Kovixen

Hold onto your seats everyone. America's favorite talking bear is back! Teddy Ruxpin, the lovable stuffed animal who spoke using a tape deck in his back will be back in stores this September according to CNN. This time, however, he'll be enhanced with digital technology. Very exciting, I wish I had a child so I could spend the $69.99 to buy her one. For more information on Teddy, check out The Unofficial Teddy Ruxpin site.

Today marks one year since Tony Pierce wrote his how to blog rules. It is the best thing I've ever read in a blog because not only does it have sound advice, but this post is one the reasons I really got into blogging. Yes, I'd started my blog beforehand, but I fell in love with blogging and reading other people's blogs after I read Tony's post. I credit him for waking me up to this whole new world. I know I've said it before, but I highly recommend his blog to everyone. If you are going to read one blog (after mine of course) read his. And follow his rules. I try to, although I do break them more than I should. Tony's been getting a lot of shit lately from some trolls, he might appreciate a nice comment or two if yo do stop by.
(edited to add, his most recent entry is the best blog post I've ever read, you must read it)

Found two new poker blogs, Josh Arieh who just won his second World Series of Poker (wsop) bracelet this week, and David Williams, who was second in the final event of the wsop last year. Neither has an RSS feed, but they seem to be rather interesting, at least while the wsop is going on. I don't think a lot of the top poker players enter most of the events, so it's nice to read about people I've watched on tv and have at least heard of. I love the idea of anyone being able to enter a major poker tournament, especially for a smaller amount of money through satelites, but at the same time I'd much rather watch someone on tv that I know. The more random people allowed into these tournaments, the less likely we are to see our favorite players at the final tables. And I think one of the most important ways to keep poker popular on tv once this obsession calms down (if it ever does) is for the viewers to root for their favorites, and they can't really do that well if they are never on tv. Let's take my favorite for example, Howard Lederer. I like to watch him play, he's so smart and that shows through everything he does. Besides the first Poker Superstars, I haven't seen him at any final tables in a long time. He got to two for the wsop that were televised last year, but besides that there's only his 2 first season WPT wins. If there were fewer people entering these touraments, I think he'd be much more likely to make a final table. Maybe it's because he isn't as good at playing against bad players that make awful calls and get lucky on the river, or maybe it's just because with so many entries, it's harder to get to the end for everyone. Probably it's some reason I haven't considered. But if poker on tv continues as it is, I think it'll have a hard time staying around longer than the poker boom lasts, at least at its current popularity.

David Sedaris wrote something for The New Yorker, and as usual it's great.