Quick Update + Movie Grades 1Q 2010
My girlfriend was in town this past weekend (she lives in New York). I ate a ridiculous amount of food and cake (it was her birthday) all weekend and of course never got around to working out. I’m trying to undo that damage, and then some, by doing a Bikram Yoga class ten days in a row. That’s how many days I’ve got in Houston between her visit and a trip I’m taking to Phoenix to visit my little sister. Today was my first class in several weeks and it was pretty killer. Bikram Yoga is done in a 105 degree room with like 50% humidity. It’s a 90 minute class during which you burn about as many calories (for my body size, about 1,200) as you would if you jogged at a 10-minute per mile pace (9 miles) for the duration of the class. Hopefully ten consecutive days of this intense exercise will have me feeling leaner and more flexible than I have in a while. Prior to this I think the most number of consecutive days I took a Bikram class was four, so I really have nothing to compare this to.
Alright, it’s the end of the quarter and as usual I kept a list of the movies I saw this quarter with a letter grade. Hope this is useful to someone out there. I haven’t watched as many movies in the past couple of weeks, and probably won’t for the next several weeks, as I normally do thanks to a newfound addiction to Entourage. What an amazing show. I can say with full confidence it’s the best TV show I’ve seen in terms of dialog. I watch it with subtitles on so as not to miss any muttered gems. I’m already through the first two seasons and will probably start on season three after I finish this post. Watching several seasons of awesome TV shows in chronological order is the nuts.
Here are a couple of links I want to post before I get to the movie grades:
1. I wrote a knockout tournament strategy article for PokerTips that might be interesting to tournament players.
2. My buddy Timex wrote a blog entry about semi-retiring from poker that I think is worth a read. He’s had a ton of success in the game and is finding himself in a bit of an existential crisis at the age of 20. I think Timex is one of a handful of young guys out there who have made tons of money playing poker such that they’re no longer super-motivated to keep playing and also a little out of touch with the rest of society and people their age due to their submersion in poker and rapid ascension to a state of wealth. It’s a tricky and unique place to find yourself at 20 and I find it interesting to observe from a sociological standpoint. I think the key for guys like Timex will be to find another arena in which they can compete for high enough stakes to hold their interest and still feel they’re +EV at whatever they’re doing. To me, the business world sounds like a clear (and perhaps only) option. I hypothesize that in a decade or two you’ll see a lot of guys who were formerly really successful and big into poker make waves in the business world and only play poker for fun on rare occasions (ie: WSOP Main Event).
3. My buddy Jason Day started a humor blog on various social issues. His latest entry is about the ridiculousness of Tiger and Jesse James playing the “sex addict” card when they got caught cheating. Check his site out, I think you’ll find his writing to be really entertaining and on point.
Alright, without further ado, first quarter 2010 movie grades:
A
Wall Street – Fantastic. Can’t believe it took me so long to see this.
A-
Funny People – A very complete comedy. Check it out.
The Book of Eli – Love Denzel and post-apocalyptic stuff, so the combo of both of them rocked.
Brooklyn’s Finest – I’m a sucker for a cop drama.
B+
Sex Drive – Hilarious comedy kind of cut from the same cloth as American Pie. Seth Green’s character killed me.
Invictus – Somehow, at the age of 79, Clint Eastwood finds the time and energy to make at least one, but usually multiple movies each year. And every single one of them is usually damn good at worst. This is no exception.
A Serious Man – Coen brothers film that is kind of a modern day (well, sort of, it was set in the late 60s/early 70s) story of Job from the Bible. This is one of those movies that you appreciate more by reading about it after seeing it.
The Blind Side – I had been really reluctant to see this after reading the book for fear that the movie would ruin it, but it was mostly solid.
Green Zone – Very concise storyline, didn’t try to do too much like war movies can tend to do. Solid.
Hot Tub Time Machine – Made me laugh more than I thought it would
C
Repo Men – Pretty damn terrible, but it had its moments.
D
Couples Retreat – This was so disappointing; rarely laughed.
Tell-Tale – Just awful.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
