Great geek documentaries for a Saturday evening
9 comments
Documentaries for geeks or about geeks? The ones about geeks will probably be really boring. They'll leave out both the technical stuff and the potentially actionable war stories. "Revolution OS", for instance, was a well-crafted film, but pretty dull if you read Slashdot.
Branch out a bit. Off the top of my head:
"The Pleasure of Finding Things Out": Richard Feynman talks. (Danny Hillis pops up for a bit.)
"The Fog of War": a smart, reflective person discusses how he presided over a huge disaster.
"Lost in La Mancha": Terry Gilliam takes a bunch of risks to get a movie started and doesn't make it.
"Around Cape Horn": Captain Irving Johnson describes sailing around the Horn on one of the last windjammers.
"Walking with Dinosaurs": Woo! Dinosaurs!
"Apollo 13" is not an actual documentary, of course, but it's fun and reasonably faithful for a big-budget movie.
Branch out a bit. Off the top of my head:
"The Pleasure of Finding Things Out": Richard Feynman talks. (Danny Hillis pops up for a bit.)
"The Fog of War": a smart, reflective person discusses how he presided over a huge disaster.
"Lost in La Mancha": Terry Gilliam takes a bunch of risks to get a movie started and doesn't make it.
"Around Cape Horn": Captain Irving Johnson describes sailing around the Horn on one of the last windjammers.
"Walking with Dinosaurs": Woo! Dinosaurs!
"Apollo 13" is not an actual documentary, of course, but it's fun and reasonably faithful for a big-budget movie.
I just watched Revolution OS. Really enjoyed it. Indeed it is somewhat of old news to many of us, but it is also nice to see the faces and personalities driving the GNU, Linux, and FOSS movement as a whole.
The Triumph of the Nerds
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115398/
Revolution OS http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308808/
Startup.com http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/
Revolution OS http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308808/
Startup.com http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/
Nerds 2.0.1 on Google Video, downloadable:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=nerds+2.0.1
Triumph of the Nerds was on there previously... meanwhile, just Google for torrents.
Triumph of the Nerds was on there previously... meanwhile, just Google for torrents.
Edreams - it tracks the rise and fall of KOZMO.COM, honestly a great great movie, you can even watch it online for free at cinemanow.
Definitely check this one out.
Definitely check this one out.
Project Aardvark? (I haven't seen this since I'm outside the US but it looks good)
My friends and I were all in agreement Project Aardvark was ruined by the horrible music. All in all, I wish they would have focused more on the tech stuff instead of their living environments and math behind jumping to a nearby building. Paul makes a guest appearance though cooking chili if I remember correctly. It's worth watching but warned of the music...
You can buy the soundtrack album :)
Pirates of Silicon Valley - Google Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7941901498664355924
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7941901498664355924
Pirates of Silicon Valley ofcourse :)
Any BBC Horizon documentary, esp The Great Robot Race one.
- Forbin project ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus:_The_Forbin_Project
- E-Money with Cringely ~ http://www.pbs.org/opb/electricmoney
- Nerds 2.0.1: with Cringely ~ http://www.pbs.org/opb/
- NerdTV: Cringely interviews ... ~ http://www.pbs.org/nerdtv/
- Doug Englebart Mother of all Demos ~ http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2005/06/doug_englebart_.html
- More Doug Englebart ~ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8734787622017763097
SEEN
- Startup.com: 9/10: How things get all messed up b/w friends in startups, 'lets get to work'.
- Revolution OS: 8/10: Nerdy interviews with the GNU, Linux & Free software movement. Worth it to see Bruce Perens hair & Eric Raymonds 'we are your worst nightmare' speech to an MS exec in a lift.
- Pirates of Silicon Valley ~ 8/10: Very funny take on Gates, Woz & Jobs http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122
- The Triumph of the Nerds ~ 7.5/10: Cringley doing his stuff with web1.0 startups. Great to see Joe Kraus with Excite ~ http://www.pbs.org/nerds
- Apollo 13; 7/10: Brings back memories of my childhood & Apollo missions. Not long after I got this on DVD I got to see Jack Schmitt talk (last man on the moon). Best bit was on how they handled the complexity.
- The Fog of War ~ 7/10: Robert McNamara, how smart people can get fooled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War
- Walking with Dinosaurs: 7/10: Ok
- E-Dreams: 6.5/10: Dark, gritty and how did they get all that money?
- Project Aardvark ~ 6/10: Uneventful, nerdy guys building co-pilot ~ http://www.copilot.com/