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:

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.

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.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

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!

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.

What's a metaverse, then? Apparently it's "a portal for everyone who visits virtual worlds". In them you can "particiate in games, surveys, tasks, and contests and earn virtual world currency". This virtual currency can then be converted into other currencies in other virtual worlds, like Lindens in Second Life, or Peds in Entropia.

metaRL is offering free imvu credits if your virtual pockets are feeling empty, so it may be worth a visit if you're more Lint than Linden, or if you currently find yourself Ped-dyless. If you don't fancy the idea of getting involved in their community, or dislike surveys, you can even earn the meta-dough by fiddling with your myspace page.

Derealization is "an alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems strange or unreal."

How To Survive in Prison as an Innocent Man Convicted of a Sex Crime. James D. Anderson's a stronger man than I'll ever be.

Top 10 iTunes Smart Playlists. Handy.

Aah, running through the list of bingo slang wired into my brain never gets old. It's almost enough to want to play a quick round. The funny thing is, I never realised how popular it's become as an online activity. Sure, poker is always going to be big, as it's glamorous, and has a competitive aspect that can't be beaten (remember the first time you correctly figured out that someone was bluffing, and went to town on them?). However, bingo is really starting to catch up with it online. The online halls are taking more money than ever has done, and that amount of money is growing by the day.

Why am I telling you this, though? Well, the main reason is to help introduce my mini-review of BingoPort, a portal which exists to help introduce people to the world of online bingo, and to help find you somewhere to play.

The site's split into several sections: reviews, which dedicates a separate page to each bingo site, and includes information such as the minimum deposit required, and any opening bonuses that the site offers. It's handy if you've had your eye on a few sites, as it means you don't have to keep looking at the individual sites to get a lowdown on the types of games they offer. There's also a list of all the different bingo hall signup bonuses on one page, so you can compare and contrast the different offers, ultimately allowing you to get the best signup bonus you can for your money. They also have a list of sites you can visit to play a round or two of free bingo.

There's a forum which seems to be well populated, so if you fancy having a natter, you'll probably find like minded people to converse with. Hell, you could probably even can swap your calling slang with them!

All in all it's a handy site if you're looking to find a well established bingo site to frequent. My hint is to stick to the ones with the big signup bonuses, and not necessarily with the biggest names. The smaller sites often give better deals to help establish themselves.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days. The Valentines honored on February 14 are:

• Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae): a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
• Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae): He became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).

So it's wasn't necessarily about honouring loved ones, but started out as a way of acknowledging martyrs. Regardless of whether you're a sap or a grouch, you should probably send valentines day gifts anyway. I'm sure that deep down inside you'll enjoy it! Just a simple flower will do.

Nowadays all the invitations I receive are standard-issue white and blue, courtesy of the Facebook events invitation screen. It's all a little bit dull (except for Gareth and Emily's wedding invitations, which were full of heritage and character). I don't think that Facebook will be changing their events pages to make them more personable anyytime soon, so, it's time to bring back real-life, physical, full-colour invitations!

Here's a voucher you can use at VistaPrint, which'll give you 10 free birthday invitations when you buy a bunch from them. Use the code 'BlogInvite10', and help bring back schoolyard intimacy! Actually, that sounds a bit wrong, but you know what I mean!

It's left open quite nicely for a third film, giving National Treasure a potential shot to cash-in again at a later date. It's got that franchise appeal that the studios seem to be craving at the moment, and could potentially go on forever, provided The Wibberleys can keep weaving action with education in the great way they do.

Lifelock is a company that offers identity fraud protection by putting a block on any pre-approved credit decisions that may be taken out in your name. The credit is only given once your bank has called you, asking for verification and approval that the credit was requested by you. They also contact junk-mail solicitors on your behalf, and ask them to stop sending you mail. Sounds quite neat, and the CEO is so confident that the system works, he's popped his Social Security Number online, for any would-be fraudsters to try and use to impersonate him. Sounds like it could be good for the elderly, or those folks who have really good credit ratings, which are dying to be abused.

I hope he doesn't end up with egg on his face. For you reference, his SS# is 457-55-5462.