Howl's Moving Castle Review

When it comes to adaptions of films, I think I am incredibly biased. Had there been films that I watched the film first and then read the original source material second, I tend to think that the original work did a much better job than the film. I guess it is because I am just that easily impressionable and it just depends on which work gets to me first. In some ways that kinda makes me feel a bit of a allegiance whore, grabbing onto whoever comes first.

There have been a few times when I saw an adapted film that I dind't like. Not so much for a bastardization but because I just didn't really feel for it as a film. Inversly, I thought the third Harry Potter film was a great adapted work despite having read the book beforehand.

So here we are with Howl's Moving Castle, which in someways is almost a work that was adapted twice. It was originally based on the British Novel of the same name by Diane Wynne Jones and the film was directed by Hayao Miyazaki. In turn it was translated by Pixar for western release. The result is something incredibly fabulous.

It has been such a long time since I've seen animation that leaves me in awe. There really isn't to much I could say that wouldn't be complete fanboy drivel, but if there was a film to make you believe that there truly is another world out there, then this film is it. Just seeing something as simple as the water lapping the shoreline makes you think that you're no longer watching an animation but a camera into the world of colourful characters. The animation is so smooth at times, you wonder who in their right mind would attempt to create something so detailed.

The story itself is very atypical as with most Miyazaki films. Considering that it's an adapted work in the first place, it almost fits in so well with his previous works, you'd wonder if Miyazaki inspired Jones or vice versa. Yet again, a young heroine goes off on a journey of weirdness and learns something about herself, forever changing their perceptions. What is always interesting about his film is how he manages to make a story that's gripping, but always a twist on traditional storylines. Spirited Away featured a young girl who has to save her parents from a curse...by working in the very place that caused the curse. Typically it'd be some adventure, but something as mundane as working in a bathhouse is made fantastic by Miyazaki.

There is something more that just being a simple cartoon or even a simple animation. This is a film that filmmakers, should take note of. There are so many things that no only apply to animation, but just filmmaking in general and people should take notice. They should learn from the pacing, the composition of a shot from everythign in this film to show how great something can really be.

There really isn't much to say other than it's one of the most perfect films I've seen in a long time. Every character is great, the landscapes are so beautiful you'd wish they were real and the familiarity of a European inspired setting really helps as well to accomodate the West's subtle apprehension towards Eastern settings and myths. The music, although slightly repetitive is gradiose and is constantly making the rounds on my music players.
*****/***** stars, a perfect film.

Rediscovering culture and sense of self....

My brother and I are pretty different people when it comes to certain subjects as I imagine with most siblings. One of it is concerning concerning Chinese culture, and more specifically interaction with other Chinese people. Generally speaking even being a related to a friend of a friend you get treated as if you were family. I usually accomodate going out with my grandma with her friends and relatives trying to get to know them even if a bit. My brother on the other hand has a more pratical approach. It's not to say that that he is without manners, but he's not for one for wasting his time or effort into something he doesn't really believe in. In this case forging a relationship with someone he would otherwise ignore had it not been for my grandma introducing him to them.

It's not to say that he rejects Chinese culture, but he has a more of a realistic stance on how he wants to live. Chinese culture itself isn't a part of his life and I don't think at any time he would want to integrate it into his life either. I suppose one could say he doesn't want to superficially keep up appearances anymore than he has to. Me on the other hand, I feel there's a sense of duty to at least know a bit about my ethnic background. Feeling the same sense of superficiality my brother does, that usually prevents me from diving into books, articles and history about Chinese culture or even trying to learn about it.

I never really feel bad for wanting to know more about Chinese culture and not having the motivation to do so. But in recent years while my life kinda settled down in a boring repetitive fashion, one option proposed by my mother was to go to Hong Kong and try out to be an Chinese Soap Opera actor. What appealed to me wasn't the fact that I'd be on TV if I could potentialy be; but the fact that I'd be living in Hong Kong and become immersed into the culture I've been talking about. There's something very intriguing about this propostion.

I don't know why I feel that I have the need to rediscover my culture whereas my brother seems to want to seperate himself from it. What's more interesting is how split we are in a single generation. Usually there is a sort of trying to reclaim of one's culture in the second or third generation. We'll have to see though.

Ugliness hits FSJ in new ways.

My hometown of Fort St. John isn't a great place of architecture. It's an oil town through and through and with the mass produced housing that is spattered around the city, you'd be hard pressed to find any buildings that inspire pride in your city. I mean we have a fucking oil derrick near our central park as a pseudo monument to the Energetic City.

To basically say, the architecture in the city ranges from dilapidated to plain. Nothing stands out entirely and if there is anything noteworthy, it's because it's more akin to the norm of the big city than that of something truly exciting. One of the landmarks is the Co-Op supermarket, that's been around since I've been born and was one of those staples in the city that really makes feel like a small town. It's almost like a close-knit store I don't know why. It never really differed itself from any other supermarket other than being a co-op, and yet there is something wholesome and less cold comparing it to the Overwaitea or the Safeway. It had closed down a few weeks ago and apparently pre-empting it's closure for a while, the management of the actual mall decided it'll be a great idea to slap in a Caberet in the building.

I'm not against the caberet. The building itself is supposed to go through an entire overhaul on the outside. But before anything was even started on the building itself, they decided to put up the monstroncities below.



Postively lovely aren't they? It's like someone shot and skinned a log cabin and put it's carcass on disply for everyone to see. It's bad enough that it's wood against concrete, but it doesn't even line up with top part wiht the roof. I swore that when I saw it in it's completeled state as of now...I thought they were still under construction. Apparently panes of glass are to go into the triangular parts. That sounds completely terrible.



From another angle it still looks terrible. I do have some feelings of vertigo when looking at them from close up really. Like I'm about to fall off the top of it. There's something unnerving about the openness of the structure, but I guess it works. They will eventually add some stuff on the outside of the building to make it match the....whatever the fuck they are. However if this is a glimpse of what is to come, it makes me worry about how shitty it'll look like.

V for Vendetta Review

There's an interesting story behind my journey to see V for Vendetta really. And in a fashion somewhat like V's and Evey's own personal awakening, I've come to realize something significant. It all started with my friends, or one in particular. We saw Ultraviolet together and I daresay I felt Ultravioleted for watching it. Staying away from the theatres with nothing to attract me, he decided to go see The Hill Have Eyes remake with another friend. He reported...no warned me not to go see it since he felt it was complete and utter crap.

But then V for Vendetta came into the horizon. The geek event of the year was nearing theatres and at the time I didn't have any real interest. But my friend Chris once again showed enthusiasm for the film. Much like how he saw enthusiasm to see Ultraviolet. Being how I am, I began to share his enthusiasm imagining seeing it with a friend. Seeing a great film. When the mantinee Tuesday came along, Chris got word from a mutual friend that the film was terrible. Even he given it a 1/10. To tell the truth some part of me knew this was pretty much true but the inner geek basically raged against such an interpretation. Ignoring the travesties of The League of Extraordinary Men or Daredevil, I envisioned that even the most basic of adaptions of the material would result in a decent movie considering how well done V for Vendetta was originally.

Terrible film. I'm by no means a purist, if they make a good film I'm all for it. But a good adaption it is not. It doesn't seem to really resonate the feel for the books, the spirit of the book. In the book you feel a sense of choking of their civil liberties, that there *needs* to be change. The sense of oblivion that the Chancellor seemed to want never ever came into my mind. The only thing choking about it all was when his face was on the screen and I was wondering if he was about to jump out of the screen and seize my nachos because the cheese is bad for me.

On the whole a great shallow adaption as someone mentioned earlier, but it seems everyone; director included, were working on cruise control. Natalie Portman seems to think her brit accent is good enough to warrent no emotion at all. Everyone else seems to be paid to recite the script as opposed to act like a character. Hugo Weaving was probably the best in the film, but sadly not even his acting could save this sinking ship.

Basically it wasn't compelling. At all. There was never a sense of any sort of emotion other than University Protest Marches to get some pussy sentiment. I feel that in the end, there wasn't change, but merely another light show for people to see. How wonderful they seemed to liked it all because it might be because of the company I keep, but surely people praising it to be a great film only show how culturally and tastefully bankrupt they are.

Invincible...

Continuing a blaze through comicdom, I started to read a comic that caught my attention a while ago. Invincible seemed an interesting concept enough, a teenaged boy is starting to get his superpowers inherited by his father Omni-Man. Seeing how he has this power, he decides to take up the family business and fight crime.

When I first heard about this comic, I thought it was a pretty lame concept. I think most of it had to do with the costume design, Omni-Man looked like my old elementary principal in spandex and Invincible looked completely different from his father which sort of set off the whole son and father relationship in my mind.

But a year or so later when I saw Wizard list it as one of the trades to pick up, well it kinda put in a marker in my mind to pick it up. Since I had so little access to comics before, Wizard was one of the major connections to the comics. I'm quite capable of being swayed from this magazine.

But now that I read it, to me it's one of the most perfect superhero books ever. There is something refreshing to see a new superhero rise and grow into his moniker, instead of reading the same old stuff from staples. How many times can we see Batman as the paranoid control freak until it becomes boring? How many times do we have to hear about Spiderman moan about being a superhero only to rise above the occasion and kick some serious ass? And yet it's because of those superhero conventions/cliches that makes Invincible so great.

It has a great wit about poking fun at the entire concept of superheroing. Kirkman treads a fine line between parody and a completly serious tone in which in one way it sounds funny, but in another way it sounds dead serious. Usually when a comedy/parody of a hero recalling a certain exploit of danger, it comes off as cheesy and yet in Invincible, there is something especially real and funny about the situation. Once again it brings to humanize the superhero culture, in which I seem to be finding a lot of comic series that does that.

Best of all, it has an incredible plot. Not that it's so full blownly stupid, but it's very subtle. Changing in leaders for the superhero team Guardians of the Globe, even a few panels indicates or hints at the formation of another sub-plot. What interests me the most is how it really draws me into wondering what will happen next, as opposed to thinking....oh, so something is going to happen but I don't really care.

Ever wanted to hear a Engrish Rock Opera?

The Japanese have been known to put in a dash of english into their songs possibly for the same reasons that North Americans use Ciao or Japanese quotes as some sort of inside cool joke of nerdishness. Even the Beserk Intro song is pretty decipherable. I have "engrish deciphering ears" so it is easier for me at least. This is due to my experience with the chinese language and some of the mangling of the english language attempts of my family.

However I present to you one of the most engrished songs I've ever heard: Slingshot. It's so terribly mangled, that even I have a hard time to decipher it let alone understanding the general theme of song. It's take from the Japanese soundtrack of Sega's Daytona USA 2. It doesn't help that it's sung at a fast rock opera tempo. I guess in the end, we all are looking for a chicken frog of our own to call.

Marvel's Runaways

As I delve into a semi-reliable mecca of comic books, I'm currently reading a few of the more critically acclaimed series of the past few years. Runaways is another series by writer Brian Vaughn whom I gushed over the other series he penned, Y: The Last Man. It is a good diversion from the mass amount of text I read in that series.

Basic premise: Six teenage children find out that they're evil supervillains. Eventually they discover powers of their own, (many of which inherited by their parents) and they embark on an adventure to stop their parents and possibly save the world at the same time.

There's plenty of action for people who crave it as well with a witty enough dialogue that Vaughn is known for. The art is great and I always like the concept of superheroes without costumes. The only problems that I have is that the series doesn't have an ultimate goal for the Runaways. Vol 1 was to stop their parents, but for a team with so much potential, it seems a bit generic. Especially considering that the villianous parents seem like C-List villains. The ongoing Vol. 2 has small little adventures held within, but the up coming season finale is very detatched from what's really going on.

This isn't to say that it's entirely bad, but it's just not that compelling. With other writers, even if they just write a series based on small adventures, they stand better alone than Vaughn's Runaways. A lot of it seems formulaic, and in the case of Runaways, the dialogue is a bit repetitive of his style. It's almost like he wanted to do the same writing style but in a different setting. But that is a limited judgement since I have yet to read any of his other works.

But what I like the best about the series is how it humanizes superheroes, not just the main characters themselves, but even guest appearances by Captain America, Spiderman and others. It reminds me of the JLA that features the comedic likesof Guy Gardner, Flash, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and etc.

Y: The Last Man

I've been reading this comic series since it looked like a pretty funny ride. I mean the actual last man on earth lends itself to the image of a man being chased down by all sorts of sex-starved women, and the guy's sudden displeasure of getting so much readily availble sex which was probably once otherwise pre-Male wipe out. A sort of allegory of you don't want something if you could easily get it.

Well it couldn't be further from the truth.

Yorick Brown is the main character in this cruel earthly joke played upon him. A disease, magical force, Godly intervention, whatever (in the series they say it's a plague) came down and wiped half of the board clean...the male half. Every single living thing with a Y chromosome suddenly kicks the bucket and we learn one awful truth of the matter.

Women are fucking nuts.

Don't get me wrong. I'm about as PC as the other left-wing liberal in Canada. I think something would be more appropriate such as "humans are fucking nuts." I'm not saying that a lot of the things that transpire in Y: The Last Man wouldn't happen if it was X: The Last Woman. But it goes to show that there are some trying feminine issues that are addressed, male related or not. And really were you the last man on Earth, you would not want to be Yorick.

Despite the constant problems that arise involving females, most notably Amazons who are basically uber-femenists who kill, there is a lot to be said about human nature in this series. We imagine that all of us, men and women included, are rational people...that there are answers for most things in life. But when something unexplained arises and there isn't a universal or even a national guiding voice of reason to speak to our more rational sides; let alone someone to make the electricity run...well you better believe that rationality takes a holiday when survival takes precedent over watching the next episode of House...or in this more feminine situation: Desperate Housewives.

It's quite bleak in series when a lot of the scenes seems like something out of a bad Mad Max fan film. Women becoming warlords, people rationlizing why all the men died through God, through faith, through science, through Mother Earth, blaming themselves, blaming others, still blaming the men.

Yorick is far from the perfect man; in fact you come to learn that his use to mankind isn't his leadership skills for one of the fortune 500 companies, but that his mere existence alone warrants the company of secret agent 355 (pronouced three-fifty-five) as his bodyguard, and Dr. Mann as the scientist helping to figure out why the world went to hell. In fact I daresay he's probably an accurate representation of the male comic book reader. Weaker than usual, a person who has a talent that seems cool but sucks at it as well finanacially useless and a smartass to boot who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

But it's that smartassery that really makes Yorick a great character. Even though the art slowly improved over time, this isn't a series that lends itself to be shown as a work of art in each panel, but as a dialogue on society and perceptions. It has wit, often expressed in pop-culture references, and a masterful grasp on the languge of swearing much like "Trailer Park Boys"

Overall it's a great series in which I recommend to everyone

JLU end.....again.

So I saw the last ep and I was....disappointed. I'm not saying it wasn't a great show, but it wasn't exactly the send off I expected. Then again with most Dini series, their series finales were never really the send offs/series finales that fit the typical bill, RE: Superman and Batman Beyond. In fact if anything I guess JLU was just a big SERIES FINALE for the Diniverse period.

I'm not complaining too much, but when I saw this season, it seems like it was just coasting off a good thing. Season 4 was pretty epic considering that it had a constant ongoing storyline with nigh everything connected. And the end, well you couldn't have beaten the ending. But to tell the truth, season 5 seemed a bit tacked on; had Season 4 been for the loyal viewers and comic fans everywhere, season 5 is most likely the fanservice/extra DVD features.

I mean it was great to see Luthor become a deranged little psychopath who'd inspired the killing of half of the Secret Society courtesy of Killer Frost, but it seemed a bit too easy for Luthor to prove himself time and time again with a push of his STAPLES EASY BUTTON on his belt. What else I found very troubling is that the continuity wasn't as tight as before, at least in the sense of revisting certain aspects no matter how small. Sure we got an entire ep of GL/Hawkgirl but nothing was finalized in the end. They way they left it off, it seemed like GL was saying Look here...I'm going to fuck you sooner or later, I just don't know when. Until then, hang tight. Batman and Wonder Woman didn't get finalized. Flash was seen to have almost 3 love interests through season 5 but they didn't expand on that. Most of all, Martian Manhunter who apparently gotten a bit less monotone in his voice, but you don't really know why, or how or if this actually makes him a better or worst character and don't even show him help fight in the Darkseid last battle. In which I expected something to happen because he's the JLUer who-left-on-a-spiritual-journey and "learned some trick to defeat Darkseid"

It all seemed kinda easy to say:

Ok who haven't we've brought back for the JLU to beat up?

You mean which villain haven't we gotten from Superman's series?

Darksied, yeah.....he's been gone a while.

Yeah let's bring him back to kick some fucking ass.

What about the rest of the season?

Just toss some random shit in there.

I appreciate the extra stuff, but frankly had JLU got cut off at Season 4, I would have felt a more sense of completion, of everything coming full circle. Overshooting the mark is just as bad as not making it.

*SPOILERS* Comic Review: The Ultimates Vol. 2 #10 *SPOILERS*

This isn't so much a review of the single ish as it is my thoughts on the entirety of the series. I didn't jump into the Ultimates until late last year, and I had a really great 1.5 volumes of Ultimates goodness at my dispoal to read. Alas I imagine just like everyone else who is a fan of the series I've learned of the pitfalls of The Ultimates coming out whenever the hell they want aka NOT SOON ENOUGH. But this had seriously been one of the first comic series I would wait for patiently to come out.

It's quite weird because it's not that I'm entirely speculative on what'll happen, in fact my wait for The Ultimates usually is on the back burner of my mind. For some reason I accredit this lack of anticipation for the weird quality of the work. It's a compelling read at times and yet I think because of it's basis in reality, it suddenly becomes a sort of part of everyday life. I'm not saying that there are real superheroes jumping around in costumes and saving the world, but like how media or even pop culture events unfold weeks or months at a time, we keep in touch. And somehow The Ultimates manages to be so akin to our reality in terms of content, it makes us pay more attention by not focusing it as a form of media outside of what we see everyday on the internet or on TV.

So last we left our heros, the shittiest of shit storms had hit them. The machinations they created had crippled them and basically the Anti Ultimates (Called The Liberators) formed by Non-American super powers. One thing that I love about the series is that a lot of the content is based on reactions. In fact you could say that the entire series is motivated by the reactions of it's characters. The reaction of Ant Man beating up his wife. The reaction of Captain America beating up on Ant Man for beating up his wife. The reactions of finding out that Thor is a lunatic with stolen technology. And in this case, the reaction of Ultimates dealing with an incredibly shitty situation.

What I love especially about this issue this emphasizes that there can be really *really* bad times for heroes. Not just "Oh we're captured....let's just make the best of it and muscle our way out". I mean "Oh shit, there's a really big chance that we will *never* come out the same in this battle, but I'm going to take everyone down who fucked me over." It's the capacity for improvising on the fly, on the spot and winning that appeals to me greatly. Not some elaborate plan that's already been there for a while...not some unimaginative way a super power has been used (or reused) time and time again for the same purpose of hitting lever A to release containment field B.

What really sells the fact that their improvisation worked are the people in awe of it. God in Heaven sells fear to me far better than Oh my God. The surprise in villain's stupidity in underestimating the heroes, not in a "Curse you captain planet" type way but in a "Holy shit Ripley, the ALIEN escaped from the hatch" type fear. Hawkeye is that alien, and he has the jagged toothy fangs to play the nightmare to fall upon his captors. But nothing fares better than seeing people clawing thier way back to the top.....and only half the team is assembled. This was a great issue and I will wait for the next installment of the Ultimates.

Dream Entry

I generally dislike arrogant people. Not so much peple with confidence but arrogance, people who seem to have more of an ego than anything else. However I suppose all of that is relative considering I have friends who are quite....arrogant in their own way, but the fact that certain degree of arrogance appeals to me makes me ignore what is obvious to someone else.

The dream basically started in a house, or a familiar setting. It wasn't necessarily my house since some of the structure was different. The basement for one apparently was more open and larger, and it was more of a split level house in which the light came from a sliding door to the south.

Apparently someone was visiting us for his vacation and staying at our place. He was a few inches taller than me, caucasion, bald with hair on the side and a long face. I don't know who he was, but for some reason I went through a box of his things that he brought along with it. It looked like he was moving into the house. When I picked up something about twice the size of a thimble, it was a portable gaming unit. It was Nintendo, had an incredibly small screen, but being the dream world for some reason I could see fairly cleary what was on the screen.

I begin to play it when our visitor comes downstairs. I don't know why, but I try to hide the system that I took and played without permission. He didn't see me, at least I didn't think he saw me, but instantly in a snide way he accused me of touching his stuff. He was right of course, but it was in the arrogant tone that really grinded me. I probably spent the next few days trying to bear his ego and his comments. Usually when it comes to arrogant people, there are some things I'm willing to do in order to cope with them. One of them is try to be understanding and become their friend. If they are not my ally, then they are my enemy. Often this is come with little sucess, since any time I was sucessful, the said idiot mellowed out and accepted me, not vice versa.

But as the dream progressed and I felt more annoyed than relaxed I eventually woke up without any conclusion to the matter; dream-wise. But when I opened up my eyes I realized that it was my mind trying to tell me something. That my personal arrogance has gotten to out of control lately. Perhaps that's why I despise it so much because it reflects my own personality and faults. I've been taking it out on my family for the last half week, usually when this happens it lasts for a day or so, but for some reason I've been on a rampage of passive agressiveness. It does worry me a bit more than usual since this seems more serious and more drawn out.

Final Fantasy 8 is hilarious

I managed to get my hands on Final Fantasy 8 and in the process of playing it. In the gaming community FF8 has been considered one of the worst series, just slightly hovering above Final Fantasy 2 and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. One of the main complaints is the lead hero being a selfish, hypocritical asshole for about 90% of the game. One could liken him to the oft depressed and confused Shinji Ikari of Evangelion fame, but in a way that kinda makes me hate myself for being hypocritical for hating Evangelion, but loving FF8. So I'll just avoid making that correlation.

Even though FF8 encompasses some of the things that I hate the most about the direction the FF series has been going: 3 party members as opposed to 4-5; lack of armour equipping; jobless character classes; in ability to equip different weapons; it still comes together in a such a way that I like it.

I'm not going to lie, I love the characters, their personalities and the storyline. Comedy in the Final Fantasies has often been quite childish. Not because it pandered to children, but the fact that we were dealing with 8-bit and 16-bit graphics, there was little ability to convey comedy without having to go to extremes. FF4 itself had its moments, but the comedy wasn't subtle and more crazily stereotypical than anything else. Even FF7 relied more on stereotypes or outlandish characters say outlandish quotes.

FF8 isn't too far a step above, Arrested Development it is not, but the fact that it does try to advance the delivery impresses me to no end. The fact that everyone is so cheeful around Squall while he himself is as sour as vinegar already makes him hilarious. I find it interesting on how much introspective thinking he has; all the while trying to keep a cool, impartial exterior. It seems to me that every character has an aloofness except Squall.

If there was really any qualm I had with the game is the dependence of the use of Guardian Forces AKA summon monsters. It seems that with every boss battle I would have to use them all the time. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I imagine the use of them would decrease your SeeD rank (a rank that determines the amount of salary you have). Although I think a lot of that stems from my lack of leveling up my characters. Which leads me to the other problem, a LOT of enemy encounters. There are quite a few which I really can't believe happens so often.

But so far it's a great game. I don't know why so many people hate it so.

The Point of Gambling: You hate to lose Part 3

When last we left off I'd basically lost the money I made at poker and thensome. I left the casino dismayed and with everyone in the world who ever gambled, silently vowed to win my money back. I didn't get a chance to do it at that particular casino because I would be occupied elsewhere. Plus my ride wasn't going to the casino anytime soon.

So working with what we had, we were at West Edmonton Mall when grandma decided to partake in the slots at the casino adjoining the mall. She stayed there while I tried my luck out at roulette once again. Now from my limited experience I've come to learn a few more things regarding how you play roulette. Apparently it costs more to bet on the outside parts than it is on the numbers. This itself is quite good for me because it actually prevented me from just betting red or black. So thus I learned a bit of roulette strategy.

A lot of people think that betting on one number is the key, but as with most gambling games, you have to realize your outs, your odds and increase your chances of hitting those odds. I'm not saying there is a surefire way to win each and everytime, roulette is about as random as you can get in gambling, but betting on one number or just red and just black doesn't make much sense considering that there are many other options in which to hit your number.

Spread it around, that's basically it. Spread the chips around splitting numbers, cornering them, even pile some right on the number. That is what increases your odds of winning and better yet, keeps you in the game long enough to potentially hit the jackpot. I saw roulette players who just dished out 50 dollars in chips on one spin, only to either win big, or lose it all. But what you really need, in which the world is in short amount of, is luck.

I hit that luck a few times and the payout was pretty fabulous. I think I made back the money I lost (including poker gains), as well as gotten an additional $40 on top of that. Of course being the fool I was, I ended up gambling some away, and thus only making a profit of $80 for the entire trip. Regardless it was good, it was fun and a learning experience. And here's hoping to my poker tournie this friday.