Alexander Ovechkin became the fifth player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in his first 10 seasons in the league. Those other players:
Tag: 2014
Birdman (2014, Alejandro Gonzalez Iinarritu)
I have never been a fan of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.I find his films self-important, over-plotted, over-long, ponderous, and so forth. They all contain moments wonderful, profound, beautiful and hysterically funny, but those moments are always surrounded by so much unnecessary crap and, usually, two narrative arcs too many. I have long felt the man needed …
2015 NBA 1/2 Season Awards
It’s about mid-season in the NBA. Let’s take some stock of the awards races.
DJ Similac Presents Cut the World (2014) by JT Cuts
So I was walking home from work some time last week and this guy came up to me and tried to push his record on me. He asked me if I liked “dance” music. I told him no. He mentioned other genres I didn’t like. I kept insisting I didn’t listen to that stuff. I …
Geocidal (2014) by tetema
Mike Patton has long been one of my favourite rock musicians. And I think he has also made some objectively great music; at least six albums he has been involved with I would put on my “core” list of important music a neophyte should listen to. (For your reference, those albums are, in chronological order: …
2014-2015 NHL 1/2 Season Awards
The Maple Leafs played their 41st game of the season on Saturday – a loss, unsurprisingly, as it’s that time of year – and so I guess it’s time for a little report on the NHL Awards Arms Race. I don’t know the last time I’ve done one of these, both because of personal issues …
Serial (2014)
I have never been a big podcast person. In fact, I think it was only in 2014 when I regularly started listening to them – I know, I missed the bus – and then, mostly just the Lowe Post. But Serial has changed all that. Moderate spoilers follow.
Bands and Artists I Couldn’t Even Listen to in 2014
A few years ago I gave up listening to Exclaim!’s album previews both as part of my boycott of the magazine and also because I felt like so much of the music was so very similar. I have tried to replace that listening habit with NPR’s “First Listen“, but I have not been wholly successful …
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014, Ken Burns)
This is a very detailed and in depth documentary that attempts to link Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt not so much as a political dynasty but as men bent on the same mission.
Now is the Winter of My Discontent
On October 23, 2015 the longest romantic relationship of my life ended. When I say the longest, I also mean the only serious one, the only one that was ever successful. And, at least for me, it felt like it was the only thing in my life that was permanent, that would never change. We …
TV on the Radio Live at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto November 12, 2014
Natasha Kmeto was the opener. A singer with a laptop and a small keyboard, she initially appeared to actually be more of a DJ, but that turned out to be just an extended intro to her first song. She piled various different beats and loops on top of each other, with the odd melody line …
With a Little Help from My Fwends (2014) by the Flaming Lips et al.
I avoided the Lips’ cover of The Dark Side of the Moon like the plague, figuring that was an album that absolutely did not have to be covered and also because I’ve been finding the Lips’ willful weirdness to be increasingly maddening and hard to follow. (I have no idea if I’m going to like …
Tokarev aka Rage (2014, Paco Cabezas)
Somewhere in this movie is an interesting comment on these mindless revenge thrillers starring middle aged men rampaging through American or European cities, usually because a child was killed or abducted. I can see the germ of that idea. And it’s an idea I love. I want to see that movie.
The 50 Year Argument (2014, Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi)
Scorsese and Tedeschi’s film about the New York Review of Books is not a documentary about the magazine so much as it is a love letter to it. (To be fair, in the subsequent conversation, Scorsese said he wasn’t interested in “conventional” documentaries – that is documentaries as journalism. Rather he wants to make Cinema.) …
Natural Resistance (2014, Jonathan Nossiter)
I thoroughly enjoyed Mondo Vino and so I guess I was looking for more of the same. Well this is a very different film (as well it should be).
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Bodie, Kontiola, Santorelli
I’ve been busy lately and didn’t have time to comment on the Leafs signings of last week. Well, now’s the time:
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Leo Komarov
After doing absolutely nothing on the first day of free agency – which is alright by me – Nonis signed ex-Leaf Leo Komarov to a 4 year, $11.8 mil deal. To which I say, I liked Komarov, but why exactly is he getting nearly $3 million per season?
The Raptors’ 2014 Draft
The Raptors surprised everyone this year by drafting a seemingly unknown Brazilian player, Bruno Caboclo, 20th overall. And as much as I would like to give Ujiri the benefit of the doubt, I think we can object to this decision even without invoking the sports xenophobia that idiotic Raptors “fans” have already invoked to criticize …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Maple Leafs’ 2014 Draft
The Leafs missed the playoffs for the 8th time in the last 9 seasons and, as a result of that failure to improve in any tangible way over the last decade, the Leafs were handed their 3rd Top 10 pick since 2008. (Though it should have been their 5th Top 10 pick, but that’s another …
Swans and St. Vincent Live at Yonge and Dundas Square, June 20th, 2014 (North by Northeast)
The last time I was at one of the North by Northeast free concerts at Yonge and Dundas Square, everything was late, so this time I stupidly showed up late for Swans, expecting them to be late.
Did Justin Williams Deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy?
The Professional Hockey Writers Association’s members love clutch goals. At least recently, that appears to be the driving force in so many of the Conn Smythe winners’ resumes, whenever those players are not goalies. So Justin Williams has been given the award this year. Did he deserve it?
Your 2013-14 Toronto Raptors
A little while ago I wondered aloud whether or not this Raptors team would rank among the best ever. [Editor’s note: Post since deleted because a) it was just a listicle of good Raptors teams and b) 2019 happened.] Now that they have been eliminated by the Nets, I think we can say that they …
2013-14 Toronto Maple Leafs Review
I must admit, I am pretty much done with the Leafs at this point. Not so much the team, but management. Both Burke and Nonis have made numerous avoidable mistakes – Nonis is making Burke look practically visionary so far – and the Leafs haven’t been a playoff team in a decade. (We should regard …
Live Reading of Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto, March 11, 2014
Last night I went to my first “live reading” of a movie script, this has become something of a trend. I wasn’t going to go initially, but my cousin was already going and the girlfriend wanted to go. I had some slight reservations, but I had enjoyed their show in the fall so much that …
Riley Goes to Turkey (February 2014)
You may have noticed the lack of blog posts from me during part of February. That’s because the wife and I went to Turkey. What follows is a summary of what we did.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Mark Fraser
Edmonton Oilers Get: Mark Fraser, 27, D: By any stretch of the imagination, Fraser had a career year last season. He had been a depth / AHL D for his entire career before Burke picked him up for minor league depth. He was one of Carlyle’s two experiments on the back-end last season (the one …
2014 Canadian Men’s Olympic Hockey Team
So obviously the biggest question on every Canadian’s mind right now is ‘did Steve Yzerman et al. pick the right players to give Canada its second men’s hockey Olympic gold medal in a row…on international ice.?’ (The international ice caveat is important because at the Olympic level Canada hasn’t won a men’s hockey gold medal …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: 2013-14 Maple Leafs Season Preview
I feel somewhat embarrassed to say that I completely missed the Franson extension that I had been hammering my drum about. All I can say is that it’s been busy at work lately, and I have had less energy to read NHL transaction logs at night. As previously, I am relying on Capgeek’s depth chart …
Canada’s 2014 Olympic Hockey Roster – Preliminary Edition!
So Hockey Canada has released what we might call “The Long List” for the men’s hockey team for 2014. Let the debates begin.