

MIT students being badass on the big screen -- the '21' movie trailer (Bringing Down The House) - pius
http://www.piusuzamere.com/2007/11/19/the-bringing-down-the-house-movie-is-going-to-be-badass

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geebee
The book was a lot of fun, and the movie looks like it'll be entertaining too.
It was a little silly that the book pitched itself as "the book vegas doesn't
want you to read," though. Vegas loves this book, and vegas loves this movie.
How many people are really going to organize a card counting team talented
enough to beat a big casino? This movie will fill hotel rooms and get the kids
down at the blackjack table. +1 for Vegas.

One thing that irritates me slightly - the blackjack team was mainly Asian,
from what I've read. The casinos were ready to believe that an irresponsible
child of super wealthy Asian parents was throwing down this kind of money at
the tables - a stereotype that the MIT team successfully used to avoid
detection for some time.

But eh, it still looks like fun. I'll probably go see it. And yeah, I'll
probably lose some more money at blackjack.

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henning
I've never gambled, but from what I've heard Vegas has a hostile attitude
towards cardcounters. This always seemed highly irrational, because often
times they bring their silly spouse who gives back to the casino more than the
smartypants card counter earns.

Then there's the fact that unless you really have some kind of special ace up
your sleeve, you can only make maybe $10-25/hr. If you have the smarts to pull
off some fancy gambling thing, you can probably use your limited brainpower
elsewhere in more profitable ways. It becomes work like anything else. Doing
it is not fun, it requires intense concentration and extensive preparation.

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geebee
Yeah, the whole thing does seem like a big waste of time. The MIT blackjack
team is capable of 1) writing software to calculate the expected value of a
bet under variable counts and deck sizes, 2) focusing well enough to keep
count under duress, 3) working closely in a tightly coordinated team
environment, and 4) finding investors.

They don't need to be plaing blackjack, even under favorable circumstances.
They can find a higher expected return by moving to Wall Street and doing
computational finance, or by starting software companies.

That said, have you ever read Thorpe's "beat the dealer"? There is someting
kind of great about gaining an edge over a casino like this. For whatever
reason, the idea of using math and computer programming to gain an edge over a
casino seems to appeal enormously to a subsection of the population.

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ed
Most of this was actually shot on BU's campus. The scene where they're
learning how to play was shot in the basement of Mugar (BU's main library).

Apparently MIT doesn't look enough like MIT...

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aston
First off, MIT's ugly... Second, and probably more important, MIT doesn't
actually allow anyone to film for movies on campus.

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pius
I don't think MIT's ugly, but I was certainly in the minority on that issue
when I was on campus.

The reunion scene in Good Will Hunting was actually shot on Kresge Oval (I
think), but I'm not sure why they went elsewhere for interiors. You may be
right.

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aston
I was just kidding about the ugly. I'm a huge fan of the campus architecture.

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__
The book read so much like an action movie that I thought they wouldn't have
to change it much to make a movie out of it. I was wrong.

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joeguilmette
yea i thought the book was a good enough. i saw a discovery channel special
about it, and they just made stuff up and left important details out.

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kobs
I read the book (along with "Ugly Americans") back in high school and enjoyed
it. Looking forward to seeing a live-action version.

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mattmaroon
Too hilarious. I've met a lot of the people involved in that. Can't wait to
see if they show up in the movies.

