Eric Strange

The Toronto Maple Leafs are illiterate. They cannot read. Somebody else is writing the contracts, and that somebody probably works for the Philadelphia Flyers. Either that, or Leafs management just hired on Bob Goodenow to coach and are getting typical Bob Goodenow results. "Je Suis, Je Suis," you say to me, I hear your soft mutterings. "What are you saying, you hotheaded young man?" I'm saying the Leafs can't spell. Not S-T-A-N-L-E-Y, anyways. Perhaps that noun just isn't in their vocabulary. How many years has it been since the Leafs could legally use "Stanley Cup" and "Toronto Maple Leafs" in the same sentence? No wonder they don't know how to use the word. But stuttering and spitting out "LINDROS!" before this season starts is no way to accustom yourself to saying "STANLEY". Lindros was so five jerseys ago, but I guess the Leafs just figured there weren't enough rings in the tree, yeah? Needed a little more age and experience. Whatev, boys. But you won't be putting any rings on your fingers, that's for sure.

When did I miss this? So, there's going to be a movie, then, yeah? But how is New Line Cinema going to condense a near 800 page novel into 120 minutes, tops? Jonathan Norrell & Mr. Strange was one of my favourite novels of last year. Let's hope the scriptwriter is up to the job.

Reading: Somewhere beside a red-tiled Croatian café (seashore? yes, and autumn, too, or early spring, and the black branches of the trees talk bitter behind the house), a dark-haired girl is pouring strong red wine into my ceramic cup. But I'm not there. I'm a hundred beating pages into The Historian + Elizabeth Kostova

Listening: Whiles past, the singer for pink pop-hearted Hello Saferide was invited to guest-post on Said The Gramaphone. Excellent stuff. I had no idea that The Ricky and Mike Sing-a-Long Group was just a side project of the unwistful boys who put out waltzes to the very real pleasures of the day-in-day-out. Many especially good bits of music are wrapped up in a confetti holiday cracker which is rightly called "Wonderful" + The Galactic Heroes