Topics Starting With The Letter 'P'

• 'Poker, World Series Style'...I was extremely excited to find out that last night began the official airing of the 2006 World Series of Poker on ESPN (hosted by the ever-witty Lon McEachern and Norman Chad). This year they've decided to change around the schedule just a bit, with the circuit tournaments airing first (starting last night), the Main Event airing second (staring late September), and the preliminary events airing third (starting early October and ending around Halloween). While the non-sequential airing schedule may make it a little crazy keeping track of who won which events, I couldn't be happier sitting in front of my TV for two hours each week soaking in the glory that is professional poker.

• 'PG-13'...I just glanced over at my cork board, where I have been posting all of my summer movie ticket stubs, and realized a very distinct pattern: almost all of the movies I've attended this summer have been rated 'PG-13'. Eight out of nine movies were rated 'PG-13', as a matter of fact ('An Inconvenient Truth' was rated PG, even though it should be rated 'R' for "horrifying images depicting the irresponsibility of the human race"). What does this mean, exactly? Sure, I was considering going to see Cars ('G'), Nacho Libre ('PG'), and possibly The Omen ('R'), but I didn't. Why? Well, I think I've fallen prey to one of the movie industries biggest self-fulfilling prophecies: there are less 'G', 'PG', and 'R' rated movies because they are less likely to appeal to the general population of movie viewers (the 'PG-13' movie has both semi-mature themes for adults and underwhelming violent themes for children). So, it appears that subconscious forces have been attracting me to the "safer" summer movies or, as I prefer to look at it, the summer movies that don't involve superhero girlfriends throwing sharks at their ex-boyfriends (by the way, all those involved with the creation and execution of the "movie" My Super Ex-Girlfriend deserve to be stripped of their right to be involved in filmmaking).
  

• 'Presidential Election of 2008'...I just came up with what I'd like to refer to as "The Democratic Dream Team for the 2008 Presidential Ticket". It's really quite brilliant, and was inspired by the humorous 1992 movie The Distinguished Gentlemen, in which a con man (played by Eddie Murphy) gets elected to congress by using the name recognition of his middle and last name, Jeff Johnson, which was also the name of the esteemed Congressman that previously held the seat. Can you guess where I'm going with this...that's right! In 2008, I demand we 'Elect Gore-Clinton' to the White House! Al Gore has been reinvigorated by his environmental crusade and was so incredibly close in 2000 (actually, he did get the most votes, but we'll let sleeping dogs lay), and Hilary Clinton is a powerful Democrat with husband and former president Clinton to back her up. Plus, Gore is from the South, while Clinton is a New York Democrat. And, for all those still unwilling to accept a woman as President (even though women have held leadership roles in soooo many other democracies around the world), Clinton as Vice President will actually reverse the logic of these ignorant voters by making them feel as though they are being "progressive" by first giving a woman a chance at the Vice Presidency. Not to mention the name recognition, as I was saying at the beginning of this whole blurb, of a former successful two-term ticket (with the names reversed, of course). Then again, could you imagine the confusion of having a former First Lady be the Vice President to a former Vice President, who actually ran for President twice already and was twice the Vice President to his new Vice President's husband...makes Kevin Bacon look like an isolationist!
  

• 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'...I just saw it today. Review coming soon.