The Russian Five

 

There has never been a team in my history of sports viewing that I have been more interested in than the 1990s Detroit Red Wings and the Russian Five. In the early 1990s, hockey was not a sport that received any attention in southern Indiana. I learned the sport from playing NHL '94 on the Sega Genesis, and picked the Wings as my team (1) because they were a good team on the game and (2) because I liked their symbol. After learning the teams and players from the game, I started to watch hockey on TV, following the Wings specifically. I remember the Wings being knocked out of the first round as the top seed in '94 against San Jose. I remember being swept by New Jersey in the Cup finals in 1995. I remember being beat by Colorado in the 1996 Western Conference finals, and the violence that came with that series and subsequent games against the Avs. I remember all of the discussion that surrounded these playoff disappointments, the utter nonsense about this team not being able to win a Stanley Cup because of all their Russian players being soft. And then I remember the Stanley Cup championships in 1997, 1998 and 2002. The story of this team is so intriguing, the ups and downs, and their unique roster of five Russians was game changing for the NHL and North American hockey. In addition to all of that history, they were just a fun team to watch. Their style of play, which emphasized puck possession instead of the traditional dump and chase attack, allowed them to dominate the NHL for nearly a decade.  

The Russian Five is a documentary film on Amazon Prime based on a book by Keith Gave (or maybe it's the other way around). I initially watched the show for nostalgia purposes, to relive the glory days of the 1990s Detroit Red Wings and the Russian Five. I was born in the early 1980s, but I don't have any real memory of the Cold War or the Soviet Union. I have since heard stories about how the Wings acquired some of these Russian players, but I had no idea at the time how big of a deal this roster was. This part of the story, the part on what the Wings did to get these players, was the most interesting part of the book and the documentary. It involved secret meetings with the players, faking medical diagnoses, and other semi-shady activities. At the time, most of these Russian players were enrolled with the Soviet military, and leaving their country could be considered treason. Not only could the player be penalized, but they were fearful for ramifications against their family if they left as well. Subsequently, getting these players to North America to play hockey was nearly impossible. 

The Red Wings drafted Sergei Fedorov (my favorite player of the Russian Five and one of my all-time favorite athletes) and Vladimir Konstatinov in the 1989 draft. They secretly met with both players during an exhibition match in Helsinki, Finland. Fedorov eventually left his Russian team when they were in Portland, Oregon for the Goodwill Games. Konstatinov left Russia to seek medical treatment in the United States for a made-up illness. Slava Kozlov was later drafted by the Wings, and Fetisov and Larionov came to Detroit via trades. After signing Scotty Bowman as their coach, he put the five Russians together on the same line, and the rest is history, as they say. As I mentioned above, the team had tremendous success, albeit with some early playoff failures. In the end, the team was tremendously entertaining to watch and changed the game of hockey forever, at least in North America. The book and documentary are especially interesting to Red Wings fans, but I think would be worth a watch/read to any sports fan. The story of how these players came together from the Soviet Union and past the Iron Curtain, is truly an amazing sports story.

GoldenEye & The Sound of 007 - Part 2

 

The music in the James Bond films is iconic and classic, likely some of the most recognizable and well known tunes in the history of film. Amazon has a documentary of the music called The Sound of 007 which discusses the history of both the well-known orchestral songs and the title credits theme songs of each movie. While some of the title credits theme songs for the individual movies are quite good, I'm particularly fond of the big band sounds that the movies feature from the likes of John Barry, among others. One of the interesting things to me that the show revealed was that my favorite band Radiohead almost did the title credits theme song to the Bond film Spectre. Unfortunately, the song for the film has to be completely original, and the band had played the song at concerts prior to being chosen for the film, making the song unusable. The song is cool nevertheless, and can be heard on streaming services. If you're a fan of the Bond films, you'd likely find this documentary on the film's music interesting.

I've been on a big Bond kick as of late. In addition to this post, I had a previous post discussing the game GoldenEye and speedrunning. I have an upcoming post about Omega watches, which James Bond has famously worn, and the game First Light just came out, which I'm hoping to play soon. All of this got me in the mood to play the N64 classic GoldenEye. GoldenEye is one of the most famous and classic video games from the 1990s. I remember spending hours playing the game with my friends, our small CRT TV split into 4 screens as we played against each other. It's interesting because as I've mentioned many times before, I'm not a big fan of first person shooters, but there was something special about this game. This game was my introduction to James Bond and was the first Bond film that I watched as well.

The game's status as a legend is unquestionable. I'm not here to discuss that. What I want to discuss is how its gameplay holds up nearly 30 years after its release. My answer is that it holds up pretty decent. There are some things that early generation 3D games from the Playstation 1 & N64 eras cannot escape. The first is blocky, polygonal graphics, with unusual faces, trees that look like walls, etc. They were a limitation of the hardware of the era. The second major issue that I've found with a lot of games from this era involves the controls. I've been playing a lot of older games recently and have come across this issue on several of them. The out-of-the-box controls on the Switch 2 version of GoldenEye are terrible. The game is basically unplayable, and if they are anything like the controls from the original game, then I have no idea how anyone played it.   Luckily, there are guides online explaining how to re-map the buttons, making the controls not too bad. After you get past these two items, the game is actually pretty decent. The music rocks, the stages are fun, and in addition to the shooting action, there are plenty of other objectives that need to be accomplished to finish a stage, such as destroying controls for the GoldenEye satellite or using your Omega gadget watch (thanks, Q!) as a laser. The NPCs are not smart, and will run right towards you as you actively shoot at them, but again, a limitation of the era. The fact that a game this old holds up this well says volumes on how good it was at the time. It really is a special game, and worth a replay if you haven't played it in a while (this is the first time I've replayed it since the '90s) and have it available.

Project Hail Mary (book & movie)

 

I'll admit, when I first heard about the plot to this story, I thought it sounded kinda silly. I heard about the movie before the book, and based on plot alone I had no interest in seeing it. The movie became a big box office success, however, which piqued my interest. Then my family purchased and read the book, and so I thought to myself that this must be a much better story than I initially thought, so I decided to give it a read. It turned out to be a really good book, and the movie adaptation was good as well. From ChatGTP:

The story follows Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher who awakens alone aboard a spacecraft with no memory of who he is or why he's there. As his memories gradually return, he discovers that Earth is facing a catastrophe caused by a microorganism called Astrophage, which is draining energy from the Sun and threatening to trigger a global ice age.

Grace learns that he is part of an international mission sent to the star system Tau Ceti, where scientists observed that Astrophage does not affect one particular star. His mission is to discover why and find a way to save humanity.

Along the way, he encounters an unexpected ally—an intelligent extraterrestrial engineer named Rocky. Despite enormous differences in biology, language, and culture, the two develop a remarkable friendship and work together to solve the mystery threatening both their civilizations.

When Grace is nearly home, he discovers that Rocky's ship is in trouble and that Rocky's species will die if he continues toward Earth. Grace chooses to abandon his return journey and rescue Rocky instead.

The Taumoeba solution is ultimately sent back to Earth, saving humanity. Grace survives but remains on Rocky's homeworld, where he becomes a beloved teacher for alien children. The novel ends with Grace content in his new life, having saved both Earth and Rocky's civilization.

The book features a ton of science, which was pretty cool to read. The way they intertwined the story in the present with his memories from the past to reveal the plot of the story was done really well. It kept you on the edge of your seat as you tried to figure out how, exactly, a science teacher was chosen to be an astronaut to save the world. I didn't know how the story would end, but I really liked that he stayed on Rocky's planet to become a teacher there. I did not see that coming, but honestly is a much better ending than having the earth die or having him return to earth, which would have required an explanation on how things changed. Overall, the book and movie were really well done and enjoyable.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (2026)

The 2026 edition of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue recently launched, so it is time to do my yearly review. Let's start with Sophie Cunningham. Since her trade to the Indiana Fever a couple of years ago, Sophie has become one of my favorite athletes. She's outspoken and overall is an entertaining person, and thus she's a fun social media follow. I was glad when I heard she was going to be in this year's issue.

Nina Agdal's appearance in this year's issue was a pleasant surprise. Nina's rookie appearance in 2012 was memorable, and she is one of my favorite swimsuit models from the 2010s. I'm including her in my review here, not just because I like her, but because I think she had some of the better pictures from this year's issue. 

Another surprise for this year's issue was the appearance of Molly Sims. Her first issue was in twenty six years ago in 2000! She's now 53 years old and she had some really good pictures in this year's issue. A couple of other models to mention include Brooks Nader. She is perhaps the most famous current model, with her own reality TV show. I haven't thought much of her previous issue appearances, but I thought her pictures in this year's issue were quite good. Olivia Dunne has become a recent favorite, and as usual her pictures in this year's issue were some of my favorite. Before I wrap up, I have to recognize Christen Goff, who has become one of my favorite models from the 2020 era.

A couple of closing thoughts on the issue. The first is about the locations. Maybe I'm misremembering, but it seems like there were fewer locations in this year's issue compared to previous issues. While Montauk looks like a super cool place to visit, the picture backgrounds were a little redundant. Several pictures were taken in Botswana, in south Africa, and I've never been a huge fan of the safari backgrounds for the swimsuit issue. The other closing though is about Hilary Duff's appearance. I was completely fine with her appearing in the issue, but why are all of her pictures filtered? I find that trend to be annoying, honestly, and would have preferred for her pictures to be just normal pictures. The issue features great photographers so I don't know why the filters are necessary. 

The Witcher (Season 1)

 

Had I not played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or read The Witcher: Last Wish prior to watching season 1 of The Witcher, I would have had no idea what was going on. Then again, I probably would not have watched this show had I not played the game. Season 1 follows the story of 3 main characters: Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. Geralt's story feels very video game like, in that each episode has him doing a seemingly random witcher job, almost like a stage in a video game. We follow Yennefer's transformation from a weak farmhand to a powerful mage. Finally, we learn that Ciri's people are caught in a war, forcing Ciri to flee the comforts of her castle and become a person on the run. What makes the show a bit confusing is that each of the main character's plots are on different timelines, and each episode seems a bit random and unrelated initially. However, as the season progresses, the story arch of each character eventually converges, and as season 1 ends, we are left with all 3 main characters on the same timeline. The season 1 summary, from ChatGTP:

Geralt's Story

Geralt is a witcher—a mutated monster hunter who travels the Continent slaying creatures for coin. Early in the season, he becomes known as the "Butcher of Blaviken" after killing the bandit princess Renfri and her followers to prevent a massacre. Throughout his travels, he is accompanied at times by the bard Jaskier and struggles with the idea of destiny.

During a royal banquet in Cintra, Geralt saves the cursed knight Duny. As payment, he invokes the ancient "Law of Surprise," unknowingly claiming Duny's unborn child—Princess Ciri—as his destiny.

Yennefer's Story

Yennefer begins as a mistreated young woman with physical deformities. She is taken to the magical academy of Aretuza, where she trains to become a sorceress. To gain beauty and power, she undergoes a magical transformation that leaves her unable to have children. This sacrifice becomes a source of lifelong regret.

Years later, Yennefer meets Geralt when they become entangled in a conflict involving a powerful djinn. They fall in love, but their relationship becomes strained when Yennefer learns Geralt used a magical wish that may have bound their fates together.

Ciri's Story

Ciri is the princess of Cintra. Her life changes when the expanding Nilfgaardian Empire invades her kingdom. After her grandmother, Queen Calanthe, sends her away to find Geralt, Cintra falls and Ciri becomes a fugitive. As she flees across the Continent, she begins discovering mysterious magical powers of her own.

The Battle of Sodden

As Nilfgaard continues its conquest, Yennefer and other mages make a stand at the Battle of Sodden Hill. Yennefer unleashes a devastating wave of magical fire that helps defeat the invading army, but she disappears afterward and is presumed dead.

Ending

The season's various timelines finally converge. Geralt, realizing he cannot escape destiny, searches for Ciri after the fall of Cintra. After many near misses, the two finally meet in a forest and embrace, fulfilling the destiny that has linked them since before Ciri's birth. The season ends with Ciri asking Geralt about Yennefer, setting up the next chapter of their intertwined story.

Overall I enjoyed season 1 of The Witcher, although it is a bit confusing. I'm glad I had some background knowledge of what was going on. That knowledge, and episode reviews, helped me understand the story pretty well. I have Netflix for a limited amount of time, so I'll immediately be watching season 2.

Timepiece Blueprint - Year 2 - A Dress (& GADA?) Watch

As I've grown older, I find myself navigating away from chronographs and leaning more towards watches with simpler faces and less complications. Maybe I'm entering my "old man watch" phase, but honestly I just like their sleek look and find them easier to read. Additionally, I wear dress clothes most days of the week at work, and they pair more nicely with dress clothes than a chronograph. Don't get me wrong, every watch collection needs a nice chronograph (or two), but on a day-to-day basis I find myself wanting to wear a dressier watch.

A dress watch was always on my watch blueprint, though not necessarily in year two, and not necessarily this particular watch. I was searching for a GADA watch, a watch that is the pinnacle of any watch collection. GADA stands for "go anywhere, do anything", and is a watch that is versatile enough to wear with dress clothes during the week while at the same time can go on weekend adventures and not feel out of place. As soon as I discovered the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra I liked it. There is popular opinion online that it is a GADA watch, so I added it to my blueprint for this category. After seeing it in person, however, the watch is much dressier than I expected. I've thus shifted my blueprint around and made this my dress watch, opening a slot for a potentially more sporty watch. 

This watch looks and feels nice. It has a shiplap background, representing the deck of a yacht, a nod to it being a "Seamaster" model. Its large face is very easy to read, as is the date complication. The bracelet shines, and it fits perfectly under the cuff of a sleeve. I suppose you could wear it with anything, but I think it feels at home with a nice dress shirt. It checks a couple of boxes in my watch collection list as well. It's the first mechanical watch I've owned. Without going off on a tangent about mechanical watches, I've always been fascinated with their second hand movement and the complexity of how they function, so I was very excited to own one. Having owned one now for a little over a month, I will say the power reserve is a stat to pay attention to. This watch has a 60 hour power reserve listed, but I'd say it's more like a 48-60 hour reserve, making keeping it running over the weekend a challenge. Regardless, every time I wind it up and get it going, I feel like I'm wearing somewhat of an engineering marvel. The movements are just so cool. The second major box this watch checks is that it is an Omega. For as long as I can remember I've liked Omega watches. I was planning on going into my fascination with them in this post, but I think I'll save it for a subsequent post so that this one doesn't get too long. I have enough to say about Omega watches for them to have their own post.