The Social Network

Watched this movie for the first time the other day and I have to say that what’s most impressive to me about the whole thing is how short a time ago that it all happened. (yes it was well acted and enjoyable and actually very good too) It’s a based on a true story that I remember going on as it went on. I remember when Facebook hit my school in late 2004 and I remember the millionth member.

In fact my school is alluded to in the movie, when they mention that Baylor won’t take Facebook and they need to spread to the schools around Baylor—that was us.

The based on a true story mantra has long been a stable of movies and books, when something is based on real life and yet still dramatic and entertaining it seems someone easier to be enthralled with it and impressed. You show us the story of the youngest billionaire in the world or a man with his arm trapped under a rock and forced to free himself through drastic means and people eat it up.

And I know we’re going to live through more of these “based on a true story” moments that we remember. Maybe we already have. There are countless stories of war accounts, September eleventh, historic rescues, historic cases and criminals and loves and all manner of other things out there someone may write about.

When I think about Facebook as a site (I still remember when it was changed from thefacebook.com) I realize how integrated it is into life and how it was integrated in to college and the social experience. And even with the site’s many changes I find myself strolling around it at times looking at friend connections and just searching for old acquaintances.

The idea seems so simple now, looking back at it. Ideas often do. The things that we use daily and seem to depend on somewhat are those ideas that once had everyone goes “why didn’t I think of this” or “why did no one ever do this before?”

The site’s pretty much established its place as one of those things that just becomes a staple of social life for many people.

Forgotten

The New Year has been exhausting, I guess this isn’t a good sign—when things start off so much worse than they were the previous year and when life seems to launch everything it can at you at once.

I don’t know what to say here that hasn’t been said before. I miss writing here but I don’t think I have a reasonable stuff to say that will be worth typing out. Lately I’ve buried myself in games and reading and writing and just kind of being withdrawn from others because its more comfortable than dealing with people or missing someone, I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.

For now things seem to be more or less stuck like this and I don’t want to drone on about it, I just wanted to make sure that this place doesn’t look forgotten or left behind.

And We’re Off to This Start…

So many times I wonder if I have a right to feel like this, inside I miss my friends and I guess rightfully so. But there’s really not much I can do to change anything on my end.

The Problem with Prequels

With so many prequels having come out in so many forms, like the new Star Wars Trilogy and Fast and Furious 4—and with the threat new Harry Potter books it seems the question of whether or not to prequel will always be something we wrestle with.

There are working Prequels out there, Underworld 3, for instance and Temple of Doom, which most people don’t seem to realize is a prequel. Fast and the Furious 4 works because it does essentially the same thing all of the others do. It’s PG-13 porn, there’s scantily clad women and beautiful cars…

From what I can tell is prequels that work, do so for three reasons—the plot is so thin and dependent on superficial things that its nearly impossible to ruin the larger picture because its all rather base line. Underworld and Fast and the Furious fit into this category. These are watchable films, but there’s not much complex in the way of plot there.

The second reason is because they were planned from the start. The book Mossflower by Brian Jacques is the second book in the Redwall series and is a prequel that is set up by the first book well, it also links the first to the third book. Metal Gear Solid 3 does the same thing. When the prequel is part of the game plan and essential to what comes next, it can work.

Third, and final is the person who made the prequel knew their shit…let’s be honest even authors and directors contradict themselves all of the time. If I were to make you watch Star Wars: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi you would have an entirely different ide of the Force, of what Jedi could do and of how long the Galactic Empire had been in power. The six movies only fit together if you’re a total fucking retard and don’t pay close attention. Part of the beauty and importance of prequels is they don’t upset what’s there and carefully add to it.

One mistake that’s often made with a prequel is linking everything to some cause to try and better explain the inner workings of things. Anakin/Vader became the center of the universe in the Star Wars prequels. He wasn’t just a misled soul, he was the chosen one and the one who had been foretold and had a virgin birth and all of that…

People have been saying they want Harry Potter prequels, stuff about Harry’s mother and father in school and the other characters there or stuff with young Dumbledore.

Another big culprit for a prequel fuck-up is the antithesis of number two—telling a story we didn’t need to hear. Now admittedly Underworld did this, but it was so fucking cool no one cared they knew how it was going to end. The Star Wars prequels and pretty much anything that can happen in Harry Potter will more than likely fall into this category. Most of the reason why Vader or Sirius Black or any number of other characters like that are so cool is because the reader only saw them for a short time and they heard these great things about the past diluted down through history.

Vader was a great, noble man seduced by the force and a great friend. James Potter was a headstrong youngster who matured into a kind, loving father. For the purpose of their stories, that’s all we need to know about them. Who felt cheated when we had to hear young Vader constantly whining about how he hated Obi-Wan and how he would be the most powerful Jedi ever? Not so noble now, is he?

I would say, as a rule almost, if you have to wonder if the fans want a prequel—you don’t need one. Part of the reason fans want things is because they’re mysterious and that kind of made them cool. Most of the time, they won’t live up to the standard the fans expect. Especially in a worlds swamped by fan fiction like Harry Potter or Star Wars is. It’s better off as a mystery.

Oddly enough, two prequels stand out as exemplarily and so intertwined with their cannon that they are very accepted. Unfortunately both are video games and one is actually Star Wars—Star Wars: Force Unleashed falls just before A New Hope and leads into the first movie. It actually works with cannon, not against it. And Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core actually makes the mistakes in Final Fantasy VII’s plot make more sense.

More often than not, though, they don’t seem to work.