They're Everywhere!

I guess I can add this minor incident to the list:

I was in the "1 - 8 Items" line at the grocery store this morning, with my loaf of bread and my box of cereal, and about 3 spots ahead of me was a guy with his wife, son and grocery cart. I watched him unload his 12 items onto the conveyor belt and thought, "Well, that's a little rude. I guess he's reading the sign as 1 to whatever number of Items I have." And none of the stuff he was buying was repeated, meaning that I'm not counting 3 jars of peanut butter as 3 items or anything like that. So this was mildly annoying - because clearly it was more important that he get in the fast lane and slow it down with his over-the-limit number of groceries than it was that he go in the longer line that was actually designated for his profile of shopper - but whatever. I imagine that sort of thing happens every hour of every day in every Express Lane, in the grocery store world.

But then, as the cashier finished ringing up his 12 items (in the 1 - 8 Items line) and handed him the receipt (he was going to pay by credit card, typically the slowest form of payment... of course), he presented her with a coupon for one of his purchases! So of course she had to get on the phone, and get help, because she only knew how to ring through a coupon before the receipt was printed (something to do with how the tax gets calculated). So the six or seven of us now lined up behind him, all with our 8 items or less, stood and waited for a minute until a senior cashier arrived, at which point they had to rummage through the 4 bags that he'd already loaded into his cart, find the item, void it, and then ring it through again, this time with the coupon included (all to save what sounded like about 40 cents).

So by the time he was done - in the wrong line, because he considered his time to be more important than anyone else's - he'd delayed the rest of us about the equivalent of someone who had 30 - 40 items. At no point did he utter even a single syllable of apology or regret, instead acting like the cashier should have known he had a discount coupon despite not showing it until after she handed him the bill!

How do people get raised so poorly as to behave that way? (He was East Indian, by appearance, but I don't expect that had anything to do with anything.) How do they grow up into adults who believe that rules are for other people, even when violating those rules clearly causes an impact to those same other people? What the Hell kind of value system does that moron and his wife - equally unashamed of all that was going down - hold dear?

More Fun With Restaurants

It was only eight weeks ago that we were trying to eat a dinner out but had a loud live musician to contend with.

Tonight, the Family Three went out to the Keg to celebrate Tammy's graduation. We got there nice and early because the Keg doesn't take reservations on a Friday, and were pleased to be seated in a large area with about twenty-four empty tables and nobody else there. Delightful!

And then, about five minutes later, the hostess brought another party into the same section... and seated them right beside us! I could barely grasp that someone would actually do that, as there were so many other empty tables to choose from, almost none of which were within two feet of us like that, when another party was delivered to the table on the other side of us! I started thinking the place must be filling up suddenly, but no, that was it for the flood of new arrivals... just the three parties, all clustered together in a part of the restaurant big enough to accommodate nearly ten times that many people.

While I was processing all of this, and struggling to hear what Vicki and Tammy were saying over the din of the other two groups, one of the men took a call on his cell phone and proceeded to start a lengthy conversation at a volume appropriate for a bar.

That's when I asked the waitress if it was normal to cluster people together in one area when there was all kinds of unused space, and would it be rude of us to ask to move? She was very apologetic and indicated that she'd thought that the seating arrangement was strange, too. She sweetly moved us to a new table, after which the noise level dropped significantly and we had a lovely dinner.

We're guessing the hostess was new on the job. At least I hope she was.

Is dining out always this much work these days?

Back To Beantown We Go

Thanks to another impressive pitching performance by bullpen ace Josh Beckett, some timely hitting by the Red Sox batters and a few Indian errors, the ALCS will go to at least six games. As in the series opener, a lop-sided score favoured Boston tonight, 7-1 in this case. Cleveland continues to be the only team in 2007 to come up short in any game in which they could close out a series, having failed against the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS (they'd accomplish it in Game 4 of that series, though). And now they've blown their first chance to knock out Boston, and in the process allowed the series to move back to Fenway Park, much to the delight of the Red Sox Nation everywhere.

Is this the beginning of a major momentum shift in this series, or a mere delaying of the inevitable? If Curt Schilling manages to pull off a minor miracle in Game 6, then it would certainly set up quite the drama for a final, winner-take-all seventh game, including incredible pressure on the overpriced Japanese starter for Boston, Daisuke Matsuzaka. This guy reportedly threw 250 pitches in a 17-inning game while in high school (few hurlers in the majors ever exceed 120 pitches in a game) and was a legend in Japan before signing a very lucrative deal with the Red Sox. Pitching in a Game 7 in order to get into the World Series would make for quite the story, both here in North America and back in his homeland. But there's still the matter of a Game 6 on Saturday night to enjoy before any serious talk of such things can happen.

Need A Win? Play The Rangers!

Atlanta Thrashers, losers of all six of their games so far this young NHL season, are now up 4-0 on the Rangers in the 3rd period. Sure, they fired their coach after their last loss and have somebody new behind the bench, and yeah, I'm guessing they're still smarting after being swept out of their first ever playoff series by New York in April, but when a team that's supposed to be a powerhouse this year can't beat an 0-and-6 opponent on their way to establishing a 2-and-4 start themselves, you know something's not right.

It may be time for some heads to start rolling in the organization. Early season losses have a way of coming back to haunt you late in the year, if you end up in tough for a playoff spot. And how does a team finish so strong, supposedly improve itself in the off-season, and then have such a crappy start to the next season?

Graduation Day

I spent the day out of the office and was spotted by a co-worker wearing a suit and a tie... ah, the stuff of rumours!

No, it wasn't Job Interview Day for me, but rather Graduation Day for young Tammy. She did a commendable job spending time with both of her families (her dad and his parents and girlfriend, and Vicki and I) as well as catching up with various friends (for the last time?).

I barely remember my own convocation (over twenty years ago) but I do know that the only reason I went was to make my Aunt Dorothy happy. It seemed like a lot of silly pomp and ceremony then, and still does now. But what else would you expect from a guy who was delighted to 'get away with' a Justice of the Peace wedding at City Hall?

Hopefully the young lady had fun and the rest of it's just noise.

Baseball Withdrawal? Yeah, I've Got It!

It's only one night without any baseball, but it still feels... wrong.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Boston, behind their ace Josh Beckett, can win Game 5 tomorrow night and send the series back to Beantown for the weekend. If that doesn't happen, then we'll have only managed two games over the minimum through the first six series! That would be such an unheard of turn-of-events, not to mention how unhappy it'd make me to get so little post-season baseball in 2007! For a team that came back from 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees, I have to think that overcoming a 3-1 deficit this year shouldn't be too daunting for the Red Sox.

Right, Boneman?

And now, I'm off to bed. Those three hours of sleep last night just didn't seem to cut it! And watching one of our cats let a mouse run right by him around 3:30 a.m. didn't help, either.

He's A Doctor, Damn It, Not A Chick Magnet!

Ain't It Cool News is reporting that Karl Urban will be playing young Dr Leonard McCoy in JJ Abrams' re-imagining of Star Trek. Evil Sylar as Spock. Some hunk as Bones. What's next? I'm thinking... somebody who can actually act portraying James Tiberius Kirk?!?

They said.

It couldn't.

Be done!

Let's get the Hell out of here.

Me Want Black Dossier!

After no new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen material in what seems like a very, very long time, it looks like the Nov 14th release date for LOEG: Black Dossier is finally being confirmed. There's even a 4 page preview out there at the corner of Information Superhighway and World Wide Weed.

How much do I love LOEG? Well, the 2nd volume did show up as # 4 on my all-time Best of Moore list! That's pretty high!

Now all I have to worry about are the copyright issues which supposedly limit publication to the U.S. only. I've been bugging my local comic store guy about looking into whether he'll get copies or not, but haven't gotten a firm answer as of yet.

Some Rumours You Just Want To Believe!

Resistance: Fall of Man 2 coming in November of next year? So claims one source, as reported at GameSpot. Having just played the demo partial-level of Insomniac's Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction game (downloaded from the Playstation Store over the weekend), I'm more than ready, willing and able to put as much money into that gaming company's coffers as they'll take... especially if they keep putting out more R&C and R:FoM titles! Fun fun fun!

Increasing My Portability

I did something today that I'd been planning for two months. When I returned to work after my five week vacation, I decided it was time to finally give up my desktop and go "all laptop, all the time." I'd previously resisted this because I had continued to use my PC at my desk, and reserve the laptop for meetings and at home. But after being re-located from one cubicle to another while I was off, and realizing that I'll probably move around more frequently in my current role, I decided to go down to one machine. (I'd already given up every other piece of hardware I ever had.)

So what I did was this: for the last two months, I've used my laptop exclusively. I'd already copied any files I cared about off my desktop my first day back, so I wanted to see if I could go 2 months without needing the other machine. I could, and I did, and so I sent it packing today!

My next interim goal in this category is to get my stuff at work to fit into just one box, and one shelf-on-wheels piece of furniture that I have. Once that's achieved, then I'll be ready to move with almost no notice at all, and be able to pull it off in a half hour or less. Now that's portability!

Hope You're Making The Most Of It!

A co-worker sent out a link to an interesting site where an argument is made that we all just exist inside a computer simulation. I couldn't follow all of the math closely enough to be able to say that I believe things are as straight-forward as the author posits, but it's certainly an unusual approach. (And being in a computer simulation would explain away phenomena like deja vu, paranormal activity and the popularity of Reality TV and Paris Hilton!)

One thing I noticed in the paper was that it makes an assertion which, if taken to its own logical conclusion, would seem to invalidate the larger premise. In writing in support of the viability of a "posthuman" era with completely life-like simulations, the following is provided:

"Moreover, a posthuman simulator would have enough computing power to keep track of the detailed belief-states in all human brains at all times. Therefore, when it saw that a human was about to make an observation of the microscopic world, it could fill in sufficient detail in the simulation in the appropriate domain on an as-needed basis. Should any error occur, the director could easily edit the states of any brains that have become aware of an anomaly before it spoils the simulation. Alternatively, the director could skip back a few seconds and rerun the simulation in a way that avoids the problem."

I love that notion, but of course it completely rules out any possibility of us actually being in such a simulation. Why? Because, according to the author, any detection of the simulation would result in changing "the states of any brains that have become aware of an anomaly before it spoils the simulation." So the entire exercise of writing up this thesis should've been aborted (or rewound so that it could be pushed in another direction) if there were any truth to it.

Still, I get a bit of a thrill imagining that we're all just in a virtual reality here, especially when I think about us playing video games: simulations within simulations, dudes!

So if you were convinced that all of this really was just happening in a virtual reality, what would you do differently? I'd probably eat more ice cream...

Game 2s: Much Better Than Game 1s

Last night's Game 2 between Arizona and Colorado was highly entertaining, but even so I could only make it to 2:00 a.m. (at which time it was 2-2, going to the top of the 10th inning). I recorded another 4 hours - hoping that would cover it! - and then watched the 10th and 11th innings this morning. Colorado won the game in the most unlikely of ways - on a bases loaded walk in the top of the 11th - and ran their current hot streak to 19 wins in their last 20 games. Let's consider that stat for a moment: over the past three weeks, including the final 14 games of the regular season, a 1-game playoff to decide the Wildcard spot, and 5 post-season games so far, they've lost only once! I don't think I can ever remember a baseball team being quite that unbeatable at this time of the year. The Rockies are now up 2-0 in the series, headed home for Games 3, 4 and (if necesary) 5, and I don't think any fans of the Diamondbacks should be expecting to see their team play another home game this post-season. As I keep saying: I wouldn't bet against Colorado winning it all later this month!

Tonight's Boston/Cleveland game has managed to outdo even the thrills in Arizona over the past 24 hours, though. The lead has changed hands several times already this evening, with Cleveland holding 1-0, 4-3 and 5-3 advantages, while the Red Sox have been up 2-1, 3-1 and 6-5, though the game currently sits 6-6 in the 9th inning (and we just passed midnight!). Boston has utilized a Japanese reliever who, incredibly, always has his head turned completely toward third base as he releases the ball! If the Indians lose tonight to go down 0-2, at least they've got three games in a row coming up at Jacobs Field in which to try to climb back into this ALCS. Of course, if Boston loses, they may in fact be playing their last home game of 2007 tonight, if they head to Cleveland for three, tied 1-1 in the series.

[Update: The Indians went to town in the top of the 11th and put 7 more runs on the board, and won the game 13-6. That series is now tied 1-1 as it shifts to Cleveland for three. Yay! No sweep!]

While there's been nothing this year - so far - anywhere near the scale of the Steve Bartman moment of a few years ago, we've had some smaller dramas already. Even the way Game 1 of the NLCS ended, with Arizona down 5-1 only to have a base-running blunder undo a potential rally, made things more interesting than they might've been otherwise. Chase Field in Phoenix has also been the site for some intriguing calls in the first couple games, usually around the second base bag. The so-called "neighbourhood play," in which the infielder just has to be around second base as he turns the first half of a double play, hasn't always been observed by the umpires in Arizona. And we got an interference call there, causing the runner at first to also be called out, as well as bringing a runner back from third to second (I didn't even know the rule worked that way until I saw it in Game 1)!

I just hope that both LCS don't go the way of the sweep, as we're almost out of baseball for another year, and I don't want it to end quite that quickly!

A Very Fine Read Indeed

Several weeks ago I wrote about the bizarre events leading up to and culminating in Green Arrow and Black Canary's wedding night. The... climax of that event came in the Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special, where bride Dinah was inexplicably attacked by groom Oliver, resulting in her stabbing him in the neck, apparently killing him. And this was all a lead-in to a brand new Green Arrow / Black Canary ongoing title, which launched this past week.

I'm in a minority within the comic book community, because I neither love nor hate the writing of Judd Winnick. Sometimes his style works for me and sometimes it leaves me cold, so I haven't really formed any definitive opinion about the man. Here, I'm happy to say, he hits exactly the right notes for this DC fan. To begin with, the story picks up a month after the events of the GA/BC Wedding Special, so we're quickly informed that the neck wound at the end of the previous tale was, indeed, fatal. So much so, in fact, that Dinah (Mrs Queen?) has the dead body to prove it, preserved in a glass coffin, down in her basement!

Where Winnick wins me over, though, is with his inclusion of other key DCU characters. Pretty much everyone who's closely associated with either Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen or Dinah "Black Canary" Lance shows up, either to offer condolences to the widow or to help her deal with her apparent boatload of denial. She's utterly convinced, it turns out, that the man who tried to kill her, and ended up dying at her hands, was not Oliver Queen! She knows this by his eyes, and she's unflagging in her belief. But of course no one else believes her, until she finds the most unlikely of allies: Batman himself! He's done his usual detective work, as a counterpoint to Dinah's more emotional bias, and has come to the same conclusion as his Justice League teammate. Suddenly the rest of the friends, family and heroes take the Canary's denial a lot more seriously! (Hopefully no one reading the comic will interpret this as a slap at women, as it's clearly not a "male/female" thing but rather a "Batman/everyone else" thing!)

There's lots more on display in this impressive premiere, including a whole lot of very clean, very attractive artwork by Cliff Chiang. He has a deceptively simple style that may not sit well with some, especially on characters like Green Lantern and Batman, but I found that it worked perfectly for me here. He also has the likenesses of the main characters down pat, right from the start, which should help anyone trying out this book who isn't a longtime fan. Consistency is all too rare in comics these days, it seems.

I came into this series lukewarm, especially given the way it was lead into. But after reading this first issue, I'm planning to stick around for awhile, both to see where it's going, and because it's off to a great start! I'll also say, without giving anything away, that I guessed the minor twist that shows up toward the end of the comic, although I saw it just before the big reveal. The clue was subtle, but it was there. And I like when writers play fair like that!

When Good Villains Go Bad

When I was reading comics as a kid, one of my favourite set of characters were the Sentinels who first showed up in X-Men # 14 back in the mid-1960s (I encountered them first in a reprint of that debut). These were thirty foot tall purple robots that were designed to hunt down and capture any and all mutants, who even way back then were feared and hated by the general public (or at least by those scientists with the resources and intellect to build giant robots to go after them!)

While I certainly liked the scary aspect of the Sentinels - imagine the shock of the roof of your house being ripped off and a giant purple hand reaching in to grab you! - what I loved about them was the fact that they analyzed every weapon or superpower used against them, sharing the information between all Sentinels, meaning that however you defeated one this time would never work again! That notion was absolutely thrilling to me, because of the implication that you needed to come up with new ways to overcome a Sentinel each time one found you!

Now, if that concept sounds familiar to you and yet you've never heard of the Sentinels, it may be because you're a Star Trek fan and are thinking "Borg." I consider the two groups to be brothers under the skin - although let's be clear as to who inspired whom! - in terms of storytelling potential delivered by that adaptive-defense aspect. And in fact, when the Collective-loving alien cyborgs first showed up in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Q Who?", I thought, "Hey, they're like humanoid Sentinels!" Even their team slogan of, "Resistance is futile." seems faintly robotic, and reminiscent of their purple Marvel Comics antecedents. And futility was an apt description of how Picard, Ryker and the rest of the Enterprise fared against the Borg in that initial encounter, saved only by omnipotent Q's capricious nature, flinging the Trek ship back to their own quadrant of the universe. In their second appearance, as the villains of the ST:TNG 3rd season finale/4th season premiere, "Best of Both Worlds", the terror of their threat was accentuated even more, and they clearly became the premiere arch foes of the Trek universe.

Which bring us to where both the Borg and the Sentinels have gone off the rails, over the years. Unlike most villains, these two are necessarily going to be harder to defeat every time they appear, simply by their nature. As a writer of fiction involving either of them, you have to be aware of this limitation at every turn. What I've seen, in both the comics and the Trek appearances, is that there's a tendency to instead water down or de-fang the villains, so as not to have to deal with this escalating ante. In both mediums, instances of each group have actually shown up as "good guys", with Marvel publishing Sentinel, a few years ago, featuring a boy and his 'pet Sentinel', as well as the popular - and sexy - Borg character known as Seven of Nine who was a regular on Star Trek: Voyager for several years. And those were simply two examples of where the once-terrifying concepts were transformed into blah versions (no offense to Jeri Ryan or her legion of fans!).

I think it's fine to take characters in new directions, but just wish in the case of the Sentinels and the Borg, that Marvel and Paramount had instead respectively used them less often, and more effectively. Both started off incredibly strongly, and then soon were diminished with each subsequent appearance. Writing them well is clearly a challenge; it just seems that not that many writers were up to it!

And speaking of challenges, how about this one: who'd win if a bunch of Sentinels fought an expedition of Borg? (Fan Geek-Out # 2,539!)

Memo To Sportsnet, Re: Baseball Playoffs

Let me start off by saying how much I enjoy Sportsnet's coverage of the MLB playoffs. Having one network that broadcasts all of the games, and all in HD, is fantastic, and greatly appreciated by this Canadian baseball fanatic! And the segments between innings with Greg Zahn and others are often enjoyable and insightful.

About the only bone I have to pick with their coverage this year has come up when one game overlaps another, as happened tonight. The 7:00 p.m. Indians/Red Sox game ran late, and so there were about forty minutes during which both it, and the 10:00 p.m. Rockies/Diamondbacks games were underway. Now, in most cases, staying with the earlier game - as Sportsnet did tonight - is the only reasonable choice you have, since you've got viewers invested in it and you don't want to piss them off by jumping over to the new game that's just starting up. However, I don't think that's a blanket statement that can be applied in every instance.

The early game tonight, for example, was 10-3 for Boston in the 8th inning, when the Arizona/Colorado Game 2 had its first pitch. Aside from the most hopelessly-optimistic Cleveland fans and the faintest-of-heart Boston supporters, nobody in their right mind expected any outcome in the nearly-complete contest except for a Red Sox victory. Even if Cleveland loaded the bases in the 9th - as they in fact did - and followed that up with a grand slam - which they didn't - the lead would still have been 3! Could the Indians have come back? Yes, of course they could've, as the whole "you get to play until the final out is made" setup of baseball totally allows for big comebacks (much moreso than in timed games, as we have in the other three major professional sports leagues). But huge rallies, like from a 7-run late-inning hole, are still rare. In most regular seasons, for example, you might have a handful of them (the Jays turned a lot of heads this year when they overcame a 5-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th) but the MLB season consists of 2,430 games (81 home games times 30 teams) whereas the playoffs have, at most, 41 games (4 best-of-five LDS series, 2 best-of-seven LCS series and 1 best-of-seven World Series). Therefore the chances of an historic comeback in the post-season are pretty low.

All of which means: dump the blowout already and switch to the new game when it starts! Worst case, the lopsided abandoned game suddenly gets interesting, and you temporarily switch back to it for a few minutes! That's what I, as a baseball fan, expect to see! It's what I would do if I were in charge of what game was being shown.

Now, for all I know, maybe part of the deal that Sportsnet made with TBS and Fox in the U.S. requires them to stay with any game they show, until completion. If that's the case, then never mind (but maybe try to get a better deal next time!)

And again, I completely appreciate that something like this is the worst thing I can find to complain about so far with this year's baseball broadcasts!

Not Even In The Same League As A Role Model

With all of the more serious examples of bad behaviour by professional athletes showing up in the news these days, this one hardly seems worth mentioning: an NBA 'star' who's admitted to padding his Halo 3 stats by setting up fake games with a friend and taking turns throwing games to one another (think of Boneman and me, driving each other's Resistance: Fall of Man ranks up, by one of us standing in a game so that the other could collect points killing us).

It's hardly worth mentioning except in what it says about the fool's character. He apparently thinks his statistics in a video game are important enough to spend time artificially boosting them, but then - when called on it - claims that there's nothing wrong with doing it because it's not 'hurting' anyone. That kind of rationalization makes you wonder how hard it would be to get him to tank in an NBA game - perhaps one in which he's bet against his own team - since after all, who would that really hurt? Or how often he cheats on his girlfriend or wife, because what she doesn't know won't hurt her? Or how much undeclared income he makes off his star status, as it certainly couldn't harm anyone if he got paid in cash and didn't report it? Rationalization is always so handy whenever someone wants to convince themselves that they're not doing anything wrong, when in fact they know that they actually are.

Not that we were ever likely to mistake many in the current crop of pro athletes for role models, anyway. But this seems like a ridiculously pathetic example of just how lacking in integrity some of them really are.

Who Doesn't Love Easy Money?

I was reading something this morning and came across an offhand comment that stopped me dead in my tracks for a moment or two. What gave me pause was a statement along the lines of "Back in the 1970s, when IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) were first introduced and took awhile to catch on..." First off, I hadn't realized that IRAs - the American counterpart to our Canadian RRSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plans) - had only been around since the 70s, but more shocking to me was the notion that they had originally received a lukewarm or even cool reception from the general public.

Then I started thinking about some of the uninformed comments I've heard about RRSPs just in the time that I've been working (mid-80s onward):

• "They're a government money grab!"
• "I'd never contribute to one because I don't want to lose control of my own money!"
• "RRSPs are just a form of taxation."
• "I can't afford to put anything into my RRSP; besides, there's always the Old Age Pension and Canada Pension Plan."
• "What's the difference? Tax me now or tax me later. There's no incentive."

Now, I spent my first fourteen years of full-time employment working for a bank, so probably I'm not only better educated about retirement plans than the average person, but I also tended to hang out with other people who understood them even more than I did, like my wife.

Even so, I'm still amazed when I encounter someone who's anti-RRSP. I can understand if a person's hazy about some slightly more esoteric aspect like the value of a spousal account, or why starting contributions early in their career makes such a difference. Those are a far cry, however, from thinking that RRSPs are a scam!

I think part of the reason why there are still people so willfully ignorant on this topic was also touched upon in the book where I encountered the IRA reference. The point was made by the author that tax breaks were traditionally something that only wealthy people could ever take advantage of. In fact, for decades, the term "tax break" was almost synonymous with "loophole for the rich." Some folks may still make that association today, or have at least formed a negative association with RRSPs from that original connotation.

Then there's the fact that the money is "registered," with a set of rules placed on what happens when you go to take it out, that probably doesn't sit right with some people. After all, the argument goes, if it's my money, why can't I take it out whenever I want? And of course, the answer is: you absolutely can withdraw the funds anytime you choose, but you may end up paying the income tax on it that you never paid originally. That seems to be a tough concept for those who don't get RRSPs. And if you can't get your head around that, then no wonder you'd shy away from them!

I remember having a conversation with someone a few years ago on this subject, and heard the "I can't afford to..." opinion come out. I quickly fired back with, "How can you afford not to?" That of course got a skeptical look in response, like I was one of those infomercial snake oil salesmen who claim you can work just 10 hours a week and make $100,000 per year in the process... So I asked the other person if they'd have some money to invest in a stock, if they were guaranteed to get a 40% return the first year, followed by normal returns in subsequent years... as long as they left it there? The answer was, "Oh, sure, but stocks aren't guaranteed, and things that are don't give nearly that kind of return." Then I had my opening! I have no idea if that person ever did invest in an RRSP after we finished talking, but I gave it my best shot.

In case it's not obvious, I love that Canada has RRSPs! Vicki and I should end up retired (or financially able to retire) in our mid-50s and mid-40s, respectively, largely thanks to the money that has grown in our RRSPs (and company pensions) and the tax money we saved as we contributed to them. I have this idea about slowly drawing our money back out of the registered accounts (and into just regular savings) during the years when we're not working but aren't yet officially retirement age. Why? So that we can get some of it back at a very low income tax rate, by using the graduated tax system to our advantage. Imagine putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into RRSPs with a tax break of 46%, and then taking it out while only paying tax at a 0 - 15% rate! How sweet is that?

In summary, RRSPs (and IRAs): good! People who are suspicious of RRSPs: silly!

Proving The Experts Wrong

Those who were calling for an impressive 2007/08 season from the amped up New York Rangers must be scratching their heads about now. Despite adding Drury and Gomez to their line-up in the off-season, the boys from Manhattan are now 1-2, including a loss tonight to their crosstown rivals. This is the team that's going to challenge in the Eastern Conference?

One Over The Limit

This year's baseball Divisional Series, in which four best-of-five contests took only a total of thirteen games to complete, was the shortest such set since they introduced the concept. But it was more than just a statistic, to this baseball fan.

The fact that no series went the distance, and more, that all but one of them were sweeps, has served to diminish some of my enthusiasm for the playoffs. There just wasn't a whole lot of suspense or drama to the opening round in 2007. That's not to say that I couldn't be revved back up again by a good League Championship Series or two, but usually I go into the LCS pre-jazzed... sigh.

So, I'm definitely more intrigued by the Rockies/D'backs matchup than the Indians/Bosox one, but that wouldn't be true if Boston hadn't already ended their own 80+ year drought. It's hard to believe that anyone will be able to stop the boys from Colorado, but the prospect of potentially seeing them go up against the powerhouse Red Sox holds some definite appeal. In the 90s, the Indians made it to the World Series twice, but each time lost to a team that had never won a championship before (Atlanta in 1995, and Florida in 1997). So I have trouble considering them a viable threat, for all that they did look great against the Yankees in the ALDS. (Maybe they'll face, and lose to, the Rockies this time around?) And back in 2001, I didn't give the Diamondbacks a chance of winning it all, especially when they drew the three-time defending champs from New York, and yet they proved me wrong, in one of the best World Series I've ever seen.

Yeah, OK, I guess maybe I'm just a little jazzed after all!

Golden Oldie: The Incredible Hulk # 3

Hey, see if this sounds familiar: The Hulk gets tricked into a missile and launched into outer space, while an authority figure looks on and exults, "We've done it! It worked! It's the end of the Hulk! He'll never return alive to menace Earth again!"

If you said, "Sure, that sounds like the start of the Planet Hulk storyline that eventually brought us to the current World War Hulk epic where ol' Greenskin returns to Earth in order to have his revenge on those who sent him away!" then you'd be right... and wrong! The scene in question is from The Incredible Hulk # 3, from a mind-numbing 45 years ago! That's right, September 1962's 3rd appearance of the Hulk used that very same mechanism as the springboard for its story, which involved a much shorter stay in space for its title character - approximately 3 pages - while also introducing a change in the ground rules for the book. Up until that point, which is to say for the first two issues of the series, there was a clear delineation point between Bruce Banner and his monstrous alter-ego, with the former presiding during daylight and the latter busting loose at night (perhaps inspired by Wolfman antics). Here, as a result of his trip into space and corresponding irradiation, the Hulk took over full-time, with no sign of scrawny Banner to be found except in flashbacks.

And speaking of flashbacks, I guess Stan Lee figured readers might've already forgotten how the Incredible One came to be all those (two) issues ago, since he provided a recap of that tale here in # 3! I would've called that the quickest retelling of an origin ever, except that I'm pretty sure Peter Parker recalled his own date with destiny in Amazing Spider-Man # 1, the immediate follow-up to Amazing Fantasy # 15! And we think kids have Attention Deficit Disorder today!

The Incredible Hulk # 3 was fun no matter how you slice it, though, as young sidekick Rick Jones ended up in command of the Hulk, once again thanks to the mysterious and inexplicable effects of that outer space radiation! You might expect that he'd have taken the man-monster and paid a visit to that annoying bully who always tormented him in 10th grade, but no, he simply locked the brute away while he went off to visit his Aunt Polly and take in a circus show!

Of course, it's never just a circus show in the Marvel Universe - even back then! - as the evil Ringmaster was hyp-mo-tizing everyone in town and then robbing them blind. It wasn't long before Rick, the Hulk, and two FBI agents who'd been following a trail of bizarre crimes around the countryside all converged on the Ringmaster's scheme, at which point hilarity - in the form of trained elephants, tent posts and humans shot out of cannons - ensued!

Though I've never been a big Jack Kirby fan, and probably never will be, I do have to admit that his rough, blocky style perfectly suited these early issues of The Incredible Hulk and Fantastic Four. Everyone in this comic looks like they were cut out of granite, and that's somehow appropriate with a giant green monster, a hellfire Army general, and a kid who you just know has spent most of his life running away from home. Unfortunately, there aren't many of the big, dynamic splash pages that I usually expect to find in a Kirby comic, and in fact many of the pages sport up to eight panels on them (no wonder it took me twice as long to read as one of its modern counterparts!)

I think my favourite shot of the whole package is the cover, with that squinty-eyed, square-browed Hulk pretending like "he can fly!!" when in fact it's pretty clearly stated inside that he's only jumping really high. I wonder how many kids got suckered into buying this gem back in '62 because they actually thought they were going to see somebody fly? OK, maybe not, considering how many DC characters were already doing that at the time. But still! How about a little truth in advertising, Marvel?!

I'll also shamefully admit that I initially misread the word "FLICKER" as it appeared in the comic, almost causing me to spit Dr Pepper all over it! (Slight exaggeration, for effect only. No actual Silver Age comics were harmed.) That experience did remind me, though, of that old comic book legend that maintained that writers were not to use the words "FLICK" or "CLINT" (or variations thereof) in any of their stories, for obvious reasons. I guess Stan didn't get that memo! Eventually, of course, the printing quality improved enough that they could start running that risk.

When it's all said and done, this was a great read, and every bit worth the much-more-than-12-cents I paid for it recently! Now I just have to get issues 1 and 2 and I'll have finally filled out my run of The Incredible Hulk after all these years!

What A Great Time To Be Alive!

The digital music channel that I often listen to on my TV is currently playing David Bowie's song, "Heroes"... the German version!

Who cares that we don't have flying cars or colonies on Mars in the 21st century just yet, when we can get foreign language variants of classic 70s rock songs on our TVs!

And if that doesn't impress you, it's just possible that you're a member of the Jaded Generation... and your life will always suck! See ya; wouldn't wanna be ya!

Guest Blog: Shane's Detroit Red Wings Dream Team

So Matt and I have discussed all things hockey on various occasions, and recently I offered up a blog topic of Matt’s “All-Time” Rangers line-up. Being the good sport we all know him to be, Matt produced a solid example of the talent that has passed through the New York Rangers organization. Now I’m not the type to make a request of someone, if I wasn’t willing to complete the task myself.

So, with that being said, here is my Detroit Red Wings “All Time” Line-up.

Behind the Bench
William Scott “Scotty” Bowman (1993 – 2002) – He’s been compared to the best coaches in the history of sports. He holds the record for the most coaching wins in NHL history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season (Winning Percentage of 58.2%) and 223 victories in the post season. (Winning Percentage of 63.2%)

He has won NINE Stanley Cups (three in Detroit, five in Montreal, and one in Pittsburgh) No other head coach in the history of the NHL, MLB, NFL, or NBA has won a championship with 3 different teams. Scotty Bowman once joked that “his only regret was not winning a tenth Stanley Cup ring because he has ten fingers”

Honorable Mention:Jacques Demers (1986-1990) – Jacques won the Jack Adams award for coach of the year in 1987 and 1988 while with the Wings, and ties Scotty Bowman for Multiple “Coach of the Year” awards.

Right Wing
Gordon “Gordie” Howe (1946-1971) – Gordie Howe began playing in the NHL at the tender age of 18 as an ambidextrous player. He used a straight blade to allow him to shoot the puck with either hand. Howe has been dubbed “Mr. Hockey” but players who have faced him referred to him as “Mr. Elbows”. He played a very physical style of hockey and it remains a medical mystery how he managed to play professional hockey in six decades. A “Gordie Howe Hat-Trick” is when a player scores a goal, gets an assist, and win a fight in one game. During that time Howe finished in the top 5 in scoring for twenty straight seasons. No wonder he was the boyhood idol of Wayne Gretzky and it was Gordie Howe’s number 9 that prompted Wayne to select the number 99 for himself.

Honorable Mention: Andy Bathgate, Brendan Shanahan

Left Wing
Robert Blake Theodore “Ted” Lindsay (1944-1957) – Off the ice Ted Lindsay helped to create the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA), and on the ice, the famous #7 was one third of the Detroit Red Wing’s famous “Production Line”. With the Wings Ted Lindsay won four Stanley cups and the Art Ross trophy for leading the league in scoring. Despite his small size, Lindsay was nicknamed ‘Terrible Ted’ because of his rough style of play. In 1068 career games Ted has scored 379 Goals, 472 Assists for 851 Points. He was voted to the NHL all star team eight times.

Honourable Mention: Syd Abel, Alex Delvecchio

Center
Steven Gregory Yzerman (1983-2006) – So much can be said about this guy. Stevie Y was drafted by the Red Wings 4th overall after having to ‘settle’ for Yzerman when the Islanders took Pat LaFontaine with the 3rd selection. Steve then went on to 10 All Star games, 3 Stanley Cups, an Olympic Gold Medal, A World Cup of Hockey Championship, a Canada Cup Championship, a Lester B Pearson Award (NHL outstanding player as voted by the NHLPA), a Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP), a Bill Masterson Trophy, a Lester Patrick Trophy, and a Frank J. Selke Trophy to name a few. He currently ranks sixth in NHL history in points, seventh in assists, and eight in goals. Yzerman is the youngest captain in Red Wings history, and has been dubbed simply “the Captain”.

On my way to one of the Red Wings games, I can recall seeing a giant poster that hung in downtown Detroit just outside of the Joe Louis Arena. It was a huge picture of Stevie Y and it read “Born: Cranbrook, B.C. 1965 – Adopted: Detroit, MI 1983”.

They don’t make players like that anymore.

Defence
Niklas Lidstrom (1991 – present) – This guy is automatic. Never makes mistakes, always in the right place at the right time, and clearly leads by example. His trophy case is loaded with 3 Stanley Cups, 5 Norris Trophy’s (NHL’s Best Defenseman), 1 Conn Smythe Trophy, an Olympic Gold, a World Championship of Hockey Gold, and has been voted to the NHL all star game 9 times and counting. Filling in for Steve Yzerman as captain isn’t an easy job, but Lidstrom seems to be handling the pressure quite well. As a defender he’s considered one of the league’s best, but his offensive numbers are also quite impressive as Lidstrom holds a Red Wing record for points by a defenseman with 80.

Leonard Patrick “Red” Kelly (1947 – 1960) – Red Kelly was a gifted athlete and one of the few players in the NHL who played forward and defence. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll focus on his defensive achievements. In today’s NHL we think of hard hitting defensemen like Scott Stevens, and Dion Phaneuf. Back in the early years, it was Red Kelly. This man loved to punish opposing players if they dared to skate the puck down his side of the ice. He played the physical game that fans love to watch and players hate to play against. To say he was tough is an understatement. Nearing the end of the 1958-59 season, Red Kelly played the remaining regular season games with a broken ankle. Despite playing through the pain, the Wings missed the playoffs that year.

Honorable Mention: Chris Chelios, Paul Coffey, Viacheslav Fetisov

Goaltender
Terry Gordon Sawchuck (1949-55, 1957-64, 1968-69) – Terry Sawchuck didn’t waste any time making a name for himself as a professional goaltender. Having played in the United States Hockey League, American Hockey League, and National Hockey League, he was named rookie of the year in all three professional ranks. Terry put together career statistics of 447 wins, and 103 shutouts (an NHL record that still stands today) and he accomplished these numbers in 971 games. Who knows how many more shutouts he might have put up before his mysterious death in 1970 at the age of 40.

Honorable Mention: Harry “Apple Cheeks” Lumley, Dominik Hasek

Meanwhile, At The Studio

I've recently posted reviews of several television premieres, along with a movie or two or three.

Just in case anyone around here was wondering why I don't seem to write as much about TV or movies anymore...

"The Stars Are Just The Neon Lights..."

And so another Magnolia Electric Company concert is (sadly) behind us.

For Vicki and I, this was MEC concert number three; for Tammy, her first. This was also the first time seeing them live without being accompanied by the person who introduced us to them, our buddy Tim. He unfortunately had a conflict this time around, as otherwise I'm sure he'd have made the trek to Lee's Palace with us.

During the opening act, which was a female-fronted band called the Watson Twins (who I can't help but think PeterJ would've enjoyed immensely), MEC lead singer and songwriter Jason Molina once again wandered among the crowd for a few minutes. I almost didn't recognize him this time, as he's now sporting a different look: longer hair, mustache, red hankerchief and a fedora-type hat. In fact, as he stood just a few feet away from the three of us, I looked over and was just convincing myself that it wasn't him, when he met my gaze and flashed what I'd love to interpret as a glint of recognition (but which was more likely simply a "oh dear, I've been spotted" reaction). At any rate, I was emboldened to say "Hey, Jason!" and from there we struck up a short conversation.

After I complimented the recent box set, Sojourner, Molina described how it had been a fairly risky undertaking for the band, costing as it did "about a quarter million dollars to produce." I asked him how it was selling, and he kind of dodged the question by saying that they'd only made 5000 copies, since each one required a hand-made wooden box (which is admittedly one of the cooler physical attributes of Sojourner). I hope they've at least sold out of what they produced, since my math would seem to indicate that doing so would represent at best a break-even proposition, seeing as how each box set retailed for around $50 and thus it's hard to imagine that they've made their $250,000 back! Fortunately I did my part and just have to hope another 4999 MEC faithful did the same! Jason mentioned that it was intended as a 10th anniversary gift for the fans (Songs:Ohia launched in 1997), rather than being for the band. Which is pretty damn impressive! At one point I asked Molina if he was making much money off his song-writing (since I'd heard at a previous concert that he sometimes paid the other band members from that source) but he shook his head and made a sour face. Almost immediately, though, he brightened up and said, "No, but it's OK, we're doin' fine" which I hope was more than just politeness.

I didn't ask for a photo opp with him this time around, but contented myself with a few minutes of conversation that would be unheard of with bigger name talent. As far as I could see, not too many others there 'cornered' him as I had, which either speaks to the unfamiliarity of his new look, or just his anonymity in general! By the time MEC took the stage, an hour later, Lee's Palace was packed and really jumping, with the Friday night crowd getting totally into the performance.

In hindsight, I was probably too close to the stage for once. I spent the concert right in front of a speaker, and by the time the show was in its closing moments, I could barely make out any of the words! It was great from an access point-of-view (as some of the photos definitely highlight) but not so good in terms of hearing!

Bereft of any opening chatter, the band launched right into a raucous version of "Montgomery Bound" that set the tone for the evening. This was the loudest and rocking-est show I've seen MEC do to date. Later, they'd add more musicians to the stage (from the Watson Twins, I guess) and things would get even livelier, but even from the start it felt more energized than normal.

Next up was "Hammer Down," maintaining the high tempo and building on it with a longer offering than the two-and-a-half-minute opener. The crowd really started to get into it at this point, as "Hammer" is one of the band's signature songs these days.

"Talk To Me Devil, Again" slowed things down ever so slightly, while providing the second song from Fading Trails for those fans who maybe had only heard that CD (the most recent MEC release that was, at the time, 100% new material).

One of the rare out-and-out-quiet songs of the evening, "The Bowery," followed, allowing the band to catch its breath for the first time. This song first saw the light of day - in my house, anyway - on the Hard to Love a Man EP, before appearing on Sojourner earlier this year.

The crowd revved up again with "The Dark Don't Hide It," another perennial favourite. This was when I realized there were a lot of actual fans in the crowd, as quite a few people reacted to the opening notes before I even recognized the song myself!

Similarly, "Hard to Love a Man," while not as up-tempo a song, was warmly received by most in attendance. It's always a bit of a disappointment to hear this one played live, though, as the studio version has a female backing vocal to it that's missed in concert.

"Shiloh Temple Bell," from the Shohola disc of Sojourner, was next. I didn't recognize this one, but was able to ask the band member on the "steel organ" (my name for it; no idea if that's what it was) what the title of the song was, and he (shown here) graciously supplied it between songs!

The next song was also unknown to me (or unrecognizable, as my ears were really starting to give up the ghost) but featured the refrain "It's time..." so I should really be able to figure it out eventually!

The band then performed "It's Easier Now," from Jason Molina's Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go, but beefed it up considerably in the process (the original features just vocals and a quiet piano accompaniment).

Another unknown song followed, and it was by far the most country & western sounding tune of the evening. Again, I'll try to track it down, as I noted the lyrics "since you been gone" but I suspect those may not be uncommon enough to help!

"Be Simple Again," one of my favourite MEC songs, came at around the time that I expected the band to be wrapping up. Typically, their shows are only about an hour long (what do you expect for $17?) but tonight was going to be different. By the time they were finished, including the encore, they'd played for over ninety minutes! Just another reason why this one was special!

It was also around this point that several additional band members joined the five Magnolia players on stage. This gave them two drummers, four guys on various guitars (bass versus guitar, I can never tell the difference), and a couple of keyboardists. Each of the remaining songs got the royal treatment, with a noticeable increase in complexity and even an amazing drum duet! This all started with an older song, "Steve Albini's Blues," from the Songs:Ohia CD, Didn't It Rain? I was officially blown away during the course of this song!

Another crowd-pleaser, "Farewell Transmission" (from the crossover Songs:Ohia CD, entitled Magnolia Electric Company) closed out the initial set, featuring an extended instrumental section that ended with the aforementioned drum duet and had all of us breathlessly in awe of what we'd just witnessed and heard.

My ears were so far gone that I have no idea what the encore song was, except that it included all of the expanded lineup once more, and also had a mid-song guitar transfer between two of the musicians, which I was close enough to observe in such detail that I can attest to the fact that no note was missed in the hand-off! I was literally open-mouthed gaping at the sight, and got a smile from one of the guys involved when it was all over and done with (I think he liked that somebody noticed!)

Tammy said that she enjoyed it, or at least that the band sounded "better live." I don't think we turned her into a Magnolia fan, but that wasn't really the point. Vicki and I had yet another fantastic concert experience, and the three of us spent the time between bands bonding. Although, in their case, beer may've played a part in the bonding process:

After the show, we wandered back toward Tammy's apartment around 2:00 a.m., making a stop at Pizza Pizza along the way for a post-midnight snack. All in all, it was a wonderful night out for the Family Three.

"When it's been my ghost on the empty road
I think the stars are just the neon lights
Shining through the dance floor
Shining through the dance floor
Of heaven on a Saturday night"
- Magnolia Electric Company, "Hammer Down"

Nearly Swept Away

After the other 3 Divisional Series had already ended in the minimum number of games - with the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox victorious and moving on to their respective League Championship Series - and with the Indians up 3-0 midway through tonight's Game 3, it was beginning to look like all four first round best-of-five series would end in sweeps. I'd already mentioned to Vicki my belief that that had never happened before - in the relatively short period of time that Major League Baseball has had Divisional Series - shortly before the commentators confirmed it. And that must've put the jinx in on Cleveland, as it wasn't long until a 3-0 lead turned into a 8-3 deficit, to the delight of the Bronx faithful. The game just finished, with a final score of 8-4 for the Yankees, earning us the only Game 4 of this year's round of Divisional Series.

I have to say that the Colorado / Arizona NLCS has the potential to be a barn burner, with how well both teams have been playing of late. The Rockies have only lost once in their last 18 games, which should mean that the Diamondbacks will have their hands full. Interestingly, this series will feature the two teams who finished with the best records in the National League this year, despite both coming from the West. Of course, both franchises are very young, even though Arizona's already got a World Series win under its belt (2001, when both Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling pitched lights out for them).

Regardless of the eventual outcome of the lone surviving Divisional Series, the ALCS will showcase a pair of legacy teams. Boston, New York and Cleveland have all been around for more than a century, and all have World Series titles in their history, although Cleveland's most recent was almost 60 years ago.

That makes the Rockies the only team with a chance to earn their very first championship in 2007... and as hot as they are right now, I wouldn't bet against them!

Vic 'N' Dale

A staring contest of epic proportions... (click on the image for a closer look!)

Those Poor Cubbies!

With their 5-1 home loss to the Diamondbacks tonight, the Cubs were swept out of the 2007 playoffs. What that means, in a historical sense, is that they, and their fans, are now the very unhappy owners of a century-long championship drought (officially only 99 years at the moment, but since the earliest they could end it now is next October, it's going to reach 100... at least!) Let's just consider that for a moment.

To appreciate how big that is, mull this over: there probably aren't any people alive on the Earth today who can remember the Cubs winning a World Series. After all, for that statement not to be true, a person still living today would have had to have been old enough in 1908 to be cognizant of that year's baseball championship (which probably rules out kids of four years old or less?), in addition to having enough of their faculties still working today to be able to recall that period from their childhood, at the ripe old age of 106 or whatever. Seems quite unlikely to me, and every successive playoff year makes the odds even longer.

Another depressing way to look at it is this: over that span since 1908, how many young Cubs fans have come to love the team, spent the rest of their childhood and their entire adult life in the thrall of the Northsiders in the Windy City, only to die of natural causes without ever seeing a championship? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? There's undoubtedly a story that goes with each and every one of those broken hearts.

I also can't help but think of the abuse heaped upon New York Rangers fans - and the franchise itself - leading up to 1994, and that was a 'mere' 54 year slump, at its peak. What must it be like to have futility almost twice that long hanging over your head every day? Crushing, I suspect. Join me now in observing a moment of silence for the Chicago Cubs, their fans and anyone else who's ever suffered along with them over the past 99 years.

Life In The Big City

Here we are in Toronto, watching a bit of the Indians / Yankees game (1-0 NYY in the bottom of the 8th) before heading out to see Magnolia Electric Company. No idea who the opening band is, but I'm betting none of the three of us will have heard of them / him / her, but whatever.

Probably not much more coming from me for awhile. Talk amongst yourselves.

Thursday Night Blowouts

For whatever reason, each of the three playoff games tonight have been lopsided. The early game saw Colorado outslug the Phillies to a final score of 10-5, and then the Indians shocked the Yankees 11-3. [Correction: 12-3] Right now the Diamondbacks have just jumped out to a 6-2 lead over the poor Chicago Cubs - last World Series championship for the Cubs? Only 99 years ago! - and they're not even out of the inning yet!

After last night's relatively close games, today's action has had little in the way of late drama. I may not make it all the way to the end of this game, like I did in Arizona's 3-1 victory last night / early this morning.

Tomorrow I'll actually end up missing most or all of the two games (both in the American League)... but it's for a good cause!

The Alpha Omega

As I mentioned not too long ago, Jonathan Lethem's version of Omega the Unknown was due out this week, and I've just finished reading it. While I suspect that my comic store owner's reaction to the art style ("Ugh. How do I sell this?") may end up being typical of how it's received, I really loved the first issue!

Lethem perfectly retains the original series' mood and basic setup, but simply writes circles around the 1970s version. He's renamed and re-imagined each of the main characters, with the exception of Omega himself, and imbued most of them with more interesting personalities. Gone is much of the weird-for-weird's-sake narrative blather that I found added nothing to the original's appeal. We still don't know what's going on, and should be as disoriented as Hell by the end of the debut issue, but this Omega the Unknown doesn't read like it was written on acid (or under delusions of grandeur). It's a much more comfortable experience, this time around, knowing that someone of Lethem's talent is behind the wheel and is well aware of exactly how many issues he has to tell the entire tale.

Ironically, despite my positive response to the comic, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the sales on Omega are rather pathetic. It's not at all what today's comic readers are used to, partly because it's based on a story from a different era, partly due to the off-kilter nature of the characters themselves, and then there's the artwork. I used to care a lot about who drew my comics, and would rank my top artists on a regular basis - George Perez, Brian Bolland, Neal Adams, Mike Zeck and the rest - but at some point not too long after Alan Moore arrived on the scene, I kind of lost my enthusiasm for the topic. I can still get excited about the odd assignment - Ethan Van Scriver on Green Lantern, anyone? - but as I mentioned to Vicki tonight, all I really require anymore is that I can tell who the characters are, from page to page! Against that bar, the style in which 2007's version of Omega the Unknown is drawn is just fine!

I can hardly wait for the next issue in this series, and the eight that are planned to follow it! Jonathan Lethem did not disappoint!

Dream Team, Blueshirt Style

A few days ago, frequent blog visitor Shane suggested to me that I launch Year Two of this site with a description of my "All Time New York Rangers Team" selection. He'd been having similarly deep conversations about the Wings and Leafs with his father (I think) and wanted to put the bug in my ear.

I had already planned to change the template for the blog as the kick-off move for Year Two, and wanted to think about the Rangers question for awhile before answering it anyway. I've now had that chance.

I'm definitely inclined to limit the candidates to the period of time that I've been a Rangers fan, which is essentially the early 1970s to present. Sorry, Andy Bathgate and the rest of the greats from the more distant past! You guys all rocked, especially in 1928, 1933 and 1940!

So here's my half-assed take on a Dream Team from Madison Square Garden... and I ain't talkin' basketball! I'd put these six fellas, in their prime, on the ice any old day of the year!

Goal: Mike Richter (1990s) - I give the nod to Mike, not just because of the whole ending the 54-year drought thing, but also because he was drafted by the Rangers and played his entire career with them. In the modern era, that's a rarity indeed, and it's a delightful thought that his name will only ever be associated with that one team. His play for them, especially during the 1991 - '97 run, was usually nothing short of spectacular. The Rangers won the President's Trophy twice, the Stanley Cup once, and made the playoffs every year but one, over that wonderful stretch. They also made it to at least the second round of the postseason during each of those five trips, which meant that I always had at least something to cheer about each Spring.

Honourable Mention: Ed Giacomin (late 60s through early 70s) - Even though Eddie left the Rangers for Detroit shortly after I started following the boys in blue, his exploits were already legendary at the time (eg. he was on the 1st or 2nd NHL All-Star team several years in a row). I wish I'd gotten to see him play more before he went over to the dark side.

Defense: Brad Park (early 1970s) and Brian Leetch (1990s) - Many people before me have opined that, had Park played at virtually any time in the history of the NHL other than the Orr era, he'd likely be remembered as the premiere defenseman of his generation. Like contemporary Bobby, Brad was absolutely sturdy behind his own blue line and yet still managed to rack up impressive assist totals each year (eg. he tallied 37, 49, 43, 57 and 44 between 1970 and '75, while playing in an average of about 65 games each year). Though he had almost as impressive a career as a Bruin - again, in Orr's shadow - he'll always be among my favourite Rangers. Park was also drafted by the R's, which tends to earn extra points with me.

Brian Leetch was not only the Rookie of the Year in 1988 and the Norris Trophy winner in 1992, but he also won the single most important individual award in modern day Rangers history: the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1994, as the Most Valuable Player when his team won the Stanley Cup. That last achievement would almost grant him his spot here all by itself; when you add in the other contributions (eg. notching 100 points - as a defenseman! - in 1990) he's a no-brainer for the Dream Team.

Honourable Mention: Ron Greschner (mid-70s through 80s) - Though he never put impressive numbers up, Greschner was a solid defenseman over most of his career, and he wore the red, white and blue as his only professional jersey. The closest he ever got to a Stanley Cup was unfortunately a 1-0 series lead in the spring of 1979, against the eventual Cup champion Canadiens, and that's too bad. On the other hand, he got into the playoffs 12 of his 16 seasons, and that's not such a lousy legacy.

Center: Mark Messier (1990s) - This was actually tougher than you might think (see Honourable Mention below) despite the fact that Messier seemed - at times - to have picked up the entire team and carried them on his shoulders to their 1994 Stanley Cup championship. In 1991, when Mark came over from the Oilers, I don't think I would ever have believed that someday he'd be remembered as much for being a Ranger as he would for his time in Edmonton. In fact, that still boggles my mind, what with the five Stanley Cups with the Oilers. On the other hand, he had the Great One with him for all but the last of those championships in Edmonton, and none of those wins had the historical significance of ending a 54 year drought. Thanks to what he accomplished in New York, Messier may just go down in history as the greatest captain the sport has ever seen.

Honourable Mention: Jean Ratelle (60s through mid-70s) - Around the same time that Brad Park was working magic on the defense for the blueshirts, his teammate, gentlemanly Jean Ratelle, was at the center of the GAG line... which stood for Goal-A-Game! He, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield were quite the powerhouse combination, and Ratelle even averaged almost one and three quarters points per game in one of those seasons (1.73, to be precise). Ironically, both Ratelle and Park departed for Boston in the same trade, bringing Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais back the other way... and breaking at least one 13 year old fan's heart in the process! I'm not sure I've ever recovered, to be honest!

Right Wing: Rod Gilbert (1960s through late-70s) - Showing my age again, but man oh man how can you go wrong with Rod Gilbert? He spent 18 seasons with the Rangers, holds the team career mark in points and goals, and was just a Hell of a player. Of my three favourite players the first year I followed the team, he was the only one not traded to Boston shortly thereafter! Like Mike Richter a couple decades later, Rod spent his entire career in New York. Until Jagr broke it recently, the Frenchman had held the right winger single season point record on the team, at 97. He got to experience their Cup run in 1972 (losing to the Bruins in a six game Finals) and then retired one year before their five game loss to Montreal in 1979. If you're a Rangers fan and don't love Rod Gilbert, there's something wrong with you!

Honourable Mention: Jaromir Jagr (current) - Jagr hasn't completely won me over just yet, but he still has a couple years to do so! He definitely helped rejuvenate the Rangers in 2005/06, after they'd gone seven straight seasons with no playoff appearances. And that accomplishment, as perhaps only my wife can appreciate, was pretty huge in this household!

Left Wing: Adam Graves (1990s) - One of the first things I learned about Adam Graves, after he arrived in Rangers camp in 1991, was what a great guy he was off the ice! There was a segment done on him, within his first season in New York, that I happened to see, and which showed just how much the man gave back to whatever community he was in. That impressed the Hell out of me, and I've never forgotten that aspect of his character. His 17 points in the 1994 playoffs didn't hurt, either! Of course his performance was overshadowed by Leetch and Messier that year, but it didn't go unnoticed around here!

Honourable Mention: Vic Hadfield (1960s through mid-70s) - I can't not mention the first 50 goal scorer in Rangers history! He also gave the New Yorkers 13 solid seasons, enjoying a breakout year in 1971/72, like so many of his teammates. He's perhaps not as well remembered as his teammates during that time, but he's one of the Ranger greats, nevertheless.

Baseball Fever!

I couldn't watch this afternoon's game live - despite working in an environment where almost everyone has a TV on their desk - so I recorded it. When I got home, Vicki had ascertained that it was in the 8th inning, but wisely imparted no other information to me so that I could enjoy it from the start. Between 6:00 and 8:00, I saw the entirety of the Rockies / Phillies match (4-2 Col) and the first several innings of the Angels / Red Sox game that had started around 6:30.

With one minute to go before my recording would end (at 8:00), I caught up to live and was done with the five hour recording I'd whipped through. I couldn't record past 8:00 because both tuners were going to be tied up PVR'ing 2 regular shows (not baseball games; how weird is that?) so that's when I switched over to using the TV's tuner (losing my HD quality in the bargain, but at least the game viewing continued uninterrupted). In another few minutes (9:00) I'll be able to resume watching the current game in HD, which stands at 4-0 Bos in the 8th. I'll stay up to watch at least the first several innings of the late game (Cubs at Arizona, 10:00 start) but likely won't last for the whole thing.

Tomorrow, which features another three games (Col vs Phi Game 2, NYY vs Cle Game 1 and Chi vs Ari Game 2), will likely look a lot like today! Have I mentioned I absolutely loooove the first round of the baseball playoffs every year? It's possibly my favourite week of sports each year!

Today's Look: Mo' Better Blue!

Couldn't take the brown of Scribe anymore, plus the margins were so wide that entries with photos didn't really have room for the text alongside the pictures (resulting in words spanning many lines). So we'll try Thisaway Blue and see if it's any better.

I'm all about change these days, it seems!

Marriage Counselling 101

You don't have to actually know me to judge that I'm not exactly a perfect husband. First off, there is no such thing (nor a perfect wife). But more importantly, you'd only have to frequent this blog for a week or so before you'd be saying, like anyone who actually does know me, "the man's wife must be a saint!" So what follows is not the mad ramblings of someone who's deluded himself into thinking that he's beyond reproach in the husband category... although it may, in fact, be mad and rambling. It's just an observation that came to me out of the blue.

What occurred to me today was the question, "Would more marriages last if the people in them spent time on a regular basis making their partners feel like they're something special?" Put another way, what if your goal, as a husband or a wife, was to do what you could to ensure your significant other always felt like they were better off than any of their friends? I don't mean that you would try to convince them that they're financially superior, because that can be pretty hard to control; nor am I talking about "sexier," or "prettier/more handsome," because now you're talking about Nature's roll of the dice. But just suppose you focused on everything within your control:

• how appreciated you make them feel for everything they do within the relationship;
• how often little treats are done for them for no particular reason;
• how frequently you remind them of how attractive they are to you;
• how much you show affection toward them in public;
• how proud you seem to be whenever you "show them off" to friends and family;
• how much you respect them for their best characteristics, like intelligence, sense of humour, or judgment;
• how sensitive toward, and interested in, whatever matters to them, you are;
• how happy you are whenever you're within them; and
  
• how often you think of their feelings ahead of your own.

Are most of those even topics many husbands and wives think about? And if they did, would they maybe try harder, or possibly realize that they shouldn't be together at all? (I'd argue that, if you don't have those positive feelings toward your mate, then you're probably in the wrong relationship.)

For all our respective flaws, the above approach is something Vicki and I seem to do pretty well at, without having to think too much about it. In fact, what made me realize this were comments we've exchanged over the past little while about how so many of the couples we know have this issue or that one, while we have nothing nearly so 'interesting' going on. At the same time, there's no one I know who I'd rather be with than Vicki, and I get the impression she feels the same way about me. But that sort of feeling doesn't just happen... especially after nearly twenty years together!

Quite The Freakin' Game!

Tonight's one-game tiebreaker between San Diego and Colorado had a little bit of everything, including a grand slam, a bunch of lead changes, a 2-run top of the 13th followed by a 3-run bottom half, a play at the plate to decide the game, and an injury to a player on the winning side on that final play! The game lasted almost 5 hours and they're still showing the replay of that final confrontation at the plate, and it's pretty clear that the runner never actually came into contact with home (so, a blown call by the ump)! Final score: Colorado 9, San Diego 8 (in 13 innings)

Un-be-liev-able!

If this is indicative of how the postseason's going to go... bring it on!

Into The Unknown

Later this week, Jonathan Lethem's first issue of Omega the Unknown arrives at long last. Lethem, who wrote Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude, among other novels, has won me over with those two works. His use of the English language is exquisite, so much so that I'll probably track down more of his previous fiction. When it was announced - a year or more ago - that he'd be re-imagining this Marvel Comics oddity from the 70s, I just knew that I'd have to re-read the original 10 issues sometime before the new series launched.

This past weekend, I did just that. In fact, I read the entire run Sunday afternoon, virtually uninterrupted (other than bathroom and meal breaks). I remember buying those Omega issues as a teenager - Hell, I faithfully picked up pretty much anything Marvel or DC slapped their logos on back then - just as I recall being mildly intrigued, but mostly non-plussed by the experience. The comic was bi-monthly, which in those days meant it either didn't, or wasn't expected to, sell well enough to come out on the more common, and more frequent, monthly basis. The challenge as a reader of any bi-monthly series at the time was that they required you to remember what had happened last issue for twice as long as normal, and often I just didn't. With some comics, that wasn't too big a deal (simple stories like two guys duking it out: how much did you have to recall from the last chapter?) Omega the Unknown had a whole lot more than that going on in it, though, and I suspect that I was pretty much lost for the better part of its run.

This time, though, I was a much older reader, and had only minutes (or seconds) between issues, both of which helped me appreciate it more. The series was created by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, the former of whom was always a little too weird for my tastes (he also 'gave birth to' Howard the Duck; need I say more?) Despite Lethem's fannish love of the original material, I found that I enjoyed it but wasn't overly wowed by it. The mysteries of the series - why were young James-Michael Starling's parents robots? what planet did Omega come from? what's the connection between Starling and Omega? why does Omega speak as rarely as he does? and what were the "Kill! Kill! Kill!" robots all about? - are great puzzles indeed, but the fact that none of them were answered by the time the series was cancelled leaves me unconvinced that Gerber and Skrenes ever had anything especially satisfactory planned by way of resolutions. Kind of like Twin's Peak, now that I think of it.

However, I'm glad I read the original Omega, because I'll now have better context for comparing what Lethem comes up with. He's not doing a sequel, a prequel or a pure re-telling. Instead he's doing his own version of it, inspired by what Gerber and Skrenes did thirty years ago that affected him so deeply when he was a child. I'm looking forward to finding out what that is, and since - this time - it's planned as 10 issues right from the get-go, hopefully we'll get a complete tale. As this is Lethem's debut as a comic writer, though, I suppose there's also a chance it'll be complete crap. But I kind of doubt it.

Welcome To The New Blog (Same As The Old Blog)

As we embark on Year Two today, I figured that at the very least I should try out a new template. I may still revert back to the Harbour look - sort of like how I'm beardless at the moment but reserve the right to grow it back any day now - but here's a new look to commemorate the 2nd year launch. It's called Scribe, and it's... well, very brown, anyway!