The Closest We'll Ever Get to Seeing An IKEA in Regina

IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

This brilliant little video was filmed on the sly in an IKEA. Will Tom and Viviane ever get their water back? What good are ghosts if they don't haunt you? When James and his brother find their other brother, what will their MALM say?

By the way, when I die, I want to be buried in lighting.

Jim Balsillie, Doug MacLean And The Question Of Character

Here's a Sunday morning read that's tangentially about Phoenix Coyote suitor Jim Balsille, whose multi-zillion dollar bid for the hockey franchise went before a judge on Friday (TSN).

Last week, Balsillie hired former Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Doug MacLean as an adviser. Should Balsillie get his gloves on the former Jets, MacLean--who has experience with a new club from his days as the Jacket's first GM--will presumably evaluate the team's hockey operations and make recommendations to his boss.

Not everyone is a fan of Doug MacLean. As regular readers might remember, I follow the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets--the team MacLean used to run. And the Columbus media, which I read pretty much daily, think he came close to wrecking the franchise. Actually they seem to think he's an egomaniacal, two-faced weasel and a sleazy opportunist.

Here's a dryly-scathing opinion piece by the Columbus Dispatch's Michael Arace on Balsillie's hiring of MacLean:

MacLean talked his way into the wallet of Tampa Bay owner Oren Koules and was the short-lived president of the Lightning -- until Koules realized he was being played and jettisoned MacLean (and MacLean's real-estate agent) from the group. MacLean sued Koules, who was compelled to cough up a tidy sum to settle out of court. What a deal. MacLean threw a few bucks into the pot, lined up a millionaire as a front and came away with some serious bank -- for doing nothing. And now MacLean has talked his way into Balsillie's camp. Does he really think Bettman is still his buddy? Can he really believe that the NHL Board of Governors wants anything to do with him?

Not a reference I'd want on my resume.

What's this got to do with anything?

I'm probably one of the few Canadians who doesn't like Balsillie's legal power-play to land another Canadian NHL team. I think if a billionaire hockey fan wants a team, the NHL will get him one sooner or later--but by basically attacking the league he's showing that he's a bad business partner. And ask yourself this: what if a billionaire used the courts to try to move a Canadian team to Kansas City? Or what if he found a way to legally challenge the salary cap, which keeps small market teams afloat?

My point is, Balsillie is reckless and dangerous to the league's stability. People are being blinded by the fact he's trying to land a team in our hockey-mad country, which as all we Canadians know the NHL has crapped on time and time again.

The fact Balsillie hired Doug MacLean does not allay my concerns.

I don't necessarily judge people by the company they keep. But when someone who already seems kind of sketchy hires a guy with the qualities MacLean appears to have, I definitely keep a more suspicious eye on 'em.