You’ll note that I’ve refrained from almost all hockey commentary over the past week and a half, despite the first round of the playoffs being the top story (deservedly or not) in all the local media. That’s because I know better. Having had the (mis)fortune to be born a Leafs fan, I’ve had a lot of practice having my hopes raised and then dashed on the pointy rocks come playoff time. For that reason, I’ve been following the Buds with a great deal of reservation – the last few years, they’ve shown a great knack for looking disinterested when there’s the most on the line, or otherwise just choking. Well after six games of barely showing up, the Leafs finally decided to play some hockey and beat the Sens handily in game 7, the first game I would say that we deserved to win (Eddie excepted, he’s been sensational). But my favorite thing about the win was the fact that I got to call my old buddy Jim and gloat for the fourth time in five years. You’d think he’d have learned to take his phone off the hook when the Sens get eliminated by the Leafs by now. I can now exit these playoffs happy… unless of course we meet the Habs in the conference final and there’s an opportunity for a second gloating phone call. Oh ho. Philly will be no easy task, but if last night was a sign that the Leafs are finally waking up in these playoffs and we can get Nolan and Sundin back, I’m thinking it’s going to at least be a good series and maybe even one that goes our way. All I ask is that we don’t embarrass ourselves. Not too much to hope for?

I told you she’d be back. Didn’t I say she’d be back? Nellie McKay will be at Lee’s Palace on June 30, tickets $15.50 on sale Thursday. Her live shows come highly recommended by my boss. Really.

The BBC lists their finalists for the greatest opening song lines in history. From the Global Pop Conspiracy.

Going to be on MTV’s Cribs anytime soon? The good people at Rock N Roll Confidential have some helpful tips to make sure you have the lingo down and don’t embaress yourself.

Today’s Doonesbury tackles the topic of casualites in Iraq head on – long-time (36 years!) character DB, stationed in Iraq, loses his helmet as well as his left leg. The Guardian talks to Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau about his decision to write this storyline. And it’s probably just coincidence, but Get Fuzzy is running a similar plot this week. Sad to think that these will probably be the first appearance of US casualties in some newspapers, and a number of editors are more concerned with the fact that DB says, “Son of a bitch” in an upcoming strip than the message that it’s trying to convey.

24: I swear to God, they have a syphillitic monkey writing Chloe’s dialogue. And it’s about time they got Kim taken hostage again – It’s been at least five or six hours since she’s been kidnapped. I actually thought for sure that there’d be a mountain lion hiding in the library stacks, waiting for Kim… okay, more hoped than thought. That would have been some fine television. That whole sequence was awful predictable though – putting red herring guy in a red shirt? Come on. I don’t know how I feel about their attempts to track the virus at CTU – looked a helluva lot like the SARS nonsense from last year in these parts. Last night’s ep was a bit of a holding pattern, but I guess they needed to catch their breath after last week.

np – J Mascis & The Fog / Free So Free

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