Rounders is a movie in which the central character is not nearly as fascinating as the fringe players that surround him. Now, just hold up a moment. This isn’t a knock on Matt Damon who, as the central character, plays a reformed gambler who turned his attention to law school after overconfidence led to a $30,000 loss at an underground poker game of high rollers. At his age today, nobody holds a better career hand (ha-ha, poker joke) than Matt Damon. Following the box-office and Oscar success of Good Will Hunting (an acting nomination and a win for the script he wrote with co-star, friend and fellow South Boston townie Ben Affleck), Damon, 27, scored the title role in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan; nabbed the lead in The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient); re-teamed with Affleck in Dogma for Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy); and signed for the film of Cormac McCarthy’s best seller All the Pretty Horses when Leo DiCaprio turned it down. Might I also point out the magnificent Ocean’s [Insert Number Here] and Jason Bourne trilogies? But here’s the pull: Rounders (a term for a skilled player who earns a living at poker) is about Damon’s guilt-by-association re-entry into the gambling scene and his resulting struggle to maintain a front as the scrupulous, upright Joe he’s trying to become.
Day: January 25, 2008
Big Brother is watching and he doesn’t want you to stop … yet.
The District of Columbia seems to have a bit of a porn problem, since nine city employees have been fired and 32 others suspended for surfing the seedier side of the INTARWUBS during work hours. Of course, “bit” may actually be understating the case, as the nine that were KO’d were under the circumstances of visiting an “egregious” amount of porn websites. As defined by Dictionary.com, “egregious” means “extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant.” That’s a whole lot of furries, most definitely more than what’s recommended.
Then again, if it’s that easy to look at porn while you’re at work, well, maybe the onus should be spread around.
What if God called out one of us?
Jesus wants you!!! To use your upcoming State of the Union address to apologize and correct your moral faltering on public policy, Mr. Bush.
Your lucky-lotto numbers are
If a man is poor, does stealing bread to feed his family justify the act of stealing? Now, if a man wins $1,000 on a lotto ticket, but paid for the ticket with money from selling methadone pills, should he be allowed to keep it?
Repeal the unjust drinking law!
Right now, at this very moment, over 7 million people in this country are horribly oppressed. These are legal U.S. citizens, of all races, religions and political affiliations. They are single, married, divorced. They are young and they are old. The one thing they truly have in common is that they have the misfortune of living in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“Commonwealth” is a pretentious name for “state” used by Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In any case, Virginians are being oppressed by their own state government. The worst part is the vast majority of them don’t even know it. What is it? It’s a law that says it is illegal to make sangria within the state borders.
Sangria, the famous Spanish drink, is not allowed to be made in its true form, because the law says you cannot mix wine or beer with distilled spirits. If you make the drink, you could get locked up for a year. To this blog, that punishment is much stiffer than the drink itself.
Yes Virgina, there is sangria. It could be coming your way soon because the state general assembly is going to look at the law and hopefully change it. The Guys are sending Bryan Schools, the closest member to Richmond to protest outside the Virginia General Assembly all week long.