Hacker Cinema
Blow
2001 · Film · 124 min
Directed by Ted Demme
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
4 positive8 neutralfrom 12 commenters
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12 comments on Hacker News
The movie Blow had a scene about the logistics dealing with tons of cash. Even before thinking about laundering, it’s a huge PITA.
Here's one good use: I looked into leaving the US to become a citizen elsewhere. I have about $15MM in my retirement. I would have to pay a penalty on my taxes for early withdrawal, and be taxed when I renounce my citizenship. In theory I could cash everything out, buy a huge amount of BTC, move to another country (within a week, or quickly!!), and then cash it out in their currency. Of course, all sorts of alarm bells would go off if a normal schmoe like me tried to move that much money out of my investment account, because I'm not rich enough to break finance laws like people worth 10x, 100x or 1,000x more than me can do without going to jail. And I'd be terrified that the other country would OOPS my deposit like in the film Blow with Johnny Depp.
I’m reminded of the scene in the movie Blow when he is arguing with the judge that its not a real crime.
Judge: Unfortunately for you, the line you crossed was real and the plants you brought with you were illegal, so your bail is twenty thousand dollars.
RIP Ray Liotta. Enshrined in movie greatness for Goodfellas, but delivered memorable moving performances in Blow, Field of Dreams, No Escape, and so many others. Piercing eyes. Deep voice. Grateful for the opportunity to have watched his work.
It would be very useful to the main characters of Blow (2001 film).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSYcDdjIXsY
The film "Blow" is outdated but probably a good starting point on the history of how things like that develop.
I think you're going for the low hanging fruit by judging HN that way. The more interesting thing is that the majority of comments are shocked by the 7 year sentence rather than the minority who think he was "an ok guy."
I keep seeing this naive understanding of the law over and over again in tech circles. The justice system is made up of several people with a ton of leeway on how laws are applied. The letter of the law is just a small part of what "illegal" means. Being clever or cute about only breaking the spirit of the law will not save you in court, in fact many times trying to only break the spirit is what will get you convicted on the letter of the law. I hate to say it but I think Aaron Schwartz fell victim to this fallacy and in recent memory so did those flight sim guys who put a keylogger in pirated software.
I've spent a lot of time around lawyers and judges and I can tell you they have absolutely no tolerance for the kind of "well, actually" smart-asses that the tech community excels at churning out.
edit: I just want to add this exchange from the movie Blow which I think really sums up how I feel about the whole thing.
>Judge: George Jung, you stand accused of possession of six hundred and sixty pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute. How do you plead?
>George: Your honor, I'd like to say a few words to the court if I may.
>Judge: Well, you're gonna have to stop slouching and stand up to address this court, sir.
>George: [stands] Alright. Well, in all honesty, I don't feel that what I've done is a crime. And I think it's illogical and irresponsible for you to sentence me to prison. Because, when you think about it, what did I really do? I crossed an imaginary line with a bunch of plants. I mean, you say I'm an outlaw, you say I'm a thief, but where's the Christmas dinner for the people on relief? Huh? You say you're looking for someone who's never weak but always strong, to gather flowers constantly whether you are right or wrong, someone to open each and every door, but it ain't me, babe, huh? No, no, no, it ain't me, babe. It ain't me you're looking for, babe. You follow?
>Judge: Yeah... Gosh, you know, your concepts are really interesting, Mister Jung.
>George: Thank you.
>Judge: Unfortunately for you, the line you crossed was real and the plants you brought with you were illegal, so your bail is twenty thousand dollars.
Sometimes I think there will be movies like 'Blow' in 20 years that will be about the wild west times of prescription drugs, and the kingpins who had houses filled with money from the proceeds.
There is something theater of the absurd about forcing large numbers of people with criminal tendencies to spend long periods of time together and then releasing them into society.
The line from the movie Blow comes to mind:
Danbury wasn't a prison. It was a crime school. I went in with a Bachelor of Marijuana. Came out with a Doctorate of Cocaine.
Blow. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221027/
It looks more into the underlying psychology behind why we pursue things, though.
The movie does look into these topics, albeit not directly on the surface, I am extrapolating from my own experience from viewing it:
- How partnerships are formed and broken
- Why we pursue money, and the costs associated with it (depending on the path we take)
- The fact that there are no set rules when it comes to business, you create your path
- It's not only what you know, but who you know
- What happens when the haters be hatin' (Feds and Colombians in this case) ... on a more serious note, I'm saying that you will always have opposition when you start creating ripples
- All business is arbitrage
- Don't keep all your eggs in one basket
- Your organization may take shape like a house of cards: if one card (an employee, a certain contact, an investor, a certain code, etc) is not taken care of, it could topple the whole operation
- If the house of cards does topple, you can pick up some cards for your next venture
I can go on and on. It's a great movie, and it's on Netflix Instant. Watch it.
Although it isn't true - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blow_(film)
Primer - Ultra low budget film about a couple of engineers who accidentally invent a time machine in their garage while working on a startup.
Blow - Not really a hacker movie, but it's rags-to-riches-to-rags storyline should be interesting to a lot of entrepreneurs.
Day of the Jackal - Not a hacker movie either, but the main character's methodical preparation for an assassination will appeal to a lot of hackers.
The Net - A pretty good thriller about a hacker who has her identity stolen in a big conspiracy.
Fat Man and Little Boy - Slow but well done movie about the Manhattan Project.