It's About the Hockey Stick and the (Puck)

All this boring basketball (Toronto Raptors) talk got me thinking of my favourite team sport. Ice hockey. Actually, any kind of hockey:


From March 16, 2017:

Notes from a Dependent Brat: Hockey of All Sorts

Canadian Forces Base Borden's roads are made for road hockey. They are relatively quiet. Elm Street was my hockey arena every bit as much as the base's two ice rinks, Dyte Hall and Andy Anderson. On that short stretch of roadway there were "wicked" slap shots, scintillating saves, spectacular goals, balls screaming down its length, injuries, impassioned conflict, and loads of fun.

Our road hockey season stretched as long as was rational, or sane. Like kids from all over, inside and outside the borders of CFB Borden, when spring came, certainly the warm weather, we traded-in the hockey sticks and pucks/balls for tennis balls and rackets, baseball bats and mitts. This transition never sat well with me, so one year I decided to resist even more than usual. The prime component of this grand resistance was to create something new: "Grass Hockey." My new found skills made my hockey-stick-armed friends take to the grass in the same way that baseball-mitted kids take to the grass.

We dragged the game of hockey out to an extreme length; one so long that we must have touched the start of the next road hockey season: September.

The houses on Elm Street are gone, having been razed a few years ago, as were their surrounding brothers and sisters on School Street and Hemlock Crescent, but the roads and grassy fields are still there:

Ghosts of all-season hockey-loving kids play to the calls of Echoplexed trumpets....

The Toronto Raptors Take Game One

This morning I awoke to the news headline: "Raptors Send Toronto Into a Frenzy."

They have?

That must be news.

Where's the Hockey? (Inconvenient)

On Tuesday evening I popped the television on to watch what I was expecting to be NHL playoff action between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues. But what the CBC gave me was an episode of Kim's Convenience.

Getting wrapped up in my laptop work took me from my 'tube', rendered me oblivious to what played on Kim's. Actually, I did follow a little bit. And I wasn't so disconnected that I did not notice that another episode started up. Then another. And two more after that. A festival.

On the fifth day of this month I posted a critical piece on Kim's Convenience; my summation of the sitcom after watching a few episodes over a couple of months....not all in one evening.

What can I add this time?

For some bizarre reason the show's producers feel there must be a "C" story: three story streams. The problem with this model is the program's format is not one of a continuing story arc. All three pieces are one-offs. None of which is particularly effective in the end. The audience cannot get into what amounts to a skit.

Yesterday I expressed my 'concerns' to a friend and production peer. Why do the writers submit to this ineffective format?

"Everybody's frightened."

There was no NHL playoffs excitement that night.

The News Says We Torontonians Are Raptors Crazy

We are?

This morning I spent a couple of hours getting some work done in my local coffee shop: I overheard no conversations about the Toronto Raptors.

I then met an old friend for lunch in a diner: I overheard no conversations about the Raptors.

(Hard life, I know.)

But when I got home about an hour ago I popped on the radio and: Raptors this and Raptors that. "Toronto is going Raptors crazy!"

"We are?" (That's news to me.)

Interesting, eh?

I'm happy for the Toronto Raptors and its fans, but I'm thinking I'm in a different city.

I look out my front window: "No. The CN Tower is there."

Still No Trek to Discovery

As I wrote minutes ago, here, I was not expecting much two years ago when I posted a piece about 'anticipating' Star Trek: Discovery.

The night after ST:D premiered I posted again:


That Was No Trek Last Night

Re: Premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery.

I don't know what it was trying to be. Script deficiencies would seem to be the culprit. The show must have gone to camera before important issues were ironed out: the characters are cut-outs; sets and settings lack character; and the dialogue is rubbish.

The behind-the-scenes problems may have been reported accurately. What a space mess.

Discovery's key crew members probably had no idea what was going on. (There was a high turnover of personnel.) The home opener was poorly shot, designed, and scored. The actors looked bewildered at times. The script felt "first draft".

As I told a friend recently, my ritual with the Trek television shows is to watch the first two episodes then go back to my life. My life came back this time after just sixty minutes; at 9:48 last night.

Good.

I am plotting an article for an online film magazine a friend of mine is firing up. He suggested I write a review of Multiple Maniacs, John Waters' second feature-length film. Back in March, Criterion released a DVD and Blu-ray and the impressive image quality on the 1970 super-low-budget 16mm epic helps elevate the movie as a whole, popping it into a form of legitimacy. As for content, Maniacs still feels fresh today. It's so audaciously bad-ass, it's goodness.

Working on the article at this time gave my head a shake: Multiple Maniacs is a textbook example of production with vision. Star Trek: Discovery is lacking vision. And that cheapness is more glaring.

All This Star Trek Discovery Talk

A old friend of mine is into CBS All Access's Star Trek: Discovery. Occasionally I'll ask him his thoughts on how he feels about the series. There have been twenty-nine episodes thus far, over two seasons. (Just twenty-nine? I'm guessing series budgets aren't what they used to be.)

Maybe some day I'll binge-watch (yikes!) all twenty-nine; and stop after episode two. (I wish CBS All Access would make the series more "accessible".)

This talk reminds me of a piece I posted on August 2, of 2017:


Star Trek: Discovery

Today, on the Toronto Star's website:

Star Trek: Discovery was delayed to protect quality, says producer

Which, based on many, many precedents, could very well translate as: Nobody has a vision, except the show's first executive producer (Brian Fuller), but he was turfed because a committee with a new vision came along, and many people were replaced, with new people taking over who have no clue as to what Star Trek is about.

A real cynic might say that the line from new Star Trek: Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman is code for: "It's a dog, folks, but we can't admit that to you."

On the Ontario Conservatives' Backtrack

A fine comment to my post from last evening ("Con Swift and His Party Time Machine") prompted me to respond:

It's been suggested by some pundits that the federal Conservative brand (read: Andrew Scheer) has been irreparably damaged by this sequence of events. It was a peek into a possible future.

Conservatives don't like it because it shows how too easily their Con leaders gave in to the 'Snowflakes' and unions.

Liberals love it because it reaffirms, and perhaps, proves, their "I told you so".

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario insiders say the latest polling numbers flicked the party into a state of "panic". Hence the cancellation.

May we live in an interesting time and place.

***

Now Ford and his boys are saying they will indeed "tear up" the agreement made with The Beer Store. (This deal was struck ten years ago with the then Liberal government.) Stay tuned.

Con Swift and His Party Time Machine

The hot news today in this great Canadian province:

Premier Doug Ford, Ontario's Bouncing Baby Boy, has cancelled retroactive budget cuts aimed at child care, public health, and land-based ambulance services.

The solid-rock theory is that Ford and his boys were shaken by several recent polls putting him and his party time at the bottom of the beer barrel.

Had the OnCons been paying attention in the first place....

A Forever Question: Paper Towel Cuts

"Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question."

Sir. Why don't paper towels come in foolscap size, for those bigger picker-ups?

Keep it Picard

This past week I saw a link to the teaser-trailer for the new television series, Star Trek: Picard. Patrick Stewart once again helms a Trek show; the first being Star Trek: The Next Generation, a series which did not exactly captivate me, principally because its staffing of too many two-dimensional characters.

The video embedded above is a teaser: shots of a vineyard and wine bottles mixed with the face of Jean-Luc Picard. It looks 'interior'. In my Starfleet Manual, that would put it at an advantage. I might want to watch. Of course, I'll do my usual: Watch the first two episodes, and stop there.

Maybe not. I'm capable of surprising myself.

Subspace message to Picard's showrunners from this old Trekker: Keep the show about "character"; focus on the interior. While I admit I watched around 40 episodes in total out of a possible 178, my favourite episode of ST:TNG was "Family". In that one, Picard went home to his family's vineyard in France, as he tried to replenish his soul after being released from Borg-assimilation. (Jeremy Kemp was outstanding as Picard's elder brother, Robert.)

In my rule book, with few exemptions:

* I don't want to see any goofy space battles.
* I don't want to hear any ridiculous techobabble.
* I don't care about more Klingons, or Romulans.


Give me Star Trek: with genuinely engaging characters and stories.

Bring on Picard.

Oh. I had forgotten about the fanboys....

Congrats to the Toronto Raptors

Early this morning my radio told me the news that the Toronto Raptors have made it to the NBA final playoff round. (What's the trophy?) Milwaukee Bucks fans must have lost a couple of bucks on that one.

I learned recently the name Kyle Lowry. He sounds like quite the talented player, and a big reason for the Raptors' big push.

It's a shame I cannot watch that sport. For me it fails to generate any excitement, even with a Toronto team as the headline.

Over the next week or two, I will find out the game results the next morning.

But. The evening before: "Go Raptors!"

Superstition in Leafs Nation

"Superstition."

Okay. My story.

I understand that Toronto Maple Leafs fans (Leafs Nation) felt their boys in blue had their playoff chances jinxed by a certain Canadian music superstar. Drake, the proud Canadian and Torontonian that he is, would show up at (Toronto's home rink) sporting his Leafs jersey to cheer-on his team. That already jinxed team.

Drake's in the stands; the Buds lose.

Fans asked him politely: Please do not show up. "That kills our chances of beating the Bruins."

Superstition. I disagree on that one. The Leafs' chances of beating the Boston Bruins, or any team, at home in the playoffs is jinxed when the Leafs show up sporting Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys.

Horror Film Scores of Note

Music scoring is important for many strains of film, but it may be most important for the horror film.

My go-to examples:

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Dracula (1958)
Psycho (1960)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Exorcist (1972)
Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls (1973)
Jaws (1975)
The Omen (1976)
Suspiria (1977)
Halloween (1978)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
The Shining (1980)

Mainstreet Research on Ontario Polling

This is interesting:

LIB: 39.9%
NDP: 24.2%
PC: 22.4%
Green: 11.7%
Other: 1.8%

Polling firm: Mainstreet Research
Date: May 22nd
Respondents: 996
Margin of Error: 3.1%

Note: The Progressive Conservatives (PC) are presently the ruling party.


There must be a story there....

Spaced Out Commander in Cheef

No doubt U.S. President Donald J. Trump had no intention of misspelling a certain word on his handwritten paper notes. "Dems have no achomlishments."

For once, The Donald is right. For the Democrats to have achomlished something they would have to know what the word "achomlishing" means.

For some reason I was reminded of something that Khan Noonien Singh, that evil, but intelligent, superman, absolute ruler of more than a quarter of this world, once said when describing power.

I can imagine The Donald tweeting this at three o'clock one morning:

"The U.S.A. under Donald. Think of it's achomlishments!"

Telephone Order Pizza With Care

Hidden charges. We all know them.

Two years ago I placed a pizza order. The last time I took advantage of such a service was many years in the past. The Romans and Carthaginians had gone at it a few times since had I last picked up the telephone and called in a pizza pie.

“... Pizza Pizza. Can I have your order please?”

Sure you can. The flyer I referenced from had a special offer: a large pizza with three toppings, for $12.99.

“That’ll be (around twenty) dollars.” Since I was in a busy headspace, the total cost went by me.

It came.

When the delivery guy repeated the total cost I made an interjection: “I thought it was $12.99 (plus tax, of course)!”

“There’s a five dollar delivery charge, sir.”

The order taker did not say that.

My memory is such that I can replay a conversation when I need to check details. I let it go. That pie smelled really good.

In hindsight, I should have put two and two together, if not add (about) seven dollars.

A few months later I ordered again, just to do a little quality control and a needed customer service check.

This time around I pressed “record” on the ol' reel-to-reel.

“... Pizza Pizza….”

I wanted the same special.

“That’ll be (around twenty) dollars.”

I knew it. “I thought the pizza was twelve ninety-nine?”

“There’s a five dollar delivery charge, sir.”

Just to get technical: “You should say, ‘so you know, with deliveries there is a five dollar service charge’.”

Silence.

We’re surprised?

Photo Graph: Scaffolding the Royal Ontario Museum

It Is Just....

Game of Thrones is over, for the time being. I've heard that many fans are mighty upset at what they perceive to be a lack of quality in the final season.

"Rushed", I've heard a few times.

"Cheesy" is what I thought after I watched an episode on CTV a couple of years ago. (That network experimented with broadcasting a season. Ratings were underwhelming, apparently. Makes sense: the fans had already watched that year on HBO. And downloaded.)

To me, the one I saw looked like it might have been something made by a theatre company that had grabbed a camera and visited an old ruin.

In all fairness, watching one episode, and out of context, is hardly any way to judge an entire series (which I will not bother watching from beginning to end).

There's quite the GofT fan petition going around. It calls for a remount of the show's entire last season.

It's just a TV show. (Bold, italicized, and underlined.)

Picturing: Crawling Scaffolding on the ROM (Toronto)

Picturing: A "Lost" DVD Set With a Lost 6th Season

At Bay Street Video, here in Toronto: Incomplete Lost (2004 - 2010) DVD set. It's missing the 6th season. And it's at the reduced price of $99.95.

Is one missing anything by missing the sixth season of Lost?....