School kids + YouTube = trouble

I have to admit that in seventh grade, I would have thought this was hilarious. As an adult, I know this is wrong, but it does strike me as funny. (I’m glad they took it down, though. It’s a bad precedent, and geez, all of YouTube’s bandwidth would be gone within days once American kids copied the feat.)

I’ve been meaning to look up Stephen Colbert in Wikipedia ever since he began encouraging viewers to vandalize the well-known collaborative encyclopedia.

I finally did so just now, and it was worth it. First of all, there are two entries: one for the real-life actor Stephen Colbert, and one for his pundit characterization that is the star of the Colbert Report. I spent most of my time on the latter, and it is a good read.

Did you know that Colbert’s real middle name is Tyrone? Or that he has a pet goldfish named Anthrax? Trust me, it’s worth the visit.

I was sad to learn from this Toronto Star article that Stephen’s push to have a bridge in Hungary named after him did fail, though it appears he was cheated out of his victory. At least he has a hockey mascot named after him:

Lately Colbert has been dispatching his followers “on a rampage of merry mischief,” including “bombing the website of a junior-league hockey team holding a name-our-mascot campaign (the team’s mascot is now Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle)” and “hijacking an online poll posted by Hungary’s Economic Ministry to name a new bridge over the Danube the Stephen Colbert Bridge (he topped the poll, but Hungary disqualified him because he’s not dead).”

Tonight’s episode, Collaborators, looks to be intense based on this brief description and on the preview scenes. I am really curious to see where Galactica heads from here. The writers have finished the New Caprica storyline, as far as we can tell, and they’ve sent the Colonials back into space (where they belong, if you ask me). Tonight’s episode looks like it will focus on the aftermath of the settlement and the Cylon occupation as humanity begins picking up the pieces of a catastrophic 16-month existence.

I am hoping to see more of the painful consequences of everything that has been taking place. No, I’m not a sadist, but I do appreciate the realism that the writers incorporate in the stories they tell. (Yes, I just argued for realism on a show where robots are chasing people around outer space, but if you watch the show, I think you probably understand what I mean.) The current scenario on the series would rank as one of, if not the, greatest tragedy to befall humanity if it were true, and there needs to be fallout from that kind of turmoil. I feel confident that no one on the series will be the same after all of this, and that there won’t be a sense that this segment of the storyline never happened. We’ll see for sure in a few hours.

I’m also curious to see where the Cylons go from here, whether Baltar stays with them and, most importantly, if we get to see any of it.

The Preds (5-3-1) edged the Sharks (7-4) by a score of 4-3 last night in a thrilling, fast and physical matchup. Here are my answers for yesterday’s three questions:

1. I don’t think the Preds’ five-day break between games or the Sharks’ game on Wednesday night seemed to matter much on the ice. This was a hard-fought, physical game the whole way through, and it was really fun to watch.
2. The Preds outshot the Sharks 29-27 and, most importantly, considerably reduced their shots against from 46 during their previous game. That’s a good sign.
3. The Sharks still outmuscled the Preds at times in the first and third periods, but the Preds’ size upgrades were noticeable on the ice. They dominated the second period, too.

Here are a few other observations I had while watching the game. Both teams forecheck aggressively, and that made for a lot of back-and-forth skating. On the Sharks goal that opened the scoring at 1-0, Dan Hamhuis only partially connected on his signature hip check near the left boards, and Joe Thornton (who was a beast all night) shook it off and found Mark Bell for an easy goal.

Alexander Radulov’s score to tie the game at 1-1 was a wicked wrister that caught Sharks goalie Vesa Toskala totally off guard. Not bad for Radulov’s first NHL goal. As he should have, Radulov was exuberant in the wake of the score and leapt off the ice before being surrounded by his teammates. Radulov logged about 11 minutes of ice time and was all over the place during play. He looks to be a stud in waiting behind a talented set of Preds forwards. He easily slipped behind the Sharks defense a couple of times and was blazing fast at times. He played sound positionally on most shifts and had a couple of solid checks, too. He didn’t hesitate to get in front of Toskala in the second period and attempt a redirect on a shot from the point, either.

Scott Hartnell was a force on the ice all night. His goal to make the score 2-1 came on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play that left him alone in front of the net. His second goal late in the contest, the eventual game winner, was all hustle and a brilliant play, as he bounced the puck off Toskala from behind the goal. The Arnott, Kariya and Erat line played extremely well all night and continues to be huge for the Preds. Erat, in particular, stands out in my mind so far this season as the team’s most improved player. Tomas Vokoun was exceptional in net, as usual, and he bailed the Preds out at times in the third. I am concerned that the Preds yet again surrendered a two-goal advantage in allowing the Sharks to tie the game 3-3, but they didn’t buckle down the stretch.

All in all, this was a good way to wrap up a short homestand and head out for a long road trip on a high note. We’ll see how the team plays as it makes the typically tough Northwest swing through Canada over the next week or so. Go Preds!