David Lightman, Neo, The Lone Gunmen, Dave Bowman, Stanly Jobson, you boys have always had programmers, hackers and computer engineers on TV and in movies to look up to growing up. Well, though we’re in the minority I’ve been inspired by some awesome women on the big and little screen over the years, and it’s time to honor them.
When I was 12 I was a very different girl. My first love was a 386 and on it I would play text based RPGs, and tie up my mother’s phone line being the co-sysop of a BBS. That’s why Erica Dansby was someone that changed my life. Ghostwriter was my favorite show, Alex Fernandez was my mega crush. She came on the show as a young hacker that was there to save the day and get the team out of serious trouble with the police. Someone was hacking into the school systems and getting one of their friends in trouble. It took Erica(played by a young Julia Styles) mere minutes to access the problem, there was a hacker and his name was Max Mouse. She wowed the team with her attitude and her knowledge of systems. She bagged the bad guy by outsmarting him with her prowess. Her lingo and look were hot, and Alex definitely took notice. I thought it was awesome that a smart and rebellious girl could get the guy (especially after seeing him all season with that do goody skank Tina).
Kate Libby was also a girl who’s attitude and confidence were larger than life. She wowed all the men around her with her knowledge, tools, and sexy style. When she went to a party the whole place stopped and looked, the guys with desire, the girls with envy. As a girl who never got invited to parties or garnered much attention she was the ideal. Smart, and respected, when she whipped out phrases like “God gave men brains larger than dogs' so they wouldn't hump women's legs at cocktail parties” she showed me that nerd girls really have it going on.
Quiet Angela Bennet was someone I could really identify with. She was an introvert and didn’t really talk to many people. Her only friend was her mom, but she loved that computer. She was such a good programmer that she worked from her home receiving instructions by way of emails and disks in the mail (hmm, that’s kind of my life now). When she broke some secrets on a disk she received she was in big trouble. She had everything taken away from her, but that didn’t stop her. She went on the run and escaped multiple law enforcement agencies. She never gave up and she got her life back, she was a little emotional on the way but that allowed me to really relate to her. In the end she used her brains, she was brave and she won.
I firmly believe that every self respecting nerd once had a crush on Mulder or Scully. Mulder was a dream bucket, he was clever and funny and nerdy and broody and all that was right with the world. When Esther Nairn fell in his life she was like a sexy tornado destroying everything in its way. She was a hot young programmer who was on the crew that finally developed AI (yeah, a GIRL). She was on the run from the program who was monitoring phone lines and web correspondence trying to find her. Her wisdom and quick thinking are the only things that keep the gang out of trouble when the AI starts targeting Mulder and Scully after figuing out they were out to destroy it. In the end of the episode she actually bonds her consciousness with the AI and lives the rest of her days in cyber space. Rock on.
So I’m a grown up now, and can’t really mold my life in the direction of fictional characters, but there is one more girl that I just have to mention. I don’t know if any of you watch the show Criminal Minds on CBS but I freakin love it, Crominal Profiling, the FBI, serial killers, all the things that are mmorbidly interesting. Well there is this kick ass chick on the show named Penelope Garcia. Panelope dropped out of CalTech when she lost her parents in a car crash. She then got herself to the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted Hackers list. They thought she was so awesome that they wanted her on their team, so they recruited her. She has an AWESOME lab and whenever a member of the BAU team needs ANYTHING they call her. Any system there is she can get into, not some guy HER. That’s who I want to be, so me and Penelope spend Tuesday nights together me in my living room and her representing on the little screen.
I will *always* have a girl crush on Angelina Jolie because of Kate Libby. I can even forgive her for Brad Pitt. :)
ReplyDeleteyou know the pickins are slim when you gotta reach for a Sandra Bullock reference! I always thought Luba from Bits and Bytes was hot.
ReplyDeleteTotally out of topic. But do you have friends or relatives who will ask you about all those computer tech stuff when watching CSI?
ReplyDeletehahhaaha, totally. though, usually I'm watching these things alone in my apartment, I do get the random call.
ReplyDeleteOnce i was in Costa Rica (im from Panama) and there was some sort of canadian show called Sector 9, which was about some hackers working for the government, that there was a really nice girl in the team that laughed at the encryption of the treasury servers, etc. Totally cool show, too bad i havent been able to find any more chapters on the net. Not DVDs, not tor... , great show, nice gerd!
ReplyDelete@cesar - if you ever find it let me know, I'm always up for more gerds on TV :)
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