Stanley Is Coming Revisited Pt. II

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Review

• The Pittsburgh Penguins win the best of six against the New York Islanders. Predicted a sweep for the Penguins over the Isles. Fail.
• The Ottawa Senators upset the favoured Montreal Canadiens in the best of five. Predicted the Canadians in the best of seven. Fail.
• New York Rangers beat the New York Rangers in the best of seven as predicted. Winning!
• In favour of the Boston Bruins over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the best of seven. Winning!

Western Conference Quarterfinals Review

• The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild in the best of five. Predicted a sweep for the Blackhawks. Fail.
• The Detroit Red Wings win the best of seven against the Anaheim Ducks as predicted. Winning!
• The Los Angeles Kings win the best of seven against the St. Louis Blues. Predicted St. Louis in seven. Fail.
• San Jose Assholes.. I meant Sharks… beat the Canucks in the only playoff sweep so far. Fail.

Eastern Conference Semifinals

• In favour of the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Ottawa Senators in five.
• In favour of the New York Rangers over the Boston Bruins in seven.

Western Conference Semifinals

• In favour of the Chicago Blackhawks over the Detroit Red Wings in six.
• In favour of the Los Angeles Kings over  the San Jose Sharks in seven.

Statistics Report

• I have successfully predicted the outcome of three series.
• I have successfully chosen five teams to advance  to the semifinals.
• I have successfully chosen three teams to be defeated in the first round

Stanley Is Coming Revisited Pt. I

The 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are now underway. I made some predictions for the first round last year which were disastrous. My prediction rate isn’t the best but it isn’t exactly a science to it like visiting a fortune teller… So I am going to do the same this year and stick with it…

Eastern Conference

• In favour of the Pittsburgh Penguins over the New York Islanders in a sweep of four.
• In favour of the Montreal Canadiens over the Ottawa Senators in the best of seven.
• In favour of the New York Rangers over the Washington Capitals in the best of seven.
• In favour of the Boston Bruins over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the best of seven.

Western Conference

• In favour of the Chicago Blackhawks over the Minnesota Wild in a sweep of four. (Suck it Koivu!)
• In favour of the Detroit Red Wings over the Anaheim Ducks in the best of seven.
• In favour of the St. Louis Blues over the Los Angeles Kings in the best of seven.
• In favour of the Vancouver Canucks over the San Jose Sharks in the best of seven.

A Dog’s Purpose; A Book Review

I have recently read A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. I saw A Dog’s Purpose on the shelf at a locally owned bookstore. I picked it up and read the backflip about the novel. Intrigued, I read the first chapter and instantly fell in love. I knew I had to own this book and purchased it right then and there.

People cannot be surprised that I’m a dog lover. They’ve been apart of my life from the very beginning. In my twenty-seven going on twenty-eight years on this planet I’ve had six dogs. Rex the Doberman, Samantha the German Shepherd Cross and of course our Airedales: Amie, Baylee, Emma and now Archer. Dogs have been a major part of my life as you all have come to know in my previous blog entries chronicling my love for the Airedale Terrier breed.

I’ve never had a ‘favourite’ book before as an adult. I usually read two books a year since they’re sometimes up over a 1,000 pages each. However, A Dog’s Purpose is my absolute favourite. It reminded me of my relationship with my canine roots, my family, my pack. It’s an emotional story: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll love, you’ll experience joy — and if you don’t – you probably don’t have a soul.

Bruce Cameron does a great job in capturing the personification of a dog. The book follows a dog trying to find its purpose in four different lives through reincarnation. The stories are different and the dog’s purpose changes but ultimately it is to love their humans. The book was a refreshing read and I’m pretty excited to pick up the sequel A Dog’s Journey when it’s released in book stores in paperback.

Go read this book. I give it 5/5 stars.

Anth’s Oscar Predictions

I haven’t been writing a lot lately so I thought I’d make some predictions for the 85th Academy Awards that are being held this Sunday evening. I don’t watch them since I can’t stand award shows but I do particularly care about this one in particular.

Please note, * denotes if I haven’t seen the film

Best Director - Ang Lee, Life of Pi * 

Best Animated Feature - Wreck-It Ralph

Best Costume Design - Les Miserables *

Best Visual Effects - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Make Up & Hairstyling - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Film Editing - Lincoln *

Best Cinematography - Skyfall

Best Production Design - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Sound Mixing - Skyfall

Best Sound Editing - Zero Dark Thirty *

Best Original Song - Skyfall by Adele for Skyfall

Best Original Score - Life of Pi

Best Writing — Adapted Screenplay - Silver Linings Playbook *

Best Writing — Original Screenplay - Flight *

Best Supporting Actress - Sally Field, Lincoln *

Best Supporting Actor - Alan Arkin, Argo

Best Actress - Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty *

Best Actor - Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables *

And now ladies and gentlemen… Anth predicts for Best Picture . . . 

TED

NO DAMNIT SETH MACFARLANE!

Django Unchained

Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer

I’m here today to talk to you about the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness. JJ Abram’s sequel to his 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise. I have just recently watched the Superbowl advertisement. OKAY, I’ve watched it quite a lot in the last hour.

I’m pretty stoked for this movie. It has Benjamin Cumberlatch. Yes, that’s the only reason you need to go see this movie. Benjamin Cumberlatch. Who is he playing? John Harrison. Who is John Harrison in the World of Star Trek? No he’s not Khan (KHAAAAN!!) nor is he Gary Mitchell.

In the trailers it seems that John Harrison may in fact know Kirk & Co. He could be based on the character “Harrison” who made several appearances in minor roles. That’s all we know.

Who else is excited for this movie? A show of hands? I am… *raises hand*

Save BC Film Continues…

BC NDP leader Adrian Dix was in Los Angeles meeting with production company executives on why they choose British Columbia for filming: it’s our world-class film crews and our locations. In British Columbia, production companies only receive 33% in payroll and labour costs.Any production accountant and production manager will choose the cheaper option and have their production filmed in Toronto or Montreal. The film industry is a multi-billion dollar industry here in British Columbia, commercial and other industries depend on the film industry.

Yet the premier doesn’t believe that’s the case. She says it’s not “sustainable” for our economy… Wait? How is it not sustainable when film brings in more business where they spend quite a lot of money? Not to mention local municipalities get extra revenue streams for charging film productions location fees.

Adrian Dix hasn’t said anything on what an NDP government would do. It’s pretty frustrating when politicians are politicizing people’s jobs. No one has came forward with an answer.

Come on Adrian and Christy!

Save the BC Film Industry

Please sign the BC Film industry petition on Avaaz.org, here.

While a lot of supporters of the film industry here in British Columbia have signed the petition, I still encourage you to sign it. The BC Liberal government has been impervious on what they intend to due to provide competitive tax breaks for film production companies (they keep saying they’re going to do something about it but we still haven’t heard on what they plan on doing and we probably won’t until during the election or after election day and by then – it will be too late and thousands of British Columbians in the film industry will be without work). Your favourite show or movie that is filmed here spends a lot of money in both payroll taxes. Not to mention PST & GST soon since British Columbians were lame in voting against the HST.

They bring a lot of business to British Columbia and they generate revenue streams not to mention they employ a lot of people at a given time. Please take a few moments out of your day to sign.

Thank you.