Gettin' Back to My Cactus Roots--Tucson, AZ

Dan and I went to see the movie 21 yesterday.  Sadly, it was not so good.  We originally went to see it because we thought it was about Doyne Farmer and his Chaos Cabal, a group of maverick physicist geeks who used the Chaos Theory to crack the roulette wheel back in the 1970s.    Dan had seen a documentary piece about the Chaos Cabal's stint with roulette wheels and thought it was interesting.  We expected the movie to be even better.

Instead, 21 brought to life the book Bringing Down The House: The Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas For Millions.  The M.I.T. students exploited black jack through a system of card counting and working the tables as a team. 

Although the book is supposed to be much better, the movie was rather predictable and unexciting.  Kevin Spacey, whom I typically love, just comes off as going through the motions as the movie's villain/antagonist.  The dialog is terrible.  And they severely botch the geography of Las Vegas, saying that one hotel is right next to another when, in reality, it is not.

There is a TV series on the History Channel called Breaking Vegas, which features an episode about Doyne Farmer and his Chaos Cabal working their physics magic with the roulette wheel.  I recommend it to anyone who disliked 21 as much as we did.

Off to get on with my day.

Cheers.