The Dark fab 5

More video excellence.

Strewth Bruce, we sprang a leak!

Confidential blacklists, secret files and hush hush memos are normally the preserve of slick American tv drama on Sky One. Military bases, disused farm out-buildings and a cast of shadowy figures are the staple of such shows. You wouldn't normally have put Australia in the same subversive bracket. The land that gave us Rolf Harris, Neighbours and Crocodile Dundee has itself entered the murky world of the classified and the covert.
The Aussie Government, who we only normally hear from when they ratchet up immigration policy, have endured a leak of potentially uncomfortable proportions.
A supposedly secret blacklist of various adult orientated websites unjustly features at least a dozen online poker and gambling sites. This is contrary to the stated intentions of the list, which was produced by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
The sinister move is part of a trial run which will see Internet Service Providers secretly blocking access to any site on the list.
Whistle blowing website wikileaks.com is not known for a particularly pro authority stance. A cursory examination of this internet based black-balling reveals that littlewoodspoker.com has escaped the list, but a whole phalanx of our poker peers haven’t been quite so fortunate.
Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has been quick to play down the authenticity of the list, lambasting it as a fake. “This is not the ACMA blacklist”, he pronounced, citing the disparity between the number of URLs as hard evidence of its bogusness.
Cynical to the last, Wikileaks maintains the government claim of banning pornography is a catch all statement that makes broad based censorship fait accompli for any administration.
Meanwhile, we’re wondering if the post “Minister for Broadband” is a real job or just a dot con.

Swing low, sweet poker face

Hurtling as we are towards another weekend, let's begin with a piece of jingoism as unreserved as it is unapologetic. England is proud. Well at least it is if you like your balls elliptical. The French were positively downcast at Rugby HQ and a modicum of national pride has been restored.

Now Ray Smith of Hatton Lane in Greenbank may not have seen off fifteen sweating men built like external lavatory facilities, but the hitherto considerable cachet of North Wales and the North West rests squarely on Ray’s shoulders. National recognition awaits this valiant regional poker champion after his decisive victory in the regional finals. It’s all down to the small matter of a straight face and playing his cards right.

At the end of this month, Ray will be up against it in the televised tournament, if only for frankly bizarre choice of hosts. Who could have possibly arrived at the idea of pairing deadpan former snooker supremo Jimmy “Whirlwind” White with dead-behind-the-eyes nurse cum glamour model cum alleged celebrity Abi Titmuss? This has to be down there with the all time greats of preposterous and spatchcock double acts headlined by the train wreck that was Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood.

If Ray wins, Hartford Hall will go down in the annals of poker folklore as it all began there for the 51 year old amateur. Playing for points on a sunday night two years ago, he claims his success is a mixture of luck and skill, two elements that so eluded the French at Twickenham last weekend. And we didn’t relish the afternoon of unadulterated schadenfreude. Much.

I now pronounce you salesman and wife

I've never envied sales people. Whether it's the preposterous facade of the car sales exec who disappears upstairs for 10 minutes "to really try for you....I'm going to get the best price for your car", or the white socks brigade of those high street electrical retailers who accost you before you're barely over the threshold.
Nobody will ever sing " hi diddledy dee, a salesman's life for me ".
As a business in the frugal throes of year one, we can ill afford to lavish good currency on retained sales staff let alone a company car and assorted perks. We need what one businessman called "lovers". Lovers of what we do. Those who've really latched onto podcasting, what it can do for a client and that we always deliver a tip top service. Then when they've done that, signed a particularly girthsome order and concientiously licked our shoes to a high polish, they can have a commission cheque. They can be an odd breed, existing between the shadows of targets and regular one to ones. Ah one to ones - the last refuge of the scumbag. A slow and deliberate applying of the thumbscrews to an otherwise affable individual, who dares to carry a business card adorned with "media sales executive". It might as well say " I interfere with animals".
Now I don't claim to be a salesman, but selling is what you have to do in those early and intoxicating days of a new business. As the venerable Mr Sharkey of the Pokercast declared "you have to be able to take no as an answer."
I honestly wouldn't mind the occasional "no", even something more surly would suffice. Anything rather than message non grata. The email that goes unacknowledged. Those who have heard our stuff want to talk. And well they might! Believe me, I'm not selling useless crap. This perfectly illustrates my point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rcr4ojLcSM
It's a bit good. And that's only one of our products. Give us a fair shot and we could be mutually beneficial.

A careers job

Credit is a welcome concept, but mercifully this type of credit isn't subject to the forces of oscillating money markets and is unlikely to discombobulate before you can say, err "discombobulate". This is praise. Credit where credit's due. Never mind the crunch, feel the bite.
Yesterday I learned that one humongous - sized organisation who have heard our careers podcast demo expressed their admiration for the concept and its execution.
They're only human.
I say we're on to a winning formula, but this is where I draw a line in the sand and shut my cake hole. Blogs have ears. Careless talk and all that. If Wonkana Productions isn't dominating the world of business podcasts within the next 12 months, I will personally perform a fowl and inappropriate act on a diseased warthog. Working on the basis that it's good to receive, but even better to give ( and I've definitely moved away from the warthog now ) I must heap praise and general largesse on my business partner Colin a.k.a. Aussie Col on the pokercast.
http://www.littlewoodspoker.com/poker-lounge/online-poker-podcast
The careers podcast was ostensibly Col's idea and it's such a work of concise creativity that you'd never know his spirit had so nearly been decimated by 5 years plus of " we love (insert local landmark here) " jingle making with scripts sent to him by those who've clearly had their imaginative faculties surgically removed. Colin certainly knows his stuff. And before you go dashing off to Wikipedia, general largesse was a leading military figure in the Franco Prussian war. (Citation needed)

Some guys have all the luck

No, today's title isn't designed to pay homage to the late exponent of soulful ballads Robert Palmer or leopard print king Rod Stewart ( although with the legsome Penny Lancaster in tow, Rodders has clearly had his fair share of the stuff! ). I'm referring to a chap with one or two aces up his sleeve, along with some other fortuitous cards.
Ladies and Gentleman, Mr Michael Greco.
Yes, the croak-voiced romeo from Eastenders, Beppe di Marco. The Pokercast with Littlewoodspoker.com, the trusted name in gaming, say those in the know has just secured an interview with this cool-handed thesp. Michael is one of a raft of actors who has been lured by the draw (groan) of poker. He's good too. Having been mentored by "Mad" Marty Wilson, Greco went on to appear in the 2005 Poker Million, World Speed Poker Open (that's playing with alacrity, not the illicit substance) and the European Poker Tour in Dublin.
It would seem oppotune at this point to paste in a timely link thus :
http://www.littlewoodspoker.com/poker-lounge/online-poker-podcast
The Pokercast is monthly, free to subscribe to and on top of all things poker. That most assiduous of sports writers, Peter Sharkey along with Aussie Col trains his gaming cross hairs on tournaments, features, poker news, facts, interviews and the odd promotion or two.
Listen out for Michael and how he scooped £100,000 following the climax of the 3rd round of the Grosvenor Poker Tour in Cardiff and why acting is a solid training ground for the art of the false tell. It's a Wonkana production and far be it from us to be immodest, it's rather good.