Oscar Best Picture Nominee: The Social Network
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg. Andrew Garfield. Justin Timberlake. Arnie Hammer
Directed by: David Fincher
Produced by: David Fincher. Scott Redin. Dana Buinetti. Michael De Luca. Cean Chaffin. Kevin Spacey


Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%


Synopsis: This film follow the founding of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), a socially awkward resident of a Harvard Dormitory, had an inspiration from his breakup and what should have been an online bitch fight, he developed the world's greatest online phenomenon. But the road to heaven is not too easy as he faces charges of copyright infringement from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Arnie Hammer) while he endangers his friendship to his co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).

Facebook is indeed the world's greatest online phenomenon to date. This generation has been a witness how Facebook (alongside with Twitter) revolutionized social networking from a simple connecting medium for friends and families to a platform of idea exchange and civilian journalism. I mean, Facebook and Twitter made it easier for news to travel and so on and so forth. The expected exponential growth that of Facebook, far more successful than Friendster during the early 2000s, raises curiosity to the persona behind this huge success. Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg is on the it-list as he amassed fortunes worth billions in less than 10 years.
Therefore, it is no surprise that The Social Network, loosely based from Ben Mezrich's novel The Accidental Billionaires, become the buzz and a hit on the blockbuster.

Quite honestly, I didn't find the movie that great. Partially because I like underdogs more (This move swept the Big four awards- there are only two others) but I just think that the movie is too over the top-- purely depending on the success of Facebook to generate ticket revenue. To be fair, I'm a fan of non-linear timeline: I mean, it takes too much effort and great creativity to create a story without confusing the audience. However, I found the film boring (Watched it in three breaks) because I was annoyed with Jesse Eisenberg's blabbering. I just see the movie as plain blabbering of Zuckerberg-- tactlessly bashing people, carelessly endangering friendship and back-stabbingly pretending to be a great ass.

Given that and of the primary principle of  fairness, I have to say that Eisenberg's acting really worked on me. I mean who else can act like that and have me smirk randomly whenever I hear him in my mind blabbering about the cup size of the girl who broke up with him ("Cup B, as in barely anything there" hilariously annoying).  I would not have any guy like that character dating me. Eisenberg is a natural actor, though, the script really flows within him (But not that great to overcome Colin Firth for the Best Actor Award). I should say also that the rest of the cast did very well in the acting, especially Andrew Garfield, oh god he is hot. It is fair to say that the motivations of all the characters are pretty well established that the believability of their acting is strong enough to persuade the audience. Note that siding on which side is hard enough.

It is just I heard so much about The Social Network that it was kind of implanted to my subconscious that this movie is highly commercialized/sensationalized. As I said, I am for underdogs so given the warm receptions of the audience and the critics, this movie would not disappoint if ever it wins an award. It is easy to say that The Social Network is not my cup of tea (So does Facebook).

Other Oscar Nominations:
Best Actor. Jesse Eisenberg
Best Cinematography. Jeff Cronenweth
Best Director. David Fincher
Best Film Editing. Kirk Baxter. Angus Wall
Best Sound. Ren Klyce. David Parker. Michael Semanick. Mark Weingarten
Best Adapted Screenplay. Aaron Sorkin

Tactless me

This past few days, I have been the center of the attention of one of my facebook pages I belong to. That page was inteded for the alumni and current students of my high school. Well, I seldom post there, I am not a fan of those things but for the sake of quenching the thirsts of my ex-classmate for news about me I reluctantly accepted the invitation for me to join and have some posts there occasionally. It so happens that one night while I boringly surfed the net and I came by the page, a post of someone I didn't know (but apparently from my school) irritated me a lot.  

I can't remember what she said (let's name her Ms. X) verbatim but it's something about FaceBook being overcrowded and you need to repost that particular note Ms. X posted around 15 times (I think) so that Mark Zuckerberg, His Eternal Hotness, would not delete your account. The post irritated me so much to the point that I replied, with a very harsh tone, that obviously insulted Ms. X.

I deemed the post stupid. Of course it is! IT IS A FREAKING CHAIN MAIL, a freaking, in short, a waste of time. Yes, I know I am guilty of believing in those in some point of time (Who does not really?). But you get the sense of plain idiocy in posting these kinds of notes in a public post to gain access in a 23 kilobyte of attention from the world that does not care. In this era of information availability, these kind of notes is totally sacrilegious to the intent of using the internet which so happens many of us abuses. I reacted, in short, very negatively while emphasizing every word in caps lock. This had me the spotlight of the page and several people reacted, most of them neutrally, but there are some, well not counting Ms. X (which by the natural law of action and reaction responded to my reply), who also attacked me in the page.

 

I regretted replying to the post so blatantly. I must not have called her names. Maybe I was too bored that time because of staring the whole day on my TweetDeck page, but I know that that wasn't the right excuse for me to insult Ms. X. This is the thing about me. Ever since I was so frank and tactless I don't care for every word that comes to my mouth. My tita could recall how I corrected the grammar of a certain lady when I was three years old. I could also recall putting to shame a teacher of mine who does not know what he is talking about. My friends vividly remembers the day they met me and I unnecessarily commented on the way they act. I am very careless with my words and I say what I want to say, whether or not it is insulting or complementing (Well mostly it is insulting, but nonetheless, I complement people if they deserve to. That's a good one isn't it?). Well it just happened that what I did backfired on me.

At the end of the day I learned two things. One is that, words make or break. It matters very much what I say to a certain person and my words are my responsibility (So as you my dear reader.). On the brighter side, I have learned that there are still the dear old friends that reminds me that I have erred this time and that I should apologize for what I have done.

PS. I watched the 10th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables. My favorites are Fantine and Eponine, portrayed respectively by Ruthie Henshall and my idol Lea Salonga. This past few days, I am suffering-- the right term would be indulging-- having the Last Song Syndrome on I Dreamed A Dream, Fantine's Death, On My Own and Master of the House. Great watch it is! There are videos in YouTube