If you like movies and film….

… check out the reviews, essays, and other work of Tony Macklin. His work is truly unique.

Most film reviews that I read are shallow, cursory, designed to “sell” a shitty movie, are an attempt at self-promotion by the author, or all of the above. Mack’s film reviews and essays are honest, thoughtful, and full of insight. His work often draws parallels to films from 10, 20, 30 years ago (the dude’s been doing this for 40 years) — which gives me ideas for older films to sprinkle in my NetFlix queue among all the newer films and TV series that are currently in there.

You can read more about Mack on his About Tony Macklin page, or you can take my word for it — he’s one of the best there is.

(Full disclosure: Tony Macklin is a former professor of mine at the University of Dayton; I also built his website.)

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$6,000 Biggest Stud Contest

Sportsbetting.com is running a promotion for fans of Caribbean Stud Poker. They are giving away a $1000 cash prize to the players who accumulate the most Royal Flushes, Straight Flushes, 4 of a Kinds, Full Houses, Flushes, and Straights — that’s $6000 in total!

All you have to do is play Caribbean Stud€”at the conclusion of the contest, Sportsbetting.com will award the player with the most number of the hand values their prize. Each player is only eligible to win one prize, so 6 unique players are guaranteed to win.

1. Cash prizes have a 3x rollover requirement in the Casino only. Rollover is not applicable in the Sportsbook or Poker room.

2. You are only eligible for one prize. If you win more than one, you will be awarded the higher-value prize amount. For example, if you have the most Royal Flushes and Flushes, you will receive the prize for most Royal Flushes, and the player with the 2nd-most Flushes will win that prize.

This contest runs from December 28th, 2008 to January 4th, 2009.

(Note: Sportsbetting.com accepts players from all US states. Please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online. If your local laws prohibit online gambling then we recommend you consider an alternative form of entertainment.)

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Strike Gold Progressive Jackpot at $63K+

The jackpot on Strike Gold progressive jackpot slot machine at Rival-Powered casinos surpassed $63,400 today! Unlike some progressive slots, you qualify for the jackpot with just a $2 wager rather than a $3 wager.

Check it out at these top-rated Rival-Powered casinos, and let me know if you hit the big one!

(Note: Rival-Powered casinos accept players from all US states (KY excluded). Please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online; if you find that they prohibit online gambling, then we recommend you consider an alternative form of entertainment.)

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3XMAS Happy Hour at Full Tilt Poker

One of the things that I like about Full Tilt Poker is that you earn Full Tilt Points when you play in most of their ring games and tournaments. These Full Tilt Points can be used to buy into special tournaments, as well as merchandise.

During the upcoming holiday period, Full Tilt Poker is giving triple Full Tilt Points to its players! Happy Hour will run for 12 hours on five days:

  • Christmas Eve Wednesday December 24th
  • Christmas Day Thursday December 25th
  • Friday December 26th
  • New Year’s Eve Wednesday December 31st
  • New Year’s Day Thursday January 1st

To play during Happy Hour, look for the ring games and tournaments with the smiley face face in the Lobby.

(Please note: Full Tilt Poker accepts U.S. residents from all states. Wherever you live, please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online.)

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$100K Freeroll Slots Tournament: Final Weekend

This weekend is your final opportunity to play in the $100K Freeroll Slots Tournament at Golden Palace Casino that I wrote about in a previous post. I just played off my $100 in tournament credits; alas, I do not think I will win, as I finished with $0.Here are some tips if you would like to download Golden Palace Casino and enter the tournament:

  • On the Golden Palace Casino page, you’ll see a Click Here button to begin the casino software download. However, it is poorly-named and did not initially run on my Windows XP Pro machine. I renamed the downloaded file from “1” to “1.exe”, double-clicked it, and the casino software installed normally.
  • When the casino started, I clicked the Play for Real Money option and completed the short registration form. This went smoothly, and I was shown the account number that they issued to me. I tried to copy and paste the account number into a file that I use to keep track of my account numbers, but was unable to; instead, I had to manually type my account number into my storage file. A small annoyance.
  • From the casino lobby, I clicked the Tournaments link at the bottom left; this opened the Tournaments window that clearly and cleanly listed all tournaments. I selected the $100000 Christmas Present Freeroll from the list, clicked the Registerbutton at the bottom of the page, and was immediately shown a confirmation message that I was registered for the freeroll.
  • I then clicked the Enter button to begin the tournament. But, I was shown a message that I had to go to the lobby and download the Dr. Love slot, because the slot was not yet installed. What a pain. The casino software should have told me to please wait while it installed the slot, rather than me having to go and do it.
  • After I installed the Dr. Love slot from the main lobby (it’s under Slot Games > 5 Reel Slots, in case you have a little trouble finding it like I did), I returned to the Tournament window and began playing. One thing that I really liked was that my progress toward qualifying for a win (you need to make at least 20 bets in order to qualify for a win) was tracked and shown in real-time in the lower left corner of the window. Then, once I made 20 bets, that area changed to show me my place in the tournament. Very cool — this way, if I did hit a big payoff, I’d know immediately where I ranked among all the other players.
  • One last gripe — what an odd slot theme (doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc.) to choose for a Christmas promotion! Even Funky Chicken would have been a better choice.

(Please note: Golden Casino bars U.S. residents from KY. Wherever you live, please check your local, state and provincial laws before you participate in any form of online gambling.)

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Why UB and AP are Poorly-Rated at The Online Casino Gambling Directory

Here is the complete video of last week’s 60 Minutes report on the UltimateBet / Absolute Poker cheating scandal. In case you don’t know, a few big-money players were found to have been able to play at the site with the ability to see opponents’ hole cards; the report estimates that the cheaters got away with in the neighborhood of $20M.

One of the key elements of the report is that the current owner of UB / AP is a former member of the commission in charge of investigating the scandal — a clear conflict of interest.

The only thing that has kept UB / AP from being blacklisted at The Online Casino Gambling Directory is the fact that they are taking steps to repay the players that were cheated by the cheaters.

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Blacklisted: Villa Fortuna Casino and Eight Others

Villa Fortuna Casino, along with eight other Microgaming sites that were promoted by Grand Prive Affiliates, have been blacklisted at The Online Casino Gambling Directory for breach of contract with its affiliates.

  • Grand Prive Affiliates contracted with affiliates to have affiliates refer customers to various Microgaming sites (Bella Vegas, Fortune Junction, Jackpot Wheel, Jupiter Club, Lake Palace, Road House Reels, Casino Grand Bay, Grand Bay Poker). In exchange for referrals, affiliates were to be paid a percentage of the lifetime revenue generated by referred players (see bottom page at the above link).
  • Weeks ago, Grand Prive Affiliates went out of business, while the sites that they were associated with, and to which affiliates referred players, remain operational. However, the sites are no longer paying affiliates for revenue generated by previously-referred players. This is theft and breach of contract.
  • Villa Fortuna Casino, while not an original part of the eight Grand Prive-branded group of sites, is being run by the same outfit as that which operates the eight Grand Prive sites.

The net-net of all of this is that, in my opinion, these sites are not to be trusted with your money. If they are willing to steal from and breach their contract with affiliates, there is sufficient evidence to think that they are perfectly capable of doing the same to its players.

Trust me on this one… I’ve been in this business for years. Stay away from these nine sites.

Besides, there are plenty of other top-rated, trustworthy Microgaming casinos and Microgaming poker rooms available to you.

(Please note: Microgaming casinos and Microgaming poker rooms do not accept players from the United States. Wherever you live, please check your local, state, and provincial laws before you gamble online.)

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Vegas007 – A Different Kind of Poker Experience

Vegas007 is a different kind of online poker experience. What makes Vegas007 different is that the site enables you to create your own personalized, 3D, customized poker player. The possibilities are enormous in terms of the ways that you can tweak your online poker player. It’s pretty easy and takes only a few minutes to complete the creation of your online poker avatar.

Vegas007 offers rakeback for all cash players as part of their generous sign-up bonus for new players. Here’s the deal:

  • 30% Rakeback:Rakeback is active on all cash game tables. No activation code needed. Rakeback earnings are paid weekly and deposited in to your player account automatically.
  • $5 Signup Bonus: A small rake requirement (100 RP) must be met before the $5 sign-up bonus is released.
    Money & prizes from freerolls & free cash games can be used on all cash tables in order to reach this rake requirement.
  • FREE Ticket: Sign up for a FREE player account today and receive 1 FREE ticket to the daily New Player Freeroll. No Code needed. The ticket will be added automatically to your player account.
  • First Deposit Bonus: Choice of 100%, 400%, or 1000% on initial deposits. Use code vegas007, vegas007400, or vegas0071000, respectively, in order to claim the bonus. In order to release your deposit bonus you must play on cash game tables to rake 5x the bonus amount. You have 2 months from making your first deposit to do this.

(Please note: Vegas007 accepts all players. Wherever you live, please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online.)

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Article: Bush Urged To Lift Ban On Online Gambling

This Barney Frank guy is serious…. I’ll give him that much. There can be no doubt that this guy is seriously against online gambling prohibitions. At every stage of the game, he’s in there trying to get hearings, trying to sway votes, writing letters, giving interviews.

A recent InformationWeek article reported that Frank wrote a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in response to the finalization of the UIGEA regulations.

“I am deeply disappointed to hear that your agency is proceeding with what I consider to be unseemly haste in issuing regulations implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This midnight rule-making will tie the hands of the new administration; burden the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis.”

In the final analysis, I do not think that sending the letter will do any good… it’ll be up to the Obama administration to take the necessary steps to curb or stop the regulations from being enforced.

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