A Letter Never Sent

2007 World Series of Poker

2007-07-15T10:46:00.001-04:00

The 2007 World Series of Poker is wrapping up with the Main Event, featuring a first prize of over $8 Million.

One of my fraternity brothers from Duke, John Armbrust, is in the top 30 and survived onto Day 6. The very least amount of money he will stand to win is $285,000, but he has a nice chip stack ($2.6 million) and he's a great player, so anything can happen.

He was in last place and down to a a couple hundred thousand chips before making a furious comeback. Here's a picture of him before making the run:

Here's an article on John written by Craig Cunningham of Pokerworks. Craig (cc) was a frequent commenter on this blog for a while before he got busy with his own website, Quest of a Closet Poker Player.

Check out John's blog to keep tabs on his experience, which he's been keeping since playing in a couple of other events. It's quite detailed and poker-heavy.

Best of luck to John the rest of the way, no matter what happens he's already made a great accomplishment and set himself up for a nice poker career, not to mention a good financial situation for the next few years!

John Armbrust's WSOP Blog
World Series of Poker Official Site
Card Player

Better Than Ezra @ Power Plant Live in Baltimore 06/22

2007-06-28T23:07:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend mentioned that Better Than Ezra was playing a free show in downtown Baltimore and asked if I wanted to go. Better Than Ezra? Free? I'm there.

BTE has always been one of my favorite bands. They've consistently produced great music starting in one of the golden ages of rock in the mid-nineties. Of their 5 major studio albums, not a single one has been bad. In fact, I'd venture to say that all of their output is excellent.

Better Than Ezra also seems to like playing in Baltimore. They've played the same venue, also free of charge, for the past four or five years straight, and they've come here consistently for most of the past decade. As far as bands go, they're like your favorite cool uncle that comes to visit over the holidays and gives you a bunch of cash and goes out drinking with you. Actually, that's a stupid analogy and I don't have an uncle like that, but hopefully you get the point. I love me my annual live BTE fix.

As for the show itself, a good time was had by all. The band played a quality set with a bunch of staples and spanned their catalogue fairly well. They didn't play a couple of my favorites, "Live Again" and "Daylight", but I can't complain. As usual, "A Lifetime" and "In the Blood" were great to hear.

For your listening pleasure, wholesome MP3's follow the setlist below.

setlist

Burned

Good

Pull

Sincerely Me

A Lifetime

Extra Ordinary

King of New Orleans

Southern Thing

At the Stars

Laid (James cover)

Miss You (Rolling Stones cover) ---> Juicy

Desperately Wanting

encore

Jolene (cover)

Girl of the North Country (Bob Dylan cover)

Misunderstood

In the Blood

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Desperately Wanting"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Good"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "A Lifetime"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Misunderstood"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Breathless"

MP3: Better Than Ezra - "Daylight"

a couple of good new tunes

2007-06-25T19:09:00.000-04:00

Just testing some file sharing spots with two new songs, the much-welcomed first single from the Smashing Pumpkins, and a nice song from Spoon's latest.

MP3: Smashing Pumpkins - "Tarantula"

MP3: Spoon - "The Underdog"

Badass of the week: Julio Franco

2007-05-14T00:45:00.000-04:00

Something which I forgot to mention which caught my eye recently: Julio Franco of the New York Mets hit a home run in a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Diamonbacks on May 4th. Now, normally someone hitting am opposite-field dinger isn't a big deal, but Franco became the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run - at 48 years, 8 months, and 12 days. Basically, the guy is 50 years old and he's still good enough to make a major league roster and hit bombs. The dude could easily be my dad.

Big Julio was born in 1958, in the midst of the early stages of the Cold War. Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States, and in Cuba, a young, brash Fidel Castro was busy pissing off his neighbors to the north. NASA was yet to put a man in space, and the world's population was less than 3 billion, less than half the current population.

Over 15,000 players have played the great sport of baseball, and Julio Franco is the oldest of them all to hit a home run. Needless to say, Franco's accomplishment deserves some applause.

Lollapalooza looking good

2007-04-17T18:35:00.000-04:00

This year's Lollapalooza lineup was recently announced, and the roster looks like one of the best they've had in a long time. Pearl Jam will be headlining an American festival for the first time in over a decade, and Muse will join them as the two best acts on the bill.

Here are just a few of the bands which highlight the dozens of bands:

Pearl Jam
Muse
Interpol
My Morning Jacket
Spoon
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Blonde Redhead
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

The event will be held August 3-5 in Chicago, the same weekend the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, and the Beastie Boys headline the V Festival here in Baltimore.

some tunes for your enjoyment:

MP3: Pearl Jam - "Alive"

MP3: Pearl Jam - "World Wide Suicide"

MP3: Pearl Jam - "Daughter"

MP3: Pearl Jam - "Rearviewmirror"

MP3: Muse - "Time is Running Out"

MP3: Muse - "Map of the Problematique"

MP3: Muse - "Plug In Baby"

MP3: Muse - "Stockholm Syndrome"

MP3: Interpol - "C'mere"

MP3: Interpol - "Obstacle 1"

MP3: Spoon - "The Way We Get By"

MP3: Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On"

MP3: My Morning Jacket - "Off the Record"

MP3: My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"

MP3: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Under the Hedge"

The Sopranos last stand

2007-04-08T19:44:00.000-04:00

Later tonight, "The Sopranos" begins its final series run with the first of nine episodes. Easily one of the best TV series ever, the show has been captivating ever since it premiered in 1999 and has helped cement HBO as a creative force for some of the best television shows and series since (Band of Brothers, The Wire, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm).

Even though the show has dropped off a little in quality since about Seasons 3 and 4 - a little too much time was spent with the Vito coming out of the closet storyline over the past season, for example - "The Sopranos" has consistently maintained a high level of output in bringing us the mob world of New Jersey. Picking up from the Martin Scorsese's gangster world of Goodfellas, the show has been a great ride, no matter how gratuitously violent or expletive-laden.

Things are going to go down in a glorious fury during these final episodes, and rumor has it that two main characters will get whacked/killed off. My guess is that Junior and Paulie will bite the bullet; Junior's dementia and desperation are too much for him to handle, and Paulie's hot temper and past trangressions will probably be his downfall. Christopher would be a prime cadidate, but he should survive. Silvio is too level-headed and careful to get whacked, and while it would be interesting to see the writers kill off Tony in the end, I don't think we'll see it happen (although another attempted hit against him wouldn't be surprising).

Regardless of what transpires, these last nine episodes should be a fuckin' blast.

Here's a video of every single death/whacking on the show:

MP3: A3 - "Woke Up This Morning" (Sopranos Theme Song)

Greg Oden the man-child

2007-03-31T16:17:00.000-04:00

How in the hell is this guy a teenager?? Image courtesy of a hilarious caption from The Onion. (Greg Oden On Final Four Appearance: 'I'm Happier Than I've Been In 30 Years')

MP3: Neil Young - "Old Man"

new Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm" MP3

2007-03-12T00:02:00.000-04:00

The Arctic Monkeys are back with a new single, "Brianstorm", a hard, frantic rocker that's a little heavier than most of their songs. Last year's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was one of 2006's better records, and certainly an excellent debut. With some bands, like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, releasing disappointing follow-up records, a strong sophomore effort would be welcome. Their newest LP, Favorite Worst Nightmare, hits stores in late April.

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm" [buy]

Here's my favorite song from last year, "A Certain Romance", a catchy guitar-driven tune, along with a couple others:

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "A Certain Romance" [buy]

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "The View From the Afternoon"

MP3: Arctic Monkeys - "Mardy Bum"

new tunes I've been digging

2007-03-07T08:17:00.000-05:00

some MP3's for your listening pleasure... enjoy.

MP3: the Killers - "Read My Mind" [buy]

MP3: Incubus - "Dig" [buy]

MP3: Bloc Party - "I Still Remember" [buy]

MP3: Arcade Fire - "Intervention" (live on SNL) [buy]

Let me know what you think.

Duke vs. Maryland

2007-02-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow night at 9 PM, Duke faces off against Maryland in college basketball. Maryland always plays Duke tough, and tonight should be another great game.

Below is a video clip of one of my favorite games between the two schools, from 2001 when Duke came back from 10 points down and less than one minute left to play, tying the game at the end of regulation before ultimately winning in overtime. It remains as perhaps my favorite sports moment, and I was lucky enough to have witnessed it in person.

After the win, Maryland started regularly beating Duke at home and away at Cameron Indoor; perhaps the 2001 comeback was a big reason for Maryland taking their play to another level against their hated ACC rivals.

Rage Against the Machine reunite

2007-02-03T14:38:00.000-05:00

In some of the best music news in a long while, Rage Against the Machine will be coming back together after a seven-year haitus to play the 2007 Coachella Festival in April.

Rage Against the Machine where a force in the 90's, introducing a form of rap-metal which dozens of bands have miserably failed to imitate. Despite the fact most of the band continued on in the form of Audioslave (Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford plus Chris Cornell) - a good band in their own right - nothing can match the intensity of the original lineup. I managed to catch Rage live at the 2000 HFStival in DC, and I'm happy I was able to witness one of the most powerful live acts of my generation before they called it quits.

Whether or not the band will stick together beyond the festival date seems uncertain, but ideally Zack de la Rocha and company will find a way to record again.

MP3: Rage Against the Machine - "Bulls on Parade"

MP3: Rage Against the Machine - "Wake Up"

MP3: Rage Against the Machine - "Guerrilla Radio"

Rage Against the Machine Official Site

Congrats Cal Ripken: Hall of Fame-bound

2007-01-09T19:32:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Cal Ripken, Jr. - one of the Baltimore Orioles greats - as he has been voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the 12th Oriole to be inducted into the Hall.

Cal received 98.5% of the vote, which is a record for a position player and quite an accomplishment considering a lot of baseball writers who cast ballots refuse to vote for players for reasons having nothing to due with the player's merits. One sportswriter submitted a blank ballot because he lumped Ripken and fellow inductee Tony Gwynn in with "the Steroids Era", and the writer refused to vote for anyone until more is known about steroids. Other writers (otherwise known as assclowns) just don't vote for any players on their first ballot out of principle.

A well deserved honor for one of the games best shortstops and a Baltimore icon.

ESPN link

albums to look forward to in 2007

2007-01-01T22:15:00.000-05:00

2006 was a lackluster year for rock music. Perhaps I'm just losing touch with the music scene, but the past year seemed even more boring and disappointing than the last few years, which has been a dead period in music to begin with. Aside from strong albums from Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Bob Dylan, not much new or exciting surfaced. All we really got was the arrival of Panic! at the Disco and the continued success of Fall Out Boy, and both of those bands suck.

2007 seems to be a much more promising year. We'll get highly anticipated new albums from Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, and Wilco. We'll also get sophomore efforts from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Arcade Fire (which could be brilliant or huge letdowns), along with new records from indie darlings the Shins (their Wincing the Night Away is already getting early positive buzz) and mid-tempo rockers Spoon. Add in possible albums from U2 and R.E.M. late in the year, and the future looks good.

Here's to a solid '07.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

Casino Royale

2006-12-05T22:36:00.000-05:00

Casino Royale

When I first saw previews for the new Bond flick, I had trouble buying into Daniel Craig as the new 007. While Pierce Brosnan isn't a remarkable actor, I had gotten used to seeing him in the last few installments of the series. All of those films were fairly entertaining, with Goldeneye the best of the Brosnan era. But whereas Brosnan played Bond with a smartass confidence, Craig takes a much more raw approach which reveals more character than Brosnan ever did. Brosnan fulfilled a stereotype and caricature, never really providing any depth to the character. In Casino Royale, Craig is believable as a young, brash MI6 agent starting out his career, with a few missteps along the way to becoming an elite secret agent. Complex action scenes and fancy gadgets take a seat in favor of plot development during which the hero and villians take turns trying to outmaneuver each other. This was effectively accomplished in the setting of a super high-stakes poker tournament with millions on the line. It was good to see poker playing such a large role, as the poker scenes were interesting; several hands between Bond and the villian, Le Chiffre, are played out to dramatic effect.

As far as action movies go, Casino Royale is well done and worth seeing. With a new Bond on board, it looks like the franchise is headed in the right direction.

new Incubus - "Anna Molly" MP3

2006-11-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

The new Incubus album, Light Grenades, is due out November 28th. The catchy and rocking first single, "Anna Molly", features cool guitar riffs courtesy of Mike Einziger and is getting played on the radio. While it's not quite as good or epic as previous first singles "Megalomaniac" or "Wish You Were Here," "Anna Molly" is still a concise, quality song.

MP3: Incubus - "Anna Molly"

An Amityville Halloween: Noah's Ark Style

2006-10-24T00:13:00.000-04:00

Originally published October 2005

So I've been watching some horror recently, from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original and the remake, starring Jessica Biel), to Rosemary's Baby, to The Amityville Horror (both the original and the remake). I've always been fascinated by the supernatural, and I enjoy finding great horror movies even though I haven't really seen too many flicks that truly scared me (the original Exorcist comes close).

The story of the Amityville house (pictured left) that the movies are based upon is an exceedingly creepy tale.

An Amityville house website

I've been thinking about how much fun (or how intensely scary) it would be to spend the night in a haunted/ possessed house like the one in Amityville. Being a believer in demons as agents of the devil, I would like the chance to see what goes on for myself.

But, I'm far too much of a pansy.

So, I figure if I ever go to a house, I would spend the night with a sizable entourage (great show by the way). The members of this Crazy Crew would be carefully selected by yours truly. I would take 6 groups of two individuals each, for a grand total of 13 people including myself. Here are my selections:

2 Paranormal Investigators These would be Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous investigators who have decades of experience with exorcisms, hauntings, and paranormal phenomena. They're sort of like the Mulder and Scully of real life, except they're married and their roles are sort of reversed. The Warren's stories are terribly intriguing, and I'm sure the old couple would have a calming effect on me, even if, in reality, they happen to be complete cooks and phonies. The fact they've already been in the Amityville house would call for bonus points, so they are an indispensable pair on my list.

2 Roman Catholic Priests

These would be the old-school badass kind of priests, not the ones that fondle 7-year-old boys. They would be highly trained in the rites of exorcism; one priest would be in his late 50's and would have a weakness for a good glass of scotch. The other would be in his mid-30's and a huge football and baseball fan. The older one would quietly refer to his numerous battles with demons as difficult but necessary, while the younger one would constantly say how "we always make Satan our bitch" and that "Lucifer was clearly behind the Curse of the Bambino," but that "the Boston Red Sox suck, too."

2 Physicians

One would be a 45-year-old male general surgeon with an M.D. from Johns Hopkins, Duke, Stanford, or any of the top Ivy League Medical Schools. This guy would also have played Division I basketball as a 6'2, 215-pound wing as an undergrad, walking onto the team but getting significant minutes by the time he was a junior. This would give us an extra able-bodied guy if a situation calling for drastic measures were to arise.

The other doctor would be a pretty female 30-year-old blonde psychiatrist with an M.D. from either the University of Virginia, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, or University of California - Los Angeles. She would have paid her way through medical school by doing tasteful cover shoots for fashion magazines, in addition to writing reviews for a mildly successful rock publication not unlike Spin. She would be the middle child of a family of 8, losing her dad at a relatively young age in a tragic seawreck (her father died while heroically rescuing his family from the wreckage of a sinking battleship). She'd be sweet but cool under pressure, serving as a nice complementary player to the entourage.

Obviously these doctors would come in handy in case of any physical or psychological maladies, and the more intelligent people with me, the better.

2 Comedians
This is a really tough call. I would have to go with Will Ferrell and Dave Chappelle. If things get hairy inside the Amityville house, I still want to be able to have a chance to laugh once in a while. Plus, if both of those guys lose it, then I won't feel as bad when I pee my pants after seeing the Anti-Christ.

2 Super-Hotties/ Models
If I wind up having to come to terms with the fact my life could be ending at the hands of Beelzebub, I might as well try and hit up the two smoking hotties that will have to accompany my crew on the haunted trip. These two honey babies, right now, would have to be Jessica Alba and Dagmara Dominczyk.

Alba is just ridiculously hot, and she strikes me as a pretty cool chick. Meanwhile, Dagmara is amazingly gorgeous to the point that any guy in her presence would zone out and start drooling uncontrollably (she played Mercedes in The Count of Monte Cristo and was in a John Mayer video, among other things).
Dagmara's website

Even if it doesn't look like I might die, at least I'll have them constantly distracting me from Lucifer's evil forces.

2 Well-Rounded Scholar-Athletes
These guys would be two males, most likely an astronaut who played football at Yale before getting his Masters in Quantum Physics, and the other a genius Harvard dropout who found his way onto the elite Delta Force black ops of the United States armed forces (the dudes that can kill 50 armed men with only a fig and a toothbrush at their disposal). The Harvard/Yale rivalry would occasionally be a source for half-assed debate and shit-talking, that is until the Delta Force guy would stop caring because he dropped out of Harvard anyway. That, and the fact he could still kick everyone's ass.

With various practical and highly-specialized skills (one was the son of a mechanic while the other was a general contractor during his high school summers) available to them, these guys would be the glue of the team. Also having great taste in movies and music, these two will always have something interesting to say, and they'll never feel awkward when the doctors or the priests start talking about their professions. They could be a threat to boink the hotties, but I'm willing to take one for the team. If they get out of hand, I'll kick them out anyway, because I'm the fucking brains behind this operation anyway, so why don't you cry about it?
I'm fairly satisfied with my Amityville Team, and I'd be willing to go to war with them any night of the week.

The Departed

2006-10-15T22:45:00.000-04:00

The Departed

I caught The Departed last weekend, and Martin Scorsese's latest does not disappoint. With a stellar cast (Nicholson, DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and a funny Alec Baldwin) and plenty of suspense, this is as good as crime and gangster movies get. Unfortunately for Scorsese, due to the violence, subject matter, and lack of any strong female leads, he'll probably get shut out for the Best Director or Best Picture Oscars again, but this one is up there with his best films.

Baseball's biggest waste of money

2006-10-08T14:56:00.000-04:00

The Yankees and their $200 million payroll were sent home yesterday by the Detroit Tigers. It was priceless seeing the dejected looks of all the Yankee players towards the end of the game. George Steinbrenner will surely go nuts after this latest collapse, with Joe Torre apparently the first to go.

R.E.M. happenings

2006-09-20T23:07:00.000-04:00

Last week, R.E.M. was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and ex-drummer Bill Berry rejoined the band for a three-song set. Bill has been sorely missed since he left R.E.M. in 1998, and I've always hoped that he would rejoin the band before all is said and done. Good to see them back together for at least a little while.

I also happened to miss this article in which Mike Mills says that the next R.E.M. record will rock more, which is certainly good news.

Here is a review of the new R.E.M. compilation I Feel Fine.

My apologies for taking a bit of a summer hiatus from blogging, I'll try to keep this a little more updated in the coming weeks.

Pirates of the Caribbean

2006-07-19T23:50:00.000-04:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

I finally saw the movie that's made a billion dollars at the box office during the past two weeks. The new Pirates flick was solid, enjoyable but almost excruciatingly long at two and a half hours. Johnny Depp delivers another entertaining turn as Jack Sparrow,and while the action scenes were entertaining, almost every sequence went on for five minutes longer than needed. There's no reason this movie couldn't have been 30 minutes shorter, making it better in the process.

So far, the first is the better of the two, but I'll be looking forward to the next installment next summer.

Superman Returns

2006-07-05T00:08:00.000-04:00

Superman Returns

I took in Superman Returns this past weekend with some anticipation, especially since it has been fairly well reviewed. I came away somewhat disappointed, as the second half of the movie dragged on after a promising start. The script seemed to fall apart after the Kryptonite island entered the plot, and the running time was far too long. Also, Kate Bosworth wasn't very convincing as Lois Lane.

It will be interesting to see what the sequels hold, especially since we are introduced to the son of Superman (an underdeveloped plotline which wasn't handled well by the writers). Batman is where it's at in terms of the superhero genre now that Batman Begins has re-energized the franchise.

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

Chessboxing? Are you kidding me??

2006-06-23T13:47:00.000-04:00

I was perplexed to check out ESPN.com today and see that a sport called chessboxing was featured on the front page. You're got to be kidding, right? Leave it to the Europeans to come up with a ridiculous sport.

The rules of the "sport" are as follows:

Two competitors face each other in 11 alternating rounds, six of chess, five of boxing. A bout begins with chess, which is played on a board placed directly in the middle of the ring. Each round of chess lasts four minutes. After each chess round, the bell sounds, and workmen remove the chessboard for a two-minute round of boxing, the gloves go back on, the punching recommences. Participants win by way of knockout, checkmate, referee's decision, or if his opponent exceeds the allotted total of 12 minutes for an entire match on the chessboard.

I have to admit, as skeptical as I am of chessboxing, and as much as I am wondering if this is some sort of prank, the idea of watching some dude take out his chess frustrations out in the form of physical violence grows on you. "You just made me your bitch when you took out my queen, now I'm going to knock you unconscious!"

The amount of interest in these alternative sports is intriguing; just the other day, ESPN2 had a televised World Domino Tournament. Considering every player came from North America or the Caribbean, I wasn't exactly sure how the winners could claim to be the best of the world. The top prize was for a paltry $30,000 or so, which pales in comparison to the prize pools for televised poker tournaments, which fall into the same basic category of programming.

The games almost always draw spectators, so perhaps it is no surprise that the ESPN sports network has declared dominoes the next big spectator sport...

Domino matches "almost always" draw spectators? Sounds like a great reason to throw tons of money at a game few people play. Can't wait to see what the geniuses at ESPN throw at us next.

NBA Champs

2006-06-20T23:57:00.000-04:00

"i clearly don't belong anywhere near here," says a hideously out of place Jason Williams (cracker in the lower left corner) surrounded by other players who actually made meaningful contributions to Miami's title run.

Congrats to the Miami Heat for winning the NBA Championship in 6 games over the Dallas Mavericks.

This fourth ring vindicates Shaquille O'Neal, who has brought home the championship he promised Miami fans two years ago when he arrived to the Heat from the Lakers. This further makes Kobe Bryant - one of my most hated sports figures - look bad, since the Lakers have gone downhill ever since the Big Aristotle bolted for greener pastures.

Will Ferrell: Comic Genius

2006-06-16T00:43:00.000-04:00

One of my friends just pointed out that the trailer for the new Will Ferrell movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, is up and available here. It comes out in August, and it looks like NASCAR and redneck humor will be a winning combination.

Ferrell is one of those rare comedians who makes me laugh just by looking at him. He's also provided some of the funniest supporting characters for the big screen in recent memory.

For some weekend laughs, here's Ferrell doing the classic cowbell Blue Oyster Cult skit. Happy Friday.

Top 5 Will Ferrell Movie Characters

1. Ron Burgundy in Anchorman
2. Frank the Tank in Old School
3. Jacobin Mugatu in Zoolander
4. Chas Reinhold in Wedding Crashers
5. Big Gay Earl in Starsky and Hutch