Unhand me, goddamn me, Miami ...

"Bouncin' in the club
Where the heat is on
All night, on the beach
'Til the break of dawn
I'm goin' to Miami
Welcome to Miami
...
Don't get me wrong,
Chi-town got it goin' on
And New York is the city
That we know don't sleep
And we all know that L.A.
And Philly stay jiggy
But on the sneak,
Miami bringin' heat for real"

- "Miami" by Will Smith

I like the former Prince of Bel Air's movies but I'm not a big fan of his rapping skills. However, I hope he's on the money when it comes to Miami, because in a month from today I'll be on my way to Honolulu before meeting up with Murf in Florida. We'll be staying with his in-laws - unfortunately The Jeweller herself isn't coming - just north of Miami in a place that has received some recent notoriety.

Hollywood, FL was the place where Anna Nicole Smith had her last breath and apparently one of the 9/11 terrorists called it home once. But let's not hold those things against the other Hollywood. The Jeweller said the place is "fantabulous''. And I finally get to blog about travelling again!

His shirt wasn't so lucky ...

The Geelong Poker Collective came together officially at The House of K-Beezer and Cameroon on Friday for the launch of the inaugural season. Truth be known, the season actually started on January 9 when I took out the $40 kitty and since then we've had two other tournaments, including the Australia Day Classic late last month.

What was meant to be one game turned into a double header that finished with a few sore heads around 2.15am. I will be experimenting with a variety of different shirts until one proves to be a winner and therefore will be known forever as the poker shirt. Texas Hold 'Em has a grip of yours truly, although I haven't resorted to playing online ... yet.

Poppa Blog won the first match, Cousin Davis won the second, I came second on both occasions while Cameroon was the first to be knocked out on both occasions, hardly fair when you're hosting the evening and putting on a good spread. Luckily, he was able to watch The Devil Wears Prada with K-Beezer and Momma Blog. We've been informed it's a good flick.

So Round 2 (which is probably Round 5) is at Cousin Davis' house in two Fridays time with a bigger field. But hopefully these four will be united to beat the other and take the hard earned. One has to have a pretty solid excuse to miss poker night. Cousin Davis even dismissed a lady interest to make Opening Night, so the cards have been put on the table very early on. Watch this space to see who will be crowned the champion in the Geelong Series Of Poker.

Musing about a romantic killer ...

I had a big week in more ways than one. In between the drama in and out of court, I attended Festival Hall on three occasions, all with Murfuoso, to see some big musical acts: My Chemical Romance (Monday), Muse (Wednesday) and The Killers (Thursday). Rather than have me tell you all about them, click on the links above to what the great man - no, not me - had to say about them. I'll just say I had a good time, and I got to meet The Killers backstage but there are no pictures as they wouldn't allow it!

Where's Wally? Geoff Clark is there, too ...

Far be it from me to talk about my job on this here blog, but JB was caught up in the mother of all media scrums yesterday covering the conclusion of Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark's civil rape trial. In short, Clark - who once held the lucrative and important position of the now-defunct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission - was found to have led two pack rapes of a girl shortly after her 16th birthday, himself still a teen, more than 35 years ago.

I don't want to really talk about it in this personal and therefore precious space, so you can Google his name to get the 411. But I liked the picture and have received much grief from colleagues and friends alike that a picture of me, tongue sticking out whilst trailing an impassive Clark following the verdict was on the front of today's newspaper. Apparently I was on many news services last night as well. It was very quick and some of the throng, myself included, were lucky enough not to be hit by passing traffic.

K-Lenko sent me this dispatch via e-mail today: "I love to see a reporter hungry for a story, licking his lips at the prospect of a scoop and getting his mug on the front of the esteemed broadsheet. Showed a couple of people in the office and all agree it was quite funny." Funny perhaps, but definitely worthy of a pay rise too.