I’ve watched this twice since first seeing it as an “iTunes extra” for Wreck-it Ralph…   Choked up both times… my daughter asked me why and all I could say was that she’ll understand someday… (I hope)…  Maybe it’s the whole Jim and Pam thing from The Office… maybe it’s something else entirely… but this short film made an impression, and I’m glad that people still spend time to make these sorts of things…

Paper man on Vimeo.

How do you blow a 4-1 lead with a little over 10 mins remaining in Game 7?  Just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yes… after 9 years of waiting for their triumphant return to post-season play, the Leafs are once again practicing their golf swing.  And Leafs fans everywhere are trying to answer that seemingly unanswerable question… HOW?!?

It may have only been Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but any Game 7 involving the Maple Leafs is bound to stir up a lot of excitement in Leaf Nation.

And so it was last night, as I watched my dreams of a second round playoff series slowly implode before my very eyes, I could feel the collective weight of Leafs fans everywhere bearing down on me.  It was painful.

I personally don’t feel that the Leafs are guilty of sitting back and trying to protect their rapidly dwindling lead.  I think that it was simply their inexperience that left them unprepared (and scrambling) when the Bruins Juggernaut finally got rolling at full speed.  They panicked.  They fell apart.    They choked.

This Toronto team is young.  As heart breaking as last night was, I think that there is a good lesson to be learned here.  I predict that this small taste of Stanley Cup playoff success (Hey, they did better than Montreal or Vancouver) will light a fire inside of those young players, and the experience will translate into greater confidence and winning.

For now I’m forced to pin my hopes on the Ottawa Senators.

There’s something about money that makes normally intelligent, thoughtful, caring people turn into assholes.  I’ve never understood it, but it seems to be way too common.  I can understand if you’re hurting for money… but if you’re not, then accumulating even more of it should not be your focus.

Look at what happens in Child Support cases.  The focus is obviously money.  The idea is that one parent receives money from the other to comfortably support their children.  It’s in the children’s best interest for that parent to receive this money.  But it’s not an entitlement to the other person.  It’s not their personal allowance.  There’s a reason that it’s called Child Support, and not ex-spouse support.

That reasoning often seems lost on people.  It becomes something else entirely.  It’s no longer about the children.  It’s all about the Benjamins… And it’s sad because there really is no winner.  Only losers.

And that includes the children.

This blog post is going to contain spoilers, so if you have any desire to see Iron Man 3 in the theatre, I suggest that you stop reading this now, and go find something else to do.

No really.  Go.  Get outta here.

Still reading?  Fine… you’ve been warned…

IRON MAN 3 SUCKED!!

OK, no it didn’t… but I just wanted to put that in to throw off anyone who might still be on the fence whether or not to read this post.  Did it work?

First of all, if you are a big Marvel Comics fan and you have forgotten about the awful taste left in your mouth after reading my post on The Avengers, I suggest that you go back and read that one.  It’s a great segway into this post.  Actually, that movie is referenced a few times in Iron Man 3, but it’s not required viewing for this one to make sense.  Or nonsense, depending on your viewpoint.

My buddy and I went out to the Empire Theatres in Rothesay, where thankfully you don’t have to go through their ridiculous “assigned seating” bullshit.  It’s just like the old days… you get your ticket, walk into the theatre, look around.. and decide where you want to sit based on what you can see is available.  And if you decide that you don’t like that seat, you get up and move to another one.  It’s a perfect system.  I wonder if it’ll catch on?  But I digress.

This was yet another 3D movie that had no business being 3D.  I’m getting really tired of the money grab called 3D Movies.  I would have watched a non-3D version, but that wasn’t an option.  So for an extra $3 added to an oh-so-already-affordable ticket and concession price, I got to watch a movie that barely took advantage of 3D technology in any way.  Trust me, your experience will not be lessened in any way if you decide to save yourself a couple of bucks and suffer through good ole fashion 2D.  Just be thankful you’re seeing it in colour, and no sub-titles!

At 2 hours and 10 mins Iron Man 3 is pushing my limits to comfortably sit still.  I’m an old man.  My attention span is waning.  Then throw in a two-hander mega-gulp fountain Coke… and well.. 2 hours and 10 mins (not to mention the 20-30 mins of sitting there waiting for the movie to start) is just too long.  This movie could have easily cut 20 mins out and not skipped a beat.  It just feels like they are adding things to movies now just for the sake of adding them.  I don’t get it.

Plot wise…  Iron Man faces off against The Mandarin, who is terrorizing the American people with one hell of an explosive weapon.  There’s a really neat plot twist that I never saw coming, and as much as I warned you about spoilers… I think that this one is big enough to hold onto and let you experience it for yourself.  Let’s just say that Ben Kingsley is awesome!

I’m not a Gwyneth Paltrow hater, but the role of Pepper Potts is getting out of hand.  I understand that Tony Stark needs Pepper… I get that.  But when she’s wearing an Iron Man suit or going toe to toe with a bad guy because she’s all juiced up…. Yeah, stop that.

I will say that Robert Downey Jr is once again excellent as Tony Stark.  He truly was meant for that role!  I just wish that these movies didn’t try to rely so heavily on the special effects… but then again… it’s a comic book, so I’m probably putting too much thought into it.

I had a thought about something in the shower this morning… no.. don’t go there… keep reading…   It occurred to me… ever see the movie Good Luck Chuck?  I’M CHUCK!

Chuck is the guy who women want to be with because once you’re with Chuck, you are guaranteed to find your true love next!  It’s his curse… no one expects to spend the rest of their life with Chuck… they only want to be with him long enough to find Mr Right.

I started doing the math… every woman I’ve had any sort of relationship with in the last 6 years has gone on to get married or is still in a serious longterm relationship that will probably culminate in marriage at some point.  Hell, my ex wife didn’t even wait until our divorce was finalized before she had another baby and was married shortly after the ink on our papers dried.  K1?  Married.  K2?  Long term live-in relationship.  C?  Working on the long term.  K3?  Moved in with boyfriend over a year ago.  J1?  Got married almost immediately after meeting the guy within weeks of us breaking up.   J2?  Give it time… She’s a real catch, and won’t be single long…  Even some of my mini-crushes have moved onto great things!  Another K is now happily married!  Yet another K (I wish I was making this up… it’s true.. I am cursed with Ks) is in a longterm live-in relationship and not going anywhere.

So ladies, if you want to meet the man of your dreams… or want to validate that you might already be with him… give me a call.  My success (or failure, depending on your point of view) rate is pretty damn good.  It’s funny (and sad) because it’s true.  Every single one of those women has left a relationship with me, and is now with Mr Right.

Who’s next?

This isn’t one of those videos that you can watch over and over… but chances are pretty good that you’ve felt what at least one of the people in this video is feeling…

There is inspiration and hope all around us… we just have to choose to see it…

Apparently there’s some crazy banking regulation that any money you use for your mortgage down payment must be yours for a minimum of 90 days.  I’m sure that there’s a good reason for that… but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.  So even though I’ve worked a bunch of overtime lately, and have the money for my down payment, I can’t technically use that money because it hasn’t been in my bank account for 90 days.

Thankfully there’s a “workaround” which involves getting a signed gift letter from a member of your immediate family stating they are giving you money which you do not have to pay back.   Fair enough.  I promised my banker that I would get my letter signed, and fax it to her today so she could go ahead and get my mortgage approved.

As I was walking to work this morning, I thought about how I would phrase my email to her regarding this.  I wanted to let her know that I had faxed it.

This is what I came up with.

I’m buying a house.  If everything falls into place May 16 I will take ownership of a nice bungalow and begin moving my life forward.

I’ve had more than a few people say how happy they are for me… yet they seem more excited about this than I am.  That’s because it’s true.  I’m buying a house.  It’s a great house.  But it’s still just a house.  I know that I will enjoy living in it.  I know that my kids will love it.  I assume that over time my feelings toward it will shift.  I hope so.

Please do not think that I am ungrateful.  I understand that there are people reading this who maybe are not in a position to buy a house, and would love to be announcing that they are.  I understand that.  I am fortunate enough to have crawled back from near-financial and personal ruin, and am now seeing some positive results.  But do not be fooled by the illusion.  I’d trade it all for a leaky cardboard box if that box felt like home.  Don’t believe me?  Oh I think that there might be one or two of you who do.

I gave up looking for a home.  It just wasn’t going to happen.  So I settled for a house.  It’s a means to an end.  A way to get closer to my kids.  To see them more.  To be a better parent.  I don’t deny that there are real benefits to buying this house.  But it’s a bittersweet moment for me.  This entire process has created an empty void, and that’s not going to be filled by a structure, no matter how seemingly perfect it may appear to some people.

Satisfied?  Sure.

Excited?  Not even a little.