Prince Albert In The Social Network (USA House Visit); Countdown to Olympic Beach Volleyball

Last couple of days = blur.

Sort of hit the wall on Monday, with some in-hotel media pitching and rest on Tuesday.

But last night brought some early evening time to trade pins at the London Olympic Super Store (nothing "super" about it if you ask me -- considerably smaller than even the Torino Olympic store in 2006) and neighbouring Coca-Cola Pin Trading Center (considerably smaller and much more quiet than in Olympic Park).

Scored a London Bridge pin featuring the Olympic rings and a few Cobi and Petra (Barcelona 1992 mascot) pins, then strolled over to USA House in the rain. Oh, what a night!

USA House was hopping with Olympians -- Edwin Moses, Bob Beamon, some gymnasts and volleyball players (the tallest Olympian yet met), Rowdy Gaines, Donna De Varona and Prince Albert of Monaco (bobsleigh Olympian of winter Games fame).

This was my third opportunity to interact with Mr. Grimaldi. As readers of this blog may recall from 2010, Prince Albert was part of a blog post from a Visa event in Vancouver. And also, in 2002, I was part of his motorcade and press team when he visited Atlanta for the opening of the DeKalb International Training Center (DITC) for which he is a board member.

How fun it was to interact with HSH for the third time -- this time, with an important question: What was Prince Albert's reaction to his portrayal in the Oscar-nominated film "The Social Network"?

Why was this question on my mind?

Well, blog readers may also recall that when the movie premiered I posted a critical review including my reaction to the portrayal of Prince Albert in "The Social Network."

Readers may also recall that the actor who played Albert, James Shanklin, wrote in a response in the comments section of this blog (on one hand, very cool he took the time to post a comment; on the other hand, interesting that a Hollywood actor has time to personally troll the Internet for blog posts about his work -- either way, I respect and appreciate Shanklin's readership and response).

When I posed the question to HSH, "What is your reaction to your portrayal in 'The Social Network'?" and "[when] did he see the film?" Mr. Grimaldi responded directly that he had not viewed the entire movie, but that when he did see HSH's likeness on screen it was played "a bit dry" or a bit to stiff.

Because Mr. Grimaldi endured a long line of fans and Olympians to pose for photographs, and HSH stated the person before me was "the absolute final photo" of the evening, I opted for the brief conversation in lieu of a grip and grin image.

I greatly appreciated the courtesy of his response, thanking him by presenting a hot off the press 2012 Olympic Rings And Other Things media pin featuring Wenlock. Prince Albert returned the favour with a brand new Comite Olimpique Monegasque (Monaco Olympic Committee) lapel pin.

Merveilleux!

If there is another opportunity to speak with HSH, I want to ask him about the reports that the London Cultural Olympiad was searching for Monaco's national poet. Did they find an entrant, I wonder? But poetry was not on the brain last night -- too many Olympians!

After the interaction with HSH, I turned the corner to shake hands with Beamon and his wife, who were in USA House sharing information about Art of the Olympians, for which Beamon is CEO. I will visit their exhibit in London later this week to post from that location, which sounded very interesting.

Of course, in the last couple of days I lost my camera's USB cord, so photos of the USA House encounters will follow when a connection may be made. Please enjoy the Team USA Media Summit and 24 Hour Fitness press event photos until the Grimaldi interaction images may be added.

Heading soon from London Media Centre to the gold medal women's beach volleyball game featuring USA versus USA. Can hardly wait to see Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh play for a three-peat gold medal against Team USA's Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, who I spoke with at the Team USA Media Summit in Dallas earlier this year. Ross said in Dallas she hoped for an all-USA final game, and I expect Ross and Kessy will play hard to attempt to dethrone Walsh and May-Treanor.

Tonight marks my own Olympic three-peat as the gold medal women's beach volleyball match in Athens 2004 was among my tickets in Greece eight years ago, and in the pouring rain in Beijing, Walsh and May-Treanor emerged victorious again. My friend Brian (an ISOH member who writes and talks extensively about -peat feats in the Olympics) sadly could not three-peat with me tonight (we both attended women's beach volleyball finals previously), but we will be sure to RE-peat on Copacabana Beach during Rio 2016.

Please enjoy the video of Kerri Walsh with a special message about this blog.

Photos and video by Nicholas Wolaver, except for the 2012 Olympic beach volleyball photo by Petr David Josek/The Associated Press

The Social Network and the Olympics

Just got home from a matinee screening of "The Social Network" at Midtown Art Cinema.

"The Social Network" is about the best film I've seen in months, including a thoughtful, compelling and dry humor-packed script, an outstanding soundtrack (thrilled to see Trent Reznor in the opening credits), excellent acting, interesting photography (would love to know how they filmed the rowing competition to make it look like a miniature landscape), a bit of recent history and, of course, an Olympic connection.

Actually, two Olympic connections (or three, if you count each involved Olympian twin once).

Before getting to these five-ringed ties, a bit about the "The Social Network" overall:

I've only been in Boston twice, and on the Harvard campus once, during October in 2003, when and where this film opens. Through some of the opening sequences of Mark Zuckerberg trekking to his dorm after a breakup, the filmmakers really nailed it capturing the Harvard experience of an autumn evening. There's a curious energy -- perhaps from the convergence of intellectuals, money, society, history and creativity -- on the campus and somehow they caught it. Brilliant!

Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed by "Zombieland" and "Adventureland" co-star Jesse Eisenberg, and this role is likely going to go Oscar (I predict a nomination at least). He does a fine job delivering Zuckerberg douche bag one-liners as cool as George Carlin and his matter-of-fact style and timing.

I highly recommend seeing this film.

Much has been made in press and reviews for "The Social Network" regarding the film's dramedy versus factual portrayal of Facebook's early days. In my book, mincing the facts for the sake of a more entertaining story is OK in the movies (provided the mincing is acknowledged). But I did take issue with one of the mini-fictions portrayed in "The Social Network," and this is where the Olympic connections come into the picture.

Two of the main characters in both the true, and faux-non-fiction, stories of Facebook are the twin Olympic rowers for Team USA: Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss.

I must admit, unfortunately, in spite of Olympic writing and travels, today was the first time either of their names came into my world. Apparently they both competed in rowing at the Beijing Olympics (and I even went to the rowing venue in 2008!). One must take for granted that the filmmakers for"The Social Network" took liberties with their portrayal of with Winklevoss twins.

But where the filmmakers crossed the line, or brought even more fiction into the mix, is during a scene of "The Social Network" where the Winklevi (a clever nickname from Zuckerberg) allegedly met Prince Albert of Monaco at a British rowing event.

They got this scene downright wrong on three details (here comes the Nick-nitpicking).

First off, Prince Albert of Monaco does not have a British accent (duh!).

Next, Prince Albert, though articulate, thoughtful and genuine in conversations and public events, could not have stated the script as shown in the film, for Mr. Grimaldi has a very slight stutter (10/3: correction speech impediment*), which is apparent in an interview with the Monégasque IOC member for this blog (here's a link to that interview filmed in Vancouver earlier this year).

Third, I doubt that such an introduction of the Winklevoss brothers would have taken place without some Olympic discussion during the conversation, seeing as the Winklevoss Twins aspired to compete in Beijing and Prince Albert is a five time Olympian.

Did the screenwriters or the actor portraying Prince Albert, James Shanklin, do ANY research of Prince Albert (other than his haircut and suits ... oh, wait, the makeup and costume crews did that research)? It came as no surprise to discover that Shanklin's background includes acting in soap operas and the occasional TV episode. Bravo!

OK, that's all the nitpicking for this post.

Like I wrote, "The Social Network" is excellent and worth the time and ticket price -- and (bonus!) not a single car chase, firearm or 34B breast on screen (though Zuckerberg does reference at least one of these three topics in one of his blog posts at the opening of the film.

Enjoy!

*10/3: Upon reflection since original post, determined he does not really have a stutter, but rather a regular pause during speech.