Monthly Archives: April 2019
The Blue Jackets Swept Away Its Playoff Past With Lightning in a Bottle
The 8-seed Columbus Blue Jackets swept the 1-seed–and Presidents’ Trophy-winning–Tampa Bay Lightning in four games in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This remarkable feat was the first time:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets had won a playoff series in its franchise history
- The Presidents’ Cup winners were swept in the first round of the NHL Playoffs
Game 1: A 3-0 deficit was erased with a stunning Blue Jackets 4-3 comeback win.
Game 2: Columbus destroyed Tampa Bay 5-1 in Florida.
Game 3: The Blue Jackets won 3-1.
Game 4: Watch below to relieve the dramatic, magical night inside Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH-IO on Tuesday evening.
Was last season’s four-game collapse against the favorited Washington Capitals the odd springboard for the Blue Jackets playoff success thus far in 2019? That’s probably a safe presumption, specifically when discussing the third game in this series. More broadly, Columbus has arrived in a way this city has been waiting around two decades to witness.
And now its NHL counterparts and fans alike are seeing something different about the Blue Jackets right now…
something they don’t want to face-off with anytime soon.
The Rise of Notre Dame Will Be Cathedral’s Next Episode
When the unthinkable happens, the equal and opposite reaction should also be unthinkable.
(CNN)
Yesterday’s devastating fire to the more than 800-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was heart-wrenching to watch as a fire–reportedly related to the most recent $6 million+ renovation efforts–took down the famous spire and roof, causing additional damage inside. Having visited Notre Dame, like so many people around the world, it was difficult to witness the destruction on live TV.
Just a day later and the latest developments are encouraging given the circumstance.
French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his heartbroken citizens (and global community mourning in solidarity) earlier today.
“We will rebuild Notre Dame within five years.”
–French President Emmanuel Macron
Rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral inside of five years seems unthinkable. But the good, inspiring kind of unthinkable. And it’s a grand challenge Parisians and the world will be watching, supporting and praying for in the years to come.
After a massive fire engulfed Notre Dame, the popular cathedral deserves a lasting vision in the future that honors and celebrates its decorated past.
Thankfully, that process appears to be underway.
‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Is Here
The highly-anticipated first teaser trailer for ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’ has arrived after just being shown to fans at the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago.
Watch. Now!
To say ‘Episode IX’ looks amazing with J.J. Abrams returning to the director’s chair is an understatement. The tone is certainly reminiscent of ‘The Force Awakens,’ which of course was directed by Mr. Abrams. That will please many ‘Star Wars’ fans. And opening in the desert with heavy breathing by one of its stars for both initial teasers for ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ was a nice touch of continuity by the director.
At this point, it’s time to just rewatch a few (dozen) times in excitement as December inches ever closer.
However, just one quick analytical note:
I really thought this new trilogy was spelling out the overarching theme and meaning through its titles. Such as ‘The Force Awakens the Last Jedi…’ Grammatically, ‘The Force Awakens the Last Jedi the Rise of Skywalker’ doesn’t make sense. Bummer.
Awakens-Last-Rise? The overarching themes of the three films in the sequence are remarkably similar to Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy but less dark.
Interesting.
For now, Luke Skywalker is back as a narrator/guiding voice (we’ll see if that’s his final form) as well as Lando Calrissian.
The past meets the future in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.’
The Space Between Truth and Fiction Is Not so Strange Anymore
A black hole is photographed for the first time, thanks in part to Katie Bouman.
“Three years ago, Bouman led the creation of an algorithm that eventually helped capture this first-of-its-kind image: a supermassive black hole and its shadow at the center of a galaxy known as M87. She was then a graduate student in computer science and artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
–Michelle Lou and Saeed Ahmed, CNN, ‘That image of a black hole you sae everywhere today? Thank this grad student for making it possible’
Amazing. And this amazement applies to the first image of a black hole in space as well as Ms. Bouman’s ground–well, space–breaking algorithm.
Life is about pushing boundaries, which is a particular topic of interest with the release of ‘First Man’ starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy and the recent theatrical release of the CNN documentary ‘Apollo 11’ chronicling America’s groundbreaking moon landing. While in awe of the image shown above, American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Kip Thorne and the science fiction epic ‘Interstellar’ by Christopher Nolan immediately came to mind. ‘Interstellar,’ while fiction, is painstakingly rooted in real science. Creating a realistic depiction of a black hole was pivotal to the story for the filmmakers, writers, and audience.
Was the ‘Interstellar’ crew right with their image of a black hole back in 2014?
Kip Thorne, Christopher Nolan, and the entire ‘Interstellar’ team were pretty damn close with their depiction of a black hole in 2014 to the first image of a black hole in 2019!
Who else is going to watch ‘Interstellar’ again?
This scientific revelation as compared to a cinematic epic validates and builds upon the lore of Mr. Nolan’s brilliance as a filmmaker and storyteller of spaces beyond our earthly realities. More importantly, the first image of a black hole is a game-changer in ways we are only just beginning to comprehend.
Yesterday was another giant leap for mankind.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 