I know I said I was going to

.... give a review of The Dark Knight in today's blog but I have decided that it isn't a good idea. I don't want to give anything away and besides, I'm not a good enough writer to do this film justice. The Dark Knight has received almost unanimously great reviews and believe me - It deserves all that and more. I know from experience, dude. Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhardt, and Morgan Freeman are all great but Heath Ledger really does steal the show as The Joker. His is a demented performance that leaves you wishing he was still around to make the next Batman movie, which is inevitable.

I really can't imagine anyone not loving this movie, unless they are those annoying people who pretend like they think that something everyone else loves is lame in an effort to draw attention to themselves. Either that or they are just stupid. As we were leaving a very crowded theater last night (This morning really), I overheard two young girls discussing the movie. The first girl said that she didn't like it because it was so long. The second girl then replied, "Yeah, I didn't really get it." This is a comic book movie. There's not much open to interpretation here, guys. It's a great movie with a great script, great special effects, and great acting. What's to get? That conversation really solidified what I already believed: This will go down as the best movie of 2008. Just go see it is really all I can say. And if nobody you know wants to go see it with you, give me a call, because I'll definitely go again.

Okay, enough about The Dark Knight. There's a few more things I want to touch on in today's blog:

* I really enjoyed Chris Bennett's first entry yesterday. It was obvious that he took his time with it. Multiple laugh out loud moments in there. And I have to ask: What exactly does Jorgen have against the color purple? If you're getting worked up about a color, you seriously need help. I'm going to try to slip the card of a good psychiatrist into the man purse.

* Here's my breakdown of Wednesday night's Poker Invitational, in order of how they finished. Keep in mind that I had more than a few adult beverages so it may not be entirely accurate. And keep in mind these are just my personal opinions, so nobody get your panties in a bunch:

1. Jorgen Johnson. This kid does a lot of talking about how great he is. (Not at poker, I just mean in general) and up until now I had never once seen him do anything to back it up. But on Wednesday night, he finally came through and went home as the champion, as a 6-1 shot no less. On the final hand, a generous river card knocked off the runner up Hoffman, and sent our man Yorgs home as the new defending champion. Congrats.

2. Scott Hoffman. Scott's performance on Wednesday night did nothing to change my opinion that he is the best poker player out of this group. He finished a very respectable 2nd and probably wins the event if not for the aforementioned river card. Finishing 2nd would have been a good performance under any circumstances but I feel it is even more impressive considering he was clearly hungover. I wasn't thrilled about that, by the way. I really don't like Hungover Hoffman. I like the regular Hoff. Love the Drunk Hoff. But Hungover Hoffman.... I mean I've never heard so much whining. Just constantly bickering, constantly making snide, judgmental remarks no one wants to hear, constantly making little faces. It's like having George Costanza's mother over. Next time we do one of these games, I'm going to make sure the Hoff stays in the previous night.

3. Austin Bhushan. If Austin had won, he should have given half his winnings to A. Ross for dealing him those hands. I think I saw him throw away pocket Kings because he was hoping for more Aces. He also caused a lot of controversy before the game started with his last minute invitations to players, including one guy that wasn't getting anywhere near my home. Bennett and I had to redo the odds for this event 4 times due to people coming into the game or dropping out. Chris looked like he was on the verge of passing out by the end of it. And I think that giant bug attacking us on my balcony was the last straw for him. This was a long process made even more painful by Jorgen sitting on my couch, watching my TV, and complaining about how long we were taking. For the record: Jorgen's total bet tally came to a whopping 0. So to recap, he was bitching about the lines not being ready while he sat under someone else's roof in comfort and when it came time to actually make a bet, he did nothing. Someone get that kid a Hilton Player's Card. I think he's ready.

4. Chris Graham. Very solid effort by Graham. The book especially appreciated him hanging in there to beat Mike Miller. We had two limit bets on Miller in that matchup. It didn't seem like Chris was getting very good cards but whenever he did, he made his move, and he took down some decent pots.

5. Mike Miller. I had originally drawn up the following prop for Mikey Millz: Over/Under 8.5 Hands Seen, due to Mike's somewhat aggressive history in these games. My number was a joke but I did want to use that prop. However, Bennett nipped that idea in the bud in a hurry and he was right. Miller was focused and nearly knocked off Austin early in the game. And he did all this was his pitbull puppy in his lap.

6. James Myers. A late edition to the game, it did not appear as though James had much to work with in terms of cards. (Of course with Austin at the table, there wasn't much to go around for the other players.) Hopefully, James got a little experience playing with these kids and will be able to come back strong in future events.

7. Andrew Ross. Andy was nice enough to deal the whole game and ironically it was the cards he dealt to himself that appeared to be his downfall, as he couldn't get much going all night. Perhaps he should have borrowed a page from the professional players' book and started berating himself. The ironing is delicious.

Overall, it was a pretty good game. We had a World Series of Poker dealer in Ross, Franco Cortes came over and wrote the bet tickets, and a certain College Hockey Sharp helped touch up a lines sheet that needed to be handled with gloves when he was done with it. The book was not thrilled to see the two biggest whiners of the evening, Johnson and Hoffman, finish 1-2 but I gotta hand it to them: They played well and I enjoyed having them there, even if it was like having The Golden Girls over. Next time we do one of these games I'm going to set an Over/Under on how many times Hoffman has to use the jon.

* The other night, my brother called me to brag about how he had bought the newest NCAA Football video game at exactly 12:01 and to inform me that he may have been the first member of the general public to own the game. (I'm not so sure that is something to brag about but whatever.) Anyways, my sister wandered into the basement and when she realized my brother was talking to me, she grabbed the phone and breathlessly told me a story about my parents that we all found very funny and very typical.

So, my parents replaced the desktop computer we had in our study with a new laptop. (Check a few blogs back for the story of that ordeal.) The only problem so far is that neither of them has ever used a laptop and apparently they have been completely overwhelmed by it. The other day, my sister was sitting in her bedroom and all of a sudden the house was pierced by my mother's screeching voice: "Peter! Peter! Peter!" My brother was not home but instead of just checking the basement to see if he was down there, my Mom kept yelling his name over and over again until the sound of it became so annoying, my sister had to go downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.

My sister walks into the study room and sees my Mom sitting at the computer, with her face buried in her hands. My Dad is pacing the room like a guy waiting to hear the status of a loved one from a doctor. Neither of my parents budge when my sister walks in but both of my dogs look up at her with terrified, confused stares on their little faces. Since no one is saying anything, my sister finally speaks up:

Sister: What's going on? What's wrong?

Mom: Your brother must have been the last one on the computer and he closed it! I can't figure out how to get it open again. I just, I just don't know what to do.

My sister walks over to the laptop and easily opens it up.

Dad (Shocked): How'd you do that? Show me and your mother.

My sister closes it and opens it again.

Mom (Still not satisfied): I just don't understand why he closed it.

My Mom may have slightly overreacted to the situation but it was resolved. Besides, this isn't exactly the first time she has overreacted like that. Perhaps one day I will tell the story of her and the bee that got a little too close for comfort. I actually witnessed that one in person.


I don't know why you need my picks when the Hoff is around but I'll do my best:

Cardinals

Brewers

Red Sox



Trivia Question For Friday - When was the last time Greg Norman won a Major Golf Championship?

** Tuesday's Answer - CB4 was comprised of Albert Brown aka MC Gusto, Euripides Smalls aka Dead Mike, and Otis aka Stab Master Arson. What a great movie.


Thanks for reading today. I know it's not as funny without any Jeff talk but he's in Siberia. What's a blogger to do?



Enjoy The Dark Knight.