>Slowly, progress is taking some of the cliches away. Phones in an office no longer ring, they purr. Computers have replaced typewriters, fax >machines for teletypes. Everything grows quieter and colorless.

Interesting and true. When I started out as an office worker 20 years ago, there was one computer in the department, and every desk had a typewriter. Now, the reverse is true--and last time I looked, the typewriter wasn't even plugged in. The noise reduction is remarkable--sometimes it's library-quiet, except when the laser printers run out of paper and jolt everyone awake with their shreiking. To the backgound noise you can also add the moan of the scanners (...and of the workers, heh, but that's another post :-))

Oh, and don't forget the cell phones. Yes, if movie makers want to get more up to date sound effects, they are going to have to add the incessant little musical interludes that we are treated to now. In my office we have memorized all our co-worker's distinctive phone rings. While I rather enjoyed one manager's phone's excerpt of Bach, I've decided that the next person to program theirs to "La Cucaracha" must die.

May I bring up a semi-related subject here also?
I'm talking about the visual media cliche. In particular, I'm talking about the tough/goofy boy hat--you know, like the somewhat crown-shaped headgear that Jughead wears. Did these ever exist in real life? If so, when? 1920? 1930? Why has its incarnation (in cartoons particularly) lingered decades past its actual physical presence? Yes, it's used as a convenient shorthand to tell viewers/readers who the character is, but shouldn't it have been replaced by a more current manifestation?...or is it the ultimate icon of tough/goofiness that will last forever?


koala"just wondering"mom