# They're always empty! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [February 12, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378 "2022-02-12T19:54:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/21 "2022-02-13T19:16:14Z")
Those standard size bricks you see in TV and movies are [27 pounds](https://sdbullion.com/blog/gold-brick-weight). So you _can_ pick it up with one hand, but not casually. [This small cube](https://observer.com/2022/02/the-gold-cube-in-central-park-is-already-making-enemies/) weighs 400 plunds, and it is hollow. Yet you see people loading a van with the equivalent of a dozen or more of these cubes—_tons_ of gold—and driving away normally. (eta a plund is equal to one pound) ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/22 "2022-02-13T19:36:45Z")
And a nautical plund is 1.151 pounds. For realism, you have to have Michael Richards, who carried around a real air conditioner in his cardboard box - [https://youtu.be/vJI5kU-q4RM?t=161](https://youtu.be/vJI5kU-q4RM?t=161) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/23 "2022-02-13T19:40:46Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I dont always believe there is someone on the other end of the phone call. Something that impresses me lately is that the interaction on a smartphone is maintained, with the display actually showing a call being made, even for a wide shot. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/24 "2022-02-13T19:50:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Yet you see people loading a van with the equivalent of a dozen or more of these cubes— _tons_ of gold—and driving away normally. I was a wee tyke when I saw it so I don’t remember the title but there was a movie about a Victorian-era plot to rob the Bank of England. As they were driving the 2-wheel cart away the gang was stopped by a bobby curious about something. In the midst of the conversation the floor of the cart collapsed to the street. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/25 "2022-02-13T19:58:23Z")
I saw _ **The Lavender Hill Mob** _ on late-night TV a week or so ago. I was impressed by how easily they loaded and transported all that gold in the back of a service van ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/26 "2022-02-13T20:14:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@Tusculan](#): > > > > My pet peeve is when characters enter a house or a room and don’t close the door. It happens all the time. People, anyone can come in! They can hear and see you! > > That’s related to a problem on mine: people being heard talking in situations where they _couldn’t_ be, and not being heard in situations where they _had_ to be. Like the scenes set in night or dance clubs, which in my _very_ limited experience usually have music so loud you would have to yell in the other person’s ear. And my pet peeve is when they show a character, even a kid, apparently throwing together a Halloween costume at the last minute but having it look like it was produced by professional costumers and make up artists. (That bothered me because my last-minute costumes looked like shit.) ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/27 "2022-02-13T20:27:38Z")
How do you fake a chicken? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/28 "2022-02-13T20:41:07Z")
Every decade, in a historical drama or movie, the current style of the day in hair and makeup will be obvious on the women, anyhow. In the 20’s, it was antenna eyebrows and bee stung lips. In the 30’s, same, only with marcelled waves. In the 50’s, short bangs and red lips, in the 60’s, (in Italian Hercules movies, anyway) big blonde beehives, black eyeliner and thick lashes, pale pink glossy lips. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/29 "2022-02-13T21:20:33Z")
What is it now? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/30 "2022-02-13T21:25:54Z")
Future movies will show 2020s Americans as Instagram influencers, with glittering bronze plasticine skin and microfiber hair. Or the sort seen at Trump rallies. No middle ground. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/31 "2022-02-13T23:54:36Z")
Scruffy beards on the men, side shaved hairstyles in the women ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/32 "2022-02-14T01:24:17Z")
I’m not sure! Purple/blue/pink hair on women, bald musclemen, tattoos, rings through the nose, leggings, LOL. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/33 "2022-02-14T01:30:25Z")
We’ve got a Spirit Week coming up, and on Thursday, students are supposed to dress in “retro” fashions from the 2000s. I’m not even sure what those are. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/34 "2022-02-14T01:30:53Z")
You can almost always tell the real smokers from the non-. The real smokers never make a point of actually smoking unless it’s scripted; they only take a drag when it’s convenient. Otherwise, the cigarette is basically just forgotten, and their hands move naturally like it’s not even there. Non-smokers always have to mess with it and just look uncomfortable holding it, like they don’t know what to do with it (because they don’t). John Travolta in **Pulp Fiction** comes immediately to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/35 "2022-02-14T01:31:17Z")
Don’t forget the bright white teeth ETA the movie Poms with Diane Keaton had an important scene set sitting in the bleachers. The wind was fierce in the some shots, non existent in others. It was really annoying to watch. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/36 "2022-02-14T01:43:43Z")
I’d go as Jack Bauer. With a hacksaw. And my date would go as Chloe. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/37 "2022-02-14T03:06:24Z")
“You just don’t get it, do you?” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/38 "2022-02-14T04:20:23Z")
Campers hiking into the wilderness always wear backpacks that are filled only with air because they obviously weigh nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/39 "2022-02-14T04:30:50Z")
Next time you are in the cereal aisle at the grocery store look at all the photos on the boxes of the cereal sitting nicely in their bowls of milk. Yeah, that’s not milk. It’s white glue ala Elmer’s. Photographers use it so the can position the cereal exactly how they want it and it doesn’t get soggy. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378/40 "2022-02-14T05:13:07Z")
I worked with a food photographer who, whenever he had to shoot milk or mineral water or Diet Cola or anything being poured, he’d get the liquid constructed. As in getting it blown in glass, either clear or opaque. With or without ice cubes. The cost of that was still a lot less than taking hours to pour and clean up and re-pour a glass or bowl full of liquid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-always-empty/959378.md?page=3)