting this cause on our behalf. He believes the Cup was decreed a challenge cup by its donator, Lord Stanley, and that the NHL shouldn't have control over it. It's a long shot, but wouldn't it be wonderful if The Stanley Cup was still awarded this year. FreeStanley.com is sharing Payne's 13-page legal opinion on the matter as well as more information on this worthy cause.
Life is too short for me to curse out Bettman and Bob Goodenow on a daily basis. If these pricks and their selfish motives wish to deny me and my loved ones our favourite pasttime, so be it. Life goes on, we'll adapt and we will persevere. Freeing Stanley, however, is the right thing to do. God speed Mr. Panye. God speed.
The Maple Leafs blew a 2-0 lead as Mark Hartigan scored a hat trick to lead the Syracuse Crunch to a 4-2 win last night.
| Current Record | Recent Games | Season Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| 26-15-0-1 53 points |
4-2 Loss vs. Syracuse 4-2 Win vs. Hershey 6-2 Loss vs. Milwaukee |
David Ling - 50 pts Kyle Wellwood - 44 pts Matt Stajan - 32 pts |
"When are people going to learn? Democracy doesn't work."
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