Awake or sleeping?

I feel like I haven't slept in days even though I did sleep, my mind is trapped somewhere between dream and reality, I'm not sure I enjoy being there but it's my own way of dealing with things perhaps. I wish I could do what I did when I was a kid and things worried me too much, I'd go for long walks in the dark until my head emptied itself of worries and I felt fine for a while.
I don't feel bad, that's the thing, I'm just worried about someone I love that's really fighting for his life and I know what he's going through affects so many lives right now and it freezes me, it truly takes me to places I'm not ready to go to. It makes me stare at something from my past that I desperately tried to avoid for years on. But all of this is happening because that cancer thing forces me to look at things in a way I never did before. The human mind is like a long road that's both arrow and wide and doesn't seem to end, it always leads somewhere even when you think you've lost your way, even when you don't know where you're going you'll get somewhere. That's what I'm doing within myself these days. Such a complicated process.

Life is what it is.

I'm neglecting my blog, I'm slacking but blame it all on life and that last.fm account that seems to be my new addiction.

But life's been a bit hectic lately. Within 5 hours my emotions went from happiness to sadness. My brother that I haven't seen since last June because he's in the army and was posted in Paris (talk about a bad posting heh, lucky guy!)had a special permission to come over in Canada and spend two days here before going to Russia for a few days and then get ready to live in The Netherlands for the next three years. I was happy that I had the chance to see him even though he couldn't bring his wife and kids along with him. But the happy moment turned into sadness when we got a call about my mother's partner being rushed to the hospital, seems his pancreatic cancer is now generalized and his lungs are filled with water, his belly is all swollen and they don't know if he's gonna get out of the hospital and make it or if death will take his soul. I'm not sure how I feel right now, I was happy, I felt sad and now I'm numb.

The Last Shadow Puppets

Who knew an album made in 2008 could sound so 60-ish!

Many artists were able to put a 60's vibe in their sound but I've never heard something that trully seemed to come from that era before I heard the album made by The Last Shadow Puppets (member includes Artic Monkeys' Alex Turner). There's a real retro feel to their music, sometimes I could hear a bit of scouser music in there (think of the Coral) and to my great pleasure there's an orchestra that gives another dimension to their sound. Summer's coming, it lurks around the corner so this record is perfect for those days in the sun, and if it rains than just play the album and there's gonna be a room full of sunshine.

Favourites are:

The Age of the Understatement
Calm Like You
Separate and Ever Deadly
Only the Truth
I Don't Like You Anymore

Habs officially go play golf and soccer

So it ended last night, my Habs had a wonderful season that was a thousand times better than anyone expected it to be but the second round of the playoffs leaves a bittersweet feeling that's hard to swallow. What didn't allow us to go any further was Price, our young goalie. A veteran goalie by his side would have been a great help in the series. Obviously the mental pressure was too much for him to take at such a young age. The team in front of him played pretty good but the goalie is part of the team so if a goalie cannot perform at 100% and lets the pucks enter easily in the net without a fight then you're in for a disaster. From what I've seen in this series, if the goalie did the job as expected of him, my Habs deserved a shot at the next round. What a team needs to move on has to do with lots of hard work and lots of chance. Chance definitely wasn't on our this time around. Next year....maybe!
Now the Flyers won and I can name two reasons why they did:Biron, the goalie was both good and lucky, and R. J Umberger. Umberger didn't score that often in the regular season but in the series it seems he's always there at the right spot to shot the puck in the net. I do think the Flyers are gonna need a lot more than luck to beat the Penguins (ok, they haven't officially won yet, the Rangers are still in for now but in case the Penguins do win, which they should do today). Pittsburgh has an incredibly gifted team of young players and they have about all it takes to win the Stanley Cup. Although I root for Dallas to win the cup I certainly acknowledge the greatness of the Penguins, they're on a mission to win and unless something really bad happens they should be the winner in the eastern conference.

Coldplay's new song

My friend wrote me an email early this morning telling me to listen to Coldplay's new song, she knew I was a fan so I checked their website where they offered a free download of the song. Sadly I couldn't download the song, the link they sent me didn't work for me. I've heard some people also had a similar problem so I guess some were lucky, others weren't.

So I went to Coldplay's page on myspace and was finally able to hear it. I must say I was pretty impressed with their new song ''Violet Hill'', the first thing that came to mind upon hearing the first few notes was ''David Gilmore'', ''very Pink-Floy-ish'' but not the psychedelic Pinkf Floyd phase, not their '' The Wall'' phase either, rather it tends to sound more like the last few Floyd's albums. It's not too Pink-Floy-ish though, just slightly inspired by them. I haven't read anything mentionning they were listening to Pink Floyd while recording the album, I just think it's me that sees or hear the similarities. To me that's a great thing. I was getting tired of them sounding a bit too much like U2, a different sound could only be refreshing.

Now let's just hope the new album is as good as Parachute was.

Game 3....was there actually a game?

I'm not sure if I was sleeping or awake but what I do know is I'm gonna have nightmares when I do go to sleep. Seriously, my Habs and the Flyers are playing like it's not the series. Price actually decided it was time to take a long nap, it lasted 5 periods so hopefully he's gonna be in top shape when he does wake up. But my Habs were all on cruise control, never changing speed until they finally realized they were not driving a car but were on skates...they then started to skate, something they're paid millions to do. Oh...and when you see a net, you actually have to put the puck in it.

So far, the Bruins/Habs series was more intense, both team worked hard and that was fun to watch. Intensity was high in all 7 games. Intensity lacks this time around.

Sleepy game...

So the 1st game between the Flyers and Habs wasn't at all what I expected it to be. First of all, what happened to the crowd? They weren't loud at all last night, usually you can't even hear the singer sing the national anthems! I wonder if it has to do with the riot they had after the Habs won the last game of the series between them and the Bruins. Maybe it's because before the game they asked people to respect the national anthems? Maybe it's just because it was that way and there was no reason for that other than it was that way.

In any case the match wasn't that good either. I think that's to be expected in a way, both teams were like boxers examining each other's move, it is after all a new opponent. Both team went through a 7 game marathon and were on a high, this being the start of another series surely means the game will get better as the series moves along.
My Habs didn't play that good, the Flyers had a good chance of winning but didn't. They also didn't play that well. The game was flat.

Game 2 this Saturday.

Flyers/Habs

So it's now official, my Habs will play vs roark's Flyers.

1st game: Thursday. I expect the crowd to be extremely loud and boo Brière every time he touches the puck, if they booed Chara then Brière should bring his earplugs, he's gonna need it.

Price better be ready to push the guys that are gonna try and deconcentrate him in front of the net.

I must say this about the Flyers/Caps game, I'm beside myself about the officiating in the game last night (although they pretty much sucked in the Habs/Bruins games as well) so hopefully it's the way the team plays that will decide who wins and not the bad calls from the people officiating the games.

On that second goal, there should have been a penalty called not a goal. On the third period the officials decided not to call any penalties except that last one (good call on that penalty) even tough a few penalties should have been called but weren't. I think the Caps got screwed not once but twice last night. The officials did an awful job and everyone watching the game saw it.

But that's hockey. Now just bring on the Flyers.

The Mary Onettes

There's this Swedish band I discovered a few months ago and I'm so pleased to finally own their self titled cd. From the moment the music starts it's magical, the band makes us travel back in time and let's us revisit the sound of the '80s and early '9os. It's alt-pop-rock-shoegazing so there's always a great atmosphere on each song. Perhaps the only flaw is the fact that the influences are way too obvious at times but that's a minor flaw, there's a wonderful flow to the songs and the vocals are great. There's a bit of Joy Division in there, Echo and the Bunnymen even some Jesus and Mary Chain influence in there.

Pleasure Songs, Still, Laughter and Explosions are my favourite songs on the album. I could listen to them repeatedly and not get bored with them.

It's a perfect record for those days when you feel like going back in time, when all you want is simple pleasure for your ears and nothing else.


The Mary Onettes

What else but hockey!

So my Habs won, they now have to wait to see who their opponents are gonna be for the 2nd round of the playoffs. It will either be the Flyers (if they defeat the Caps) or the Rangers (if the Caps defeat the Flyers). I'm rooting for the Flyers, not because I'm a fan but it would be a fantastic series. The Rangers are a great team even though I never liked them all that much, they have great veteran players and always put up a good fight, they could go very far in the playoffs.

So roark, I'm rooting for your team. I do think an Habs/Flyers game would be awesome to watch, better than an Habs/Rangers that's for sure. Then again maybe it's just wishful thinking because I know the Rangers would probably give my Habs a hard time.

I love the Caps because of Ovechkin, because of Huet, because the way they play hockey is similar to the way my Habs play hockey. But I'm still rooting for the Flyers...just because...just because.....

So tonight I'll be watching the game from start to finish.