Facebook will probably be even more synonymous with the phrase "social network" once David Fincher's same-titled drama takes the film world by…well, not storm, cloud or virus maybe…this fall. Kind of weird for me because for half a decade, Facebook has been less and less social. Sure, it's a valuable communication tool for hosting dinner parties and such, but on the whole…I'll explain through maybe the greatest idea of my cinematic career, which Superman and I spent a few years working on: a web-savvy guy solves a murder by looking at the Facebook pages of people connected to the crime, then using their own personal information to get closer to them. Clever, sure, but not exactly social. We're basically looking at the lives of a few friends and even more complete strangers who pop up in their pictures and comment on the posts which, as the Permanent Guest suggested, almost no one else gives a damn about anyway. In a world where so many people are suffering from poverty, unemployment, or just plain loneliness, we connect through screens and clicks and types.
Or not connect at all. Lately, in my own compulsive Facebook trolling (yes, I'm guilty, too), I find myself becoming more and more fascinated with people I don't care about or people I've barely seen in years. Another case in point: a girl I knew from my alma mater, a gorgeous lesbian, keeps updating her profile with new pictures all the time, and I find myself fascinated by staring at her with other women, wondering what their relationship is and what they're doing. It feels wrong, but it's almost impossible to stop your imagination from running away and wanting more. Or I'll look at pictures of people I've met who probably wouldn't give me the time of day in person, or click on links and be distracted for half an hour. Lost in my own world and further and further from social.
All of this being said, I can't say Facebook is a negative influence on my life, for there is one thing I know to be more true than anything else. As fascinating as people on the other side of the country or the lovely old Sapphic acquaintance may be, none of them are the friends whose voices and presence keep me going. None of them, ESPECIALLY the aforementioned acquaintance, are the S.O., who makes my life so happy now in a time of uncertainty that I can't even imagine what our relationship will be like when my state of affairs becomes more settled.
Donald Miller writes that one of the great actions a Christian should strive to do is to love everybody, no matter what our minds or our common sense or even our hearts once in a while tell us. To be committedly social. And I hope I can carry on in that vein for the rest of my life.
Although when you want to have people over for a wine-fueled potluck, Facebook still comes in handy.
OTHER MAGNIFICENCE
Speaking of being loved by others, Mom of Superman posts on Facebook at least once a month how she wants me back in L.A. Warms the heart a great deal, although I closed today on that magnificent three-bedroom apartment for me, the Songwriter, and the Nice Guy.
I spent fifteen minutes this morning working out my future gym membership plans sans car or job locale, and felt pretty proud of myself when a solution emerged.
I can't read The Economist at the gym anymore…I rush through everything…but I know I have to start reading it again. Need to be on top of the world and not so insular.
Achewood is always magnificent, but the whole "gay sex in the back of the van" story is starting to really weird me out. And I miss Ray, Roast Beef, and Molly. And Cornelius, who probably comes the closest to me.
I put "The Night Watch" up as my desktop today…the Eighty Years' War is going to be refought on Sunday with exactly the same outcome. BET ON IT. And then go eat a gluttonous Dutch meal and feel guilty afterwards.
I have seen three feature-length films in IMAX. Only one of them, Shine a Light, was worth the ticket price. I'm hoping that the nineteen bucks I just spent on an opening-weekend seat for Inception won't give me cause for regret.
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