nate dern

I have a small part in the Paolo Sorrentino film "Youth" that is coming out in select theaters this Friday December 4th. By "small part" I mean that I'm in like five scenes with the stars Harvey Keitel and Michael Caine, and I have maybe three lines.

If you watch the trailer and pause it at the 11 second mark, you can see a very tiny Nate waving to the camera through the wrong end of a set of binoculars.

Remember two summers ago when I was in Switzerland for a couple weeks for some reason? No? You don't keep track of my every move? Well, anyway, it was for this.

I think it is likely that this is the best work of creative achievement that I have ever been a part of (again, a SMALL part of), and possibly ever will be a part of. Sorrentino is a real deal auteur. I haven't watched it yet, but some critics who saw it at Cannes really loved it. Some also booed it, so, who knows. What I'm saying is, at this point if I never do anything else in my life, I'm hoping that my grandkids one day might be like, "Grandpa Dern was in a Sorrentino film? Cool!" At least I'm hoping they won't find out that I was on "Beauty and the Geek." I'm getting off topic here. Listen, just go watch "Youth" this Friday, and if you like it then you should go watch his last film "The Great Beauty" which won an Oscar for best foreign film in 2013.

NYC friends, it's playing at the Angelika: https://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/nyc/film/youth

LA friends, it's playing at the Arclight Hollywood: https://www.arclightcinemas.com/movie/youth

Colorado friends, it's playing at the Landmark Chez Artiste: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/…/chez-arti…/film-info/youth

As an added bonus, in the filming process I met some amazing people. I play the part of one of Keitel's stable of screenwriters, and the actors playing his other screenwriters were all just the best: Tom Lipinski, Mark Gessner, Chloe Massey, and Alex Beckett. Also Anna Harrison was the first AD or something and she was a lovely professional who was amazing at getting stuff done. The entire crew was great. Paolo would chew a cigar on set and the sound guys would have lit cigarettes hanging out of their mouths while we were shooting. And the setting of the Swiss Alps was just beyond words beautiful. I'm telling you, this film will be beautiful if nothing else. Anyway, it was a cool experience that I got to be a part of and I'm very grateful.

If you're so inclined, please go check out this movie!

After saying "I am not a scientist" at a press conference, Governor Rick Scott admits that he actually is a scientist.

Hello blog friends and fellow internet users,

Take 4 minutes and watch this video about why Net Neutrality is an important issue:

and if you're convinced take 1 more minute and send the FCC a message telling them to classify broadband internet as a common carrier telecommunications service:

http://goo.gl/xHnB4n

If you'd like to devote slightly more time to researching the matter, I'd suggest reading an overview on network neutrality by Columbia Law professor Tim Wu:

http://timwu.org/network_neutrality.html

Or if you really just want to go nuts, read Wu's book The Master Switch. It's a history of the rise and fall of information empires. The basic gist is this: every development in the history of the American information industry (from telephony to radio to film) has followed a pattern of starting as an open system inhabited by innovators who created the technology which allowed for a community of creative users, but which then came to be dominated by a monopolist or cartel system where innovation was intentionally curbed to ensure the continuation of the monopoly/cartel. The punchline is that we are on the cusp of the internet following the same pattern.

A story of mine called "The Transformation" is up on Funny Or Die's The Occasional! It begins:

"One morning Conifer Middle School student Jeremy Coil woke from a rather bestial dream about a nice classmate of his named Ariana to find that his penis had turned into a lobster."

I'm a big Malcolm Gladwell fan and that's what inspired me to write this list piece for Funny Or Die called 8 Upcoming Malcolm Gladwell Titles.