The Crazy Canucks #51 – At least we can beat Colorado

Recorded and posted last night.

Even though it’s only been one game since our last episode, we’re back to give you another dose of our punditry because it’s tough to keep hockey fans, much like ourselves, down. Dave is a healthy scratch on this one, but the rest of the crew gathers together for this session that aimed to be short but wound up running about forty minutes.

Record as of this episode: 6-8-0
Northwest Division: 4th
Western Conference: 14th

The win against Colorado looked good, but we need to keep pushing to make sure that things keep looking up. We also try to figure out why there are these long breaks in the season without games, J.J. takes a first look at the All-Star ballots and presents some ideas for a new system, Rebecca finds an interesting new nickname for Vingualt, Alanah presents some interesting insights to the state of the league, and John has been watching some Finnish hockey.

40:59 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

The Crazy Canucks #50 – Like a puck to the face

Recorded tonight, posted tonight, and we are all tipsy Canucks fans.

Good day, and welcome to episode fifty. This is a long overdue one, and there were some technical difficulties that occurred before this episode saw the light of day. Regardless, we push forward, sadly without our good pal Dave, but he shall return. Alanah actually joins us about twenty minutes in, and hilarity ensues.

Record as of this episode: 5-8-0
Northwest Division: 4th
Western Conference: 14th

The basic lowdown to this recording is that we are just as baffled as you are about our beloved team. There is no easy answers other than trying to pick ourselves up and work hard at being a better team on the ice. The recent 3-0 loss to Nashville is fresh on our mind, and it hasn’t been that much better before that.

66:29 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

The Crazy Canucks #49 – It’s still early in the season

Recorded last Thursday and posted on Friday. Get your Crazy Canucks while it’s still the latest episode… because we’ll probably record a new one this week yet.

We were without Alanah for this episode, and John was under the weather during the recording. Rebecca was in the driver’s seat and held down the podcast with JJ and Dave to discuss the season thus far. It’s still early, but every game gives us a feel for the team.

Record as of this episode: 3-3-0

There is still plenty to talk about, including the fallout from the Kesler/Boulerice hit, trade murmurs, and a variety of other topics that the crew finds interesting.

31:33 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

MySpace still sucks

Dear MySpace,

MySpace still sucks. It sucked from when it first started and it continues to suck. Sure, it’s a great social media platform where bands can preview some of their tracks, people can send messages back and forth, and strippers can have direct, albeit virtual, contact with their fans.

MySpace sucks You started in 2003, so why do you still act like it? There is no rhyme or reason to the site. Where ever there is a space to put something, it gets filled. It all falls under a category of some type, but the design concept is… well, what design concept? It’s near gibberish.

You’re not Digg, and no you’re not Facebook, and there is a good chance that you never will be. Those folks still understood what the meaning of design overhaul meant for the sake of their site. It was for the better good of those who interact with the function of the website, and the effort makes those people want to come back for the simple fact that it makes sense.

RadioZoom has a page on your site, and I hate having to interact with it. Yes, it is an amazing way for artists to contact the podcast, but I deplore having to login and do anything with your site. The fact that users make it even more difficult by blinging out their MySpace pages, bands hardly excluded, makes it that much more worse. I know that’s not your fault, but if you did something about that, I would be quite over joyed.

Here’s an idea that I would like to see. As someone who throws music into their podcast, why not make it an easy way for bands to actually share music with those who are deemed good enough to download it, such as podcasters? Right now, it’s all or none for bands to select which songs their would like to have people download. If a band had the option of authorizing podcasts to grab their uploaded selections for play in a podcast episode, imagine the possibilities that could have.

You probably don’t care that I don’t like your site, and there are plenty of people out there that are just fine with it. You don’t like me, and I don’t like you. I’ll still pop in once in a while to check in on things and do my best to figure out who has contacted for what reason because of the sad fact that there is some usefulness out of your service. It doesn’t make using MySpace enjoyable though.

The Crazy Canucks #47 – Philly cheese stink

Recorded last Thursday and posted on Saturday, TCC#47 is ready for you to listen.

We recorded this a few days prior to its actual release, but scheduling prevented the editing to get done before it could get out to you. Regardless, we hope you enjoy this episode as we go over the gross, 8-2 loss to the Flyers and dissect the hi-jinks that happened in the game. We also go over players that are sticking out to us (good and bad) and look at some other topics that we find notable.

Record as of this episode: 1-2-0

This was the first episode of the season that we’ve been able to gather together in the round table format, so we hope you enjoy this one as much as we did getting it recorded.

43:17 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

Just a boy among men

Over the past week, I’ve had some really cool things happen. Besides getting onto an elevator with Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace this past Friday, the other event to blow my mind was getting the brief opportunity to meet some NHL legends at Standard Building Supplies in North Vancouver during their customer appreciation day on Saturday. I think I can still taste the free, fresh, and incredible vegetable samosas.

Gino Odjick and Dave Babych

Gino Odjick[wiki] and Dave Babych[wiki] are famed men among long time Vancouver Canucks fans. Were they the greatest players to grace the game? That might be a stretch, but they are often referenced by my Crazy Canucks partners in crime, making them all the more legendary. Gino is notorious for his off ice scrapping as much as he was noted for his fist fights inside the rink, and Babych’s facial hair precedes everything before anyone starts mentioning his contributions to the ’94 run for the Stanley Cup.

Bobby Baun

It wasn’t until we were driving away that I realized exactly who Bobby Baun[wiki] was. When I talked to him, I made sure to shake his hand because I noted two things. One, he was a Toronto Maple Leafs player during one point in his career, and two, the Leafs, one of the oldest teams in the NHL, haven’t won the cup in 40 years.

As Rebecca and I talked about it(and you can read her post about the day as well), we put more and more to the story. Baun played with the likes of Tim Horton[wiki], yes, the guy who started the Tim Horton’s coffee and donut chain. Still, he was apart of the power house that was the team in Toronto to win the cup in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967. That also made him apart of the last Leafs team to win the cup 40 years ago, and I shook his hand.

Richard Brodeur and Bobby Hull chat with fans

Even though my knowledge of hockey is growing with every passing CBC documentary, I’ve known who Bobby Hull[wiki] is for a long time. Let me just say, he is hilarious. We recorded some audio that we’ll put into a Crazy Canucks episode soon with the full story, but the banter we had with him and Richard Brodeur is something I’ll long remember.

Not to pass by “King” Richard Brodeur[wiki], he was the Roberto Luongo of his day, guiding the Canucks to, but falling short in, the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Islanders. Still, a genuine man, and the atmosphere that he generated by just sitting next to Bobby Hull in conversation made me forget that there were a ton of people waiting for two or more hours behind me in line, just like we did.

I still made the point to shake all their hands, knowing full well that opportunities like this don’t present themselves all that often. I even brought the recorder along and snagged some liners for TCC, so listen for them in the near future.

Cliff Ronning[wiki] was there as well, but the time was up for him before we got to his place at the table. Being the classy guy that he is, he autographed a bunch of photos and went all the way down the line to hand them out to people that had been standing there just to see him. He got held up by some fans right in front of us, and I asked him about seeing him on Canucks Pay-Per-View again this season. The response he gave me was a little depressed, saying someone there apparently didn’t like him enough that he didn’t even get a phone call about it either way.

“Maybe I stuttered too much, I don’t know.” Aw Cliff, I was a fan.

Bobby Baun, Gino Odjick, and Dave Babych

In times like these, I’m not one to get overly crazed about getting autographs. It’s the experience that draws me in. It sucks that there is no way that I could talk hockey like Dave or even Rebecca can, growing up with or having stories of these individuals passed down to them over the years. What I do know is that these guys worked hard to pursue a passion for a game, and there is a lot to respect for their efforts.

That and Gino was walking around the grounds a little bit after our meeting, spotted us, and gave a nice smile and wave because he remembered us coming through the line. We did the same back and had the same reaction to each other. “Gino!”

Filmspotting interview on Podcast411

An episode of Podcast411 came through recently that really caught my attention. Filmspotting is a podcast that I stumbled onto about a year ago, and the host’s name of Adam Kempenaar stuck out to me.

He was the host of the show Burn Hollywood Burn during my days at KRUI, a brilliant, popular program about movies. Two hours a week with more phone calls in one night than most other shows would pray for in just one semester. The guys were good at what they did, and Adam has taken the formula to the podcasting realm as well as a once a month spot on WBEZ in Chicago.

You can listen to the MP3 directly or check out the show notes for the episode. And if you dig movies, check out Filmspotting for yourself.

The Crazy Canucks #46 – The 07-08 regular season is underway

Alanah has been kicking out the content lately, but we’re gathering for a “usual” episode of The Crazy Canucks soon. Check out #46 in the meantime.

One of these days, all of us will be back together for a full episode, but Alanah is pushing forward with some great segments that she has recorded to cover the first two games of the regular season for the Canucks. She even reaches out to Mike “The Yankee Canuck” to get some of his thoughts during an intermission of the first game, and JJ chimes in with his thoughts on the first loss to San Jose and then an outstanding OT win over Calgary.

37:00 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

RadioZoom#140 – Six Song Donut Spectacular: September 2007

Recorded in pieces and edited together yesterday, RZ#140 is posted for your listening.

A long over due episode, but an episode none the less. I take you with me on the road for this six song, a carefully crafted episode that I threw together in haste. Theme? My birthday was last month, so I play tracks that I’ve long wanted to play on RZ but never found the way or time to get them in.

50:00 minutes
radiozoom.net

The Crazy Canucks #45 – Interview with Wild reporter John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press

The final installment of Alanah’s conquest of the Northwest Division fans and writers, episode #45 has been posted.

Our tour of the Northwest Division comes to an end with this episode. Alanah tracked down John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press for this one. He is the guy in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” who reports on the Minnesota Wild for the newspaper, and we get his insights on the upcoming season for the team as well as the view of the league as a sports reported in the U.S. It’s a short interview, but Alanah gets into the details and raises some hell with our fellow divisional friends.

20:31 minutes
The Crazy Canucks