Hacker Cinema
The Gambler
2014 · Film · 111 min
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Literature professor Jim Bennett leads a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. Always a risk-taker, Bennett bets it all when he borrows from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. Staying one step ahead, he pits his creditor against the operator of an illicit gambling ring while garnering the attention of Frank, a paternalistic loan shark. As his relationship with a student deepens, Bennett must risk everything for a second chance.
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6 comments on Hacker News
This post reminds me of the John Goodman "The Position of F*ck You" scene in the 2014 movie "The Gambler", not only the tone but also the the attitude of self-sufficiency.
Cue John Goodmans speech from "The Gambler"
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039393/quotes/?item=qt2347398&ref_=ext_shr_lnk
(Warning, 4 letter words.)
Ha! One of my all-time favourites, the fuck-you position. The Gambler, the uncle giving advice:
You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Jap-economy shitbox, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that's your base, get me? That's your fortress of fucking solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of fuck you.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2039393/characters/nm0000422
You might accuse me of being glib in saying this, but this scene from the movie The Gambler[1] contains a lot of wisdom. The movie as a whole is moderately OK, but this scene really distills a lot of good stuff into a few minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJjKP8vYjpQ
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(2014_film)
I own my own home and this idea being pimped to millennials that they should lease everything from car rides, music, movies, bicyles, and shelter is a fast curtain to a bad "third act." (read that as old age)
John Goodman said it best while playing a loan shark in the the film "The Gambler..."
Frank: You get up two and a half million dollars, any a-hole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25-year roof, an indestructible [Japanese]-economy shit box, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that’s your base, get me? That’s your fortress of Fucking solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of fuck you. Somebody wants you to do something, fuck you. Boss pisses you off, fuck you! — Own your house. Have a couple bucks in the bank. Don’t drink. That’s all I have to say to anybody on any social level... Did your grandfather take risks?
Jim Bennett: Yes.
Frank: I guarantee he did it from a position of fk you. A wise man’s life is based around fuck you. The United States of America is based on fuck you. You have a navy? Greatest army in the history of mankind? Fuck you! Blow me. We’ll fuck it up ourselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfeXqHFmPI
>>The idea that you've got to be some sort of obsessive wretch with no life outside of tech in order to successfully fill a role at a tech company is nothing but a pernicious myth.
Right. But being good in this world is you vs your-peer-group. And if others in your peer group are too awesome, putting in insane hours and time getting ahead, sooner or later the top spots will be taken. And nobody likes to be stuck being ranked average despite the best they can do.
>>So is the idea that you've got to be some ridiculous super-genius.
Reminds me of this movie - "The Gambler"- A literature professor tells his students the difference between somebody who can write good stuff and being the next William Shakespeare. Everybody has to face this fact sooner or later. Special things happen only when you are ready to put in special effort. While reminding them, there is absolutely nothing wrong in being a electrician or a plumber.
>>All you have to do is be reasonably smart and capable of learning on the job.
Being good and not good enough will only take you that far. Of course, you can still do your job and get paid. But remember other people will likely take the top spots.
>>When interviewers at tech companies mistakenly believe that every successful candidate has to be building atom smashers in their spare time
Tech and especially fast changing ecosystem in Tech have seen large concentration of Nerds. Kind of people who've wanted to build video games, or win science fairs at school. When too many people of same type arrive at a place it becomes a culture.
>>But this isn't natural or normal or a product of biology - it's just bias perpetuating itself.
This is the most important part.
I had a friend who quit programming to do MBA and built a career there. He realized there is no way he would like to spend weekends exploring new tools that keep launching every few months and endless push to use bleeding edge stuff, work insane hours, weekends and with the overall fast paced, failure ridden culture of tech.
He is doing pretty well with managing business now.