to me, "play the man, not the cards" is probably the single most stupid advice you can give or take. unless you're playing crazy no limit games with tons of cash, or homegames where ppl dont really care, it doesn't work. what separates someone who knows how to play, and someone who KNOWS how to play? i think just experience. knowing what starting cards and positions to play, knowing what your odds are for hitting a card on turn or river, etc. it has nothing to do with playing ur man.

say, for example, you have AQs in the hole, and ur opponent has 55. flop comes AQ5 rainbow. he pushes all-in. what do you do?

call. anyone would call. any pro would call. this has nothing to do with reading ur man, psychology, psych-out crap. you call. and you can't even consider that a bad read, because nobody would ever think someone has 55 and throw away top 2 pair.

however, what you CAN do is pick up on his betting patterns: raises, checks etc. but as for stuff like how he puts his hand to his chin, scratches his ass or any of that other crap, it makes no sense to me. i dont think i know how to read ppl, but it just annoys me. i hate it when someone tries to stare u down when u make a bet. what exactly are they trying to read? if i happen to cough, is he gonna call or raise?

i dont know why i feel the need to tell you this. too much watching poker on tv i guess.

i was listening to bloc party while driving home yesterday, and i noticed that i can't really listen to music on a broad level anymore. what i mean is, ever since i learned guitar, i focus strictly on listening to the guitar parts in a song more than the actual song itself. it gets really annoying. it's hard to explain, but unless i'm trying to learn the song, i'd rather hear the song as a whole than by its individual parts (ie guitar, drums). thats why being drunk is so good, because it makes it harder to focus.

and this might sound weird, but another thing i've come to notice is that a song is not good because it is different. it is good because it is repetitive. a long repetitive chorus builds up the tension in a song to the point where i'm thinking "just move on to the next part already!". then finally when it does, you feel a strange sense of relief. to me, that feeling is better than any crazy riffs or solos. the anticipation and buildup is much more important than the actual climax. try listening to "bloc party - helicopter", and focusing on the bass and guitar parts. hopefully you can hear what i mean.

*edit* hmm maybe thats why trance is so good...

as i was browsing around ticketmaster to see if bloc party tix are sold out yet (they are), i started thinking about how bands were getting back together to go on tour. now that police and rage are back together (both of which i dont really care about), i started wondering about which bands i'd like to see, but will never be able to. so here are my top ppl/groups/bands i wish i could see perform live (in this order):

1. nirvana
2. michael jackson
3. beatles
4. 2pac
   

while we're on the topic of ticketmaster, does anyone else find it hard to do those confirmation things that make you type out what's in the blurry box?! i must be color blind or something, but some of them are damn near impossible to read. sometimes it takes me 2-3 tries just to get an easy one and get it right. ticketmaster, i'm not a freakin bot.

i watched babel last nite. i had high expectations going into the movie, but instead it was kind of disappointing. the movie wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. without giving away any plot points, i feel like the indie/deep/meaningful films aren't heading in a good direction.

it started with Garden State, which was meaningful. then came Lost in Translation, which i THINK was meaningful, but couldn't really tell. and now we have Babel, which is sort of formulaic. the formula is:

1) the director takes a person thru some random journey to find himself (either spiritual or physical), then at the end of the movie have a scene where:

OR

2) the director throws together different random plots/people with their own conflicts and agendas, who happen to be connected because of some random incident, then at the end of the movie have a scene where:


AND


a) the audience has no idea what is happening (whispering scene in Lost in Translation, note scene in Babel), and we all feel somehow mesmerized by the thoughfulness of the director's intent.

OR

b) a character has a deep message to the audience
-i'm going to live life and stop worrying about the rest
-who cares what other ppl think
-we're all different but at the same time similar
-i love you/mom/dad/sibling/family

go ahead, mix and match. don't get me wrong, it's not bad. i love most of these movies, and i like walking away from a movie that makes me think, even if i don't know exactly why. i guess maybe i don't make a good movie critic, but it just seems the different is turning into the norm.

and btw, im really addicted to imeem.com