Old Phineas Whirley

   Few Americans can hold a candle to Phineas Whirley, inventor of the Whirley Pop popcorn maker.  Was he a real person or just a character created to lend an authentic feel and a story line to what is a great popcorn maker? I don't care.  I recently purchased one of these devices and it makes great popcorn.

    Until this point I had relied on microwave popcorn for all of my popcorn needs.  I never liked microwave popcorn and am not a fan of microwave food in general.  The microwave, after all, is just a way to study the long term effects of radiation on humans and pigs like myself. 

    Now that i had a way to make fresh popcorn i just needed a movie watch.  I ventured out to Best Buy to get The Social Network.  With Bieber Fever gripping the nation i was really taking a gamble on my health going out in public. I definitely wanted to avoid catching that illness. 

    The Social Network ended up being a pretty good movie.  It is about the founding of Facebook and the legal battles faced by its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook of course is a social networking site that can be used to keep in touch with old friends, stalk new ones, or to take down oppressive regimes in the middle east and elsewhere.

   

    It is not to be confused with MySpace, which is used to find unknown bands or as a sounding board for psychotic people before they go on a shooting spree right here in the US, or Twitter, which is used to follow the meaningless babble of celebs, sports figures, and politicians.

    Much of the lifestyle displayed in the film is embellished.  There is a scene where a party bus packed with beautiful women shows up to party.  This is obviously another great prank by the Alpha Beta's.  In real life we all know it was the Omega Mu's and Booger's wonder joint that got that party started. 

    We also learn that Mark got a perfect score on his SATs  and we get a rare glimpse of his matematical genius as he quickly adds 18,000 and 1,000 together in a scene that would have Sir Isaac Newton himself green with envy.  

    In the end he has to settle and pay out what amounts to a small percentage of his extreme wealth to shut everyone up. He still gets to be the youngest billionaire in the world so he needs to get over it.  

    All in all it was a movie worth watching and popcorn worth eating.