I was quite inactive for the last two months. Busy working. However, I continued catching, here and there, several references to code and vintage computers in shows or movies. So, to catch up, here are my last best two spottings.
Mindhunter (S2 – 2019 – Created by Joe Penhall) tells us the story of a small FBI team inventing investigation and profiling techniques during the late 70s and early 80s. To do so, they interview the worst serial killers so they can learn from them. What surprised me, assuming that the chronology of the show is somehow accurate, is how late the FBI adopted these technics. Indeed, we take these granted as in any crime related movie or show the detectives often derive a detailed profile of the murderer – including what they got for breakfast – just by smelling the air. Where Mindhunter tells us that the agents played by Anna Torv (Dr. Wendy Carr), Jonathan Groff (Holden Ford), Holt McCallany (Bill Tench), fought hard just for their survival! In the second series, we can spot vintage computer hardware on two occasions: when Holden Ford checks-in his hotel, we can see a Tandy TRS-80 Model III computer. Unfortunately, it is impossible to decipher what is displayed. Likely not code but some hotel-related stuff. The other hardware is seen when Bill Tench is in the shrink’s office. Unfortunately, nothing in the spotting allows me to identify the computer.
M.I.B. International (2019 – directed by F. Gary Gray) is the latest opus of the Men in Black movies. Although the cast is first-class [Chris Hemsworth (Agent H), Tessa Thompson (Agent M), Kumail Nanjiani (Pawny’s voice), Rebecca Ferguson (Riza), Rafe Spall (Agent C), Emma Thompson (Agent O) and Liam Neeson (Agent High T)], unfortunately the final result is disappointing. The movie is entertaining, but that’s all. We can spot some exciting code when the to become Agent M character is tracking any activity that could lead her to the M.I.B. We can see some readable basic SQL queries and some unreadable C code. It seems that no much effort has been poured into the selection of these code snippets and their supposed use. The disappointing code injection program uses floating-point variables heavily, where the space vessel trajectory tracking software used SQL… I don’t know you, but I would do the other way around.
