I’m late in writing this review but Christina and I went to see The Social Network and I would give it a 7 out of 10.  Since I’m a geek the subject matter of the movie pertained to my interests and even then I think if you are a geek you may be offended by how geeks are portrayed in the movie.  If you don’t consider yourself a geek, you don’t like social networking, or if you are a woman, there is an even better chance you will not like the movie. All geeks aren’t out to screw everyone over as the movie depicts and I’ll leave it up to you to say how you feel woman were portrayed.  I may spoil it for you if you haven’t already seen the movie so you may want to avoid reading any further until you get a chance to watch it.  I’m obsessed with researching things I learn to make sure they are as accurate as possible so after watching the movie I wanted to do some Googling to find out more on how accurate the movie is to what really happened and who the main characters are from the movie.

Erica Albright

The movie but it starts out showing Mark Zuckerberg creating a website rating the attractiveness of female Harvard students after his girlfriend Erica Albright breaks up with him.  It wasn’t tough to find Erica who posted the picture above on her website to show her viewers what she really looks like.  She writes that she had her friend “Dave” help her create the site below.

As far as Erica’s response as to how accurate the movie is from her perspective she says:
“10/2/10 – I went and saw the movie last night. Kind of crazy that someone is actually playing me in a movie! The movie definitely brought back some great memories….it made me miss my college years that’s for sure! (I feel soooo old) lol (: — I guess you could say the movie is “based on a true story” but there are many scenarios that were soooo made up by Hollywood! As far as the two scenes I’m in, the first one is fairly accurate, we did “break-up” over dinner, I do remember him ripping on my school (that wasn’t the first time)…but the second scene of me at dinner with my friends blowing Mark off never happened. (also he NEVER friended me on Facebook) lol! (: ”

Sean Parker

Photograph by Jonas Fredwall Karlsson

Not that he is the best role model in the world but Sean Parker is someone I have read about for years with my favorite article being the October 2010 Vanity fair article titled “With a Little Help From His Friends“.  In the article Parker is described as a “Web oracle; more than a few acquaintances and colleagues use the word “genius” to describe him. He understands not only computers and Web networks but also how people want to incorporate them into their lives. As a result, he’s been stunningly successful. That said, he has a libertine side. Parker has a knack for missing deadlines and appointments, for disappearing for weeks on end, for avoiding the press. (His decision to cooperate with a Vanity Fair profile is unprecedented and rather out of character.) He was pushed out of Facebook after an arrest for cocaine possession in 2005. (No charges were filed.) Even among his many supporters, he has a reputation for being an erratic party animal.”

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Cameron and Tyler are identical twins of Harvard’s rowing team who meet Mark and want his help creating the Harvard Connection.  Soon after Mark starts to finish his “TheFacebook.com” site which after released the Winklevoss’s sue over claiming Mark stole the idea after hearing about what they were working on.  I can’t say I fully understand how the Winklevoss’s have a case because unless the idea was patented isn’t Mark able to create whatever he wants?  Below is an interview from The Today Show with Matt Lauer (I can’t stand them):

Eduardo Saverin

Of all the “real world” characters of the movie, Eduwardo was the most difficult to find much on when researching them online.  Savern also gets the award for the worst way to be portrayed in a movie award because he comes across looking like a nice guy who finishes last but ironically he seems to be the only one with some ethics in the movie so to me he should be the one we all appreciate.  He once had 30% ownership in “thefacebook” which was reduced to .03% once Peter Theil (PayPal co-founder) and Sean Parker took control of the start-ups finances.

Mark Zuckerberg

It seems the reason Mark creates thefacebook.com is to meet woman after his breakup.  Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend, Priscilla Chan (shown above) “was one of his pals at Harvard, where he studied back in 2004. Moreover, Chan is amongst the initial supporters who were with Mark when he came up with the concept of Facebook.  Chan even packed up and moved to Silicon Valley with Zuckerberg after the launch of Facebook. Priscilla Chan is a third year medical student at the University of California San Francisco with dreams of becoming a pediatrician. The New Yorker profile mentions their eventual plan to marry, though nothing concrete is revealed in the article.”  As for Mark’s thoughts on how accurate the movie is, he was recently asked in the interview below:

Interesting facts about the movie:

• Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind which is why Facebook is blue. OK, that isn’t about the movie but it is interesting.
• Natalie Portman, a Harvard student during the time of Facebook’s creation, gave writer Aaron Sorkin some insider information about how things really happened on campus. Sorkin thanked her by referencing her in a scene.
• The first scene, in which Zuckerberg’s girlfriend (played by Rooney Mara) breaks up with him, took 99 takes to finish.

Chris Malloy’s film strikes so deeply into the heart of Patagonia’s wilderness we come to feel at home there. 180° South: Conquerors of the Useless follows Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia. Along the way he gets shipwrecked off Easter Island, surfs the longest wave of his life — and prepares himself for a rare ascent of Cerro Corcovado. Jeff’s life turns when he meets up in a rainy hut with Chouinard and Tompkins who, once driven purely by a love of climbing and surfing, now value above all the experience of raw nature — and have come to Patagonia to spend their fortunes to protect it.

In theaters: April 24th, 2010
Genre: Documentary

My favorite quote from the trailer: “The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life.  It’s so easy to make it complex.  The solution for a lot of the world’s problems may be to turn around and take a forward step.  You can’t keep trying to make a flawed system work.”

On May 24th, “The Lazarus Effect” by director Lance Bangs and executive producer Spike Jonze premieres on HBO, YouTube, and Channel 4 (UK).  By taking the ARV medicine – 2 life-saving pills that cost around 40 cents a day – in as few as 40 days, the medicine can help bring people back to life.  Aids has killed more than 20 million people in Africa. In 2002 only 50,000 people had access to the medication due to its high cost.  Today, thanks to reduced costs and increased access, more than 3 million people in Africa are now receiving treatment. Still, 3,800 people die every day in sub-Saharan Africa from AIDS. “The Lazarus Effect” film shows that this needn’t be the case.  Source: http://www.joinred.com/

As the title of this post points out, Christina and I watched Twighlight last night.  For the past few years I’ve heard all the craze about the movie and now I can finally talk somewhat intelligently about it.  I really hate to say this but I actually liked it and so much so Tyler and I will probably go out and find New Moon somewhere later today so we can get completely caught up.  I liked they didn’t go overboard with the werewolf and vampire aspects and you could tell the movie’s target demographic wasn’t a 32 year old, but it kept my attention which is saying something.  The guy on the far right cracked me up every time I saw him after he was described as always looking like he is in pain (also looks like Edward Scissorhands).  The movie is fairly original, it has a Romeo and Juliette undertone to it but it wasn’t overly annoying.  I liked when Edward’s family teamed up to fight James the tracking vampire, maybe it is the X-Men fan in me.  If you’ve seen it, what did you think of it and without giving anything away to others, was New Moon any better than Twighlight?

If you are ever visiting Portland, OR there is a nice log cabin restaurant called Stone Cliff Inn (movie related link and their website link here) on the top of a hill overseeing the Clackamas River.  I love when restaurants and companies put lots of time and money behind advertising but their website is terrible (sorry but it is).  Behind the restaurant is a very large wooded mountain where part of the film was shot.  You can take a quick walk back in the woods where they have pictures showing scenes of where the movie was shot.  That restaurant is only 5 minutes from where I used to live prior to moving to California.  Twighlight had lots of Washington and Oregon scenes in it that I recognized which also made the movie fun.

Late-night television comedian Conan O’Brien appears in his first interview since having to give back his spot on the “Tonight Show” to Jay Leno.  Steve Kroft reports.