Running the World

Hey. I'm on vacation! Woo hoo! We're not going anywhere, but I'm still on vacation. It's Deb's last week before the school year starts again, so we figured we'd get some good family time in next week.

Just watched a great movie that came out on DVD this week, The Lookout. I had heard a lot about it earlier this year on the excellent Filmspotting podcast; it had a cup of coffee in the theaters without much notice, but the Filmspotting review, star Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 10 Things I Hate About You) and director-writer Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Get Shorty) were enough to get me to rent it. In a nutshell, it's about a former star high school hockey player who suffers brain damage in a car accident and gets caught up in a plot to rob a bank. Great acting and interesting plot; I highly recommend it.

I've got a busy weekend ahead: I'm running 13 miles in the morning, playing in my company's golf tournament tomorrow afternoon, and then in an Easter Seals softball tournament on Sunday. Funny to think that will be the only time I play softball all year, after all the games I've played over the last 16 years.

Let the bullets roll...

• This hit the wires a few days ago, but I had to make mention of the "Duct Tape Bandit" and his clever disguise. Must have felt good when the cops took the tape off. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am constantly amazed at the depths of stupidity people will display.
• Seems like there have been of celebrity deaths lately: Merv Griffin, Phil Rizzuto, Tom Snyder. One that didn't get a lot of press stateside was that of the great Sam Pollock, who was the mastermind behind the Montreal Canadiens' powerhouse teams of the 1960s and 1970s. He was 81. In the 14 years he was GM of the Habs, they won nine Stanley Cups, including four straight from 1976-80. That latter squad, which featured superstars like Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, Steve Shutt, and Serge Savard, was for my money the best NHL team ever. While Gretzky's Oilers got more attention in the '80s, that Montreal team was simply dominant. Pollock later went on to be president of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1995 to 2000, but unfortunately they didn't have similar success.
• Great news for Leafs fans: Newly acquired forward Mark Bell will serve six months in jail after pleading no contest to drunken driving. As part of his settlement deal, he'll be allowed to serve the jail time after each of the next two NHL seasons. Bell had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit last September when he slammed into a car stopped at a light in the San Jose area. The other driver was injured in the accident. Bell then allegedly ran from the scene before he was picked up by police.
• The Boston Globe ran an article yesterday on an old friend of mine from UNH, Lauren Clark, who writes a great blog about Boston bars and the art of the cocktail. I'm strictly a beer drinker, but I can certainly appreciate mixed drinks. Even though they never treated me that well when I used to partake in college.