After seeing the Facebook movie "The Social Network"

Aaron Sorkin presents a dilemma: He gives you dialogue that is rhythmic, smart and an overall joy to put in your head. However, the realist side of my brain keeps reminding me that no one is ever that clever all the time, and few people hit snide asides or perfect take downs with that kind of regularity.

I.E., the dissolution of a relationship is an emotional bloodletting. People doing the breaking up generally give the bad news with words along the lines of, "We're breaking up. And in a mistaken attempt to soften the blow, I'm now going to say a bunch of mealy-mouth stuff that can be misunderstood by willing ears and will actually make this miserable process last even longer."

For the person taking the bad news, the response usually involves incoherent rambling and ineffectual insults about her taste in furniture.

(Perhaps this doesn't follow your experiences, but I'm hoping the personal reference points provide enough of a universal outlook. And that was a hideous end table.)

What I'm saying is that, during a break up, the emotions are detonating in our heads, and maintaining physical control is tough enough, never mind the talky-talk noises.

So, while it was awesome to hear the line:

"You go through life thinking girls don't like you because you're a nerd, but that's not true. Girls don't like you because you're an asshole."

My first thought was: She just made that up on the spot? Really? Did she maybe have that come to her in the shower and then write it down? Wouldn't she need to pause and pull out a note card?

Thanks Aaron, but I get the idea the actual conversation was more like: "Hey, I don't like you and maybe we should break up but you have a lot of good things about you and stuff and maybe we can be really special friends."

Mark Zuckerberg: "But we are good times! I hate your ottoman!"

As to Facebook

• I go there all the time, but I don't participate much. I don't want to. My friends list includes about 100 people from my high school years that I never knew that well in the first place. It feels voyeuristic to follow the personal lives of relative strangers, and more than a bit awkward to share my experiences with people who never invited me to parties.
• I hate it when I make a comment and am met by a wall of nothing. All those people out there, and I can't get one damn response on my addition to the discussion about how the Cowboys suck? Did I make someone angry? How is it that the girl who wrote "I hate Mondais. ROFLMAO!" started a 30-response conversation?
• I also just realized something about the friends list: When you join Facebook, that thing explodes with requests from people all over the planet. You feel like a social behemoth. And then that growth slows down, and then you notice that you've been holding at 169 for eight months. Or was that 171 last week? Who did I hack off now?

The fun just kind of peters out after that.

Reaction to the movie:
Awesome. See it.