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Jon Katz' "Geeks" Goes Hollywood
ChrisCrosby was the first
to notice that Hollywood Reporter has a story about our own Jon Katz' soon-to-be-released book "Geeks" being picked up by New Line Cinema for a feature film. Lawrence Bender (producer of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Good Will Hunting and more) and Laurie Bickford are producing. I'm really excited for Jon, and I just wanted to congratulate him: He's been working so hard on this, and the parts of the story that I've read have been really wonderful. And Hemos and I get cameos! Now since Bender has produced all of Quentin Tarantino's films, wouldn't it be fabulous if
he directed this?Update: 01/14 04:09 by H : BTW, the actual book is available for pre-order through ThinkGeek. Check it out.
How can you do a cameo?! I have never even seen your face!
Vote for Linus doing the cameo! At least someone can recognize HIM!
It's quite amazing how a persons image can shine high above their abilities. Since Jon Katz is a self professed source for all that is worthy in technology news, that makes him a prime example for what I'm saying. Although Jon Katz seems to be well educated, his written skills leave something to be desired. As many have pointed out his writing style is trite and not creative. One get's the feeling that he does this to boost his already inflated public image, and in so doing keeping the dollar signs rolling in. It's hard to blame him though, money can make people do strange things. Best of luck your endevours Mr. Katz as I'm sure you know exactly what it is you're doing.
I spoke to John for awhile about being interviewed for this book. He was going to fly out and put me in there but it never happened. I think he wanted to focus more on geeks whose lives were saved by their "geekiness" or something. I'm just a "normal" geek I guess, never had to program to feed my family and wasn't really bullied in school (the fact that I'm 6'1" and have the physique of an offensive lineman probably helped that) so I never knew how interesting I would have been anyway. Oh well, now I'll just have to get famous on my accomplishments instead of just because I'm a geek. :)
*gag*
Seriously, what the hell is going on here? I'm not so concerned with Taco and Hemos et al, they're just running a site and having a great time seeing what trouble they can stir up. I'm shocked (and some would say I shouldn't be) by what Katz will go along with.
Is it in fact true that Jon Katz is exactly the type of corrosive media trendy powerworshipper he purports to be against?
Does he have rationalizations already in place about how he's not really leveraging his new-media connections to gain special privileges with the very same corporate media dinosaur he claims to hate and fear?
Which would he choose, to have his film carefully sterilized to be suitable for general audiences, or to have 'his people' sneak children into theaters to see his film?
*sigh* really, this whole business is disgusting. I would have no gripe with Katz doing this if he was sincere in his desire to align himself with the existing power structures of media that so many of us have to fight against. But he is not- something is wrong with his mind, that he can't see the phenomenal hypocrisy of his actions and desires.
I'm looking at Jon's reaction to the AOL/Time Warner merger, and it's bitterly funny how the whole first paragraph is bitching not about social issues, or the media implications, but the gripes of a _disgruntled_ _consumer_. And then, the relevance... "Is individualism, free expression, diverse opinion advanced when the information economy breaks down into two or three "old and new" media conglomerates that control virtually all of the archived news and entertainment information online, and increasingly, the means to deliver it?"
Well, Jon, never mind that, eh? Which one of the media conglomerates do you like the best for your movie? It's true that taking an option doesn't mean squat in the biz, and the movie may never be made- but as we watch you dance with big media, first Amazon now the film industry in your ever-broadening search for an audience that will accept you as their guru, it's impossible to overlook some things now.
If your dream continues, you may continue to mouth the same words you've been reciting for years, and you may continue to make a pretense of outrage against corporatism and big media: but the truth will be this: You are not only supporting corporatism and big media... let me spell it out.
You. Are. In. Their. Pay.
Traitor.
Regardless, congradulations, Jon. Well done, sir.
--
Erskin
geek.
"Type rm -rf /, once more, motherfucker. I dare ya, I double dare ya."
"Big KahunaLinux? That's that new Hawaiian RedHat variant, isn't it?"
I now declare the Pulp Fiction parodies over...
(if only t'were true)
--
I've read an early release version of it and really liked it. I was very insightful and I saw a lot of myself in the characters. A BIG CONGRATULATIONS! to Jon. Job well done. Thanks also for the early release book. I give it 5 penguins out of 5.
----------------
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein
Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
I do not mean to disparage anything or anyone here - I'm a faithful /.er, and I actually enjoy most of Katz's stuff. Here's where the "synergy" lies:
Katz writes for Slashdot. He also writes books. Slashdot features Katz's book as coming out RSN. This is good. And there may be a movie, with bit parts for the fellows who run Slashdot. Also neat.
Tacked on at the end of the article is an opportunity to pre-order the book from ThinkGeek, a cool online store that just happens to be owned by Slashdot's parent - Andover.net. So Andover, Slashdot, and ThinkGeek have turned an interesting story into a revenue opportunity. This is the future, folks - get used to it.
There's nothing wrong with cross-selling within your properties, but you'll see a lot more of it from companies a lot less trustworthy than Andover. Be prepared.
That said, congratulations, Jon. I'll be one of the first to buy a copy when it comes out!
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Not bad, but how about:
"Terse: The gratuitously sententious explication of an undeniable superfluity of informational concepts best reserved for the interior surface of the pressed wood pulp integument hereof."
spawn_of_yog_sothoth
It's the little differences. A lotta the same news we got here they got there,
but there they're little different.
Example? (8
I'm sorry. What I meant to say was 'please excuse me.'
what came out of my mouth was 'Move or I'll kill you!'
Here's a US Census report showing that Idaho had the third largest percentage growth in population from 1990 through 1999. The news outlets of the Treasure Valley (which includes Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell) continually report surveys and studies showing that the area is growing at a phenomenal rate -- but I hadn't found any links to those yet.
Don't forget, the low population density, clean air, wide open spaces, and outdoor recreation make this (and other Western states besides California) seem like paradise to disenchanted high-tech workers who have money and jobs to offer.
--
how to invest, a novice's guide
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"
I'm a geek and I HAVE bitch slapped people, I've also broken bones. So what? Being a geek has NOTHING to do with whether or not you can take care of yourself.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
"And you will know my name is the root when I bring my vengence upon thee!" - types rm -Rf / &
Reminds me of Pulp Simpsons. Especially the picture of Homer... "Hmmm, big KARMA burger!!" Oooh! That's FUNNY!! Ahh...
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Hmm..
:-)
a movie about real geeks who 'find a community on the internet'.
While that could be an interesting story, I wonder how they will be able to visualise it. Are we going to have to look at two geeks surfing and chatting for 90 minutes?
Greetings,
Ivo
Whatever happened to the film of Microserfs by D. Coupland? I remember hearing about it, and thinking, "Great book, but it didn't really have an action packed movie storyline"
But then again, neither did the story of Nick Leeson and it was made into a film.
> No I don't think *everyone* wanted it.
I didn't say that. I said "Seems to enjoy".
Music and films are all based on trends.
The trends are followed to make the maximum money.
It was just a coincidence that there's about 20girl bands all being formed at the same time.
It was just a coincidence that last summer (UK)
nearly every movie was a teen highschool romantic comedy (She's al that, 10TIHAY, Never been kissed, American Pie, Election)
I also never implied it would continue along the same lines, everyone gets bored, the trends change, the movie/music moguls follow where they are lead.
And most people do buy into the hype.
QV: The Phantom Menace, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, The Spice Girls, and many many more.
Pander to what the public wants.
If the public seems to enjoy one prequel released 22 years after the original, then they want every movie to have a prequel released 22years afterwards. If they like "scary" movies that have no visible scary entity, they want all movies to have no visible scary entity.
If we liked one girl band, then we'll love it when there's 1000 of them
It's all about money, and trends.
Unfortunatly.
How many people die in the book? Will there be nudity? If this thing is touchy feely crap, I'm gonn puke. Hmmm, would Katz write touchy feely crap? aaaah whatever, tgif....
+&x
First, congrats, Jon!
Now on for the real stuff. I'm sure Katz has sent more than a few people on /. an advanced readers editition. If you've read it, I'm really wondering how they are going to handle the story as Katz himself becomes intertwined with the story. The book isn't written as a third-person narrative; rather, Katz is there. Are we going to see someone playing Katz or are we going to see a rewrite to third-person?
----
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
I'm sorry, no offense to jon katz or anyone, but haven't we seen this film already. yes, I know that this one hasn't been made yet, but it simply sounds like a rehash of several films, once artistic, now turned into a cliche. I still wanna find a new film that hollywood can do. Enough of the warm and fuzzy crap.
"the difference between myself and a madman is that I am not mad" -Salvadore Dali
(joke)
...."
:-)
Theoretical situation:
Enter Jon Katz
"Hi, I'm Jon Katz, here to introduce my movie. I'll start by briefly discussing how technology affects the many people in society. Why, just recently I was
Eye's heavy. Can't think.. Sleepy.. fading..
The geeks fall asleep. The marketters in the audience are enthralled.
72 minutes later...
"So that's how I got to work with the cool Slashdot guys. Here's the movie."
Jon Katz steps to the side to watch the responce.
A familiar theme song starts up.
Geeks in audience start to groggily wake.
"WHAT THE HELL!? This is just Geeks In Space playing! Wait, what's that on the screen..."
On the screen, an image that is sometimes a mandelbrot set and sometimes a julia set is jiggling through a tunnel like image. It is not anti-aliased, and looks very pixelated.
"Hey, I recognize that, that's a sonqiue visualisation plugin. That bastard is making money from boring us to tears, and the slashdot crew's own music! And using a pathetic Windows MP3 player with no anti-aliasing.. LET'S GET 'IM!"
The geeks swarm over Jon, leaving nothing behind but a laptop with a pre-release of Windows 2000 Professional on it. On their way out the theatre, they also start mobbing the marketters in the audience, and incite a few riots around Radio Shack.
[fin]
Yeah, so if this movie is just Jon/Mp3 visualisation, we'll be on you like stink on a monkey. We at Echsuh (the Elite Cabal of High School and University Hackers) are not to be toyed with!
(/joke)
At-choo
---
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Congratulations Jon first of all. On a humorous side (read: no flames please :-P) shouldn't the guys be getting royalties from this? I thought the book was about them (kindof). Anyway, like I said, this isn't completely serious :)
I personally like Mr. Katz and his writtings, the part that is amusing is that there are some many people here who seem to dislike him on a personal level and therefore they find it nessacary to blast him for his writing style, what they (the posters) don't realize is that they are still reading his articles and still looking at his views and ideas. so all the people who flame Katz need to realize that no matter what you post about him, he has already won whatever battle you are trying to start, so what I am basicly saying is, if you don't want to hear John Katz, DON'T READ HIS ARTICLES! or better yet write your own essay,get it submited, and see what happens, I would like to see what other people espesecialy those people who have blasted Katz for not being creative or using cliches, write a creative cliche free essay and make it interesting, then start complaing about how other people write essays,
:-)
ok??
thanks,
and have a nice day
Pander to what the public wants.
If the public seems to enjoy one prequel released 22 years after the original, then they want every movie to have a prequel released 22years afterwards. If they like "scary" movies that
have no visible scary entity, they want all movies to have no visible scary entity.
If we liked one girl band, then we'll love it when there's 1000 of them
No I don't think *everyone* wanted it. I thought it was a stupid move just for fanatics of the movies in the 70s but I guess that's just me. The future of the world isn't going to change at all it's just what one person decides to do with their time. Why do people always see conspiracies in areas that don't really have the brains to create them? Movie producers and people in the music industry are the last people I would actually credit with anything significant.
It's all about money, and trends.
Maybe but not everyone buys into hype and such. Just wait until all of the people who are living now get a little older and start to throw their weight around a little more. I very much doubt that anything you see will continue.
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
Well, you obviouslly didn't read what I was talking about. At no point did I say his spelling, grammar, or punctuation was where his flaws were at. I said his flaws were in his
content and his organization. I'll thank you for thinking before you're cynical next time.
Specifically on what basis are the arguments bad? How is the content bad? Are there any ways to actually conclusively proving him wrong? Has anything he said actually been documented as wrong. People such as I need hard and conclusive evidence that what is being said is actually the truth. The only thing that I see is that he tries to make predictions on events and social situations that are not easily predictable in most ways. Like some of the sci-fi people in years past. I remember reading a book back in elementary school which said that by the 1990s we would have moon bases and be on our way to mars. Well have any of these things happened? No because people would rather live out their pathetic lives on good ol' planet earth and not actually explore space. Let me give you a little prediction of mine. ST TNG level of technology will be about 30,000 years in the future there is no way that we will have it in 2390 or so.
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
Is the movie supposed to be a documentary or something? Somehow I was under the impression that Katz's book 'Geeks' was not a work of fiction -- or at least not fiction in the same sense that 'Microserfs' was.
So which is it? Is 'Geeks' a novel with some real-world characters or is it a 'non-fictional' 'real-life' depiction of us geeks at work and play? And what does either possibility say about the movie deal? Someone help me out here!
Jack
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
Methinks KS will be tied up with Clerks, the Animated Series, and then Clerks 2 for some time to come...
For more Kevin Smith info try here
free experimental electronic music netlabel at www.viablehybrid.com
For loged in users of (/.) only. 1) first, load the main page of (/.) (slashdot.org). 2) click on your user info:slashdot.org/users.pl (toward the top of the page, it's the link at the end of the "This page was generated by a Group of Random Ninjas for _link here)_(35463)"). 3)click on Customize Homepage:slashdot.org/users.pl?op=edithome. 4) About 1/2 way down the page, you'll see: "Exclude Stories from the Homepage", and below that a list of Authors. 5) Locate the name "Jon Katz" and click the check box to the left of that name. 6) Down toward the bottom of the page, look for a button that says "savehome". Click on it. By following these few simple steps, your (/.) will be katz-free. Note: this HowTo is ment to inform and educate and in no way is ment as a lack of endorsment for the author being deleted.
_________________________
*My favorite scene is going to be when the geeks get beat up by the jocks, and then the geeks get older and get rich. Then the jocks beat them up again anyway. *
"extrapolation": you are old, bitter, and unhappy with your life, and wish the days of you whupping someone for their lunch money would come back so you could have some value again?
Strangely enough, the jocks that used to do that same thing to me in school have mostly passed from this world into whatever lies after, due to their inability to grasp that the real world is NOT high school, and people OUTSIDE of school are ALLOWED to carry weapons, not prohibited from doing it, for the very reason they get used for. Stopping obnoxious bully's and thiefs for once and for all.
*grin*
Geeks with guns.. we're everywhere, we're everywhere.
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
Regards,
j.
P.S. Now describe to me what JonKatz looks like!
The MST2K crew, Tom Servo, et. al. can be the movie moderators.
Corrinne Yu
3D Game Engine Programmer
Deconstructing Katz
...know what they call Linux in France?
What, OS Royale?
Actually, I think they still call it Linux.
"Put down that motherfucking mouse before I bust your motherfucking hand off!"
________________________________
When a major multi-national corporation distributes a book it crushes all competition and it is the end of print media.
This is compounded by the backing of a media powerhouse like a studio. First they make one movie and before you know it, they are making all of the movies and they control the world.
This move is a corruption of the OpenSource spirit and the sky is falling and the world is ending.
Congratulations on your new deal!
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Jay and Silent Bob as CmdrTaco and Hemos?
(shudder)
There are lots of easy plot ideas. The guys meet one of the "first post" guys, who turns out to be some famous celebrity (preferably an attractive female one). Hemo's hamster gets killed by crawling into a computer, the guys have an adventure replacing it, etc.
Eventually, however, they'd end up transferring Lt. Worf to the geek compound to boost ratings.
It would turn out to be a boon to the writers, who finally get the chance to eliminate Jon Katz' character, despite his immense popularity as a result of being played by michael richards. ("Katz!")
Worf : Katz! In writing these articles you insult my Klingon Ancestors! [Worf cleaves Katz]
Jack Valenti and the MPAA are to technology as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone
It amazes me how a discussion of a post about the option rights bought by a publishing company can become an unmitigated thread of Katzbashing. Regardless of what he says, he DOES have a right to say it, and /. has a right to post it. Im amazed by the fact that people who put silly little snarky comments towards /. always have almost nothing valid to say towards the thread, but yet complain that they are moderated. *sigh*
As for this news, I think it is GOOD news.. I find myself in agreeance with Jon's views in a lot of cases, but the convoluted way he gets to it sometimes leads me to wish he had an editor. However, remember, Einstein could barely write legibly, let alone grammatically correctly. So what? do we ignore everything he had to say because the man wrote badly? No, we hail him as a genius and work around his learning disorders.
I personally WELCOME a geek movie from Jon.. at least he has read enough comments FROM the geek community to get a feel for it, even if he doesnt share that communitys viewpoints in the majority (or the vocal minority, im still not sure which applies here). But, im sure the film will turn (if made) out better than Hackers, or any of the other stupid films that have attempted to paint uber-geeks as gutter punks with antique hardware whose life revolves around boy meets girl and hacking el evil corporation.
I realy hope that this film gets made, and I hope Jon holds some sway over the final outcome. (if he is true to his beliefs, I think he would anyway, or would block the production of it, much as Gibson did with all the characters out of Neuromancer cept Johnny).
Anyway.. Kudos to you Katz, good luck, and have fun!
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
Hey, I'll stunt-double for CmdrTaco. You never know when you might be swapping out some RAM and get a nasty shock. Wouldn't want that to happen on film. The girl geeks would definitely not dig it. OTOH, stunt men are chick magnets, as anyone knows.... ;)
It would be perfect! We even share the same initials! Really, dude, you gotta have me as your stunt man.
CT
Constitutionally Correct
Back when Katz was young and hadn't smoked too much dope, there was a subculture called 'hippies'. There were a certain amount of hippies that were perfectly sincere, and quite a lot of plastic imitations cruising over to the Haight on the weekends. (No, I wasn't one of the latter, I was about 3 months old at the time).
Eventually hippieness became a media explosion, infighting set in, and now hippie is largely an epithet, a term of abuse or embarrassment and something to be repudiated.
Thanks to Jon Katz, I can foresee a time when geek becomes equally an embarrassment. Where hippie became synonymous with an airheaded spacecase, geek will become synonymous with a sociopathic, daylight-fearing danger to society.
And maybe that's good, because then we can get back to being people for a change. :P
I find it really unfortunate that Lawrence Bender and his people are doing this, because it means it probably won't completely suck, and it deserves to. I must say I'm surprised, one thing about Bender's movies is that they've always been in some way new and original, and not typical Hollywood rehashing of the same themes we've already seen before. Not JonKatz. JonKatz is pro-Geek, anti-Censorship, anti-American/Establishment, anti-Conservative, anti-Religious, pro-Conspiracy-Theory, pro-Porn, pro-mp3, pro-linux, anti-MS. Wow, what an amazing set of original creeds! (or not) I can't wait to see all the twists and surprises in this movie!
JonKatz loves to play off the contradiction which is the popularity of 'alternative' culture. Geeks are alternative, so JonKatz has to write good things about them. Same with linux and mp3s and everything else. The y2k bug became too mainstream, so JonKatz had to say that it was a stupid overhyped thing which didn't matter.
The problem is that he doesn't actually think for himself too often. If you remember any of the old articles he posted (the ones where he stilled talked about computers, and used the word 'geek' 3 times per paragraph), it was obvious he had no idea what he was talking about or being a geek was. Of course sometimes he got the main point correct, but only incidentally, and without a lot of depth of discussion behind it.
The best part of JonKatz's articles has always been the user comments. I don't think we'll get that in the movie.
Besides, JonKatz once called Contact a failure, how can he ever be involved with the making of a good movie?
I can't wait to see how many times he uses the word 'geek' and uses microsoft-html in his movie.
I'm not a smorgasbord.
Katz and Hollywood were meant for each other. Both represent the cream of the pseudo-intellectual crop.
"And Hemos and I get cameos!"
This explains why Katz is still around, I guess.
(goodbye 70+ karma...)
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Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
Are you SURE that Tarantino directing would be such a good idea?
Mind you, the thought of CmdrTaco in a Gimp mask is kinda appropriate...
Who produced Goodwill Hunting, directed Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. He's worked with Lawrence Bender in the past and when I first heard of this it was his name that was mentioned. Actually my friend wasn't familiar with John Katz and said that it was the proposed new Kevin Smith flick.
It would be great if there were cameos (or parts) for Silent Bob (KS) and Jay (I'll never get enough of those two.
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
What if the entire movie was based, not just on Katz's book, but on the Slashdot community's reaction to it?
The opening titles would begin with a bunch of really lame dorks who appear on screen for no reason and shout "FIRST CAMEO DUDE!!!"
The film would be periodically interrupted with hysterically funny haiku, apropos of what was happening in the plot at that moment.
Of course, there would have to be a retelling of the legend of Pygmalion, starring MEEPT as Pygmalion and Natalie Portman as Galatea.
The closing credits could have somebody reading the Slashdot Address, the M&M-breeding article, or a Generic Flame--or perhaps all three at once, since no one will actually be paying attention.
Maybe the dialogue in the film itself could be moderated to different volume levels.
spawn_of_yog_sothoth
How's this.
"Reach in that bag and give back that Palm Pilot."
"The one that says 'Bad Motherfucker' on the case."
Ving Rhames as a geek
"We're going to get a couple of Jolt fiending programmers and get object oriented on his ass."
Tarantino...
"Where do you see 'dead vaio storage' ?"
I gotta get back to work, I can keep this up all day...
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Remember DOOM was optioned for a movie at least 3, 4 years ago. the options have been bought and sold around Hollywood, and we're still not even close to seeing a feature film.