don't call it a comeback

Alright, alright, alright. Summer time is over and by proxy so is my sabbatical from doing the blog. Not that it was official, but I just had a busy summer.Between baseball games, patio beers, cottaging, amusement parks and capping it all off with five days in the desert (Vegas) it's been a hell of a, if not bumpy, ride. I did go to work there as well. But school is back in and since everyone has to learn I might as well help everyone regress with news stories that no one cares about. Anyways, I'm back, so hopefully you're as excited or at least as indifferent about that as I am.

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The city of Detroit has no cashola. The city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18 with a hearing date set for October 23. It is the largest city in the United States to file for bankruptcy. The story of Detroit's decline has been no secret for years. Initially, the White flight sent scads of folk to the suburbs leaving a ridiculous amount of abandoned structures around the city which gave more power to the street gangs who overran the streets, then by proxy even more folk took off from Detroit. Detroit was recently described by the New York Times as "home to 700,000 people, as well as to tens of thousands of abandoned buildings, vacant lots and unlit streets." It also suffers from one of the highest crime rates in the United States. Then as competition grew in the auto industry, they had a monopoly at one point on automobiles built in the United States, the city tried to deindustrialize itself as much as it could with more car dealers taking their remaining production to other locations. The population had decreased to 701,000 in 2013 down from a high population in 1950 of 1,850,000. Pretty tragic stuff, just across the way from Windsor, Ontario is a virtual ghost town these days, some areas in the city centre are described as so abandoned they look like farmland. 

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Don't you hate it when you leave you keys at work and you have to trek all the way back to get them, or pull that embarrassing move when you ring your landlord at 3 am trying to get them to unlock you door for you? (That happened to me by the way).. Anyways, stand by, I am going somewhere with this. Frank Laviguer a 57 year old Oregonian bank robber forgot his keys at the bank he had just robbed, then tried to elude the cops by hiding behind a fountain where a four year old pointed him out to the cops who were in pursuit and promptly arrested him. Laviguer had robbed three banks and two motels in a three week crime spree must have had a nice hangover when he went into a Wells Fargo branch on September 8 when he screwed up, which led him to forgetting his means of escape. One website mentioned that maybe during Mr. Laviguer's criminal career he should have learned to hot wire a vehicle. Point taken. Study up all aspiring criminals. 

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Batfleeeeeck! Ben Affleck has been chosen to star as Batman along side Henry Cavill, who will be reprising his role as Superman from this summer's "Man Of Steel" in a new buddy cop flick. It not a buddy cop flick? Crap, well, the hash tag #batfleck went gangbusters upon the announcement, and I mean whatever. People hated the idea of Michael Keaton, a predominately comedic actor at the time of casting, as the Caped Crusader as well, and quite frankly he's still my favourite one. Christian Bale was bad-ass as Bruce Wayne no doubt, but holy crap was his voice grating when he donned the costume. That why he's a close second to Keaton. But for every decent Batman there is a brutal one. See Val Kilmer and George Clooney. And the crazy part is neither one of them were the worst part in their respective Batman flops. So much care is taken in every frame of this franchise these days, that I'm sure the production team, who ever the hell it is (I haven't googled it yet) know what they are doing and maybe we should just relax and let them do their thing. There plenty of room over on the Disney website to complain about the new Star Wars films and maybe we should put our focus on that for now. If Mickey Mouse shows up as an older Han Solo in episode VII, I'm gonna be so miffed.

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It's Elvira aka Cassandra Peterson's birthday. She was pretty awesome in her day. Totally just dated myself. As non Elvira roles she showed up in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure as a biker girl ("Why do you let me have him first?") and showed up as a showgirl in the Bond flick "Diamonds Are Forever," and showed up on the album cover of Tom Waits' 1976 gem "Small Change." She was part of the legendary improv troupe "The Groundlings" in 1979 (Groundlings alumni include Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Edie McClurg, Maya Rudolph, Laraine Newman and Paul Reubens) before her signature character Elvira made her debut in 1981. She hosted a late night show that aired B horror films, with comments from the hostess in the middle of the picture only to be called by "The Breather" who tells her… strange jokes and lame puns. She released a feature film in 1988 which she co-wrote which, well, wasn't without its charms. Definitely a dated 80's movie, but good campy fun nonetheless. Happy B-Day!

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Hockey is back! It's been just four short months since the Chicago Blackhawks won their second cup in four seasons after dispatching the previous two champions, the 2012 winning Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Final and the 2011  champion Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final. The Hawks eliminated the Bruins in six games and enter the 2013-14 season with much of their Cup winning team intact (unlike their 2010 team that lost at least 10 players very shortly after their win), and look every bit as dangerous as they did last year. The only major loss for the Hawks was that of Cup winning goal scorer Dave Bolland who took off to the Toronto Maple Leafs. (How's that for a segue).. 

The Leafs welcome the addition of Bolland as well as free agents David Clarkson and Mason Raymond (who looks like he belongs on the opening night roster) not to mention acquiring probable #1 goalie Jonathan Bernier via trade from the LA Kings. After the Leafs dropped a heartbreaker to the eventual East champion Bruins in game 7 last year, the Leafs hopefully learned from the experience and are ready to make some noise in the realigned east. Cautiously optimistic is all I can say at this point. I like our team, and I think theyvare a better team this year so lets just see how it plays out. But for reals, how nice is it to play Detroit again on a regular basis? AND added bonus with Detroit; we still get to boo and hate Daniel Alfredsson, longtime Senators captain who took off to Motown for a chance to win as his career winds down. And Detroit moving to the East makes them automatic contenders. The Bruins and Penguins, as always, will ice great teams, but be wary of the Red Wings. Puck drops on October 1 with three games; the Washington Capitals visit the champion Blackhawks, the Winnipeg Jets are in Edmonton to face the Dallas Eakins-Craig MacTavish led Oilers and the Leafs start off their season against the Canadiens in Montreal.

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Great time of year to be a sports fan. With the NHL and NFL seasons starting up that can only mean one thing; Baseball playoff races are heating up! Before I go on about the good teams lets talk about a bad one.. The 2013 World Series favourite Toronto Blue Jays. Before  the  season began GM Alex Anthopolous went out and got every player he could to make the Jays a contender overnight. Apart from the Marlins deal which netted them Mark Buerhle, Jose Reyes and Josh Johnson the Jays also picked up defending National League Cy Young winner RA Dickey to bolster their rotation. While Reyes and Buerhle came as advertised, Johnson has been abysmal compiling an 2-8 record with an ERA north of 6. Dickey started off rough and despite being among the league leaders in home runs allowed has been much more consistent of late, and looks much more like the pitcher the Jays counted on to the their ace. J.P. Arencebia has had a historically bad season from a defensive and offensive stand point and I'd be shocked if he was the Jays starting catcher next year. The Jays currently sit dead last in the American League East, 23 games back of first.

As for the teams with non-made up post-season aspirations, most of the divisions are locked down with about 10 games left for most teams; the Boston Red Sox lead the AL East by 9 games after having finished dead last last season, the defending American League champion Detroit Tigers have a 6 game lead in the AL Central over the surging Cleveland Indians and 8 games over the young KC Royals. There was a dog fight in the AL West for most of the season between the Oakland A's and Texas Rangers, but with the Rangers slumping hard the A's have built up a 6.5 game lead over Texas. Texas is still clinging to the second Wild Card spot while the Tampa Bay Rays are holding down the top one with the Indians, Orioles, Yankees and Royals breathing down both their necks. In the American League the World Series favourites would have to be the Detroit Tigers so long as last years Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera is 100% and the Boston Red Sox who have played unbelievable baseball lately with a balanced offence, outstanding rotation and a never say die attitude that has permeated the entire bearded clubhouse in Beantown. Look for the Sox to do some damage in the American League playoffs.

The National League East and West are all over but the crime. The Atlanta Braves have a 10 game lead over the Washington Nationals and could be the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot if they can sweep a double header in Washington today. In the West, the Los Angeles Dodgers righted the train wreck that was the start to their 2013 season to go on an unbelievable tear, building a 9.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks after being 10 games back as late as June. Although they have cooled down recently (3-7 in last 10 games while losing 4 in a row) they are going to be big trouble for whoever faces them in the post season, especially now that perennial All Star Matt Kemp is off the disabled list.  The National League Central is where things get really interesting. Total dog fight between three teams, two of which, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals are tied atop the division as of this morning.  It's not so much a battle for the playoffs but a battle for home field since the Cincinnati Reds hold the second Wild Card spot and the non-divisional winner will get the top Wild Card spot, either way, anyone of these three teams could get scorching and can do some damage in the playoffs so don't count any of the three out.  The favourites in the National League is the Los Angeles Dodgers would have to be the front runners but don't count out any of the team in the National League since every team in the running has great pitching and offence. 

Not gonna lie, would love to see a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series. When the Red Sox were spiralling out of control last season, drinking in the clubhouse and putting up with Bobby Valentine, they sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto and Adrian Gonzalez to LA in a blockbuster trade. Gonzalez has been the Dodgers most consistent hitter all season and Punto has been the surprise of the trade. A utility man at best in Boston, Punto has appeared in over 100 games for the Dodgers, playing stellar defence for the team and hitting at a .260 clip. The Red Sox, instead of banking on expensive free agents went for character guys and career winners such as Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino and Johnny Gomes, not mention picking up former Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy from the White Sox at the trade deadline, filling out a team that could be called 'the Idiots II', in reference to the 2004 World Series team (the 2013 edition resembles the 2004 team on the field and in total beard/hair length). 

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Norma Jean uses up a lot of milk in a video from a track off their new album "Wrongdoers"

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news feeds may 23

Well, it has been a while since any updates. It happens. It's summertime(ish) so you have to get outside. And the onion is far better staffed than I am and offer much more biting satire. 

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Holy crap! Canadian politics is where it at these days for scandals. On the heels of Mike Duffy-gate (PEI senator who got busted for extravagant spending and doctoring documents), Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smokes crack. It's a joke that has no doubt been thrown around water coolers on Bay Street before the allegations were made public last Thursday on New York City website Gawker. Mayor Ford is allegedly seen on camera smoking crack-cocaine, making homophobic slurs and taking photos with known drug dealers and gang members. He called the claim ridiculous and that is basically all he has said about the scandal, his brother chiming in with a few words, listing the soon-to-be outgoing mayors list of political accolades.  Doesn't end there. Ford was fired from his volunteer job coaching a high school football team, the Toronto Catholic School Board claiming the decision was made before the scandal broke. Today, Thursday May 23, Ford fired his Chief of Staff Mark Towey who said "I am no longer the chief of staff. I did not resign," while being escorted out of city hall by security guards bearing bulletproof vests. Reporters were camped outside of Ford office hoping the mayor would emerge to field some questions, but he was locked up like Hitler's last days and left the office without talking to reporters. I saw the still, it looks like Rob Ford. It is more likely Ford was photoshopped into the photo than the person not being him if he is in fact innocent. Kids are whizzes with technology as one Ford supporter claimed but the man in the still is Rob Ford. He is dodging everyone including his mother regarding the issue, and he seems progressively guiltier the more he keeps quiet. And for the Chris Farley of North American mayors who is known to talk a lot, the silence is deafening. 

In other mayors smoking crack news, remember Marion Barry? The former mayor of Washington, D.C. had long been suspected a crack smoker. Federal official had been investigating the mayor for six years before finally being busted in January 1990 in a hotel with former girlfriend and model Rasheeda Moore. Barry was eventually sentenced to six months right in the middle of the election campaign, which he obviously lost. But the cream, and the crack always rises as Barry was re-elected as mayor of the capital of the United States for a fourth term from 1995-1999 shocking the nation that a convicted crack user can run the capital of the most powerful nation in the world (well… at the time). He currently serves on the DC council but has still found some trouble in his time off, including tax evasion, countless traffic violations, misdemeanour stalking, and the racist remarks he made at a party celebrating his primary victory for his council seat. Good times with crack addicted mayors!

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George Stroumboulopoulos has been in the Canadian public eye for years, first as a Much Music VJ, transitioning into his hour long talk show The Hour (now called George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight) which has been airing on CBC since 2005. Strombo is moving on to news juggernaut CNN for a new show, similar in format to his current talk show, to air on Friday nights. Guests of the show, which is to film in Los Angeles and air this summer, include Keanu Reeves, Bill Maher, Betty White, Ellen Page and Martin Short. CNN stalwart (with outstanding hair) Anderson Cooper sent a tweet to George saying 'I'm excited the very talented George Stroumboulopoulos @Strombo is joining CNN with New Friday Night Program,' and another twitter using pointing out she hopes people don't get George Stroumboulopoulos' show confused with George Stephanopoulos'. Seemed funny at the time.

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Jeff Hanneman, founding guitarist of Slayer died earlier this month from alcohol related cirrhosis at the age of 49. Jeff appeared on every Slayer record and along with Kerry King wrote most of the tunes. Hanneman penned Slayer classics "South Of Heaven," "Raining Blood," "Angel Of Death," "Live Undead," "War Ensemble," "Bitter Peace," and "Disciple" most of which are played at every single Slayer concert. Slayer were in the midst of writing a new album, their first since 2009's "World Painted Blood" and I'm sure they will record it and tour but no guitarist has been named to replace Hanneman. The man could shred so here's a couple nuggets of excellence. Cheers Jeff! Enjoy:

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Legendary Reno, Nevada punks 7 Seconds have signed with Rise Records. The band has put out nine full length and countless 7"s and compilations and have not released a studio record since 2005's "Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over." The band came to prominence in the hardcore scene with 1984's "The Crew" but it was 1985's "Walk Together, Rock Together" that really put the band on the map in the punk and college radio scenes. My favourite 7 Seconds record, their third "New Wind," dropped in 1986. The band mellowed out considerably for their next few records "Ourselves," "Soulforce Revolution," "Out the Shizzy," before releasing their major label debut, "The Music, the Message" in 1995, returning to playing faster tempos no doubt to coincide with the reemergence of punk rock in the mid nineties. They released albums sporadically, 1999's "Good To Go" was terrific as was their last effort "Take It Back…" It'll be good to have them back. RE: The new record Kevin Seconds said "We have about 20 new songs that we'll record the best 13 songs from. This new record will be all about the energy and drive we still very much possess as a hardcore band. It's been 9 long years since we've recorded a new album so there's a great deal of urgency in them, with just the right mixture of both fast and mid-tempo tunes for people to sink their teeth into." Looking forward to some new songs.. Here's a rager or two:

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Not a good wrap for metal singers. Or steroids. Tim Lambesis, singer of overrated metal longhairs As I Lay Dying has been arrested recently in a murder for hire plot against his estranged wife. His lawyer is now claiming that the vocalist was on steroids thus "his thought processes were devastatingly affected" by his continued abuse. He was picked up after soliciting an undercover police officer to kill his wife Meggan who had filed for divorce in September 2012. In a bitch move, he sent his wife an email from the road and told her that he no longer loved her and he no longer believed in God. Oh, early in their career As I Lay Dying thought themselves to be a Christian band. Riiight… Anywho, his trial is ongoing. At minimum, spare us of his music.

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THERE'S ALWAYS MONEY IN THE BANANA STAND! Arrested Development comes back for a fourth season on May 26 when Netflix resurrects the Fox classic (is it old enough to be classic) show about the dysfunctional Bluth family. It has been seven years since the third season wrapped up and fans of the show who have been petitioning for the show to come back can finally relax and sink into all fifteen episodes of the fourth season at once, in this, the new age of television distribution. There will also be a feature length film that will take place chronologically after the fourth season and presumably wrap up the series. Rolling Stone has compiled some of the funniest jokes from the shows original 2003-2006 run. The show stars Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia De Rossi, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter and God knows who else will show up in the new season (like Julia Louis-Dreyfus' sometimes blind-sometimes pregnant lawyer ex-fling of Michael Bluth or the vertigo crippled Lucille 2?)

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What's the best part about a lockout shortened season? The playoffs! Everyone is in midseason for due to the half season so we are being treated to some of the best hockey in years. The first round was as entertaining as it can get which how competitive of a league the NHL actually is. The stacked and heavily favoured PIttsburgh Penguins were in tough again the Islanders who, led by Johnny Tavares, Matt Moulson and Brad Boyes gave a scare to the first seeded Penguins. Pittsburgh won the series in 6 games, but look out for the Islanders in the coming seasons. Second seeded Montreal got spanked by divisional rivals Ottawa in five games, with game three in Ottawa being quite the fight filled affair with a full line brawl and PK Subban straddling Kyle Turris while filling him in with haymakers. By virtue of having the divisional leaders seeded 1-2-3 no matter what their point total was, the Washington Capitals got the third spot in the conference but were beaten by the sixth seeded, underachieving New York Rangers (currently down 3-0 vs Boston in round two.)

Maybe I'm a bit biased… but my favourite (and most heart wrenching) series of the first round was the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It has been well documented that the Leafs had not played a post season game in nine seasons due to bonehead plays both on the ice and in the front office, and that the Bruins, at least since their emergence as a powerhouse, OWN the Leafs. They beat the Leafs bad. They are bigger, more skilled, more experienced and know how to win much better than the Leafs roster, who other than Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf, James van Riemsdyk the team has minimal playoff experience and they were given much of a chance against the Bruins. The series went as expected, the Bruins building a 3-1 series lead. Game 4 was an excruciating loss for the team, with captain Phaneuf making a terrible pinch in OT to let the Bruins go in and score for the win after the Leafs and goalie James Reimer outplayed the Bruins in the contest fairly handily. The Leafs rattle off two convincing wins, one at home, one on the road to set up a game 7 showdown in Boston. Both teams traded chances and played fairly evenly until eventually the Leafs has built up a 4-1 lead early in the third. Milan Lucic score a goal for the Bruins to make it 4-2 about halfway through the period. Two goals.. we can do this. Apparently, we can't and you know what happens next; it's 4-3 with a minute and a half to go before Patrice Bergeron ties it up in regulation before winning it in overtime on a garbage goal. Can't fault Reimer however, who may have legitimized himself as a actual first string goaltender in this league during  the course of the series. Tough series for the team, and the city, but hopefully lessons were learned and we don't have to wait another 9 years for some more playoff games. It's classic adage for a Leaf fan to say "Wait till next year!" so I won't say that but I will say that this team is looking good, but they aren't Cup contenders and are more than a few pieces away, but I'm still excited for where the team is going, and I have felt that way since Dougie, Felix and Wendal were in town..

I digress… Western Conference. The Presidents Trophy winning Chicago Blackhawks faced off against the Minnesota Wild (remember when many hockey prognosticators picked them to win the Cup?) and the Hawks made quick work, handling the Wild in five games. The second seeded Anaheim Ducks were given all they could handle by the underdog Detroit Red Wings (underdog with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen… ok) in what was probably the most entertaining first round series in the West. The Wings won three games in overtime, and seemed at times to be barely clinging on in the series, but overcame like the veterans they are to win game 7 by a 3-2 score. Vancouver (3) vs San Jose (6). Sleeper of a series. The only solace is that I can't stand the Canucks and the Sedin's and was glad they got swept, even though I would love to see the Hawks-Canucks playoff fire again. Defending champs LA Kings took on the St. Louis Blues and despite dropping the first two games of the series, the Kings roared back to win the next four and the series. 

Second round in on now (currently watching Hawks - Wings game 4 as I type this) with two original six matchups, one in each conference with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers (Rangers are down 3-0 in the series and 2-0 in game 4 so bye) in the East and the aforementioned Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings series. The other series in the East has the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 3-1 lead in their series with the Ottawa Senators and the West features an all-California series with the Kings taking on the San Jose Sharks, currently tied at two games a piece.

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Love this sketch:

news feeds april 6

The Evil Dead remake. The thought of anyone touching any of the films from Sam Raimi's classic horror-slapstick trilogy makes me want to cringe. The first film was made on a shoe string budget that had bad acting, a terrible script and worse special effects but this added to the films charm. It was played as a straight horror film for the most part, leaving the slapstick to "Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn" and "Army Of Darkness." "Evil Dead II" was basically a remake of the first film, at least for the first act, before the uni-handed Bruce Campbell greets visitors of the demon and human persuasion. Our hero Ash, played by B film legend Bruce Campbell not only kicked ass but took names from the aforementioned demons before opening some kind of time portal that sends him back in time, with his car or course. Ash's exploits in the past is explored in "Army Of Darkness," which is chalk full of Three Stooges-style slapstick bits (see the scene army of little Ash's), multiple zombie deaths by chainsaw, an army of skeletons ala Jason & the Argonauts and some of the best (or worst) one liners ever put on film. Anyways, easily my favourite horror film series and not something that I want to be screwed with. The remake follows the script fairly closely and is produced by Raimi and Bruce themselves, making me a lot less scared of the potential butchering of a brilliant franchise. 

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Messy Snipes is out of jail! We can expect a "Blade 4" (maybe that already exists) on DVD in bargain stores within the next few weeks. The star of not just crap movies (see Major League, White Men Can't Jump, Demolition Man to name a couple) has been released from a Pennsylvania jail after serving three years for felony tax fraud and conspiracy charges. A jury convicted him of willfully failing to file tax returns from 1999-2001 and even had an unsuccessful appeal to his sentence in 2011. The first thing I ever saw Wesley Snipes in was "Major League," and I thought he was hysterical as Willie 'Mays' Hayes, the smartass base stealing centre fielder from the fictitious version of the 1989 Cleveland Indians. Things got real in 1991's "New Jack City" where we saw a no nonsense Messy as a drug lord during New York City's crack epidemic. Despite his horrendous blonde hair and overalls with no shirt wardrobe, my favourite character he played was Simon Phoenix in 1993's "Demolition Man." The film was the story of two cryogenically frozen 90s style action junkies, one maverick officer John Spartan, wrongfully accused prisoner and Snipes as supercriminal Phoenix. The two get unthawed in the year 2032 and find the world significantly different than the one they had known. After an earthquake in 2010, the world rebuilt itself into a society that didn't do anything wrong. For reals… you couldn't even kiss. Phoenix and Spartan battle it out in the future amongst the new age yuppies, bringing Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) and Edgar Friendly (Denis Leary) along for the ride. Anyways, point being, if they had cryogenically frozen Wesley he could have starred in a Demolition Man reality show in 2032. Welcome home, Messy!

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New Kids On the Block won't die. But thankfully, they may be closer to breaking up. The group, which is still apparently together, hit a bump in the road when one of them (does it matter which? Ok, it was Jonathan) ran off the stage mid-performance during the horrifyingly bad ballad "Survive You" and… oh who gives a rip. Break up already, no one cares, k-thanks.

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Thomas Guiry who played nerd Scotty Smalls in "The Sandlot" recently gave an interview to promote the 20th anniversary of the film. Since it is one of the best baseball movies of all time (after "Major League," the "Slap Shot" of baseball) and its opening week why not reflect a bit on the film. I actually haven't watched it this year, which is pretty week, since it a go-to anytime during baseball season in past years. It involves friends, summer, baseball, first kiss, first time getting in trouble, and coming of age. Scotty Smalls was in awe of the kids at the sandlot, a run down old field, who play baseball all day, every day. He noted they had 8 players and figured he could be the 9th even though he doesn't know how to actually play. All the kids, except Benny, think Scotty is hopeless, which is fairly accurate. Over the course of the summer the kids get into trouble at the pool, get mockingly challenged by a local minor league team, losing a signed Babe Ruth ball that belonged to Scotty's dad and just being young. Dennis Leary and Karen Allen play Scott's stepdad and mother, with James Earl Jones as the owner of "the beast," the giant dog who ate the signed Babe Ruth ball. Check out the interview HERE.

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It has been 19 years since Kurt Cobain shot himself at his home in Seattle. Not that I like writing about things that are depressing and such, it should be touched upon since the guy was awesome. I listened to him since I was a younging, broke it off for a while because.. you know, grade 11, punk rock politics etc.. and got back on board a good ten years ago, and they are truly one of my favourite bands. Nirvana formed in 1985 and went into the studio in December of 1988 to record their debut album "Bleach." The album was their angriest offering, which is often the case with hard rock bands but showed the poppy hooks that were littered all over their subsequent releases. "About a Girl" is about as a Beatles of a song as you will find in their catalog, Cobain always being a colossal fan of John Lennon. After demo session in April 1990 with producer Butch Vig, the band became disenchanted with original drummer Chad Channing's drumming and were introduced to Dave Grohl of Washington punk band Scream. Within minutes of auditioning, bassist Krist Novoselic said "We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer." The band signed with Geffen Records in 1990 and begun recording their sophomore album "Nevermind," the album that changed everything. It actually is probably my least favourite of their three proper studio full lengths (possibly because of listening to them too much) but I can't deny how good most of the songs are on the record. "On a Plain," "Lithium," "Lounge Act," "Territorial Pissings," "Drain You" all rank up with their best work, and if you add in "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "In Bloom," and "Come As You Are" you do have a near perfect record so long as you haven't heard the singles ten million times. The band cranked it up a notch in what would be their swan song, 1993's "In Utero," enlisting indie elitist producer Steve Albini to do the album. The drums sounded like thunder, and Kurt never sounded more angry or melancholic. Definitely my favourite Nirvana record and why not? "Serve the Servants," "Scentless Apprentice," "Frances Farmer…," "Milk It," "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," it is hard to pick a favourite song from the album. 

In a strange twist, also on April 5 but just eleven years ago another Seattle star died in a drug related death. Layne Staley formed Alice In Chains with Jerry Cantrell in 1987, the band had much more heavy metal roots than Nirvana despite eventually being lumped into the grunge category with them. Their first album came out in August 1990 but the band didn't really take off until the release of the "Singles" soundtrack in 1992, which showcased many Seattle area bands, and included Alice's song "Would?" which would appear as the closing track on their second album "Dirt." The album is the bands best record and I would recommend it to anyone, despite the fact is definitely feels more dated than Nirvana's material. I think its because sometimes they sound too much like a vowel vocal band ala Pearl Jam. The album contained "Them Bones," "Down In a Hole," "Junkhead," "Angry Chair," "Rooster" and "Dam the River" and showcases the band are their sharpest, despite their potentially cloudy state of mind. Layne died in 2002 after years of battling cocaine and heroin addiction. 

While I'm in obituary mode, here's to Roger Ebert, one of the only critics who consistently got it right. He and his writing will be missed.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert

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Current Red Sox and former Blue Jay manager John Farrell is back in Toronto for the first time since leaving the club during the offseason. He was welcomed by players who were excited to see his former skip but that more than you can say for the fans who serenaded him with boos right from the get-go at the lineup exchange overshadowing Josh Johnson's first start for the Blue Jays. It was a back and for match with the Red Sox rushing out to a 4-1 lead before the Blue Jays tied it up only to see the Sox tag on two more runs and their closer Jack Hanarhan sealing the 6-4 victory as Farrell got the last laugh. Game two, just finished, and since I was doing this blog during the game and was only looking up periodically I noticed that other than Jacoby Ellsbury's lead off double the Red Sox had absolute zip going on at the plate. Boston starter John Lackey left the game after a brutal looking pitching motion, where the hurler grabbed his bicep in obvious discomfort. Lackey missed all of 2012 because of Tommy John surgery and looked sharp other than the 2-run jack surrendered to J.P. Arencebia and it looks like he may miss some time (strained right bicep), which hurts the Red Sox since the have a tough April schedule with just 2 days off before the end of the month. The Jays shut out the Red Sox with a 5-0 one hitter. The teams play the rubber match tomorrow at the Rogers Centre with staff aces John Lester (1-0) and R.A. Dickey (0-1) locking horns. 

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Norma Jean are funny. Here's a lyrics video to "their 6 second opus, 'Shark Bite'" Funny guys…

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