Drive is a gentle love story layered on top of a violent crime story. Its music video like atmosphere and stylish vision from Nicolas Winding Refn makes it an unique and unforgettable film.
Yes, Mark Zuckerberg is a real person. Yes, he is one of the founders of Facebook. Yes, he went to Harvard. Yes, he did actually create a site that had people rank university students on their level of perceived attractiveness. No, it had nothing to do with getting revenge on any girl. In fact, the site also included pictures of male students, who were also subject to ratings. The site was up for only a weekend. Mark accepted responsibility and apologized fully.
This film depicts him as a promiscuous man, at times showing him to ogle his interns. This is total fiction. Mark began dating student Priscilla Chan at Harvard, who is far from a groupie (there was never any groupies)... She is a pediatrician and has a medical degree. They married back in 2012 (two years after this film was made) and have two kids together. The depicted personality of Mark in the film is fictional to the point of absurdity.
Mark did not "steal" Facebook from the Winklevoss brothers. The idea of online social networking already existed. Mark did not deprive them of anything. He simply lost interest in their conception of a social networking site, and focused on a better one. As I am not familiar with these brothers, I cannot say if how they are portrayed in the film is accurate or not. Most probably not.
A year after this film was released, co-founder Eduardo Saverin fled to Singapore after renouncing his American citizenship in order to avoid paying hundreds of millions in taxes back to the society he had profited so much from. He is a multi-billionaire today, worth an estimated $11.3 billion. Mark had decided to push Saverin out of the company due to his apparent lack of cooperation with Zuckerberg, although the exact details are protected by non-disclosure agreements.
Overall, the film is well-acted, directed, but it's not a biography, and would be better suited for maybe satire, or alternate history. And a pretty nonsensical one at that.
"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely and I'm lucky to be alive in you."
What a charming, spirited, and wholly restorative this treasure of a book is.
And how lucky I am to be alive to read it.
When I think of the perfect novel I think of 1984.
Its subject matter is historically relevant. One might even argue it's even increasing in relevancy in today's political climate.
1984 is also surprisingly captivating and entertaining. Even if you read nothing but Dan Brown you will still admire its thrills and page-turning ability.
Finally, 1984 is just an example of great, great writing. Its precise and impactful prose is a landmark of 20th century novel and permanently influenced the topography of literature.
