Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 7/1

I didn't do much business today, but at least I walked away with something. Thanks to the Russian woman who purchased a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel and the woman who bought some children's books, and the guy who went on for a half hour on religion. Born in Israel, his family came to America when he was five. He now repudiates (he used much stronger terms) Judaism and follows a faith he claims to have learned directly from its founder, with whom he spent a summer. It blends the elements of all the major religions and does not hold any one above another. The guy is either a genius or one skilled B.S. artist. He asked several times if I understood what he was saying. "Vaguely," I said, which is more than I understood what he has told me in the past about the printing technique or language he has developed on the computer, which he has had copyrighted.
I caught up to The Social Network (2010), courtesy of Netflix. When I first heard of it, I wondered how in the world it would measure up to the praise which had been heaped on it. The story of the founding of Facebook, which I love, just didn't sound that interesting, especially coming from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, whose works often have an extreme liberal bias (A Few Good Men {1992}, The West Wing). Fortunately, party politics and leftists teaching points were completely absent from the scenario. It concentrated on the characters in dispute over who deserved credit and compensation for the idea. Its rapid fire dialogue was reminiscent of the Hollywood screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's, although the humor was far subtler. Its two-hours moved swiftly, the action alternating between the founding years and a hearing in the present to determine the winners and losers. Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, an obnoxious genius, and Andrew Garfield, as his only friend, were excellent, as was Justin Timberlake as the outrageous hustler who founded Napster and contributed largely to the popularization of Facebook. Rooney Mara shines in a small role as a wonderful girl Zuckerberg loses. Grand-daughter of the owner of The New York Giants, she will be the lead in the forthcoming American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It will be interesting to see how she compares to the powerhouse performance of Noomi Repace of the Swedish version. David Fincher will direct, as he did The Social Network. He has a good track record: Se7en (1995), The Fight Club (1999) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) among others. On a scale of five, I rate The Social Network three-and-a-half.
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