Well the first round of this year’s playoffs have been awesome. Wild games, wild series, and surprise upsets. Eat it Vancouver Canucks, ha!

If the First round was an indication this Second round will be pretty intense too. If you want to see my first round predictions click HERE, or scroll down a little further. I didn’t do too bad. However Chicago is out, my call for Cup winner this year. And my Eastern Champ, Boston is out too. So, what do I think going from here? These are my second round predictions:

Eastern Conference:
New York Rangers VS Washington Capitals Winner: New York
Philadelphia Flyers VS New Jersey Devils Winner: New Jersey (everything is saying Philly to me, but my gut won’t let me rule out NJ)

Western Conference:
Nashville Predators VS Phoenix Coyotes Winner: Nashville
LA Kings VS St. Louis Blues Winner: L.A.

I think all these series will go at least 6 games. And to be honest, whether I am right or wrong, no matter who moves on the the next round it’ll be great!

….Let’s Go L.A.!!!!
-Gilmore

Little note: Although I chose New York, I still hold onto my choice of Washington as dark horse Cup winners!

Friday finally arrived, if you are thinking of catching a movie this weekend here’s your rundown of new ones opening in Timmins!

The 5 Year Engagement:

The Pirates-Band of Misfits:

The Raven:

Have a great weekend!
-Gilmore

This is awesome….

That   ‘every women since….’   quote is gold!
-Gilmore

..Well Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria turns 48 today. You won’t believe all the voices he does.
Hanks characters include: Moe, Chief Wiggum, Apu, the Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson, Cletus Spuckler, Professor Frink, Dr. Nick Riviera, Lou, Snake, Kirk Van Houten, the Sea Captain, Superintendent Chalmers, the Wiseguy, Disco Stu, Duffman and a few others here and there. Pretty talent guy huh?!!

In honour of Hank, and the Simpsons being awesome here are 50 things you might not have known about the show, enjoy!:

1. In the opening scene, Maggie used to ring up on the cash register as $847.63 because in 1989, that was the estimated price of raising a baby for one month.

2. However the 20th season of the show, which kicked off in 2009, swapped the price of her worth. The groceries start at $243.26, but Maggie doubles the total to $486.52.

3. Whenever Bart prank calls Moe’s Tavern, he dials the number 764-84377 (which is one digit longer than an American phone number need be). It spells out “SMITHERS”.

4. Ever wondered why the Springfield residents are all yellow? Creator Matt Groening told the BBC: “An animator came up with the Simpsons’ yellow and as soon as she showed it to me I said: ‘This is the answer!’ because when you’re flicking through channels with your remote control, and a flash of yellow goes by, you’ll know you’re watching The Simpsons.”

5. If you watch an episode dubbed in French, Homer’s signature “D’oh!” is translated to “T’oh!”.

6. The Spanish version, however, translates it to “Ouch!”.

7. In Arabic episodes, Homer drinks soda as opposed to beer, and he eats Egyptian beef sausages instead of hot dogs (to coincide with Islamic customs).

8. While the characters on the show are a digit short of a full, human-like hand, only one character has ever been given five fingers – God.

9. If you watch the episode ‘Lisa The Vegetarian’ and listen to the music in the closing credits, Paul McCartney sings ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ – but this version contains an added background sound – Macca reading the recipe for lentil soup, played backwards. The very last line is said to be: “Oh by the way, I’m alive.”

10. Comic Book Guy’s real name is Jeff Albertson, and Bumblebee Man goes by the name of Pedro (or at least we assume so – he wears a bowling shirt with that name on it in an episode).

11. It takes between six to eight months to create each episode.

12. Lisa has celebrated her 8th birthday on two different episodes.

13. Ever wondered who the voice behind Maggie’s ‘sucking’ sound is? That would be the show’s creator, Matt Groening.

14. US President George Bush once blamed the Simpsons for society’s problems, claiming that American families should be less like The Simpsons and more like The Waltons.

15. Barbara Bush was once quoted saying “The Simpsons is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen”. You can read a reply from ‘Marge’ here.

16. The word “d’oh” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001 (although it’s spelled “doh”, which is said to be Groening’s spelling of choice). The word’s defined as: “Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also (usu. mildly derogatory): implying that another person has said or done something foolish.”

17. But where did “d’oh!” come from? Dan Castellaneta, the voice behind Homer, told The Hollywood Reporter that in the script it’s written as “annoyed grunt”. He based the sound off of Jimmy Finlayson’s “Dooooh!” in the Laurel And Hardy films.

18. While the show’s introduction generally sticks to the usual supermarket/skateboarding/couch stunt, its creators broke a trend for an episode, replacing it with a cover of Ke$ha’s ‘Tik-Tok’. Her response? A simple Tweet of “Wooo!!”.

19. Until 1998, the six main voice actors for the show earned $30,000 per episode. From then until 2004, they earned $125,000 per show. Today, they get a whopping £400,000 per episode.

20. In 1990, ‘Do The Bartman’ topped the UK Singles Chart. The song was written and produced by Michael Jackson and Bryan Loren, and performed by Nancy Cartwright (the woman behind Bart’s voice).

21. Many of the characters’ last names are taken from street names in Groening’s hometown of Portland, Oregon.

22. One piece of Simpsons merchandise, a T-shirt reading “I’m Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?” was apparently banned in from public schools.

23. Principal Skinner’s prisoner number in Vietnam was 24601, the same prisoner number as Twin Peaks’ Hank Jennings and Les Miserables’ Jean Valjean.

24. Krusty’s former sidekick Sideshow Bob also has that very same prisoner number, which can be seen on his letters to Selma (back when they were married for a short period of time).

25. Sideshow Bob’s real name is Robert Underdunk Terwilliger.

26. The length of the opening scene couch gag is dependent upon how long the episode is. If they need to fill space for a shorter episode, they’ll make an extended couch gag.

27. In 1989, it took just two days for Danny Elfman to compose the show’s now famous theme tune.

28. If you string together clips of Rainier Wolfcastle playing McBain from ‘90s episodes, they actually make a somewhat coherent story.

29. The reason Groening called the town Springfield was because there are dozens of different cities with that name in the States. —Gilmore note: Matt Groening recently revealed the Simpsons live in the state of Oregon. Springfield Oregon is a made up city.–

30. While Lisa’s first word was “Bart” and Maggie’s was “Daddy”, the first words out of young Bart’s mouth were “Ay caramba!”.

31. The two alien characters, Kang and Kodos, are named after characters from Star Trek: The Original Series (where Kang is a Klingon warrior and Kodos is a mass murderer).

32. Nancy Cartwright, who provides the voice of Bart, first tried out for Lisa’s voice.

33. The inspiration behind Krusty The Clown? A TV clown in Portland named Rusty Nails. However, despite the ominous name, Rusty was a joyful, upbeat clown. Not remotely like Krusty, then.

34. Milhouse Van Houten’s middle name is Mussolini.

35. Springfield hillbillies Cletus and Brandine have 44 children. Some of their names? Crystal Meth, Incest, Dubya, Normal-Head Joe and Mary WrestleMania.

36. Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer is the voice behind Sideshow Bob, while Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce (who plays Niles) provides the voice for Cecil, Sideshow Bob’s brother. Their father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger, is voiced by John Mahoney (who plays the father on Frasier).

37. The episode ‘Angry Dad’ features a comic/cartoon drawn by Bart. However, none of the show’s animators could make their drawings look like they were created by a child, so one of them got their son to do them.

38. When The Who’s Pete Townshend was included as a character on the show, it was actually voiced by his brother Paul Townshend.

39. Maggie’s stuffed bunny is actually the main character from Matt Groening’s comic strip ‘Life In Hell’.

40. If you’re ever at Springfield Elementary, remember this: Bart’s locker combination is 36-24-26. (Those are also the numbers recited in AC/DC’s ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’.)

41. Thinking about opening your own business? Can’t think of a name for it? Take some inspiration from The Simpsons: The French Confection (a pastry shop), Louvre: American Style (a museum), Helter Shelter (a soup kitchen) and The Fryin’ Dutchman (a seafood restaurant).

42. Inside the Springfield Police Station is a map of the city – which is shaped like medieval Constantinople.

43. There are plenty of animals in the show: Patty and Selma’s iguana is named Jub Jub, Krusty’s monkey is called Mr. Teeny, Homer’s helper monkey went Mojo and Mr. Burns’ fighting monkey was called Furious George.

44. In 1997, a house was built in Clark County, Nevada that is an exact replica of the Simpsons’ home. It was initially built as a grand prize for a contest run by Fox and Pepsi, and the winner could choose to either stay in the house or receive a $75,000 prize. Unfortunately the house, which cost $120,000 to build, was stripped of its Simpsons-esque décor.

45. In 1997, the show surpassed The Flinstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series in America.

46. Bus driver Otto is said to have a “Big Daddy” Ed Roth tattoo on his butt.

47. Despite his youthful looks, Ned Flanders is actually 60 years old.

48. From 1991-1993, comedian and TV host Conan O’Brien was a writer and producer for the show, and has been credited as writer/co-writer for four episodes.

49. To promote The Simpsons Movie, American convenience store 7-Eleven transformed some of its shops into Kwik-E-Marts, selling Simpsons merchandise such as Buzz Cola, Squishees and Krusty-O cereal.

50. As you likely already know, most opening credits feature a unique message written on the school blackboard by Bart. A few previous messages have included: “I was not touched ‘there’ by an angel”, “Pork is not a verb” and “I will not whittle hall passes out of soap”.

-Bet you learned something, didn’t ya.
Gilmore

Well announced last week the new Rush album Clockwork Angels will be out in June. One of the songs from album is called Headlong Flight…. Here it is!

If the video doesn’t work (you tube might pull it) go here:

http://www.hennemusic.com/2012/04/audio-hear-new-rush-single-headlong.html

What do you think? Lemme know
-Gilmore

Found this today, and found it funny. Am I wrong?
In my defence, the fact their name is Skidmore does nothing to lessen the funny potential…Just sayin’

Leave a comment with your thoughts.
-Gilmore

A lot of talk surrounding Axl Rose and his decisions to turn down induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Here’s what Axl has to say:

To: Cleveland, Ohio, Guns N’ Roses Fans and everyone who’s shown support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

I seriously didn’t plan on or expect the overwhelmingly positive response and public support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. With such a generous outpouring of solidarity from fans, media outlets, writers and other artists, I’m truly humbled, blown away and unbelievably relieved! To be honest, I thought it would go the other way and was just hoping to weather the storm. As I said, I sincerely didn’t want to disappoint anyone. It gets old being the outlaw even if “it’s only rock and roll”.

It took a lot of focus and soul searching to be sincere and informative while making a genuine effort to be somewhat diplomatic. We made, what I feel, are real efforts to learn about the Hall and the Board, spoke as I said with the president and various members, and though I inducted Elton John and Bernie Taupin in ’94 saying something to the effect of “I’m learning what the Hall’s about…”

I still don’t exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how or why it makes money, where the money goes, who chooses the voters and why anyone or this board decides who, out of all the artists in the world that have contributed to this genre, officially “rock” enough to be in the Hall?

This isn’t an attack. These are genuine issues I don’t have enough verified information on to have more than rough ideas. Certainly not enough information to make any judgments about.

I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!

Now that the smoke’s cleared a little, any desperate, misguided attacks have been just that, a pathetic stab at gossip, some lame vindictiveness, the usual entitlement crap, he’s obsessed, crazy, volatile, a hater. I once bought a homeless woman a slice of pizza who yelled at me she wanted soup. We got her the soup. You can get your own.

Again: HUGE thanks to the fans and to everyone for the incredible public support. My congratulations to the other artists inducted. And my apologies to the city and people of Cleveland, Ohio. I hope you’ll forgive me and we hope to see you again soon!

Keep Rockin’,

Axl

Unlike my open letter to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N’ Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern this was written for GNR’s official website, Facebook account and my personal twitter account and not intended as a press release. If anyone does choose to pick this up as has been done previously I’d appreciate if you’d run in full including this paragraph so as not to give a partial picture, have things taken out of context or to imply or inadvertently give the impression this was intended for other outlets.

What do you think?
-Gilmore

..Happy International Ford Mustang Day. Today’s date in 1964 the Mustang would make its debut at the World’s Fair in New York City. Still going strong, the Mustang is actually one of the longest running name plates in production, a new Mustang has been available each year since its inception. I’m personally not big on Fords, but will admit the new Mustang looks pretty sweet, take a look:

By the way, Shelby American is coming out with a 1000 HP version of the Mustang. It will debut at this year’s New York Auto Show.
-Gilmore

Have you caught this one yet? Workers from Dumas in Timmins are gonna make a run at Canada Sings!
Give the video a look, see if you recognize anyone.

Good luck to the Dumas crew!!
-Gilmore

Friday the 13th!!!! Hope you’re day has been full of good luck and no bad. Weird one, experts say Friday the 13ths are statistically safer then regular Fridays….Something to ponder.
Anywho, here’s the new movies coming to Timmins this weekend.

The Cabin In The Woods…. Filmed in Vancouver by the way

The Three Stooges….I’m a huge Three Stooges fan, I’m sure you’ll agree in the trailer they seemed to have really nailed the performances. Here’s hoping the movie delivers.

Ha!, Who wouldn’t want to do that to Snooki!
Have a great weekend!
-Gilmore