That fun fact about the Sharks below still stands as the Wings just demolished the Avalanche 7-0. On to another natural disaster, the Hurricanes.

Anyone remember the San Francisco Examiner? 18 months ago, the Fangs took it over from the Hearst Corporation, who took over the competing Chronicle. Shortly after their redesigned paper debuted, the Examiner soon had some major gaffes slip through the editing process (such as spelling the word Wednesday wrong). Today, they have a nicely designed, albeit thin, paper. But the errors still keep coming. Today, in a big headline about the spelling bee of all things, they made note of the "spelers".

Yes, there are the NBA playoffs tonite. And there's always Friday night fun. But try to make it a point to watch the Stanley Cup finals...I mean the Western Conference finals tonight. It only seems like the Stanley Cup finals because both the Red Wings and the Avs will beat Carolina down into the ground. As for tonite, I'm rooting for the Red Wings since they deserve it and because the Avalanche beat the Sharks, always a bad sign because you just don't beat the Sharks and get away with it. (No team has beaten the Sharks in the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup in the same year.) It's on at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific on ESPN. (Also 4 in El Segundo. If you know this joke, you watch as much TV as I do.) Plus when the game's over, head on over to the Lakers and Kings on NBC. Go Lakers!

I've been watching Mulholland Drive, an excellent movie by David Lynch. My only question is what the heck is this movie about? People have been telling me it's all just a dream. Could it really be that simple?

Insomnia
Today, I got to watch Insomnia, easily one of the best movies of the summer, maybe the year. Al Pacino plays a Los Angeles detective who goes up to Alaska to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl. The untimely death of his partner, who was going to turn him in concerning another case back in L.A., from his own gun, his inability to quickly solve the case, and the fact that Alaska doesn't have sunsets this time of the year makes Pacino unable to sleep as well as to be not alert. This movie has some exciting scenes including a chase through fog (which is how his partner dies) and Pacino's chase of Robin Williams' character over logs. I would have changed the ending. It seems like an excuse to test out those front speakers. (Hey, it's supposed to be a summer flick, right?) But I guess this was the only way to end it. While the script may seem by-the-numbers, it does not get over-the-top like an average Practice episode. Director Christopher Nolan, who also directed Memento, injects some of the best features of Memento in this movie, including the flashbacks, and puts a lot of suspense into it. All the performances were top-notch including Pacino's, who should get nominated for something out of this. Robin Williams, who may seem out-of-place considering his comedic background, plays the intelligent crazy man perfectly. Hilary Swank also does well with what's she given since her role should be staying out of the way of the main focus of the movie. Rest assured, you will be an insomniac while watching this movie because if you doze off, you might miss something. 3.5 stars

Wasn't that a great Lakers game yesterday? Sure, the Lakers of the '80s with Magic, Worthy, Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott, and others is much better than this team, but today's team with Shaq and Kobe is just as exciting. How about Horry (4-time NBA champion, can you believe that?) with that clutch 3-pointer? That is fantastic.

Yay! School is over. Now it's time for sitting on the couch, eating lots of food, and watching TV. Wait a minute, that's no different than when I was in school.

One last final at 5:00 today. It's a Computer Science final. I don't need too many points to get the grade I want, but a test is a test.

Spider-Man
To get to the other two movies in the list, Spider-man is a great movie until the end, when it seems to have the depth of a WWE wrestling match. (Yes, WWE. Who cares about the World Wildlife Fund? This new name doesn't have a nice ring to it, plus that's an ugly logo they have replacing the familiar WWF one.) Our hero gets beat up every which way before coming up with a comeback and killing the villain, who didn't seem too awe-inspiring or hateful. The whole double personality persona of the Green Goblin kinda reminded me of Fight Club, mainly because I re-watched Fight Club the day before. Great movie to see over and over again by the way. So, if Spider-man can get a better villain to face in the sequel, it will be the perfect movie. For now, the original is just a good movie. 3 stars

Hollywood Ending
Hollywood Ending is an enjoyable comedy. The problem is that there aren't too many laughs. Most of the story is devoted to how Woody Allen can hide the fact that he's blind, most of it seems serious instead of humorous. The addition of his severed relationship with his son seems like it's there to kill time. I must admit, camerawork is top-notch and they all seem like they're having a good time. But it also seems like a blind Woody Allen really did direct this movie. 2 stars

Now, I've seen many ridiculous products on infomercials these days but this has to top it. The Home Shopping Network is selling the "revolutionary" Flip Fold Laundry System right now. Plus, they're giving testimonials! Come on. It's just a board that helps you fold your clothes. Doesn't everyone hang their clothes nowadays? And if you don't, do you really need a $20 board to fold them? I think not.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is out insulting again, this time making fun of Star Wars fans waiting in line. It's one of Conan O'Brien's funniest sketches in months. It's so popular, the links change all the time, but this one at cfox.com seems to work. Download it. You'll be rolling on the floor laughing. Yes, I could've used the acronym, but I like to write things out.

I'm reading that California is trying to plug a $24 billion hole in the budget. Yet, the story afterwards describes the many campaign contributions our Governor Davis has been receiving, both legally and illegally. It won't be much but why not use the campaign contributions to help plug the budget hole?

Plus, good news is coming out of Downtown, San Jose that is. The old Pavilion theatres are opening back up. Its closing was reminiscent of the Baltimore Colts, who moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night in a Mayflower truck. United Artists basically did the same thing. Now, the people who own the Plaza theatres in Campbell are opening the screens back up. Good luck to them. Hopefully, they know that they won't make any money until downtown has free parking all the time.

Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones
What's first? Attack of the Clones. I was looking forward to it. I'm sure everyone was. And when I watched it, boy was I disappointed. Don't get me wrong, those last 45 minutes were one of the greatest moments I've seen in the cinema. It's those pieces of film before that really bothered me. Hayden Christensen doesn't seem to have any acting ability in this movie. In fact, every time he showed to hit on Natalie Portman, it made me cringe and cover my eyes. I couldn't stand it. The fact that this dominated the first hour of the movie didn't help. If Lucas gave it more time, maybe spread it out a little more, it might've worked. Heck, it took three movies to get Han and Leia together.

In any case, it's an average movie, marginally better than The Phantom Menace. 2.5 stars

Welcome to my blog. I've finally decided to jump on the bandwagon. What will you find? Well, if you regularly read my profile on AIM, I always find time to have some snippet to say. Well, this will act as the archive to that. So, find a few movie reviews, TV reviews, Sharks news, and whatever else I'm thinking about. Hopefully, you'll enjoy. And if not, well, you can keep your comments to yourself. Keep in mind, you see what's on the page now? Yup, that's all there will be. No fancy gizmos or gadgets or cool animations. Just straight talk. Though, John McCain won't be making an appearance anytime soon.