Just posting to let you guys know I'm still alive... Today's the day to make my comeback in the online poker world. For those that don't know, I got tapped in the middle of the month. Wasn't happy about the way I've been playing so I took a self-imposed break til today. It actually felt good to put it down for a bit. I'm kind of lying though. I did manage to play at Bay when Brendan managed to pull his 3 rack night :) Unfortunately I didn't do so hot, but I can say it was a learning experience. Brendan, the guy to your right may have been a maniac but he did have some poker knowledge. He helped me out a lot... He was able to read me, and I caught myself giving him a tell. Ahh, I can't say too much about my 100 dollar loss that day though... I played premium hands, but I didn't let it go when I should have. Live and learn I guess.

But enough about poker, right? We didn't celebrate this blog's birthday! We managed to keep alive (sorta) for a year now. Looking back at it, we've all come a long way. It's only been a year! Imagine what'll happen this year.

The school year isn't too bad this time around. Just took two tests, one in computers and one in Human Resources. For those I haven't told my computer class to... I have to take a basic computer course to show I'm competent. The transfer from CS to business must not count for very much. Anyway, when I say basic I really mean basic. We learned how to use E-Mail in our first computer class, and we're learning all about Microsoft Word now. Whee. Test done in 30 minutes.

So how is the unemployed life? I love it, aside from the steady paycheck every other week. I've gotten a lot done in the weekends I've had off, and plan to do much more. I gotta say, the next job I get, I'd better get the weekends off. I've been missing a lot! My plan is to find an internship or something higher for my next job. I don't want to do any more of this low level shiet.

Alright, that's enough for now. Good luck on the project Brendan, I like the concept! Let us know how it goes.

I'm going to be the only one blogging on this it seems. I heard Jon is working on some massive blog that will blow the critics away, but I have yet to even see the traces of a blog on his end. So I'm going to talk about me again. You lucky dogs.

After years of not being able to touch film, I've finally touched a real film camera. I got to actually load film. I got to change shutter speeds and exposure times, work with different lenses and so on. I've got to say that from what I've seen from 16mm I really like how it looks. I'd even go as far to say that I would shoot our poker movie in film rather than digital. It feels good to finally get my hands dirty in emulsion and when I was working in class I was getting a tingling sensation in my stomach...could this be the birth of creativity? Could this be the feeling of excitment? Fear? Either way I like it. I like it a lot. I've already started to work on our final project that I will go into for the next paragraph. Not to sound gay but when I was walking out of that class session I was smirking.

After the comedy of Game Over (I still think it's funny) and the seriousness of To Whom (That fucked us in the ass for trying something to "epic" to soon and with only about 700 dollars as a budget) I have decided that I would like to do something somewhat experimental and creepy. Almost a Silent Hill type of film that will leave the bitter taste of creepiness in your mouth after watching it. This type of film is totally new to me from a creative standpoint, but you can bet your ass I will be watching and purchasing more horror films that achieve in making people cringe. I no I probably won't be able to recreate this feeling, but I'm always up to the challege.

Since this is the first production class we cannot take the cameras off of campus. So I have to try to come up with something that can be shot on campus. Of course this isn't a totally orginal idea I've decided to try to make it my own and shape it to my demented mind. The story starts off in a deserted hallway with our main character waiting for the elevator. Out of the corner of his eye he sees someone run into the stairwell with the faint sound of a girl laughing (this will most likely change). The man being curious and with the silence of the room amplifying the laughter, he decides to take the stairs out of curiousity. As he starts up the stairs the shots seem like normal type of shots you would see in any type of film...however as he progresses up and up he starts to feel as if the stairs are endless, the shots turn into more experimental in nature. He starts to hear footsteps and more laughing (we have to sync sounds in our final project...no dialogue unless you want to tackle it) echoing throughout the stairwell. He starts to get sweaty and frustrated...he tries to leave the stairwell since he feels he is hallucinating and finds out that the next door leads to more endless sets of stairs. As he starts to climb out of desperation to get out he starts to see small trails of blood on the railing. Now he is sweating even more heavily and starts to throw his items along the wall...as he gets to closer to the end of the film the laughter turns into screaming and various sounds of metal hitting metal. The lighting gets darker and dirtier until he finally reaches the top where the screaming is amplified and he sees the girl slump down to the floor. In front of him stands the man his curiousity was chasing...I wish I had an ending...thinking more along the lines of an out of body experience...I figure if we do this right the audience will be expecting that our hero is chasing after this man and trying to save the girl. When we finally reveal the whole shot in the end we will see our hero who was hallucinating up these stairs holding a knife with the body of the girl lying faceless into the cold concrete. In a way I guess the stairwell and him being trapped is his desire to kill...how he can't escape the taste of murder even if he wanted to. I always that this is how most murderers' minds work. Even they know what they are doing...they are out of body when they finally get to actually doing it...and they like it.

Sounds disturbing enough for me. Ari and I always wanted to do something controversial and perhaps we can mess with the camera to make it more experimental...I know this sounds like it has been done before (trust me I realize that), but thinking that we can only use SFSU as a backdrop serious limits our ideas...and I figure we can use some awesome angles with the camera and the stairs...almost Hitchcock like perhaps. The editing will get faster and faster to create more and more tension as the film goes on...so let me know what you guys think...they always say outside sources are always the best...but then again those people don't know Pooky.

That's about it...I just wanted to blog to let you know that I might be getting enthusiastic about making something...shit...even that little bit of time that was spent with Bryant's friend Kevin who was making a movie of his own was giving me the urge to shoot something. Or perhaps the better description would be to take a project and take a stab at it....hahahaha...thats not funny at all...I can't write comedy...I better stick to killling women in a empty stairwell.

So here's the thing. I will tell you about my experience at Bay 101 even though I feel like an ass for talking about it. Then I will tell you exactly why I feel that the poker books that Jon and I have read DO NOT TOTALLY apply to the online form of gambling. Obviously I've spent more time online than playing live, but seeing how I've been coming up (yes I had a losing session but I cut it off at 40 when I went with Kevin to Bay) you can take my advice any which way you want.

Here is the story in short form. I started with four lonely stacks of 10 when I sat down at the table. Left with over three racks when I was finished about 5 hours later. Another quick story...I had the big blind special and was looking at a J7o. Not too bad, but far from fucking good. This old FOB lady calls the bet and everyone else folds...which is odd considering that more people would at least see the flop. Anyway the flop came 7 - 9 - J. Holy shit...isn't luck good for me...UNTIL I saw this lady chuckle. I have made it my habit to never look at my cards while I'm in the game and look at what the people are doing to practice my "reading" skills. But this laugh seemed weird. Not the type where you laugh and say, "fuck...I should've known that shit would miss me...". Oh no. This was another type of chuckle...Now let us remind everyone that I was holding two pair. This should have won me the hand in any other situation...but that laugh. Anyway the bet is to her and she bets. Now she is staring at me. I say, "time". I reach for my stacks and her eyes start to get a little bigger. So now I have to reads on this FOB and I figure that even though I have a huge hand...perhaps it wasn' t the best. So I took a chance. (Also note that this lady was sitting at the table for about 2 hours before this took place so I got to see how she bet) I mucked my cards face up and showed my two pair. Everyone was like, "what the fuck are you doing?". I looked at her and told her that I bet she was holding a 8 - 10 which would give her the nut straight. She looked at me and gave me this dirty look. I politely asked if I could see them. She flipped them over and there they were. An 8 - 10 suited hearts. An old man next to me just looked at me and said, "jesus". So while I am no way saying I'm awesome...I'm just saying that following your gut can save you money. *On another note I could have tried to draw out on her...the chances of me hitting a fullhouse is about 16 percent.

Poker books. I have warned Bryant about them. Do they help? Yes. Did they win me money? Yes. But those poker books are designed for card rooms. Card rooms that you play with other people in front of your face. Is there a difference in strategy when I sit down to play cards at Pokerroom or Bay? You bet your ass. Those poker books were written by poker players who have got their experience and sweat at real live card rooms. At Pokerroom especially at 1-2 and even as high as 3-6 you will see hands flip over that you wouldn't believe if I told you. We've all been rivered more than enough times and sometimes premium hands don't win shit. The thing about Pokerroom is that it has to be considered like a video game. These people don't see their stacks in front of their faces. They don't see the stacks getting lower and lower while they bet stupid shit. Even at Bay 101 I have noticed that people are generally more cautious about what they play. Of course you still get the bullshit hands every once in a while, but usually the way I play (which is based on these various books) have paid me off at Bay. You want stats...3/4 times I've gone lately I've been up. So far that is still considered lucky. But the fact of the matter is that I have won roughly 400 dollars for about 12 hours of play.

All I'm trying to say is that don't take the good information in poker books as confidence. If you do it will lose you money. All you new players will be as good as me and Jon...shit I'm still trying to catch up to Jon, but remember that experience is the ultimate learning guide. I'll talk to you laters and the next time I blog it won't be about poker. I promise you that. Peace out...time for shitty class.