A question to ponder

Does this video earn Taylor Hicks more credibility, or does it take credibility away from Snoop Dogg?

Up to the minute~!

An update to my breaking newz~!: Jose Theodore has been thrown out by his former girlfriend Stephanie Cloutier after he was photographed with Paris Hilton.

(Hmmm...maybe the "All Jose, all the time" blog is a true money maker.)

It has to be said

Lance Bass doesn't seem to understand the subtle nuances of Match Game. (Which is - be as funny as possible.) What does the dentist say to his wife before they make love? Not "Brush Your Teeth". Try "Open Wide".

(With that said, he matched George Foreman, which is just bizarre.)

My Ideal Big Brother All-Stars cast

(Note: this is based on the 20 players that CBS has put up to a vote.)

With the 20 potential Big Brother players revealed, I figured I'd chime in with my 12 choices for the ideal cast. Doing this was pretty hard, as at least 3 players making my cast list by default, as the other choices I did not want to see on the show. But here's my list:

1. Will - Big Brother 2

An absolute no brainer. What Richard Hatch was to the original Survivor, Will is to Big Brother. Expect Will played a strategy that hasn't been successfully copied since. And Will was a million times more entertaining.

2. Danielle - Big Brother 3

Another no brainer in my books. The best player by far in her season, Danielle was done in by the evicted house guests being sent home and allowed to watch the television shows. If they were treated like the other years, the guests would have been sequestered and not allowed to see the diary room sessions which did Danielle in. I want to see what she can do this season.

3. Marcellas - Big Brother 3

I wasn't a huge Marcellas fan, but if he doesn't do the bone-headed move of not using the golden veto on himself, that result is completely different. I don't know if he wins, but he is definitely a contender. As well, he's been a host of "House Calls", the Big Brother internet show. Will watching all of the other seasons help his game? I'm actually interested in finding out.

4. Lisa - Big Brother 3

To complete the Big Brother 3 invasion, I'm including Lisa. Quite honestly, she gets a free pass back into the game on virtue of winning her season, regardless of her skills.

5. James - Big Brother 6

James is a great player who found himself in between two groups, and somehow managing to survive a lot longer than expected. I'd like to see how the Will/James confrontation goes.

6. Janelle - Big Brother 6

Janelle became a great player once Kaysar left the first time. And she played so well that she got booted in the final three, because she was going to win the game if she wasn't voted out. Would she fair better without Kaysar from the start?

7. Howie - Big Brother 6

Not a very smart player, but easily the most entertaining not named Will on the ballot. Easy vote on.

8. Nakomis - Big Brother 5

Creator of the "six finger" plan to get Jase eliminated without worrying about him winning the Veto. She deserves to be back on the show for organizing and pulling off that major trick.

9. Bunky - Big Brother 2

Another entertaining player, he would be a non-factor strategywise.

10. Erika - Big Brother 4

Somebody should represent BB4, and Erika is the one who annoys me the least. (Not that I think she played a good game; her opinion of her game is much more inflatedas than my opinion of her game.)

11. Diane - Big Brother 5

Around here is when I started struggling with choosing players. Diane made the final 3 in her year and was done in by somebody who knew she would be actual competition in the final 2. Good enough for me.

12. Jase - Big Brother 5

This came down to Jase or Kaysar, and even though I like Kaysar more, he played a horrible game and I don't want to really see him again. Meanwhile, Jase didn't play that poor of a game and he was the target of the "six finger" plan.

Not making it:

Kaysar - Big Brother 6
Alison - Big Brother 4
Ivette - Big Brother 6
Monica - Big Brother 2
George - Big Brother 1
Dana - Big Brother 4
Mike "Boogie" - Big Brother 2
Michael "Cowboy" - Big Brother 5

A Wise Move

Back in my younger days, I partaked in the hobby known in some parts as the magical cards. And as they started providing large cash prizes to compete, I started to play more and more often. And while my success was rather limited, I did get to meet many different people who I can consider friends.

One such person is Gary Wise. I met Gary 10 years ago at one of the aforementioned Magic tournaments. Back then he was a talented player, and one of the more recognizable ones. He gained more fame in the community as he put up top finishes in major tournaments. But what he became more known for was his writing. Gary was the one of the premiere writers about Magic, and for good reason. Gary is one of the rare people in the world who can tell a story and captivate an audience, regardless of whether they cared about the topic or if they have heard the story a thousand times previous.

So when he told me that he was going to be writing about Poker, I was extremely happy. One thing that is lacking in poker is a good historian. With Gary's skills as a storyteller, and his strong desire to make this succeed, I know he will do very well.

What's prompting this? Well, Gary has a website: Wise Hand Poker. Here he posts a daily "Wise Hand of the Day", where he provides the story behind a particular hand that occurred in a major tournament, along with a blog about poker. (This is also featured on the Corus Radio Network websites, like The Edge, a radio station in Toronto.) And he's now doing work for Bluff Magazine, one of the largest poker magazines in the world.

It's the work with Bluff Magazine that is bringing him to Las Vegas at the end of the month. He will be doing coverage of the World Series of Poker, along with doing research for future projects. And it's his work with Bluff Magazine that has gotten him an article on the Worldwide Leader itself, ESPN.com. I spoke to him last night, and to say he is excited about this is an understatement. Having an article published on the largest sports website in the world is a great accopmlishment, and is only the start of something big.

Well, that's just annoying

I don't know how I missed it before, but the preview for Gameshow Marathon plainly shows a scene from the season finale and reveals one of the participants in the final - the one determined in this week's show.

(And Big Brother: All Stars brings back only Chicken George from Season 1. I fear what's going to come.)

Just what I was thinking

Jeff J. over at Sisu Hockey has a good post about the post-Stanley Cup final.

His point about Justin Williams is especially true:

Justin Williams scoring the clinching ENG: That could make a Habs fan, one secretly hoping Williams would get his just deserts, quite bitter. Yeah, yeah, it was accidental. 'Accidental' does not equal 'immediately forgivable' or 'tolerable.' 'Accidental' does not relieve responsibility.

And make sure you check out the shaving of the playoff beard over at Covered in Oil

Breaking Newz~!

Paris Hilton, a heiress who is not well liked of most of the general public, has a new boyfirend. The identity? Jose Theodore, NHL goaltender and hated by fans of the Montreal Canadiens. One can only presume that they take turns sharing stories of how they were shunned by society or something.

(Added bonus gossip: Theodore's (ex?)-girlfriend gave birth to their first child in March.)

I blame Boyd

The Stanley Cup finals are complete, and the Carolina Hurricanes (nee Hartford Whalers) have won. It's funny, because after game 6 it seemed as though they didn't care about winning. And yet, for most of game 7 it was the Oilers who looked like they just wanted to get out of Carolina, with or without the Cup.

There's not too much to say about the game. I could lay on the platitudes about how Edmonton battled back continually in the playoffs, how they shouldn't have even made it to 7 games without Dwayne Roloson and what a great accomplishment it was for them just to make it to the finals. But those are empty compliments right now, an attempt to make Oiler fans feel better about what they watched in game 7. And I'm pretty sure the Edmonton fans don't want to hear them right now.

(About the title: My pal Boyd found a pattern during the finals. Whenever he hung his Edmonton Oiler flag from his car, the Oilers lost. Whenever he didn't, they would win. I'll let you guess where the flag was during game 7.)

News to me

The big water thing in the lobby of the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls is called the Hydro-Teslatron, and it actually is a part of a 7-minuteshow that happens at night many times.

Just another way Fallsview feels like a Las Vegas casino. (Now if only the slots would play like a Las Vegas casino, we'd be in business!)

Quickie review of Treasure Hunters

Imagine the Amazing Race, only with teams of three, puzzles taking the place of roadblocks and detours and travel within the U.S. (presumably).

There you have Treasure Hunters. Watch it. Enjoy it. Then watch the Amazing Race when it comes back in September.

This, that and the other thing

A quick post using the blogger's favourite style - point form quick hits.

• Something odd - a 24 year old beat writer has been hired as the director of hockey operations for the Minnesota Wild. Snow will be doing statistical analysis and tracking salary commitments around the league, but no scouting (which I would have assumed a director of hockey operations would at least have to know about). This is probably the most high-profile "saber" style hiring in hockey, and could be the start of a trend in the new NHL.


• Apparently, Pink wants to open a strip club. I guess this is the logical extension from the Pussycat Doll clubs, but what does this have to say about "Stupid Girls"?


• I swear officer, I wasn't asking for that type of brick!


• It's news to me, but there are a lot of Las Vegas Strip webcams. Even more surprising is the lack of porn sites that come up when you do a search of 'las vegas strip webcam'


• The other Vegas related link of the day (but not just of interest to Vegas fans): Las Vegas Implosions. Old footage of casinos being imploded. (Aside: If I can find the footage of the ill-fated Milton implosion, I will link to it as well.)


• Your odd story of the week: Cat scares bear. Complete with photo!

You're taking the picture NOW?

Just for my good friend Graham, a link to one of Robin Leach's Las Vegas blog. Scroll down to the bottom to see two pictures of Carson Daly, looking very surprised and angry that somebody is taking a picture of him while posing.

Don Cherry: Unplugged

As much as I'm not a huge Don Cherry fan, this brief interview is a good read. Some brief analysis of the Stanley Cup, and Cherry reveals who has the best mullet in hockey.

The one thing that I would disagree with is the statement that there's nothing wrong with how hockey is being presented in the US. From the OLN coverage I have seen, they are still behind the times in terms of camera angles and the like. But that will get better as they get more experience.

The Forest from the Trees

With the latest revelations about Jason Grimsley and his confession, Jason Whitlock writes a solid column calling for an intelligent discussion of the steroid problem.

Unfortunately, Deadspin has started to figure out the blacked out names on the affidavit, and has found a link to one of the few people who were unaffected by the steroid speculation (and was coincidentally chasing the single season HR record before getting hurt) - Albert Pujols. So the answer to Mr. Whitlock's request is not a chance.

Last minute Movie Award update

The repeat of the pre-show just came on, and hot NEWZ~! was just revealed: Rihanna is going to be starring in the third movie of the epic trilogy, Bring it On. The title? Bring It On Yet Again.

(No, I'm not making this up. Here's the IMDB page which doesn't have the new title yet.)

MTV Movie Awards

Catching up with the ongoing MTV Movie Awards...

- The opening skit was actually funny. Topher Grace is going to make a lot of good movies as a supporting actor. Unfortunately, the skits that have followed weren't different; they were the same thing, only parodying different movies.

- Christian Bale paying tribute to Bob Kane was rather cool and unexpected as well. Somebody should have told him not to take the award that seriously - we didn't need a 15 minute exposition on his life.

- I have to admit, I thought Jake Gyllenhall wouldn't be so, um, cool, for lack of a better word. His acceptance speech and goofing around pre-speech showed he doesn't take himself too seriously, which is a good thing for somebody as talented as him.

- Gnarls Barkley were okay, but the fact they all dressed up as Star Wars characters made up for the underlying voice track.

- Rebecca Romjin and Famke Janssen had to be sent out there as a What to Wear and What Not to Wear comparison study, right?

- Kate Beckensale is very attractive. (Sorry, I felt that needed to be said.)

- The King Kong parody didn't really work for me, but I will make sure that Mike tries Malt Liquor and Sunny D one day.

- Christina Aguilera's new song is kinda catchy. But I doubt I'll pick up the CD.

- Hopefully Talladegha Nights is better than the Ferrell/Reilly presentation. Thankfully Steve Carrell saved it.

- AFI? Not so good.

- And somebody who might be valuing this MTV thing a bit too much is Jennifer Carpenter. You just won the "Golden Popcorn" for best scared performance. That isn't exactly a great accomplishment for your resume. (Just ask the guy from Napolean Dynamite.)

- Jim Carrey should be given an award on every award show, just so he can give an acceptance speech. (Even an Oscar, just to switch things up.)

- So, we're running over time, which means I'm not actually taping the after show. Ah well.

- Oh crap there's a student filmmaker award. Thank god it only took 30 seconds and wasn't the opus that was the tribute to Sofia Coppola.

- Oh man, Samuel L. Jackson just guaranteed that Snakes on a Plane will win best movie next year. This movie is going to do so much better than it has any right doing because the people involved understand that this is a horrible B movie. But they play off of that with a couple of winks

- And to add to the ridiculousness of the last award, somebody just said the director of the Wedding Crashers is a visionary.

- Finishing off the night is Jessica Alba, who did a good job as host. MTV seems to always do a good job of choosing hosts for their award shows (I'm forgiving the choice of Jimmy Fallon, as everybody's entitled to one mistake.) They get somebody who's popular at the time, can do a bit of acting in pre-taped skits, and won't falter in a live audience. And that's all they need, because they let the award winners run the show.

All in all, this was a thumbs up show. Catch on of the gazillion repeats when you have a couple of hours to kill and you won't regret it.

Vegas happenings

A quick look at some news and rumours from Sin City...

• Steve Wynn first pushed Franco Dragone aside as creative director of Le Reve, and then decided to finally do the deed and purchase Dragone's interest in Le Reve. Apparently Wynn wants to add pyrotechnics, lasers and other special effects to the water based, Cirque-esque show. This can only mean one thing - sharks with frickin' lasers on them!


• Speaking of Vegas shows, Hairspray is closing on Sunday, (the cast was told 30 minutes before curtain raised on their Monday preformance). If the rumour reported in the Two Way Hard Three thread is true, Cirque is getting yet another show, this one being a magic show. While it sounds interesting, can't we have a moratorium on Cirque shows?


• One more Vegas show related note: Andrew Lloyd Webber is so involved in the Vegas production of "Phantom" that he didn't know the name of the show was Phantom: The Vegas Spectacular.


• Fun find from Norm's archives: Norm talks about the American Idol finale, and notes that at least one person already thinks that Taylor Hicks has an attitude problem, while Andrea Bocelli has McPheever.


• In what is probably the greatest story about a casino that will probably never get built, I bring you Maxim: the Casino. To summarize:
  
  • The site is on the very north end of the strip, right by Circus, Circus and far away from any of the other locations that the presumed target audience would want to go to.
  
  
  • The CEO of the company that will be building and operating the casino was convicted of bank and wire fraud in the 1980's, which means that his company won't be able to get a gaming license. This in turn means that they are already looking for an outsider operator to become a partner.
  
  
  • Because of the first two points, this isn't being treated as a big announcement in Las Vegas, which explains why the story first appeared in the New York Times.
  
  
  • The kicker in all this? Dennis Publishing, publishers of Maxim, are getting paid an upfront fee for use of the Maxim name. So, regardless of whether the casino is even built, Maxim makes money.
  
  
  
  (Big H/T to The Moveable Buffet.)
  
  
• I first heard about this after my friend Boyd visited Vegas in February, but the Excalibur poker room is being moved and downsized. When I was there last October, it was full on Friday night, Saturday night and Monday night (as they ran a Monday Night Football pool). I guess it isn't as busy now. The disappoint piece of this? The 2-6 spread game could be history. That is the game that I play when I'm down in Vegas as it offers the best chance of making money while also giving a bit of room to make plays that 2-4 or 3-6 wouldn't.

Winning the lottery

Roger Clemens catches a bit of crap at times for being a mercenary, and being all about the money, but this is a pretty nice thing to do, considering he's only going to be there for a week or two.

(Yes, I know that it only cost 0.03% of his salary this year - 0.05% pro rated - but it's the thought that counts.)

The simplest question with the most difficult answer

(I wrote this post previously. However, the blogger gods seemed to be against me and decided that my session had timed out. So if this seems sub-par, accept my apologies.)

In the past, I have written about trying to come up with the perfect system to make the decision of whether to accept the Banker's offer in Deal or No Deal. You might have noticed that I haven't really followed up on it. Well I had worked on something, but ran into two problems:

(a) I was working under the assumption that I could apply the Monty Hall problem, however I should have realized that it was actually an invalid comparison
(b) Deciding on the formula for choosing a deal or not is very dependent on a player's personal goal.

It's the second problem that J. Kelly Nestruck addresses in his article in the National Post on Tuesday. He followed it up with a blog post which covered the odds of somebody actually winning the $1 Million.

Good fun stuff to read, and leaves things open for somebody to possibly find a better answer.