Batman was a great movie. I can't wait to see it again on a normal screen and in extreme comfort.

I knew I bought my PSP for a reason, from imdb.com

Sony Says It Can't Stop Porn Producers From Releasing Films for PSP

Following reports that several Japanese producers of pornographic movies are planning to release them in the UMD format used with Sony's hot-selling PlayStation Portable device, Sony issued a statement Wednesday saying that there was no way that it could legally block distribution and sale of the disks. A public relations official at Sony Computer told the Asahi Shimbun: "It is utterly undesirable, but we cannot stop software makers from selling such videos."

Icons overdue
I started brainstorming with Bryant to get some icons done for Tony, Kevin, and maybe even Andy. If any of you guys have ideas, let me know. If any of you want to MAKE the icons, DO SO and send them to me. Otherwise I'll go ahead and make a mockery of your face and lifestyle just for some drawing practice.

Cool technology:
FCHV (Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle) - Toyota is taking another big step with a demo/research version of this very promising technology. I knew about it long ago, but didn't hear of anything developing until today. The car will use tanks of hydrogen instead of gasoline, and the only exhaust is water. Then maybe we'll end up with a worldwide humidity crisis. And everyone will be all sweaty and nasty. And this will help with our overpopulation problems. And the world will be a better place just in time for our generation to die and miss out on utopia. That's probably how it'll go. Screw you, Toyota, and all your earth-saving goodness.

FTTP (Fiber to the Premises) - Fiber optic cables used by the phone companies can provide internet download speeds over 60x faster than DSL. Before you know it you'll be subscribing to "iFlix" to watch all the movies your heart--suffering from inactivity and massive quantities of theater butter popcorn--desires. Have you ever looked at the "nutrition facts" for microwave popcorn? Just 35 calories, nice! Oh wait, there are 3 servings in a bag! Who eats a third of a bag?! More like "nutrition tricks"... to get you fat like everyone else. Those bastards!

River or Joaquin
jhiro.net has risen from the World Wide Wasteland. If you can't tell, I feel like doing a crossword puzzle.

I gave Bryant the photos I shot when I was gimped out of football, suggesting he put one or two up on his Web site if he'd like. It appears he opted to steal my thunder and put just about all of them up on his xanga. So we see how he's doing so well at IBM.

"They smilin' in your face, all the time they wanna take your place... backstabbers.... BA-ACK STAB-BER-RSS"

Actually I would say thanks for saving me the trouble, but I'm planning on adding a photo album section to my site anyway. There you will find the photographer's cut... my own choices for cropping and compression. I'll email everyone once it's uploaded and ready. Until then, settle for what you've got, and work on those icons.

Since Brendan has seen Batman already, but wanted to see it again, I thought maybe we can at least give him and the rest of us a different experience.

Would anyone want to see the movie in IMAX? There's a theatre downtown and here are the showtimes:

Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience - Wednesday 6/15
Rated PG-13, 2 hr 14 min
Showtimes: 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15, 12:00am

I would think 9:15 PM would probably work the best, but I would be down for the 6:30 and Midnight showing. Let me know, otherwise we can watch it at Century 21 or Mercado.

So after football I took a nap and woke up with a headache. I didn't think it was a heat exhaustion thing because I think you actually need to have worked your body pretty hard to get that. I couldn't do shit in football. Hehe! But it was still ridiculously fun and hopefully we can do it again next week. Upon waking up Derek called me up to go see Lords of Dogtown. I'm not a skating freak and while it probably isn't bad, I really need to be in the mood to watch something like that. Derek made some calls and told Roxy "nah". Well Derek I guess had his sites on a film so he got me out of bed and told me that we were going to watch Cinderella Man.

Brendan's Quick Film Review That You Guys Probably Don't Take Seriously

We all know that Ron Howard can direct. We all know that he likes to take survival stories and turn them into a hopey and good feely film. Well I say that is just fine. If Garden State is the film I wish I could make for 2 million dollars then Cinderella Man is the kind of film I wish I could make with a Hollywood type budget. Directing praises aside...a director's job is much easier when you have exceptional talent. Like Jonathan Hironaga. Or for this review's purposes, Russell Crowe, Rene Zellwegger and Paul Giamatti.

These three really got thier shit together. Besides Zellwegger's lines that sometimes come off as a bit cheesy (not her fault, but the script's), these actors really let the story play out on it's own rather than try to overwhelm the camera. I'm guessing all them will recieve nods for their preformances.

The cinematography is awesome. Derek really liked how it was all filmed. If you need a good comparison then think back to how Any Given Sunday had a very dark, dirty look with a lot of the camera playing into people getting lit up on the field. Cinderella Man is no different...each punch taken and delivered makes you stop and think for just a second..."shit I'm glad that isn't me"...then before you can collect yourself another punch just floored you again and again and again. While Rocky and Raging Bull made you feel the impact, Cinderella Man does it better since in the 20's and 30's boxing was at its darkest. The refs let the boxers really go all out without something like 23 stitches each stopping them.

The story itself isn't just about one man or one underdog like Rudy and then everyone relating to to them...the story has a backdrop of the Great Depression and Jim Braddock (Crowe) really was considered a hero among those struggling during those times. In a way you can say that Braddock was the only hope that these people had that things were going to get better. It is powerful and meaningful and makes you feel like a lazy bum for not doing anything meaningful with your life. I'm speaking for myself.

Bottom line: If you wait for this on DVD then you might regret it. The sounds (folly and soundtrack provided by Thoman Newman (Road to Perdition) who Derek and I agree has a very firm grasp of how we think the 20's and 30's sounded) really need to be heard in a theater. Usually dramas don't need to be seen on the big screen, but this one must be viewed at Century or CineArts. Sorry Rudy and Lucas...your underdog, bitch asses just got moved down the list...Jim Braddock just rolled into town and knocked ur shit out.

By the way the title "Cinderella Man" seemed gay to me also...but then after doing research on all the boxers in the film...this really was a nickname given to him by a reporter in the New York Times I believe, for his rise from down and out to hero.

"2" Derek
I'm glad I made it out for your show. I enjoyed the strumming and singing, particularly the improvised lil-sumthin-extra parts. There were, however, some times in the middle it was hard to hear Roxanne; you were simply overpowering. Whether you tampered with the microphone volumes is not much my concern.

Then there was the awkward no-applause pause. Sorry, I wasn't sure how things were done in a worship group (it's been some time since my last). After a while people clapped... but I noticed that after that you never really stopped between songs, thereby denying people the chance to revive the awkwardness. You kept strumming a little--even when you were taking a drink of water, don't think I missed that--that hand of yours just kept plucking tunes.

I took some photos, to sell on eBay when you get famous. It was pretty dark in there though, so some turned out awful, others okay, and none great. I would have used the flash but I didn't want to disturb the artists at work or get accused of stealing souls.

Now "I was born to worship you... I was made to worship you..." is stuck in my head. Hopefully I won't be singing it out loud when my boss comes by to check on me.

"II" Brendan
This post is for Brendan or anyone else who might have given me a starring role in a short student film.

I haven't looked very thoroughly at the Web site, but my first answer is come on chums les do dis! I'm looking for a challenging position in a creative and technical field, and feel that my background, training, and work ethic would be a great asset to the group. Seriously, I appreciate the invitation and encouragement, and would be glad to join in whatever creative work's going on. Although I get the feeling the other guys just want to see more funny faces to make the work days a little easier.

On a side note, I never really responded directly to your idea about refilming the dance movie. I challenged opinions and promoted reconsideration, as is my wont, for its own sake. However, I would definitely want to reshoot with better dancing, a clearer story, a closer location if possible, and perhaps even HD, if it's going to film festivals regardless. I don't want to be all over the Web known as Worst Locker Ever Seen On Film. So if that's still an option we can discuss the details some time. I also still want to re-edit some of the original, one of these days.

Back to the important issue... If I join "A2D + Mike" does the name become "A2D + Mike + Jon - typos"... "Jonathan, BAM!"... or perhaps "JAMBox"? I think our best bet is "J + Crew"--that way anyone else can join in too and the name still works.

This post is for Jonathan or anyone else that might be interested in joining A2D + Mike Productions! Hehe. I was pleasantly suprised to find out that Jonathan wanted to learn how to rotoscope for the short film. I was a shitty teacher, but Jonathan produced a shot for the film that I didn't really have to touch. I will take the fact that he finished it and view it that he might be semi-interested in learning some special effects for film...which leads me to the purpose of this post...

Jonathan, Ari found a site that really changes how we can learn more techniques to help us flesh out some creative things we want to try with special effects. The url is...www.pixelcorps.com. It has all the info there and was wondering if you would like to be part of our team at Pixel Corps. It really sounds awesome...just a rundown before you actually visit the page.

200 dollars gets us 50+ hours of DVD training. This is good since I am very visual in terms of learning things. They have forums that we post our work on and get critiqued only by those who took the course and also by working professionals. These professionals really do work in the industry and didn't just give themselves the title of professionals. Challenges that we can work on as a team and individually that we will be able to put together in a demo reel at the end of the semester. There are no grades...you do what you want. They basically say that they give you so much information that most students spend the three months working on a couple of things then continuing with the program to learn more stuff after the first three months. They give us licenses to software that lasts the three months so we have access to all the professional programs we need...they also give us actualy working files so we don't need to go out and shoot our own stuff...but can focus on getting the techniques down so when we do shoot our own stuff we will be more knowledgable.

I know there are times you might like Lockheed or what not...remember when we talked about not using our brains...well I think you are very creative and I think that its getting wasted at Lockheed. You can say that I am shitting you or whatever...but Mike, Ari and myself would really enjoy having you in our creative team. Think about it.

Alright so it is 4:10 in the morning and in two nights I finished watching the whole first season of Scrubs. I always thought the show was funny but stupid of me never to make it a priority to see it every week. Well this set shows what a strong cast it is and the character developments are awesome. This will make me buy every single set that comes to DVD and it is now a top priority for me to make sure I see it every week. Awesome buy for 34 bucks. Now that the Scrubs review is over I think it is time for the review that I never saw coming...until Mike called me up yesterday afternoon for some awesome news...Batman Begins.

Now my hopes for this film has pretty much diminished solely because of Joel Schumacher or Shmucker or whatever the fuck his name is. He ruined it. I don't think Val Kilmer was too bad and I sure don't think George Clooney was totally at fault for making Batman into a shitty franchise...I think that the scripts and the overall feel of the last two Batman movies just made it all kinds of fucked up. Basically we all know that Batman doesn't really have a super power at all...he is basically driven by his psychological behavior and money to buy anything he wants. Those last two films ignored the thinking of Bruce Wayne and why he is what he is.

I'm not going to spoil anything for anyone and I put a stamp of guarantee on the new film...all I know is that three cocky wannabe directors fucking loved this film and thought it was THE best Batman film yet. It is dark, but not crazy Tim Burton dark. It is more realistic rather than creating some different type of comic book world. It really does seem like a city here in the United States, but still have that dirty look that throws itself back to the film noir type days. Christian Bale is fucking awesome as Batman and really shows you that Bruce Wayne is a man that is haunted by the past and by his own mind. Don't get me wrong now. It is an action movie, but really makes sure to put the psychological behavior of Batman the driving force in the story.

Also the villian in the story isn't as comic based as the last films. Hell even less comic than Burton's films. The bad guys in this film really seem that they could exist in this world which plays along with the whole realism type setting that Nolan, the director, decided to go for. Oh yeah, and Michael Caine as Alfred is fucking awesome. The "Batmobile" which I thought looked questionable in pictures like a year ago really does shine in this film. In fact I think it is the best "Batmobile" ever. I use quotation marks because it is never even referenced as that...again shows the realism factor of the film.

It also really explores Bruce Wayne's past. Not too much where it bores you, but enough to show you why Bruce Wayne is a troubled soul. It also shows why he fights and where he learned to kick some fucking ass.

Bottom line: I absolutely loved it. I liked the Tim Burton films and I honestly liked Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, but Tim Burton really did in a way put too much of himself in those films...I mean c'mon, Joker's henchmen wore purple coats and had spikes on the bottom of their boots while the Joker fell in acid or some shit...I don't even remember fully. Even the Penguins had these spiral looking missles or something... This film kept me on the edge of the seat and honestly, I wouldn't mind a sequel in this Batman universe. I expect Batman will be a huge favorite on the Halloween costume list...now more than ever.

Aww..fuck it. I'll put Brendan's stamp of approval...that might not mean anything to you...but at least the stamp has higher standards than Andy's stamp of approval.

Sin City was pretty fucking awesome and that might get my BEST COMIC TO FILM award, but Batman Begins is probably THE BEST SPIN ON A COMIC BOOK TO FILM EVER. Good shit. Call me up when you go see it so I can see it again!

Star Wars

• Princess Leia in the metal bikini -> Lucas was a genius. That was the hottest thing I'd ever seen.
• Anakin being such a puss. Whining all Episode II and III, then being such a pimp ass as Darth Vader that didn't take no shit from no one. I never understood why he was taking orders from Governors and stuff, when he was like the Vice-President of the Empire.
• Han Solo - that character just kicks ass. He had the pimp lines, got the girl, and he did things old school. Well old school in our sense with guns and fists.
• C-3Po whines worse then Anakin. He had some comic relief in the Episode I and II w/ some cheesy lines. Overall I could've done with a cooler droid.
  
• The newer episodes had some gimicky shit like R2-D2 and his amazing powers that were never shown in 4 - 6. Yoda fighting in II was a little bit of a stretch. Though I hate to admit I fell for it and loved those parts.
• I enjoyed how all the big battle scenes were shot especially the Battle on Hoth, Clone Battle on Geonosis, and the Ewoks.
  
• Luke becoming a Jedi seems almost effortless. For Anakin it took years, tons of fights, battles, etc. (most they don't show, but talk about). Luke pretty much has no mentor, never got into any major fights with his light sabre until Return of the Jedi, but I guess he's just a natural.
• The final fight scene in Revenge of the Sith is the best of all the movies. I enjoyed Obi Wan's speech at the end. He seems to be the only character that can act in any sort of manner.
• The music makes the movies. They add a great atmosphere when you're watching them. Everytime those songs come on, you can almost see the scenes in your head.
• I liked the whole idea of the force. I think it's cool that Lucas was able to make up his own sort of religion that people put a lot of stock and belief in. And with these ideals he came up with a spin-off of the force being the Sith. I wish they would've at least mentioned the Sith in Episode 4 - 6, since there was such a big emphasis on them in the prequels.

Poker
I had a blast playing poker with you guys. It's been fun times and I hope we get to play more often. The tournaments are going smoothly and I think we have a good system going on. Thank the Tournament Director, not the host...but the program.

I hear football is the next game of choice. I'm like a freight train...choo choo baby....

Thanks to the Horiuchi Clan for the Memorial Day BBQ, it was absolutely delightful.

Chico
A very interesting place indeed. I can't wait until Kevin moves into a town where he hangs out with people his own age and where I'm not the most looked at person. (Not because of my dashing good looks)

I had an awesome time getting free food, seeing the night scene, and just hanging out with my ol' buddy Kev. The cheeseburger I had was quite good, I must admit. At least I got to walk out of Crash with Kevin and made him feel proud that he was the only person who brought a minority. He's breaking the racial barrier everyday.

General thanks to everyone who have been there for me. I appreciate everyone who has listened to my babbling over the past month or so. Things are tough but I'm keeping my head up.

Thanks again for everyone dropping whatever they were going to do today to spend it with my family and I. I know it was sudden but you guys still came out (even though it takes free food to do it! Haha J/K) and even played poker. Thanks again and hope you guys have a kick ass memorial day.

Alright so besides Steve and him taking my shirt which he probably thinks I'm being a bitch about, but I don't care because that shirt is expensive and I like it a lot, the night went as planned. But I'm just fucking around because Steve I totally respect and I know he'll take care of it so don't think I'm being a worrysome little bitch. By takeing care of it I mean it better be washed the way it is supposed to be washed. Haha I know you worked 30 hours a week so I know you got money to replace it if need be. =)

So yeah just wanted to say thank you and the poker money I won will go to my parents for the food...so in a way you guys EXCEPT JONATHAN helped pay for everything. Hehe. Thanks again...and yes Tony...I'm in love with Grievous...didn't you see those big, bright eyes?

THIS IS THE MOST DISORGANIZED BLOG YET. I'M JUST RANTING AND THINKING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD...I COULD TALK ABOUT STAR WARS ALL FUCKING DAY AND IF THAT MAKES ME A NERD THEN SO BE IT...I COULD BE DOING CRACK INSTEAD.

GENERAL GRIEVOUS

Okay time to bust out some nerd passion. First off Tony, had you been a real Jedi such as myself you would understand that General Grievous is actually a living being. He comes from the planet Kalee and is from the Kaleesh species who specialize in making real living cyborgs of themselves. Quick nerd fact...he was almost killed by Boba Fett at one point. Since he does have his heart and lungs as well as his eyes and brain he is able to cough. As to why Lucas made him cough...who the fuck knows...but he's better than Darth Maul so let us be happy.

THE ORDER OF THE FILMS

Lucas wanted to shoot Episode I first but he knew that the story was weak and figured that it would flop and he would never be able to shoot the rest of the five episodes. Probably the smartest move he has ever made...oh yeah next to him buying the rights to Star Wars back from the studio for next to nothing.

MACE WINDU: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN THE JEDI COUNCIL

I'm glad Mace Windu died. That fucker had a gay purple lightsaber and all he fucking did the entire three movies was be Yoda's bitch. Conversations went something like that...

"To Kamino we must go. Search out this clone army we must."
Mace Windu steps in..."It is settled then. Obi-wan will go to Kamino and investigate the situation further. By the way I'm black and have a purple lightsaber!"
"Black you are Master Windu...careful affirmative action you must take Master Kenobi." Yoda and the rest of the council chuckle underneath their breath.

ANAKIN IS THE CHOSEN ONE?

Darth Plagueis was supposedly so powerful that he was able to control the midiclorians and create life. I think and this would be very cool if Plagueis somehow created Anakin Skywalker to secure that the dark side of the force would prevail. Of course Plagueis was killed way earlier before Anakin came to be...but it could be cool...but that would change the ENTIRE way we see Anakin. Oh well...I guess the only question left is..."Are you an angel?"

JOHN WILLIAMS: THE TRUE HERO OF THE STAR WARS GALAXY

The music. Every single memorable note is known worldwide. I mean you could go ahead and say that Indiana Jones might be the most recognizable song...but I seriously think people can pick out a lot more Star Wars tracks than Indiana tracks. You guys didn't stay throughout the whole credits and I'm not sure you got the soundtrack...but at the end of Episode III, Williams puts together all the themes from Episode I to VI...it brought a tear to my eye it was so beautiful. Hehe.

PADME BECOMES A STRIPPER...OH WAIT.

Since Lucas was such a shitty director and made Natalie say such stupid shit...here I pay homage to the BEST line in any Star Wars film...

"I will not stand here and allow this action to take place while you discuss this in a CO - MI - TEEEEEEEE."

I am proud to say that I was able to see through bad direction and defend Natalie's acting skills. I knew that Lucas wanted her to talk all retarded and she proved me right in films such as Closer and that family favorite Where the Heart Is. Haha I lied about that last one...but her character in Garden State I absolutely adored. Way to go Lucas for making the general public think that she sucks at her craft so she went and became a stripper in Closer.

YODA AND WHY HE TALKS LIKE HE DOES

Tony I unfortunately have no clue why he talks like that, I can tell you as another interesting Nerd fact that he is the ONLY character that has NO backstory other than he is considered the greatest Jedi Master that has learned the force (rather than have it naturally like Anakin or any of the Skywalker family)

WEDGE ANTILLES IS BETTER THAN LUKE

He is the only character to survive TWO runs at the Death Star. Also Mike who is also a Star Wars nerd told me that the Captain Antilles in the end of Episode III is NOT Wedge's dad. Wedge was fucking awesome. He spoke with a cool accent...he was in my opinion a better fighter pilot than Luke. All he gets for his efforts is to scratch the head of a fucking Ewok at the end of Jedi. I hate Lucas.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...LUCAS JUST LET IT BE...

He keeps redoing and redoing shit...well if you are going to fucking go back and take the time to restore small shit that sometimes change the character arcs of the trilogies then at least get the continuity errors....when Luke is training on the Falcon with Obi-wan he is using Anakin's lightsaber...except that it is GREEN. I guess over time the lightsaber ripens and blue changes to green. Also no one will check this so you can take my word for it...the lightsabers in Return of the Jedi on DVD SUCK SHIT. VADER'S LIGHTSABER IS FUCKING PINK. I THOUGHT LIGHTSABERS WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A GLOW?!? Check it out...I believe if you have the VHS copies before the DVD's came out...you will notice the lightsabers look like normal lightsabers...not some plastic tubing that is shown in the DVD's. Also of course is the spirit scene at the end of Jedi...we all know it sucks. My favorite is the fact that Sebastian Shaw who played old Anakin was smiling at Luke at the end of the original...but look at Hayden...he isn't smiling as much as he just looks like he just fucking killed someone and enjoyed it. Please Lucas...just leave it alone...

Sorry I haven't gotten to posting Tony. Glad to hear you didn't get knocked the FUCK out. Or even worse. I'm glad you play soccer so you can run very fast...I bet you even scaled a couple of walls like Spideyman. All jokes aside, I'm gald your safe and please continue to be safe. I still need you so I can be guaraneed at the very least second place in Worms tournaments with Derek and you.

So I heard Steven is trying to set up a Vegas trip. I'm totally down as long as I am out of school and it is before I go back to Noah's to bonus up my vacation and then take another vacation before I quit. However, I feel I will be out of place in the vacation...because everyone and their fucking moms have been to Vegas...yet I have yet to get there. A perfect way of explaining it is like this...

"Man I've never been to Disneyland before! I'm so excited!" Brendan says with an enthusiastic tone.
"Yeah it should be cool. That new Tower of Terror is bad ass" said Steve.
"Yeah I've never been on Small World! I can't believe I'm finally going to be able to feel the anger everyone else feels when they hear that song!" Brendan replies.
"INSERT 'NAH' SOUND HERE...We ain't going on that faggot shit." Steve whines.
"But I've never been on it before...I wanna see the pixie hippo!" Brendan cries.
"You know what...you're a bitch." Steve then slaps Brendan.
"Oww..."

So you get what I'm getting at? All you guys have been before and all you guys have pretty much seen all the sights I bet. Well I haven't and I wanna see the stupidist shit. I wanna look like a tourist...and I wanna play lots of poker. So I'm still saying that I would be down if this trip ever gets off the ground...(Steve is a working man now you know?), but expect me to whine and cry about how I want to see the stupidist shit...because I don't know it is stupid yet. Haha!

What this post is really about besides Tony being okay is to just give you an update...The Wynn poker room is considered one of the best EVER made. They said it is a little cramped and even from pictures I could see that...but nothing worse than Garden. Also the Bellagio I guess remodeled their poker room? I'm not sure when it happened or if the webpage I saw was hella old...but the high limit games are in a room called Bobby's Room. Named after Bobby Baldwin, or The Owl...he was the 1979? WSOP champion. He then moved onto become the manager of the Bellagio but still plays high limits sometimes. Anyway this room is protected by security guards...has two tables in it and includes a bar and lounge. This is the best part...IT'S SURROUNDED IN GLASS WALLS. So people can see in, but I heard it is soundproof. Its like animals on show...but I would give anything to be an animal in this case. I dunno...I think that sounds bad ass. Have any of you guys seen it on your trips to Vegas?

Man that would be so cool to sit in there with the best in the world...touching 1000 dollar chips...and throwing in 4K for the BB. Why can't my dad be rich....

Just wanted to show you guys what a real digital camera is. Of course the best camera out there wouldn't be shit without a real photographer. Thanks Gina for putting up with our shit and taking these fucking awesome pictures. Is that depth of field I see? Also my monitor is all fucked up so if the colors are way off and the brightness is too high...its not the raw photo its my shitty monitor.

Regarding Brian's blog...

How can I not respond to this...he did say something about poker didn't he? Well actually it wasn't so much about poker than it was money management. Some things that I have learned playing poker and how it might help you in the future...

The goal should not be an "X" amount needs to be made by a certain amount of time. I think you realize why this is a bad thing, but perhaps didn't hit the nail on the head. Again I'm speaking only from my own opinions and experience so take this with a ton of salt. Heh.

The reason why setting a goal is wrong is because you are playing right into the short term strategy than the long term strategy. If you are going for the short term you might start to play a bit scared because you have your profit and you know that if you go down then you do in fact have to compensate for the loss. This is in my opinion and experience a losing way of playing poker...UNLESS...

You really want to just go and have a good time for a short session (a short session is anything less than one year IMO) and hope you win some extra cash for some food and gas money. Shit, I can't even say that I've played long sessions even though I just played 22 hours. Irrelevant. If I had more records on my shit down to the final dollar than I can say that I've had a long session over the couse of 5 years...Jonathan can say he has been successful in the long run since he has all his earnings and losses written down. Psychologically this helps him play a more correct game since he has proven that his style of play works well for him.

Either way Brian you are 200 dollars up. That is all that matters. Your per hour wage might not be that well and you could have been up a lot more than 200, but the point is that in the short, long term you made profit. The reason why I say short, long term is that because you probably did play it correctly. You won more than you lost. That is the ultimate way a long term session should work. I'm up 800 for 30 or so hours. Big deal. I can gaurantee you that I will LOSE some of that in making selective aggressive plays because that is how it works. You can play it right, the table can be right, but sometimes the cards fall off funny. By funny I mean really funny. Which brings me to another lecture of sorts...

Jonathan kind of called me out on telling Steve and probably in my blogs that I enjoy the game so much even when I lose. Jonathan pointed out the fact that it doesn't seem that way when I lose in home tournaments. To that I say true. Whenever you get knocked out of a tournament it is shitty. Not because that queen came off on the turn (haha Bryant, you bastard, you even called that shit) but because now I can't play anymore.

Lemme explain, if I'm losing at Bay 101 I'm still enjoying the experience of learning the game. I sit down and always have my mind open to learning more. If I'm not learning from a better player at the table then I clean up house. Heh. Yet if I lose at Bay or online I can accept that fact and log off knowing that losses are inevitable. I'm cool with that and still enjoy the game. The tournaments at home...if I lose one of these off a tough beat and the cards don't fall my way, sure I'm disappointed and I show it. I'm not saying when I do play I play perfect because that is impossible, but when you do get beat by something outrageous, it is not the fact how I got beat, but rather that I can't sit at that table and keep playing poker with my friends.

Remember in the past I have always wanted to opt for limit games rather than tournaments. If you don't like that idea because it isn't as risky or tricky...to that I say that we change it to 1-2 dollar stakes rather than the .10 -.20 cent games we usually play. Lets bump it up to 2-4 and see how tricky I can get! Heh! Think about the advantage you guys have...you know I'm a maniac right? I play way too loose for profitability...I'll be the old asian guy at the table chasing shit down. =)

So to recap...

Brian you are up 200 bucks. Good shit. Keep it up and way to quit while you are ahead...step back, take a break and go in again when the water is warm and you feel comfortable. DO NOT DWELL ON WHAT YOU HAD AT WHATEVER TIME...the bottom figure is the only one that matters.

Yes I get more upset at home tournaments, but believe me when I say that poker is still intriquing and enjoyable even when I lose. I do love the game that much even if sometimes it doesn't seem like it...you can say that is bullshit or what not, but I'm still playing even after my biggest loss of 700 bucks in about 6 hours a couple of years ago...that was the last time I was on tilt and that only fueled me to learn the online type of poker better. The more I lose the more I reevaluate my strategy...and that is what I love most about poker...it is a game where you are playing not only your opponents, but also the nuances of the physical and mental challanges that your body and mind throw at you.

Back to darts.

Poker Experiment
As most of you know by now, I wanted to try setting a goal in poker. The logic being that having a clearly defined goal is always better. Let me report that in poker, this is not a very good thing. I mean, at first glance it's a great idea, being able to pace yourself and determine how good you're doing. But the downside is that if you're hurting (like being in the 10th day in the 2 week challenge) and only have a fraction of the amount, you try to compensate.

Unless you're strong willed.

Which I am not.

Anyway I sit here even further from my goal wondering what went wrong. Could it have been the 3 tables at once? Could it have been the long duration I've been sitting down at my computer? Well, whatever the reason, I am going to have to abandon this goal, grab some food and start up next week with a fresh mind. During the course of the two weeks I've come to realize quite a few things...

- The harder you try, the further away you get.
- The most frustrating thing in the world is sitting at a perfect table and not getting the cards you need to make it profitable.
- The second most frustrating thing: The way your eyes get after looking at a monitor for more than 3 hours at a time.
- I do not have the power to stay focused for more than 3 hours when I have web sites that need searching or desks that need to be cleaned.
- Asses were not made to sit in this chair of mine for long periods of time. Maybe Steve could help me out on this one :) FIX IT! My ass deserves to be comfortable!

All kidding aside, I really did learn a bit about the game and the types of people that play it. I've seen good plays and I've seen horrible plays. I caught the people that don't pay attention to the table, and I've been able to watch for the slowplaying bitches. So all in all, it's been fun, but I don't think I'll ever try something like this again.

So as of Friday morning at 12:33 I declare that the challenge is done. I ended with only about 200 profit. I'll start playing again next week. But I'm taking a slight break. Time for some DDR or something more active.

Then say it...

YOU LIKE DARTS.
YOU LIKE DARTS.

BE ONE OF US STEVEN...BE PART OF THE DART PART...Y.

GWAHAHA!

So it seems to me that I want to get into a lot of different type of hobbies which unforutnately means that sometimes I can't master everything that I pick up. I guess the good thing is that one hobby of poker never gets boring to me. Filmmaking also gets me excited. Yet I always pick up different little hobbies along the way. Some might think this is absurd since there is no way in life to master all these different hobbies. To that I say that life is fucking short. If I want to try something brand new I go ahead and do it. The more I stick on my plate the more I have to decide what gets shoved to the side and what is the next succulent piece of food to enters my mouth and that is fine with me. So to my latest hobby...

DARTS.

That's right Steve. Darts. Darts was a game that I was always kind of interested to get into or at least learn. Again I think it goes hand in hand with billiards. I like pool a lot, but I also like how mysterious it all is. I think it is because you have no fucking clue who is good at pool until you get hustled. That is part of the magic of it. Money gets exchanged all the time if you play for money and darts in my mind goes wih those collection of games that money can easily be added to add another dimension to it. Steve will say that I only got ino darts after watching the dart finals on television with him. Of course this might have got me jump started on taking up darts, but I always wished we had a dartboard to go along with our imaginary pool table. So I jumped off and bought a dartboard and some darts. Before you dismiss my ass for trying another hobby and then forgetting about it...check it.

I went into the store called Mr. Dartz'a. Who the hell knew that there was a store that specialized in darts...so close to my house. It is right across the street from Barnes and Noble on Stevens Creek. So I go in there and straight up tell the lady that I know nothing about darts. She was very helpful in giving me a dartboard and then let me try out a bunch of darts before I bought them.

Now never having thrown any real steel tip darts, I was suprised that right off the bat I was able to tell a difference between all the different darts. This of course makes me even more excited about getting into darts. You can shape and customize your set of darts to any millions of combinations. I myself went with a 80 percent Tungsten 25g barrel with a alluminum shaft and standard flights. That sounds nerdy but that is how helpful the store was. The fact that I can customize my darts has me going online to find the right style and weight of dart for me. This is awesome.

Now Steve looked down at me for getting a dartboard. Perhaps if I said that I was going to pick up clubbing he would have been happier. I'm not sure he sees the potential in darts. =) I asked Steve if he ever had any type of family fun night at all. He said that he can't really recall ever doing that with his family, other than vacations. Well my family was poor so we had to stick to board games and such...so while darts is something that I really wanted to get into in the first place, I really see potential in my family and all of us having a fun time throwing sharp objects at the board.

Bryant came over last night and I think he started to like it. He laughed when I heard, but I think he might like it now. My dad used to play in high school (I swear to god, anything having to do with money he played it as a teenager...except for poker...and I'm guessing he wasn't good at money management since he had me...what a bad beat) and I know he wants to get his own set that only he can use. My mom is already getting a lighter weight dart set since we could tell that her darts were wobbling a bit. So now she will have her own set of darts! Steve even tried playing and while he didn't look totally engrossed in it...he did want a second match against my dad.

So I will end this blog in saying I hope everyone can enjoy darts when they come over. Oh the other cool thing about darts is that the most respected darts on the market go for 120 bucks as a set of three. Yet this is ridiculously extreme, but just look at that...for the best set money can buy you are going to spend 120 bucks. You want to get into any other game you are going to spend a shitload more money. The set I bought cost 28 bucks. And the store said they were awesome and that 75 percent of all professional darts go for 30-60 bucks. You can change the barrel for like 5 bucks each and don't get me started on the flights which give your darts personality. The flights are the wings on the end of the dart. These go for like 2 bucks for the whole set of three. So if you want to get into darts with me just go in knowing that you will spend no more than 32 bucks to get your own set that only you are allowed to touch! With your own designed flights as well as different shapes that you can choose for...you can have a one of a kind set of darts!

Mr. Dartz'a is waiting for you! Hehe.

This can't be good....

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/fs/20050408/111298937600.html

Bay directing Transformers. I liked Bad Boys, but Transformers can't be all about blowing shit up.

Well look who blogged. I think that makes it 1 more time than you posted in Korea. Good work. If I find out you are not playing The Sims and rather getting your soccer career started I will be very sad and hurt.

Now onto the more important things in life...like me.

So on Sunday night I got all dressed up in my "poker" attire that I am going to try to wear while playing and headed out to my Aunt Mimi's house to see my cousin JoJo. I spelled it like that girl singer for a purpose. Not that he fills his mind with this trash that gets written on this blog, mostly by me. Anyway after watching Stitch play with his pillow and acting like a goof we decided to call it a night at around 9 o'clock. Thinking to myself I thought that I got a good nap in that afternoon so I was mentally okay to tackle cards. I told myself that I was going to put up one in play and if I lost it then I'd be done no matter how good the game was. After all I remembered that I did have work on Monday morning at 5 o'clock.

My mom wished me good luck because when she does I seem to win more often than not. My dad scolded me for my gambling habit and I was on my way. Withen 45 seconds I was already there at Bay101. If the Zanone's don't move by the time Stitch is 21...he will develop a gambling habit for sure.

I get there at Bay and suprised to see that everyone in San Jose seems to like to play cards at 9 at night on a Sunday. I stick my name on the board and watch the higher stakes games. I vow to myself that I will one day be playing there and crushing them.

At around 9:30 my name, Brandon gets called and I'm sat down at a quiet table with a bunch of older guys. One guy kind of looked like Howard Lederer except he cried a lot more. Then two guys that were 22 and 23 years old (I asked them) sat to my right and I started up a conversation with them. After all they were white so I figured they spoke good english. After about 15 minutes talking to them they decided to finally ask me how long I have been playing cards. I tell them that I knew from WPT about Texas Hold'em and played in some home tournaments. They laughed and they started telling me about the typical low limit bullshit that I myself like to hear. Phrases like...

"I don't even raise with AK becuase they always get beaten."
"I hate pocket Jacks, they never hold up."
"My aces got cracked blah blah blah times tonight, I swear everyone chases."

To my suprise the older guy who I thought knew the game somewhat (I just saw him shuffle chips and talk about some odds so I put him on being a good player...on a side note I always put everyone at the table as the best player ever until proven otherwise) started agreeing with these younger guys. This was awesome.

I decided that I would coffee house a bit. You probably won't believe me because it sounds stupid, but I decided to raise with mediocre shit and call someone down all the way to the river. HOWEVER, only on flops where it was clear that second and third pair were beat badly. One hand I raised it up from early position with pocket 3's. I got three callers and the board came up absolutly shitty for my hand. Perfect. So the guy with the Ace and big kicker who called my raise obviously has me beat to a pulp. However I go ahead and bet and he raises me. The two other "smarter" players fold since they know someone has the ace. I look at my cards again and I go ahead and call. Now looking like an idiot I go ahead and check and he becomes perplexed. He bets it out and I raise on the turn. Now this wasn't just me advertising completely, I wanted to try a pure bluff at this table and see the reactions...hey who knows, it might work?

Yeah well he called. I checked on the river and he bet out. I called. He flipped over his aces and I flipped over my pocket threes. I swear to god people need to pay attention to their own fucking chips and stop playing my cards. Haha. The two guys on my right was like...you knew he had the ace. What were you thinking? I said that it was a pocket pair. The older gentleman who won the pot off me looked at me and smirked. He couldn't believe he got paid off the way he did. So for the record I totally have an image of being an idiot. I just spoke loud enough to the other two guys next to me so the other players might be able to hear me so it wouldn't seem fucking strange.

"I couldn't lay those down. It was a pocket pair."

So for that hand it cost me 18 bucks to make an idiot of myself. So after a while of calling a lot of flops with mediocre hands to show I was a looser player (and yes, for the record people do notice these things if it happens over and over again. Even the ones that aren't looking for signs or tells can make out whether you only raise three times a night and fold 99 percent of your hands) I was down to about 40 bucks. I decided that if I was going to make it back I better get on it.

So I got right into my normal game and adjusted accordingly to the table. And guess what...what those two younger guys said and the other people agreeing with them was absolutly true. They really didn't raise preflop and were scared of the fucking nuts every hand. This was fucking awesome.

I know your bored so to make a long story short I decided that the table was good enough for me to go past my 12 o'clock curfew. The other people couldn't believe my "luck" as I kept winning, then losing it some then winning it all back and then some. It was up and down but in general I was building my stacks of 30 chips.

By the time it was about 2 o'clock I had the chip lead at the table (I know its not a tournament, but you know how much more aggressive you can seem to be with a bigger stack) with 13 stacks of 30 and 2 one hundred dollar chips on top. The crazy thing about this game was that whenever I had a hand and every once in a while the nuts, they would shake their head and couldn't believe it. The two younger guys who were losing money because of their pussiness said they coudln't believe it and I told them I wouldn't ever come back so I can be up in poker for the rest of my life.

Well I wish I could say I left with a nickel, but I suffered some bad beats and by the time I got out of there at around 3 o'clock and I had about 370 dollars in profit.

In case you didn't know, I love poker. Perhaps that is one of my main weaknesses, I could have left with 500 IN PROFIT which is RIDICULOUS for those limits, but I loved the game so much that I sat there and played. But whatever. I ain't mad. I lost 130 bucks making more moves...perhaps in the future I can learn to love the game, but remember that the priority is making money at this point so I can continue to practice the game...rather than love the game so much that it drives me into the ground.

DISCLAIMER: Not aimed toward Derek or any other religious people I know. All of you are still my friends even though I dont' believe what you believe and that is enough to give you the upmost respect from me. Now onto the bashing.

Yeah time for me to jump all over disabled women without feeding tubes down their necks. Of course I'm talking about Terri Schiavo. I don't really know why I'm talking about this considering that all in all I don't really care either which way, but it is an interesting topic that I can humor and examine myself with.

The first thing that gets me laughing is the fact that all these religious people have come out of the woodworks and started talking about pro-life and using this as a way to get their ideologies out to people like me who don't care. I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe, the difference is that I don't push it on anyone. Besides the religious figures that are close to the Schindler and the Schiavo family, the rest can get off my television. You are using this women who is in enough pain already (Not eating for 13 days? Damn.) and you are using her as a platform for another agenda.

Second goes out to the both the families. Apparently these people have never seen Soul Food. The family has got to come together in this tragic time, but NAH. Not today. They'd rather argue and argue and argue even when she just died today. Ridiculous. For one, the Schindler family...HELLLLOOOO, wake up. She married somebody and she told her husband that she didn't want to be put on artificial life. Respect it.

Then again they could have run a simple test to see that whether or not she really was brain dead. The husband I guess decided against it. That is kind of shady in itself. But here is the real question...

DOES YOUR BRAIN FIRING OFF LITTLE JOLTS OF ELECTRICITY COUNT AS NOT BEING IN A VEGATATIVE STATE?

I mean I'm not doctor, but I'm pretty sure artificial life means any mechanical device that keeps you alive. Again take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure that Terri Schiavo not being able to eat and having a feeding tube down her throat just to survive counts as artifical life. Again I'm not sure, but I think she really is DEAD so it was keeping her alive. Perhaps God needed her for whatever special reason...as a doorstop perhaps...

Now some can make an argument about...well maybe she just couldn't speak for herself. Well getting rid of that tube is probably a good place to start (that is kind of fucked up hehe), but she coudn't write, she couldn't respond so all they had going was what she supposedly said to her husband about letting her die.

In fact I'm probably putting the blame in the wrong hands. It is neither the Schindler's fault or the Schiavo's fault. It is in fact Terri Schiavo. There I said it. She fucked up. And yet all of us are with her in the same boat since I bet none of us have even considered the possiblity of us being in a vegatative state. Of course this blog isn't legally binding, but let us set this record straight...and while I'm at it I'm going to write my obituary as well. This blog sure did take a morbid turn of events...as if a crippled dying wasn't morbid enough...

I BRENDAN OF SOMEWHAT SOUND MIND AND BODY DECIDE THAT IF I AM PUT ON ANY FORM OF ARTIIFICIAL LIFE AND I CANNOT RESPOND TO EVEN A FRIGG'N FLASHLIGHT IN MY EYES OR JESSICA ALBA NAKED IN THE GQ SPREAD THAT YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND PULL THE PLUG. IN FACT I'LL LET YOU GUYS PUT ALL YOUR NAMES IN A HAT AND WHOMEVER WINS GETS TO PULL THE PLUG. FUCK THE TESTS. THEY COST MONEY. SO WHAT IF LITTLE JOLTS OF ELECTRICITY ARE GOING THROUGH MY HEAD...THAT IS PROBABLY JUST TELLING MY HEART TO KEEP ON BEATING IN MY DEAD, LIFELESS BODY. OH YEAH, BUT BEFORE YOU PULL THE PLUG GIVE ME 25 YEARS TO COME AROUND. HAHA. THAT WAY IT CAN BE LIKE FOREVER YOUNG WITH MEL GIBSON AND I WOULD WAKE UP TO ALL MY FRIENDS PROBABLY DEAD AND NO FAMILY WHATSOEVER. IT'LL BE LIKE DEMOLITION MAN AND I'LL BE A CRAZY OLD LOON LIKE BRAD PITT IN 12 MONKEYS. AND DON'T WE ALL WANT TO BE LIKE BRAD PITT?

Now for my obituary. I thought long and hard, but decided not to make it poetic, but straight to the point...BLuckyDay styles.

Brendan was a lazy person who enjoyed life so much he didn't do anything with it. He always observed without living and him dying is probably for the better. He loved Nintendo and hated Jaguar. His skills in Lumines is unmatched. He loved Poker and was a cocky bastard that used his skills of reading opponents to his upmost advantage because lets face it...he was no fucking genius...there is no way he could calculate pot odds or implied odds or anything having to do with probability...on that note he loved to coffeehouse. Had a cellphone older than balls. Garden State is WAY FUCKING SUPERIOR THAN NAPOLEAN FAGGOT. AND ANYONE WHO LIKED NAPOLEAN CAN SUCK HIS LIFELESS DICK. Brendan cared for his family and even killed Kylie the fuckbitch who screwed Ricki over, but somehow she is still ignorant of that fact. Wondered why his parents kept him and ponders if they knew that animal skin condoms don't work that well. Or that bleach isn't a spermicide. Wait is it? Can't wait to meet Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly beyond the gates (haha Derek, I'm scaling the walls because I've played Splinter Cell) and will act like a total gentleman around them. Was a good person that loved sarcasm. In fact he was surrounded by all his friends in his time of death...they are the ones laughing and giggling like little bitches in the 11th row of the church (He had lots of family that gets priority seating). You guys can fight over who gets what, but Jonathan has taken kickboxing so watch out. Plus he really wants a television. Peace and I'll see you in spirit when your having sex with your significant other. Except for Kevin and Bryant. EWWW.

Haha.

The PSP is a wonderful little thing that makes me believe in some sort of gaming God that was fed up with the DS and lack of launch titles. Steven can't see the potential of buying something a tad bit expensive. Then again I think he should add up all the drinks he has paid for and add those up. Just as ridiculous. But once Steve sees the vivid widescreen come to life, he might just see why 250 dollars is a steal and so far I feel like I ripped Sony off.

The only thing I don't like about it is the analogue stick that is on the bottom left of the PSP. It is a little hard to get to, but I'm sure with some time it will become second nature to me.

Wipeout is fucking awesome and so is Metal Gear Acid. I haven't touched a card playing game since Jonathan and I were fighting our way through the SNK VS Capcom ranks in trying to get that special "S" card. In the end our decks were so fucking powerful that it was purely luck who won at that point since it all mattered on what cards we got in what order. However the real gem of the PSP in my mind is Lumines.

To explain it simply, squares fall that are made up of 2X2 blocks. These blocks only have two colors to them and are arraged differently. Your job is to drop the blocks onto the playing field while trying to create rectangles and squares out of those blocks that fall. The way the blocks clear the screen is by a timeline laser that "wipes" the playing field of your made squares and rectangles.

It seems simple (perhaps not by my explanation) but this is the one of the most addicting games I have ever played. It is in a way like Puzzle Fighter except think 2X2 blocks instead of 1X2 blocks. Yet this game really does reward those who really think ahead. You not only need to figure out where to put the blocks, but also when exactly you need to drop them on the playing field so the laser "wiper" will come by just in time to sweep off the blocks. Next time you see Bryant or I, I strongly recommend you check it out. It's fucking dope.

The other good thing about this game is that every level has a different background and different color scheme. How is this different than any other platform dropping game? Well the backgrounds really are fucking awesome and the sound FX change as you go through the game. So far my favorite is the Ice Stage where the sound really gives you that ambient feel with crystalized sound as the blocks drop.

If you don't care about how I organize music files go ahead and skip this. You ain't miss'n much.

Okay this next paragraph is for j.reid. I think I found a good way to organize music in the Zen. The way I'm going to tag my files is this way...tell me if you or even Jonathan has found a better way (although I know that Jonathan utilizes Winamp playlists when he uses his MP3 player).

Here are the certain troublesome situations that I have tried to deal with in putting in the tags for the Zen player.

If I have an ARTIST and their full album I will create a new folder with that ALBUM title. Simple enough right?

Yet if I have a bunch of singles that was on a bunch of different albums I will go ahead and create another folder within that ARTIST folder labled ARTIST'S NAME COLLECTION.

The reason why I stick the the music in folders instead of just dropping all the music within the ARTISTS folder is becuase if I want a specific song, I can't imagine scrolling down all the Dave Matthews songs just to get to one song. I'd rather go straight to the album it was on. By using folders with the album title and also Misc collections that I have, it cuts down on scrolling.

Now those recommendations on top are nothing new. The most trouble I had was when I had a CD that had various artists on it anyway. Let us take Jonthan's Soul Spectacular collection. It is four discs with like 15 different artists for each CD. This means that if I stuck them in as is, I would have 60 extra artists on my artist list that I have to scroll through (15 artists X 4 CD's). Most of these artists I only have one or two songs for anyway. Seems ridiculous to keep them all there to bunch of the artist folder.

So what I am going to do is put Soul Spectacular Disc One as the ARTIST in the tag files. I will then stick the artist and the track title in the Track Title tag line. This will eliminate having 60 artists in for this collection and will cut down on the scrolling.

You might be saying, well what if I want to search by artist within that Soul Spectacular Disc set? Well this could be a problem, but I have decided after putting every artist in their own folder that it takes too damn long to scroll through. I'm willing to sacrifice the very little chance that I might be saying while driving...

"Man I really feel like listening to 4pm right now." I mean c'mon. They only had one fucking song anyway.

Now that we have stuck in all the songs in the Zen player in the most efficient way possible (in my opinion) then you really need to utilize playlists just like Jonathan does. That way you can customize it anyway that you want and really is the easiest. I mean are you more than likely to say "I want to listen to Brick" or "I feel like listening to Funk."

Since second is the most likely you really want to create a playlist that has a bunch of funk songs that might have a lot of artists that only have 2 or 3 songs that you really enjoy.

And if you ever want to listen to a full album like god forbid, The Beatles 1's then you can easily scroll to it on the artist folder since we eliminated sticking in a bunch of artists with only one hit. Thus elminating excess scrolling.

Werd.