THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Click on title of the movie to link to IMDb (Internet Movie Database)



My latest rental from Netflix: The Social Network about the guy(s) that invented Facebook. True story or as true as you can get from Hollywood.

It was done in flashbacks (I think) during the court cases where a bunch of guys were suing the dude that made millions of dollars on the idea. (He's now the youngest billionaire in the country. Or maybe the world.)

The movie was mostly talking. A lot of it was in computer programming jargon. But that wasn't really important to the plot so you can tune out the details of that unless you actually understand it. (It might be humorous for all I know.)

The movie was basically a bunch of computer nerds and a couple of jocks, all talking way too fast and getting drunk.

I did get the feel of what it's like on a modern college campus. Harvard wasn't exactly like the college in Animal House but close. (Wasn't Animal House a true story too? I seem to remember I was at that college?)

I got the feel of what a young people's party constitutes now-a-days. It's probably similar to when I went to college. But I was drunk and don't actually remember.

I found this movie to be a study of a guy who didn't have a clue about life and finally realized he was a minor jerk who traded in friends for making money.

It wasn't a comedy but wasn't really a drama either. I suppose it could be called a docu-drama, whatever that is.)

My favorite line: the college guys who thought Mark Whatever stole their idea were discussing whether to sue the guy or beat him up. One of the jocks in the debate said they didn't need to get the Sopranos to beat him up. "We can do that ourselves. I'm 6 foot 5, two-hundred and twenty, and there's TWO of me." He was a twin. (Heck, I spoiled the only funny thing in the movie. Sorry.)

The Social Network was okay, but not great, maybe one notch above The King's Speech but way below Avatar. It was aimed at a specific audience (and much younger than me.)

If you find stories about computer programming exciting, go for it.

Movies and Books

I'm doing something, rather two somethings, that I just LOVE to do (especially since I'm old & widowed. Think about it.) I'm reading books and watching movies.

I just finished a wonderfully long biography of Julia Child Appetite for Life and the "last" Matthew Goode movie my list.

It was actually Matthew's first movie--South from Granada, a 1920's memoir by author Gerald Brenan. It's a Spanish movie but worth the trouble of reading the subtitles while keeping an eye on the actors and action. There was a delicious scene of a younger Matthew, with golden reddish hair, dancing with his young senorita completely nude. They were both well-endowed. Gotta love those foreign movies.

Now I'm watching my way though Murdoch Mysteries from my local library. They're hour-long Canadian TV series episodes. Good, funny and free. And all the actors and actresses are good-looking with their Victorian clothes and "new-fangled" inventions like portraits/profiles, fingermarks/fingerprints, prototype X-rays and lie-detectors. The episode with the hooded figure that shoots arrows into people, is my favorite so far. I guessed the culprit right away, but it was fun watching Detective Murdoch guess it the same time he took an arrow in his upper arm. (Oops. Is that a spoiler? Sorry.)


Another thing, Canadian shows evidently allow all the actors to speak with their own accents--so you have Canadian, British, Irish, American and some undecipherable accents all in the same show. Unless, of course, they're doing it on purpose and it's not really real.

So. Recently I streamed a movie from Netflix about the romance of George Sand and Franz Liszt. George Sand (her pen name) was evidently a liberated woman who wore pants and smoked cigarettes years before the rest of us, and Liszt was a bit effeminate. They made a perfect match.

"The world will know and understand me someday. But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter. I shall have opened the way for other women." George Sand

George Sand, so they say, was a magnificent writer in her day. So I downloaded her novel Mauprat on my Kindle. Her writing IS good, at least in translation, but it's damn slow and I can only take it in small doses.

Amazing fact: I used to read a book first and then catch the movie. Loved the books but often found the movies lacking. Now, I do the opposite, love a movie and then love the book.

I loved Julie and Julia based on the book by Julie Powell who cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogged about it. She's now an author. Darn, I wish I'd thought of that first.

I read some reviews on Amazon from people who didn't like this book. I, on the other hand, loved the movie so much that after watching it nearly as many times I did Leap Year, I had to take a look at the book. I downloaded a "sample" on my Kindle. I found her style of writing so funny I just had to get it. So I did. Yay, Kindle, instant gratification.

I guess a lot of people don't get her witty sense of humor. I have that problem too--people don't seem to get my sense of humor. They think I'm serious. And stupid. Or at least weird, which is okay with me. But until they catch up, I'm still going to keep it up. As George said, "The world will know and understand me someday. But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter..."

Julie Powell mentioned her mother's horrified at her choices of where to live. Julie said she once lived in "an adobe in Middle-of-Nowhere, New Mexico."

Now, since I DO live in Middle-of-Nowhere, New Mexico, I got a good laugh-out-loud.

Julie uses a lot of cliches but in new and unexpected ways. Genius.

So, here I am in the middle of nowhere, reading two books, watching movies and old TV series on DVDs in my pajamas. You gotta love being a writer.

Since the weather's warm and sunny now I get outside often to play with the dogs and my grandkids (not necessarily in that order.)

And of course, I blog.

I tried to write for profit once but it cost me money to try to sell the damn books. So now I give them for presents and toss my writing out here in cyberland for free.

Enjoy. There's more where this came from. Toodle-Ooo