Vancouver knocking out the defending champions, St. Louis Blues, is probably the most surprising result of the first round. The remaining series should all be close contests and it may come down to a war of attrition with such an aggressive playing schedule. The biggest break is if you finish a series in 5 or less games, then you could get 4 days off in a row. Round two starts today with Colorado and Dallas. Dallas beat Calgary on Thursday (2 days ago) and Colorado 3 days ago. Vancouver is only getting a day off, like Dallas whereas Vegas got 4 days (beat Chicago in 5 games). Now everyone remaining will play a game every other day. That is a grind.
I thought Philly would beat Montreal easily but they put up a major fight and the Islanders are now firing on all cylinders (which is amazing because when the season stopped in March they were a train wreck). This should be a battle. I’m leaning towards Philly still but the Isles could easily take it if Philly lets too many turnovers happen.
I had no idea how Vancouver was this year, I never see their games. Vegas has been my West coast favorite so if Vancouver can keep their roll going (tremendous Game 6 win against the Blues) Vegas is not going to skate through.
I think Colorado is long overdue to get to the Championship so I think they’ll best Dallas.
Tampa Bay is playing with venom in their veins from last season (and many other recent failed cup runs) so they are my favorite over Boston. Boston has seemed a little listless until recently so they’re going to have to come correct at minute one or they’re going to be digging themselves out of a hole the entire season.
This is a massive development. The young man on the top of the prospects is Mr. Alexis Lafreniere from Saint-Eustache, QC, Canada. The 6′ 1″ 193 pounds, LW player has been turning heads for some time now, with many calling him a “generational talent.” That’s about the highest praise you can get for an athlete and while he’s only 18 and time will tell of how he does in the NHL, he’s at the very least a natural talent. Take a look!
The Rangers head office would have to be crazy not to pick him. This is happening at a great time for the team and adds a new piece to work with for at least the next 3 seasons. The offensive line is more and more stacked, the focus on renewing/trading/letting players has to be on the defensive line now. There are big holes in the Rangers defense that need to addressed to get this team to be a Cup contender.
My favorites are Vegas in the West and Philadelphia in the East. The East is stacked though, there are a lot of monsters sitting right there. I think Montreal and Carolina have the most odds against them. There is no way Chicago is beating Vegas. It’s been a long time since Arizona has been in the Playoffs and I have no idea how good they are (Dallas too). It’d be fun to see Calgary go far, and hey Vancouver has a chance too. It’s been ages since a Canadian team has won the Cup. I haven’t seen a single Vancouver game so I don’t know how they stack up against the defending Champions.
The tournament is off to the races already with Tampa’s 5 OT (!) win against Columbus.
Oh the crushing feeling of disappointment. Just a glaze of malaise that seeps into ever pore. A sweep in the first round. It doesn’t really get any worse than than that. I had a weird feeling this was going to happen in the week leading up to the tournament. The NY Rangers historically beat Carolina, the win/loss ratio is far in the Ranger’s favor. Lundqvist has an amazing record against them. In the regular season the Rangers swept Carolina 4-0. Goals against was something like 17-9. Here? 11-4 for Carolina.
The first period was great. The second period started with a blast, Chris Kreider scoring, putting the Rangers in the lead for the first time in the series. Then, nothing went the Rangers way.
I had no confidence that the Rangers were going to make it to the finals this year. Getting to the first round, absolutely. If the Rangers ran into the Flyers, there’s no way they would win. Clearly the better team won in this contest and whoever plays them next has a major challenge in front of them (Carolina went really far last season).
It is what it is. There are still 2 months of Stanley Cup playoffs to go. The 2020-2021 season could start in November. That’s not too far away for the Rangers to be back on the ice and there’s only going to be like 2 months of no hockey from the end off the playoffs to the start of the season (if all goes well).
There is a ton of action for the Rangers in the off season. How is the goalie situation going to play out? Shesterkin is without a doubt the future. Does Hank hang on to end his contract leaving Georgiev to be traded? Or will Hank move on? Cap space is a major concern. With losing so much revenue this season, no team is getting more money to work with. There are a few guys the Rangers probably won’t be able to afford to keep (DeAngelo, Strome). There are a few rookies that should be able to play…the players they don’t keep could be replaced with this new talent. Plus, with losing in this play-in round, the Rangers get put into an advantageous place in the draft.
There are a lot of ice shavings that are going to settle in the next few months.
Now it’s time to panic. Very little changed from the first game.
Lundqvist allows another first, early goal which forces the emotional deficet of trying to catch up. The first period was actually good/decent other wise. Fewer penalties and mistakes but Carolina largely remained in control.
Going into the second period it’s tied and then a stupid offensive zone penalty gives Carolina a power play and right off the face off, they score. Another mistake off losing control trying to clear the puck gives Carolina another chance right in front of the net and they score. Less than 2 minutes after the PP goal. This puts the Rangers into a 3-1 pit the never get out of.
The rest of the game isn’t worth talking about. The Rangers lose 4-1 in a game where it looks like Carolina has the Rangers completely scouted. Superior defense in every way, breaking up passes, better passing, double-teaming Panarin, all-star goaltending (at least 3 robberies) never letting up the entire 60 minutes of play. Sebastian Aho made a smart play every shift he was on the ice. The only Ranger player I saw stand out was Tony DeAngelo. He made moves.
The only time the Rangers scored was on a 5-3 advantage. You better score with that massive advantage. They were able to have space to set up and execute a play. The rest of the game they were smothered and struggled to get any long offensive push going. Forget trying a long across the center ice pass with Carolina, they are all over it.
Big coaching changes need to be done for the Rangers tonight. Their approach has been figured out and stuffed 2 games in a row. The veteran players need to show up and lead the charge or it’s a wrap.
I had a feeling the first game was going to go down like this. Fast, very aggressive, a stupid amount of penalties (14).
Also not surprising, the Rangers taking the entire first period to realize they are playing a hockey game. Everything felt off with terrible passing, and an offense that couldn’t get anything started. That left everything to the defense to save every botched push.
It got better in the second period with improved passing and communication. Carolina always looked one step ahead though, most of the game it felt like the Rangers were trying to catch up (which was true on the score board).
Shesterkin didn’t start in net, which was a surprise. The bigger surprise is that he was listed as “unfit to play” which is the official title for any kind of illness or injury (the league says no one has tested positive for COVID). Georgiev was the backup. Hank locked it down despite the 3-2 score. The first one was the only one I consider legit. The shot hit his right shoulder and flipped over and in. He could have/should have stopped it. The second was a redirection in a pack of players, it was impossible to see. The third bounced off of Staal’s skate as he was trying to defend–it went through Hank’s legs as he was playing the shot as it was coming in. There was nothing he could do. Staal did make up for it by scoring a goal (I think his third of the season).
It could have gone to overtime. The Rangers could have won in regulation. 1-7 on the power play for Carolina and 0-7 for the Rangers. That can’t happen again. All those opportunities missed (4 of those power plays, Carolina had no problem defending) and being on the penalty kill that many times is too much stress and exertion to go through.
Adjustments will be made for Game 2 on Monday. I’m not too worried as I expected this series to be very close and nothing too alarming happened today. If they can put a stop to their season long curse of having terrible first periods, it’ll make a big difference. You can’t give a team a 20 minute advantage in a series that only takes 3 hours to get knocked out of.
The exhibition game on Wednesday with the New York Islanders went as I expected it to. Neither team went full force, saving the energy (and avoiding injury, except for Brendan Lemieux who felt that–even though he’s going to sit for a 2 game suspension from the regular season–a fight was necessary to get into ) to make sure the start of the tournament on Saturday will be the strongest each team can be. Islanders beat the Rangers 2-1 so the Rangers were able to compete for the full hour.
The first period was the best for the Rangers, the Islanders didn’t pick up their standard game until the 2nd. Fast, some decent hits, and more shooting than average from the Rangers. While they had some opportunities here and there, the Rangers never found their stride. No streaks of good plays, more like the parts of the team working independently than together. Once the Islanders cinched up their defense, the Rangers couldn’t get anything done. The Islanders have a defensive system (smother) that the Rangers don’t know how to handle.
Shesterkin let one goal in on 7 seven shots and Lundqvist let one in as well. Igor’s was a pretty soft goal while Hank’s was blistering shot across that was right on the money. Really hard to stop. Both goalies looked good but the team has work to do. The penalty kill was terrific–5 for 5–but the power play did nothing of note. Panarin and Zibanejad were on the ice but hardly visible.
With the best of 5 series with Carolina starting tomorrow, whatever team plays like a team first will win. It could go either way but the Rangers have to play like they were at the end of the season or they have no chance. Kreider is back to 100% and Kakko is well-rested and looks more relaxed so these two pieces could make the difference with 2 of Carolina’s most potent defensemen injured.
I have high hopes–as I always do–for the Rangers and the long term stats are in the Rangers favor. The Rangers swept Carolina in the regular season. The Rangers are always a challenge for Carolina to beat. But this tournament isn’t a regular tournament. These teams have now played one hockey game in 4 months. There is no room for error, 3 games to win and that’s it. The pressure is high as ever because this is the Stanley Cup playoffs.
DC made their own media streaming service a little less than 2 years ago. A collection of all things DC (with major exceptions because of prior licensing deals with networks for tv and movies) it was designed for major DC fans to come to one location. There’s a comic book reader with an ever-changing library, movies, TV shows, merch and a community section.
I’ve been a subscriber on and off since the start. The big draw to the service is the comic book reader and the original programming. Getting access to a big comic library that’s easy to read is great but it’s pretty limited. Many story lines aren’t complete, only a few issues of a series are available. The reader is very good, much better than when it first started. There are multiple ways to navigate a page which is really welcome.
I write this not for the comics, but to talk about the original shows and what’s going to happen to this services. Long story short, I don’t think DCU is going to stay open until the end of the year. WB, who owns DC, has given birth to its future recently and that is HBO Max. They’re downsizing all of their apps (HBO Now and HBO Go) into one (the way it should have always been) and DCU is kinda left floating around looking for mainstream popularity. Some programs have already made the move: Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn. Stargirl, the first live-action project for this character was meant as an exclusive has been also airing on The CW network. So the expansion is already happening. And that’s good because more people need to see this stuff. Being on DCU, it’s pretty buried.
Titans was the first out of the gate with the launch of the platform. It’s arguably the weakest of the batch. It’s not Teen Titans, which has an enormous fan base, but follows mostly those same characters (Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, Hawk and Dove who aren’t in the cartoon) at an older age. Timeline wise, Robin has broken ways with Batman and is more or less on the verge of going solo (creating Nightwing). The show starts with a very strange tone. There’s cursing that usually feels misplaced. Like the writer’s got permission to curse and they just stuck in f bombs because they could. It feels unnecessary I guess you could say. I did enjoy the first two seasons even if it’s a bit slow. Robin is a terrible leader, there is a ton of internal strife in the group because of a previous mission gone terribly wrong and Raven is a whole new world of trouble discovering her powers. I think season 2 was quite a bit better.
Swamp Thing is awesome. It frequently leans into horror which you don’t see much in this genre (especially live action comic book adaptations). There’s not much else out there like this, which made it really refreshing. I liked everything about this show and it got cut off at it’s knees. It cost a fortune to make and apparently the executives in charge got nervous about it and bailed. This came out right after Titans and I think a low subscriber count made them want to cover other expenses. The season was cut short and the show canceled. The season ended with a limp and it’s so disappointing for this to have happened. My big wish is that somehow, this show comes backs.
Young Justice: Outsiders is an animated show that continues the hugely popular (and stupidly cancelled) Young Justice. Those first two seasons were awesome and while this run is good, I don’t think it meets the story standards of the series. Great animation though.
Doom Patrol is weird and that’s why I love it. An atypical team superhero group, nothing that happens on this show is expected. Misfits and broken people, the group is held together by Chief (played by Timothy Dalton!) who has more than his fair of flaws and secrets. It’s really hard to explain this show, you really need to see it to “get” it. It turns the super hero genre on it’s head and shakes it to make the candy come out. I think for people who don’t like super hero anything, might get a real kick out of this. Now that it’s on HBO Max, it’s much more accessible. Please check it out so they make more (season 2 is airing now).
Harley Quinn is a riot. Animated and filthy, this is the closest answer to the Deadpool movies that DC has right now. It goes way further than the Birds of Prey movie and is really funny. Where Doom Patrol is a weird thinker, Harley is anarchy come to colorful life. A ton of DC characters show up and the way they are portrayed is brilliant (I love Bane). Long time fans are sure to eat this up as they will get all the inside jokes. Not to say it’s unacceptable to new comers, but it helps some of the jokes land harder. The writers got permission to do pretty much whatever they want, so don’t think every character will make it through a season alive. There is literally nothing like this on American TV (the closest might be Rick & Morty) and I was shocked at how well this turned out. Hits HBO Max in August, please check it out so more are made!
I haven’t written a word about the NHL since the season was stopped in march for COVID-19 because it was impossible to say anything concrete about what was going to happen with the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season. There’s been a lot of behind the scenes action in the last two weeks or so that’s become official. The run for the Stanley Cup is scheduled to start on August 1st. That’s only 2 weeks away.
The pandemic has borked every sport on Earth. Everyone is trying to get the ball running and the NHL is on the cusp of starting play. Training Camps opened on Monday. As for the Rangers, the entire team has been coming back to New York over the last two weeks or so. Because of their standings at the cutoff, they have enough points to enter the Cup Qualifiers with the other 5 bubble teams. August 1st will be the pop off date for the best of 5 series against Carolina. The non-bubble teams that had enough points to make it into the playoffs at the halt of the regular season will play a few round-robin games to establish seeding.
The two hub cities for all games are up North in Toronto and Edmonton. One for the East and West conferences. The Cup Finals will be played in Edmonton.
So now the goal is to keep everyone healthy into the travel date to the Hub City for everyone. Once there, the bubble is made. Players and staff won’t be able to go out much besides the rink and hotel. Family won’t be allowed in until well into the playoffs to keep outside contact to a minimum.
This also means the pressure is on. No one has played a hockey game in more than 4 months. In two months, it’s hit the ice hard or GTFO. This is for the Cup! The teams that can come together the fastest will have a huge advantage. With a best of 5 series to start, the bubble teams have no room for error. Lundqvist has to hit his apex in camp to earn his spot to play over Georgiev (Shesterkin is a shoo-in (skate-in?) to be back up goalie at the very least). The Rangers beat Carolina every game this season but with that momentum gone, it’s anyone’s game. Take a team for granted and you’re going to get beat.
This whole ordeal has spun the finances of the NHL into a black hole. A ton of money has been lost and that makes the payroll cap for every team a huge question mark for the next few years. Right now, the 2020-2021 season is scheduled to start in December. That’s if everything goes well. The NHL is going to be reorganizing things for the next few years so any kind of “normal season” is way down the line. The foreseeable future is going to be an effort in keeping the lights on (many teams make very little profit or operate in the red). Right now we can only hold tight and see what happens. I am so excited for hockey to come back.
I didn’t write a blog post for all of June! I don’t think I’ve missed a month in years if any. Time to break the dry spell. The good news is, I was busy. I picked up an editing gig and that took up a lot of my time.
This is the 4th book and 3rd author I’ve worked with and my system of content editing is improving with each one. It’s always interesting to navigate through someone’s work for the first time. A lot of notes are necessary, especially for a first draft, which is what I worked on. A lot isn’t clear or well defined so it takes some extra time to put the dots together when they are often too far apart or even non-existent. First drafts tend to be overwritten and also lacking in detail. What an author thinks is important, may not be to the reader. In most cases, the author thinks they’ve covered enough of a topic or idea for a reader when they haven’t. The second draft is largely filling in those gaps, moving things around, overall getting the pacing right.
Writing the report is an effort of giving useful advice and suggestions without being terrible about it. It’s easy to criticize and when it comes to first draft, there’s a lot of it. That can be brutal to read through so much negative feedback. So writing the report is about become a teacher. Explain things well, don’t just say “this is wrong.” That doesn’t help and it’s not wrong, it’s just not complete. Finishing the first draft doesn’t mean the story is done. That’s the basis I use for all of my notes. Why don’t I think this works and what can be done about it? Say what works and how that can be expanded.
I can frequently find the thread that an author lays out. My job is to grab it, shake it to see what sticks to it, and then do my best to figure out how the author can get more to stick to the thread so they can get their intended message across. One of the worst things to hear from a reader is that they see a character completely different from the way you intended. That has to be fixed.
I handed all the material back last week and it has been received positively. Mission complete!
Honey Boy is a semi-autobiographical movie written by actor Shia LaBeouf. The story about a child actor and his father was written while LaBeouf was in court-ordered rehab after a public intoxication arrest in 2017.
This is a very personal and intimate recreation of a defining time in Shia’s life. It’s an examination of a broken relationship that Shia didn’t realize had so deeply affected him until his past came up in therapy.
Honey Boy moves between two specific times in Otis’ life-1995 and 2005–ages twelve and twenty-two. When adult Otis gets in trouble (the same way LaBeouf did in real life) the flashbacks start as Otis explores why he feels the way he does now.
Otis’ father acted as his guardian while he worked on set. An angry and alcoholic man, being around James was often like walking through a minefield. At any time things could pop off. With Otis constantly around a toxic and dark person, he yearns for a calm and nurturing relationship with his father. He’s searching for solace.
This movie is smart in how it navigates trauma. With such a heavy topic it’d be easy to wallow in misery (Joker) and make this entirely brutal to watch. The movie keeps a steady pace, never beating to death on how awful James is without saying something important about it. Breaks are given to you with Otis finding joy when he can. With each scene together, their relationship is first established, examined, and then exposed. James thankfully isn’t portrayed simply as a monster for the sake of being a monster. Time is given to his history, the trail of why he is who he is.
Another important layer is that the misery leads to something–a reckoning between father and son that is messy and frankly very real. Let me put this to you as well: there’s no happy ending and clean conclusion. After all, Otis grows up and the trauma and things he picked up from his father are coming out in ways that are ruining his life.
The Talk Otis has with his dad is riveting and revelatory. Otis puts it all out there. It’s incredibly sad but necessary. Otis is forced to grow up far faster than he should, creating a confrontation that you and Otis aren’t sure how is going to go.
LeBeouf plays James and he’s doing some exceptional work. Noah Jupe plays young Otis and this kid is nothing but remarkable. I don’t know what’s going on right now, but there are some amazing kid actors working today. More than how he delivers his lines, it’s in his body language too. When James gets into a fight on the phone with Otis’ mother, Otis hangs in as long as he can before walking out of the motel room he and his dad live in. With a background of venomous screaming, Otis’ face contorts as he tries to fight back his misery. There are a few powerful moments like this.
Brilliant movie.
******
That brings me to Uncut Gems. A movie I’m not sure how a feel about. At the end I didn’t regret watching it but the time getting to that point was rough.
Adam Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a high end jeweler in the Diamond District of NYC. It’s made clear early on that Howard is a gambler with a problem. After a few run ins with the people he owes money to–and seeing how he reacts to them–it becomes clear that Howard is a degenerate gambler. The high he gets from gambling is seemingly the only driving force in his life.
So Howard, like James in Honey Boy, is awful. But unlike James, Howard has no depth to him. It’s just a trail of stupid and misery from start to finish. A large portion of the runtime of Uncut Gems is a group of people screaming at each other. Just insipid insults, cursing, and nonsense yelling for what feels like minutes at a time. Put end to end, these scenes add up and it’s not good. It frequently gets exhausting and boring. I think making this a short film could have been the better way to go. The entire movie is him juggling one debt in the air to pay for the other.
That said, Adam Sandler is really good. He can bring a douche to life so I’ll give him that much.
Putting these two movies that travel on the dark side of life side by side (which I did not do on purpose) Honey Boy is the better investment of your time. It’s way richer in content and character development. The avenues to dissect and discuss aren’t even close.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything non-review. Keep it real at home orders are still in effect so there’s nothing major for me to report. That also means nothing dramatic has happened so that’s what I’ve been aiming for.
I haven’t watched a movie in a while. It’s been all TV shows–Netflix has recently put up a ton of animation. Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex 2045, The Hollow, the big standout of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar is some genre defining stuff and I haven’t watched it since it aired so that’s going to be something to get into.
I’m on the final season of Schitt’s Creek, liking that a lot. The second season of Dead to Me was great and Westworld started off strong but got rather meh. I’ve been wanting to switch back to movies as my list keeps getting longer…I think I’m going to start with Honey Boy.
The NHL is inching closer to restarting. Preliminary talks are for a 24 team playoff which will start at the end of July. There are a ton of logistics to figure out but most of the NHLPA agreed to the basics so the ball is officially moving. Sounds like the Rangers would play Carolina and since the Rangers clobbered them this entire season, that is something to look forward to. It’s going to be much different from the norm but I’m so down for hockey, I really miss it.
My writers group restarted using Zoom a month ago so that’s a reassuring feeling. We skipped 5 weeks which is the longest down period for us. Progress has been made even though I haven’t written any fiction in way too long. My last submission was the first chapter for my next book and I’ve done nothing with it since. I keep thinking I don’t know where to go with it (a lot of logistics to make it believable) is holding me back. It’s not a good place to be in.
I’m reading comics with Hoopla (The Runaways right now) and Stick by Elmore Leonard to try and kick start my writing juices. I first started Stick almost a year ago so that’s a stupid amount of time for me to put it to the side. It’s a fun read too–Elmore is a hell of a writer and I’m picking up a lot from his style (his dialog is so good). I’m getting more inspiration there than the comics as comics are a very different medium. Still, it’s good to explore different writing worlds to expand your thought process. There is some suspicously bad art in The Runaways, though.
