I don't know what these people are talking about. Blogs are much more interesting and clever than they give them credit for.
In other news, my milk went bad today. And I couldn't find my honey. I know I bought a new container of honey not too long ago. Today I couldn't find it anywhere. How annoying. I made this potato salad today that was really, really good. And the other day I furnished my shower with a brandnew bar of soap.
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.: posted by Vera 
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I finally did it! This morning I remembered that the soap in the shower was totally running out before getting in the shower. Thanks to my long overdue foresight, I avoided having to clean myself with a piece of soap the size of a tic tac for the fourth day in a row.
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.: posted by Vera
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Wheatgrass juice. Ever had it? In my 26 years on this planet, I have had two one ounce shots of wheatgrass juice. One yesterday and one today. I had been wanting to try it for a couple of years but always ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yesterday I found myself at Jamba Juice at just the right time. My boyfriend wanted a smoothie but I had already had lunch. So I had a shot of wheatgrass juice. If you ask me, and I am just going to go ahead and assume that you are, it tastes like peas and grass. Afterwards you feel very happy and high for about a minute or so. It's really quite the rush. I am going to do it again tomorrow.
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.: posted by Vera
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Early this morning I went to Dolores Park. I played on the swingset there. I haven't swung on a swing in a very long time. It was very fun and I didn't stop until I was dizzy. On the swing next to me was a young mother with her baby and a visor that said Princess. Swinging on the swing reminded me of being a teenager and poking around on the swingset on the playground near my house in Germany. Back then I would sit there and think about my childhood and how different everything was now and how odd it was of me to be on the swing since I was already a teenager and kind of too old for the swing. So today I was not only remembering being on a swing during my childhood, but I was also remembering being on a swing as a teenager contemplating my childhood.
One odd thing that happened while I was driving to Dolores Park was that I am pretty sure I saw another blogger, Jane. Jane, if you were walking down Chattanooga Street with another girl this morning, then I saw you. Tiny new world.
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.: posted by Vera
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Wasteland
While my boyfriend took care of business in his office today, I wandered and wondered around the wonderful wasteland between Market, Folsom, 6th and 9th Streets. I hung out with the homeless and the toothless and the drugless and the penniless and the prideless and the shameless. I was one of the many unaffected and unlucky and unboring. And I said hey old lady with the gigantic round glasses and the plastic barrettes, and I said hey store that is selling "Magazines from $2.50" and "Good Fashion from $5.00," and I said hey strung-out-looking couple that is scowling at each other, and I said hey just-shot-up-looking dudes who are striding along the sidewalk, and I said hey lady with the glass eye and the two young children, and I said hey pretty girl with the black shirt and the black sandals and the super low jeans who I am sure has a home and a job and probably at least one person who loves her, and I said hey lady with the layered clothing and the cowboy hat and the Gap bag and five more plastic bags, and I said hey native American-looking dude with the shopping cart, how are y'all doing? Aren't you glad that we get an extra hour today? And I said Yeah. Same here.
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.: posted by Vera
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Don't you love it when you're bored and maybe even a little bit hungry, and suddenly genius strikes and you remember this absolutely marvelous thing that is sitting in the cupboard or fridge just waiting for you to eat it? I remembered about 1/8 of a bag of jalapeño potato chips today. The gods were with me today, my friends.
Editor's Note: Yes, I realize that actually putting the squiggly line on top of the n in jalapeno is pretentious of me. Deal!
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.: posted by Vera
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I like this picture from July 5, 2001. I don't know exactly why. I also don't know why this is the second time this week that I am referencing a Dubya picture. Dubya and Condoleezza in this picture somehow look like they are just hanging out at his white pad on a Saturday night. Like maybe there is some Breakbeat going in the background. Maybe they are about to mix some Margaritas. . . she just asked him what he wants for his birthday (which is on July 6 in case you didn't know).
Oo, I know, I know! Or I could copy Tony Pierce again and do this:
 W: I really like your outfit, Condi.
C: Well, thank you, G.
W: You have a great sense of fashion. Laura?! Don't you like the way Condoleezza dresses? Yeah, I do too. Great hair do, too.
C: Thanks.
W: So who else is coming tonight?
C: I don't know. I'm just here to talk about the al Qaida threats. They are sufficiently robust, you know.
W: Al who? I don't know, Condi. Let me have another toke of that green kind shiet.
C: One second. Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
W: Thanks. Where did you get this?
C: Puhhhhhhhhhh... This kid in Georgetown. Nice fella.
W: Why don't we have the DJ put on a different record. Breakbeat okay?
C: Sure, I used to do a little breakdancing on the side, you know.
W: You did? When?
C: In grad school mostly. I think I could still pull it off now.
W: That's cool, man. Maybe you can teach me some time. I'm sure Laura would like to learn how to do that too, wouldn't you, Laura? By the way, Laura! I'll have another passion fruit Margarita! You, Condi?
C: I don't drink... Mango.
W: And a mango Margarita for Condoleezza! Thanks pumpkin!
C: So what do you want for your birthday, G?
W: All the oil that's left in Iraq and one of those lazy chairs with the built-in fridge that Joey had on Friends.
C: Sounds reasonable. Oh, I like this track! Mind if I take off my shoes and break a little?
W: Not at all. That's what the Oval Office is for, dear.
I hope you don't mind, Tony. Your blog inspired me to imitate your post from a few weeks ago.
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.: posted by Vera
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 And here, in true Tony Pierce fashion, I am posting my own female object of desire, objectifying her and making myself feel old and ugly. I can't help myself. She is too cute. I had to post her. I think I understand how males feel when they see a nice pair of boobs stacked up high with golden locks framing it. It's eye candy. It's beautiful. No, I do not like this girl because her boobs are almost falling out of her dress. I like this girl because I like her pastel yellow dress. I like this girl because I think that her makeup is neat. I like this girl because she was obviously working that night, so she must be part of the in-crowd. I like this girl because she is young. I like this girl because she has a cute face. I like this girl because she has seen something I haven't: a UK rave. I like this girl because I like the way she is wearing her hair up like that, and because I often wear it like that myself when it's long enough. I also like the shiny pink stuff curling down from it. You may picture her naked with her legs up in the air, but I simply want to be her. Uh-huh, you heard right, I want to be her just because I like the way she looks, regardless of everything else. I don't care if she has an eating disorder. I don't care if she is on Xanax. I don't care if she failed Trigonometry. I don't care if she misspells receive all the time. I don't care if she has a chronic bladder infection. I don't care if she has bad breath or a tattoo of an anchor. She looks like she is perfect, and that's why I want to be her. Maybe this is what living in LA for four years does to you. Or maybe this is what living in the United States does to you. Actually, no, I am pretty sure I was born this way. Not in the United States either.
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.: posted by Vera
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The sun is back, baby! After being eerily absent for about a week or so, the sun is finally rearing its glorious head again. We have had one sunless sunrise after another but this morning the sun is illuminating the living-room and my office like it should. My apartment is a yellow palace. It really looks like the walls are painted yellow. Nice. Demons, you can go back to where you came from. Now.
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.: posted by Vera
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 My friend Jessica sent me the cutest card. This is what it has on the front. I love it when people know just how to pick what will make my eyes flutter.
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.: posted by Vera
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I know I haven't talked about it but on Saturday I went to Neo Tokyo 3000. To see pictures from that night, go here and click on, well, Neo Tokyo 3000. It was a small party in a colorfully painted warehouse with six Trance DJ's that I had never heard of. It was a big success. I met nice people and danced my ass off. There was a big projector screen next to the dance floor that played eye candy all night long. A recurring theme on the screen were these shiny 3D molecules dancing around in the sky. I saw water molecules and carbon rings. Very pretty. Seeing them made me for a moment feel as if my life was in perfect harmony and everything had fallen into place. Here are these beautiful molecules dancing around the screen while I'm dancing araound people on the dance floor, by day I animate molecules for a living, and I and the world around me are made up of molecules as well. IT IS ALL ONE. Just kidding. Heh, this observation may sound cheesy and idealistic but hey, sometimes you have to work with what you've got.
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.: posted by Vera
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I had the most terrifying dream. First a little refresher: I hate airplanes. They may be great to most business people and travelers, but to me they are death traps and killing machines. For the past two or three years I have often dreamt about these big planes in the sky whose noses are pointed towards the ground and that are coming down, either by accident or by malice. Every time I see or hear a plane, I think bad news. That's right, airplanes are harbingers of doom to me.
So in my dream I was hanging out at a friend's house here in San Francisco. Earlier that day the government had issued yet another warning of terrorist attacks that might occur in any of the major U.S. cities. We were slightly concerned but didn't think too much of it because there had been many such warnings over the past year that all turned out to be insubstantial. But then we heard the roaring of planes, many of them. Next thing we knew we heard several debilitating zooms and booms. We were afraid to look but nevertheless walked up a hill from which we could see most of the city. And sure enough, a huge chunk of downtown San Francisco was missing and/or on fire. There were tons of planes hovering in the air above the downtown area, and we could see more approaching in the distance. Then we witnessed several planes diving down and leveling the big pointy building aka the Transamerica Building. It all happened very fast. We heard sirens, but what were they going to do? When all of downtown was destroyed, there were still HUNDREDS of planes in the sky. So we knew that the rest of San Francisco was probably next and we started running...
When I woke up, I immediately ran to the living-room window to make sure the city was still there. What a relief. What an awful dream.
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.: posted by Vera
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Doesn't Dubya look stoned in this picture? His buddy does too, really.
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.: posted by Vera
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My boyfriend got me the coolest book today: Fruits. It's a collection of photographs documenting eccentric Japanese street fashion. Apparently, Fruits started out as a Japanese magazine when photographer Shoichi Aoki in 1996 started noticing teenagers in the Tokyo district Harajuku who paraded around in colorful and often mismatched costumes. For a while, the area was closed to cars every Sunday and lent itself to be the arena for these unofficial street fashion shows. So cool! Here are some sample pictures from the book, and here is an article about Fruits from last year.
Note to self: In bed tonight, daydream about being 18 years old and living in Tokyo.
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.: posted by Vera
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There is a somewhat offputting and disturbing note in my building today. This is what it says:
Greetings fellow residents of [address],
Please be aware that [first name last name] no longer resides at [address] #6 and must not be allowed access to the building under any circumstances.
Thanks and Happy Halloween,
[first name] and [first name] in #6
Dude. Must you really involve the whole building in your little skirmish? Either some people are being really petty, or some people are in real danger. Either way, I am a little concerned.
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.: posted by Vera
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I often see on blogs a Currently reading list. Right? People love to have that on their sidebar. I have always wondered what exactly it means. I mean, these lists can be up to ten books long. Is the person reading all of them at once? Has the person borrowed or purchased all of these books and is planning on reading them in the near future? Has the person started reading all of these books at one point but not quite finished them? If so, why would they even still have a book like that on their Currently Reading list because obviously the book didn't do it for them? I usually only read one book at a time, I don't know about y'all. I don't have a Currently reading list on my site, because, well, one book would be a pretty deficient list. But right now, it just so happens that I am reading more than one book at once. I am not sure how I got myself in this situation but there it is. So allow me to proudly present the Subastral Lilipad's
Currently Reading:
Kurt Vonnegut: Mother Night. My attempt at finding out who and what Kurt Vonnegut is.
Irvine Welsh: Ecstasy - Three Tales of Chemical Romance. My attempt at assuaging my seemingly neverending appetite for reading about drugs.
Branden Hall, Samual Wan: Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript. My attempt at writing cleaner code.
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.: posted by Vera
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This morning I was in another situation that was reminiscent of an Elaine scene. Unfortunately I couldn't find the script anywhere, but the name of the episode is The Sponge. Elaine goes to a pharmacy and asks about the contraceptive sponge. The clerk tells her that he has one case left. The sponge is being taken off the market so Elaine wants to stock up. The conversation goes something like this (the emphasis being on something like because I don't have the script in front of me and I threw out all of my Seinfeld tapes as part of a recent move):
Elaine: I'll take three sponges.
Clerk: Three?
Elaine: Yes, five sponges would be great.
Clerk: Five?
Elaine: Yeah, ten would be perfect.
Clerk: How many?
Elaine: Just give me the whole case.
And here is my meager life imitating art today.
Barista: Here is your tea.
Me: Thanks. Could I also get two packets of honey, please?
Barista: Sure. How many would you like?
Me: Three.
Barista: Three?
Me: Yes, five. Thanks.
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.: posted by Vera
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What do you do when one of New Zealand's star tennis players asks you to be his personal ActionScript teacher? Yeah, I didn't know what to tell him either.
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.: posted by Vera
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Have you ever wondered what I will be doing on November 2nd? Wonder no longer.
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.: posted by Vera
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Things that are so 20th century (inspired by a billboard I saw the other day):
- Rock'n'Roll - roll over and die already
- MBA's - I was thinking about getting one myself in 1999, but the 21st century took me aside and said "Dude, Vera. Get a hold of yourself."
- Pagers - *chuckle* - remember those?
- The X-Files - no comment
- Getting a tan - it's the 21st century, dudes! We now have not one but two holes in the Ozone layer
- Feeling too sophisticated to use the word dude
- Microsoft Works - whatever happened to that?
- Teen angst - at least for those of us who were born before, say, 1986
- Glitter - I still love it!
Butterfly accessories - I still love 'em!
- Capri wants - I still wear them ... sometimes
So yeah, when it comes to personal attire, I am so 20th century.
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.: posted by Vera
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Kandinsky pixelated.
Doesn't it look cool?
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.: posted by Vera
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Dear Escape From New York Pizza,
I really like your pizza. It tastes very good. It may very well be the best pizza in San Francisco. I have often visited you with my boyfriend or by myself. Today I convinced four out-of town friends that we couldn't eat anywhere but you. They liked the taste of your pizza, too. We also all agreed that the quirky-perky twins behind the counter were a nice touch. Good times were had by all. But then something happened that didn't make me happy, Escape From New York Pizza. See, when I walked in today, I was wearing a lovely white Caffeine visor that I had purchased on Ebay a few months ago. I like my Caffeine visor. One time I accidentally left it at Squat and Gobble and was very happy when I stopped by two weeks later and they returned it to me. Today I placed my visor atop a table to reserve the table for myself and my five companions while we ordered pizza from you. We ended up sitting at a different table, and I forgot all about my visor. When all of our pizza had safely landed in our bellies, I remembered my visor. I looked on my lap and it wasn't there. I looked on my boyfriend's head and it wasn't there. I looked on the table at which we were originally going to sit and it wasn't there. So I went to one of the quirky-perky twins and asked her had she seen a hat. She asked did I mean a half-hat. I said yes, a visor. She asked was it a white visor. I said yes. She said they threw it away. I said who. She said the people found it on the table and it wasn't theirs and they threw it right there in the trash. I looked at the trash can. I looked back at her. I said what. Then I said why. Then she shrug. Then I dug my visor out of the trash can, wiped it off and left.
I really like your pizza, Escape From New York Pizza, but I really don't like what you allowed to happen to my visor today. I am probably still going to come visit you in the future because I really like your pizza but I just wanted you to know that I might not bring my visor anymore.
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.: posted by Vera
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Bummer, I missed Deepsky in Golden Gate Park today. They were there for Earthdance 2002. I didn't find out about it until 5pm. It ended at 6pm. But I did catch part of the webcast. I saw two bald-headed Deepskies and some interesting dancers.
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.: posted by Vera
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I saw a dude pushing a shopping cart alongside Market Street today. He was wearing a full head of golden tinsel and singing at the top of his lungs. This is why I love San Francisco.
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.: posted by Vera
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Television people often find themselves in – for lack of a better way to generalize it – situations that real live people seldom find themselves in. Here is a list of situations that are overdone in movies, i.e. the proportion of real life people who are in that situation is much, much smaller than the proportion of television or movie characters who are in that situation.
- having a roommate that is also your coworker
- being a narcoleptic
- having a ridiculously creative job, such as cartoonist, novelist, or major ad campaign copy writer
- getting dumped by someone for your best friend
I am sure there are tons of others but these came to mind immediately.
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.: posted by Vera
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Apparently today is National Depression Day. Are you going to get screened? I'm not because I'm not depressed. I have a job, thank you.
Ten years ago things were a little gloomier. The first half of being 16 was one of the worst times of my life. Not for any real reason. Certainly not because I didn't have a job. I just knew that I was changing but I didn't know what I was changing into. Or what I was supposed to be changing into if I wanted to be accepted by the cool people. Note that my school didn't have popular people. Only cool people, normal people and unpopular people. I was always stuck somewhere in between the normal and the cool people. I think. So one day I made the potentially dangerous decision to stop eating until I weighed 55kg*. I weighed 62kg at the time, 61.5 on a good day. Of course the fast only lasted for half a day, tops. My weight stayed safely at 62kg, give or take, for as long as I can remember. Oh, how much I wanted to see a number below 60 on the scale in 1992! Why am I telling you this heart-breaking story that's bordering on Too Much Information? Because.today.I.weighed.59.9.kg. At 26 years old I weigh less than I did when I was 16, and I'm not even trying. I mean, I do go to the gym but not to lose weight. Just to show gravity who's boss.
*Why kg? Because I was living in Germany. For the metric-illiterate of you, 55kg is about 121 pounds.
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.: posted by Vera
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I parked in a parking garage earlier today. The spot I parked in had one of those parking garage columns on the right and another empty parking spot on the left. I parked the car very close to the column. When I got out, I saw that the car was perfectly parallel to the line and about a foot and a half away from the line. I thought "I'm the perfect citizen. The person who is going to park in the spot next to me is going to be so thankful for having me be the one who parked next to them. They are going to think 'Wow, look at that. A feet and a half away from the line. No space wasted there. Makes my time in the parking garage a lot easier. What a nice and perfect person.'"
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.: posted by Vera
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I'm wearing my carrot barrettes today, thank you very much. Feeling health conscious today. Am I going to eat that carrot in the fridge that's been looking at me with puppy eyes for a week? Probably not.
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.: posted by Vera
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Early morning pondering of Walgreens
1. I almost caught myself buying another kind of wash-out colored hair goo even though I already own one kind of wash-out colored hair goo that I haven’t worn, AND I just had Kristie put non-wash-out red hot streaks into my hair. I slapped some reason back into myself just in time. Just in time.
2. I am pretty sure that Walgreens cashiers generally dislike me. Walgreens cashiers have two reasons to feel that way.
a) My ATM card is always rejected at Walgreens. Not just at this Walgreens but at every Walgreens in San Francisco. My ATM card is welcome at every other store in San Francisco that is not Walgreens. Every time I ask a Walgreens cashier what the reason might be that Walgreens is always rejecting my ATM card, they tell me sharply “That’s between you and your bank.” I get the feeling it’s just between me and Walgreens.
b) I usually come into Walgreens all sweaty, gross and probably smelly from the gym. Walgreens is in the same building as my gym. I suppose I could go to Walgreens before I get all sweaty, gross and probably smelly, but I have no use for the items I might buy at Walgreens while I’m working out. And I don’t feel like going back to the car before I go up to the gym. When I’m done working out and all sweaty, gross and probably smelly, I am already on my way to the car. See. What is the etiquette here anyway? Are you allowed to run your errands all sweaty and gross like that? This is what I would like to know. I once saw a Nike commercial in which a runner drops a drop of sweat on someone’s shoe in an elevator.
3. So knowing that Walgreens cashiers have a tendency to dislike me and even though I was paying with cash, I didn’t make eye contact with the cashier today because I was too ashamed. Because I was all sweaty, gross and probably smelly from the gym. But the cashier was actually very nice and didn’t seem to dislike me at all. So now I feel bad for not making eye contact with him.
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.: posted by Vera
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Man, I wish I was a wittier writer. Witty like Sarah B. When you spend one evening watching the Video Music Awards, you could turn to your blog the next morning and write "David Lee Roth sure is lame.", like Vera F.* probably would. Or you could do like Sarah B. and turn to your blog the next morning and write
"I have a feeling that any moment he's not in public, David Lee Roth is just sobbing uncontrollably."
*That would be me.
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.: posted by Vera
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The at once haughty and humble post you are about to consume was inspired by one of Brittney's posts in which she mentions that hearing a Creed song blast out of the windows of a passing car makes her feel superior.
I, too, experience many such moments in which I feel superior to fellow human beings.
I feel superior to people who- live in Walla Walla, Washington (sorry, Tonya)
- don't wear glasses at all because they think it's "not a good look"
- make casseroles
- got married when they were 21 or younger to somebody named Jason or Michael
- don't own a single piece of pink clothing
- brag about not owning a TV
- were or are in a sorority or fraternity in college AND are blond
- fall prey to that Walmart commercial with the chubby woman who lovingly says of her husband "he's a carnivore"
- after completing college still think that they are not complete unless they complete graduate school
- watch any Behind the Music of a hair band, including Aerosmith or Bon Jovi
- didn't know what serendipity meant until the movie came out
To be fair and balance things out, here is a list of things I feel inferior to.
I feel inferior to people who
- have never lived in Victorville, CA
- alternate between glasses and contacts
- started going to raves before 1996 (hi Starrie)
- have been to Burning Man
- have straight hair
- are clad head to toe in thrift store chic every day, even at their sister's wedding
- have never been told "We have decided that you can't really hang out with us anymore"
- have lived in Asia or Scandinavia
- have never ever entertained aspirations of becoming a model or actor because they realized right away that they didn't have the right look and/or were too awkward
- have worn a miniskirt to school in 9th grade and didn't get laughed at
- knew what a matrix was before the movie came out
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.: posted by Vera
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My boyfriend last night became the proud first parent of a cell phone. That’s right. He has never owned a cell phone. Ever. Yes, I think he realizes that it is the year 2002. I am also pretty sure that the day he got his first email address, he was aware that his calendar laughed 1998 at him. He is so technologically clueless, I find it irresistible. Probably because it makes me feel needed.
He still has no idea how to use his cell phone. This includes making and receiving phone calls. But once he has figured all that out, perhaps the insistent voice-mails that his friends leave on my cell phone will finally cede.
For now I know that our cell phones looked awfully cute last night as they were getting charged up next to each other on the kitchen counter. Kind of like we were getting recharged next to each other in our sleep.
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.: posted by Vera
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I found myself in quite the Seinfeldian situation last night. I say Seinfeldian only because the dialogue resembled a conversation in the Seinfeld episode The Subway. Here is an excerpt from the script:
*Elaine's train. She's carrying a wedding present. An older woman approaches her*
Woman: I started riding these trains in the forties. Those days a man would give up their seat for a woman. Now we're liberated and we have to stand.
Elaine: It's ironic.
Woman: What's ironic?
Elaine: This, that we've come all this way, we have made all this progress, but you know we've lost the little things, the niceties.
Woman: No, I mean what does 'ironic' mean?
Elaine: Oh...
Here is an excerpt from last night:
*Vera is at a party. Two women are discussing massage therapy. One of them turns to Vera*
Woman: You should get a massage at Kabuki. Have you been there? They have a very nice setup in there, a little bit chi chi.
Vera: What's chi chi?
Woman: Well, they have these soft couches and water falls and chandeliers...
Vera: No, I mean what does 'chi chi' mean?
Woman: Oh...
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.: posted by Vera
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New month. New hair color(s). Black with red streaks. But since my hair is curly, it doesn't look nearly as cool as it sounds. My boyfriend says I look too goth. I say nobody has ever used the words "too" and "goth" to describe anything about me, what with my undying love for all things glaringly bright and garishly colorful. This could be the beginning of a new era.
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.: posted by Vera
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Today at the corner of Haight and Shrader.
Strange-looking toothless woman: You know what, your eyes glow like a halo.
Me: Thanks.
This was the same strange-looking toothless woman who was in another episode from about a month ago that was set at the same street corner:
Strange-looking toothless woman: I like your visor. It looks like a G that's turned around.
Me: Thanks.
I wonder if she strikes up conversations with many passers-by, or just with me. I would like to think that she feels some kind of special bond with me, but that's just my self-absorbed view of the matter.
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.: posted by Vera
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I am kind of pissed off right now. Before I moved into this apartment I had 2 - that's t-w-o, one, two - cosmetic pencil sharpeners. Now I can't find either of them. And my favorite sparkly eye pencil is all stumpy and useless. What am I going to do? I am certainly not going to buy another flucking sharpener, I already own two of them. I guess I will just have to apply sparkly gunk with a stump about half an inch in diameter.
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.: posted by Vera
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One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the way technology, especially computers, are represented in the visual media. Somebody ought to write a book about this or, better, a dissertation. If you know of a blog that talks about nothing but the discrepancy between the reality of computers and their clichés in movies, please let me know immediately. I would start one myself but I don't think I watch enough movies.
Anyway, you know what I'm talking about, right? How every time a very important document is deleted, the words "FILE DELETED" flash several times in huge lettering? My computer doesn't do that, does yours? Sure, it always asks me if I'm sure I want to delete a file, but once I say yes, it leaves me alone. No confirmation. And my computer certainly wouldn't give me a flashing confirmation. How disruptive would that be? My computer hardly ever flashes anything at me, unless I'm on Yahoo, I guess. But TV computers flash around a lot of stuff, don't they? And always in huge letters. Like when the protagonist tries to access some kind of password-protected file. It always flashes "ACCESS DENIED," and if you're lucky it will even beep to the rhythm of the flashing. If I type in the wrong password on my computer, on the other hand, it simply asks me politely to check my username and password and try again.
This page has a list of quirky characteristics movie computers seem to possess. My favorite?
You can gain access to any information you want by simply typing "ACCESS ALL OF THE SECRET FILES" on any keyboard.
So true, so true.
Here is another interesting article about this topic, although the author seems to be outright annoyed by the lack of scientific accuracy in movies while I am mainly amused by the user interfaces on steroids that were fabricated to aid the plot. Speaking of user interfaces and operating systems: Don't they always seem like Powerpoint presentations in and of themselves?
And speaking of inaccuracy: Here is a quote from Boiler Room, courtesy of this article:
I want [your] whole C: drive copied onto a floppy.
I love this shit. Don't even get me started on The Net. Somebody please put together an exhaustive compilation of all movie clichés about technology, complete with screenshots and everything. Thanks.
Editor's Note: When I do a "computers in movies" book search on amazon.com, the only result I get is Create Macromedia Flash Movies In a Weekend. That's hilarious.
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.: posted by Vera
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Remember when I went to Dumpapalootza to see NBC (Neighborhood Bass Coalition) in action a few weeks ago? Josh just sent me the link to a video from that night. You can watch a 6-minute stream of the show here. Pretty intense, huh? What's also intense is that SF Indymedia accidentally called NBC PBS.
Oh, and I think one of those "woooo" sounds at the very end of the video was me.
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.: posted by Vera
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