The Comics Gnome POOTS a "Firestorm" of Anticipation for the Blackest Night
UPDATED!!!



Hi y'all! I grew up with Saturday AM Superfriends. Every Saturday AM from Cap't Bob to Candlepin Bpwling, I was there for any new Superfriends. So the programme was nearing the end of its broadcast run when I was pushing pubescence, it introduced a few new characters to the mix and one of them was FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN. Firestorm was perhaps the last, greatest superhero of the SILVER AGE. There's a Note here about Ages of Comix...I think the Silver Age didn't die in Gwen Stacy's 1973 "SNAP!" instead Professor Zoom's 1980 "SNAP!" (Pssst...here's where I addded, I thought about it and had something more to say ^_~)...I feel as though I lived it and can say, no the Silver Age ended after the FLASH killed his PROFESSOR ZOOM and five/six years later Miller's writing DARK KNIGHT TRIUMPHANT and Moore published WATCHMEN. The Nihilism of the 80's killed the Silver Age...
As Wiki Spake...
...first appeared in Firestorm (vol. 1) #1 (March 1978).[2]
The original Firestorm was distinguished by his integrated dual identity. High school student Ronald Raymond and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Martin Stein were caught in a nuclear accident that allowed them to fuse into the "nuclear man" Firestorm. Due to Stein's being unconscious during the accident, Raymond was prominently in command of the Firestorm form with Stein a voice of reason inside his mind. Banter between the two was a hallmark of their adventures.
Firestorm I say in 1978 was the LAST Silver Age character because of his powers. They had an educational value. If there was a fire, Professor Stein would say to Ronnie, "why don't you convert the bricks of that wall into H20 and douse the flame!"
Wherein Ronnie would say, "Great Idea, Professor!!!" and save orphans.
The End of the Silver Age really started in 1982* when then Pres. Reagan changed policy at the FCC and allowed commercial messages to be included in children's programming. Hence, Strawberry Shortcake, GI JOE, Transformers, He-Man and...a paradigm shift at the SuperFriends. it went from "Superfriends" to the "Super Powers" team in 1984 with the introduction of Firestorm and the oncoming SUPER POWERS Action figures by Kenner! I stole the Green Lantern action figure from my bully's little brother....sad but true...
He lost it in my backyard. I already LOVED Green Lantern so I picked it up...he even asked me if I saw it although he hated me and I lied. So it goes...

Squeeze his legs, his arms would punch. I know...I'ma a Douchbag, I know.
*cite

Alas the FIRESTORM legacy endures...this first FIRESTORM was killed in action during a CRISIS...thus the mantle & power was passed to another, a young African-American man but nonetheless Firestorm survived...although Ronnie Raymond, our endearing dumb jock brute half was killed in the line of duty.

Did I tell you I got a Black Lantern Tee Shirt?

it goes ridiculously well with my Skull VANS shoes and my skulls bracelet...Kiwi should have a matching one, I wear my still everyday...but iDigress...

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night...may I introduce the Evil Zombie,
the Black Lantern Firestorm!!!

THE SMOKING PUCK!

July 5, 2009
By Rev. Sully

Celebrate Independence with Free Agency!!!
aka: Off-Season in Black & Gold, Pt. 1

I hate dropping names. Anyone who works in service to others can attest to this fact. So...with this year's hot bed of talent in the free agent pool, I pretend they are VIPs at Table 8. Thanks for letting me know but everything here is good. We can finally day the same about our Big Bad Bruins. We drop no name here...only People. I do it with cooking, the Bruins do it with Hockey. Nonetheless, both are under the influence of good chefs.
I tune into NHL Dot Com and all I hear are drama stories...best saved for babymamas. WAHHHHH!!!...I don't like Being a Millionaire Here! I hear the Colt of Ottawa wants to Bolt...but is picky & bitchy. Also the Universe of Talent in the NHL gotta keep it real! The Salary Cap will contract in a few years (not contract as in agent-signing...but contract as in opposite of expand). The Elite Salary of 12Mil/Year in 09 could be 7-8Mil/Season by the End of History in 2012.
There is no reference to a Rodeo because of all this Bull$#!&.
The Smoking PUCK usually has lots of HOOPLAH and Rodeo things like funnel cake & carneys but all we have are Rodeo Clowns. I prefer not to talk about it.

The Bruins can't afford much so what we got is what we need, for real. And it's alright. Phil Kessel is the only real concern right now and the Bruins cannot present as a bitch in heat right now...sorry. See, no use getting dramatic over it. He can take a one or two-year deal and then get ready for BIG MONEY after that. He's still wickid young, turning 22 when the season begins so fear thee not!
BUT!!! Mark Recchi signed for a one-year deal to end his career in Boston because he believes in what we have...Recchi is the Standard: get to the net, and get the PUCK on Net with you. he's 41 years old this season. gawd bless him. He was traded to Boston at the deadline and made a difference to a room full of relative kids. One of my favorite moments is after a shirt last regular season, Recchi talking to Young Kessel on the bench, post-shift and Phil's head like a bobble doll as Recchi shares his veteran vision.

Big names. Little Names. All Pieces to a Greater Puzzle. Only in One Moment in Space/Time will the Human Resource Equations of the Coaches & General Managers make sense...and that's in May & June of the Playoffs.
The Beantown Bees aren't in a rebuilding phase...more of a fine-tuning stage. If you don't believe me, then beer on me in the 3rd period (only if you're with me).

Crea shaakti,

Rev. Sully


All Statistic used in this Smoking PUCK are courtesy of NHL Dot Com’s Statistics page. In the words of Doctor Hooey, “RTFM”.

iRawk...Therefore iPod!!!
Freedom from the 3rd Dimension and into the 11th Dimensional Age Edition!

I'm Amazed! I''''''MMMM AMAZED!!! I sing it as a Pixie would...I'm Amazed!
Open Your Heart and Your Body Will Follow...Open Your Ears and your Minds Will Listen. This Sunday AM I'm putting around the Apartment listening to my "least" favorite Deepak Chopra audiobook...and thinking about the Physics specials I've DVR'd off the HDTV. I see it now...11 Dimensions. Little strings in space/time with an extra dimension in which it can oscillate...like invisible spaghetti-ohs in the air, infinitely traversing the length of the Universe. Conduits of The Force...wait a sec. I do not want to lose you...
...Let's start with the biggest audiobook I carry around with me. It's long, it's like my least favorite, thickest & heaviest High School Textbook...I carry a Bag Everywhere. I call it the Bag O'Life. It's like your car's trunk. Seriously. It's not a man purse. If I had a horse it would be my saddle bag. During High School...I had to carry all my books to & fro 'tween home and school. Me Poor Ma actually believed the amount of homework assigned. Heck, mebbe the teachers did assign that much homework as if I gave a crap. Nonetheless...I needed to have the appearance of being dutiful. In One Big Word: Verisimilitude. But all my books, everyday. It really developed these Irish Farmer's Legs I've inherited from the Emerald Isle. I'm used to carrying a lot of books around with me...now they're just hidden in other dimensions. I love audiobooks. They help me think better without the aid of therapist's help.


The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life , author Deepak Chopra, read by Daniel Passer.
So...it's my "least" favorite because this Unabridged Version clocks in at 8hr, 40mins; it's broken up into 4 two-hour parts. NONETHELESS! It is perhaps the most worthy of examination. The Abridged Version clocks in over 3hrs and is read by Deepak Himself in that familiar, soothing cadence. This 8+hrs journey is narrated by a whiteguy!!! Yipes! I mean at least I wish we had Peter Sellars doing his best Hindi send-up...but the Unabridged Version really nailed some qualities I have into manageable ideas. Such as the notion of Samsara...a life-trap. An energy that is just you. A Wheel...a never-ending cycle...that is until you strive for Enlightenment. Such as I know some of my samsara; financial irresponsibility, agitated mind, sensual craving...all very human, eh? but to the point where those ideas have control and not the other way around. Is you Ego driving the Cab or is the mind/spirit/body connection? Now I can get that connection to this energy & information...and then CHOOSE to either be comfortable with an inevitable & foregone conclusion...OR CHOOSE some thing new, something different. A new experience. I get it now. Instead of flying into a rage which I'm prone to do, a Samsara! Instead of Rage I choose Other Than My Programming. I still think the same initial idea that gets my rage notion BUT I react not with the Samsara Reflex. I Choose The Other. Heck...I Am The Other.
Now...I get my head around 11 Dimensions and All is Energy & Information. Expanding Consciousness, using the mind's inner radio to tune into higher frequencies, cleansing the door of perception. ALL WITHOUT HALLUCINOGENS! I know...bummer but iDigress...

My iPod "motherboxxx...my steadfast companion...I watch "Sex & The City" or "Cowboy Bebop" during my lunchbreak as I wolf down today's rice & meat dish down with chopsticks, a la Son Goku of Dragonball Z. During worktime, I'm alone & productive for a few hours so to sneak my tunes into my background, I use a small, cubish steel pan (referred to as the 1/6 pan, holds up to 2 liquid qts and built to fit modularly in an open refrigeration top)...and insert my headphones facing towards the rear of the pan and receive simple amplification. I call it "The Ghetto Blastah"...a new Dimension of Sound & Fidelity!

The Philips SBC HL150s
These are the loudest headphones I've been proud enough to own. They were inexpensive! $11.99 at Walgreens! They fold & collapse (therefore making it possible to fit into a metal 1/6 pan). They're also the best non-in-the-ear 'phone I've purchased. I can wear 'em around my neck for simple amplification of my iPod. They really do drown out the rabble. I will replace with the same and they bookend the house headphones, the big-@$$ Philips SHP 2500s with 10' TV cord! & volume toggle! I'm worried about my hearing...these headphones won't help but they also won't destroy any further possible loss due to a speaker being inside my ear. I can hear newer things in Beatles songs...it's Dimension. Frequency...how the string is strummed. They are cheap headphones...don't get me wrong. I already had to care for the headband a bit but they've lasted a few months now. Will replace with the same when the day comes. how morbid. ugh. ^_~

What's in My Shopping Cart???
I still get down to the iTunes Store. I love poking my nose in to see what's Free this Week. Such as Episode 1 of Arrested Development, Season 1.
But that's just the lobby...then I actually go looking for crap. Then it gets dangerous.
I looked for this one song and ended up getting two...you end up like "no way!" after checking the Popularity of other tracks by this obscure artist and find three possible purchases. We only have enough for two; Sophie's Choice. Yuk! No! Not an elegant allegory!!! See...all this enlightenment hooey and at my core I'm still a jerk! ^_~
Nonetheless...by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, New Wave Music Not Forgotten to the Sands in the Hourglass!!!
One goes into Sully Tunes No. 0
"Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll"

I possess a sliver of a visual clarity in memory. With sound and sunlight. I was in summer camp when I was 12 and I dunno why it came up and I asnwered "Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll is all my body needs". and this kids quoted me to myself for the rest of the week. The initial vivid memory is his hair in the sunlight and his disbelief at my apparent earnestness. Guess what...I still believe that! Heh!!! I guess that's not the answer one expects at Jesus Camp!!!

and the other goes into the 24 Hour Party Mix
"Reasons To Be Cheerful, part 3"
once you hear it, you'll remember a sound reminiscent of a distant time of 25 cent video arcades and nylon-under-ripped blue jeans, safety pin in ear/nose/lip optional.

I then got "Bookworm"ish!!!
The Art of War by Sun-Tzu, the Ancient Chinese treatise on warfare

I was in the mood for good audiobooks that were spiritual but at the same time not Chopra. I need to not be an acolyte but a fellow traveller. So I noticed this...and I have noticed this as being the #1 Audiobook at hte iTunes Store for WEEKS & WEEKS!!! I contributed to this statistic for 1 hr., 16 min of great Unabridged audiobook for $3.95 at the iTunes Store (I'm quite aware I use Audible Dot Com links). Still is great advice for those who wish to listen. Being at work is like being on a military campaign. Look at it through this dimension...

Also...I get into a Another Dimension. On Saturday Mornings, I find myself in hermits' solitude faced with 8AM and the Independent Film Channel's Saturday AM Samurai Movies. I'm usually up at 4AM on a weekday so 8AM is sleeping-in. I brew coffee and hunker down and remember...SAMURAI MOVIES ON IFC!!! OCHO's very own "El Post" has caught me crying to them. Yes it's true...I love Movies.
Recently, the "Samurai Trilogy" ran in sequence and I was lucky enough to see all three in a row, three Saturdays in a row! Talk about Saturday Morning Cartoons for Adults!!! The Samurai Trilogy tells the amazing tale of Miyamoto Musashi, the Samurai who overcame Himself to become the Greatest of His Space/Time.
And at the same time I bought the Art of War, I looked for any Samurai texts read into a microphone...and I found this:

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

And I took my own advice...I'm a child of the Video Age. FRAK THAT! the 1st Generation! I am the Prototype! So I've been thinking...all these 80's/New Wave singles I purchase from the iTunes Stores...why don't I spend the $1 more and buy the video as well. The Song Plays in my Playlists!!! I don't have aHa's "Take On Me" in my quasi-award winning New Wave Playlist but when I buy it, it deserves me picking up the video.
So when I got in teh mood to hear some of those George Harrison songs of the late 1980s, I couldn't avoid the supergroup "The Travelling Wilburys". So I bought the videos to "End of the Line" and "Handle With Care" for $1.99/each from the iTunes Store for the Shitengiggle....


and



Why the Videos??? I'm a Teen of the 80s! And there are more to come...I still get giddy. I'm still in love with my iPod after all this time. The Great Gadget...smaller than the size of my high school cassette walkman. It's a Whole New Dimension of Personal Entertainment...



The Count:
# on the road "motherboxxx", my 120GB iPod Classic
10,716 songs
87 videos
133 pictures
8 games
34.8 GB Free Memory Remaining...


Crea Shaakti,
Rev. Sully

Eric O'Sullivan
Wandering around Boston, Cambridge, & Somerville, MA...wired in.



*motherboxxx art proudly pirated off the IntrePoop but purchased in Final Crisis #5, DC Comics, Jan '09, Morrison, Jones, et al.

The Comics Gnome POOTS a Hit from the Archive!!!

Way Back in the Summer of "Aught-Four"...the Comics Gnome Pooted Forth a Nugget of Goodness for you to enjoy.

A new reprinting got me in the mood to republish this column about the subject...

DC COMICS HITMAN by Garth Ennis and John McCrea



HITMAN VOL. 1: A RAGE IN ARKHAM - NEW PRINTING

Written by Garth Ennis; Art by John McCrea
The cult hit from writer Garth Ennis (PREACHER) returns! Rediscover the story of Tommy Monaghan, an ex-military operative who has set himself up as a hired gun on the back streets of Gotham City. Collects THE DEMON ANNUAL #2, THE BATMAN CHRONICLES #4 and HITMAN #1-3!

* DC Universe
* 142pg.
* Color
* Softcover
* $14.99 US
* ISBN 9781563893148


On Sale June 17, 2009

So with this month's re-release of HITMAN, I thought it would be a good time to hear from the Comics Gnome...sometimes I miss his gruff but kind voice...his corncob pipe, his Bag O'Funnies fresh from Canada every Wednesday for the Coffeetable.
So from 8/8/2004...The Comics Gnome Pooted!

Hitman by Garth Ennis and John McCrea
DC Comics/DCU
A Complete Series in Sixty Issues



Hitman TBP Vol. 1


Since I was incessantly jabbering on about Alan Moore’s brilliant and much ballyhooed “Saga of the Swamp Thing” run, I thought I’d lend the Mind’s Eye another gander at what happens when a character is placed into the hands of a seemingly evil and mad, mad person. Allow me to introduce to you Tommy Monnahan. The Hitman. “Hero” for Hire. Has X-Ray vision and telepathy from an incident with an Alien. The “Bloodlines” cross-over event. Oh and he kills superpeople. For money. Only “bad guys” though. Ennis & McCrea have done their worst to us as readers here and its only warning is lack of the Comics Code. These partners in crime are responsible for this mess. Perhaps it is the water supply across the Pond. Not enough citrus conceivably. Just in case I’m going back and re-reading the Marvel Knights and MAX Punisher by Ennis. McCrea does have a spot here and there. Garth’s paired with Steve Dillon, his erstwhile partner on PREACHER and John Constantine: Hellblazer, on most of the MK Punisher. John McCrea has a similar bond in being the best person to convey this Ennis scripted cacophony of bones, bullets and Capes.

Hitman is convention breaking. Taking a seeming “regular” story and then making into a distortion of what is expected…besides the “good” guys walking away from impossible situations. A snide-talking, tough guy who hangs out in an Irish bar. It’s rock solid adventure and a wild shoot-em-up. Grievous head wounds. First appearance in the Demon as Jason Blood welches on Monnahan’s 2 million dollar bounty & payday. Something that’ll come back to haunt Blood later on.


100,00 Bullets


Tommy received an interview for JLA membership in one drive for warm bodies to protect the Earth (JLA #5, 1997 also in TPB #2 “American Dreams” by Grant Morrison). He was dismissed but stated that he can die happy because he only came up to check out Wonder Woman with his x-ray vision (he also “warned” Aztek on the way out of the open JLA audition “don’t mention money…that don’t like that”). Tommy had previously had a special “team-ups” with our GL and Batman...


Batman team up

...making him suited for the League. The kind of team-ups that reminded me of Daredevil and the Punisher. Also a late night rooftop conversation with Superman was a treat musing on power, responsibility and general themes found in the JLA run “Pain of the Gods” wherein the personal lives of each leaguer is examined when it comes to on-the-job causalities, an unfortunate commonality in their line of peace-keeping. The Superman issue ends in the classic Hitman fashion after Superman signs a magazine for Tommy. A thanks for listening. It’s in the background, framed in the bar.


Local Heroes, teaming up with Green Lantern.


His girlfriend? The almost obligatory love/hate with the police detective out to get him. Deborah Tiegal serves as “reality relief” seeing the whole thing is pretty much comic relief. His sidekick. Call him that and he’ll pass you your spleen. Tommy’s best friend makes his reluctant “sidekick” for lack of better taxonomy, Natt the Hat. An over-weight African-American, ex-Marine friend of Monaghan’s who’s got the Hitman’s back and who on his mother’s death bed promised never to use cuss words again. Natt’s mouth is fitting to this title. Baytor. I can’t say enough about him except…Baytor. Ringo, friend and competitor hitman. Sixpack, a failed superhero or delusional drunk in pajamas? Tommy is thrown in with Catwoman and Etrigan. He is in based in Gotham City. He’s perhaps a madcap DCU interpretation of the Punisher. Batman has equal difficulty with him as Daredevil does with the Punisher in the House of Ideas. Reading as much Ennis as I have I feel he’s truly at “home” penning the Demon Etrigan.




The comparison with Moore’s Swamp Thing is only skin deep but the interaction with DCU Superheroes and UberVolk is hilarious and good-natured…ahh heck with it, Tommy is a mean sumbitch and it can be mean-spirited in places but really fun. Ennis is almost pathological creating vile and deranged villains to throw at his “heroes” from Ma Gnucci in the Punisher to Herr Starr in PREACHER. The Siamese Twins well, consistent Ellis. Five trade paperbacks collection up to issue #28. The Comics Gnome mercilessly hustled down the rest. The Annuals. The Specials. The One Million. As the result of DC’s “Bloodlines” crossover event making new heroes and villains and seeing what is left, it’s no wonder why the Hitman was left standing. With a smoking gun in his hand. Starting in the Demon Annual #2 (introduction) and Batman Chronicles #4, the Bloodlines and Contagion even crossovers respectively, TPB #1 collects these two issues and the first three of the Hitman funnybook. Well Tommy Monaghan and Swampy do have another thing in common; they both get one over on the Batman just doing their thing. It also is Garth Ennis’ America. One part he had was PREACHER but Hitman really seems to have hit a nerve when it comes to my “Ugly American”-O-Meter. The burger joint itself screams out to me. I haven’t seen great and honest send up of Americans by a funnybook writer & artist since Akira Toriyama’s “Mitsua Sataan” from his Dragonball manga. And per the course is Garth’s usual distain for the French.

Hitman’s snide sense of humor and bold illustration remind me of the late 1980’s DC Mature “The Shadow” scribed by Andy Hefler and illustrated first by legend Bill Sienkeiwisz and later by the brilliant Kyle Baker. Hitman, as that Shadow run, seems a bit over looked. The Comics Gnome gave it brand recognition with the Ennis Trademarked Evil and dubbed it a Fun Lunatic Ride. Akin to an old movie, Ennis has to watch his tongue playing so deep in Disney Land here. The Patented grievous head wounds do seem to smuggle their way in here as much as possible. At least 5 in the Demon Annual #2. Phrases like “I think I’ve prolapsed”, “chainsaw suppository” or “Satan’s Ringpiece” colorfully and without blatant offensive vulgarity make the reader grin with delight now armed with idioms to repeat in public without much ado. I’ve always been a big fan of creative use of vulgarity and to slip it superfluously too. Nothing more base than the mouth of a common miscreant. Ennis has the mouth of an extraordinary vulgarian.



Six-Pack, the super-hero patron saint of the pieces of toilet paper that get caught to one’s heel, actually has his own team, Section Eight. This in itself needed its own title as a bizarre counter to the JLA. A team of losers, never-coulds and rejects. Not to mention Bueno Excellente and how he vanquishes evil with his powers of perversion. Bueno. Friendly Fire, Dog Welder, Jean de Baton-Baton (the fore mentioned French frying). Ringo, his non-meta counterpoint in profession and their deep respect bordering on the Bushido. Horrific themes repeat in the Ennis Body; loss of eyes, savage torture and butchery with precision, castration, two in the head.

Over in sixty issues. Reminiscent of “PREACHER” and the Punisher in many ways. Same Garth Ennis and his very imaginative uses of the DCU. The Marvel Knights Punisher was Marvel Universe Terra Firma as well bringing in fair usage of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil the Hulk. Here, Ennis has the same free range with the Green Lantern, Batman, Catwoman and Superman. Silly, bloody but well-told stories. Ennis puts the “fun” back in “funnies” with pulpy and graphic tales of violence for the sake of entertainment. Friendship, respect, sticking by your friends through thick & thin. And kicking as much ass and not taking any shit along the way. It’s like a Western in the Big City. Tommy Monnahan is about an Urban Cowboy as one can get. Outlaw, rogue, knavish. And it is sad story to boot. Is it Butch & Sundance or riding off into the sunset, it is an Urban Western still.

Something to read on your way to where you’re going. And make sure no elderly ladies can read over your shoulder. Just a shame that no further TPBs were made chronicling the 60 issues to under its halfway point.

‘Namaste.

THE SMOKING PUCK!

June 27, 2009
By Rev. Sully

Three Cheers for the Hometeam!!! HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH!!!
aka: What is the Shape of Your Space/Time, huh?

In a season of Pure Potentiality, fewer things are better than proving the Nay-Sayers wrong. Two Years Before, the Bruins Rebuilding began. One Year Ago, a battle to gain the Playoff's 8-Spot and a thrilling pushing to the brink of 7 Games against 1st place Montreal (they played against each other 15 times!, DO THE MATH, MOUTHBREATHERS! In a word that series was...intense but iDigress...). This past Season: A first place year one point shy of the Presdient's Cup (most overall points) and a Game 7 OT thriller against the Hurricanes in the 2nd Round. next Season: The Bruins can fully aspire to the Conference Finals and maybe Beyond. True Progress is a Process. Potential is the opposite of a Closed Heart...with closed hearts, the walls rarely fall down but they melt overtime...with potentiality, potential can only be mined such as diamond, petrol or gold. Once Again, Hockey has Allowed me Third-Eye Sight.

What is the Shape of Space/Time? According to modern NHL coaches, it's 200' X 85' with curved corners in the arc of a circle with a radius of 28'...Space/Time has Curvature. Youth is a big part of the Bruins current success. Balanced with veteran leadership in the right places. I'm amazed at modern coaching and their leading of men on the Ice. Currently, a common 21st Century coaching phrase is making players aware of the importance of using "space/time". Space/Time used here by coaches is the same as the idea used by the white coats in Physics...if your PUCK is the Center of the Universe, the Cosmos will be Drawn to it. And to use space/time wisely. To use your personal space/time with wisdom...when you have possession of the PUCK, the Center of the Universe, what do you do with this potentiality? Huh? To use space/time wisely is to find the Patterns...on the Ice. To see passing lanes, to pass to another teammate's potential space/time...to shoot with confidence. Wayne Gretzky had the best idea about goalscoring and this is a paraphrase at best but, "most players can tell you the equipment brands of all the goalies in the NHL, I can't...I'm not looking at their pads, I'm looking at the net behind them". That's good use of space/time.

Since the Bruins used their Space/Time & Potentiality so well in the Regular 08-09 Season, they were recognized for their on-ice success:
Earlier this month at the Post-Season Awards Show in Las Vegas, NV...a land without ice or professional ice hockey so Irony Engines to Full Atomic Power!
But the Big Winners in this Year's Post-Season Awards are the Boston Bruins getting Three of the Biggest Trophies!!!
First!
To Coach Claude Julien: The Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year! AWESOME!!!
Second...to the big free agent signing of a few years back of the tallest hockey player ever to lace 'em up, former first round draft pick and Captain of Boston's Black & Gold, number Thirty-Three...
Zdeno Chara For winning his first Norris Trophy as the League's best Defenseman. Bobby Orr won it 8 times, 8 years in a row. "Papa Bear" Ray Bourque earned this honor 5 times in Beantowne Faire.
Thirdly in no order of importance is...
Tim Thomas received the Vezina Trophy for Best Goalie of 2008-09. With goalies, it's all about numbers and numbers give me headaches...
Tim Thomas was in the Top 8 of goalies all season long and was a workhorse, staying injury-free. The Tank is also a Yoga Addict...then best thing for a Thirty-Something Goalie. His Numbers are the taste of the pudding: 54 Games Played, 36 Wins-11 Losses-7 Overtime Losses, .933 Saves Percentage (2nd in NHL), 2.10 Goals Against Average (1st in NHL) and 5 shutouts (5th in NHL). Thomas also shared the Jennings with backup Manny Fernandez for Best Goalie tandem.
Let's also not forget sophomore sensation David Krajci who bagged the Plus/Minus Award with a league best of +37.

In Addition, the NHL Draft is ongoing and the Bruins yesterday selected 25th overall in the First Round Jordan Caron, a French-Canadien kid from Quebec Province. Good thing Coach Claude himself is French-Canadien and very good at getting young players to develop and reach their potentiality. Coach Claude has a Championship in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and major playoff runs with the American Hockey League Hamilton Bulldogs from '00-03...with the recent history of draft picks panning out and the Bruins system working so well...I'm looking forward to seeing young Caron in Black & Gold on any level.

Only 4 months to go! Well, hockey season just ended. What's there to whine about? All I can do is mind my own Space/Time and Potentiality and I should be able to keep the backs of the opposing forwards hockeypants out of my cage and keep pucks out of my net. Getting the PUCK as much as I do, moving bodies tend to orbit my gravity well earnestly, eh? Here's to getting into some street hockey sometime this year. And congrats to the all the hardware...thanks guys! Keep it coming!

Crea shaakti,

Rev. Sully


All Statistic used in this Smoking PUCK are courtesy of NHL Dot Com’s Statistics page. In the words of Doctor Hooey, “RTFM”.

iRawk...Therefore iPod!!!
Other Side of the Coin Edition

OK...let's be fair & balanced. I know I've gone "Ga-Ga" over a peacenik like Deepak Chopra. So Let Me Introduce you to the More Dangerous Concept. The Converse. Chopra Himself refers to it as "one's own Shadow Self:...to identify the voice in my head through my iPod "motherboxxx"...this Shadow's Voice is of
Bill Hicks


Tonight...I did not purchase ANY new Deepak Chopra with a $50 iTunes Card.
I bought Bill Hicks instead.
Let's Try a Little Juxtaposition to the Chopra video Below...



when he coughs in this video...he's really dying of cancer, for real. Bill Passed On. Bill Died in the early 1990s. Funny...when he speaks of then current events, it sounds as though he could be speaking today.

Nonetheless, Bill's Message Lives On...
Such as in the pages of the great funnybook PREACHER, in issue #31...


PREACHER original story Garth Ennis, Art Steve Dillon, original dialog Bill Hicks.

And more recently in 2006, archived material was released so I bought some Bill Hicks I didn't already own...and this time the money goes partly to Bill Hicks' mother, Mary Hicks.
I swear...most people never heard of Bill Hicks. He died too soon and he was too controversial at a time when controversial comedians were HAWT!
His Swan Song performance on Dave Letterman was never aired...until 15 Years Later and under Pressure...David Finally Did the Right Thing...
Letterman, Jan 2009...part 2 of 3

part 3 of 3

Sometimes Hicks' bits are so ironic...this Letterman video is a personal cleaned up for-TeeVee "Greatest Hits Mix", recorded 5 months before Bill finally lost his fight with pancreatic cancer.

From the Great Music Store of the IntrePoop!!!

Flying Saucer Tour, Vol 1...$9.99 on the iTunes Store for 31 tracks of blistering satire. From June 20, 1991 in Pittsburgh, PA.

and from his famous Oxford Playhouse UK performance from November 12, 1992...
Salvation (listed about $17 at Amazon & Target Dot Coms...$9.99 at the iTunes Store).


So...the Opposite Can Hold True...I like my Spirituality...but I also like my Wiseacre. They are one in the same...they are different aspects of the same wisdom. You'd be amazed how similar Chopra & Hicks really are...

PS...I bought the new Mos Def album...The Ecstatic

I bought the iTunes Card for the sole purpose of picking this album up...but how way leads to way...

See You, Space Cowboy...



The Count:
on the road "motherboxxx", my 120GB iPod Classic
10693 songs
84 videos
131 pictures
8 games


Crea Shaakti,
Rev. Sully

Eric O'Sullivan
Wandering around Boston, Cambridge, & Somerville, MA...wired in.



*motherboxxx art proudly pirated off the IntrePoop but purchased in Final Crisis #5, DC Comics, Jan '09, Morrison, Jones, et al.

The Tao of Sully

...On Fighting...

Last time I really got into a fight.
(Besides that one really dumb time at the Gahh-den for Scotty's Birthday and I got him punched in the head. It was one-on-one...then the guy's friend rushed in then I did and I actually was mindful. I lived a principle at a time of martial conflict. I am proud of that. Consciously, I came behind my opponent, the 3rd man in Scotty's legit one-on-one beef and I wrapped my arms around his knees...lifted his up and I blodyslammed uponto the floor wherein I crawled upon up and deflected his blows until security rushed...Scotty was on his own. This guy was my choice to fight. Scotty got licks in...I didn't even try. My intent was to interdict. I stopped the 3rd man from progressing. That's all...then submitted to security. But that's a story for a PUCK later on or well behind us...but iDigress...)

I was 21 or 22...I walked Tricia home to M Street after a night of brews at a local Southie watering hole. We were boon pals, she was into Scotty then if I recall correctly. heh. So I decide to walk the L Street Beach to Carson home to O'Callaghan Way in the Old Hahh-bah Projects across the Pahhk...on the way the Worst Thing Ever Happened. I almost got jumped by 4 bored, drunk late-night Southie kids. I saw them coming from afar...immediately my Flight/Fight Reflex arose. I knew in My Water Something Bad Was About To Happen. I meet the group where the L Street bathhouses run out and as I anticipated...the kids on the inside CUFFED ME ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD!!!
well...
I keep walking. I keep my cool. Suddenly, I'm being followed, taunted by the kids and finally asked the Seminal Southie Question, "Who Ya Know?". I lok up at the Old Folks Home from Carson Beach, 'tween the old Ocean Kai chinese and Kelly's Soft Serve where Mario lived when not at MMA...I say, "Joe Nee...his brother John too...went to high school with them"...pointed to where they grew up near the old folks home. I mean...everybody knew a Neezo...
My assailant then apologized to me after I gave my "passport". He and his mates went off into the beach's surf, waving...they were looking for trouble, but not with one their own. Some Weird Tribal Respect. Wow, huh? I almost got stomped. How did I get out of that. I chose a different path that Fight or Flight. I can't define it now but it was more Surrender than Either...there was something shameless about it as well. And by shameless I mean an absolute absence of the emotion "shame". I'm still not embarrassed by that...would you rather I got my ass kicked, a ruptured spleen and a lost testicle?
Deus...


So I've been thinking...
And come to the conclusion of this: "what legal consequence happens upon you if you get your ass kicked? None."
heh!
But if you Frak someone up in a Fight...you could pay dearly. Hmmmm...

Nonetheless I still want to split faces open with my clentched fists!!! What happened last time I punched something? I broke my hand when I punched a wall...huh? So...I hope I continue to shamelessly Choose Rightly in Martial Situations...

Crea Shaakti,
Rev. Sully

Eric O'Sullivan
Boston, MA USA

I Wanna Introduce Y'all to a New Friend of Mine...

So...this is Deepak Chopra. He's a real hoot!
I love the sound of his voice and his way about these values he espouses. So...maybe you'll take a spin. Maybe you'll disagree with him too! But hopefully you'll watch and perhaps see why I like his so much. Common Sense. Right Action. And maybe...just maybe a little glimpse of the God or Goddess that Live in Embryo Within Us All.

Deepak Chopra on Ellen DeGeneres 01/06/09


Deepak Chopra & Gotham Chopra on The O'Reilly Factor
talk about opposing viewpoints!!!


Poverty, Wealth and the Law of Attraction

THE SMOKING PUCK!

June 14, 2009
By Rev. Sully

That's All Folks!
aka: The Champs are the Pitts!!!



It's over! The Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2008-09 NHL Stanley Cup Champions!!! Defeating the Detroit Red Wings in Motor City in 7 games by the score of 2-1. Wow...in the last seconds of the 3rd period the Wings got the last shot on net but an amazing save by Marc-Andre Fleury made this a year for the Steel City of Pennsylvania...the Football Steelers won the Super Bowl back in February. Now the onus is on the MLB Pirates to respect their Black & Yellow...yeah right.


All you need is the first few seconds but Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom came close to tying Game 7 on the last play but Fleury shut the door...talk about paying for the whole seat but only needing the edge.
I was on the edge of my couch on Friday Night, wearing my Red Wings jersey, sweating the 2-0 Pens lead into the 3rd period...talk about an exhilarating game, series and Playoffs.

So the PUCK officially respects the end of hockey season, 9 days before the first day of Summer. Wow. The Second Season took all Spring and went the maximum allowed calendar. A fabulous year, awesome teams, inspired play. The game of NHL Hockey is once again one of the best games on the planet. Gone are the games of clutch & grab...of boring hockey. Now...bone-crushing hits, dropping gloves, shootouts and great players are now the norm...and I'm the Luckiest Guy on Earth because I'm a Hockey Fan. I've seen the game go from Glory to Ghastly and back to Great! I've seen my hometeam go from First to Worst and Back Again....I've seen Balance and Unbalance. It's once again showing me the Way of the World from the Game on the Ice.

Well...now it's time to take my Bruins sweaters off the walls (they hang there on hangers). It's time to fold up the Red Wings jersey until next May & June...because I usually wear that one a lot this time of year. I've already been to 3 Red Sox games and it's time to go to more....'cuz Hockey Season is over. October is only a Summer away.

So, the PUCK has a few words left but let's call it a year! We'll have a Summer Wrap Up then...the only ice I wanna see are the ones floating in my Southie Highball. ^_^ Cheers!
PS...thanks to the Boston Bruins for a great season and I can only wait until next year!

Crea shaakti,

Rev. Sully


All Statistic used in this Smoking PUCK are courtesy of NHL Dot Com’s Statistics page. In the words of Doctor Hooey, “RTFM”.

A Smoking PUCK! Moment of Pause

To Pause. I used to say stuff back "in the Daze" such as, "what does the cat use to hold his fork?"..."PAWS". Then I'd get off the couch to go to the bathroom.

Well...I take pause. I wear a Red Wings jersey. I remember this time last year musing about this shirt in PUCKs past but iDigress...

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Friday Night on NBC @ 8PM! Bring a date! Bring some beer! Hey...bring dessert, it's gonna be a late night so we'll need the sugar rush. Pittsburgh Penguins versus the Red Wings on home ice in Detroit Rawk City. My money's on the Wings but if this goes to O.T...well, we Bruins Fans know better, don't we! ^_~ heh!

crea shaakti,

In case you can't find the buttermilk: if you get heavy cream and beat it (using an electric mixer with chilled beaters and a chilled metal bowl) the liquid you pour off after it turns to butter is genuine 100% buttermilk. You also get some really tasty fresh butter.