Well, today was just one of those days that I felt about talking about something weird. Seeing that sports are a naturally dangerous game, I thought, why not just find out what are the weirdest injuries one could have due to sports. Some of them are so funny that you just have to laugh out loud!
#15- In May 2002 Baltimore Orioles left fielder Marty Cordova fell asleep in a tanning bed and got a sunburn on his face. His doctor ordered him to stay out of direct sunlight, which meant Cordova had to hide out in the clubhouse during day games until his face healed.
#14- Pitching great Nolan Ryan once missed a start after a coyote allegedly bit him.
#13- Chicago Cubs outfielder Jose Cardenal missed a game in 1974 because his eyelid was "stuck open," which prevented him from blinking. He eventually overcame this ailment, it didn't help his reputation as a player who liked to use suspicious injuries to get out of games; two seasons earlier he had missed a game because crickets in his hotel room had kept him up all night, leaving him exhausted.
#12- Atlanta Braves Pitcher Tom Glavine suffered from food poisoning during the 1992 season; his symptoms were so bad that he broke a rib while vomiting.
#11- Atlanta Braves first baseman Ryan Klesko missed several games in 1999 after straining his back while picking up his lunch tray.
#10- Brazilian soccer star Ramalho once missed three days of action because he was bedridden after taking a suppository orally.
#9- Reliever Greg A. Harris once missed two starts for the Texas Rangers after he inflamed his elbow by spending an entire game flicking sunflower seeds at a friend who was sitting nearby.
#8- Boston Red Sox pitcher Clarence Blethen didn't have a long career, but he did have a fine set of false teeth. According to legend, Blethen liked to carry his false teeth in his back pocket when he played, which was a decent enough plan until he had to make a takeout slide at second to break up a double play during the 1923 season. When Blethen slid, his false chompers supposedly bit him on the rear, which led to a bloody mess that forced him out of the game.
#7- Baseball players should not play Basketball. Atlanta Braves closer Cecil Upshaw missed the entire 1970 season when his ring got caught on an awning as he tried to demonstrate his slam-dunk technique.
#6- Hall of Fame third baseman Wade Boggs once missed seven games after straining his back while trying to pull on his trademark cowboy boots.
#5- Hall of Fame offensive tackle Turk Edwards suffered a career-ending injury in 1940 during the pregame coin toss. When Edwards turned to return to the Washington Redskins' sideline, he caught his cleats on the turf, which wrecked his fragile knee and forced him into retirement.
#4- Point guard Muggsy Bogues once missed the second half of a game after he became dizzy from inhaling ointment fumes while receiving treatment for a sore muscle at halftime.
#3- NHL goalie Glenn Healy enjoyed a long career, and he also enjoyed playing the bagpipes. While playing for the Maple Leafs in 2000, Healy needed stitches after slicing himself while repairing an antique set of pipes.
#2- In 1994 Steve Sparks missed out on a chance to make his first big-league roster when he dislocated his shoulder during spring training with the Milwaukee Brewers. He tried to rip a phone book while imitating a group of motivational speakers who had visited the team.
#1- Sacramento Kings small forward Lionel Simmons missed two games in his rookie season (1991) because he had tendinitis in his right wrist and forearm from playing too much GameBoy.
Source : http://www.sooperarticles.com/sports-articles/15-strange-sports-injuries-20825.html
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Commonwealth Games 2010 - In Delhi!
Malaysia is in the 7th Position in the Medals Tally list of the 19th Commonwealth Games 2010 which was conducted at Delhi.
Malaysia has won 12 gold medals , 9 Silver medals and 14 Bronze medals.
Totals medals achieved by Malaysia in the CWG 2010 is 35 medals
CWG 2010 Gold Medals list of Malaysia Players
1 Amirul Hamizan IBRAHIM Men's 56kg Category Weightlifting
2 Aricco JUMITIH Men's 62kg Category Weightlifting
3 Josiah NG Men's Kierin 1 6 Cycling Track
4 Malaysia Mixed Team Event Gold Medal Match Badminton
5 DAVID N Women's Singles Squash
6 Malaysia Women's 10m Air Rifle (Pairs) Shooting
7 Pandelela Rinong PAMG Women's 10m Platform Aquatics Diving
8 Pei Chin Bibiana NG Women's 10m Air Pistol Shooting
9 Malaysia Badminton Mixed Doubles Gold Medal Match
10. Malaysia Badminton Men's Doubles Gold Medal Match
11. Chong Wei lee Badminton Men's Singles Gold Medal Match
12. Elaine Koon Women's Apparatus Hoop - Rhythmic Gymnastics
CWG 2010 Silver Medals list of Malaysia Players
1 Mohd Rizal TISIN Men's 1,000m Time Trial Cycling Track
2 Naharudin MAHAYUDIN Men's 62kg Category Weightlifting
3 Malaysia Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (Pairs) Shooting
4 Malaysia Men's Recurve - Team Gold Medal Match Archery
5 Hasli Izwan AMIR HASAN Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Shooting
6 Pandelela Rinong PAMG Women's 10 M Platform Synchronised Aquatics Diving
7 Nur Ayuni HALIM Women's 10m Air Rifle Shooting
8 Malaysia Women's Pairs Gold Medal Game Lawn Bowls
CWG 2010 Bronze Medals list of Malaysia Players
1 Raihan YUSOFF Women's 53kg Category Weightlifting
2 Malaysia Men's Double Trap (Pairs) Shooting
3 NG Pei Chin Bibiana Women's 25m Pistol Shooting
4 Mohd Hafifi MANSOR Men's 69kg Category Weightlifting
5 Malaysia Men's Team Sprint Cycling-Track
6 Malaysia Women's Team Event Bronze Medal Match Table Tennis
7 Nur Suryani MOHAMED TAIBI Women's 10m Air Rifle Shooting
8 Malaysia Men's Pairs Bronze Medal Game Lawn Bowls
9 Bryan Nickson LOMAS Men's 3m Springboard Synchronised Aquatics Diving
10 Bryan Nickson LOMAS Men's 10m Platform Aquatics Diving
11 Elaine KOON Women's Individual All-Around Competition Gymnastics Rhythmic Gymnastics
12 Nicol DAVID , Beng Hee Mixed Doubles Bronze Medal Match Squash
Source : http://hubpages.com/hub/Medals-List-Malaysia-in-Commonwealth-Games-2010
So, let's give a hand to our Malaysian atheletes for the great achievement!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Baba-Nyonya Dining Experience!
Baba-Nyonya wedding ceremony is fast disappearing and forgotten by many except for a handful of the older generation. In the heritage town of Penang, there has been a strong call for couples to revive this heritage by taking their vows in this traditional style. Won’t it be a lovely change for couples to wed in a truly unique traditional showcase of rich and colourful Baba-Nyonya culture?
The wedding ceremony of the Baba-Nyonya is one of the fascinating and colorful wedding ceremonies around town. The wedding is actually held over a twelve days ritual starting with the exchange of gifts between the couple’s parents which is then follow by a elaborate stream of traditional process, including the “cheow tao” ceremony to initiate the bride and groom into adulthood, the tea ceremony, the use of sedan chair to fetch the bride, and the lifting of the bride’s veil.
Unfortunately with modernization enveloping society, the Baba-Nyonya wedding ceremony nowadays is much simpler and less elaborate. It is more of incorporating the Baba-Nyonya elements into the wedding schedule rather than following the ritual. Given the time constrains nowadays; a lot of the time consuming practices and pomp have been done away or cut short!
The actual matrimonial costumes worn consisting of gowns, robes, head dress, accessories and beaded shoes (kasut manek) are elaborate and donned with intricate embroidery, beads and auspicious multi colored motives and symbols. The attire worn by the rest of the family is as elegant, especially the “sarong kebaya” and the Baju Panjang”.
No matter whatever changes, an important element for the Baba-Nyonya wedding is the wedding banquet. Given that the Peranakan has a strong food culture and are affectionately with their cuisines, an elaborate spread of Nyonya dishes are usually served at the dining table. One experienced Peranakan restaurant in Penang that caters for Baba-Nyonya wedding banquet is Sri Batik Nyonya Cafe at New World Park.
Proprietor Kenneth Yip, who is a Baba himself, said that as a Penangite, his aspiration is to revive the art of Sri Batik Nyonya cooking whilst delivering traditional authentic Nyonya cooking to the younger generation.
Sri Batik gives a welcoming warm feeling as you enter the restaurant. Peranakan ornaments and furniture fill the restaurant with a touch of the modernist feel – most authentic indeed.
The restaurant is decorated with private collection of pictures and Peranakan artifacts, including ceramic pottery, old clocks, jar and basketry. This radiates a feeling of nostalgia, which is simply perfect for holding a Baba-Nyonya banquet!
This restaurant offers a wedding menu that seemed interesting. There is a wide range of seafood and chicken dishes. The all time favourite, Curry Kapitan (chicken curry with a tangy sour taste of kaffir lime leave) is one of the several items in the menu. Rich with milk, the robust gravy has lots of oomph in its aromatic spices.
Not to be missed is the Lobak (bean curd sheets wrap with pork). This pork roll is slightly shorter; half the size of what is normally served. The ingredients use in the lobak is the three layer pork, which added another dimension to the palate.
The soft and fluffy Nasi Ulam was a mix of flavours from the generous amounts of fresh herbs and spices. The daun kaduk, daun cekur, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and tumeric leaves are finely shredded and mixed together with the correct proportions of rice, chopped shallots and grated coconut to make a sensational aromatic rice dish.
Another all time traditional Peranakan dish is the Assam Prawn (tamarind fried prawns). The prawns are fresh, well absorbing the marinating of the tamarind pulp. The dark soy sauce coating the prawns not only adds a wonderful taste to this dish but also work up the appetite.
It is a nice change to enjoy a simplistic dish to complement the authentic traditional cuisines. Sri Batik came out with the Singapore Beehoon which makes a good choice over rice. It is a pleasant fried noodle with fresh ingredients of seafood.
Other dish that came was the Gulai Tumis (curry fish) with pieces of fish cooked in thick sourish gravy with an aroma of spices. The gravy has course grounded ingredients of lengkuas, lemongrass and laksa flower topped with kaffir lime leaves.
The Nyonya Chap Chai (mixed vegetable) is a unique dish. Sri Batik’s version maintains a sense of simplicity. This tasty stir-fried dish was presented colorfully with ingredients of gingko, broccoli, cauliflower, mushroom and carrot.
In between the meal, guests were entertained by performances by the “Nyonya Belles”. The ladies together with Johny Chee, a Baba, were invited to present several songs and dance promoting the Baba-Nyonya culture.
The meal ended with the serving of Nyonya dessert. Sri Batik dishes out Bubur Cha Cha and large varieties of Nyonya kuih. The Bubur Cha Cha has a mixture of flavours and texture with the combination of soft sweet potato, yam and coconut milk. The amazing types of Nyonya kuih were equally satisfying.
The Baba-Nyonya wedding meal was indeed an enjoyable experience. George Town World Heritage Site with its many heritage buildings and Nyonya restaurants is an ideal place for a Baba-Nyonya wedding as it provides many backdrops for photography and dining venues.
Sri Batik Nyonya Cafe
102-E-2, New World Park
102 Jalan Burmah
10050 Georgetown
Penang
102-E-2, New World Park
102 Jalan Burmah
10050 Georgetown
Penang
Tel: 04 2288 919
Business Hour: 11 am – 11 pm
Written by CK Lam, food review writer and editor of http://www.what2seeonline.com ; featuring the Best of Penang Food. She constantly combs Penang for the best gastronomical delights and loves promoting Penang Cuisines, Culture and Heritage.
Henry Lee Lucas - The Life of a Murderer
WARNING: THIS HUB CONTAINS GRAPHIC INFORMATION THAT SOME MAY FIND DISTURBING AND OFFENSIVE.
Almost anyone living in Texas during the 1980s will recall the name "Henry Lee Lucas".
He was a lanky one-eyed drifter from the backwoods of Virginia that took Texas by storm and captured the attention of law enforcement and the media worldwide.
I worked for a central Texas County in the 80s and had a rare opportunity to see the man they also called "the monster". A co-worker and I managed to secure a position amongst the media to catch a glimpse of the man not twenty feet in front of us.
This is his grisly story.
The Drifter-Henry Lee Lucas
Early Life for Henry Lee Lucas
As a child, Henry Lee Lucas lived in a dirt-floored one room log cabin in a life of abuse and neglect. His alcoholic parents brewed moonshine whiskey in the Appalachian hills of Virginia. His mother, Viola was known as a violent prostitute and bootlegger was at least 50 years old when she had Henry. His alcoholic father, Anderson, was nicknamed "No Legs" after a train accident that resulted in him losing both his legs. He later committed suicide in 1950 after being repeatedly humiliated by his abusive wife who often brought men home and had sex with them in front of him and Henry. Henry was even forced to go to school barefooted wearing a dress and curls. When he came home from school wearing a pair of shoes given to him by a teacher his mother beat him for accepting charity. He dropped out in fifth grade and remained semi-literate for the rest of his life.
he Teenage Years of Henry Lee Lucas
As a teenager he enjoyed, tortured, and had sex with dead animals. He claims to have raped a girl when he was 15. At 17, he slashed his eye while playing with a knife with his brother Andrew. His mother refused to have it treated and he ended up losing his one eye and had a glass eye put in its place. Once he was beaten so severely by his mother with wooden plank that he was semi-conscious for days before his mother's boyfriend took him to the hospital for treatment.
Lucas spent his teen years in and out of jail for a string of burglaries and was sentenced to prison. But he repeatedly escaped and fled to his sister Opal's house. Despite his escapes he was released a year early from his sentence. His mother hunted him down insisting he come back to live with her.
Lucas Murders His Mother
On January 11, 1960, in a drunken binge, he and his mother fought over him coming back to live with her. She struck him with a broom and he stabbed her and then raped her dead corpse. He stole a car and fled to Ohio. He was arrested five days later. He told the officers that he "didn't like live sex, he liked dead sex".
He was sentenced for forty years for matricide and was sent to Jackson State Penitentiary in southern Michigan. He attempted suicide twice and was finally transferred to a mental facility for the criminally insane. He was diagnosed as a suicidal psychopath, sadist and sexual deviant. He was released in 1970 after serving 10 years due to prison overcrowding.
More Trouble and Marriage
In 1971, trouble had already found Henry. He was arrested for the attempted kidnapping of three girls and sentenced to five years. While in jail, he received a letter from family friend Betty Crawford. They continued to write each other and once he was released they married. He began sexually abusing her two young daughters and told the young girls he would kill their mother if they told anyone. After two years of abuse, he left. He then lived with various family members drifting from place to place..
Source : http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Infamous--Famous-Henry-Lee-Lucas
Malaysia voices concern over Korean tension
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has expressed concern over the heightened tension in the Korean peninsula, following North Korea's artillery attacks Tuesday on a South Korean island and the return of fire by South Korea.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Malaysia condemned the incident on Yeonpyeong Island which left two South Korean soldiers dead and several people injured.
"Malaysia calls on all quarters to avoid resorting to action which can escalate the tension and generate instability in this region," he said in a statement Wednesday.
Anifah said Malaysia hoped that all quarters would strive to maintain peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and concentrate efforts on measures to build trust and confidence. - Bernama
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/24/nation/20101124104400&sec=nation
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Malaysia condemned the incident on Yeonpyeong Island which left two South Korean soldiers dead and several people injured.
"Malaysia calls on all quarters to avoid resorting to action which can escalate the tension and generate instability in this region," he said in a statement Wednesday.
Anifah said Malaysia hoped that all quarters would strive to maintain peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and concentrate efforts on measures to build trust and confidence. - Bernama
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/24/nation/20101124104400&sec=nation
Monday, November 22, 2010
Man causes ruckus in shop
GEORGE TOWN: A relative of a shophouse owner broke into the shop selling prayer paraphernalia and feng shui items at Kimberley Street, demanding that the trader pay up several years of rental which he claimed was owed to him.
The “stand-off” inside Bee Chin Heong Sdn Bhd, one of the largest retailers of such items in the country, between the man and the trader’s family lasted for nearly two hours before the police intervened.
A check by the police showed that the man had broken into the premises with at least five others and demanded to talk to the trader.
The trader sent out a family member and a lawyer to talk to the man but they could not come to an agreement. A life-sized deity’s statue was also smashed during the incident.
The man was later taken to the district police headquarters for questioning.
Bee Chin Heong chairman Datuk Tan Choo Hin said the company was in the process of buying the shophouse after talks with the lawyer of the intended property trustees.
“The intended trustees are now awaiting a court decision to appoint them as the new trustees after the death of the second generation owner.
“Once appointed, the trustees are the only ones who can sell the property,” he said.
“I am now waiting for court approval to seal the deal.
“I have already paid a down payment,” he added.
Tan said he and his lawyer had each lodged a police report over the incident.
He said his lawyer was threatened by the man during the ruckus while he lodged a police report against the man for breaking into the premises.
A police spokesman said the case was being investigated under Section 457 of the Penal Code for breaking-in.
By TAN SIN CHOW
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/23/nation/7482594&sec=nation
The “stand-off” inside Bee Chin Heong Sdn Bhd, one of the largest retailers of such items in the country, between the man and the trader’s family lasted for nearly two hours before the police intervened.
A check by the police showed that the man had broken into the premises with at least five others and demanded to talk to the trader.
The trader sent out a family member and a lawyer to talk to the man but they could not come to an agreement. A life-sized deity’s statue was also smashed during the incident.
The man was later taken to the district police headquarters for questioning.
Bee Chin Heong chairman Datuk Tan Choo Hin said the company was in the process of buying the shophouse after talks with the lawyer of the intended property trustees.
“The intended trustees are now awaiting a court decision to appoint them as the new trustees after the death of the second generation owner.
“Once appointed, the trustees are the only ones who can sell the property,” he said.
“I am now waiting for court approval to seal the deal.
“I have already paid a down payment,” he added.
Tan said he and his lawyer had each lodged a police report over the incident.
He said his lawyer was threatened by the man during the ruckus while he lodged a police report against the man for breaking into the premises.
A police spokesman said the case was being investigated under Section 457 of the Penal Code for breaking-in.
By TAN SIN CHOW
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/23/nation/7482594&sec=nation
Iran Nazi website allowed to re-open
TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian Internet site for devotees of Nazi Germany has been allowed to reopen after being blocked briefly by government censors, a news website reported, raising questions about the official attitude to anti-Semitism.
The site, irannazi.ir, says it is the home of the "Historical Research Society for World War Two and the Third Reich". According to conservative news website TABNAK it was blocked temporarily but then reopened, saying the suspension had been due to complaints by Iranian Jews.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has many times denied the Nazis' extermination of millions of Jews during World War II. Ahmadinejad angered Israel and its allies by calling the Holocaust a "myth" and a "lie" and has predicted the end of Israel as a state.
Israel, which Iran refuses to recognise, has warned Iran over its nuclear programme which Tehran says is purely peaceful but which many countries fear could be a cover for developing nuclear weapons.
Iran is under a fourth round of U.N. sanctions aimed at persuading it to curb its uranium enrichment and has indicated willingness to resume talks with world powers next month after they stalled over a year ago.
Both Israel and its key ally the United States say they do not rule out military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to stop it acquiring nuclear arms.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "Ahmadinejad is a well-known, self-professed Holocaust denier who rewrites history. What's new here?"
"Now we have an additional piece of evidence for his regime's sympathies," Palmor said.
When Reuters tried to access the site on Monday it was blocked by the state filter which prevents access to many sites, but it was visible on computers using a proxy server -- a way many Iranians subvert restrictions on the Internet.
The Culture Ministry was not available to comment.
NOT LINKED TO STATE
The Nazi website does not appear in any way linked to the Iranian state, but with strict controls on the Internet blocking many sites deemed undesirable, TABNAK criticised the government for granting permission to the Nazi website.
"Why has the Culture Ministry given permission to the so-called Iran's Nazism society ... we hope the authorities have a proper reason for that," TABNAK said.
Considered close to Ahmadinejad's electoral rival Mohsen Rezaie, TABNAK said the website was dedicated to "spreading (Adolf) Hitler's fascistic ideologies".
"It had once been blocked but then unblocked," TABNAK said.
"Does it mean the activities of this extremist cult have been approved by our authorities?"
Most of the website, which includes images of Nazi military equipment and symbols, including the swastika, is reserved for registered users.
TABNAK quoted the site's explanation of why it was blocked.
"It was filtered only because of insulting religious minorities or, rather, Jews," TABNAK quoted a statement on the website as saying.
"And because Jews have always used their power and influence for their advantage, we were not an exception (to this) and only after 17 days we became the target of these creatures and we faced this problem because of Jews' personal complaints."
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities and some 25,000 Jews still live there and are recognised by the Islamic state as an official religious minority.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/23/worldupdates/2010-11-22T234708Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-530823-1&sec=Worldupdates
The site, irannazi.ir, says it is the home of the "Historical Research Society for World War Two and the Third Reich". According to conservative news website TABNAK it was blocked temporarily but then reopened, saying the suspension had been due to complaints by Iranian Jews.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has many times denied the Nazis' extermination of millions of Jews during World War II. Ahmadinejad angered Israel and its allies by calling the Holocaust a "myth" and a "lie" and has predicted the end of Israel as a state.
Israel, which Iran refuses to recognise, has warned Iran over its nuclear programme which Tehran says is purely peaceful but which many countries fear could be a cover for developing nuclear weapons.
Iran is under a fourth round of U.N. sanctions aimed at persuading it to curb its uranium enrichment and has indicated willingness to resume talks with world powers next month after they stalled over a year ago.
Both Israel and its key ally the United States say they do not rule out military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to stop it acquiring nuclear arms.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "Ahmadinejad is a well-known, self-professed Holocaust denier who rewrites history. What's new here?"
"Now we have an additional piece of evidence for his regime's sympathies," Palmor said.
When Reuters tried to access the site on Monday it was blocked by the state filter which prevents access to many sites, but it was visible on computers using a proxy server -- a way many Iranians subvert restrictions on the Internet.
The Culture Ministry was not available to comment.
NOT LINKED TO STATE
The Nazi website does not appear in any way linked to the Iranian state, but with strict controls on the Internet blocking many sites deemed undesirable, TABNAK criticised the government for granting permission to the Nazi website.
"Why has the Culture Ministry given permission to the so-called Iran's Nazism society ... we hope the authorities have a proper reason for that," TABNAK said.
Considered close to Ahmadinejad's electoral rival Mohsen Rezaie, TABNAK said the website was dedicated to "spreading (Adolf) Hitler's fascistic ideologies".
"It had once been blocked but then unblocked," TABNAK said.
"Does it mean the activities of this extremist cult have been approved by our authorities?"
Most of the website, which includes images of Nazi military equipment and symbols, including the swastika, is reserved for registered users.
TABNAK quoted the site's explanation of why it was blocked.
"It was filtered only because of insulting religious minorities or, rather, Jews," TABNAK quoted a statement on the website as saying.
"And because Jews have always used their power and influence for their advantage, we were not an exception (to this) and only after 17 days we became the target of these creatures and we faced this problem because of Jews' personal complaints."
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities and some 25,000 Jews still live there and are recognised by the Islamic state as an official religious minority.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/23/worldupdates/2010-11-22T234708Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-530823-1&sec=Worldupdates
The Social Network – review
The Social Network – review
David Fincher captures the spiteful personalities and hyperactive spirit of the age with the story of Facebook's creation, writes Peter Bradshaw.
Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network. Photograph: Merrick Morton
From the first sentence, the first word, the first nervily in-drawn breath, this compulsively watchable picture announces itself as the unmistakable work of Aaron Sorkin. His whip-smart, mile-a-minute dialogue made The West Wing deeply addictive on TV, and after uncertain works such as Charlie Wilson's War and the strange, small-screen drama. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – in which Sorkin's distinctive, faintly martyred seriousness was bafflingly applied to the backstage shenanigans of a fictional television comedy – this writer is triumphantly back on form. He's found an almost perfect subject: the creation of the networking website Facebook, and the backstabbing legal row among the various nerds, geeks, brainiacs and maniacs about who gets the credit and the cash.
- The Social Network
- Production year: 2010
- Country: USA
- Cert (UK): 12A
- Runtime: 120 mins
- Directors: David Fincher
- Cast: Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Jesse Eisenberg, Joseph Mazzello, Justin Timberlake, Max Minghella, Rashida Jones, Rooney Mara
Part boardroom drama, part conspiracy thriller, the story is adapted from Ben Mezrich's non-fiction The Accidental Billionaires. There appears, however, to be nothing accidental about it. The film version perfectly displays Sorkin's gift for creating instantly believable sympathetic-yet-irritating characters, and the chief of these is Facebook's driving force, Mark Zuckerberg, played with exemplary intuition by Jesse Eisenberg. He is a borderline sociopath, never smiling, never raising his voice, never conceding an argument, driven to create his masterpiece through the unforgettable pain of being dumped in the movie's opening scene. What perfect casting Eisenberg is. (I couldn't help remembering, incidentally, his character's disparagement of Facebook in the movie Zombieland: jeering at idiots with status updates like: "Limbering up for the weekend.") Sorkin gives everyone great lines. It's pretty much a non-stop fusillade of put-downs, insights and zingers. I wonder if the real-life Zuckerberg has ever physically said as many words as this in his entire life.
David Fincher's direction creates just the right intensity and claustrophobia for a story that takes place largely in a stupefyingly male environment at Harvard University in 2003, shown in flashback from various acrimonious legal proceedings. Here, computer-science student Zuckerberg has the same sense of entitlement and self-congratulation as everyone else, but combined with social resentment about being barred from snobby fraternities and clubs. When his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara) breaks up with him, the director shows how the emotionally wounded Zuckerberg embarks on a retaliatory campaign not far from the sinister world of Fincher's serial-killer films Se7en and Zodiac. He blogs vengefully about Erica and, in an evil-genius frenzy, creates Facemash, a spiteful and misogynistic site that invites the guys to rate campus girls against each other. (Slightly leniently, the movie explains it away a little by emphasising that Zuckerberg has had a couple of beers.) It is from this beginning that the smilier, friendlier Facebook emerges. But we have been cleverly shown the site's nastier, more paranoid origins: a clue to its unspoken world of friend-number envy, cyber-stalking and anxiety about having no friends at all.
Zuckerberg gets investment from fellow geek Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, of whose marginally superior social success he is jealous and whom he later betrays by cutting him out of the action in favour of web entrepreneur Sean Parker, smoothly played by Justin Timberlake.Wealthy alpha-male twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) plan to launch their own site, called The Harvard Connection, and try to recruit Mark as their tame techie-nerd; initially dazzled by their cachet, Zuckerberg plays them along, fatally delaying their launch while secretly getting his own up and running. Shrewdly, Sorkin and Fincher show how the Winklevosses are afraid to sue, because that's not the action of an effortlessly superior Harvard man.
Probably conceived when Facebook was at the top of the heap, the movie now arrives in cinemas at a time when Twitter has overtaken it in zeitgeisty importance: a lesson in how fast-moving internet trends can be. It would be great to see a movie about an ageing Australian-American media mogul trying to stay with-it and hip by tragically investing in MySpace – what tremendous scenes of rage-filled incomprehension there could be as the great man rants in front of downward-trending graphs. Or perhaps a Made in Dagenham-type British comedy about that once whiter-than-white-hot phenomenon Friends Reunited, run by a blameless couple in a spare room of their Barnet home: a dark destroyer of marriages, a reopener of school-day wounds, far more toxic than Facebook could ever be.
The success of The Social Network lies in capturing the fever of Facebook's startup, while subversively implying that it created money and ephemeral buzz, but not a whole lot else; there is very little about the interconnectivity and creativity that its evangelisers often claim. With its fanatical rivalry, envy and preeningly clever half-wits butting heads, the film reminded me a little of the BBC's excellent TV play Life Story from 1987, the story of Francis Crick and James Watson and their ill-tempered race to discover the structure of DNA before anyone else. (Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris are reportedly developing a remake.) Yet that was a story with something substantial at its close. This has … well, what? At the end, all is loneliness. This is an exhilaratingly hyperactive, hyperventilating portrait of an age when Web 2.0 became sexier and more important than politics, art, books – everything. Sorkin and Fincher combine the excitement with a dark, insistent kind of pessimism. Smart work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)