Michael Jackson’s music

One thing I’ve noticed in the media coverage of Michael Jackson’s death the past couple of weeks is the music they’ve been playing.

Why are the media ignoring non-1980s songs by Michael Jackson, including Scream, which he performed with his sister, Janet?

I’ve heard plenty of Thriller, Bad and Beat it.

But I wonder where the other music he made is.

For example, why is no one playing Black or White, especially given the controversy of his skin pigmentation changing over the years. Or Remember the Time? Both songs came off his Dangerous albulm in 1991.

Dangerous debuted at #1 on the Billboard top 200 chart, and won American Music Awards, Grammys, Soul Train awards and World Music Awards.

Or what about Scream, a song he performed with his sister, Janet Jackson?

So for all the media out there, remember there is more to Michael Jackson’s music than his 1980s. Please play something different of his.

Here is a couple of videos for those songs I mentioned earlier:

 

Saving someone from sex

Never let it be said that a good deed goes unpunished.

Don't enjoy sex too much, or some teens might try to save you from it.

In Torrington, Connecticut, a woman was in the throws of passion when a 16-year-old girl who lives in the same house overheard the screams. So the teenager, who thought the older woman was being attacked, called some friends to help stop the attack.

According to this Yahoo story:

One of the five teens beat the man with a bat and others punched him, police said. The man was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, and was released that night.

“Apparently he didn’t have time to explain himself,” Lt. Bruce Whiteley said.

The girl, two 17-year-old boys and Dilyen Langdeau, 19, were arrested Tuesday night and arraigned in Bantam Superior Court on Wednesday. Langdeau was charged with assault and conspiracy; the teens face similar counts. The fifth teenager was not charged.

A judge sealed the police report. The names of the girl and the two boys were not released because of their ages. The girl’s relationship to the woman wasn’t clear.

Because the man turned out to be all right, I think charging the teens was a little excessive. They were doing a good deed, and were trying to stop what they thought was an attack.

And maybe the kids don’t know what the sounds of good sex sounds like. So it sounds like an honest mistake.

Habs make a move… then three or four more

So my prayers are finally answered.

Scott Gomez will now be a Montreal Canadien, as opposed to a New Jersey Devil (one of his former teams).

After years of Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey doing absolutely nothing at the free agency/trade deadline, this summer he decided to go crazy.

And it actually makes me excited for this upcoming season. So much so that I actually took my PS2 version of NHL 09 last night, made all the relevant trades to get the players up to date, and then started a whole new dynasty.

Here what the Habs have done so far:

Brian Gionta: 5 years, $25 million.

Mike Camalleri: 6 years, $30 million.

Hal Gill: 2 years, $4.5 million.

Jaroslav Spacek: 3 years, $11.5 million.

Scott Gomez: Traded for Chris Higgins.

This type of scoring chance on a Habs goalie will only happen in practice from now on.

And the Habs still have about $12 million left in cap space. They do have a couple of unrestricted free agents. But ultimately, I would like to see them try and re-sign Alex Tanguay. And maybe Saku Koivu for sentimental reasons.

But let the rest of the walk, especially Alexei Kovalev.

I’m excited Higgins is no longer with the team (the most over rated player on the Canadiens of the past 10 years). I’m excited the Habs have a clear cut #1 line for the first time since the days of Vincent Damphousse, Mark Recchi and Pierre Turgeon. I like the singing of a big defenceman (Gill) to patrol the back end.

For the first time, I’m generally excited for this team. And all it took was about $100 million in signings and trades.

See Bob, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Habs’ chances at top 20 free agents

With the NHL free agency set to kick off in two days time, I thought it would be a good time to rank the top 20 free agents, and the Montreal Canadiens’ chances to land each specific one.

Will this be another disappointing free agent season for the Montreal Canadiens?

Just a few things before I begin:

• The top 20 list is the top 20 list in my head. So in case you’re wondering why such and such a player isn’t on the list, it’s because I don’t consider him to be a top 20 free agent (sorry in advance to all the Chris Neil fans).

• I also didn’t include any Habs free agents on the list, because the Habs already have an inside track with them.

• I didn’t include any free agents that already expressed a desire to return to their original team (ie- Scott Niedermeyer, Teemu Selanne, etc.).

• I don’t have any inside scoops to Bob Gainey’s brain, so figuring out the percentages if the Canadiens land each free agent depends on things such as team needs, player’s strengths, whether they want to play in a big city, etc.

And most importantly, I looked at the Canadiens past history of signing top free agents in the past.

So without any further ado, the top 20 NHL free agents, and the Habs chances of signing them!

1. Daniel Sedin - 0%

2. Henrik Sedin - 0%

3. Marian Hossa - 0%

4. Jay Bouwmeester - 0%

5. Martin Havlat - 0%

6. Marian Gaborik - 0%

7. Mike Cammalleri - 0%

8. Mats Sundin - 0%

9. Nikolai Khabibulin - 0%

10. Brian Gionta - 0%

11. Rob Scuderi - 0%

12. Erik Cole - 0%

13. Mark Recchi - 0%

14. Bill Guerin - 0%

15. Rob Blake - 0%

16. Keith Tkachuk - 0%

17. Adrian Aucoin - 0%

18. Martin Biron - 0%

19. Nik Antropov - 0%

20. Todd Bertuzzi - 0%

Tickets for wrestling

Okay, so I’m more than a little excited.

Maria is my favourite WWE Diva.

Despite the fact I don’t watch as much as I used to, I still follow wrestling enough to know what’s going on every week.

And when I heard the WWE was coming to town in September, I had to get tickets.

And it’s actually all three brands that will be here (Raw, Smackdown and ECW), which is pretty rare. Plus, because it’s the day before a pay-per-view in Montreal, most of the big-name wrestlers should be on the card.

Scheduled to appear (and always subject to change): John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, The Big Show, CM Punk, MVP, Christian, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Cryme Tyme, John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Kelly Kelly, Melina, Maria, Michelle McCool.

I’m probably most excited to see Maria, my favourite WWE Diva.

I once sat second row from the front for a show a few years back, but forgot my camera (I would have had great pictures from there).

I wasn’t as lucky this time. I had an option of getting tickets on the floor, but 16 rows back, or the first row in the seats section. Because I didn’t want a bunch of heads in front of me and having to deal with people standing all the time, I went for the seats section.

Hopefully, I’m close enough to get some really good pictures this time.

Molsons buy the Habs

So the Montreal Canadiens have been sold, to the Molson family.

How could you not want to buy this team?

Honestly, and this may sound strange coming from me, but I don’t really care.

As long as they don’t move the team to Hamilton, a southern U.S. state or anywhere else, then it doesn’t matter to me who owns them.

As long as they’re competitive on the ice, win a few Stanley Cups and keep defeating the Ottawa Senators, then I’m happy.

How long before they change the name of the Bell Centre back to the Molson Centre?

But on the bright side, that’s one off-ice issue dealt with. Next would be trying to sign enough players to ice a team next season.

Dealing with a weighty issue

It seems in life that things happen in bunches.

It's not easy for some people to lose weight.

Right around the time you get married, it seems all your friends are getting married.

Right around the time you start having kids, everyone else is having kids.

And right around the time you start losing weight, everyone else wants to lose a few pounds as well.

A month and a half ago, I posted that I was on my way to losing some weight and getting myself a six-pack. It’s been okay so far, with about six or seven pounds lost.

Since, then I have found others of my friends and co-workers who are also trying to do the same.

One colleague, Matt, has challenge another colleague to see who can lose the most weight in a month.

Then, through a series of events I don’t quite understand or remember, Matt was making a logo for Amy, who wanted to do a 15-week challenge. She’s actually created a challenge for people to lose weight. (I think there’s prizes, but check out her blog for more details).

Some people are always checking out their weight.

Amy’s blog led me to Angie’s blog, who has lost almost 130 pounds.

I’m sure that blog could lead me to another blog. It’s almost like the Old Testament in the bible (and Matt begot Amy who begot Angie who begot…).

I know some high school friends of mine have created separate Facebook groups for support as they battle to lose weight.

I know there are also plenty of shows related to losing weight. The Biggest Loser seems to be the most popular, but I don’t like that fact that people can get voted off the show. They’re already dealing with personal issues with their weight: giving them another reason to be disappointed doesn’t make sense.

The best show was called Taking it Off. It followed Canadians as they tried to lose weight. It wasn’t a competition, and everyone was different. One person might be trying to lose 200 pounds, while someone else was trying to lose 30 pounds.

Guys worry about their weight just as much as women: We just don't talk about it as often.

All of the people on the show tried different techniques to lose weight. But the best was that it also focused on their personal lives. One person, for example, was a single dad of three, and worked long hours. At the beginning, he was able to keep on his weight-loss routine, but as the show went on, you could see the stress his personal life was having on his weight, until he started eating out again and gaining it back.

Another one was in a bad relationship (she was actually featured on Oprah a couple of times).

In the end, most of the people lost weight of some point. I think it would be interesting to check back on them now, five or more years later, to see if they kept it off though.

Ultimate Frisbee back in season

Okay, so we’ve actually been back in season for a month now.

Ultimate is a very fun sport to play.

For those not familiar with the game of ultimate, it’s played with a Frisbee, but it involves a lot of running, some basic strategy and a lot of fun.

Although I play on two different teams, I didn’t experience the first win of the season until two nights ago. But the season has still been a lot of fun.

It’s also a new thing to add to my bucket list. I want to catch a callahan at some point.

For those who don’t follow the sport, it’s when you intercept a throw in an opponent’s end zone for the point. It’s pretty rare (after all, they’re not in their end zone very often). I’ve already performed a greatest (catching the disc in the air as it’s going out of bounds, and throwing it to a team mate before one lands out of bounds), handblocked, footblocked and have thrown and caught a bunch of points, but I’ve never had a callahan.

A few neat bits of trivia about ultimate:

Rachel McAdams is just one of many celebrities to play ultimate.

• No refs are involved. Everything is self-reffed on the field, so sportsmanship is held in high regard.

• It was created back in the 1960s by a group of students that included Joel Silver, who directed films such as V for Vendetta, The Matrix, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon).

• Famous people who play ultimate include Bill Nye the Science Guy, Corner Gas actor Fred Ewanuick, actress Rachel McAdams, John Cryer from Two and a Half Men, and poker player Phil Hellmuth.

Anyways, here is some footage of a callahan so you know what I’m talking about:

 

And this is a greatest:

Best job in the world?

A couple of months ago, there was a world-wide contest to see who would win a job blogging about Australia.

I don't know what team these girls play for, but safe to say it's my favourite team.

They called it the best job in the world, but I fully disagree with that.

Last week, it was announced what truly was the best job in the world.

An intern with the Lingerie Football League.

I don’t even know if it pays, but I bet you it’s better than blogging about Australia.

For those not aware, the Lingerie Football League is starting up this year, hopefully in the fall (hopefully sooner). There are ten teams made up of beautiful women, all ready to play tackle football in lingerie.

I guess this is truly fantasy football (okay, bad joke, but there actually is fantasy football for this league).

Each team is looking for an intern. So if you don’t get a job with the San Diego Seduction, maybe you could get hired on with the Denver Dream, or Dallas Desire.

I also wonder about the cheerleaders. Will they be wearing more clothes than the players?

Anyways, if you want more information about the league, visit their web site at www.lflus.com.

Possible trades for Dany Heatley

With all the talk of Dany Heatley wanting out of Ottawa, and with the Stanley Cup now awarded, I thought it would be a good time to see what the Senators could get for him.

Where will Dany Heatley end up? And for who?

To start, just remember that more than likely it won’t be a superstar for a superstar. Those type of trades don’t happen very often.

Marian Hossa was traded to Pittsburgh from Atlanta for a draft pick, a prospect, and two third and fourth liners, but Atlanta had to throw in another player as well.

Ray Bourque and Dave Andreychuk were traded from Boston to Colorado for a couple of third-line players, and a draft pick.

Patrick Roy was traded with the team captain for two second-players and a potential goalie.

Jaromir Jagr was traded to Washington for three bit players. And then traded to the Rangers for Anson Carter.

To do this potential Heatley trade, I decided that any team with a salary of $43 million for next season or more won’t be included. This is because of salary cap implications and most teams needing to sign at least five players in the offseason, so adding Heatley’s salary doesn’t make financial sense.

I also eliminated other teams that other major needs (for example, Anaheim has the cap space, but still needs to sign four defencemen for next season), and teams where I don’t think Heatley will want to go to (ie- back to Atlanta, where he’s already been and asked for a trade away from).

So with that being said, here are the 29 other NHL teams and what the trade could be:

Heatley probably won't return to Atlanta.

Eliminated:

Anaheim Ducks: Too many needs at defence

Atlanta Thrashers: Wouldn’t want to go back there

Boston Bruins: Too close to the salary cap

Buffalo Sabres: Too close to the salary cap

Calgary Flames: Too close to the salary cap

Colorado Avalanche: Too close to the salary cap

Detroit Red Wings: Too close to the salary cap

Edmonton Oilers: Too close to the salary cap

Los Angeles Kings: Too close to the salary cap

Minnesota Wild: Too close to the salary cap

New Jersey Devils:Too many other in-house free agents to sign (Gionta, Madden), plus I don’t think Heatley would want to play there.

New York Islanders:I don’t think Heatley would want to play there.

New York Rangers: Already have too many players with big contracts

Philadelphia Flyers: Too close to the salary cap

Phoenix Coyotes: Wouldn’t want to play there

Pittsburgh Penguins: Too close to the salary cap

San Jose Sharks: Too close to the salary cap

St. Louis Blues: Too close to the salary cap

Tampa Bay Lightning:Trying to shed salary instead of bringing more onboard

Washington Capitals: Too close to the salary cap

 

That leaves nine possible teams.

Is team Canada looking for a player?

At this point, I would also think the Chicago Blackhawks are out of the running too. Although they have the salary cap space to get Heatley now, they have a bunch of players that will need new contracts next season and the year after (Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, etc.). If they’re looking into the future, there’s no way they can afford to keep all those players past next season and trade for Heatley. So the Blackhawks are also out.

I’m also going to take away the Florida Panthers. Florida is built on youth. So do they want to continue with their youth movement, or make a move and try to make the playoffs? As well, they don’t even have a general manager right now, so who do you talk to about a trade?

Also eliminated is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Don’t think the Sens would trade with their hated rival? Think again. If they Sens can improve their team, they’ll do it. But I don’t think the Leafs are ready to give up on prospects or draft picks, and there’s not a lot on the active roster the Leafs can offer.

So that leaves six teams. Here’s what I think the Sens could get from them for Heatley.

Carolina Hurricanes:Depending on what the Sens are trying to accomplish, they could probably get Ray Whitney in a deal. He makes $3.5 million, and is a free agent next summer. So if he doesn’t work out, they could let him go and not be stuck with a huge contract. If he does work out, he could be a good wingman for Jason Spezza (who will undoubtably be looking for a scorer to pass the puck to), or a great second-line player to give them a more balanced attack. So here would be Whitney, a prospect and a draft pick for Heatley.

Columbus Blue Jackets:Maybe they could trade for that Antoinne Vermette guy. He’s French Canadian, and could help out the second line. Just joking. But Columbus would pose a bit of a problem, because I don’t think they have a second or third line player that the Sens would want. That would mean a package of prospects and draft picks.

Will Heatley be a member of a Canadian team or and American team?

Dallas Stars:This one’s a bit trickier, because even though the Stars have the cap space now, they still need to sign Sergei Zubov. They don’t have a lot of defence, so they may focus on filling that need instead of forward. But they have about $14 million in cap space, so if they can clear some cash, they should be able to fit Heatley in no problem. I think the Stars would probably give up Fabian Brunnstrom as part of a deal. He’s young, and while a little inconsistent, showed some promise in his rookie season. I think the Sens, if they are going to be in a rebuilding mode, would be willing to take a chance on him. Throw in a propsect and a draft pick, and you have a deal that could interest the Sens.

Montreal Canadiens: I mentioned this trade in my original post about Heatley wanting out. Basically, its Montreal’s first round pick, PK Subban and Sergei Kostitsyn. Ottawa could try to package both first round draft picks (their own #9 and the Habs #18) for a higher pick. They get someone that could help with secondary scoring. And a prospect that would be automatically at the top of their prospect depth chart. Plus, Sens fans would love Subban, as they got to see him during the world junior championships and fell in love with him.

Nashville Predators: Most of their focus should be getting a goalie (they don’t have any signed past next season). But they want to make the playoffs again. They already have $19 million in their top four forwards, so it may be tough to justify another forward making so much money. If they do get Heatley, they wouldn’t be able to afford much help on the other lines. But they could put together a package of JP Dumont, Jordin Tootoo and a draft pick. Dumont would give the Sens another scoring option, and Tootoo could be a much cheaper version of Chris Neil (who isn’t signed).

Vancouver Canucks:Probably the biggest wildcard. If they resign the Daniel and Henrik Sedin, then it all depends on if Mats Sundin wants to come back to the Canucks. But after his play this past season, I don’t think he’ll be able to command more than $8 million again. And if the Sedins resign for $6 million each, that only leaves about $8 million in salary cap for the Canucks. Still, Vancouver is the only true west coast team on this list, and I believe Heatley would be most interested in going here out of these six teams. Still, an offer of Ryan Kesler, a prospect and a draft pick would be tempting to the Canucks.