The Grand

I love Cinematical.  Mainly because I can find out about movies I never would have heard of otherwise.  There haven't been too many poker movies out in the past few years, especially considering the "poker boom" (which is now pretty much on a downswing, but I digress...).  I've been looking forward to Lucky You which is *finally* releasing this upcoming weekend against Spiderman 3 (it was supposed to be released in the Fall of 2006 and then again about a month ago...I was beginning to think it was never coming out), and I just read on Cinematical about another movie I'm going to have to try to hunt down: The Grand. 

Written by Zak Penn (of X-Men and PCU, and, if you are a complete and total film geek, Incident at Loch Ness fame), this movie looks like it could have real potential.  First of all, it's a mockumentary, a la This is Spinal Tap.  Who doesn't love a good mockumentary?  Second of all, it has a lot of poker pros as well as some fabulous actors in it.  Third, a lot of the film is improv.  Fourth, Woody Harrelson is in it playing a character called "One Eyed Jack."  Cinematical's review is promising.   What is there not to love?

The Grand premiered this weekend at Tribeca.  Hopefully it will be hitting the Silver or some other local theatre soon. 

Losing touch with old friends and the NKF

I am horrible at keeping in touch with people.  I am one of those bad friends that sends out Xmas cards once a year and maybe an email or two each year to my friends that aren't in the area.  There are even some of my friends in the area that I only see every few months.  I just get too wrapped up in school stuff, especially this time of year.  I need to make a better effort to keep in touch with people.  It's not that I don't care about people (I definitely do)...I don't really have an excuse.  It is something I need to work at.

There are unfortunately more than a few people who I was close with in college who have moved out of the DC area and that I don't even have contact info for anymore.  :(  In the unlikely event that any of you are reading this, please let me know.  I would like to get back in touch.

Anyways, the point of my posting this was that on Wednesday evening, I got an e-mail from a college acquaintance who was fraternity brothers with someone I used to be friends with in college, Kevin.  He told me that Kevin had fallen into a coma as a result of complications with his diabetes affecting his kidneys.  Kevin has since come out of the coma, but I had no idea that Kevin was so sick.  It's made me think a lot about how I need to do a better job of staying in touch with people.  My thoughts are definitely with Kevin and his family. 

Relatedly, my sorority's charity is the National Kidney Foundation and when I was in college I did a lot more charity work on behalf of the NKF (and other organizations).  This is also personal reminder to me to get out and do more volunteer work for causes that are important to me - something I haven't really been doing at all since I left college.

On the Water Again

When I was younger, we spent a lot of time on the water.  My grandparents owned a 40' Panda sailboat and we used to spend at least a few weeks every summer just cruising around on their sailboat.  Lots of good times.  I actually saw a Panda the other day (that's one above) and I did a double take. 

Now my parents seem to rent a Grand Banks every few years and cruise around British Columbia.  It's a free vacation for their lucky daughter, though being on board a boat often means its more of a working vacation as everyone needs to pitch in when leaving or entering a marina.  A few years ago, my parents rented the Claudicus for a month (that's her below with my parents standing on deck) and Jeff and Sarah and I were lucky enough to join them for a week.  We had to take a plane, train, bus, car, and three ferries to meet them, but that is definitely another story.

This year my parents are renting another boat, The Lady of Shalott (why an owner would name their boat after a poem about a woman who kills herself in a boat is WAY beyond me, but...) and I'm really looking forward to the trip this July/August.  Hopefully we can get in some good fishing and crabbing.  I'd also like to try to get to one of my favorite museums in the world, the Royal British Columbia Museum, in Victoria, BC.  Of course, getting in some high tea at the Empress Hotel wouldn't be a bad thing either.  I can hardly wait to be on the water again.

Harry Potter Trailer and other British Film News

Jeff and I used to go to the movies every week.  Since I started school and Jeff started his new job, we are lucky if we go once a month.  But I know we will make priority to go see the new HP movie.  Check out the trailer here.  Blather about the trailer from Cinematical can be found here.  Even more Harry Potter stuff here and here. 

In other news, British Airways decides to be super petty.  Not that I am a Richard Branson fan (though I do like flying Virgin), but sometimes American celebrity gossip just can't compare to the craziness of the Brits.

Happy 30th Birthday Star Wars

Star Wars' 30th birthday is May 25th.  Enjoy these "making of" pictures courtesy of Wired.

Poker Newsflash

Apparently playing tight and right = a winning strategy.  Who knew poker was so easy.

On Friday I had sat on a little over a rack (i.e. $250 in pink chips) profit all night only to start shipping it back until I was down to about $25 (i.e. half a stack of pinks).  Two hours later after telling myself I was going to stop being my own worst enemy at the poker table - I was back where I started - I had a rack in profit. 

Something to think about for next week.

I'm finally getting to the place where I think my pink game is pretty good.  At least relative to the majority of other players.  The past few weeks I have been able to accumulate a pretty decent pile of chips.  Unfortunately come around 2am, I start shipping it back.  It might start with boredom, or I take a bad beat, or my bajillion outs don't get there.  And then my whole game changes.  Got to keep an eye out for that so I can hang on to my chips.

PHD comics

I think I might have posted about piled higher and deeper (get it, PHD?, LOL) on here before.  Given that I am in the midst of trying to finish a research paper that is due today (ummm, it is 4am and I am in the grad lab at school taking a break.  I think I only have a few pages left....  And guess what - I am not alone!  Melissa is here too!  :) ) I found this PHD comic apropos.