Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos documentary--HBO

[jeaniebueller]

I could have sworn that we had a thread about Bad Blood at some point, but in searching I couldn't find it. The documentary aired last night on HBO. I haven't read the book yet and the documentary is okay for a general overview. What was so interesting was how much she surrounded herself with these older white men with immense power who just believed everything she said. The female professor from Stanford who told her early on that her idea would not work seemed to be the only person in her life who didn't buy into the product that Theranos was selling. The scene where they show a reinactment of how the blood would splatter all over the place in the Edison device was wild.

ETA: If you are squeamish, there is one part where they show a needle pricking an arm in excruciating slow motion for a ridiculous amount of time, for dramatic effect as Elizabeth is describing her aversion to giving blood (they don't interview her, its all stock footage, I understand). Its a little WTF. 


www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-inventor-out-for-blood-in-silicon-valley


Anyone else watch?

[Velar Fricative]

I haven't watched but I do want to catch up on the recent 20/20 episode since it's a continuation of The Dropout podcast, which I highly recommend. This whole story is so wtf.

[ECB]

I will watch!! This sounds fascinating. I saw an interview with her a few years ago. It was from the POV of her being a young, female, CEO. I wasn’t aware of all the rest of this!

[waverly]

DH hates her so much. Rage.

[pugz]

I binge listened to The Dropout last week! Gonna watch the doc soon.

[simpsongal]

Haven't seen it but it looks interesting. Congrats to her on creating another situation where men will no longer believe women....

[t]

I just added the podcast to my library last week. Can’t wait to listen.

[juliej]

Started binge-listening to The Dropout last night and finishing it this morning. So... twisted...

[silva]

I watched the 20/20 episode last night and hope to watch the doc tonight. I’m so fascinated by her morphing into Steve Job.

[juliej]

Mar 19, 2019 9:13:30 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Haven't seen it but it looks interesting. Congrats to her on creating another situation where men will no longer believe women....

Not just that, but where people will mistrust science and medicine. 

[ECB]

Of all the investors - I really don't feel bad that Betsy DeVos lost money!!    

I watched the documentary and am listening to the podcast.  So interesting....

I think at the start, Elizabeth really did want to make this invention become a real thing.  But then along the way, the allure of the lights and attention over took AND the lies started.  The combination of the two led to this huge fraud.  

[silva]

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

[ECB]

Mar 20, 2019 9:49:56 GMT -5 silva said:

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

Just as an FYI, while I'm only 3 episodes into the podcast, the documentary seems to be basically "The Dropout Podcast Lite".  It was the same people being interviewed, same quotes/snipits, etc, but the podcast goes into much more detail.  

I liked the documentary in order to put faces to the names! 

[bronxgirl]

I haven't watched it yet, but I hope to soon. this is a really interesting case.

[readyin07]

Mar 20, 2019 9:49:56 GMT -5 silva said:

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

Off topic, but I was considering doing this also when GOT comes on. Is it basically $14.99 per month? No better deal?

[juliej]

Mar 20, 2019 10:56:13 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Mar 20, 2019 9:49:56 GMT -5 silva said:

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

Off topic, but I was considering doing this also when GOT comes on. Is it basically $14.99 per month? No better deal?

We get ours through iTunes/Apple but still pay $14.99 per month. The Theranos doc is there now for viewing. And we also use it for Last Week Tonight and Crashing and are waiting for Veep to start. 

[CheeringCharm]

Mar 19, 2019 8:16:54 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

I could have sworn that we had a thread about Bad Blood at some point, but in searching I couldn't find it. The documentary aired last night on HBO. I haven't read the book yet and the documentary is okay for a general overview. What was so interesting was how much she surrounded herself with these older white men with immense power who just believed everything she said. The female professor from Stanford who told her early on that her idea would not work seemed to be the only person in her life who didn't buy into the product that Theranos was selling. The scene where they show a reinactment of how the blood would splatter all over the place in the Edison device was wild.



Anyone else watch?

I've been listening to The Dropout podcast about the story on NBC.

I wanted to say that I was struck by the bolded too. I can't remember who it was exactly, I want to say Larry Ellison but I'm not completely sure, but anyway it was someone super high profile who was willing to invest in her company when she was a 19 year old college dropout who had no business background nor any experience with creating new medical technology and cited as important reasons the fact that her great grandfather was an entrepreneur and her uncle did something in medicine. So therefore she had those two things running in the bloodline. I was like, wtaf? Who makes decisions based on stuff that someone's ancestors did?

[jeaniebueller]

Also the video of her appearing on Mad Money and at that conference after the cards started to fall was just wild. She was visibly looking like she was about to lose it and still trying to convince people that the product worked. The bold faced lying was too damn much

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2019 9:51:52 GMT -5 ECB said:

Mar 20, 2019 9:49:56 GMT -5 silva said:

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

Just as an FYI, while I'm only 3 episodes into the podcast, the documentary seems to be basically "The Dropout Podcast Lite".  It was the same people being interviewed, same quotes/snipits, etc, but the podcast goes into much more detail.  

I liked the documentary in order to put faces to the names! 

I am a few episodes in as well and also thought that. I loved how they've talked about her voice and that when she was drunk at a party that it changed and wasn't so deep. Clearly she was doing everything she could to affect a certain tone for some reason.

[Velar Fricative]

The voice thing is crazy! I was also flabbergasted while listening to the podcast as they talked about Tyler Schultz and grandfather George Schultz, and how George sided with Theranos even after Tyler blew the whistle.

[pugz]

Mar 20, 2019 12:37:29 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The voice thing is crazy! I was also flabbergasted while listening to the podcast as they talked about Tyler Schultz and grandfather George Schultz, and how George sided with Theranos even after Tyler blew the whistle.

yes that was craaaaazy

[gt7301b]

Mar 20, 2019 8:15:58 GMT -5 ECB said:

Of all the investors - I really don't feel bad that Betsy DeVos lost money!!    

I watched the documentary and am listening to the podcast.  So interesting....

I think at the start, Elizabeth really did want to make this invention become a real thing.  But then along the way, the allure of the lights and attention over took AND the lies started.  The combination of the two led to this huge fraud.  

Or Rupert Murdoch

[Deleted]

12 and 17 cracked me up


www.buzzfeed.com/jonmichaelpoff/who-is-elizabeth-holmes

[centralsquare]

Mar 20, 2019 17:50:50 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

12 and 17 cracked me up


www.buzzfeed.com/jonmichaelpoff/who-is-elizabeth-holmes

Black sweater cookies! I DIE!

[silva]

Mar 20, 2019 10:56:13 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Mar 20, 2019 9:49:56 GMT -5 silva said:

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

Off topic, but I was considering doing this also when GOT comes on. Is it basically $14.99 per month? No better deal?

We also have to wait a day to see it.

[orangeblossom]

Her fake voice was cringeworthy. At least make it good. The amount of delusion on everyone’s part, is staggering.

[ECB]

Mar 21, 2019 5:18:47 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

Her fake voice was cringeworthy. At least make it good. The amount of delusion on everyone’s part, is staggering.

i want to know if she just did it on her own or is there a voice coach out there who helped her learn to talk with a deeper voice.

[centralsquare]

Her voice is the least of my problems with her. Men don’t take women seriously in tech. I can understand why she did it.

That doesn’t mean she’s not a complete narcissist/sociopath/whatever. But the voice is the one thing i can actually understand.

[aurora]

Mar 20, 2019 10:56:13 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Mar 20, 2019 9:49:56 GMT -5 silva said:

I have hbo through amazon and it’s not available yet. Is there any way to figure out when it will be?

Off topic, but I was considering doing this also when GOT comes on. Is it basically $14.99 per month? No better deal?

We got HBO through Amazon for the last GOT season. I actually don't remember the price, but it was easy to cancel when we were done, so at least there's that.

[ellipsis]

I watched it last night. I thought the ending was too abrupt (what happened to Sonny?) and the imagery was kind of forced/over the top (all of the needles poking and 8000 images of her face and non-blinking eyes).

I think she was delusional and she didn't really believe that she was lying as much as she was.