Birth of an actor

"Yes, everyone knows that the Internet represents the future, but the future hasn't arrived yet, has it?" William has said so many times recently that it almost formed a conditioned reflex: "The civilian technology of the Internet is still very underdeveloped. Ben, I think you are also moved by the blueprint-like vision of Silicon Valley. Life is full of smart electronic products. No matter how complex and troublesome problems are, as long as you move your fingers or your brain, there will be corresponding technologies to solve them, just like The life lived by Batman or Iron Man in the comics seems to have come to reality, but the problem is that now only Bill Gates has achieved full coverage of high-tech products in his home, and the Midwest like Kansas and Texas ,There are still many urban residents who are still unwilling to let computers enter their lives. Even in New York and Los Angeles, high technology has not penetrated into people's daily lives. We don't even have smartphones now—”

"What is a smartphone?"

"Well, that's a product that Steve Jobs just conceived—"

"What is it?"

"Do you know the Simon launched by IBM? Strictly speaking, it is the world's first smart phone—"

"do not know."

"..."

"..."

"Okay. In fact, what I want to express is that the upsurge in technology stocks is expected, and it will come sooner or later. However, it came too early and too fiercely. It overheated the market, but in fact it Lacking enough grounding in reality, it's like—"

"It's like a castle in the air." Ben Affleck had a flash of inspiration.

"No, I'm talking about bubbles."

"..." Ben Affleck: "Yes, the bubble, I mentioned it just now, the stock market bubble."

"So, even if you want to find an investment project to place the dollars in your account, I don't recommend you to go all-in on chasing this Silicon Valley craze. There are many other emerging or hot projects that can keep your dollars in value."

"What is it like? Don't suggest that I start my own company like you, Will. Although I am very interested in being a producer or director and have won an Oscar, I am not prepared. Turning behind the scenes so early, since my parents have inherited such a handsome face to me, it would be a pity if I didn’t use it to make a movie.”

"My God, your Narcissus complex has increased after being with Paltrow."

"Hey, keep your voice down!" Ben Affleck hastily grabbed the microphone: "You should be glad that Gwen is not with me now, man, or if she hears your evaluation, she will definitely flip you the next time we meet Rolling eyes, even if it's on the red carpet at the Oscars, you know she can—"

"It's as if she looked at me the last time we met, obviously I didn't offend her in any way, even at the premiere of "Shakespeare in Love" she mocked that I was alone, only a group of happy people I've been polite enough to her as a bachelor's companion."

"That's the problem, Will, who knows that in London, everyone praised her beauty, but you were indifferent, even when she took off her top during the filming, you didn't look there much At first glance, although I am very satisfied with your behavior, but you know, for girls, it seems that they are not attractive enough." It seemed that he suddenly realized that he should not talk about his girlfriend behind his back, Ben A Fleck suddenly changed his words and said: "Hey, let's get back to the topic, good man, you have to clearly understand the distress of a man who earns less than his girlfriend. What did you want to suggest to me just now?"

"What I'm saying is - wait, I'm not sure if our phone is bugged, are you free this weekend night? If so, come over to my house, yes, Beverly Hills, I have a room It's absolutely safe."

"Eavesdropping? Hey, Will, have you read too many spy war scripts and become paranoid recently? Who will wiretap our phone calls? The US government? Please, I'm not Clinton and you're not Albright."

"Just tell me if you come or not. If you come, I will reserve a seat for you." William didn't want to explain too much on the phone.Although he is not sure whether his usual phone calls have been tapped, he knows that the US government and individual media may do this kind of thing. Enough hacking scandals have broken out in later generations. Lance also said that unless there is a dedicated line Otherwise, the public communication signal is the easiest thing to be intercepted. He has seen many commercial spies use this trick since he was a child. Of course, what they can steal from the Roderick Group is often not important. , the Roderick Group cooperates with the Ministry of Defense, and the old Roderick's method of protecting his group's top secrets is exactly the same as the Pentagon's protection of the United States.

Then not long ago, when Lance and William realized that they would have more and more conversations in the future, involving hundreds of millions of dollars, the most advanced civilian technology in the world today, and even political situations, Lance Williams helped William turn a part of his house into a safe house. The best staff in Deyang International, the largest private military contractor in North America, worked together. One of the rooms with the best location was remodeled, fingerprints, retinas, faces The three entry methods of scanning and matching passwords cannot be monitored, cannot be eavesdropped, and are even difficult to be hacked from the outside. It is like building a hidden fortress in a luxurious place full of luxury.

Except for the gate, which is full of the style of the James Bond series of movies, there is almost no trace of the transformation inside the room. At most, it looks like those old houses in New York. William once suspected that what they did was It's not too exaggerated. To be honest, although he is an actor himself, is it necessary for him to live his life as a movie?But after thinking about it, he was moved by the benefits—the more advanced modern technology is, the harder it is for people to keep their secrets. With such a room, there are actually quite a few ways William can use it.

"Need a reservation? Sounds like I'm going to meet half of Hollywood at your house. So, who's going?" Ben Affleck's voice sounded curious.

"Let me see, Bill Mochanek, Ann Lee, Amy Parcival, James Cameron, Jon Landau..."

"Jesus Christ... that's enough, Will, you don't have to read me this list of Hollywood power people, I'm a fool to pass up this opportunity. Just tell me, is there a Brad Pitt?"

"No."

"Glad to hear that. But, uh, it's not quite like you, Will, and if you've been working with someone for months and they haven't become friends with you, there must be something weird in it. Even Drew Barrymore, now you are often talked about in front of the media, although Gwen said that she may not really have anything to do with you, she is just fighting for attention. You and Brad Pitt, are you really like "Entertainment As the Weekly said, looking at each other is not pleasing to the eye? Why?"

"Because we all think we are the more handsome one."

"……real?"

"I lied to you."

Ben Affleck hangs up the phone "angryly".

— Actually the real reason is that he heard that Gwyneth Paltrow was back.

William poured himself the third cup of coffee today. He felt that he was a little addicted to caffeine. From tomorrow onwards, he would reduce his intake, or simply switch to decaf coffee, but let’s indulge a little today— ——He didn't know how it turned into a secret gathering at the Bradley Mansion in the end. God knows, his original intention was just not to let those he was familiar with, especially his friends, fall too badly.

"I just saw that you made a lot of money in Wall Street, so I wanted to join in the fun. Who would have thought that it was just a pile of gorgeous soap bubbles, which would burst after a short time? Jesus, I have nothing now, I can only rely on Personal line of credit is getting by..."

——William was afraid that he would become the little candle that lures moths to the flame, and that there would be such a person among his closest friends who would fail to speculate and wrestle, so when they came to him for advice, he analyzed earnestly pros and cons.Because although he never said it clearly, he really knew that after the arrival of the new millennium, high-tech industries such as the Internet were indeed in a downturn for several years.

Who knew that it would now develop into a secret gathering.

'Maybe it's going to be the Freemasonry of Hollywood. 'He thought a little bit of bitterness.

……

Since [-], William and Lance have never stopped their footsteps. Wall Street is only one of the key points, and Silicon Valley is the top priority.

Because William is more likely to be noticed by the media -- look, the assets under his name have just undergone a major change, and the reporters immediately smelled it, didn't they? ——Many things are actually done by Lance for William, such as the investment sponsorship of many new technology companies in Silicon Valley. In the past [-], Lance has distributed hundreds of angel investments , or venture capital, the total funding has already exceeded nine figures.

Thankfully, neither the Wall Street nor the Hollywood media have yet discovered that there are William and Lance behind the investment boom in Silicon Valley, but it should be difficult for them to find out, because all the investments are in the name of Lance's foundation , a personal foundation established by William at the end of [-], or released in the name of a Silicon Valley technology company that was newly opened in the name of the two. The financial operations of these companies are very healthy and can withstand any review from the IRS , Those who talk about investment with those technology companies are all top lawyers and professionals.

Most of the hundreds of angel investments were just thrown out for charity. William and Lance adopted the model of casting a wide net and focusing on fishing. The same as Paul Allen, the difference is that they know what they are fishing for. Fish - Those investments that are destined to be in vain are necessary consumption. Otherwise, the US government will find out in a few years that there is an investment company that has made great achievements in its territory, and finally made a profit with a small investment of tens of millions of dollars. Returning tens of billions of dollars in return, and mastering the most cutting-edge Internet technology on the planet, perhaps the FBI, CIA, Pentagon, and even the White House will be curious about how this can be done.

The minimum amount is US$500, which is also the most common amount of angel investment in Silicon Valley. The highest amount is for Google. In the middle of this year, Google will plan to raise US$[-] million in batches, and plans to Established a private joint-stock company in California before—the source of funds is a fund company absolutely controlled by Lance Roderick and William Bradley. Sequoia Capital and KPCB and other famous venture capital funds also noticed it a week ago Realized the potential of Google and planned to invest, but they came too late-now Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the two founders of Google, are happy after not having to worry about funds was busy moving the company from Palo Alto to Mountain View.

"Wall Street is actually nothing. Although it is one of the lifeblood of the global economy, whether Wall Street is booming or not, it will not have a fundamental impact on Roderick, because Roderick Industrial Group does not have and does not intend to Going public, Roderick’s foundation is not in those red, green, and green numbers.” Lance once described William in this way: “But in the high-tech era, the Internet is a new economic lifeline and a source of new power and influence. As you said, if we can lead one or two companies with cutting-edge technology in the industry, I will have the ability to talk to my father on an equal footing."

"You already have such ability, what we have done is to make it come faster." William replied: "Mr. Roderick is not only not interested in the Internet, he is actually indifferent to real estate, isn't he? Roderick When the real estate was inherited by him, it was still the top three real estate companies in the United States, but it was squeezed out of the top ten within a few years. It only relied on the expensive land accumulated over the past few decades to support its business, but after you took over the management In the past three years, this company that has already exuded an old atmosphere has been revived again. The integration and transformation of the entire Queens District is already a feat. What I didn't even expect was that you would agree to join forces with Donald Trump! It’s beyond amazing.”

"Although Trump——" Lance said the name of this real estate tycoon who is more pushy than a Hollywood star, his tone was quite subtle: "He is an outlier among billionaires and a weirdo among Republicans, but he is indeed Actually owning a fraction of New York, if I want to loosen the big apple, I can't do without his support... It's not difficult to work with him, I just give myself when he starts talking Just a 'shut your ears and listen'."

"But I bet it didn't work."

"Yes. So I was forced to listen to Trump's 'insights' on the presidential election. He firmly believes that those politicians, especially those who come from a political family, are not good for the United States. Only when a businessman who has worked hard and knows the real problems of all walks of life in the United States becomes the president, can this country have a better future. I think he is trying to win votes for himself in advance, but unfortunately, I don’t know his political knowledge. cold."

"Speaking of next year's presidential election, do you know Bush Jr.?"

"George Bush II, who just got re-elected as governor of Texas?"

"That's right, that's him. I heard he's announced his candidacy for the Republican Party's 2000 presidential nomination..."