Nightwing

I'm a Wings fan, but I'm also a goalie and have a lot of respect for St. Patrick. In my opinion, Roy is the better goalie by a long shot. Era matters, like Czech has said, but the playoff stats say a lot more. 4 Cups to 3, a record 3 Conn Smythe Trophies (Only 4 players have 2), and nearly sixty more playoff wins with only twenty more playoff losses. If I have to chose one of these guys, I chose Roy without even thinking about it. I'd probably rank Roy 5th on my list. He's behind (in no particular order) Roy, Hasek, Sawchuck, and Dryden. I don't see that being a hit against him, since he's still one of the greatest of all time, but he's never in my conversation for the greatest.

Adapt the football playoff system: Top two division winners get byes in each conference. That way you only get 12 teams and eliminate the old "1 stomps 8" seed that is common in the NBA. Plus, it gives a good reward for the top two seeds.

I'm fairly sure he changed it because most people wouldn't understand that Robert Redford = Movie Star, just like Ronald Reagan. Though, again, unless Reagan was magically de-aged, the new line makes even less sense in the context of things.

To be fair, the Wings were really dominating the better part of this game. They may have been down, but for the amount of shots they were getting on goal, they were going to win that game. Give credit to the Flyers for perhaps not coming out with the best effort, but making it a damn close game, right up until the end. I'll still pick them to go to the Eastern Conference Finals over most teams.

Great win tonight in Philly. The Wings dominated, and managed to fight back like they should while down 2-0. Team defense looked a lot better; sticks in the passing lanes, physical play and good backchecking. Easily my favorite play, though, was Ericsson's delay before passing it to Zetterberg. Excellent vision and patience for a young defenseman. Great to see that he's playing like he really wants a playoff roster spot.

Oh God, yes. This is the worst part of the NBA playoffs. If you adopted the "Play every other day"-style of playoff that the NHL practices, you could do a best 4 of 7 series and not have it be unbearable. It's not the length of series that is the problem as much as the baffling 3-4 day wait between games.

Brodeur is cutting the net off his record-breaking goal. Actually pretty cool, even though I'm not a fan of the guy.

You know, I'm fairly sure you'd get beat up in college and professional hockey if you were that much of a fucking bitch. Christ, you can cry, but don't act like a fucking toddler.

The NBA, like the NHL, should just declare the Southeast as a deadzone (outside of perhaps Florida) for their business. College sports and the NFL rule the day down there, and they just aren't going to make a dent in that.

Their D was solid today. They were back-checking well and the defense wasn't giving up the blue line like they were in that Calgary comeback. Ericsson is definitely a stud in the making.

The Piston's "100% Attendance" is easily the biggest joke on that list...

My problem isn't that it wasn't a live action comic book. Hardly. It's that Zack Snyder completely missed the true focus of what Watchmen was about, and it showed. I came in expecting something much grittier, focusing on the characters and their motivations. Instead, Snyder threw away time on a bunch of fancy Kung Fu fighting that goes everything he tried establishing with these characters. I'll point to the best example: When Rorschach jumped out of the window in the book, he injured himself and was just shit-kicked by the police. It made sense because he's only a regular guy: he's not a god-like fighter, he's simply a sociopath with some street-fighting skill. In the movie, he goes off and starts break-dance fighting and shit. Same thing with the Nite Owl and Silk Spectre in the prison, the Comedian/Ozymandias fight, and a bunch of other things. Did we really need a horrible sex scene in Archie when Moore dedicated all of maybe two panels to it? Could it have been better used to flesh out a character's background? Probably, and that's why I didn't like it. The focus is shifted from the characters to something which really isn't important in the long run (And is incredibly awkward on the big scene) when it could have been used elsewhere. People have also noted the inappropriate cinematography ("Why does Zach Snyder film an Alan Moore action scene like a Frank Miller one?"), and I completely agree with that. Even outside of it being an adaptation, I still probably wouldn't like it. After getting spoiled with such solid efforts like Iron Man and The Dark Knight, this comes off as pretty bad in comparison.

Eh, he wasn't right, though. He didn't create a lasting peace, just one built on a lie that could be destroyed just as easily. In the end, after what Jon says you can see the doubt on his face. Heck, the Black Freighter practically confirms that he's wrong, and that for all his sacrifices, he failed in his original goal and only succeeded in damning himself. Sure, I wouldn't normally call him a "villain" (Though he certainly comes off as such in the movie), but I can't say he's right.

Alright, I broke down and watched it because a friend wanted me to give an honest opinion, so here's mine: 1) This might be the "most faithful adaptation of a comic book story ever", but that's only because there are so few individual stories that are redone. Also, I'd stress the "might", because I think comic book movies like Superman and Spider-Man capture the characters and their overall story much, much better than this movie did. 2) Did anyone else cringe every time an action scene came up? This was supposed to be a gritty, realistic story; the characters (outside of Manhattan and Ozymandias) are supposed to be regular people who are set apart not by "SUPERHUMAN SKILLZ" but by their personalities (and/or personality disorders). For example, I was okay with how Rorschach fought off the SWAT guys initially. Not a lot of big changes, and for the most part it's actually feasible for who he was. But when he jumps out the window, it lost me: the fucking break-dance-fight took me out of the illusion completely. In the book, he hurts himself and gets beat-up by the police, which completely makes sense for someone who is no different from a regular person outside of his extreme personality. Same thing with the opening fight: Okay, I could see the Comedian fighting a little bit... but it just got ridiculous. Bullet-dodging, wall-smashing, knife-catching stupidity. It doesn't help that he makes everyone use the same, ultra-fast ultra-stiff martial arts style. It all looked choreographed, and didn't feel natural at all. This goes for just about every fight scene. 3) Stemming from the fight scenes, the stuff Synder added was really horrible. Fight scenes which did nothing but waste time and set these people up as superhuman (which they're not supposed to be). The baffling Lee Iaccoca scene which makes no sense if you take into account that Synder showed the "Obsolete Models A Specialty" sign at Hollis' shop. Synder's weird obsession with Richard Nixon (As Left as Moore gets, he portrayed Nixon a heckuva lot better than Synder did), and stupid mistake on saying Ronald Reagan instead of Robert Redford. Hell, Reagan would be HOW old in 88? And the sex scene was easily one of the most embarrassing things known to man. I have no clue why it needed to be filmed, and I'm pretty sure I'd have been better off not seeing it. The things he changed came off as baffling, really. I thought having Ozy conducting the "Crimebusters" meeting made it way too obvious it was him as the villain. I always liked Captain Metropolis' map and how he wanted to go back to the old days without realizing how things had passed him by and how things had changed. Not really showing Rorschach's origin was also weird; I'm sure if he had taken out most of that horrible sex scene and pulled back some of the action scenes, you could have fit most of it in. His story doesn't make as much sense when you don't realize that he wasn't always this fucked up, and that he had been somewhat normal (look at how he talks at the Crimebusters meeting in the book) before this happened. Plus, no burning the guy alive? We show guys getting their arms cut off, bones poking out through the skin, show a guy in the prison riot being set on fire... but you change it to him just hacking him with a meat cleaver? What a weird change. Also: When did the original Silk Spectre stop being a Polish city girl and turn into a Southern Belle? Her portrayal seemed all wrong... 4) Holy Christ, the acting. Talk about a mixed bag. Jack Earl Halley did an excellent performance capturing the intensity of Rorschach (My favorite scene is watching him almost freak out when he realizes that he's been trapped by the police. It didn't come off as "He's acting", but it looked like he was really panicking...), and I liked his delivery of Rorschach's final moments. Bill Crudup was okay as Osterman, but I thought he could have been a little louder or deeper with his voice. He was just too soft-spoken at times, and it didn't fit the scenes. Morgan was good as the Comedian, and I really can't say much more on that. Same with Wilson, who got the awkwardness of Dan Dreiberg down well enough as the script permitted (You know, when he's not using his super-action Kung Fu). On the other end, Veidt was horrible. Goode was completely miscast: the way he plays Adrian, he makes the character completely devoid of charisma. I always felt that Veidt might have been distant, but always civil and trying to be nice in the book throughout his appearances. Sure, he makes a few funny remarks ("blotting out reality"), but he never came off as the condescending piece of shit that Goode played him as. With Goode, I felt I was always looking at the villain, and not just because I already knew he was; it was because Synder and Goode were completely telegraphing it to me. Really, Jude Law should have been Veidt, and it's sad that he didn't get it; the movie certainly suffered for it. Malin Åkerman really can't act. I didn't like her in any scene, and she always came off as stilted. I totally didn't buy her in anything. 5) It felt way too much like 300. The painted feel of things didn't work at all. Yes, it's a comic book, but Moore wasn't trying to make it actively feel like a comic book. I thought if they had gone for a more gritty and realistic feel it would have come off better. Overall, I'd say a 1.5 out of 5. This isn't Watchmen as much as it's how Zack Synder remembers Watchmen, which is similar to how Frank Miller remembers The 300 Spartans. It misses the subtle points and plots of Moore's original and chooses to focus on how awesome he thought superheroes were. Avoid it and spend the money on picking up the graphic novel.

- I've come around to the idea of just wins and losses. At the very least, it's better than rewarding "OT Losses". - Fighting should stay in. It's an accepted part of the game, and it's not like there isn't a sort of "code" amongst fighters. Banning it because others leagues have is foolish, because it's never been a true part of their game. Frankly, I find the fighting keeps cheap shots down when allowed. - Take out the trapezoid. Not every goalie is Martin Brodeur. There are plenty of Arturs Irbes and Dominic Haseks that make every move out of the crease an adventure (read: Moment of Heart-stopping terror) for their fans. It hasn't worked in the slightest.

Is Obama's presidency going to be a giant game of Paranoia for the GOP?

I think this is a calculated move by Gingrich. After watching the embarrassing apologies that have come out recently, I think the period of "accidentally" talking bad about Rush is over. He's doing this to not only look like he has a pair, but trying to gain some support from the Independents who abandoned the Republican Party this last election period. He also has the benefit of not being an active Republican politician during the Bush Administration.

He'll probably say she's going along with it because Obama's black. I mean, that's the reason he seems to use with everything nowadays.

Can we get a Marvin-style Ban Plan here? Seriously, either this is trolling or ridiculous stupidity. How can you say nothing as "twisted" as some guy melting in Robocop compared to the ending of the Watchmen book? You are the Marvin/Damaramu of the Movies/Television Folder. I can say no more.

That's only half as good as Stephen Colbert's Doombunker.

So how about that Michael Dukakis?

A fairly quiet deadline day, though not as dull as the NBA's. A lot of depth moves. Did your team come out a winner? And was anyone surprised that certain moves weren't made?

cabbageboy... QUICK, CHANGE THE CHANNEL! I'm convinced you have no fucking clue what you are talking about. While I agree with the actor perhaps not being up to snuff, your reasoning there is beyond stupid.

You can't grade Mortal Kombat that badly. It's essentially a super-powered remake of Enter the Dragon with the video game characters (And really, wasn't that what the video game was supposed to be, anyways?). I felt it was enjoyable, if pretty simple.

I can't remember where, but he's mentioned it before. He's said it's the best rendition of one of his stories on film. That could be taken as a backhanded compliment, but the episode was really well done, so I think he actually meant it for the best.