The problem with Potter

On Friday evening Beth got her grandmother to come babysit AJ and we went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I love the books. I kind of like most of the movies. This one was made perfectly competently, but the ultimate problem is that trying to cram all of that rich, detailed writing into one two and a half hour flick always results in the same thing: the feeling that you've just had someone describe what it was like reading the Cliff Notes of that particular book. Prisoner of Akzaban seems to be universally viewed as the best of the movies thus far, and yet it's my least favorite. It might be great if you've never read the books, but I'll never know. Strangely, I think Chamber of Secrets is one of the best of the movies, and I'm almost positive it's my least enjoyable book of the series.

As for the recent offering, I've been writing a lot lately and that led me to watch it thinking about decisions that the writer made. There were some odd omissions and choices, to say the least. But really, it's a thankless task for the screenwriter. If he sticks to the material, the result invariably gets dubbed as "slavish to the source material," or some other nonsense. If the script veers too much in another direction, then it just infuriates the fans. There's no way to do it perfectly. Actually, there might be: film it as a cable series, with about a dozen episodes dedicated to each book. I think that could do the trick, and I really wonder if someone will attempt that some day.

Despite the fact that I think not one of the movies has hit it out of the park yet, they might have a shot of doing so with the upcoming, two part Deathly Hallows in 2010 and 2011. I'll be getting a baysitter then too.

28 awesome things from 2008

There are always tons of "best of" lists right around New Year's Day. Here is one more. Instead of a Top 10, or a Top 100, or anything so rigid and structured, here are just 28 things from 2008 that were awesome. They are not comprehensive, and they are not in any order. But they are awesome.

• Season four of Lost, especially on Blu-Ray.
• The 2008 World Champion Boston Celtics.
• The Dark Knight, especially Heath Ledger's brilliant performance.
• Season three of Dexter.
• Metallica: Death Magnetic and LIVE at Alltel Arena.
• Dustin Pedroia: Sun Devil, Red Sock, and AL MVP.
• Iron Man.
• Tropic Thunder.
• The Robert Downey Jr. resurgence in general.
• Rock Band 2.
• My second straight Chatham Bluefish Diamond Mind baseball championship.
• Scream Queens on VH1.
• Terra Naomi's acoustic hair band covers.
• The fact that a new GNR album actually came out, and it's good.
• Friday Night Lights, and the fact that it is still on TV at all.
  
• Survivor and The Amazing Race still being fairly entertaining.
• Pretty much everything AJ McC does, including his hilarious exploding vocabulary.
• Sierra Mist Free Cranberry Splash. Try some with vodka and thank me later.
• ZaZa pizza in Little Rock. The huge high heat woodburning oven is the key.
• The fact that a new movie theatre (with an Imax screen) opened right down the street, even if I don't get to go there as often as I'd like.
• That a guy who kind of rocks won American Idol.
• The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.
• Tina Fey, both on 30 Rock and SNL.
• Van Halen LIVE at Alltel Arena.
• Catching my first Red Sox game in way too long, with a rooftop table under the Budwesier sign.
• Two Vegas trips, an AZ fire up, and a Cape Cod vacation (with the Boston trip in the middle of it).
• Lots of cool shows on the Food Network. Seriously.
• WiiFit.

And eight things that were not so awesome:

• 18-1. Still pisses me off.
• The ASU football season. An entirely different kind of letdown.
• The Sox losing game 7 of the ALCS when they clearly could have been champs again if just a couple of guys stayed healthy.
• Watching shitty teams flounder in the 2008 NFL playoffs while the superior Patriots sit at home. Sickening.
• The economy, including our old house still being on the market.
• The disgusting New York Yankees offseason spending spree.
  
• Heroes. Season one started great, and since then it's been pretty bad. And yet, I continue to watch.
• The complete tabloidization of the American media. Didn't CNN used to be a respected news outlet? Now they are People magazine with some news thrown in. Go ahead, check the website right now. What's on there? A video of Harrison Ford getting his chest waxed, apparently. And network news shows are just as bad. I cannot do it. I basically hate the news, now. I really do. Thankfully technology exists that lets me consume only what I want, for the most part. Okay. Rant over. I hope everyone has a great 2009.
  

Pop Culture Calendar

Fall is a great time of year for new pop culture stuff from every medium. Here's a Top 25 list of what I'm looking forward to:

(25. The Matt Cassel era in Foxboro. Okay, this doesn't really count but I wanted 25 items on the list. And I am genuinely excited about it in a weird way.)

24. The return of "good" reality shows like Survivor, The Amazing Race, and The Biggest Loser. Yes, I know the term might seem like an oxymoron, but the summer network TV schedule was downright depressing. America's Top Dog? People jumping on giant rubber balls? Japanese game shows? Really, this is the best we could do in the wake of the strike? I'm telling you, I really should be in network TV programming because I promise I could do better than this.

23. 30 Rock (season 2) on DVD. This show is brilliant. They catch some flak for the crazy number of guest stars, but it really works within the context of the show. Season two had some legendary moments that I'm really looking forward to watching again. Werewolf bar mitzvah, anyone?

22. Rough Weather, a novel by Robert B. Parker. His novels have been hit or miss lately, but I still pick up every Spenser book as soon as it comes out. This will be no exception.

21. Spore PC videogame. This comes from the makers of "The Sims" and could have been titled "SimEverything." You create your own life forms and guide them through various stages of evolution, from the birth of their existence through intergalactic space travel. Yeah, super geeky. Whatever, I'm in.

20. Chuck (season 1) on DVD. This is one of the most enjoyable shows on television. I was hooked right from the pilot and I cannot wait to watch the incredible first season again. The nearly no-name cast is one of the best on TV.

19. Entourage season 5 on HBO. I have an irrational love for this show, and it will be interesting to see the course it takes this year after lead character Vincent Chase suffered a box office bomb to wrap up season four.

18. Just After Sunset, a short story collection from Stephen King. This one is a must for me. Some of his past short stories are classics.

17. Fringe, on FOX. It's Sci-Fi, it's J.J. Abrams, and it's got Pacey from Dawson's Creek. That is not the order of things that makes me interested in this show but I'll be giving it a shot.

16. Lost season four on Blu-Ray (December). It looks absolutely gorgeous in Hi Def and some of last year's plot points practically demand a second viewing. The Constant? The (spoiler alert?) island-moving frozen donkey wheel? Jin going kablooie? Yeah, I need to see everything again.

15. Heroes season three on NBC. I like the fact that the producers outright admitted that they made some major mistakes last year. The writers' strike killed any momentum that they could have generated at the end of the year, so I think shutting it down and starting up this fall was the right call. Everything I've seen and read so far looks promising.

14. and 13. (tie) How I Met Your Mother, seasons three (DVD) and four (CBS). I was a latecomer to this show, which is kind of a problem...because it is absolutely AWESOME. Everything about it is great. The concept is as fresh as could be for a multi-cam sitcom. The cast is incredibly appealing. The writing is sharp and hilarious. I just love this show! Here's my only problem: I'm still catching up via DVD, so I'm a full season behind, and the new season starts over a month earlier than last season's DVD comes out. Who scheduled that?!? Terrible call. But I'll DVR it until I get caught up in October. It will be legen...wait for it...DARY!

12. 30 Rock season three on NBC. This show might be going down but they're going down swinging. Bring on more stunt guest star casting. Whatever it takes to keep it alive!


11. The Brass Verdict, a novel by Michael Connelly. I think he has supplanted Parker as my favorite crime fiction writer going today. Everything he writes is thoroughly enjoyable and engaging, and this new one looks like a crossover title involving his main guy, Harry Bosch, and recently introduced lawyer Mickey Haller. I'm in. If you have never read him and enjoy a good cop/P.I. yarn, just start at the beginning. You'll love them.

10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall on Blu-Ray. This was really clever, funny, and cute. I'm not sure how they are coming up with enough extras to fill up three regular DVDs but I can't wait to find out. Russell Brand was hilarious in this, unlike his trainwreck of a showing hosting the MTV awards on Sunday.

9. The Office season five on NBC. I adore this show. The Supersizing episodes last fall may not have been the best idea, but as a whole they had a great year. I cannot wait to see where and how things pick up this fall.

8. The Force Unleashed videogame on PS3. Kicking ass and using the full array of Force powers as Darth Vader's secret apprentice between episodes three and four? Hell yeah! The video clips look phenomenal. I apologize in advance for all the poor Wookiees I'm going to slaughter playing this game. I still love you, Wookiees. Nothing personal.


7. Iron Man on Blu-Ray. The Dark Knight might be a better film, but Iron Man was probably the most enjoyable movie of the summer. I can't to pop this one in again and watch it in glorious HD.

6. Chuck season two on NBC. I watched a six minute trailer of the upcoming season that they showed at ComiCon and...wow. It looks incredible. Kudos to NBC for giving this show the support it deserves.

5. Quantum of Solace, in theatres in November. Casino Royale rocked and the whole James Bond reboot idea was long overdue. I hear this one picks up ten minutes after the end of the last movie. Cool idea. I'm so there.

4. Downtown Owl, a novel by Chuck Klosterman. Klosterman has become my favorite writer. His pop culture books are instant classics, whether I completely agree with what he is saying or almost laugh out loud at some ridiculous positions he takes. This is his first novel and I'm in, sight unseen. I don't know what it's about, and I don't care. He might be the only author that I can say that about right now: that I will immediately buy whatever he writes without knowing a thing about it: fiction, non-fiction, whatever. He's that entertaining. Okay, the same goes for Bill Simmons, my long lost twin brother. But that's a blog for another day.

3. Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in theatres October 31. Kevin Smith. Seth Rogen. Elizabeth Banks. Justin Long. Amateurs making a porno spoofing Star Wars. Yes, I'll be seeing this one. Also, I guarantee that this is Smith's biggest box office success to date, and it won't even be close.

2. Rock Band 2 videogame for PS3. Rock Band was one of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of videogames, and it is so fun it's ridiculous. From all accounts they've taken everything great and improved it for round two. This cannot come out soon enough for me.


1. DEATH MAGNETIC, a CD by Metallica, available Friday. I've heard a few snippets of several of the songs and it sounds far and away like the best stuff they have done since The Black Album. One review I read said it's like a missing album bridging that and "...And Justice For All." St. Anger was almost impossible to listen to, so my hopes are high for a rebound. So far it sounds amazing.

So that's what I'll be consuming this fall.

Recent reads

Here are the books I've read since around Christmas time:

Phil Gordon's Little Green Hold 'Em Book - I got this one for Christmas and really enjoyed it. Gordon is a very smart guy and I actually think he may be a little underrated as a tournament player simply because he's so often in the limelight for other things, like TV shows. But this book is very informative. He presents bite-sized nuggets of Hold 'Em information, ranging from overall play and strategy to incredibly specific tips for particular situations. Case in point: Gordon goes out of his way to write an integral section on the importance of stealing blinds as the cash bubble nears in a tourney. Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson both made the same point when they spoke at my Full Tilt luncheon at the WSOP last summer. But Gordon takes his theory a step farther--he finds that the absolute best time to steal a quick pot is right before a dinner break...and he's got a point. Huge overhead displays on the tourney floor count down the time remaining in a level, and more often than not, players want to head for that door as soon as possible...thus, they aren't looking to get involved in a big pot right before the meal break. Brilliant little insights like this typify Gordon's book. I loved it, and I know I'll read it again. Grade: A-

School Days by Robert B. Parker - I love Parker and I've read every novel he's ever written. This one is the latest in the ongoing series about Spenser, the wisecracking Boston P.I. This one deviates a little bit from recent offerings in that Spenser's trusty, badass sidekick Hawk is nowhere to be seen...and neither is Susan Silverman, his often annoying better half. In this book, she's out of town essentially for the duration, and thank god for that, because the biggest knock on Parker's recent works has been his instance on having Spenser moon over Susan time and time again. We get it already. This time, Spenser runs a solo job when hired by the grandmother of a boy involved in a bloody school shooting. It's typical Parker, with taught, well-paced storytelling, and the ending isn't exactly predictable, but fulfilling enough. Not a classic Spenser book, but hardly a bad one. Grade: B.

A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal by Anthony Bourdain - Bourdain's first book, Kitchen Confidential, was brilliant, and it made him a star. Please don't judge him or his work on that Fox sitcom that's already been axed--although I even thought that show had potential. Bourdain is a talented chef and a passionate foodie and in this one, he cruises around the world, eating every exotic menu item he can find, with the entrees ranging from a whole slaughtered hog that died at his hand as the guest of honor to...wait for it...the still beating heart of a cobra. Yum! The highlights are engaging enough--like the laundry list of over a dozen faux pas one might unwillingly commit at a traditional Japanese haute cuisine meal-- but the book seems to wander aimlessly, meandering from one locale to another without any discernable reason. It's a decent read but not as good as his other book. Grade: B-.

Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman - I adored Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and I practically lived some parts of Fargo Rock City, so I eagerly looked forward to this book, which Klosterman advertises as "85% of a true story" that sees him loading up a rental car and driving thousand of miles around America to visit the sites where famous (and not so famous) rockers died. It's an interesting enough premise, and Klosterman scored points with me right away by nicknaming his rented Taurus "The Ford Tauntaun," but instead of offering up a look at rock immortality or examining the dichotomy of life and death, the book instead veers into Nick Hornby-esque "looking back at past failed relationships through a musical filter" territory. Klosterman even openly acknowledges this. It's not bad, so to speak, just not what I expected or hoped for. It's still vintage Klosterman--he decides that 600 CDs is just the right amount to pack for his trip, he goes on for several pages comparing past girlfriends to various members of KISS based on their personalities, etc. But the incessant rambling about the pros and cons of each of his life's loves grew a little tiresome. I liked it, but I could have loved it. Grade: when not talking about past loves: A-. When writing fictionalized conversations between three different old flames at once: C-. Overall: B. (note: I just read that Klosterman is writing a Super Bowl blog for ESPN. This could be good--if it is, I'll link to it)

Other reads coming soon: Mary Mary by James Patterson and Cell by Stephen King.

Goblet of Fire

We caught Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on opening night and it was really good--right now I think it's my favorite one of the movies thus far. It was my favorite book in the series so my expectations were high, but I also knew that they would have to trim a ton of material, but they did a good job with it. Several scenes were exactly like I pictured them, which is great. I won't give anything away in case people haven't seen it yet, but if you dig the books or the movies, check it out and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I cashed in another tournament on Friday evening and although I didn't win much it felt like quite an accomplishment. Early on, I had AQ and raised it up and got a caller, only to see the flop come A-Q-J. Needless to say, he hadK-10 and I lost a bundle. I didn't have any kind of a read on him at that point so I couldn't lay down top two but I was a little surprised that he'd see a pre-flop raise that big with just K-10 off-suit...but really, nothing should surprise me in the world of on-line poker anymore. So that loss dropped me below 300 chips (started with 1500) and I battled all the way back, doubling up a couple of times when I needed to, and I ended up cashing in 25th place out of 211 players. I was very satisfied with my effort and being able to stay focused with such a short stack early on. But I need to break through and win one of these suckers. The last tourney I actually won (aside from SNGs) was the Full Tilt freeroll that sent me to Vegas. I've cashed and made final tables since then, but in these rinky-dink $5 and $10 tournaments I play there's no decent money to be made unless you're in the top 3-4. Unfortunately my final table appearances have seen me going out earlier. I think it could be that I'm too concerned with making the money, as opposed to flat-out playing to win during the early stages, and that's something that I plan to address in the future. I also want to re-read both of Dan Harrington's books, just to brush up.

Fargo Rock City

As I mentioned before, I loved Chuck Klosterman's book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. I checked his list of previous titles and it turns out a few years ago he wrote a book completely about 80s hair bands called Fargo Rock City. The title is terrible, because the Fargo reference is basically meaningless, despite the fact that he grew up outside of there, while the "Rock City" part only makes people think of Kiss, who are hardly a focal point of the book. Klosterman agrees, as he writes that he would have preferred it be called Appetite for Deconstruction. And if you don't get the pun, then the book isn't for you. But if you agree that Poison were wildly underrated and that Appetite for Destruction is one of the greatest albums ever recorded, run to the store and pick it up. It's a series of anecodtes and essays told in semi-chroological order, starting when Chuck listened to his first Motely Crue album in '83. One of my favorite chapters entails him explaining a principle called "the jack factor," an analysis of an album's value based on how much money someone would have to pay him to willingly never listen to it again. Great stuff.

I checked out the premiere of Prison Break on Fox last night and it looks like it has potential. You have to immediately shrug off the laughable premise and just try to get into the show. I'm not sure how long this concept will have legs but the first two hours were pretty interesting and well done. They say that they already have story lines for subsequent seasons but I could see it wearing thin pretty quickly. One good year would be nice. Kind of like Murder One had in 1995-1996...

I'm almost done with that season of Murder One on DVD and I can say I was more than a little surprised that they reached a verdict in episode 21...of 23. Hmm. Anyway, the show is really good, better than about 98% of anything that's on TV now, and it's too bad it never got a real shot at success when it aired.

I'm really happy we don't live in New Orleans any more. Our old street is completely underwater, as is about 80% of the city from what I can tell. I hear that the Saints are considering temporarily relocating to San Antonio. Yes, I know, that's the least of what anyone should be worrying about but with the start of football looming I can't help thinking about it. Plus the San Antonio Saints is a pretty cool sounding name. I wonder how they would draw there--probably pretty well. And I guarantee the Alamo Dome is a nicer facility than the airplane hangar they are accustomed to playing in.

Random thoughts of the day

I was driving in my car today and Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row came on the radio and it could not have made me any happier. I absolutely cranked it.

I cooked decent dinners at least three nights in a row this week and that is probably the first time I have ever been able to say that. Yes, I'm that bored.

I recently read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman and I was absolutely furious at myself for not picking it up sooner. I literally have held the book in my hand but I inexplicably never bought it. It's frickin' brilliant. I am absolutely his target audience, as the book addresses things like how the Celtics-Lakers rivalry can be applied to practically any competitive situation, the cultural significance of The Empire Strikes Back, and why John Cusack has potentially spoiled the chances of true love for nearly everyone. The book is subtitled "a low-culture manifesto," but that is selling itself short. It's the most brilliant insight into pop culture that I have ever read. It's so good, I wish I wrote it. Sheer genius.

Cool new TV show: No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain (10 PM Monday on the Travel Channel, check your local listings). I loved Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential, so I decided to check out this show, which is basically a cuisine-centric travelog, albeit one filtered through Bourdain's inimitable ballsy sensibility. Last week's episode saw him in Iceland in the dead of winter, eating shark meat fermented for months in lye--a product that he was implored not to touch with his hands, for fear that it might injure him...before eating it. "That is the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth," he stated afterwards. Coming from him, that means something. It also says a lot about him to add that he had more of that lovely shark dish later at a local watering hole, prefering to do that and quickly chase it with some Icelandic schanpps rather than offend his hosts.

I'm selling two tickets to a Sox-Yankees game on eBay, and you can imagine how much this pains me.

The NFL pre-season begins in less than three hours. Enough said.

Back to reality

I didn't win the World Series of Poker. I didn't even win any money.

I'm back home, and it's been long enough that I can finally sit down and write about it all. This will probably be long and rambling, if only to make up for the dearth of posts lately.

So where was I? That's right, I was in Vegas for the WSOP. My friend Shaw B was in town with a bunch of his buddies from Dallas, a rowdy crew of guys that I had never met. I met them at The Palms and we had a blast. They were all sitting at a blackjack table together and Shaw relinquished his third base seat to me. To make a long story short, the session ended after everyone there won a decent amount of cash and we all pounded a round of shots called a Red Headed Slut right there at the table. After that, we headed up to Ghostbar, one of Palms' notoriously cool hipster hangouts. This one happened to be 55 stories up, including a balcony patio with a gorgeous view of all of Las Vegas. Good times.

After several absurdly expensive cocktails, we made our way back downstairs, only to find ourselves all sitting down to play blackjack once again. What ensused was classic Vegas material: we all were feeling good and had had plenty of beverages, so of course that led to even more rowdy behavior at the table, exacerbated by the fact that we hit a tremendous stretch of cards. We had a blast. The details were a little sketchy even the next morning, let alone this long after the fact, so we'll just leave it at that.

I spent the next couple of days scouting out the WSOP and just having fun. Poker legends were everywhere, as were Hollywood celebrities. I saw Antonio Esfandiari at least five times. We saw Jennifer Tilly out and about more than once, wearing her WSOP bracelet, which I thought was great. I caught Tobey Maguire playing some high-limit Hold 'Em at Bellagio. I met Phil Hellmuth at a party and he was great. All in all, it was a fun and crazy week.

I started the tournament on Saturday at 11 AM and I was understandably a little nervous. However, those feelings quickly passed and I settled in to play my best game. For the record, my first hand ever at the WSOP was a glorious 2-8 off suit...glorious in that I didn't even have to think about playing it. I played pretty tight at first and it became evident that almost my entire table was filled with players that weren't very good. The lone exception was the player on my left, a friendly and personable guy about my age who went by the name of Tex. We got to chatting a little bit and really only got involved in two pots against each other. In one, we were the only players to see the flop and although I had no hand at all, I made a token bluff. He raised right back at me and I laid it down. This was very early, so it didn't cost much. In the other hand, I hit a fluky full house and he laid down his hand after I made a sizable bet on the river.

Shaw B and Erik, my faithful railbirds, also took a liking to Tex's wife, whom they met as they were all watching us. But Tex and I soon parted ways, as our table broke up pretty early. I wouldn't run into him again, although several days later I found out (spoiler warnings for anyone waiting for the ESPN coverage) that Tex went on to make the final table and finish in 3rd place, winning a cool $2.5 million. From all indications, he is a great player and a great guy, so good for him. And I'd bet good money that his wife logs some ESPN camera time.

The rest of Saturday was fairly uneventful. My stack didn't make any huge swings one way or the other. I did knock out a couple of other players and sit next to a couple of other pros, notably Gavin Griffin and Arnold Spee, who were both very nice guys--in 2004, Gavin became the youngest player ever to win a WSOP bracelet; Arnold won a World Poker Tour event in Reno, defeating Phil Ivey, among others. Late that night I went pretty card dead and was basically happy to have survived the day with a bigger stack than I started with. I ended the night with $12,000 and change in chips, which we bagged up at around 2:30 AM. I then went outside to find the longest cab line I've ever seen at a hotel in my life. I got to bed at around 4.

I came back eager and ready to play on Sunday and won a decent pot with AK on the first hand of the day. Shortly after that, former champ Chris Moneymaker busted out three tables away from mine. I got a chance to meet Chris and chat with him a little bit on Thursday and he was incredibly nice and gracious, just a super guy, and accomodating as can be for someone who still gets hounded everywhere by fans.

The cards went dead again and I just hung around, waiting for my shot. It finally came in the afternoon when my stack was down to about $11,000 and I was dealt pocket aces for the first time in the tournament. A very loose player with a big stack two seats to my right raised to $2500, so this was my chance. I wanted to get all of my money in, and I wanted him (and only him) to call me. Thus, it was Hollywood time. With one player sitting between us, I went into full acting mode, leaning out, staring at his stack of chips, then checking my own stack, then looking at him, then at his chips again, then at my cards again...before finally going all in. Everyone else folded, and he called with a suited KQ. I ended up making aces full of tens and my stack went up over $25,000, the highwater mark of the tournament.

Then the cards went dead again. Dan Harrington got knocked out two tables away from me and walked right past me to do an ESPN interview. He got a standing ovation from the whole room, including me. Harrington's two books were a huge help for me, and it felt odd to see him bust out before I did. Apparently I even held up the action at our table for a moment as I was standing and applauding while the action was on me.

Harrington is a tight player and his books preach patience, which had gotten me this far and looked like it would get me to the dinner break again, which was fifteen minutes away when I was dealt pocket kings. I raised to $2500 and got one caller--exactly what you want to happen. He took quite a while to make the call so I thought he had a borderline hand. The flop came 6-8-9. Perfect. I was first to act and bet out $7000. He thought long and hard before calling. He had a ton of chips and clearly was on a draw of some sort. Me, I had about $11,000 left at this point after my two big bets. The turn brought a useless deuce. I thought for a moment, knowing that I had the best hand, and pushed it all in. He eventually called and revealed a 6-7. He had called a $2500 raise pre-flop with a suited 6-7. Absurd. But I was right all along--he was on a draw and I had him beat.

Until a 7 fell on the river. He made two pair, and I was out of the tournament. I was stunned. I made my way out of the tournament area and Erik and I made a beeline to the bar, where we quickly downed several Captain and Diet Cokes and I made a few requisite "I'm out" phone calls and sent a few text messages. I couldn't believe it was over.

After taking some time to get a little distance from everything, I realized that my feelings about everything couldn't be more conflicted. I was completely happy with how I played. I was in the biggest tournament in the history of poker and I finished in the top 20% and outlasted many of my heroes. That felt great. And I went out on a hand that I read right and played right...but it still knocked me out, and that felt terrible. If I had won that hand, I would have been over $50,000 in chips and I would have been looking really good. But it just didn't happen. I had an incredible time and it was a great experience, but I was left with a painful, nagging feeling that I still have been unable to shake: I can play with those guys. They're the best in the world, and I can play with them.

I'll fill in more of what has happened since soon. Nothing earth-shattering, although I have read a couple of good books.

Whiffleball first draft

We finished the first draft of the "Whiffleball" screenplay. It clocks in at a beefy 111 pages and the first thing I need to work on is cutting it down a bit. In screenwriting, there is a vague but generally accepted rule that movies time out to one minute per screenplay page on average. So 111 would be fine for an action movie or a drama, but it's definitely a little long for a comedy. I'd like to trim at least 5-6 pages, which might be tough. Other than that, we just need to whip it into shape and get it as funny as it can be before we check in with that producer. It was really fun to write--Johnny and I had an absolute ball with it, continually e-mailing and text messaging back and forth with notes, comments and jokes. And if the angle with the producer never works it, we really could strip it down some and make it ourselves.

I'm scheduled for my last week of physical therapy this week. I'm hoping that the three sessions are all that I'll need but I should get the definitive word from the doctor on the 29th. But right now, I feel good. I can walk without the crutches and I'm sure I can bend it enough to fly, although it starts to hurt and get pretty stiff after a while. But that's nothing that will hold me back.

Other random thoughts to start off the week ( in classic, cliched writer/dot dot dot style): we've been watching season one of Alias on DVD and it's fun and entertaining. A lot of the plots are pretty goofy but you just have to have an active imagination, suspend disbelief a little, and buy into everything they are selling. From what I've heard, the storyline of the show takes lots of big, broad turns so it will be fun to be able to fly through those on DVD, as opposed to waiting all summer to see how things turn out...(*cough*..."Lost")...my favorite show on TV this summer has to be "Entourage" on HBO. I loved season one and season two is off to a great start. Jeremy Piven as Ari the agent is one of the best characters on the tube right now...conversely, the worst show I'm watching is "The Comeback" on HBO with Lisa Kudrow. I love the idea of the show a lot, and the format. But her character is just brutal to watch and it makes the entire show painful and annoying. And yet, I'm still giving it a chance...I predict that the Red Sox will be in first place before I get dealt my first hand at the WSOP...I still haven't pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book yet because I don't know if I want to go get it at midnight or just have it mailed to me. I must be getting older. That, and just being in bookstores now feels different after B&N...Robert Horry is pretty damn clutch...I think it's going to be dreadfully humid here in Arkansas this summer, and that's something I haven't had to deal with lately. Although it probably won't hit 120, either.

That's it from me for now. As usual, nothing exciting going on.

Starting physical therapy

The doctor's appointment went well today. He said that everything looks good and he wants me to start physical therapy right away. My first session will be on Thursday afternoon and then I'll come back three times a week for a month. I let him know that I need to be on a plane the first week of July (Vegas, baby!) and he said it should not be a problem to get the range of motion on my knee up to at least 90 degrees by then. Now, it's at about 50 degrees or so pretty comfortably. I feel great about starting the PT and getting the knee really better but I do feel bad for my poor father-in-law who is going to get stuck taking me every time. But he's completely fine with it.

Anyway, that's it. Here's some other random information--my life is so boring right now that I have to actively think about stuff to put in here. Feel free to add your own answers in the comments if you like:

Last movie attended: Revenge of the Sith
Last CD purchased: Revenge of the Sith soundtrack (which is awesome, by the way)
Last DVD purchased: Seinfeld season four...maybe their best season ever
Last book read: The Closers, by Michael Connelly. Reading it right now.
Last pizza toppings: sausage, mushroom, and meatballs...and when I say meatballs, I mean actual meatballs...good stuff!

The Celtics stink

Wow...what a disastrous showing by my Celts in game 7. Nothing to say, really, aside from "we sucked."

The weekend in Memphis was great. Very low key, just hanging out with the family, playing board games, good stuff like that. The family is all excited about my poker stuff and I had a free tournament to play on Saturday so we hooked the laptop up to output to the big screen so that they could check in and watch periodically. The tourney went well. It is hosted by Card Player magazine and it's a sweet deal--for signing up with their website and making some quality posts a few months ago, I now get to play in a monthly tournament for free that gives out real cash to the top fifty finishers. There were almost 800 players this time and I managed to crack the top 20, taking home $30 for my 17th place finish. I was happy with the way I played, especially after losing about two thirds of my stack right before one of the breaks.

Not much happening on the home front. I won another single-table tournament today and I'm almost done with Harrington's book, which has been brilliant. Other than that, just counting the days until Episode III. Yes, I'm a geek, I know...

More poker reading

I finished the Hold 'Em sections in Super System 2. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't too helpful because there is just no way I can play the way that Doyle Brunson advocates, because that style is just too aggressive for me. So I recently picked up Harrington On Hold 'Em by 1995 WSOP champ Dan Harrington. He is ironically nicknamed "Action Dan" because of his conservative playing style but he's also the only player in the world to make it to the final table of the main event the last two years, which have had by far the biggest fields the event has ever seen. I'm part way through the book so far and it's really good. He also has a volume two coming out later this month and I'll probably pick that one up as well. My favorite tip of his so far is that you tend to win the most money by playing the opposite of your traditional style--tight players win by getting a little looser, and vice versa. Simple, but true.

On Thursday I won a single-table tournament on Full Tilt. The entry fee was only $4.40 and there were just nine people but it means that I now have a "satellite chip" that I can use to buy into a more expensive tournament of my choice. The entire World Series of Poker consists of around 45 total events this year, including the big one that I am in, and Full Tilt runs a lot of qualifying tournaments into the other events as well. Who knows, maybe I'll win my way into another tournament out there too!

We're off to Memphis for the weekend to see my family. Mom and Dad are headed back to Cape Cod for the summer so it will be good to see them before they go. And I haven't seen my brother since January so it will be fun all around. I'm sure we'll be watching game 7 of the Boston-Indiana series on Saturday. GO CELTICS! I want a piece of Sully and his World Champion Detroit Pistons in round two.

Training for the WSOP

I've got a little over two months to get my game in shape for the WSOP. And since I'm still confined to the house, my training will consist of three things for now:

1. Playing tournaments on the internet.
2. Reading good No Limit tournament Hold 'Em books.
3. Studying old WSOP shows and World Poker Tour episodes.

I've done all three since I won the satellite. Before I left AZ, I picked up Doyle Brunson's Super System 2 and it is pretty informative so far. Brunson is a legend in the game, essentially the Arnold Palmer of poker, except he can still compete at the highest level. He's a two-time WSOP main event champ so his insights are remarkable. I will devour everything he has to say about tournament no limit Hold 'Em.

My TiVo is now jam-packed with poker shows and I'm studying them to see how the pros play and, as crazy as this sounds, to look for tells, because any of these pros could end up at my table at any point. I think I found a small but significant tell on Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari that I could actually use if I ever get involved with him in a pot.

Finally, I'm playing on the internet. On Monday I entered a tournament with 246 players and finished in 35th place, just five spots out of the money. I was happy with my play and I would have been guaranteed a money spot until my pocket aces got cracked by running hearts on the turn and river to make a flush that beat me. That didn't knock me out, but it took a huge chunk of my stack. But I can't complain--I played well and took a bad beat. It happens. On Tuesday morning, I played in another similar tournament with 209 players and finished 42nd. This time around, I just never really got into a groove. I got hurt on one hand when I made a big pre-flop raise with pocket queens and got two callers. The ace that came on the flop was not good for me, and the loss on the hand put me in pretty bad shape. I hung around for several more levels but just never got any cards and couldn't double up even once, eventually going out with mediocre suited connectors. Again, I was satisfied with my play but it wasn't good enough. And if I'm not cashing in cheap internet tournaments, I'm certainly not ready for the WSOP Main Event. I need to get better, and that's my goal for the next two months: to get my game in the best shape ever.

The knee is doing better too. I can finally limp around and put some weight on it, although I still use the crutches. The wound is healing up and I can now get into and out of the back seat of a car with no help. And the exercises are working--it's starting to feel stronger. I think by sometime in June I'll be good to go. And I'll certainly be healthy enough to sit at a card table.

Checking in from Fort Worth

We left on Tuesday afternoon shortly after 4:30 PM with no hassles. I'm a little bummed that I didn't really get to say goodbye to a couple of people before blowing out of town but that's just the way it had to be. I was very sad as we pulled out of Chandler...I love Arizona and of everywhere I've lived, it's really the place where I feel most comfortable and feel most like "the real me." I could definitely see coming back here to live some day, and I'll most certainly be back to visit. Is it March 2006 yet?

Tuesday was a short night, as we were both tired. We stopped at a janky hotel in Wilcox (I think?), near the Arizona/New Mexico state border. Chalk up night number two in a row of crappy sleep for me. Meanwhile, my driver was up and getting ready by 5:20 AM. He's an early riser. Me...not so much. But he's driving so we're definitely working on his schedule, so we were in the car and on the road by 5:45 AM. The highlight of the morning was definitely the McGriddle sandwich that I scarfed for breakfast. How have I not had one of these before? Absurd. I could practically feel my arteries hardening but it hit the spot.

Through the day, we burned through seven CDs of the audiobook to Ian McEwen's novel "Saturday," about a day in the life of a London neurosurgeon. It's a little dry but well written and entertaining enough. I napped off and on throughout and clearly I didn't miss much. I think that the author went on for a good ten minutes with an in-depth description of the protagonist's fish stew recipe. We saved the last two discs for tomorrow and I'm eager to see how it ends.

I thought that we'd end up stopping early in Abilene but Dad was feeling good and wanted to get to the eastern side of Dallas tonight so that we wouldn't have to deal with AM rush hour traffic there tomorrow. But we ended up calling an audible after a fresh-faced Texas Highway Patrol officer pulled us over, informing us that one of the lights on the tow dolly was out. Honestly, the guy looked about 12. But he let us go with a warning and we decided not to push our luck so we're set up at a Courtesy Inn here in Fort Worth...and with internet access for the first time since we left. Beautiful!

We should arrive in Little Rock tomorrow morning, based on Dad's insane schedule. He's hell bent on getting back to Memphis in time for a good dinner with some good wine with Mom, and man, does he deserve it. He's been absolutely awesome about everything. Me? It looks like happy hour with the Hillises in Little Rock!