my clever wordplay aside , I thought a media catchall thread would be fun: games, music, movies, literature, etc.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe. Time will tell.

A few points to start things off:

Games
Hacknet - you must solve the mystery of a dead hacker who contacted you from beyond the grave... via email. Hacking simulator.

Uplink - You're an agent-y guy who does something for corporations maybe. Another hacking simulator.

Music
Music to code by - when you need sound to block out the nearby chatter, but don't want songs that are too interesting that you can't ignore them. A productivity tool.

Movies
So many could go here.

Blackhat - supposed to be a really good movie for what it is. Hacker something something and also probably romance. Because all movies have romance.

Indie Game: The Movie - okay, this movie doesn't have romance. Much. Levels of "indie" from the various developers is a little suspect, but still a great a flick if you have some time and want to see the inside world of a penniless indie game dev. (braid developer excluded)

Takedown - or Take Down, or Track Down, or Hackers 2, depending on who you ask. Dramatized version of the Kevin Mitnick arrest. Skeet Ulrich in a strip club, what else could you ask for?

Literature
2600 - does anyone still read this? Old hacker rag. Yes, I had a short bit published in it once years ago.

_____________________

Anyhow, what sort of things do more seasoned vets actually get into, if anything at all? Or is this more like poker lingo and clothing, where if you admit you're a fan then you're considered a fish or tourist?

fiction:
Snow Crash was an entertaining book that i liked

TV shows I can't believe I forgot to mention:

IT Crowd - British show, comedy, very funny stuff if not more about IT in general
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/

Silicon Valley - has an OOtv thread, hiatus between seasons two and three atm. Mike Judge's take on the namesake, ranges from ludicrous to crying from laughter. All about trying to run a startup with mixed results.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2575988/

TV Show - Mr Robot
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4158110/

Blackhat is horrible, don't waste your time on it.

Now this is AWESOME!

Heard Halt and Catch Fire is pretty good.

Is it? Haven't seen it yet, was waiting for it to go to netfl... I mean, FetNlix.

Amazing show

Movies:
Hackers


War Games

Board/Card Games:
Android Netrunner

One player is a hacker, the other player is a corporation. Hacker needs to attack servers and steal agendas, corp needs to develop said agendas. Very popular both commercially and critically (my current #1 board/card game)
[I also watch commented youtube videos of this regularly, google for Team Covenant if interested. They do a good job showing all the cards with overlays]

If somehow someone has never managed to see "War Games" it totally holds up and is still great

Youtube channel:

Computerphille

It's as realistic and interesting as porn that contains all the acting and no intercourse.

Well, your Hollywood movies like hackers and whatever else are going to by simplified and dramatized, mostly because 35 straight hours of a dude listening to music and using self-created hacking tools is boring compared to, well, any alternative.

There was a defcon YouTube that had the guy who created MMO Glider and another dude who did bot writing, was really interesting with not much in the way of gfx. Seems alternative ways to be entertaining exist.



Found it

Swordfish is actually entertaining and quasi - hacker related. The Net is so awful it's good for me haha.

Re "zines": I think I bought a 2600 once and it was pretty meh. Only one I read was Phrack (and the occasional "Datenschleuder" by the CCC).

Im hesitant to watch that as the comments make it sound like its going to be AIDS listening to the presenter, how bad is it really?

The young guy is nearly intolerable. But he does seem to know his stuff when he's not busy being condescending.

i think AI movies are probably relevant in this thread:

Her - haven't seen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/

Ex Machina - excellent
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470752/

AI related TV show:

Humans - excellent, especially the 1st half
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4122068/

I've been trying noise generators instead of music for this purpose. I think they help me concentrate better. This site has a huge amount of them, which can layer nicely:
http://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php
And the same guy made this rain one on its own site, because it couldn't fit into the framework used on the other sites:
http://rain.today/

In terms of improving and exposure to new ideas, the thing that's helped me the most is a local user group.

Jazz, classical and (instrumental) country do the trick for me. Anything without lyrics works. As soon as there's lyrics my brain gets confused.
It also tries to analyze the music (I know nothing about music theory) sometimes so I try to avoid certain classical stuff (Bach distracts me)

Holy smokes, this show is amazing. Pretty creepy as well, especially Anita.

fans of silicon valley might find this interesting

http://science.slashdot.org/story/15...sion-algorithm

Bump for the new hotness - Westworld. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475784/

Incredible, only 2 episodes deep so far. HBO on Sundays. "Jurassic Park, but with 3D printed AI Robots!"



Amazingly not mentioned ITT - Person of Interest. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839578/

Westworld is the new thing by Jonathan Nolan, who created PoI too. PoI has competed it's run at 5 seasons, 103 episodes. It's superficially an action/crime drama "monster of the week", the overarching storyline though is of artificial super intelligence / machine learning / surveillance state, it's superb. Many tech-culture references across the years. It has an actual person called Root!

Movie: Sneakers, Anime: Ghost in the shell
"Takedown" was much better as a book
"Project code rush", https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q7FTjhvZ7Y

I watched Episode 2 of this and I have to say, I'm quite impressed. The dialog and acting is truly amazing, which is nice to notice since Sci Fi and Westerns tend to have horrible dialog mixed with terrible acting. It's also nice because it isn't overkill pandering to the nerd clique.

The show reminds me of the book Otherland, which isn't saying anything bad about it at all.

Wow, gonna have to check WestWorld out. Hadn't heard about it but that trailer has me hooked.

Movies: The Social Network