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Thoughts on Nordiques + Summer Movies |
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Today saw the possible reintroduction of the Quebec Nordiques into the NHL fold as Quebecer, a Montreal based communications/media company, applied to the NHL for an expansion franchise.
Personally, I think this is great news. I see no reason why the NHL cannot support two more teams and it is excellent that another Canadian team may be added.
I still think it sucks that the Nordiques were ever allowed to move in the first place and if the NHL is expanding, then I think Quebec City ought to be their first destination. And, with a brand new 18, 000 seat arena, it might really happen.
Or it might not. Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. Whether the NHL is going to go with Quebec or whether it's a financially viable option, I have no idea. I think arguments can be made either way, but the viability of the franchise isn't my concern - I just think it's cool.
In my opinion, the more Canadian teams the better. Plus, they essentially have the best uniforms in the league, so here's hoping they don't do what the Jets did and replace an awesome and classic logo with a giant piece of crap.
The award for worst logo in professional sports - non-racist division - definitely goes to the new Jets logo. Although, to be fair, I was pretty attached to the old one, so I don't know if it is truly awful or I just hate it because it's new.
Pros for bringing back the Nordiques would be that they have a built-in fanbase, Quebec is probably the most hockey-mad place in the entire world, an instant rivalry with the league's most storied team and a most likely more merch sales than a normal expansion team could bring in (because of the pre-existing market and the awesomeness of the jerseys).
Cons would be that Quebec City already lost it's team and the low Canadian dollar.
To that I say who cares? The dollar is down, but it will go back up, as it always does (I assume, maybe Canada is the new Greece? I ain't no economist) and Quebec City may only have a half a million people, but the province of Quebec has 8 million, so I would say complaining about the population of the city proper is like complaining that Glendale or Kanata don't have big enough populations.
Anyways, I am sure everyone has their own theories and whatnot, I just hope it happens.
As for the second franchise, I say nuts to Las Vegas: BRING BACK THE WHALE!
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Summer Movie Fest
Since there's no hockey and most of the shows I'd watch are off in the summer, we tend to watch a lot of movies. Even though I definitely watch too many movies, yesterday I did something I've never done before in my life: I went to the theatre twice in one day.
Usually I don't ever go to the theater - I take my daughter when new Marvel movies come out, and that's about it - it's too expensive and I hate price gouging, which is the specialty of the Cineplex movie company.
So, since there was a new one of those, I took my daughter yesterday to see the Ant Man. While most people who watch as many movies as I do seem to have a distinct need to see great acting and character development, all I care about is a) is it fun? and b) does a lot of crap blow-up?
I don't ever want to watch serious movies - if it wins an Oscar it probably sucks is my basic philosophy. So, I knew going in that I would love Ant Man and I did. So did my daughter.
I don't know if I could say it was better than Avengers 2 or Thor 2, but it was just as good. Explosions, Ant Men, call backs to other Marvel films - what more do you want?
The only thing that could have made it better was a cameo from Riggs and Murtaugh.
After viewing the Ant Man My wife and I went for dinner and a movie - a rare night on the town.
Things got off to an inauspicious start when my wife dressed beautifully in a nice new dress and did her hair and all that and I showed up in a classic jeans/hoodie combo.
Also, I made us late due to a refusal to view the nine minutes of horrible Ciniplex trivia and commercials. Unfortunately my reasoning that a chick-flick would not be crowded because it was Sunday and nice out proved unfounded - we got there just in time for the previews (good) but had to sit in the second row (bad).
The movie we saw was called Trainwreck which my wife chose after vetoing the new Terminator movie. While this did not lead to me learning why a terminator can age, I did enjoy the hilarious comedy romp.
Would it have been better if there was some sort of ant-man in it? Of course, but for a movie featuring zero explosions, I have to say it was allright. I would have improved it by casting Nick Cage in the lead, but that is just me.
After the movie it was apparent I had erred again. I had previously insisted that we go to the early show so that my wife could avoid falling asleep during the late show but I did not account for the fact that it was Sunday night, which meant that our 10:30 PM dining options were extremely limited.
We ended up at a place called Jack Astors which, the name pretty much describes the kind of place it is. Horrendous decor, music that makes you want to punch something and all the charm of a frat house. Basically, it's the restaurant the makers of Old Navy commercials would design.
To put this place in perspective: There was a picture hanging from the wall by our table that had eight people on the deck of a boat approaching an ice-berg and taking a picture. The caption read "World's First Selfie." Now, just the use of that word in a public space is enough to revolt you, but then you realize it's a picture of the Titanic just before it sinks.
The tastelessness of the joke is approached only by that of the food. We brought this up with our waiter (personal preference here, but I hate getting male waiters) and then I made a joke so inappropriate I can't describe it here. Suffice it to say that my wife didn't even give me the courtesy laugh, but instead just buried her head in her hands. There was an intense award silence and the waiter was like "so uh, I'll be right back with those drink orders."
It could have ruined the night, but Crystal was able to overcome her embarrassment and we had a great time mocking the world's tackiest restaurant.
In conclusion: Ant Man good, maybe even great. Trainwreck funny, but in need of Cage. The Restaurant: At least it was open.
Thanks for reading.
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