Entries Tagged 'Entertainment' ↓

Poker night is coming up again. Next Saturday I will avenge the pathetic loss last time because of that all-in mistake. I have been studying up on my technique and strategy, and believe that I will kick some butt this time around.

I have a feeling that playing some Online Poker will help me a lot in my attempt to be victorious. I mean seriously, if you can beat people that you can’t even see, imagine how it will be face to face. I have high hopes for this time around. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I have been browsing PokerSavvy.com in an effort to prepare myself, and am very happy with their site. They offer all kinds of information on how to play poker, mainly Hold’Em, which is great because that’s what we play. They also offer reviews of online casinos and discounts on online casinos, which makes playing online that much more affordable, and decreases my “tuition” to poker school, if you will. Another cool thing that PokerSavvy has is their “SavvyPoints” program, which allows you to get points that can be redeemed for prizes just for signing up with certain poker sites and playing a few hands. Pretty cool, eh?

Last night I attended a marketing focus group in LA. It was pretty interesting, but kind of odd too. But I came out with a $100 American Express Gift Check, so that’s cool. Even though I’m not sure exactly what one does with an AmEx Gift Check…but I’ll figure it out.

Without betraying any secrets (not that I was exposed to any), basically they showed us a video of some images with a narration behind it, and then asked us for our impressions of it. Apparently the video was for a company, and rather than selling a product, they were trying to sell an idea. It was sort of like a video that they would show to employees to boost morale and drive home the company’s mission statement I suppose.

It seemed like the idea that this company was pushing would be pretty effective as an internal marketing idea, but I can’t say that the employees would each take the same idea from the presentation. It was pretty interesting though, and was a good experience. Plus it feels good to have made an extra $100 yesterday…I can’t complain about that!

William Shatner has a new DVD Club for you underground sci-fi fans out there. The cool part is that you can join for free, check out that month’s DVD, and if you like it pay only $49.95 for fifteen additional movies. It really sounds like they have some pretty cool titles available.

One of the coolest sounding movies I came across was one called “Virus.” Apparently it’s a sci-fi film from the 80’s, and was the most expensive Japanese productions of the early 80’s. It’s pretty much a viral epidemic movie mixed with a pending nuclear disaster. It sounds from the description like it might almost get into some zombie type ideas too, which is one of my favorite horror themes. Sounds like a winner to me.

I love horror, thrillers, and sci-fi, and who better to being you a great selection of underground sci-fi than Mr. Shatner himself? This sounds to me like a pretty cool opportunity to get your hands on some great movies for a really low price.

DigitalLife 2006, the largest consumer technology, gaming, and entertainment
event of the year, will be taking place in NYC on October 12-15. DigitalLife will feature products from vendors like Alienware, AMD, ATI, Best Buy, eBay, ESPN, Game Stop, Intel, Logitech, Maxim,
Microsoft, NVIDIA, XBox, and many others. Basically if you are at all interested in computers, gaming, electronics, or entertainment, DigitalLife is the place to be.

Even better, just because I like you for visiting my blog, you can visit their ticketing page at http://www.digitallife.com/tickets.html and enter the promotional code “INSIDER” to receive a free ticket to DigitalLife.

On Saturday, September 23, 2006, I attended KROQ’s Inland Invasion at the Hyundai Pavilion with some friends. The lineup was pretty impressive, but as my friend Mark noted, there weren’t any new big name bands, just older big name bands like Alice in Chains and Guns N’ Roses.

We arrived early and did a bit of tailgating, then met up with some of our friends and did a little bit more. It was a perfect day for it, nice and sunny and not too hot despite being in the middle of the 909. We got into the show in time to catch the tail end of Papa Roach, who was quite good indeed.

The first full set that we saw was Avenged Sevenfold, who were absolutely incredible. The first time I had ever heard them was at the Warped Tour last year. They impressed me then and they impressed me this time too. They are one of the tightest bands I have ever heard live, and their old school metal sensibilities are original for today’s lack of metal music in the mainstream.

Next came Muse, who were absolutely amazing. I had no idea that only three guys could make so much music, or such diverse music. If you’ve never heard them, let alone seen them live, I would highly recommend both.

Alice in Chains was next, and they did not disappont. The concerns about the new singer not living up to Layne Staley’s amazing vocal talents did not pan out. The new singer was amazing, hit every note, and put on a great show. Unfortunately the set was way too short, but if they come around I will definitely make a point of seeing them again.

Guns N’ Roses was up next. We were told that they were putting on a huge stage show, and that it would take an hour to set up. At 10 PM, their scheduled stage time, the house lights went out and the crowd went nuts. Apparently the hype about “Will Axl show up?” was indeed all hype, and Axl was in the building.

Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Still no Axl.The house lights came back up and all hell broke out. Someone threw a water bottle, and started a full-on war between the people on the lawn and the people in the seats. 45 minutes, many near misses, and ten bonfires later, the house lights went down again, and Guns N’ Roses took the stage.

Amazingly, they sounded really good. Their three guitar players are all quite talented, and Axl’s voice actually did pretty well. They played mainly old songs and threw four new songs in. The new songs weren’t too bad, but definitely were not the original Guns N’ Roses that I know and love, That’s not to say that I won’t buy the album (if it ever comes out), because I will.

All in all the show was pretty good. Besides the water bottle battle, the day was pretty much perfect, and all the bands worked really hard to deliver a great show.

Last Saturday for my 31st birhday, my wife, 25 friends, and I visited the Pirate’s Dinner Adventure in Buena Park, CA. It is located just North of Knott’s Berry Farm and Medieval Times on Beach Boulevard in Buena Park. The building that it is located in used to be Wild Bill’s western dinner show, which apparently went by the wayside with the recent surge in pirate popularity.

Each ticket was $47 with the group rate, which included admission, hors d’ouvres, dinner, and two complimentary beers for those over 21. We arrived around 6:30, and met the rest of our group outside. We entered the building around 7:00, and enjoyed hors d’ouvres and drinks in the pre-show/lobby area. Unfortunately the pre-show snacks were better than the actual dinner itself. The dinner wasn’t bad necessarily, but wasn’t exactly good either.

The pre-show that took place in the lobby/bar area was pretty amusing. The best part of it was that it was heavily centered around audience participation. Even better was that three of my best friends (two others who were also celebrating their birthdays) got up on stage with me, and we proceded to make a drunken spectacle of ourselves. In hindsight, I have a feeling that everyone in the room was thinking “crap, I hope those guys aren’t sitting near me.” More on that later.

After the pre-show, we entered the main showroom. We met our designated pirate, Samson the purple pirate, who turned out to be a great guy and very tolerant of our drunken silliness. Samson chose me to be the “Stevedore” (I think that’s how you spell it). I won’t tell you what the “Stevedore” does, but I will tell you that I won. HA!

During the show, the pirates sang, battled, did some other stuff, and had some contests involving the audience. Unfortunately I don’t remember a whole lot of the show, but all of us had a good time cheering for Samson and making a ruckes.

Mid-way through the show, just when we started to have a really good time, a security guard came up to our group and informed us that we were being too loud and were disturbing the group in front of us. Now I may be wrong, but when you go to a pirate show, not to mention a pirate show on a Saturday night, you are asking for rowdyness. Isn’t that what pirates were about? Being drunk and rowdy? And every part of this show from the very beginning encourages audience participation. We all thought it was pretty ridiculous, and I can’t tell you if we even piped down or not.

Based upon my experience, I would definitely suggest a visit to the Pirate’s Dinner Adventure. They put on a good show, and the actors work hard at what they do. Sadly, I think that Medieval Times puts on a more elaborate show in that there is a better story behind it, and you just can’t beat the real jousting. All in all though, it was a worthwhile trip, and a great way to spend my 31st birthday.