Smyth Gone!

As everybody knows, Ryan Smyth has left the building. In one year the Oilers have gone from cup contenders to a shadow of their former selves. I thought the new collective bargaining agreement which included a salary cap was supposed to even the playing field. But no, it's the same old story in E-town just when the team had finally recaptured the hearts of their faithful. It doesn't get any easier even after all we've been through. It looks like it hit Smytty hard judging by his emotional press conference this afternoon at the airport. He had to think something might be up when they couldn't reach an agreement tuesday morning. And if the rumours are true and the oil offered $5.5 Mil and he turned it down then it might have been the best decision. Lowe could have at least got more for him, though. He got swindled by a rookie GM who not that long ago was the laughing stock of the NHL. If the Oilers brass hadn't waited 'til the last possible moment to sign him we probably wouldn't be in this situation right now. If they'd signed him in the summer they would have avoided the possiblity of a career season (which he was having) and a comparable player (Shane Doan) signing for big money. My guess is the figure would have been between $4 & 5 million. But hindsight is 20/20 as the old cliche goes.

Oh well, who knows what can pan out this summer but it does not look good. We'll miss you Smytty, you were trailer park right until the end, carrying on a press conference with no bottom teeth. At least put on your falsies, man! Last guy I saw in public sporting the toothless grin - Theo Fleury, now that's class! Well, he must have some class, his birthday is the same day as mine.

OWWWWWWWW!!!

No words can describe this pain...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pk7_-FIlTw

SASQUATCH! REVEALS LINEUP

The eagerly anticipated Sasquatch! festival lineup has been announced and it includes some similarities to Coachella but also some welcome differences. Though top to bottom, it might not be as good as last year's festival, the organizers definitely delivered with the headliners. The preliminary bill includes bjork, arcade fire, interpol, beastie boys, m.i.a., grizzly bear, spoon, tokyo police club. My guess is BP will fall in love with bjork the way he fell in love with the lips last year. Obviously these big names weren't good enough for a certain neighbour to the south who loudly proclaimed "what, no Jann Arden?" followed by, "they could at least hook up the Barenaked Ladies!" Like I said before, some people are born with no taste. Whether the lineup is thought of as good or bad, debauchery will no doubt ensue.

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So the Oil have made a trade and it is a puzzling one. Trading away Mark-Andre Bergeron for a no-name who won't even play with us this year only makes sense if the Edmonton brass has given up on the season. Well if that's the case...it's about time guys, most of us gave up a long time ago. It's nice of you to join the party! The plan is to take back Whyte the night the oilers are officially eliminated. It's gonna be off the chain. In all seriousness, Bergeron can not take the blame for what is most likely the saddest defensive corps in the league. There are many other passengers involved in this debachle (Joffrey, I'm talking to you). The trading deadline should be interesting...

Some other random NHL notes:

Did anybody else notice that Detroit has once again creeped up to their usual position near 1st overall in the league. The cream inevitably always seems to rise to the top.

Calgary and Kiprusoff are quite ordinary on the road and it can only hurt them heading into the stretch drive and the playoffs.

Tampa Bay is once again regaining some of that Stanley Cup form due in large part to Lecavalier and St Louis' amazing seasons.

Not many people saw the amazing Martin Havlat goal that slipped under the radar last week. Here's a peek. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHLY-j7CNg

Weekly Update

So Peter Forsberg has been traded to the Nashville Predators for some guys. Who really cares who the Flyers got in return. This pretty much pushes the already formidable Nashville lineup to the top of the heap in terms of frontrunners for the cup. And in return, I wouldn't be surprised if the Flyers didn't win another game this year. This year they have been more awful than normal (0-13-3) without Forsberg. Good luck guys, especially you Simon Gagne. Who's going to feed you now?

Not much better off at this point: Your Edmonton Oilers! After a spirited effort tonight we're basically not any further ahead than when we began the night. Ray Ferraro can go on all he wants about how good a game it was and how well the oil played but at the end of the night, like the Rock's song says, it doesn't matter. Only a wing and a prayer can help us now.



Funniest thing on TV these days. The Doritos tandori sizzler commercial. Pure comedy.



Also funny: The Eagles of Death Metal video here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe6p-5tUh3M. Check out the cameo's by Jack Black and Dave Grohl. Jesse "the devil" Hughes happens to also be the best interview in music.



Watched the movie 'United 93' last night. It was way better than anticipated. I was expecting the entire movie to just be about that particular plane but it wasn't. It went through the entire chronology of events that fateful day from start to the finish when the final plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Another thing that I hadn't really heard about was that how, if the military response was quicker, there might have been less casualties. But really that's just speculation. I'm sure anybody in there right minds would like to go back and change what happened that day. But nothing can take it back so it's good to have movies like this which are not only entertaining but educational and certainly don't cheapen the fact that so many people died on 9/11. This was edge-of-your-seat filmaking at its best.

Unreal Amounts of Snow! Not Here! Yes!

If anybody's complaining about our recent cold snap they should count themselves lucky. You could be in parts of upstate New York where they have received upwards of 70 inches! The picture above is from Rome, New York, coincidently where I attended - and almost died from the heat - Woodstock '99 about 7 1/2 years ago. Ahh...good times and lasting memories. I'm just glad I'm not there now.
In other news, Anna Nicole Smith is dead at age 39. It's really not that surprising and I'm guessing it involved drugs. She had to be on something to act that retarded all the time. Well, she will be missed...by the late night talk shows and tabloids at least.

Just watched "The Girls Next Door" and it was Hef"s 80th birthday party. Just once in my lifetime I'd like to attend one of those Playboy mansion parties. Absolute Craziness! Granted it might not be as crazy as driving across the country with a diaper on, but crazy nonetheless. If you don't know what I'm getting at you should really get up on your current events (-> the full line of astro- diadies are to your right).


My current listening at the moment includes The Shins new cd "wincing the night away". I'm definitely impressed. Not so much by the music (which is great) but that were able to put together a solid effort from start to finish under all that pressure. The Shins were basically left for dead before 'Garden State' came out in 2004 and created a rebirth for there music and millions of new sets of ears hooked to their shit. The expectations were huge and they exceeded mine. Better than their second, "chutes too narrow", for my money. My favorite record of the year so far, although that's not saying much. Check it out for yourself. Some other listenings of mine are somewhat dissappointing including Bloc Party's "a weekend in the city". It just deosn't hold up as well as their debut. Even one of the better songs, "I still remember", sounds suspiciously like "so here we are" from their first record. There's just no hooks here to grab you, get your head nodding.
Pretty much the same for one of the overhyped bands of the moment, The Good the Bad and the Queen and their self-titled record. I gave it a real chance but it's really quite boring, even with all that talent. Slow like honey!
I'm still holding out hope for some high profile releases (Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse etc.) in the coming months.

Funny!

Since JB is likely in hibernation or something, here's a cartoon to whet you appetite. Funniest one yet!