Category: Maple Leafs Annual

A Visit From a Ninja: Maple Leafs Annual 2011-2012

A Ninja
A Ninja, doing the hokey pokey

You may have noticed that this blog has fallen dormant over the last little while.  I am a ninja, and I am here to tell you about that.  Why has a ninja been sent to explain these things?  Fool! It is not the right time for you to ask questions.  When will that time be?  Sometime shortly after the next Atlanta Thrashers Stanley Cup parade will do fine.

The Junior, Lord and Master of the Juniorvanian Realm, has been a busy Lord and Master.  Not just “I need to fix the trailer tire” busy – as you have seen, he can find time to write while being that kind of busy – but Very Busy In A Work Related Way busy.  Also, you may have heard that there has come a child to Juniorvania.  So, Very Busy In A Work Related Way has also been augmented by Very Busy In An Emptying Diapers Way.  All of which is very busy indeed.

I would think it’s fairly obvious now why a ninja has been sent to speak to you.  Yes, that’s right, because of global warming.

I, the Ninja, will now bring the message to you.  It is in several parts, which I have not bothered to count yet, because I have been busy sneaking around instead.  You may not know this, but sneaking around is a major part of pretty much any ninja’s day.  I didn’t know, before I went to ninja school.  For some reason, I thought there would be a lot more singing and dancing, but I suppose I was mixed up and thinking of Broadway actors by mistake.

Maple Leafs Annual 2011-2012 from Maple Street Press
One thing James Reimer can't stop: the momentum of the Maple Leafs Annual

Anyway, here is the message:

  1. There has NOT been an unfortunate tire repair-related explosion;  The Junior is alive and well;
  2. The Junior does plan to return to regular – or what passes for “regular”around here, anyway – blogging, probably sometime in September;
  3. In the meantime, The Junior has written a something, once again, for Maple Street Press’ Maple Leafs Annual.  The book is available for pre-order online now ($9.99 plus shipping).  It will appear on newsstands throughout the GTA and in Chapters bookstores across Canada beginning August 30th.

It doesn’t take a Ninja to figure out that 112 pages of content  with no ads, for less than ten bucks, is a pretty good deal.  As Alec Brownscombe (esteemed editor of the mag and Resident Padishah of Maple Leafs Hot Stove) pointed out, you were probably going to spend that ten bucks on a crappy calendar anyway.

Anyway, I gotta get back to skulking around invisibly, or I’ll have to answer to my boss.  Ever had your work environment supervised by a Master Ninja?  Let me tell you, it’s no day at the beach;  you can’t get away with anything.   You can’t ever tell when he’s in the room.  At least I think my boss is a male.  Not sure, now come to think of it.

See ya!  You won’t see me, though…

Maple Leafs Annual: It Stacks Up

Maple Leafs Annual on sale - Ancaster
128 pages of no ads, truculence and my article

Spouse and I stopped in to the Chapters store in Ancaster on Saturday; part of the purpose for our visit was to pick up another copy of the Maple Leafs Annual (click on the link to find out what this is, the details of my contribution, and why you need to buy it in order to avoid the sudden onset of leprosy).  I am going to donate a (signed, if the successful bidder so desires) copy of the Annual for the charity auction that Spouse and I will be running this coming Thursday.

I have received two copies of this magazine in the mail – one, I bought for myself as soon as orders were being taken, and one was sent to me by Maple Street Press as an “advance copy”, I guess as a thank you for participating in the creation of the publication.  I don’t know why, but I can’t bring myself to part with either of those copies, and in any event they are well thumbed and not exactly pristine any more.

I have to confess that there was something really cool about seeing the publication on the regular display racks in the magazine section at Chapters.  Here they are at left, racks and racks and racks of the things.

I loitered around for a little bit, hoping to see somebody stop by and browse through one, but I had no such luck.  I can tell that a lot of people have been standing there reading them, because the copies at the front of the top two racks pictured at left had both obviously been handled quite a bit – can’t say whether people are actually buying the things after that, but they’re definitely handling them.

Spouse and I will have a couple of weeks off from work starting at the end of this week, and I have half a mind to just go sit in the Starbucks there and watch until somebody takes one down off the rack.  I’d probably run up, grab it out of their hand and buy the damn thing for them.

As an aside, I’m more than a little interested in hearing what people think of this magazine, so if you come across any reviews, criticisms, etc. please feel free me to drop me an email with the link  to junior [at] heroesinrehab.ca.