The Social Network

Just came back from a screening of The Social Network, and was pleasantly surprised that is was really good.  The dialogue and acting was good, borderline great.

The film opens in a bar with Zuckerberg and what appears to be his girlfriend, but that ends quickly as soon as he starts talking more and becomes more of an ass to her, and we see them break up right there. Mark Zuckerberg is made to appear to be a ruthless ass, but in my opinion in this portrayal he is a rather sad character. He lacks many social skills, and has borderline asperger syndrome, he is a genius but he has absolutely no social skills.  He is often seen as being defensive and abusive to his friends.  The movie makes him seem like he would stab his mother in the back to get ahead, but it also shows just how lonely this man really is.  Eisenberg does a wonderful job of the portrayal of the character, he delivers his lines perfectly and somehow fits the nerd stereotype perfectly (who would have guessed that).

The movie does a great job of showing just how important it is to be first to market, you can take an idea and make it better and everyone wants a piece of the pie.  Justin Timberlake does a good job portraying Sean Parker, a character everyone can truly hate.  Sean seems to be  a waste of human space and is lucky to live off the coat tails of others.  He is that loser that everyone knows, you feel sorry for, but still hate him.  He did one good thing and he'll never let you forget it, and he leads a path of destruction without knowing it.  He is paranoid, scared, wants to be the center of attention at all times, and is just truly pathetic.

And Finally the last main character Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, is Mark's only real friend, and is truly screwed by Facebook.  Eduardo gave the seed money to start the company, and tried to get capital but did not have enough connections.  This is where Zuckerberg as it appears in the movie decides to go for money and screw his friendship. Eisenberg does seem upset by the fact he screwed over his friend and the movie almost makes it seem like he had no choice in the option.  This came after facebook got a large investment from a company and the shares needed to be diluted.  It was known from day one that Eduardo would be the one getting screwed, but he signed the papers thinking that he is working with his friend, and was he so ever wrong.  He does now own about 5% of the company worth about $1.1 billion (I know so sad) but was betrayed by his friend in the process.  The dialog in the movie during the various mediations from the two concurrent lawsuits is truly priceless and needs to be witnessed.

The film ends with Zuckerberg hearing he needs to settle the suits because no one can like him with a jury, and he does the one thing that all of us have done before, checking on his ex on facebook.  This little mistake that we have all caught ourselves doing that is not good for anyone, but he takes it a step further and requests to be friends.  We've all been there and just a piece of advice if something has truly messed you up, and you no longer talk, don't do it.  Don't cause yourself more pain by opening up old wounds, learn from your past experiences and move on, try not looking back too much.

But I thought it was a great film that you should go see, I did see it for free, but I would have gladly paid to see the movie.  Yes actually want to pay to see a movie means that it is good, and you should check it out.

Detroit 187

As I sit here staring at my laptop screen hoping that something good will magically be written about the show, I'm left pondering just where the bullet train will take me in Detroit.  The main problem with that is that I know what the bullet train is, and the loop it takes me in. (Chime cheesy music in the background to give that Detroit 187 feel)

     I watched the show with low expectations, and yet I was somehow disappointed, it might just be after watching the Wire that no cop show can compare, but this just seemed worse than most.  The actors did not look authentic. The Detroit area is one of the most racially diverse cities in the country, yet the cops just don't look like they belong here. Unfortunately, only the criminals passed the authentic-Detroiter litmus test. (I will admit I did laugh when I saw the criminal trying to run away with the metal slide, that I can somehow see happening in this fine city).  But seriously if the producers tried to give this show an authentic feeling don't call it soda and never put ketchup on a coney dog.

     The acting was bad.. the story line was uninviting. Am I really interested in seeing what happens to the characters next? Not really.  This show unless it takes drastic changes will last a season at most, and if it stays the same maybe six episodes.  All that said, I'm still going to watch it to support Detroit. (even though it really doesn't have much to do with supporting Detroit.)

Wow, blogs...are these things still around?

Not going to lie, I have been terribly busy.  The festival, photography, work, and my new hobby sailing.  The festival was one of the most successful festivals in it's thirty year history, this makes all of us feel good.  Even the city feels good about it, hell the city manager has given us a green light for anything we want to try to bring in people/money; so in October we're having a Fall Fest/Oktoberfest.

Photography has taken a backseat recently due to my hectic schedule, but I still have a chance to take some photos.  I've met a new gallery owner and he's interested in my stuff. 

Sailing, my one and only true get away from everything.  My phone stays off, I take no electronics and I get to get away from it all.  It's just the wind that carries you.  I'm not going to lie, the first time I went out I was scared out of my mind.  We went on a windy/gusty day where the boat was nearly sideways most of the time, but I loved it. I've been asked to join the race team, but the festival schedule prevented me from doing this, and there's no way in hell I'll be missing the team next year.  It's just pure unadulterated fun on the boat.  I only wish I could do it more.

Life is good and fun at the moment and I'm still flying high on the success of our festival, wait till next year though we plan on bigger and better.  We put this together in 8 weeks, now we have a year to plan it.  You think we did an awesome job this year??? You won't even believe what you'll see next time. So stay tuned for a good time.