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If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

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Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#341

Post by orarbel1 »

devmunchies wrote: post #211
cknoxrun wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would highly suggest checking out Halt and Catch Fire. It's a period piece, but I think it captures the spirit of Northern California. The first 2 seasons are in Texas before they jump ship to San Francisco.

ditto. Its starts off with a young ex-IBM executive trying to build the first IBM compatible machine and everything that goes with launching the new product. Later seasons go into things like server farms, early gaming, and social networking. really underrated show.

Based on the founding of Compaq

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#342

Post by c3534l »

komali2 wrote: post #95
imgabe wrote: post #9

King of the Hill has also resurfaced on Hulu recently after not being available to stream anywhere. Mike Judge has a real talent for nailing essence of a culture.

Woah, I had no idea Mike Judge was involved with King of the Hill. Growing up in Texas, I never appreciated how on-point the show was, until I left the state and realized that the subtle culture cues of Texas didn't exist elsewhere, which means that King of the Hill nailed it. I mean, every detail is perfect.

Hank Hill was basically the "stop hwackin' off in muh toolshed" guy from Beavis and Butthead.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#343

Post by jackcosgrove »

Apocryphon wrote: post #331
Fricken wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In office space Peter Gibbons, our white Alpha, and the only guy with any sense, tries to stay sane and hold it together in a world that has gone haywire. In King of the Hill, our white Alpha, Hank Hill, the only guy with any common sense, tries to stay sane and keep it from all falling apart in a world that has gone Haywire. In Idiocracy, our White Alpha, Joe Bauer, the only guy with any sense, tries to stay sane an…

How does Beavis and Butthead fit into your model

Like Cornholio fits in a t-shirt.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#344

Post by marshray »

ticmasta wrote: post #296
devmunchies wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ditto. Its starts off with a young ex-IBM executive trying to build the first IBM compatible machine and everything that goes with launching the new product. Later seasons go into things like server farms, early gaming, and social networking. really underrated show.

I really like the historical/tech story lines but the soap-opera interpersonal relationships wrecked it for me. The whole "broken imperfection" thing often goes to far and really detracts from the story.

You might like this documentary on the origins of National Semiconductor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCbRZGDV-ws

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#345

Post by marshray »

orarbel1 wrote: post #341
devmunchies wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ditto. Its starts off with a young ex-IBM executive trying to build the first IBM compatible machine and everything that goes with launching the new product. Later seasons go into things like server farms, early gaming, and social networking. really underrated show.

Based on the founding of Compaq

It also draws from the book 'Soul of a New Machine' about Data General's a few years before Compaq.

The 'adventure addiction' scene, for example.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#347

Post by danaos »

swampthinker wrote: post #130

My favorite Silicon Valley anecdote: "During the review process once the footage [of Techcrunch Disrupt] was woven in, another editor criticized the crowd shots for not featuring any women and blamed Berg for the oversight. '...Those were real shots of the real place, and we didn't frame women out.The world we're depicting is f---ed up.' said Berg" https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/hbos-si... Sorry…

> Sorry for the amp link, the main page was broken.

https://www.businessinsider.com/hbos-silicon-valley-had-dive...

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#348

Post by tokyodude »

Fricken wrote: post #314
freehunter wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Race and class demographics are not the only dimensions to a show. A working class conservative family in the suburbs of Dallas is pretty different from the high tech and high paid world of Silicon Valley is different from uneducated teenage slackers giggling at poop jokes. What Bevis does/thinks/likes versus what Hank does/thinks/likes versus what Richard does/thinks/likes could not be farther from each other. Just…

In office space Peter Gibbons, our white Alpha, and the only guy with any sense, tries to stay sane and hold it together in a world that has gone haywire. In King of the Hill, our white Alpha, Hank Hill, the only guy with any common sense, tries to stay sane and keep it from all falling apart in a world that has gone Haywire. In Idiocracy, our White Alpha, Joe Bauer, the only guy with any sense, tries to stay sane an…

> In King of the Hill, our white Alpha, Hank Hill, the only guy with any common sense

Ah, that's not my memory of King of the Hill. In it Hank is the biggest idiot and it's only those around him that have any common sense.

I probably only watched the first season but I remember one episode in particular where some Laotians moved into the neighborhood and Hank couldn't except that they weren't Chinese or Japanese. His father who fought in South East Asia knew immediately that they were Laotians but Hank refused to acknowledge any kind thing other than Chinese or Japanese. Hank's wife went on to bake a "Apple Brown Betty" (I think that's what it's called) and got upset when the Laotian neighbor made it better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_CaZ4EAexQ

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#349

Post by flyingfences »

coleifer wrote: post #81
skunkworker wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This Venn diagram always gets me. https://i.chzbgr.com/full/8291744000/h3159FC59/

I use this simple litmus test: if it has a laugh-track, then it's for dumb people.

MASH begs to differ.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#350

Post by marshray »

clairity wrote: post #118
ham_sandwich wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This chart holds only in the sense that the Kardashians play dumb caricatures of themselves. They may cater their brand to the lowest common denominator but they most certainly aren’t dumb themselves. They essentially parlayed Robert Kardashian’s friendship with OJ Simpson into a media empire; there is something to be said for how media savvy they are.

having money (as you note, the family wealth came from kris jenner's husband) makes it easier to make more money, with no implications about the intelligence of the wealth holder. take trump for example. nytimes detailed about $600+ million in wealth transfer to him from his dad. while we don't have tax returns or financial statements to confirm this, he's probably worth about a billion dollars now. that rate of retu…

To be fair, there are plenty of professionally managed funds that haven't beaten the index over the last several decades.
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