In Reality: The preferred employment field for ex-convicts, a carnival worker leads a nomadic lifestyle traveling across the country setting up and manning rickety deathtrap rides and rigged midway games for minimal pay. There's absolutely nothing glamorous to that gig, and rarely will you find a complete set of teeth amongst the staff at your local amusement park. You more or less live in a rundown camper and spend your days and nights hearing the same loud music, beeps, buzzers and voices on an infinite loop, counting the minutes until your next bathroom (methamphetamine) break. And on a good night you get to clean up the vomit on the Gravitron. Just living the dream. In The Film: Mike Connell, played by Ryan Reynolds lives a life very unlike most carnival techs. He's a wannabe rock star who "once jammed with Lou Reed" and uses his notoriety as the guy that fixes the Tilt-A-Whirl to pull in chicks by the dozen. Everyone knows the best place to pick up women is strutting around the ziploc-bagged goldfish rocking a tool belt.