A Box Office Blackjack

21 THE MOVIE - sonypictures.com

Card counter Jeff Ma of the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) blackjack team dropped his pseudonym and anonymity this year in the epilogue of Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House, an inside scoop on six MIT students who won millions in Las Vegas in the late 90s.

Now a major motion picture that debuted worldwide Friday, Ma’s story scored number one in the box office and earned $24.1 million under the title “21” in it’s first weekend.
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But it’s not the greed that gets me going, it’s the vicarious thrill of watching these guys beat systems that aren’t supposed to be beat.
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Ma’s secret lasted a decade after his MIT escapade and six years after Mezrich’s novel had first been published. Not only was Ma’s name published, he also appeared on the big screen in a handful of shots as Planet Hollywood Dealer Jeff.

“The climate around gambling back then—it wasn’t the same as it is today,” said Ma in an interview with Mezrich in Vegas last year. “This was before the poker craze, and the resurgence of Vegas. Gambling was still kind of dirty—it wasn’t socially acceptable.”

Ma came from a conservative upbringing in upper-middle-class New England suburbia where he was shipped to Exeter Academy at twelve and naturally transitioned to MIT from there.

Because he feared how he would be perceived, especially by his father, for playing blackjack, Ma kept weekend card-counting expeditions a secret and separate from his life in Boston where he graduated from MIT and first worked as an investment banker at a firm in Chicago.

His double life was preserved on-screen by Ben Cambell (Jim Sturgess, Across the Universe), an MIT whizkid accepted early to Harvard Medical School – an elite educational opportunity he could not afford.

Although the real story is quite compelling, Hollywood naturally found a way to kick it up a notch with fictitious conflict, crafted struggles (tuition for Harvard Med, a fatherless protagonist, teammate love interest, estranged friendship from leading a double life, illegal interrogation by U.S. casino security…), and stretched ending.

“The movie didn’t do the book justice,” is a cliché that can be thrown away here. Yes: there were enough card-counting flaws and strays from the real story to annoy any informed viewer. But the movie wasn’t about teaching moviegoers how to count cards or train team play.

It was about retelling the MIT blackjack experience, a real tale fit for the big screen.

“I am turned on by stories that involve young kids making huge fortunes, and living large,” wrote Mezrich in the Epilogue of his book renamed 21, “But it’s not the greed that gets me going, it’s the vicarious thrill of watching these guys beat systems that aren’t supposed to be beat.”

And they beat the system because they aren’t gambling. Instead, they use large bankrolls to invest in their two percent edge over the casino.

“It’s a combination of math and acting. If you do it right, you make money; if the casinos catch you doing it, they kick you out,” wrote Mezrich, “That’s the purest evidence that its not gambling—casinos love gamblers. They hate card counters.”

Northshore Nannies Share the Big Screen Story

THE NANNY DIARIES - The Weinstein Company

The north shore Chicago is known for its affluence and high-paid nanny jobs. Subparents are in high demand in these parts, and at Trinity International University (TIU) there are plenty in supply.

Both female and male TIU students find job postings for babysitting and subparenting on MyTrinity online. Just Monday over two-dozen want ads were posted at a minimum of $10 an hour.

“We are a happy, fun-loving family with three adorable boys,” wrote a mom from Deerfield. “Looking for someone to play with and help with homework from 4:00 – 7:00.” The pay rate is $10 -$12 and the mom is usually home but she “needs an extra set of hands.”

References and a car are commonly requested, but not always required.

Local suburb parents have paid up to $14 cash an hour while students pocket tax-free income. Money is never a problem, but the hours add up, the favors increase in inconvenience and the pressure to be available always becomes overwhelmingly stressful.

Two anonymous TIU Seniors, Nanny A and Nanny B, are seasoned childcare professionals of the area. They worked nearly 30 hours a week during the summer and have cut that number in half while taking classes spring semester.

Both are familiar with working while the parents are around, and Nanny A has experienced babysitting children with an incompetent father.

“He can’t take care of his own kids, he can’t even put them to bed,” said Nanny A. “The mom cooks some times, but we usually order food for take-out. I clean up more than she does, they have a cleaning lady, and she bribes her kids. They seriously can’t take care of their kids on their own.”

Nanny A was called out of class 11 a.m. Tuesday to drive to the children’s house, grab wipes and diapers, a change of clothes, and water bottles for everybody, get to Portillos at 11:30 a.m. and save 16 seats. She is paid $12 an hour.

Nanny B usually shows up cook breakfast for the kids while the mom works from home. She has learned that “you can do anything with money.”

“Last summer the mom accidentally messed up the t-shirt designs for her daughter’s birthday and paid-off the Marriot front desk guy to reprint the corrections at Kinkos within the hour,” said Nanny B. That mom got those prints in time.

During the summer, Nanny B spent a lot of time at a clubhouse pool with her kid, and was scorned for repeating swimwear.

“I wore little sundresses and my cute sunglasses – I can't look bad in front of these crazy women who are never seen in anything but the latest fashion in tennis wear,” said Nanny B. She gets paid up to $18 an hour.

The TIU nannies have enough anecdotes to fill a book, but they are all about six years too late.

In 2002, two New York University graduates teamed up and published a novel about their combined eight years of upper eastside Manhattan babysitting that paid for college tuition and loans. Newsweek announced the novel as a “phenomenon.”

Authors Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin’s New York Time’s bestseller “The Nanny Diaries” played out on the big screen last year starring Scarlet Johansson as Nanny.

The movie and book are fiction versions of Nanny’s experience at an upper class home with the X family: an absent, unfaithful and workaholic father, and a grossly self-seeking mother who does not cook, clean or care for her son, a neglected four-year-old boy.

Premieres at a Dorm Television Near You

GREY'S ANATOMY - abc.com

Television’s most watched drama “Grey’s Anatomy” returns to Trinity Hall’s Chicago Wing second floor suite TV screen 8 p.m. Thursday as the fall premieres weeks are just ahead.

Last year the new Trinity residence hall venue, that comfortably accommodates about five people, attracted over a dozen female students for an hour on Thursday evenings.

Although most of the group are currently graduated or living off-campus, the remaining few will continue to gather around the plasma screen for “Grey’s” fourth season, said second-floor resident Erica Koster.

A sneak peek of the premier episode is available at abc.go.com. It is reminiscent of the Pilot as new interns are broken-in, including Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) half sister Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) who introduces a pseudo-love triangle with Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey).

“Grey’s” was nominated for best drama series at the 2007 Emmy Awards Sunday and Katherine Heigl won best supporting actress for her performance as Isobel “Izzie” Stevens. Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) is the only familiar who is not returning to the show.

All female students are welcome to the second floor suite for the Thursday night showings, said Resident Assistant Natalie Zierten. Fans with conflicts can miss scheduled broadcasts without getting lost or left behind, because episodes are posted online as soon as the next day, and complete seasons are sold on DVD.

Those who lived on the second floor easily adopted “Grey’s Anatomy” fan status because Koster’s roommate Vanessa Speer owned the first and second season on DVD.

“I watched seasons one and two in like a week,” said former second-floor resident Wendy Moore who borrowed Spear’s DVDs. She also finished “Lost” season one, about 18 hours, in one weekend with roommate Jesse Edson. “Lost” season four doesn’t return until January.

The third season of “Prison Break” debuted Monday on Fox, and will be watched faithfully in Buffalo Grove at a women’s soccer house, although not always at 7 p.m. Mondays.

“We record the show on our DVR and watch it whenever we have time,” said house resident Laura Della Torre. The digital video recorder (DVR) operates just like the popular television recorder TiVo.

“The Office” returns for its fourth season Thursday on NBC. Men’s basketball player Tyler Liston already purchased the third season DVD that only recently became available this month.

The comedy’s 8 p.m. airtime competes with “Grey’s Anatomy” for thirty minutes. While the Trinity females choose a gender-exclusive site to watch their favorite show, the males can gather around Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and hear his latest overused one-liner: “That’s what she said!”

Other popular dates among Trinity students include “House” Tuesdays, “CSI” Thursdays, and “CSI-Miami” Tuesdays.

Starting a new show can be a hefty commitment for college students. Taking the plunge comes addiction and self-control issues. Viewers dive into the plots of their favorite dramas, confusing reality and fantasy for an hour a night and sometimes, in Moore’s and Edson’s case, entire days in a week – classes and studies are usually the first to get shafted.

“I don’t study as it is,” said transfer Bobby McColl with a smirk, “and if I get addicted to a television show then I definitely won’t study.”