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First thing’s first, the movie review. The Social Network is a film about Facebook’s founders but focuses more on the life of computer nerd Mark Zuckerberg. In order to achieve the popularity that Facebook is now enjoying, he had to make friends with the wrong people and enemies of his closest friends. It is the story of a trailblazer who comes up with disruptive technology and inevitably changes the lives of everyone in the world. Of course…he had to make a lot of people angry while he was at it….

Personal Thoughts:
Even if Mark Zuckerberg is complaining that he wasn’t that much of a loser in real life, I still love how this movie was framed. As an information architect and a blogger, it cut me to the quick, what with the reflections and lessons I learned. One student even asked me if I could relate to it…but that’s flattering myself too much already. I am no genius, but it reminded me of a brilliant professor’s words: “The more intelligent a person is, the more elusive happiness becomes.” These came from Dr. Helen Estacio-Lopez, when I was discussing with her the life of fiction author and philosopher Ayn Rand.

If you look at the history of many trailblazing philosophers, artists and scientists, you’d actually unearth the same story over and over again. Galileo angered the Catholic Church with his heliocentric theory, Van Gogh was deemed a lunatic by most of his contemporaries. Dare I say what happened to Jesus Christ when he questioned traditional beliefs? Heck, even my former boss Gerard Cadlum had to go through the same quandary. People thought his ideas on marketing and creative direction were crazy. Two years later, his predictions came true and the naysayers had to admit that they judged him wrongly.

One cannot blaze a trail if one is always following the rules instead of testing its boundaries. You anger people in the process, but this always leads to a transition that would shape society in the long run. Unfortunately, only the most brilliant seem to be destined for this kind of lot in life. You’ll be hated by your contemporaries but will be revered by future generations. Uh, probably after your death. Mark Zuckerberg should be thankful he did not go the way of Van Gogh etc. At least he is enjoying his popularity (and apparently, his infamy) while he’s still young and able-bodied.

The Event:
I would like to thank Rowena and Nuffnang for this opportunity to enjoy the premiere. I went with Cris but we also saw one of my former students, Melvin, newbie blogger of The Weird Project. I wanted to socialize with Rowena and the rest of the other bloggers, but Melvin looked so lonely that Cris and I went over to accompany him. (I know what it feels like to hardly know anyone in a blogger event so I thought he must be overwhelmed.)

Anyway, I test drove my new pair of boots that day.

Ahk, my jumper suit, which I got from Ukay Manila, was all wrinkled. *Sigh* I always wrinkle stuff because I can’t keep still! Anyhoo, the boots I got from Greenhills. It originally costs P1,250 but Cris haggled its way down to P1,000. I imagine this pair would cost nearly P2K if I bought them online. Cripes! So yay for haggling powers!

Oh, and while we were talking to Melvin, Marcelle of Nuffnang came up to us. He’s actually an old friend, back from when The Otaku Fridge was still in its stellar years. He was one of my more prolific contributors.

I never realized he was this tall before. Haha. He also served as NN’s host before the movie started. Good job, dude! I’m glad to see you’re doing well.

The last photo was taken by Cris Dumlao.