One Saturday a friend who lives on Nob Hill in S.F. drove a zipcar over to visit me in Sausalito. He was eager to tell me about his trip to Istanbul, paid for by renting out his spare bedroom. Earlier that morning, via a freecycle posting, a stranger picked up some clay pots I'd set out by my garage so he could make a deck garden. Our apparently different actions are, in fact, part of a trend that Roos Rogers and Rachel Botsman dub collaborative consumption in their book, What's Mine is Yours.
I. TIME Do Not Be “Always On”
II. PLACE Live in Person
III. CHOICE You May Always Choose “None of the Above”
IV. COMPLEXITY You Are Never Completely Right
V. SCALE One Size Does Not Fit All
VI. IDENTITY Be Yourself
VII. SOCIAL Do Not Sell Your Friends
VIII. FACT Tell the Truth
IX. OPENNESS Share, Don’t Steal
X. PURPOSE Program or Be Programmed
Program or be Programmed is a quick read. I read it on the Kindle my wife got me for Christmas. The irony of reading a book about the pitfalls and possibilities of technology we don't fully understand on a device I don't fully understand was not lost on me.
I would describe this as an “Internet philosophy book” that might fit on the bookshelf somewhere between Neal Stephenson's In the Beginning…was the Command Line and Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do? But I found Program to be even more thoughtful and succinct than those books.
Quote from the book: “Instead of learning about our technology, we opt for a world in which our technology learns about us.”
If you are a Latino or have any grasp of Latino culture, this is a 6. This is as good as Evita and confirms in my own mind Penelope Cruz, who awed in Spanglish, as the Greta Garbo of our time. It took me some time to realize it was her, as her role, both through facial and body language as well as costume and design, was completely opposite that of the role she played in Spanglish. The male star, Adrien Brody, was himself phenomenal, and one has to give enormous credit to every side of this production from script and casting to settings, supporting actors at all levels, and the over-all framing of the story. This could easily become a cult classic to be enjoyed over and over again. I personally found it head and shoulders above just about every film I have watched these past five or six years. Penelope Cruz's face is a work of art in constant motion, and I was absolutely fascinated by the choreography of her eyes and mouth and the entire setting both up close and personal and in the larger cultural landscape that the producer and director captured to perfection.
I certainly hope this becomes available in USA standard (still incredible that there is not one global standard for DVDs, digits are digits) because when it does I will buy and keep this particular DVD for recurring viewing.
Writing this review has exposed me to the enormous body of work of Penelope Cruz, and caused me to explore the work of Adrian Brody. Below are a few DVDs that I have selected from a very large–a surprisingly large–selection, all of which, in combination with the two performances by Penelope Cruz I have actually seen, cause me to feel she is truly one of the most diverse, nuanced, beautiful, and downright plain TALENTED actresses of our time.
I was very glad to have a chance to see this movie on an airplane, and it was everything others had led me to believe. For myself, it captured the essence of what Peter Drucker calls the mono-maniac. I found the over-all blend of academic banality, personal eccentricities and genius, inter-personal egos and intentions, and the final financial settlements to be totally engrossing.
In many ways I consider Facebook to be the anti-thesis of Google; the first is earnest and personal despite some warts, and a self-made network–the second is secretive, mathematical, went corporate, and lost its soul in the process–as well as its direction.
This is not a movie I would have gone to any trouble to see, and in a ten hour flight when I did not feel like reading it made the cut only after two other movies viewed on the way over that included sleep. This is a solid five and I was totally surprised, delighted, and provoked by the combination of the three main actors–Michael Douglas in a reprise role with more soul, Shia LaBeouf (appeared in Transformers as a totally credible honest broker, and Carey Mulligan, who was so very good I looked up and list some of her movies below. The movie is timely. While its depictions of the incestuous relations among the Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs is obviously prominent under another name) and the Treasury Department, with no mention of the Federal Reserve are very limited, they are more than sufficient to project the total greed and irresponsibility of all concerned.
Here are the other movies I watched and review here (mostly to draw Phi Beta Iota community to them and the other excellent reviews), the list is in rank order. At Phi Beta Iota you can select Review/DVD Only to see the other 100+ DVDs I recommend.
I admire the level of detail by the several top reviews I read here, and enter this review primarily to draw those who follow my work on Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, to the DVD and the other reviews.
This was the last of five movies I watched over the course of sixteen hours in the air, and it comes very close to making the cut toward six stars. This is–for the intelligence and information professionals–advanced Information Operations and Cyber-Psychological Operations on steroids.
Rough patches, but a period cultural piece and for me quite fascinating. Almost a five and not left at four for itself but rather in comparison with other movies as alternative ways of spending time. This is a documentary of one of the greatest American “paraparatzi” of our time, in blends live interviews with re-collective discussions of specific photos that have made history including, most memorably, “windblown Jackie,” and as an American I found it both fascinating and not done deeply or broadly enough. I would have like to see much more. HOWEVER, the movie does whet the appetite for the book No Pictures, and I recommend both.
This movie, and the act of writing the review, brought to my attention other books by this photographer and out of respect I list them:
Six Star Instant Classic–Needs to Come in US DVD
Classic View of Greatest American Photo-Stalker