Royal Wedding...

This says how much I care...

 

That is all.

2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Conference Semifinals

I didn't do too badly with my first-round predictions. Canucks in 7, Bruins in 7, Sharks in 6, Capitals in 5 -- perfect. Red Wings won in 4 instead of 5. Close enough. And although the Lightning did win in 7 over Pittsburgh, I did say that I was concerned about the Penguins if Sidney Crosby didn't play. He didn't. Pittsburgh had a 3-1 series lead, though, and then fell apart. I had Anaheim over Nashville in 6, but the Predators won. (I still don't think they're going to the finals, though.) And then there was the Flyers-Sabres series, in which Ryan Miller stole one game from the Flyers and Brian Boucher basically gave away another one. Of the other five games, the Flyers won four of them even with some of the weirdest goaltending twists and turns I've ever seen.

So, 5-3 in the first round. As for the next round (which begins tonight for one series and Saturday for the Flyers)...

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (5) Nashville Predators - The top regular-season team nearly had a meltdown for the ages in the first round before finally finishing off the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks in the 7th game. They should be able to handle Nashville with a little less difficulty. Canucks in 6.

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (3) Detroit Red Wings - Does it seem these teams meet every year in the playoffs? They were matched up in this round last year and the Sharks won in 5. But last year the Wings' first round was a tough 7-game series over Detroit. This year they mopped the floor with the former (and future?) Winnipeg Jets, so they'll put up a better fight against San Jose, but... Sharks in 7.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Washington Capitals vs. (5) Tampa Bay Lightning - I think the Capitals may finally be ready to make a serious Cup run. There were moments in the first round where it seemed that they would fall apart and make an early exit again, but here they are. Capitals in 6.

(2) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (3) Boston Bruins - Another series that's a rematch from last year, and we all remember how that turned out... I underestimated the Flyers after their lazy finish to the regular season. They were solid against Buffalo throughout that series, and were an absolute machine in the clinching Game 7. And Chris Pronger's presence gave a jump to their power play. Despite the goalie issues (again)... Flyers in 6.

Flyers: Stanley Cup...Drag Race?

It could happen. Well, maybe (definitely) not, but in my odd little mind I like to imagine that, after the seventh and final game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the Flyers and Sabres went seven overtime periods with neither team able to score, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman decreed that the time had come...for the two teams to lip-sync for their lives before RuPaul!  And then...

"I've made my decision...Philadelphia Flyers...chanté, you stay!"

"Buffalo Sabres...you made a strong run to get into this competition and acquitted yourself well. You may go on to greater things if you believe in yourself and continue to work hard. However, your gas-fracking owner supports evil Republican governors. And that, my dears, is something none of us should abide.

"Now...sashay...away."

(Keep in mind that you get what you pay for here, especially at 2:55 am.)

My Week In Comics 4-20-11

A part of my birthday -- an early part, before the live-blogging-the-Flyers portion -- was spent picking up these books...if this is brief, it's because I'm trying to finish this before tonight's Flyers game.

Supergirl 63: The truth about Alex, the creator of the "Flyover" app that began the trouble Supergirl and other young heroes are currently in, is revealed. And I must say I wasn't expecting it, despite the clues (in part via Lois Lane's investigation in these same books).

Gotham City Sirens 22, Batman 708: I mentioned in my last post a crossover that started, or so I thought, with the latest issue of Red Robin. These two books concluded the story. Of the two, I enjoyed Gotham City Sirens more, although -- as has happened a bit too often in this series -- of the three main characters, only one (Catwoman, in this case) is actually in this issue.

Simpsons Comics 177: It seems that once a year, the employees of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant get free pizza courtesy of Mr. Burns. Alas, when the day rolls around, Homer gets the flu...yes, you know this is coming...D'oh!

...annnnnnd finished. LET'S GO FLYERS!

My Week In Comics 4-13-11

I'm a little behind again. D'oh. But this will put me just one week behind, and I'll try to get to that tomorrow.

Superboy 6: This is another tie-in to the "Reign of Doomsday." You knew this was coming because Doomsday (or whatever he really is, considering his constantly changing powers) has already collected the other replacements for the then-dead Superman, and Superboy is the only one left. Before that, there's another nice little conversation with his good friend Red Robin, in which Tim teases Conner about the early days of Superboy (in Hawaii, and also in the previous Superboy series). The Doomsday story picks up in the big Action Comics #900, out this week.

Red Robin 22: Speaking of Red Robin, I picked up this book because the DC info said this was part 1 of a three-part crossover with Gotham City Sirens (which I'm still buying every month) as well as Batman (which I don't). So I figured that it would be best to get this in order to not feel like I'm missing part of the story when I got Gotham City Sirens. Turns out this book was Part 2 of the story, not Part 1.

Superman 710: Meanwhile, Superman continues to walk across the country. He's gotten to Ogden, Utah when his super-vision spots an "S" logo in a cloud. It's a signal. You know, like the Bat-signal. Naturally, the signal's from Batman -- the original Bruce Wayne Batman who's all over the place putting Batman, Inc. in place, not the Dick Grayson Batman who sticks to Gotham City and the Justice League -- and the two reminisce about an adventure they had before they began their superhero careers. And then Batman joins the list of people counseling Superman about the funk he's in. The last couple of issues of this book have been better, but I still want this walk to be over.

A Fave Simpsons Character

Poor Eleanor...she had such promise once...


History of Crazy Cat Lady by tobler07

Quick Review: Hanna

You haven't seen many movie posts from me recently. That's because various circumstances have resulted in my seeing just one movie in the last 2 1/2 weeks. There are a few I definitely want to see, a few I might see, and others that there's no chance in hell of my seeing. I hope I'll get to see some of them in the coming days. In the meantime, that one movie I did get to see was "Hanna," the story of a 16-year-old girl (Saoirse Ronan) who's a killing machine, trained by her father, Erik (Eric Bana). They live in hiding in a cabin in the wilderness in Finland, she's had no contact with the outside world, and one day she tells her father she's "ready." She flips a switch on a transmitter which sends a signal to a CIA agent, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), who sends a team to the cabin. They find Hanna, left alone by Erik. Hanna has been trained to kill Wiegler to avenge her mother's murder. Things get interesting from there as Hanna escapes, determined to make it to Berlin, where her father is supposed to meet her. The movie explores Erik's actions in this affair as well as Hanna's reactions to being out in the world, meeting other people and encountering things she's never seen, such as television. It's an unconventional-looking and -sounding film that picks up the pace quickly once Hanna is taken into custody. Ronan is very effective, but Blanchett was hamming it up too much. She was acting like it was just another schlocky run-of-the-mill action movie, but "Hanna" isn't that film. My grade: B.

Dumb In Dallas

I'm not quite sure which comment (stereotype?) applies more, "men are stupid" or "Dallas sucks." (Okay, "Dallas sucks" is not a stereotype, at least when it comes to the Cowboys.) A blogger for a weekly paper called the Dallas Observer took Texas Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis to task for leaving the team to be with his wife, who gave birth to the couple's second child. Lewis missed a start. The Observer writer, Richie Whitt, wrote:

Don’t have kids of my own but I raised a step-son for eight years. I know all about sacrifice and love and how great children are.

But a pitcher missing one of maybe 30 starts? And it’s all kosher because of Major League Baseball’s new paternity leave rule?

Follow me this way to some confusion.

Imagine if Jason Witten missed a game to attend the birth of a child. It’s just, I dunno, weird. Wrong even.

The blog Hay Ladies! did an excellent job in responding to Whitt's ridiculous commentary. There's only one thing I feel the need to add: many, many baseball players have missed games when their wives had a baby. It's been going on for a long time, especially since a flight can get a player home in hours. It's not like the old days when teams traveled by train. The only new angle to this particular story is that Major League Baseball now has a paternity leave rule that allows teams to add a player to the roster for a 24-72 hour period. The Rangers wanted an extra pitcher, so they used the rule to call up an pitcher from the minors. Lewis became the first player to be placed on the new paternity leave list. (There's been a bereavement list for a few years now, for serious illnesses or deaths of immediate family members.)

This shouldn't have been a big deal. Actually, it isn't a big deal, except to this Dallas neanderthal and those who "think" like him.

Hat tip to one of my Twitter followers, @jboschan, who posted the link to the Hay Ladies! blog.

Birthday/Flyers-Sabres Live Blog

It won't be quite as interesting without the Phillies and Sixers, but I'm going to live-blog the Flyers-Sabres Eastern Conference Game 4 starting at 7:30 pm (that's EDT if anyone in other time zones actually reads this). I'll probably throw in random comments on other stuff as well, including whatever games I find on my TV between periods of the Flyers game.

The benefit of this is that your Twitter and Facebook timelines won't be bombarded by my posts, as everything I say will be right here. Updates will commence around 7:30, just as the telecast begins. Just keep refreshing this page.

Oh, and did I mention that I'll be enhancing my brainpower with rum and diet Pepsi? ;-)

7:33 pm: First drink poured. LET'S GO FLYERS! Here it's on Comcast Sportsnet while Versus is showing Capitals-Rangers Game 4. Not sure what the rest of the nation is seeing on Versus.

7:37: First drink sipped. A bit strong. I can't get too drunk or I'll forget to put the trash out for tomorrow. Come on, game, begin!

7:40: And yes, this is a weird way to spend a birthday. Ooooh -- it's begun!

7:44: Game is on Versus in Washington and New York (so the rest of the nation is seeing Caps-Rangers). Sabres have come out aggressive, as you'd expect since they're behind 2-1 in the series.

Twitter's Confused Again

Twitter is suggesting I follow someone! How helpful. Let's take a look...

Seriously, Twitter? Come on! Why would I follow such a goofball?

You, on the other hand, should feel free to follow him. I get the feeling you and he would get along famously.