Saturday . . . no joking!

Spent the evening with Batman and the Joker. What a terrific movie! I’m not a big fan of the outrageous concession prices (of course, if you don’t like them, don’t buy) or the pre-movie commercials but on this night I couldn’t begin to remember what the popcorn costs or what products were featured in the ads. All I know is that a full house burst into spontaneous applause at movie’s end and that’s something that doesn’t happen too often. . . . Believe everything you have seen and heard about Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. As my son, Todd, said on the way out: “If he doesn’t win an Oscar, there’ll be no need to watch them ever again.” . . . It is especially interesting to watch the Joker’s gruesome looking makeup job deteriorate with time, while he sinks deeper and deeper into his mental morass. . . . Even with the many levels of this movie, and with all of the messages involving right vs. wrong and good vs. evil, this is what going to a movie should be all about – escapism and entertainment. . . . And admit it: Every one of us has wished, at one time or another, that we could laugh like the Joker.
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THE COACHING GAME: Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Times reports that former NHLer Darren Rumble is to be introduced Tuesday as head coach of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals. Rumble was on the Admirals’ staff under Steve Stirling last season and the team didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in 19 seasons. Stirling was reassigned to scouting by the parent Tampa Bay Lightning. Rumble played with Tampa Bay co-owner Len Barrie with the AHL’s Hershey Bears from 1990-92. Former WHLer Alan May (Brandon/Medicine Hat/New Westminster) will be Rumble’s assistant coach. . . . The OHL’s Soo Greyhounds have named Mike Stapleton and Nick Warriner as assistant coaches under new head coach Denny Lambert. Stapleton, a former NHL player, has been an assistant with the OHL’s Erie Otters the last two seasons. Warriner is a first-year coach, having spent the last three seasons playing in the Central league.
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Here’s a thought from columnist John Blanchette of the Spokane Spokesman-Review: “Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton is getting his shot at pro hockey in a Calgary Flames camp, which is outstanding since he can’t live off his YouTube royalties.”