Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis
I woke up in the middle of choking to death again; though to be accurate, it was towards the end of the process--woke up
sounds like two missed opportunities to network, learn to mash buttons better, and find some sweet lovin
The first one is too young. The second: I would prefer that she goes elsewhere, and the feeling is likely mutual.
Thoughts on The Dark Tower series?
I thought we were headed to "Advantage Slot Play: A Love Story"..
Oryx and Crake one of my favs FWIW
The thing about this woman was that she has a button-pressing technique that is much faster than mine. There's a one second lag on some of the X machines when the HUD returns to the main screen. Somehow, she's found a button pattern that circumvents the lag. I tried to spy on her but (1) I couldn't follow her flying fingers; I've never been good at scoping out fast events, that
Maybe you could bring a tiny mirror to the casino next time. If you turn your back to her while she's playing, she might let her guard down. Then you can use the mirror to spy on her.
I discovered the first book around 1983, then I read the rest of them as they came out. Like most fans, I loved the first 3 volumes, the third of which ended on a cliffhanger, and led to a 6 year wait for Part 4.
When I finally got my hands on Part 4, I found that the vast majority of the book was a flashback to young Roland's life. At first I hated that. I had waited forever, and I wanted the damn story to be advanced.
Such is King's talent that I eventually fell in love with the backstory, and I enjoyed the book. Then came another 6 year wait for Part 5, but in retrospect all that is peanuts compared to what George R. R. Martin has been putting his fans through in recent years.
A number of fans didn't like Parts 5-7, while I enjoyed them as much as the earlier stuff. There's a lot of meta going on with that part of the story, including...
Spoiler
Roland meeting a presumably alternate world "Stephen King", who is writing about Roland's exploits.
I love meta, particularly when it's done by one of my favorite writers.
The ending is also controversial—like Sopranos-level controversial. I liked it. I thought it was an appropriate response to Roland's baleful singlemindedness of purpose, and a reminder that Ka, or fate, is a wheel.
Spoiler
There's also a glimmer of hope, in that Roland starts again with the Horn of Eld, a powerful artifact that he'd failed to procure previously.
Regrettably, I'm not on the slot floor to make friends. There's something of a levelling game going on there where other grinders are to be treated as the opposite of fish at the poker table, in that one wants to discourage them from coming back.
I'm liking it a lot so far. Here's a fun excerpt...
"Why don't we use a real set?" Jimmy asked one day when they were doing some chess. "The old kind. With plastic men." It did seem weird to have the two of them in the same room, back to back, playing on computers.
"Why?" said Crake. "Anyway, this is a real set."
"No it's not."
"Okay, granted, but neither is plastic men."
"What?"
"The real set is in your head."
Spoiler
I've enjoyed Dancer's vp poker charts, but it seems kind of a leap to move on to erotic fiction
Maybe you could bring a tiny mirror to the casino next time. If you turn your back to her while she's playing, she might let her guard down. Then you can use the mirror to spy on her.
Let's keep workshopping this.
Last night I watched Naked Lunch for the first time.
Spoiler
I cannot believe that I'd neglected to see this movie before. David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Dead Zone, The Fly, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises) adapting and directing? And Peter Weller (RoboCop, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) starring? What the hell was I thinking, missing this?
I guess I was afraid that no one, however talented, could adapt Naked Lunch the book—large chunks of which are flat-out gay pornographic body horror—into something that wasn't a copout on one end of the spectrum, or a disgusting mess on the other.
My fears were for naught; Cronenberg was the man for the job. He perfectly nails the dark, icky humor of the book; his practical makeup and monster effects hold up to this day, 34 years later.
As far as story goes, Cronenberg expertly sews together the narrative by taking major elements of William S. Burroughs' life—including the time he fatally shot his wife in the head during a tragic, drugged out attempt to imitate William Tell—and adds in elements of the book, along with musings on Burroughs' writing process, as well as including analogs of other beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.
Still, I'm somewhat hesitant to recommend the movie to non-Burroughs fans, given how much fan service is included in the running time, as I spent more than a few portions of the movie doing this...
Spoiler
I don't know how those portions will translate to viewers who aren't familiar with Burroughs' life and work, but if you like Cronenberg's other stuff and haven't yet seen Naked Lunch, I think there's a lot to like in it.
this would be a good title for your memoirs
Not on the Slots to Make Friends: An anthology of stories including such tales as "Jalopies Before Sloppies" and "No Handies for Helen"
Spoiler
but in all seriousness you've been incredibly kind and helpful to me even though when you did so I was still under the illusion I would be frequenting mgm springfield regularly again soon - should actually be back briefly next month to cash some old futures from last year before they expire and would be great to finally meet in person
Nice writeup
The ending is also controversial—like Sopranos-level controversial. I liked it. I thought it was an appropriate response to Roland's baleful singlemindedness of purpose, and a reminder that Ka, or fate, is a wheel.
I also was very pleased with the ending, but can fathom some (many?) readers feeling let down... I also loved the ending in Sopranos, which also introduced the mainstream population to open-ended endings and thus made them much more accepting of them henceforth
Ohhhh, what a treat 
I loved it, even if I have never read Burrows (but know of his character through the novels of Kerouac). Which got me thinking of my favourite drug related films and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Trainspotting and A Scanner Darkly were the first names to pop up in my mind :
Or this list that includes Naked Lunch :
Great content as usual Mr. suited, if I ever find the time to read more books I def know where to look for reference.
Also we're like the same with hockey, good to know I'm not the only one. It's not an age thing either, it was the same as a teen. I guess it depends how fast you process certain info in the brain, or how fast you want to process in order for it to be enjoyable.
Speaking of which I seem to recall that I watched Naked Lunch long ago as a teen. I had a friend at that time who was super into videos and always supplied me with endless material of either super violent, super gross or super weird (or all of these) VHSs. As far as I remember NL was mostly the last category but I could see that I did not fully appreciate at that time, it could certainly be worth a rewatch...
The first one is too young. The second: I would prefer that she goes elsewhere, and the feeling is likely mutual.
At our age sj, all the women that are worth looking at, look too young.
Age is just a number bro.
1991 was near peak timing of psychedel i college years and well peter frozen on top of mind trust me right now is Cronenberg dropping from the mountain top bullying us with cold pipettes of that wonderfully shot gem of liquid acid noir deep behind our detatched kerouacs
Spoiler
from On The Road
It would take me all night to tell about Old Bull Lee; let's just say now, he was a teacher, and it may be said that he had every right to teach because he spent all his time learning; and the things he learned were what he considered to be and called "the facts of life," which he learned, not only out of necessity but because he wanted to. He dragged his long, thin body around the entire United States and most of Europe and North Africa in his time, only to see what was going on.... [T]here are pictures of him with the international cocaine set of the thirties--gangs with wild hair, leaning on one another, there are other pictures of him in a Panama hat, surveying the streets of Algiers.... He was an exterminator in Chicago, a bartender in New York, a summons-server in Newark. In Paris he sat at cafe tables, watching the sullen French faces go by. In Athens he looked up from his ouzo at what he called the ugliest people in the world. In Istanbul he threaded his way through crowds of opium addicts and rug-sellers, looking for the facts. In Chicago he planned to hold up a Turkish bath, hesitated just for two minutes too long for a drink, and, wound up with two dollars and had to make a run for it. He did all these things merely for the experience....
Bull had a sentimental streak about the old days in America, especially 1910, when you could get morphine in a drugstore without prescription and Chinese smoked opium in their evening windows and the country was wild and brawling and free, with abundance and any kind of freedom for everyone.... He spent all his time talking and teaching others. Jane sat at his feet; so did I; so did Dean; and so had Carlo Marx. We'd all learned from him. He was a gray, nondescript-looking fellow you wouldn't notice on the street unless you looked closer and saw his mad, bony skull with its strange youthfulness--a Kansas minister with exotic, phenomenal fires and mysteries. He had studied anthropology, read everything; and now he was settling to his life's work, which was the study of things themselves in the streets of life and the night.
this would be a good title for your memoirsNot on the Slots to Make Friends: An anthology of stories including such tales as "Jalopies Before Sloppies" and "No Handies for Helen"
Thanks rickroll! Hit me up when you're in town.
Nice writeup I also was very pleased with the ending, but can fathom some (many?) readers feeling let down... I also loved the ending in Sopranos, which also introduced the mainstream population to open-ended endings and thus made them much more accepting of them henceforth Ohhhh, what a treat I loved it, even if I have never read Burrows (but know of his character through
Thanks Dubnjoy000! I'm with you on those films, and I will add Salton Sea to that, one of the late great Val Kilmer's best roles, not to mention Vincent D'Onofrio as Pooh Bear, with the fake nose from the meth snorting.
Yes, I posted this before in the nit-tastic thread, but it's worth another look.
Great content as usual Mr. suited, if I ever find the time to read more books I def know where to look for reference.Also we're like the same with hockey, good to know I'm not the only one. It's not an age thing either, it was the same as a teen. I guess it depends how fast you process certain info in the brain, or how fast you want to process in order for it to be enjoyable. S
Thanks, Fire! Yeah it's super weird, but you like David Lynch, and this makes more sense than a lot of his stuff. I saw the movie as an allegory for the creative process, and things kind of fell into place.
At our age sj, all the women that are worth looking at, look too young.
Age is just a number bro.
I have my qualifiers, but I don't begrudge anyone else their qualifiers. Love is a good thing; we need more of it.
1991 was near peak timing of psychedel i college years and well peter frozen on top of mind trust me right now is Cronenberg dropping from the mountain top bullying us with cold pipettes of that wonderfully shot gem of liquid acid noir deep behind our detatched kerouacs
First Draft ≈ Best Draft
I'm more from the Allen Ginsberg School of Obsessive Editing, but to each his/her own and whatever works.
The thing about this woman was that she has a button-pressing technique that is much faster than mine. There's a one second lag on some of the X machines when the HUD returns to the main screen. Somehow, she's found a button pattern that circumvents the lag.
If I can suss out that technique, it will make my days a lot easier.
I figured it out! Weeeeeeeeee!
The only thing is: using this technique will probably give me carpal tunnel syndrome within a few years.
With a little practice, I can alternate hands, so it ought to take me twice as long to get carpal tunnel...in both hands.
Also, I posted this before, I'm sure, but it's worth another look. William S. Burroughs sharing a joint with up-and-coming club kid Madonna Ciccone.
Just the Tip
It's been a few years since we've had a tipping discussion; not since I berated the table at Westgate for routinely stiffing the dealer.
I'm not Mr. Splash when it comes to tipping; my winrate is such that I can't afford to be. I have a general formula in place that I think is reasonable for $1/$2: For small pots—including just stealing the blinds—I tip $1; for medium pots, I give $2; large pots get $3 from me; and for the rare huge pots and big suckouts, I feel that $5-$10 is occasionally in order. For promo hits, I tip around 5%-6%, so $25 or $30 for a $500 high hand hit.
A little while back, we had a fairly new dealer at our table. She is not good at running the game, her attitude is kind of sour, and her English isn't great. I won a medium-sized pot during her down, and found that I only had one white chip, so I pulled out a red $5 chip and I caught her eye and clearly and pointedly asked her "Can you change this?" as I was going to tip her $2.
The dealer picked up my red chip and dropped it into her toke box.
I didn't say anything; I didn't want to make a scene or stop the game over $3. Most of the floor people in Springfield seem to like me, and I'd prefer to keep it that way, and not gain a reputation as a mean skinflint. But at that moment, I decided that going forward I would never tip that dealer more than $1 for any sized pot (promos excluded: I'd still tip her the standard 5% or so on those.)
Since then, I haven't played any downs with her, so I haven't had the chance to short her; but, with the passage of time, I have changed my mind about that, because I believe that I would spend too much mental and emotional energy over a long period of time trying to win big pots during her downs, just so I could short her again and again.
Instead, I will shave back a big tip or two to her until I get my $3 back, then I'll call it even and go back to the standard formula with her, and not have the acid bile of retribution eating away at me over who knows how long.
Spoiler
I used to stiff the dealers when I stole the blinds, but then I checked what the rest of the field is doing in that spot, and most players tip.
Besides that, the $1/$2 level is so call happy that I'll only get an open through around twice every three hours. Players at this level feel obligated to call from the blinds or after limping with marginal hands like Axo, Kxo, suited high-low and medium-low, unsuited connectors and gappers, or any random crap on their "favorite hand" list.
That can be okay when the open is 2.5x or 3x, but at $1/$2, the opens are 5x-8x, or more depending on limpers. You should be tighter pre when opens are that big. It's good that they make this mistake; my point is that steals are rare enough that tipping on them isn't a financial burden.
Finally, there's no rake when you take it down pre, so you might as well toss a coin to your dealer.
I visited my Norwich friends and we went to the movies to see the fast-zombie sequel 28 Years Later.
The same writer/director team of Alex Garland and Danny Boyle came through again with a wildly inventive, occasionally unhinged and often moving winner.
I was surprised at how good it was, given the standard law of diminishing returns for movies this far along the sequel line.
If you liked the origional, I recommend this one strongly. It was sad, though, to see the theater only around 1/3 full for this on opening weekend.
If.they can't fill seats with an excellent franchise offering, then the theater system really is in trouble.
I visited my Norwich friends and we went to the movies to see the fast-zombie sequel 28 Years Later.The same writer/director team of Alex Garland and Danny Boyle came through again with a wildly inventive, occasionally unhinged and often moving winner.I was surprised at how good it was, given the standard law of diminishing returns for movies this far along the sequel line.If
I absolutely loved it, and perhaps even more than the original 28 Days Later, which is saying a lot!!! Here is my review of it that I posted in the movie thread : https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showp...
I am also a huge Danny Boyle and Alex Garland fan, with Annihilation being my all-time favorite movie Have you seen Sunshine Suited, the movie released by Boyle/Garland after 28 Days??? If you haven't, I cannot recommend it enough, as it definitely has a strong existential element to it.
Thx for the 28 Years Later review, will probably rent it at home later in the summer.
Your take on tipping is spot on. I would even go as far as to suggest that little things like that help give the subconscious impression on your villains that you’re not a nit. The small pieces of evidence of non-OMC nittery add up to more loose flats pre-flop of your opens. Since you’re already playing a tight-is-right game for the most part, those extra 1-2 calls an hour by suboptimal
Hands add up.
This is an over analysis of a simple thing but I like all things that build positively toward your image since your player pool and table options are more limited out there
