Social Network

The day of reckoning has finally arrived for Bernard Madoff. Last Monday, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to 150 years in prison for defrauding investors of at least $13 billion over several decades. Bloomberg.com reports that Madoff, 71, showed little emotion as Chin said, “This was not merely a bloodless financial crime that occurred on paper, but one that takes a staggering toll. The breach of trust here was massive.” However, the courtroom reportedly erupted in applause after Chin handed down the verdict, and several victims wiped away tears as Madoff was led out of the courtroom by two U.S. marshals.

None of Madoff’s family members attended his sentencing, during which Madoff claimed to “live in a tormented state.” He added, “I believed when I started this problem, this crime, it was something I’d be able to work out of. [I will] live with this pain for the rest of my life.”

Rumor has it that Columbia Pictures is in advanced talks to adapt Ben Mezrich’s newest work, Accidental Billionaires, into a movie about Mark Zuckerberg and the development of Facebook (you knew it was only a matter of time). The word on the street is that the book, which will be released July 14, is a salacious tale of “sex, money, genius, and betrayal” in the Ivy League and Silicon Valley from the author who wrote the book on which the Kevin Spacey film 21 was based.

The working title of the Facebook movie is said to be The Social Network, and director David Fincher, who most recently directed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is reportedly in place to helm the film. As to who will portray beaky geek-to-god Zuckerberg, several media sources are saying that actors Michael Cera—of Superbad, Juno, and Arrested Development fame—and Shia LeBouf—of Transformers fame—are in the running.

But the film is also said to be no kid-gloved homage to Zuckerberg, who has been entangled in several legal battles over issues of proprietorship since the site took off. While Accidental Billionaires and consequently The Social Network (adapted by Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing) are said to take several liberties with the actual story of the rise of Facebook, both film and movie could allegedly cast Zuckerberg as an obnoxious nerd who schemed his way to the top in an attempt to meet girls and ingratiate himself to Harvard’s upper crust.

What do you think? Will you see The Social Network when it comes out?

You know Twitter has finally become mainstream when Irish writer James Joyce’s Ulysses descends on the microblogging service. That’s right: to commemorate Bloomsday on June 16, a chapter of one of the most difficult English novels ever written was condensed to fit Twitter’s 140-character guidelines.

Chapter 10, “The Wandering Rocks,” follows 19 Dubliners going about their daily businesses. The creative minds behind the Ulysses tweets are Ian Bogost, a Georgia Tech professor, and his friend Ian McCarthy.

Bloomsday commemorates the day on which all of the fictitious action of the novel takes place. The novel chronicles the experiences of a man named Leopold Bloom.

In the new issue of Rolling Stone, Adam Lambert comes clean about his sexual orientation and his future in music. The interview, “Wild Idol: The Psychedelic Transformation and Sexual Liberation of Adam Lambert,” is now available on newsstands. Here are a few excerpts:

• “I realized that I wouldn’t be taken seriously as a recording artist unless I had a huge platform. I saw that and I knew that Idol was the only thing that would do it—if it worked.”

• “[Kris Allen] has a good heart and a good spirit. He’s so mellow, he’s so kick-back….Kris doesn’t need any advice, clearly…He’s got a very strong sense of self in a non-aggressive, non-intense way.”

• “I want to do something that has theatricality, a nod to the glam rockers that I love, but is also contemporary. It’s not all going to be happy-go-lucky because I think it’s important to explore other emotional parts of yourself as an artist, but there’s a time and place for it. I would love to work with Madonna. I’m a big fan. I just want to play dress up and be fabulous. When you’re a kid, you do the make-believe thing — you play dress-up and pretend. That’s the child mentality, and I feel like if you’re an adult and you can adopt the child mentality to something cool, that’s what being a ‘rock star’ is. It’s just playing. It’s Halloween. It’s make-believe. It’s fun. And who doesn’t want to do that? That’s the kind of music that I want to make — music that encourages people to play make-believe, escape and have fun.”

• “There’s the old industry idea that you should just make sexuality a non-issue, just say your private life’s your private life, and not talk about it. But that’s bullshit, because private lives don’t exist anymore for celebrities: they just don’t. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder all the time, thinking I have to hide, being scared of being found out, putting on a front, having a beard, going down the red carpet with some chick who is posing as my girlfriend. That’s not cool, that’s not being a rock star. I can’t do that.”

After what must have been the most exhausting weeks of her life, Scottish singer Susan Boyle placed second on “Britain’s Got Talent” and was promptly hospitalized for exhaustion at a London mental health clinic. Although she was widely considered the favorite to win the reality TV show, Boyle lost the competition to a male dance group called Diversity.

According to published reports, Boyle seemed relieved when the winner of the show was announced, beating her by a 4.7% margin. Boyle said that the best act had won and wished Diversity all the best.

Boyle’s April debut catapulted the shy churchgoer into one of the most public faces in entertainment. The video of her first appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent” has drawn more than 220 million views, making it the fifth most-watched video in YouTube history.

Boyle told Oprah that she was “loving every second” of the media attention, but by the finals, she seemed less sure. The day before her appearance in the finals, Boyle exploded at aggressive tabloid journalists and seemed anxious during her performance, a reprise of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables.

The media scrutiny, which Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond said contained “elements of a press who like nothing better than to build people up and then drag them down,” appeared to have taken its toll on Boyle. Everything from her appearance to her social awkwardness to her never-been-kissed remark was dissected by journalists, bloggers, and reporters.

Last Monday, TV company TalkbackThames said that Boyle had become “exhausted and emotionally drained” and needed a few days off to recover from her recent experiences. She was released later in the week and appeared to be in good spirits.

In an effort to regulate biased editing of its content, Wikipedia has banned a series of IP addresses associated with the Church of Scientology, The Register reports. The decision by Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee marks the first time that the eighth-most-popular website has prevented a major organization from promoting its own agenda through self-serving edits.

According to The Register, a former member of the church’s Office of Special Affairs said that the church has mounted “massive efforts” to scrub material that criticizes Scientology from the Internet. He claimed, “The guys I worked with posted every day all day. It was like a machine. I worked with someone who used five separate computers, five separate anonymous identities…to refute any facts from the internet about the Church of Scientology.”

However, Wikipedia has also cracked down on anti-Scientology “Wikifiddlers” who tweak Wikipedia content in accordance with their own agendas. In the past, the site has banned a number of anti-Scientology editors from revising content related to the church.

Susan Boyle, the Scottish frump with the voice of gold who captured the world’s attention several weeks ago, is back in the news. After singing “Memory” from the musical Cats in the semi-final round of “Britain’s Got Talent,” Boyle was pushed through to the final round, where she’ll compete for the £100,000 prize and the opportunity to perform for the royal family.

Although Boyle has quickly earned a strong legion of fans, her victory is not guaranteed. And it appears that at least one celebrity–British pop singer Lily Allen–hasn’t offered support. On her Twitter account, Allen called Boyle “overrated” and said, “yes, she can sing, but it’s not about talent with her is it?” In her punctuation and grammar-free tweets, Allen added, “she seems like a lovely lady but if its about talent,that Shaheen kid should win. listen, im allowed to have an opinion. i thought her timing was off, no control, and i don’t think she has an amazing voice.”

At this point, Allen appears to be in the minority, however. Still, Boyle could face an upset in the final round on Saturday, May 30. As the recent conclusion of “American Idol” proved, when it comes to reality TV competitions, anything is possible.

After suing American Apparel more than a year ago for unauthorized use of his image without his consent and reputation damage, Woody Allen has settled the lawsuit for $5 million, Reuters reports. Allen told reporters, “I am told the settlement of five million dollars I am being paid is the largest reported amount ever paid under the New York right to privacy law.”

Allen filed the suit against the clothing company after American Apparel used an image of the director from his 1977 film “Annie Hall” on billboards that appeared in New York and Los Angeles. The man behind the billboards, American Apparel founder Dov Charney, said that the case was about “the dignity of ideas,” adding, “I am not sorry for expressing myself.”

The PEN/Saul Bellow award winners have been announced, and Cormac McCarthy, author of such novels as The Road, No Country for Old Men, and the Border Trilogy, has been given the lifetime achievement award. This is the second time the award, which recognizes excellence, ambition, and scale of achievement over a career, has been given.

Other winners are as follows:

• The Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation, presented to Michael Henry Heim
• The Robert Bingham Fellowship for a debut fiction writer, presented to Donald Ray Pollack for Knockemstiff
• The Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, presented to Richard Brody for Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard
• The John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, presented to Steve Coll for The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
• The Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, presented to Sam Shepard, author of such plays as True West, Fool for Love, and others
• A mid-career Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, presented to Nilo Cruz, author of such plays as Anna in the Tropics, Beauty of the Father, A Park in Our House, and others
• The Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, presented to Carol Lynch Williams
• The PEN Translation Prize, presented to Natasha Wimmer for her translation of Roberto Bolano’s 2666
• The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, presented to Marilyn Hacker for her translation of Marie Etienne’s King of a Hundred Horsemen

In addition, PEN recognizes excellence in short fiction with the O. Henry Prizes. This year’s winners include:
• Graham Joyce
• Kristen Sundberg Lunstrum
• E. V. Slate
• John Burnside
• Mohan Sikka
• L.E. Miller
• Alistair Morgan
• Roger Nash
• Manuel Munoz
• Caitlin Horrocks
• Ha Jin
• Paul Theroux
• Judy Troy
• Nadine Gordimer
• Viet Dinh
• Karen Brown
• Marisa Silver
• Paul Yoon
• Andrew Sean Greer
• Junot Diaz

Last week, the media announced the upcoming retirement of Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, sparking intense speculation about who Obama will appoint as Souter’s replacement. The president declined to address the issue last Friday, but already several names have been pitched into the fray. Obama, drawing on his legal background, is no doubt considering many possible replacements. Here are a few that legal and political observers have mentioned:

• Judge Sonia Soto, mayor of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
• Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of the Stanford Law School
• Seth Waxman, former U.S. solicitor general
• Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick
• Solicitor general of the Obama administration Elena Kagan
• Judge Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago
• Judge Kim Wardlaw of the 9th Circuit in California

Because Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is, at present, the only woman in the court, many have predicted that Obama will appoint another female. Speculators have also predicted that Obama will appoint a justice who will maintain the ideological balance currently in place with the liberal Souter, a New Hampshire Republican. In the past, Obama has said only that he would want to appoint someone with empathy for real people and their problems.

After Obama names Souter’s replacement, he may have additional opportunities to reshape the Supreme Court. Both Ginsburg and Justice John Paul Stevens have also been the targets of retirement speculation. On behalf of FOOQU, we say good luck with this tough decision, President Obama.

The father of child actor Rubina Ali, who played the youngest version of the character Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, allegedly tried to sell his daughter to an undercover reporter for $300,000, claiming, “I have to consider what’s best for me, my family and Rubina’s future.” The Ali family is said to still live in Bandra slums of Ali, having not profited from the film success. He added, “We’ve got nothing out of this film,” referring to Rubina’s acting debut.

News of the World reports that this kind of transaction, while shocking, is not uncommon in the area. Although it’s hard to fathom a good intention behind the sale of a child, Rubina’s father’s parenting instincts may not be that far off base. Anyone who could afford to pay $300,000 for a child could certainly better provide for her material needs, and if the family has relegated her to the status of consumer goods, surely another family might provide the kind of love and attention Rubina’s family has failed to give.

Of course, whether a “buyer” would indeed benefit Rubina is completely open for debate. Still, at this point, it’s probably better for someone else to take care of her than her hustling father.

Google the word “frump” and you’ll mostly likely come across a picture of Susan Boyle, a frizzy-hair, bushy-eyebrow, saddlebagged 47-year-old schlump who makes Janet Reno look like Pam Anderson by comparison. Yet underneath the dowdy exterior are a pure heart and a voice that seems beamed into her expansive chest direct from some gentle, omnipotent source.

Boyle stormed onto the national scene with her impressive pipes and kooky sense of humor by appearing on “Britain’s Got Talent,” an “American Idol”-esque show that features notorious crank Simon Cowell, as well as a variety of acts besides singing. She mounted the stage to titters and palpable dread from both the judges and audience, but by the end of the first line of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, she had the entire theater on their feet, cheering and clapping, and Simon smiling the tender, unencumbered smile of a toddler adrift in dreamland. Later, he even conjured up a seldom-used word in his vocabulary and called her singing “extraordinary.”

The judges deemed Boyle’s performance the greatest surprise in the show’s three-year history and waved her onto the next round with an enthusiastic “yes.” Since then, videos of Boyle singing have cropped up all over the Internet, and the media has stormed her sleepy town of Blackburn, where friends and neighbors had only a mild idea of the talent that moved among them.

By all accounts, Boyle is a sweetheart. She lives along with her cat, having cared for her widowed mother for many years up until her mother’s recent death. She grew up in poverty and never married (and claims she’s never even been kissed) but found a place at her church, where she sang on occasion. The spinster also sang on the local karaoke circuit but struggled to form close relationships.

Boyle says that it was her mother who persuaded her to pursue singing on a greater level. She told the AP, “I did this for my late mother. I wanted to show her I could do something with my life.”

Way to go, Susan. Whenever you perform, we’ll be rooting for you.

“You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag. You wouldn’t steal a mobile phone. You wouldn’t steal a DVD. Buying pirated films is stealing…Stealing…Is Against…The Law…Piracy: It’s a crime.” So goes the 2004 MPAA advertisement that precedes the content on many DVDs. But unfortunately for the MPAA, its call to good citizenship has fallen on many deaf ears, including that of former Fox News columnist Roger Friedman, who was fired after posting a review of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which doesn’t hit theaters until May 1.

Friedman, who had enjoyed his position as Fox News entertainment writer for 10 years, posted a favorable review of the leaked film, saying that it “exceeds expectation at every turn.” You’d think that 20th Century Fox, which, along with Fox News, are both subsidiaries of News Corporation, might appreciate the advance praise, but apparently not. 20th Century Fox, with the help of the FBI and the MPAA, is now tracking the source of the film and promises prosecution of the source.

For most people, the answer to the question “will you?” is the defining moment of the proposal. For Don Walling of New York, however, the image that he will remember forever is not his lovely fiancée Gina Pellicani’s happy agreement but the sight of the diamond ring he’d offered her falling through a crack in the Brooklyn Bridge and landing amongst traffic on the roadway below. “I got on one knee, proposed and it just flew out,” Walling recounted. “I watched it fall through the crack on the bridge, right between the wood planks.”

Supposedly, Walling had gone to great efforts to plan the proposal, and with his family watching, he was determined not to let it be a bust. “I kissed her, said I was sorry, and told her I am going to get that ring back,” Walling said. Then, he jumped onto the roadway and began searching for the ring with the help of his family and fiancée directing him from above. Amazingly, he found it—and the diamonds were still intact, although the band was bent in the fall.

I say, next time skip the ring business and give her a shot of vodka instead. You’re both going to need it.

If you, as an awkward high school student, ever found yourself the unwitting participant in a fistfight, be glad that you weren’t enrolled at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, Texas. There, former principal Donald Moten reportedly sanctioned “cage fights” between students. As a way of working out aggression between “troubled” youths, the fights were held in a steel equipment enclosure in the boy’s locker room. The contestants were not given any head gear, although the fights were said to have been monitored by a school security guard.

An internal report by the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) says that the fights went on between 2003 and 2005, although Moten, who resigned from the district in 2008 (more on that later) denies the accusations. Moten told The Dallas Morning News, “That’s barbaric. You can’t do that at a high school. You can’t do that anywhere. It never happened.”

But Moten, a former Dallas police officer, has a history of struggles with veracity, including once lying about being kidnapped and robbed in order to avoid going to work (he was placed on administrative leave). Moten was also embroiled in a grade-changing scandal (which led to his resignation) that forced the school to hand over its 2005 and 2006 state boys’ basketball championship titles.

The DISD found that Moten had pressured teachers to change athletes’ grades so that they would be academically eligible to play in the state championships. It was during that investigation that the district also uncovered the cage-fighting incidents. DISD Superintendant Michael Hinojosa has confirmed that there were “some things that happened inside of a cage.” Although criminal charges have not been filed, discipline has been taken, according to Hinojosa.

Apparently, the fights were common knowledge among staff and students, though no one spoke about them until the report was made public. Frank Hammond, a former South Oak Cliff counselor who has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit, said that he, too, was aware of the fights but did not report them because he knew that nothing would be done. He told The Dallas Morning News that the culture at the school, staffed by many South Oak Cliff alumnae and attended by their relatives, prevented action.

The New York Times’ coverage of the South Oak Cliff cage fights adds that school-sanctioned fistfights run counter to research within the last decade regarding conflict resolution in schools. Dr. Joan F. Goodman of the University of Pennsylvania School of Education told the Times, “Schools need to think much more carefully about how they can find outlets, socially appropriate outlets, for aggression. But to just go into a room and slug it out until someone wins, that’s obviously condoning violence, and the school has no business condoning violence. If kids think this kind of behavior is encouraged, it could spread.”