Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here are my picks for the first round of the NHL playoffs:

Eastern Conference First Round

#1 Tampa Bay
#8 NY Islanders —> Even though some slag them for being atop the worst division in the East, and therefore not really deserving of the top spot overall, Tampa Bay will have little trouble with NYI, who deserve their #8 spot. Tampa Bay in 5

#2 Boston
#7 Montreal —> This is going to be a close series. Both teams have the same number of regular season wins, Boston has a bunch more ties. I don’t know if that’s relevant. The Bruins will go physical, and the Habs will try to play a speed game, forgoing their usual defensive strategy. Since, being a Habs fan, it’s impossible for me to type “Boston” more than 3 times in a post, I’ve got to say: Montreal in 7 Really, though: Boston in 6

#3 Philadelphia
#6 New Jersey —> Philadelphia’s goaltending will let them down (again). New Jersey’s goaltending will propel them forwards (again). That’s all that needs to be said about this series. New Jersey in 6

#4 Toronto
#5 Ottawa —> Another hell of a series. The question is: Can Ottawa overcome their playoff woes? I say yes. Some will say Toronto’s age won’t affect them until at least the second round. I say it shows up mid-way through this round, and goaltending won’t be enough to keep them victorious. Ottawa in 6

Western Conference First Round

#1 Detroit
#8 Nashville —> The easy thing to do is to say Detroit, easily. The brave thing is to go with Nashville. Everyone who knows me, knows I’m easy. Not brave. This is simple: Detroit in 5

#2 San Jose
#7 St Louis —> St. Louis fought long and hard to get into the playoffs. Now that they’re in, there will be an inevitable momentary sigh of relief. The Sharks will pounce on that, and won’t let up. San Jose in 5

#3 Vancouver
#6 Calgary —> This could be a tough series too. I think Vancouver has sufficiently removed themselves from the Bertuzzi thing and are playing good hockey again. Calgary will give them a run for their money, but the Canucks will prevail. Vancouver in 6

#4 Colorado
#5 Dallas —> You know, of all the series, this is the one I could care less about. I don’t like either team, and since both can’t lose, I’ll say Colorado goes through, only because I dislike Dallas more. Colorado in 6

Another song. This one a Rob MacDonald original. Either head over to Annekenstein Monster Music for the story and download, or just download it here: It’s called Without You

When I was a boy and teenager, I was called “Robert”. In university, I decided that I wasn’t so much a “Robert” as I was a “Rob”, so I went about losing the ‘ert’. Even though it’s been over half my life since the shortening of name (even though in my mind I’m just barely out of university), many of those who knew me before the change still call me “Robert”.
So, if you’re ever with me, and somebody calls me by name, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how long I’ve known them. You know, if the police ask you.

If I feel like it each week, I’ll post my post-Tuesday impressions of the performances on American Idol. Here’s what I thought about last night’s show, based entirely on next-morning recollection:
Fantasia: Another very solid performance. She’s gonna win AI this year. It’ll come down to between her and George, and she has more Celebrity Personality Potential ™ than George. While it was an excellent performance, she does need to be careful of not relying too much on ‘tricks’ each week, such as ending each song with a “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAHHHH”.
JPL: Why is he on the show? I’d say “because America thinks he’s cute”, but I cannot believe they think he’s that cute that they’d put up with his unbearably bland singing and foolish stage presence. His eyes still too often give off that “I’m a psychotic killer” look. Can’t wait for him to go.
Hawaiin Girl: Simply, her voice isn’t strong enough. Can’t remember the song she sang (which says something there), but remember not enjoying it at all. She’ll make it through to another chance next week, though, because there were far worse performances than hers.
Crooner John: And I thought he couldn’t get worse than last week’s god-awful showing. He’s just not ready for the competition. While I think he does a good job with crooner songs, he just can’t translate himself into anything close to a pop singer. God, if you exist and are listening, please get him off the show tonight. I’d even take another week of JPL over this lump of sadsack nerves.
Ethnic Girl: Two weeks in a row, now, she’s sung songs that are too low for her range. Which indicates to me that she doesn’t have much of a vocal range. And why does she give me the impression that she’d steal hubcaps? She just looks like someone who’d get into legal trouble.
George: Another super showing from George. Gotta stop the bend-ercise though. The guy just oozes personality and charm and vocal talent. He’s getting more and more confident each week, however when he’s not singing and the spotlight is on him, he still looks like a little boy, with the blinking eyes and candy-eating grin. It’s this aspect of his personality that, I think, will keep him from ultimately winning the competition over Fantasia. Her presence says ‘Look at me, I’m a star’. George’s presences says “Look! Stars!”
LaToya: She came close to the power and wow of her fantastic semi-final performance, but there was still something lacking from her performance last night. She was one of the top four performers last night, but was the least memorable of them.
Princess: Simply awful. She doesn’t belong in the competition. Simon’s lack of anything to say said it all.
Jennifer: Jennifer let me down last night, by nailing her song. I don’t like Jennifer, mostly because her eyes convey the anger that’s obviously inside her. Those wide, scary eyes didn’t show last night, which disappointed me. Whereas Ethnich Girl looks like she’d steal hubcaps, Jennifer looks like she’d love to get into a good ole scrappin’ fistfight.

Bottom Three: JPL, Crooner John and Princess, with John Peter being sent back to the Sofas of Safety ™. Despite the unbelievable break he got last week by not even being in the bottom three, Crooner John’s luck surely has run out this week, and he’ll be the one to go, leaving Princess safe for another week.

I just posted another Chimp song over at Annekenstein Monster Music. Give it a listen, if you dare. The same ‘poor quality recording’ remains in effect.

There’s a commercial on television now where a bunch of women show their bare bellies, some with diagrams written in marker. I’ve seen the ad a bunch of times, but still don’t really know what it’s advertising. Perhaps if I was a woman, I’d be more inclined to pay attention to the message. Let’s say it’s about the importance of calcium supplements.

I gotta say, though, that I find this ad kinda sexy, in a repressed puritanical mind kinda way. It’s just a bunch of women with their tops pulled up, showing their bellies. But the variety of waists is kinda enthralling.

What I find really interesting, though, is the very last woman. She’s got her top pulled up, and she’s wearing some low slung khaki beige cotton pants. Now, it may just be my imagination, but I swear that there is the faintest hint of pubes protruding from the top of those pants. So barely there that a quick glance would never see them. So barely there that only a diligent visual survey could discover them, and even then, be unsure of what was there.

If it is pubes, I can’t imagine it’s an accident. Is it a case of the advertiser, subtly, so subtly, pushing the envelope?

Sort of.

My old blogspot blog, now called Annekenstein Monster Music is back up and running. It is now going to be home to some downloadable music.

Although it’d be more convenient, I’m not using my typepad account to house these songs, mostly because I don’t want to use the space I’m allotted here.

So, if you want, go to this link and check out the first selection. Keep in mind that it was created by idiots who knew not how to record.

Keep that in mind.

Every so often, I like to post little tidbits of inanity from my life, for all those would-be psycho-analysts out there who may be reading.

Here’s one:

Ever since I can remember, I have always been very careful to make the stream of pee hit the sides of the inside of the bowl, rather than splashing into the toilet lake. I do this because I don’t like the sound of pee hitting water, I guess because I don’t want anyone to know what I’m doing in there.

Dave S and I sometimes come up with strange characters as we ramble through our weekly lunch get togethers.

One such character is Uncle Penelope Jones. The premise we came up with is he’s the roguish uncle of a couple of inquisitive British kids, and they all live in some type of british tv sitcom unreality.
Anyway, a while ago, I was trying to come up with some characters for a kids show for grown-ups I was hoping to produce someday. I used Uncle Pen, but changed him to an Aussie. His schtick was that he spoke in indecipherable Australian slang.

Here’s an example: “Back in them days a jibbly’d take a crack on a hoary, and nobody’d pass a quizzly. ‘Course, a bridget would. Then again, a bridget would crack a splyters and still come out with two cobs and a coolie. In the up-in-it though, the real tam-tam would take the ronald duffie and you’d still be left holding a bringle-bob.”

Don’t ask me what it means, because it’s gibberish.

Another character we made up is Nimbly Palesticks, the Educated Injun. He’s a First Persons person who, back in the late 1800’s was part of a circus that travelled Great Britain and parts beyond. He’d be put on display at the circus as living proof that Indians could be cultured. Not a happy fellow, Nimbly.

Don’t know why I’m posting this.

From backstage, it looked like the PEI Theatre Festival 2004 Gala Awards night was a big success. A huge crowd in attendance, lots of people dressed really nicely, and everybody seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves.

Congratulations to Cynthia and the organizing committee for putting on a great 5 day event.

One thing, though. While it was fun to have the guys from the band playing music to bring people up on stage, and fun to have the ‘and the award goes to’ drumrolls, the drummer’s need to provide a ‘ba dum dum’ or rim shot with every line that could possibly be perceived as funny…that started to get obtrusive to me.

I found it kind of funny, and I don’t mean any offense to the event itself…but it was funny how some of the award recipients seemed to be really impressed/pleased with themselves that they won. The one who thanked God for the talent that He provided her was a highlight.

Sketch 22 performed two sketches near the end of the evening and they seemed to be very well received. Lots of laughter. It felt really good being on stage again, with scripted words.