San Francisco.
Palo Alto is home to technology companies in the southern Bay Area.
Within one month of coming to the United States, Tim Berners-Lee quickly established the basic framework of Igrit Company, relying on the rich scientific and technological human resources of Silicon Valley and the financial support of Westeros Corporation.
Eagle's headquarters is located in a three-story white building on Thurman Street east of Stanford University.
After returning from Europe, Simon has been in close contact with Tim Berners-Lee by phone. If he had time today, he flew to San Francisco to personally check out this technology company that is crucial to his layout.
Tim Berners-Lee personally welcomed Simon to the headquarters of Ygritte Company. The two entered the lobby on the ground floor of the office building and stopped at the same time.
The hall is in a horizontal rectangular layout and is not large in area.
Apart from the reception desk, the most eye-catching thing is the phrase inlaid on the wall in different colored letters behind the reception desk: You know nothing.
After stopping to look at it with satisfaction for a moment, Simon noticed that Tim Berners-Lee next to him was looking at the phrase on the wall as if he was planning to say something, and quickly stopped him: "Tim, don't say anything, you can't do it anyway." Interpret the true meaning of this sentence."
Tim Berners-Lee nodded slightly, but still said: "I just think this sentence is very warning to the world. No matter how hard we try, our understanding of the world is still shallow."
Simon almost laughed out loud. He felt that he shouldn't bully an honest person too much, so he held it back, patted Li on the shoulder and said, "That's right, so let's go in."
Tim Berners-Lee noticed something strange in Simon's expression, but did not go into it.
The two came to the office area on the first floor. Li introduced the newly hired employees to Simon and explained the results of his work over the past month.
"I have completed the most basic technical framework of the World Wide Web and submitted patent applications to major countries in North America and Europe. Simon, this is Michael Levy, he is the leader of the first floor team, mainly responsible for improving HTML and technical standards such as HTTP.”
The Internet is a broad concept that only formally took shape in the 1990s.
The World Wide Web was the idea of Tim Berners-Lee, which is WWW (World Wide Web) technology. This can be said to be the foundation of the Internet. Many years later, most of the web pages that ordinary people can access will start with WWW. , this alone is enough to show the importance of this technology.
After communicating with the employees on the first floor, the two came upstairs.
The area of this three-story building is not large. The Eaglet Company currently has a total of 39 employees including Tim Berners-Lee himself, so there is still some space in the building. However, Li plans to expand the number of employees to 100 in the next few months, divided into several teams responsible for the development of browser software, web design software and basic technology protocols.
Simon doesn't set too strict a timetable for Ygritte. However, according to Li's plan, Igret will only need six months to complete its two core products, namely browser software for users and web design software for developers.
In fact, software development is indeed not as advanced as ordinary people imagine.
As early as when he was working in Europe, Li had already designed a very primitive web browser software in his spare time. However, that software required users to set various connection parameters themselves. Ordinary people could not use it at all, and no one later was familiar with it. 'Home', 'Download', 'Collection' and other functions.
The next goal of Igret Company is to develop a 'fool-like' graphical interface browser. When Simon and Li met in Geneva, they provided him with the mature graphical interface browser design ideas in their memory.
The two walked among several teams on the three floors and brought Simon to the office. Tim Berners-Lee enthusiastically introduced to Simon the prototype of a website he had recently built and the technology used. It is his past technical accumulation. Although the website in front of him can only display the basic profile information of these employees who have just been hired by Yigrit Company, Simon can confirm that this should be the first one in the world to use HTTP protocol and HTML language. network site.
Simon still had a lot of work to do. He only stayed in Palo Alto for one morning and had lunch with several core employees of Ygritte before flying back to Los Angeles.
Daenerys Entertainment's Falcon business jet landed directly at a private airport in the San Fernando Valley.
Arriving at the nearby Warner Studios, Simon had just gotten off the car in the parking lot and was about to go to the post-production center when a white car drove in.
Noticing the figure of a certain woman in the cab, Simon wanted to pretend not to see it and leave directly. After hesitating for a moment, Simon stopped.
The white car chose a parking space and stopped. Rene Russo, who was wearing a black wide-shouldered dress today, got out of the car and turned to look at Simon.
Seeing that the little man didn't leave, Rene Russo closed the car door and walked over here carrying a brown satchel.
However, when she came closer, the woman was a little hesitant. She didn't know whether to shake his hand or hug him. She hesitated in her heart, but with a smile on her face, she greeted: "Simon, good afternoon."
Simon nodded, turned and walked out of the parking lot.
Rene Russo followed naturally, feeling resentful about this little man's inexplicable coldness, but did not dare to express it.
After a moment of silence, Simon asked: "What are you doing here?"
"The script reading for 'Goodfellas' is over in the borough."
"oh."
Simon responded, remembering this.
Martin Scorsese's new film "Goodfellas" is funded by Warner Bros. This is actually the reason why Simon can easily insert Rene Russo into the film's crew. "Goodfellas" has three male leads. Among the three, Warner was very dissatisfied with Scorsese's decision to cast Ray Liotta to star with De Niro and Joe Pesci. Horta's reputation is too low.
As the first female lead in "Goodfellas", if it weren't for Simon's recommendation, Rene Russo would definitely not have been able to get this role with her acting qualifications of only one film.
Robert De Niro is still busy promoting "The Sixth Sense", and "Goodfellas" has been scheduled to start filming in July. However, today is already June 21, and it is indeed time for the actors to officially rehearse.
The two got off the car at the parking lot of the North Gate. Because it was a working day, there were many people in the cinema.
Rene Russo stayed by Simon's side. Hearing that almost every pedestrian on the road took the initiative to say hello to him, and his bodyguard blocked several men and women who wanted to come up and talk to him, she felt some inexplicable pride in her heart. . As a vase beside him, she could clearly feel the envy of the girls passing by.
After all, this is Westeros.
In recent weeks, when almost everyone thought that Daenerys Entertainment's "The Bodyguard" would fail at the box office, the film's soundtrack album has created a miracle of selling more than one million copies for two consecutive weeks. Moreover, in terms of box office, in the third weekend that just passed, "The Bodyguard" dropped only 11% compared to last week. In two and a half weeks, the cumulative box office has exceeded US$56 million.
Because there has only been a weak drop of more than 10% for two consecutive weeks, Rene Russo remembered that the North American box office estimate of "The Bodyguard" in an article in the "Hollywood Reporter" on Monday had reached 120 million US dollars.
In comparison, "Ghostbusters 2", which opened with almost twice the box office of "The Bodyguard" in its first week, saw its box office drop by 55% in the next three days over the next weekend. Such a deep drop made "The Hollywood Reporter" criticize "Ghostbusters" 2"'s total North American box office forecast is only $100 million.
Rene Russo remembers a review of "The Bodyguard" in The Hollywood Reporter very fondly.
After Lawrence Kasdan, the gold medal screenwriter who has created "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Star Wars", completed the script of "The Bodyguard" in the 1970s, it was rejected more than 60 times over the years, and almost all film companies in Hollywood None of them are optimistic about this project.
However, the script fell into the hands of Simon Westeros. When everyone was still not optimistic about the movie until it was released, "The Bodyguard" unexpectedly created a miraculous soundtrack album sales data, which continued for several weeks. The strong box office figures also far exceeded everyone's expectations.
The reporter from "The Hollywood Reporter" praised the film in a tone full of admiration for most of the credit for Simon Westeros. This young man seems to have a talent for creating miracles.
At this time, she was able to walk with him with the envy of many other women.
Although he was very indifferent to her, she understood that if she followed him on this small journey and the news spread, her future acting career in Hollywood would be smoother.
Hollywood is actually very superstitious about authority.
The budget of "Goodfellas" is US$25 million. Even if Hollywood movie budgets have generally skyrocketed in recent years, this number is definitely not low.
It is said that if De Niro had not agreed to participate, Warner would not have approved the project, even if the film was directed by Martin Scorsese. Now, because of the attention of Simon Westeros, everyone at Warner seems to have a little more confidence in this project.
In recent meetings, both Martin Scorsese, the director of "Goodfellas" and Irving Winkler, the film's producer, have intentionally or unintentionally asked her about Simon Westeros's thoughts on "Goodfellas". Guys" script. She is a woman with no foundation in Hollywood. During this time, she has not encountered certain situations among the big names like new actresses. They all regard her as Simon Westeros's lover as a matter of course.
At first I was worried that others would look down on me because of this status, but then I gradually realized that most people who knew about this were just envious.
During some chats in the circle, she also learned that compared to many big names in Hollywood, the young man next to her who became famous at a young age is actually very restrained in his private life, and there are only a few women who can come to him. So you can see how lucky she is.
Lucky
Maybe, she has never been a naive woman. Faced with such a support that can make her career extremely easy, it is difficult for her to refuse. In 35 years of life, the idealism of a young girl has long since disappeared, and she is even more aware of how rare it is to encounter such an opportunity in this circle.
only.
Most people may not know that she and he have only met twice since they met.
Um.
Counting today, three times.
The administrative area of the studio is in the southeast corner, but the later center can be reached quickly.
Seeing that he was so dissociated that he wanted to walk directly into the post-production center, the resentment in her heart became stronger, but she could only take the initiative and said: "Simon, you, um, would you like to have dinner together tonight?"
Simon stopped, looked at the woman next to him, and shook his head: "I'm a little tired today, let's talk about it next time."
Watching the man's figure disappear, I even had a faint urge to shed a few tears.
Suffer it.
There were several people around him sizing him up, how could he lose his composure. What's more, she lost her composure for a hateful man who was so much smaller than herself.
So worthless.
She took a deep breath, smiled at the man and woman who were looking at her, put her bag on her shoulders, turned around and walked towards the administrative area as if nothing had happened.
I was busy nonchalantly all afternoon.
In the evening, when Simon left the studio, he did not meet Rene Russo again, but Scorsese came to his studio in the afternoon to say hello.
When he rushed to the Burbank branch of Daenerys Entertainment, the female assistant was already waiting for him to report on some things that needed his attention today.
After Columbia Pictures announced that "Sex, Lies and Videotape" will be released on July 7, Universal Pictures also announced today that "Cinema Paradiso", which won the Cannes Palme d'Or, will be released on July 28.
Many things have changed.
"Sex, Lies and Videotape" failed to win the Palme d'Or again, and the marketing strategy adopted by Columbia was not as effective as Miramax's in Simon's opinion. It is difficult to say what the film's box office prospects will be.
As for "Cinema Paradiso", choosing a schedule at the end of July is even more of a misstep in Simon's opinion.
The original "Cinema Paradiso" was re-edited when it was released in North America. Now, in just two months, Simon doesn't think Universal can re-edit the film carefully enough. If it still follows the original two and a half hours version is released, the outcome is even more unpredictable.
What's more, Miramax put the film in the awards season for a long-term release, which largely relied on the months-long discussion offensive during the awards season. Now, Universal can only rely on the fame of "Cinema Paradiso" at Cannes Palme d'Or for promotion.
In Simon's view, the Palme d'Or's influence in North America is far less than that in Europe. What's more, compared to last year's "Pulp Fiction", which starred De Niro, Redford and other big names, "Cinema Paradiso" is still an Italian film, and its disadvantages are very obvious.
These thoughts just flashed through his mind, and Simon put them behind him.
After get off work, I finished talking to Jennifer and left the Burbank branch on time today.
As the car drove south through the mountain roads, Simon looked out the car window boredly, and suddenly remembered Janet's instructions when leaving Melbourne.
Girls love surprises.
Moreover, since I have been away from Melbourne for so long, I really want to go and see women.
After making a decision, he asked Neil Bennett, who was driving the car, to contact the flight and planned to fly to Australia at night.