The story of Google that matters for most people is how it affects their daily lives (searching, web browsing, mobile phones, mapping/navigation, email, calendaring, YouTube, news, etc.) but I appreciate that Levy’s book focuses on the personalities and processes driving the evolution of what is arguably one of the most transformative corporate and technological entities of our time.

It can be easy to forget that behind some of the game-changing products and services produced by the company, there were real people thinking through issues of privacy, dealing with cross-cultural considerations and navigating interpersonal dynamics all while trying to make a living and find a sustainable business model.  They had/have desks, meetings, slide shows to give, families to care for, water-cooler conversations to have, and Levy does a great job capturing and re-telling those stories from the days of “two guys in a garage” all the way through the present days of life as an international corporation.  This is not always done with the most critical eye – those with concerns about Google’s operations or policies may be put off by the extent to which this book is an homage – but on the whole I think Levy is fair in calling out the moments when individual Google employees or the company as a whole screws up, and placing those in the context of Google’s good intentions.

A few themes in what Levy’s book revealed about “the Google way”:

1. “Ready, fire, aim” – Google does the bold, innovative or creative thing first, then (for better or worse) readjusts, re-calibrates, rethinks it later
2. When it comes to figuring out “what works,” studying data and using a scientific approach is more important than intuition or speculation.  Despite their many successes with this strategy, Google experienced failures when a data set wasn’t complete, e.g. when it doesn’t include the preferences, fears, doubts and hopes that are trapped in people’s heads or hearts.
3. Especially in its startup years, Google tried to only hire “A” people; engineers, researchers and thinkers who were either the best in a field of study (or headed that direction), who were driven by the excitement of discovery instead of money, and who could internalize the big picture goals of a project and then go make it a reality.  In their hiring they screened for intelligence, applicable knowledge, experience and adaptability, and as a result, they operate more like a research university than a traditional corporation.  Bureaucracy, office politics and administrative overhead seemingly emerged only with reluctant concessions to what was absolutely necessary to function at a larger scale.
4. If you want innovation in your organization, it’s important to create an environment where challenging accepted ways of doing things is not only permissible, but normal at all levels of authority and leadership.
5. It’s good to introduce questions of morality into the day-to-day operations of your organization.  At the same time, the more people you have, the harder it is to maintain integrity around living out a given set of moral values.

Google’s history is particularly of interest to me in that the company was started within a year or so of the company I co-founded, Summersault.  We were in a dorm room instead of a garage, and our goal was making great websites, not letting others search them more effectively.  There are not just a few differences between Summersault and Google today – billions and billions of dollars more in annual revenue, tens of thousands more employees, a private jet here, a self-driving car there, etc. – but I don’t think its too conceited to say that we started our company in the same spirit Google did, trying to help people make the most of the web…they just did it on a much bigger scale.

I was recruited by Google several years ago, to be a part of the team that keeps the company’s software application infrastructure up and running.  I really enjoyed my conversations with their staff about what it would mean to work there, and it was exciting to think about being a part of something so technically interesting and so global in scope.  In the end I knew that my passion and focus remained with what I’d started here in Richmond and so I declined to continue in the interview process, but In The Plex only reinforces what a great adventure that alternate path through life could have been.

It seems safe to say that most people underestimate the significance of what Google is and does.  Steven Levy’s book is a great read, and a great insight into how this one company has transformed the Internet age.

Life In a Day weaves together moments of joy and sadness, frivolity and struggle, plainness and great beauty into a wonderful fabric of the human experience.  It at once shows the ways in which the routines of our days are shared across cultures and landscapes (we wake, we clean up, we eat, we interact, we travel, we love, we argue, we sleep), but also the stark contrasts of wealthy and poor, privileged and oppressed, healthy and unhealthy, troubled and care-free.

There are only a few “characters” we see multiple times throughout the day -- a man bicycling around the world, a family struggling with cancer -- but the amazing editing and soundtrack create a story arc grounded not in personality or plot twist, but in the experience of having 24 hours pass and all of the amazing (or mundane) things that can happen in that time.  It’s a masterpiece that will perhaps seem quaint in a few decades, but that could not have been possible even 5 or 10 years ago.

Life In a Day is inspiring and moving.  Best of all, it’s real.

Here, you can start watching it right now:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaFVr_cJJIY

Today, I’m over it. (Especially with an exciting recent announcement from Morrisson-Reeves Library here in Richmond – more on that below.)

Not that I don’t still treasure the sensory experience of reading a real book, and not that I don’t still feel a little guilty doing my part to nudge us toward the end of an era every time I pick up my Kindle.  But a few things happend to push me past my reluctance about using e-books and e-readers:

1. I noticed other friends who I thought of as equally or more committed to the authenticity of reading an actual book starting to sing the praises of e-readers, the Kindle in particular.  They raved about the simplicity and flexibility of the Kindle experience, the lighter physical load to carry, the sleep-mate-friendly light built into the case, the wide range of selections available…it was too much for a gadget lover too ignore.
2. I kept encountering books I wanted to read, but that I didn’t want taking up the physical space in my life via a spot on the bookshelf or, worse, packed away in boxes.   Borrowing from a library or a friend can accomodate that to some degree, but there were still enough times where I wanted to just buy a book and have it to start reading when I wanted for as long as I wanted.
3. I found a refurbished Kindle for under $100.  At that price point it was pretty difficult to pass up trying it out, knowing they have good resale value in the worst case scenario.

I’ve had my Kindle 3 for over three months now, and I’m really enjoying it.

There are plenty of other in-depth reviews about the device, but I’ll say my general experience is that it’s been the closest thing to reading a paper book without actually reading a paper book.

The screen doesn’t look or feel like a screen, it feels like a page of a book, even after many hours on the eyes in a variety of lighting conditions.  The “workflow” of reading – browse for book, find book, buy book, start reading book, turn pages, finish book – is largely unchanged from a traditional book-reading experience.  The device barely does anything else, and so I’m not distracted by temptations of online research, checking my e-mail or seeing what the latest headlines are (I would not buy one of the newer Kindle tablets/multi-purpose touch devices for that reason alone).  The battery life is phenomenal – measured in weeks – and I’m driven to make it last longer by keeping the Wi-Fi turned off, further reducing any sense of being “connected.”  And if there are books where I really want the physical copy for whatever reason, I still have that option…for now.

The end result is that I’ve been reading more than I usually do, reading different kinds of stuff from what I might normally decide is worth having in book form, and cheesy as it may sound, really rediscovering the joy of immersing myself in a good book.

For now at least, e-books are not that much cheaper than “the real thing,” to buy new, which is why when I first got my Kindle I created an account on BookLending.com.  Within a day of posting a request to borrow a new release I’d been eyeing, a total stranger had loaned me their copy, saving me a few bucks.  Amazon has also recently recognized the desire for e-book borrowing in launching their Kindle Owners Lending Library for Prime members; I just finished reading The Hunger Games borrowed through it.  They also have the Kindle Daily Deal program, where for a 24-hour period they significantly discount the price of a particular e-book; I’ve bought a few books for $0.99 that I might not have gotten at $14.99.

Perhaps most exciting is that the e-book borrowing experience has come to my local library.  This weekend, Morrisson-Reeves Library announced the availability of e-book lending through their website, as a part of their use (along with other Indiana libraries) of OverDrive‘s digital lending services.

I was able to browse a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction e-books, and within minutes I had a copy of a book that perfectly fit in the “might borrow it from a library but probably wouldn’t buy it” category (George W. Bush’s Decision Points).

Jenie Lahmann, PR Coordinator at Morrisson-Reeves, said in a press release, “it is easy to use the service and best of all its free to use it with your library card. Also, no late fines for items you download.”  From the number of titles where all of the available electronic copies have already been checked out, it looks like this service will be a popular one among Indiana e-reader users.  For those who don’t have such a device, libraries like MRL are also exploring having some on hand to check out for patron use, in the same manner that they make computer labs available for accessing online information.

E-readers and e-books, and lending services like MRL’s, open up all sorts of new possibilities for educational use in homeschooling or in the school system, workforce training and professional development, and self-publishing.  I realize that a number of folks have been on that bandwagon for a while now, but I do think it was only recently that the quality, price and selection of e-readers and e-books made them accessible and reasonable for the masses.

I’m obviously enjoying my Kindle reading experience.  What’s your take on e-readers and e-books?

Scalene is a dark thriller that tells a story of a mother, her son, and the son’s caretaker as they interact around some events that change their lives significantly.  The film shows the perspectives of each of the three characters using a combination of linear (forward and reverse) and non-linear story-telling, a technique that certainly keeps things interesting and always a bit unsettling.

The movie was filmed in Richmond, and so as a resident it was also “fun” to try to pick out the locations and backdrops along the way – various scenes in the City building, various restaurants, Glen Miller Park, etc.  I’ve even been pulled over by one of the Richmond Police Department officers who makes an appearance in the film, but I don’t think that qualifies me for an on-screen credit.

The story itself is intriguing to watch unfold, despite the darkness of the subject matter – mental disability, sexual assault, unhealthy and co-dependent relationships, and so on.  All three primary cast members hold their own in the 95-minute piece; Margo Martindale’s “Janice” fluctuated between evoking sympathy for her plight and making your skin crawl with her mania; Hanna Hall’s “Paige” brought strength, complex emotion and a grounding presence on screen; Adam Scarimbolo’s “Jakob” was convincing and, despite having few spoken lines, full of personality and nuance.

There were scenes in Scalene when the pacing felt a little slow, and a few occasions where the plot seemed a bit contrived, but as a whole it was a very tightly made film.  Zack Parker has clearly built on each of his past filmmaking experiences to make Scalene; the editing was excellent – especially impressive given the multiple combined story-telling techniques – and the sound production and score were superbly done. Parker has enjoyed his identity as an emerging independent filmmaker, but he clearly strives for a quality of work normally only seen in much bigger budget productions.

From following Zack’s social media updates along the journey of making the film I only know a little bit about what what it took, but it’s enough to realize that between fundraising, coordinating production, directing, editing, marketing and distributing (and I’m sure much more), Mr. Parker is the model of a entrepreneurial film artist who can take an idea and then do whatever it takes to make it a reality.  It takes a lot of hard work to make any kind of film that doesn’t have serious flaws noticeable to the average viewer; Parker has put in that hard work and more.  In Scalene I think he has a film that stands on its own, and that will hopefully also serve as a stepping stone to even more great projects.

You can buy Scalene online from Along the Tracks Productions.

Culture

Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick
Finally, Mitnick gets to tell his side of the story when it comes to his adventures in computer cracking and social engineering.  Though his writing style isn’t particularly compelling and his personal meditations on the interpersonal aspects of his adventures are a bit awkward, the details of how he pulled off some pretty technologically impressive (albeit illegal and sometimes destructive) hacks – and how law enforcement responded – make for compelling reading on their own.  As someone who spent a fair number of hours in my childhood trying to deconstruct how the phone system and the emerging world of BBSes and Internet nodes worked, Mitnick’s book is a great visit to the past and a reminder that humans continue to be the weakest link in all computer security.

What We Leave Behind by Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay
Partly a book about how our society views waste of all kinds from all sources, from our individual person to our households to our cities, and what we do with waste based on those views.  Partly a book about the ethical, intellectual and spiritual challenges that come with seeing a truth about how the world works, and then deciding what to do with/about that truth.  As with other Jensen books I’ve read, the experience of following his train of thought is at once uncomfortable and enlightening, and always takes me to new places in my own consideration of “the meaning of life,” even when I disagree with some of the thinking that got me there.

The End of Growth by Richard Heinberg (partial)
Chock full of data and economic analysis that refutes conventional wisdom about the state of the world economy.  Heinberg basically says (as he has in other books and settings) that in the face of rising energy and food prices, debt levels, and disastrous choices about our relationship with the surrounding environment, growth as we’ve known it can’t continue (not “it shouldn’t” but “it’s not physically possible”).  Especially as I work on economic issues here in my own town, his discussions around the point that there are no new jobs, just jobs moved around from one place to another, were particularly poignant.  But Heinberg as always does a good job of painting a picture of a version of humanity that can see “progress” without depending on “growth.”

Novels

Daemon by Daniel Suarez
One of the best high-tech thriller novels I’ve read.  A mix of Neal Stephenson, Stephen King and Tom Clancy.  A cautionary tale about the power we give to the organizations and corporations (and individuals) who manage our electronic identities, and some imaginative examples of possible abuse.  And like the best tech thrillers, the technology references are realistic and accurate, paying respect to the hackers and hobbyists who can spot a fabricated plot device or an oversimplified explanation of how hacking an unsecured Wifi signal works a mile away.  Don’t let your housemates read it if they’re skeptical of your home automation efforts (you’ll see why), but I couldn’t put it down.

The Associate by John Grisham
A lawyer gets into an interesting and sometimes dangerous situation involving powerful corporations and other people he’s not quite sure he can trust, and requires creative legal maneuvering and the confronting of his personal demons to get out of it alive.  Yes, it’s the plot line of most every other Grisham novel, and yes, it was once again an entertaining read.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Such a good novel! Well-written, exciting, immersive, touching, real.  I had recently forgotten what it felt like to read a book where you start to care deeply about the characters and what happens to them, and where even when the situations or places or time period feel far away, the human dynamics and choices that are described bring insight and understanding about what it means to be alive.  Haven’t seen the movie, don’t know if I want to replace the rich imagery in my head with the Hollywood version.

The Apostle by Brad Thor (partial)
Political intrigue.  War and terrorists.  Secret operatives and daring missions.  Blah blah blah.  Maybe I didn’t give this enough of a chance and Mr. Thor seems to have found a winning formula for bestsellers, but I found it shallow, plastic-y and unreadable, even for vacation reading, and finally gave up after a few hundred pages.

Business & Politics

Campaign Boot Camp by Christine Pelosi
Politics the Wellstone Way by Wellstone Action! and edited by Bill Lofy
Two hands-on, how-to books for those who want to be engaged in the political process, especially candidates.  While in many cases I was pleased to see that I’ve often been doing “the right things” in my own first venture into running for elected office, it was helpful to have these two contributions to the conversations I’m having with my volunteers and supporters.  The Pelosi book was perhaps more basic conceptual information while the Wellstone book was more of a practical guide to getting certain campaign things done, with examples and templates to help.

First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
Extensively researched and well written reflections on what “great managers” do differently from all other kinds of managers.  I took a lot of notes on this one, and am working my way through implementing the valuable advice I found for my own company, but it would be a useful read for anyone in a position of leading a team.

The Carrot Principle by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
A quick read on how to reward and engage members of a team.  Not ground-breaking, but well researched and full of good ideas.  Complements some other works by the same authors that I hope to check out soon.

It’s Okay to Be The Boss by Bruce Tulgan
Tulgan calls out what I think is a real problem – leaders who don’t actually lead – but then proceeds to write what I found to be a fairly surface-level look at when and why it happens and what to do about it.  He seemed intent on appearing to be in opposition to most kinds of conventional management wisdom (or even some of the more modern refinement of said wisdom, see above), but in the end just ends up presenting the same kinds of advice in slightly different ways and, I’m sorry to say, with much less attention to the power dynamics and humanity of management-employee relationships.  Not recommended.

What have you been reading this summer?

Game Change
by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

Published in 2010, Game Change recounts the stories of the 2008 Presidential election with a behind-the-scenes perspective unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere. The book reads like a novel (think Joe Klein’s Primary Colors or even a John Grisham work) and is simply fascinating to take in.  Chapter after chapter paint a nuanced picture of what Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, John McCain and other candidates were experiencing from the time they decided to run until the election itself – it’s a narrative that the media simply couldn’t have assembled along the way.  Knowing of the extensive research and interviewing that the authors did to assemble it together made it all the more impressive.

Though largely retrospective in nature, much of it remains relevant today as we try to understand how John Edwards` campaign could have made it as far as it did (and how surprisingly successful they were at denying to themselves the truth about his character and actions along the way), just how unprepared Sarah Palin was or is to be in any kind of position of national leadership, and how hard politicians have to work to overcome or work around the personal turmoil that being a candidate can bring.

I admit that as a current candidate for local office, some of this reading was personal escapism – no matter what challenges I might face in my campaign, at least I don’t have to fly, drive and walk back and forth across the country for months and years.  But I think the book would be a page-turner for anyone who enjoys following national politics, or wants a more complete understanding of what goes into running for President.

Rework
by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Rework is a series of short and easily digestible chapters with common sense advice on how to succeed in business.  That particular topic – business advice – has surely been beaten to death by other publications over the years, so I was a little wary of Yet Another Business Book when a friend gave me a copy to check out.

It turned out to be the best single collection of business advice I’ve ever read.

It’s important to say again that it’s pretty common sense stuff, but that comes with the corollary observation that the traditional mainstream answers to the question of “how business should be done” are generally NOT helpful or good common sense, and that makes this book a bit of a revolutionary writing.

With advice like “don’t have meetings just to have meetings” and “get a good night’s sleep” and “fire the workaholics” and “don’t label everything ASAP – of course everyone wants things done as soon as they can be done,” it’s hard to resist the urge to smack one’s forehead over and over again while reading, if one has ever worked in a traditional corporate culture.  But make no mistake – this is not a cheesy, impractical and oversimplified “chicken soup for the business soul.”  Authors Fried and Hansson write from experiences of success and failure that are real and complex and always evolving.  They’ve been there and done that, and they have lots of good stories from others who have done the same.  Their approach is one that acknowledges the realities of business while balancing the humanity and emotional layers of what it means for a group of people to collaborate on something together – a rarity in business books, I think.

If I can think of any resource that, were it available 15 years ago when I was working with my business partner and then first employees to start our own business, and during all the management decisions I’ve made since, would have saved me lots of time, hand-wringing and self-doubt, Rework is it.  For that reason alone, I think anyone starting or running a small business today should read this book, especially those that traffic in information or technology (some pieces of the book don’t translate so well to more traditional brick and mortar business models).  There’s no substitute for direct experience and I don’t regret my own, but this book will be a head start and/or affirming encouragement to those who want to run a business well.

Confessions of a Public Speaker
by Scott Berkun

I’m fascinated by the art and science of interpersonal communication, and as I continue to develop my own profile and technique as a public speaker, I’m enjoying reading the advice of others who have been doing it for a while.

Scott Berkun’s book is much more than a how-to book, though.  It’s part telling of a personal journey – Berkun took a leap of faith to become a full time writer and speaker, and you can tell he’s still riding a wave of amazement that it’s working – part lesson in cultural anthropology and biology (asking questions like “why do we get butterflies in our stomach before a public talk?” and “what audience dynamics in a room lead to the most enjoyable sessions?”), and yes, part advice about the mechanics and logistics of giving a public talk.

Perhaps it’s just that my own sense of humor seems to match up to with Berkun’s really well, or maybe it was the no-frills, common sense approach to a topic that’s either over-analyzed or hyped up and mystified by other writers, but I found Confessions to be very enjoyable and refreshing.

It also made me realize, unfortunately, just how many ineffective presentations and public talks I see on a regular basis,  even by those who are held up as great public speakers. It isn’t always that the speakers themselves are executing their talks poorly (but sometimes it is), it’s often that some of the many other factors Berkun identifies as critical in successful public speaking haven’t been given any regard.  The size, layout, and decor of the room.  The time the speaker has given them self to practice and get setup.  The way that Q&A sessions are conducted.  The way feedback is obtained and used.  These are things I’ve thought about before (and even blogged about), but I’ve never seen such a useful distillation of the issues at stake.  In each case, Berkun makes a simple, straightforward argument for why these things matter, and offers his experience in how to do them well.

I highly recommend Confessions of a Public Speaker to anyone interested in public speaking and effective communications in group settings.

Last night we had a great experience with some friends at the Quarter Barrel Brewery & Pub down the road in Oxford, OH.

The place has apparently been open only a few months after some Miami University alums decided to pursue their vision for a local brewpub, and it already seems to be one of the most popular dining destinations in town.

Featuring an in-house brewery (their own craft beers go on tap next weekend), free wi-fi, an upscale casual environment, lunch and coffeeshop offerings during the day, books for sale sprinkled around the walls, a very attentive and engaged staff and a cozy floor-plan, we felt pretty far away from the typical restaurant scene in the area – a nice change of pace!

The menu is varied and wonderful – ratatouille, steak, edamame, etc. – but if you’re going for the first time, you really have only one choice based on our experience and other reviews: the Lavash flatbread pizza-like dishes were AMAZING.  With three different types (Spinach and artichoke with melted mozzarella / Bacon, ham, and tomatoes with cheddar and mozzarella / Roasted vegetables with Swiss and mozzarella) and beautiful presentation, it was a great meal to share around.

The Quarter Barrel is open Monday-Thursday 8 AM – 12 AM and Friday/Saturday 8 AM to 1 AM.

Sex at Dawn
by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá

Sex at Dawn is an honest and thorough exploration of the history of human sexuality, and what that means for how we understand our sexuality today.  Written by some folks who have clearly done their research, it’s part anthropological study and part cultural critique, and it’s got plenty of witty humor sprinkled throughout.

Let’s be honest, it’s easy to take the history and meaning of sexuality for granted in a society that throws images and talk of it in our faces left and right – “surely things have just always been done this way, right?”  And there’s so much pressure to understand, have and be good at sex while also maintaining an extremely nonchalant approach to being a sexual being.  But whatever you think you know about why and how people have sex, why monogamy is held up as a moral imperative in modern culture, and how other cultures and species around the world treat sex and sexuality, you should be prepared to be challenged and entertained by this journey through human behavior.  I certainly was!

This was a quick and fun read, but it didn’t have a whole lot of substance or insight to it.  The book tells the stories of teams of people who have come together to do something really creative and “great” in one setting or another: the early years of Apple Computer, Xerox PARC, the 1992 Clinton election campaign, Lockheed’s Skunk Works, Black Mountain College, Disney’s animation studios, etc.  The book returns often to a few themes about what it means to organize genius, but the lesson in the end is that you need the right mix of personalities with visionaries, hard workers, salespeople, skilled creative people, etc. to do great things.  If you’re looking for a how-to manual or a prescriptive approach to building great teams, you’ll be disappointed by this book, but if you enjoy understanding some of the details and styles of leadership that made particular teams of people work and not work, then Organizing Genius is a good collection to make your way through.

After reading Bamford’s Body of Secrets a few years ago, I was sure I’d read everything I would ever want to know about the history and inner-workings of the National Security Agency (NSA).  But whereas Body of Secrets was mostly a history with some tales of spycraft and geo-political maneuvering that felt a bit distant, The Shadow Factory is a very modern look at what the U.S.’s largest intelligence agency can do well, what it does poorly, and what that means for the individuals and nation states alike.

As someone who likes to geek out over the details of particular technologies (yes, even when that tech is ultimately used for evil purposes), The Shadow Factory provides a reasonable dose of engineering details.  If you’re interested to understand how far the federal government will go to, say, tap into a fiber optic cable that they don’t have permission to tap into, you may have a hard time keeping your jaw off the floor with the examples here.  The other recurring theme (and, by “recurring” I mean repeated to the point of making you wonder if the book’s editor was awake) is the constant ethical and legal question of how far is too far when it comes to spying and intelligence gathering (and the trillions of dollars spent to make it happen) for the sake of preventing acts of terrorism.  The book generally comes out on the side of those who would suggest too many personal freedoms and privacy rights have been eroded, but it definitely moves past any black and white thinking on the matter.

If you made it this far, let me finish this review by noting again for the record that you should assume every single email, website visit, phone call, and other electronic communication you participate in is being monitored and reviewed by someone in some government agency somewhere.  The Shadow Factory makes it clear that there are many powerful people in the world who feel safer that way.

Breakpoint is a work of cyberwar fiction from Richard Clarke that comes across as a thinly veiled attempt to portray what he sees “in real life” as some troubling parts of what’s ahead when it comes to our culture’s reliance on networked technologies, genetic and biological engineering, and consolidating of power and wealth in the hands of the few. Think “super-human military soldiers whose special suits are connected to the Internet and then hacked by someone who makes the suits go bonkers” type stuff.

The cool part about this is that Clarke spent a good chunk of his life serving at the highest levels of the U.S. federal government and with a realistic awareness of what kinds of technical and political challenges we face, so even a fictionalized narrative about some of that has a sense of realism to it that you can’t find in other novels.  The bad part about this is that Clarke is not a very good fiction writer; the book was riddled with flat, canned characters, spelling and grammar mistakes, and plot developments that just didn’t make any sense. In the end, it was a fine brain-candy beach book, but don’t expect to be moved or drawn into the world Clarke imagines.

The movie was incredibly well made.  Aaron Sorkin’s writing was as good as the best days of The West Wing, each member of the cast seemed to just nail their role, the editing was some of the best I’ve seen, and so on.

Perhaps most enjoyably, this is a mainstream movie that is at least in part about the culture and goings-on in the modern world of Internet entrepreneurship, I believe the first of its kind. It fully embraces the geekiness that was and is a part of building a web application like Facebook: in the first 30 minutes, the Apache webserver software project is mentioned at least twice, there are dramatic lines about needing more Linux webservers running MySQL, there are punchlines that involve the emacs text editor, and scenes of glorious code writing marathons – wow.

The Social Network also takes on the complex and sometimes dirty aspects of Internet start-ups, business partnerships that go sour, the role of lust, greed, insecurity and power struggles in creating beautiful things, and the general messiness of human relationships in a post-industrial world.  Some of this is probably over-dramatized; if you believe the narrative it presents, success in the world of the Internet means being ready to screw over your friends and then lawyering up to defend against their lawsuits, treating women as decorative sex objects to invite to website launch parties, and deferring basic care of one’s body in order to write software all night long.  My experiences as a web developer in the Midwest have been much less sensational…but then again, I’m not a billionaire, so maybe I’m doin` it wrong.

The movie doesn’t purport to be factually accurate, but there’s enough real history in there that it will likely become the popular understanding of how Facebook actually came to be; it might be close enough.  If you use Facebook, or if you’re interested in some of the crazy stuff that happens to take a start-up business like Facebook to what it is now, I think The Social Network is a great film to check out.

If you’ve seen it, tell me what you thought!

In the meantime, as a distraction, here are some things you might want to click on and check out:

1. Is it possible that all this political rage is not actually about healthcare?
2. I enjoyed the documentary “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” which takes a look at the MPAA’s system of assigning maturity ratings to films, and how it affects the production, distribution and success of movies in the U.S.  The themes were that (A) a small group of anonymous and inaccessible people have significant influence in deciding what becomes a part of our culture, (B) anything that depicts the sexual empowerment or fulfillment of women is dangerous or obscene, and (C) anything that isn’t 100% pro-military, pro-war is dangerous or obscene.

   I know these themes will be shocking to you, so just take a minute and catch your breath.

3. There’s a new federal policy that says cycling and other forms of non-motorized transportation should be treated as equal to motorized transportation when we plan our cities and streets.  Yay! But apparently, this is going to lead to economic catastrophe.  RUN FOR–er, uh, I mean DRIVE FOR YOUR LIVES!!
4. Have you tried playing Glenn Beck Bingo?  It’s a great party game.
5. I really hope none of the commenters on my review of Lierre Keith’s “The Vegetarian Myth” were among the militant vegans who assaulted her at a recent speaking engagement.  Um, you’re doing it wrong.

There now, you almost forgot about my blogging transgressions, didn’t you?