New teaser trailer for the next Tony Jaa flick Tom-Yum-Goong
Part of a Thai food trilogy?

War of the Worlds tix available for pre-order (Movietickets.com, Fandango, AOL Moviefone)

Internet exclusive 5th trailer available at the official site if you log in

World Series of Pokerbots

Most of the competitors acknowledged testing their programs by running them on PartyPoker, against that site's rules. I don't see why a computer program can't someday soon be competitive at the World Series of Poker. A computer's inability to read his or her opponent can be offset by a massive amount of recall on opponents' previous hands, and a computer's playing speed can be varied with complete randomness. At the highest levels, most players say that opponents mask their tells very well, for the most part. Still, I do suspect that the best players have an intuition about his or her opponents that may be almost subconscious (or simply something they cannot verbalize), and a computer also can't easily tell when his or her opponent is getting flustered and how to press the advantage. I'd be interested in seeing an amateur like myself playing with a computer partner against a world-class player.

No. 1 on David Letterman's top 10 list of "Things Overheard During the Michael Jackson Verdict" last night: "Another case of a white guy getting preferential treatment."

Cutting Edge 2?!

Did anyone watch Evander Holyfield on Dancing with the Stars this week, dancing the Jive in a fluorescent yellow dress shirt? Oh, sweet mercy. He was awesomely bad, and he scored 13 out of 30, by far the lowest score of the night. I laughed and cried, and this is one of those times when that the simultaneity of those two acts made perfect sense. As the judges heaped harsh criticism upon him, I felt two things. One, pity. This poor former heavyweight boxer, despite competing against amateurs like Stacy's Mom (Rachel Hunter) and J. Peterman (that dude from Seinfeld, I have no idea what his real name is), was thoroughly outclassed. You take thousands of punches over the years and lose one earlobe to Mike Tyson's mouth and see how nimble you are on your feet. And, as Holyfield's face fell, that false smile fading into a grim and bitter stare of humiliation, I felt fear, for the judges, for his partner. At the end of the show, they just toss a couple out right then and there, unlike American Idol in which elimination is delayed by a day. It was too late for me to call in and register my vote to try and keep Evander on the show, and he was eliminated. He was the only reason I watched the show for the first time this week, and now they went and tossed him out, the best part of this show. To further push their luck, they actually forced the losing couple out onto the floor for a final dance. Evander was pissed, and he looked none too happy to have to prance around the floor one last time after his dismal evening. I expected him at any moment to toss his partner aside and go after the judges a la Ron Artest. "Come out and get your whupping, Charlie!" This was a great television moment cut too short. Really, does anyone care who the best dancing C-lister in show business is? Bring back Evander. I've always had a soft spot for Evander, even though he's fathered something like thirty children. The man got robbed in the Olympics in 84' and his just due tonight. It should have been the reverse.