The Net

Entertainment 4 Minutes

Sandra Bullock was born July 26, 1964 and I wanted to look at one of her earlier movies—The Net.  Released in 1995, The Net is relevant to today.  (Just as Dave and many other movies seem prescient in their releases, so does The Net.) The following is from the IMDb website:

Synopsis

In Washington DC, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Michael Bergstrom (Ken Howard) commits suicide after being informed that he has tested positive for HIV.

Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a computer systems analyst in living in Venice, Los Angeles, California who telecommutes to her employment at Cathedral Software based in San Francisco. Her interpersonal relationships are almost completely online and on the phone, with the exception of forgettable interactions with her neighbors and visits to her 60-year-old mother (Diane Baker), who is institutionalized with an early onset type of Alzheimer’s disease and often forgets who Angela is. Angela’s co-worker Dale (Ray McKinnon) sends her a 3.5 inch floppy disk with a backdoor labeled ‘Pi’ that permits access to a commonly used computer security system called “Gatekeeper” sold by Gregg Microsystems, a software company led by CEO Jeff Gregg. Dale and Angela agree to meet, but later that night the navigation system in Dale’s private aircraft malfunctions and it crashes into a tower, killing him.

Angela travels to Cozumel, Mexico for a week-long on vacation, where she meets Jack Devlin (Jeremy Northam), a charming English-accent businessman who charms his way into her life. After seducing Angela, Devlin pays a local mugger to steal her purse as they walk along the beach during an after-dinner stroll. He chases the mugger into the foliage, catches the mugger, and roots through the purse to find the disk before shooting the mugger dead. Devlin takes Angela out on his speedboat to kill her as well after sleeping with her again, but she finds his gun and confronts him. While fleeing with the disk and Devlin’s wallet, Angela’s dinghy collides with rocks, destroying the disk and hospitalizing her. She is unconscious for three days.

When Angela wakes up, she finds that all records of her life have been deleted: She was checked out of her hotel room in Cozumel, her car is no longer at the LAX airport parking lot, and all of her credit cards are invalid. When she arrives home by taxi, Angela discovers that her house is now empty and listed for sale. Moreover, because none of the neighbors remember her, they cannot confirm her identity. Things turn from bad to worse when after contacting the police, Angela’s Social Security number is now assigned to a “Ruth Marx,” for whom Devlin has entered an arrest record by hacking the police computer system. Angela is forced to flee for her life. Once on the streets, she steals a cell phone from the real estate agent in her former house and calls her own desk at Cathedral Software, an impostor (Wendy Gazelle) answers and offers Bennett her old life back in exchange for the disk.

Angela contacts the only other person who knows her by sight, psychiatrist and former lover Alan Champion (Dennis Miller). He checks her into a hotel, offers to contact a friend at the FBI, and arranges to have her mother moved for her safety.

Using her knowledge of the backdoor and a password found in Devlin’s wallet, Angela logs into the Bethesda Naval Hospital’s computers and learns that Under Secretary of Defense Bergstrom, who had opposed Gatekeeper’s use by the federal government, was misdiagnosed. Fellow hacker “Cyberbob” connects ‘Pi’ with the “Praetorians,” a notorious group of cyber-terrorists linked to recent computer failures around the country. Angela and Cyberbob plan to meet, but the unseen Praetorians intercept their online chat and relay it to Devlin who is now relentlessly pursuing her. Angela manages to escape from Devlin… who is now revealed to be a contract killer for the cyber-terrorists, but the Praetorians kill Champion by tampering with pharmacy and hospital computer records for his medication.

Angela is forced to steal a car to flee from Los Angeles, but she is chased and arrested by the California Highway Patrol. While in jail waiting trial for a series of false criminal charges, a man identifying himself as Ben Phillips (Robert Gossette), Champion’s FBI friend bails her from jail. While driving, Angela realizes that “Ben” is an impostor after he makes a slip to her about the Praetorians, and escapes again, killing the impostor with his own gun.

Now wanted for murder and thought to be Ruth Marx, Angela hitchhikes to Cathedral’s office in San Francisco where, she triggers a fire alarm to evacuate the building and now using her impostor’s computer, she connects the cyber-terrorists to Gregg Microsystems and uncovers their scheme: once the Praetorians sabotage an organization’s computer system, Gregg sells Gatekeeper to it and gains unlimited access through the backdoor. Angela downloads another 3.5 inch disk and escapes just as the impostor realizes her presence.

Angela escapes from the building and makes her way to the Moscone Center with Devlin and the Bennett impostor in pursuit. After finding a desktop site to log on, she emails evidence of the backdoor and Gregg’s involvement with the Praetorians to the FBI just before Devlin and the Bennett impostor catch up with her. Angela then tricks Devlin into releasing a virus into Gregg’s mainframe, destroying Gatekeeper and undoing the erasing of her identity.

During a battle on the catwalks of the convention center, in which Devlin accidentally kills the Bennett impostor from Cathedral Software (revealed to be the real Ruth Marx), Angela ambushes Devlin with a fire extinguisher, causing him to fall to his death.

At the end, Angela Bennett regains her identity, home, and life. She then reunites with her mother (who still does not remember her) and goes back to her old solitary life. In a series of news reports, the conspiracy is exposed, with Jeff Gregg being arrested by the FBI.

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Published by pat frederick

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144 thoughts on “The Net”

  1. 1990 Chevrolet 454 SS

    1990 Chevrolet 454 SS
    via fastlanecars.com

    There was, in fact, another amazing speedy muscle truck in 1990. The Chevrolet 454 SS has an obvious name but still a fantastic performance. It utilized an old-school 7.4-liter big-block V8 that could produce 230 hp.

    1990 Chevrolet 454 SS
    via hagerty.com

    That’s low today but outstanding for 1990 along with the 385 lb-ft of torque. It also had a useful payload, much better than the Syclone or other trucks. The high price led to its swift demise, but it should be better remembered for its extraordinary power on the road.

    1978 Dodge Lil Red Express

    1978 Dodge Lil’ Red Express
    via mecum.com

    The name may sound like a kid’s toy, but the 1978 Dodge Lil Red Express was a purely adult machine. It was one of the last of its kind, a classic hot rod design married to a pickup, and the developers used a few loopholes to make it work.

    via Autoclassics

    Those 2.5-inch thick exhaust pipes made it stand out and aided the 360-cubic-inch V-8 to produce 225 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. It’s a rare case of smog control not hurting a truck, so this “Lil” ride made a big impact.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Ford SVT Lightning

    1999 Ford SVT Lightning
    via caranddriver.com

    Mention “muscle trucks,” and the Ford SVT Lightning is what comes to mind. What’s impressive is that there are multiple fine generations of this baby to pick. The 1993 version featured a 351 CID Windsor V-8 rated 240 horsepower.

    HotCars

    The 1999 model upped the ante with a supercharged 5.4 V8 and larger intakes. At 380 hp, it was the highest-powered American car for its time, capable of achieving a whopping 147 mph. When it came to fantastic muscle cars, the Lightning truly struck twice.1GMC Syclone

    1991 GMC Syclone
    via youtube.com

    For a truck that didn’t last long, the GMC Syclone has become an icon. This was a truck that, in 1991, managed to beat a Ferrari in a head-to-head race. The 3.8l V6 may seem low, but it worked 280 hp with 350 lb-ft of torque with a zero-to-60 time of 4.3 seconds.

    1991-GMC-Syclone.
    via mecum

    There were top-of-the-line muscle cars of the time that couldn’t come close to that. It’s one of the best cases in the auto history of a vehicle that bizarrely flopped, but its recent revival proves why drivers can’t get enough of it.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. NF: Besides the obvious, this lessens the chance of new generational farms that would be passed down thru the family.

    “America Is Losing Farmers as Private Investors Scoop Up Land”

    Even though cash-buyers, including investment firms, rent the land to farmers, critics say that creates a system that lacks stability for farmers and ranchers, especially those looking to start a business for the first time.

    by Ben Felder, Investigate Midwest, July 26, 2024

    barn with American flag on it and for sale sign on top of farmland

    EXCERPT: “As Jess Bray pulled up to a 21-acre farm nestled in an eastern Oklahoma valley, she instantly got a warm feeling. “This is the place,” she thought. After attempting to buy two other properties before being outbid by cash buyers, Bray and her husband Jon began to wonder whether their dream of owning and operating their own farm would become a reality.

    “We always wanted to farm, but we aren’t trust fund kids, we didn’t grow up in agriculture … we didn’t have a farm handed down to us, so it wasn’t something that was very accessible to us,” Bray said. “This was a dream come true … but it wasn’t without challenges.”

    In 2022, Bray, then 39, purchased the valley property, which they now operate under the name Blue Mountain Farm, growing a variety of vegetables, and raising pigs and a dairy cow near the town of McCurtin.

    While Bray eventually realized her dream, the rising cost of farmland has priced out many other would-be farmers and ranchers or forced others into early retirement. The parts of the country where farmland prices have seen the largest increase have also been where the number of agriculture producers has declined the most.

    Jess Bray stands on the dirt road leading into Blue Mountain Farm, which she operates near McCurtin, Oklahoma, on June 17. Photo credit: Ben Felder, Investigate Midwest.

    From 2017 to 2022, the average value per acre of all American farmland grew from $4,368 to $5,354, an increase of nearly 23%, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data on the market value of farmland and its buildings.

    But in the 409 counties across the country that saw a producer decline of 15% or greater over the past five years, average farmland values increased by 31%, according to Investigate Midwest’s analysis of USDA reports, land value records and other property data….”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/america-losing-farmers-private-investors-buying-land/

    Liked by 1 person

  13. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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