the lukewarm blog

2012-12-31T22:04:00.000-08:00

Revelations 3:16

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Trying to be lukewarm only about trivial things here: sports,
entertainment, fluff of all sorts - nothing else, I assure thee!
After all, "lukewarmness" is only the worst of blasphemies to some; but I am neither Triple H nor Y2J here, whoo-oh! *LOL*
No need to be excessively sad for me hence - really!
:!

BaseBRAWL...?!?

2011-04-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry, guys, but this is the last straw, really...
Beach Blast was funny, innocent even...
In Your House was... at best meaningless.
But Basebrawl...

Sounds like wrestling hired the two South Park guys
And that cannot be right.

:/

Santa Is Coming To Town, Eh...

2010-12-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

That obese, obtuse red-clad LIAR is at it again...

Well, THIS YEAR, if he does come to town, my town, I am going to meet him and meet him good! Hit-for-hit, blow-for-blow,

(\ô/)™ vs S.C. - it had to happen!!!

If you think that is a tad too excessive, let us examine the facts quickly: the fat guy gets the credit, in song and absurd folklore, for being THE ONE who brings gifts to multitudes - in large part THE NEEDY. While, in fact, NO ONE caters to the needs of these poor people who probably do keep their child in the delusion that there is a Santa Claus out there... Out of necessity they do it.

English, French or German - everybody agrees that "Santa" is a A-HOLE!

All over the globe, people know how much of a creep this creation of mercantilism REALLY IS...

So, THIS YEAR, join me and PROTEST... the luminous way:

Because if you don't do it, you risk getting the seasonal BLAHs too:

You have been warned!
+++

Here is something to feel lukewarm about all right...!

2010-08-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

The kind of art you associate immediately with a time and a place in the past - back when you were more naive, more of a rough draft of what you essentially are...!

A source of mixed feelings, if there ever can be...!

Enjoy...!

La St-Jean...

2010-06-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hmm...

Is this the kind of society that took up the likes of SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST as their figurehead (no pun intended at all - ever, ever, ever; John's my favorite saint!) - one that cannot tolerate a mere slap-in-the-face, an uppercut or a bodyslam...!

HÉ, LÀ - LES TARLAS...
SAINT-JEAN LE BAPTISTE
WAS BEHEADED.

If you can't handle violence, you should have chosen another saint - one that's a hell of a lot more of a sissy, like yourselves!

I have no suggestions for you...

BONNE ST-JEAN PAREIL... HEIN

:p

The Longest Yawn

2010-06-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today was the longest day of the year!
The Longest Day Of The Year 2010!
The longest day in the northern hemisphere, which automatically means that June 21st is, de facto, the day of the year 2010!
The best day of all, for it is the one with the most sunlight!
The day with the most light may not necessarily mean the day with the most enlightenment, but then that dubious honor could be given to just about any other day of the year in which multiple monumental goofs are inanely committed worldwide, so there...!
The longest day of the year simply means one thing, above all: the longest stretch of uninterrupted daytime we can ever possibly hope for around these parts - barring any intervention from dark clouds and a stormy weather forecast, that is!

The Longest Day 2010 is also the Summer Solstice 2010 – aye, the longest day of the year is a benchmark of the seasons too; a watermark that helps us set apart the meaningful days of the year from the bogus holidays such as, say, June 24th in Quebec or July the 1st in both Quebec but mostly Canada - just to give a couple of examples, eh... We call them summer solstices (or the longest days of our years) when days are, quite magically enough, longer than nights - and not just in appearance either! Of course, deep down, we all wish our nights to be longer, especially when we have to rise early the next day... The only ones who have ever wished for the opposite are either sado-masochists or the cast of From Dusk 'Til Dawn - but that is another story...!
Solstices are practical thingies too - being a barometer that regulates the time between Spring planting and Autumn harvesting; or harvesting and planting anew, as the cycle continues! Trees are still growing (amazingly enough, with all the abuse humanoids put mother nature through...!) and so is (practically) everything else (a miracle in itself - one that confirms the Existence of God, by itself! Aye - tis another story too...) thus we can carry on yawning as if nothing important has ever occurred in the course of the Days Of Our Lives...!
(Nothing ever did either - not since season 12, I think...!)
(It is another story, yes - again.)

The Longest Day of the Year, hence...

And what have you done with it... eh?

+++

Back at the Cantina...

2010-06-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

June 04, 2010 — adidas Originals invites you to join David Beckham, Daft Punk, Snoop Dogg, Franz Beckenbauer, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, Ciara, Jay Baruchel, DJ Neil Armstrong and some of your dear, old friends for an intergalactic 2010 FIFA World Cup™ viewing party that you'll never forget.

HA.

Forgot aaaaaaaaaall about it already!

Better luck with your next endeavor, adidas!
(Like - stay out of the antiperspirant business, too...!)

;)

Stanley... Bah!

2010-05-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Blackhawks-Flyers - for the gnaaargh-yecccch-pukey cup!
Who the hell wanted THAT! Of all the dreamed final match-ups, NONE had the broad street bullies being a part of the dance - and few had the pukefaces from the Windy City there either! What it comes down to is, basically, Chicago punks versus Philly thugs! And anyone who disagrees with that assessment is either a fan of either team involved - or a nitwit! (Granted it could be BOTH - but that is another story!) I mean - anyone seen the way Pronger plays - is that a gentleman on ice or a barbarian on skates...! And from the other club - Toews - wasn't he the nice kid who beat up his cabbie some hot summer day last year, venting his frustration that his club flunked out in the playoffs (he's just a wet-behind-the-ears punk with a bunch of others young punks and they think that they are ''entitled'' to more, that they were destined for more, right away - they have ASPIRATIONS...! And if anything impedes that - take it out on poor unsuspecting cabbie who actually WORKS for a living...! PUNKS - and thugs! Case closed!

Now that is NOT what the NHL wants representing them in the grand finale - no sir! But that is, most probably, what the NHL DESERVES to have representing the overall organization in their marquee event, the final showcase of theatrics on ice that they are...

Of all the dream clashes that could have been (Boston-San Jose - at last... Or Boston-Detroit, a match-up of Original Six teams that actually have retained some class, unlike the Hawks or the Habs! The Hub of Hockey versus Hockeytown - what a great finale THAT would have been! And we would have also been better served by Pittsburgh attempting a repeat versus whomever, New Jersey going all the way only to lose (probably four straight) and even by Washington versus San Jose - if regular season standings counted for anything at all - and they do not, any longer!) we have THIS instead: Philadelphia and Chicago - a mismatch in terms of power but a totally normal pairing in terms of misbegotten line-ups and rowdy towns!

Chicago in four straight.

But who cares!

Logically, Boston should have eliminated Philly in game 6 or 7 (the B's proved they can handle the pressure and DISAPPOINTMENT of having to play a game seven when, logically, they shouldn't have needed to - in 2009, they had to play seven versus Carolina when they could have easily ousted the Hurricanes in 5 or 6 games. Instead, they were robbed in the seventh game, in overtime. This year, they dominate their game seven only to hit three posts and see an insurmountable potential six-goal lead being chipped away little-by-little; because, let's face it, a three-goal lead in today's parity-laden NHL is NOTHING - nothing at all. Any team can come back from a two or three goal deficit, if given the time. And the Bruins' sin was, perhaps, to score three goals too early in the game...! Ironically - as always, it tends to be cruel to the Bruins. But wait 'til next year - with Seguin (most likely) or Taylor joining their team, and a few tweaks here and there, and the Boston Bruins will be UNBEATABLE. But that is, again, another story - for another time; next year, to be precise!) and then they should have shown the Pens and Caps who's boss. For, once again, LOGICALLY - the idiots in Washington and\or the blasé achievers in Pittsburgh should have steam-rolled all over the Canadiens - and not have taken them too lightly as they so obviously did!

In the west, San Jose finally achieved SOMETHING - but still stayed true to their rep, ultimately - and spectacularly so too; man, being SWEPT by the Hawks... yikes! It's something akin to the mafia, with their best hitmen on tap (what else to call Heatley, Marleau and Thornton - Joe, not the Man, Shawn!) being pulverized by a bunch of street thugs from some small street gang around the corner..!!! Pathetic. And they (the Sharks) had just beaten their most bitter rival, Detroit - FINALLY, after so many tries...! Truly pathetic! The NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers took action after they saw their dominant team (in the regular season) being dominated and shown the exit door by the resurgent Boston Celtics in this year's playoffs - they fired the coach! Maybe San Jose needs to change the entire coaching staff - and the GM too! Otherwise the danger is very real that great player Thornton (Joe) will forever remain stuck with the unsightly labels of ''choker'' and ''loser'' - and this is doubly frustrating when one sees a ruffian like Pronger (who helped Anaheim royally frustrate San Jose just a short time ago...!) being affixed with the rep of a ''winner'' - when all he does is be a thug on ice! An opportunist thug, granted - but a thug and nothing much more!

I wished to see Phoenix go far this year - they, of course, never did, so it would have refreshingly new! Heck - Nashville (did they even qualify for the playoffs - lol) and Columbus - anyone of those EXCEPT the damn same towns, please!!! Seeing Vancouver compete, though, was almost as -yawn- exciting as seeing Calgary and Edmonton get into a deep run into the playoffs - which reminds me to say again, as I subconsciously do every year; thank God Winnipeg doesn't have a team anymore! But that is another story!

At least the aberration that was the lone remaining Canadian team in the hunt did not reach such absurdism as seeing them reach the finals... sheesh! The Habs were not taken seriously enough by anyone who played them -and with such good reason- and that allowed them to reach the third round... the THIRD ROUND... sheesh! ONE team should have put an end to that nonsense - and that was arch-rival Boston. People in Montreal were clamoring that this was the best playoff run since 1993 - the year that they last STOLE THE CUP. They were reminded, ever so slightly, what in 1994, when they defended their theft in a series against... BOSTON. Simply due to the dubious achievement of having managed only a single shot on goal during an entire period - something they did two times before, in a series against Buffalo (they lost the game 3-0 - just as they lost two games to Philly by the exact same score! Great to see irony being cruel to the Habs as well - sometimes.) and in a game against the Bruins in the 1994 series... But, guess what, the "defending champs" Habs actually stole that game too, even though they managed only one shot on goal in one of the three periods, they had won the game by the score of 5-2...!!! What depraved DUMB LUCK. Or puck luck. Or yuck puck luck! Still - justice was served that year - the Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens in the 1994 playoffs, making it clear that the 1993 cup was stolen and rightfully belonged to the best team in 1993... the Boston Bruins! This year, it came so close that the Bruins would have had the same opportunity to inject some common sense and a dose of REALITY back into the craniums of the Canadiens fans...! They would have welcomed the opportunity to do so - only Pronger's Phills wanted it for themselves and had, seemingly, that bitchy lady luck on their side...! Again, wait 'til next year...

Let us remain on THIS YEAR a while longer: for the aberration on ice (of seeing the Habs skate past both Capitals AND Penguins) was having such crazed fans making nonsensical statements as "it's the year of the underdog; the west has the top two teams remaining, but the east has the bottom three still competing" (at the time, the Bruins-Flyers series endured and the damn Habs had shocked and stunned the Pitt the night before.)
Sheesh! The fact that the bottom teams beat the top teams in the east does NOT guarantee that one of them -the one that reaches the finals- will topple one of the top two from the west...! I swear, sometimes, partisan fever must be affecting the thought process... I am sure of it! It affects journalistic ethics and so-called "ethical" pros as well - we will see that shortly... once again, that is, because I remember mentioning it before, on another post...

In the end, of course, the Habs were defeated in five games by the team that Boston had beaten - and should have eliminated! But lady fate (another bitch) had to make it so that they got Carter and Giroux back while we (yes, we! I'm with the Hub of Hockey - or had you forgotten that? I can multitask - think and support the worthier, hard luck and hard-working team: Boston!) lost Sturm and then Krejci as well...! But still - the Habs lost in FIVE. Where have I heard that before... "en cinq petites parties"... eh... AH YES - in a Montreal rag of a mag, the one that was trying to be all prognostical about the then forthcoming 2009-2010 season - while being all off the mark about the recent past! For, incredibly, they went to print with a false piece of data concerning the epic 2009 playoff confrontation between the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes ( a team with, at the time, still several cup winners on its roster) - a series that went SEVEN GAMES, plus an overtime period in the seventh (and there were some more, during the course of the series - the Bruins, basically, making the same mistake that the Capitals and Penguins made with the Canadiens THIS YEAR: they were not taking their opponent seriously and were, truly, thinking ahead to the NEXT ROUND already...) But, the rag of a mag, in its recollection of the recent series, stated that it had lasted 5 rather than 7 games - for, obviously, the editorial team behind that rag was still reeling from THE SWEEP! To begin the 2009 playoffs, the Boston Bruins had totally outclassed the Montreal Canadiens and swept them in four straight - or should I say "en quatre petites parties"...! And so, now, it is sooooooo ironic that the Canadiens, after seemingly accomplishing so much in "triumphing" over two giants, the juggernauts that were the over-rated Capitals and full-of-themselves Penguins, would lose en cinq petites parties - TO THE TEAM THAT BOSTON HAD IN THE ROPES, to boot! That pretty much renders null and void all the so-called triumphs, does it not? I am sure that the fanatiques will say otherwise...

They are probably still wearing their jerseys, even now; and will continue to do so throughout the summer...!

Go Habs Go - go home, yo!

Pathetic!

Red Sox Alien Nation...?

2010-02-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Smoltz turns out not to be smoking hot in his debut - and the Sox lose one after winning a whole bunch... So what?

On this SBNation website I sometimes drop by, I spotted something that made me react a tad more, though...

Regular "DixonTrimline" reports that he was at the game (number 72 of the looooong baseball schedule; only about 75+ more to go, eh) and here are his exact words, typed and submitted to that site quite exactly on June the 26th, 2009, at 8:22 AM EDT...!

I was sitting just under the right field foul pole (section 137), sweet seats, but that was nothing like a sweet game. Smoltz was fine (after the first), and he did adjust well after his first inning, but the offense: non-existent. And the fielding: yipes. There was a slight sci-fi feeling, like the teams had swapped bodies after game 2.

I did get to see a girl get her face blown apart by a foul pop in the 7th. So there is that.

Sheesh - the only thrilling thing was imagining a sci-fi twist to explain the weird way things turned out on the field?

Oh, and yeah - that girl getting her face "BLOWN APART" as he puts it...!

YIKES.

That guy should perhaps be known as Dick-on-a-thin-line...
And is it really SoBNation... then?

200TH LUKEWARM POST!

2009-07-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Let's see now - what am I yet to feel lukewarm about around these parts... hmm...
Well - everybody needs a battle plan to know where they are an, most importantly of all, where they want be in the short term rather than the long term (although that one too, of course!) - hence, let's try and make a list of the two hundred or so topics YET TO COME... shall we!

And let's proceed about this IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (thanks to an unwitting partner - linked further below...!)

Acid Rain: An Air Pollutant...
Acid Rain: "It's Eating Away at You"...
Acid Rain: The Disappearing Statue... (ACID sure brings about crazy hallucinations, eh...)
Adrenoleukodystropy (ALD): A Case Study Using the Film "Lorenzo's Oil"... ((NORMALLY, I would NOT be lukewarm about such a fascinating subject; but since the film's star, Nolte, became a drunk since and the film's director is most renowned for MAD MAX...)
Air Cannon...
Airfoil Experiment 2... Airfoil Experiment 3... (DARN - it's just like the Philadelphia Experiment - I missed the first one!)
Air Pollution Control... (STOP EXHALING THEN...?)
Air Power for Transportation... Air Pressure...
Air ... What Gives? (GOD GAVE IT TO US.)
Alka Rockets... Alternative Energy Sources...
Analysis of Ink by Paper Chromatography...
Anatomy and Physiology "Quickies"... (NO COMMENT.)
And/Or Circuits... Animal Adaptations... ANTacid - Bases and Acids... Antacid Tablet Race... Antenna Antics... All About Apples
Are All Liquids the Same? (ASK a stupid question...)
Are You Being Poisoned by Your Dishes? (REVENGE of the dishwasher...)
Attracting Balloons...
A Bagful of Surprises... (NO more for me!)
Baggie Science... (UNLESS they bring back that crocodile competitor of Mr. Glad and the like - I miss him so! A symbol of my childhood, verily...!)
Balloon Blow-Up... Balloon Charge... (LET THEM PRESS CHARGES AS THEY SEE FIT - I wash my hands of it all.)
Balloon Surprise! (ISN'T IT always!)
Balloon Vacuum... (INITIAL SHOCK is terrible, sure...)
Battery Life... Bells in Your Ears... (HURT will pass...)
Bernoulli Cans... Big Bottle Barometer...
Biological Rhythms... Biomes in a Box... Black Magic... Blood Circulation Lab... Blubber Glove... (EERIELY, it all fits together: for the record, I am not lukewarm about any "black magic" - I ABHOR IT - and any practitioner of it! You want to exact revenge upon someone, over a pity grievance or mere jealousy and envy of that person? DO IT FACE TO FACE, LIKE A MAN - or a woman! Not with pins and needles, potions and CRAP, incantations and invocations... THAT IS DOWNRIGHT SICK. And cowardly! But I digress...)
Bottle Habitat... Bottle blow-up... Bouncing Eggs... Brain Injury Eggs-periment... Bring Springtime Buds Inside... Brown Bag Science... Bubble Bomb... Bubble Fun... Bubble-ology... Bubble-ology & Bernoulli... Bubbularium... Buggy Diner... Build a Galvanometer... Building a Balloon Rocket...
Butterfly Optical Illusion Activity... Butterflies and Symmetry... The Buzz on Bees...
Cake Batter Lava... Calls of the Wild... CANdemonium...
Can I Make a Maraca? (BETTER than a macaca...)
Can I Make a Rain Cloud? (WE HAVE enough rain as it is...)
Can I Make Raisins? (TRY making some WINE instead...)
Carrot Root Fun... (I HOPE it's a carrot cake...)
A Changing Resistor... Charge It! (ARE YOU MAD?!?)
Chemical Changes... Chemical Methods of Control... Chemistry in Black & White Photography... Circulation of Water in Celery... Coat Hanger Balance... A Code Key... Color Mixing... Color My World - Frosting Graham Crackers... Colorful Bouquet...
Hmm... finding out about Combustion... Combustion & Carbon Dioxide...? (I CAN LIVE WITHOUT!)
Cookie Topography... Copper Caper... Counting the Stars... Create a Card... Creating Paper Towel Art... Creating Tangrams...
Cricket Dissection... (GRUESOME - Disney style!)
Crystal Creations... Crystals...
Dancing Penny... (YAWN - even Marshall -was she Laverne or the other one again- signed up for Dancing With The Stars?!?)
A DC Generator... (NO THANKS - ONE DC is vastly enough; no need for more!)
Demonstrating an Epidemic... (IT will do it for itself - fear not.)
Demonstration of Cheese-Making Enzyme Magic...
Density... Density Balloons... Density: An AskERIC Lesson... (NOPE - I've had my fill of dense people - no need to explore other types now...)
Describing Soils... Detecting Meteors... (IF that's your idea of FUN...)
Determination of the Amount of Phosphate in a Detergent...
Determining Acids and Bases... Diffusion of Molecules... Diggin' Dirt... Direct & Diffuse Light... Directional Switches... Discovering Plant Stomates... (NOTHING left to discover, it seems...)
DNA Extraction... DNA Extraction Lab... DNA Sequencing Simulation...
Do-It-Yourself Lung Model... (A HO by any other name.)
Donut Sort... (DOH.)
Down the Drain... Downhill Discoveries...
Dracula's Dinner... (YOU could be it.)
Ear Guitar... Ears and Hearing... Earth: The Apple of Our Eye... Echo in My Head! (HEARING voices again? Gaia's, this time, eh?)
Edible Plants... Edible Rocks... (BE MY GUEST.)
The Effect of Citrus Oils on Fruit Flies... Egg Carton Glider... Egg Magic
Eggs Don't Break? (NOT by themselves, bright lights!)
Egg Protector... (IF that's what you really wanna do...?)
Electromagnetic Signals... (HEED them...)
Electron Flash... (NOTHING to see there...!)
Electron Traffic... (THERE SURE IS a jam there - but scaled down, so it's no biggie.)
Elevator Physics... Energy Transfer...
Enzymatic Reaction... Enzyme Grabbers... Enzyme Labs Using Jello... Enzymes... An Enzyme Substrate Model... (WHO - Kate Moss?)
Erosion... Erosion... (I'm lukewarm about redundance too!)
Establishing Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium... Evaporation...
Exothermic Reactions Used in Hot Packs...
Expansion of Water As It Freezes...
Experimenting with Friction... (I ALWAYS DO. In other words: been there, done that, am 99.9% lukewarm about it!)
Exposed Surface Area & the Rate of a Chemical Reaction...
Extraction of DNA from Onion... (TEARS WILL FLOW NOW...!)
Falling Test Tubes... Finger Boomerangs... Fingerpaint Leaf Prints... Fire Beetles... Fishy Frequencies... Flipsticks...
Flower Power... (IT'S JUST A MYTH.)
Flying Tube... Flying Wing... Folds and Faults...
Following the Mealworm's Metamorphosis...
Friction... Friction: Roll With The Changes... (AND THE BLOWS.)
Fun With Air... Funny Fingers...
Fuse It! (WHY BOTHER?)
Gelatin Volcanoes... (I'm not even going to ASK...)
The Genetics of Parenthood... (HA - here's what the fusion crap is all about... NO THANKS!)
Germinating Seeds with Liquid Crystals... (sounds yucky.)
The Giant Cell... Glaucoma... (BOTH just need to STAY AWAY FROM ME!)
Gliders... Glitter Globe - learning about density... Glue Polymer...
Good Vibrations... (NO THANKS - I can't suffer that song again...)
Grasshopper Study... Grass Seed Fun... Great Ice Guessing Game...
Green Growing Gifts... Green Space in the City... (mercifully NO sightings of either Green Arrows, Green Lanterns or Green Hornets! Phew!)
Groundwater Quality... Growing Alfalfa Sprouts... Growing Salt Crystals...
Hand Washing... (What should I clear about that - if peeeps don't wash their hands, I just won't shake hands, that's all! I won't in any case - just in case! ;)
Healthy Heart... (I hope everyone WITH A HEART has a healthy one too, sure... Aside from that...)
Hearing Fun... (unless it's me speaking, it's no fun, usually...)
Heartbeat... (PARAMOUNT - so I cannot feel lukewarm here, for once - unless it is the heartbeat of one BASTARD of a so-called human being WHO DESERVES TO DIE AND ROT IN HELL FOR ETERNITY... I think that is clear enough!)
The Heart and the Circulatory System... Hovering Card Trick - the Bernoulli Principle
How are plastics made?
How Big Is a Hand?
How Can I Make a Fire Extinguisher?
How Can You Make a Flashlight Shine Brighter?
How Do Animals Protect Themselves?
How Does Chance Influence Inheritance?
How Do I Make a Fossil Print?
How Do Refrigerators Make Things Cold?
How to Make Bottle Pipes?
How Much Do You Weigh?
How to Tell When Mealworms Are Out of Breath...
How We See... (NOW THIS IS VITAL - and I cannot possibly feel "lukewarm" about THAT! Unless we're talking about people's PERCEPTIONS OF THINGS - in which I do not give a rat's a$$ about most humanoids' so-called "perceptions"...! Me and Bobby Heenan feel that way! ;)
Identification of an Unknown Substance... Impact Craters... Inch of Skin... Inching Around... Inclined Plane Physics... Inclined Plane Physics and Art... Introduction to DNA Extractions... Iron in Cereal...
It Floats... Joysticks in the Wind... (NO COMMENT.)
Joystick Switches... (STILL NO COMMENT.)
Junk Mail Airmail...
Kids on Mars... (if that's the only way to make them behave... shanghai away!)
A Lab Trilogy for Beginning Biology Teachers... Latent Heat... Lava Layering... Laws of Reflection... Leaf Stomata as Bio-indicators of Environmental Change... Leaping Electrons... Learning with Laundry... Lemon Battery I (The Prequel)... Lemon Battery II: Fruity Electricity... Lemon Battery III: Lemon Power... Let the Light Shine In: The Iris
Let's Make Bubbles! (NO.)
Let's Make Insect Nets! (NO.)
Let's Make a Puddle Cake! (I SAID NO!)
How can you lift four times your weight?
Liquid Bottle Rocket... Liquid Layers... Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream... Liquid Rainbow...
Listen Up! (NO! YOU listen up...!)
Loop the LED... Loop the Loop... Lost World Dinosaurs... Lotic Environment Lesson Plans... Lung Model... Macaroni... Magnet Fun... Magnetic Current... Magnets... Magnificent Microscopes... Make a Machine... Make an Electromagnet... Make a Spectroscope... Make Your Own Bubbles... Make Your Own "Mess"... Make Your Own Paper... Make Your Own Powerlock... Make Your Own Private Lightning... Make Your Own Rain Gauge... Making an Ant House... Making a Bird Mural... Making a Dry Flower Bouquet... Making an Electroscope... Making a Flying Saucer... Making a Fruit Fly Trap... Making Fruit-Shape Kebobs... Making Homemade Instruments... Making Magic Potions... Making Milk Glue... Making No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies... Making a Pinhole Camera... Making a Pondscope... Making a Spectroscope... Making a Spider Web... Making a Straw Woodwind...
Making Three-Dimensional Plant & Animal Cell Models...
Making a Wind Sock... Manufacture a CD Crate... Mapping Animal Behavior... Marshmallow Building and Bridges... Match-Stick Rocket... McEagle Styrofoam Glider... Measure for Pleasure... Measuring Calories... Metamorphic Rock Pancakes... "Minimum" Solar Box Cooker... Mixtures & Sugar Cubes... M & M Lab... A Model of a Bacterial Plasmid...
Mold I: Growing Your Own... Mold II: Growing Your Own...
Mold III: Growing Your Own Antibiotic...
Mold IV: Mold Terrarium... The Money Pile... Motoring Electromagnetically... Mousetrap Vehicle... ABOUT Movement... Musical Coathanger... Neat Sheet... Needle Through a Balloon... Neutralizing Ability of Antacid Tablets... NEWspaper - Making paper...
Newton's Science Try-Its: Build a Hovercraft to The Inner Life of a Leaf...
Newton's Science Try-Its: Cut the Cube to Eggs Supporting Books...
Newton's Science Try-Its: Fire Extinguishers to Dancin' Raisins...
Newton's Science Try-Its: Make a Barometer to Soak Some Spuds...
Newton's Science Try-Its: Pop a Penny to Boiling Water Without Heat...
Newton's Science Try-Its: Racing Jars to Projectiles and Satellites... Nickel Karate... Non-Compressibility of Water... ABOUT A Noodle... The Nose Knows... (IT SURE DOES! Not Bo - the Nose!)
Objects Race 500... Observation: Where Is My Peanut? (NO COMMENT.)
Oily Colors... One Color or Two? (If there ever was an inane question asked, it might be this one...?)
One + One = One... (RIGHT.)
Onion DNA Extraction... (PREPARE TO CRY A GOOD ONE NOW! AGAIN...?!?)
The Opposable Thumb... Optical Images... Orbital Forces... Outrageous Ooze... Paper Clip Parachutes...
Pasta Patterns... (WHAT - I eat some on some days, and have some as a sidedish on other days - OKAY?)
Peas and Particles... (I have the former but never the latter - not on my plate anyway! Maybe IN the plate, but not on it!)
Pepper Scatter... (sounds like helter skelter to me - I'LL PASS TOO!)
Picky Toothpicks - surface tension...
Pictures from Light... (now here's an apparent exception to the rule here - THAT might have me interested, but... NAH! I'm still lukewarm about it too!)
Piles of Fire... (and much moreso about THAT...! A flame this high - IS IT?)
How can you force a physical change in matter?
Plant Biotechnology: Controlling Tissue Differentiation... Plants and Gravity... Plants and Seeds... Plant Transpiration... (sweathogs with photosynthesis - wowee.)
How are plastics made?
Pliable Proteins... Pollen Collection and Identification... Polystyrene Containers... Population Dynamics of Growth of Drosophila... Porosity... Potato Float... Potential & Kinetic Energy... Potential Energy... Pressure of a Gas & Temperature... Pretzel Predictions... Pringles Pinhole Camera... Problem Solving in Genetic Disorders... (HA - fat chance you ever will solve those...!)
Projectiles... Properties and Synthesis of Soap... Pyramids and Cubes - Straw Structures... Quantitative Analysis of Lead... The Rain Game... Rain Rulers... (try ruling your own craniums first!)
Random Walk... (going nowhere - as usual, folks?)
Rate of Gas Evolution from the Reaction of Alka-Seltzer Tablets with Water... Reaction Time... Reading with a Candle... Reaping Rocks... (better them rocks than innocent lives, eh.)
Recipes for Homemade Fun... Recycling Paper... Reflecting Rainbows... Regolith Formation... A Relay... Remote Control Roller... Resistor Colour Code... Respiratory System... Restriction Enzymes... Rock Candy... Rocket Launch... Rocket Science: Balloon Races... Rocket Science: Rocket Poppers... Rocket to Success... Roller Coasters in the Classroom (makes sense - the next logical step in our chaotic and ludicrous education system! Bravo.)
Roto-Copter... Rubberbandology... Rubber Egg... Rubber Eggs... Rust... Salt and Boiling Water... Salt, Soil, and Seeds... (sorry - no green thumb needs apply!)
Salt Volcano... Sampling Carbon Dioxide... SA/V Ratio & Rate of Diffusion... Sculpture Creations... Secret Bells... Seeing Air... Sensational Slime... Shadow Shapes... Signals from Space... Singing Rod... Silly Straw Glider... Simple Machines... Simple Machines... Simple Scales... (as simple as your minds?)
Simulation of Gene Splicing... Size of a Gas Molecule... Slinky Science... Slinky Science - ver. 2... SORRY; I was never one for sequels!
Slippery Substances - Lubricants... NOR THOSE!
Slip, Slide, Resist! (No comment.)
Soap-Powered Paper Boats... Soda Pop Can Hero Engine... Solar Hot Box... Solar Hot Dog Cooker... Solubility... Solubility of a Gas and Temperature... Solubility and Temperature... Solutions... TO WHAT? Spider Fun... Spider Glider... (mercifully no spider-man - nor ham!)
Spin, Eggs, Spin! (No thanks - I like mine scrambled.)
Spinning Blimps... Sponges and Seeds... Spudnicks - A Rice-Crispy & Marshmallow Snack!
Spud Stuff ('nuff said there.)
Stalactites and Stalagmites to Go... WHERE?
Static-Charged 2 X 4s... Static Electricity... Staying Young with Vitamin E... A Stirring Sight! (I don't think so!)
Stop and Go Electrons... St. Patrick's Day Snack... Straight from the Heart... Stream Table... String It Along... OK - if you say so - I don't see the usefulness of it though! Strings and Springs...
Strong Shapes? I could never be passionate about THOSE!
Great Engineering Feats: Structures... Boy, aren't we evasive there, huh... Structure of Matter... Ok, that is at least SOME notion... Still not enough to get me truly interested, sorry!
Student Investigation on the Immune System and Heme-agglutination...
Sun-Powered Cooking... Summer Sprouting... Super Sparker... Suspension Bridge... Symmetry Surprise... Synthesis of Aspirin... Synthesis of Soap... T. P. Away... Tasty Solution... Teaching Multiple Alleles... Telephone Talk... Temperature & the Rate of a Chemical Reaction... Testing for Acid... Testing for Metals... Testing for Starch... Thaumatrope Motion Device... Tie Dye... The Touch 'n' Feel Box... Transforming Current... Transpiration... Tree Bark Casts... Tubes and Spheres Roller Coasters...
Understanding Waves... Uh... No need to - just stay safely on the dock!
Up Periscope!
Up, Up, and Away!
Up, Up and Away with Bottles!
Using Microscopes... Using A Winogradsky Column to Analyze Microbial Communities... Viscosity... Visible Spectra of Soda Pops... Vitamin C in Fruit Juices... Volume of a Gas & Temperature...
Waste Management... Now THAT I feel really lukewarm about; not being too inclined to dirty myself...
Watch the Brain Learn... Water Bottle Rocket Launcher... Water Color Racing... Water Drop Magnifier... Water Magic... Water Pollution... Watershed Modeling... Weathering Experiments: Sugar Cubes, Steel Wool & Gravel
What Are Seeds?
What Causes Tooth Decay?
What Do Plants Need to Live?
What Is Air?
What Is a Medicine?
What Is Mud?
What Is Water?
What Makes a Bird a Bird?
What Plants Do I Like to Eat?
What's Evaporation?
What Shape Is Water?
What's It Like to Molt Like a Snake?
Whose Skeleton Is in Your Closet?
Why Can Insects Stand on Water?
WHY DO I NOT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ALL THESE PROFOUND QUESTIONS?
Wild Seed Fun... Wind Catchers... Wind Detective... Wind Erosion... Windows on Life (I HATE WINDOWS!)
Wind Gauge - Build your own! (I really don't give a flying fig - flying though it may be on a mere gust of wind too!)
Wind Sounds... Worm Bin Project... Yeast - A Dihybrid Cross... Your Own Electroboard (or mine)... The Zapper - Static electricity... and the advent of the Zoo Vet too!

I can readily say that I am apt to feel altogether lukewarm about virutally all of these subjects here! By the same token, and certainly quite paradoxically too, I'd blog about any of them on a dare - from anyone! Isn't that something now...! Heck, if it isn't yet for some of you skeptics out there, I'd even add that I'd write a serious journalistic piece about any of these subjects - IF PAID TO DO SO, YEAH!
;)

Now, if I am feeling lukewarm about all of these odd activities, you don't have to feel likewise, of course not... It is a free world (alas) and so you can feel free to veer towards the source of this list - right here - and check up on any of these things... except the vile one that I abhor so! Which one is it again, folks? Hmm? Let's see if you're paying attention back there...! Which one? That is right: black magic! Harry Potter is hogwash from Hogswart - that's right too! And hellfire and brimstone awaits the idiots who want to imitate him (a silly fictional piece of crap that J.K. Rowling didn't even create but pieced together from all previous existing silly characters of the same ilk - a "good sorceror" - what a dumb oxymoron! One cannot be GOOD if one's craft is aimed specifically at COMMITTING EVIL through evil empowerment! THINK, PEOPLE, THINK!!!)
Sheesh...!

Well, GREAT - we definitely found which one of these "activities" I may not feel lukewarm about - but am definitely adverse to!

All in all, not a wasted blog post today - eh?

;)

+++

Biased Media = Lousy Broadcast

2009-04-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

It was painful to listen to, most times; but one had simply to turn off the sound and enjoy some fine classical music instead while watching the action on ice as the mighty Boston Bruins defeated in dominating fashion the hated Montreal Canadiens. Alas, for me, my location had me forced to tune in to the RDS broadcast (or worse yet: the CBC's!) and not the NESN broadcast - and so it was more of the same biased crap that I had to listen to, game after game, before I wised up and tuned out...!

An example: game one, right after Phil Kessel accepted the short pass from Milan Lucic to seal the B's victory by scoring the insurance goal into an empty net - what happened then, hmm? A frustrated Canadien (the Komi, I do believe) dared ruin the celebration of the sealing-of-the-deal goal by roughing Kessel -Kessel! The finesse guy! You don't rough up a finesse player, pal; it's an unwritten rule and a time-honored one at that- and he brought Kessel all the way into the boards too, as all that young Phil wanted to do was the same as when he scored all of his goals in the last two years; celebrate it with his teammates. But no - the Habs think they have a right to avoid their just desserts and thought they do unto their rivals what they would never accept them doing it unto their own guys, be it Kovy or Saku-Le-Fou! *lol*
(Sorry - couldn't resist!)

And so, the goal celebration -and game one win celebration, be it temporarily- were ruined by the unsportsmanlike behaviour of those execrable Habs... And what does their local play-by-play guy call, at that point? "And now Milan Lucic attacks Komisarek FROM BEHIND..."
WHAT THE...?!? How many games has this guy called, let alone seen, over the years...? Is it customary then, you so-called expert you, to see an NHLer celebrate his team's scoring the insurance goal by jumping an opponent from behind - for no reason at all?!? The fact was, all Lucic did was step in and defend his smaller teammate, a teammate who doesn't do any of that rough stuff usually, and he grabbed Komisarek and threw him off his teammate with conviction, as to say "you want to "dance" - do it with someone like ME!"

As it is, of course, Komisarek fears Lucic and loathes him with a passion for it: Lucic kicked his butt earlier in the season, showing him up big time then... The Komi was so badly beaten, he missed a considerable amount of playing time after the scuffle. Ever since, he's dreamed of some kind of chance for revenge - and he knew his teammates, tough guys Laraque and Stewart, would never get the job done either... So he tried to avenge himself, at first, by picking on Lucic's smaller goal-scoring linemate. When that didn't work, he tried his darn-best to mount the courage to go for a rematch - and with his team all but eliminated, he thought it was time to do just that in game four. A single punch to the jaw and Lucic had won the rematch as well. Finally, out of exasperation, The Komi made his last pathetic appearance of the season (and most probably as a hated Hab as well) when he high-sticked himself out of the game, the series and surely out of town as well, in the last few minutes of game four - he couldn't match Milan Lucic's brawn, so he used his stick instead! He got an automatic five minutes and ejection from the game, as Lucic was cut on the left cheek then - 'tis the only way The Komi could ever put a single scratch on Milan Lucic, I tell ya! PATHETIC.

But even more pathetic of all, was again the play-by-play description of it all! Aye, I confess, I'd stopped the music (much in my own disfavour - but at least, I'm doing it to myself, so it's okay then!) and "peeked" at the commentating that was being done by the so-called "impartial experts"... No underlining whatsoever of The Komi's pathetic attitude - instead they spoke of the refereeing...! Right...
I went right back to Beethoven, right there and then!

The Boston Bruins deserved to win LAST YEAR's series against these pathetic Habs - and they deserved to win both playoff encounters during the all-around sad Joe Thornton era (sad with unfulfilled expectations, quite inexplicably at that...! The San Jose crowd knows all about that now - eh? Bwah-ha-ha. Keep him, your Joe; we don't want him anymore!)

What's more, the Boston Bruins deserved to win more oftne than 22 times on Montreal's rink, all-time, during the playoffs... The winning streak they have going against the Habs currently (all but one game in the regular season and the four straight in the playoffs that amount to a sweeter-than-sweet sweep and nine straight wins overall) deserves to continue next season and the NEXT FEW SEASONS in fact! Verily, it should reach the 20-to-25 games plateau, I say; just to TRULY get the B's even! One has no idea the amounts of INJUSTICE ON ICE that the Boston Bruins have had to swallow down over the years against various opponents (Buffalo in 1993, New Jersey the following year and Florida the year after that, I do believe... If memory serves me right!) but none, NONE moreso than this hated rival: the Canadiens! A team with the most moronic fanbase of all: they actually boo their own when they lose to a far superior team like the 2009 Boston Bruins! And one year earlier, after stealing victory from these same Bruins, they were moronic enough to go on a rioting spree throughout their city, one that rose to the astronomical amount of in excess of 2 MILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGES...! The Canadiens employees are saddened to see their team lose and make such an early (and so well-deserved) exit this April - but I am 100% sure that every other Montrealer with a business, city employees and insurance brokers alike too, are TRULY ELATED that they lost and had NARROW A MOMENT OF JOY for their stupid fans this year - giving the latter no cause to RIOT in the process, as absurd as it sounds!

But absurdism is found in every nook and cranny of the Montreal Bell Centre, I tell ya: starting with the spelling there (it remains english, no matter what; but they still feel they are complying with the silly LOI 101 and other restrictions by spelling both Canadians and Center with an "e" at a most strategic place: "centre" is French, but only if you pronounce it that way... But anyway...!)
More absurdism: the fans, in their incoherent chanting and booing; they cheer the rough stuff their Habs do on the ice, and boo the ensuing penalty it cost them! But then they will also boo when the B's are not penalized for doing much less than the Habs did - that's logical, eh. Thank God none of these people is actually refereeing the game; impartiality would rule the proceedings - not! It would fly out the window, rather!
Even the mascot is incoherent: Youppi was seen cheering when the Habs were called offside?!? Is he HIGH, underneath that orange fur?!? At least Blades The Bruin knows what's going on...!

And so do I...!
And in the light of this second sweep of the Canadiens by the Bruins in recent years -remember 1992! I sure do; and Shane Hnidy appears to me now as the second coming of... Jim Wiemer! But I am digresisng again-and so I can honestly say that we need to see more of this in order to be reminded that YES - there is still some JUSTICE in this sorry world of ours... sometimes!

The Bruins' coach was a true class act: he spoke of no malice, no revenge plan, no ill feelings towards the organization that kicked both him and one of his star players, Michael Ryder, out of town - by the way; thanks, CH, now both are serving the BOSTON cause very well! In fact, Julien hesitated to even use the word JUSTICE in both case, especially in Ryder's case... Of course I just did use the word, without any hesitation at all, but it is in the BOSTON BRUINS' case against the rivals they've had, especially the Habs - after all, Ryder and Julien are only two individuals implicated in the larger picture which is, itself, but a tiny reflection of the much larger picture that is the neverending (but soon to end anyway - by the Grace of God!) battle between GOOD and EVIL...! But I am digressing, aren't I? *lol*

The Bruins can target the Stanley Cup next: and no team, no organization deserves it more than they do. They've had seven magnificent twenty goal-scorers this year (eight, I say: after all, Zdeno Chara got 19 and scored his 20th on the very first playoff game he played - and it was the game-winner too!) but it is true that, under Don Cherry, the Bruins established the record "never-to-be-broken" as he always says: ELEVEN twenty-plus goal-scorers on the roster, in the late 1970s! And that team, though dominating too, was robbed of a championship. Still, the fanbase in Boston is so classy it stood and applauded the enemy camp, the CH, when it paraded with the Stanley Cup in the venerable Boston Garden (maybe not the same year though - gee, I hope not!)

This year, Marc Savard, Patrice Bergeron, Chuck Kobasew, Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, Blake Wheeler, Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi, Steve Montador, Tim Thomas, Michael Ryder, David Krejci, Chuck Kobasew, Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle, PJ Axelsson and the rest of this formidable line-up can aspire to accomplish what that other great Bruins team, somehow, wasn't fortunate enough to accomplish themselves.

Me, of course, I wanted to see it done back in 1993 - when Dave Poulin (not Krejci) was in town. The hired guns were Dave Christian and Brian Propp - not Recchi or Ryder. The pillars on defense were Ray Bourque and Don Sweeney, not Aaron Ward and Dennis Wideman. And the main man was Cam Neely - not... well, this 2009 edition of the B's is well-balanced and they rely on a total team effort to get it done (that is why it is so impossible to counter them too!)

At least, if the 2009 edition of the Boston Bruins does win it all, Cam Neely is still a part of the club - in some function... So are Bourque and Sweeney. They'll get to hoist the Cup - as Bruins - yet...!

Onwards - with the opposition likely being pesky Rangers, Penguins and... hmm... Ducks or Canucks, the rest of the way...!

+++

Dubya's Last Dance

2009-01-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

WHO CARES?
WHO GIVES A RAT'S ASS?
WHO GIVES A SHIT?!?

Nothing is going to "CHANGE"
just because there's a
"new administration"
behind the has-been
greatest power on the globe
leader of the "free" world
land of the used-to-be-brave...

Dubya's FINALLY GONE...
FINALLY...

So what?

The seeds of Armageddon were his to plow -
simply not to harvest...

Time To Let It All Out In The Open...

2009-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

Now, more than ever,
it is time to feel lukewarm about
the economy, our beloved "system"
and our dollar, I say!

Almighty U.S. dollar MY FOOT -
indeed!

Let your true feelings out already:
our system SUCKS!

Might as well go with Monopoly money now

Or this obvious fake currency -
boils down as the same thing,
pretty much, as Monopoly money!

It's all downhill
from here on in, folks!

2008 is DONE and OVER WITH...

2008-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Singer: Feist | Song: 1,2,3,4
Read Lyrics - Forward this Song to your Friends

One Two Three Four
Tell me that you love me more
Sleepless, long nights
That was what my youth was for

OLD teenage hopes are ALIVE at your door
Left you with nothing
But they want some more

Oh, oh, oh
You're changing your heart
Oh, oh, oh
You know who you are

Sweetheart, bitter heart
Now I can't tell you apart
Cozy and cold
Put the horse before the cart

Those teenage hopes
Who have tears in their eyes
Too scared to own up
To one little lie

Oh, oh, oh
You're changing your heart
Oh, oh, oh
You know who you are

One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, and ten
Money can't buy you back the love that you had then
One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, and ten
Money can't buy you back the love that you had then

Oh, oh, oh
You're changing your heart
Oh, oh, oh
You know who you are
Oh, oh, oh
You're changing your heart
Oh, oh, oh
You know who you are

(Lyrics: copyright FEIST)

(DUH.)

Let's learn how to properly count from 1 to 10 in 2009 - eh?
It helps, come "countdown time"...!

;)

2008-12-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again - time to uncork the champagne, get the cork right in the eye, grimace in pain and jerk around, hitting in the face anyone foolish enough to be standing way too close to danger like that...! Then you'll most likely have the sheer survivalistic instinct to seek help - without seeing where you're going at all! Tripping and breaking some bones, for good measure, will wrap up the miserable year IN STYLE - I'm sure...

Hence, it is THAT time, again...

Plus, it is also the time to do some kind of YEAR-END REVIEW - in the spirit of "let's see where we're at now" I guess; I hope, really... That might help bettering things, just a bit - or it might be altogether pointless anyway! Either way, it surely is time far close to being well wasted than you're simply lying around watching the insipid Comedy Network - methinks...!

But that is another story...

Go on - shoo!
Get on with the year-end party; the mega-RÉVEILLON (google a French translator, willya?) and be done with it already!
(Ok - the thing is to make it last AT LEAST until the countdown to 2009 - four hours to go, at press...er, typing... er, blogging time here...!)

And as far as the actual REVIEWING goes - check out my RAMBLINGS IN WRIT on the subject...
My LUGUBRIOUS BLOG ("scheduled" -by both Google and me- to be published at exactly 11:59pm tonight! December 31st, 2008 - in case you're not sure! Hey - you may be reading this in 2011, 2012 or 2013... no? I wouldn't bet on anything beyond that, at this time...! But that is another story too!)
AND... check this site out as well!

I check out that yearbyyear site MANY times throughout the year, actually - for, you see, "I want INFORMATION"...!

And so should you - number 2!

;)

I'm A Marvel...no, a DC... no... a PC!!!

2008-12-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

We're giving away a PC a week! it said...
(No you're not, not anymore, LIARS!)

They do add this explanatory note though:
Thank you for your interest in the “I’m a PC” contest. The contest has closed and we are no longer accepting entries. Please visit the Microsoft Home Magazine contest page to view current and future contests.

Aww - that's just too damn bad, Microsoft!
I so wanted to add another instrument of daily frustration to my exasperated existence; another source of hair-pulling angst, since I am, after all, such a glutton for punishment here...!

I had the PERFECT (or should I say the Luminous) entry to propose, too:
"I AM A PC - BECAUSE I AM PATIENT AND CORDIAL.
UNDER THE WORST POSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES TOO - WHICH ARE ENCOUNTERED FAIRLY ROUTINELY, WHEN ONE OWNS A PC...!"

See - a surefire WINNER!

Alas, twas not to be.
Because the Microsoft powers-that-be
are the grinches that they are
stealing my beef - or, as it is, my PC -
this Christmas Time!

Boo-hoo
eh?

See if I care!

Photos property of Microsoft Corporation's Home Magazine.

:)

Nude = Beauty? Animal-like, is it?

2008-12-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

La beauté nue, une expo Demarchelier à Paris

La beauté nue, une expo Demarchelier à Paris
Il a photographié toutes les stars et les top models des années 90, était le photographe officiel de Diana, rencontre avec Patrick Demarchelier dont l'oeuvre est exposée à Paris, au Petit Palais.

HA.
A dime a dozen - that is all that they are!
All these naked bimbos - once you've seen one, you've see them all!
They are all the same; so much so, you could swear cloning has been around almost as long as that Ira Levin book made it sound to have been: The Stepford Wives, remember that? Look into it!
Once a single one has bared it all, it is just as if they'd ALL done it, I tell ya! There is nothing left to see - much less anything remotely interesting in their personalities to grasp your attention beyond that...!
This goes at least double (if not a hundred-fold) for the male models some frustrated and/or frigid desperately exasperating housewives loooove to ogle either Friday evenings or on week-ends, at Chippendale's or a cheaper sleazier strip joint! But anyway - back to chicks now!
I remember hearing a pro say it so eloquently too: "once you've seen (she might have said "licked" actually - it was such a long time ago, I hardly recall now... They're not pros to LISTEN TO, y'know...!) and felt up a boob, what else is there, eh?"
Indeed!
A thousand and one nude models unravel only two thousand and two nearly identical blobs... I mean, boobies - and there's nothing to it at all, really!
Nipples are nipples - get over them!
The curves, and alleged artistic way each photog has to represent them - it is all smoke and mirrors, really! Pat Demarchelier is just a Frenchman - and as any other Frenchy, he's a natural-born voyeur, that's all! And natural-born voyeurs are made that way: they NEVER get enough! Now I am not sure what Annie's problem is - but I'd say there should be such a thing as a "lesbovoyeur" too - huh? Kim Carnes would agree...

Annie Leibovitz, la photographe des stars, exposée à Londres

Really now - are we evolved or not?

If we were made to shed our clothes all the time like that, we'd all have been born (or gotten to grow up) much hairier than we get to be, in due time...!
Besides, you gotta start making sense too, people: you either like and CRAVE the naturally-grown fur (and that clothes-shedding obsession seems to indicate that there sure is an obsession there!) or you want to get rid of every last trace of body hair GOD Has ever Given ya; either through waxing, some high-techy treatment that only estheticians comprehend - or plain ol' shaving! In the latter case, after the job is all done (duh) - YOU NEED TO KEEP THE DAMN CLOTHES ON!
Oh, but that's right - then, so many of these poor starving models (artists & models...?) would be OUT OF A JOB - because shedding their clothes and striking suggestive poses is all they can do, right?

Only the (very) few accessories used in these photo shoots can add any infinitesimal sense of class and romanticism, henceforth - indeed!

...

Wanna see scary stuff, this Halloween? Here it is... HA!

2008-10-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

You think you've seen SCARY?
HA! You're a deluded fool!

THIS is your idea of SCARY
and jaw-dropping sights... RIGHT?

(And I will spare you, just as I did before, the wording

of just how lukewarm I was about that whole mini-craze
surrounding the release of the IRON MAN movie...!

Just the fact that he symbolizes "scary" here

SPEAKS VOLUMES, I think!)

The fact is, there is MUCH SCARIER out there

not only in the "real world"

but I do mean the REAL UNSEEN WORLD...

Sometimes, though,

ASTRONOMY catches a glimpse of that...

Impressive SPECTRE(s) in the Eastern Veil, eh?

This pic was first seen on this network
on the laconic blog's very last
luminous sidebar widget!
A blog which you can find on the list
right here
For more veil pics - go here.

MOST

OF US

though

WILL ONLY GET TO SEE

THIS TYPE OF

FURRY MONSTER

IN OUR LIFETIME...

I've got my own little monster -

as evidenced right here:

The name's Quio, not Yoda, but still I'll ask...
Anybody interested in adopting it?
Let me know!

When A Judge Threatens Parental Authority...

2008-06-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Unbelievably enough, one of our "venerable"and "honorable" courts of so-called "justice" just overturned a father's grounding of his wayward 12-year-old daughter!

With such protection, kids today can safely get completely out of control with the comforting knowledge that they will be protected by the "Long Arm of the Law" - HA! What kind of law it is, that, NOBODY KNOWS! The clueless judge who delivered such a sentence should be tarred and feathered - along with that OTHER judge who decided that a child less than 6 years of age "could not have been too severely traumatized" by the serial RAPE she had suffered at the hands of her very own sicko FATHER! (And, as if to add fuel to the fire here, THAT judge was a WOMAN! How could a woman pass such judgment?!? The easy answer: she had the hots for the defendant and "justice" like that is BLINDER THAN LOVE AND LUST COMBINED! Everybody knows THAT... But I am digressing once again here... This is, after all, the lukewarm blog - not the lambasting one! I cannot get "too involved" - have to, rather, stay on-topic, man! Let's move on...)

I swear, if such a thing happened to me, I'd spank my brat right in front of the so-called judge! See what its next inbred "judgment" would be, THEN...!

These sort of things make me only reaffirm all the more my trust in only ONE Judge - the Almighty One!

AMEN!

+++

A Good Thing This Is Blogger, Not IMDB...

2008-05-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

I was on IMDB.com the other day, sharing my movie knowledge freely and for free too, with the masses, when I was suddenly halted by THIS:

No, actually...

THIS IS TLB... PRIME NETWORK!

And, when I say that, I do sound just as good as James Earl Jones does when he says "This is CNN" - trust me on that!

And, HERE, at last, I can post AD NAUSEAM, baby!
That means as much as I damn PLEASE!

;)

Ha...! I Could Say "A-Ha" - But I Won't...

2008-05-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

I could rave right now
How all my predictions came true
How the Montreal Canadiens
proved to be nothing but PRETENDERS
not top notch CONTENDERS at all
hence proving that they were only LUCKY
and riding a wave of ignorant bliss
and make-believe overconfidence
against the Boston Bruins

How the San Jose Sharks choked
yet again

And how the New York Rangers
simply WILL NEVER BUY
ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP
EVER, EVER AGAIN!

(Nota Bene:
the same applies to
the Damn Yankees!)

But the truth is
I am WAY too lukewarm
about all that crap
to even GIVE A DAMN!

No, really,
NONE of that really matters -
NONE of it...

And to the
Red Wings fans
Penguins fans
Stars fans
and Flyers fans
I say this:
your euphoria
will be short-lived
and likely
not even remembered
in a very, very short while!

As for my team,
even if, this summer, they
replace the faltering parts
(an aging Glen Murray;
a mercenary Peter Schaefer;
a temporary fit, a.k.a.
Glen Metropolit...)
with top notch
snipers/marksmen -
thus definitely fixing
their only true problem
and propeling the team
into TOP CONTENDER
status for YEARS to come,

I don't give a damn!

To paraphrase Phil Collins...

More lukewarm than EVER about the not-so pearly Gates...!

2008-04-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

For the past two months or so, the WINDOWS LIVE MSN SPACES staff has been burning my butt hairs over what is truly... well, such a SILLY "problem" they have!

Windows "Live" - as in "it's alive! A-live!" - rrrrrright!

I mean LOOK at the embedded slideshow below: you tell me what the theme is...

Windows Live Spaces

Isn't it LOGICAL to expect to see a few topless mermaids pop up (no pun intended) here and there, given the THEMATIC here... HUH?!?

They threatened not once, not twice but thrice with COMPLETE ANNIHILATION of the above BEAUTIFUL SEA-THEMED SLIDESHOW/photo album (among other "albums") - unless I took out several mermaids shots you can see here - in the archives!

Truly, MSN has it DEEP against MERMAIDS (pun fully intended this time!)

But the capper came when I thought I'd replace those pics deemed to be "offending" (or simply too much for Bill Gates) by other beautiful depictions of sea creatures (real ones, not those of myth, this time!) - and I was prompted to do THIS:

Install the Windows Live photo upload tool
This tool helps you upload photos to a photo album on your space.
1. If a yellow bar appears at the top of your browser, click it, and then click Install ActiveX Control.
2. When the security warning appears, click Install. You must be logged in to your computer with an account which is a member of the Administrators group.

HA - fat chance I'm going through with that trouble NOW!

I have to join up with some stuffy, obviously stuck-up and too overtly prudish (to the point that it is absurd!) clique called "the Administrators group" EH?
Try the A$$holes group, and you will be closer to the truth there...!
I am joining NOT with them - EVER.

Now don't take out my innocent-looking, ECO-FRIENDLY (not to mention advocating!) "aqua-slideshow" in retaliation, WINDOWS "LIVE" - that would be just too petty!

Defeat In Victory - and vice-versa

2008-04-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

With the obvious exceptions of games 1 and 7 (and, to be truthful, as it pertains to game 7 it is, most specifically, the exception of the last 5 minutes of the SECOND period and the last 2 minutes of the THIRD and final frame) THE BOSTON BRUINS SHOULD HAVE WON FIVE GAMES IN A ROW...

FIVE.

Which is far more than enough to put away any opponent in the playoffs system in place - for you only need to win (or steal) four victories in order to do so!
Just like the Montreal Canadiens did... STEAL...

They had an accomplice in game 2 - the referee. They had old friends in game 4 and throughout the series verily - the posts, the famous "Fantômes du Forum" and that big-time bitch most of you call "Lady Luck" (she is NOT a "Lady" - most of them aren't, in Montréal...! But that is another story...)
You might just as well throw in an entity to be known as "Lord Injustice" then - as the CHIEF "assistant" in Canadiens wins...

All the more reason for me to remain lukewarm about sports, indeed; all the more incentive for me to avoid and resist being "sucked in" again, tempted into believing that the team that deserves victory and all the gold the NHL has to offer (but, truth be told, the NHL offers no gold at all - they only have SILVER to hand out! On loan, on top of that! The only GOLD in the NHL, today as at any other time, remains the black'n'gold of the Boston Bruins - their admirable work ethic, perseverence and strength of character, that sticks to everyone who's ever either been a part of the organization or followed it fervently, as I did, especially circa 1988-1999... What I call the Cam Neely Golden Era (even though he retired in 1995-96, his influence lingered on and hopes of a comeback lingered on too, until about 1999.)

I could bother with a recap of this latest heartbreaking series - that went the WRONG way - but why bother with that.

In apparent defeat, the Bruins made history, impressed, proved that they were contenders for that silly Cup as much as their rivals, nearly eliminated them and SHOULD HAVE ELIMINATED THEM in spite of playing without various components of their team (Patrice Bergeron never did get medical clearance in order to make his comeback; Chuck Kobasew, the team's second goal-scorer, wasn't available either; another "secret weapon" of sorts, Alexei Zhamnov, has yet to BE USED by the Bruins; and defenseman Aaron Ward spent some time on the DL too, keeping goalie Manny Fernandez company... WITHOUT ALL OF THESE GUYS, THE BRUINS STILL CAME WITHIN A GOAL, BASICALLY, OF ELIMINATING THE ALLEGEDLY-SUPERIOR "HABS" - HA! Ponder that all summer long, as the Canadiens trip all over themselves in the next round, thoroughly spent physically, mentally and emotionally from the BRUINS series; they won't be in any condition to face anybody else!)

In alleged "victory" though, Montreal has shown nothing at all (except that they can still, and again, steal key games... That cannot always be done, though...)
And the city of Montreal LOST big time, as the post-game 7 disgraceful events on the streets of the dirty town proved: FIVE POLICE CARS BURNT TO A CRISP (one for each lucky Canadiens goal, eh? And inane onlookers who double as pathetic liars dared allege that these vandals were NOT "in any way, shape or form" Canadiens hockey fans... RIGHT. They had no clue there was a game that night, no clue what the score was (they just came up with the number 5 out of the blue) and they just spontaneously chose THAT EVENING to go crazy... RIGHT.)
On top of the police cars, various commerces were vandalized - proving that these vandals were NOT petty criminals who merely took advantage of the event that evening to even a score with the cops...

Actual Canadiens fans ARE NOT so "innocent" - as many were seen very inanely waving a little Canadiens flag (these things are so overpriced too - blame it on Carey; get it?) AS THEY PASSED BY THE POLICE CARS THAT WERE ABLAZE...!

Too bad those vehicles did not explode in their faces, eh?

All of those creepy fans were very chippy - despite all the damage being done to private, commercial and constabulary proprety all around them!

PLUS - even after stealing a series (another one) from a CLASSIER FRANCHISE, the Canadiens fans thought it not to be enough and were seen DARING to shove the few courageous FANS (and equally admirable, as the Boston Bruins themselves) that had attended the game (with overpriced ticket fares, whether said tickets come straight from the booth or from a dirty "scalper's" hands...!)

I should have been there, on the street, wearing my Bruins cap and Bruins jersey - DOUBLE-DARING anyone to gloat in my face! I would have wound up arrested, most probably, but I would have been handcuffed with a smile on my face - and blood on my hands!
;)

As it is, of course, I am too lukewarm to even WATCH THE GAME ON TELEVISION...
Why would I run after trouble with the EXTREMELY FLAWED LAW - over all this business?
For the law sure would prove, yet again, to be extremely flawed, when it would throw the book at me for having knocked the teeth down the throat of hateful Canadiens fans who don't know how to lose, how to win, how to talk or walk for that matter - fans who know NOTHING, basically, and are the worst rabble there is on the face of this damned earth!

And Canadians (note the "a" - "-ans" not "-ens" this time) have the reputation of being a polite, gentle race/nation, with Canada, overall, getting the rep of being a country without crime or anything too heavy on its streets...?

WHAT A FALLACY!

The crime rate is not even indicative of what really goes on in the "greater metropolitan area" of this damn island now called "Montréal"...
I often likened Laval (its twin island/city) and Montréal to a new, transposed into the North American continent and these modern times, SODOM and GOMORRAH!
And it is only thanks to GOD that the wretched area ONLY HAS the Montreal Canadiens, pretty much, to go on (because their inept CFL Alouettes and inconsequential soccer club -the Montreal Impact- are never going to amount to much at all) OTHERWISE, the damn town would be the theater of MANY MORE sickening scenes of senseless rioting and total utter craziness just like it once again witnessed on the evening of April 21st, 2008:

Une émeute-suprise

Les policiers de Montréal, surpris par une émeute ayant eu lieu si tôt dans la saison des séries éliminatoires de la coupe Stanley, reverront leur stratégie en prévision des prochain matchs du Canadien.
THEY CAN'T EVEN SPELL "SURPRISE" IN THAT SLEAZY TOWN ANYMORE - *VRAIMENT* PATHÉTIQUE!
And it is even more pathetic that the rioting WAS a "suprise" at all; that they cannot foresee these things is truly far more pathetic than the fact that they cannot spell...! I have known for YEARS now that these bozos have narrow a clue how to write or even how to speak their precious language there - and yet they insist upon preserving it and "nurturing" it (they must have meant "neutering" it then - ha.)

The only reason, also, that they don't have more of these things all over town is because, most years, logic is respected and the Montreal Canadiens SUCK - as they should!

Am I glad I was so blessed with great discernment so that I NEVER, EVER, ROOTED FOR SUCH A TEAM THAT HAS SUCH A LARGE FANBASE BASED AMONG THE RABBLE AND SCUM OF THE EARTH! Am I glad I am lukewarm as I am nowadays about a sport that rewards the unworthy - and is refereed in that specific manner as well! Am I glad that the Boston Bruins will now rest, while their battered and bruised arch-rivals will be getting MORE punishment - and ultimately LOSE, as they so deserve, LOSE to a LESSER OPPONENT TOO, JUST AS THE BOSTON BRUINS DID, JUST NOW...!

Yes, I am glad.

Montreal garnered defeat, overall, for its cheap "victory" -
while Boston achieved victory in defeat;
mounting a first historical comeback from a 3-1 series deficit (an undeserved deficit as it was, for, I repeat, the Bruins should have won games 2 through 6, inclusively; any 4 of those - they won 3 and were robbed the other two times)
showing an exemplary model for all to follow and emulate -
never giving up, in the face of apparent insurmountable tasks...

Yes - God Bless You, Boston Bruins!

May those who are bright enough to see it mold their own character upon your courageous, gritty, brave example!

Ha!

2008-04-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well, all we can do

is TRY... eh?

Kicking a$$...

It's worth

the ol' college try!

Surely...

Australia 7 News, Yahoo & Fox News CRY FOR KYLIE... "Don't Cry For Me, Australia," She Retorts!

2008-04-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

In Entertainment News Today...

Entertainment Video

Hollywood Nation: 4/17

FOX News

Kylie accepts she may never marry

Australia 7 News

» All news video

Kylie Minogue
will remain "une vieille fille"...?
I guess all that pleading to
"come... come...
come into *her* world"
has fallen on deaf ears
belonging to dumb men
and several dumber women
as well...?!?
(Well, she *did* lock lips
with Geri Halliwell,
you know!)

*lol*

Pub Agent Provocateur - Vidéo

Headlines...

2008-04-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the news MY FAVORITE NEWS PROVIDERS have presented (not me! Not Luminous (\ô/) Luciano! Not the TLB PRIME NETWORK of websites, blogs, etc... Much less the Lukewarm Blog all by its lonesome self!)
No, folks, these are news stories that MY NEWS PROVIDERS are or have been following - thoroughly analyzed (or not) by your host, Luminous (\ô/) Luciano!
My way too, not Jay Leno's way!

As of 6:58 p.m. EDT
• AP photographer freed by US after 2 years in custody
• Gaza fighting kills 20 Palestinans, including news cameraman
• Congo crash victim: 'There is no reason we should be alive'
• French aghast at new English incursion to their language
• Olympic stadium, known as Bird's Nest, gets modest opening
• German prosecutor charges admitted Nazi hit man in 3 murders
• India braces for protests during Olympic torch relay
» More

And, indeed, I couldn't be more lukewarm about it all than I am now!
Really - why allow oneself to be all emotional over these tidbits prickled from that thing that bites supremely (reality) - huh?
An AP photog spent two long years in JAIL... in the U.S.?!? In the actual Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?!? He must have been BEGGING for it...
Gaza fighting kills 19 more - PLUS a news cameraman?!? He was begging for it too; he shouldn't have gotten so close to the "action"...
I agree with the Congo crash victim's words wholeheartedly too...
(ALMOST to the point of feeling like adding to this post the great underrated Genesis (post-Phil era) song... "Congo"! Maybe I'll add it later...)
The French are aghast, they say? They'll see worse yet, before it's all said and done... (I sure have already - the French language already has been mangled rather SPECTACULARLY (and abominably) - in QUÉBEC, CANADA! Come on over, Frenchies; you'll learn something...!)
An Olympic Stadium = a Bird's Nest? Unless pterodactyls are making a comeback... I don't see much sense in it! (The Big "O" in QUÉBEC finally found some use - a purpose in life! If such was the case...)
Only a German prosecutor could rat out on a 80+ Nazi... eh?
India - bracing itself for protests? It's nothing they don't get already on a DAILY BASIS - what, with all those wild monkeys running loose all about town... Cows as well... And let's not forget the RATS!

So, as you can see - NONE of these "shocking headlines" surprise me ONE BIT...
NOT ONE IOTA...!

See? I did add it later on!
Chose promise (ou presque) - chose due!
À Bon Entendeur, Salut!

Honesty and Integrity NOT REQUIRED... NOR DESIRED.

2008-04-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

A certain play-by-play broadcaster emitted the opinion that, according to him (but he made it sound like it was a general consensus) a player like Boston Bruins' forward Jeremy Reich "brought basically nothing to his club".

Mere minutes after that, we saw what that player's worth truly was.

He brings little to his club, true - because his true grit and HONESTY are too much for any pro-athlete to have AND manage to be, at the same time, SUCCESSFUL IN TODAY'S NHL...

True grit: the Boston Bruins courageously came back from a 0-2 deficit to score two goals in the third period, against an adversary that has had WAY too much LUCK against them in both distant and recent past. They still did not give up - the Bruins NEVER give up - and kept fighting, sticking to their game plan, and it paid off. First a quick goal brilliantly put in on a rebound (not a garbage goal like so many Habs goals are) and then a power play goal that made the Bruins power play unit look like it was the one that was near the top of the league, statistically-speaking (in comparison with the Montreal Canadiens' power play, that went a dismal 1 for 11 in the course of three periods.)

Still, it was only 2-2. Overtime loomed; and was to be indeed. And what happened, in overtime, once again? The referee proved to be the Bruins' adversary too.

Jeremy Reich received a stick to the face. He displayed his great resilience then, instead of doing it the Canadien way - he kept on fighting for the puck instead of faking an injury. For that is the Canadiens way; when a hockey stick gets even remotely close to them, they pretend to be tripped, high-sticked, hurting, ANYTHING to draw a penalty against the Bruins. Reich (pronounced "Reach") proved to be too HONEST and with too much INTEGRITY to do that. He wants to compete, fair and square - his mistake is to give his adversaries too much credit that THEY want to do the same thing...

Reich was thus high-sticked in the face; and there was no penalty on the play. The referee, also, was too aloof to give one... It certainly is not to be a deterent against Reich's "worthiness" to his club that he is too HONEST - now, can it be?!? Yet, in today's NHL (and, to be fair, at virtually any time in the NHL's history) HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND FAIR PLAY ARE NOT HELPFUL TO YOUR CLUB... You have to be a sly devil (whether you play for New Jersey or not) and you have to try and be deceitful and convincingly so (enough so for the referee's calls to be made anyway) in order to truly help your team.

If you play too fairly, you're not worthy of the NHL.
Or even the AHL for that matter...

Thus, play continued without a penalty being attributed to the faulty Canadiens player, Andrei Markov. The driven Jeremy Reich, though, battled onwards with added aggressiveness due to that; and what does the referee do? He penalizes HIM instead. Great going, ref. Truly, referees have more in common with bats than they do with penguins - but that is another batty four-color story, I think...

This was the 12th power play of the EVENING for the wretched Habs - reputed to be "an offensive machine" that produces when they have a man-advantage. They even obtained a two-man advantage momentarily on this one - IN SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME... The Boston Bruins had, otherwise, the complete momentum in this game after winning the third period 2-0. OTHERWISE, the Bruins would have likely scored the next goal too and evened the series 1-1. But the referee, along with the alleged "Fantômes du Forum" that oversee the action, always, whenever these two storied rivals play each other in that town (Montreal) would decide otherwise... The Boston Bruins' goaltender, Tim Thomas, brilliantly held the fort so that, for a while, it seemed like the Bruins would nullify another man-advantage opportunity from their overrated opponents and would resume dominating play, as they had the edge in shots-on-goal. But a puck was eventually tipped and bounced into the net still - and the victory was once again stolen from the B's.

All of it because HONESTY and INTEGRITY are not what pays in that league. True grit is not appreciated either. And referees need to see someone put on a SHOW before they call a disgraceful act - or a spade a spade, if you will...

And people wonder why I am lukewarm about sports - who wins, who loses; WHO CARES. The final score is NOT the true result at all; it is merely a bit of erroneous data given to satiate a society that needs to see things neatly wrapped up in as little time as possible - that is why they got rid of the "tie games" completely in the regular season, the only place where they could be, before... In truth, few sports have such MISLEADING scores as the NHL does: where the "loser" is actually the better team in ALL CATEGORIES THAT MATTER THE MOST in the eyes of an august figure such as, say, Pierre de Coubertin... But guys like Gary Bettman and his associated clods are nowhere near de Coubertin - of course. And so, the NHL has the rules and the officiating that it deserves, probably...

A victory with such rules and lax moral values has no value whatsoever.

WHATSOEVER... Montréal!

Darn it all - another Saturday where I missed the boat... and the freighter?

2008-04-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

I had made a mental note to remember that there would be another one of those "career expos" in town - a vast exposition of employers more than willing and all-too happy to sign you up and exploit you to the bone... That sort of thing...
The dream job awaited me - and shall await a while lonnger (if not forever).

For, alas, once again, I jotted down that mental note hastily and snagged it inside one of those memory drawers that are SELDOM USED as it is...

So I missed the boat again there - only remembering that today was "the day" when I got out to run a quick errand and saw the aforementioned expo advertised on a BUS that cut me off (shades of Sex In The City - not. I am not a floozie like Sarah Jessica Parker (among other things that she's been called...!) HECK - I am a MANLY MAN! But I am digressing right now...)

The jobs expo is actually the FREIGHTER that I missed - clearly.
The boat -or bandwagon, to be a trifle more accurate here- that I missed jumping on is really the P.H. tugboat of tweedledee-tweedledumbness...!

No, banish the Preparation H images and/or inane, tasteless jokes that sprung up to your mind the moment you saw the initials "P.H." - capisce?

It's not an ointment we're talking about here; it's a viscous social calamity!

In other words: it's the Paris Hilton show.
And it did come to MY TOWN today - nobody told me in advance though! Or I would have prepared...! You know how: water bombs, water pistols, nerfballs bazookas, expired eggs and rotten tomatoes - the works!
But I was not INFORMED... And now it is too late! :(

Maybe next time, Paris...
Yeah - see you in Paris! ;)

Woooooooo - it's over.

2008-04-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

36 years, 16 world championships (22, in reality) and several incarnations of the 4 Horsemen later, Ric Flair finally delivered the speech he had meant to deliver months earlier - but I suspect someone suggested to him to go with the "career-threat from Vinnie Mac" plotline instead, at least until the alleged "grandest stage of them all" that is reputed to be Wrestlemania would come along - and the induction into the Hall of Fame as an *active* wrestler still.

And so he did wait out and stuck around, styling and profiling, for a few months still. And, after playing out scenario after scenario of "narrowingly escaping with his career intact" against the likes of "Umaga" (ugh), William Regal, Mr. Kennedy, Vince McMahon (sic) himself and even "best friend" Triple H (none of which would have EVER been deemed worthy of being "the one" to put the legendary Nature Boy Ric Flair into retirement) SLICK RIC finally did choose the opponent to whom he would truly "pass the torch" so to speak - Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. HBK. The guy who idolized Ric Flair and whose only true heartbreaking has always been victimizing his own heart. This is just another example of it - though an allegorical one at best, as it truly doesn't mean a thing to whom Flair lost his final match; he just needed to be pinned for three seconds in order to finally -Woooooooo- call it a career. In order to be allowed to walk away from the squared circle; something several fans of his never wanted to see happen. In order to finally walk away from the squared circle. None wanted to see it ever happen. But every other member of the Four Horsemen is GONE already (save one - Sting aka Steve Borden, and he wasn't a Horsemen long. Double J, Jeff Jarrett, was also a Horseman but, according to Arn, he "doesn't count") and so, every other member being GONE already; Flair had to ride into the sunset as well.

The final farewell, the last speech, the emotional send-off, the ultimate "Wooooooooo" - well, it left something to be desired though.

I've long had my suspicion about Ric that, though he undeniably gave it his all each and every time he wrestled or, really, put on a show, he truly actually is uncomfortable with the crowd. They are "outsiders" to his world - he acknowledges them, as well he should, and knows fully well that "they made him what he is today" as he stated during the aforementioned final speech, but they remain "they" from out there. And his close circle of fans is who he belongs with; fellow wrestlers, friends, family. I thought 15 minutes would be too SHORT for the whole final farewell - I thought, no, I WAS SO SURE that he would have MUCH MORE TO SAY... But he didn't. He was done in five minutes, maybe LESS. Gee. Ric had much more to say in his WCW days. On the final WCW Monday Nitro show, he delivered such a great speech about his fellow WCW workers NOT having their lives "in Vince McMahon's hands" at all. Was this all "a shoot" as they say in the business? Was it all scripted material? I, for one, will continue to believe that it was a sincere, heartfelt discourse that came from the bottom of Flair's heart. And even a tad more heartfelt than his final speech on March 31st, 2008's edition of Monday Night Raw - for the just previously given reasons.

Ric Flair was not the first Nature Boy; Buddy Rogers was. He was not the first "platinum blonde with lots of panache" wrestling star either; Gorgeous George and Classie Freddie Blassie beat both Buddy Rogers and Flair to that distinction. Ric Flair remains unique and unimitable still: he had all of those guys' distinctive trademarks, and something more. He prefigured the likes of Triple H and HBK; Double J and Christian; Edge and Y2J Chris Jericho, inspiring them all to try and be "the next one" or the heir apparent, of course. The long list of imitators is virtually endless: Terry Taylor, Freebird Michael Hayes, WCW's own custom-made Maestro, the late Curt Hennig, Lex Luger, Nature Boy Buddy Landell and Extreme Horseman Steve Corino, to name but a few. None of them can get past the imitative stage though; for none of them can truly replicate "the dirtiest player in the game" at any point of his long and illustrious career.

Though Ric ended on a humble note, speech-wise (with the "thank you for making me what I am" line for the crowd) and competition-wise (with the choreographed -and teary- ending to his final match, as he awaited the coup-de-grâce from his opponent; a superkick, of all things) the flamboyant Ric Flair had to relive for a second and qualify, early in his final speech, his career as the "greatest career of all-time". Woooooooooo! Anything less coming from him would have been... unstylish and, ah, "unprofilish"? Let's just stick with actual English and say "uncharacteristic", ok?

However, at this stage, Flair did not have to be in-character anymore - when he was a "heel" (a term he hates to see being used by anyone outside the profession; "heel" is "villain" in layman's terms) such a cocky, vainglorious discourse was REQUIRED and even a pre-requisite for the fans to "catch on" (no pun intended here - even though, in France, they call wrestlers "catcheurs"). Now, in 2008, when all the masks are taken down and the masquerade is finally over, Ric Flair had to go with the fans "making him" so big for 36 long years of spanning the globe. "Making them happy," as he'd once said in a *true* genuine moment, was all he cared about - almost. Post-sendoff, Tully Blanchard confirmed that Ric Flair's preoccupation with making the wrestling fan happy was paramount to everything else in the five years Tully spent with Ric, Arn and the other Horsemen. This last speech felt too "staged" still, as it was - it was typical WWE fare, as it is, and a near-mockery of the great NWA/WCW heritage. Nowadays the WWE mocks its own past too, routinely - parading former top stars they used to have, as if to show the few fans left (!) that today's crop of "talent" is so much better... They can do that with the old WWF clowns of the 1980s (especially Terry Bollea and his cronies) but not with the NWA entourage: from Harley Race all the way down to Dusty Rhodes' youngest son!

All the more reason to feel lukewarm about the whole shebang, for me: for, even though all four were in the ring together again, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson and Barry Windham were NOT doing what I wanted to see them do, once they'd get back in the ring together: and that is beat up Vince McMahon. Mercilessly.

"Woooooooooooooo!" optional.

Even once-a-Horseman Dean Malenko and erstwhile Horsemen manager J.J. Dillon were there - imagine, it could have been 6 on 1 (or 6 on 2, if Shane McMahon, once the make-believe owner of WCW, would come out too and TRY to defend his daddy-o...)

Well-deserved punishment, delivered Horsemen-style!

Fat chance it will EVER happen now...

Not that it matters anyway... Not anymore, it doesn't.

Narrow a word about those no longer "with us" - either from Flair, much less from Triple H... I didn't expect anything to be said about the one Horseman that should remain now, but that was taken away by the most horrid tragedy (Chris Benoit).
But surely Sherri Martel, Nancy Daus, Wahoo McDaniel, the Von Erichs and 1001 other opponents Flair faced in the past could have been mentioned and were worthy of being mentioned as people who helped "make Flair who he is"...

That they were all forgotten is not surprising though: the WWE forgot to induct The Fabulous Moolah into their precious Hall of Fame this year, and she just passed away so very recently... They thought they should rather induct the other old broad they overused and abused, Mae Young, while she's still alive to receive the accolade and thanks for degrading services rendered... And so they did the same thing with that Brisco guy... And Ric Flair himself.

Former Horsemen Ole Anderson, 'Sycho' Sid Vicious and Lex Luger were forgotten from either mention or invitation to appear again (for five seconds of screen time) for other reasons... It was already a lot of effort to remember to invite Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine and Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, I'm sure... Not to mention 7-time world champion Harley Race (he whom the old WWE, then WWF, degraded by having him pose as a silly "King of the Ring" for the longest time - and then. most recently, having him being spat upon, in the face too, by "legend-killer" Randy Orton... Good thing too, by the way, that they allowed Flair to handpick who he would lose to in his final match; otherwise, the logical choice could have been Randy Orton. As it is, Orton was the first to "fail" in retiring the Nature Boy - and he allowed Flair to have his last moment of in-ring glory just the week prior to this final speech, on Raw, as he tapped out after Flair put him in his figure-four leglock... For the final time, yes... Still, it doesn't make up for the disrespect shown to Harley Race. At all.)

Ric Flair will not be a manager now?
He will not manage, like Classie Freddie Blassie did (and Harley Race as well) and make the difference for his team in the process?
It is not like he's never "retired" before and come back anyway, in some capacity, a short time afterwards...
Hopefully it won't be to manage a goofy duo like Blassie did, back in the day - his protégés were, of course, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik!
If Flair manages anybody, it needs to be the elite - the new breed, the next generation of FOUR HORSEMEN.
(Hopefully comprised of Mr. Kennedy, C.W. Anderson, Simon Diamond and Sean O'Haire - but that's just me! Mike Saunders and Mark Jindrak can be considered too - and maybe even Steve Corino and Buddy Landell too...!)

Seeing Flair, Arn, Tully and Windham back together again made most everyone nostalgic and hopeful that there can be a revival of the Horsemen; simply hearing the classic WCW Horsemen theme music reverberating throughout a live arena again achieved that. Seeing them reunited -along with Dillon, Race, Steamboat and Valentine- on this somewhat ostentatious occasion, for sure, was far more tasteful and à-propos than the inane and pointless reappearance, 24 years later, of Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff in mock "combat mode" - looking very ridiculous in the process. Much moreso than they did back in the day, yes... Back in 1984, they were a spoof; nowadays, they are old and should not have to make a spectacle of themselves like this anymore. Unless they really needed the money and McMahon pays well for a five-second in-ring appearance...

But anyhow - it is all a moot point now.
All of their careers are over.
They have survived the business, at least - unlike Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, ANDRÉ Roussimoff and so many others...

I could also be happy that Ric Flair got a real, grandiose goodbye - the likes of which Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan never had and never will have, respectively.
But I am lukewarm about that too, in truth...

Goodbye Ric Flair -
we hardly ever knew the TRUE YOU, even after all these years of watching you... and buying into what you so expertly sold us, you master showman you...!

You sure can make it in POLITICS now;
Jesse Ventura has nothing on you.

And me - I'll steadfastly remain lukewarm about THAT too...

Comment, baby - come on now!

2008-03-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hey - why not ask
where's the beef
while you're at it,
pooch?

Oh right...
Some dirty minds out there
might think something of it
- and I don't mean
Asian dog-eaters either
- sic.

The Illogical Wild World Of Sports!

2008-03-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

Let me get this straight now:
the Boston Bruins have garnered 5 more points versus the rest of the NHL than the Montreal Canadiens have - but, because, in head-to-head match-ups, the Bruins didn't get any breaks at all (managing only to garner one point in the standings, the dreaded "loser point", in a game they didn't really lose but actually should have won - because "losing" under shootout rules is not really "losing" - it is just forcing out a result when there wasn't any Canadiens garbage goal scored in "real playing" time to steal it for them... But I am digressing, I think...) it is, hence, the Canadiens who are battling the Penguins for top spot in the Eastern Conference...
And the Bruins are battling for mere positioning with the rest of the contenders, in constant danger of being left out from the dance party...

On top of that, in that one game in which Lady Luck ALLOWED the Boston Bruins to collect ONE POINT, at least, against the "Habs" - that sneaky s.o.b. otherwise beloved as Steve Bégin nailed Bruins playmaker Marc Savard FROM BEHIND. There was clearly penalty-worthy material there; but there wasn't any on the play! And Savard hasn't played since. Still, without their top center Savard, without top scorer Patrice Bergeron and without winger Chuck Kobasew too, the Bruins have gone on a winning streak since then. While the Canadiens have become sloppy - and seen their own top guy, Saku, get sacked in the footsie and he is out for "four weeks" just like that. Four WEEKS? Why not say "out A MONTH" - don't you know that four weeks make up a month? Plus, while losing to already eliminated Toronto (beaten twice in a row by Boston - who effectively eliminated the Leafs in the process) the "Habs" managed to get another guy injured too; a mere foot soldier like Francis Bouillon, but still! That is a good start - but some more injuries would be nice to truly see if the Candiens ae "that good" at all. If they are, they should be able to go on a winning streak like the Boston Bruins just did, not play so sloppily the moment they're the FIRST team "qualified for the playoffs"...

Qualified for a hasty elimination too! It was so laughable to see the Montreal rabble scramble for the mere 4000 tickets put on sale for the first round of the playoffs - and most going crazy that they got a pair or up to four tickets! And some would make inane predictions like "we're going all the way this year" - right. That same night, they couldn't beat a team that's already OUT of it: the Maple Leafs!

I don't know how it came to this - but a team like Montreal being able to pass for a "championship caliber team" has got to be right up there with any of Houdini's tricks!

Make it any of that Mindfreak's tricks, rather - Houdini had too much class for Montreal! Criss Angel (he's no angel - but you know it already) is more like your average Guy Carbonneau, Mike Komisarek or Tom Kostopoulos: a poser who does it all with smoke and mirrors! One who can't even SPELL for his own freaking sake - but that is beside the point right now...!)

And speaking of freaking Guy - he who always looks spooked at a post-game mediatic event, even when his team stole another one... I mean, what the hell Guy - you've seen cameras before! You've had to give out PLENTY of excuses before: more than you've had to flaunt anything! You look even more spooked than your namesake, Lafleur, when he went to court because his son is a ruffian who roughs up his girlfriends' fathers!!! And you even look CLUELESS as what to say when your dear Saguenéens de Chicoutimi are involved in barbarics on ice, with your old buddy Pat Roy providing the beatings on your own goalie, via his own ruffian of a son! But of course, how could Guy Carbonneau cry foul there, when his own players don't miss an opportunity to deliver cowardly illegal low blows, one after the other, and get away with it because even two NHL referees are not enough to make ONE good call!

I sincerely hope that the next player laid out and carried away on a stretcher is that little runt Bégin. That bastard had only this to say after cross-checking Marc Savard FROM BEHIND: "I was only playing my game"
(His actual inane words were more abysmal, because he spoke French and phrased it like this: "J'jouais ma game" - sheesh, that is not even his language! That is "Frenglish" and that should cost him another 2 minutes in the box right there! No wonder Saku can't say a word of French - heck, even G.M. Bob Gainey can hardly articulate anything other than gibberish, and he's the G.M. who's been around that town for over 30 years now!!! Bégin, though, has NO EXCUSE - wasn't he BORN THERE?!? He can't play "his game" CLEANLY, can't compete FAIRLY... and he can't even SPEAK HIS OWN MOTHER TONGUE! Truly, utterly PATHETIC!)

It is completely illogical for ANY fan to clamor that their "Glorieux" are any good, or better than any other team - especially the Boston Bruins! These Bruins who handle the Senators much better than the Habs EVER did, even back when they were a truly laughable collection of ''expressly-picked-for-an-expansion-team'' players akin to the ''Mickey Mouses of hockey'' that the New Jersey Devils once were, at least in Wayne Gretzky's mind...! (The Great One - now the coach of the Looney Tunes of hockey, the Phoenix Coyotes! Still looney they are, even though they're lacking the colorful presence of their Yosemite Sam of service, Jeremy Roenick! But I am digressing once again here...)

It is illogical to call the Montreal franchise "Glorieux" to begin with - they inherited tradition of decades past, they didn't accomplish a thing. And chokers like Alexei Kovalev tend to vanish when they are TRULY NEEDED...

Plus: none of the "Habs" have class - a Marc Savard, an Aaron Ward, a Patrice Bergeron, a Phil Kessel, a Marco Sturm, a P.J. Axelsson, a Petteri Nokelainen; now THOSE guys are gentlemen players!

I know - that's illogical too, to be a gentleman, to bring finesse to a game that is sheer brutality on ice. That's why Shawn Thornton was brought in too...
And guys like Jay Miller, Chris Nilan and Bruce Shoebottom were teammates with Ray Bourque, Craig Janney and Cam Neely!

Even classy organizations know that they have to compete - fight fire with fire sometimes!

Even though those who kill by the sword shall perish by the sword.

Even though eye for an eye is not the solution...

But you cannot give pearls to swine either, you know...

Somebody sent me this... And, yes, I am rather lukewarm about it...

2008-03-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

Subject: My Earth Hour
Hey, I just signed up to the new Earth Hour website for 2008 and I thought you might like to take a look and possibly sign up too.

Earth Hour is on 29 March 2008 at 8pm,
and it looks like it's going to be really big.

So far, as well as Sydney, there'll also be Adelaide, Atlanta, Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Chicago, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manila, Melbourne, Montreal, Odense, Ottawa, Perth, Phoenix, San Francisco, Suva, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Vancouver all turning off their lights for an hour inthe name of fighting global warming. Even the City of Orillia (the sender is indeed a resident from there; hence the specifity and wonderment about it...) and Town of Huntsville, among others, have joined. I'm sure there'll be more cities by March.

Sign up for Earth Hour with me by visiting http://www.earthhour.org/user/BcfT and join the movement.
See "May You Be Blessed" Here

Hey - I reserve the right to be lukewarm about any doomed planet as I see fit!

But if any one of YOU is interested - be my guest and join up!
Beat a dead horse - or rather, a dying planet - why don't you.

This one goes out to SÃO - and her fave, BRUNO...!

2008-03-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Kitty Falls Asleep Standing

Comme le dirait BRUNO...
"dors, ti-minou... toi qui ne sais pas encore...
tout ce qui t'attend dehors... dans la ruelle...
quand tu seras chat errant!"

Ok - I am sending-up one of those "un-hits" I loathe hearing
on the local radio - one of those crappy songs
"made in Quebec - pure laine" yeah!

São understands
- ela é do mesmo sangue...!

2008-03-08T22:57:00.000-08:00

Mar 9, 2008

Amazing shot saves UCLA

Josh Shipp's incredible rainbow jumper gives the Bruins a wild win over Cal. » H-O-R-S-E-like 'desperation' shot

» More:Featured Buzz

Bruins win, win, win, win, win, win, lose horribly, lose decently, lose badly, WIN in a rally! Those are the BOSTON BRUINS that we're talking about here though - aye! It is amusing to see the UCLA Bruins varsity club stage a rally (an amazing one, at that) just as the Boston variety does on the year that they scored their 18,000th franchise goal - a feat only one other franchise has done so far... Had to showcase it - though I remain lukewarm about all these teams and all...!

The fact is, at the trade deadline, the Boston team made no moves at all. And GM Peter Chiarelli came up to his players and pronounced such an inspiring speech... that it was suspicious! He said to the likes of David Krejci (who appeared to be shades of DAVE PASIN for the longest time but then scored in consecutive games for the first three goals of his NHL career - first goals that COUNT that is, cause he had scored on shootouts and pre-season games before! Hokey rules belong in hockey, I guess! But that is another story.) and the GM said also to the likes of enforcer Shawn Thornton (who won the Stanley Cup last year, with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim!) that he "believed in this team."

I wanted to believe in these luminous words - and so did the Bruins players who then went on a tear, defeating the Senators 4-0 and Penguins 5-1 among others, building their confidence while looking like a good team and sometimes maybe even like a dominating team! But then a debacle in Washington happened and all the flaws became apparent again... :(
And my back-up theory for what the GM was really doing sprang back up to mind (almost in sync with the hour springing forward again, as Daylight Saving Time goes into effect as the NHL season, for its part, winds down - and once a shoo-in to make the playoffs, the B's have to engage in a dogfight to the end just to make it to the dance!) - and the theory is this: Chiarelli really wanted to trade away a couple more young blooming talents (as he traded away Boyes, Bochenski and Kalus - he was willing to deport the likes of Kessel, Krejci and maybe Kobasew too... Hmm, the KKK?!? Maybe it would have been a good idea too - who knows!?) in order to get Marian Hossa. That didn't work out - so he had to make the troops believe that THAT was his plan all along - not mess with the chemistry this team has between Chara, Murray, Lucic, Metropolit, Schaefer and, for the most part, Savard, Sturm and, when he's there, Bergeron. He had to convince them that he BELIEVED IN THIS TEAM - motivate these troops that will go the rest of the way without any additional "help" (or liabilities really, as many late seasons pick-ups turn out to be oftentimes!)

That sort of psychology can work - for a time!
Hopefully it will not have worn out already - as there is a month to go still BEFORE the playoffs start - and then such confidence is REALLY required IN THE PLAYOFFS THEMSELVES... Especially for the sometimes fragile psyches of the GOALIE creatures (hey, B's goalie Tim Thomas himself used the word "fragile" - so...)

Thomas has to toughen then- if not, Alex Auld is the capable hired gun. And there are two aces in the hole (to be used when the team's not already in a hole but when there's the slightest danger of falling into one!) and those are Tuuka Rask and Emmanuel Fernandez (Heaven Willing he comes back to play THIS YEAR...!)

Because moves must be made before desperation sets in!

Desperation H-O-R-S-E-like shots work in basketball - it worked for the UCLA Bruins. But no such tricks work in Boston Bruins hockey! Alas!

All the more reason for me to remain at best lukewarm about this team... eh?

I'm not in Chiarelli The Chia Pet's motivator-cause-my-job's-at-stake shoes, anyway...

The Canadiens Are Nothing But Thieves And Thugs... I Could Have Told You So Much!!!

2008-02-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

When I heard about the run-in with the law experienced by two of these new breed Montreal Canadiens of today, I found nothing but vindication there for many justified Habs Haters - of which I have always been an avowed outspoken representative!

Way before O'Byrne and Kostopoulos showed their true colors - trust me, folks, I could have told you aaaaaaaaaall about these hidden traits (shared by many Habs, actually) and not just these days but over the course of many seasons past too...!

They're cheats, they're liars, they're hypocrites who never cared for "fair play" one bit... They strive to steal points in the standings and steal victories any which way they can! Finally, they are cheap shot artists and "thugs-along-the-boards" - but nothing more than sissies when comes the time to fight mano-a-mano, though!
And so, now, it all became crystal-clear to all those fanboys who are oblivious to all of these facts, simply because they are deluded enough to think the "Habs" to be righteous remnants of a long-dead dynasty (that only existed in the first place due to an unfair monopoly on the available talent pool in the early days of the NHL - but that is another story...)

Ryan O'Byrne (no better, certainly, and, perhaps, no worse than the likes of John Kordic or Chris Nilan before his redemption in Boston!) stands accused of GRAND THEFT - something that reeks of ridicule for he certainly makes enough moolah as an overpaid, over-evaluated NHL rookie and needs not the extra pocket change he found in some gal's purse... Is he so childish that he just had to peek at the contents of said purse - and play with the bimbo's cellular?!? (Hey - she has to be a bimbo, to have left her purse unattended like that on a bar's counter, where considerably less-than-trustworthy brutal chumps pass by and can simply sweep it up and leave with it!)

Tom Kostopoulos, for his part, proved to be a wanna-be thug and brainless dud as he was the only one of all the damn Habs players that did not heed the police's barked orders that urged the goon squad to disperse (and not even DREAM of standing up for their fallen-from-grace teammate, O'Byrne...) and so he was arrested too - and could just as well be labeled as an accomplice in the (so-called) "Grand Theft" there, eh? As long as the two goofs are not further labeled as "criminal masterminds" in the process...! (The heights of ludicrousness would be achieved then!)

Kosto le costaud chose the wrong peeps -in the police- to try and be intimidating... If he can't even scare off Mighty Ducks or Blue Jackets, how can he possibly imagine himself scaring away Tampa's Finest...?!?
(That's right - TAMPA's! Because the damn geeks on ice chose to commit their crimes NOT even in their own city but while visiting another town! What gall - these morons!)

They might dare say that the same is true for other franchises - everybody has at least ONE "wayward child" in their line-up. Even the near-Perfect Patriots just saw one of their own, defensive back Willie Andrews, get arrested recently... It happened one day after the Super Bowl fiasco (not to be confused with the Soup & Bowl fiesta!) and the mere disappointment of not having won the Big One as the Pats so deserved already provides some EXCELLENT excuse for having broken some law(s)...
But what law was broken here, exactly? All Andrews did involved (ALLEDGEDLY) being in the possession of some drug... And he has pleaded not guilty to that! As you can see, that is NOTHING when compared to O'Byrne's transgression and/or "Kosto le Costaud" and his meek attempt at unnecessary roughness there...!

Sure, there were several more Patriots arrested for a variety of reasons in recent years (Terry Glenn, Ty Law, Johnathan Sullivan, Kevin Faulk) - but all proved to be redeemable good guys in the end!

Not so with the damn Canadiens!

We could lambaste several current players on the team - but why give them the honor of being named alongside Patriots who had brief run-ins with the law? No - we shan't do that! Instead, let's look back...

Back to the 70s we go - when the damn Habs had despicable individuals such as Mario Tremblay, Serge Savard and Ken Dryden in their ranks! A little smug jerk like Mario, a wanna-be politician and a LAWYER (that says it all) and also wanna-be politician - need I say more?!? Others on that team gave off such heinous vibes as well - Guy Lafleur himself (heck, look at his son's own troubles with the law; it's in his GENES) and you will realize that, they may have won, but they truly did NOT DESERVE TO BE EVER DEEMED TO BE "WINNERS" - AT ALL! Just like the loathsome New York Mets of 1986 or the execrable Los Angeles Lakers of just about any year (The Kobe-Pau Gasol era sure qualifies splendidly!) - they're a bunch of jerks, not great athletes, and much less heroes!

And so, in conclusion, the damn Habs who are being PROTECTED by their damn team and not being castigated in any way by their organization, are truly LUCKY S.O.B.s who are finally being shown up for what they are TRULY WORTH, in the media at least.

May their team"s silly backers FINALLY see the error of their ways!
But, quite frankly, I don't hold my breath for THAT...!

A Soup And A Bowl - a stupid question, indeed...

2008-02-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

What's all the fuss about that "Super Bowl" stuff, anyhow...?

Dr. House sure didn't have a clue - and, as clueless as his ignorant call in the pre-game show was, it proved to be prophetic still. Damn him. *lol*
(Another reason to hate all quacks - real or make-believe ones!)

But who cares about that...

Super Sunday was but a mere prelude to Super Tuesday anyway - right?
(Oh - the latter got its name from the former, you say? And what's politics, next to sports? Well, politics can shape the way our every lives will go in the short term - and probably how our earthly existence will meet an ignominious end too! While sports... But that's another story, true!)

Well, it's about 30 minutes past that Super Bowl fluff and all the hoopla has ended - after "the upset for the ages" when mere puny "Giants" stole victory from fervent Patriots on the edge of making trivial history - and, quite frankly, I don't see much there, at all...

Tom Coughlin will not even be made out to be another Paul Revere - even though his coaching the damnable gimpy Giants to this upset over his local and far superior team is most definitely an act of High Treason, YES!

All that the "Perfect Patriots" proved, by winning EIGHTEEN STRAIGHT GAMES (including a high-scoring match up against their eventual Bowl opponents) and then matching the gainsaying Giants touchdown for touchdown, at the Bowl, but falling just short due to a measly field goal there... Well, all they proved is what we know already to be true - there is no perfection in this world.

"Ain't no living in a perfect world - there ain't no perfect world anyway" - as Huey sang...

Uncle Donald would have approved.
All he's concerned with is MOOLAH anyway...
(No, I am not confusing one duck with another who stole Ebenezer Scrooge's gimmick for Walt's company and profit - rather, I am talking about another Donald altogether...!)

But enough digression.
And enough about this also!

I would be remiss if I didn't add this though:
I never thought I'd loathe someone with as Biblical a name as... ELI.

Man, Tom Petty is getting older than some of his Heartbreakers...
Heck, maybe even than some of his fellow Traveling Wilburys!
Those who are still alive, obviously...

Maybe at Super Bowl XLIII they'll call on The Zombies
for the halftime show...?!?

Oh - and the Brothers Manning owe Boston.
BIG TIME.

Even moreso than Traitor Tom Coughlin!

Payback will be such a huge BITCH.

But I remain lukewarm about it all, of course.

It is just football.
Gridiron unnecessary roughness.
The ninny's sport - the NFL!
Neanderthal Funnies League!
Gisele matters more to THE Tom (Brady) than this!
And you KNOW IT!

Football isn't Life's Allegory anyway -
baseball is!

Everybody knows that!
;)

Red Sox Won!
*lol*

2008-01-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

How's 2008 so far?

Perfect Patriots and Champion Celtics to go with your Resplendent Red Sox, hmm? ;)
I'd like that too!
Add a Best-of-the-Best Bruins squad to that, and I'll be on cloud nine!

- Luminous Luciano to a fellow Boston fan, January 29th, 2008

Well, the fact is that, even if it all did happen like that - it wouldn't change the sorry state the whole blamed world's in right now, one iota - not even in the city of Boston itself!

Sure there'd be a short-lived moment of sheer euphoria sweeping throughout all of New England, verily...

But then WHAT?

Like Manny Ramirez said, regarding the prospect of the Red Sox NOT achieving expectations and falling in the ALCS before the lowly, overachieving (for a while anyway - basically games 2 through 4 of the aforementioned 2007 ALCS!) Cleveland Indians... "It's not the end of the world!"
Indeed.

Some reporters of old used to say, jokingly, that the end of the world would be when both the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs would reach the World Series. It would be tied 3-3 and then something would surely happen during game 7 so that both teams keep their dubious record of "never winning the big one" in modern times INTACT.
Alas for these (mostly Boston-native) ace reporters, that cannot be any longer. The Red Sox have won it - twice now in four years. Mirroring the Patriots' success of winning their own "big one" 3 times in 5 years - and going for 4 in 7 momentarily...! Heck, even the notorious Black Sox/White Sox of Chicago won the big one for the first time in several decades! The Cubs are alone, almost, now in this futile quest (not "as a futility case" no - FUTILE QUEST, yes!)

The end of the world should be announced by something as trivial as a sports event, anyhow...

But I am digressing...!

Aye - that "being on cloud nine" bit is only a figure of speech, at best!
Sure, if all four Boston teams win it all consecutively (and it can happen - ANYTHING can happen in the wondrous and often unjust world of sports!) I'd be happy... I would have a drink in honor of each championship, sure... But that is pretty much it!

It's not like it would change the world - or just *my* world either!
It wouldn't mean squat for 3/4 of the globe that suffers on a daily basis and for whom life is a struggle and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are four very real afflictions...
No, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Nor would it be an improvement of it.
(Well, maybe a little - for it would be championships going to the good guys instead of nasty glory-hounds that play for either New York, Los Angeles or (ugh) Montreal! But that is another story...)

Another L.P. that I am not associated with (thank God) - the NHL's L.P.

2008-01-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

Well, the NHL's version of the All-Star week-end is over and people are finally coming to relaize that what they THOUGHT was hockey all year long... the last few decades... heck, all their lives... was nothing but sheer senseless brutality on ice!

The All-Star skills competitions, 3-on-3 rookie play and the actual All-Star game - now THAT was hockey! The object of the game is to match SKILL and APTITUDE in order to insert a rubber puck into the opposing net - THAT is the object of the game!

The spectacle of the game is to see as many goals as can be inserted get to be shot past the defense and goaltending of the other team - in a heated and close competition devoid of cheap hits, mindless violence and any dirty tricks usually employed by lesser talented competitors anyhow!

Alas, game "purists" -such as TSN's Pierre McGuire- believe that NOT to be real hockey at all. Purists such as he want a "real hockey game" with tons of bodychecks and much less goal-scoring involved - and that is definitely against the basic definition of the damn game! Maybe these purists, who know the game better than anybody else, truly don't know squat after all? Hey - if it works for Bible exegets, why not also for something as trivial as a "hockey (hokey?) expert" - eh?

Another type of purist and expert is the one who holds the old NHL status quo almost sacrosanct and cries "blasphemy" at some of the new rules in place...
One such purist is The Hockey Network's own Edward Fraser. Can I call him Eddie?

Eddie Fraser is no Eddie Shore, that is for sure!
Why in blue blazes is he such a traditionalist then - eh?

You don't find him lamenting the fact that the newest sheer torture in the modern (and P.C.) NHL is to have played well enough (and have been lucky enough also) to keep it close and then wind up with nothing at all still - if you lose by one goal in REGULATION. INSTEAD... he decries the very existence of what he calls "the loser point" in the standings. A point obtained each time you make it to O.T. even if you wind up losing once there - of course.

Fortunately, the NHL powers-that-be made it so that, if you can keep the pace into overtime, you will be rewarded at least for the effort (and show of good fortune) with AT LEAST one point in the standings. The rules make it so that, now, in the "new NHL" as it is, playing for the "extra point" is then what it is truly ALL about. I find it to actually be a WONDERFUL concept - and much better than that expression some neanderthal on a high came up with when his brain was overloaded with euphoria and he exclaimed "winning isn't everything; it's the only thing." HA. If you're a coach and your job is on the line, maybe! In any other instances, the athletic performance is what matters. PARTICIPATION is the essential thing, as the venerable Pierre de Coubertin used to say (I paraphrase) and overemphasizing upon winning is not only unhealthy - it is obtuse!

The NHL hasn't done ENOUGH actually! They should reward teams with points for having kept it close for three periods! Why should only overtime losers get a point in the standings? Regulation time losers deserve (and NEED) points too! If the score is 3-2 after 60 minutes of play, give the loser a point for keeping it so close, will you?!? Heck - there should be points awarded PER PERIOD! That way, most coaches' jobs would be half-done already; their team would KNOW they have to focus on each play, each shift, each minute, each period and NOT LOOK TOO FAR AHEAD -and certainly not past any opponent!

Evidently, I am diametrically opposed to Eddie Fraser's point of view too - and vote NAY to any return to the "good ol' days" - ever! As for Pierre McGuire's dream of a "real hockey game" that caters to the mercenary side of hockey players (with incentives such as cold hard cash for the players on the winning team - or home ice advantage "throughout the playoffs" as he put it on January 28th, the day after the All-Star game, on TSN. Excuse me, Pierre, but maybe you had a Molson Ex too many at the All-Star post-game party yesterday... You must have meant home ice advantage IN THE STANLEY CUP FINALS - right?)
Well, Pierre, when the All-Star game is played in Montreal next year - I hope none of your dream has come true! ;)

My point of contention today is the "loser point" though - so, in closing...

It's enough that worthy teams will be left with NOTHING AT ALL at the end of double or triple overtime losses in the PLAYOFFS.
No need to taste that sour bitterness in the regular season as well.

On top of that, Eddie made a booboo!
In his standings, he has these numbers:
7 Islanders 24 19 6 54
8 Boston 24 19 5 53

The CORRECT numbers have Boston sitting in seventh place instead - with 25 wins, 55 points. The 25th came against the Islanders, ironically - the team he has in front of the B's! And the final score in that one was 4-1. No loser points allowed there.

This editorial appears also on ArmChairGM.com - thank you!

Text Message Love Into Their Hearts...?!?

2008-01-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Those 55-4-55 commercials are starting to rub me the wrong way!
What, with the message they're sending by having silly contests calling for guys (and gals, one assumes) to send in their best "love tips"...
And then they dare imply that the following totally inane line:
"How much does a polar bear have to weigh? Just enough to break the ice!"
is better than the classic "if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together!"... what the?!? No way!

Considering the extreme poor taste of the polar bear line, due to the climatic changes which are causing outright tragic circumstances for the arctic gentle ivory giants, who are in turn weighing less and less and STILL seeing the ice unable to support them as it is melting all over the place and the poor bears are not with enough strength these days in order to swim as long as it will be necessary before they find suitable ice floes...

I'd encourage bachelors and bachelorettes without a clue, both, to go with the "U and I" alphabetically-challenged line instead.

Thank you.

+++

Arm Chair Rasslin, Anyone?

2008-01-04T16:21:00.000-08:00

Our companion site, henceforth, shall be this site right here rather than... well... the lugubrious blog (eww!) - and I am sure that everyone will be ELATED over this too!

We have noticed a recrudescence in the number of visitors to this very site - probably a backlash effect from the lugubrious side of things, eh? Unless it is merely a series of chance stumbling-upons...?
Whatever it is, thanks for dropping by, everyone!

MapLoco data tells the tale:
(with Location followed by the Time of the visit!)
Fort Worth, TX, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:47:04 -0600
Montréal, QC, Canada Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:48:03 -0600
Amman, Jordan Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:37:48 -0600
Wahlern, Switzerland Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:34:29 -0600
Khopoli, India Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:08:54 -0600
Beverly, MA, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:45:11 -0600
, , United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:10:35 -0600
Canton, OH, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:04:55 -0600
Frosinone, Italy Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:58:07 -0600
Salt Lake City, UT, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:31:19 -0600
Akron, OH, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:58:38 -0600
Oklahoma City, OK, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:53:24 -0600
, , United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:44:36 -0600
Herndon, VA, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:20:56 -0600
Fargo, ND, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:55:23 -0600
Ager, Spain Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:24:03 -0600
Darlington, United Kingdom Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:35:32 -0600
, , United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:30:20 -0600
Blacklick, OH, United States Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:06:21 -0600
Hyderabad, India Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:13:56 -0600
Cairo, Egypt Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:51:33 -0600
Cartierville, QC, Canada Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:25:25 -0600
Dallas, TX, United States Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:56:48 -0600
Bowie, MD, United States Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:07:33 -0600
, , United States Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:53:42 -0600

Some parts are better left unknown, I suppose...?
Just like they do in wrestling, eh? ;)

Anyhow...

Let me assure you all that:
I shall remain lukewarm about sports events
I shall strive to keep the same tongue-firmly-in-cheek tone
(whether it is here or on that ArmchairGM thing!)
And I shall always be controversial for all the RIGHT reasons too!

I do not champion causes that should NOT have someone championing them.
Especially not someone who aspires to reflect the Light!

:)

All Right - THAT DOES IT!!!

2008-01-03T22:44:00.001-08:00

Enough of this already indeed!

I have had just about all that I can take of Boston Bruins trades that don't make any kind of sense!

THREE talented forwards with promise whose potential was showing flashes -when allowed to do so- of greatness about to fully blossom - and they were all traded away... in a short lapse of time too.

First it was Brad Boyes; then Petr Kalus; and now Brandon Bochenski (one guy that I list as a fave on my Facebook! I'm not logging on to Facebook just to take out his name now - NO WAY!)

And what did the B's get in return? A defenseman, a goalie that, it turns out, was NOT NEEDED... Oh, and another defenseman! Plus - a draft pick! A sixth-rounder... but still! Sort of makes up for the one they LOST when they gave it away, along with Kalus, for that goalie that is not needed!
Great day at the trading block, Pete!
:!

I am one of the few of those fine hub of hockey dwellers who actually liked the OTHER apparently lopsided trades... I actually like the fact that choker extraordinaire Joe Thornton is GONE... And that it was a 3 for 1 deal - one that, in effect, bolstered the Bruins' line-up with the presence of Chuck Kobasew Marco Sturm and (another) defenseman Andrew Ference (Ference and Kobasew came to Boston in exchange of Stuart and Primeau, two loose change guys obtained along with Sturm for Thornton! So, THERE, at least, the B's turned lead into gold!)

More alchemy was achieved, IMHO, with the Ben Walters for Petteri Nokelainen trade! Noke is a gem in the rough while Ben is merely the son of a former Canadien! Ben could not be a true Bruin - not with those blood ties...

Still... Speaking of the enemy...

The Bruins' mismanagement of their personnel often results in opportunities for said enemy to get their man - said man once having been "one of us" (there I go again making the same damn mistake it irks me so much to see in others! Fooling myself, deluding myself enough to think that I actually belong to the team! HA! It won't happen again, folks, I promise!)

And so comes forth
a TRAITOR BRUIN!
Most probably the basis
for the idea displayed below:
(courtesy of Habs Crap R Us)

WHAT AN ABOMINATION!
What an eyesore!
A BRUIN - dressed up in THAT?!?
BLASPHEMY!
But that is as far as I'll go
with the complaints and laments here...

Because, in light of all that the B's do, I am definitely lukewarm about them! I am neither hot about their chances, not entirely detached nor outright cold and unaffected but I am definitely FED UP with giving up on talent and then see the BRUINS G.M. come out and say "we're still in need of some offensive reinforcements" DUH - YOU KEEP TRADING THEM ALL AWAY, YOU... @#!$

And some, either traded away or simply let go by the organization, have wound up or resurfaced WITH THE ENEMY! Be it the Canadiens or Sabres or whomever - Andy Moog, Sergei Samsonov, Bryan Smolinski - all became HABS (UGH) and the likes of Bob Sweeney became Buffalo Sabres with the expressed desire to BEAT THE BRUINS for they felt dumped and unappreciated by their former team!

Kalus, Boyes & Bochenski - man alive, they could have formed a TERRIFIC LINE RIGHT THERE! There's your extra offensive punch, Peter Chiarelli (that's "Pete" right there; the B's G.M.) but you must really be a double agent working for Ottawa still, making sure that the B's do NOT improve in reality...!

OK - I merely jest there...

DEFENSE does win championships...

But all the defensemen in the world and goalies too won't score Cup clinchers (even though Bobby Orr did - he's the exception that reaffirmed the rule!)

And I am not sure that the defensemen Chiarelli has been collecting (Wideman, Hnidy, Ference even... Oh - and Chara too!) are synonymous with "stingiest defense in the league" and "Stanley Cup contenders/defenders" for that matter...

I guess I am legitimized in my lukewarm attitude towards "my team" here - because "my team" sure acts like they are lukewarm about their players, their fans and that thing called "commitment to win" - EH?

:!

Sounds Like Santa Claus Giving Up On Your Gifts TO ME...!

2007-12-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day, the GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY might be, for some, that "the boys are coming home"... (They won't make it in time for the real deal holiday, but that is not the point right now... Somehow...)

These "good news" are about a "world security and watchdog group" that is all set (and all-packed, ready) to leave Croatia at long last.

I guess that, by their estimates, their "large-scale mission" there is over and COMPLETE.

Ha. Right. And Santa's sleigh really did stop by my rooftop - a Christmas miracle said rooftop DID NOT cave in! But that's another story...

The O.S.C.E. (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) felt that all that could be done in Croatia effectively WAS accomplished since the mission opened there waaaaay back in 1996.

Thus, eleven years later, it's goodbye and good riddance!

Not sure it's such "good news"... After all, one can always prolong one's stay AND welcome as long as there are no guerilla tactics bombing you to smithereens to get you OUT...!

Granted, the "OSCE" will be upkeeping an office there still - to "monitor trials of war crime suspects" as well as monitor the return of Croatian Serb refugees; those poor saps who left Croatia during the 1991-95 senseless Serb-Croat war...

Still, this all feels like Ol' St-Nick bailing out on ya on THE VERY DAY that he's supposed to deliver the goods - more than partly due to the day in which this came out on the news press release wires, I admit!

Merry Christmas, OSCE Observers!
And try and be merry too - in Croatia, that is...

Yeah... So What?

2007-12-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

And now, if anyone needs it,
here is a musical break for you all!
Not here though -
go ahead, click and open a new TAB!
And hope it works too!
(I would've embedded videos
or playlists from Deezer.com
or some other widget thingie provider
but really now - with the luck
that I ahve had lately with those
I am not inclined to do so
and likely EVER AGAIN
go into the "extra effort"
for THAT...!
Slap me with a lukewarm label
about THAT too now!
But prepared to be slapped too
if you dare literally slap me!
*lol*
But enough digressing...)

Translator: 'Everywhere That I'm Not'
Yeah - so what indeed?

Translator: 'Everywhere That I'm Not'

Artiste: Translator
Étiquette: Columbia/Legacy
Compositeur: Steven Barton

"Yeah, you're everywhere that I'm not"

And, as with Martha Stewart,

it is a GOOD THING -

right?

Translator: 'Un-Alone'

Translator: 'Un-Alone'

Artiste: Translator
Étiquette: Columbia/Legacy
Compositeur: Steve Barton

Contains such enlightened lyrics as:

"My heart has a mind of its own;

Your heart has a mind of its own"

wow - nice lyrics!

"There's Gonna Be Trouble Somewhere"

Well... As long as it's everywhere where I'm not

I can remain lukewarm about it - right?

I do not encourage anyone to think that way

am not condoning this line of thinking

in any way, shape or form

and am merely jesting here, - yes!

Saturday Is AIDS Day

2007-12-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

Le Marabout Sait... Si, Si... Da, Da...!
Ou est-ce bien, en fait,
Le Moribond qui sait mieux...?

Quant à "savoir"...
"IGNORANCE IS BLISS"
et ça prend tout son sens ici...

I admit not to be entirely sure
whether "AIDS DAY"
aka MAYDAY FOR H.I.V.
is today Saturday
or if it was on Friday...?
My own newsanchor dude
seemed confused on the subject...
And, since I am posting it here,
on the LUKEWARM BLOG
(on top of the Lugubrious one,
where it belongs)
I am not observing this day
ritualistically or otherwise
(it goes without mentioning)
so - it could be either day, really...

I do feel for those who are ill
but - they should have known better.

Ah - this video confirms: it was on Dec. the 1st

amfAR.org pretends to light a candle for
every single one of them H.I.V. patients...
Don't - it only symbolizes all the more
that they're on borrowed time now...
amfAR.org wants to contain the spread of the virus...
I've got two words for you, amfAR.org -
"abstinence" and "impossible".

Hmm... amfAR.org also wants
all of us here to help "win the fight"
The fight against AIDS
or the "war on Terror"...?
Both are equally hopeless!
But I digress...

It goes to show, actually,
that superficial people
do not know how to choose.
They're so picky who they KISS -
and they get AIDS.
They go about being picky
all the wrong way
and, thus, have reaped
what they had coming.
And those they frowned upon -
well, they can count themselves
BLESSED!

...
;

Can Brats Be Disciplined?

2007-11-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Nouvelle discipline dans les autobus scolaires (23/11/07)

This elegant lady thinks so...!

La belle Michèle (resist temptation to dub her "Michelle" - registered!)
Voting for her was always a pleasure
(oops - I forgot to! I wasn't even registered!)
She's off-limits, unattaignable and unreachable - and most probably
accounted for as well (now that sure is registered - from the get-go!)
At the announcement of this strict new code of conduct
(things like "don't disturb the driver",
"don't moon the other drivers that happen to
find themselves right behind the bus on the road",
"don't gouge the eyes out of the kid sitting next to you"
and, of course, "don't open the window to spit at either
pedestrians or onto other vehicles' windshields!"
- among many other things...
THAT A BRAT SHOULD ALREADY KNOW
and would know if he/she/it had had
DECENT PARENTS...
But that is another story...)
Soooooooo - at the hearing of such news,
I had to cook up the following
just to have some fun at the expense of
these somewhat utopian intentions
(on a smaller scale than the American
'war on Terror' - at least!)
- and what appeared to be a natural here
was to zero in on the elegant M.C.'s
habit of wearing a scarf, always...
Her paleness is the only thing that equals
her candor and elegance -
hence it is fair to assume that
she has been bitten... And now, like
Lucy Westenra in the Stoker's book,
she can be feared at night...
Kiddies may obey, after all...
IF they use my campaign tool right here:

It is so amusing that the joke came to be made about vampirism -
as the composite term "chauve-souris" (which means "bat")
was "at the heart" of a sorry-excuse-for-a-debate recently,
one that involved the elegant Michèle Courchesne indeed...
(As well it should have - she is, after all,
"madame la Ministre de l'Éducation"...
(Or is it "Minister of Families" - they should
make up their minds about that!)
However, despite her influence, power, credibility,
competence and honesty as a politician (a rarity) -
she should not feel guilty for what is truly the mistake
of "L'Office de la Langue Française"...
If they cannot protect their own language
and are too idiotic to know any better than that
-what they have decided to do is to allow for the bastardization
of their own mother tongue! Ils sont fous ces Français-
IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT, M.C.!
Nor is it your fault if the inept so-called journalists
that have the HONOR of interviewing you
cannot make the difference between your jurisdiction
and that of "L'Office..." - sheesh!
It's called RESEARCH, boys -
you have to do it BEFORE the interview!
Funny that a mere "blogger" would know BETTER, eh?
But that is another story... ;)

You can read both a short summary of the "un-debate"
and a commentary I left about it here -
or in the comments section! ;)

Which One Has Officially Been Crowned "New Queen of Pop"...?!?

2007-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

AS SEEN ON YAHOO.COM...

Be a Better Groove Master

One of these four MUST be "IT"... eh? ;) *lol*

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New England Wins The Most Anticipated Regular Season Game In NFL History - at Indianapolis - Over Arch-Rival Colts...

2007-11-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

The Indianapolis Colts fans
sit in the stands
after the New England Patriots
beat the Colts, 24-20,
in the NFL football game in Indianapolis,
Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007.
Photo Credentials:
(AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Updated:
AP - Nov 4, 9:05 pm EST

Maybe it's driven across
***NOW***
to these two, at least
HOW TRIVIAL
and utterly foolish
and unconstructive it is
to root for a team
-any team-
hmm?
You wind up,
invariably,
as disappointed as
these two are,
right there!

*LOL*
I mean, look at that
disgruntled bear look
he's got -
and the
"hmmpf - we lost"
air she's got!

The thing is
and the truth is
there is no "we" -
even when your team wins
THEY WON
not you!
Quit feeling
like you belong in the
clubhouse
or something...!
*LMBO*

AND
TAKE OFF
THOSE JERSEYS!
(Ok, wait 'til you're
at home...!)

Fine shot
delineating human folly -
nice work there,
A.J.!
;)

Boston... Boston...

2007-10-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Aye, it is time, once again, for yet another one of those infamous lukewarm-&-lugubrious simultaneous posts of mine... Buckle up, grin and bear it - for it is going to be another bumpy ride folks; hell yeah!

As much as I enjoyed seeing the Boston Red Sox win it all just now - as I also had enjoyed it back in 2004 - I got outraged at the sight of this headline:

(AP) Police in riot gear prepare to withdraw after finding themselves between two groups of celebrating Boston Red Sox fans...
Full Image

"Boston Ready to Paint the Town Red for World Series Champion Sox"

Now, I know that it wasn't meant as "red as..." anything other than the red in "Red Sox" (then again - there was the famous bloodied -heck, bloodsoaked- red sock worn by Curt Schilling in 2004 - as much as anyone can hope for genuine modern-day stuff of legend nowadays, that one - even if I am sort-of lukewarm about it and all...!) But really now; just in the light of world events happening currently (as the Sox won the "World Series", bloodshed sure was prevalent across the globe - as they scored runs, HUNDREDS met violent demises in Iraq, Pakistan, all over the REAL world...!) and in the light of what happened, also, the last time that the Red Sox won it all, I have to say that THEY REALLY SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE WITH "PAINTING THE TOWN RED" AS A STYLISH, tongue-in-cheek PHRASE THERE... Really.

Victoria Snelgrove died in 2004 - not due to a car-bomber in the Middle-East or even a terrorist attack in the USofA, but because the festivities surrounding the Boston Red Sox victory and, more specifically, the measures taken to subdue the rowdy crowds back then were found to be quite INADEQUATE. Personally, even if I had been in town that day, I would not have gone on a rampage just because my team won - come on people! Did you bet money on it or something?!? Even so, you'd have to bet on an underdog who somehow DID prevail for the payoff to be worth making a violent ruckus about...! And, likewise, the riot squad was a bit overzealous with their new toy - a certain pepper-pellet gun...

To be fair, let's mention that the author of the above so-tastelessly titled article did mention the 2004 death - but left it a NAMELESS VICTIM. That, coupled with the mere choice of a title for the article here, is quite distasteful indeed I think and inadmissible.

We at the lugubrious and lukewarm blogs HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN at least.

Victoria Snelgrove died an unnecessary death.
She had a future ahead of her - snatched away by pure folly, momentary euphoria over what is, ultimately, no big deal at all... (Not diminishing the Boston Red Sox feat here; all the championships won by all the franchises in our modern society - since the inception of pro-sports leagues and associations - NONE of those mean SQUAT in the Grand Scheme of Things; is that clearer now?)

Was this demise the price to pay to lift the alleged Curse of the Bambino, as I remember asking back in 2004? (As it did occur between the Red Sox historical comeback against the Yankees and the first World Series win in 86 years for the Sox, if you'll recall...)

Once again, the answer is a resounding NO, as no sports result could ever possibly equate a life, with all its dreams, hopes and aspirations that dwarf any championship, any title, any crown that any competition can offer.

At least this year, they did not kill anyone because the good guys in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse did come out on top in October...

Good.

Still, there was a death shortly after the Sox won it all and partied hardy too -
Massachusetts lost one of its favorite sons, Robert Goulet.

Goulet had performed the national anthem at the Red Sox season opener at Fenway Park back in April, in what was to be their most dominant year ever and his final performance on a major platform...
One wonders if the cool Boston air in April was not good to him...

He was diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis and had been awaiting a lung transplant in Los Angeles - where the Red Sox began their post-season dominance by sweeping the local Angels.
Goulet's famous baritone voice was stiffled in the end by the presence of a breathing tube - and time ran out on him as no lung donor was found in time.
He was 73 - the age my dear father would be.

Why is there always to be some tragedy attached to a Boston triumph?

Shades of the Curse...

Anybody up for a MANIF against the Death Penalty today...?

2007-10-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Alas...
If they're not directly affected,
many are those who do not give a damn...
pure and simple!

Some would rather clamor for the return

-as improbable and in bad taste as it can be-
of old, odd favorites...
Or protest the misuse of classic
(although hardly "legends" at all...)
characters that we all affectionated
at one time or another...

Or even demand a sequel or
more respect for a personal fave...
(as odd a choice as it may be!)

Many would rather do that, yes

But the fact is -
our "legalized assassinations"
need protesting too!

You can't just turn your back
and pretend not to know that,
you damn yankee grim reaper wannabees, you...!
Next time - it could be you!
And there are two things for sure
in life - death... and taxes!
THAT you surely know, EH?

So we cannot afford to be detached and aloof
about issues that "don't concern us now"...
Odds are not good though
that big changes will come in this matter.
I am most definitely *not*
holding my breath on this one...!

2007-09-08T00:33:00.001-07:00

Bin Laden's latest video:
a poignant message
urging Americans to
CONVERT...!
Hmm...
He really wants to be Jesus-like!
'Tis a regular American
televangelist tactic...!!!

Meanwhile,
Americans show their resolute
unwillingness to convert
by dispatching Fran,
the Homeland Security adviser
to Dubya, mum as a flagpole
for once...
(He won't spout out
idiotic unquotables, that way!)
And what does Fran declare,
on national TV,
concerning Bin Laden?
That he is "virtually
impotent" now -
unable to do much more than
spread anti-American
propaganda...
Which is, of course,
no biggie
when one realizes that
his words can spur on
MILLIONS upon
MILLIONS of
potential fanatics
and extremists -
if not BILLIONS of them...

For more on Osama BL's words
check out the comments section!

When Warren The Warrior-Wrestler Came Forth...

2007-09-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Former major league baseball player Warren Cromartie (R)
and his partner Ryoji Sai shrink back
from Indian wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh,
seen brandishing a sword at ringside,
and his tag-team partner Joenosuke Sai (not seen)
at a tag-team match part of the
Hustle Aid pro wrestling event
in Saitama, north of Tokyo, June 17, 2007.
REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (JAPAN)

I don't know what pushed Warren Cromartie to do this...
At 53 years of age, he's wrestling a maniac who wields a sword...!
Not only that, but he won that match too!
(His baseball uniform evokes his old uniform
but this one reads "SAMURAIMEN" I do believe
- maybe a local Japanese team he's sponsoring now;
the same way Youppi used to sponsor the defunct
Montreal Expos...? But I digress...)

Of course, it has been done before -
many times - maybe too many times...!
The WCW really went all-out,
back in the day
bringing into the "sport" of wrestling
cross-sports athletes
from the Baseball field
from the Football gridiron, primarily
and even from the basketball court -
EL GIGANTE came from there, after all!
Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman
appeared on WCW/nWo pay-per-views;
Cromartie seems to be the first
MLB player to actually WRESTLE
because Pete Rose's crappy
"performances" in the old WWF
simply do not count!
AMERICAN FOOTBALL -
not real football aka soccer;
it needs precising -
is, of course, the ideal playground
to find new "recycled" wrestlers;
Lex Luger, the late Brian Pillman,
Jim Neidhart, Steve 'Mongo' McMichaels,
Lawrence Taylor (one-shot 'un-wonder')
and several others through the years
have made that transition
(often with disastrous results)

The only NHLer I recall seeing making
any sort of cameo OF NOTE
was former Detroit enforcer
Bob Probert, on WCW Nitro.
He and Tank Abbott had exactly ZERO chemistry;
and it does take two to tango -
it doesn't work when both belligerents
have exactly ZERO charisma!
So, it wasn't repeated...

Brett Hull and others did make an odd cameo
-also on WCW Nitro-
alongside Chuck Norris
and Bill Goldberg
(as if Goldberg needed the help!)
but it was very inconsequential too -
Goldberg had already done all the work
dispatching all nWo goons
to the four corners of the ring!

All of these "special appearances"
bring, in the end, absolutely
NOTHING, really...

It is amusing for exactly 1.5 seconds -
and then the "crossover wow" effect
wears completely off -
as we come to realize that,
really, these guys
who come from such different walks of life
- they really have NOTHING IN COMMON!
Norris, Cromartie, Mongo, Rodman, Hull...
nah - NOTHING IN COMMON AT ALL!

Bringing them together in a wrestling ring
is just a cheap grandiloquent display of "pull"
- whether it's the WWE, Japan or WCW
they are all or were all showing
they have some contacts and some stroke...
Ultimately, that is sad
and very much pointless too;
for it does NOT enhance the spectacle
AT ALL...!

Good writing, like we saw
in the WCW/nWo saga
- now THAT enhances a show!

But that is another story...

And now to something else that leaves
the thinking man quite unphased -
grappling tarts
passing themselves off as pin-up models!
At least Cromartie did not
associate himself with those!
I see no correlation at all
between brawling bimbos
and sex-symbols.
Beth Phoenix is not titillating
(thank God for that - she's a seemingly
man-hating "glamazon" after all)
and the rest of them strike me
as more annoying than anything else
(Jillian, Melina & Maria, certainly,
and to a lesser extent, Mickie James, pictured)
Sometimes, all I do see there
is wannabee porn actresses
looking ridiculous trying to "fight"...!
As scantily-clad as they always are to be found,
every move risks exxxposing them
(not that Candice Michelle minds that)
so, they might as well be with Jenna's club!
They already misuse the term "divas" -
while further perverting the American lexicon
with the addition to the Merriam-Webster's
of the 'un-word' per excellence - "smackdown"!
No need, really, to diminish the impact
that true sex-symbols
(like, say, Marilyn and Bette)
true supermodels
(Giselle... Cindy Crawford... Christie Brinkley)
and real catwalk legends
(Inès de la Fressange)
by diluting the only real contribution
of all of these and more like them -
by allowing just any tart of the squared circle
to pose glamourously
and act (faux) "divaish" any...!

Years ago this would have "wowed" me ; but now... Nah!

2007-08-23T01:54:00.000-07:00

New NBC "Today" Host Meredith Vieira's Lesbian Kiss
w/AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire On ABC's The View

(Rosie O'Donnell would have been proud - had she been on the show already!
Fact was, she was to succeed Vieira, never to kiss Christy or anybody else, never to kiss and make up with the many enemies she made during her short tenure there either and leave the show in disgrace very fast... TOO FAST to be deemed even remotely successful. My guess is; Rosie will NOT put that job on her résumé - even though that sort of subterfuge does not apply to her situation too much, does it? ANYONE WITH EVEN NOTHING BUT AN OLD TV SET WITH AS SET OF RABBIT EARS-STYLE ANTENNA knows of Rosie's disastrous stay on 'The View' - where HER viewpoints were almost NEVER accepted nor backed up 100%...
But I digress...)

MEREDITH VIEIRA...
as classy as she is...
lowering herself to these tactics in order to get ratings, as she herself confessed (mere moments before putting on the moves on a very married Lemire...!)

And then moving on to NBC'S TODAY show...
Where she got the "honor" of interviewing the Mad-Onna herself, La Ciccone, Veronica Esther Electronica Louise Ciccone herself (VEELC...?) -
and candidly telling her guest
"you can kiss me if you'd like...!" (TODAY being as desperate for ratings and publicity as THE VIEW was...)

Well... all this boldness displayed by the vivacious Vieira
does leave me lukewarm - yup!

Maybe her bold statement about QUITTING
(she's professing to want to quit TODAY "with her dignity intact"...)
will change that... But I rather doubt it!

I do want to see the daring journalist with ethics here -
the TV personality with style, finesse, flair and class -
the eloquent Portuguese descent who looks absolutely "mahvelous"...!

See how Kevo tracks fame - Get fame tracker

At least Mike Ribeiro remains the most shameful one of Portuguese descent in all of North America - I think... (Strictly speaking of celebs here...)

Meredith, however...

She's good, no doubt about THAT...
She was born to do what she does!

Yet, I see only a TV hostess version of Xaviera here...!?
The names even RHYME...!
:!

On Ressuscitating A Glorious Franchise...

2007-08-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Boston Celtics: Headed For #17...!
Not a done deal
by any stretch of the imagination
but they certainly are placing
all the right pieces together...
Kevin Garnett
Paul Pierce
Ray Allen;
all franchise players
The Celts haven't had a Big Three
like this triumverate
since the early to mid-80s
and the three championships
won by Larry Bird
Robert Parish
and Kevin McHale.
And a supporting cast member
from that bygone era of greatness
-Danny Ainge-
is the one who put together
this new trio of all-stars
bound for gold
most assuredly...
But a nostalgic one like me
can only reflect
at times like these
on what was
what could have been
what will never be...
For one can resurrect
in effect
a failing franchise
with a glorious history
unequalled in all of sports
- doing what Ainge did...
Making bold moves
to win NOW
and not later...
In doing so, though,
the developing
Celtics Pride
that youngsters such as
Ryan Gomes
Al Jefferson
and Gerald Green
were showing
in the troubled 2006 season
will never come to fruition
as they are unlikely to ever come back to the city of Boston
other than as a visiting team's
unmotivated *or* revengeful player!

Resurrecting a team
is possible, yes -
but resurrecting a legend
is not - not for us it isn't.
Only GOD Can Do that.
Arnold "Red" Auerbach
will never return
nor will we ever see
the likes of him again.

Reggie Lewis
will never rush the floor
for his beloved team
ever again.

Dennis Johnson
will never return
in any capacity either.

Nor will
legends Bob Cousy
Bill Russell
John Havlicek
and so many others
who contributed
to the 16 championships
8 in a row
9 in ten years
11 in 13 years
that the greatest franchise
in pro-sports history
tallied up from 1957
to 1986.
Those were one-time events
and the players,
the stage,
the circumstances
will never, ever return.

Best the New Big Three can do
is emulate - mimic - imitate
those legendary exploits.

Because they can never be
truly duplicated.
+++

2007-07-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yeah -
what a senses-shattering revelation this was!
Another Friday The 13th
on the auld calendar!
Yikes -
that one must be
''Part 13,000,000,000''
huh?
;)

Hmm... Is It Love - Really?!?

2007-06-17T11:39:00.001-07:00

Ain't Life Ducky...

2007-06-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

As originally seen on TLB Prime...

THE DUCKS WON THE CUP!
THE CUP'S GONE TO THE DUCK!
Whichever way one puts it,
this is a rather odd day
for the storied sport
that is ice hockey!

No - not this team of quacks

This one!

Party hardy now
Donald, Daffy, Darkwing,
Wild Wing - you who were elated when
your team defeated the Red Wings -
This victory is for the departed ducks as well;
Paul Kariya, Howard, Count Duckula
And those who stuck with the team
through thick and thin
through heartwrenching losses
and the most decisive and sweetest wins!

Still, having said... er... typed all that,
It is still the Ducks...
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
have won the Stanley Cup
(over those silly Senators!)

Surely it is another sign
of the end of the world.

Hence, rejoice, duckies
ugly ducklings
and other quacks of the world!

For the end might be TRULY near now...!

Above collage 100% originally recycled imagery
courtesy of Luminous Luciano!

If the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings had played their cards right, they would have been the first California-based team to have won the Stanley Cup - not the Mighty Ducks in 2007!

During his years there, Gretzky (the so-called "Great One") didn't do squat for the Kings franchise (much like a Thornton did for Boston and San Jose - not to mention Davos in the Swiss League! And Gretzky himself wherever else he stopped by - St-Louis, NY Rangers... A team with "leaders" like these needs a whole line-up full of leaders and plumbers who do the dirty work, whether the "great one" who gets all the fame and hogs the spotlight all for himself DOES or really DOES NOT act as a motivator to the team...)

In 1993, even though the doors flung themselves wide open for the Kings and allowed them to reach the Finals without having to meet there any one of the top three contenders from the East (in order: Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia) the Kings still tripped all-over themselves and allowed the lowly Canadiens to steal from them crucial wins (in overtime) as they had stolen from everyone else throughout those 1993 playoffs...

And that was the only time Gretzky led the Kings onto the "promised land"...!

Never again would he lead ANYBODY into the Finals (and, as a coach, he is a dismal motivator - with the Phoenix Coyotes... No surprise there. Like Joe Thornton, he is only good at accumulating personal honors - and there are none to be accumulated on the coach's bench!)

The California Golden Seals sure as hell could not have been the first team from over there to win the cup either...

So, it befell Anaheim to do it!

The team that some had named, before its birth, the "Anaheim Aces" (because an ace trumps a king in poker! Lots of poking going on in hockey too, it's true...) was originally owned by a certain Michael Eisner of Walt Disney Company fame... M.E. was much like Gretzky and Joe T - as in "it was all about M.E. - M.E. - M.E.!" and he had no respect for the tradition of ice hockey and the NHL heritage...

To see the team that he founded - originally named after a mediocre series of Disney films, the moronic Mighty Ducks coached by Emilio Estevez (still, a better coach than Gretzky, somehow...!) - win the highest honors now (albeit under new ownership and after having dropped the ridiculous monicker "Mighty" - they did keep their Disney mascot, Wild Wing, though!)

Well... It is all a bitter pill to swallow for traditionalists who'd prefer to see any one of the original six teams (BASED IN THE USA) win it all instead...

But it was written that, this year, a young turk... uh... a young duck named Getzlaf would get the last laugh indeed...!

Hmm... Where was that written again?

At least TWO PLACES indeed... ;)

In the Book of Fate, I guess - as well as
in the Luminous Blog!
(Or any other blog part of the TLB PRIME NETWORK -
boils down to the same darn thing,
I tell you, infidel unbeliever! *lol*)

I admit, it is nice to see two brothers win the cup together though -
and the Niedermayer brothers finally did it.

The last brother tandem to do it had been the Sutter brothers (2 out of the lot of 5 or 6 of them...!) that were part of the NY Islanders dynasty...

The worthy brothers that were to be found on the Boston Bruins roster,
in recent years, did not get to be so fortunate:
the Crowder brothers, the Wesley brothers, the Sweeney... uh... triplets?
Well, maybe the Sigalet brothers will have better luck?
(Better luck than the Sedin twins -and Cam Neely- did in Vancouver...!
But those are other stories...!)

Nice, also, to see players who had been hopeful of winning this thing for so many years - finally do it now; Teemu Selanne, Todd Marchant and Jean-Sébastien Giguère certainly - but not Brad May, hell no! May is reminiscent of a John Kordic clod - only lucky to be at the right place, at the right time... But I digress...

I am also glad, of course, to see two former Boston Bruins win this, side-by-side as they are on the roster: #'s 21 and 26, Sean O'Donnell and Samuel Pahlsson.

I would be remiss though if I did not mention with glee that the Thornton who proves to be superior and a champion is not Joe
(and much less his San Jose cuz, Scott)
but the Ducks' Shawn Thornton!
And San Jose coach (for not much longer at all) Ron Wilson will spend the summer thinking about the fact that his name is not
(and never will be) inscribed upon the cup -
while Clay Wilson's now is!

Priceless, really! ;)

Looking forward to seeing rubber duckies emblazoned with the cup
(here's hoping that such a cloisonné pin on the feathers of a duck
is NOT animal cruelty in any shape or form for PETA, IFAW & co.)

They will give those away on some Ducks home game next season
And the fans will litter the rink with them
when Teemu scores a hat trick or Pronger clobbers someone!
*lol*

+++

O Gato E O Pato...!

Great going, ducky! Now just wait til next year...

I knew he was a cheat all along...!

2007-05-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

At least, the Red Sox did NOT repeat their bad experience of adjoigning themselves the dumb brother while the Yanks had the services of the over-rated braggart...
You know, like the Dom/Joe DiMaggio fiasco - doh?
Jeremy may have made for a good song - but he is not Red Sox Nation material!
And neither is big bro Jason, mind you - Jason the cheat!
Jason & The Yankees are dwindling down to nothingness - much alike their namesakes from Ancient Greece...! ;)
Details - in the comments section!

Winners of 8 of their last 10...

2007-02-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

The Boston Bruins are the Hottest Team in the NHL!

With an All-Star goalie, and a group of young, hungry, players, 2007 is the year of the Boston Bruins!

The Bruins are going all the way to the Stanley Cup!

Celebrate their road to the Cup with this 100 card collection of ONLY Boston Bruins HOCKEY CARDS!!!!

That's right, this auction is for 100 mint condition Boston Bruins cards from 2006-07 NHL Fleer Ultra, 2006-07 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey, 2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Hockey, 2005-06 Upper Deck MVP Hockey, 2005-06 Upper Deck ICE Hockey, and more.

This is the perfect set for Bruins fans, or as the ideal gift for the most rabid Bruins follower that you know. I guarantee that you (or the recipient of your gift) will love these cards!

You will receive the stack of cards pictured below, shipped safely and securely to the address of your choice.

Go Boston!!!!

Payment: We accept electronic payment through PayPal. We will also accept payment by check or money order through the mail when you are not able to pay with PayPal.

Shipping: Please add $9.95 US for shipping and handling anywhere in North America. Please add $19.95 US for shipping and handling anywhere outside of North America. Shipping price is fixed - please do not ask for a shipping price discount. We do not do pick-ups. We do not offer shipping price discounts on multiple items purchased - the listed shipping prices apply to each item purchased.

Guarantee: If the merchandise is defective, or not as described, we will replace the item with an alternate. We can offer a replacement only if the item has a physical defect - we will not replace the item if you decide that you do not want it any longer. We cannot issue refunds for any reason.

Condition: The cards are in Nr-Mt condition or better, and have been stored safely in soft card sleeves since they were pulled fresh from the pack.

Contrary to popular belief among those that have known me and where my allegiances lie in the past, oh, 20 years - the preceding was NOT penned by me! At all!
They are, indeed, something taken ad verbatim from some auction on E-BAY...
As a matter of fact, though I am pleased to hear about the current winning streak during which the Boston Bruins have indeed looked unbeatable - I remain pretty much level-headed, realistic and even a tad indifferent about the current line-up's chances to "go all the way up - up - up to the Stanley Cup"!
That used to be my slogan - circa 1988 - when a certain Cam Neely played for the Bruins... It isn't the case anymore.
I view the "cup" as something closer to a damn ashtray than anything remotely close to the Holy Grail (you damnable hockey analyst-blasphemers!)
And I do not think that, in this day and age, ANYONE (save Nostradamus himself) can predict who will rise to take the title - not in this day of near-total parity in the damn league!
It's anybody's cup - or, as I said, it's anybody's ashtray!
And what do I care, anymore?!?
I agree with the assessment that the present-day team has an All-Star goalie (underrated though he is, by the so-called experts) and a quick, hungry team (newest additions Bochenski, Chistov, Kessel, Ward and Ference make the Bruins finally forget about the "losses" of Smolinski, Samsonov, Ruzicka, Iafrate and Wesley...!!!)
Add to that the other youngsters; Boyes, Bergeron, Sturm (whom experts wanted to see get traded - fat chance, "experts"!) and Toivonen too!
And add to that the quality veterans that anchor everyone else:
Marc Savard is better than Joe Thornton (sort of like the same improvement than the time when Adam Oates replaced Craig Janney - more backbone, more bite!)
Zdeno Chara is the true heir apparent to Ray Bourque (Kyle McLaren and Nick Boynton never were...)
Even Mark Mowers is an improvement over the pathetic Martin Lapointe!!!
And even Shean Donovan is an improvement over the vanishing act specialists: either Brian Rolston or Michael Nylander - at least, when Donovan doesn't do a thing, it is not disappointing since not much is expected from HIM! (Besides, Donovans are known for their tendency to pull off vanishing acts; ask Ione Skye! But that is another story...!)
P.J. Axelsson is the closest thing to a new Dave Poulin or Dave Reid
And Glen Murray remains the closest thing to a second coming of Cam Neely

Still - even if these underdogs were to defy the odds and win it all (in the eyes of the so-called expert, they are underdogs, yes - and besides, with parity pervading the NHL, all bets are off: there are way too many possible contenders and even more possible scenarios now to say with certainty that ANY team is a team "of destiny"...) - I would still not celebrate it.
I wanted it to happen years ago - now all of the deserving cast is gone.
I wanted to see Neely hoist the cup - instead, I saw that spineless geek, Mario Lemieux, hoist it twice. Talk about a qualifiable HEIST!
But I digress...

At best, hence, I am lukewarm about the current edition of the Boston Bruins - and I shall not jump on the bandwagon here.
Nor will I buy any hockey (hokey?) cards!!!

Hmm - still... If 300 lunatics can stand up to an army of a million - surely 100 Bruins can beat back 1000 Devils, Penguins, Oilers, Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Sabres, Panthers, Canucks, Thrashers, Rangers, Islanders, Flames and Hurricanes!!!
Logically...?

This was a Top Ten hit?

2006-08-07T02:32:00.000-07:00

Tributes to... fictional fluff?!?

2006-07-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Gee - some real-life couples, that actually LASTED too, never got such treatment! I can think of Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton for instance...

All I can think of bothering to add is...
Onwards to 2012!

Oh - and Trust No One - yeah!

Now, How To Persuade You%#!%Tube...!!!

2006-07-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Let's see how long it will take them now...
About a week ago, I posted on TLB Prime the short one-minute long classic and unforgettable (for near-perfect, no less) intro to THE PERSUADERS. The music, the presentation, the two profiles, side-by-side, perfectly laid-out for us to get a sense of the two characters portrayed so joyously by Tony Curtis and Roger Moore's "parallel lives" yet worlds apart... Within a week indeed, they took off that video for it "violated terms of use" somehow! Here, click on it and see what it says! Double-click and go to the website itself - there you will get the sad statement that makes no sense whatsoever!

(However, you can still listen to the great music - minus the great visuals from the classic intro, alas - by clicking on the player below! ;)
(You can't beat me YouTube - you just can't!!!)

WHY did this violate terms of use? Because it's copyrighted material? So are thousands of video-clips that are shown on YouTube.com - even entire episodes of trendy TV shows such as "Entourage", cut up in several parts so that they do not infringe upon the rules regarding the time duration of a video on YouTube.com! THOSE get to remain on the site "forever" - but not the good stuff?!?

Now, I double-dare YouTube.com to take off THIS video (below), which is another intro (vastly inferior) from yet another "action duo" short-lived series (Hardcastle & McCormick, which, in French, was unrecognizably titled "Le Juge et Le Pilote" - yikes! Not the best of Stephen J. Cannell's offerings back then or ever, so it had it coming! At least, The Persuaders were charmingly re-titled in la langue de Moliere as... Amicalement Vôtre! You just can't beat that either!)
Damn You, YouTube Turds! The Persuaders theme is GREAT MUSIC! Great music by one John Barry - THE MAN! While this thing right below here is CRAP in comparison! You will likely leave it on for a while... For everyone not only to be lukewarm about it but to IGNORE COMPLETELY! I guess that, if it isn't even noticed, it is not violating any rules or terms of use THEN - right???
THAT makes as much sense as any of your damn rules - YouTurds!

songs to the tune of lukewarm and tepidness

2006-04-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

Searching for songs without heart and soul is more lucrative than the opposite quest, I tell you... Cases in point:

No matter how many times the lead singer of Catherine Wheel repeats it, he really sounds quite lukewarm about touching the chick in the video there... He even seems to be shaking his head "no" quite a few times!

Maybe she's TOUCHY too - as corny as it sounds (and as corny as the song titled "Touchy" sounds too - see below). Another classic that one aficionado called "so lame and simply brilliant at the same time - 5 out of 5 stars!"

No one knows how to ask for some touching though as SAMANTHA FOX (below)
And yet, with the years, that once very daring song sounds quite lame nowadays too.
Trite, lame and lukewarm indeed! In the 80's, Samantha Fox (the singer) was no Samantha Fox (the porn star - but now it is a whole other level of "lukewarmedness" that we enter here; since porn is categorically both ridiculous and BORING. But that is indeed another story...) - and nowadays, in TURKEY of all places, she still isn't as sultry as she would want to be in order to sell herself (and lots more singles... oops, it's CDs now!)

Sam sounds at least half-convinced there, in comparison to a-ha (again) and their "time to worry" delivery in the following...

No, really - my lukewarm anthem (if I were to pick one) would not be any of the preceding nor any of the tunes in the playlist found at the bottom of this blog (!) but it would be this OTHER quirky and corny a-ha tune that convinces absolutely NO ONE... (For everyone knows that the sun does NOT always shine - neither in real life nor on television! Forecast is truly "cloudy with sunny breaks" most days of the week - throughout one's LIFE! Besides, a video shot in BLACK & WHITE can hardly succeed in aptly conveying the splendor of sunshine and the beauty of existence - real or imagined on the small screen! Everybody knows that - as surely as everybody does NOT love Raymond! *LOL*)

Blogs are good for peers to flesh out a story together...? I am not so sure...

2006-01-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

In the recent Canadian Federal election, a band of bloggers dared to go where no bloggers went before... To campaign against a certain candidate who abused her privileges while she could... and that campaign produced concrete results! She lost her seat - her main rival was elected instead into the House of Commons (so named because... it is made for, paid for and appalled by commoners? Not quite but this is not the point here...)

I am sure that the old adage "there's strength in numbers" is totally true - however, here, I do not think it had much of a direct incidence upon the vote's turnout. The "winds of change" were sweeping throughout the land (though moderately so, to be honest) - all the "perceived to be corrupt" candidates were getting the axe no matter if bloggers had lambasted them or not.

I decry so many injustices myself, on TLB Prime (pictured here) - the original blog in this network and main one still - and I see no indication that I am changing the world with that! A few (proud few, aye...!) readers applaud my initiative there but I remain essentially the voice that cries in the desert - a cyberland desert version though! (Version 2.0?) And it suits me fine too... I admire John The Baptist! ;)

If I was Mike, I'd be lukewarm about this...

2006-01-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

"The Islanders said Milbury will relinquish his role as GM once he and team owner Charles Wang find a replacement.

"Charles will make that decision, I will help him with that," Milbury said.

Milbury will become a vice president for Wang's sports properties. In addition to the Islanders, Wang also owns the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League."

Even though Mike is faring better in this set-up than the Islanders' coach (who is NOT Captain High Liner and was recently FIRED - for you non-hockey fans that may be reading this...!) - it still doesn't inspire much confidence I say. Why do I care, you ask? Milbury is a former Boston Bruin defenseman and head coach. He should have been GM of the Bruins ; never of the New York Islanders! And now to see him overseeing the activities of DRAGONS on top of that... sheesh!

Although it does not surprise me one bit that the city of New York has DRAGONS in it... and not in Chinatown either!

Next few names to consider for sports franchises in "Nuuuu Yerrrchh" should be, in no particular order... "Demons", "Trolls", "Gargoyles", "Monsters", "Horrors" and "Abominations"...!
But I digress...

2005-12-25T18:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know why...
don't know HOW...
but I just feel lukewarm
about CHRISTMAS
these last few years...

Maybe it's the rampant
commercialism...
mercantilism...
and other "isms"...
Hmm...?

Gotta be it.
:!

more ana obrigada obregon... LOL

2005-12-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

I dunno... Ana is hot and cold at the same time! How does she manage that? *LOL*

Who Gives A Damn If These Two Harpies Are Fighting Over Some Himbo...Hmpff!

2005-12-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

Beckham's fury at Spanish seductress
15/12/2005 12:00:00 AM
(BANG) - Victoria Beckham had a blazing row with an actress who has been linked to her husband David - and warned the woman to leave the soccer ace alone.

Furious Victoria is said to have branded 50-year-old Ana Obregon "a piece of s**t" after growing angry at Spanish media speculation surrounding the blonde actress and David.

The former Spice Girl has been subjected to months of false rumours linking David and Obregon, who reportedly regularly frequents bars and restaurants the England captain is known to go to.

Sparks flew when Victoria and Obregon bumped into each other in a Madrid gym.

A source is quoted in Britain's The Sun newspaper as saying: "They were screaming at each other. It wasn't pretty. Luckily it didn't come to blows."

Other gym-goers told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper Victoria warned Obregon to stay away from David, saying: "Why would he be interested in an old lady like you? Leave my husband alone."

She also told the actress - who was allegedly wearing a pair of hot pants - to "go get some clothes on and act you age".

Victoria's spokeswoman said: "We're not going to comment as it will only give this publicity-seeking woman even more exposure."

The Canadian Press BANG Media International Based on the evidence here - Victoria does not stand a CHANCE to keep the promiscuous Beckham Bender! *LOL* She cannot compete with this bodacious 50 year-old... no way! No Spice Girl could! Least of ALL "Posh Spice" (something that is "poche" in French-Canadian lingo is something that is excessively... dull!). I wonder why the P.R. woman for the cuckolded Mrs. Beckham assumes that Ana Obregon needs "publicity" or "exposure"... She is fifty years-old and has exposed enough in these pictures of herself here to PROVE that she is more woman than poor Victoria ever will be! And Victoria is in her PRIME right now... the only way is downhill from hereon for her... It is true too for Ana, but Ana has had glorious forties and fabulous fifties, obviously (so far so good anyway...!)
Obrigado, Obregon! ;)
For sharing it all...! *LOL*
I would've posted some pics of Posh too... but frankly - I can't stand her!
Thank God she has stopped singing! NO SPICE GIRLS REUNION - PLEASE! EVER!
Amazing Ana on the other hand... eye candy material all right!
Hmm... kitty down there seems to agree with me! Right Kitty? I guess it's the kitty cat now that is lukewarm about things...

Lukewarm reaction in Boston after a Blockbuster Trade...

2005-12-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

And I wonder why... FINALLY they traded away the too laid-back for his own good POISON in the locker-room... and they got a 3 for 1 deal on it too! Teams like Calgary and Anaheim have proven that what it really takes to get to the Finals is GRIT and TEAM EFFORT - not a "huge talent" full of promise... who, in the end, was only full of IT - if you get what I'm screaming...!
Bye Bye Joe - hello Marco! And the best sign of things to come that could have been was when new Boston Bruin forward Marco Sturm scored within two minutes in his very first game with his new team! And that first game was a victory over the BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE - Ottawa (that still sounds so wrong) - the first win in a long frustrating stretch for the Bruins who had been losing close games all the time (9 of 10 - each time by a margin of one goal, with but two exceptions that included the damnable "empty-net goal", I am sure... argh!). During that stretch, the "marquee player" that Joe Thornton is supposed to be simply did NOT make the difference... Not as he should have anyway! The last nail in Joe's coffin (NOT a nod to Joe Coffin - of Brazilian fame!) was when he lost a face-off in his zone with about thirty seconds left in a tie game headed for overtime. The Devils got control of the puck deep in the Bruins zone because of that, stormed the net, and the puck got in through a crowd. All Thornton's fault - some captain he was.
Zero presence in the locker-room - zero leadership. Joe was no Cam Neely - heck, he would not even have replaced Craig Janney in Bruins' annals! I pity the bookie who now estimates that the Sharks - Joe's new team - have bettered their slim chances of winning the Cup... and that the Bruins' chances have decreased? No way, Jose (NOT a nod to San Jose!) - as everyone will soon see too! The Sharks now have TWO "all-star" chokers for the price of one (Joe and Marleau - what a line... call it the "sub-zero line" why don't cha already - *lol*). While the Bruins have multiplied their offensive weapons with a myriad of different possible combinations that can surprise unsuspecting opponents on any given night... Murray, Sturm, Bergeron, Primeau, Boyes, Czerkawski, LaCouture, Zhamnov, Blatny, Fitzgerald, Stastny, Reasoner, Axelsson and Green give the Bruins four well-balanced lines - with Eric Nickulas being another insertion into the latter two lines, when needed.
The defense was bolstered with the addition of Brad Stuart and David Tanabe - Brian Leetch and Nick Boynton did need the help. (Ironically enough, one drama never comes alone - defenseman Jonathan Girard abandoned his bid to comeback to the Bruins after a terrible car accident two years ago - even before the Joe trade was announced... Girard had a great career ahead of him - and ruined it all for himself by being behind the wheel when he shouldn't have been two summers ago. He joins a long list of unlucky Bruins defencemen - the Normand Leveillés, Gord Kluzaks and Don Sweeneys who never achieved as much as they should have achieved... Even Bobby Orr got his career cut short... And I remember more: Reed Larson, Michael Thelven, Al Iafrate and Garry Galley... none of them got the Stanley Cup ring that they deserved...)
The team is a true team now though - not the Joe T show. Joe was a schmoe anyway - he was a tiny bit sarcastic about the fact that it might have been because of him that the team was struggling. Fact is... the Bruins had lost all three previous games against the Senators, with him leading the way for Boston. First game WITHOUT Joe - Boston beats Ottawa 3-0! No coincidence... no coincidence at all, Joe...
Expect the Sharks to keep on sinking...
Picture something like the Titanic, the Brittanic and the Olympic - on their big night - when they will REALLY need Joe to step it up a notch... HE SIMPLY WILL NOT!

Opus To Averageness - Abridged

2005-11-25T21:42:00.000-08:00

The virtues which keep this world sweet and the faithfulness which keeps it steadfast are chiefly those of the average man.
- -- W. Russell Bowie

2005-11-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

"WORLD HELLO DAY - November 21, 2005
Greet Ten People For Peace!
November 21, 2005 is the 33rd annual World Hello Day. World Hello Day was begun in response to the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the Fall of 1973. Since then, World Hello Day has been observed by people in 180 countries. Anyone can participate simply by greeting 10 people. People around the world use the occasion of World Hello Day as an opportunity to express their concern for world peace. Beginning with a simple greeting on World Hello Day, their activities send a message to leaders, encouraging them to use communication rather than force to settle conflicts."

Hmm... that is all well and good - on the surface anyway... however, my personal experience has been that 8 out of 10 people who say "hello", "hi", "olà", "està là", "bom dia", "salut" or "bonjour" to me (and my execrable landlord says "bonjour" all the time... arrrgh!) are quite insincere when they do so! :(

Not sure if the ratio would get better if people said "aloha", "hallo", "hej", "privet", "jambo" "konnichiwa", "ni hao", "ciao", "marhaba", "hola" or even "shalom" or "namaste" to me... I need to... ah... travel more to find out for sure! ;)