Apropos Quotations

"To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood."
George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

"Fortune can, for her pleasure, fools advance,
And toss them on the wheels of Chance."
Juvenal (55 AD - 127 AD)

"Where all think alike, no one thinks very much."
Walter Lippmann (1889 - 1974)


What a triumverate of poker-appropriate quotes, all on the Google quote of the day widget at the same time. I wasn't going to write about poker today, but how do I avoid those?

Let's start with Santayana, whose most famous quote would also apply to the poker world. ("Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.") Is there any joy in poker, short of maybe a HUGE tournament win, greater than that acheived by busting the arrogant assclown? The table captain who finally leaves, silenced and grumbling. The sore loser who reloads to bust your ass and only continues to donate. The poor winner who gets his comeuppance as you lay out your well-crafted plan of attack. Me, the 17th time in a row I've got aces. Oh how we love busting these donkeys.

Juvenal's quote may bring some peace during your 253rd bad beat of the night. For those fools who have been tossed on the wheels of chance will eventually be crushed by them.

As for Lippmann's quote - I've espoused the beauty of differentiation of poker styles since I started this blog. It'd be boring if we all played the same, and when a particular style (Harrington, small ball, Brunson, etc.) sweeps over the pokerverse, I do so love playing against the sheep who aren't original enough to adjust their style away from those hard and fast rules they've learned.

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Oh, I forgot to mention the Watchmen trailer before The Dark Knight. It's out there on the web too. Damn. It's really a 2 minute teaser for fans of the book, but visually it looks like it nails it. Now here's hoping all this talk of Snyder's love of the novel and his committment to being faithful to it is true. It could be awesome.

Is it sad that I didn't get the connection between "Watchmen" and Doc Manhattan being a "watch man" before he went into science until last night? The title naturally evokes the "who watches the watchers" concept, and that seemed to cloud the otherwise obvious pun.

Terminator Salvation also had a teaser... meh. The theme is still awesome, but this is looking pretty generic.

And why was there a Disney trailer? Bolt? Really? Yah, goes right along with the Batman crowd... please.

Tropic Thunder looks pretty funny though.