norton, brian

The Social Network, aka the Facebook movie, debuts on Friday. I’ve already blogged about the movie’s brilliant trailer and early marketing effort. The book it is based on, The Accidental Billionaires, is a great read, so I was already excited to see it. And now the movie is drawing rave reviews and is considered to be a front runner for Best Picture. And, for the record, here is a list of 5 myths about Facebook.

With that in mind, I thought it would be a great opportunity for an Omaha Movie Tweetup. There was some initial interest, so I figured I’d make it official with a blog post.

Here’s the Omaha Movie Tweetup plan:
When: Friday (Oct. 1) at 7:45 p.m. showing. Let’s meet at 7:30 outside the theater
Where: Rave Theater at Westroads
Tickets: Buy them online here

I can buy tickets if people really want it, but I think it’d be best if we all purchase our own tickets. And, of course, we can plan on going somewhere after to digest the movie. Leave suggestions on here or Twitter.

You can find me on Twitter and on Facebook.

Google takes the FTC to school « BuzzMachine
Buzz Machine | Jul 20, 2010
Why does Google understand the news industry’s problems more than most of the news industry execs do?

Metro/Region – Omaha.com
omaha.com
Maybe this is cold, but if a 4% tax is really that draining, you probably shouldn’t be eating out anyway.

NEVER WAKE UP: THE MEANING AND SECRET OF INCEPTION
chud.com
This is a brilliant take on #Inception. Seriously, read this if you have seen the movie.

10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review
blogs.hbr.org
Very good read here about why we should stop apologizing for our online life. See my blog about this here: http://nortonbrian.com/archives/45

No, I am not counting down the days until I meet my soul mate. But what if it was possible to know the exact day that you are meant to meet your soul mate? And what if you wore a device that told you when you made eye contact with said person? And since the general point of this blog is to discuss journalism and social media, I promise we will get there eventually, just keep reading.

That’s the basic premise of TiMER.

In this movie, starring Emma Caufield as Oona, humans are able to have a TiMER, implanted into their wrist, that will countdown the days until they “zero out” which signals the day they will meet The One. The catch: The One has to also have a TiMER implant. If not, then the countdown does not start. Essentially, for Oona, there is no point in  dating. Her One doesn’t have an implant, so she asks any TiMER-less guy she dates to get one implanted just to check.

Now you might expect a hopeless romantic like me to love the idea of knowing exactly when you are going to meet The One. But I would never want something like this. It sure does take the fun out of dating. Plus, as nice as it would be to know that I am going to meet the woman of my dreams on Oct. 12, 2011, what’s the fun in the that? The journey is the fun part of life, the end result is just that – an end. (As a side note, if I do happen to meet someone on Oct. 12, 2011, I take back everything I just said).

So what does this have to do with social media? Nothing, specifically, but I think the movie brings up interesting questions about technology in general. As we evolve ever-improved technological gadgets we lose a bit of what ties human kind to the past. As we embrace the waves of technology we must remember to not forget where we have come from and to not allow technology to run our lives.

I am as guilty as any as I type this on my MacBook while checking Twitter on my iPhone and running the dishwasher. I would be lost without some of the most basic of technologies. But, every once in a while, it’s nice to take a step back and put all the tech away. Try it some time.

For the record, the movie was just good, not great. But it brings up an interesting topic of discussion.