How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap" • Hacker News Board

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#61

Post by 1qaz2wsx3edc » Wed, Apr 09, 2014, 5:32 PM UTC

Udo wrote: post #32

It's interesting how software startup culture seems to become mainstream, we've got two new shows centered on that topic now. So far I enjoyed watching "Betas" a bit more than the "Silicon Valley" pilot, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of SV.

I second this, and I'm a huge Mike Judge fan, but "Betas" feels so much more genuine then "Silicon Valley". Both are good, but I'm completely sold on "Betas".

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#62

Post by nswanberg » Wed, Apr 09, 2014, 6:00 PM UTC

arbutus wrote: post #46

I like it so far. A lot of it was pretty funny, and then the hexadecimal joke killed me. For anyone else who's enjoying it, you should also check out the TV adaptation of JPod. So far the humour feels pretty similar.

There was a tv version of JPod? Astonishingly it looks like there was also a movie version of Microserfs that came out in 2011, but I've never heard of it. So much of what made those two books funny were the email exchanges intermixed with the narrative--it'd be a shame to lose that in a movie adaptation.

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#63

Post by atonse » Wed, Apr 09, 2014, 6:14 PM UTC

achompas wrote: post #57

toby wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those bikes do exist, but they're more of a Burning Man thing. I don't think anyone actually has meetings on them.

I wish you were right. :( http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=238614&a=2386...

hahahaha I can't believe this thing exists!!

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#64

Post by anuleczka » Wed, Apr 09, 2014, 6:18 PM UTC

toby wrote: post #20

[deleted] wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

Peter Gregory was clearly based on Peter Thiel

You don't think Peter Gregory (PG) is Paul Graham? Perhaps they combined Thiel and Graham into one character for cinematic reasons.

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#65

Post by shalmanese » Wed, Apr 09, 2014, 10:28 PM UTC

dodders wrote: post #11

The idea of lossless compression in a smaller file size than anything else on the market spoiled the entire show for me. Call me picky, but...

It was deliberately ambiguous what they were building since it's more or less a MacGuffin but there was some talk of it allowing faster search over compressed content which, to me, sounds like plausibly valuable technology.

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#66

Post by poolunion » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 1:55 AM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #2

So far, not so good. 60% of the funny is coming from the fact that Kumail Nanjiani is a great standup. It's Mike Judge, so I'm going to watch it all anyway, but if it were anyone else, it'd have 2 more episodes to get a lot better.

If you like Kumail I'm pretty sure you will end up liking this show. I thought TJ Miller and Kumail were the funniest parts of the first episode. TJ's Hexadecimal joke got a big laugh from me. Also Andy Daly as the doctor was pretty great.

Re: How Mike Judge and Co. Are Turning "Silicon Valley" Into the Next "Spinal Tap"

#67

Post by area51org » Thu, Apr 10, 2014, 6:18 PM UTC

isbadawi wrote: post #56

area51org wrote: post #19

When you have billionaires in Silicon Valley comparing the 1 percent to Jews during the Holocaust, and all that shit… So I haven't seen it yet, and I do plan to watch the first episode. But quotes like this — from one of the producers — make me not want to bother. Yes, this quote is justified, because SV is full of billionaires like Tom Perkins, and not struggling, creative people just trying to get by. The reason I'…

It's funny that you use "make the world a better place" -- that's one of the specific phrases (and attitudes) the show makes fun of. "We're making the world a better place. By constructing elegant hierarchies for maximum code reuse and extensibility." "Making the world a better place. Through minimal message-oriented transport layers."

Yes, I'm aware of the show's mockery of good intentions. Few (or no) actual startups actually use language so wildly specific; when they say they want to make the world a better place, they generally cite the intent of the startup rather than specifics of the technology — which makes this attempt at satire fall flat on its face.