They Can't All Hold Up

Solved my issue by firing up a Tier 1 on Saturday around 1am or so and dominating that. Then I fired up the Tier 2 right afterwards, and through constant slipping off into unconciousness and strong play, won a token in that. Off to the races with me.

Made my live game, and went out after the first break after this brilliant play:

Dealt AA UTG+1, 150-300 with a 50 ante, I have 14k in chips. I raise to 1200 and the table folds to the button, who calls. I've been playing pretty tight so far and the only hand that's been shown was KQ that split with this same guy's KQ.

Flop come 568 with two hearts and I bet 2k into the 3300 pot. Button goes all-in, and I have him covered with 1200 left behind. I think. I look at that flop and worry about a set. No way he flopped the straight, but a flush draw is a possibility. Maybe suited connectors? I finally put him on an overpair and call.

He flips over K7o???? He called a tight player with K7o?? Connectors I could see, a 1-gapper I could see. Seeing a set wouldn't have surprised me. I'd put me on a strong hand pre-flop and call with an Ace-cracker, but K7o no heart? Wow. By far the donkiest hand I'd seen this guy play (and he'd played a few). So I'm 65% and naturally a 4 comes on the turn and I'm crippled.

Next hand I see JT and push my 1200. I get 5 callers but nothing on the board and I literally go home.

Fine. Gave me time to get some other things done before The Big Game. Went about 1 1/2 hours in that one before a donk move by me and a donk move by The Goat knocked me out (I say that in the nicest way possible JG).

Some decent play, steals, resteals, and cards that got me nothing (KK twice) had me sitting in the top 15 with 30 left. I'd been as high as 9th I think. Tripjax had been luckboxing like a madman to build a huge stack and I had some sort of suited connectors that I called his raise with. The flop brought me an inside straight and flush draw for 12 outs twice and Trip overbet the pot. I called, and it brought me to 1600 chips left, with a pot of over 4800 or thereabouts. Turn gave me an OESD with the flush draw and we both checked. River paired the board, check, check and Trip has an ace. Damn.

Mistakes I see: I like my call preflop. I hate my call on the flop. I should have pushed or folded. If he's bluffing, the 1600 extra MAY be enough to get him off with his stack not committing him to the pot. Although that's unlikely, it at least takes away any decisions I have to make on the turn if he does anything other than check. Does a push on the turn or river help me? Maybe. If I fold, I've got far more chips to play with.

Next hand I see AK UTG and push. Folds all around to Julius Goat who calls with AT. T on the flop or turn and somewhere I hear a fat lady singing.

Ah well. Cost me $35 or something in peeps to make it. Cost me far more to lose live earlier.

Then I fired up a lvl 1 peep, kicked ass but forgot to take names for a token for The Hoy tonight. So far, BBTwo has cost me around $44. I've decided to calculate based on this simple formula: (Bankroll after BBTwo) - (Bankroll before BBTwo) - (P&L for non BBTwo-related games) = Profit (or Loss) for BBTwo. If I token in to a game, then it costs me $8.70. Why? Because that was the purpose of the token. If it takes two attempts, it's $17.40 Consider it a non-optional satellite.

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In other news - the cats seem to be getting along. To the point where they were both sharing the top of the giant cat tree in the living room this morning. Good.

My computer is on its way to recovery. I spent the weekend installing and upgrading my new box, yay technology! After that was done, I hooked up my messed up drives and scanned them. Lo! It did discover data! Boo! It recovered it terribly. File extensions I've NEVER had were there, and none had a name. 20kb PNGs? I don't think so. So I deleted that recovered data (on a different drive) and tried again. This morning I attempted another recovery and it appears all is going as well as can be expected. Files with FULL file names now appearing, in all their full-sized glory. I can actually VIEW my pictures again! I left it running as I left for work, and expect a fun-filled night of renaming directories and rebuilding trees. As long as the files are there, and named, I'm happy.

----------

**UPDATE: Congrats to Jeciimd for taking down the Big Game. He has now pretty much guaranteed he will have a much better ROI than the first one, and not get harrassed for always pointing and not cashing. Nicely done.

It also helps a bit that both Tripjax (2nd) and The Goat cashed as well. Glad my chips worked out.

A Quandry

As is known, BBTwo kicks off on Sunday with Don's Big Game. I am faced with a dilemma. I'm out tonight, I'm busy tomorrow building computers and installing software, and on Sunday I have a live tournament at 3pm that could conceivably go until 7 or 8. I don't yet have a $75 token, and it seems unlikely that I'll be able to play for one before Sunday rolls around. I've already invested $26-and-change into token attempts, with one bubble to the desired token.

So, what's a guy to do? I imagine that by the time I get home tonight, I'll either be drunk or exhausted or both, which does not bode well for playing ability. I might be able to squeeze in a game tomorrow night, or Sunday morning (like I'll be awake). I'm actually pretty happy that I haven't reloaded at Tilt in months, but buying in directly would drop my small roll there to dangerously low. I can easily reload, but I'd rather try and actually make this poker habit profitable.

Oh, who am I kidding? If I don't token in, I'll be buying in. I'll just have to win the thing, build up the roll to a level that can pay for the whole BBT, and get that TOC spot out of the way quickly. Maybe combine it with a juicy live score and make it a truly profitable day.

BOOKED!

VEGAS BABY!

Flight and hotel are book-ed! We (me and two buddies) are getting in on the 6th at 2:45pm and leaving on the red-eye on Sunday. Staying at the soon-to-be-grand-opened Planet Hollywood. This puts me pretty central to all the action.

I'll definitely be there for Craps and Pai Gow on Thursday. Karaoke, however, well... let's see how many drinks I have at Pai Gow to see if I show up for that portion of the evening.

Okay then... let's get rid of November so I can get to this faster.

Progress

Thank [insert deity here] it's Friday.

It's somewhat bittersweet that I'm planning to meet up with some friends tonight. There's shit I want to get done. Plus, I'm running on 3 hours of sleep, so I may not be at my best.

Anyway, progress is being made on all those pesky fronts taking place in the real world. The cats were properly introduced last night and on the whole, it went quite well. Minimal hissing and growling, and no fighting. Good.

Computer tribulations continue. I still haven't recovered the drives I hosed, but I think it's just a matter of time. See, I started the scan on a virtual RAID, and it moved along nicely. Then it slowed to a crawl. Then it picked up. Then it stalled completely. Well, that was a waste of 20 hours.

So I decided to build my new machine regardless, and attempt recovery on it. I figure a Core Duo E6750 with 2 GB of DDR2-8500 might be a TOUCH quicker than an Athlon64 3500+ with 1 GB of DDR-266. So, after unravelling the tangle of cables and removing the old board, powersupply, and associated cards, I then reassembled them in another box. Then came the new stuff, which got assembled (damn that heatsink is a pain to get attached firmly), and put into the nice aluminium case. Arounds this time (1 am), my buddy called to see if he could come by. Lucky him I was up, and I knew he was calling from downstairs. So I had some company for a couple hours as I assembled, and he had a needed friendly face.

3am, a drive is nearly formatted (WTF? It's 160 GB drive and it's only formatting for 130?), and my friend leaves. I sit down and continue the XP installation (I'll get around to Vista eventually... let them fix it first). It installed quickly, but XP vanilla doesn't have wireless support, and for some reason the motherboard drivers/utilities disc wasn't reading properly either. Joy. I said, "screw it," hooked up the old machine and fired it up. Somehow I spent about an hour fiddling with both machines before just going to bed around 5. I had the foresight to move my alarms to 8am instead of 7. Yay.

So sometime this weekend, I need to finish getting XP up-to-date, recovering my drives, and making world made a better place (for me at least).

Needless to say, no poker content. That will come Sunday.

Vegas booking hit a snag when the airfare jumped $200 on my final booking click. My fault, I waited forever to actually book. Stupid me. But now there's a slightly less convenient option. If my friend every gets back to me, I can book it.

Quick Question

Just about to book Vegas (finally!). Last minute change to Planet Hollywood instead of TI. Good idea? It's cheaper, better located, and still falls under "recently renovated". Plus Mookie seemed to like the buffet.

I mean, it's just a place to collapse drunkenly for 3-5 hours, right?

Necessity...

Today I learned many things. I learned about the variety of RAID 0 recovery options out there. I learned that the computer store I bought the wrong hard drives from will gladly exchange them for bigger, more expensive ones (whew). I learned that as soon as I say, "I don't need to buy an external hard drive for backup" that I was fucked. Tonight I will learn if me buying an external drive now will be too late, and if that RAID recovery software will work in my situation. Fun times.

I also learned that I shouldn't drone on about computer issues involving acronyms like RAID and SATA and IDE. Funny thing is, other than games, building and fixing computers is one thing that a degree in Computer Engineering didn't suck the fun from. Maybe because it never goes quite as planned.

I want to play live tonight, but that will strongly depend on how quickly I can get things set up, installed, and scanning. Lucky me, my club is an 800m walk away from my door

I did swing into the low-limit bloggerdonk cash game before I went to bed though, and donated $20 to the cause. I succeeded in my goal of donkitude. Waffles having $160 in a 0.10/0.25 game was pretty crazy to see.

Soon, I get to go home to my busted computer and disfunctional (yet improving) feline pairing. Good times.

Bad Beat

Here follows a tale of the dumb. The names haven't been changed to protect the idiotic. Since the moron is yours truly, I think I have my okay.

A while back my C: drive died. This was upsetting, but luckily I was able to get most of the data recovered. I then set up a mirrored RAID array to protect against future problems. While doing this I decided to set up a striped RAID array as a D: drive.

It took some doing (faulty SATA cable is a tough problem to track down it seems), but I got it all working smoothly.

Yesterday I bought a whack of upgrades for my system. Essentially a new system. This required me picking up a few SATA drives to replace my IDE RAID.

I mistakingly thought my C: drive (mirrored) was the IDE, and the D: the SATA. Needing to backup my D: drive so I could copy data after rebuilding the array, I decided to disconnect one of the mirrored RAID drives to use it for backup purposes.

So I unplugged one of the IDE drives and restarted.

Oops.

My D: RAID was now faulty (obviously). So I turned off the machine, plugged the drive back in, and unplugged one of the SATA drives.

Back on, C: drive now faulty, fine. In my effort to get it to boot of the (perfectly fine) single drive (as it should do), I accidentally started "repairing" the array by copying the source data to the UNREPAIRED IDE drive. I threw the switch quickly, but not before 1% of the data was copied. I'm going to guess the header data used to identify the drive got overwritten too.

SHIT!

So now, no D: drive. No pictures. No downloaded drivers, apps, games, etc. (the installed versions of all thee are fine on the C: drive), and no PORN! WTF?

Actually, the pictures are what bugs me the most. Iceland, The Queen Charlotte Islands, Israel, parties, games, and everything else I've taken a picture of over the last however many months its been. Most of the Iceland pics are at also at my folks luckily (however, none of the RAW format ones), as are the Queen Charlottes. Israel is on Flickr, but only about half of the pictures I took.

So now I begin my quest to see if I can recover the data and rebuild the RAID. The data should still PHYSICALLY be there... anybody know any good RAID 0 recovery tools?

Bah.

I Offer No Commentary

Just check out

here

and

here.

I have about $11 on Absolute Poker, so I'm not overly concerned since I don't play there. I have $0 on UB. Would be interesting though.

----

There was something else I was going to talk about, but now I can't remember what it was.

Links

Ok, first and foremost:

BBTwo

Umm... wow. An Aussie millions package for you and a guest? Weekly Sunday Guarantee tournament entries? FTOPS seat? iPod touch? And WOW! WEEKLY RIVERCHASERS EVENTS!

TOC for winners only. Top 25% only for points (no more folding to the points?) Good times, and hey, I made money last time.

Al = The Man.

Second:

Check out this story. That is totally fucked up right there. I've said it before - the Internet is a dangerous place.

How Was Your Weekend?

Mine was interesting. I'll write of it, but out of order.

First, the poker. Played in the WBCOOP (and now I can take down that sidebar) and the Brit Bloggerment for the first time each. WBCOOP - 1337 players to start, somehow appropriate for a bunch of people who blather online. If you don't know why, Google the number. I went out about 961st or something. Somehow, I doubt I'll get a duffel bag with a 50" plasma TV inside. I was pretty card dead and played like ass for the whole hour I existed. I think I was swayed by the 10,000 chip starting stack. It didn't take long to realize that the faster blind structure made up for the largesse of the chip count. Before I went out, the only hand of great value I saw was the Hiltons, but I was sitting out when those hit. This is a good thing, as the guy with 36o flopped a straight. Best play of the game for me.

In the end, I found AKo in the cutoff with 5200 in chips and the blinds at 150/300 just as the first break is coming. It folds to me and I raise to 1200. Button calls, and SB (SilentRebel with 24300 chips) raises to 4500. The BB apparently got up to take a shit because we got to watch as 2 minute of time bank ran down for him. This gave me time to think. I was worried about aces or kings, especially with a bet that looked designed to get me all-in. For sure he had a pair, unless he had that stack from being a moron and re-raising with AQ or something. So, a coin-flip for my tournament life or 4k in chips just before the break and the blinds going up to 200/400. Fuck it, I'm doubling up or going home at this point. I push for my last 700 and he obviously calls.

SilentRebel flips over TT and I'm happy. The fact there's a K on the flop gives me about 0.003 seconds of joy, because right next to it is another T and I'm screwed. Sure, QJ, two K, AA or AK could come and make my day, but that wasn't to be and I'm done at the first break.

I give the appropriate props for the hand, and get "Astin wait" in the chat. Okay, I wait. Seems Mr. Rebel reads our good Hoyazo and recognized me as the guy he used to always talk about. A shame I couldn't live up to my luckbox rep. :)

So welcome SilentRebel to the blog, and the long list of people who have knocked me out. :)

The Brit was much more fun. I saw QQ more times than I've ever seen, along with a few other decent hands, and played aggressive, position-based poker (lots of mediocre hands came into play, but mostly only the good ones were forced into the light) to build up a sizeable lead right up until 10 were left. I did get some great Baynage when I runner-runnered a straight to knock out AA at one point. I lost a chunk when I called a re-raise push against me with KJ vs something better and didn't improve. Made the final table, which quickly got to 7. I then took a phone call from a friend looking for employment advice (everyone wants to get into the financial world, I don't blame them). This was a tactical error as I could no longer play poker, but ended up playing cards. AA won me a hand and brought us to the bubble. KJ failed to beat Kat's all-in QQ to cripple me, and my ATs ran into A-something better than T to make me the bubble boy. Ah well, it was a ton of fun, and if I'm kicking around at 4pm on a Sunday, I'll definitely take another shot.

Now, the non-poker. With pictures to go up later. I have a new cat. For the last four years I've had the greatest cat in the world - a Bengal named Spike who's known me since he was a kitten. He can be a pain in the ass at times, as he will sometimes attack me for reasons known only to him (and isn't declawed), and knows the exact pitch of "meow" to pierce my concentration, but he's easily controlled, very smart, tremendously affectionate, and cute as hell, even at 4. Every day I leave for work he tries to leave with me and stares up with the most pathetic look imagineable. When I come home he runs from wherever he's hiding to jump on me and beg for pets and love. Yes, he thinks he's a dog. He plays fetch too, and sits on command.

So he's needed a friend for a while. Friday night I drove an hour out of town to pick up said friend. A 2 year-old Bengal girl who's just been retired as a breeder. Her name needs to be changed to something simpler than her breeder/show name. Where Spike will spend an entire car ride howling like he's being tortured, she simply hunkered down in the carrier with two complete strangers (my friend was going to help me out, since she's Spike's co-owner (long story) and he'd be comfortable with her thorugh this trauam) on the longest ride of her life and waited it out. I brought her in the condo, and went directly to the room I'd set aside for her. The carrier was opened and she came out to explore.

She's the sweetest thing in the world. While she took time to get used to my friend and I, she immediately wanted to be friends with Spike. He strolled by the glass doors into the room and she ran over, meowed lightly and looked right at him. All she wanted was to be friends. Spike, on the other hand, wanted none of it. He turned, faced her, and started hissing as strongly as possible at her. Then the growling started. She continued to calmly stare and meow curiously at him, safely behind the doors.

Two days of this. Fine. I expected resistance from Spike. What I didn't expect is that he'd be SO stressed about it, that he'd make himself sick. For two days he couldn't keep any food down, and I was glad I had spot-cleaner for my carpets. Sunday was better. He can now sit and watch her without making any noise, and we can once again pick him up without facing a cat-diatribe of how unhappy he is (lots of growls, but not anger at us as there's no violence). If she gets too close though, he's back to hisses and growls. Luckily, there was no need for cleanup yesterday, and I could sleep through the night.

There has been improvement, and I'm hoping a supervised introduction can be made tonight. With luck, she'll be able to wander free by the end of the week, and they'll eventually get along. There's still the ongoing challenge of her being fully comfortable with me (I can't pick her up yet), and getting her sleep cycle in line with mine and Spike's (ie.- go to sleep when I do, and get up when I do, regardless of the inconsistency of my hours). Much like many things in life, it will take patience.

Presto Can Kiss My Ass (Parts 1 & 2)

Law of conservation of presto: For every time Fuel wins, I must suffer a loss at its hands.

Other than Sunday's WBCOOP, I imagine my weekend will be poker-free. So I decided to play a bit last night to sate any urges. Fired up my trusty friend the $6.50 Turbo SnG (2nd place), the $75 token frenzy (65th... whoops. Who let the QQ flop a set vs my Cowboys?), and the $28k.

I haven't played in any of the big donkaments (24k, 28k, or 50-50) in a couple months, as I decided to be a tad more responsible with my bankroll, and haven't played that many tier 1's nor had the time for the 50-50 satellites. However, I figured I'd give it a shot.

This was a foolish notion, as I was playing until 1:30am, and had some things that needed doing for today. I went out 84th (180 paid) for around $20 profit (or $38 depending on how you count the fact I tokened-in). It ended something like this:

For the last half hour I'd been falling asleep at the keyboard, and still had a bunch of stuff that needed to be done staring me in the face. The awfukits were creeping in. I had made a few ridiculous moves that either scared off people, sucked out, or looked brilliant in hindsight. This was also fuelled by the fact that I could have been a dominant chipleader if I'd played all but 3 or 4 hands in the last hour (shit like T6 was flopping boats, but I was naturally folding these pre-flop). Then, in the BB, I see A6c. It folds to the SB, who has been ahead of me in chips for most of the night, but was now behind. He raises to 3x and I think for a few seconds and call, thinking it could be a steal (not uncommon for him). Flop comes 5AT, he checks and I bet a bit less than the pot. He repops with 2k behind. Now my brain says, "checkraise with that little left behind? something smells fishy." My hand, however, says, "fuck this... he's going all-in". Over comes... PRESTO for the set. Damn. I knew he didn't have the ace.

I'm left with around 3.2k in chips, which is MAYBE an M of 1.5. I fold a couple crap hands, dump an A-crap to pre-flop raise, and then see my own presto. Alright. By this time I've got less than 2 BBs, so from the hijack, I push. BB calls out of necessity (short raise, and she's got 10k), and shows 36o. 3 on the flop, 6 on the river. IGHN. So presto screwed me twice in the span of about 3 minutes.

Of course, a certain penguin is laughing now that 36 has beat yet another hand. I think I prefer his method.

At least I got my other things done, and there's now a room prepped for tonight's new arrival.

To Clear Something Up

I'm mot sure why, but I was thinking of a famous episode of Family Feud this morning. Oh the thoughts that run in and out of one's head while getting ready for work. Anyway, I tried to find a video of the incident online, but have been thus far unsuccessful.

What I did find are countless WRONG accounts of the episode. Obviously a bunch of people who have heard about it, but never actually saw the show in question. Some have discounted it as a racist joke, others have claimed to have seen it but have put it in the wrong part of the show, etc..

So here it is, from someone who used to watch a lot of "The Feud" back in the day, and remembers this episode pretty damned clearly.

It's the FINAL round, for the $10,000. The first of the two chosen family members has already gone up. The first (I think, this is the only thing I'm fuzzy on) question from Ray Combs is, "Name a fruit that starts with 'A'". The first family member had wisely said, "apple", which was the #1 answer. Naturally you're expecting this second member to say the same thing and get buzzed for duplicating his partner's response. You try to think of other responses - apricot, avocado, and realize there aren't many. But no. Without a second's hesitation, this gentleman hollars out with great enthusiasm, and his heavy accent (Jamaican? Caribbean? I'm not going to guess, but you get the idea), "ARANGE!"

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence as the audience, host and the viewers at home picked their jaws up. Did he just say, "Orange?" He did! Our intrepid host quickly gathers himself and in classic style yells out, "Show me.... Arange!"

Oddly enough, zero people surveyed gave this answer.

So no, it wasn't during a steal (come on people, THINK for a second, how many fruit start with "A"? Enough for an entire round? Nope.) At no point was his family yelling out answers and he "decided to go it alone." Also, he wasn't a woman.

Glad I got that off my chest.

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Let's not speak of the Mookie and RaisingCayne's jackace rivering a J-high 4-straight to beat my AK to knock me out second last. I knew it was going to be one of those nights. Luckily, after then getting knocked out by a rivered boat by a TP2K donkey in the first hand of a $6.50 SnG, and then getting bubbled out in another one, I took 1st place in a $12 Turbo SnG to show a little profit for the evening. Go me.

Also, Johnnie Walker Black 12yr is very drinkable, not anywhere near the flavour and complexity of 16yr Lagavulin, but it's a good starter scotch. 40 malts involved? Wow, that's some serious blending.

Cards

What's this? Poker content? Shocking!

I actually found myself with a couple hours to kill last night. After the killing, I had some time available. *rimshot*

Actually, I fell asleep during the debacle of a Leafs game, woke up at 10 and realized I'd been asleep for 2 1/2 hours. Well, can't go to bed now, can I? So I wandered over to my computer (I'm debating getting a laptop, should I? I mean, it would probably never leave my place, and I don't know WHY I'd need one, but I kinda want one. I also really want to upgrade my system, but can't quite justify the expense just so I can play a few games that would be prettier. Oh who am I kidding? I'll be dropping a grand on new components before the month is out if I know me... wow, long parenthetical tangent) to play some poker. I sat there and DIDN'T play for and hour or so, because I decided to download The Orange Box (Half Life: Episode 2, Portal, and a bunch of stuff I already have), and play Peggle (which I do all the time.. damn you PopCap!). I finally fired up a $6.50 turbo and got to work.. and came in 2nd. So I fired up another, and came in 2nd. Yay! $20 profit!

Yah, no big shakes, but I do enjoy seeing my measly Full Tilt bankroll move upwards. Why, I'm nearly at $100 now! Sweet jeebus do I have a ways to go before I'm close to breaking even.

Anyway, it felt good. I had some strong cards that occasionally got paid off, some weak cards that got paid off more frequently, and the only time I went to showdown (that wasn't heads-up) was against uber-donks who would call down my straight with middle pair, top kicker. I do love SnG's and the increasing value of starting hands as people get knocked out.

Most importantly though, I've been shaking the strange brand of scared poker I've been playing of late. I have two pair on a 4-straight board and am facing a middling bet from the BB, and instead of walking away, I put him on crap and play to the river. Lucky me I got my full boat, but he ran away to MY middling bet anyway. No way he had that king.

I think my problem of late has been that I've played my cards too much. My real strength was in reading my opponents, but I'd stopped doing that as the cards in front of me got prettier. Granted, it's hard to play with 52o in MP, but sometimes you have to make that look like aces or convince the table you flopped the nuts. I've got to stop assuming that the RNG has fed the calling donkey to my left the stone cold nuts every time.

So in pursuit of that, I think I may play live tonight. Sure, I've got laundry that needs doing and errands that refuse to run themselves, but I also have a point standing at my club to uphold so I can play in the Tournament of Champions in November and win that 42" plasma. Live play is good for the soul after all.

Chances are that I'll be out before the first break, because I suck like a prom date, so I'll see you at The Mookie!

Love It

And people are upset at George Lucas. What about HISTORIANS?

Damn skippy

I guess it's not fair to link to the image without linking to the source.

It's Gonna Be A Loooooong Season

7-1. 7-1? 7-1!

Freakin' Leafs.

I said in the off-season they'd suck. Now, only 4 games in, they appear to have proven it.

One new addition is suspended for 15 games, and will be going to jail once the season is over for a DUI when he was in San Jose. He's not that good anyway.

Another new acquisition announced he has Leukemia. Lucky for him and his family, it's incredibly treatable and he should be fine if he keeps taking a daily pill. That's pretty amazing as far as medical science goes. Here's hoping nobody uses it as an excuse for Jason Blake, because we overpaid for a 34 year-old winger coming off a career year, and he's ours for 5 more years. Of all the free agents, he was probably the worst choice and therefore the most likely one for the Leafs.

Our much-trumpeted new goalie is average. Is Toskala better than Raycroft? You bet. Is he the second coming of Patrick Roy? Not by a long shot.

4 games in. 1-3. 7-1 loss last night. Here's hoping that it's the low point of the season. I doubt it though. No depth, an aging star, sub-par acquisitions in the off-season, young talent that isn't being realized, the most USELESS GM in the NHL, ownership that cares more about the value of the team than the fans... yah, this will be a season to enjoy.

If they somehow prove me wrong, I'll be cheering loudly with a cold beer in my hand, and eat my words. But I'm an honest fan, unlike most of the sheep in this city.

At least they aren't the Coyotes.

Turkey Overload

I had two turkey dinners over the weekend. The first, on Sunday, was brined the night before in a cooler and ended up being roasted perfectly. Juicy, flavourful meat, cooked just right, and fantastic roasted vegetables. A HUGE improvement over last year. TONS (okay, about 10lbs) of leftovers. Monday's involved going to the folks' and was also quite good, but wasn't brined. My mom roasts a good bird, not at all dry, and perfectly golden skin.

All-in-all, a very filling weekend. And 30 degrees on Thanksgiving to boot! Hottest it has EVER been (old record was 29.6 degrees in 1916).

Zero poker content due to minimal poker played. I even skipped the MATH last night in order to finish cleaning up after Sunday's dinner. It was so very nice to reclaim my kitchen from the pots, pans, and giant pot of soup on the stove. Of course, now my fridge is packed. Turkey and gravy sandwich for dinner tonight. Maybe some corn on the cob and fried mashed potatoes and stuffing (definitely stuffing). Next week will involved nothing but fruit and salads and exercise (yah, right).

Saturday was a friend's 30th (who had to have it on the long weekend thanks to me taking over last week's), which was a pleasant gathering. Before that was all the turkeyday shopping, including a stop at the farmer's market to restock on Elk and tasty veggies.

Some Heroes content though. The 3rd episode of the season was on last night, and it was the first that I truly enjoyed. This is a spoiler warning. I'm too lazy to change the colour today.

The Sylar scenes were great. His character really adds a lot to the show. I would have done things differently, but they may still be able to go in that direction. Just before Sylar clocked Candice, I figured it was ALL an illusion. His wounds, his loss of powers, all of it. That Candice was controlling him via illusions. It would have been brilliant. Instead, he kills her, and STILL can't use his powers (or hers). I did love that he bolts out of the shack and finds himself in the middle of an endless rainforest. Like I said though, this could STILL be part of a much larger illusion to control him.

Peter is mildly annoying. Let's drop the amnesia thing already. Plus, his reasoning to not open the box was weak. If he didn't like what he found, why go back to it? Just stick around in Cork and chill with the Irish.

DL died. Good. Not because I disliked the character, but because if he survived it would be a miracle of modern medicine.

Bennet will get shot in the eye? Claire will be there? I doubt it. It's the 8th painting in the series, which means it will happen at the end of the season. I imagine this will be the one that doesn't come true. Claire will be turned against her father, but at the last minute change her mind and save him. That or he'll have powers we don't know about.

Hiro - same ol' same ol'.

West and Claire - still lame. Nice Superman rip-off there.

Nice that Claire's Nissan Rogue (a proud sponsor of Heroes) has been found in Mexico and will make it back to America with the Wonder Twins.

Nichelle Nichols! They kill of Sulu and bring in Uhura! Let's see if Leonard Nimoy shows up next season, or more likely, Walter Koenig.

Anyway, not an action-packed episode, but it had some great moments and felt like a keystone episodes - where it did things that lay the groundwork for the story moving forward.

Ahhhh... Friday

Was this ever a looooong week. It felt fine as it was happening, but looking back at it, I can't believe it was only a week ago I was getting ready for my birthday. Then I look at my dining room table and am glad it was only a week ago, because it means that mess hasn't been sitting there too long.

Anyway, I woke up this morning with a smile once I realized it was Friday and the week was over. I'm also happy that it's Thanksgiving weekend up here in the Great White North, which means tons of turkey, and more importantly, stuffing! This could be the warmest Thanksgiving I can remember - mid-to-high 20's (Celcius you imperial maroons). One might as well bbq their birds.

The less said of my 22nd place finish in the Riverchasers last night, the better. I was playing well, and then got nailed by a setup turn card against Hoy's set to hurt me, and then my semi-steal attempt with a short stack ran right into Islandbum's rockets. Those are SUPPOSED to be my domain.

So far (touch wood), tonight is looking free and clear. Some people lament not making plans on a Friday, but after the week I've had, the weekend I'm facing, and the week yet to come, I'm looking forward to sitting my ass down and not worrying about anything. I'm going to grill up a bacon cheesburger with all the fixins, throw together some sort of sides, crack a beer or two, and donk away some US dollars (it's like playing for free!) in Kat's donkament (password "donkarama"). Maybe I'll catch up on a movie or two as well. Ahhhhh relaxation, how do I love thee?

Have a great weekend, and a great Thanksgiving if you're one of my Canadian brethren. As J-Lo did say in the masterpiece that was Gigli - "Gobble gobble".

Vegas - Whasup?

Some conventions going on while we bloggers invade the happiest place on Earth:

Institute of Internal Auditors
Miss Rodeo America (at the Orleans)
American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
Dangerous Goods International Training Center
Colorado Dude & Guest Ranch Association
Single Action Shooting Society
World Research Group (MGM)
NFR Cowboy Christmas Gift Show
American College of Addictionology & Compulsive Disorders (in VEGAS? at the IP)

But why are prices high? Why are there some blackout dates at some hotels that weekend? Why... I'm sure anyone who went last year, or the year before knows... NATIONAL FINALS RODEO! Kicks off on the 6th goes to the 15th. What's that mean? Cowboys as far as the eye can see. Cowboys make for good fishing I hear, just don't piss 'em off.

Billboard Music Awards happening around then too? Who knows.

Oh How It Grows

Anyone reading this knows there's a wee blogger gathering in Vegas in December. I've mentioned to friends that I'm heading to Vegas, and a couple showed interest. Then 2 more did.

It's gone from me going solo, to a buddy coming along, to a couple of 'em, to there now being potentially 5 of us. That means more rooms... more co-ordination. AND it becomes an entirely different trip. That said, I'd feel far less guilty about dumping them for WPBT fun now. Nothing worse than having people WATCH you gamble.

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Poker continues to drag along these days. Played in a lvl 1 peep, won, then played in the lvl 2, and came in 6th for $56. What? Money? huh? You mean my bankroll can go UP? How odd.

There's no way I make any Ironman tournaments during that run. I'm just not playing enough, and don't see me having enough free time to change that for a few weeks. Thanksgiving is this weekend and next weekend I've got a new cat to introduce to my current one. Methinks that will be a weekend's worth of work itself, and my weekdays have this nasty habit of filling up. Considering there's a few things I'd like to spend some time on, this is inconvenient.

I'm hoping that I'll remember and be able to play in the WBCOOP at Stars on the 13th.

An Old Topic

Hey, remember how I ranted about gullible "audiophiles" and their ridiculous love of unbelievably marked-up cables? Well, Monster suddenly looks reasonably-priced after looking at the Pear Cable Anjou Cables $7250 for 12 ft?? WHAT THE FUCK?

I will once again reiterate (rereiterate?). It's a piece of copper run through a sleeve. Give me a freaking break.

I'm glad there's people like James Randi out there.

Or go read this article, as it is far more thorough than what I feel like writing again.

I'm totally in the wrong business. I should head over to my local surplus store, buy up a few rolls of cheap cable and surplus connectors, re-sleeve and repackage them, and write up some bullshit PR and specs and sell them for half the price of Monster and make a killing.

In a completely different vein, anybody want to buy some miraculous snake oil? It cures what ails ya and will improve ROI in your poker game by a measurable amount.

Poker?

Been a dearth of poker content here. That trend will likely continue.

Why? Well this weekend I played in I think a grand total of 2, maybe 3 games. I played a couple $6.50 turbo 6-man tables to no success. One of those was after my birthday and I was in absolutely no shape to actually play. I believe I slept through most of it. Must have been annoying for my opponents.

I did, however, kill in a $2 Turbo 6-man last night when I needed to donk off some time. Got hurt by one race I lost, but stormed back and won against a far-too-honest opponent.

First, we're 3-handed with one guy who has been sitting out the whole time. The other live guy says, "getting a beer." and leaves! So I proceed to raise and take about 3 or 4 orbits of blinds before he sits down. I actually had good hands for most of those too! Then I find myself in an unfortunate situation where I've bet into a hand where I have something, but not the nuts. He calls, and then proceeds to check down. I fold in an instant if he bets because there's no way I'm letting the guy sitting out with only 60 chips left to get ITM. No bet, and I win with my hand as his draw doesn't fill.

We end up heads up and he proceeds to tell me to bet when he doesn't have a hand. He doesn't lie once about it. A min bet with nothing and he folds, giving me free orbit after free orbit.

Finally I take the lead when he folds to some aggression and my KJd rivers a straight (flop was QTx with two diamonds) against his trip queens (turn Q, river A) for the win. Yes! $5 PROFIT BABEEEEE!!

Hey, I'll take what I can get.

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Vegas - I now have TWO friends interested in coming, which is a much better situation that one. Now I can abandon them both and they'll have each other (awwww). Except one of them DOES like poker and is wrapping up a divorce so he has some pent up biterness that MAY manifest as exorbitant expenditure. Which once again leaves friend #1 abandoned. Heh. It's not like I haven't warned them.

Now if that damned seat sale would come back. Vegas from Toronto for under $400! That's damned cheap. With the 3 of us that would be $600 each for airfare and 3 nights at TI. Not too shabby. That's like... 30 cents US or something. I'm not so good at math. :)

A Task Is Set

Well, the birthday was fun. I think. I seem to recall most people having a good time. I also seem to recall rarely having either hand free as there were too many people buying me drinks to go one at a time. I lost count after 8 (which as about 30 minutes after leaving the dock for a 3 hour tour). I started mingling... but that dwindled after mingling over to one person and her friends. Whoops, I guess it's a combination of me being a bad host and everyone else being good friends who know better than to interrupt those conversations. Of course, once I sobered up the next day, I felt bad that I didn't spend more time chatting with everyone. Bad me.

I think that will be it for the big birthday productions. I did large gatherings throughout my twenties and now it's done. Next one will be 40... maybe something at 35. That's not to say I won't celebrate, but I just won't put forth the effort required to bring everyone together. Especially with the various threads of drama and conflict that weave through my parties and circles of friends. I'll save that for New Years ;).

Anyway, it's time for some sort of birthday resolution I guess. So here it is:

I intend to play and finish every video game I've got sitting on my shelf.

Don't let it be said I don't make sacrifices. I mean, I have a Wii, Gamecube, DS, and computer, and I don't think I've finished a game in years. I just buy new ones, play a few levels, and then go back to playing poker or wasting time. I should finish these bad boys. Yup. There it is.

After that, I'll start working on my DVD collection.

What? Like I'd start exercising or something? Please.

Has it Really Been That Long?

Well, I'm not in Key West, and I'm not hammered (yet), but I AM 30 today. Has it really been thirty years since I came crying and gasping into this world? Strange... it doesn't feel that long. It's okay though, because 30 is the new 25. Yup.

Me being me, I went and organized a little birthday party for myself. You see, I'm a big believer in the "if you want something done right..." mentality. So tonight me, 29 friends, and 6 people who are guests of friends will be setting sail on a wee cruise around Toronto's harbour. There shall be drinking, and there shall be no escape. Before that there will be eating, and drinking, and still no escape. Afterwards, if all goes well, there will be MORE drinking back at my place, and sometime tomorrow I'll wake up and wonder when exactly I stopped remembering anything, and how everyone escaped.

Alternately, I may be the loud and obnoxious drunk wandering the streets and commenting without filter about the various art exhibitions around my fair city as part of Nuit Blanche (what the hell are they doing holding it on MY birthday? Huh?).

So I'm thrilled, and looking forward to this decade of... *snicker* maturity. Yah right. Another day, another decade. Whatever.

Oh, and fair warning for those who I have programmed into my phone - you may get a call, it may be loud, I may be drunk, and it will be a dial-a-shot. If you don't get one, it's not personal, I'm just too tanked to remember, so call me instead :). Assuming there's cell service out there.

I'm 30, I kick seventeen types of ass, and I couldn't be happier about it.

This Explains a Few Things

All this time I've decided to not drink while playing in anything other than blogger games. Turns out that may have been a mistake. Of course, if you're a raging alcholic, then you only remember how much everyone sucks.


Still 1 day to go. Well, less than 9 hours really.

B Minus 1

Last night was a bit of a bust. I went out for "one" drink after work, which became 2, which could have become many, many more, but I pulled myself away because I had shit to do. I checked out a couple restaurants and wandered home, where I promptly fell asleep in front of the Jays game for 2 hours or so. I woke up at 10:30, forced myself up and proceeded to get nothing of significance accomplished and went back to bed at 3:45am, alarms set for 8.

Par for the course really.

In my avoidance of doing things that need doing, I logged hours mindlessly playing Peggle, and lost a few bucks playing poker. One $6 Turbo SnG that made me just want to leave. I flop trip 7's and a J between them in position. Donk bets half his stack and I call. Turn is a brick, he goes all-in and I call. He flips over AJo. What a maroon. I'm laughing for about 2 seconds when the J comes on the river giving him Jacks full over my sevens full. Grrr. Still alive though.

Push all-in with 99 to get called by AQo and a flop of xAQ sends me out. I get it, coinflip, but why is it always TWO PAIR? Isn't the ace alone enough to break my heart?

Everything's pretty much in order. I just need to clean a bit and stock a bit and I'll be good.


1 day left. That would mean tomorrow.

Vivid

I have four digital cameras. Three of them have been bought in the last year. One of those was bought specifically so I would always carry it with me as I had grown tired of seeing scenes around the city that I wanted a picture of and missing them forever due to lack of a camera. That camera has been sitting in my office at home for months now.

Yesterday I was walking from work to Toronto's Harbourfront, and came out of the west entrance to the Air Canada Centre to behold a beautiful landscape in front of me. The sun was sitting just below the horizon, giving off its last great burst of light before dusk, and the sky was full of uniform clouds spread evenly across the firmament. The horizon was a breathtaking golden yellow which reflected on the canvas of clouds above. Sitting prominently in the foreground of all this was the CN Tower, the tallest building in the world (Burj Dubai isn't finished yet, so it doesn't count), its lines crisp and clear as it struck the heavens. Most impressively was that its nightly light show had already begun, with the colour cycling along its height and deck matching exactly the colour of the sky behind it. It was a unique simpatico, and I lacked any photographic means to permanently capture the scene.

And then, as I turned the corner, dusk settled on the city, halving the buildings around me with shadow, but bringing out that definition of lines that is only seen as the sun bids adieu.

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Last night (or more accurately, early this morning), I dreamt that my uncle died. It was one of the most vivid dreams I've had in a long time. My family was gathering at my grandparents' house (which has lain abandoned for nearly a year now) for the anniversary of my grandmother's birthday. and I walked into the kitchen to find who I thought was one of my uncles. I commented on how he'd lost weight when I realized it was in fact my other uncle and he'd been ill for a while. In reality he's had heart problems for the last 10 years. He suddenly had on a horribly fake Elvis pompadour and began to shrink. He was in some sort of chair that he could raise and lower at will. As he sat near the floor, his face resembled my grandmother. He then returned to normal size and went to the living room to join the rest of the family.

He and my aunt were both sitting on the couch and he closed his eyes to rest, his breathing deep and steady. The family talked, and then we realized his breathing had changed. My mother shouted to wake her brother up, his wife shook him, and he opened his eyes briefly and said he was okay. He then fell back asleep. My focus shifted until I heard my mother saying he was gone. I turned back to the couch and he wasn't moving. Then he started to breathe again but everyone was getting up to leave. He was then surrounded in dull glow and stood up, fitter than he'd ever been and smiling. He walked over to me, bent down and we spoke briefly about how he'd be missed and that it was a shame he didn't patch things up with everyone before he died. He said he was happy, said goodbye, and moved on to the next person in the room. The room began to swim and swirl and he faded into a kaleidoscope of primary colours that filled the room.

I woke up missing my uncle who I have barely seen in the past decade or so as he's managed to estrange himself and most of his family from the rest of us. I believe my grandmother's funeral was the last time I saw him, and it had been a while before that. Seeing as I haven't received any phone calls saying he passed away around 6am this morning, I'll chalk it up to just a dream, however vivid it may have been.

This Is No Surprise

Seriously, am I supposed to be shocked by this? I am a bit surprised my tech/computer score is that low.

An Idea...

One of my favourite concepts for an superhero underwear pervert is the basis of Man-Man. A janitor is bitten by a radioactive man, thereby gaining the proportional strength and abilities of... a normal man! Brilliant.

Then the Bionic Woman remake premiered last night. I forgot to watch it, but I've heard standard pilot-gripes. This got me thinking of other comic heroes and the like.

Spider-man has the proportional strength and agility of a spider.

Bravestarr (remember him anyone?) had eyes of the hawk, ears of the wolf, strength of the bear, speed of the puma. Yah, it was kind of lame. (I have avoided going into a huge "cartoons of the 80's" tangent here)

And then I thought about the fact I'm in the middle of a minor ant infestation (on the 7th floor? wtf?), of really tiny ants.

So I was thinking, why not a hero with the strength if an ant? Jumping power of a flea? Speed of a mosquito, etc.? Notice... I didn't say anything about PROPORTIONAL abilities. No, I mean the actual 1:1 strength of an ant. A hero unable to lift anything heavier than a grain of rice, can jump inches off the ground, etc..

Okay, so it could't be stretched out into more than a Robot Chicken sketch. So what? Wanna fight about it?




Still 2 days to go.

Is This What Eno Feels Like?

Bubbly bubbly. Played in The Mookenstein last night, out 9th when top 8 paid. Damn.

I've always liked 6-handed for the wider range of playable cards and the fact it rewards aggression. I was pretty much in the top 10 the whole night, with only one big score when I knocked out jjok with two pair vs. his AQ. Generally I was taking blinds and antes, and the occasional flop or turn. It was slightly annoying because my AA, KK, QQ (one each) didn't get paid off. I couldn't limp or min-raise as that would scream that I had a good hand. Also saw AK a ton, which got me a couple hands before showdown. JJ twice I think, and a few other smaller pocket pairs.

In the end, I pushed my short stack with JT and met KQh. Whoops. OESD didn't fill in and everyone else got paid.

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A buddy of mine is now interested in Vegas, and if he's in, it rapidly solidifies my plans. Airfare is the cheapest I've ever seen it right now (seat sale), and I'm still leaning towards TI. I don't have a Total Rewards card, so the Harrah's 2 free nights deal isn't available to me. Is my MGM-Mirage card worth nothing? Or my Boyd Gaming card? :)

Any way we can shrink October and November into one month? We'll call it Octember or Novtober or something.




2 days left.

Monkey Love

First, I should pimp the Monkey Tourney again on Stars. Okay, so it was last night, but it's every Tuesday, in the Wheatie's old spot. Last night only saw about 12 runners I think, but for $10 it's a game that needs some more blogger love. I finished 3rd, so you know it's gotta be easy.

Next comes a bit of disbelief. Apparently police corruption is now A-okay to brag about in your own webspace. Cops Writing Cops - brilliant. Talk about a sense of entitlement.

Not much time for poker these days, lots of other minor things to take up my time. Last night was spent going through the music collection with some picking and choosing. I missed a couple artists to add to my list, although I'm sure I already have more than 3 hours of music in it.

Still need to get my Iceland pics organized. I'm terrible with this. But right now I'm playing with some HDR. I guess I could put that all off and just worry about the regular pics.

More papers signed, more e-mails sent. Good times.

Where's everyone on their Vegas planning? I'll book my flight a couple weeks before I leave I think, and am still debating on hotel. I'm leaning towards TI. It's not far from IP and about 1e6 times better. MGM is a cab/monorail ride away, but the transportation costs are way lower than the room rate differences. Plus, this way I can start my day with an 11am donkey tournament with rapid-rising blinds and pushmonkeys at the final table. Fun fun!



3 Days.

Jibba Jabba

Another melange of topics today, mostly Heroes and Hockey. You've been warned.

Bubbled 4th in The Hoy last night. I played okay, but mostly just played my cards, which has been an unfortunate trend of late. I think my shortstack play is still alright, but it's hard to win by staying short. I did a few REALLY weak things, and I think it hurt me in the long run. Frankly, I was surprised I got the action I did on my strong hands. Right now my cards are okay, but my play is generally sub-par. I need to pick that up.

Before that though, I watched Heroes. Warning: Here be spoilers (highlight to read):

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Okay? So the episode wasn't bad, but other than ONE moment, it was predictable and lacked any of that "awesome" factor that last season's episodes had. It felt like everyone was going through the motions.

The commercials gave it away, but Nathan and Peter are still very much alive. Nathan looks ridiculous with his "grieving my brother for 4 months and become a drunk who's family left him" beard. It looks completely pasted on. Peter has amnesia? Okay. The commercials showing him alive pretty much destroyed any surprise or drama that would have resulted from him appearing at the very end of the episode. Bravo NBC marketing department, you've fucked up once again with this show. No wonder nobody watches your network.

Parkman is a detective, yay Matt! It's about time he figured out how to leverage his power to his advantage. He was actually far less annoying than last season, and him being Molly's guardian just works. Of course, now he's divorced too. So that's two of the married Heroes that are now single. Guess NBC realized that having them save the world with families back home would be difficult to pull off. Once again, I can't help but think that the guys in charge when the show started could pull it off. The families make them different - they make them real. If everyone ends up single and alone, then you might as well make them full underwear perverts (look it up) like Marvel and DC heroes.

Molly is still adorable though, what a great actress.

Bennet and Mohinder are working to take down the company, eh? With Mohinder getting inside again. The guy who can changed metals into gold definitely has his uses. Where do they take this? I imagine they'll be caught before long, and it won't actually be a season-long subplot. Or maybe it will be with many twists and turns.

Speaking of the Bennets - Claire is still an idiot. "Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself." So she sticks her hand in a bunsen burner, and then does a flip off a tower and breaks her legs. Lucky for her she's only being figured out by that one guy so far.

The whole family is obviously miserable, but Noah had the one kick-ass scene of the whole show, when he takes down the most annoying manager character seen in a long time. Like he has time for that shit.

No Nikki/Jessica and family so far. That's okay.

They killed Sulu? We don't even know what his power was! Maybe it's to fake death.

So all the Company's founders have powers? Well we know that Nathan & Peter's dad didn't (read the comics), and we know what Linderman's was. What about Momma Petrelli? Eric Roberts' character? Shame they didn't let us in on that.

Maya and Alejandro could be an interesting dynamic. Which way do they go? What exactly is her power?

And finally, Hiro in the past. We knew Kensei was white from the casting, being British is kinda cool too. Being a mercenary coward drunk is pretty much par for the course, and now Hiro will maybe make him a hero? Who knows.

......

All-in-all, an "eh" episode. I really wanted to like the premiere, and I really wanted it to suck me in again. Of course, last season started off weakly and picked up about 3 or 4 episodes in, so I'll give it a chance. The preview for the season managed to give us nothing to entice me, but let out a few more surprises that would have been so much better as, you know, SURPRISES.

I don't have a marketing or advertising degree, but here NBC, some free advice. FIRE YOUR FUCKING MARKETING DEPARTMENT. Heroes is a show that extends a story for an entire season. What kept people coming back last year were the "holy shit!" moments, when an actor appeared, or a character died, or some huge plot twist occurred, which kept us interested in next week. We knew New York wasn't going to explode (but we all kind of hoped), but the question was what ELSE would happen. Of course, the answer is "nothing." When you finish a season with 3 main characters possibly dead, the absolute most moronic thing you can do is SHOW THEIR FACES IN THE PREVIEWS. Are you so paranoid that nobody's going to watch that you decide to give away the farm in the previews to entice them? Guess what? It has the opposite effect. No wonder nobody watches your channel.

Oh, and Journeyman? Kinda sucked. It's a shame, because the lead seems decent. Quantum Leap did it far better 18 years ago. I don't think I've seen a cast I could care less about.

Where's my Battlestar Galactica? Oh yah, that's right.. not until 2008, and then after half a season we get to wait ANOTHER year for the 2nd half. Bravo Sci-Fi.... hey wait, isn't that part of NBC too? NBC Universal sucks balls. Keep it up and my TV schedule will be strictly the Stewart-Colbert double-bill every Monday-Thursday at 11 and the Leafs.

Hors D'Oeuvres are picked. Tonight I start putting together music and cleaning up.

And now, hockey! All you fantasy football junkies can bite me. Seriously, I couldn't care less... I watch the Superbowl, and that's about it. Yah, I'm that guy, wanna fight about it?

Hockey season kicks off next week. For us fans in Toronto (and the rest of the Leafs nation around the world) it's been a loooooong off-season, what with the Leafs sucking like a Hoover and missing the playoffs by one point. Spare me the crybaby story about New Jersey not trying against the Islanders, the Leafs win ONE more game and they're in the playoffs, but they didn't have the stones to pull it off.

And this season? They're gonna suck just as much. 11th place in the conference is my predicition. And I've been a fan since Brad Marsh and Gary Leeman were our big guys and Bester and Ing were letting pucks get past them. I almost miss the Brophy years. At least nobody pretended like the Leafs had a shot then.

Let's look at the off-season acquisitions: Jason Blake and Veska Toskala. I KNEW we'd get Blake. Why? Because he's an overpriced old guy who had a career year on a crappy team and we just HAD to overpay him for 5 years. No way he gets 40 goals again this season. I hope I'm wrong.

Toskala - best backup in the league last year. Should have been a starter apparently. Well, he'll get his chance. Especially since Pogge is still too young and Raycroft his showing his usual "brilliance" between the pipes. Guy's looked shakey so far.

So maybe Toskala is the next Sawchuck, Roy, Brodeur, or Hasek. Hell, I'd be happy with the next Khabibulin or Irbe. And maybe Blake gets 30-40 goals and works with Sundin and the Leafs get into the playoffs. I certainly hope so.

Or maybe 11th will be looking good. Fucking Leafs head office. Fire that no-talent loser of a GM Ferguson and while you're at it, kick Peddie to the curb with him. That guy has done more damage to the properties of MLSE than I thought possible. Look at the Raptors - as soon as they told him to get his fucking hands out of that cookie jar and they replaced his dumbass GM hire with the best GM in the league, the team turned around in ONE season. Do you think maybe 40 years of loyalty from your beleagured (and huge) fan base could warrant someone who knows WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE DOING in charge? Of course not, because Leafs fans are sheep who will keep paying hundreds of dollars for a seat despite not getting a sniff of the finals for 14 years. It could be worse, we could be in Chicago.... or Mets fans.

Go Leafs Go.



4 days left.

The Weekend

As far as weekends go, this one wasn't bad. Relaxing if nothing else.

Friday was a hellish day at work, so I met up with a buddy and had a few beverages and some food while watching the Jays piss away a 4-0 lead over the Yankees. I'm shocked Halladay hasn't killed someone yet with the way his bullpen treats him. Guy's one of the (if not THE) best pitchers in the majors and he keeps getting screwed by his teammates. We left before the good guys (Jays) won it in the 14th.

Saturday I hung out with my bestest friend all day. We walked down Queen W to The Spice Trader & Olive Pit where I picked up a bunch of spices and oils I may never use. She was a bit more conservative in her purchases. That said, I can't wait to find a use for the 10-year aged balsamic vinegar, olive oil from the Isle of Lesbos, Barolo vinegar, habanero powder, ground cardamom, ground lemongrass, dried lemongrass, and chai masala. I'm thinking my favourite bread-dipping mixtured of balsamic vinegar and blood orange olive oil will be even more awesome with the aged balsamic. Dinner was some pretty good (if very slow) Indian at a restaurant around the corner from me. This is a street that is nothing BUT restaurants and patios, and I still haven't tried them all after 2 years.

Then I played the Midnight Madness and someone left my card rack for me. I have screenshots, but they're at home and I'm not:

Started with TT

Hand #6: 56o in the BB Flops the set, turns the boat. Minimal pay here since a board of Q66Q with the 6 is a good way to go broke.
#7: AA loses to QT (or something) with the rivered trips.
#8: AA (yes, consecutive rockets) wins against some donk with a donk hand.
#9: KQo flops the TP Q and holds against Qx.
#11: AJo gets folded wisely
#12: 99
#14: TT

etc.. Then I got pushed out of a few flops that whiffed me and undoubtedly helped others before pushing with AK and an M of 8 and running into AA (which as soon as I pushed I KNEW was going to happen). It's nice to get the cards again, now I need them later.

Sunday my friend came over again, she made some breakfast, and we hung out at the house all day. I managed to get Bioshock running on my (spontaneously ancient) computer and was torn between being addicted to that or Peggle. Peggle won. Go figure. Of course, now my friend is addicted as well. I did manage to make a pretty tasty dinner that involved honey-garlic elk sausage, seasoned chicken breast (with a smokey theme), rotini, and vodka sauce with a few random veggies. A healthy green salad and garlic-toasted Lekkerbrot bread was also included. Not bad considering the scarcity of ingredients at my place.

Oh, another drink, created on Sunday:

2:1:1 Vodka, Melon Liqueur, and Apricot Brandy, stirred with ice. Strain into tall glass, fill with peach cocktail. Yum. Any naming suggestions?

And then we watched the season premiere of Family Guy - a one-hour long homage to Star Wars. It was brilliant at times, and I haven't laughed that hard at TV in a long time. Seth Green (as Chris) getting in the long Robot Chicken plug at the end topped it off well. Tonight Heroes returns.

Heroes.... oy. Somewhere in the archives is me bitching about the finale. If the previews are any indication, I did so quite rightly. Not only do they give away a lot in the commercials, but it looks to totally wipe out Tim Kring's original plan for the series. I feel bad for the guy if there's as much network interference as it seems. I'll hope for the best though and watch tonight... they had better win me back.

MATH tonight, but I'm running off very little sleep, so I have no idea if I'll be in any shape to play. Maybe I can squeeze a nap in somewhere tonight.




5 days to go.

The Other Day...

"I found a dollar on the sidewalk the other day. But it was American. So it was kind of like picking up garbage."

-Me, today.

1.0015 US dollars for 1 Canadian, or vice-versa, 1 US dollar will get you 0.9985 cents in Canada (we'll round down of course) . Our money is now, once again, worth MORE than the greenback.

Not My Month

I've lamented the bad beats and other statistical anomolies of the past month on here. I've been less revealing about what a donk it's turned me into (then again, I was a donk before this). Needless to say, the combination of bad cards and bad play hasn't resulted in a good time for me.

I played live last night and a tepid deck and weak, WEAK play from me resulted in a nearly ouster from the tournament. Oddly enough, my final play was my strongest read, where I pushed a cutoff raiser from the button with 77, putting him on a steal. My all-in was less than 2x his raise, so he obviously called, caught his Q on the flop, and I was done.

So then I bought in short to the cash game, knowing I would be toast. My KK lost to 35s and I went home. I'm sure I played the hand horribly, but teh awfuckits were going strong.

I get black kings in MP, raise to $7 ($1-2 NL), get called by 3 players. Flop comes T4T, two spades. BB bets $15 and I just can't put him on the T (he's not a bluffer, but the $15 isn't enough to scare out a flush draw in this game, but I figure is too big to be a slow play), so I call, button calls as well. Turn is a red 2, BB bets $25 which puts me all-in, I call and the button calls. River is 8s and my head drops, BB checks, button bets, BB calls saying, "you've got it." Never see the BB's cards, but the button has 35s and I'm done. I figure at this point the BB had the T after all. The guy with the 35s played it well enough, since he had 15 outs on the turn and only had to call $25 into a $110 pot.

That was it. I walked home and fired up the Mook, which I also played like ass. Except this time I let go of my kings in the face of jackace on the board. So I think I'm now officially in a poker funk. I think that outside of blogger games, I'm just going to play ultra low-limit SnG's for a while and try and get this out of my system at minimal loss.

Save Your Pennies

"I found a dollar on the sidewalk the other day. But it was Canadian. So it was kind of like picking up garbage."

-Ellen Degeneres, about 10 years ago.

There was once a time when you could get $1.50 Canadian for $1 US. 30 some-odd years ago though, the Canadian dollar (long before it became "The Loonie") was worth more than the greenback. Then the gold standard was dropped and a floating rate vs USD was adopted. Since that time, our humble Loonie has become the butt of jokes. We've lamented the huge price differences between US and Canadian retail purchases. Trips south of the border cost 50% more than we really wanted.

Today, at 10:59am, the mighty Loonie was dead-even with the US dollar. Hell, it flashed 1.0001 at one point. Hellllloooooo parity.

Of course, this hurts Canadian exporters and anyone else getting paid in US dollars in Canada (including my best friend), but it's a psychological point of pride. Now if only the damned retail prices would fall in line. I think we're all getting a bit tired of paying 20-50% more for something in Canada than it is in the States. Somebody's making a mint off the slow catch-up. Don't feed me any crap about market response time either, because those prices move the other way plenty quick when the dollar drops.

Regardless, Vegas is now a lot cheaper than it was in June.

Paradise By the Rangehood Light

1 large egg
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
around a cup of bread crumbs, moistened with milk
3/4 cup diced onions (yellow and red)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp of sundried tomato pesto (thank you evergreeen farmer's market)
balsamic vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
dried parsley (only because I didn't have fresh)
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

I think that was it...

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat some oil in a sauté pan, put the onions in and stir to coat (tossing this many will make a mess), cover and cook on low until clear but not browned. Let them cool a bit.

Beat the egg in a mixing bowl

Put everything (including the onions) in the bowl. Mix it all with your hands (this is why you let the onions cool a bit, otherwise - ow).

Taste-test it by frying up a small bit in a pan (maybe the pan you did the onions in?), and eating it. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Transfer to a loaf pan, or shape it foil on a baking sheet, or whatever you want to do.

Put pan in oven for 1 hour. Remove and let sit for 10-15 min.

Enjoy the kick-ass meatloaf you just made.

My Usual Seat

I go out, and the final table bubble bursts at the MATH. I should have gone out much earlier after two asinine calls on my part, both with A2, both against AT. One I lost most of my stack, and the other split the pot with a paired board and J.

Then these happened two hands apart:





DQB times TWO! BOTH against flopped top 2 pair AQ. RNG in da HOUSE! See? I told you.

TIFF Finale

It was a busy weekend that ended with a bevy of adorable cats and kittens. That's why this final review is up 3 days late.

Friday night I saw Weirdsville. Oddly enough, I didn't realize it was a Canadian production until I was in the theatre. Starring Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley, and directed by Allan Moyle (Pump Up The Volume, Empire Records) it's the story of two stoners and their night that involved drug pushers, a not-quite-dead prostitute girlfriend, satanists, medieval dwarves, hippie millionaires, and sprayable mayonnaise. It was a great way to end the festival.

Dexter (the quite, contemplative one) and Royce (the ideas man) are in debt to a drug pusher. To avoid getting their thumbs cut off, they take a job selling drugs to cover the debt. This is really just to buy time to rip off a safe from a millionaire hippie who is in the hospital. Things go wrong, Royce's girfriend Matilida (Taryn Manning) dies, and they go to bury her at an abandoned drive-in. Here they run into some satanists and the chase is on. Dwarves get involved later, paths cross, hilarity ensues.

It was a fun movie. The production value was quality, especially for a 17 day shoot. There is an undeniable chemistry between Bentley and Speedman. You could honestly believe their friendship was genuine. They were often at the verge of killing one another, but were obviously there for their friend. This chemistry propelled the film through its strange twists and turns.

The Canadian references were subtle enough that they were appreciated by the audience without making the movie unintelligible to a non-Canuck audience. The comedy was universal, and the light-hearted tone of the whole film meant the expected resolution and denouement was acceptable in its context. Definitely a worthwhile viewing.

---------

The fest this year was very good. Solid films throughout, and my selection of films was one of the broader ones I've had.

My Winnipeg - Guy Maddin's trippy black and white homage to getting the hell out of his hometown. Won best Canadian film at the fest.

Chacun Son Cinema - 35 3-minute shorts from some the world's greatest directors about the experience of cinema. Not a one that didn't draw in the audience in its short allotment of time.

Erik Nietzsche The Early Years - Lars Von Trier's struggles with the Danish film school.

American Venus - A woman goes nuts without her guns while visiting us crazy Canadians.

Breakfast with Scot - A gay ex Maple Leaf-cum-broadcaster tries to straighten out his gay quasi-nephew.

Vexille - An ass-kicking future raid of Japan in one of the most visually jaw-dropping animated films I've seen.

Honeydripper - John Sayles serves another multi-course feast of a movie that leaves you feeling satisfied and happy. Blues becomes Rock 'N Roll and saves a bar in 1950's Alabama.

Walk All Over Me - Tricia Helfer and Leelee Sobieski are dominatrixes (dominatricies?) with gangster problems.

Sukiyaki Western Django - Japanese Samurai Spaghetti Western in Japanese-pronounced English from the mind of Takeshi Miike. Weirdly brilliant.

Weirdsville - Two stoners, drug pushers, dead girlfriends, satanists, dwarves, hippies, and lives saved with baby powder.


It was a great time, here's looking forward to TIFF 2008.

The Wind...

James Oliver Rigney Jr died yesterday. He was better known as Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series.

It started in 1990 with Eye of the World, and now, 11 books later, the author has succumbed to cardiac amyloidosis. My initial thought? "Son of a bitch, now it will never be finished." He continued to work on the final book in the series, but it was far from finished. His cousin stated that he sat down with him and was told the whole story a couple months ago, but knowing the plot and knowing the details are two different things. Here's hoping somebody is able to finish it off and offer closure to the people who have put up with the series for 17 years.

It's sad that he's passed, and I mean no disrespect, but his landmark tale should have been finished years ago. From book 5 onwards the whole thing went downhill. What started as a detailed and engrossing story became a long, drawn-out mess that went into excruciating detail about the smallest minutiae. He chased endless characters when he should have stuck to maybe 3 or 4. People very definitely killed were brought back to life. The same, asinine running jokes continued through all eleven books loooooong after they'd become tired.

The general theory is that he decided to stretch out a popular and profitable series as much as possible. Whether this was due to his own greed or that of his publisher isn't known. What is known is that the books approached 1000 pages in length, and NOTHING happened in them after book 4 or 5. This should have been a trilogy, or at worst a decology, but it ended up being 12 books, with the last still unfinished. Maybe his editors just stopped doing their job.

RIP Mr. Rigney. By all accounts you were a nice guy, and a talented storyteller. I just wish you'd cut out the crap years ago and finished your series finished before you did.

Randomness

Going to my last TIFF film tonight - Weirdsville. Should be good. Also, weird.

Top 10 most polluted places in the world. I recommend not reading this while eating.

Actually won an SnG on Tilt last night with aggressive play and hands holding up. Wonders never cease.

Busy weekend coming up. Lots of driving. Good, I haven't done much driving recently, and it's always good to get out on the road.

Congrats to The Goat on the new addition. Everybody popping out kids these days. Me? I'm getting a cat.

15 days until greatest day of the year. This year it will be on a boat. I hope.

5 days until Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARRRRR!

Work self-assessments suck.

Terry Fox Run this weekend. Go out and raise some money for cancer research. Me? I pledged because I'm lazy but have disposable income.

I am soooooo lazy. Also, I procrastinate. Which is why I post so much. Oooh! Insight into my psyche! Use it wisely.

I find myself in a spot. I bought ground beef and pork last night to make meatloaf. Then my bestest friend gave me spaghetti so I didn't make meatloaf. But I have salmon for tonight, and will be out tomorrow. Maybe meatloaf on Sunday? Oh the trials and tribulations! Must use it before the meat spoils.

ANTS!

Why are you still reading this? It's like a train wreck. You can't look away, because you've been pinned to the ground by the locomotive.

Choo choo!

Sitting in front of a TV with the volume down all day really helps you appreciate commercials and if they can communicate their message without narrative.

The results are in - people are seeing strange shit on Tilt. Especially quads. Dillo also pointed out the odd occurrences of the same hands happening consecutively, right down to the suits. I've noticed this too.

TIFF this year has been very good. Lots of really solid films. Other than one disappointment, I've been happy.

Iceland pics... really need to get those sorted and up soon. Someone kick my ass into gear on this.

Who's going to Vegas in Dec? I'll be there, it'll be a blast. Now I just need to figure out accommodations... and book my flight.

Know what's annoying? When you find a great camera, buy it at a great price, and then when you want to buy another a few months later as a gift, it's $120 more than you paid, even though it's 1 1/2 years old, discontinued, and in the outlet store.

Glad to hear Kat's healthy. Physically at least... who knows about her psychological wellness. I kid. Don't run me down with your sleek black death machine.

Shit, I have a housewarming tomorrow and no housewarming gift to give. Liquor store, here I come!

How can I lose 10 lbs and get in shape in 2 weeks? Obviously I mean without dieting, exercise or surgery.

Hovnanian is offering discount prices for this weekend only. So if you want to buy a new luxury home for only a semi-ridiculous price, get on that! (I have no idea about any of this other than CNBC has been running it for the last hour).

Wait, Hoy has a new post up. That's how I can do it. Constant Wii playing for the next 2 weeks! I mean, the thing's generally gathering dust because I spend all my free time in front of the computer if I'm not cooking. I need to finish Excite Truck, get back to Paper Mario, and start wailing on my score in Wii Sports. Not to mention the other 4 or 5 games I have for it... and all the Gamecube games.

BTW - made banana bread last night. Yum. Mom's recipe, Alton Brown's method. Tonight will be the return of salmon. I was going to do the peach-mint reduction again, but now I'm wondering if I feel more like teriyaki & mustard. Maybe some ginger too (if it's still good). Lemon on the side, sweet potato fries. Snow peas, corn on the cob... hmmm. Remember kids, don't marinate your fish in citrus, it will "cook" the fish before you cook it.

Tried a new lunch place today, Z-teca. Burritos, tacos, etc.. Not bad, especially for a food court.

Ugh, places to be after work. Try and negotiate that camera price down, and then go pick up a package from Amazon. I don't get it. I HAVE 24-hour conceirge service, why the hell can't the post office just leave the package with them? Everyone else does. Now I need to walk 15 minutes (BOTH WAYS) to pick up a DVD and a book. I shouldn't have ordered the book, it takes away from possible birthday gifts. D'oh!

Don't get me wrong, I actually love walking around the city. I'm just lazy. Have I mentioned that? I also love swimming, but my pool is all the way downstairs, across the hall from the gym, and above the squash court. I should use these facilities some time instead of giving money away with this poker habit.

My poker club has moved to 800 metres away from my door. How awesome is that?

I'm thirsty. Maybe I'll go get some juice.

There's nothing like pledging someone in their run and finding out you put them over the top.

Yah, juice, gonna get me some.

Mmm.. Powerzone smoothie. Strawberries, pineapple, tropical nectar, orange juice, ginseng, ginko, echinacea... and toss in some lecithin and thermogenic herbs. Tasty, AND it provides 979% of my daily vitamin C needs and 3 servings of fruit. The peach and grapes I had this morning add some more. I'm so darned healthy.

Holy shit! The Canadian dollar is worth 0.9710 cents US (1.0294 the other way). That's a 30-year high easily methinks. Could it reach par value by the end of summer? I didn't think so, but now I'm not so sure. Soon all those Canadian dollar jokes will be turned back on you USA! Just you wait.

Ok, it should be obvious by now that I have absolutely nothing of consequence to say today.

Entertainment News

"I can hardly wait for Oscar's tribute to montages."

"And none of these issues were ever a problem again."

"This just in, it's now easier out there for a pimp."

Yes sir, Jon Stewart will be back as the host of the Oscars. Awesome. Not that I don't like Ellen Degeneres, but she was way too tame last year. Chris Rock was great too ("If you want Denzel and all you can get is ME? Wait."). Then again, I have a great appreciation for sarcasm and irony.

Sucking in the Big Stacks

Go read Hoyazo's latest post on inducing all-in bets. It's good stuff. However, he doesn't cover how to suck in the stacks bigger than yours. So here's my advice:

1.- Get dealt consecutive premium hands. (AA, KK, AK, maybe QQ if you're feeling saucy)
2.- Push all-in from any position with them
3.- By the 3rd great hand in a row, the big stack should be annoyed and call you. Sucker!

*NB: This only works if your name is Astin. Also, if it's the last few weeks on Tilt, you'll get totally rivered by QTo. If your name is Bayne, you can play with any 3 consecutive hands because you'll likely flop quads or the nut boat or something.

Penultimate TIFF

Two more films last night, one more on Friday. The two-day break is nice, it will let me nap tonight.

First was the world premiere of Walk All Over Me, my 4th Canadian film of the fest. Starring Tricia Helfer (Number Six/Caprica on BSG) and Leelee Sobieski it's was introduced with, "It has bondage and gangsters, what more could you want?" Well, a direction and believability would be good. I think it was meant to be a comedy.

It starts off with Sobieski's character (Alberta) running from some shady business and her boyfriend getting the crap kicked out of him. She arrives at her sister Celene's (Helfer) place in Vancouver claiming she wants to start over. Turns out her sister is a dominatrix who's life plan is to save enough to afford acting school in LA. Alberta ruins Celene's Nazi outfit and takes on her own client to pay her back. In the middle of her session, some bad guys break in and cause trouble. What follows is her and Celene trying to get some stolen money, vengeance, and their attempts to save Alberta's client (who she of course has a thing for).

Now there's nothing unappealing about seeing Helfer or Sobieski (when the hell did she fill out?) in various BDSM gear, but you need substance to make the audience stay. The lead baddie (Lothaire Bluteau as Rene) was quite good with a nuanced and original performance. His henchmen were also more interesting than your run-of-the-mill tough guys. Seeing Helfer kick ass was also great. The problem is that the script relies on Alberta. Sobieski was fine, but the character was annoying as hell. She was supposed to be comic, but the running gags (Alberta's terrible driving, her constant cry of, "I'll make it up to you." no matter how out-of-control the situation, etc.) got old really fast, and seldom elicited more than a chuckle from the audience. She repeatedly does the most moronic things, is completely uncomfortable, and her big turnaround at the end isn't so much impressive and cheer-worthy as it is expected. The character failed to generate any empathy as a complete fuck up.

Plus, the only time I felt any emotion was the uncomfortable tension during the opening 10-15 minutes. After that the film just... existed.

So the acting was solid, and most of the characters were interesting. Unfortunately the script was severely lacking, the main character was annoying, and the whole thing was shot in Winnipeg, which was obviously not Vancouver, at least to me, and I imagine anybody else who has spent any amount of time wandering the streets of that city. It wasn't a BAD film, it just wasn't a good one, it was a thriller/comedy that was neither thrilling nor all that comic. By the end I was pretty upset I'd been soaked through in a downpour on the way over instead of staying home for this one.

Plus, the over 4 rows of seats reserved for cast, crew, guests, and the jury cut into the available seating for the rest of us. ALL the guest showed up, which delayed the start 15-20 minutes as they tried to find their seats.

However, I then had a midnight showing of Takeshi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django. I am so glad this finished my night instead of the other. A truly strange and wonderful Samurai Western. Yes... take a plot worthy of Sergio Leone (and inspired by Sergio Corbucci's Django), put it in a small Japanese mountain village, cast an all Japanese cast (with one noteable and great exception in Quentin Tarantino), and have them all speak English with Japanses inflection (which results in subtitles that were largely unnecessary), and you've got a pretty unique experience.

A lone stranger rides into a town besieged by two gangs (Heiki and Genji, who are red and white respectively) in search of treasure. He offers up his services after an impressive display of gunmanship. He then learns how the village came to its current state and does what any gunman does - takes on the gangs and settles some scores with guns ablaze. Of course, this is Miike, so there's blood, humour, popular movie references (the Sheriff does his best Gollum, there's some bargain-basement Matrix-like effects done for humour, etc..), and tons of traditional Western lines. It couldn't Japanese without mythical references, chosen ones, and general weirdness.

The whole thing is one wild ride, and a Midnight Madness audience is perfect for it, and vice-versa. It was a blast, and the perfect tonic for the disappointment of earlier in the night. One friend described it as "weirdly brilliant" and he was right.

You're Not Fooling Anybody Full Tilt

Played in the MATH last night, which I think is the first time since last week's Mookie that I've been on Full Tilt. I'm very tempted to limit myself to blogger games there these days. Hoy's talked about, IG's withdrawn her funds, I believe Columbo, Goat and Kat have alluded to it as well. Full Tilt has become the hub for suckouts, bad beats, and statistical anomalies. Is it just variance hitting in a BIG way against bloggers? Just a run of bad luck? Are Tilt's servers running at maximum capacity and it's affecting things? Or is it more conspiracy-laden and are these donkey-loving oddities a result of the school starting up and the site trying to attract and keep all those kids who are on their own for the first time? Were they hacked?

I'm not one to subscribe to the idea of the fix being in, but I think some code-auditing might be in order at Tilt to make sure everything's running as it should be.

Last night in The Hoy was suckout central. This actually isn't very uncommon in our weekly gathering, but after the last few weeks, it was perhaps more obvious. Twice I sucked out with a set on the river (66 vs Bayne's QQ, and 99 vs Cayne's AQ with a Q on the flop), and went out when Hoy's 99 rivered the set against my AK (K on the flop). I know there were others, but those were the ones I saw.

Maybe it's just an increase in donkeys, so while you could normally scare out a hand like QTo with a 4x BB raise pre-flop, you now get some donk who calls out of position and calls you all the way down because the T was on the flop, or they have an inside straight draw and no amount of pot-sized bets will scare them off. Regardless, it's annoying as hell.

So I've been playing on back on Stars more often now. You know what? It's been better. I'm cashing and bubbling SnG's with far fewer bad beats. If I'm losing, most of the time it's due to my own stupidity or a legitimate call catching cards against me. The number of bad beats is totally believable compared to Tilt. I should give Absolute a shot too, that place was always strangely good to me, although there's not a lot of action to be found.

One other thing - quads. Has anybody else (I've noticed a few) seen a jump in how many quads they're getting? I went months without seeing anything, and in the last couple weeks I've gotten quads at least 5 or 6 times, and considering I've played maybe 20-25 games (all SnG) in that time that seems like a high percentage.

Maybe it is just statistical, but damn it's annoying. Besides, 32% of all statistics are made up.

Tiff, Part Wow

Honeydripper. Wow.

Favourite movie of the festival, bar none. I'm looking at my last three and I know there's no way they'll match up. Oh, and the world premiere to boot (making it #5 so far for me this year, there's something special about being among the first to see a film).

John Sayles' work about blues becoming rock n' roll in 1950 Alabama. Of course, it's not about that at all. It's about moving forward. It's about change. It's about people. It's about letting go and holding on. It's about risks, faith, luck, and love. It's 2 hours, and like every Sayles movie, it's a walk through the story. The people and the tale unfold and you become invested in their lives. All of this with music in the background, providing bridges between the verses, causing everything to flow together.

Danny Glover deserves to be recognized for his performance. Charles S. Dutton does too, but he might be overlooked simply because he plays that part so well as it is. The whole cast was great, even Sayles' usual token appearance.

I won't give away much about the film, not because there are any great twists or shocking moments, but because like any good story, you need to discover it yourself to truly appreciate it.

It will be opening in NY and LA end of the year for Oscar consideration, and find wide release in 2008. If you get the chance, go see it and try to leave without feeling uplifted.

-------

One thing I always like about the fest is leaving one film and seeing the line for the next. There are always moments. Last year was the huge crowd for Borat as I was leaving one film. Michael Moore walking the red carpet and me wondering, "Why? It's not his movie." This year it was the rush line for Lars and the Real Girl. Why? Because it was full of cute girls who I have little doubt were there for Ryan Gosling more than the film. I mean, it's a movie about a slightly off-kilter man who falls in love with a Real Doll and behaves as if she was a real person. I can only hope that it maybe opens up a few of the eyes that went in hoping for Gosling of The Notebook. By the way, it BARELY missed the cut for the 10 films I picked.

Britney

Am I really writing this? Really? There goes my street cred.

I somehow missed the MTV awards last night (read: didn't give a shit, and forgot they were even on), but it's impossible to miss the fallout. Three items seem to be garnering headlines: Britney's lacklustre performance, Britney's weight, and Sarah Silverman's jokes.

So after my America Ferrera comment the other day, I guess I should speak on Ms. Spears. Yes, she wasn't nearly as in solid shape as she was 5 years ago, or has ever been when performing. But let's not forget this is a 25 year-old girl (yes, I mean girl, she still has to grow up) who has 2 kids and apparently some sort of severe mental deficiency. Seriously, find me another woman who had 2 kids in about 2 years, gone through a messy divorce, been publicly humiliated and be in that sort of shape? Granted, she IS Britney Spears, and if she's not in super sex-kitten mega-shape, maybe she should have worn something less revealing... but it's not like she was muffin-topping there. Regardless, she was far from obese.

As for the performance - from what I've seen on the videos online, she was completely out of it. Whether she was high, hungover, drunk, exhausted, or just didn't care, I don't know. It's been obvious for a while now that she needs some serious help. Isn't this what PR reps are for? To strap her down and yell at her until she realizes all the money she's made, the fans she has, and what little scrap of reputation she has left are swirling the bowl for the last time before going away for good? Not that I care beyond the freakshow aspects of it all.

As for the lovely and delightful Ms. Silverman. I've been a HUGE fan of hers since she was a featured player on Saturday Night Live (you may remember her has the Chop Suey in Lunchlady Land). I saw Jesus is Magic at the Toronto Film Fest a couple years ago and laughed myself silly. Oddly enough, she was there and seemed remarkably uncomfortable in front of the audience... maybe because it was 1:30am. Anyway, her comments were AWESOME. Honest, crude, and ballsy as hell. If she wasn't so darned cute, I don't think she'd get away with half of what she says, and she knows it. Someone at the Jesus... screening said she had the soul of Lenny Bruce, I still think it's an apt comparison, although she perhaps lacks the political acumen that Mr. Bruce had. Or maybe she just doesn't care. Regardless, gold yet again.