Month: March 2004

Good advice from Iggy, via Tao of Poker:

My three little low-limit online tips:

1. Other players bad play will make me far more money than my fancy or brilliant plays.
2. The guy that leads with a bet on the turn after not betting previously, typically has a big hand.
3. Folding costs me nothing pre-flop. If it’s a close decision, I can’t go far wrong by folding.

The David Lawrence Show was quite possibly the greatest 3 hour radio interview I’ve ever done. Seriously. It was AWESOME.
David and Lili did an outstanding job of making me feel welcome. I felt like David and I had fantastic give and take, and he’d actually read my book! All the other shows I do have a pretty high standard to live up to, now.
David asked me if I’d come back another time, so we can talk about other stuff, and I agreed. I think we could have some awesome conversations.
When I drove home, I checked XM 152, and my interview was being rebroadcast. It was very weird to hear myself just a few hours ago, because I could still visualize the studio, but I’d already forgotten what I said — that’s a great thing, because when I can’t remember what I talked about, or I can’t clearly remember what happened during any sort of performance, it means that I was totally focused and “in the moment,” as Meisner would say.
This was the first official O’Reilly-version interview to support Dancing Barefoot, and it could not have gone any better. Thank you, David Lawrence, for putting me at ease, and guiding me though an amazing interview. I can’t wait to do it again.
And thank you also to everyone who tuned in, or sent IMs and e-mails, and stuff. Thank you for continuing to be part of this amazing . . . thing.
Programming note: If you’re in Seattle, you can hear me on the Bob Harris Rivers* Show on KZOK 102.5 radio at 8:40 tomorrow morning (That’s Tuesday)
*Too much Lost In Translation. Sorry, Bob.
UPDATE: As of 0725 PST on March 16, Dancing Barefoot is ranked 480 at Amazon.com.
Holy.
Crap.
Of all the books they carry, it’s at 480. It was in the 3,000 area just a couple of days ago.
This is just amazing, and I’m positive that my appearance on the David Lawrence Show last night contributed to this.
And on that “It’s better together” thing? It’s “better” with Neverwhere!!! NEVERWHERE!!
ROCK! \m/

The Dancing Barefoot publicity explosion officially begins today!
Well, tonight, to be more specific.
At 7PM PST, I’m going to be on a show called The David Lawrence Show to talk about

. . . acting, screaming Japanese girls, writing, screaming German girls, blogging, wedded bliss, belligerent Klingon fans, improv at ACME, Star Trek, open source and more; we take your calls at 1-888-488-DAVID, your emails at david@onlinetonight.net and instant messages at screen name Lawrence on America Online on anything you want to talk about.

You can listen live online, but it looks like they make you sign up for this bitpass thing. The good part is I think it costs 25 cents to listen for an hour. The bad part is, you have to sign up for this bitpass thing.
Update: Ana points out in the comments that KBNP in Portland simulcasts the show live, and they have a stream at their site that you can listen to. It’s annoying .wmv format, but it’s free. If anyone else finds other live stations, leave it in the comments, won’t you? You’ll be glad you did.
Update Two: Electric Boogaloo: David Lawrence himself says:

Some listening notes: we’re heard live in 55 markets, including Phoenix, Boston, Detroit, Phildelphia, Portland, Denver, Dallas, Minneapolis, Jacksonville and more, and we’re on both satellite radio networks (on XM, we’re on Extreme XM, Channel 152, and on Sirius, we’re on Talk Central, Stream 144)
Wil’s hour will also be repeated on both satellite channels (and on several of our stations that carry the first hour repeated) at 10p PT.
You can also listen, for free, online to the streams of several of our radio affiliates. Most people listen to KBNP in Portland, Oregon – www.kbnp.com. The BitPass is there only for downloading the show after the fact, and it’s 25c for the 9 meg MP3 file for Wil’s hour, and 50c for the 30 meg file of the whole 3 hour show.
BitPass rocks, by the way. They’ve really made micropayments (and macropayments, actually) a snap.
The toll free number to call in with questions at 7p PT is 888-488-DAVID (888-488-3284), and the lines fill up quickly when I announce the number, so set a reminder, and we’ll see you tonight!

The show is also broadcast live into a few radio markets. Check the site for details.
Tune in, if you can. It would be sofakingcool if WWdN readers called in tonight.

Yesterday, I had more fun watching Wrestlemania dos equis than I thought possible. I haven’t followed WWE since it was WWF, but thanks to some Cliffs notes from my brother, I was able to pick up right where I left off.
The whole show was surprisingly exciting, with the notable exception of the Goldberg vs. Brock Lesner match, which was quite possibly the most boring match I’ve ever seen in my life. And I used to watch WCW, so that’s saying something.
I still remember watching Wrestlemania uno, while my 90 pound, 11 year-old body quaked with Hulkamania, so there was some nostalgia value wrapped up in yesterday’s event, too.
An incomplete list of highlights for me, in no particular order:

• Return of the Classic Undertaker. That new, “I’m on Harley” Undertaker was the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.
• Three words: Evening. Gown. Match.
• That “Dragon” Cruiserweight guy who kept falling down. That was priceless comedy.
• Bobby The Brain Weasel Heenan an Mean Gene doing something behind the green door with Mona. That was hilarious.
• The Triple-Threat title match — one of the best PPV matches I’ve ever seen. Not quite sure if I’d rank it with the ’98 SS Hell in a Cell, but still pretty damn fun to watch.
• Spending four hours with my brother, totally acting like dorks, and cheering like we believed it was real.

Everyone involved with WWE should be very proud of themselves. The commentators, the writers, Vince McMahon, and especially the performers put on a fantastically entertaining event. Now I’m sort of excited for Backlash.

This morning over breakfast, I said to my wife, “Happy π day!”
“Happy pie day? What the hell are you talking about?”
“No, not ‘pie’,” I said. “‘π’.”
“Not ‘pie,’ but ‘pie.'” She was clearly not amused. “Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?”
“Anne, look at the date on the calendar.”
“Yes it’s march 14th, and you’re going to watch WrestleMania dos equis* with your brother.” She frowned. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re taking a pie to Jeremy’s house? Because if you expect me to make you a pie . . .”
“No, I don’t expect you to make me a pie.” I said, well into that area where you’ve explained the joke so much, it’s never going to be funny.
“Today is March fourteenth. That makes it 3.14 on the calendar. 3.14 is also known as π.”
She blinked a few times.
“Oh. It’s π day.”
“Yes!” I said. “And at 1:59 pm, it will be even more &#960 day. Isn’t that cool!?”
She took a long, thoughtful drink from her coffee mug, carefully set it down and said, “You are such a nerd.”