Posts tagged mind
“The Social Network” Are We Too Linked In?
Oct 6th
“Are We Too Linked In?”
THE SOCIAL NETWORK is the story of the creation of Facebook.com and its aftermath, and if you don’t know what Facebook is, what planet have you been living on for the past six or seven years?
Although it isn’t a documentary, the film is based on the 2009 book by Ben Mezrich, THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES: THE FOUNDING OF FACEBOOK, A TALE OF SEX, MONEY, GENIUS, AND BETRAYAL, which pretty much describes the story, but even the book contains a lengthy disclaimer admitting it contains “fudged facts” for the benefit of a good story.
At any rate, David Fincher directed, Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay, and Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard drop-out who created the world’s most popular social-networking Internet Website and who has been called the world’s youngest billionaire.
And if we can believe the book, the movie, and many other corroborating accounts, the genesis for Facebook occurred in 2003 when Zuckerberg was a geeky sophomore and got dumped by his girlfriend.
What happened next in the life of this socially inept computer genius is the stuff of this marvelous film and the events that affected his career and now is a part of half-a-billion users worldwide.
Imagine the box-office results if every Facebook user wants to see this film.
Stung by his girlfriend’s rejection, Zuckerberg goes back to his dorm room, blogs about the breakup, and then fueled by quite a few beers, hacks into the servers of the Harvard computer system, downloads photos of coeds, and then creates the Facemash domain, which asks visitors to identify which of two girls is “hotter.”
The response is so successful that it crashes the Harvard.edu Website.
Enter the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler. They have had an idea for a Harvard social-network site called “The Harvard Connection,” and they approach Zuckerberg to build it for them. The rest, as they say, as does the subtitle of the source book, is “sex, money, genius, and betrayal.”
Zuckerberg’s best friend, initial backer, and original partner in his vision to expand a computer social network beyond Harvard is Eduardo Saverin, and the film consists of interlocking scenes of the two lawsuits against Zuckerberg and flashbacks to the events.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK brings to mind the question, “Are we too linked in to the Internet and modern technology?”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Get Low” Get Down to Business
Aug 24th
“Get Down to Business”
GET LOW is a wonderful little film starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray that will have you chuckling throughout and wiping away a tear at the end.
It takes place in the 1930s and is based on a true event in which a local recluse wanted to throw a funeral party for himself while he was still alive so he could hear what people had to say about him.
Duvall plays Felix Bush in an outstanding performance that could easily win him an Academy Award nomination in 2011 for Best Actor.
Bush is a local legend who has lived alone in his house out in the woods for 40 years, which causes the kids in town to gather up their courage and go out to throw rocks through a window.
Whenever Bush harnesses his mule to his wagon and goes into town, it causes a sensation, one that doesn’t always end well.
One day Bush goes into town to see the local preacher in his church; he pulls out a wad of money and says to the preacher, “About time for me to get low.”
When the preacher asks what he means by “get low,” Bush explains, “Down to business.”
However, when Bush tells the preacher what he wants, the preacher turns him down.
On the other hand, business has been bad at the funeral home, and when the funeral director, Frank Quinn, played by Murray, hears about Bush’s desire and especially about his wad of money, Quinn is eager to do business with the recluse.
However, Bush has more in mind than just a funeral party and hearing what everyone has to say about him. Bush has a secret that he wants to reveal, and he also wants to sell $5 tickets for a raffle, the winner to get Bush’s house on 300 acres of uncut timber when he does die.
Well, money makes people do funny things, and everything doesn’t go as planned, to say the least.
Spacek plays Mattie, a widow, and as Bush puts it, he once “had a go” with Mattie, but she also figures prominently in Bush’s secret and why he has been a recluse for 40 years.
GET LOW gets down to business as an excellent film that I admired for its story, the acting, and its rewarding conclusion.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”