Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Sign in to follow this  
spank

Jeffery Deaver's "The Blue Nowhere"

Recommended Posts

A quick word of warning for you all.

It seems to be the worst hacker story book I've ever started reading (I'm at chapter 1001 - thankfully that's base 2).

I'm hating it right now because the author, who obviously had no clue about computers, must have done this incredibly Herculean task of research, which lead to the most amazing inaccuracies, nonsenses and downright cheesiness. Yes, I will use my TRAPDOOR.EXE program (a kludge coded in five minutes, because I'm a codeslinging wizard) to magically monitor all of your computer usage (regardless of operating system) so as to learn all about your life and kill you in March 31st (that's the UNIVAC launch anniversary, because I'm a computer history fanatic)!

So silly. I just hope the thriller part of it is pleasant...

Share this post


Link to post

Haha... yeah, they very rarely get anything related to computers right in books and movies. Though I guess they actually never get anything right for any subject - but we (people like most of those who visit this forum) don't notice because we're only geeks in the area of computers.

Share this post


Link to post

I think that if they were a bit more precise they would achieve the same results with the computer-challenged folks and respect with the rest.

The Matrix Reloaded had a reasonably realistic hacking scene (when Trinity does that ssh rc exploit in the nuclear plant or whatever), so why don't other authors follow suit?

Oh yeah, The Animatrix owns.

Share this post


Link to post

I love it when someone in a Hollywood movie receives an e-mail.

"YOU'VE GOT MAIL! YOU'VE GOT MAIL!! YOU'VE GOT MAIL!!!1"

..with bright flashy letters all over the place.

Share this post


Link to post

I think it's even better when some 11 year old kid is "hacking into the government computer database with 128-bit encryption security!!" and there's a bunch of WARNINGS and other retarded things on screen to make it look like hacking the government is as easy as playing a game!

Share this post


Link to post

Movies always are horrible at showing computers.. I remember one movie where a computer was used to display communications from something (a ship maybe, I forget) and it was a full screen video of the person talking, but the video was the desktop image. You could see the icons on the side of the video. Like, WTF?
and high security systems always have an elaborate GUI to help hackers find their way around.

Share this post


Link to post
KoRn said:

Like, WTF?
and high security systems always have an elaborate GUI to help hackers find their way around.

Swordfish!

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah and all Hackers are exceptionally good looking and muscle bound cool people like Hugh Jackman, Val Kilmer, and Ryan Phillipe. Ghad, there coming out with a new hacker movie too which, get this, starts some hunky guy as the hacker genius. I think it might actually be Colin Farell.

LOL, funny true story: I was watching "The Net" starring Sandra Bullock ( as a coding genius who happens to be gorgeous ) with a bunch of friends in my computer room. I was making fun of it while my computer was in DOS mode. I was just randomly hitting keys and hitting enter sarcastically announcing "I'm hacking into the Pentagon! Look at me! I'm hacking directly into the Presidents ass!" After the movie was over I shut off my comp. The next day when I fired it up again it was all fucked up. I eventually figured out that my jackassing around screwed up my BIOS and it wasn't reading my harddisk properly. I found it pretty funny.

Share this post


Link to post
KoRn said:

Movies always are horrible at showing computers.. I remember one movie where a computer was used to display communications from something (a ship maybe, I forget) and it was a full screen video of the person talking, but the video was the desktop image. You could see the icons on the side of the video. Like, WTF?
and high security systems always have an elaborate GUI to help hackers find their way around.

"Alien" did pretty good for Mother.

Share this post


Link to post

Ever notice how, when you show people playing video games in a movie, the actors are always spastically slamming on the controls regardless of what's happening in the game?

Share this post


Link to post
IMJack said:

Ever notice how, when you show people playing video games in a movie, the actors are always spastically slamming on the controls regardless of what's happening in the game?


and it always uses lame ass sound effects from the fuckin atari games

Share this post


Link to post

I think the main reason movies so often "get things wrong" regarding computers isn't really ignorance. It's because reality is quite boring. In reality if the firewall of the server you are trying to hack catches your monkey business, things just stop responding and nothing happens. I figure writers and movie directors think it's more fun if there are sirens and multicolored flashing warnining signs to liven things up.

Share this post


Link to post

Heh, I've noticed that recently, there's been a trend to make computers more realistic in movies, primarily because the average Joe is more likely to have used a computer. For instance, "You've Got Mail" had (thankfully) no huge flashy lights and sirens to annouce the presence of e-mail. I think that as more people go "WTF my computer never does that!" directors will be forced to keep it real to keep the audience in the movie.

Share this post


Link to post

on the book side of things, 'cryptonomicon' definitely got things right. and is a godlike, amazing fucking book anyway.

Share this post


Link to post

Also there is the crazy sparking computer effect we see in movies when a computer breaks down. I would like to see a computer do that.
But again, people wouldn't understand what is going on if it just stopped working.

Share this post


Link to post
ravage said:

"Alien" did pretty good for Mother.


Well, except that they were using what looks like a 1970's mainframe in the year 2070... I don't know wtf all those lights were supposed to do, either.

Share this post


Link to post
david_a said:

Well, except that they were using what looks like a 1970's mainframe in the year 2070... I don't know wtf all those lights were supposed to do, either.

But it looked realistic at the time being.

Share this post


Link to post

Extrapolating from the evolution of computers thus far, I find it most probable that computers in the future will be extremely discreet. No flashing lights and probably no buttons at all, they'll be as neutral as walls (possibly built inside them :)

Share this post


Link to post

I hate how in movies/shows portraying the future, all the technology looks so delicate.

Another thing about movies is that proccesing time is almost nothing. oh well. It would be boring to watch a movie that had realistic load times.

Share this post


Link to post
KoRn said:

It would be boring to watch a movie that had realistic load times.


it would actually amuse the hell out of me. imagine the intensity!

Share this post


Link to post
KoRn said:

Another thing about movies is that proccesing time is almost nothing. oh well. It would be boring to watch a movie that had realistic load times.

On the other hand, whenever someone is using a computer to compare or match images or photographs, it always displays every image it cycles through until it gets a match, an example of unusually slow processing.

Share this post


Link to post
Fredrik said:

Haha... yeah, they very rarely get anything related to computers right in books and movies. Though I guess they actually never get anything right for any subject - but we (people like most of those who visit this forum) don't notice because we're only geeks in the area of computers.

I remember a long time ago I was watching Crimson tide with my friend and some other people and his dad, who was a Mster Chief in the Navy, was watching as well. At one point in the movie, the captain goes "Load torpedo tubes 1 and 2", and they did and his dad was like "heh...those were 3 and 4". Then the captain was like "Fire tubes 1 and 2" and his dad was like "Hahaha...those were 2 and 4!"

It was kinda funny.

Share this post


Link to post

Heh, sometimes filmmakers get smart and go the extra mile for authenticity. R. Lee Ermey was originaly brought in as a technical advisor for "Full Metal Jacket", but they gave him the role of the drill sergeant when they realized nobody else could get the part right.

Share this post


Link to post

R. Lee Ermey owns your ass on History Channel's Mail Call. :D

Heh, he and this professional medival crossbowman were having a Hell of a time getting the bolt in a watermelon that was like 30 feet away. Just goes to show you how accurate those things REALLY were.

/me is a huge fan of the History Channel

Share this post


Link to post

Never forget that if aliens attack the Earth, the only thing that stand between them and world domination (besides some military hardass with a huge chip on his shoulder) is a computer geek and a "really 1337" 1996-esque laptop.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
×