War of the Worlds

Ever since Tom Cruise became a Scientologist and certifiable nut case I have made it a point to avoid movies with him in it. I hate to think that by supporting his movies I am indirectly donating to Scientology. So I waited until War of the Worlds ended up on free TV before watching it for the first time. I finally got to see the movie last weekend and was blown away.

Sadly I was not blown away in a good way, I was blown away in the same way as I was when I saw Battlefield Earth or Face Off.

This movie has to rank as one of the most shit movies I have ever wasted my time watching.

Tom Cruise, in what one might call type casting, plays the roll of an asshole. He has an annoying dysfunctional teenage son, and a cute looking but incredibly annoying daughter.

This trio are forced to flee their home when aliens land and start to blow shit up. They then proceed to make one stupid decision after another to the point where the story loses all credibility. If this movie were real this guy and his stupid kids would have been among the first to die, because this kind of ineptitude is sure to lead to death under these circumstances.

The movie lurches from one ill-conceived scene to another. Unlike other movies where one is rooting for the hero, anyone that still cares enough to be watching this movies is probably simply hoping that the main character just dies and takes his equally mindless children with him.

This movie only makes sense if you are already familiar with the story, as too much has been compressed into too short a movie. But don't get me wrong I certainly would not have wanted the movie to be any longer just to be more fluid. It was quite long enough to endure as it was without drawing the tedium out any longer.

I'm not sure if there is some pact among Scientologists that they will not be involved in making good movies, but this one really did take the cake for an utterly shit movie that should definitely be avoided. The only upside that I can see is that I didn't pay to see it.

Still Da Man?

The Poker League that I play in recently held a best player tournament for the top 80 players in the league. Despite a long run of dismal cards I was able to stick around and make the final table. Soon after I made the final table I started catching some reasonable starting hands and hitting some flops. At around the same time I changed gears and became significantly more aggressive. This caught a number of players off guard as I had been playing pretty tight earlier that day. Within about 30 minutes I managed to knock five players out and eventually went heads up.

My opponent knocked out the short stack in third place calling his all in with a 7 4 off suit, because she was, 'tired of him going all in.' Despite being dominated she caught a lucky flop and eliminated him, which was just as well because he is quite a formidable player who has already qualified to go to the WSOP main event this year through an online tournament.

So I got heads up and she called a decent raise pre-flop with 10 7 offsuit. She bet out on the flop and I check raised all in with pocket aces. She called with an open ended straight draw and despite being a 2-1 underdog hit her hand on the river and knocked me out.

But the good news is first and second place paid the same prize and I am off on an all expenses paid trip to Indiana in June to play a tournament at Caesars. Should be good fun. It would have been nice to win two back to back, but not being American I see no shame in second place, especially when the prize is the same and I moved all in with the best hand.

Soon after this I was invited to a cash tournament at a friends house. They are all great players but I managed to come back from a 10-1 chip deficit to win the whole thing. That was a nice surprise and added to my spending money for the trip.

Dead Babies

Q: What does Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and the United States have in common?

A: 1 in 200 new born babies die.

Yes that's right folks. In a report published Monday America managed to come 32nd out of 33 industrialized nations for baby death statistics. The only country we managed to beat was Latvia. And if those figures are not embarrassing enough the figure among the black community was 9/1,000 - closer to third world countries figures.

According to the report the ridiculous disparity between rich and poor, short maternity leave, and a lack of universal health care pushed the infant mortality rate to an embarrassingly high level. The richest country in the world, that spends double what most European countries spend per capita on health care, only achieves these horrendous results.

Time and again we see the Christian Right banging on about the evils of abortion, yet when it comes to saving the lives of babies, no one seems to care. Just how many of these reports have to be published before America wakes up and realizes that the insurance companies and medical companies are raping the American people? How is it that European countries spend half what we spend and yet manage to achieve better results? Where is all this money going? Why are we allowing ourselves to be so royally screwed?

The American health care system is sick. It is being pillaged by greedy corporations who care only about the dollar and how many of these dollars they can bleed from the system. Americans are paying way too much and getting far too little. 45,000,000 Americans have no medical insurance and therefore only a limited access to proper health care. Surely we deserve better than this?

0.5% of all babies die in the United States. That's one in every 200 births. These babies are dying because we choose not to provide affordable quality health care to every American. How can we stand by and let this happen? How can we accept that as Americans we don't deserve proper health care?

The system is corrupt and wrong. The system needs to change. In America everyone should have the right to quality health care; it's that simple.

Game Makers

In order to test my cool new computer I decided to take a trip to a computer games store. I had not been to one in many years, in fact I cannot remember the last time I went to one. The last computer game I bought was Sims 2, which I found rather boring after I had finished building a nice house for my Sims. I'd been steering clear of PC games on the basis that my old PC just didn't have the hardware for any hardcore gaming. The last game I had actually enjoyed significantly was GTA: San Andreas, clearly the best game of all time and I had played that on the PS2.

Anyway I found my way to a computer store and located the geekest fattest guy there, on the general assumption that he would know some good game titles. He did and after half an hour I left the mall with Doom 3 (my choice, I tried a playable demo of it and was impressed) and F.E.A.R., one of his recommendations. So far I have only played the former since the latter has decided it needs to download a 268Mb 'patch' in order to be up to date. Good job I have broadband.

But the reason for this blog entry is my sheer annoyance regarding the security of these games. I am not a person who likes buying software. But when I do buy something I don't expect to be treated like a dirty pirate. But what drives me completely crazy is after the rigmarole of entering long tedious key codes and spending ages installing multi disk games onto my hard drive I do not expect to have to find disk one and insert it just to be able to play the game I purchased. Why the hell should I have to root around looking for a disk, wear out my new DVD RW drive opening it and closing it and inserting a damn disk every time I want to play my game?

In order to enjoy my game without the tedium of locating disks and inserting them I had to spend 20 minutes searching various illicit warez sites to find patches that allow the games I legitimately own to run without the CD/DVD.

I already went to the mall, I already spent my money on the game, I already typed in the pointless little CD key, I even registered my software. I don't want to have to crack my own fucking game so I can play it.

These games makers need to get a clue. Within a week of releasing a game it will be cracked packed and released to the public. This has been going on since games came on floppy disks. Pissing off legitimate game owners with pointless security measures will do absolutely nothing to protect a company from piracy. Plain and simple. In fact it annoyed me so much I may just pirate my next game completely. At least the pirate version won't come on multiple disks, and won't require me to enter any stupid numbers or insert any CDs.

When games makers make it more annoying to buy a game and use it legitimately than to download an illegal copy and play it, they are simply hurting themselves. It's the same concept with Norton Antivirus. I stopped buying that software a few years ago because not only did it become the most pitiful and useless bloatware, but their registration process made me feel like a total dick, not a feeling I expect to have thrust upon me when I purchase some software.

So it's time I end my rant since my 268Mb patch has just finished downloading from the site. Hopefully I will now actually get to play the game, and hopefully it will be worth the wait. Bring on the zombies...

Dude, You Got A Dell

For the past two years now I've been using a computer that I won in a poker tournament. It had a nice flat panel 17" monitor and the machine itself was an eMachines. All in all it was a very good computer considering it was free.

In recent times as I've been loading more and more software on to it I noticed it was beginning to slow a little. I was thinking of upgrading some things, but in the end it just didn't seem worth it. I decided to use some of my poker winnings to purchase a new machine.

After much research I decided to go for the Dell XPS 400. It has a 2.8GHz Pentium, a half terabyte HD, 2Gb RAM, GeForce 6800 and a really nice Creative 7.1 sound card.

My first impression of the machine is that it is dog ugly. The combination of white, silver and black just doesn't do it for me. For one off the top of the line Dell could have done a better job. The machine is also fairly noisy thanks to the graphics card fan and a noisy hard drive. Dell packaged the usual shit software with it, so I am now in the process of deleting the crap and re-installing real software on it.

The keyboard is without a doubt the most useless thing I have seen. It feels cheap and is way too small. I am going to have to buy another one very soon because the tiny keys are already pissing me off. I am also disappointed with the use of cheap looking green LEDs for various lights on the machine. Everyone knows that blue LEDs are the correct way to build a computer.

But those are the negatives. I've run some demos and done some tests and have found it to run blisteringly fast at 1600x1200x32bit. On my Samsung 204B 20" LCD it looks outstanding. It also sounds as good as it looks too. The 7.1 sound system sounds amazing even on my old Harman Kardon speakers.

So overall I think it was an excellent purchase. But probably what impressed me even more than the machine itself was the service. I read a lot of reviews that Dell had dropped the ball recently when it came to service. Now that may be true of their technical support, but when it comes to their sales they are unexpectedly brilliant.

Here is the timeline:

• Sunday: Spec'ed out the computer and placed the order.
• Sunday: Credit card declined. I had used it online that day to buy a mother's day gift, using it on a British web site. Fraud protection kicked in, card was locked out.
• Sunday 1754 EST: Called Dell to ask them to re-run the credit card.
• Tuesday 1643 EST: Machine arrived on my doorstep.

Now the web site told me it would take about 10 days to build my machine the way I wanted it, and then 3-5 business days to ship it to me. I had been expecting a couple of weeks to see my new machine and yet here I am typing on this children's keyboard they decided to send me with my great new machine.

So I've only been using the machine for a few hours, but so far I am very impressed with Dell and pleased at the decision to purchase. Time will now tell just how reliable the machine is going forward. But at this point, so far so good. If something interesting happens I will no doubt blog it for your viewing pleasure.

American Poker

Two months ago I wrote to Representative Rick Boucher to ask him why he was trying to push for a total ban on Internet Poker, and other restrictions on poker and gambling. To my complete shock he has not even bothered to send be a standard blow off letter thus far. I guess the concept of public servant is lost on him.

But for him and others of his ilk I have found some interesting statistics on the great game of poker in the USA. The following statistics were taken from a poll of nearly 1000 Americans selected at random.

90% of Americans say no to the federal government banning poker.

87% want Americans to be able to play poker events for charity.

18% want a ban on Internet poker.

3% think poker home games should be banned.

27% believe the federal government should control online gambling.

These are the facts. So leave poker players alone and see if you can figure out how to get we the people some affordable health care, or narrow the rich poor divide. There are so many real issues for politicians to be working on, it is shameful that something like this is taking up any of their time.

Check out the Poker Player's Alliance for more information on supporting American Poker.

American Idol

I don’t generally watch American Idol, because after the amusement of seeing the idiots make fools of themselves in the first couple of weeks I lose interest. However, for some reason I ended up watching the show last night and I was reminded once again why I don’t bother to watch the show. The only reason the show exists is because of Simon Cowell. It was his showmanship in England that madethe original show Pop Idol a hit. Because of his work on the show they were able to sell it to the American networks. Now again, thanks to his great work the show is number one in America.

You could easily replace Ryan Toolcrest with any tedious DJ/Presenter. You could easily replace Randy with anyone that could arrange the following words into random sentences, ‘yeah, aaaright, dawg, pitchy, you, the, man, dude.’ Paula could be replaced by any washed up former singer. They would just need to loll around and make patronizing fake affirmations and then clap like a drunk old woman at a bar.

But what really irks me is that Paula and Randy are so damn rude. Every week, every song, Simon sits patiently to render his opinion, something he is paid to do. He never interrupts the other judges. When it is his turn he says what he thinks, and Paula proceeds to flop drunkenly into him like an inebriated teenager. They then both interrupt him to make such asinine comments as ‘aw come on.’

These people need to bow down and kiss this man’s feet for making them rich. Sure they had money, but doing this show is large quantities of easy money for both of them, and they would not have this money without Simon. Sadly they are so delusional they think they contribute to the show and that they are irreplaceable. I believe you could replace all of them except Simon next season and it would still be a hit show.

Ryan, Paula and Randy need to learn some manners and to treat Simon with the respect he deserves.

Atlantic City

When I went to Atlantic City to play in a World Series of Poker Circuit Event I had expected many things. What I didn't expect was that Atlantic City is in fact the epitome of American life. Nothing I have experienced in six years of living in America has prepared me for this mirror to America's soul than a visit to this city.

I arrived late at night and riding in my friends enormous SUV we passed by one slum area after another. A street containing failed businesses, bail bondsman, check cashing services, massage parlors and strip clubs. Among the squalor and the poor rose these enormous casinos; great monuments to the almighty dollar, and a reminder to the poor of their place in society.

We drove in and walked through the comfortable air conditioned walk ways. We were inside, safe, protected, from the world of the prostitutes and crime outside. In fact I stayed there for three days and I never had to leave the comfortable confines of the casino. Moreover, my casino was linked to half a dozen other casinos by a series of walk ways designed to ensure that the 'rich' who could afford to stay there would never have to mingle with the poor outside. For those that cared to notice the chasm between rich and poor was so clearly prominent you could almost taste it. As you walked through the plush sky walks you could take a look at how the other half lived. The poor, the needy, those who had suffered the bad beats of life. If you stopped on a skyway and looked down into the dirty dangerous looking streets the poor were there shuffling around while the lucky few wandered comfortably from one plush casino to another to squander their money merely for entertainment. In fact in the casino people were willing to bet more than what many people make in a week on a single roll of a dice, a turn of a card or a poker tournament.

I'm not rich, I am pleased to say that after many years of hard work I am comfortable, but unlike the evil Republicans, I am capable of realizing that I had help in the path I chose that led me to the point I am at now. My education, my intelligence, my desire and resolve together with a liberal mix of good fortune have taken me to this point in life. But for many they did not have the opportunities that I had, they were born in the wrong area to the wrong family and never got lucky in some of the ways I have.

One of the saddest things about America is the lack of compassion for those less fortunate. For a so called Christian country it is astonishing to me just how the poor are treated. While people like me wager hundreds of dollars for fun, there are people out there who would give almost anything (including their bodies or dignity) for that money.

I've visited many cities around America and have been to ten different states. Atlantic City for me was one of the saddest places I have seen. If you have a reasonable amount of money they will show you a pretty good time. But if you pause and take a look out of the window for a moment you will see some of the forlorn downtrodden individuals who have suffered the bad beats of real life. Unfortunately for most people looking out of the window and thinking gets in the way of the fun.

All that said I had a good time, left up over $500 and enjoyed the poker. I doubt I would ever go again, because Vegas is a lot more fun and these days cheaper to get to.