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Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

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Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#121

Post by idiotsecant »

the_af wrote: post #90
GJim wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Content creators I'd argue the very words creating "content" implies something commercial is already in mind and is a driver, rather than just doing your own thing online and not caring (such showing a video of your band/hobby on YouTube in case anybody is interested). To a Gen-X'er, the former sounds like they are already a sell out :-) I certainly agree with you that perceptions have shifted.

I agree with you and I find the term "creating content" awful, even though I'm forced to use it because it's something people immediately understand. "Content creator"... what happened to artist, playwright, painter, hobbyist, etc? It makes it seem as if they were making stuff for a corporation to sell.

That is what is happening though. It's an accurate description. These are cases of making content for corporations to sell ads against.

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#122

Post by vor_ »

shon wrote: post #14

The Gibson! Very cool. did you make this? I made a Tron lightcycle game: https://new.af/tron Now that AI accelerates dev so much, I suspect we'll get to see a lot of cool throwbacks.

> Now that AI accelerates dev so much

Then where's the massive explosion of software?

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#123

Post by blahaj »

par wrote: post #120
blahaj wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for your loss. "This is it... this is where I belong..." I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all... after all, we're all alike.

Thank you. And you know, it's those quotes and concepts that really stuck me with, about how we were all in it together. And not to get off topic, but i'm so sad and disheartened to see what tech has become since those days.

i feel you

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#125

Post by StopTheWorld »

runjake wrote: post #97
StopTheWorld wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The writer of Hackers, Rafael Moreu, went to New York 2600 meetings and talked to various members of MoD (a hacker group which had a book written about them by a local New York reporter, Joshua Quittner, who later worked for Wired and then Time/Pathfinder if anyone remembers that). The names and handles of the movie reflect this - Cereal Killer, Plague, Joey, Razor - all handles of local New York people. Phreak in a…

Oh man, Limelight! LoD and MoD's heydays were more in the 1980s. By the first year or two of the 1990s, both were pretty much defunct, if my memory serves. I was acquainted with several members of both groups, and I don't remember them really resembling the Hackers movies in appearance or personality. But I lost touch with them in about 1989-1990 or so, due to the next phase of my life kicking off.

In July 1992 five MoD members were charged with hacking, and they were basically defunct as an active hacking group after that. LoD was mostly defunct even before that, although the movie used the Mentor's manifesto. New York LoD members, or those affiliated with them, had been busted in July 1987. So yes, a lot of the 1995 movie was covering stuff that had happened from the 1980s up until mid-1992. When the movie was released, some of the MoD members were on probation and not allowed to associate with one another until probation ended. The busts, trials, prison terms, and probations were all happening around the time the movie was being written, filmed and released.

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#126

Post by the_af »

idiotsecant wrote: post #121
the_af wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you and I find the term "creating content" awful, even though I'm forced to use it because it's something people immediately understand. "Content creator"... what happened to artist, playwright, painter, hobbyist, etc? It makes it seem as if they were making stuff for a corporation to sell.

That is what is happening though. It's an accurate description. These are cases of making content for corporations to sell ads against.

It is what's happening in some cases, not all. Also, language shapes thought, so we encourage this to happen if we frame it as "content creation". It's something to push against.

Note it's not even relevant whether something is commercial. Art can be commercial and not be just "content". A musician is not a "content creator" which happens to create content in the shape of music. "Content" implies it doesn't really matters, what matters is engagement and the platform (and advertisers, etc). It's not healthy to think of hobbies, art, and entertainment as exclusively about this. Imagine if Oscar Wilde, Herman Melville, Alan Moore, etc had been thought of merely as "content creators".

This is not a new idea. Stallman was already pushing back against this "content" term decades ago.

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#127

Post by jghn »

Sharlin wrote: post #111
jghn wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this and Starship Troopers to fit in a similar niche for me. When I first saw them I found them very cringey, horrible, couldn't stand it. Hackers for the reasons being discussed here. ST because of how bastardized it was from the source material. But over time I grew to love both of them. In both cases I started to appreciate how they weren't trying to be faithful representations, but rather capture a particu…

Bastardized? It's satire and not at all subtle about it. You can of course argue that it's poorly executed satire, but judging it based on how faithful it is to the source material is rather missing the point.

I think you're the one who missed the point, as in you missed *my* point.

When I first saw Starship Troopers, I disliked it because it wasn't faithful to the book. Over time I came to appreciate it for what it actually was, and now think it is fantastic.

Likewise, with Hackers I initially disliked it due to how inaccurate and unrealistic it was. I came to appreciate it for what it actually was over time, and now think it is fantastic.

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#128

Post by Grosvenor »

iberator wrote: post #112

question: does anyone know if there are ueri/bios with sound and animationa AVALIBLE for pc somehow? As in train station hacking scene 2. Monitor inside the glasses. was it real?

Yes. There were early models available with 320x200 or 640x480 rez.

They didn't have accelerometers, so it was just a dumb screen on your face.

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#129

Post by tptacek »

Zaskoda wrote: post #10
bilekas wrote: post #6

Hack the planet. This is such a call back and what a nice touch to add the sound to it too. That whole OST is incredible, I still pull orbital and prodigy into my current work playlists. What a fun movie.

I hated this movie the first time I watched it. And the second. The third time I let go of the need for things to be realistic and took it all in as an artistic representation and snap ... I loved it. One could argue that I loved it all along given that I watched it so many times... but there was a distinct moment where I let go and that's when I was able to see just how wonderful this movie really is.

I remember being at Summercon before this movie opened and Ericb addressing hotel conference room we were seated in talking about how Iain Softley had directed Backbeat and how happy he was that he was doing this movie and that you had to get in the right headspace to understand what it was going for.

(I think the movie is wildly overrated just as a piece of storytelling; the hacker fan-service in it is just fine, they clearly got some tfile kids to consult with the script.)

Re: Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

#130

Post by drivers99 »

RobRivera wrote: post #13
bilekas wrote: post #6

Hack the planet. This is such a call back and what a nice touch to add the sound to it too. That whole OST is incredible, I still pull orbital and prodigy into my current work playlists. What a fun movie.

Discovered the Hackers ost on a /mu/ thread. So many bangers.

I have this OST and the Mortal Kombat one as well on CD (mentioned together since they both have the same song, "Halcyon + On + On" on them!). When I went to a 2600 meetings in Seattle in 1999, I listened to the Hacker's soundtrack in my car on the way, of course. I gave one of the people I met there a ride and we had a laugh when he saw the case in my car. (I feel like I have a story for every song. Thanks for indulging me.)
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