Looking For America
Jul. 8th, 2006 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksTo Camden last night with some pokermeisters to watch Jeff Green and Rich Hall preparing their Edinburgh Review stuff. The Monkey Business Comedy Club above Lush Bar in Camden is just the upstairs bar, with the club operated by Martin Besserman, a man who reminded me irresistibly of a PR man I know -- the same irrepressible smile and upbeat manner that never fails to make me feel uncomfortable when I am in its presence.
Forgot my camera. Sorry.
Steve Bennett observed that Camden at night these days is virtually drug city. Certainly on the way back from the show to the station there were a considerable number of people offering, presumably, whatever you wanted to buy. I said that they appeared to be Somalians or Eritreans. "What happened to the good old days when you bought your drugs from a West Indian?" I asked (can you say "West Indian", now? Or do I have to say "Afro-Caribbean"?). Steve said that the Yardies had a different patch in another part of Camden. Ahh, I said, excellent. Demarcation.
I didn't think Jeff Green came over that well, although this was all preparation for Edinburgh. Perhaps his comedy isn't quite my style, but I felt more that he was going over ground that has been well-trodden before, the experience of being a parent, how it changes your life. Green actually spotted that your own baby is always the prettiest baby in the world, but failed to spot the way that the significance of the event (to him) was not shared by the rest of the world. So, a set devoted to the experiences of becoming a parent is not going to emotionally involve a childless old git like me.
Rich Hall is less of a "this is my life" kind of comic, and I like is dry, miserable-old-gittish style. I thought his line on the British attitude to terrorism was great. While the Americans argue for years about the size of a massive monument, the British are at the bus stop the next day, complaining that the number 30 to Russell Square is late. "Well, they are one bus short today".
As he also observed, terrorists are fairly rubbish at disrupting our way of life (in contrast to the Americans, whose Department of Homeland security managed to get an entire tour by the Hallé Orchestra cancelled, presumably on the grounds that any one of them could be an Al Qaeda agent). If Al Qaeda really wanted to screw us over, they should sneak out at night and distribute damp leaves on all commuter railtracks. Cheaper than explosives, less risky, and considerably more effective.
However, as the Youngster, who was with us, pointed out, the politics of comedians such as Rich Hall does tend to be all in the same direction, picking such easy targets as Dick Cheney ("the second-most powerful man in our country can't tell the difference between a friend of 20 years and a mallard. What chance has he of distinguishing a Shi'ite from a Sunni?") and, of course, Bush, because he knows that this kind of thing will resonate with the audience. Then again, Hall also had a pop at the Kennedys, ("They would be fine if, like those critters in Gremlins, they made sure that they never went near any water") so it wasn't all one-way. Then again, I think that the Youngster tends to pass over stuff like that. He saw Koyaanisqatsi as some kind of left-wing tract against capitalism, whereas I just saw it as an attack on our hectic pace of life, not from either a right-wing or left-wing viewpoint.
++++++++++++++
Unlikely that the Omaha Hi-Lo will have been scheduled by ESPN for coverage this year, which means that they will be kicking themselves. What a great final three for TV. Kiril Gerasimov (chip leader, ex-tennis player), Phil Ivey and Sam Farha.
___
I caught up with episode 1 of series two of High Stakes Poker. This is just about the only TV poker show worth watching. Sammy Farha is in this, and you can see that he really is a great player. Of the others, the amateur, a restaurant owner from Los Angeles, was clearly outclassed. He was also the only player at the table whom I would back Matusow to beat. Hell, from what I saw of Matusow's play, I'd back myself to beat him in a cash game. I'd certainly back the likes of Channing or Young to rip him to shreds.
Negreanu is harder to take a line on (which probably means that he is good). I feel uncomfortable with some of the plays that he makes, but I always hesitate to say "that can't be right". More often, I'm just saying to myself "what is going through his head here?"
Laak didn't show much in this episode, but I got the feeling of "good second tier". I wonder if Doyle makes a reappearance this series? Last time I felt that some of his plays were good for extracting all the money from fish, but really didn't hack it against top class opposition. Then again, I doubt that he plays much NL Hold'em for cash any more.
++++++++
Forgot my camera. Sorry.
Steve Bennett observed that Camden at night these days is virtually drug city. Certainly on the way back from the show to the station there were a considerable number of people offering, presumably, whatever you wanted to buy. I said that they appeared to be Somalians or Eritreans. "What happened to the good old days when you bought your drugs from a West Indian?" I asked (can you say "West Indian", now? Or do I have to say "Afro-Caribbean"?). Steve said that the Yardies had a different patch in another part of Camden. Ahh, I said, excellent. Demarcation.
I didn't think Jeff Green came over that well, although this was all preparation for Edinburgh. Perhaps his comedy isn't quite my style, but I felt more that he was going over ground that has been well-trodden before, the experience of being a parent, how it changes your life. Green actually spotted that your own baby is always the prettiest baby in the world, but failed to spot the way that the significance of the event (to him) was not shared by the rest of the world. So, a set devoted to the experiences of becoming a parent is not going to emotionally involve a childless old git like me.
Rich Hall is less of a "this is my life" kind of comic, and I like is dry, miserable-old-gittish style. I thought his line on the British attitude to terrorism was great. While the Americans argue for years about the size of a massive monument, the British are at the bus stop the next day, complaining that the number 30 to Russell Square is late. "Well, they are one bus short today".
As he also observed, terrorists are fairly rubbish at disrupting our way of life (in contrast to the Americans, whose Department of Homeland security managed to get an entire tour by the Hallé Orchestra cancelled, presumably on the grounds that any one of them could be an Al Qaeda agent). If Al Qaeda really wanted to screw us over, they should sneak out at night and distribute damp leaves on all commuter railtracks. Cheaper than explosives, less risky, and considerably more effective.
However, as the Youngster, who was with us, pointed out, the politics of comedians such as Rich Hall does tend to be all in the same direction, picking such easy targets as Dick Cheney ("the second-most powerful man in our country can't tell the difference between a friend of 20 years and a mallard. What chance has he of distinguishing a Shi'ite from a Sunni?") and, of course, Bush, because he knows that this kind of thing will resonate with the audience. Then again, Hall also had a pop at the Kennedys, ("They would be fine if, like those critters in Gremlins, they made sure that they never went near any water") so it wasn't all one-way. Then again, I think that the Youngster tends to pass over stuff like that. He saw Koyaanisqatsi as some kind of left-wing tract against capitalism, whereas I just saw it as an attack on our hectic pace of life, not from either a right-wing or left-wing viewpoint.
++++++++++++++
Unlikely that the Omaha Hi-Lo will have been scheduled by ESPN for coverage this year, which means that they will be kicking themselves. What a great final three for TV. Kiril Gerasimov (chip leader, ex-tennis player), Phil Ivey and Sam Farha.
___
I caught up with episode 1 of series two of High Stakes Poker. This is just about the only TV poker show worth watching. Sammy Farha is in this, and you can see that he really is a great player. Of the others, the amateur, a restaurant owner from Los Angeles, was clearly outclassed. He was also the only player at the table whom I would back Matusow to beat. Hell, from what I saw of Matusow's play, I'd back myself to beat him in a cash game. I'd certainly back the likes of Channing or Young to rip him to shreds.
Negreanu is harder to take a line on (which probably means that he is good). I feel uncomfortable with some of the plays that he makes, but I always hesitate to say "that can't be right". More often, I'm just saying to myself "what is going through his head here?"
Laak didn't show much in this episode, but I got the feeling of "good second tier". I wonder if Doyle makes a reappearance this series? Last time I felt that some of his plays were good for extracting all the money from fish, but really didn't hack it against top class opposition. Then again, I doubt that he plays much NL Hold'em for cash any more.
++++++++
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-08 11:46 am (UTC)Isn't that Yevgeny Kafelnikov?
no subject
Date: 2006-07-08 01:06 pm (UTC)PJ
no subject
Date: 2006-07-08 02:10 pm (UTC)I did enjoy Hall's act very much. His delivery is excellent. But when for instance he says things like 'The rest of the world is looking at America in Iraq and thinking "what the fuck are you doing?", is it too much to hope for that he could mention that one reason for this is that much of the outside world was selling Saddam weapons and that they were furious at America for deposing a major creditor? Of course it is. No comedian ever approaches it from that angle. But it would make a refreshing change for me.
DY
no subject
Date: 2006-07-08 06:56 pm (UTC)Let's face it, if PJ O'Rourke did stand-up, I'd happily go to see him and I would laugh just as loudly as I do with Mark Thomas, providing the timing and delivery were good. Liberals, as we probably agree, are fertile ground for taking the piss, particularly in the land of political correctness.
PJ
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 09:52 am (UTC)I think the rest of the world is 'looking at America in Iraq and thinking "what the fuck are you doing?"'and one of the reasons is that America spent so many years selling weapons to Saddam only to then have them fired back at themselves. Ignoring WMD, Bush speaks of him 'being a bad guy' but still many administrations (both US and UK) continued to flog him the weapons he used. The outside world ('old Europe' and liberal elements in Britain) don't actually care about economic losses to their armaments industry. It's Joe Public who dislikes the war and he doesn't care about BAe Systems losing money.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 10:33 am (UTC)Here are the facts:
http://dailyablution.blogs.com/the_daily_ablution/2003/12/how_the_us_arme.html
from which we learn that Denmark, Brazil and Poland all sold more arms to Saddam than the US. In fact America's share was minuscule. The vast majority was from Russia, China and France. By a curious co-incidence, those three countries are all permanent members of the Security Council of the UN. Clearly if you want to be a genocidal dictator and not be toppled, it's best to buy your weapons from those countries. If you can get long credit terms, they'll never vote to unseat you, because you'll owe them so much money!
As a total of all arms sales to Iraq from 1980-2002, America sold 0.58 per cent. See the link
no subject
Date: 2006-07-09 04:37 pm (UTC)People's bafflement at America's foreign policy is thus in part based on misconceptions such as this though, not sympathy for Russian arms manufacturer's losses. But then I'm guessing there won't be a lot of common ground between us. It amazes me how wildly far apart America and Britain are politically, as Dave Cameron sets his policies well to the left of Howard Dean.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-10 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-11 09:25 am (UTC)Hmm, this isn't a particularly long post, either. Nice to see Farha get a bracelet. Nice to see Pescatori get a bracelet. Nice to See Allen Cunnigham get a bracelet. Nice to see Hellmuth not get a bracelet.
I loved a recent Matt Maroon post on Hellmuth (I'll link to it later). Great line to rile the man. "So, Bill, how many of the nine bracelets that you have won have been in tournaments consisting of more than 50 players?"
PJ