Cloudy with a chance of Wargames

[altivo]

Gary's birthday. I got him a new camera and some audiobooks, we went out for lunch and stopped in two pet stores to get some small aquarium stuff we needed.

This evening we watched Wargames, one of the films we saw together when we were first dating. I wanted to see it again because someone had insisted there was a Radio Shack computer in it. There wasn't. Many of the special effect computer activities were controlled by an Apple II, though. The home computer that the main character used to break into NORAD was an IMSAI CP/M system, S-100 bus, very expensive at the time but his family did seem to have money. Amusingly, the program he used to dial phone numbers in sequence to find the ones with computer modems on them did exist. I saw something very much like it back in that time period. ;p

So, bedtime. Oh, and no rain today, though they kept telling us it was imminent.

Comments

[avon_deer]

Starring a very Young Matt Broderick. I remember that film well as well. It was the film that first got me interested in computers in fact. As well as a good school teacher who insisted they would be "the future."

It's amazing to see how far and fast we have progressed in terms of human computer interfacing since those days. However I do feel we have had a corresponding fall in individual system and program reliability. It is not co-incidence that the most bullet proof system we have at my place of work has a text only interface.

[altivo]

GUIs are very costly in terms of efficiency and security, absolutely. I shudder to think of all the security issues that have probably been added on top by the "smart-phone" interfaces now.

Watching Android users make "gestures" at their touch screens makes me think of the StarTrek interface to computers. Didn't make sense then, doesn't make sense now. I still prefer a keyboard, even if Scotty did call it "quaint."

The most bullet-proof systems with which I have experience are OpenVMS and the old IBM MVS. OpenVMS does have a GUI now, but it's very basic Motif and gets sneers from the big GUI users.

As for Wargames, it was pretty hokey in some respects, particularly the security (or lack thereof) for the computers. When the film was new a friend of ours declared that the WOPR sure had a "unit record" look about it, and he was right. Even in 1983 computers didn't look like that any more. The thing looked more like a glorified card sorter from 1960 than a state of the art device for artificial intelligence even in 1983. The added commentary from the original directors and actors was good. We had no idea in 1983 that the WOPR's panels of flickering lights were being controlled by an Apple II computer, operated by a person who was sitting inside it for example.

In 1983 I was already established in a mainframe career path and on a track out of application programming into systems. Rather than influencing me, the film amused me with its inaccuracies. Broderick was cute but a punk who deserved the scare he got.

We enjoyed Tron much more in that era because the writers managed to work a lot of computer realities into the script in spite of the ridiculous costumes and fantasy setting.

[shadow_stallion]

Happy birthday to Gary! :D

I love Wargames. That was one of my favorites back in the day and Matthew Broderick was cute too. ^.^

[altivo]

We saw Wargames in the theatre and this is the first time we've ever revisited it. I have to admit that the characters and plot hold up fairly well, though the technology looks just as inaccurate and dubious now as it did in 1983. The commentary was interesting, especially when the writers confessed that they based their idea of Prof. Falken, the computer's original designer, on Stephen Hawking. They had ideas of John Lennon playing the role but he was murdered while they were still writing.

Broderick was cute, the character he played was obnoxious. I felt the same about Jeff Bridges as Mike Flynn/Tron in 1982. I was intrigued though to hear Broderick saying in the commentary that his next film was Ladyhawke. I don't remember him being in that. He must have been a squire or something. Of course mostly I remember the horse. Quite a change of settings for him.

My favorite characters in Wargames were actually Professor Falken, the computer's designer who had become a recluse, and the cynical general who didn't like trusting decisions to the computer and proved himself right in the end.

[shadow_stallion]

*chuckles* You focus on all the techy bits in Wargames and the horse in Ladyhawke. :P Seriously though, yes, he was the squire (i think) in Ladyhawke. It has been ages since I've seen that movie but he is in it.

[altivo]

You know me well enough to not be surprised at this. The usual Hollywood sequence of car chases, explosions, and gunfire bores me and hurts my ears. I only pay attention to films that do interest me, which means horses and computer technology get the love. Or other furry and animal themes. We like dog movies too. ;p

[shadow_stallion]

I know, I know. I was just teasing a little. We are much the same way, it is a rare movie that interests us.

I like animal themed movies but far too often they have a sad ending and that is something I cannot cope with.

Good luck with the fish thanks. You should see the fancy filtration system I have with mine that I nipped off a co-worker a year or two ago. If you look on my FA page there are pics of the tank, half of the stand area is filter. :P