New Blog: London

I've been hitting the city more frequently than normal recently, at least once a week, with last week being no exception.

I had a meeting with the guys from Ukash about some joint marketing ideas. I was quite surprised about how young they were. We chatted all for about 30 minutes before the beer was ordered and talk on gambling started. Can't really blame us, we were in the Mint Casino, one I visited a few months ago for the Bluff industry night. A friend of the Ukash guys joined us, a sports betting broker, who was a great laugh. The first thing he said to me was 'POW!!', then stating I look like Rob Riggle. If this makes no sense, look on...

What do you think?

In a couple of years maybe!

After a few beers the sound of chips became too much for us so we moved to the roulette machine. I showed some restraint and resisted a game, mainly because I was feeling a trip to the Empire and wanted to save my dough for some drunk cash poker (stupid as normal). That didn't happen but no worries, I definitely got my gambling fix...

London does tire me out when I'm constantly traveling around it, but when I stop and enjoy it as a city it has a vibe unlike any other. Reading as a social environment is pretty boring. You're limited to student/loser orientated places, a chain bar/club that's totally lifeless or an independent venue trying to copy them. Very hard to find a 'true' independent place that's not rammed or a shit hole. However in London there's something interesting round every corner.

That being said, the place we went to was just a 'standard' British pub. However, bring together a few gamblers, half full of beer and a pack of cards and anywhere will be fun. They introduced me to a 'game', hard to call it that really, where each person takes a card. You have one chance to 'stick' or 'twist', with the highest card winning. Jokers mean you win double the bet and other random scenarios mean other doubles. Played with points similar to chinese poker (which I suggested playing, I don't like gambling on games I've not played before!), we were playing £5 a point!

I started on a ridiculous rush and was close to £200 up. Luckily for these guys I'd only just met them so gave them a chance to get even. Of course, my luck went downhill and I quit the game £60 loser. Stopped my Empire ideas anyway! Left after that as Anna was waiting for me at home.

I had a cracking time with those guys and it really showed me how much I'd like to work in a team. I miss having lots of social opportunities and often feel quite isolated. I guess I have to accept that because of the work I do. One day perhaps I'll be doing well enough to rent my own office and employees and force them to hang out with me!

I logged onto Facebook a few days ago and was taken to some weird security page, stating someone from some middle east country had tried accessing my account! Really worrying. I proceeded to change my password to something mental (I have to carry it around with me as I'll never remember it) and do so on everything important I use. I went onto Hotmail (my 'master' account I guess) and when trying to change the password there noticed some weird email was confirmed as my alternative email. That is super scary as until then they could of gained access to my FB or more importantly my online banking. I changed the email on both of those and deleted the weird alternative email (although it can still be recovered by whoever owns it for another week). All weird activity has stopped, so hopefully that's the end of it.

No poker since the Fox, but I've been invited to play the Full House in Reigate on the 1st Dec, a £75 deepstack comp. Really looking forward to it due to my recent success in the single day tournaments and of course travelling to a new venue, one that's close to home, so I may well become a semi regular if I enjoy myself.

Today I bumped into one of my old lecturers from Uni and it made me feel real guilty I'm not doing anything music wise atm. I still feel very passionate about it, but also about my career which must come first. Once I settle down into a more regular routine I'll start writing some stuff again. Until then I'll continue to look for new and exciting music. My new band of the moment is 'Iron Thrones', who make epic progressive metal. Can't stop listening to it! The new Aborym album recently came out. I enjoyed it immensely but admittedly was a little let down after the last record, however it's a fantastic progression.

Brian McBride released a new album which is sublime, getting lots of play from me recently. Brian is one half of Stars Of The Lid, my favourite artist of all time. Seeing them play live a couple of years ago was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, especially as I'm not a huge fan of live music (weird I know). They performed at St Giles in the Field church right in the middle of London. I expected it to be converted to a proper venue but no, this was a real church!

I prayed for a sick system and was award, they had quite a set up shipped in there. The crowed all sat in the pews facing the altar and we enjoyed the opening acts in the tranquil fading light. I was a little disappointed as I'd heard they toured with an amazing projectionist but there were not screens set up. However, when they took to the stage Adam, the other band member, asked for the lights to be turned off. The place was pitch black! Swigging from my bottle of rum and coke I eagerly anticipated what was about to happen. Turns out the projectionist was there and had about 4 projectors. He proceeded to use the entire church wall as his canvas, it was absolutely beautiful. Here's a video we took during the performance:

At 0:45 seconds it lights the whole place up. Wow. I was SICK when I missed their last European gig at the Unsound festival last year. I tried desperately to sell things so I could go but to no avail. It had the best lineup I've ever seen:

Biosphere (NO);

Stars of the Lid + Octet from Sinfonietta Cracovia (US / PL);

Jóhann Jóhannsson + Sinfonietta Cracovia (IS / PL);

Sunn O))) (US);

Kode9 & the Spaceape (UK);

Zomby (UK);

Plus others, but that's all I cared about. The top 3 being my favourite ambient acts bar none, the rest being some of my favourite acts in their genres. The festival lasted a few days with each artist appearing at different weird venues around the city (Krakow). Bums me out just thinking about it. Oh well, something else good will come up!

Jóhann Jóhannsson has been one of my favourites for a while and I recently heard an excellent use of one of his tunes in the trailer for the upcoming film 'Battle Los Angeles':

This looks amazing, much better than the similar 'Skyline' which was just a sci-fi CGI abortion. At least this one looks to have some atmosphere, important when having such an effects heavy movie imo.

Went to see Jackass 3D and was a little disappointed! Seemed way too staged this time (I know it is anyway) like they were only there for the money, but not having fun. I miss the original days, definitely some of the funniest footage ever filmed. Also watched the Haye film in 3D which wasn't great, adding little to the broadcast. Finally been playing Black Ops which is also 3D but it gives you a headache after a while!

Home 3D is amazing don't get me wrong, but I still think the technology has been pushed a little far to soon by manufacturers wanting to gain an edge.

Other than that, things are still going great with PokerIdol and OnGame in general. The line continues to creep up with the player pool slowly increasing.

Thanks again for reading and appreciate all the comments!