Monday, Monday

Another Monday in the books. Dragged myself back to work after a three day weekend. UGH! Then of course the Monday night ritual. Time to put the garbage to the curb. Clean the litter pans (2 for three cats, I will NOT get one pan for each cat!) and muck out the bathroom. Such a glamourous life!

I watched a very bizzare movie last night. "Moulon Rouge" by director Baz Luhrman. It takes place in Paris in 1900, however modern music is used throughout the film. It was very bizzare which means I liked it. Luhrman's " William Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet" is a favorite of mine, the jury is still out on "Moulon Rouge".....

Nascar race (?) from Califorina? BORING! Bring on the short tracks...PLEASE

All Hail the Mighty Swedes

Well the Olympic men's hockey game is over and Sweden has won gold. What a great game, one for the ages. These to rivals played hard and with heart to the final buzzer. Henrik Lundqvist saved the day right in the last minute when Finland threw everything at him. Hail to the Gold medalists. Hail to Finland too. It was a great and entertaining Hockey game.................

It Comes Down to This.............

Sweden v. Finland for the gold in men's hockey. Well I picked Sweden for silver, but my other two picks (Canada & Czech Republic) are gone. Shows what I know about international hockey, eh?

Should be a good game. The game is on tomorrow at 8:00 am. Coffee, bagels and hockey, not a bad way to start a Sunday..............

Wiil The Real Harry Potter Please Stand Up?

A Show for Hennesey

Last night The Zambonis and Harry and the Potters did a benifit show for a little girl who has had a rough life. Read about Hennesy at TheZambonis.com.

They raised about $6,500 for her. Great job guys! The auction items were way cool. A Maple Leafs jersey autographed by Mike "Autin Powers" Myers fetched $400 then the winner donated it back where it fetched anothe $300. Very Cool! Here's the band on stage singing, of course, the Hockey Monkey!

And Now A Word About The Hockey Monkey....

Ah the Hockey Monkey. An icon amongst icons. Born from a song and now about to be thrust into the national spotlight. Ladies and gentleman, I give you....The Hockey Monkey.......

Perhaps the best known and most loved song of the Zamboni's roster of songs about hockey is the Hockey Monkey. A video was made and shown on Nickelodeon. One day the band came across a small fortune. What to do with this sudden wealth? By a Hockey Monkey costume, of course. A Zamboni's show would not be complete without the Hockey Monkey.....

The National Spotlight? Indeed. The Fox network will use the song The Hockey Monkey for a new show called The Loop. It will have a nice lead in too, following some little show called American Idol. So I urge all my gentle readers (all 2 of you) to watch at least the opening credits of The Loop and worship at the alter of the Hockey Monkey..........

Dare I try.......

.....A Picture???? Let's see, hmmmmm....how about.....

The Hockey Monkey And I

No Men's Hockey medals for North America!

Well, that takes the starch out of my jock. Both the US and Canada men's hockey teams have been eliminated from the medal round. Yikes! And Canada was shut out for the third time in four games. I TIVO'd the US v. Finland game, but I don't know if I have the heart to watch. I love Olympic hockey, but the 4 year wait starts today as far as I'm concerned.

Note to the coachs: Bigger ice surface means you need younger legs. Just a hint. Y'all got 4 years to work the rest out for yourselves.......

To: Mr Bryant Gumbel AND his critics:

THE OLYMPIC CREED

Pierre de Coubertin got the idea for this phrase from a speech given by Bishop Ethelbert Talbot at a service for Olympic champions during the 1908 Olympic Games. The Olympic Creed reads:

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

The creed and motto are meant to spur the athletes to embrace the Olympic spirit and perform to the best of their abilities.

Hormones Rage, Good Music

Gawd did I have a strange day at work. See I had a cyst removed from my thyroid a couple of years ago. I have to take a pill everyday to keep myself level, and I DO take my pill everyday, but sometimes my hormones go a little wacky. Today was such a day. I become the supreme grump and woe be to any who cross my path.....I survived thanks to my trusty MP3 player (Thanks Kenny!). I finally got a memory card for it last night which expanded the number of songs I could store. Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, and of course New Order helped me pull through until I got my mail up and got on the road.....Hoping for a "Level" day tomorrow.......

My Olympic Pix and results? so far.............

Ok my picks for men's hockey were as follows: Bronze: Canada Silver: Sweden Gold : Czech Republic.

But with one game remaining in the opening round it looks like I know nothing.

Canada, the best and the brightest haven't scored in two games in a row!

Sweden may be the best of my picks but I feel that Henrick Lundquist could play a little better and they do have Peter Forsberg back, kind of...

The Czech Republic is changing their flag to the Red Cross symbol. The MVP of the Czech's so far is the ambulance driver.

Oh well there's always Vancouver 2010..............

Daytona 500

So what is it, that stirs my blood? Why, do I still watch, year after year, what is in fact cars going around in circles? Indeed, I even watch after the sanctioning body has reduced the cars to generic look a likes with no personality, and the drivers to nothing more than corporate shills with even less personality. So why do I still watch. Why?

Tony Stewart

Yes I know Tony will be vilified for his run in with Matt Kenseth. And his comments, both post race and last week after the shootout. But damn......the boy can DRIVE. Example, early in the race at over 180 miles per hour the car got sideways, very sideways. And Tony saved it. He later took a damaged car from the back of the pack to the front more than once. He is color in the grey world that Nascar has become. He is not a safe commodity. And he should never change.

Reflections on a Sunday Morn....

Well it's 8:30 am on a chilly Sunday morning the day of the Daytona 500. I'll be off to the store to gather my ingredients for another 500 chili. The race starts about 2:30 which gives me plenty of time to fix the chili. Used to be that the race would start around noon. TV rules, so hence the late start. I guess I'm an old timer.......

The Olympics....Well I can't say that I'm sorry that Bode 'The Mouth" Miller failed again. He may be the most despised American Olympic athlete ever. The men's hockey team is in trouble, although they gave a good showing against the red hot Slovaks. And how 'bout the Swiss shutting out Canada??? Just shows that this tourney is all about goal tending....Too bad for the women's hockey team, let's hope they pull themselves together and win a bronze......

Anyway Go Tony #20. Let's have a safe race today, and good chili.....

Even More catching up........

Man, it always seems like I'm trying to catch up on my blog. This time my 'puter was wonkie and I finally found the time to sit down and fix it this afternoon. I'm glad to report that the 'puter is back to normal....Which is more than I can say for myself......


STUFF.....


The Olympics....Well I've been watching some hockey, courtesy of my wife and our TIVO. USA men didn't look too good v. Latvia, but they came back with a W today. Meanwhile, the USA women had a great comeback the other night, but I don't really see them beating Canada.

DVD...Watched "Wallace and Grommit, Curse of the Were Rabbit." I am a fan of W & G so of course I liked the movie. Wallace is a cheese crazy Rube Goldberg type inventor and Grommit is his silent canine companion. In this caper W & G have a humane pest control company and they are trying to rid the village of bunnies before the Veg festival. Of course one of Wallace's schemes goes wrong and hilarity ensues.
Good if you like British humor.....

Daytona 500...Wow did this sneak up on me. Chili will be made and I'm off to a friend's house to watch on his 50" plasma HD TV this Sunday. Go Smoke #20 !!!!

Life goes on and another exciting day at the P.O. beckons....Until then PEACE

NEW ORDER: ITEM disc 2

NewOrder Story is the second disc of the Item Boxed set. While this contains many of the same videos from the Collection disc they are presented in the context of the interview that is being conducted. Of course being New Order they just wouldn't sit down and do a face to face type of thing. They do the interview as a game show, with each member of the band answering questions about the history of the band. Of course they cover Joy Division and show a live footage of the song "Transmission" and the video for "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Other cool footage was shot at the Montreaux Jazz festival. All in all a unique look at one of my favorite bands. And the Sunkist commercial set to "Blue Monday" is too much!

Commuting

I went to New York City today for some union buisness at our regional office which is located in the Times Square area. Yeah Gods above, How in the world do people take the train into the city every friggin work day???!!!! I now know how a sardine feels as the lid is closing on the can.

peace,
e
thanks but no thanks I'll work locally!

REVIEW: New Order ITEM disc1

ITEM is a two DVD set of a favorite band of mine, New Order. I was in Border's Book Store when I came across this gem. I watched the first disc "New order A COLLECTION" which contains the music videos the group has released over the years. A few points to ponder:

"The Perfect Kiss" directed by Jonathan Demme still sends a cold chill down my spine. For one thing the band is in the entire video, which is rare for N.O. And the figure standing in the open doorway, of course it's Ian Curtis, well that's just brrrr time.

"Touched by the Hand Of God" Does Gillian Gilbert look cute or what? This video spoofs the hair/metal bands of the 80's so good that some people thought N.O. was a hair/metal band....

"Round and Round" This video features the faces of a few girls doing different facial expressions in black and white. A flower (rose? tulip?) is flashed briefly on the screen at various points. Sounds dull but it really works. Even better, in true N.O. fashion there is a remix of the video with just one girl. Don't know why, but it works.......

"Crystal" Features a band on stage playing the song. They are a bunch of 20 somethings, not N.O. Name of the band? The Killers. Yep that's where the lads from Las Vegas got their name. And their look. And that big lighty billboard thing in their video.

"60 Miles An Hour" Wacky scientist in a bear costume picks up hitchhiker and has car accident avoiding dog. Have to see for yourself, but don't drink any milk. It'll just come shooting out of your nose......

extras include the aforementioned "Round and Round" remix as well as remixes for "Regret" (on the "Baywatch" location no less!) and "Crystal" Also new videos for the older songs "Ceremony" and 'Temptation" plus a live cut of "Temptation" from 1981!

So I really liked this DVD,of course I did I'm a fan!

Fixed the Blog did I..................

I think I made so you can post comments without having to sign up...Someone give it try.......................