Withdrawal or Boredom?

So I'm 4 1/2 days into my two weeks sans poker, and the weekend was interesting for it. While I was busy Friday night and Saturday during the day, I found myself home by 9pm on Saturday with nothing to do. My first instinct was to fire up some games, maybe the 50-50, and spend time that way. But that would hardly be 2 weeks without poker, so I didn't load up anything. Granted, I couldn't play anything but play money on Full Tilt anyway (yay responsible gaming option), but Stars, Mansion, and even Absolute still have money on them (Absolute is something like $10 they gave me free a year ago, like I'd deposit another penny on that site). But nope, didn't play any of them.

Same thing Sunday, when I had zero plans. I instead filled my time with DVDs, video games, and food. I have to be careful about the food, as I tend to snack when I'm bored and could easily gain 10 lbs. I didn't realize how much of a time-filler poker was until this weekend. I've never considered myself addicted, because poker's always fallen low on the priority list. If I have any other plans, they come first, but if I've got nothing to do, poker becomes the default option. This break will definitely be a good thing.

Saw a low-budget Chilean martial arts film on Saturday, as part of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. MirageMan was pretty much as expected. Low budget with a tongue firmly planted in its cheek, moments of visual comedy, and a whole boatload of unchoreographed ass-kickery. It's what happens when you get a stuntman and his stunt crew together to do a martial-arts movie. No pulled punches, no wires, no CG, and lots of fun.

It was preceeded by a Canadian short film called Hydro-Levesque, which was nominally about Rene Levesque and Winnipeg and Quebec and a nun. I would have SWORN it was by Guy Maddin as I watched it, but it was actually by Matthew Rankin, who obviously is a big fan of Guy's. Black and white with plenty of shadows, Winnipeg featured prominently, jerky cuts, and strange comedy, with odd technologies in play and a nods to Canadiana. The only non-Maddinesque thing was that it was all in French. Then again, Rankin is a founder of The Atelier in Winnipeg, and has been doing low-budget experimental films for a few years now, so it's no wonder Maddin is a big influence. One could call this an homage.

I've got Mutant Chronicles and Tokyo Gore Police coming up this week, both of which should be... interesting. Repo! The Genetic Opera was on Saturday as well, and the line stretched around the block. I'll wait until its "wide" release on Nov 7th to see it.