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"The sky above the port was the color of television tuned to a dead channel" -- That is one of the all-time classic opening lines. It is also something people
by abruzzi 12y ago
"The sky above the port was the color of television tuned to a dead channel" -- That is one of the all-time classic opening lines. It is also something people will gradually lose since most people no longer have that grey static.
- GauntletWizard 12y agoWorse yet, some generations will misread the symbolism, as my current TV displays a bright blue screen when set to an input that's not in use. This is probably a passing phase, though, as the TVs of the current generation have strange media hubs with crappy builtin apps.
- devindotcom 12y agoMaybe something like "The sky was the color of the sky, seen through a tacky vintage Instagram filter."
- monk_e_boy 12y agoOh God. I can see it now. [Static app] for your TV, purchased by old fogies. Configure Static app to come on when you fall asleep in front of the tv. Most often purchased with [Off: Vanishing dot], [Stand by mysterious hum], [wired VCR controller (comes with 3 feet of wire)], [bad signal - signal degrades depending on weather] ....
- pdkl95 12y agohttp://www.jwz.org/blog/2012/01/snow-crash-simulated/ http://www.jwz.org/blog/2012/01/snow-crash-simulated/ We already have [Static app] in some devices, which apparently play some sort short video recording of static. So now we get static with DCT compression artifacts.
- GauntletWizard 12y agoMy android device already does a weird animation of a CRT blinking out when I turn off the screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zFwpb_LDHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zFwpb_LDHQ
- Crito 12y agoI want a little blinking 7-segment under my television that only displays "12:00".
- jacquesm 12y agoPremium option: burnt out vertical deflection amplifier, and upset convergence.
- coldtea 12y agoYou might be interested in this app: http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/
- pewpewlasergun 12y ago"The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel." - Neil Gaiman, "Neverwhere"
- desdiv 12y agoA fan asked Neil Gaiman about it and here's the exchange: A fan: "You're either paying homage to Gibson, which is weird because the two books are in different genres and he isn't mentioned in the acknowledgements, or perhaps there's some manner of Jungian collective unconscious phenomenon at work here, in which you have unwittingly mimicked Gibson, or..?" Neil Gaiman: "Or it was a very small joke, essentially pointing out that since what is arguably the most famous opening sentence in SF was published in 1984, the nature of what a "dead channel" looked like had completely changed, from grey static fuzz to a pure dead blue. Well, I thought it was funny, anyway." http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/12/some-days-bears-on-top.asp http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/12/some-days-bears-on-top...
- GauntletWizard 12y agoI'd forgotten how much I'd laughed at that line. Gaiman is great.
- Argorak 12y agoMaybe there should be a "Museum of endangered visuals", just as there is a "Museum of endangered sounds". http://savethesounds.info/ http://savethesounds.info/
- singingfish 12y agohah reminded me of my favourite gibson quote: > These people figured video was the Lord's preferred means of communicating, the screen itself a kind of perpetually burning bush.
- chiph 12y agoThis reminds me of the First Latitudinarian Church of Celebrity Saints, from John Varley's Steel Beach. Their temple features glass tubes in the rounded-rectangle of classic CRTs.
- abruzzi 12y agoOr the Cathode Ray Mission from Videodrome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJzbgfaFANg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJzbgfaFANg
- marlinspire 12y agoNeil Armstrong equates the moon and tv : We could see that at the terminator, at the boundary between the black part of the moon and the lighted part of the moon. It was as if you were looking at a television set with the contrast turned to full contrast, very black and very white. from http://youtu.be/PtdcdxvNI1o?t=1m30s http://youtu.be/PtdcdxvNI1o?t=1m30s Sky At Night BBC 1970 , Neil Armstrong & Patrick Moore
- eco 12y agoI've been wondering lately how many young children would actually understand what is going on when the HBO ident appears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC_uTMkmH08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC_uTMkmH08
- Raphael 12y ago[1] 1. White noise.
- noblethrasher 12y agoSimilarly, I remember reading a short story (or poem) that I believe was penned sometime in the 1960s. The piece contained a line to the effect of “he had a heart like a telephone”. Now days, people might think that the subject’s heart was easily broken, but it meant just the opposite because those heavy Bell rotary phones were unbelievably durable.
- abruzzi 12y agothats a great line. There are all sorts of secondary meanings that could be added by new connections. Yes, easily broken, but also inconstant (dropped calls), easily distracted. This is very much like the whole authorial fallacy. Meaning, in a work of art, is not simply what the author wanted it to mean, but also what the audience took it to mean, and that changes.
- SCAQTony 12y agoNooooooo! His heart telegraphed all his emotions like a telephone. You always knew what mood he was in because you could "hear" it. Land lines never dropped calls.
- Shog9 12y agoThat's an interesting interpretation. But now I need an excuse to write, "He had a heart like a text message, phoning in his emotions like a telegraph."
- Kurtz79 12y agoRecently I have been started using Windows 8 and was "relieved" to find out that Microsoft kept the Blue Screen of Death, well, blue. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/BSoD_in_Windows_8.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/BSoD_in_W...
- Shivetya 12y agosilly me is waiting for the day when thin displays can be rolled out to cover walls at affordable prices, then I can set it to static and keep it as a background. all I will need to do is add a hiss sound
- egypturnash 12y agoHello best idea ever.