Nitpicking in films and TV

Megan Forbes

benjymous wrote: but I'll always highlight a suspicious looking gap in an email / web page / word doc / etc, for that very reason I attained infamy here by suggesting to my boss once that we put a hyperlink in white "accidentally" :-O Anything dodgy at work now gets declared as "but it's still not as bad as the white hyperlink!" :rolleyes: But you are so right. My all time favourite is the way pc's on tv always start beeping and make fantastic "techie" noises as they spit back data which has been searched for. :)

Throw in a bit of S&M or eye-ball sucking**-Paul Watson on the merits of swearing, sex and obscenities in CP posts** ...they assumed that reasonably intelligent adults would know enough to leave the building if it was burning. Those who did not were, presumably, expendable, and there was less paperwork involved than trying to fire them**-Roger Wright on fire drills at work**

benjymous

Megan Forbes wrote: a hyperlink in white "accidentally" What was the white hyperlink going to do? I like hiding messages in web pages using the <a title="blah"> tag around bits of text (like full stops) - there are a few on my website Megan Forbes wrote: start beeping and make fantastic "techie" noises Yup, it seems all high tech government departments have an IT technician whose sole responsibility is to go around all the PCs and set up the most irritating sound scheme possible -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!

Debs 0

My favourite clip was from "The Net" where Sandra Bullock supposedly watches a virus corrupt a database oh-so-slowly over several hours and she magically produces an anti-virus disk that "cures" it all in a few seconds. My husband hates it when I criticise such stuff out loud, which of course I am compelled to do :-O I think this is a repost, but worth repeating... THINGS COMPUTERS CAN DO IN MOVIES 1. Word processors never display a cursor. 2. You never have to use the space-bar when typing long sentences. 3. Movie characters never make typing mistakes. 4. All monitors display inch-high letters. 5. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA or some such governmental institution, will have easy to understand graphical interfaces. 6. Those that don't have graphical interfaces will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English. 7. Note: Command line interfaces will give you access to any information you want by simply typing, "ACCESS THE SECRET FILES" on any near-by keyboard. 8. You can also infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing "UPLOAD VIRUS". (See "Fortress".) 9. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain's desktop computer even if it's turned off. 10. Powerful computers beep whenever you press a key or the screen changes. Some computers also slow down the output on the screen so that it doesn't go faster than you can read. (Really advanced computers will also emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer.) 11. All computer panels operate on thousands of volts and have explosive devices underneath their surface. Malfunctions are indicated by a bright flash of light, a puff of smoke, a shower of sparks and an explosion that causes you to jump backwards. 12. People typing on a computer can safely turn it off without saving the data. 13. A hacker is always able to break into the most sensitive computer in the world by guessing the secret password in two tries. 14. You may bypass "PERMISSION DENIED" message by using the "OVERRIDE" function. (See "Demolition Man".) 15. Computers only take 2 seconds to boot up instead of the average 2 minutes for desktop PCs and 30 minutes or more for larger systems that can run 24 hours, 365 days a year without a reset. 16. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will

Megan Forbes

Our graphic designer wanted some pics from another site, but our CEO didn't want to have credits to someone else - eventually we just paid for some images from somewhere or other. I actually meant it as a joke, but I've never lived the comment down :)

Throw in a bit of S&M or eye-ball sucking**-Paul Watson on the merits of swearing, sex and obscenities in CP posts** ...they assumed that reasonably intelligent adults would know enough to leave the building if it was burning. Those who did not were, presumably, expendable, and there was less paperwork involved than trying to fire them**-Roger Wright on fire drills at work**

Andreas Saurwein

Well, that summs it up. But there are some desireable features in this list too :)

... you keep forgetting that sheep shagging is not a crime in Australia ...Paul Watson, The Lounge

Paul Riley

Debs wrote: 12. People typing on a computer can safely turn it off without saving the data. True... but if they hit the DELETE key then any amount of stuff can disappear. Paul And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath, one day closer to death - Pink Floyd, Time

Debs 0

benjymous wrote: There's no way a medical drama would just invent some fantastic impossible medical procedure, because they have teams of real doctors advising them on such stuff to keep it realistic. I guess that may be the case with some dramas, but thinking about it, they don't have "experts" from all fields commenting on all aspects of something that is, well, FICTION. Do you think other special interest groups comment on stuff like the fact that, say, the costume used in a period drama was from the wrong era. Betcha bottom dollar they do!!! It's fun, innit, and gives one a nice superior glow over those lesser program-maker-beings :cool:??? Debbie

benjymous

Debs wrote: the costume used in a period drama was from the wrong era Hmm, true. My Dad always comments on swords in films and dramas (both the quality of the fighting, and the swords being of the right period) -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit!

Paul Watson

Debs wrote: Do you think other special interest groups comment on stuff like the fact that, say, the costume used in a period drama was from the wrong era. Betcha bottom dollar they do!!! Indeed. You get whole websites devoted to famous mistakes in movies. A 1600 settler saying FUBAR or something that they never would have said. Or someone wearing even an antique watch in a setting years before watches were invented. Errors in architecture, cars, clothing, food, all sorts. And of course PETA just complains about any film which even hints at an animal being in it.

Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa

Roger Wright wrote: Using a feather is kinky; using the whole chicken is perverted!

Chris Losinger

...here's my peeve. Digital imaging systems have the ability to take a fuzzy satellite picture of a round blob next to a square blob and zoom in on it with increasing levels of detail until you can not only recognize the bad guy, but can see his expression and read the tag on the back of his jacket. then, they can search the image "database" (while showing all items in the search in rapid succession) - and it takes less than 5 seconds to find the match. -c

WWT2D?

Fractals