Amici:
Grind Joint, Dana King ... CHECK OUT THE STARK HOUSE PRESS NEWLSETTER RIGHT HERE ... crime fans will want this one ... fans of great writing will also ... Dana King’s debut is rock solid. You’ll be smart to pre-order now. Dana is one of the best around—fact.
Like it says in the newsletter, amici: "wall to wall great writing." What does that mean? "Dana King’s Grind Joint does for mob fiction what prohibition did for organized crime—it provides the juice for it to flourish in a world consumed with special effects and cartoons..."
Go to the Stark House site and pre-order this book ... you won’t regret it.
The Intouchables ... I’ve been waiting for this movie ever since I fell for the French crime series, Spiral (reviewed here) ... aside from movie stalking one of the most beautiful actresses in the world (Audrey Fleurot), I’d seen a trailer for the movie about six months ago ... it’s based on a true story and was well worth the wait. Phillipe (Francois Cluzet) is a very wealthy quadriplegic in need of a full-time helper. Driss (Omar Sy), Magalie (Audrey Fleurot) is Phillipe’s assistant, Yvonne (Ann Le Ny) is the live in assistant. The entire case was pretty much perfect.
This movie has been nominated and won a ton of film awards and deservedly so. It’s a wonderful movie and has quickly jumped into my top ten feel-good movies of all time. Check out the trailer or just do what I did, Netflix this baby. Hilarious, charming, poignant and absolutely uplifting. Like I said, wonderful. You’ll laugh out loud and have to hold back tears from time to time (or you can let them flow) ... but they’ll be good tears.
So long Torts ... the Rangers and their fans said goodbye to the controversial coach this week. Apparently it was a bit of a mutiny, as the players didn’t express the love perhaps the coach had expected during exit interviews. Who knows. I’ve only been a true blue fan of the sport since last year, so I can’t comment on GM Glen Sather and/or the owner James Dolan, except everybody seems to think the GM should’ve gone along with Torts (his 6th coaching hire/fire), and nobody is happy with the owner ... so it goes.
What I did notice in my short hockey loving life is the following: 1) the Rangers never adjust to the team they play; it is one way (or perhaps the highway) ... we collapse our defense on power plays or when playing 5 on 5, and wind up playing in our zone twice as long as seems necessary. Other teams seem to attack at least the point men and often create turnovers from those attacks; 2) our power play sucked (not Hagelin) ... I can’t figure out why. Last year we passed the puck way too much, especially when the consensus seems to be (and I agree) to shoot the puck at the net because good things can happen (duh) ... 3) Tortorella put his players in his doghouse way too often and for way too long ... you don’t build confidence by having your players feel as though they’ll be second guessed every time they step on the ice ... 4) Torts doesn’t let his younger players develop, even after they prove themselves worthy ... what he did with Kreider made me upchuck my Chivas several times this season (sending him to Connecticut when we weren’t scoring in New York) ... the same goes for the spirited play of Martin and Newberry ... and finally 5) scoring ... you can’t expect Lundqvist to hold teams to less than 1 goal every game ... yes, defense is important (I’m a believer in defense first myself), but you can’t ignore putting points on the board (or pucks in the net) ... Torts seemed fine kissing Lundqvist’s ass publicly, but doing nothing for him on the ice with goal support.
That said, the four teams left are all better (or played better) than the Rangers ... these next 3 series should be incredible.
Now, I can’t wait until we have a new coach and to see how we react next season.
In the meantime, Go Pittsburgh! Go Kings!
Kelly Stone Gamble ... also an SNHU MFA graduate and very fine writer... her MFA thesis, Ragtown (a historical novel) has been chosen as a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association ...
—Knucks
In honor of all those who take 4 hours to do a job that should take half an hour/an hour at the most ...
