I want to eat strudel with Christoph Waltz

and I would definitely wait for the cream.

(going to my third screening of Inglourious Basterds this Tuesday)

Welcome to the Jerusalem of Hockey, Jacques

Just be happy it isn't Marc Crawford.

I am pleased to report that the Montréal Canadiens, the most storied franchise in the history of hockey, playing the cradle of organized sport, the birthplace of the great game of hockey, and Jerusalem of Hockey have for the first time since Jacques Demers in 1992, hired an experienced NHL coach. In those years, we’ve suffered through Mario Tremblay, Allain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau (Bob Gainey hiring himself is excluded). True, three of those guys eventually became solid NHL coaches but we had to endure all the growing pains.

There are many positives in this hiring aside from the experience factor. Martin is a defense first coach who is well known for working well with younger players. This bodes incredibly well for Carey Price, Jaroslav Halak, and all the young defense prospects already on the team and coming up through the system. He will also implement a clear and precise system, something that was severely lacking under Guy Carbonneau. Yes, it will be boring trap hockey but just remember the 2009 Western Road Trip From Hell and imagine the joy of seeing an organized team where players know their roles and play their positions properly. Ahhhh, it will be beautiful.

One negative about Martin is his glaring lack of success in the playoffs with the Ottawa Senators, but I will give you the names of Ron Tugnutt, Damian Rhodes, and Patrick Lalime to think about and wonder if success was really attainable with a cast like that?

Crushing because I’m bored and can’t sleep…

Quite possibly the personification of male beauty…

*sigh*

Bob Gainey is right

we are rude, obnoxious assholes, and until we knock it off we will just continue to wallow in mediocrity.

Carey Price, please don’t run away.

FUCK THIS FUCKING SEASON

Fuck this season.
Fuck the Centennial.
Fuck hockey.
Fuck Guy Carbonneau fucking around with a talented team with fuck all game plan other than teary eyed “il faut travailler” post game dumbshit comments.
Fuck Bob Gainey for taking so long to fire the guy.
Fuck Mats Sundin.
Fuck Robert Lang getting hurt.
Fuck those clown uniforms.
Fuck Jean Perron.
Fuck three season destroying injuries in seven years.
Fuck Georges Laraque for not fucking anyone up.
Fuck Patrice Brisebois playing more games playing more games for the CH than Doug Harvey.
Fuck the Bell Centre for not being the Forum.
Fuck Mikhail Grabovski, who will hopefully get his next season.

Did I miss anyone?

The ‘59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem

Not since Rancid was trying to emulate The Clash back in their hey-day in the mid-90s has a band been able to sound a lot like someone else while remaining fresh and producing top quality music at the same time. All throughtout The ‘59 Sound, The Gaslight Anthem manages this feat, proudly displaying their affection for Bruce Springsteen. Ok, Bruce’s name has been thrown around a lot these days but let’s face it, The Killers just aren’t very good and The Hold Steady are great but never really sounded like Bruce apart from the piano on Stuck Between Stations. The Gaslight Anthem pull it off the same way Rancid did back in the day, and that is with great songwriting and enthusiasm.

The album kicks off in full force with the very strong, anthemic and catchy Great Expectations and doesn’t really let up until the end. From the start its apparent that vocalist Brian Fallon sounds eerily similar to early Bruce Springsteen but the Bruce fascination is not obvious until Old White Lincoln. By the next song, High Loneseome, the line “and at night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet/its a pretty good song maybe you know the rest”, its obvious that this band has no intention of hiding their influences. The Springsteen influence is all over the songs, lyrically and musically, but this is more than a tribute band, there is actual substance to the music. All the afore mentioned songs as well as The Patient Ferris Wheel, The ‘59 Sound, and especially Miles Davis and the Cool, are all exceptional and memorable tracks. In fact, the only misfire along the way is Even Cowgirls Get The Blues with its clunky chorus and and awkward verses all coming together as a generic ballad.

The album all comes together with the closing track, The Backseat, with the second verse absolutely taking the song and the album to entire new level. “and in the wild desert sun we drove straight through the night/I rode the fever out of Austin and dreamed of California lights/Come July we’ll ride the ferris wheel round and round and round/ if you never let me go, I will never let you down.” That pretty much sums up the album, the dream pairing of Springsteen and punk, all steeped in hope and references to Americana. It will be interesting to see if this band ever puts their foot down and is able to shed the Springsteen influence and grow into their own persona, but in the meantime it will be fun just to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Immature Warm Up Post (since I left this shit for dead four months ago)

Daniel Day Lewis is hawt.

Sweet. Baby. Jesus.

Stephen Harper, all I gotta say is…

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Fuckin loser.

I really want to smoke a joint right now…

Its Sunday night and I am listening to early REM and periodically getting up to dance when I feel like it and randomly posting on blogs in between outbursts. I haven’t smoked a joint since May 15th of this year. It was with some people from work, we were watching game 4 between the Penguins and the Flyers and just talking shit. Bob Cole post 1994 is way better when you are high. That pseudo-trap that the Penguins was playing was not. I really don’t like to smoke, I’ve even avoided my pot head friend for three weeks in a row cause I know if I go out with him a joint will be had. But I want one now.

Time to make popcorn on the stove.

At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend the Habs put in a solid 60 every game…

Let me start out by saying, what a fuckin’ embarassment tonight. A 6-3 loss to the the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes, the Leafs work really hard but the Canadiens should be able to put them away with a good effort. Alas, though the effort was almost non-existent.

ON - NOVEMBER 08: Alex Steen #10 of the Toronto Maple Leafs sidesteps a check by Alex Tanguay #13 of the Montreal Canadiens on November 8, 2008 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Yes, I know its a little early to be pushing the panic button, with the team currently sitting at 8-2-2, but they just haven’t been very good this year. They’ve won games they shouldn’t have won and if it weren’t for their tremendous talent, they’d be sitting under the .500 mark.

This just seems like the 2008 playoffs all over again. The mighty Habs playing down to the level of their lowly opponents. I just don’t sense any urgency from their coach, Guy Carbonneau. Surely he must have something to say after a near loss to a team like the Islanders? Whatever he said went in one collective ear and out the other. And please, for the love of God, why is Christopher Higgins playing on the top line? Its making me hate an otherwise smart, reliable, useful hockey player.

So its just another Saturday night loss to the Leafs. It doesn’t matter, I’ll just console myself with this beautiful picture of John King.