Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Okay, so Spidey 3, though it had its moments, wasn't amazing. But that's alright. For the truly amazing all you have to do is turn to real life, which never runs out of innovative ways to surprise and astonish. Have you ever heard of Attila Ambrus? I hadn't, and I even spent a few days in Budapest in his heyday. Luckily for us, author Julian Rubinstein was paying attention and wrote a book about his exploits. It's called Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, and it's about a Transylvanian who defected to Hungary, became the unpaid backup goalie of a professional hockey team in Budapest, and made his money by robbing banks and post offices. He was very good at it, and was known for his thoroughness, his politeness (even once giving a cashier flowers), and his penchant for whiskey. When he was finally caught he confessed to everything, but then decided it would be best if he broke out of jail, so he did.
That's just the broad strokes. You should read the book to truly appreciate the story of Attila Ambrus and the cast of colorful characters that lived in the outlaw days of post-communist Hungary.
Attila never killed anyone's uncle or turned into living sand, but his story is far more amazing than any onscreen burglar, I'll tell you that much.

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