The 100 Worst Movies of the last 10 Years

Rotten Tomatoes is sort of a meta-critic file review site. The gather up the ratings given by hundreds of film reviewers and create a composite score. This link will take you to the 100 lowest ratings they have produced in the last decade.

The sad part is the huge number of these films I have seen. We go to Blockbuster every week and often pick movies to rent based on the number of them on the shelf and what the box graphics look like. This has led me to watch at least 15 of the 40 worst rated films.

This is a great indicator that I might want to be a little better prepared when I make my movie selections in the future.

Wordless

My Top Ten Movies from 1984

There is a brilliant article up on Entertainment Weekly called "Was 1984 the greatest year in movies ever?" Having been alive then, it surprised me to see the movies on this list. Here is my personal Top Ten list of movies I saw in the theater in 1984. These are listed in the order they were released, because ranking these is too big of a job.

1 - Spinal Tap
2 - The Natural
3 - Stark Trek III - Search for Spock
4 - Bachelor Party
5 - The Pope of Greenwich Village
6 - Ghostbusters
7 - Repo Man
8 - Purple Rain
9 - Amadeus
10 - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
11 - Stop Making Sense
12 - Blood Simple
13 - The Terminator
14 - Beverly Hills Cop
15 - Dune

Look, did you see what I did there? I called it a top ten list, but then I included a whopping fifteen movies! So your job is to pick five you would leave out. There might be one or two, but I doubt anyone is going to find five.

New Music Friday - TV on the Radio

Everything old is new again.

Years ago, when I was in a band, my Dad gave me some unusually great advice. He suggested that I search through all of his vinyl music for a sound that I liked, but had never heard before. He reasoned that if I hadn't heard it, most other people my age would also be unfamiliar with it. His theory was, since that sound had been popular before, there was no reason it couldn't be popular again. And this way, people would might think I was some sort of talented musician who had created this new sound.

When I sat down to write about TV On the Radio, I thought of this. They join a growing list of current music that has strong roots in the sounds of the 1970's. Have you heard Wolfmother? They are pretty much a Big Dumb Rawk band, straight from 1975.. Do you like 70's era Southern Rock? Then you might want to check out Kings of Leon or The Eagles of Death Metal. My current favorite band, The Fratellis, follow a path that was first laid down for them by David Bowie and T Rex. And it is certainly not a stretch to compare the tight vocal harmonies of Fleet Foxes to CSNY.

TV On the Radio

So where does TV On the Radio fit in? I have included some of their new songs in the box above, including the one they played on the David Letterman show. While they may not exactly “sound like” Genesis, that is all I can think of when I listen to them. The good Genesis, with Peter Gabriel, before someone made the dreadful mistake of turning on Phil Collins' microphone. So either you have heard early period Genesis and will have an opinion on this, or you have never heard it before, so this will sound terribly innovative.

And so we are back where we started.

Wordless Wednesday

Breaking Poker News

US Government freezes bank accounts of online poker sites, halts payouts. Read more here.

Bottom line is the US Justice Department believes poker is a game of chance. The great State of California believes it is a game of skill. Where you come down on that issue tells you if it is gambling or not.

I will say that even though I think when played properly, Poker can be a game of skill, it can also have the corrosive effect of any addiction. So in that sense, it is at least very similar to gambling. However, the websites involved are large and have money, so this may be the final showdown on skill vs. chance. Even so, it will take years for this decision to play out in the courts.

Another poker thought

When I play poker online, I play tournaments, and not cash games. The big difference is that it is not "real money". Sure, your entry fee is real money, but each individual hand is just played for chips, and the value of those chips increases as people drop out. If you are curious, I can say more about that concept another time.

This means that you can be much more aggressive in the early hands, because the chips aren't worth as much. While you don't want to be reckless, and get put out, as long as you are playing properly, the early results are not crucial.

So "proper play" would be a tight aggressive style. Tight being that you are not in on every hand, but just on hands with a good chance to win (any pair, any suited connector, any two cards ten or higher) and you decline to enter the pot on anything else. Aggressive then means that when you are in a pot, you control the betting. If you hit the flop (say you pair one of your face cards, or wind up with four cards to your flush) then you allow no "free cards". If the bet checks around to you, you are betting at least two big blinds, so that everyone sees they have to pay to play a hand you are in. If you only do this with a premium holding on the deal, the other players (if they are properly observant) will learn you only play good cards, and they will get out of your way.

Today I was in tournament where I was short stacked when we got down to eight players from the original ten. I commented on my status at the short stack, and several other players agreed it was too early to matter. I had been playing tight aggressive, and I wasn't getting the cards. Then all of a sudden, I was. And by the time we got to five players left I had the tall stack. I wound up finishing second, and getting a nice share of the prize money.

The point is, if you have a plan, and stick to it, good things usually happen. You are playing cards, and you never know how they will fall, but most times, tight aggressive beats any loose or passive player.