Art Star: Facebook

Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts

We saw "The Social Network," and so should you

The Social Network begins with a familiar ending:

"I think we should just be friends."

"I don't need friends."

"I was just being polite. I had no intention of being friends with you."

And lives by a simple maxim: There's power in being rejected.

Not always, mind you, but get the right person good and pissed, and he'll craft a brilliant, eloquent, ground-breaking fuck you that -- if effective -- will flash for a brief but satisfying moment. Yet if effective becomes lucky, he'll take an idea and mate it to the zeitgeist, creating something that resonates and has purpose, that can transcend original intent and become a cause people get behind. Think Tea Party in ones and zeroes.

Directed by David Fincher (Zodiac) and adapted by Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War) from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book/creation-myth The Accidental Billionaires, Network sets Facebook's formative months against the company's 2005-2008 legal troubles over whose property the site actually was. The quick-cuts across the timeline are entertaining, aptly described by io9's Annalee Newitz as "the perfect way to tell the story of a guy who invented the ultimate short-attention-span site."

We're finally understanding how the web and its infinite flashing lights have altered our brains, and this is a movie about those changes in practice: what happens to friendship in the face of distraction, making no distinctions between the intellectual and material obstacles. They're one in the same now, as we're in a future where the digital ink will neither dry nor ever, ever go away. Look at us: we willingly pay real money for the experience of "farming" fake crops. This is a time where a few lines of code can carry more weight than all the money you will ever make, and social media marketing somehow transcended its laughable original conceit to become a billion dollar industry. I'll spare talk of "generational indictment," because it honestly doesn't apply here. The real Mark Zuckerberg is only 26, as much a product of the digital world as he is its new-wave pioneer. Fincher and Sorkin do an excellent job of drawing life's social circles in sharp relief -- even offering a great tilt-shift sequence explicitly framing the Have's trappings as trite and meaningless -- but this reality transcends the Millennials blurry age boundary.

Appropriately, The Social Network takes itself as seriously as it's spotlighted industry does, paying major lip-service to the self-imposed costs of being paradoxically connected-yet-alone. Its a film preaching the rewards of being Somebody while warning against the road that leads there. Take the message as "there's always a way to exaggerate just how outside the norm you are, but likewise there will always be situations that leave you outside looking in." Like Pete Campbell with Asperger's, Jesse Eisenberg's Zuckerberg is the type of character who operates in full awareness that he's smarter than most yet entitled to nothing. This makes him reliably bitter, driven by an unrequited desire to be a part of something, anything, and prone to sabotaging even well-meaning conversation with an underhanded remark. He incorporates criticisms about himself into takedowns of others without the slightest wink of irony. He's the guy who heard your idea, flipped it, and made himself a king off it. Coupled with other abstinence parables like Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker, Fincher/Sorkin make good on a truism that could get (ironically) lost in a world bleeding into transparency: a punk with a good idea is still just a punk.

The movie does have its groan-worthy moments, like when the only South Asian character (Max Minghella as Divvya Narendra) shoehorns "fatwa" into a joke. Similarly, the majority of the female characters are mere cutouts. Zuckerberg muse Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) has one mood: justified indignation, and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's (Andrew Garfield) girlfriend Christy (Brenda Song, dialing down her manic Disney energy) abruptly changes personality mid-film, as if some of her scenes vanished in the edit bay. In the worst case scenario, Song's character got reduced solely to make a now-cliche joke about relationship status updates. This says nothing, of course, of Stanford panties girl, coke-on-her-boobs girl, bathroom bj girl, 7" bong girl, other stoned girl, and the fuck truck girls who open the movie -- no, really, its called a "fuck truck."

Foibles of characterization aside, the film is spotless technically. It makes good use of Trent Reznor's ominous -- and omnipresent -- soundtrack; Very Serious Music saturates each scene from the moment the first, heavy bass line drops. Dialogue is crisp and delivered with spot-on timing and humor that almost makes you root for the antagonists when they (frequently) speechify. The effects shots are seamless to the point where I forgot that twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss -- who seemingly always appear in the same frame -- were both played by real life old money Armie Hammer. This isn't the type of movie that required a slick palette to get the point across, but Fincher's typically dark filmmaking works here.

Some reviews are sure to claim Network's final moments are haunting, damning, or both. Don't buy that. Its an undeniably strong image reflective of a common, ambiguous experience native to the site, but don't take it as a final judgment. As mentioned earlier, the real Mark Zuckerberg has only just started his career; it'd be silly to accept him as some predestined pawn waiting to fall. Yet if you do take anything away from this, remember there are many ways to end up alone, but realize we have too much life ahead of us -- on and away from the screen -- to worry about that now. Enjoy the ride.

The Social Network opens October 1st.

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The Spray On Condom: Meeting People On The Internet

Today I had an interesting occasion to think about internet courtesy.

Basically, how much respect should one give to the veil of freedom provided by anonymous to anonymous interaction?

A young lady left a comment on one of my older blog posts, and usually I just get kind of happy when my Blackberry shows "[Art Star] New comment" on it, but today I actually felt led to respond to the person.

I supposed I could have responded on the blog but it was a very old post, and I wasn't sure she would see my reply but it had an email address attached to the userID.

So, I emailed a nice little reply and she emailed me back.

Now by this time, gmail had provided a full name.

And any regular reader of this blog (yes I'm talking to the 20% of you who have read Art Star over 200 times) knows one of my guilty pleasures is googling peoples names.

So, I googled her name, found out some interesting stuff about her.

She seems to be young, a good writer, graduating from a well respected school, attractive (not that it has anything to do with it, but I love adding the pretty, not pretty, cute, adjectives when it comes to girls, one of the few ways that I am not a feminist).

After looking at all of this I am thinking, okay, she seems like a legit person, I should friend her on facebook.

Now, at this point, I realize - whoa - this is just a random person who randomly left a message on your blog post - and not just any blogpost (but one of the most honest blogosphere moments of your life) pre-bar tales series.

Is it okay to just friend her on facebook, or keep emailing her, or would you be crossing some sort of digital line of etiquette?

But then I started rationalizing, well ya'll are just a year apart, she might become successful in life, and friendships have started in much stranger ways (like randomly bumping into someone at a grocery store, or a concert, or anywhere).

And she is a journalist and I wrote my thesis (one of them) on political journalism (basically), so maybe I should recruit her for a writer (since all of my writers have unilaterally decided to take the entire month of April off, even though it is my birth month...bastards).

Is writing on someones wall or leaving a random person a comment, the digital equivalent of bumping into somebody at the grocery store?

And if it is, does the guy have to strike up a conversation, tell a funny joke, and give the girl his number?

Is that the equivalent of a facebook friend request?

Well as a former dating columnist, I never think you should go with the status quo (every guy is asking for the number).

So, maybe this post is really the digital equivalent of a bouquet of white roses, or a hot cup of coffee from a stranger when you have been studying in the same union, library, lounge for a couple hours.

Maybe it will even make her smile, or brighten a fairly conventional day.

Maybe she will even tell me to go ahead and friend her on facebook.

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Life Over Death

So how many of your facebook friends/people you follow on Twitter* had some version of "R.I.P Big Poppa" as their status?

Still hard to believe that it's been 12 years since he's passed--even harder to believe there are kids who claim to like rap and are unfamiliar with his music--but it is time for a movement that truly honors his legacy.

Though he and Tupac are remembered for the "East Coast-West Coast beef" that was largely fueled by media sensationalism--and integral in both of their untimely deaths--these icons are so much more than that.

Are we willing to boil their legacies down to the fatal moments that took them from us?

Billy X. Sunday over at XXL, brought this point up before but I'mma say it again, May 21st is much more important that March 9th. Let's celebrate the day of Biggie's birth if we really appreciate his legacy.

Go to a great concert, listen to great music, express yourself through poetry/music, or help a young person find their voice through these mediums.

But don't just stop there. Celebrate June 16th for Tupac.

May 30th for Big L.

March 2nd for Scott La Rock.

January 21st for Jam Master Jay.

May 17th for Freaky Tah.

September 9th for Soulja Slim.

Perhaps you find this overwhelming. Or maybe you wanted me to list artists who died non-violent but still too soon (Big Pun, Lefteye, and Aaliyah come to mind).**

We could fill our calendar with days of remembrance of favorite artists who are no longer with us. Let's celebrate these legacies everyday through true appreciation of their art.

If we can divorce ourselves from our collective infatuation with death dealing, praise the artists that are with us, and make sure new generations NEVER forget the history of our music, then we are doing their legacies justice.

It warmed my heart to see Biggie's lyrics on Facebook all day today, and Diddy twit away with memories of his friend, but let's be back at it on May 21st.

If Hip-Hop will live, it can only do so through an everlasting conversation between generations.

*I've taken to calling the people who follow me on Twitter, "my disciples" (no blasphemy) cuz honestly disciples did follow someone's every word. But what is a good term for the people you follow? P.S. If you wanna follow me on Twitter, the name is I_AM_CtotheB. Preciate it.

**November 9th, May 27th, and January 16th respectively.

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Bar Tales Chapter 5: The Paradox of Strength

I fall in love easily.

It really doesn't take much.

Sometimes, I click through my friends pictures on facebook, and see a beautiful girl.

She is half mexican and german with dark hair and high cheek bones.

She is a photographer and art curator (aren't they always).

She likes dancing and Jesus and doesn't do either as much as she would like.

Her eyes say I like to burn down pretty things.

Yet she admits to being a mess, therefore I can't help but think she is weak.

I can't help but think she needs saving.

And if I were to ever meet her, I can't help but think I would be the worst thing that ever happened to her.

Sometimes you can boil your essence into one simple sentence:

I make girls cry.

It is so remarkable because I am the last guy on earth who should be able to make a girl cry. I'm not threatening, I'm very attuned to emotion, I pay attention, I am sweet, I am funny, I am in some ways like a girl.

Yet time and time and time and time again - I find crying girls on my doorstep.

There is nothing worse than finding a crying girl on your doorstep.

It is like finding a dead baby.

I know that is harsh but when you have made the crying girl cry, and she is on your doorstep, it is the worst feeling in the world.

See you can't save a dead baby - it is already dead. However, you can't get rid of it either. You can't ignore it. The baby is on your doorstep - demanding your attention, and you must give it to her.

This is why one of my resolutions for 2009 is for the first time in 7 years, go an entire year without causing a girl to cry.

However, I feel like I will be easier to not eat meat or dairy for a month than to achieve this goal.

Because at the end of the day, I need to find someone stronger than myself. Yet, the paradox is that all strong people have one great weakness - they want to be understood.

So, if I would devour a weaker girl, a strong girl has even less of a chance - I would unfortunately actually want her, and respect her, and seek to love her.

And that only makes it worse.

And it all ties back in to falling in love.

Love makes us vulnerable. Love is power.

If you have a greater capacity for love than another person, you have more power than them.

Unfortunately, I am a very powerful person.

Unfortunately, Jessica Marie Rucker Templeton Sherrell, I would make you cry.

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Swag Science 101

Something that has been bothering me for quite some time is Facebook's enabling of those seeking to make private matters public. And I'm not just talking about the mere attention seekers (John Doe is crying himself to sleep and wishes you were here :() More specifically, I'm talking about the mini-feuds and pseudo beefs that people carry out through their facebook status.

It makes me wanna curse the day Diddy became their enabler. Now all day, everyday, people accuse each other of showing severe symptoms of "Bitchassness." What they fail to realize is that this may be a symptom as well!

If you are a boss, or trying to make boss-like moves, you do not have time to waste calling out your haters and those who wish failure on your head! Keep it moving! Haters never take a day off, why should you? Continue doing whatever it is that makes them mad (in most circles, it is called success) and as long as your heart is in the right place, the success shall continue.

But you may say that is too ideal. And to a degree, you would be right. You see, the problem is that this epidemic of double-dealing, jealously, and overall foolishness is real. But it is not authentic in its appearance. The problem does not reside in every cry of foul play, some of those criers are the main perpetrators! Haters must have evolved and now hate through accusing others of hating! Foolishness, my youth, foolishness! Tis like the boy who cried wolf on a whole 'nother level! My God!

Nevertheless, we must press on. It is a sober reality that those who are totally free from hate, aren't doing much of anything. The true freedom resides in your ability to succeed in spite of adversity, not because of its absence.