[HN Gopher] Starring the Computer
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       Starring the Computer
        
       Author : Lutzb
       Score  : 52 points
       Date   : 2023-12-04 09:36 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (starringthecomputer.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (starringthecomputer.com)
        
       | Lutzb wrote:
       | Starring the Computer is a website dedicated to the use of
       | computers in film and television. Each appearance is catalogued
       | and rated on its importance (ie. how important it is to the
       | plot), realism (how close its appearance and capabilities are to
       | the real thing) and visibility (how good a look does one get of
       | it). Fictional computers don't count (unless they are built out
       | of bits of real computer), so no HAL9000 - sorry.
        
         | have_faith wrote:
         | Did you mean to copy and paste the intro as a comment?
        
           | Lutzb wrote:
           | Yes, I meant to do that. I posted the link and wanted to give
           | some context on what to expect on the site. (HN does that
           | automatically when you add a description to a link)
        
       | ptek wrote:
       | Need more Amigas, Ataris and NeXTs in movies
        
         | sonicanatidae wrote:
         | I'm older than these.
         | 
         | Would you like to play a game?
        
           | Arrath wrote:
           | > Would you like to play a game?
           | 
           | I just realized there's two ways to take that quote, with a
           | rather stark difference between them. In one case, I would
           | love to play a game. In the other, I would most definitely
           | not, thank you very much.
           | 
           | (Wargame, and Saw, for those curious)
        
             | kevindamm wrote:
             | I think the actual quote for wargames is "shall we play a
             | game?"
             | 
             | Same strategy of abstention, though!
        
               | sonicanatidae wrote:
               | It is, but I wanted to find the pedants, so I misquoted
               | intentionally. ;)
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | Shall we play it again, Sam?
        
             | sonicanatidae wrote:
             | Being old, I was thinking War Games, but you make a
             | completely valid point RE: SAW. I sit corrected.
        
               | Arrath wrote:
               | You could probably come up with a generational
               | demarcation between responses to the line (even if
               | technically misquoted for one of them), if you were so
               | inclined.
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | IBM AN-FSQ-7 panels from the SAGE system have been appearing in
       | movies for half a century now, and still look futuristic.
       | 
       | They're still for rent as props.[1] Amusingly, none of those are
       | part of the computer itself. Those futuristic slanted panels are
       | modems. The other panels with all the lights are test gear. The
       | computer itself was an entire building full of plug-in racks of
       | tubes.
       | 
       | [1] http://woodysprops.com/item.php?uid=122&page=4
        
       | tomaytotomato wrote:
       | Nice site,
       | 
       | Is there any info on how some of the UIs they make for TV or
       | Movies are done?
       | 
       | For example fake search engines like or custom Operating Systems.
       | Is it blue screened or is there actual developers throwing these
       | mock UIs together?
        
       | jgrahamc wrote:
       | Some folks here know about my Tumblr:
       | https://moviecode.tumblr.com and the related site https://behind-
       | the-screens.tv/ which talks about the _source code_ that appears
       | on computer screens in TV and film.
        
       | ngcc_hk wrote:
       | As said it is the thing that you cannot see that is more
       | frightening. How about the 6502 in terminator.
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-05 23:02 UTC)