до свидания, сeргей
(Goodbye, Sergei)
On Saturday morning, it was announced that former Detroit Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov signed a 5 year deal for $40 million dollars. He left the only team he played for in the NHL to play for a team that will give him the "respect" and minutes he needed to be a force in the game of hockey.
NHL star Fedorov was drafted 74th overall (4th Round) in the 1989 draft. He was playing, at the time, for the Russian National team. He defected in Seattle at the Goodwill Games and was flown into Detroit on Mike Illitch's, the owner of the Red Wings, private jet. He was considered by the Red Wings as one of the most talented players in the world.
In the '93-'94 season, he scored a career high 120 points (56 goals, 64 assists). That same year, he also won the Hart Trophy for most valuable player in the league and the Selke Trophy for the best defensive forward.
In the '96-'97 year, he helped the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. He was starting to be known as a clutch playoff performer, in addition to his good regular season numbers.
After that season, Sergei's contract expired and negotiations got a little nasty. Since he was a restricted free agent, he could not sign with another team, without that team compensating the Red Wings for the loss of Fedorov. The compensation was 5 first round draft picks. The Carolina Hurricanes signed Sergei to an offer sheet for a six year deal worth $38 million. The contract had a clause that said if the team he played for got to the conference finals, he would earn an $18 million bonus. Carolina did not have a great team, so they probably wouldn't have made the conference finals but there was a good chance that Detroit would. Detroit matched that offer, even after Sergei said he didn't want to play for Detroit again. When Sergei resumed playing for the Red Wings, the fans welcomed him back with mixed cheers, but eventually all came around once his play showed little signs of rust. Sergei helped Detroit to a second straight Stanley Cup that year as well.
The next few seasons saw Sergei's numbers decline to the 30 goals/30 assists level. He always wanted to be the number one center for the team. The problem was the Red Wings already had Steve Yzerman, the captain and heart of the team, as their number one center, so Sergei had to play as the second line center getting less minutes and according to him, fewer chances to score.
Also in this same time period, the Red Wings' coach Scotty Bowman had been toying with different ways of getting him to produce more. Sergei was moved back to defense to get the ice time he so badly wanted. Even this failed to improve his numbers, but he was quickly becoming an even better two-way forward (good in offense and defense).
In the '01-'02 season, Fedorov continued on his 30/30 pace, but in the second half of the season, Yzerman hurt his knee and was out. Fedorov was now the number one guy. He took the minutes Yzerman would have gotten and picked up his game. Yzerman returned for the playoffs but he was still hampered by his knee and was put on the wing to Fedorov's center. The Red Wings again won the Stanley Cup and Fedorov played a prominent role.
In the off season, Yzerman underwent knee surgery that would put him out most of the season. Again, while Yzerman was gone, Fedorov was the number one center for the Red Wings. Fedorov picked up his scoring pace with the added minutes and ended up averaging just over a point a game.
During this season, knowing that Fedorov was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, Red Wings' owner Mike Illitch personally offered Fedorov a 5 year deal for $50 million. Fedorov was in the middle of changing agents so he asked for more time. Fedorov's new agent told Red Wings' management that he was looking for a long term deal for $11-$12 million a year.
(The NHL is currently in the middle of a transition. The Collective Bargaining Agreement that runs the league expires after the '03-'04 season. High player salaries are hurting teams that don't have a big market to generate revenue. There's a clear distinction between the haves and have nots.)
Red Wings' management, led by GM Ken Holland knew that there weren't many teams able to pay Fedorov $11-$12 million a year, so they thought their offer of $10 million a year was fair. The Red Wings got swept in the first round of the playoffs of this season in a series where not many of the players played well. After this series, when Fedorov's agent and Holland began negotiating again, the offer was reduced to 4 years/$40 million, which is still a good offer. Again, Sergei balked at the offer and headed for free agency.
On the second day of free agency, Fedorov's agent told the Detroit media that he would not return to Detroit. Two weeks after that, Sergei's agent backtracked on his words and started to negotiate with the Red Wings again. In the end, however, Fedorov decided to sign with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
What he said all along is that hockey is a business and if he left, he left. In Anaheim, he's getting a chance to be the number one guy, to live in Southern California(where he always expressed a wish to live) and to play somewhere where the fans will respect him.
To this, I would respond that Detroit fans have always respected your talent, Sergei. Detroit is a blue collar town. With the auto industry, people here work hard for their money. Unfair or not, we expect nothing less from the players on our sports teams. Yzerman became a legend in Detroit because not ONLY because of his talent, but also because of his work ethic. Sergei's work ethic did not approach Yzerman's and because of this, there was a perception that the fans didn't respect Fedorov.
So long Sergei, run along to Anaheim. Oh, and don't worry about that pesky fan respect thing, you're moving to an area where all you have to do to look good is to look flashy. I'm sure you can handle that...
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or LXG, brings together seven literary "heroes" of the 19th Century to defend the English Empire from a terrorist bent on starting a world war. The movie turns out to be a solid effort with some twists and turns. If you like a fun action movie and don't mind corny puns, then go ahead and see this movie.
Warning: Contains spoilers!
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is based on a series of graphic novels by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
LXG joins together seven characters derived from other literary works set in and around the late 19th century. This group is brought together by a British Secret Service agent named M. The main character is H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain, played by Sean Connery. Quartermain is known as a sharp hunter who discovered King Solomon's Mines. The next member is Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, played by Naseerudin Shah. Nemo is known as the ruthless captain of the Nautilus. Next appeared Bram Stoker's Wilhelmina Harker, played by Peta Wilson. Harker was attacked by Stoker's Dracula and now is a vampire herself. Next character is based on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man, played by Tony Curran. The actual character name is Rodney Skinner, who stole the formula before the original Invisible Man died. The next character is Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jeckyll, played by Jason Flemyng. Of course, he turns into the monstrous Mr. Hyde when he consumes his secret formula. The next character is America's contribution, which is Detective Tom Sawyer, played by Shane West. Where most other characters have one ability or quality that stands out, Sawyer seems to be an understudy to Quartermain. Finally, the last character we meet is Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, played by Stuart Townsend. Gray sold his soul to the Devil for everlasting youth in exchange a picture of Gray grows older. Now that the characters are introduced, we can get on with the story!
LXG was formed to save the British Empire and indeed the world from a war that pitted each nation against each other: a world war. The villian, named the Fantom, is a gun dealer who would profit from a world war. The seven travel to Venice, Italy via the Nautilus to save a meeting of Europe's leaders, who have convened to discuss peace.
In completing the mission in Venice, LXG finds that one of it's members, Dorian Gray has turned against them and joined with M, who is actually Sherlock Holmes' arch-villian Professor James Moriarty. Just a sidenote, how could they put Professor Moriarty in the movie and not have Holmes in it himself?
The rest of the LXG hunts down Gray and Moriarty in their lair in Mongolia. Moriarty and Gray both get their due but in the process, Quartermain meets an untimely end.
The story itself was interesting but not necessarily executed correctly. The ction scenes weren't of Matrix quality, but they were solid. The characters are developed by showing their weaknesses, for example, the Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde compulsion and Quartermain's inability to get over his son's death.
The main problem I saw was the dialogue. The first hour of the movie was who could make the most/worst puns of the movie. By the way, Connery's character did with his "The Fantom?...How operatic" line.
I give the movie two stars of four, but would be two and a half without the corny dialogue. This movie would be a good one to wait for on cable.
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Kick-Snare-Kick-Snare-Kick-Snare-Kick-Snare … that is probably what most people think when I tell them I listen to trance and techno. This is unfortunate because since I am a percussionist who writes my own trance, house, urban, techno, jungle and a variety of other styles, I know there is a lot more depth then Kick-Snare-Kick-Snare.
ProSamples (PS) offers a total of 50 volumes of samples. They offer a robust selection of sample styles including Vol 30 World Instruments and Vol 13 Dance Drums. PS Vol 38: Trance from Trance Construction Kits is the kit I have been using for about the past three weeks with my studio software (F)ruity (L)oops Studio Producer Edition 4.1.0.
The PS38 sample formats include AUDIO, ACID, AIFF, AKAI, EXS24, HALion and WAV. I have used only the WAV samples thus far. The samples in PS38 are split into two main directories: Construction Kits and Multisamples. I tend to avoid construction kits (pre-built patterns) whenever possible because I like to create my music from single note samples (multisamples). The construction kits in PS38 however, are well written and sound great.
The Multisamples directory is broke down into four types of sounds: Bass, Leads, Pads and Strings. The ten bass samples are exactly what they are supposed to be … simple and ‘boomy.’ Each bass sample has an excellent timbre. Next, we have the leads which are a VERY important part of anything techno and/or trance. The leads in PS38 do not provide enough function or diversity. There are 54 leads and still, I have had to wave-edit almost every lead I use. The 30 pads are functional and melodic although, I personally do not use a lot of pads in my music. Last and definitely least are the 12 string samples. Thus far these samples have been USELESS in everything I have done. They sound more orchestral then trance and that makes them difficult to integrate into my music. The string samples sound superb … they just don’t have the correct timbre for trance.
PS38 is a good BASIC sample CD. The samples are high quality but, unfortunately, lack vision or uniqueness. Despited their limited function however, they provide a good foundation for a lot of techno and trance riffs. I will try other PS volumes in the future … hopefully the other volumes have greater utility.
Geek as chic? Perhaps. Thinkgeek as chic? Definitely. Total, I have probably ordered over $200 worth of gear from Thinkgeek. Items such as shirts, stickers, mugs, caffeine and a few other things that belong to the geek culture. I have been a customer since my first order back in 2000 and since then, Thinkgeek has never let me down.
Thinkgeek’s website has excellent and accurate information in regards to what is in stock and what isn’t. My orders have always been processed quickly and, perhaps most importantly, I have never had a billing problem. Also, Thinkgeek is consistently listing new products and for those of us who get bored with static or semi-static content … this is a very good thing.
Thinkgeek is a part of the OSDN, otherwise known as the Open Source Development Network, Inc. Also included in the OSDN are such geek-worthy websites as Slashdot and SourceForge. Slashdot and SourceForge are prominent open source websites. They both have a large following, geek and otherwise. Thinkgeek, as part of the OSDN, is where many of the Slashdotters and SourceForgers turn to purchase items that enhance and represent their geekyness.
I wear Thinkgeek clothing to just about any and every function I attend. Places like concerts, restaurants, playing hockey, night-out-on-the-town bars and clubs, etc. The reactions to some of the understated t-shirts from Thinkgeek are amazing. I get non-geek people telling me they love the shirt I am wearing and then ask what the shirt means. Most people genuinely want to understand the shirts and I have had several non-geeks ask me where to purchase them. As for the geeks who recognize the shirts and know what it means or know where I got the shirt, the shirts usually act as an excellent conversation piece.
Thinkgeek is the best place to buy geek gear. Thinkgeek is true to the culture because it is run by those who love the culture. So, why do I like wearing geek gear? Because Thinkgeek has made geek, chic … everywhere.