A big, bad night -- NHL playoffs and British politics

By Michael J.W. Stickings

No blogging from me today -- well, until now. A bad headache sidelined me last night and continued into today, which otherwise turned out to be a busy day.

But we do have new contributor Distributorcap's second post, a poignant look back at the killing at Kent State ("four dead in Ohio"), a post by JTD on Fritz Lang's Metropolis (a fine film, if not at the level of Lang's magnificent M), and four short, sharp, snappy posts from Creature.

I'll be back later with more, and I'll have more tomorrow as well, but right now I'm focused on:

a) Habs-Pens Game 4; and

b) British election returns.

As for the former, it's not going well. Pittsburgh's up 2-1 and I just don't think Montreal can keep up. The win over Washington was amazing, but the Penguins are a stronger team than the Capitals, more relentless overall, a solid team, where the Caps were all individual talent that the Habs were able to neutralize. But I'd say this is a bonus. I didn't expect us to get past Ovechkin et al., and so I'm just happy we're here, and happy that there seems to be hope for the future. Also, I'm a huge Crosby fan, and so if we can't win the Cup, I wouldn't mind seeing Pittsburgh repeat. Though I'd probably root for Vancouver over Pittsburgh this year. (Though Chicago may beat Vancouver anyway.)

As for the latter, it's also not going well. Well, it is, with Labour up 8-3-2 over the Tories and LibDems, but it looks like Cameron's Conservatives will pull off a victory and end up with a minority government. I can't say I care much for Labour these days, but I actually like Brown despite his foibles/failings and see him and Labour as the least bad option of the three. Ideologically, I like a lot about the LibDems, but I just don't think Clegg's ready for #10. (For the latest results, see here. For my thoughts on the election from last week, see here.)

Okay, blog to you later.

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UPDATE: First, the Habs won! 3-2. Awesome. And unexpected. At least we're sure to go at least six games now.

Second, the story in the U.K. tonight is that the LibDems are lagging way behind in third place despite doing well in the popular vote (such is what happens in first-past-the-post systems) and that the Conservatives have a solid lead over Labour, so far winning most of the home counties -- in fact, if it weren't for Scotland, this would be a Tory landslide. England is blue today, and it looks like Cameron will be the next PM.