Things

I've had guests staying for the past few weeks so not been playing much poker recently.

The Supreme Commander Beta came out yesterday. I played that for about 10 minutes but my friends computers all started crashing. The initial starting guy is a rip off from Transformers, it looks very much like Optimus Prime(Not Maximus =)) to me but it is still cool =) Didn't try it enough to have any thoughts beyond it will need a really good computer system and it is reasonably buggy. All to be expected from a Beta though.

I bought Company of Heroes, it seems very polished but I have not yet tried any multiplayer with it yet. Any comments on the multiplayer? Good or bad?

I got Caesar 4 as well which seems to be decent too. Caesar 3 was a great sim game. I haven't played it enough to tell if it as good or better yet as I tilted hard on the 3rd scenario when I couldn't get my Aquaducts/Reservoirs to work.

I have several games waiting to play on the XBOX 360 including Dead Rising and Saints Row but my TV right now is way too bad to play them on. I am getting a Sony 55" or 70" SXRD LCOS Rear Projection TV which has just come out in Europe. Hopefully have it within the next week or two.

My eyes are slowly getting better. I had my best vision today when I woke up, this was only temporary though but at least I can see how it will probably end up once the dry eyes clear up and the healing process is over.

I've seen a few movies recently such as :-

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - A good Will Ferrell movie roughly on par with Anchorman. (7/10)
Children of Men - A decent Sci-Fi movie with a 1984 type theme. It has some amazing CGI scenes which don't look like CGI, very naturally done. This film could have been much better. The scene where the army stop fighting and stand silent in awe of the baby is ridiculously bad and semi spoiled the movie for me. (7/10)
The Departed - A good return to form for Martin Scorcese which features Leonardo De Caprio's best ever performance. Although he will never replace Robert De Niro he was infinitely better in this Scorcese film than he was in The Aviator or Gangs of New York. This is Scorcese's best film since Casino. Mark Wahlberg is also particularly good in this film. (8/10)
A Scanner Darkly - Another decent Sci-Fi movie based on the Novel by Philip K. Dick (same guy who inspired Bladerunner, Total Recall, Minority Report). It has a very weird graphical filtering effect throughout the movie I guess in an attempt to get closer to the feel of a Philip K. Dick novel. I felt it could have been better but it had a lot going for it and I felt pretty good after having seen it. There were several very funny scenes too. (7.5/10)
Superman Returns - I was looking forward to this movie but always knew it was going to be a very ABC, formulaic interpretation of Superman especially since it was directed by Bryan Singer(who had already done a really boring X-Men movie). It did however start off pretty well but totally lost it thereafter with a really super poor Lex Luthor(Kevin Spacey was good but had nothing to work with) plot line. Brandon Routh was a very poor substitute for Christopher Reeve and Singer just shouldn't be allowed to direct the next one. Let Richard Donner have another another go. (5.5/10)
The Hunger - Amazingly I only just saw this movie a few days ago for the first time. I am a big fan of the horror genre so not sure how this slipped me by. I always knew of it but had assumed I had seen it as a child. I guess not. It is amazingly directed with each scene almost crafted like a piece of art. Very stylish. There is no way I could have guessed this was a Tony Scott film, it feels nothing like any of his other movies, that is for sure. David Bowie is perfectly cast for this movie and Susan Sarandon is also great with an amazing pair of eyes. Plot and ending could have been better however. My friend thought it was directed by Ridley Scott (Tony Scott's brother) which is easily understood when you notice the very Bladerunnerish type indoor scenes as well as the final outdoor shot which could have easily been part of Bladerunner. Bladerunner came first though so we can see who was inspired by who.(7.5/10)
Crank - A decent action movie with Jason Statham(The Transporter). A bit like the movie Speed but this time with some poison in his veins which can only be stopped by keeping his adrenaline high.(6.5/10)
The Black Dahlia - A Brian De Palma film that is based on the real life Black Dahlia case but is totally fictionalized in this movie. I don't like Josh Hartnett much and definitely don't like Scarlett Johansson. I don't know why he chose such wooden actors but oh well. It could have been a lot better but as usual with Brian De Palma, it does ooze style and has lots of great scenes. (7.5/10)

Rakeback at Prima

As you can see from the new banners I am supporting a new Prima Skin called Flush Draw Poker.

If you would like to try a new poker network with a good player base then Prima is a pretty good choice. If you use the banner links on my page you will automatically recieve a rakeback deal of 30% which you can cash out as much as daily directly into your poker account.

If you are/or become a high volume player at Flush Draw Poker then I can get your rakeback increased over time.

I purposely didn't put poker ads on my site before but this skin is directly run by people I know so I can support it fully.

I deposited $20,000 there and doubled up to $43,000 in 5000 hands of $1000 NL there. Short term variance or lucky site? You decide =)

The match bonus is uneccessary it seems. It works off your rakeback anyway. So just ignore bonuses. Even if you did the bonus, once you have worked it off you will revert back to your 30% anyway.