2008 Poker Championships and Last Man Standing
- 8.30pm, Monday 16th June 2008
I'm enjoying the Euro 2008 championships at the moment. Like most people who've been watching the competition unfold, I've now got my money on Holland to win. It's the safe money given how well they've been playing. It's been a great tournament so far, and there's been a game on in the background of our living room every day since it started. I keep seeing adverts on the TV for betting-in-play, where you can place bets during matches on a bunch of different things like the final score, and how many yellow and red cards will be presented amongst other things. It's a good idea, and I might give it a whirl tonight or tomorrow.
If Football-betting isn't your thing, you could always get some practice of a different sort of game over at bet365 poker. They've got their very own 2008 competition in their 2008 Poker Championship, with $60,000 up for grabs. Even with the exchange rate being what it is, that's not a bad haul. They're also hosting a Last Man Standing competition with the top prize being entry into the World Series of Poker Main Event! You could be the proud owner of a WSOP bracelet if you can keep your poker face going long enough.
So even if you don't like football, there's still plenty of bet on this summer! See after the jump for the full press release:
Continue reading '2008 Poker Championships and Last Man Standing'...
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- 8.00pm, Monday 16th June 2008
Summer's the season of the Hollywood blockbuster, and during it you're guaranteed to have at least one great experience in the cinema, while you're cooling off in the air-conditioned confines of a cavernous Cineworld or Odeon.
But either Hollywood's having a very bad summer, or they're making us wait until the last few weeks of it to bring out the goods. Personally it's been a terrible season so far, and it all started with the new Indiana Jones film.
I won't talk about it, other than to say I really didn't enjoy it, and that there was a massive overuse of special effects in lieu of some really solid writing. It's a film I've decided to demote to the Temple of Doom in my brain, and to never mention it to anyone, ever.
Read more about the films I've watched on my movies page.
Almost holiday time
- 10.23pm, Wednesday 14th May 2008
It's almost holiday time! We'll be taking a break soon, and will have a week of sun, sea, and copious amounts of reading to look forward to. I doubt I'll ever get used to going on an aeroplane: it's just not natural for a land-mammal such as myself to be 37,000 feet in the air, strapped to a chair.
The last time I went away somewhere sunny was around five years ago: Bolan and I spent two weeks in Greece doing absolutely nothing except getting sunburnt, reading, and drinking Ouzo. It was a good holiday. I managed to read a very funny book while I was away: it was the autobiography of the wrestler, The Rock.
Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for our next trip away - with the exchange rate being so favourable for the British, it'd be worth trying to get some cheap flights to USA. If I went back though, I'd want to do the whole lot, starting on the East coast, sweeping down south to Florida, heading along the border, all the way to the West coast. From there, north, and then back east, to complete the full circle. I better get saving.
What I learned last week, part one
- 9.54pm, Wednesday 14th May 2008
Part one of a Kottke-cribbed series: what I learned this week.
- There's one known type of script that was written bottom to top, right to left. It's called Orkhon.
- David Blaine recently broke the world record for holding your breath underwater. His time: 17 minutes, 4.4 seconds.
- Garfield comics, minus Garfield can be very surreal.
- How to find and replace using MySQL. Nerdy, but handy.
AVP on DVD
- 3.56pm, Tuesday 13th May 2008
As much as I try not to give it away, I'm a bit of a Sci-fi fan. I rarely watch the genre, but when I do it's always exciting, and the combination of well-worn-in genres and technical innovation that typifies them is something that I always find comforting.
With this in mind, Alien v Predator : Requiem is out on DVD soon. It's a film I didn't manage to see at the cinema (from what I remember Cineworld in Brighton only had it on for a few days). It received some pretty scathing reviews, but I'm willing to ignore them and check it out. I always root for the Aliens, even though they'd gobble me up without a second thought.
Back, Hawk Down.
- 3.50pm, Tuesday 13th May 2008
It's been a while. I've taken a bit of a break from the blog, mainly due to the fact that it's sunny outside. I've also not seen many films recently, so there hasn't been much to write about. That being said though, here's a quick list of the films I have seen recently which I've most enjoyed:
- Gone Baby Gone resonated with me for what felt like forever - it's got an excellent moral quandry in it, which no-one will feel happy about pondering.
- Resurrecting the Champ is my contender for film of the year, even though we're not even halfway through 2008 yet.
- Joey and I recently sat down and rewatched the Scream Trilogy (well, I rewatched it, and she saw it for the first time). My appreciation for this film has really gone up after rediscovering how self-aware, and clever this franchise is.
Black Hawk Down is top of my to-watch list, and starting today, I'm back.
The Cottage
- 10.30pm, Friday 25th April 2008
A woman with sizeable breasts spewing vulgarities at a bumbling, neurotic, bloody nosed criminal in a country house for an hour and a half is an awful idea for a movie.
Read more about the films I've watched on my movies page.
Casinos love to give money away
- 9.42pm, Sunday 9th March 2008
Good news everybody! Yesterday I won the lottery. Not the entire lottery, mind you. 3 out of the required 6 numbers we're psychically predicted by me, and as a result ten pounds are all mine. I'm not sure what I'll spend it on; more lottery tickets, probably.
Gambling is quite an art form if you're looking to win more than a solitary ten pounds, and it's important to not just choose what to bet on, but where. That's why if you're looking to score big at an online casino, you should check out a few casino guides before you play. You could start off on a winning streak just by picking the right place to bet.
What am I on about? Well, for those of you unaware, a lot of casinos offer signup bonuses where they'll do the very generous deed of matching your signup deposits, so you can effectively double your money before you've gambled a penny.
Checking out a site like casino bluebook is a good bet to find out which casinos do this kind of thing - they have lists of the best casinos (their current favourite gives users a signup bonus of $888! Quite an offer), and they'll even tell you where the best bingo rooms and bookies are. The site may look very plain and unassuming, but a straight-forward list is all you really need. Just the facts are quite enough.
If you end up winning big thanks to your signup bonus, let me know!
Be Kind Rewind
- 10.07pm, Thursday 21st February 2008
Be Kind Rewind is a movie that misrepresented itself as a Jack Black extravaganza in the trailer. That approach may get bums in seats, but the film's about much more than JB acting all kooky. It doesn't do it in a heavy-handed way, but it silently preaches about the sense of community spirit our neighbourhoods used to have, and how nice it would be to resurrect that lost spirit. It's funny in places, but the one thing I'll remember from the film isn't the off-key, misquoted rendition of the Ghostbusters theme tune, but the dignified, low-key performance by Danny Glover.
It's not a film about redemption, or about fighting the system, but a film about restoring the memory of a culture now lost. The ending isn't Hollywood-obvious, but it's also not sad and upsetting. It's quiet, and thoughtful. Words weren't necessary at the end, because if you're paying attention, everything's summed up by what's left unsaid. A sleeper of a movie for the Philosophe lurking in your psyche.
Read more about the films I've watched on my movies page.
Assault on Precinct 13
- 10.40pm, Wednesday 20th February 2008
The opening scene really grabbed my attention, and John Leguizamo was excellent as the semi-eloquent junkie on a comedown, but it was pretty by the numbers stuff. Quite gratuitous for a popcorn movie.
Read more about the films I've watched on my movies page.
