Past Meet Present - A Joining of Clans

Another night, another game ... and while the numbers in the group have dropped off the action and fun haven't.  Last time we left off with the party having just faced their most deadly foe to date, having had two of their number turned to stone and another horribly wounded.  We pick up from that point here.

Insidious & Take Me Home

This past weekend another pair of movies were on the agenda, and finally after having a number of movies that I liked I hit a couple that were just "meh".  Those two movies this past weekend were "Insidious" and "Take Me Home Tonight".  I won't spend a lot of time on either one (not that I spend a lot of time on any movie it seems), as I have a lot of other stuff to get done and I have a number of other posts that I have in my head to spend time on as well even if they may get done one per day.

Past Meet Present - What Masterful Sculptures!

Last night concluded yet another night of gaming for the "Royal Karameikan Fist Adventuring Company" and our adventurers have found themselves a fight that has left them in a bad spot.  We'll pick up right from the beginning and get right into the recap...

My RDO Camp for the NHL

Recently I had a post regarding the Research and Development camp that the NHL held where it looked at potential changes to the game of hockey.  While the game is as good as it has ever been in my opinion I love the fact that the NHL is being pro-active in looking to improve game play and player safety rather than re-active, and I've stated that on many occasions.  I have also commented on a number of their changes, either in opposition of or curious about them.  However one thing I haven't done thus far is present my ideas for what could be tested out in the camp.  With this post I change that as I present many ideas for things that I would have the NHL test out in the next RDO Camp if I had a say in the decision making process.

There are many things which I would likely look at again if they don't make the list of changes this year, and from the sounds of things while lots of ideas have generated discussion the only ones likely to see implementation soon are the verification line and shallower nets.  The first is a bit of a no-brainer, and the second I'm looking forward to seeing live myself.  There are also things that haven't been looked at that I would like to see.  Here is my rundown of things I would like to see looked at for the first time, or looked at further.

EA Sports - NHL12

Here soon the demo for EA's NHL 12 game will be released, and soon after that the actual game will be coming out and I think thanks to a great wedding gift we got (a gift card to Amazon) I'll be getting the game once again this year.  Of course the wife could talk me out of it since I have NHL 11, but each year they change the game a bit and each year the new game becomes the next "best hockey game out there."  I have been playing this franchise, though not every year of it but close to, for a decade now and I honestly think that not only is there no one close in terms of hockey games, but the EA NHL games are the best sports games out there period.

I look forward to this year's version continuing this trend.  Last year the "Be a Pro" mode was introduced and it will be continued this year.  That is likely the single best play style I've had the chance to play.  In that mode you actually take on the role of your player, starting in the juniors and getting drafted, then earning your way from the AHL to the NHL and playing out your career.  While your player is on the ice you play them.  If your player is on the bench ... or in the box ... you watch just as if you were there.  By far my favorite mode to play in.

Predicting the Avs Future

Today I am going to pull out my crystal ball and predict the future.  What is the potential Avalanche lineup in the season of 2014-15?  That is the answer I am going to try to get to using just the current roster and the players in the system.  Obviously this will leave a few spaces that will be occupied by free agent signings so my roster won't be 100% correct, but I am going to look at the prospects coming through the system and touch on what I realistically expect of them, then using that present a roster for the team three years from now.

I will also have to look at the current roster as well, but I will only touch on those pieces in creating the final picture as much of this will focus on the prospects coming up through the system.  I'll start from the forwards and work my way back towards goal in my efforts, and beyond that there won't be a real order to the players that I put forth. 

You will see references to a hockey prospects site that I visit from time to time called hockeysfuture.com, but other than using them as a reference point the opinions given will be mine.  You will see "grades" that this website gave to many of the prospects, but as they haven't updated them in the last year nor given this year's draftees a grade I will mention them, but also give my thoughts on what they are likely to be this year or should be.  The grade is a number 1 through 10 ranking potential with 10 being a generational talent going down to AHL star at 5, so the grades will be between there, and then a letter where 'A' represents the likelihood a player will reach that level and each grade below that the player is less likely to reach that level.  Thus a player that is a 8B is said to have potential to reach 1st line status and likely could but could end up as a second liner.  Of course the grades are educated guesses on their part, but for further explanation of them check here ... http://www.hockeysfuture.com/playerprojections/

Past Meet Present - Into the Mountain

When we last left off so long ago our adventurers had just overcome extremely bad odds in defeating a group of Zhentarim.  Real life events have kept us from playing for a few weeks but last night we were back at it and that is where they picked up.

Vampires Don't Glitter

A while ago I made a deal with my wife in which I agreed to read the Twilight series if she would read the first book of my Wheel of Time series, "The Eye of the World".  While she hasn't started yet because she wants to wait until the last book comes out in case she enjoys it and wants to finish the series, I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and start the Twilight series.

While I have seen the movies I worried about the book as I've heard it is a tween romance type novel, and honestly that doesn't appeal to me at all.  However I do enjoy reading and like being entertained, so I dove right into the book and honestly it was pretty easy reading and I flew through the first book.  I grabbed the second one this morning, but before I get going on it I'll touch on the first book here first.

What's Best for the Prospect?

Whenever fans begin to talk about their young prospects who are nearly ready to make the jump from their current league to the big club a regular argument occurs about what is best for the player's long term development.  This argument generally focuses on two main possibilities, that the player stays in the AHL (or other league) and gets top line minutes playing 20 minutes a night give or take in all situations or that the player plays in the NHL but only getting 5 to 7 minutes a night on a lower pairing and only in certain circumstances.

Sure there could be other possibilities, such as with Duchene coming into the league and getting 2nd line center responsibilities right away and getting good playing time in many different situations, but generally those top lines and high-responsibility minutes will be filled with someone having more experience so in the end it will likely be one of those two argued scenarios that the young player ends up in.  So what is better for their long term development and their career?

A Bunch of Movies

This past weekend we watched a number of movies once again as we relaxed around the house.  I figured five was a bit much for the title of the blog so didn't put them all in there, but those five movies were "No Strings Attached", "Red Riding Hood", "Source Code", "Lincoln Lawyer", and "Arthur".  Yes, we do more than just watch movies but we do enjoy a good movie and it is a good way to relax at night, especially now where we don't have many shows that we're watching as seasons have ended and we haven't really found that replacement for "Lost" on Netflix.  I'll take on the reviews in the order that they were watched once again.

Why Choose Anything Else?

I've always felt that if a person looked at what they liked about their favorite sport they would find that the NHL and hockey at many levels would have what draws them to their game and often time on an equal or greater level than the sport they love.  Finally I decided to reach out, ask people what their sports were and what about them they like specifically, and put this to the test.  While I didn't get as much response as I'd like I did get a few and have things I've heard or read in the past to draw on as well.  Using what feedback I got, here goes my comparisons of sports though certainly not an all inclusive look.

RDO Camp is Back

The NHL's Research, Development, and Orientation camp is scheduled to take place once again this coming week.  Last year few changes came from it but I maintain that I really like the fact that the NHL is taking a pro-active path to examining the game both to make it safer and better rather than a re-active one.  I also like the fact that while many of the things they are looking at they are doing so just to see them before ruling them out or giving them further consideration.  It is a good thing to look to improve your game but not make changes without having a good grip on them, and not to make changes just for the sake of making changes or for bringing in fans that aren't going to be interested anyway.

This year they are going to be looking at some of the same things that they looked at last year, giving them further evaluation, as well as looking at other potential changes as well.  My thoughts on last year's camp can be found here ... http://avinnebr.blogspot.com/2011/03/nhl-examining-rule-changes-fb-post-from.html ... and for the most part everything said there still holds true so I'll only touch breifly on any changes that are being re-visited from last year.

Tangled, Rango, Witch, Hall Pass and Rio

I have had a chance recently to see a number of new movies.  Most were watched this previous week, and one was watched just last night.  I didn't get around to reviewing them prior to now but before too much time passes or too many movies pile up I want to get a little something about each of them posted.  Thus, here we go in the order they were watched.