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.