Traceroute

I discovered this documentary through Jason Scott, a digital historian and filmmaker, who is one of the people featured in Traceroute. Jason recommended the film, and now I understand why. It is a dense, colorful and challenging road trip through the history of nerd culture. Our host, artist and self-proclaimed nerd, Johannes Grenzfurthner shares his life, his obsessions and his worldview with us. I have to admit that I never heard of him before watching the film, but now I want to go grab a beer with him. Two thumbs up!

I'm not much of a geek or a nerd but I love good films, especially when they take me places I'd otherwise not see or experience.

Johannes Grenzfurthner is a self-described lifelong nerd who takes us on an informative and humorous road trip across the US, visiting many of the sacred sites of Geekdom. Area 51! The JPL (uh, kind of)! The Very Large Array! And many more…

From the West Coast to the East Coast, Johannes meets and interviews interesting and unusual people, among them a sex-worker nerd, a guy who designed and distributes an easy-access Geiger counter, a woman who sells Trinitite (look it up), a compulsive archivist/collector of obsolete computer equipment, and many more…

Grenzfurthner was born in 1975, around the same time personal computing and digital tech was born. They grew up together, so to speak. Now that all of us are swimming in the deep end of this technological pool, who better to give us a personal tour back to our future(s)? If you're Johannes' age or older you'll enjoy the walk down memory lane. If you're a younger person you'll marvel at the primitive equipment that launched the Digital Revolution. And everyone will get a glimpse of Upcoming Possibilities.

The charm of TRACEROUTE is that the very likable Grenzfurthner keeps it playful, never taking his subject (and, more importantly, HIMSELF) too seriously. This is a fun and light-hearted nerd/geek road film you don't have to be a nerd or geek to enjoy, and if you're not careful you'll actually learn something.

Highly recommended.

It's funny that I find myself explaining what "Traceroute" is, this command line utility that's almost as old as the Internet itself. Basically, it's used to show how your packages reach a certain destination on the internet from your computer.

Now I almost feel like using this movie to describe what Traceroute is. Johannes goes on a kind of coming-of-age journey though he's a full blown adult, tracking the origins and path of his own nerd personality through visits to friends, heroes and important landmarks throughout the US.

Johannes knows how to entertain using himself as the material as well as how to drag friends, associates and circumstances to round out the whole journey. Personally, I'm clamoring for a sequel!

(I'd give it a 10 out of 10, but I'm in the movie for a blink so it can't be perfect.)

I saw Traceroute as part of a lecture series about 'gender and tech.' I was skeptical first, but Johannes's approach is very compelling. His way of criticizing and questioning white male nerd culture (including himself) is spot on. Johannes is a political and artistic activist, and never forgets his agenda: societal change. The film presents a plethora of interesting debates and features exceptional people, and many interviewees are women/transgender (like Kit Stubbs and Sandy Stone).

A geeky nostalgic road movie (get it? traceroute? trace/route? get it? hop hop? nudge nudge?) that follows a pretty crazy dude across a pretty crazy country.

'The United States' were really important to young Johannes when growing up in 1980s Krautlandia, so he pays a visit as a pop culture pilgrim. And while Johannes is covering a topic that has been covered a million times before, he brings originality to the film...lots of.

You will either really like this doc, or you will be cursing me for wasting 2 hours of your life. Oh well. I'm just sad that he didn't make it to Oklahoma City.