My quest for internet stardom moved forward this week when The Sneeze posted an email I sent in after my lifestyle failed to become more rock and roll upon wearing his rock and roll t-shirt. There's probably a lesson to be learned here, but learning is not very metal, so I say "nay" to learning.
Last weekend, the Wife and I took some time off for a much-needed break, and drove north to Mendocino and our first bed and breakfast experience. We found a B&B that we really liked, not only for what it was (centrally located, fantastic breakfast, stylishly appointed, fun art in the courtyard), but also what it was not (not a doily or flower-print, Victorian-style anything in sight). If you are heading that way, we highly recommend it.
We had a great weekend. We relaxed at a spa, ate fantastic food (as well as some bland food masquerading as fantastic), and did a lot of wandering around and window shopping. We bought very little, in part because most of the stores sold the same generic items you find in every other vacation/destination town: fudge that is not very good, but very expensive; a "fancy" toy store that sells the same stuff you can get anywhere, but for a whole lot more money; and the inevitable local artists and their galleries of marginal landscapes that I guess is meant to be a more upscale way of taking home memories. Mendocino does not have an old-timey photo place, but it's pretty much the only thing missing. The other reason we didn't buy much is because, for some reason we were not able to figure out, everything closed at around 2PM and didn't reopen till around 5. Some sort of hippie siesta, I think.
We also wandered around the coast, which was sunny enough to be beautiful, and cool enough to warrant extra layers of clothing. There are various chains and old pieces of wharf still on the trails; apparently Mendocino was a very busy port, but due to its crashing waves and irregular surf, a lot of the shipments had to be picked up by cranes off of the boats and swung ashore. I tried to pull one of the chains out of the ground...I was unsuccessful. I had this fantasy that, if I had been able to yank it out of the ground, the end would have been affixed to this giant bathtub plug, and the whole town would have been sucked into the Pacific. I guess, in retrospect, I am glad I was unsuccessful. My car was parked there.
Just finished The Postman, by David Brin, and not surprisingly, I liked it a lot. If you know me, you know my love of (a) novels set in a dystopic future, and (b) stories in general that deal with the breakdown of society and how people interact when there are no laws, no rules, no order (Lost, come back to me!). This book fit both bills nicely, and I would recommend it....watching Kevin Costner's three hour epic is a bit like having a great big Golden Retriever jump on your lap and lick your face, while waving a flag tied to its tail. It's big, floppy, uncoordinated, overeager, sometimes gorgeous -- occasionally a bit goofy -- and so big-hearted that something inside of you has to give... that is, if you like that sort of thing.
On a couple of occasions when I have forgotten that I have TiVo and don't have to watch commercials, I have seen some ads for this group, touting themselves as do-gooders because they are providing free or reduced prescription medicines. One of the commercials I saw has grateful recipients (or actors playing such), talking about how they would have died or come close without this program.
Over the weekend, I took what was possibly the worst bad beat in poker I have ever taken; it was the true definition of a "bad beat," in that I had this guy dominated at the turn, and the river brought the one card in the deck that could have saved him. I lost a little over $40 on one hand, and that pretty much cooled my play for the rest of the weekend.
I guess it is appropriate that, on the anniversary of the third day after the anniversary of the death of Diana, Bret chose to cut Sam, the people's skanky bitch. I had hoped for a Sam/Jes final two, but now it is not to be. Sam, you lived your time in the Rock of Love house like a candle in the wind...a purple and black skull candle from Hot Topic with a Hello Kitty ribbon tied around it (for the irony, of course), but a candle none the less. I will miss you, even though I have to admit that I agree with Bret that the likelihood of you handling his touring/groupie lifestyle is suspect at best. "Winning" the show for the "privilege" to date a balding rock star from the 80s may no longer be in your future, Sam, but you're a winner in my books.
After the airport run, I drove straight up 101 to the River Rock Casino for their Saturday morning No Limit Hold 'Em tournament. I liked the structure a lot; reasonable buy-in, lots of players, T10,000 in chips, and 20-minute blinds. Having a lot of starting chips and slower blinds allows you to actually play poker, instead of encouraging crazy all-in moves from the start. I will definitely make the drive again. I made the final table, coming in 7th place, and got back my entry fee times two. Nice. Then, it was on to the 3-6 Limit table, where I played for about three hours, and managed to almost triple my buy-in. I hit some very nice hands, including winning four large pots in a row that made up the bulk of my money. Limit poker is all about patience, and even more so when you are playing in person, and you see a fraction of the number of hands you see online. Today, I was the spider, and their chips were the flies.
We were watching an episode of Big Love last night, and after yet another scene where Bill, the husband, has to untangle the Gordian knot of infighting between his multiple wives, I mentioned casually that I would be a bad polygamist. The Wife, answering so quickly that I got a little frightened that she can, in fact, read my mind, and therefore sees through the various gauzy veils of ironic deception that make up my life, (such as how I only watch Rock of Love because I used to listen to Poison as a young man and keep waiting for the episode when C.C. DeVille shows up at the house, rather than the truth, which is I am worried that it will come down to Sam and Jes, because then who will I root for? The creative editing for next week's ep seems to imply that Sam may finally have her meltdown and need to go, but I am holding out hope for my fave rocker grrrl) said, "Yes, you would be a terrible polygamist."
I am a man of many titles: husband, attorney, barbecue sauce spokesperson. But now, thanks to my new see-through grills, I can add one more: pimp. That's right, pimp. My motions in limine are straight gangsta, yo! 
In what may be the best movie promotional campaign ever, 7-11 converted twelve of its stores into Kwik-E-Marts to promote the upcoming Simpsons movie. When I found out that one was within easy driving distance, I knew my mission was clear. As you can see from the photo, many people shared my mission, to the point where they had a bouncer letting people in a few at a time. If you wanted to just buy something normal...sorry...
Immediately inside is your Hindu friend and mine, Apu, welcoming all customers and assuring you that you will be gouged. Other life-sized supporting characters include Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Ralph, and the most inspired, Jasper inside the ice freezer as Frostilicus.
There was a small selection of show-themed items, including Squishees, Buzz Cola (fountain, not cans...dammit...), Frosted Krusty-Os cereal [sold out, "should get more tomorrow"], issue #711 (get it?) of Radioactive Man [also sold out, also theoretically in tomorrow], and of course, Homer's favorite pink donuts, here being stocked by a Kwik-E-Mart employee who, like his coworkers, seemed very surprised that there were so many people intentionally coming into his otherwise crappy store.
Question: if, as I would be inclined, I named/dressed my team for the World Series of Pop Culture in Simpsons-themed sports garb, most likely either the Isotopes (obvious) or the Meltdown (more obscure and therefore cooler/nerdier), would the producers be less likely to include Simpsons questions for us? If my homage to the greatest television show ever would decrease the likelihood of getting Simpsons questions, would it make more sense to go a different route (like "The Solar Sailors" team with Tron, Sark and Clu shirts? That would be pretty tubular), and increase the odds of getting Simpsons questions so that I may devastate all that stand before me? 
We just got home from seeing Once, and I am still smiling. This movie is a beautiful, tender story, told over and around the music written and performed by the two leads. Being a jaded moviegoer, I kept waiting for the ugly part, and thankfully, it never came. If you have a chance to go see this movie, do so; if you are disappointed, I will be amazed.
I haven't actually seen any of these movies, but I can't say that the death of torture porn makes me sad. In fact, the way it is dying actually gives me hope; instead of angry politicians and offended parent groups calling for boycotts and tougher ratings systems, people are simply not going to see these movies as much. As the dollars dwindle, so will future offerings, like this one I keep seeing advertised on the train. 
The Wife and I took advantage of a rare sunny day in the City and took a walk today to the Conservatory of Flowers in the park. It reopened a few years ago, and I loved that the renovations kept the older style in mind. 
"Oh, come on. Let me guess, she has some winning lottery tickets in her purse, too?
My better half ruled the poker tables; she monied in a tournament, and then took down a couple locals at a cash game, netting us enough money to almost pay off the whole trip. The cash game was a step up for us; we played $1-$2 No Limit, a style of poker we play in the tournaments, but there is a HUGE difference between throwing tournament chips into the pot and throwing actual money in there. We played for a couple hours; she almost tripled her buy in, and I walked away with $14 more than I sat down with. Both wins, right? Right? By the way, we didn't play at the CalNeva; I took this pic in memory of any number of law school discussions about venue that always took place at the CalNeva. Nothing like a good venue joke.
The only stressful part was when, Saturday night, an "unexpected Spring storm" blew in, bringing a nice coat of snow with it (you can see it blowing in the pic if you look closely). When we woke up Sunday morning to leave, we were told by the front desk to just put our chains on, and we'd be fine getting home. When I mentioned that we don't own chains, the lady asked me, "Well, you have four wheel drive, right?" When I explained that our Mini Cooper has four tires, but not much more than that, we were told to "drive very slowly." Done and done. By the time we left, the chain controls were off, and we got home without incident, but covered with salt and sand. Worth it.
Wimberley, a screenwriter, takes the reader on an overwrought, treacly journey where every cliche from every other book about America's segregated past is visible forty pages before it arrives: the poor young Black girl who overcomes incredible odds, the troubled young Black man who loves her but shares a terrible secret with our heroine, the hard-working teachers who help her, the spoiled rich white kids who hate her, etc., etc. Even the inevitable rape scene, at the hands of malicious men who think she is "uppity," not only occurs exactly where you would expect it to happen, but it takes a physical toll on the main character that, in what I am sure the author meant to be irony, robs the main character of her ability to take advantage of the scholarship you knew she would be offered.
This is us at the games in Rupp Arena. When I bought the seats, I was not told that all of the seating in the upper deck of Rupp consists of bleachers...metal, no-backed bleachers. Not fun. We were crammed in together, and by Saturday, my back was killing me. Great games, but I would definitely think twice about going again in the future.
This is of me, rubbing Daniel Boone's foot for good luck at my alma mater, Eastern Kentucky University. I was very disappointed that they did not play in Lexington in the first round, but I was able to make the drive down to Richmond to see the old haunts, take some fun pics, and even buy a couple t-shirts. As we were driving past the arena, a bus pulled up, and out came the basketball team. As they had lost to North Carolina the night before, there was not a lot of fanfare, so I decided not to go say hi. Probably for the best; they looked pretty dejected, which I hope was from many hours on a bus, and not from their very respectable play against UNC.
With a last-second shot, my Eastern Kentucky University Colonels won the OVC Championship game, and advanced to their second NCAA Tournament in the past three years. Congratulations, Colonels, and good luck in the Big Dance!
That is what I feel every time I watch Adult Swim. Back from a long weekend in Vegas; once again, we had a fantastic time. Here's a video I shot of the view from our hotel room:
The food highlight was Mix, situated on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Bay. The food was great, but it was not the best meal I have ever had, and I am not sure it was worth the price. I think we were paying for the ambience more than the food. On the entertainment front, we saw The Producers, "starring" David Hasselhoff. I will give him credit; he went for it, and the show was more entertaining because of it. I took a small ironic pleasure in the idea that The Hoff may end up alienating some of his German fans by playing a gay Hitler. As far as gaming went, I managed to play hours of poker every day, and was pleased with how I did. I played in five tournaments; I made the final table in three of them, and won one of them. In addition to the money, they gave me a souvenir chip that says "First Place" on it; that may have to be my card protector at our next home game. In addition to the tournaments, I sat down at three different cash games and played for a couple hours each time. When you add up the money I won, minus all of the buy-ins, I ended up losing $30 over three days and probably 12+ hours of play. Not bad at all.
Our trip to Vegas inadvertently overlapped with the NBA All Star game; fortunately, we were not exposed to any of the ugliness that we heard about, both through the media and word-of-mouth from cabbies and hotel workers (apparently the casinos are still very good at suppressing news that may have a negative effect on tourism). The short version of what we heard seemed to go like this:
What I know is that there were an extra 300,000 people in the city over and above the normal amount of tourists (which, given that it was a holiday weekend and Chinese New Year...Gung Hay Fat Choy, by the way...is already a lot), so it was hard to get a hotel room, a cab, and dinner reservations. Good thing we planned ahead.
As usual, we had a great time, and as usual, it is good to get out of Vegas after a couple days. That way, in a couple months, I'll be ready to go back.
What a fantastic weekend for left-of-center entertainment! On Friday, I finished World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks. If you read this blog with any regularity (or if you just scroll down a little), you will see that I have been hitting the philosophy and heavy literature pretty hard of late, and I think when you add that in to my job stress, I was working my way into a pretty dark place. So to lighten the load a little, I read a book about a zombie war. The end result? This was, hands down, one of the most fun reads I have had in a long time. I tore through this book like Zack through the Army at Yonkers (inside [the book] joke), and I loved every minute of it. The oral history angle is a good one; a great way to make the book global, and yet personal, all at the same time. On top of that, add in the sci-fi zombie angle, as well as the alternate history what-would-the-world-look-like-afterwards angle, and you end up with an exciting, interesting, and (surprisingly) thoughtful book. If you like any of the above themes, I recommend this book highly. After I finished, I found a cheap copy on eBay and mailed it directly to my brother. Others must know. Solid A.
Then last night, we went to see Pan's Labyrinth, the latest film from Guillermo del Toro. I really liked this movie; it interweaves a fantastical fairy tale within a painfully realistic story of survival and hate. I thought the visuals were amazing, if often grotesque, and I was pleasantly surprised that I recognized more Spanish words than I thought I would. I would recommend seeing this movie on the big screen, for the imagery, the sound, and because it makes it easier to read the subtitles. See this film!
Finished The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, last week, and have to say that, overall, I was disappointed. I thought that he made some interesting points (given both my current and past careers, I found the discussion of religion as a form of child abuse very interesting), and additionally argued well for the acceptance of atheists as normal, healthy people, rather than wicked heathens who should be outcasts.
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