It's such a hassle waiting for events to run their course. Would the magazine business be more convenient if you could just predict what's going to happen?

That's basically the story with Beckett Hockey, a publication aimed at sports collectibles junkies.

Here's an excerpt from the CP story on EdmontonSun.com:

The issue had to be sent to the printers the morning after the second game of the series, says editor Al Muir. At that point, Edmonton had lost the first and second games and star goaltender Dwayne Roloson was out of the playoffs with a serious knee injury.

“It certainly looked like a safe bet that the Hurricanes would go on to win the Cup,” said Muir from Dallas.

My guess is that pretty much every film critic on this continent will sneering at the latest installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise, which opens today.

And while the barrage may warn off some extremely unsophisticated older movie-goers who might not know what's going on, it won't mean shit to the film's core audience: Kids who love fast cars, the cool rebels who street-race and the hot chicks who hang with the cool guys.

Merely making the point that this isn't the Citizen Kane of street-racing films helps no one.

An open question: Should a teenager be brought in to review TFTF movies for her or his peers? How do you review movies like this, which are likely going to be crap in the traditional sense, but may well be wildly popular with their target audience?

Hopefully my brain will be more engaged after I get some sleep, and I'll target these questions myself in the morning.

Afterthought

Actually, a panel discussion of the film by a select small group of its target audience might be a good supplement to a traditional review, if not a replacement.

As you could tell, my last post about the Edmonton Oilers wasn't optimistic.

However, my hopes were raised when I blinked 15.98 seconds into Game 5 with the Carolina Hurricanes, only to open them and find the Oilers ahead 1-0 after Chris Pronger blasted one from the point.