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aaronmaurer · 1 year

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TV I Liked in 2022

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

2022 brought plenty of new continuing and limited series of note, while returning shows retained the qualities that set them apart to begin with. There were outstanding series finales and expectation-defying debuts. This year I’ve divided my list into new shows (which I’ve folded the Disney+ Marvel shows into because there were only three of them, and two of them were pretty great!) and returning highlights. I also threw in some honorable mentions for additional viewing, if you’re really looking for content this winter.

New and Notable:

9. (tie) Winning Time: Season 1 (HBO) and Welcome to Wrexham: Season 1 (FX)

I’ll kick off my list of new shows with a couple of very different series about sports that are united by being compulsively watchable and each balancing a comic touch with more dramatic moments.

Winning Time is a fictionalized (highly, according to some reactions) account of the beginning of Los Angeles Lakers’ 1980s “Showtime” era with the signing of Magic Johnson. Adapted by Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice), the series is hyper-kinetic, using a mix of film stock and camera formats (including grainy Super 8), plenty of fourth wall breaking by its characters and a heightened sense of reality. It’s A LOT – reveling in the excess of its era and subjects, maybe too much? – but I ultimately find it fun and compelling, especially the performances including John C Reilly as team owner Jerry Buss, Jason Segal as interim coach Paul Westhead, Adrien Brody as reporter-turned-assistant coach (and future head coach) Pat Riley, Quincy Isaiah as Magic himself, Wood Harris as struggling forward Spencer Haywood and Solomon Hughes as superstar center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, just to name a few of the absolutely STACKED cast. I didn’t even mention Sally Field! Or Tracy Letts! And the list goes on and on!

Welcome to Wrexham, on the other hand, is a documentary about actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’ recent purchase of a bottom-tier Welsh soccer club. As a big fan of the sport I knew I’d get around to it eventually, but I put off watching for awhile because I’m not a big fan of Reynolds’ smarmy “lovable asshole” stage persona and I figured the show was kind of a Johnny-come-lately riding the coattails of the likes of Ted Lasso’s success. That said, I was unprepared for how balanced and well-made this series is. It certainly spends plenty of time with Rob and Ryan (who both come off amiable and endearing), but more on the actual inner workings of the club and their supporters and community. I appreciated the ongoing narrative arc of the season being supplemented with focuses on specific aspects of the game like hooliganism and tournament play as well as spotlights on individual players, staff and supporters. There have been plenty of soccer documentaries before, but this one is a top-notch love-letter to the glories and heartbreaks of the beautiful game.

8. Ms. Marvel (Disney+)

The introduction of Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe could have fallen into the clichés of melodramatic teen drama, but it mostly avoids them through the centering of its charming Muslim cast of characters, bringing fresh perspective to the genre. It also features innovative effects work and vibrant art direction that bring Kamala’s inner world to life and provides fun glimpses at “ground-level” life in the MCU (i.e. an Avengers fan convention she attends early on).

7. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: Season 1 (Disney+)

I didn’t know that I needed a straight-up half-hour superhero sitcom in my life (although my love of all iterations of the Tick may have been a sign), but She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is an utter delight that rewards fans of even the most obscure minutiae of the MCU while remaining funny and accessible to more casual viewers. Guest appearances from existing characters (Daredevil, Wong, the Abomination) work like gangbusters, and introductions to some of Marvel’s most D-List heroes and villains (Leap-Frog, Porcupine, Mr. Immortal, etc.) are wonderfully absurd. The show’s comic book-accurate fourth wall breaking is employed well, and the completely meta finale episode skewers the MCU and its tropes in winning fashion.

6. Abbott Elementary: Seasons 1 and 2 (ABC)

Just when it seemed the mockumentary genre was completely beaten into the ground, Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary came along to prove that great humor can enliven any format. The ABC sitcom centers on a public elementary school in Philadelphia, focused primarily on the teachers and staff, though the students sometimes take the spotlight as well. While it doesn’t shy away from depicting the challenges of underfunded institutions, the series is chiefly a vehicle for big laughs and big heart and a salute to public servants.

5. The Sandman: Season 1 (Netflix)

As a comic book fan in the 90s, I heard a lot about Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics via the likes of Wizard magazine without ever actually having read any issues (mainly because I was a kid then and it was on a “mature” imprint). I was intrigued when I learned it was becoming a Netflix series but also didn’t really think it’d be for me – I tend more toward superhero fare than the dark fantasy/lite horror it traffics in. But upon watching the series, I found myself swept up in the tale and won over by both its world-building and excellent cast. While it occasionally veers into over-exposition and slight disjointedness (from mixing highly serialized storytelling with abrupt pivots to standalone episodes), its artful, impressionistic effects and thematic resonances (hope, change/growth, dreaming itself) more than make up for its shortcomings.

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 1 (Amazon Prime Video)

This recommendation comes with the caveat that I am not by any means a J.R.R. Tolkien fanatic, having only read The Hobbit years ago and finding his ornate prose impenetrable for my personal taste, so I cannot speak to Rings of Power’s fidelity (or lack thereof) to the source material. And while I love the original Peter Jackson LOTR film trilogy in all its Extended Edition glory, I barely made it through the first Hobbit film and skipped the next two altogether, as I found them way too esoteric and tedious. I feared something similar with this Amazon Prime prequel series, assuming I’d be bored to tears by Middle Earth history I’d find dry and listless. This proved another pleasant surprise then, as once I gave it a shot, I found myself fully engaged in the story, characters and magnificent visuals – the production design is seriously gorgeous and I could watch cameras exploring these new corners of Middle Earth all day. I also appreciate the series’ themes of light and dark, while adding some shades of gray that lend a bit more complexity to Tolkien’s world, even among his most disposably “evil” adversaries, the Orcs. You! Shall! Not! Pass! (on this show, or you’ll seriously be missing out)

3. Andor: Season 1 (Disney+)

Turns out 2022 was really a year of genre shows that defied my skepticism. I saw 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story when it was released and liked it okay but with a number of caveats, and frankly, had zero interest when I heard a prequel series was coming based on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor character (even though I like Luna!). Well, it turns out that Andor is not only the hands-down-best of the year’s three new live action Star Wars shows but possibly the best one to date (sorry Grogu, I still love you) — and maybe even the best SW content since the original trilogy?

The series’ focus is the inner-workings of the Rebel Alliance under the growing influence of the fascist Empire, and while I often found those elements of the movies a bit dry, creator Tony Gilroy brings them to life like a white-knuckle spy thriller (fitting, as he wrote the Bourne trilogy scripts). There are other genre influences that come into play as well, such as film noir, the futuristic neon dystopia of Blade Runner, heist films, prison escape movies, comedies of manners and more. This first season is comprised of satisfying three-to-four-episode arcs which keep things moving like a well-oiled Death Star assembly line. Bravo.

2. The Bear: Season 1 (hulu)

A riveting portrait of familial obligation and the food service industry, hulu’s The Bear chronicles a celebrity chef returning to his home of Chicago to take over an Italian beef stand left to him by his brother. The scripts are taut, the cast is uniformly excellent, the filmmaking is invigorating and the 90s alt-rock soundtrack is expertly deployed. If its Chicago references aren’t always 100% accurate, I’ll give it a pass for capturing the spirit of the city, its food culture and its people. Yes, Chef!

1. Severance: Season 1 (Apple TV+)

Severance first appears to be something of a hybrid of great influences: the mundane bureaucratic dystopias of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Netflix’s Maniac, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Black Mirror all come to mind. But rather than feeling derivative, this darkly comedic sci-fi exploration of the divide between work life and home life has a unique and captivating vision of its own, with indelible characters, led by Adam Scott’s Mark S. Episode 9, “The We We Are,” is best season finale I’ve seen in years, an incredibly tense and satisfying blend of questions answered and stakes raised. Bring on Season 2!

BONUS: Animated Special

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Apple TV+)

The short film adaptation of illustrator Charlie Mackesy’s deeply felt book is a gentle, meditative and gorgeously animated rumination on life, friendship and purpose. While there is a narrative arc to the special, it doesn’t feel forced but instead true to the spirit of the more unstructured source material. A touching note to end the year on.

A Few More Worthwhile Debuts:

A Friend of the Family (Peacock) and Under the Banner of Heaven (hulu) – have yourself a Mormon true crime double-feature! (Or maybe don’t – they’re both intense!)

Grand Crew (NBC) – a fun network hangout sitcom with a winning cast

We Own the Streets (HBO) – a limited series based on a true story of police corruption in Baltimore that’s basically a Wire reunion

The Afterparty (Apple TV+) – come for the great cast and creators, stay for the incredible Ben Schwartz-focused musical episode!

Great Seasons of Returning Favorites:

5. Barry: Season 3 (HBO)

In its latest season, Barry is hard to watch but even harder to look away from, a show that feels as compellingly fractured as its characters, as pitch-black darkly comedic as ever. Hader’s titular Barry is less a person than a zombie at this point, in fruitless, soulless pursuit of some sort of purpose or redemption, which, [spoiler alert!] will not find him. Everyone else is likewise just spiraling out for most of the season, though some catharsis is found for certain parties in the final episode.

4. Stranger Things 4 (Netflix)

The fourth season of Stranger Things is as compulsively watchable as ever; still a pastiche of 80s Stephen King, Amblin Entertainment and John Hughes influences to be sure, but memorable characters, performances and production design transcend the cliches to create something worthwhile in its own right. The episode lengths this outing do start to feel a bit padded (especially the final two episodes/basically movies) but the added time spent with this cast helps to overlook the protracted plotting.

3. Better Call Saul: Season 6 (AMC)

Better Call Saul’s final season wastes no time in upping the drama with resolutions to its drug war plots coming fast and furious and culminating in a truly shocking mid-season finale that expertly sets the stage for its homestretch. While I find the momentum to fall off slightly in the last couple episodes, I can’t say anything should be different – after all, slippin’ Jimmy McGill is nothing if not an architect of self-sabotage and any other “happier” end to the series would stretch the limits of credulity.

2. Atlanta: Seasons 3 and 4 (FX)

The return of Atlanta in 2022 was a reminder that it is a show unlike anything else on television, a wholly unique vision full of powerful parables, off-the-wall humor and on occasion, surprising heart. Spring’s third season mixes culture clash comedy of the cast touring through various cities in Europe with several Twilight Zone-esque stand-alone episodes about race relations; what it lacks in narrative cohesion it makes up for in sheer boldness. Fall’s fourth and final season returns the action to Atlanta with fewer detours from the main cast (but, you know, the occasional faux documentary about A Goofy Movie), but focusing primarily on just one or two characters at a time. The final episode is a fitting ending for a series that always had a rhythm of its own even while it acknowledged influences such as Twin Peaks.

1. What We Do In The Shadows: Season 4 (FX)

Still the most consistently hilarious show on television, WWITS shows no signs of losing either its wit or edge. With new and bizarre situations including an amazing home makeover show parody, a visit to “The Night Market” and the entire life cycle of the creature that crawled out of the chest cavity of Colin Robinson, there is plenty to sink your teeth into (sorry, not sorry), even four seasons in.

Also Still Good:

The White Lotus: Season 2 (HBO)

Queer Eye: Season 6 (Netflix)

All Creatures Great and Small: Season 2 (PBS)

Girls5eva: Season 2 (Peacock)

Rutherford Falls: Season 2 (Peacock)

LEGO Masters: Season 3 (FOX)

#tv #television

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whythehellnaut · 3 years

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The secret brilliance behind Nickelodeon All Star Brawl‘s marketing

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the Nickelodeon fighting game after it was announced, progressing from mild interest to ironic excitement to unironic excitement for it. So many jokes and memes have been made about it that they’re almost impossible to avoid. But when I thought about it, I realized that that’s exactly what the marketing team for this game wanted. The idea of the game is so absurd that no one would expect it to exist, but they figured out a way to make absolutely sure that it would create just the right buzz to get people like me to take serious interest in it.

Watching the trailer again, I figured out that every character they picked to showcase in that minute and a half trailer were carefully and strategically chosen to cater to as many people as they could. Even the order of their appearance had deliberation behind it. Here are my thoughts:

Michelangelo comes first, establishing that the game is combat focused. After all, who better to show off first for a fighting game than a character that has already appeared as a playable character in at least two of them? Plus, the Ninja Turtles are the oldest characters in Nickelodeon’s library when you consider that they first aired in the 80′s, before Nickelodeon even started making cartoons. This is a character that everyone recognizes, parents included.

Lincoln Loud comes next, a more modern character that adults might not know but kids will. This is to quickly lure the kids, who have less patience than adults, into watching the rest of the trailer, assuring them that it won’t just be older characters like the turtles that show up.

Powdered Toast Man comes next to snatch up the other side of the equation, the adults/90′s kids who remember him from the original Ren and Stimpy show from 1991. I’m not sure if it’s still airing as reruns on Nick today, but considering I hear very little about the show online, I’m guessing not. This is a bit of a surprise to the adults who thought it’d be a kids’ game, so it lures those folks into staying for the rest of the trailer as well.

Sandy is important to show off early for a number of reasons. Spongebob is popular among kids and Millenials, and is arguably the only property here as well known as Ninja Turtles, so they’re luring in more fans. It also serves to imply that other Spongebob characters will join, as, even though Sandy’s passion for karate makes total sense for her to appear in a fighting game, you still can’t leave out Spongebob himself. Showing her first implies more possibilities of characters to come, proving it won’t just be a festival of protagonists like Jump Force was. It also shows off their female representation to keep women interested.

Patrick is just a fan favorite to get out of the way before the sponge shows up, so he’s only here to confirm that the game is going to be full of characters that people actually want to see.

Oblina was personally a shocker to me, as I barely remember Ahh Real Monsters from my own childhood, but I remember enough to know that she wasn’t the protagonist, necessarily. I also know it’s relatively obscure in comparison to Spongebob or Ren and Stimpy, so they proved that they are willing to take characters from more obscure shows that the young kids won’t remember. This solidified my interest as I could tell that they are doing more to cater to the 90s generation than just confirming Powdered Toast Man.

Nigel Thornberry is arguably their most important addition at the halfway point. Outside of Spongebob characters and maybe Stu Pickles, I would say Nigel is the internet’s favorite Nickelodeon character to use for memes. The marketing team had to have known this. After getting some of the core audiences hooked, they now have the memer crowd invested, ready to spread the word about the insanity of this game’s premise across the internet. This is exactly what happened, and why the trailer has 2 million views on Youtube right now.

Lucy Loud is shown off quickly to remind the younger crowd to keep watching, and to add a little bit more female representation.

Spongebob is shown off a little bit late, but since we were expecting him to show up, it’s just to make sure the casual fans who only know the big names stay watching.

Helga is an older character, but I recently saw a young kid wearing a Hey Arnold tee shirt at the supermarket, so I’m positive it’s being shown as reruns on Nick today, so most Nick fans of all ages will be excited about her. Moreover, since she came immediately after Spongebob, who is a protagonist that was introduced after Sandy, a side character from his show, it gives an implication that Arnold will also appear. Although he is not introduced in this trailer, it allows the fans to speculate that he will soon be showcased, perhaps in the next trailer. Also, she’s the fourth female character shown, confirming that the game is being fair and inclusive to both sexes and not simply catering to male gamers, like say, Jump Force or Dragonball Fighter Z.

Reptar is another shocker, because although Rugrats is very popular and well known throughout the generations, he is a very, very minor character in the show. He is literally a fictional character within a separate fictional universe. The marketing team threw him in to show off that just about any character from any Nick property, no matter how minor or obscure, has a chance of making it into this game. Again, this forces the fans to speculate about future announcements with even more creative thinking, as we now know that it won’t just be major characters joining the fray.

Zim is a well thought out choice because he caters to a specific crowd that I’d describe as the alternative niche. That is to say, there are people who are fans of Invader Zim who don’t watch other Nick shows, so they are luring in the folks you’d expect to see at Hot Topic and the like. It was an edgy show with a feel and fanbase unlike other shows of its era, so it’s important to use him to diversify the roster. They also showed off Gir as his assist, and although that may deconfirm him as playable, it still pleases the fans, who often prefer Gir over Zim.

Danny Phantom is the only character that comes strictly from the 2000s era, so they are making sure to maintain the attention of the teenagers who watched that show as kids.

Leonardo seems like an odd choice to end on, maybe even anticlimactic, since they started with Michelangelo, but it makes sense when you think about it. They couldn’t show just 1 turtle, or else it might imply that the game’s roster was small. But if they showed all 4 turtles, they would have needed to leave two other characters out of the trailer to make room for them, and they didn’t want to make it look like a Turtles fighting game with guest characters. So having exactly 2 turtles allows them to show off enough characters from other properties, while also confirming unofficially that the other turtles would appear later, since you can’t just have 2 of the 4 turtles in the game. By leaving it open like that, they’re giving an implication that the roster is going to be huge. So big that the turtles were just a small portion of it. They end the trailer this way to leave the crowd speculating again: how many characters will appear in total?

The only characters that curiously don’t show up in the trailer are the cast of the Avatar franchise, who are quite popular. However, one of the stages shown is clearly the Air Temple with Aang’s glider in plain sight, implying that Avatar characters will be announced later. Another smart move to instill hope in the fans.

Finally, the Rollback Netcode announcement that came afterward solidified a very important group- the serious/competitive gamers. For those who don’t know, rollback netcode is relatively new technology that speeds up online gameplay to cut down on input lag, which is super important for fighting games in particular, as they rely on strict timing more than other game genres. It’s so new, however, that not all competitive fighting games use it. Popular tournament fighters like Super Smash Bros, Tekken, and Dragonball Fighter Z have not implemented rollback netcode for their games yet, so of all games, Nickelodeon All Star Brawl beating them to the punch is causing a stir. This is a sign that the devs are putting serious effort into making the game enjoyable online, which could potentially help its chances to be taken seriously in competitive settings. Only time will tell if that truly happens, but it’s a sign of quality, nonetheless.

So ultimately, this short trailer and announcement manage to cater to dang near every crowd that may want to play it: Kids, teenagers, young adults in their 20s and 30s, parents in their 40s, men, women, memers, casual fans, alternative fans, and serious gamers, and opens up a ton of potential for speculation regarding new announcements. That’s a fantastic way to start off and explains why this game, which for all intents and purposes should have been nothing more than a thought experiment that people joke about in the car with friends, has been trending so much for the past two weeks. Congrats to the marketing team for what they put together.

#Nickelodeon #nickelodeon all star brawl #fighting games #fgc

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cherry-valentine · 3 years

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Spring 2021 Anime Season

Mars Red is one of two series this season set in one of my favorite periods, the Meiji era. It’s a vampire series that deals a lot with the politics of war as the Japanese military is attempting to establish a vampire unit, supposedly to compete with the British vampire unit (because of course that’s a thing). It focuses on a human military officer named Maeda who is charged with recruiting and managing vampires. Maeda is the type of character I really enjoy. Handsome, a little older than most anime protagonists, chain-smoking, overly serious, and voiced by Junichi Suwabe (who has to have the sexiest voice in all of anime). The series has a classic, romantic feel to it. Its take on vampires is somewhat traditional (they evaporate in the sun, drink blood, sleep in coffins, have super strength and speed, etc.). If it brings anything new to the table, it’s the concept of vampires having different ranks, from S-class down, and how lower ranks naturally fear higher ranks. Still yet, the classic vibe works in the show’s favor. Combined with the historical setting, it gives the show a certain charm. The art is lovely, from the backgrounds to the character designs, and the music is a high point. It easily has the best ending theme of the season.

Fumetsu no Anata e (To Your Eternity) is a unique series. I’ve seen a lot of people comparing it to Mushishi, but with an overarching plot, and that assessment is pretty accurate. The show follows an entity that comes to be known as Fushi. It begins as an orb, and as it makes contact with other objects and creatures, it learns from them and can possibly take their forms. Among the forms it most often takes are a white wolf and a young man. Originally, it’s a somewhat empty shell, incapable of communicating, but as it meets different creatures and learns, it develops a personality and begins to speak. The series is, overall, about Fushi’s journey through this world and all the experiences it gains, both wonderful and tragic. There’s a subtle beauty to the series, with an early focus on nature, but it also has scenes of trauma and violence. The animation is fluid and the facial expressions are amazing. There’s an overall natural feel to it that, like others have pointed out, reminds me of Mushishi (though it’s definitely faster paced than Mushishi). The show also likes to make you cry, so keep that in mind.

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is the other series set in the Meiji era this season, albeit an alternate version of it that has a strange form of technology. To be honest, I’m a little fuzzy on some of the details, but it seems to be about a group called the Nue who work for the government to fight against a growing rebellion. The main character is Sawa, a member of Nue who has some sort of special powers involving her blood, which allow her to transform and battle monsters, or whatever else stands in her way. Her goal is to get revenge for the death of her entire clan (implied to be wiped out because of their power). Sawa is a decent heroine, a woman who craves vengeance and is determined to get it through any means, but is, at her core, a compassionate person who would rather live in peace. It’s this internal conflict that makes Sawa compelling (even if it’s not entirely original). The other characters are interesting, particularly Tsuki, whom I won’t talk much about because it would involve spoilers. The plot and details can get a little convoluted, but the action and animation are solid. When Sawa transforms, the art style changes, and it’s a really cool visual effect. The music is also nice.

Shaman King received a remake this season. I was a huge fan of the original, and so far I’m enjoying the remake, but to be honest, I’m having trouble seeing the point. The art is almost the same (just a lot shinier), the voice actors are the same, the plot is the same. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so long since I saw the original, I’m unable to remember the details and so I can’t tell what’s different. But to me it feels like I’m just rewatching the show. Which is fine, because I loved it to begin with. Maybe it gets different later on. Maybe it more closely follows the manga. I’ll keep watching to find out. For anyone new to the series, it looks like the remake is a solid place to start if you want to get into it. I won’t go into plot details for a story this old, so I’ll just say it’s a top tier shounen fighting series with a unique art style and some very memorable characters. If you like that sort of thing, and missed the original (or you just want a refresher), definitely check it out!

Godzilla Singular Point is a true delight. I’m a huge Godzilla (and kaiju in general) fan. I’ve watched every single Godzilla movie, as well as all the related movies (the Mothra films, Rodan, etc.), but I never watched the previous Godzilla anime that was on Netflix a few years ago. It just didn’t sound like something I’d like. Singular Point, however, is right up my alley. Set mainly in a small seaside town that’s suddenly attacked by bird-like monsters known as Rodans, we have two geeky protagonists using their intelligence to figure out what’s going on while more and more monsters appear. Mei and Yun are excellent heroes. They rely on their wits rather than physical strength, which is a refreshing approach. It’s also interesting that they have little to no face-to-face interaction. Instead, they chat with each other via text as they work separately. They often challenge each other with science questions. It’s adorable. The show’s overall feel is fairly upbeat and energetic. The colorful art and peppy character designs by Kazue Kato (who did Blue Exorcist) help with this feel. It should be noted that Godzilla himself doesn’t fully appear until halfway through the series. It says a lot about the quality of the show that I don’t actually mind that at all. Some of the science stuff does go over my head, but the general plot is easy enough to follow and the action is very well done. It also has fantastic music, with my favorite opening theme of the season. Even if Godzilla isn’t your thing, consider giving this series a shot if you like nerdy science types as heroes.

Burning Kabaddi is a sports anime about an unsual sport. I’d never heard of it before now, and if people in the comments were not talking about the very real sport, I would have assumed it was made up for the anime. The show is aware that the sport is obscure, so it takes great pains to explain the rules and details so that we can all follow the action. The story centers on Yoigoshi, a soccer prodigy who decides to drop all sports once he gets to high school due to all the drama and angst that surrounded him (mostly due to his teammates being jealous of his talent), and pursue a career as a streamer. All the various sports clubs at the school want to recruit him (especially the soccer club, of course) because they’ve heard of his skill and he has an athletic build. He rejects them all, but the Kabaddi club is strangely relentless. He ends up being manipulated into joining (the vice captain of the team straight up blackmails him by threatening to show his online streaming account to the whole school). Despite this rocky beginning, Yoigoshi actually starts to enjoy playing Kabaddi, and more importantly, begins to bond with his new teammates. It’s pretty fun stuff that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The art is serviceable for a sports anime and the music is fine. The series isn’t going to blow your mind, but it’s a fun way to spend twenty minutes every week. Worth a watch if you have a weakness for hot blooded sports anime.

The World Ends With You finally got its anime adaptation and I was so excited. The game is one of my all-time favorites. So far the anime is pretty good. The art is a near perfect replication of the bold, thick-lined art of the game. The battles are exciting and cool. Best of all, the anime often uses music from the game. This is important because the game has one of the best soundtracks, ever. Every time I recognize a song from the game, I almost squeal. If I had a complaint, it’s that the pacing feels a little off at times. It feels like the anime is rushing through the story, but that’s understandable. In the game, it took longer for everything to happen because you were walking from place to place, fighting battles along the way, stopping to scan NPC’s, shopping at stores, spending time in menus, etc. The anime has to cut most of that out, so naturally things are going to move faster. The result is that you don’t get to spend as much time with these characters, and so you feel less attached to them. Anyone watching the anime who didn’t play the game might feel like the emotional beats are lacking. I feel like this anime is definitely meant to be enjoyed by fans of the game, rather than newcomers to the story. But if you are a fan of the game? You should be watching this every week. It’s an excellent refresher on the story, just in time for the second game to come out this summer. Super high on my watch list.

Boku no Hero Academia has a new season. To be honest I don’t remember what number we’re on. This season, so far, focuses on a tournament-style competition between the two main hero classes. I would much prefer the plot to move on to something more exciting involving the villains, but I suppose they have to throw arcs like this in every so often just to remind everyone of which characters have which quirks. The plus point is that instead of being an individual competition, it’s team-based. What this ultimately means is that characters that are viewed as weaker or having more obscure quirks actually get a chance to shine. These are characters who definitely aren’t going to win one-on-one battles. In an individual tournament, it’s pretty much a given that characters like Deku, Bakugou, and Todoroki are going to win most of the matches. But in a team, everyone has to work together. The end result is that the lady characters, all of whom have fairly weak or situational quirks, finally FINALLY get to actually do stuff! Even better, in several of the match-ups, the girls have taken the lead in planning and strategizing. It’s been pretty nice to watch. The girls from the other class have been very proactive as well. I really wish the girls could do more in “real” battles with villains, since it’s clear that they can step up when they need to. Who knows? Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

86 is a new mecha/sci-fi anime based on a series of light novels. The setup is fairly cool: In a country where everyone has silver hair and eyes, the people live in what looks like a utopia. There is a war going on outside their protected land but all combat is performed by automated robots, so there are no human casualties... or so the government would have the people believe. In reality, there is a district that exists on the outskirts of the country called 86, where people who don’t have silver hair and eyes are sent to pilot the robots and fight to protect the country that shunned them. Most of the pilots are children or teenagers. The mortality rate is high. Only a few people in the government know of their existence, mostly military types that include “handlers”. These handlers each take on an 86 unit and communicate with them through a system called “para-raid”. Using this, they monitor the battlefield from their safe positions and issue commands. Naturally, most handlers view their units as nothing more than tools in the war, and most 86-ers view their handlers as privileged snobs who know nothing of actual battle. The real plot kicks in when Lena, a young Major, becomes the new handler for a particular 86 unit. Lena is sympathetic to the people of 86, but it’s going to be hard getting her notoriously rough unit to accept her. The plot is a bit complicated and the show deals with some weighty themes (racism, privilege, war, child soldiers, death). Lena is a likable enough heroine and the members of 86 are all interesting and fairly well written. The music is fine. The art... well, it’s pretty to look at, but it feels a bit generic to me. A bit too shiny. The mecha designs are great, but I’m not crazy about the character designs, which feel like they could be from any other modern anime. I also find it sad but hilarious at the same time that the women’s military uniforms are clearly designed for fanservice (they include mini skirts, thigh-highs with garters, and a short jacket that opens up just above the chest to show the tight shirt underneath) while the men’s uniforms are just totally normal military wear. To be honest it’s just too stupid to actually be offensive, so it comes across as comical. Thankfully, the interesting setup and plot carry the show, making it good enough to overlook the generic visuals.

Moriarty the Patriot has a new season... maybe? I think it’s technically still season one, but with a split cour. Regardless, it feels like a new season so I’m treating it as such. The series focuses on famous Sherlock antagonist Moriarty, here represented as a trio of handsome brothers (though one of them is clearly the protagonist and the leader of the group) who work as “crime consultants” and basically help the lower classes wage class warfare against the nobility. This season shifts the focus away from the individual crimes Moriarty concocts and instead focuses on larger-scale conflicts that involve government conspiracies, corrupt cops, etc. We’re also treated to a lady James Bond (finally!), fixing one of the very few complaints I had about the first cour (that it lacked strong lady characters). The show remains very compelling, with beautiful art and excellent new opening and ending themes.

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Opening Theme: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Ending Theme: Mars Red

Best New Male Character: Maeda (Mars Red)

Best New Female Character: Sawa (Joran)

#Anime Reviews #Spring 2021 Anime #Seasonal Anime Reviews #Seasonal Anime #Anime #Text #Godzilla Singular Point #Mars Red #moriarty the patriot #Fumetsu no anata e #Burning Kabaddi #86

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frstbiitten · 4 years

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//Yesterday I mentioned that I would talk about Frost’s new gear, since I’ve analyzed it before and talked about it, the names chosen for her cosmetics have a lot of meaning when it comes to its cultural background or anything around it that could be related with Frost. Good thing is that since Aftermath came out, a lot of things for many characters did as well, and y’all know I love this cyborg’s design a lot, so let’s begin with her power arrays.

Cordelia:

The name itself doesn’t have a clear meaning, but surely the name rings a few bells if you’re familiar with ‘King Lear’ by Shakespeare (inspired by real events). Cordelia was one of the 3 King Lear’s daughters and his favorite. To know how to divide the lands, he asks the daughters which one loves him the most, which Cordelia says ‘according to my bond, no more nor less‘. But Lear is not someone who uses his head for good and is infuriated with the lack of commitment to show love from his favorite daughter, and makes her vanish from his kingdom, to which is the beginning of a time of chaos in the life of the king. Spoiler alert: both father and daughter are taken to prison by their enemies (also, she comes back to aid him in the middle of his madness), and she is hung and dies but her body is taken by Lear for others to see, and is grief the final cause for his death to which he dies next to her. Of course, there are common points and not so common, along with the belief that Cordelia was a tragic character (and Frost is a tragic villain) no less. If we take in consideration the different parallels between Cordelia and Lear with Frost and Kuai: being the favorite, pushed away by their actions and finally dying before the eyes of that one who loved them before (of course, a big thing to notice here is that Lear is more obscure than Sub-Zero all the way if we analyze his character more).

Qingniao:

There’s a lot of names in her power arrays related with mythological figures from different cultures, most of them related to either femininity, the moon or the ice itself. However, Qingniao is different since it is not related to a goddess but to a creature. The qingniaos according to Chinese mythology were these blue (or green) birds, some of them had even three legs or just one and they were the messengers of the Queen Mother of the West Xi Wangmu, a goddess that it was believed could provide long life and prosperity, even some religions in China consider her as their central deity. These birds to the goddess were of high importance since they not only allowed her to deliver messages across the lands but also retrieve food for her as well. It’s pretty obvious why this name fits so well and shows the high importance and relation between Frost and Kronika (Titan - Henchwoman).

Oreade:

This time, this power array has the name that was used in Greek Mythology to refer to the nymphs guarding and living around the forests close to the different mountains, each mountain had a group of specific nymphs that would protect it, in fact, the most known oreade is no other than Echo. She was the nymph who fell in love with Narcissus and her voice was taken away by Hera, only being capable of repeating the last word someone spoke to her. The name for this power array honestly doesn’t have too much relation with Frost, but we could say that she is, somehow, a protector of the Hourglass since without its control, Kronika (or herself in her tower ending) would never be able to bring the New Era.

Ice Demon:

This is by far my favorite along with Quaestor and Birka Viking. Demons in the universe of MK are pretty common (hell, there’s even a whole realm that they habit). Other ninjas in the game have demon themed gear, especially when it comes to their masks, but this time we have that influence in this power array. Perhaps, what is safe to say, that is heavily influenced by the Japanese Onis but also by the Yaoguais, monsters considered by the Chinese folklore as evil spirits of any kind searching for immortality and becoming deities themselves. This relates heavily to Frost since her form to attempt to achieve both was through cyberization, and considering her personality, she could be easily related to the temper of a demon like the Yaoguais, constantly searching to harm divine creatures and humans.

Arctika:

Geographically speaking and according to the lore of the game, Arctika is actually a place beneath the mountains in China were the Lin Kuei Temple resides and this place has never been peaceful since the very beginning. The name of this power array goes along with her mask ‘Daughter of Arctika’, let’s not forget the huge importance that those cold lands have for Frost as a cryomancer and considering her wishes to be the Grandmistress of the Lin Kuei (not taking in consideration the lengths she takes to do it). For both her and Sub-Zero these lands have a higher meaning in their souls, they are around their own vital element that is the ice, and is no coincidence that both have gear pieces named after this place, also is where they first meant when the tournament for the new recruits would take place. A thing to notice is it’s distinctive design since it looks less like the other power arrays and more like a jet pack.

Ice Fury:

It is not a casualty that most of her gear refers to her personality since it’s what stands out the most when it comes to her and the treatment to other people, Frost is known to not be the most chill person to be around and having issues with her rage. Not only that is a quality of her personality that stands out at first glance, but also her fighting style. If we compare her fighting style with Sub-Zero the first thing we would notice is how much chaotic she is and violent with her moves, I’m not saying that Sub-Zero’s fighting style is less lethal, but is much more collected than Frost’s, considering that she is a cyborg and this allows her much more possibilities for her powers and how to use them, her entire body is a weapon of destruction and when Frost uses her ice powers in combat, her abrasiveness goes along with her movements and passion for defeating her enemies.

Chosen by Kronika:

We know for a fact that Kronika, the Titan who is (was) in charge of the course of time since the very beginning of the universe and master of The Hourglass, was the one who gave Frost an important place to take by her side, her gift to the cryomancer for fighting by her side for the New Era was to be superior than any human since she could see the full potential that this woman had in her soul. Kronika cyberized Frost for proving her loyalty to the cause and also be the Grandmistress of the Lin Kuei once their plans succeded completely. We see that Frost is proud to work by her side, logically she’s given an armor that goes along with both Kronika and Geras, who’s also another important agent that helps Kronika to achieve her goals. The name for this mask says a lot about how Kronika perceived Frost, or at least how Frost perceived herself when it comes to decoding what place she takes part in all of this.

Slayer of Sektor:

This name is pretty clear and tells exactly how things worked between Frost and Sektor, even if she would the Grandmistress in the New Era, her compromise with the Cyber Initiative was shared with Sektor, the same Lin Kuei who cyberized a generation of his clan back in the 90′s. The name for this mask could give us a hint about the kind of roles they played when it came to cyberize this new generation of Lin Kueis, we could say that Sektor was the one who organized and made the initiative function considering that he was the one who started everything, and Frost would be mostly in charge of retrieving the subjects for the transformation or even working as his protector (is never favorable to lose the head who has thought about the whole initiative if you think about it).

Northern Lights:

Also known as Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights is simply an atmospheric phenomenon that happens commonly close to the north or south pole, to make things short, is what happens when particles of the sun that are electrically charged with energy collide with the atmosphere of the planet and since the air is full of different types of gasses, the colorful phenomenon happens. Also, to take things in consideration, ‘Northern Lights’ was the name of one of Frost’s moves back in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, it was only allowed to input while fighting with the Tong Bei style. If we notice the design of the mask, it might resemble the mouth of an Oni/Yaoguai but it could also resemble the mouth of a dragon, considering the high importance that these creatures have in Chinese Folkore and the fact that the Dragon Medallion was the object of desire for Frost in the Original Timeline.

Pure Ice:

The name is pretty descriptive already since it’s highly related to her ability, but what stands out the most is the Lin Kuei symbol on it, again, this mask is another that pays homage to her origins and how her destiny is tied with the clan she wants to rule over.

I would continue with her frozen cores but the issue is that the names they have are too specific and related with the origins of her technology so it is not exactly what I’m intended to talk about (and the names are also kinda confusing if you ask me).

#❄‖ ∵ ｈｏｗｗｉｎｔｅｒｆｉｌｌｓｍｙｂｏｎｅｓ∴ — headcanon.#((omg this got longer than expected))

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professoricepick · 6 years

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Next year, the Darkstalkers franchise is going to turn 25 years old. Despite the fact that it’s been essentially inactive for more than half that time — with a handful of characters managing to make their way into various crossover titles, some developed by Capcom themselves (but most developed by other companies) — it’s still a significant milestone. After all, while being the third-most recognizable fighting game franchise in Capcom’s stead isn’t exactly an impressive accomplishment on its own, considering it has to compete with both the Street Fighter and “Vs. Capcom” franchise — the latter of which actually managed to rip off core mechanics and utilize the intellectual properties of Darkstalkers itself — the fact that it managed to rate that high is an accomplishment of its own. The last proper Darkstalkers release we saw was “Darkstalkers Resurrection”, a re-release of the second and third games in the franchise with full online play (using the industry standard GGPO netcode) on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360’s digital storefronts (but sadly not PC).

That was over five years ago and while Resurrection was Capcom’s way of trying to gauge interest in a more significant revival of the cult classic IP, it failed to meet their lofty expectations. Without a money-baked success, Capcom will likely never revitalize the series in any meaningful form. This brings to mind the old adage: “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” And wouldn’t you know it? We have a perfect blueprint for a modern-era Darkstalkers re-release right in front of us: the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection came out earlier this year and managed to release on all 4 major gaming platforms — the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

So with that in mind, I’ll be attempting to build a similar collection using the same exact limitations put in place by 30th Anniversary Collection, as well as the recent batches of MegaMan compilations. That means that at the most, there will be 12 games in this collection — consisting of titles that originated on the CPS series of arcade hardware (as well as various older home console platforms, including but not limited to the NES and SNES, as well as the first two PlayStations) — with a scant four receiving online play via Capcom’s proprietary “Kagemusha” netcode. The most obvious bonus features would be image galleries consisting of concept art, official artwork and even fan art and a music player that would allow players to listen to the game’s soundtracks in isolation. But that’s obvious. Meanwhile, the meat of this collection are the games themselves and these are my choices.

1. Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (1994)

If Capcom saw it fit to include the original Street Fighter from 1987, it’s difficult to argue that they wouldn’t include the original Darkstalkers. Definitely stiffer than its successors, Darkstalkers still manages to include its own unique quirks compared to future titles. Considering it was one of the earliest non-Street Fighter fighting games produced by Capcom, the game clearly still leans a little on SF influences in terms of its gameplay mechanics, but was clearly more experimental.

2. Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge (1995)

Easily my personal favorite of the Darkstalkers games, Night Warriors was one of those weird “retcon sequel revisions” Capcom occasionally did with their fighting games during the mid-to-late 1990s, like Street Fighter Alpha 2. A lot of the mechanics that would become hallmarks of the series made their debut here and the gameplay itself began to deviate significantly from Capcom’s other fighting games. Likewise, the ability to play as the boss characters from the original Darkstalkers , as well as two entirely brand-new characters added to the fun.

3. Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (1997)

The clear favorite game of the franchise, no Darkstalkers collection would be complete without it. Hell, Jedah — the game’s main antagonist — not only managed to appear in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, but was also one of the most impressive aspects of it. Vampire Savior (or Darkstalkers 3, if you’re nasty) still manages to be played in fighting game tournaments all over the world to this day, so there’s no doubt that people would be clamoring for another modern re-release.

4. Vampire Hunter 2 (1997) 5. Vampire Savior 2 (1997)

It’s funny: I remember when people speculated that Capcom might add these two games as DLC to Resurrection. I have no idea where that whole mindset came from. Either way, while these games aren’t particularly popular, they are unique in the sense that they brought Pyron, Huitzil and Donovan (from Night Warriors, but conspicuously absent in DS3) into the fold, allowing various dream match-ups. Vampire Hunter 2 was a recreation of Night Warriors using VSav’s engine, while Vampire Savior 2 allowed for various dream match-ups — Lilith vs. Donovan! Huitzil vs. Q-Bee! Jedah vs. Pyron! — while removing Sasquatch, Rikuo and Jon Talbain as playable characters. Various balance changes made to both games have made them unpopular among hardcore fans, but if Street Fighter’s 30th Anniversary Collection included games like 2nd Impact, Super Street Fighter II (sans Turbo) and the original Street Fighter Alpha, it only seems fair that these games would be added to a Darkstalkers collection.

6. Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (2004)

In what may very well be a bizarre compromise, I’d love to see Darkstalkers Chronicle return in this collection. It’s essentially the “Hyper Street Fighter” of the Darkstalkers series, allowing players to pit various versions of the game’s cast against one another — imagine a fight between Night Warriors-era Felicia and Vampire Savior’s incarnation of Morrigan. On top of that, I’d be happy if Capcom were to use the PSP version in their collection: it had all of the content from the more-obscure, Japan-only Dreamcast release, with the addition of a brand-new single-player mode, The Chaos Tower.

7. Vampire Savior Arrange (2005) 8. Vampire Hunter 2 Arrange (2005) 9. Vampire Savior 2 Arrange (2005)

Okay, I know these may appear to be weird choices, but let me explain. Back in 2005, Capcom actually released Vampire Darkstalkers Collection on the PS2 exclusively in Japan. In addition to the first five games I’ve listed, Capcom also released three additional “arranged” alternate versions of Vampire Savior, Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2. All three of these versions include all 18 characters found across all versions of the game, though there are some additional differences as well. For starters, all three of these games offer a brand-new character: Dee, a “what if” evil version of Donovan (loosely based on his Night Warriors ending) which was cobbled together by putting the Dark Hunter’s head and sword on Demitri’s body.

Otherwise, both Vampire Savior games are pretty much identical to their original versions. Vampire Hunter 2, on the other hand, decides to eschew various features from the Savior engine, effectively recreating Night Warriors much more accurately in the VSav engine, all while bringing along the new entrants from Savior along for the ride. I guess that would make Vampire Hunter 2 Arrange the most unique (and therefore, the most worthy of inclusion) of the trio, but if Capcom can get one, they might as well re-release them all.

10. Red Earth (1996)

I’ll be honest, I was hesitant on adding this game to a Darkstalkers collection. I hate the conflation that so many people have made between Red Earth and Darkstalkers. Honestly, I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve seen people demand that Red Earth just be folded into the Darkstalkers universe, despite both games having entirely different settings. (And don’t get me started on the people demanding that Ruby Heart and Amingo be added in!)

But with that in mind, Red Earth is thematically similar to the Darkstalkers games, though Red Earth focuses more on high fantasy, while Darkstalkers was based on monster movies. Much more importantly, this may be the only chance we could have to get Red Earth on home consoles — of the six games released on Capcom’s CPS-3 hardware, Red Earth is the only one that wasn’t released on home console in any form to this day. So as much as I hate the implication of the two games being folded into the same universe, getting Red Earth an actual home release is more important to me than maintaining the “purity” of a Darkstalkers collection.

So those are my choices for games to be included in a Darkstalkers collection, but which games should get the nod when it comes to online play? If we follow Street Fighter’s format, I’ll have a maximum of 4 games to work with. The most obvious picks were Night Warriors and Vampire Savior: these games are clearly the most popular on the tournament scene and it would effectively mean that support for Resurrection could be easily dropped if necessary. Red Earth was another obvious choice. While most fighting games rely on a competitive two-player mode, Red Earth has a cooperative mode, allowing two players to take on its menagerie of monsters together — that just seems like an awesome selling point for the collection in general. Which brings us to the last game. After mulling it over, I was left with two possible choices, but in the end, I decided to go with Darkstalkers Chronicle over Vampire Savior Arrange. Aside from the constant complaints that it wasn’t Darkstalkers 4, the main criticism I saw levied at Darkstalkers Resurrection was that it comprised of two arcade ports, as opposed to a re-release of Darkstalkers Chronicle. And personally, I think it’s more interesting watching different variations of the cast (even ones that didn’t actually exist, like Darkstalkers 1 Donovan and Night Warriors Jedah) duke it out is way more interesting than a recycled headswap. If you disagree, feel free to argue your point in the comments — I’d love to be convinced otherwise.

I’ll be honest: I also considered adding Pocket Fighter to this collection, but considering that it would likely lack online play — based on the limitations set in place by Capcom’s Street Fighter compilation — it just doesn’t seem practical. But hey, if Capcom decides to patch in online play for more games in Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (SFA2 and 2nd Impact appear to be the favorites), then you could consider Pocket Fighter as Game #11 and the fifth to include online play.

It seems kind of pointless to discuss the bonus features, but honestly, if they included the Japanese opening for the PS1 port of the original Darkstalkers, the remixed music commissioned for Darkstalkers Resurrection and various pieces of artwork, I’d be happy. As I said before, the games themselves are far more important than any extras.

But what do you think? I’ve considered doing more of these speculative proposals for video game compilations I’d like to see down the line. Would you like to see more of them? Even if you don’t, I had some fun coming up with this one, so I’ll probably continue regardless. You’ll just have to deal with it.

Proposal: Darkstalkers 25th Anniversary Collection Next year, the Darkstalkers franchise is going to turn 25 years old. Despite the fact that it's been essentially inactive for more than half that time -- with a handful of characters managing to make their way into various crossover titles, some developed by Capcom themselves (but most developed by other companies) -- it's still a significant milestone.

#capcom #darkstalkers #red earth #street fighter #warzard

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flauntpage · 6 years

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DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Torey Krug and David Pastrnak – The spin is nice, but don't sleep on the synchronized stopping.

Hey, speaking of Bruins pairing off in interesting ways…

The second star: Brad Marchand and Leo Komarov – Look, the heart wants what it wants.

(Here's Komarov's response.)

The first star: Tomas Tatar – The clip is from a few months ago, but Tatar only posted it publicly this week. It's of his first time on the ice at the Red Wings new arena. Literally. He takes on step, and he's on the ice.

Yep, it's the old "forget to take off my skate guards" mistake. We've all been there, Tomas. Good to know if happens to the pros too.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right...Maybe...Depending on Your Perspective

One of the biggest stories of the week was a line brawl that broke out late in a game between the Flames and Red Wings on Wednesday night. The situation began with a fight between Luke Witkowski and Brett Kulak, and it escalated when Calgary pest Matthew Tkachuk tapped Witkowski on the leg on his way to the locker room, causing the Red Wing to return to the ice. That helped lead to another fight that spilled into the tunnel thanks to an open bench door, plus several other scrums and some players getting involved from the benches. At one point it looked like it might include a goalie fight.

Witkowski will probably get ten games for coming back after leaving the playing surface, Tkachuk somehow got a spearing major for that tap, and we can expect plenty of fines and maybe even an additional suspension or two. You can watch the whole thing here.

The brawl has been variously described as "chaotic," "crazy," "out of control," and "an old-fashioned dust-up." References to old-time hockey were plentiful.

So since everyone's talking about the Flames and Red Wings, let's take this as an opportunity for a reminder: Holy crap, has the NHL ever come a long way when it comes to getting fights and brawls out of the game.

I mean, the Wings and Flames thing was bad, there's no doubt, especially when it briefly spilled into the tunnel. Somebody could have got hurt there, and it's fortunate that the officials were able to get things under control before things erupted even further.

But the fact this is headline news in the hockey world right now just shows how much the game has changed. It's easy to forget now—or not to even know, if you're a relatively new fan—but stuff like this used to happen all the time. A line brawl or two used to be standard issue for a night's worth of NHL action. And it wasn't rare to see things get far more out of control.

An old-fashioned dust-up? I'm not so sure it was. I mean, this is what a brawl looked like in the 1960s, featuring a player attacking a linesman and fans throwing punches from the stands.

Here's one from the 1980s, which spans an intermission and includes a career-ending sucker punch.

Heck, here's Dave Manson taking the same 10-game suspension Witkowski will probably get. It's from a brawl that's best remembered for two of the players not fighting. We thought this was funny back then, even though it features a dangerous cheap shot, a linesman getting crushed from behind, two players pummeling one defenseless opponent at the same time, and only stops short of becoming a full bench-clearer because John Kordic of all people pulls Wendel Clark back to the bench.

And of course, I don't have to remind Red Wings fans about this:

Look, I don't want to go all cane-waving grandpa on you kids, but there's a very good chance that if this week's Flames/Wings brawl had happened in, like, 1991, it wouldn't even have made the highlights. You'd have watched your nightly sportscast without ever hearing about it, until it got mentioned in passing when the Wings came to town and they had to explain why Witkowski wasn't playing.

And yes, I realize that your view of whether all of this a good thing or not will vary based on your perspective. Some of you will see this as a clear sign of progress, of a league getting the silly and often dangerous sideshows out of the sport and letting the actual game take center stage for a change. Others will mumble about how the league was better back when this stuff happened from time to time, even though you're well aware that you're not supposed to say that out loud these days.

And maybe others are like me, stuck in the middle between being glad that we've got a far safer and saner league today while also vaguely missing a time when we could enjoy the sideshow stuff without realizing how dangerous it could be.

But whichever group you fall into, it's worthwhile to take a moment every now and then to understand and/or appreciate how much the game has changed, because we've come a million miles on this stuff. The Wings and Flames gave us that chance this week.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

This week's obscure player is Hannu Virta, for reasons we'll get to in a bit.

Virta was a Finnish defenseman who was drafted by the Sabres in the second round of the 1981 draft after coach and GM Scotty Bowman had snuck over to see him play overseas. He was viewed as a bit of a steal at the time, although that was before we realized that the blue-liner the Canadiens grabbed two picks later would turn out to be slightly better. Virta came over to North America and debuted for Buffalo later that season, playing three games before settling into regular NHL duty in 1982-83. That first full season was his best, as he scored 13 goals and had 37 points as a rookie. He'd play three more seasons in Buffalo before heading back home to Finland at the age of 23 to complete his military service. He stayed, and quickly became a star in the Finnish Elite League. He'd earn top defenseman honors four times, and also became a regular on the national team. After retiring, he became a head coach in the league.

But despite all of that, the unquestioned highlight of Virta's hockey career came in 1991. And we'll get to it in the Classic YouTube section. Here's a hint: It involves ice hockey.

New Entries for the Hockey Dictionary

Goal DNA – A neat historical project that I'm guessing readers of this column might appreciate, especially as the league's celebration of its own history kicks into overdrive this weekend. Goal DNA is the work of Twitter's @suicidepass, based on a similar idea used in baseball by Jesse Spector, and has been unfolding over the last month or so.

It works like this: Take any player from any point in league history, and figure out who he scored his very first NHL goal against. Then you take that goaltender, and figure out who he gave up his first goal to. Then you keep going, alternating back and forth between goalies and players, and see how far back into history you can reach.

Sometimes, it's not all that far—if a player and goalie had their first goal against each other, for example, then that kills the thread. And sometimes you can run into problems with the historical record, which isn't always clear about who was in net for a specific goal.

But sometimes you get something really cool. For example, here's Erik Karlsson, who's Goal DNA stretches all the way back to the first game played by the original Ottawa Senators 100 years ago.

Or here's Auston Matthews, whose chain links to Maple Leaf legends Terry Sawchuk and Syl Apps, by way of Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne.

Here's the Sedin twins, who sadly don't turn out to have identical Goal DNA but do converge in the 1960s thanks to Cesare Maniago. (For reasons that aren't completely clear, Cesare Maniago shows up in a lot of these.)

So far, efforts to find a Goal DNA that traces all the way back to the NHL's very first goal—scored by Montreal's Dave Ritchie against Sammy Hebert one minute into the first ever game—have come up empty, but it's out there somewhere. You can follow the fun on Twitter with the #GoalDNA hashtag.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

Teemu Selanne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, and everyone has spent the week saying nice things about him. And rightfully so – he's one of the most talented and popular players of the modern era. But it's not like the guy is perfect. So today, let's head back to 1991 as we remind ourselves that even the greats occasionally do things they'll regret.

(A huge thanks to reader Niklas for sending in the clip. Remember, if you have a clip you think I need to be aware or, email me.)

So it's 1991 and Team Finland is preparing for the World Hockey Championships. They're the host country for this year's tournament, and are seeking what would be the country's first ever medal at the event. The team features plenty of talent, including a certain winger who's about to head to the NHL, and they're feeling confident. But how best to show that to the world?

Yes, by now regular readers know the answer: With a terrible song. Here we go.

As best I can tell, the three wacky characters at the start of the clip are from Kummeli, a Finnish comedy crew. I'd make some sort of crack about the humor being lost in translation, but my country is responsible for The Love Guru, so I can't throw stones.

Last chance to hit mute if you don't want a Finnish hockey song stuck in your head for the next week. You've been warned.

We see some mysterious hands working a sound mixer, and the music begins. We're quickly introduced to our singers: five guys in Team Finland jerseys and a guy I'll just refer to as "Way Too Enthusiastic Dude." The hockey players include national team members Esa Keskinen, Pasi Huura and Sakari Lindfors, plus our old pal form the obscure player section, Hannu Virta.

The final player looks vaguely familiar, in the sense that it's Teemu Selanne and he looks exactly the same as he did at Monday night's induction ceremony. Seriously, he and Paul Kariya were best friends, teammates in Anaheim, followed each other to Colorado when they were free agents, went into the Hall of Fame on the same night and also neither one of them has aged a day since the early 90s. If everyone else wants to just pretend this is OK then I'm fine with that, but don't act surprised when this all turns out to be the plot of some weird Stephen King novel.

As per terrible hockey music video bylaws, shots of our singers are interspersed with clips from one and only one game. In this case, it's a matchup with Finland's top rival, Team Sweden. It's a real mixed bag, featuring genuinely cool highlights of a Swedish player being checked into the bench and a nice Finnish goal, as well as shots of guys winning faceoffs or just falling down. Look, it was 1991—if you wanted highlights of Team Finland in international tournaments, you took what you could get.

We also meet the star of the video: Whoever did the "ICE HOCKEY" text animations. I think that guy burned through all 16 fonts we had back in 1991.

My very favorite moment in the video comes about a minute in, when you can pinpoint the exact moment Selanne realizes this is a bad idea:

Here's my best attempt at transcribing the lyrics:

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

D'oh! That's hockey.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

And teriyaki.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

Gopher hockey.

Senior homes taste yucky.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's bang on, no need to google this any further.

I've got to be honest, they reeled me in a little with the dramatic bridge. They even feature a clip of Finland scoring a goal, which would be inspiring it they hadn't already used that same goal a minute earlier. Had…had Finland only ever scored one goal against Sweden? I think they may have.

Don't go getting cocky, Team Sweden, this isn't any worse than your song from 1989.

We close out with a few more closeups of our smiling singers and their, let's just say it, absolutely impeccable Finnish hockey hair. We also see a few more shots of those hands working the sound board, but never find out who they belong to. I was so sure the camera was going to pan up at the end and reveal that it was Neil Sheehy all along. Or, as he'd be known in Finland, Neeiil Sheeeehy.

We get one more Kummeli appearance, and we're all done. Finland would go on to fail to medal at the 1991 tournament. But they'd get their first medal the next year, and win gold in 1995, so this song may well have been the turning point.

As for Selanne, he stayed in Finland for one more year and then signed his first NHL contract with…Calgary? Yeah, it was a weird time. He wound up with Winnipeg, and soon he was scoring 76 goals as a rookie to kick off a career that spanned two decades. Now he's in the Hall of Fame. And he still isn't getting any older.

(That's probably a good thing, actually. I'm told that senior homes taste yucky.)

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @DownGoesBrown.

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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amtushinfosolutionspage · 6 years

Text

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne’s Singing Debut

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Torey Krug and David Pastrnak – The spin is nice, but don’t sleep on the synchronized stopping.

Hey, speaking of Bruins pairing off in interesting ways…

The second star: Brad Marchand and Leo Komarov – Look, the heart wants what it wants.

(Here’s Komarov’s response.)

The first star: Tomas Tatar – The clip is from a few months ago, but Tatar only posted it publicly this week. It’s of his first time on the ice at the Red Wings new arena. Literally. He takes on step, and he’s on the ice.

Yep, it’s the old “forget to take off my skate guards” mistake. We’ve all been there, Tomas. Good to know if happens to the pros too.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right…Maybe…Depending on Your Perspective

The brawl has been variously described as “chaotic,” “crazy,” “out of control,” and “an old-fashioned dust-up.” References to old-time hockey were plentiful.

So since everyone’s talking about the Flames and Red Wings, let’s take this as an opportunity for a reminder: Holy crap, has the NHL ever come a long way when it comes to getting fights and brawls out of the game.

I mean, the Wings and Flames thing was bad, there’s no doubt, especially when it briefly spilled into the tunnel. Somebody could have got hurt there, and it’s fortunate that the officials were able to get things under control before things erupted even further.

But the fact this is headline news in the hockey world right now just shows how much the game has changed. It’s easy to forget now—or not to even know, if you’re a relatively new fan—but stuff like this used to happen all the time. A line brawl or two used to be standard issue for a night’s worth of NHL action. And it wasn’t rare to see things get far more out of control.

An old-fashioned dust-up? I’m not so sure it was. I mean, this is what a brawl looked like in the 1960s, featuring a player attacking a linesman and fans throwing punches from the stands.

Here’s one from the 1980s, which spans an intermission and includes a career-ending sucker punch.

Heck, here’s Dave Manson taking the same 10-game suspension Witkowski will probably get. It’s from a brawl that’s best remembered for two of the players not fighting. We thought this was funny back then, even though it features a dangerous cheap shot, a linesman getting crushed from behind, two players pummeling one defenseless opponent at the same time, and only stops short of becoming a full bench-clearer because John Kordic of all people pulls Wendel Clark back to the bench.

And of course, I don’t have to remind Red Wings fans about this:

Look, I don’t want to go all cane-waving grandpa on you kids, but there’s a very good chance that if this week’s Flames/Wings brawl had happened in, like, 1991, it wouldn’t even have made the highlights. You’d have watched your nightly sportscast without ever hearing about it, until it got mentioned in passing when the Wings came to town and they had to explain why Witkowski wasn’t playing.

And yes, I realize that your view of whether all of this a good thing or not will vary based on your perspective. Some of you will see this as a clear sign of progress, of a league getting the silly and often dangerous sideshows out of the sport and letting the actual game take center stage for a change. Others will mumble about how the league was better back when this stuff happened from time to time, even though you’re well aware that you’re not supposed to say that out loud these days.

And maybe others are like me, stuck in the middle between being glad that we’ve got a far safer and saner league today while also vaguely missing a time when we could enjoy the sideshow stuff without realizing how dangerous it could be.

But whichever group you fall into, it’s worthwhile to take a moment every now and then to understand and/or appreciate how much the game has changed, because we’ve come a million miles on this stuff. The Wings and Flames gave us that chance this week.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

This week’s obscure player is Hannu Virta, for reasons we’ll get to in a bit.

Virta was a Finnish defenseman who was drafted by the Sabres in the second round of the 1981 draft after coach and GM Scotty Bowman had snuck over to see him play overseas. He was viewed as a bit of a steal at the time, although that was before we realized that the blue-liner the Canadiens grabbed two picks later would turn out to be slightly better. Virta came over to North America and debuted for Buffalo later that season, playing three games before settling into regular NHL duty in 1982-83. That first full season was his best, as he scored 13 goals and had 37 points as a rookie. He’d play three more seasons in Buffalo before heading back home to Finland at the age of 23 to complete his military service. He stayed, and quickly became a star in the Finnish Elite League. He’d earn top defenseman honors four times, and also became a regular on the national team. After retiring, he became a head coach in the league.

But despite all of that, the unquestioned highlight of Virta’s hockey career came in 1991. And we’ll get to it in the Classic YouTube section. Here’s a hint: It involves ice hockey.

New Entries for the Hockey Dictionary

Goal DNA – A neat historical project that I’m guessing readers of this column might appreciate, especially as the league’s celebration of its own history kicks into overdrive this weekend. Goal DNA is the work of Twitter’s @suicidepass, based on a similar idea used in baseball by Jesse Spector, and has been unfolding over the last month or so.

Sometimes, it’s not all that far—if a player and goalie had their first goal against each other, for example, then that kills the thread. And sometimes you can run into problems with the historical record, which isn’t always clear about who was in net for a specific goal.

But sometimes you get something really cool. For example, here’s Erik Karlsson, who’s Goal DNA stretches all the way back to the first game played by the original Ottawa Senators 100 years ago.

Or here’s Auston Matthews, whose chain links to Maple Leaf legends Terry Sawchuk and Syl Apps, by way of Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne.

Here’s the Sedin twins, who sadly don’t turn out to have identical Goal DNA but do converge in the 1960s thanks to Cesare Maniago. (For reasons that aren’t completely clear, Cesare Maniago shows up in a lot of these.)

So far, efforts to find a Goal DNA that traces all the way back to the NHL’s very first goal—scored by Montreal’s Dave Ritchie against Sammy Hebert one minute into the first ever game—have come up empty, but it’s out there somewhere. You can follow the fun on Twitter with the #GoalDNA hashtag.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

Teemu Selanne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, and everyone has spent the week saying nice things about him. And rightfully so – he’s one of the most talented and popular players of the modern era. But it’s not like the guy is perfect. So today, let’s head back to 1991 as we remind ourselves that even the greats occasionally do things they’ll regret.

(A huge thanks to reader Niklas for sending in the clip. Remember, if you have a clip you think I need to be aware or, email me.)

So it’s 1991 and Team Finland is preparing for the World Hockey Championships. They’re the host country for this year’s tournament, and are seeking what would be the country’s first ever medal at the event. The team features plenty of talent, including a certain winger who’s about to head to the NHL, and they’re feeling confident. But how best to show that to the world?

Yes, by now regular readers know the answer: With a terrible song. Here we go.

As best I can tell, the three wacky characters at the start of the clip are from Kummeli, a Finnish comedy crew. I’d make some sort of crack about the humor being lost in translation, but my country is responsible for The Love Guru, so I can’t throw stones.

Last chance to hit mute if you don’t want a Finnish hockey song stuck in your head for the next week. You’ve been warned.

We see some mysterious hands working a sound mixer, and the music begins. We’re quickly introduced to our singers: five guys in Team Finland jerseys and a guy I’ll just refer to as “Way Too Enthusiastic Dude.” The hockey players include national team members Esa Keskinen, Pasi Huura and Sakari Lindfors, plus our old pal form the obscure player section, Hannu Virta.

The final player looks vaguely familiar, in the sense that it’s Teemu Selanne and he looks exactly the same as he did at Monday night’s induction ceremony. Seriously, he and Paul Kariya were best friends, teammates in Anaheim, followed each other to Colorado when they were free agents, went into the Hall of Fame on the same night and also neither one of them has aged a day since the early 90s. If everyone else wants to just pretend this is OK then I’m fine with that, but don’t act surprised when this all turns out to be the plot of some weird Stephen King novel.

As per terrible hockey music video bylaws, shots of our singers are interspersed with clips from one and only one game. In this case, it’s a matchup with Finland’s top rival, Team Sweden. It’s a real mixed bag, featuring genuinely cool highlights of a Swedish player being checked into the bench and a nice Finnish goal, as well as shots of guys winning faceoffs or just falling down. Look, it was 1991—if you wanted highlights of Team Finland in international tournaments, you took what you could get.

We also meet the star of the video: Whoever did the “ICE HOCKEY” text animations. I think that guy burned through all 16 fonts we had back in 1991.

My very favorite moment in the video comes about a minute in, when you can pinpoint the exact moment Selanne realizes this is a bad idea:

Here’s my best attempt at transcribing the lyrics:

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

D’oh! That’s hockey.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

And teriyaki.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

Gopher hockey.

Senior homes taste yucky.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s bang on, no need to google this any further.

I’ve got to be honest, they reeled me in a little with the dramatic bridge. They even feature a clip of Finland scoring a goal, which would be inspiring it they hadn’t already used that same goal a minute earlier. Had…had Finland only ever scored one goal against Sweden? I think they may have.

Don’t go getting cocky, Team Sweden, this isn’t any worse than your song from 1989.

We close out with a few more closeups of our smiling singers and their, let’s just say it, absolutely impeccable Finnish hockey hair. We also see a few more shots of those hands working the sound board, but never find out who they belong to. I was so sure the camera was going to pan up at the end and reveal that it was Neil Sheehy all along. Or, as he’d be known in Finland, Neeiil Sheeeehy.

We get one more Kummeli appearance, and we’re all done. Finland would go on to fail to medal at the 1991 tournament. But they’d get their first medal the next year, and win gold in 1995, so this song may well have been the turning point.

As for Selanne, he stayed in Finland for one more year and then signed his first NHL contract with…Calgary? Yeah, it was a weird time. He wound up with Winnipeg, and soon he was scoring 76 goals as a rookie to kick off a career that spanned two decades. Now he’s in the Hall of Fame. And he still isn’t getting any older.

(That’s probably a good thing, actually. I’m told that senior homes taste yucky.)

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you’d like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @DownGoesBrown.

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne’s Singing Debut syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

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carolinelayt · 7 years

Text

Hearing about Sam Newman’s rant a fortnight ago where he demonised Caitlyn Jenner by referring to her as an ‘it’ on the AFL Footy Show highlights how far we have come and still have to go before transphobic comments disappear from sports shows and the like forever.

We have made progress, as people are now airing their disgust and calling out these narrow minded and blinkered views such as Newman’s for what they are. That is progress in itself.

What Newman said reminded me of a TV host who negatively said disparaging remarks about transgender people playing women’s state of origin (women’s interstate rugby league challenge) almost a decade ago.

I sat there gobsmacked, as I watched the rugby league expert say on his sports programme while watching footage of Mauresmo playing tennis and calling her transgender. He followed his attack of Mauresmo with, “That’s all we need is more transgenders like Mauresmo playing women’s State of Origin rugby league.”

My ears pricked up as I watched – disbelieving at the audacity of this fellow… I mean Mauresmo is not even transgender, but he was in full swing, as the audience laughed along at his cheap shot… my shoulders slumped as I realised he was not only talking about Mauresmo, but also about me.

I felt terrible, as I was still in the closet, although I had transitioned some 15 years before. My whole reason of being able to represent New South Wales in rugby league and Sydney in rugby union was the fact I had kept my transgender status hidden.

More honours would have adorned if I wasn’t clumsy and self disclosed to someone whom I thought was an ally at the time.

When I first returned to sport post-transition (which by the way included hormone therapy, psychiatry sessions and surgery) after my gender tests – where my oxygen levels were well within the female range via the max vo2 test run by sports scientists and a sports doctor. A non-invasive physical was also required.

I was immediately cleared to compete against other women in sport as a masters track and field athlete, as I was found to have no advantage playing women’s sport.

Less than a year later I wanted a new challenge, so I decided to play rugby union again, a decade after I had last played as a male athlete.

When I informed my club coach I was transgender, he told me to keep my mouth shut or I would never be selected in representative teams despite being cleared by Athletics NSW according to my test results, which were governed by IOC guidelines and protocols at the time.

That was 13 years ago and not surprisingly I followed his instructions and achieved selection and played in the national tournament winning Sydney Women’s rugby union team that year.

Prior to transition I hid my female self and now post-transition I had to hide the first 30 years of my life, all because of views like the fellow had aired on his show.

I thought to myself how can he get away with demonising others? Even though I had achieved playing women’s rugby league and union, I was pretty obscure as women playing either code was an after-thought a decade ago and by that very definition, how could I even defend myself against this multi-media star?

I sat there feeling powerless and angry, as I had actually “met” this fellow a year or so before.

I had decided to help my women’s rugby league coach out, who doubled as an NRL Development Officer. I was in between jobs at the time, so I voluntarily put my hand up to help out with canteen duties for the kids rugby league day.

Said sports show host was in attendance as his kids were playing. When he looked my way from a distance, I smiled as I recognised him straightaway. He gave me a deadpan look and then a look of trepidation and fear. He was scared out of his wits… it was as though I was covered in spiders.

I don’t know how the sports show host knew about my trans status, as I am not obviously read as trans and don’t walk around with a sign on my forehead, but he appeared to know all others same.

Whatever the reason, he made me feel like absolute rubbish when I briefly locked eyes with him and again when I heard his rhetoric during his show approximately a year later. It may not even have been aimed directly at me? He may have had a problem with women rugby league players in general, due to their not fitting his ideal of how a woman should look, act or be? You see, in this fellow’s eyes, women should be submissive and are seen as objects.

What is even more disappointing is people who are seen as role models – ie sporting stars appear to be some of the most homophobic and transphobic people around.

It’s usually feminine qualities which are targeted as they are seen as lesser than and the perception is all gay men and transgender women are stereotyped, soft due this scapegoating of femininity. It’s a one fit for all from the conservative and far right wing commentators.

I know this myself, as when my transgender status broke playing women’s sport, some people went out of their way to antagonise me on the sporting field.

I’m aware contact sport is about getting over the top of your opponent. It’s competitive by nature, but the underhanded stuff I never took part in. But obviously some did and still do once retired from the playing field.

Which brings me to Sam Newman. He and his rugby league equivalent appear to view women in a certain manner and Justin Smith wrote as much in his article in Rendezview, “It showed that people no longer copped this kind of bullying. And it just added to Newman’s image of a person who seems to think if you’re not watching footy, playing footy, talking footy, or you’re a sheila to shag, then you’re an “it”.”

My Representing Sydney Australian Rugby Union national women’s championships 2006 Photo supplied by Paul Seiser SPA Images: http://www.spaimages.com.au/search.php?clearSearch=true&searchPhrase=Caroline+Layt

Former NRL player Ian Roberts, who is the only gay professional footballer in this country to be out echoed a similar sentiment in his 1995 autobiography, Finding Out, ‘ “I think concepts of manliness and femininity are warped. There are strengths of character and weaknesses. Why is femininity such a dirty word anyway? All men have qualities you could call feminine. It’s a pity a lot more guys aren’t allowed to be in touch with that side of themselves. The world would be a better place. And I’m not talking about men doing womanly things. I’m talking about understanding, sensitivity, gentleness. Not being so emotionally stiff.” ‘

AFL player Pat Dangerfield was quoted by Smith as calling Newman on the AFL Footy Show “irrelevant”. Newman fired back he was “not understanding the era of political correctness we now live in”.

Well Sam this former transgender athlete says get with the times buddy, as your rhetoric causes so much grief and forces transgender people to go underground. Which means the only way we can succeed in life is to hide who we truly are … I’m 51 now and so over that approach.

Anyway if that type of rhetoric was aimed at your lived-life, would you refer to it as political correctness? I sincerely doubt it. I’d say you’d act all indignant.

Fortunately Newman’s views and Margaret Court’s for that matter are now starting to be seen as other and old school, rather than the norm, as people are becoming more educated about LGBTIQ issues due to people standing up and holding their views to account.

There seems to be a groundswell of people understanding and having empathy of being able to walk in our shoes and that is a great thing, as more and more transgender and gay people come out of the closet due to there being wider acceptance in mainstream society.

As for Caitlyn Jenner, well Newman may say nasty things about her, but I thank her … if it wasn’t for her I may be still in the closet, as she gave me the courage to come out to 600 Facebook friends. Since then, my life has for the most part been great (save for losing a few friends who thought I should not be so vocal) and I’ve drawn a line in the sand, as I’ve decided I’m never going back into that closet again.

As much as life is positive for me, Safe Schools statistics reveal four per cent of the population is transgender or intersex. The rhetoric aimed at the kids among this group is simply not on, as they should be able to grow up in a more enlightened world.

As for Newman and Court, one lives in hope they may one day change their ways and views, due to their being held to account, where their views are seen as old, stale and outdated.

Caroline Layt to the best of her knowledge is the only transgender woman to have played in the women’s Interstate rugby league challenge, representing New South Wales during the 2007 season. She was selected again during the 2008 season, but she reluctantly withdrew from the team due to injury – bone bruising.

She also won four ARU national women’ championship titles representing Sydney in women’s rugby union.

Prior to transition – Caroline briefly played Shute Shield (first grade) rugby union for Eastern Suburbs when she was 20 during the 1986 season and first grade for Oakdale – Group 6 Country Rugby League 1991.

Caroline is now a journalism student at Macleay College.

A transgender sportswoman’s take on Sam Newman’s rant against Caitlyn Jenner Hearing about Sam Newman’s rant a fortnight ago where he demonised Caitlyn Jenner by referring to her as an ‘it’ on the AFL Footy Show highlights how far we have come and still have to go before transphobic comments disappear from sports shows and the like forever.

#NRL AFL transgender

0 notes

flauntpage · 6 years

Text

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Torey Krug and David Pastrnak – The spin is nice, but don't sleep on the synchronized stopping.

Hey, speaking of Bruins pairing off in interesting ways…

The second star: Brad Marchand and Leo Komarov – Look, the heart wants what it wants.

(Here's Komarov's response.)

Yep, it's the old "forget to take off my skate guards" mistake. We've all been there, Tomas. Good to know if happens to the pros too.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right...Maybe...Depending on Your Perspective

The brawl has been variously described as "chaotic," "crazy," "out of control," and "an old-fashioned dust-up." References to old-time hockey were plentiful.

An old-fashioned dust-up? I'm not so sure it was. I mean, this is what a brawl looked like in the 1960s, featuring a player attacking a linesman and fans throwing punches from the stands.

Here's one from the 1980s, which spans an intermission and includes a career-ending sucker punch.

And of course, I don't have to remind Red Wings fans about this:

Obscure Former Player of the Week

This week's obscure player is Hannu Virta, for reasons we'll get to in a bit.

But despite all of that, the unquestioned highlight of Virta's hockey career came in 1991. And we'll get to it in the Classic YouTube section. Here's a hint: It involves ice hockey.

New Entries for the Hockey Dictionary

But sometimes you get something really cool. For example, here's Erik Karlsson, who's Goal DNA stretches all the way back to the first game played by the original Ottawa Senators 100 years ago.

Or here's Auston Matthews, whose chain links to Maple Leaf legends Terry Sawchuk and Syl Apps, by way of Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

(A huge thanks to reader Niklas for sending in the clip. Remember, if you have a clip you think I need to be aware or, email me.)

Yes, by now regular readers know the answer: With a terrible song. Here we go.

Last chance to hit mute if you don't want a Finnish hockey song stuck in your head for the next week. You've been warned.

We also meet the star of the video: Whoever did the "ICE HOCKEY" text animations. I think that guy burned through all 16 fonts we had back in 1991.

My very favorite moment in the video comes about a minute in, when you can pinpoint the exact moment Selanne realizes this is a bad idea:

Here's my best attempt at transcribing the lyrics:

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

D'oh! That's hockey.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

And teriyaki.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

Gopher hockey.

Senior homes taste yucky.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's bang on, no need to google this any further.

Don't go getting cocky, Team Sweden, this isn't any worse than your song from 1989.

(That's probably a good thing, actually. I'm told that senior homes taste yucky.)

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @DownGoesBrown.

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes

flauntpage · 6 years

Text

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Torey Krug and David Pastrnak – The spin is nice, but don't sleep on the synchronized stopping.

Hey, speaking of Bruins pairing off in interesting ways…

The second star: Brad Marchand and Leo Komarov – Look, the heart wants what it wants.

(Here's Komarov's response.)

Yep, it's the old "forget to take off my skate guards" mistake. We've all been there, Tomas. Good to know if happens to the pros too.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right...Maybe...Depending on Your Perspective

The brawl has been variously described as "chaotic," "crazy," "out of control," and "an old-fashioned dust-up." References to old-time hockey were plentiful.

An old-fashioned dust-up? I'm not so sure it was. I mean, this is what a brawl looked like in the 1960s, featuring a player attacking a linesman and fans throwing punches from the stands.

Here's one from the 1980s, which spans an intermission and includes a career-ending sucker punch.

And of course, I don't have to remind Red Wings fans about this:

Obscure Former Player of the Week

This week's obscure player is Hannu Virta, for reasons we'll get to in a bit.

But despite all of that, the unquestioned highlight of Virta's hockey career came in 1991. And we'll get to it in the Classic YouTube section. Here's a hint: It involves ice hockey.

New Entries for the Hockey Dictionary

But sometimes you get something really cool. For example, here's Erik Karlsson, who's Goal DNA stretches all the way back to the first game played by the original Ottawa Senators 100 years ago.

Or here's Auston Matthews, whose chain links to Maple Leaf legends Terry Sawchuk and Syl Apps, by way of Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

(A huge thanks to reader Niklas for sending in the clip. Remember, if you have a clip you think I need to be aware or, email me.)

Yes, by now regular readers know the answer: With a terrible song. Here we go.

Last chance to hit mute if you don't want a Finnish hockey song stuck in your head for the next week. You've been warned.

We also meet the star of the video: Whoever did the "ICE HOCKEY" text animations. I think that guy burned through all 16 fonts we had back in 1991.

My very favorite moment in the video comes about a minute in, when you can pinpoint the exact moment Selanne realizes this is a bad idea:

Here's my best attempt at transcribing the lyrics:

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

D'oh! That's hockey.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

And teriyaki.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

Gopher hockey.

Senior homes taste yucky.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's bang on, no need to google this any further.

Don't go getting cocky, Team Sweden, this isn't any worse than your song from 1989.

(That's probably a good thing, actually. I'm told that senior homes taste yucky.)

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @DownGoesBrown.

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes

flauntpage · 6 years

Text

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Torey Krug and David Pastrnak – The spin is nice, but don't sleep on the synchronized stopping.

Hey, speaking of Bruins pairing off in interesting ways…

The second star: Brad Marchand and Leo Komarov – Look, the heart wants what it wants.

(Here's Komarov's response.)

Yep, it's the old "forget to take off my skate guards" mistake. We've all been there, Tomas. Good to know if happens to the pros too.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right...Maybe...Depending on Your Perspective

The brawl has been variously described as "chaotic," "crazy," "out of control," and "an old-fashioned dust-up." References to old-time hockey were plentiful.

An old-fashioned dust-up? I'm not so sure it was. I mean, this is what a brawl looked like in the 1960s, featuring a player attacking a linesman and fans throwing punches from the stands.

Here's one from the 1980s, which spans an intermission and includes a career-ending sucker punch.

And of course, I don't have to remind Red Wings fans about this:

Obscure Former Player of the Week

This week's obscure player is Hannu Virta, for reasons we'll get to in a bit.

But despite all of that, the unquestioned highlight of Virta's hockey career came in 1991. And we'll get to it in the Classic YouTube section. Here's a hint: It involves ice hockey.

New Entries for the Hockey Dictionary

But sometimes you get something really cool. For example, here's Erik Karlsson, who's Goal DNA stretches all the way back to the first game played by the original Ottawa Senators 100 years ago.

Or here's Auston Matthews, whose chain links to Maple Leaf legends Terry Sawchuk and Syl Apps, by way of Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

(A huge thanks to reader Niklas for sending in the clip. Remember, if you have a clip you think I need to be aware or, email me.)

Yes, by now regular readers know the answer: With a terrible song. Here we go.

Last chance to hit mute if you don't want a Finnish hockey song stuck in your head for the next week. You've been warned.

We also meet the star of the video: Whoever did the "ICE HOCKEY" text animations. I think that guy burned through all 16 fonts we had back in 1991.

My very favorite moment in the video comes about a minute in, when you can pinpoint the exact moment Selanne realizes this is a bad idea:

Here's my best attempt at transcribing the lyrics:

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

D'oh! That's hockey.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

And teriyaki.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

Gopher hockey.

Senior homes taste yucky.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's bang on, no need to google this any further.

Don't go getting cocky, Team Sweden, this isn't any worse than your song from 1989.

(That's probably a good thing, actually. I'm told that senior homes taste yucky.)

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @DownGoesBrown.

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes

flauntpage · 6 years

Text

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Torey Krug and David Pastrnak – The spin is nice, but don't sleep on the synchronized stopping.

Hey, speaking of Bruins pairing off in interesting ways…

The second star: Brad Marchand and Leo Komarov – Look, the heart wants what it wants.

(Here's Komarov's response.)

Yep, it's the old "forget to take off my skate guards" mistake. We've all been there, Tomas. Good to know if happens to the pros too.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right...Maybe...Depending on Your Perspective

The brawl has been variously described as "chaotic," "crazy," "out of control," and "an old-fashioned dust-up." References to old-time hockey were plentiful.

An old-fashioned dust-up? I'm not so sure it was. I mean, this is what a brawl looked like in the 1960s, featuring a player attacking a linesman and fans throwing punches from the stands.

Here's one from the 1980s, which spans an intermission and includes a career-ending sucker punch.

And of course, I don't have to remind Red Wings fans about this:

Obscure Former Player of the Week

This week's obscure player is Hannu Virta, for reasons we'll get to in a bit.

But despite all of that, the unquestioned highlight of Virta's hockey career came in 1991. And we'll get to it in the Classic YouTube section. Here's a hint: It involves ice hockey.

New Entries for the Hockey Dictionary

But sometimes you get something really cool. For example, here's Erik Karlsson, who's Goal DNA stretches all the way back to the first game played by the original Ottawa Senators 100 years ago.

Or here's Auston Matthews, whose chain links to Maple Leaf legends Terry Sawchuk and Syl Apps, by way of Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

(A huge thanks to reader Niklas for sending in the clip. Remember, if you have a clip you think I need to be aware or, email me.)

Yes, by now regular readers know the answer: With a terrible song. Here we go.

Last chance to hit mute if you don't want a Finnish hockey song stuck in your head for the next week. You've been warned.

We also meet the star of the video: Whoever did the "ICE HOCKEY" text animations. I think that guy burned through all 16 fonts we had back in 1991.

My very favorite moment in the video comes about a minute in, when you can pinpoint the exact moment Selanne realizes this is a bad idea:

Here's my best attempt at transcribing the lyrics:

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

D'oh! That's hockey.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

And teriyaki.

Ice hockey, ice hockey!

Gopher hockey.

Senior homes taste yucky.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's bang on, no need to google this any further.

Don't go getting cocky, Team Sweden, this isn't any worse than your song from 1989.

(That's probably a good thing, actually. I'm told that senior homes taste yucky.)

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @DownGoesBrown.

DGB Grab Bag: Line Brawls, Goal DNA, and Teemu Selanne's Singing Debut published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes