« Posts tagged NHL

Uncle Paul?

I’m going to be an uncle. It hasn’t quite sunken in yet, which is why I forgot to mention it last week. My brother’s wife, Shannon, is going to have a baby boy sometime in late August.

In other news, Alexis and I had a pretty busy weekend. We started out by doing lawn work Saturday morning by mowing the lawn and trimming the tree in the front yard. Now I can actually mow around the tree without getting hit in the face by branches multiple times. Later that day I cooked steaks and watched the Dallas Stars smear the Anaheim Ducks five to two, making the series two to zero. On Sunday we went to a Texas Rangers game, courtesy of my Mom’s work place. We ate at a restaurant there at stadium then proceeded to our seats just eleven rows behind first base. After the game we went home and watched “V for Vendetta” and then played “BioShock” for the PC. Well, I played “BioShock” while Alexis watched, bit her nails, and gave me encouragement. I need all the help I can get. The game takes place in an underwater city, where science has been allowed to do as it will, without any moral constraints. The city is serious decay as are it’s inhabitants. See for yourself in the video below:

“V for Vendetta” was an excellent movie and seriously intense. I’ve linked to the trailer below:

Stars & Cloverfield

My brother and his wife came into town this weekend and my Mom was extremely generous and bought everyone tickets to the Dallas Stars game on Saturday. The Stars beat the Columbus Blue Jackets three to one. They played a pretty good game despite being out shot through the entire game. There were a couple of times where Dallas couldn’t get out of their own zone, the Blue Jackets camped out, and Mike Smith, the goalie, bailed ‘em out. When the Stars managed to get into the offensive zone they usually had a good scoring opportunity. The game was fairly physical with a single fight that envolved B.J. Crombeen. It was Crombeen’s first NHL game and his first NHL fight. Crombeen had this to say:

It was a dream come true. It’s something I’ve been working for since I was a little kid, so to get the opportunity, it was pretty exciting, and to get a win tops it off. I just tried to bring my game and be physical and keep it pretty simple and ended up getting in the first scrap, so it’s not a bad thing.(source)

Alexis and I both agree that his altercation was not a bad thing. The resulting penalties did not benefit either side. The fight occured directly in front of the Stars bench and threatened to spill into it. Afterward Ott had a couple of words for Crombeen’s opponent. I would have liked to have known what was said.

On Sunday, we went to see Cloverfield. The plot revolves around five friends the night a giant creature attacks the city. The film is shot similar to “Blair Witch Project”, which means if you are susceptible to motion sickness wait until it comes out on DVD and watch it on your TV. The camera work is all done by a handheld, which causes the image to whip around dramatically when the cameraman is interacting with the environment. Speaking of the cameraman, it’s his character that I felt should have been the main character. Through the majority of the film you see the story through his eyes so naturally the audience is going to feel a connection to him. This fact and the camera work are my biggest complaints of the film. Otherwise, I liked the concept and story. The monsters were scary and the desperation of the characters carries over.

As a side note, Cloverfield reminded me of a movie I saw once several years ago called Miracle Mile. The two movies share some things in common, such as reaching a loved one before all hell breaks loose, chaos in the city, and helicopters. The major difference between the two is that one envolves nuclear war instead of monsters and where Miracle Mile is pretty depressing Cloverfield is not so much.

Update: Apparently some places have a WARNING about Cloverfield.