Yeah, with all the craziness that has been work, Otakon, Wedding, and life in general, I pulled a total dick move.

Allow me to rectify it here.

Happy 30th Birthday to my best friend, Trav a.k.a. worlds_unseen.

Dude, I'll call you this evening if you're free.

Also, happy birthday to Nicky who happens to also share Trav's birthday as well.

I'm a douche.

...rubbing it in everyone elses' faces.




Yeah, I think I'm allowed a moment of total douchery. I promise to not make it any more of a habit than my regular brand of douchery.

If you missed this one, shame on you for 6 weeks... no, scratch that, 6 YEARS.

If you're heart didn't skip beats at least once, you're either A.) Dead or B.) Chuck Norris.

For those who still don't believe it actually happened and it might have been possibly some sort of group hallucination, here's the down and dirty...



As I said just a few days ago. Game Sevens are weird. You never know who was going to stand up and say "This is MY TIME. I will become an Immortal tonight." Everyone expects the superstars to do it, time and again. Sometimes they do. Sometimes, they fall short. Sometimes, however, it's that guy... the guy you had a inkling might one day be THAT Guy, but you never honestly believed it would really happen.

Honestly, folks. Did you REALLY expect THIS man...



...to be the hero in Detroit for not one but TWO straight years?

Max, forget superstar treatment. With this, expect to get LEGEND treatment from A & L Motors as well as every man, woman, and child in the Burgh.

Back in February, I said I was still keeping the faith. When they were down 3 games to 2, I said that until someone was awarded 35 lbs of Silver, I wasn't conceding shit.

I've watched this team when Mario was making guys like Warren Young into productive players.

I've watched this team lose heart breakers in Philly.

I've watched Mario and Jamir and Ron and Troy and Phil and Tommy win Back to Back Cups.

I've watched F'n Volek deny the world of Mario Vs. Gretzky in '93.

I've watched those damn Rat throwing bastards in Florida deny Mario his third.

I've watched as Mario put down the sweater and put on the suit to save the Franchise again.

I watched as he put the sweater back on over the suit to lead this team again.

I've watched Marty Broduer deny Mario his third in between snacking on a glazed Ham.

I've watched Mario bang his head trying to do right by his team while bureaucrats twiddled their thumbs.

I've watched Eddie O try to will guys like Ramzi Abid, Dick Tarnstrom, Konstantine Kolstov, and Kris Beech to something above mediocrity.

I've watched as a gambling board did everything short of backing up the Mayflower Truck in trying to force the Pens out.

I've watched as a lottery Ball failed to bounce our way and we ended up with the "consolation prize" in 2004 - Geno Malkin.

I've watched when the ball bounced our way when it was needed most and Sid came to our city, carrying with him not only the weight of a franchise, not only the weight of the entire league, but the weight that the very sport of Hockey in Pittsburgh might not survive lest he personally saved it.

I've watched this team return to where it hadn't been in 4 seasons, the post season.

I've watched this team make a ahead of schedule run to the Cup, only to watch their foes skate on OUR ice with that treasured trophy.

I've watched as Hossa walked away, but not before flipping the team off on his way out the door.

I've watched as this team sat in 10th place in February, with a new coach with no NHL experience, and looking like it was another victim of the runners-up curse.

And last night, I watched as Flower bloomed, Max proved he was a superstar, Geno showing who the REAL MVP was, and Sid showing that sometimes a leader has to sit back and let the others carry the load.

I wouldn't trade one god damned second of any of that time for Detroit's 11 Cups, Montreal's 25 Cups, or even a 100 straight Cups.

Because it was all those experiences that make this team special. It was all those experiences that make this franchise special.

YES YOU DID.

THANK YOU.

That'll do, Pens. That'll do.

Remember everything I told you guys about Game Sevens? Yeah, multiply that by about 15 million.

All game sevens are weird. Sometimes the best team wins. Sometimes the luckier team flukes one. Sometimes, the game's brightest stars shine and sometimes, it's the most underwhelming personalities that make their mark...

Kasparitis
Volek
Bream
Fedotenko
Mazeroski

Game sevens turn the unknown into legends. Both the good kind and the bad.

But in the end, all that matters is the W. We gots 15. They gots 15. You don't get #16 and the other 15 were just an excruciating exercise in futility.

Lord help me survive Friday night.

Now, all the conspiracy theorists out there, they'll fill your heads with tin-foil hat fantasies of a secret league conspiracy to fix this entire season for the Penguins. After all, Crosby is the chosen one and Bettman is in hot, hot man love with him.

Those theorists also believe 911 was an inside job, Elves live in the sewers of New York City, and that PopRocks and Coke killed Mikey from Life Cereal.

In other words, it's bullshit.

Both teams have gotten their share of favorable and unfavorable calls from the refs and both teams have had things happen to them that would imply some grand conspiracy.

Those things are called coincidences. But then again if you look at something long enough expecting to see something, you probably will.

Their biggest argument as to why the league wants the Pens to win is because it's the Better Story. It plays better on TV. It's like some great movie script.

They're right about one thing, actually. It IS like a movie script. Just not like the ones their thinking of.

No, this is not like some sports movie script. Those are the highest form of cliched tripe. The script that this season is like is much, MUCH better...

The movie this season most resembles? Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. HowevAH, this movie is called...



Playing the role of Michael Corleone is your Pittsburgh Penguins. Young, smart, and yes, handsome. Thrust into the center of the story by a series of fated twists and turns, forced to be the 'face team' of the league when all they wanted was to just play hockey.

His opposition? None other than the rest of the infamous 5 families played to perfection by the Philly Flyers, Washington Caps, and Detroit Red Wings.

But the story's similarities don't end there. Not by a long shot.

Playing the role of Sonny Corleone is Iron Mike Therrien. Thrust into leadership because the circumstances demanded it, ultimately his personality was not what the family needed and eventually he ended up whacked.

Playing the role of Tom Hagen is former defenseman Ryan Whitney. Whits was a loyal member of the family, but he was never respected by the other families and while he did his job well, ultimately he was pushed out by Michael because he was not a wartime consigliere.

The poor Carolina Hurricanes. They are Moe Green. It was really hard to hate them like the other teams so far. There just wasn't the history. Ultimately, the only reason they were whacked was simply because they were in the way. Nothing personal, just business.

Playing the rolls of Clemenza and Tessio are none other than Bill Cowher and Jim Leyland. Associates of the family, that both had things to benefit from if they joined with the Corleone's enemies. While Tessio (Cowher) had every reason to stay loyal, he ultimately got in bed with the enemy, while Clemenza(Leyland) who would most likely be the traitor was loyal to the family, or at least more loyal than Tessio.

and finally, there's Marion Hossa. He's Carlo Rizzi. Michael's rat-faced Brother-in-law who lucked ass-backwards into the family. But when times got tough, he sold out the family in hopes of getting a better deal from his enemies.

In the end, Michael gets his revenge on ALL his enemies. The heads of the other four families end up whacked and their families left powerless. Moe Green gets a bullet in the eye. Tessio gets an bullet off-screen and Carlo ends up dead in a car.

That's the perfect ending.

But that only happens one way.

The Pens win Game Seven on Friday night.

Friday night, the Penguins settle all outstanding Corleone Family business.

DO IT.

YES WE WILL.

If there was ever a word for this game, it would HEARTATTACKARIFIC.

Right now, my arm hurts, I'm tasting copper, and I just had a nice conversation with Grandma.

I can't talk about Game 7 right now. I will, no worries.

but right now, I gotta head to the hospital...

...or the bar...

...whichever I pass first on the way.

Srsly folks.

I didn't throw the team under the bus when they were in 10th place, just fired the coach, and were looking to drafting in the top 15.

I didn't throw them under the bus when they dropped the first two to the Caps and Ovechmutant.

I didn't even bother to post a rationalization or try to rally the troops when they dropped the first 2 in Detroit and were looking to vomit all over themselves like they did last year.

If you think I'm gonna be looking for a bridge to jump off of while throwing them under the bus now, then where the fuck have you been?

If you're jumping ship now, go ahead and drown like a rat. You're the worst kind of bandwagoning frontrunner trash a fanbase can have.

Me? Until I see someone skating around with 35 lbs of silver, I ain't conceding shit to nobody.

You still need four. They only got three. Disco is gonna set these boys straight and Tuesday will be a reminder that no matter how many times this squad looked to be out, they kept firing shots until they run out of bullets... and then they use the guns as clubs.

This team only has 2 goals right now.

Game 6.

Game 7.

DO IT.

YES WE CAN WILL.

Last year, I could deal with the Flightless Birds losing in 6 to the Red Wings. The whole run was a surprise, one that many thought was a few years ahead of schedule. They were young and they had never played on that big of a stage before. The Red Wings were the savvy vets and they looked it.

That was last year.

This year, I am not as accepting of a defeat, especially not at the hands of them.

Last year was a hard lesson. Lesson learned. Brush self off, start again.

I want a win, if fact I want 4 of them. I want a third Cup.

I'm not going to rant and rave about how much a large portion of their fanbase royally annoys the hell out of me. I'm not going to type a dissertation to point out some blatant hypocrisy that has been regurgitated my way the last 2 years. That will be for another time.

No matter what happens, someone is gonna bitch. Someone is gonna cry conspiracy, etc. etc. etc. It's the internet. That's to be expected. It's full of fail.

Whatev.

That's not what is gonna affect what happens on the ice. The players will do that.

I believe the Penguins have better players who will play better than the Red Wings at this point in time.

The Wings got Marion Hossa this year. Good for them.

The Pens got the 3 I's.




Play Hard. Play Honest. Play Smart.

Win Four.

Raise the Cup.

DO IT.

This will not be a cakewalk. This will not be a sweep. These are two teams that are both headed for a collision and there may not end up with a winner. Only a survivor. - Some dumbass, 16 May 2009 @ 08:19 pm

Okay, so I either extremely overestimated the abilities of the Canes...

...Or I extremely underestimated the power of the teachings of the this man:



The 3 I's beats a Class 5 any day of the week, my friends.

I don't care who we play next. I don't care about favorable match-ups, or revenge, or whatever bullshit storyline they'll come up with to sell commercial time on NBC.

I only care about one thing in regards to the next series.

Win Four More.

Bring Home Lord Stanley.

Oh, and hey Nicky...

DO IT.

[Edit: 11:22 PM]

Okay, yeah, one last thing. Before we even get to the next series, let's all enjoy this one a little.

Wooooooooooooo!

A weird thought dawned to me today. Looking at the calender, I realized that this month marks 15 years I've been an anime/manga fan.

15 years. Quite literally, half my life.

And in those 15 years, the fandom has changed so much and I guessed I've changed with it. Frankly, I cycled around almost as many times as a Pens power play.

Things I still remember...

"Japanimation"
VHS
Dubs vs. Subs
Carl Macek
P-Anime
Sci-Fi Channel's annual animation festival
Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday Anime
Apollo Smile
Ani-Mayhem
Mixx-zine
Ippon Bang
Son May & EverAnime
Studio Ironcat
Crystal City Hyatt Regency

The industry has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years too.

It used to be that a series in Japan wouldn't see a VHS release in the states until at least 1-2 years had passed and then the release schedule would be over the range of several months/years.

Now, with the advent of BitTorrent, peer-2-peer, DVD, etc. - series are seeing DVD box sets released within a few months of a show's Japanese run. Hell, some series now are being released simultaneously online as they air episodes in Japan.

Hell, if you brought up such notions 15, hell, even 10 years ago, you'd be laughed at.

The times, they are a changing.

But, that's neither here nor there. This is introspection with a heavy dose of celebration.

The fandom has been good to me despite occasional run-ins with the seamier underbelly of it. For every negative thing that's ever happened to me because of the fandom, I can think of at least 10 things that were good.

The bestest thing being the people I've met directly and peripherally through the fandom, including 2 guys whom I consider amongst my closest and best friends and a pretty damn incredible woman whom I just happen to be madly in love with.

So, for all the talk of being the "Grizzled Old Otaku," I still do enjoy it for what it is. Cartoons from Japan with weird interesting characters/situations/places/etc.

So, with that thought, I wanted to share some of my favorite titles that's I've come across the last 15 years. I remember something like this a few years back, but this isn't so much a top ten list, but more of just a random sampling of some of the stuff I've dug and think you might like too...




El-Hazard: The Magnificent World


Yeah, yeah, like THAT wasn't predictable. Y'know despite AIC's best efforts to water down this series toward the end, it doesn't diminish my sheer enjoyment from watching the first series. I can still pop it in now and I still enjoy it as much as when I first saw it.




Paprika


Satoshi Kon has made some really interesting, abet confusing, stuff. But I really like Paprika because it was just a pure delight of interesting visuals, character designs, and story.




My Neighbor Totoro


Seriously, if you don't have a smile on your face when you see this, you're just a bitter poopy-head (and yes, that is the technical term.)




Read or Die (et al)


I just find it amusing for a series to be set around someone who can kill you with a Washington. Bibliophiles FTW.




Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi


Gainax. Spoofing of multiple genres. Kinda coherent plot. I like.




Kalaido Star


I haven't see the entire thing yet, but it is very visually pleasing with very nicely done acrobatic sequences.




Yakitate!! Japan.


Okay, so the end credits are kinda deceptive, but I had to use them for this one. This is so bizarrely awesome I had to share it. It's a shonen series. A shonen series about the world of high stakes competitive bread making. Yes, that IS what I said. It's made of win, trust me.

and finally, something a little darker, but very good.




Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry)


This series a combination of MOE and Psychological horror thriller. Two things that should not be combined. It ends up like dropping a chocolate bar in your jar of peanut butter...

...and then the peanut butter stabs you.

Okay, this is going on long and the game is tied, so I'm going to wrap it up, but before I do. I have one last video and this one is my find of day.

It's not so much the movie it was connected to. Honestly Roujin Z was kinda "meh" as a movie. But I absolutely loved the ending theme. After almost 15 years, I have finally found a full length version of it and I honestly am very happy that I did. It's still as poppy and happy and juts plain fun as it was when I first heard it.





Hopefully, it will make you smile too.

Kay, I'm outs. I'll talk to y'all on this subject again when I hit an even 20 years. ^_~.

There's a Hurricane comin' through!

Okay. Alex the Elimin8d is off to the links and Philly fans have been been drowning their sorrows in cheese-steaks and naked pictures of Scott Hartnell for over 2 weeks now.

Philly - Done.

Caps - Done.

Not too shabby, right? Surely this is a post-season to hang your hat on, no doubt.

Not quite.

We're only halfway there.

Beating DC and Philly mean nothing if, in the end, you don't capture those 30 lbs of silver and bring it home.

We're 8 wins down. We still have 8 more to go before we hang our hat on anything.

Standing in our way? These guys:



Anyone who thinks these guys are gonna be an easy out are whistling through the graveyard.

Fact #1:

You don't get to the final 4 in any playoffs by being an easy team to beat. They're here. They're good. Disrespect them at your own risk.

Fact #2: The Pens were the 2nd hottest team during the final 8 weeks of the regular season. Guess who was the hottest. That's right, the Canes. They're rollin' at the right time, just like the Pens.

Fact #3:

Last year, the Pens' young core, while not winning the Cup, did earn something else valuable - Experience. They learned what it takes to get through three rounds of playoffs and they learned some important lessons in losing to the Red Wings

Guess what? The Canes are only 2 years removed from WINNING the Cup themselves and most of the core pieces of that team are still there.

...

This will not be a cakewalk. This will not be a sweep. These are two teams that are both headed for a collision and there may not end up with a winner. Only a survivor.

We need something big. Something special. We need a mentor, a teacher, a wise man to guide this group past a very difficult foe. Someone, like an Olympic Gold Medalist...



Um... okay, good guess, but not quite...



This man.

This team needs the 3 I's.

Intensity

Integrity

Intelligence

Play hard. Play honest. Play smart. Move on to the final stage.

DO IT.

DO IT

[Edit: 9:44PM]

DONE

Next up: Canes or Bruins. Correction - Next up: A decent night's sleep.

Man, 8th's and 16th's are HAAAAAAAAARD! I'm starting to get used to 8th's but since I usually practice at 80 BPM, I'm not sure yet if I really got a grasp on it.

I can handle the rhythm when adding in 8th's and 16th's but as soon as I change the note, I end up off beat. I need to work on my finger speed on the fretboard so I can transition notes and not lose the rhythm.

* * *

Been watching a lot of anime lately. Right Stuf sales are virtual gold mines to pick up whole series at huge discounts. We ended up picking up several series, I started but never finished or have been wanting to watch. Luckily, since we have no cable and there'll be no new Heroes eps until the fall, we'll have time to work on some of our backlog. Beck, Vandread, Nadesico, Ouran Host Club, Chrono Crusade, Bleach, Kalaido Star( 1st and 2nd seasons), Welcome to NHK, etc. Still waiting for Higurashi and the follow-up to come out as box-sets. Already seen the whole thing, but having the full series in non-fan-subbed form would be nice.

* * *

Got our 360 back after we Red-Ringed a few weeks back. I kinda understand the need to redownload all the DLC again when you get a new unit so that way you can't copy materials from your HD and give them to friends, but seriously Microsoft, couldn't you have added some sort of "Re-Download All" option? We have like over a hundred songs for Rock Band 2 and having to redo all those files one at a time was a total pain. Fix this. Better still, make a system not designed to systematically break. Kthnxbai.

* * *

Speaking of Heroes, I'm starting to be really on the fence about this series. This is starting to turn into another case of Thing I like that starts off great and is slowly killed by creators.

( Cut for sake of spoilers )

and that's all I gots to say about that.

Okay, this one ran a bit long. So, I'm gonna take a break here and reload with new thoughts later.

I'm outs like Sulu. Classic, not Kumar.

There's the easy way of doing things. Then there's game seven.

Oy.

Before this all started I said throw history out the window. It don't matter. Throw the regular season out the window. It don't matter. Throw individual performance records against each other out the f'n window. It don't matter.

This is simply two teams who simply do not want to lose to each other and are doing everything short of armed combat to prevent giving one inch to the other.

Look, it's hard to take off the fan glasses and look at it objectively. I hate the Capitals. If you don't bring the hate to the playoffs you might as well be attending a tea party.

But seriously, and honestly, this has been some of the most entertaining and most competitive hockey I've ever seen. When it's all said and done, win or lose, I'm going to tip my cap (ugh, pun, fail) to the Caps for bringing it every game, every period, every shift.

I don't want to think about a loss. It's not simply a matter of going home early. This will be much more personal. This is losing to a rival. This is knowing that a loss gives their fans something to hold over you. That's a sting that's hard to erase and only one thing can erase it fully and that's doing the same thing back to them the next time they meet.

It took 4 years for this match up to happen. Who knows when, or even if, it will happen again. So a loss may mean that sting is never healed.

That is sports fandom. You take the highs. You also get the lows.

Game Seven.

Flip a coin. That's about the best you can do for predictions.

Hope.

That's about all you can do.

You hope for a win. You hope for it to be conclusive and definitive so it cannot be questioned. And if they lose, you hope for a chance to rectify it in the future.

Lets. Go. Pens.

Gameday. No trash talk today, folks. Tonight, is the time for ending this.

Scuderi, your job is simple. Shadow Ovechkin. Breath down his neck. When he's in the shower tonight after the game and he turns around expecting to see you standing behind him, then you've done your job.

Satan, continue to block shots as if you're Secret Service, the pucks are bullets, and Fleury is Obama. You're not going to con anyone into giving you another 3.5 million deal next year, but maybe you might convince someone you still belong in the NHL. There's a huge difference between flying first class on an NHL roadtrip and riding a bus in the AHL.

Sid and Geno, you only have to look to one man and he sits in the owner's box. He wore 66. Sid, you might remember him, you shared a line with him for a few months your rookie year. When the money was on the table, Le Magnifique was at another level. You play for that man. You inherited that legacy.

Your team's owner has won the cup.

The only cup Ted Leonsis has held is the one he pours his morning tequila into. If Ovi ever wins one, he'll probably spit a big wad of chaw into it.

MVP's are popularity contests. Let Ovi have his popularity award.

Be more interested in winning the games that matter. Be more interested in getting the job done.

DO IT.

It's not over yet. Not by a long shot. Three straight don't mean nothing. You still got to win four to move on.

Game six is Monday in the Burgh. Lose there and you lose more than a game. You lose Momentum. You don't lose the series, but you're going back to DC for Game Seven and then there's quite literally no tomorrow if you fuck up.

No one wants that. Well, Washington wants that, but fuck them. You don't always get what you want.

Some will point to putting Scuderi out there to Shadow Ovi has been a major reason why we've one 3 straight.

Some will point to secondary scoring suddenly coming back to life as the reason.

Some will say that the motivation of getting revenge for Gonchar by sending them to the links is the turning point.

But we all know better.

The real reason we won Saturday was because of Yanni coming to town Tuesday. I mean, that makes sense. You win Saturday and then you win Monday and finish them off and then you don't have to travel to DC and miss what is surely to be the concert event of the season. It was obvious all along. I mean look at Sid's mustache. That is definitely a tribute to Yanni, no doubt.

All Hail Yanni.

Ted, This one's for you...



Lets. Go. Pens.

You tied it up. That's good.

Gonchar may be out. That's bad.

It's best of three now and they still have home ice.

You've won two straight and momentum has shifted to you.

Game 5 is tonight, less than 24 hours after game 4 finished up. Both teams will be tired. No advantage for anyone there, everyone has to play under the same rules.

Ted Leonsis is bitch'n about Yanni. I think he's mainly pissed because he wasn't be able to get tickets. Seriously, this could've been avoided if they had scheduled the START of the series on Thursday or Friday of last week instead of Saturday, but then that means NBC wouldn't have gotten game one and seeing as what NBC says, goes. Amazingly, you didn't see Ted Bitch'n when his team got an extra 1-2 days' rest after a 7 game series with New York. Shocking.

Fuck Ted and fuck his noise hole.

Guys, you only have to worry about one thing tonight.

DO IT.

They're not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot. But... They are starting to see some daylight and are walking in the right direction.

But that can all change in an instant if they don't bring it again tonight.

Don't let off the gas, guys.

DO IT.

Game Three.

Down in the series 0-2.

You still need 4 to move on.

No trash talk. No photoshops. No excuses.

Tonight.

DO IT.