Hi, It's Ari @#$%ing Emanuel, and I plan to shake up Hollywood

Sean Parker, the billionaire technology investor and onetime president of Facebook, will never forget being on the receiving end of an Ari Emanuel onslaught. It was 2009. Emanuel, the famous Hollywood agent, had been e-mailing Parker because a friend had suggested they connect. "I knew who he was," says Parker, who, like so many others, conflated Emanuel with Ari Gold, his alter ego on the HBO series Entourage.

"He needed to meet me," is how Parker describes Emanuel's persistent entreaties. "But I was preoccupied with other things, so I didn't respond. Then one day I was sitting at a meeting at the SpaceX factory with Elon Musk and Larry Page, and somebody comes up from behind, puts his hands on my shoulders, and starts shaking me violently. I was startled. 'It's Ari Fucking Emanuel!' the person shouted. 'Read your e-mail!' " Parker was shaken -- literally and figuratively -- and he apologized for having ignored Emanuel. "Well, I want to have a meeting," responded Emanuel. "Let's do it as soon as this is over."