I have to admit that when I first heard that they were making a movie about Facebook, my comment was “@Sony: omg ur jk, RITE?”, then I looked for the “Unlike” button, forgetting that real life doesn’t have one. Then I imagined going to see it. The theater would of course require you to log in for admittance. Since you’d be so embarrassed that you were actually going to see it, you’d try a made-up name, and they’d have the gall to accuse you of using up a made-up name, so you’d give up and use your real one. Before the opening scene even began, the film would stop repeatedly, asking you if any of your friends were in the theater, and tossing names and faces on the screen, asking if you knew them. Finally things would get rolling, and for a while you’d really be amazed at how they captured little slices of your friends’ lives for you to watch. That is, until the movie Mafia Wars started appearing on the screen in a little crawl, because your friends were watching it in the next theater and had forgotten to hide it in their settings. And until you realized how banal everyone’s existence was when you could watch it unfold right before your eyes. All the same, you’d walk out of the theater six hours later, saying “DAMN. I only meant to watch an HOUR of it!” You’d swear you’d never watch the thing again as long as you live. Then you’d be disturbed to find yourself suddenly sitting in the theater the very next day. Of course, that would all be much more fun than what you’re going to get if you actually do go watch the movie; the only thing more horrifyingly dull than watching a movie about two annoying nerds who literally changed the face of modern life with their nerdy obsessions would be watching a movie about one annoying nerd who didn’t. Which is why it shouldn’t be surprising that the first trailer for the film (also below) gives the impression that it’s going to be a horror film. Personally, I’m sure I’m going to find the marketing of “The Social Network” much more interesting than the film itself. Especially after today’s blogsplosion about news of another movie, based on Mafia Wars turned out to be untrue, exposing once again one of the big weaknesses of social network driven information. i.e.: the way that it spreads so quickly because it’s driven by content theft that’s driven by traffic whoring and Twitter feeds. [UPDATE: It turns out there actually WILL be a Mafia Wars movie, and admission is free if you can get four friends to go. Spread the word.]

The first trailer for The Social Network appropriately comes across like a horror movie trailer:

The only thing more horrifyingly dull than watching a movie about two annoying nerds who literally changed the face of modern life with their nerdy obsessions…

….would be watching a movie about one annoying nerd who didn’t: