Recently in Entertainment Category

It took a while this year, but as usual, one of the new shows I started watching, "The Nine," has been put on hiatus. ABC has not ordered any more episodes beyond the original 13, and it doesn't look like they will. This figures, as I just caught up on all the episodes in a marathon weekend, and now that I'm caught up, they're ditching it. Oh well. I was waffling over whether to continue watching anyway. It was getting decent, but it was going to be hard to continue a show about a 52 hour hostage standoff.
At least my favorite new show, "Heroes," is still going strong. NBC is very cool about the show, offering all the episodes online, and running an accompanying graphic novel online each week as well. The show is rapidly surpassing "Lost" as my current favorite.
Speaking of graphic novels, Joss Whedon is coming out with a new "Buffy" comic book series starting in March. Oh, the awesomeness of it all. The story will pick up a bit after where the show left us, the Hellmouth is closed, and new Slayers have scattered across the globe, but evil is still around. I can't wait.

Great article in the New York Times today, with multimedia and everything, about my favorite type of beer: lambics.
Even if you're not a beer drinker, you might like lambics. You're not likely to find a lambic in your local supermarket's (unless your supermarket is Whole Foods) beer section, because it's frankly offensive to stack it next to Bud and Miller. Yes, I'm being a beer snob, but seriously, beer should not taste like corn. And lambics most decidedly are as un-cornlike as you can get. Lambics are truly nature's beer. They're fermented by wild yeast, which takes an element of luck and geography to get just right. The result is a truly different flavor than you're used to in beer.
At any rate, read the article, and seek out a good beer store that carries some lambics, and give them a try. They are pricey, but totally worth it.

Jason Kottke notes a new movie genre (coined by Alissa Quart, picked up by Roger Ebert) called "hyperlink movies." The idea is that the movie has several interlocking stories that all drive toward a conclusion that you might not have expected of each individual story. In other words, it's a small world.
Ebert notes as examples Syriana, Traffic, and Crash, and more distantly, The Player. Of course, this trend is not limited to movies. Just look at 24, and my favorite, Lost. Lost is increasingly showing links between the characters that go beyond a single plane crash. In "The Long Con," we saw Kate's mom as the waitress serving Sawyer in her diner. The producers hinted in their podcast that there would be more of this character interaction/small world action in future episodes (we've already had hints that Hurley owned the box company (bought with his lottery winnings) where Locke worked).
It's this kind of smart writing that I find fascinating, and I would love to have more of it.

The Good: "A Christmas Story" in 30 seconds, as told by bunnies.
The Bad: Disney's updated version of Winnie the Pooh will give "a breath of fresh air" to the classic by turning Christopher Robin into a girl! It wasn't bad enough to take the Milne stories and Disney-fy them, they have to Disney-fy the Disney version. Ugh.
The Ugly: "A Christmas Gory": a spoof trailer of "A Christmas Story", if it was released as a horror movie. No actual gore, just humor.

We watched "My Name is Earl" last night. We actually enjoyed it for the most part, but the sappy ending ("You changed my life, Earl! Thanks!") was more than a bit lame. The rest of the episode made up for it though. It was a lot of hick jokes (apparently that's a group that you don't have to worry about offending yet), but it showed promise. We've got a season pass for now, so we'll see how the next couple of episodes go there.
"The Amazing Race: Family Edition" starts tonight. The most fun reality program on TV right now. There's a reason it keeps winning the Emmy over "Survivor" and those other shows.
I watched the season premiere of "Lost" last night. Don't want to give anything away if you haven't yet watched it, but hopefully it will silence the critics who last season complained that nothing ever happened on the show. I actually kinda though too much happened. But it was definitely worth the wait, and I've gotten hooked right back in.
The season "finale" (actually a mid-season finale, as they come back in January) of "Battlestar Galactica" was a bit disappointing. Nothing really happened that you didn't already see in the previews of the episode. Still, it gave them quite a few things to resolve when they return in January, and I'll be anxiously counting the days.

We somehow managed to squeeze in watching a couple of the new fall season premieres last week, so I thought I would give my impressions of a couple of them.
"Everybody Hates Chris" was pretty funny, if not predictable. First of all, I still can't believe they got away with saying the "N" word on network TV, not once, but twice! OK, beyond that shock, the story is basically that Chris is the oldest of 3 siblings, living in "Bed-Stuy, Do or Die" New York. His parents send him to a mostly white school overrun by Mafia wannabes, rather than the mostly black school overrun by gangsta wannabes, thinking that he'll get a better education that way. Naturally, he gets picked on even more than he would have, and hilarity ensues. Well, maybe not hilarity... I enjoyed the characters enough that I'm giving it at least one more episode, and will probably end up getting a season pass on Tivo. Of course, this has nothing to do with my being able to relate to the Chris character being the older brother who is actually smaller than his younger brother.
"How I Met Your Mother" had at least one scene that had me rolling. Of course, I forget what that scene was. It's a hard show to recommend, because I didn't really care for the main character, Ted. I did like the supporting cast though, as expected. Alyson Hannigan plays essentially the same character she did in "American Pie," which is sort of unfortunate, but reasonably funny. Jason Segel plays her goofy fiance and Ted's best friend. The two of them get engaged in the first episode, leading to Ted's early midlife crisis, which will apparently drive the show. The funniest character was Barney, played by Neil Patrick "Doogie" Harris. "Suit up!" I'm hoping for good lines from him each week. But here's the strange part. Spoilers ahead!!! Robin, the object of Ted's obsession played by Cobie Smulders, is in fact, NOT the aforementioned "mother" that is the subject of these "flashbacks" and voiceovers. Very odd to basically have to kill off one of your main characters at some point. And when do we meet the mother (Robin's sister, apparently)? That, and whatever made me laugh so hard that one time, have me Tivo-ing at least one more episdoe tonight.
Didn't get a chance to watch "My Name Is Earl" yet. Hopefully I can watch it tonight and get a review in before tomorrow's episode.

I did this last year too. What new shows are you looking forward to?
The fall TV season really gets going this week with a slew of premieres. I'm looking forward to "Arrested Development" coming back (new time slot, Monday at 8pm), as well as "Alias" and "Lost."
As far as new shows go, I've only got a couple on my list. Oddly, it ends up being one from each network, except the WB.
"How I Met Your Mother" (CBS) - Looks like a good cast (Alyson Hannigan, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Jason Segel, "Freaks and Geeks", Neil Patrick Harris, "Doogie Howser, MD"), and sounds like it will be funny.
"My Name is Earl" (NBC) - The only thing you really need to know is that Jason Lee is in it. It will be funny.
"Night Stalker" (ABC) - There are a bunch of sci-fi type shows this year, thanks to "Lost" last year. I'm only picking one though, because the other ones (Invasion, Surface, Threshold) sound like utter crap. Plus, this one has the bonus of being on right after Alias (though in the horrible time slot against "CSI"). This one gets my vote for dealing with vampires. Love any shows with vamps.
"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN) - Lots of buzz surrounding this one. Chris Rock does voiceover on the series based loosely on his life.
Already watching "Prison Break" (Fox). If you haven't started watching it, you will be lost as far as a lot of the plot goes. Still, I've enjoyed it so far.

I'm feeling good tonight, as I just picked up $100 for the focus group, even if it was the most boring one yet. Health care reform with a bunch of folks who fancied themselves policy wonks. Ugh.
Anyway, give thanks to Grubby for this one. A free hour of play at any Gameworks. None anywhere near me of course, but they have locations in the Miami area, Schaumburg, IL, and Auburn Hills, MI. Check out their website for other locations.
I love me the free stuff.

Fox kicks off its fall television slate early tonight with the new show, "Prison Break". I thought it sounded like an interesting premise, but Washington Post critic Tom Shales hated it. I'll probably check it out anyway. I liked Dominic Purcell in "John Doe", but I fully expect this show to get cancelled too. Hopefully the show's producers realize this too, and don't leave us with a John Doe cliffhanger with no hope of resolution (for those unfamiliar, John Doe was trying to figure out who he was after losing his memory, and discovered in the final episode that his best friend was the leader of a shadowy conspiracy organization).
Zap2it is the best place to find out about the new fall schedule.

Lisa has wanted to see "The Lion King" musical for a long time now. We considered going up to NYC to see it a couple of times, but never got around to it. Then came the announcement last winter that "The Lion King" was going out on tour and would be stopping in Baltimore. With tickets over $60 for the cheapies, we got each other the tickets for Christmas. The show finally happened this past Saturday.
We went to the 2pm matinee, knowing that we'd probably have a lot of children in the audience, but not realizing that there'd be a conflict with the Orioles game that day. Trust me when I say Peter Angelos is off his rocker when he says that the O's are losing fans from suburban DC. There was plenty of traffic on I-95 before and after the game. Luckily, we made it on time, which is more than I can say for half the audience, who walked in constantly from 15-30 minutes after the show started.
The show itself was amazing visually. The costumes and the puppetry were phenomenal. The sets that rotate on and off the (smallish) stage were very well done too. Most amazing was the image of Mufasa that the ensemble put together as he spoke to Simba from beyond the grave. The visuals were worth the price of admission in themselves.
I can't say the same for the music. Most of it was reprised from the movie's soundtrack, but a few others were added in. No cast member in particular was outstanding (although I enjoyed "Rafiki" in her final number, even if she was a little loud), most were mediocre. But none in particular were bad either.
The dances were good too. Lisa particularly enjoyed the African dances and music. The dancers themselves looked a little bit off. Perhaps because it was the matinee and the really good ones were taking the afternoon off?
Even with the shortcomings, the show was worth the money. The visuals and costumes were dazzling, and the rest of the show was just good enough to not get in the way. If it comes to your town, definitely check it out.

If you've never seen The Saw Doctors before, you're missing out. Sometimes called the second best Irish rock band (behind U2), the Docs rock it every time they go on stage. Lisa and I like to describe them as the product of their enivronment: a bunch of Irish Catholic guys who won't grow up. Their songs verge on blasphemous at times ("Bless me Father for I have sinned/She had big brown eyes, silky skin") but are always entertaining.
We've got our tickets to see them play Wolf Trap with Great Big Sea (a bunch of Newfies who play a good show too). It's our first time to see a show at Wolf Trap, and we're very excited. We'll have the entire lawn section for dancing! The rest of the US tour schedule this summer is below. If you can't get out to see them, you can always buy the concert DVD from the website! Definitely worth the money, but the concert experience cannot be duplicated on TV. You have to be there jumping around with the crowd to really experience the Saw Doctors.

Monday August 8 Bethlehem, PA, Musikfest
Tuesday August 9 Vienna, VA, Wolf Trap, with Great Big Sea
Thursday August 11 Cape Cod, MA, Melody Tent
Friday August 12 New York, NY, BB King's
Sunday August 14 Albany, NY, The Egg
Monday August 15 Hampton Beach Casino, NH
Tuesday August 16 Ortley Beach, NJ, Surf Club
Thursday August 18 Atlantic City, NJ, Borgata Music Box
Friday August 19 Northampton, MA, Look Park
Saturday August 20 Cohasset, MA, South Shore Music Circus
Sunday August 21 Huntington, NY, River Arts Festival

Funny! Laugh out loud! Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are comedy gold! See, I could be one of those guys who puts reviews into the ads.
This movie doesn't break any new ground. It's formulaic and predictable. But you'll probably still enjoy it, and you'll definitely laugh. There's no point describing the plot. You'll see right through it 2 minutes into the movie. Fortunately, it doesn't get in the way of Wilson and Vaughn doing their thing, which is being funny.
I went to and rented a lot of movies over the last week or so. Wedding Crashers was one that I might wait till DVD in retrospect, but it was actually worth the $6 matinee cost.

Geeks rule! That's the message you get from watching Napoleon Dynamite. It's indeed painful to watch such a socially inept guy struggle through high school, but I love that stuff.
Jon Heder is just brilliant in bringing Napoleon to life. Everyone is good in their roles: the 32 year old brother who lives at home cruising the chat rooms for girls, awkward Deb (Tina Majorino, bonus points if you can name the other two movies you would know her from), and Pedro (now I finally know what the heck those "Vote for Pedro" shirts are!). It's not easy to describe why the movie is good... I just liked the people in it, I guess, and it made me laugh. I'd definitely rent it again.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are back together again, teaming up for this remake of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
The movie is typical Tim Burton, grand vision and style. It follows the same story, five lucky kids get to tour the factory, with the idea (unbeknownst to them) that one of them will inherit the factory from Willy Wonka. 4 find their tragic dooms, and Charlie "wins." But this version supplies a series of flashbacks where Willy remembers his childhood as the son of a dentist, and, in my opinion, comes to a sappy, hokey ending.
Johnny Depp does a fine job as the eccentric Willy Wonka, and Burton's vision of the factory is very well done. Even the identical Oompa Loompas, whose songs (sung by Danny Elfman) are the only songs in the movie, unlike the original, fit right in.
My personal recommendation would be to wait for it on video. It's nothing that anyone can give away the ending to you, and I didn't quite think it was worth the money to see it on the big screen.

Nicolas Cage stars as a kooky researcher whose family name has been besmirched throughout the years as they tried in vain to find the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. It's another conspiracy theory movie about the Masons and the Founding Fathers and the clues they left behind in plain view. It runs along much like Dan Brown's books, but Cage somehow manages to solve the clues with superhuman speed (in spite of the fact that it took him years to solve the first one!). The viewer doesn't get the chance to figure them out himself, and is just left to ride along. Kind of disappointing.
It's an okay movie, the action moves everything along quickly, and the deciphering of the clues (in spite of the speed) is interesting too. It could be worth a rental, if you're in the mood for this kind of movie.

Thanks to Tony, who had a copy of "Garden State" in his car that he let me borrow.
This is going to be another case of me admitting my bias. Batman was my favorite comic book character, Dr. Pepper my favorite soda. And "Scrubs" is my favorite TV comedy. "Garden State" was written and directed by the star of "Scrubs", Zach Braff.
The movie was at turns fall-over-laughing hilarious, cry-your-eyes-out sad, and lift-your-heart inspiring. Andrew "Large" Largeman returns home from his struggling actor life in California to attend the funeral of his mother. He has some issues to work out, having been medicated since he was 9 or 10 by his psychiatrist father. If there was one thing I would have liked more, it would have been more scenes between him and his father, played by Ian Holm. The deleted scenes feature on the DVD includes an extended conversation between the two that would have fleshed out their conflict a bit more.
There's a lot of standard movie imagery at use here. When we first meet Andrew, he's in a sanitized white room, showing no emotion. As the movie goes on, he gradually wakes up to the world, and during the rain (cleansing) he encounters when visiting "The Ark", he goes to the edge of a quarry and just screams. This opens him up to feeling emotions again, and drives the movie forward from there.
Natalie Portman actually acts! She's pretty good as Large's love interest, and she helps him find himself.
Overall, I liked it. It's just a movie about a guy who's been messed up his whole life and finally realizes it's time to wake up and start living. The journey he takes to get there is entertaining, funny, and poignant. Worth the rental.

It was 6:40pm, that no-man's land for moviegoers between the pre-6pm matinee and the 7-8pm primetime movie viewing period. I walked into the "Batman Begins" theater and was surprised to see two other (solo) guys already seated. We would later be joined by a dad and three kids (thankfully, he was as annoyed at them when they talked during the movie as I was, and kept shushing them till they got the idea) and one other couple. Not bad for a weekday showing of a movie that's been out for over a month.
I was encouraged when the first 45 minutes (at least) were all devoted to what was essentially the back-story. Too often, movies ignore the back-story element, and just assume we understand what the motivation of the characters is (like, uh, General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith. Who knew I was supposed to have watched the cartoon?).
I should add that Batman is probably my favorite comic book character, so I was already looking forward to this new beginning for the Batman universe. The comic books has reinvented him several times, and after the George Clooney debacle, the movie version obviously needed to be reinvented as well. What better choice than basing the movie (loosely) on Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" comic? I thought the plot of this movie was better than the other movies, mainly because it wasn't just Batman vs. the super-villains. It was Batman vs. the criminals, Batman figuring out what justice is, after wanting to take his vengeance on Joe Chill (the one who actually killed his parents, not the Joker like the first movie). It was intriguing to me, at least. I liked the ending as well, which basically established Batman as a lone fighter, one who is tormented and driven by his past, and who will not really be able to be happy because of what he's been through.
The cast was pretty good as well. Liam Neeson was especially good, and Gary Oldman was brilliant as Jim Gordon. He really captured Gordon as the good cop, but who still has difficulty accepting the vigilante Batman. Cillian Murphy was just plain creepy as Scarecrow. I'd be having nightmares about him if I was a kid.
The lone disappointment I had was the tendency to toss in stupid "comedic" lines when they weren't needed, like "Does it come in black?" (the Bat-mobile) "You need to lighten up." (the Scarecrow, as he lights Batman on fire) It's silly to put lines like that in, and it seems to be one of Hollywood's crutches when it comes to so-called blockbusters.
I really enjoyed Batman Begins. Apparently, the same group (director, writer, Christian Bale) will be involved in a sequel (and possibly a trilogy), so I will definitely be looking forward to that.

I'm looking forward to a week without a toddler, so I'm going to try to see some current movies for a change. On my list are "Batman Begins", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and at the end of this week, "Bad News Bears." Tony has already suggest "Wedding Crashers" too, which I may get to if I have the time. Anyone else have suggestions? What did you think of "War of the Worlds", or "Fantastic Four"? Are they worth the money for a guy who only gets to see a movie in a theater a couple of times a year?
And how about DVDs? I know I want to see Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite. Any other recent releases worth renting?

Star Wars/music geeks: Make sure you don't miss a good time this Saturday at Dr. Dremo's in Arlington. My cousin Bill's band Verbal will be playing. And, the premiere of "Revelations", a Star Wars fan film. Best of all, it's free!

In my futile attempt to catch up on this year's TV programming, I finally finished watching this season's breakout hit, "Lost". Click below for the spoiler review if you've watched it.

Last night, I caught the second half of NBC's summer show "Hit me Baby 1 More Time." Here's the painful premise. Get 5 one-hit wonders from the 80's and 90's. Have them perform their "hit" again, 20 years later, in the first half of the show. During the second half, bring each one back to do a current hit. Hilarity ensues.
It was painful. So painful. I only caught Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" in the first part. I wanted to kill myself. She was so horrible. But then the second half came on before I could turn it off. And Wang Chung started into Nelly's "Hot in Herre". There's the hilarity. But honestly, they did it very well! I was shocked. Next up was Sophie B. "Damn I Wish I was Your Lover" Hawkins doing Five for Fighting's "100 Years." My theory on cover songs is that if you're going to do it, pick a song that's outside of your genre and put a totally different take on it, like Joss Stone doing the White Stripes "Fell in Love with a Girl/Boy". Sophie did a good version, but it was a song she could have had on an album before.
Cameo (who? The guys who did "Word Up") did an interesting version of Bowling For Soup's "1985" and Howard Jones did Dido's "White Flag". Then Irene Cara was back with her new band "Hot Cara-mel" to do Anastasia's "I'm Outta Love". I'll be honest, I don't know the song, but Irene barely sang it, and her backup singers sounded ten times better.
Like I said, it was a pretty bad show, but so bad I thought it was funny in a campy way. But here's where I get indignant about something I shouldn't care about. Irene Cara, without a doubt the worst of the lot, won! God I hate "reality" TV contests.
Next week, "Who Let the Dogs Out?", "Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone", Greg Kihn, and Thelma "Don't Call me Whitney" Houston. Plus someone else I can only assume they have to dress up as they drag them out of the gutter...
I can't believe I just wrote all that...

Finally, I watched the season finale of Alias. Only a couple of weeks behind. I won't get to the season finale of CSI for a while yet, hopefully before the fall season's premiere!
Spoilers ahead, so click below to read...

I noted a little while back which songs I downloaded with my Pepsi free songs codes. One of them was M.I.A.'s "Galang." Guess what their free download of the week is this week? You guessed it.
It's a groovy song, so go download it now and check it out. It's free, after all.

Now that I've seen Star Wars, it seems like a good time to look ahead at the rest of this year's movies. Here's what I am looking forward to, not that I will get to see any of them, in no particular order:

Batman Begins: Looking forward to getting away from the George Clooney/Chris O'Donnell debacles. Plus, Katie Holmes, yum. The rest of the cast is big-time too.
War of the Worlds: Looks to be an interesting adaptation.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Looking forward to seeing Tim Burton's messed up idea of the Chocolate Factory.
Serenity: The "Firefly" movie, which I've been waiting for since the TV show got cancelled. Unfortunately, I've not been able to get tickets to the really advance screenings, but I'll be keeping an eye out for more. Really wanna see this one.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: I may have to add the book to my 12 Books list before it comes out in December, but the trailer looked pretty good.

NOT looking forward to:

Fantastic Four: I know I just said I wanted to see the new Batman, but still, the comic book movie adaptations are getting a little old, and this one just looks to be even more of the same special effects summer blockbuster formula.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: I don't need to see the movie that broke up Brad and Jen. I could care less.
The Dukes of Hazzard: In spite of the thought of Jessica Simpson in the Daisy Dukes, it's not gonna be good.

No comment needed: Herbie: Fully Loaded.

There are a lot of other movies coming out soon, but those are the ones that caught my eye, for better or worse. What are your thoughts?

Fox is still going for a year-round schedule, just not in the summer. So, it doesn't have mid-season replacements, it actually plans to have series debut in January (like "24" and "American Idol"). But I digress, on to the schedule.
"Arrested Development" is back! Hooray! Funniest show on TV today, in my humble opinion. It is moving to Mondays at 8pm though. Fox is definitely making a play for my viewership, returning two familiar actors to regular series. David Boreanz ("Angel") is back as a "forensic anthropologist" in the darkly humorous "Bones". Sounds interesting. At least it's not about aliens. But boo anyways! Bring back "Angel"! Dominic Purcell ("John Doe", which I admit, no one but me ever watched) is back in "Prison Break" about an engineer who gets himself locked up in the prison he designed so that he can bust out his brother (Purcell) who is on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Boo! Bring back "John Doe"! Probably won't watch that one though.
The other shows are pretty stable, but "That 70's Show" will lose Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace. Probably a fatal blow for the show, but we'll see.
Lisa de Moraes says: "Fox called "Head Cases" a "dramedy." We prefer to call it a "coma.""

CBS is #1, but not with the 18-49 year-olds that advertisers supposedly covet (in spite of the fact to 50+ year-olds have greater purchasing power and are more likely to actually watch ads, but I digress). Of course, if not for Fox having the Super Bowl, they would have won. So their strategy is to win more of the youngers viewers, which apparently means more weird shows. Someone needs to tell these morons that "Lost" does not mean you can throw out any old crap sci-fi-like show and expect a hit.
So here's a shocker. CBS is keeping its Thursday night lineup of "Survivor", "CSI" and "Without a Trace" intact. They're cancelling "Joan of Arcadia" and "Judging Amy" (I know, more shockers). They're redoing Monday nights, now that "Everybody Loves Raymond" is off the air. A bunch of sitcoms I don't watch anyway, so who cares. The big change, to me anyway, is CBS programming Friday nights to be "weird" night. Much like Fox had "The X-Files" and shows like "John Doe" and "Firefly" (both cancelled after one year, bastards!) on Friday nights, CBS is running Jennifer "Boobs" Hewitt's "Ghost Whisperer" (she talks to dead people, what a concept... that's already been done in the movies and on NBC's "Medium"), "Threshold" (the Navy discovers aliens landed in the Atlantic Ocean!), and Numb3rs (the guy from "Northern Exposure" has "Rain Man" for a brother!). This being Friday night programming, not a single one will be around next season.
"The Amazing Race", "CSI", and, only occasionally nowadays, "Survivor" are the only shows I watch on CBS. I don't see the new lineup changing any of this.
Lisa de Moraes says: "One reporter asked Moonves why he thought a show about a 25-year-old who talks to dead people would skew younger than a show about a teenager who talks to God. Moonves responded that dead people skew younger than God. Made sense."

ABC is in much better shape than NBC, on the strength of new series like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives". They are not touching their uber-Sunday lineup, but they still have major moves set for the other nights.
First, "Alias" moves to Thursday at 8pm. It could have been worse, they could have been moved to 9pm to go against "The Apprentice" AND "CSI". Instead, they only have to face "Survivor" and that sorry "Joey" show. "Lost" moves to 9pm on Wednesday, to provide a lead-in for the new alien thriller "Invasion". It sounds flaky, but it might be decent. "The Night Stalker" follows "Alias" on Thursday night. Killer time slot, but it's a show about vampires, so I'm watching (another secret shame of mine: I have a thing for books and TV shows about vampires. Don't know why).
Other new shows: "Commander-in-Chief" with Geena Davis as President. Skipping that one. "Freddie" starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. Skipping that one too.
ABC has a firm hold on my Tivo, with "Lost" and "Alias", and may make a move with "Invasion" and "The Night Stalker". I hope that "Alias" can succeed on Thursday.
Lisa de Moraes says: "And if you are not terrified by all that, how about Geena Davis as president of the United States?"

All the networks held their "upfront" meeting this week. This is the time of year that the networks unveil their fall lineups to advertisers, trying to sell them on their programming. But mostly, it's time for Lisa de Moraes and "The Reporters Who Cover Television" to mock the sales pitches. So, let's check out NBC, shall we?
NBC, after ruling TV and Thursday nights for years, plummeted to fourth place this year. The only thing worse would be losing to UPN and WB. My household was probably part of that, as we stopped Tivo-ing ER, and are growing more disinterested in "The West Wing." Even "Will and Grace" is getting old. "Scrubs" is the only show we really love on NBC any more.
As a result, NBC is revamping its entire lineup. But somehow, they're leaving "Joey" at the primo 8pm Thursday slot. And they're pulling "Scrubs" for a mid-season debut. Figures that "Scrubs" is my favorite NBC show. "The West Wing" moves to Sunday as it prepares to die. "Fathom" is a new show that NBC hopes can capture some of the "Lost" crowd, and it's about creepy sea creatures. Uh, no. "Lost" is not about creepy creatures. They got past that after episode 2. "E-Ring" is a show that thinks Pentagon bureaucracy can be exciting, if you put Dennis Hopper in charge. Did they not learn anything from "The Agency"? I would tune in to the first episode of "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart", just to see if the Donald lets her say "You're fired!" or if she comes up with her own, like, "You're NOT a good thing."
The show with the most promise looks to be "My Name is Earl", for no other reason than it stars Jason Lee. The man is funny, but I have my doubts that he can carry a show with a thin plot (he's a lowlife who wins $100,000 then gets hit by a car and decides to turn his life around after seeing Carson Daly). But it looks like Tuesday at 9pm will be a good time slot for me to Tivo that.
Lisa de Moraes says: "On the bright side, did you know that NBC's audience is rich? Rich, rich, rich. Stinking, filthy rich."

The Rolling Stones are going back out on tour. Again. These guys must just piss through money like crazy. I for one won't be seeing them. For one thing, tickets are going to cost anywhere from $63 to over $400! I've got so much more I would rather spend $400 on. And so many more bands that I would rather see than the Stones. I remember back in college in 1993 when they were touring, and all my friends were going to see them. "Come on, it could be the last time they tour!" Right, and this could be my last day at work because they're donating all the proceeds from this tour to me. Sure enough, here we are 12 years later, and they've toured probably 20 times since then. What a joke. Here, without further ado, are my top ten "old" (over 50) artists that I would rather see before I ever see the Rolling Stones in concert.
1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Billy Joel
3. Elton John
4. Barry Manilow
5. Neil Diamond
6. The Eagles (and I don't really like the Eagles!)
7. Wayne Newton
8. Tom Jones
9. Jimmy Buffett
10. Ray Charles
Yes, I'd rather visit Ray Charles' grave than see the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards looks like he's dead anyway, and the rest of them are well on their way. It's time to give up the rock-n-roll lifestyle, boys.
Addendum: I should also mention that I have already seen Billy Joel and Elton John (together), as well as Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, and Jimmy Buffett. I'd still rather see any of them again than see the Stones once.

Amazing Race spoilers ahead! You've been warned.

The greatest reality show player to never win the game... still hasn't won. If the Red Sox hadn't won the World Series last year, I'd say insert Red Sox joke here. Ah well, it was a good effort. I kept waiting for him to run up to someone on Calle Ocho and just by accident and sheer luck ask where "El Rey de Los Habanos" was. But seriously, what was up with the airport people in San Juan actually putting the jetway BACK to let Uchenna and Joyce on that plane? Rob was robbed, I tells ya. Someone high up at CBS was making quick phone calls to get Uchenna and Joyce on that plane so that they could have a close finish. There's no way that would EVER happen, especially for someone that didn't even actually have tickets for that flight. Uchenna and Joyce did run a heck of a race, and I was glad to see them win, I mean, she shaved her head for crying out loud! They did especially well considering they had no money to start the Jamaica leg, and there was NO ONE around to beg from. Amazing indeed. Congrats to them, and the Robfather. Maybe you can go on The Apprentice next. The Donald would love you, man!

I finally got around to cashing in the rest of my free Pepsi iTunes. So here's what I used it on:

Beverly Hills - Weezer
16 Military Wives - The Decemberists
Galang - MIA
BYOB - System of a Down
You Never Even Called me by My Name - David Allan Coe
Broken Mouth Blues - Nic Armstrong and the Thieves
Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani

You can view my Pepsi iTunes Mix (if you have iTunes) with all the songs I've downloaded for free as well.

With these songs, I was basically going off of the iTunes Coachella mix. That low-key festival featured System of a Down, Weezer, The Decemberists, MIA and Nic Armstrong & the Thieves. I love Weezer, so their pre-release track was a no-brainer. I have heard a lot of good buzz about MIA, namely, that she stole the show, and the other three bands are ones I've been meaning to listen to. I shamelessly picked the Gwen Stefani song because it was #1 on iTunes right now. Plus, I like Gwen too. The final song by David Allan Coe warrants some explanation. As you may or may not know, it IS the perfect Country and Western song. And at my friend Deborah's wedding last year, she chose that song as the "Daddy-daughter" song. Lord knows why, but it's a great fun song.
I may review the other songs at some point, but probably only if I really like them and wind up buying an album by the artist or something.

Interesting product placement stuff on the Amazing Race last night. I love the show, but it's one where you always know they will plug for their sponsors by giving away a trip or something to whoever wins a leg of a race. Well, last night, they did the same thing, but with a twist. Contestants had to find a Travelocity "roaming gnome" on an island in Turkey, and then carry it around with them the rest of the leg to the finish mat. Then Phil, the host, checked the bottom of the gnome to see if they had won a prize. I thought it was pretty interesting, just seeing them carting these gnomes all over Istanbul.

Tom Shales says, of "Bleep! Censoring Hollywood", "But the galling irony of the thing is that a documentary questioning the wisdom of movie censorship is showing on a channel that censors its movies routinely, all the time, yet claims it's devoted to people who love film."
The channel in question of course, is AMC, American Movie Classics. Let's be honest, this channel is no longer living up to its name. Head on over to their website, and you will see what I mean. Just from the 10 seconds I took to browse the site: Hard Target starring Jean Claude Van Damme, Death Wish 2 with Charles Bronson, Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones. Heck, a couple of weeks ago, they ran a Muscles from Brussels mini-marathon of Lionheart, Hard Target, and Death Warrant. As Tom Shales mentions, the channel is abdicating its original idea, which was no movie less than 10-20 years old, and commercial free showings.
Rant over.

My cousin Bill's band, Verbal, is going out on "tour."

Forgive us our trespasses Spring 2005 Tour
4.09.05 The Charleston Brooklyn, NY
4.10.05 Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY (National anthem only)
4.11.05 The Knitting Factory New York, NY
4.12.05 Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame Cleveland, OH (Display criticism only)
4.13.05 Howard's Club H Bowling Green, OH
4.14.05 Darkroom Bar Chicago, IL
4.15.05 Hoghead McDunnas Chicago, IL
4.16.05 Somewhere in Columbus or Pittsburgh

They're also interviewed in an online magazine, Urban Jetset. Fame is just around the corner.

Just read a funny story about a band that plays nothing but hockey songs, "The Zambonis". Yep, their name is "The Zambonis." We gotta get them to come perform at the curling club some time....

I couldn't agree more with the latest Boondocks comic.

How far has Hootie (Darius Rucker) fallen that he's dressing up in a fancy cowboy outfit, shilling for Burger King? Poor guy....

In case you missed it, Rob and Amber from Survivor are competing on the latest edition of The Amazing Race, my favorite "reality" show. And Rob is up to his old tricks, and better than ever. I haven't watched last night's episode yet, so hopefully they didn't lose yesterday to prove me wrong. But Rob is by far THE reality TV genius. The smartest player ever in Survivor (except maybe Richard Hatch from Season One, but I give Rob more credit for the All-Stars season), he's now the smartest player ever in The Amazing Race. He actually gave up on a recent challenge, where team members had to eat 4 pounds of Argentinian cattle parts, including intestine and brains. He decided he couldn't do it, taking a 4 hour penalty from the time the next team arrived at the challenge. Then he convinced not one, but two other teams that they should also quit! This assured him that he would not be eliminated, as he would have a head start over at least two teams. As it turned out, all the teams who quit did not get eliminated, thanks to the idiocy of Debbie and Bianca, who drove to the OCEAN in Chile, instead of the mountains of Argentina. That was without doubt THE funniest moment this season. Uh, I think you went the wrong way gals. Oh, and I nearly forgot that Rob stole their cab while they were poring over directions (that they clearly could not follow!). Hilarious.
Every other team is out there gunning for him and Amber, but Rob keeps coming up with more ways to get them to the front. The Robfather lives!

If you have one of those iTunes Pepsi free song caps, and are looking for something to use it on (aside from giving it to me!), check out the latest from Ben Folds. He sings and plays piano in his typical lamenting style in a cover of the Dr. Dre/Snoop Doggy Dogg classic, "Bitches Ain't Shit". Hilarious, and very well done. Reminds me of the Dynamite Hack cover of "Boyz N The Hood."
Other stuff I've used my freebies on lately: Clem Snide, Live at KEXP; Rilo Kiley; Drive By Truckers; Iron and Wine; Kaiser Chiefs. Lots of indie music that I was glad to see available on iTunes.

This week's sign the apocalypse is upon us: "The Pacifier" is America's #1 movie. Jeez. It's bad enough that it had already been done (twice: "Kindergarten Cop" and "Mr. Nanny" starring WWE Hall of Fame inductee Hulk Hogan). But was there really nothing better people had to do this weekend but go see Vin Diesel do that same role? I was home alone all weekend, and you couldn't have paid me to see that drivel.

My favorite night of TV is now officially Wednesday night. Well, I generally don't actually watch the shows as they air on Wednesdays, but my favorite shows are broadcast on ABC on Wednesday, "Lost" and "Alias". J.J. Abrams is the creator of both shows, and probably is the most talented producer/writer on TV (at least until Joss Whedon gets another TV show when he's done with the "Firefly" movie).
"Lost", airing at 8pm, is by far the best new show on TV (sorry, "Desperate Housewives" fans). I had my doubts at the beginning that they would be able to make it work, but thankfully, they have largely stayed away from the big scary monster stuff, and have focused on the real mysteries of the mystical island, along with the mysteries of the castaways. I really enjoy the plot device of using the flashbacks to provide the backstories of a different character each week.
"Alias", at 9pm, has, I think, been slipping a bit this year. It's not as captivating as, say, two years ago, when Sydney's roommate turned out to be a bad guy and Sydney lost two years of her memory. The "new" black ops group they have created is contrived and not all that exciting. Hopefully it's all going somewhere, and with Sark now on the loose, at least there a big "bad guy" they have to deal with. These shows seem to do best when the "good guys" have to take on a big scary enemy.
One last note I find interesting: J.J. Abrams apparently hired some of the writers who used to work on Joss Whedon's shows. That's gotta be a good move. In addition, Gina Torres (who was Jasmine on "Angel" for a while, and Zoe on "Firefly", both Whedon shows) guest starred on "Alias" the past two weeks, reprising her role from the first season. While I think she was just horrible in "Alias", it was interesting to see the crossover between two of my favorite writers.

On the flight to Paris, I was able to watch (thanks to my inability to sleep on planes, ever) a few movies, including Oscar-nominated "Sideways". I thought it wasn't bad, of course, I don't ever get to see movies any more. I enjoyed the characters, especially Virginia Madsen. It wasn't sweeping like "The Aviator" or moving like "Million Dollar Baby", but I liked it. Of course, I'm an almost middle-aged guy who likes wine (though not to that extent), so maybe that has something to do with it.
Anyway, the point of this whole thing was that I was surprised on the flight by the dubbing they did to make the film plane-safe. They dubbed over the curse words, but the surprising one was that they replaced "asshole" with "Ashcroft". To anyone who knows me, it should come as no surprise that I found this hilarious. "The Reliable Source" column is currently investigating to find out why they chose that particular replacement. It should be fun to hear their explanation.

Dang, almost forgot all about writing about They Might Be Giants from last night. As I wrote before heading out, this is one of the few times I will get to go go to anything remotely resembling a concert, now that we have an 18 month old running around. And apparently, I am not alone.
We arrived around 6:40pm for the 7pm concert and signing. And the parking lot was jammed trying to get into the garage. I briefly thought about skipping it, but decided it wasn't too bad, and got into the garage and took Ellie upstairs to Borders. Let me get this out of the way: Borders rocks. They totally did this "the right way". Right at the entrance, there was a rack of CDs and DVDs of the latest TMBG release, "Here Come The ABC's." And a sign on the rack saying that TMBG had "pre-signed" a bunch of CDs, so if you didn't want to wait in line or had to leave early, you could ask at the desk for them. Thank you Border's, in fact I do not desire to wait in line for an hour with an 18 month old. I'll take 4 pre-signed CDs please. In addition, the CDs were on sale for $9.99 each, and were buy 3 get 1 free. 4 signed copies for $30. Not too shabby. And I didn't have to wait in line.
The "concert" was being held upstairs, near the kids section, and the floor was packed with kids and parents like me. Mixed in were a few college aged single folks as well. An eclectic group, to be sure. Ellie and I decided to play with some of the kids for a while, since there was no way we were getting anywhere near the stage.
After a short wait, the guys came out and started playing. By this time, all the kids and parents in front had sat down on the floor, allowing those of us in the back to have a pretty good view. They romped through a quick set of songs, including kids' favorites "Bed Bed Bed" and "Clap Your Hands", as well as "adults" classics "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man". That last song reminded me that I had actually seen the band before, opening for Hootie and the Blowfish, circa 1995-6. And we were all soooo pissed that they didn't play "Particle Man". I feel vindicated.
Overall, a fun time was had by all. Thanks again to Borders for putting it together, and doing it right.

Did I mention that Ellie and I will be going to the CD/DVD signing/free concert for They Might Be Giants at Border's tonight? Should be fun, if it's not painfully crowded. Much like watching movies on the plane, this is one of the only ways I get to do anything remotely current. If you weren't already aware, TMBG have started doing kid's albums, and their latest release is "Here Come The ABC's".

Here are my predictions for this year's Oscar winners. It should be noted that I have seen NONE of these films, for obvious reasons.

Best Picture: Sideways. Seems to have a lot of critics raving, if not viewers.
Best Director: Martin Scorcese, The Aviator. I think they finally have to give him one so he stops making crappy movies.
Best Actor: Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda. A movie with a message, Hollywood loves it.
Best Actress: Annette Benning, Being Julia. She's the only one I know who won a Golden Globe.
Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways. Gotta root for Lowell.
Best Supporting Actress: Tossup. I'm going with Virginia Madsen, but I really have no clue (as if I had a clue about the rest of them!)
I'll be sure to revisit this after the awards are given out on February 27.

My cousin's band, Verbal, just finished mastering their first full-length record. They're not officially releasing it until February, but you can get all 9 tracks from their web site now. (Warning, do this from home, the CD cover art isn't quite safe for work. No really, wait, and do it from home. Nude skydiving, if you must know)

I've heard some of the tracks before, but it's cool to have a full album out. Be sure to boost the bass a bit, it seems a bit quiet to me, plus, that's Bill, my cousin, playing the bass. It's music you can just play in the background, as well as listen to closely and pick out something different with each listen.

Be forewarned, they are an instrumental band, so there are no words (except for a brief bit of shouting on "Come Clean"). Enjoy!

Facing strong competition from places like Netflix, Blockbuster announced it is dropping late fees on its rentals. This is really deceiving though. What they mean is, you don't pay a late fee, but if it's late, you just bought yourself a video. That's right, if you return it more than a week late, they charge you for it (minus the rental fee). To return it, you then have to pay a restocking fee (a backdoor late fee).
Make sure you still get those videos back on time.

Thanks to Coverville for playing the Band Aid 20 version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" on his latest show (he also played the Barenaked Ladies version from their holiday album, which Lisa and Ellie are loving). For whatever reason, it seems to only be available in the UK, and I can't even get it on iTunes. I like the Dizzee Rascal rapping response near the end (even though I have no idea who he is). Pretty cool version...

OK, so if you're ESPN and you're making a Dale Earnhardt movie called "Three", wouldn't you make sure that you had the Earnhardt car number tilting the right way?

ESPN's logo.

Official Dale Earnhardt logo.

God, I'm becoming a NASCAR snob, thanks to Lisa's family who are all car nuts. I can't believe I actually knew that Earnhardt always had his number tilting forward instead of backward like most drivers have.

For all the people I turned on to Tivo, I wish they had this program years ago. Tivo Rewards gives me "points" for telling people to sign up for Tivo. When you activate, you put in my email address (brian at the-ds dot com) in the referral section, and I get points which I can use for free products. Cool, but probably too late for me, now that I've gotten almost everyone I know into Tivo...

My list of top 5 CDs of 2004, since it is that time of year (note, this only includes CDs that I actually have, so it may not mesh with a lot of other lists).

1. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
Mike Skinner lays down some brilliant beats for some hilariously familiar lyrics. No gangsta rap or bling-bling here, just down to earth, solid music.

2. U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
A very close second, only because it seems too familiar, like I've heard all the songs from U2 before. I suppose that is bound to happen when I've been listening to them ever since I can remember. U2 is back with just plain solid rock and roll, probably one of their top three albums.

3. The Darkness - Permission to Land
Words cannot describe how I love this band. Way over the top, almost to the point of being tongue in cheek like Spinal Tap. They only got knocked down to #3 because of the lead singer ragging on Bono for his contribution to the Band Aid 20 single.

4. The Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy
So glad I discovered these guys and gals. Nothing compares to seeing their full complement in all their glory, live on the Kennedy Center Terrace. Over 20 members, all playing their own instruments or singing and dancing on stage at once. Truly unique artists in a time of mass imitators.

5. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Great import from Scotland, winners of the Mercury Music Prize. Just cool pop music.

Honorable Mention: Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane

Early candidate for 2005: Verbal's upcoming LP.

Good news for music fans. Weezer is almost finished recording their new album. New Edition is back (sans Bobby Brown, thank God) with "One Love" released today. U2's new one, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" will be out on November 23. And speaking of Bono, he's back on the updated recording of Band Aid, once again singing "Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you."
Bad news for music fans. Wu Tang Clan founder ODB died Saturday. And Britney Spears is out with a "Greatest Hits" album that includes a cover of the Bobby Brown (before he went crazy) hit, "My Prerogative". Hopefully she will go away after this one, before she can go ruining every other 80's song I love like Jessica Simpson is doing....

I had a nice run a couple of weeks ago, when Lisa was at choir practice and Ellie was asleep. The deck just hit me in the face, and whenever I had a good hand, I was aggressive with it, and people just kept betting against me. I just about doubled my money that day.
Well, today was a different story. I was too loose early on, and dropped about $10 on stupid hands. But I grinded my way back up by playing good position poker, and paying attention to how the other people were playing (yes, you can "read" players even online). I never won a big hand, and I never had to show my cards either. It's interesting, because the old me would have quit after losing so much early, but the new me knew I just had to tighten up and play solid poker and I would get back in it, and I did.

As a followup to my previous "What shows are you watching", I'm back with mini-reviews of what I'm watching.

Complete Savages: don't waste your time. Predictable humor, not a substantially interesting premise. The dog was indeed funny though, but not worth the Tivo space.

Lost: Totally worth it. It still will be hard for it to last more than one season (but then, how long was Gilligan's Island on?). But it's worth watching just to see where it goes, not to mention finding out why a polar bear was on a tropical island.

Desperate Housewives: Didn't watch it, but it was apparently the highest rated new show so far, appealing equally to women (its target audience) and men. Here's a tip for the men: if you were watching to see Teri Hatcher running around partially naked after losing her towel, don't waste your time, it's network TV, and it's not NYPD Blue. Go rent The Cool Surface. She's ten years younger, and as she said in her famous Seinfeld appearance, "They're real, and they're spectacular."

If you weren't convinced by the overexposure poker gets on TV and every other media, I bring you Poker Bobbleheads. Props if you can identify all the players (without looking at the names across the bottom!)

At least they didn't make one of Moneymaker... But I am surprised that there's no Doyle Brunson.

With the new fall season at hand, I figured I would throw out a question. What new shows are you watching, or looking forward to watching?

I've had bad luck picking new shows in the past. Recently, Firefly and John Doe last less than a full season and one season before getting cancelled. Arrested Development miraculously survived last year to win an Emmy (now watch!)

On that note, I thought about watching "Lost" on ABC. It sounded interesting enough, but then I decided it was going to get cancelled. How do you make that show for more than a year.

Tonight, "Complete Savages" debuts on ABC, and I am thinking about catching it. Why? The dog looks like our dog, Max. And it seems mildly funny too.

But those are the only new shows I find interesting. I'm going to keep watching Survivor, CSI, ER, The West Wing, Arrested Development, The Simpsons, and That 70s Show.

So, tell me what I'm missing.

It's probably a good thing that I graduated from college before the big poker craze hit. I might have been gambling away my tuition in smoky frat houses. As it was, we only played our silly 5 card draw games that resulted in almost no money changing hands. We had no idea what Texas Hold Em was back then.

Nowadays, things are different over at good ole Michigan State. Along with several other colleges, MSU now offers courses related to gambling. HB 210 is an introduction to the casino industry. It discusses social issues of gaming, casino games of chance, management controls and marketing plans. HB 320 is Casino Operations and Management. It covers practices and problems associated with casino management, as well as staffing, security, protection of table games, and control.

Considering that the greater Michigan are now has at least 8 casinos (check the map on the right side, it doesn't even show two others in Detroit because they don't have poker rooms), this shouldn't be surprising. At least they aren't teaching you how to play poker...

Recently, I started tuning in to Yahoo's Launch music service, thanks to a particularly abrasive co-worker to whom I would rather not listen. They have a cool station: 1980's cover songs. It's a lot of fun, and leads me to this ranting analysis of cover songs.

If you're going to take the time to do a cover song, please don't try to sound like the original. If I wanted that, I would listen to the original band, or go to a karaoke bar. It's just boring, and many bands fall into the trap. I just listened to the Presidents of the United States covering "Video Killed the Radio Star." They sounded exactly like the original, including the reverb effects, and the singer even inflected his voice to sound like the original (female) singer. Boo! Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, and Jessica Simpson should be banned from every ruining any 80s song by covering it. And what is the obsession with people covering "Boys of Summer"? It wasn't that great of a song.

On the other hand, Save Ferris did a fine cover of "Come On Eileen." It was a ska beat kind of remake. Very cool. One of my favorite covers ever was "Money" by the Flying Lizards. The female singer just deadpanned the lyrics the whole way through, and it was so different from the original, I may like it better than the Beatles' version.

If you tune in to this station, look for the Pet Shop Boys covering "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "I Can't Take My Eyes Off You"... in the same song. Also, George Michael doing Roxanne is unique. And if you haven't heard Johnny Cash doing covers of Nine Inch Nails "Hurt" and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", you are missing out.

Rant over.

Amusing side note: On right now is The Bacon Brothers (with Kevin Bacon, of course) doing a live cover of "Footloose", the theme from the same titled movie Kevin Bacon starred in. And it ain't bad either...

We haven't played our home poker game (more like our work poker game, held at someone's house) since before the NBA Finals, I think. So, since Tony just moved into his new house, he wanted to host, and we were up for it. 7 players showed up, which is a slightly smaller crowd than normal. The first couple of hours, we just played a standard limit game. No "all-ins", just limit betting. I saw very few cards, but managed to get one or two big hands to end up $3 from my $10 buy-in. Aaron lost $10, and Tony lost $10, bought back in for $5, and lost that too.

At 9pm, we started our tournament. $10 buy-in, winner gets $50, second gets $20. Normally, we might pay out three places, but with fewer players, it made more sense to only pay two. The action was really slow, mainly because the blinds were only 5/10 for a long time, and everyone started with something like 800-1000 chips. The rule was that the blinds go up after 15 minutes or two orbits of the table. I thought that should have meant whichever came first, but it was whichever was longest. We don't play fast, so after 15 minutes we had played maybe 4-5 hands. It was shaping up to be a long night. I managed to knock out the first player early on though, flopping a set when the newest player to our group only had top pair, I think. I lost a lot of hands when nothing hit me on the flop, or I tried to play a draw and lost.

We were down to 4 players when I got A-9, I think in one of the blinds. Aaron also stayed in the hand, which I think was raised to 2 times the big blind. The flop came out 2-6-9. I looked down at my chips and suddenly realized that I didn't have a whole lot left. I ended up all-in with my top pair top kicker, and Aaron was flustered. He'd been having a tough night with his pocket pairs, having AA, KK, etc all lose to flushes or straights, usually on the river. He finally called, and flipped over his pocket 7s. I was way ahead, and just needed to dodge one of the two 7s remaining in the deck. The turn didn't help him. But the river finally hit him with his 7, and I was out in 4th place. The river ended up kicking him about three more times, and Tony walked away the winner.

So here's my only complaint about our nice little home game: Only one person walked away with more money than they started with: Tony. And since he had lost $15 in the ring game, and paid $10 to buy in to the tourney, he was only up $25 on the night. Aaron broke even after the tourney, and everyone else lost money. It just seems wrong for some reason. Basically, you can't win money unless you win the tourney. Oh well, losing $7 for 4 hours of entertainment isn't too bad, I guess.

You wish you had moves moves like this.

So, I'm playing a little tournament online tonight. It's an unlimited rebuy tournament, and I really didn't know what I was getting into. Bad idea.
I sat back for the first half hour or so. I even folded pocket Kings on my first hand, because I didn't want to call an all-in on the first hand. Turns out I should have. The guy had nothing, and proceeded to go all-in on almost every hand. He re-bought his way into the tournament four times. He eventually gave up.

I played very tight, but when I was dealt pocket queens and had two all-ins in front of me, I couldn't fold away the chance to triple up. My opponents had 10-2s and 9-4o. That made me a 71.7% favorite to win the hand. The flop came 3-3-5, making me an 87.9% favorite to win the hand. The next card was a 7. I was 90.5%, only a 6 could beat me. And a 6 it was. Grr...

I decided to rebuy again. I was playing with free money, so who could care? Not long after, I had k-6o from the small blind and just called. 5 players saw the flop come 9-9-K. I had two pair, and it was up to me to act. I raised it about the pot amount and got one caller. I knew I was a big favorite with two pair, unless he was slow-playing a nine. The next card was an 8. I checked, he raised, and I went all-in. If he was on a draw, which I figured he had to be, he'd pay for it, and hopefully I would double up. He called, he was on a draw, with J-10 in his hand. I was still about a 80% favorite though. And of course, I got busted again when the seven rivered his straight again. Lost twice to the same guy on runner-runner straights.

I'm really hating playing poker online right now. I'm just not playing well, and getting beat when I do play well. I'll have to get the guys from work together for another game, because at least I know them, and won't feel bad if I lose money to them. Losing to stupid strangers really gets to me.

(I realized I used some terms that could be confusing to non-poker players. For you, check out this Poker glossary.)

6:00 pm, the Rookie Freeroll starts. 382 players, vying for $5000 in prize money.

6:08, first hand won. Dealt pocket tens, called in early position. Flop came 10-Q-A rainbow. Bet out. Called by chip leader. 6 on the turn, bigger bet. He folds, I win with three of a kind. One guy at our table already went out, btw.

6:15, I see a few hands I could limp on, but nothing special. People are crazy with their all-ins. I don't want to get in the way right now, it's still early.

6:18, A10h in the big blind just as they go up. Only me and the small blind in, I fold when K-Q hits the board and he raises, but get it back on the next hand when I go head to head with the big blind, and take it on a nothing flop. I'm hovering around the average stack, not getting crazy. The chip leader's at our table, and he is nuts. Someone's going to take him for a lot of chips soon. For now, he's using his big stack to push people around and call any hand. He could be doing a lot more though, if he knew anything.

6:23, my first knockout. My pair of fives hold up against A-2 of a small stack.

6:33, first stupid play, I try to bluff the BB with nothing when a K hits the flop, he calls. I check the turn, he bets, I have to fold. Yuk. I'm now well below the average stack at 1360 (started with 1500)

6:38, second knockout when my cowboys hold up against jacks. Getting annoyed though because one guy is a big staller, waiting till the clock runs all the way down on him before folding. He's a guy who can cost people the chance to build up bigger stacks as players get knocked out.

6:45, down to 236 players left. Still a little below the average stack, but hanging in there as we hit the first break. Four players are just below my chip count at my table, so it would be nice to knock them out, or double through one of the big stacks.

6:56, lots of blind stealing going on. Makes sense, they're up to 150/300 now. I can't get involved since I have no hands to speak of. Just hanging around, waiting for the cards to fall my way.

7:00, forced all in on A5d and double up when my diamond hits on the turn and river for the flush. feel better after losing both my blinds to crazy stealers.

7:11, not a lucky time for me, as both my blinds get stolen again, and I'm short stacked. I probably should have picked one of the hands and played it, but I didn't.

7:14, I go all-in two hands in a row. First one, I am lucky to escape, because I outchipped the other guy, though it was by a lot (my Aces and 8s fell to his 8s full of deuces, and I did win some chips from one other caller). Second one, I go all-in with KQs, get one caller with JJ. Flop comes KQ6, and I'm feeling good. But then the cursed J spikes me on the turn and the river is no help. I'm out, in 96th place, when top 50 paid.

Well, I'm happy with how I played that one. I really only had a couple of bad plays, trying to steal blinds when I had no business doing it. When I was slightly short-stacked there at the end, I had to pick some hands to play, and I had good ones. I was a huge favorite to win the last hand (after the flop, anyhow), and busted out when one of the guy's two outs hit. It would have taken some good cards in the next few rounds to keep me in it, as I was pretty short, and the other stacks were getting big. They're down to 50 about 20 minutes later, which would have put the blinds at 500/1000, requiring a lot of good play to stay in. It was a nice practice, anyway, and it was free to enter to try for some good money. Hopefully I can try to play in another one next week. I like the odds of doing well in a tourney like that.

Yay! Initial impression: I like em! They look like they are errors from various custom sets made back in the day. Looks like they stamped initials on them, and then stamped a starburst pattern over them. They seem somewhat light, but they feel very nice. The case is in pretty good shape too.

The chips in their case. 300 chips total, amazingly the full set.

A look at samples of each color.

A look at the edge of the blue one. The layers show how they used to compress whatever material used to make it nice and solid. Nowadays, it's all ABS plastic molded stuff.

The logo around the edges is a top hat and cane, like I mentioned before. I have no idea if these are really autherntic, but I don't care that much either. I bought them to play poker with, not to look at. But they are pretty, even so. They look an awful lot like the ones sold here, but they are obviously rejects of some kind. Some of the chips have the starburst imprinted over someone's initials, and some are imprinted over denominations. Like I said though, I like them, and can't wait to play with them.

After driving Lisa crazy with my eBay obsession, I was finally able to get some poker chips. At first, we were going to use a gift card to buy the Michael Graves set from Target, but I couldn't get their web site to take my money.

So, I ended up getting this old school set. If you look closely, you can see the top hat and cane imprint around the edges, which used to be used by one of the top chips makers back in the day. I'm looking forward to getting them (they ship today) to see how they really look and feel. I'm hopeful that I won't be disappointed. At any rate, it should be interesting to see the rea