Roll out the red carpet.
Linux creator Linus Torvalds wrote a cute blog recounting his unexpected and unlikely trip to the ‘Night Before Oscar’ party last weekend.
He and his wife, Tove, got an invite from some unnamed company source. Maybe someone from Pixar? Most of the animated films are built on Linux, after all. Seems fair to me.
Anyway, to say he felt like a fish out of water is an understatement. “Toto, I don’t think we’re talking white-socks-and-sandals any more,” quipped Torvalds, who is known to be very humble, down to earth and unpretentious. That is, he is the kind of guy who would not be interested in such a glitzy affair.
["My life isn't glamorous. I know that comes as a big shock to everybody, since geeks in general are seen as the crème de la crème of society, and the common perception is that we live the life of rock-stars and party all night with all the other glamorous people. Not so," wrote Torvalds, who spends most of his days in his basement in a bathrobe advising programmers."]
But there they were, milling about with the likes of Oscar winner Natalie Portman and John Cusack. Torvalds said he is not into mainstream movies and had to do some discreet Google checks to identify some of the stars on site. (it’s ok — carrying an Android smartphone is cool in Hollywood now).
Of course, he and his wife were not raised in the U.S. and did not recognize some of the has-beens roaming the party. He noted that Warren Beatty (whose wife, Annette Bening, played a lead role) was pissed that Tove had to ask him twice for his name. Hilarious. Carly Simon was right. He is so vain.
Not so with Torvalds. He is really mellow. I recall once after his keynote at some Linux event in New York some guy yelling out in a crowd s that he had just named his newborn “Linus” after the famed programmer. Torvalds seemed embarrassed by the attention.
But he said it was worth the trip. After all, it gives bragging rights for their kids, who are living in this celebrity addicted culture.
“We probably won’t be invited again,” he said. “But we have pictures for the kids, to prove to them that their parents are cool people.”
