Cynical Romantic

Ugh, this sucks. Habs are stinking it up out there.

The one nice thing about this whole episode is that it's reminded me just how much I love the music of Les Miz. I've downloaded the original London cast recording and have been listening to it nonstop.

I'm probably too late to this thread, but in case I'm not, here are my picks: First Round East Winners: #1 Bruins, #2 Capitals, #4 Penguins, #6 Hurricanes First Round West Winners: #1 Sharks, #2 Wings, #3 Canucks, #4 Blackhawks Second Round East Winners: #6 Hurricanes, #4 Penguins Second Round West Winners: #1 Sharks, #3 Canucks Eastern Conference Winners: #6 Hurricanes Western Conference Winners: #3 Canucks Stanley Cup Champions: #3 Canucks I really do want to cheer on my Habs. But realistically speaking... (And yes, I'm aware that some of the first games contradict my picks above, namely Washington and New Jersey. But I made my first round picks on Tuesday and I'll stand by them.)

Things I agree with on this thread: 1) Leafs are losers 2) Bertuzzi is a jackass 3) I'll never cheer for Sundin either (though wouldn't it be a nice bitchslap to Toronto if he won the Cup with Vancouver after all those losing seasons with the Leafs?) 4) Mike Keenan is indeed the antichrist 5) Go HABS Go!

Seems fairly obvious that this was an ongoing and widespread policy at Amazon. Their inability to come clean and be transparent about it after days is as good as an admission, and all the evidence points to that as well. The "glitch" excuse was a useless deflection. Amazon will get no more business from me until they explain to my satisfaction.

I don't really see the big deal. I mean, yeah, she has a good voice, but it's not a *phenomenal* voice. It's lovely, and she interprets well, but if you'd just been sent that song without any video to listen to, I think most of you would've shrugged it off. I've seen Les Miz several times and the actresses playing Fantine in all of the performances were miles better. I think the big deal was the judges admitting on national television that they are often too quick to judge based on external appearance. They're getting people to question their preconceived notions, which is nice. But the next world superstar? Nah. It's a blip.

Thanks for sharing, Adam. If anything, I'd say the first part of your story could serve as a valuable object lesson to the many teens on here about just how easy it is for people to track you down with the few snippets of seemingly harmless information that you post online. Not a major catastrophe for those of us who are adults and have nothing to hide, but especially for teens who want to keep their identities under wraps, it's actually ridiculously easy to track someone down, if someone is so inclined, so be careful. As for the rest, well, when you put your work out there, you're bound to attract feedback from all sorts. From what I've seen on your Yahoo group and elsewhere, your feedback community seems to be overwhelmingly positive - for good reason - so I'm glad you aren't letting the few crazies get you down. And updates of Crosscurrents? Well, as much as I'd love an update, I understand how busy you are with real life and also with finishing Sam's project. I will wait patiently.

Big huge congrats to all the winners! And to all the nominees, since I suspect voting was very close in more than one category. Well-deserved, all of you, and thanks so much for sharing your work with this community.

Travel a lot and you'll see that this varies around the world. There are rude people everywhere but what I find most fascinating is how different societies deal with them. In some countries, for instance, the pharmacy clerk wouldn't have had the opportunity to ignore a customer for more than about 5 seconds flat before getting majorly yelled at or bitched out. In others, the pharmacy clerk would have been amiably greeting the customer politely the minute he or she walked through the door, but would have insisted on wrapping up the prescription carefully and going through a long, elaborate procedure for the sake of ritual before they could leave. When in Rome...

I'm pretty sure it's derived from the stub of a cigarette, but generally just means at the end of something, usually something bad. And no, contrary to what you are probably thinking, it's not intended as an insult in the slightest. Well, not to anyone but Bush, that is.

Just wanted to revive this thread. I was lucky enough to get tickets to tonight's game. Not only did I get to see Alex Ovechkin and the Caps, I got to watch my Habs fight back to net a very dramatic win with less than 30 seconds left against them. Was awesome! Ir's been an exciting time to be a hockey fan, what with the World Juniors fifth straight gold medal for the Canadian team last weekend, and all-star weekend coming up. And my Habs, despite injuries, are on a hot streak. To quote the McD's commercial, "I'm lovin' it!"

This is a really tough situation, and I'm sorry you're in it. I went through something similar with a friend of mine a few years back, she was in a very emotionally abusive relationship with a guy who - in my layman's opinion - was a classic sociopath. Of course, I'm in no way qualified to make that diagnosis, but let's just say that he had all the signs, and he messed up my friend well and truly. She, of course, was in total denial that anything was wrong, and pushed away any friends who tried to help her by pointing out his shortcomings. She loved him and anyone who didn't support that was, in her mind, no friend of hers. As tough as it is to accept, you really can't help someone who doesn't want your help. Like you said, all that will happen is that you'll end up pushing your friend away. He'll see you as unsupportive of his relationship, and you will not only lose his friendship, you'll lose the ability to be there for him when he decides he wants help. My rule of thumb these days is to be up-front once with my friends about what I think of their S/Os, just to clear my conscience. After that, I let them know I'm there for them no matter what and I'll support them and be there for them. More than once - like in the case of the above friend - it has helped. To make a long story short, she eventually figured out who and what he was, and though it took three attempts, she got him out of her life and - flash forward about 5 years and a few dozen other relationships - she's now happily married to a great guy. And we're still friends. I danced at her wedding. If I'd pushed it too much with sociopath-guy, when she wasn't willing or ready to listen, we probably wouldn't be. Edit: The exception to the above is if you know that your friend is being physically abused. Even then, you may not be able to fix it - you can't force your friend to file a complaint or press charges for example - but you can at least try to impress upon him the seriousness of that situation. Either way, there's no easy solution.

We riot when we win, we riot when we lose... Actually, that's not fair. The last riot after the Habs/Bruins Game 7 was pre-planned by anarchists who just wanted to use the hockey game as a cover and excuse for their idiocy. They weren't even hockey fans. And the dumbasses posted about their plans all over the internet, too. 4 Habs in the All-Star starting lineup, BTW!

Nope, no traditions here. Some years are better than others, though in general I find New Year's to be an overrated holiday. This year was one of the better ones, as far as New Year's Eve celebrations go.

Woohoo! For a self-described hockey nut, I've been completely out of the loop on both NHL and World Juniors this past week. Probably because there was zero coverage in the media where I was. I must do some catching up now.

Happy (slightly belated) New Year to everyone. Just back from a trip, got lots of reading to catch up on. Yay! Hope everyone had as much fun ringing in 2009 as I did.

Just saw this. Actually, I didn't see it at all; Jack had to point it out to me. Doh. Anyway, something like that could be fun; if I'm around, I might be up for it. And Connor, cold, you say? Why ever would you think it was cold in Montreal in the winter? Just because it was minus-30 today and my limbs had nearly frozen off by the time I made it to the office, why would you think that was cold? *Rolls eyes innocently*.

Walmart, Target, whatever. Just wanted to say I share your love for Duncan Ryder's stories. Are you going to start reading Light, or are you waiting for it to be complete first? I couldn't resist starting and now I'm reduced to whining for updates.

Totally normal. The role reversal happens sooner for some, later for others. But at some point you take a step back and really wonder who is the parent and who is the child in the relationship. Hope your dad is doing okay.

Yes, absolutely, thoughts and prayers with the victims of these attacks. While we're doing that, though, let's not forget about the hundreds of other victims of terrorism, in India and around the world, these past couple of years alone. These attacks were designed to grab international headlines because of the coordinated nature of them and because they specifically targeted Western tourists. But a life is a life, regardless of the nationality or skin colour of the victim. The 2006 train bombings in Mumbai killed more people than these attacks, but garnered less worldwide attention because the victims were mostly locals Let's not play the terrorists' grisly game and attribute more value to some lives than others; all losses are equally sad. As for terrorism itself, it's a tactic, not an end. The only way to eradicate it is to ensure that it always fails, no matter who uses such tactics or for what reasons. Legitimate gripes or not, the minute you resort to terrorists tactics, you illegitimatize your cause. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter? Not quite.

Oh and while we're talking hockey... ET LE BUT!!! Go Habs Go!

Actually, I'm more and more in awe of Sean Avery every day. Okay, he's an agitator, a pest, and by all accounts, a pain in the ass. But... in addition to being a pretty damn good hockey player, he's also one of the best marketers I have ever encountered. Leaps and bounds ahead of the league or any of their marketing. Avery manages to put himself on the front pages more often than even the NHL superstars. He generates interest in hockey from circles that don't normally pay attention, like the fashion world or the Hollywood set. He gets NHL rules named after him, comes up with creative ways to get the goat of the opposition, and makes headlines for it. Beyond that, he gets movie parts and nominated for titles like "sexiest man alive" in magazines, and internships at Vogue magazine. Every single media outlet is constantly clamouring to interview him. In short, he's a master at PR, and he seems to come by it naturally. So, okay, he was kind of insulting towards Elisha Cuthbert, but really, what he said was mild compared to most of what gets thrown out there in interviews. And the league completely overreacted with this indefinite suspension thing. Surely, Avery is laughing all the way to the bank about this. I can't help it. The marketer in me loves it.

December 1st (today) is World AIDS Day. More than 33 million people in the world are living with HIV/AIDS, two thirds of whom live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over two million children are infected with HIV. More than two million people died last year from AIDS. Life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa is under 40 years old. More than 2.7 million people became infected with HIV in 2007 alone. Awareness quiz: Can you name the countries with the highest HIV infection rates?

Happy birthday, Duncan! Hope you enjoy the day and celebrate.

I wanted to do this this year, too. I have several friends who are doing it, one of which is only 3,000 words away as of last update (!). Sadly, I was away for half of November travelling, so it didn't work out well for me this year. Ah well, there's always next year. Congrats to those of you who are doing it. Regardless of how far you get, it's quite the accomplishment!