ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG

Surely this will be the Best. Film. Ever.

Pride And Predator

Thanks to Titmus for bringing that to my attention, and also predicting that the alien will get married off in the end.

An hour later : I am still in a state of shock at this awesome concept. Think of the applications. I mean, suppose you need a 100%, totally foolproof, super reliable, sex tester. Like for a Rumanian shot-putter or an attractive woman (?) you meet in Thailand. All you do is outline the basic premise of this film. If they tut and say "that's stupid", it's a woman. If they say "Oh my God that is the most AWESOME FUCKING FILM EVER", it's a bloke. Simple.

Separated At Birth ?

Gus Hansen's boxing opponent Theo Jorgenson and Jim from Neighbours. It's been bugging me all week since I saw that poster. And then, ding ! You've never seen them in the same room have you ?

Also, while researching this, I was very sad to see that Jim in Neighbours died from a heart attack when, instead of calling an ambulance, his partner Fiona went to the bank to clear out his monies. What a bitch.

Taking It To A New Level

The hypocrisy of the press should be a given on here by now, but it's always worth recognising when someone raises the bar to new heights (or should that be lowers to new depths). Especially when it's so obscene that you almost have to admire the sheer nerve of it.

From Private Eye, paraphrasing, basically the Mirror bought some pictures of Coleen Rooney sunbathing on a boat in the Caribbean, which is one of the locations (on the boat that is) that's deemed private under the "code of conduct" that the press pay lip service to. Standard so far. Then a columnist stepped up to the plate with this astonishing rebuke :

"It seems like she's going out of her way to rub our noses in the money she's recklessly chucking about, while the rest of us worry, scrimp and save ... She can well afford a holiday somewhere private, where she won't be photographed so we won't have to see it".

Wow. I mean seriously. *Golf clap*. One more time, they bought pictures from someone who followed the Rooneys halfway around the world, took telephoto snaps of them from half a mile away, in a location which they had agreed was off limits, and then criticised the subject for "rubbing our noses in it". Note also the subtext of "so we won't have to see it". It's like saying "You hate yourself for buying our shitty paper. Don't you." Which is probably fair. I would.

And finally, what's the best thing for the Rooneys to do with their money, from the POV of the economy you're so worried about. Spend it, or put it in a big vault and swan-dive into it Scrooge McDuck style ? Only last week Wayne and Coleen were ridiculed in the press (and by me on Facebook I must admit) for buying a meal with a 2-for-1 voucher. Ever get the feeling you can't win whatever you do ?

PS I know I should have more important things to think about right now. But I needed to get that off my chest :-)

Free To Be Free

There is something I want to retract from a recent post on the poker blog. Can you guess what it is ? It is this bit :

"We'll see if I can maintain the level a bit better this year."

You know what ? No, we won't. We'll see how much I want to play and then I'll play that much. I made a post on Facebook yesterday about wondering how much is enough. I don't have enough to stop entirely, and fly Upper Class to Vegas every time, no. But that's not what I want to do anyway. I do have enough to chill, play when I want to, and not drive myself to meet artificial targets. I'm in danger of getting so caught up in the "professional mindset" that I forget why I quit work in the first place - because I didn't want to be professional all the time.

It's a Zen thing. "When hungry, eat ; when tired, sleep" as they say. Any time I want to play, play. If I want to play 100 hours a month, great, do it. If I don't, don't. A professional mindset is all well and good, and necessary when I am playing, but taking it too far just leads to me exchanging one regimen for another.

In some ways I think the blogs contribute to the situation. I was quoting numbers and using rankings to motivate myself on the poker blog, but that's kind of putting the cart before the horse. So I'm not going to do that any more. Does anyone really care if I'm #144 on pocket fives ? Even if they did, the question is do I ? And as for money, if I go busto, I'll let you know. Till then take it as read that things are cool. The same thing happens with the football blog, in a way. I think "if I don't go, people will know because of the blog and think I'm a lightweight". And so I sit through 0-0 v Watford on my own freezing my arse off when I didn't really fancy it to start with.

I am very, very lucky to be able to, within the bounds of conscience and consequences, do whatever the hell I like whenever the hell I feel like it. I shouldn't water that down because of what others might think of me, and of course the great irony is that if I don't water it down then most people will think more of me anyway, even though that's irrelevant. Now there's a Zen paradox !

PS Insert own "I'm Free" joke below.