My City. My Pride.

Having lived in Manila for almost 6 years, I only get to see my hometown for brief periods of time.
And I can't believe I've missed to witness the past 5 Dinagyang Festivals. I hope I get to go next year in January. *fingers crossed*

But I am, and will always be, proud to be born and raised an Ilongga. :)

 

Punk. Genius. Billionaire.

If we're Facebook friends, you would have known I've been rambling about The Social Network movie for a few weeks now. If we're friends even before Facebook, you would also know that I didn't jump into the this hype until only about a year ago, when I finally (finally!) created an account, much to the amazement of pals and acquaintances.


I bet before the movie's marketing hit mainstream media and it being released on Oct. 1st (Oct. 27th here in the Philippines), not a lot of folks knew much about Facebook's founders. I was one of them. I only knew that a couple guys from Harvard started this worldwide social phenomenon. After seeing the very interesting movie trailers, I started posting the clips on my Wall until my boss noticed and promised free tickets! The power of Facebook, right there! *wink*


And he did make good on that promise this past Wednesday by treating me to an LFS screening of The Social Network at the sleek Ultra 7 cinema at Eastwood Mall. Movie-watching is as luxurious as it gets, with spacious reclining seats and a butler taking your popcorn and drinks preference. This is the life! Haha!


I read a few great critiques on this movie online since it was shown earlier in the US and the UK but I didn't want to raise my expectations especially after Avatar last year. I know I'd probably get stoned by saying I didn't like James Cameron's movie that much. :)


Well, Fincher and Sorkin didn't disappoint me this time around. Sorkin's take on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich was snappy, witty and so sharp, it can cut through diamond. Fincher's direction was impeccably done, it felt like a suspense thriller with pumped-up scenes every 30 seconds when in fact, once broken down, the scenes were really just a series of legal settlement negotiations and some flashbacks on the characters' college experience. Although I had to keep in mind that probably a lot of those scenes were exaggeration of what happened in real life, just to make the story apt for Hollywood.


I also thought Jesse Eisenberg did a thorough job in portraying Mark Zuckerberg as a smart-alecky genius who is 'trying so hard to be an assh*le'. And excuse me Justin Timberlake's fans out there but I thought his performance was just a little too N*Sync-y for my taste. I also did fall in love with the soundtrack and yeah, maybe a little bit of Andrew Garfield. Haha!


So in my own words, the movie rocked and I would probably watch it again the next time I get the chance. Two thumbs-up here so go and see it! You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face, guaranteed.


And probably a couple daydreams of what you'll do if you were the one with $6.9 billion at the age of 26. LOL! ;D