{"id":638,"date":"2006-07-02T22:33:28","date_gmt":"2006-07-03T03:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brubakers.us\/blog\/?p=672"},"modified":"2006-07-02T22:33:28","modified_gmt":"2006-07-03T03:33:28","slug":"its-all-about-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=638","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s All About Luck"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I haven&#8217;t had much lately.  Last night I was so mad at myself (and another poker player &#8212; actually I think I was more mad at them).  I lost $13 in one hand of poker.  Can you believe it?  I had pocket aces and the other player flushed on me.  Such horrible luck!<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of bad luck.  The Dills lost their keys the other night.  They didn&#8217;t find out until well after midnight when we were all leaving to go home.  They went back inside the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apl1.net\"  TARGET=\"out\">APL<\/a> building to search.  I told Brian to wait just in case.  I had a feeling they might have left it at Felipe&#8217;s where we had dinner before second session.  Anyway, they came back out with no keys.  Good thing Brian and I waited.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Felipe&#8217;s had long closed for the evening.  We were going to drive by there but Dill said that their the maintenance person said he was on his way.  I figured it would take a while for him to arrive but Dill said he lived onsite so we drove directly to their apartment.<\/p>\n<p>The maintenance person took a half an hour to get there.  We couldn&#8217;t really complain though, because it&#8217;s late.  He probably had to get dressed or something.  Anyway, Dill and Becca finally got in to their place to retrieve their spare key.  We then drove back to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apl1.net\"  TARGET=\"out\">APL<\/a> so they could get their car.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday they went to Felipe&#8217;s to claim their keys.  Thankfully, the keys were still there.  Bad luck, but it could have been worse.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"adbox\" style=\"float:left;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000EQHXNW%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000EQHXNW%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\" target=\"out\"><img src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/B000EQHXNW.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg\" alt=\"Match Point\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>So what does luck have to do with anything?  Well, more and more I&#8217;m starting to believe that life is all about luck.  Don&#8217;t get me wrong.  I believe in hard work.  But for the most part, it is all about being at the right place at the right time.  This view is only further reinforced by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000EQHXNW%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000EQHXNW%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\" TARGET=\"out\">Match Point<\/a>, a Woody Allen film I recently watched.<\/p>\n<p>In the movie, Chris makes the following statement: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The man who said &#8220;I&#8217;d rather be lucky than good&#8221; saw deeply into life. People are often afraid to realize how much of an impact luck plays. There are moments in a tennis match where the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, remains in mid-air. With a litte luck, the ball goes over, and you win. Or maybe it doesn&#8217;t, and you lose.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The validity of his observation is difficult to dispute.  No matter how hard we try to deny it, we all know that luck has a significant impact in our lives.  The ball has bounced in my favor way too many times for me to say that luck doesn&#8217;t mean anything.  I can only take credit for so much.  I know I&#8217;ve been very lucky.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, other movies that we&#8217;ve seen this week include <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B00005JOQS%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B00005JOQS%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Superman Returns<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000EQ5V86%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000EQ5V86%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Bloodrayne<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B00005JOQS%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B00005JOQS%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Superman Returns<\/a> was oustanding!  It turned out way better than I ever anticipated.  Kevin Spacey was a great choice for Lex.  I had my doubts about Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane because I&#8217;ve only seen her as a blonde.  Prior to watching the film, I thought Kate Beckinsdale might have been a better choice.  Kate Bosworth proved me wrong, though.  She played Lois quite well.  Brandon Routh as Superman was a match made in heaven.  I&#8217;d never heard of Brandon Routh before, but he is the spitting image of Christopher Reeve.  Brian says he even speaks like him.  The resemblance is uncanny.<\/p>\n<p>The casting directors did an impeccable job.  The producers deserve a pat on the back for this one.  Although, I thought it was funny to cast Kumar as one of the bad guys.  He had no speaking parts, though.  Oh, and my girl Parker Posey plays Kitty.  I think it&#8217;s funny that she always tends to play these flighty, eccentric characters in bigger films.  She plays much better roles in B-movies.<\/p>\n<p>About <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000EQ5V86%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000EQ5V86%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Bloodrayne<\/a>&#8230; I still can&#8217;t believe Brian and I really watched it!  It was a total waste of two hours.  What a horrible movie!  The acting was tragic.  The dialogue ridiculously stupid.  Even the wigs were awful!  Everything was bad!<\/p>\n<p>The best acting in the movie came from the woman who played the gypsy fortune teller.  I can&#8217;t believe Ben Kingsley and Michelle Rodriguez did that movie.  I expected so much more from them.  I guess everyone&#8217;s got to eat and pay the bills.<\/p>\n<p>Brian said I shouldn&#8217;t diss the movie to much, though, because it could have been way worse.  He said <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000EQ5V86%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000EQ5V86%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Bloodrayne<\/a> is actually better than <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000FGGE68%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000FGGE68%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Ultraviolet<\/a>.  It&#8217;s hard to imagine that there could be a worse film.  Then again, I haven&#8217;t seen <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/redirect?tag=lifeafter-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000FGGE68%2526tag=lifeafter-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=\/o\/ASIN\/B000FGGE68%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82\" target=\"out\"  title=\"View product details at Amazon\">Ultraviolet<\/a>.  Can it really be that bad?<\/p>\n<p>I guess we shall find out soon enough.  Brian put the movie (even though he hated it) on our <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/click?id=OFI2V9Oe39o&#038;offerid=78684.10000092&#038;type=4&#038;subid=0\"  TARGET=\"out\">Netflix<\/a> list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I haven&#8217;t had much lately. Last night I was so mad at myself (and another poker player &#8212; actually I think I was more mad at them). I lost $13 in one hand of poker. Can you believe it? I had pocket aces and the other player flushed on me. Such horrible luck! Speaking of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,10,13,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}