More Profanity Laced Blogging

Fuck Ottawa for being stupid enough to schedule Dora The Goddamned Explorer On Ice! during the first weekend of May during the NHL Playoffs. They don't deserve to have home ice advantage over that bullshit, and if the NHL schedules back to back games over this shit they can go fuck themselves too. A pre-emptive FUCK to the NHL for potentially fucking Buffalo out of the televised 2nd round games by signing a deal with NBC and OLN. Hell, the games might not even be covered by OLN, which means they MIGHT be on CBC, which isn't even on DirecTV. Fuck DirecTV for offering multiple programming packages for Indians (Ghandi not Sitting Bull), the Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans etc. but not one channel out of Canada, where they speak our language. Fuck Rupert Murdoch for owning DirecTV, screwing us out of Canadian TV and using DirecTV's Newsmix channel to hype Fox News, the least newsworthy channel on their service. Hell, fuck corporations- I am tired of their shit in general.

OK ok... I'm a bit riled up.

But seriously, somebody better be working out the television rights to these games or there's going to be problems.

Yes! No! Maybe!

Yes! The Sabres can absolutely take Ottawa. It ain't going to be pretty or easy but it can be done, and judging from last night I have a real good feeling. That was a great game and I really want to thank the team and all the folks in the Sabres organization for it, and I want to thank the rest of us folks who gave it their all and did their part.

Bring on ROUND 2.

No! On one hand I really wanted to coin an expression based on Kaavya Viswanathan's remarkable reversal of fortune but frankly that would extend her pop culture shelf life and that's just not fair to the pop culture.

Maybe! Actually there is no maybe about it- if we get hit with a bird flu pandemic we are totally fucked.

And I will be holding Bush voters responsible. I got a sock full of doorknobs earmarked for them.

Fuck Those Beeyatches

6-1 Buffalo.Fuck Philadelphia. Fuck their artificially amplified crowd noise. Fuck those Philly fans- if it got any quieter in the Wachovia Center you'd hear the urinals flushing. Fuck Ken Hitchcock and his dirty bullshit, and fuck Peter Forsberg too.

Lets go Sabres.

God So Brief

- Sabres. Game 6. Huge. Get your karma together people.

- I have absolutely no sympathy for this chick, whose chick lit meltdown appears to be one for the books. How many books has she been bogarting from? Do we need a Congressional investigation? They sure as hell ain't investigating anything else.

- Tickets for Roger Waters in Pittsburgh this September have been obtained. Booyah.

Briefer Still...

- A certified witchdoctor has been contracted regarding the pc issue. Keep your fingers crossed people.

- 3-0 Sabres yesterday. Huge. You could tangibly feel the tension in the HSBC Arena release after the third goal was gotten. Tomorrow night's game... you guessed it... HUGE.

- Yes it isn't just you... those draft beers at the HSBC do pack a wallop. Damn!

- No Blue Pres and Red VP on West Wing last night! I gotta say, I was worried.

It's still a fantasy, but not that big a fantasy.

- Oy vey with the Brokeback Mobster in love on The Sopranos. Gay motorcycle riding firemen. You gotta love it. AJ's panic attacks are also hilarious.

- FIFA World Cup 2006 for PS2 is the shit. Trickier than FIFA 2006 with way trippier graphics and even more intense gameplay. Yowza, And I gotta say that you really have to respect the US team for even qualifying for the World Cup based on the paces the game is putting me through to get the US into the actual tournement. 147 teams vying for 32 spots. Jesus.

- If it's FIFA's plan to turn me into a soccer nut thanks to FIFA 2006 they friggin succeeded. If the plan was to get me Copa Mundial crazy they've succeeded, and with this game that crazy just might get worse.

- How dare the AP omit Glen Ford's legendary turn as Pa Kent in the 1978 Superman movie from their article celebrating his 90th birthday. Disgraceful.

Go Sabres.

In Brief

The home computer is pretty frelled up at this point so blogging is going to be depressingly infrequent over the next few days and I'm at work so I'll be muy brief:

- Last night's Office was brilliant, again- a classic study of faux authority figures, hypocrisy, and complex office mores and relationships. Smallville however just kicked ass.

- I just can't get enough of this story. I just hope that book wasn't quasi-autobiographical because that would be mean this kid not only plagiarized her book but that she also plagiarized her life.

- Tonight, Game 4. Prepare yourselves people!

- Tomorrow at 9 EST: Tim Karr from FreePress.org on the WNY Progress Report, 1270 AM.

On The Fly...

- Sabres lost last night 3-2. Not the end of the world. Keep your shirts on naysayers, and to the faithful I say "keep the faith!" Tomorrow is another day.

- Barcelona FC beat AC Milan yesterday and will face Arsenal FC in Paris on May 17 in the Champions League Finals. On ESPN2. Live. This is huge. Awesome.

- I am starting a music club for Lefties. Stay tuned for the first selection...

- The new Doctor Who is the bomb. Fun, witty, sharp, and Billie Piper is a real find- ethereal yet grounded and real. You gotta love the BBC.

Workin' Mojo

Tomorrow afternoon around 13:30 EST I will have to bend some of my mojo over the Atlantic Ocean and to the Nou Camp in Barcelona FC takes on AC Milan in the do or die second leg of the Champions League semi-finals. This is big shit and I gotta do my part. Barca's gotta do it- the roommate has already put a jinx on Arsenal (today's winner in the other semi finals series) by declaring them "the Champions," a total violation of the rules that will haunt him because that is the way it works. Trust me on this.

And tomorrow night: GAME 3. Yes! People get ready to bend your mojo to Philly, I'm talking about serious karmic re allignment for the greater good of WNY here. Serious business.

Focus, we can do it!

I have tried to like folk music but other than the occasional folk number interspersed with some rock I tend to avoid it. Don't get me wrong, I respect folk music- I respect it like I respect the union folks who've gone before me, and I've tried the Dylan but frankly, in the end I like him electric. I am a product of the 70's and 80's. I like riffs and keyboards and weird sounds and I like the feel the music. That said I love the new Springsteen album. It's alive, it's old and new simultaneously, and it comes from the heart. It conjures an America when people came together to kick it out: of smokey dancehalls and barns and buses or trains of people heading somewhere to fight something unjust, and a little like those Martin Luther King Day assemblies we had back in school. It's an album about people and stories and people overcoming shit and it's the album for this moment in our history because it is our history. It's good for stomping yer feet and I bet it's good on a picket line.

A Good Day

It's late and I am lazy.

From the WNY Progress Report blog:


Humrocked
April 24th, 2006 at 4:32 pm by Cliff

Al Franken’s live broadcast today from Ani DiFranco’s Church on Delaware humrocked the WNY Progress Report. 3 hours of the man hisself plus an autograph in my book and a picture. It was great, and for the folks from the WNY Progress Report who shared in the experience I love you guys.

Many thanks Al.

Of particular note: Al’s interviews with Eyal Press, author of Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict that Divided America, and Tom Davis as Scott Norwood, both of which called to mind lesser moments in Buffalo’s recent history. The Buffalo flavor of the show was great, and much appreciated as well.

The new issue of Rolling Stone humrocked El Presidente, and there ain’t a damn thing they can do about it because it is all categorically true.

UPDATE:I just can’t do another Bush post- the Sabres game is going to be on soon, but this HAD to be added- the spector (specter?) of Jack Abramoff strikes… La Casa Blanca!!
Go Sabres.




Yes Buffalo, You Saw That Right…
April 24th, 2006 at 6:41 pm by Cliff

… a commercial to promote “prosperity” by the Seneca Gaming Corporation during the Sabres game. That we don’t need.

Oh yeah, and that 4-0 score isn’t a dream either. Holy mackeral! A benchclearing brawl! The Flyers goalie’s gone nuts!



And then it ended 8-2. There's a wind blowing in the NHL and it's saying "BUFFALO."


And 24 was excellent again; tense and dangerous with a few zags left before it wraps up. Plus it's a bonafide Robocop convention with a guest turn by the dude who gets hit with the toxic waste and explodes when he got hit by the truck at the end.

Sam Seaborn returns to The West Wing and power begins to change hands. What a feast these last episodes have been... almost Sorkin-esque, and the end was wundebar. I think I used wundebar the other day but longtime WW fans know what I am talking about. I'm a softy like that.

Of course the Republican VP bit on next week's show looks like pure fantasy, a sot to an imaginary middle of the road that doesn't exist at this point. Not with these right wing nuts at least. We've got to put the breaks on these guys pronto.

That commerical for Flight 93 featuring a discussion with director Paul Greengrass is the weirdest commercial I have ever seen, and it might well be the most effective. The discussion for you folks: is it a manipulation to sell a controversial movie or a geniune and sincere attempt to sell a controversial film on it's potential merits? I'm leaning toward the former based on the positive early buzz and the fact that like Dark said the other day it is history that we should not forget. Also, as a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT I will certainly appreciate the fact that the film will refocus us on our proper foe/target, Osama Mutherfucking Bin Laden, who's still running around free as a fucking bird thank you very much. I just had to say it.

Oh yeah- THE STANLEY CUP, Le Coup Stanley, is out out Eastern Hills Mall, and tomorrow night is GAME 2. Game on. And OLN's broadcasting of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada Playoff feed is much appreciated. There's just something musical about the HNIC play by play and knowing color commentary. Nobody trumps Jeanneret but I'm just saying.

Wasted, or, "My Fucking Arm!"

People who know will know why, but suffice it to say I am wasted, and that will color my shit tonight.

The Simpsons was a classic throwaway that strangely enough featured Captain McAllister (proof that the show is in it's 16th season). Homer the Drunk gets the Pilgrims to America so "fundamentalist Christians can take over the country by the 21st Century," Bart mutinies against Skinner in a brilliant Mutiny on the Bounty bit that's immortalized Weezer forever and got me off my seat to dance, and the Poseiden Adventure just might have ruined that new remake for me with all the 70's disaster movie cliches and Homer J. in a fro.

The Sopranos was an otherworldly experience. America's decadence displayed. Cold hearted violence. Ben Kingsley running afoul of the Sopranosverse and reduced to saying "FUCK!" Christopher going off the wagon and punching Lauren Bacall in the face. Artie Bucco's moral universe destroyed and rebuilt by his art. The cold reality that the American century is over.

I really like the surround sound "God Only Knows" that kicks off Big Love. That album really needs to be remastered by Brian on DVD right away.

The Buffalo News really cornholed the proud radio station that the WNY Progess Report is honored to be on by misstating the stations goddamned frequency in the third paragraph. Yes, it's even fucked up online. Minga. It's 1270 jackasses! 1270! Now was that intentional or are they just incompetent.

And... Al Franken live in Buffalo, broadcast to the world, from Buffalo, tomorrow afternoon. A full eyewitness report will follow.

A Clip Show Has Jumped The Shark

Alas, Best Week Ever officially sucks. It just ain't funny (that "actor/comedian" label has alas been used too too liberally), and frankly it's softball approach to skewering our popular culture has been compromised or at least watered down to better fit the cultural vacuum that VH1 so totally covets. I will say however that those VW commercials with the car crashes are getting on my nerves- I just don't like car companies fucking with me through my deep seated fear of getting fucked up driving in my car, and OK, watching Cindy Margolis cook in slow motion (those babies are real!)* was pretty cool.

But it just ain't funny anymore.


* Thank you TiVO.

Quick Disjointed Thoughts About Hockey

The huge throngs of people working their way to the arena 45 minutes before game time. The fans who bust out in song and or cheering in hallways, on the escalators, and in the bathroom for no reason other than it's the playoffs. HUGE LINES for the bathroom. The "BULLSHIT!" chant. The pure energy in the building created by a full house. Honking your horn "Let's Go Buffalo!" in the parking ramp and in the streets of downtown Buffalo. This is Sabres playoff hockey.

OOH AH SABRES ON THE WARPATH! Daniel Briere and Ryan Miller saved our bacon. Mike Greer is an unsung hero- the unquantifiable X-Factor who's grit and unquenchable spirit made and makes the difference. Ludman should be scratched for the rest of the playoffs, his performance tonight, his continued efforts TO GIVE THE GAME AWAY was an absolute travesty. Thos refs fucking sucked balls: 3 times Hitchcock got away with having 7 guys on the ice, that was a clean hit, and they couldn't even handle the icing calls. And that was the best check I have ever seen. Campbell KILLED that dude and it was clean as hell. 2 overtime periods is 2 too many- exciting as hell but just as stressful. I cannot wait for Monday.

Steve Responds

I was just informed by Steve that I misquoted him regarding Star Wars: Steve says he still likes the originals, just not the prequels; also, Steve says he is still strong with the Force. OK. I'll be cool and post it because that is what I do- however I recall Steve making derisive comments about Star Wars period, and to me and George Lucas that means I - VI. Steve has also indicated that he will be responding in greater length and detail at some point in the future and I certainly welcome it cuz he's still got some 'splainin' to do.

Oh yeah, free Hip show 6/16 in Pittsburgh. I smell a road trip, especially considering Artpark sold out for the 6/17 Hip spectacular.

Fireworks

Less than 2 hours to game time. We're leaving here momentarily to meet some folks and drink some beers down at the HSBC because I want to, I have to be in my seats and ready to rock at 7:00 PM.

No greasy food down at the arena... no fucking pom poms... to tie up these clapping hands* because they are ready to clap for the Sabres.

Let's go.


* Cups of beer of course can be safely placed on the floor under the seats and I usually only drink when the puck is in the ref's hands anyway.

????????????

JJ Abrams (Alias, Lost)... is doing the next Star Trek movie?!? All I can say is: BEWARE THE WUNDERKINDS. Lost by it's very nature is precariously balanced between genius/crap, which means it's still up in the air which it is, and M.I.3 ain't even out yet and Paramount is lobbing Trek at them? Danger.

Balls

For the record: Bill Maher's views on the Democratic Party as espoused on tonight's Real Time are my current views on the Democratic Party.

No balls. No glory. Find your balls and doors will open.

You've Got The Power In There (Again)

Click on this link, click on the colorful picture, and tell those beautiful people at the Albright Knox you want The Flaming Lips to play Rockin' At The Knox.

Dorks!

Teenage boys... plotting to shoot up their high school jackass style... on 4/20?!?

This is why teenage boys should be encouraged to smoke dope... to keep them off this retarded shit and docile. Now their lives are REALLY fucked.