June 20, 2006 Archives
Final article about the Oilers, as the Hurricanes prepare to "celebrate" their conquest of the Cup (which I think would be rather reminiscent of when the New Jersey Devils were winning and celebrated with a parade in the parking lot of their home arena, for lack of a real downtown). The Oilers' loss adds to a long list of underdogs losing in the final, which includes the Panthers (1996), the Capitals (1998), the Sabres (1999), the Hurricanes (2002), the Mighty Ducks (2003) and the Flames (2004).
From the Canadian Press article:
University of Alberta sports psychologist Billy Strean said fans can be forgiven for suffering some short-term effects from the absence of their regular doses of Oilermania.
"For most people there's a period of mourning," said Strean. "People should allow themselves that. For some people they'll move on 30 minutes after the game, but for those who have been waiting 16 years it's a big disappointment."
(Yeah, it went away overnight.)
Strean tried to put things in perspective.
"If your biggest problem is that your favourite hockey team lost, you're living a good life," he said.
(w0rd, that was what I was trying to say.)
Without being the kickass album of the year, I think that the new Utada Hikaru still deserves a bit of attention. Sure, she's slowed down since First Love and Distance, but is still one of my favourites in Jpop (in fact, most of the regular Japanese pop is like whatever pop in whatever country: unsavory... I'm a snob with everything, like music... I think that it's a personality trait: I like what's precious and with the illusion to be hard to find.
In any case, it's sprinkled with some 2006 or recent 2005 singles (Be My Last, Passion, Keep Tryin'), and some older stuff that I didn't think would appear in any album (COLORS). The first track is really dancy, yet familiar-sounding (it is "pop", after all). I played the album on repeat for most of the day, interrupted only with some German electro required for the productive stretches. Nichiyou no Asa (Sunday Morning) is pretty good too.
Anyways, it was a pleasant surprise to have discovered the news of the new album in the LJ music blog community roll (I don't usually read my communities, on top of it).