Anybody in North America who's interested in this kind of technical magic should consider attending one of the few demoscene parties (meetings/competitions) in the U.S. such as Demosplash [1]

1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-GTf7b9PKk

If you are in Europe, especially Northern Europe, there's a ton of very well attended parties. There's even a few in Japan!

It's really for people who are extremely passionate about technology for technology's sake and like to show off a little.