Goon

Goon is another name for an enforcer, which is an unofficial role of a certain type of player in ice hockey.  The enforcer’s job is to deter and respond to dirty or violent play by the opposition and when such play occurs, the enforcer is expected to respond aggressively,  by  fighting  or  checking the offender. Enforcers are expected to react particularly harshly to violence against star players or goalies. The 2012 movie Goon is about one such enforcer in minor league hockey.  The film is an adaptation of the book Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio and Doug Smith. Footage from Smith’s career as a hockey enforcer is shown during the films credits.

Directed by Michael Dowse (who was at the helm for FUBAR I & II) on a script written by Jay Baruchel & Evan Goldberg and stars starring Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber. Co-starring in the movie are Jay Baruchel, Allison Pill, Marc-Andre Grodin, Kim Coates, Eugene Levy, Nicholas Campbell & David Paetkau. Retired hockey player Geroges Laraque also appears in two small scenes, the second of which is inspired by an incident involving him.

Sean William Scott plays Doug Glatt, who lives & works in Massachusetts as a bouncer. He feels like a lesser man because both his father and his brother are doctors. While out to watch a local hockey game with his buddy Pat (Baruchel), who also hosts a local hockey based talk show, an opposing team’s hockey player climbs the stands to beat up Pat, who was taunting him. Doug instead knocks out the player with a punch, drawing cheers from the home crowd. He is noticed by the coach (Campbell) who soon calls him up to try out for the position of enforcer in the local team. Doug joins the team, although his skating skills are bad, and becomes so popular that he is soon called up to join the Halifax Highlanders, a minor league professional team. Meanwhile veteran enforcer and Doug’s idol Ross “The Boss” Rhea (Liev Schreiber) of the St. John’s Shamrocks is serving a 20 game suspension for slashing an opponent in the head from behind.

The star player of the Highlanders is Xavier Laflamme (Grondin) who was hit by Rhea and suffered a concussion. has had trouble recovering from that incident due to the fear of being hit, being stuck in the minors and falling in with the wrong crowd. Doug, who gets the nicknamed ‘The Thug’ is to shadow & protect Laflamme and the two also become roommates. The team starts experiencing some success with Doug protecting the goal scorers and soon they have a chance to qualify for the playoffs. There is a lot of ribbing & making fun of each other in the team as Doug is fully integrated into the team and everyone except Laflamme has taken to him. Doug also meets and falls in love with Eva (Allison Pill) although she has a boyfriend. She later dumps her boyfriend who doesn’t seem that involved with her. On a road game against the Quebec team, Doug savagely hits an opposing player, who concusses Laflamme with a heavy hit, knocking him unconscious. Dough is suspended for the next game against a returning Rhea and the St. John’s Shamrocks.

The two accidentally meet at a diner the night before the game where they admit their respect for each other. However Rhea dismisses Doug’s claim that he is a hockey player, calling him a goon. Rhea warns him that if they ever meet on the ice, he will “lay him the fuck out.” The Highlanders, with Doug suspended and Laflamme hospitalized, lose to the Shamrocks. After this game Doug reaches out to Laflamme telling him to not worry and that he has his back. The two become close and the team wins the next game 2-1 and in the dying seconds, Doug blocks a shot on goal and his face is bloodied by the rebound shot. In the ensuing scramble, his ankle is broken when a player steps on it with the sharp edge. The next game is their final before the playoffs with the Highlanders needing a win to qalify. Rhea & Doug spar midway through the game and it’s a tough fight between a veteran and the newcomer. Doug is knocked down but gets up and breaks Rhea’s nose with a heavy punch, however hurting his own ankle in the process. Doug is helped to the locker room by Eva while the team goes on to win 3-2 and qualify. His last words before the win are “I think I nailed him”.

Very well shot and some good work by the actors. Sean William Scott is actually a good actor – who the heck knew? Schreiber is so bad ass & cool in his role as the retiring veteran. Allison Pill is so cute & sweet. I really enjoyed the movie, hockey fan that I am. 8 out of 10!

It’s Time For A New Phone

I’ve been using my BlackBerry Curve 8320, named Cindy, from Jan 1st 2010. Yes I know the model is outdated, infact it was outdated when I bought it but I couldn’t afford any of the newer one from RIM. I spent a  good deal of time waiting to get it and loved using the phone all this while.

But 2 years is 2 years and also she is damaged my Cindy. A few months back while at the office someone dragged a bag on a table without seeing that I had kept my phone for charging on the very same table. The phone went flying in the air and landed 10 feet away. A month later, something similar happened, an accident with some other colleague and my poor phone had a hard drop once again. Now it says a lot about the sturdiness of the phone and build quality because I am still able to use the phone. But issues started popping up.

The trackball is stuck and it won’t move the cursor down or to the left or right only upwards. I tried cleaning it but it still has issues. Hence I can’t use a lot of options on the menu. Also the phone stops reading the SIM at times and I have to remove the SIM, place it back in and reboot the phone once again. Which takes a lot of time and I end up being out of coverage a lot of times when it’s a matter with the phone. It’s beyond repair and the only option was to get a new one. But I was broke.

But fear not! An old Idea colleague & friend of mine, now working in a Delhi based company is their Admin manager. He was recently told to buy 500 brand new BBs for the entire management and executive staff of his company by the bosses. And so he did and with the order he got a huge discount for the bulk order. Bold 9780s for upper management (AMs & Managers) and executives get a Curve 3G for a knockdown price. So he said that he would send me one at dirt cheap prices and that I could pay him slowly. What’s the discount you ask? Well a Bold 9780, which is the phone I’m getting, goes for Rs.20,000 to Rs.22,000 in all the local places that I have checked here. I’m getting it at …………….Rs. 8000! No, that is not a typo, it’s a discount of atleast 12000 bucks! And I owe it to my friend as he arranged the discounted sale on the basis of ordering 500 other BlackBerrys.

Or should I say WhiteBerry because yesterday he told me that the phone he is sending me is a white one! :D