Add as Friend: Social Network Review

I was hesitant that the movie of the Social Network wouldn't be as good as the trailer. I was wrong. The script is hilarious, Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Zuckerberg is uncanny and even Justin Timberlake is hilarious as Sean Parker. As someone who has built an paying career on user generated and social media content and technology, I am of course a ripe audience member for The Social Network and was going to love it even a little bit even if it was pure crap. At the post screening Q&A which included the cast and writer Aaron Sorkin, I was surprised that all of the cast members admited they don't even have facebook profiles despite all the "research" that went into the film. (I was reminded of the executives I work with that don't have facebook profiles who mandate we work with facebook as a means to itself without having any idea how the site operates.) So, essentially, The Social Network is less about Zuckerberg or the founding of facebook but actually a meditation on how the advancement of digital technology has destroyed the classic entertainment industry and narrative as we knew it. A lot of critics are comparing the film to Citizen Kane but since I saw the film last night, I keep thinking about Robert Altman's Nashville. Just like Nashville used the country music industry as a tool to investigate the politics and culture of the 1970's, the Social Network is essentially a documentation of what we've all been up to over the past decade and how the advancement of "technology" is not socializing us, but actually tools for alienation and capitalization. It's a film about the losers and the winners, the rich and the poor and the drifters and the stars in Silicon Valley. And thank god it's all documented as an actual "motion picture" rather than just a fleeting status update.

Australia Movie Review

Rabbit-Proof Fence+City Slickers+Gone With the Wind=Australia

I predict in a slow year for film so far, Australia is now the top contender for best picture. I have to admit, it was fantastic in an old-Hollywood epic kind of way.

BAFTA Awards

I just returned from a BAFTA Awards East Coast party where the food was British and bad and the live feed was broken, so I don't have much to report except the following fashion comments.

Marion Cotillard is so hungry waiting for bad British food that she's ready to fly away back to the USA or Paris.

Thandie Netwon look stunning in a satin and lace dress that looks like she stole it right off the Carmen Marc Valvo runway show I saw in NYC on Friday.

Tribeca Film Festival Update

Tonight I attended a BAFTA reception at the Soho House in honor of British filmmakers showing at the Tribeca film festival. I haven't been to the "Ho-Ho" house in years but despite the fact that (as usual) Todd bagged going to BAFTA with me, I put on a new Spring outfit and went all by myself. Within the first ten minutes, I made a new friend named Wendy who works at WE TV. The only celeb we spotted was Kim Catrall. Jane Rosenthal was also there but Jane is not a celeb.

The most interesting part of the evening is that I actually ran into someone in from LA that I met during that crazy party I went to last fall in LA. If you read that post, you can see how traumatic that evening was for me. So, I said to him, "It's surprising to see you" and he replied, "I'm actually not surprised to see you. You have a blog." What the hell does that mean?

Baftas!

I was unable to live blog the BAFTAs because I was actually at the BAFTA East Coast party! As expected, Helen Mirren won for The Queen and The Queen won for Best Picture. Unexpectedly, Eva Green who is quite beautiful won for Best Up and Comer but she looked like she was channeling another once promising English rose Helena Bonham Carter who has never been known for her fashion sense. Emily Watson also made an error in fashion judgement. Both Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) won for Best Supporting Actress and Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) won for best supporting actor but both didn't show up. Last King of Scotland was awarded Best British Film. As they say in UK, I'm knackered!

Eva Green channels Helena Bonham Carter...not a good choice.

Best Actress Helen Mirren looks smashing!

Todd and I peruse the program while Emily Watson looks unhappy with her own fashion choice.

Music and Lyrics

Does art imitate life or does life imitate art or does life imitate art imitating life? Take the following example:

A couple of weeks ago I went on a promising date with a musician. Since the date, this man went on vacation and has been back for a week. Due to his busy schedule, he cancelled a date last Thursday and is busy preparing for a show he is doing next week. Before our date, I accidentally had a conversation with him(which I forget most of) under the influence of a bedtime Ambien. I later apologized for whatever I said under the influence of the velvet hammer which this blog will prove is a term I've been for Ambien since 2003.

Tonight, I went to meditate and then decided to log onto myspace.com. I decided to look at the musician's personal page where I noticed that he changed his status to "in a relationship." I'm pretty sure he's not in a relationship with me so I'm not sure if this just means nothing or he has a girlfriend. Of course, I'm also pretty sure based on past experiences, he probably got back together with a girlfriend. Then, I decided to torture myself and look at his official music page where I then noticed he had uploaded a new song entitled "Velvet Hammer." Then I listened to the song surprised that it was purely an instrumental so the meaning of the song is still a pure mystery to me although I'm 100% sure I inspired the title. This is not the first time I've inspired a NYC band to write a song. Back in 1999, the late great Cogs wrote a song called Joanna about a story I told about an old roommate of mine. So, I don't know if this guy digs/dug me or perhaps I'm just a fleeting muse among yet another musician/artist. In any case, I then immediately called Todd and explained the situation to him. Since we are going to the BAFTA screening tomorrow night of Music and Lyrics, Todd immediately exclaimed, "This is just like Music and Lyrics." Then, Todd and I decided to actually write the lyrics to the music which Todd then recorded to the actual music but we will not post for the public until this situation is resolved. But, without the music, here are the lyrics to the song which was originally recorded by the musician who from this day forward will now be known by the nickname of "Music And Lyrics."

you tell me to get ready

that you're coming back

i cant sleep

you hit me like a velvet hammer

you say you're in a relationship

i dont know if it's me or someone else

but that's what it says on myspace and i cant sleep

i need to take the velvet hammer

(chorus)

like the little white pills

you put me in a dream

but now you're just a side effect my doctor warned me about

you promised me that every day would smell like christmas eve

but now i only taste regret

and all i'm left with is the velvet hammer

As you can see, there is a lot going on here and these are my questions.

1. Does this dude have a girlfriend?

2. Should I be flattered he wrote the song but didn't tell me about it?

3. Am I reading too much into all this because I'm getting stir crazy from this freezing cold weather?

With all this confusion combined with the mystery surrounding the death of Anna Nicole, I'm so wound up that I'm going to have to take a velvet hammer to make myself fall asleep.