KnifeMissile

Can anyone think of things about computer culture that surprise or make no sense to them?

Here's what I've noticed, recently. I'm trying to author some DVD's with some old film photage and was looking for a way to clean up the dust and scratches from the film. So, I try to do some research on the subject and find that this problem isn't really addressed much. Why? Because people are more concerned with adding dust and scracthes to their prestine video in order to make it look older and less clean. How weird and ironic is that? People prefer to have crappy video than good video. Go figure...

Another one is that lense flare used to be a big problem in photography and people would try to work around it. Now, people work out algorithms to add lense flare to their computer animation. I mean, weren't we trying to get rid of this stuff?

It really sounds like a case of "the greatest thing since sliced bread--is unsliced bread!"

Have any of you encountered stuff that seems weird, surprising, or ironic?

Lasereth

I think it's ironic that 5 years ago everyone said lolz and used l337 speak on a regular basis because they honestly thought they were cool. Now everyone still uses it...but is making fun of it instead of thinking they're cool. It's amazing how the "underground computer nerd" culture has went from thinking they're l337 to making fun of themselves on a daily basis.

-Lasereth

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

heyal256

I would guess that buying the fastest computer parts to try and emulate a C64 just to play the old games would be considered ironic.

noodles

i dunno, those things make perfect sense to me (maybe its because i'm a computer engineer). when i read your analogy, i think of something like "why draw a picture with depth and shading when you could make a sculpture". the reason why is because people can draw things in pictures that they can't do in sculpture because of physics, but they want it to look as realistic as possible. same with the computer stuff.

people can generally pick out images or movies that are computer generated, so one technique would be to grunge up the film or to add a lens flare to make it appear like you took a crappy picture. its more of a case of technology trying to do a better job of emulating reality, since reality isn't perfect, than a case of moving backward or irony. to me, at least.

kolila

ive noticed from alot of the chinese students in my university, that they right click / refresh on the desktop....thinking that it somehow refreshes RAM or something (maybe because it causes a little blink).
In reality, all that does is apply any changes that youve made on your desktop, just like it would in a folder in windows explorer.

they do that over and over.... It's funny actually

and about the stratches and dust on video, i guess giving it that old look makes it seem somehow important/valuable. Hey, if some old footage has been preserved for so long...it must be good or important right?