'Hackers' at 20 • Hacker News Board

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#151

Post by Zelphyr » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 3:26 PM UTC

delecti wrote: post #117

Zelphyr wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and tend to think of it in terms of how the movie 300 depicted the Persians as monsters. They were nowhere near as monstrous in real life but the Greek saw them that way. And the only way to convey the sense of how the ancient Greek viewed them to our modern eye was to make them hulking giants. In much the same way, Hackers had to do something to depict how we felt about computers at the time. I remember thin…

Something interesting that might change your view of 300. The movie is a story being told by a narrator who wasn't present for much of the events. The first bit of the story was fairly realistic, or at least plausible, but then his eye gets injured and he's sent back to town to get reinforcements. After he leaves things start to get more fantastical.

Hm, interesting. I hadn't though about it that way. So basically, he's the Greek equivalent of my Grandfather who walked to school up hill both ways in 6' of snow.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#152

Post by daodedickinson » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 3:27 PM UTC

qznc wrote: post #139

bane wrote: post #101

There's three really great hacking movies: WarGames, Hackers and Sneakers. WarGames really nails the solo bedroom hacker of the 80s but then mixes in the DoD and general purpose AI to turn it into a coldwar thriller. Sneakers is a clever, quirky, thoughtful adult hacking film. Hackers though, teenage me ate up the feeling of the hacking culture that it espoused. When I read cyperpunk books, I pictured the environment…

What about Tron http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/ The Net http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113957/ Firewall http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408345/ Blackhat http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2717822/ Who Am I http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3042408/

blackhat had some problems (when Helmsworth apes the "you son of a bitch!" scene from Manhunter I groaned in pain) but overall is, if only for the type of person that might browse this site, worth watching.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#153

Post by wmil » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 4:33 PM UTC

ascagnel_ wrote: post #147

xhrpost wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on, he's the king of Nynex!

How old is Hackers? Not only does Nynex no longer exist as an independent entity, the company that acquired Nynex (Bell Atlantic) no longer exists as an independent entity (it exists as part of Verizon).

1995.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#154

Post by yardie » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 5:32 PM UTC

buffoon wrote: post #35

Memories... Good soundtrack, even if the film did make me cringe. When it came out I was knee deep in oodles of Perl on a shit-hot upgraded SPARCstation 10 machine (not camo painted I will add). Whacked the soundtrack in my external caddied CD drive and plugged my headphones in, then spent 2 hours of frigging #defines trying to get the fucking thing to compile a CD player that worked on SunOS 4 OpenView that I'd down…

Excuse me while I fire up the old Quadra and run my copy of MacBugs.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#155

Post by ihsw » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 6:20 PM UTC

Zelphyr wrote: post #69

tdicola wrote: post #32

It's funny to think in another 20 years kids might see this movie and wonder what are those weird small rooms with phones that people go into all the time. And they have to pay money to make a call!?

My 7 year old recently asked me, "What were iPhone's like when you were a kid?" Uh...

My six year old pointed at a pay phone asking "What's that?"

"It's a phone."

"No it's not! Where's the screen?"

I grinned and told him it has no screen, he was baffled as to how to use it.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#156

Post by JoshTriplett » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 6:56 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #138

JoshTriplett wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest thing I like about WarGames as a geek/hacker movie is that it has one of the more realistic depictions I've seen of the critical skill required for security research (or doing many other worthwhile things): a giant pile of research, trying many different things, most of which don't work, eventually leading to success. All shown in an montage cutting between a library and a computer, with this awesome musi…

Hackers is dripping in 80s cheese 2015 - 20 = 1995

I stand by my statement. :)

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#157

Post by gaius » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 8:12 PM UTC

angersock wrote: post #86

simoncion wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...20 years later that scene is horribly sexist and a sign of the times. IIRC, (and I may not RC) that scene is Jolie and Miller engaging in sexual role-play. A few moments later, we cut to what's actually going on: the pair is making out on a bed, and their friends have just walked in to deliver good news, but are currently gawping at the spectacle. Jolie notices the gawpers, gets up, calls them something off-colo…

These days, anything remotely sex-positive for heterosexuality is usually claimed to be sexist.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quite. She's absolutely 100% in control and doing what she wants to do. I guess some people find that threatening and try to use a trigger word to shut it down.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#158

Post by tailgate » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 9:22 PM UTC

mikekchar wrote: post #102

rconti wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is really as it should be. I also find it amusing when people are SHOCKED that a kid would have a cell phone. Sure, they don't need an extravagant $700 smartphone, but who needs a cell phone more? The adult with multiple credit cards, money, reliable transportation, and sits at a desk 8 hours a day with a telephone sitting right there on it? (and then commutes by comfortable car to a house that likely has a lan…

Perhaps they are available everywhere and I haven't noticed, but in Japan they have cellphones with 4 programmable buttons on them. You can't call anybody other than those 4 people. They are quite popular as emergency cell phones for children and the elderly (the latter because the buttons are really easy to push).

I met an one of the entrepreneurs behind the jitterbug(now known as a different company). Initially they focused it at parents wanting phones for their children, but now it's mostly for the elderly.

He said they failed at their market research - they tried to make something that appealed to parents, but neglected to see what kids actually wanted(to have things like the adults do). American kids knew it wasn't a real phone, and rejected it. Their parents then got them a flip phone instead of a "kiddie phone".

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#159

Post by delecti » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 9:32 PM UTC

Zelphyr wrote: post #151

delecti wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something interesting that might change your view of 300. The movie is a story being told by a narrator who wasn't present for much of the events. The first bit of the story was fairly realistic, or at least plausible, but then his eye gets injured and he's sent back to town to get reinforcements. After he leaves things start to get more fantastical.

Hm, interesting. I hadn't though about it that way. So basically, he's the Greek equivalent of my Grandfather who walked to school up hill both ways in 6' of snow.

Or the Greek equivalent of Uncle Sam, drumming up popular support for the military.

Re: 'Hackers' at 20

#160

Post by eru » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 2:42 AM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #138

JoshTriplett wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest thing I like about WarGames as a geek/hacker movie is that it has one of the more realistic depictions I've seen of the critical skill required for security research (or doing many other worthwhile things): a giant pile of research, trying many different things, most of which don't work, eventually leading to success. All shown in an montage cutting between a library and a computer, with this awesome musi…

Hackers is dripping in 80s cheese 2015 - 20 = 1995

80s cheese was still available in the 90s.