CourtneyP

Some of you may know about my affinity for poker. I guess it’s fairly obvious, since my current blog design has a poker-like theme. What you’re not seeing there is my pocket deuces under there, but hey, that doesn’t really matter in this context, does it?

I’ve been meaning to post an entry about poker for a while now, but never got a round tuit. Earlier today, Wil posted an entry about his recent participation in an illegal poker tournament, which kinda lit the flame under my keester for me to write this entry you read tonight.

At a recent gathering of the South Bay Bloggers at Coffee Society, I found out that Buzz and Jonas have both been participating in some friendly local games.

Between sips of his hot cocoa, Buzz commented, “Poker is really big these days, isn’t it?”

I pondered this over my more caffeinated, but oversweetened Neopolitan. I didn’t really think too hard about this before, but yeah, poker has really become a greater phenomenon within the past few years.

With televisions shows such as WSOP, WPT, Celebrity Poker Showdown, as well as Late Night Poker taking center stage, the game has earned quite the high profile in the media. The movie business of late has been a bit slow in picking up the trend, with Rounders in 1998 and the remake of Ocean’s 11 in 2001 (both, I admit, I have not seen in their entirety). As I recall, there was a spike of poker/card-themed movies in the mid sixties-seventies that hasn’t really found its way back into films today. When many people think of a poker movie, they think old-tyme westerns or sixties lounges… maybe this is a stereotype that is on the verge of being shattered.

Back to the coffee talk. I realize that my Neopolitan has more syrup than espresso in it. I also realize that it’s pretty horrid, and put it back down on the table. But maybe a sugar high instead of a caffeine high isn’t so bad after all…

Where was I again? Ah yes…

Buzz says he’s somewhat new to the game, and points out that there is a tremendous amount of people in the Silicon Valley that play poker, and that these groups seem to have surfaced only recently.

“Funny,” I say, “I’ve been playing with the same group of friends for almost a decade now!”

This illicits some oohs and ahhs from the audience. Okay, maybe two.

But I take it in stride. I’m not an expert poker player… as a matter of fact, I don’t think I’m good at all. Although I have been playing for a long time, I am far from being the Big Weiner, especially since we play kitchen-table variety, low stakes poker. When it comes down to it, I play poker for one reason and one reason only… to spend time with the people I play with. To trade clever quips, jokes and insults. To eat Pocky and drink malt beverages (usually separately, but sometimes together, with gastronomical results). To use poor judgement when raising the bet with our pocket fours. Our poker game has always been about having that time set aside each week to enjoy the company of good friends.

That’s the best kind of poker game there is, really.

I have yet to discover the thrill of playing for big stakes at the casino tables, but I think I can wait. So can my money.

And that syrupy coffee drink that I left behind. That thing can wait forever.

It was most appropriate that this year’s Alternative Press Expo marks the ten-year anniversary of the show, being the year of the monkey and all (get it? APE? Monkey? nevermind).

We drove up to The City in the early afternoon to mingle with the best and brightest independent artists and publishers from places near and far. There was so much to see, touch and read… and so much cool stuff to buy! The good thing about buying stuff at APE is that it’s mostly affordable stuff. Ah, the power of self-publishing.

As an added treat, I got to meet up with a handful of Killoggs peeps (see my post there for more), as well as Nicole & Brandon… and of course, I did my part and bought stuff from each one of them.

The weirdest thing to happen was to walk up to one of the tables (I unfortunately forget which one), to see the mailing list most recently signed by a friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in over 6 years! I looked all around immediate area to see if he was around, but had no luck. So if you’re out there, T.J. Walkup, shoot me an e-mail … it’s been a while!

Personally, the best thing to come out of going to APE was the flurry of creativity that was sparked by what I encountered there. So many ideas formed in my head that I want to get out on paper… or just get out, period. I am constantly frustrated by the lack of time that I seem to have to dedicate to this kind of thing. I have come to learn that it is more of a matter of making time for it. It’s way easier to hop on the computer, fire up the TiVo, or just plain veg out… especially when I have these long work days all the time. I figure, if I don’t have some sort of creative outlet, I’ll cease to exist. That’s right, I’ll just be some sort of mindless drone.

We all need a little art in our lives. Or a lot.

I enjoy film. I guess the word “film” is starting to be an inaccurate term, since we are quickly moving further and further into the digital age. I don’t really like to say “movies” when I refer to them as pieces of art, not exactly sure why, but maybe it seems a bit too mundane of a word. Motion pictures? Most certainly. When I attended art school, I majored in Motion Pictures. Seems like more words than necessary, but I feel it is the most accurate term.

The past three, ahem, motion pictures that I’ve seen have all been animated films, and that isn’t half bad. They are arguably the best films I’ve seen so far this year. I’m no expert (wink wink), but I know enough to know what I like and enjoy.

Following is a short personal review of these three films, in the order that I saw them, oldest to newest.
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We are happy to report, with full bellies, that AB’s “Instant” Pancake Mix is really freakin’ good. Fluffy, buttery, and super yummy. The recipe makes a boatload of pancakes, so invite some friends over to share!

Thanks to Good Eats Community on Orkut, I got the lead on this recipe. Thanks, guys!

Two entries in two consecutive days! Sound the alarms! wh00p! wh00p!

Tom (unintentionally?) started a new meme, in which we name five blogs we think everyone should read, and five songs everyone should hear. I’ll bite, since it’ll provide you, dear reader, with some diversions when entries here are light.
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