"Rushmore" is the latest -- and one of the best -- offerings from the new cinematic genre, Geek Cinema. Until recently, nerds and geeks weren't permitted anywhere in or near movies, surely not in starring roles. That's changed. Sometimes the subject is the nerd techo-culture and its growing power. Sometimes it's the experience of alienation. But either way, geeks are popping up in one movie after another, sometimes celebrated, sometimes feared. A look at the rise of Geek Cinema:

Maybe its because I consider myself an artist, a coder, and a designer. Maybe its because I worked as a commercial programmer in an ad agency surrounded by talented designers. And maybe its because I served out my studio art minor surrounded by talented artists. Maybe its because I wrote free code in my spare time, but this feature Oskar Pearson struck a chord in me. It talks about Art vs. Design, and Commercial Code vs. Free Code. Something to think about.

Jim Thompson wrote in with a feature regarding funding Open Source projects. His proposal is to create some sort of agency that will route money where it goes, but more importantly, allow funds to be pooled, but still go where the donator wants them to go. Hit the link and read...

Panix has written in with an open letter to the Emulation community where he addresses the recent rise and fall of the UltraHLE- the N64 emulator, ROM piracy, and the real reason for console emulators. Click below to read what he has to say.

I made it to the summit, but not the peak. The good news -- I wrote on Linux, saw the Sacred Kernel, browsed the terminal logs, did some hacking, even played Asteroids. But I have been (temporarily, I hope) undone by a PPP Daemon that quit and ran. I think I'm hooked.

Joseph Pranevich has written up an excellent piece on Linux 2.2 where he practically sums up the major features of the new kernel. This will be quite useful to any of you who are curious, but haven't been reading LinuxHQ every patch for the last year. Related, 2.2.0ac1 is now out.

Increasingly, on this and other websites, people ask for the banning of Anonymous Cowards and others who flame behind pseuds. This would be a mistake. AC's are a unique sub-species of the Net and the Web, like hackers or cypherpunks. They are part of what makes the Net free, especially in comparison to other media. And they keep information moving, especially from corporations and government agencies, whose employees might not be so free to post messages. AC's the price we pay, the tradeoff. They may mostly be testosterone-crazed adolescent dirtballs, but they're our dirtballs.

Part Two of Two. (Interested in Part One?) Lots of people told me the truth about what Linux was like. But I still didn't get it. Linux has nothing to with software or technology. It's a test of the human spirit. I have a better feel for all those macho geeks who've been flaming me. If I survive this, I just might singe a few newbies myself. In part two, the road to Linux brings us a mangled computer, a slobbering dog, and takes us to CompUSA, the literal embodiment of Computer Hell.

Having survived mysterious apostrophes and commas in my columns, weeks of flame wars and assaults from hostile geek warriors, large and expensive Linux handbooks, and useful, enlightening and conflicting suggestions from friendly Slashdotters, a Linux Box was delivered this week to my house this week. Technology being what it is, that's only the beginning of the story, which quickly came to involve CompUSA (the literal incarnation of computer Hell) my yellow lab, a geek hero and a computer savagely assaulted by an overnight delivery service. And I haven't even gotten to Linux yet. Johnny Depp, are you reading this?

Jeremy Lee has contributed another feature to Slashdot. This one attempts to address some of the issues surrounding the new commercialization of Linux and Open Source. This is a really good piece that raises a lot of good issues worth thinking about. A must read.

Fear and greed -- technology's historical buddies -- are stalking the Net. Analysts are still reeling from all the cash raked in by online Xmas retailers. And technology stocks have reached surreal, almost frighteningly unrealistic levels. In response, new phobias about the Internet and work, taxes and the value of property itself are popping up all over business and in the press. Once again, technology seems to be scaring the hell out of everybody. Will we all get rich or crash and burn together? The experts sure have no idea. This might be time to control your own technology.

It didn't have to turn out this way, but the MP3's stunning blitz of the music industry is a case history in how to alienate and politize millions of potential customers. It also shows the dangers of corporate ignorance of the Internet. Next to the TV zapper, the MP3 may be one of the most political, even revolutionary bits of technology ever invited. And the music industry could hardly have been dumber or more clueless in its response. All those geeks out there with playlists as long as their arms are never going to buy CD's again, or give up their new power to choose their own music. No industry ever deserved what it got more than this one.

Do you like your job? Do you feel secure in it? Do you know anybody who does? Life in the new technological workplace is filled with ironies and contradictions -- all tht money and opportunity, hardly any loyalty, appreciation or security. Companies no longer see themselves as pyramids, but fast-on-their-feet networks. Workers, especially older ones, are highly expendable. A new book helps us understand why the new capitalism is making companies more efficient, but destroying the character of jobs; improving the economy while ruining work itself.

Online, everybody is a critic, each opinion as good as any other. But geeks love pop culture as much or more as they love technology so you can't-- at least I can't -- let l998 go by without pausing to reflect on the really significant events of the year -- the best movies and TV shows. Here's my shot. Please take yours.

Lurkers are one of the Net's biggest disenfranchised groups, unseen or heard. Although there are many more Lurkers than posters by far on sites like this, they get almost none of the attention. This distorts agendas and skews perceptions. As newcomers come onto the Web in record numbers, Lurking is growing -- you should see my e-mail. So are the reasons for websites to take Lurkers more seriously and get them to come out. (CT:I like this one a lot. In many ways it could be about my mail too. Check it out)

Digital Democracy isn't the same thing as Direct Democracy. Friday's column on the former provoked a brainy and high-minded outpouring of e-mail worthy of the dinner table arguments of the Founders themelves. Lots of people loved the idea, many fear it, and confused it with the chaos of what they called Direct Democracy. But it ain't the same thing. The Morning After the nightmare in Washington, Digital Democracy is clearly an idea whose time has came, a healthy and inevitable part of the revolutionary decentalization of at least some power already underway on the Net and Web, and for that matter, sites like this. And Digital Democracy has already arrived. Here's some of the response and some more arguments.

Talin and I have been corrosponding recently, and one of the subjects that came up was debilitating hand and wrist injuries in geek friends and people we know. In fact, for those you who follow science fiction/fact at all, author David Brin has been suffering from these problems quite recently. One of the major issues is the different types of problems, and misdiagnosis. We know how dependent we are on our hands-how many people do you know with problems? Do you worry about this? Any helpful hints for others? Click below for the letter from David.

As the Middle-Aged White Guys in Suits dig in in D.C. for what is hopefully their last stand, the idea of Digital Democracy never looked better. If it's a good idea (and it is) to empower individuals by teaching them how to master their own technology via movements like OS and free software, isn't it past time to use the technology of the Net and the Web to reverse the flow of power, away from the entrenched and increasingly lunatic journalists and politicians in Washington and back to the individuals staring from a distance in shock and horror and what they're seeing on their TV screens? Forget Wag the Dog. Joseph Conrad, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppla (maybe Fellini, too) have seized the capitol. Only we can't leave the theater.

My recent essay on "Secrets of Linux", which chronicled my painful and clumsy first attempts to master the OS Beast, drew more than 2,000 e-mail messages in less than 24 hours, a record for me on any website. The responses ranged from talks about Slackware, Red Hat and Debian to quotes from Yeats and invitations to Installfests. Since so many of you shared with me, it's only fair to share back.

Last night I witnessed the modern spectacle that is Star Trek:Insurrection. Hit the link below to read my review of the movie. The short summary: I can think of a worse things to watch, but I'd have to think pretty hard (a Full House marathon?)