# This seems like an insane amount of work and expense for a sight gag **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033 "2009-01-13T03:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/1 "2009-01-13T03:57:51Z")
[The New Apple Wheel Notebook](http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/2 "2009-01-13T05:51:09Z")
I’m gonna guess it’s not real and that the people ‘playing’ with it work for the onion. ETA, by ‘not real’ I mean…I mean I know it’s the onion, but I’m gonna guess it’s just a computer running an mpeg with a facade over the keyboard. That being said, I want the next gen. It’s four ounces lighter due to not having a hard drive, wheel or screen, especially since I’ll just be using it for dicking around. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/3 "2009-01-13T09:10:57Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > ETA, by ‘not real’ I mean…I mean I know it’s the onion, but I’m gonna guess it’s just a computer running an mpeg with a facade over the keyboard. I agree - especially as one obvious part of the gag is that _it’s actually difficult to control_ - any discrepancies between what appears on the screen and what the user is doing on the (fake) wheel are obscured anyway. Out of the whole video, there are only a few seconds in total where the screen can be seen at the same time as the user’s interaction with the wheel. > [@](#): > > That being said, I want the next gen. It’s four ounces lighter due to not having a hard drive, wheel or screen, especially since I’ll just be using it for dicking around. I want this one - it’s virtually unbreakable, unless dropped or hit. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/4 "2009-01-13T09:50:36Z")
Did you see how cool the predictive text sentences are? For example, “The aardvark asked for a ride.” I’m just like the guy in the piece: “I’ll buy anything that’s shiny and made by Apple.” ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/5 "2009-01-13T10:14:02Z")
They aren’t too far off the mark. Isn’t the whole point of Apple to create a world where people no longer have to understand language and jst srt 2 rt lk illtrt iDiots? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/6 "2009-01-13T10:53:05Z")
That’s Nokia, not Apple, really. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/7 "2009-01-13T11:18:46Z")
Everything is just a few hundred clicks away. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/8 "2009-01-13T12:29:18Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Did you see how cool the predictive text sentences are? For example, “The aardvark asked for a ride.” My favourite was ‘The abortion went well.’. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/9 "2009-01-13T12:40:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I > I want this one - it’s virtually unbreakable, unless dropped or hit. Yes, a great feature, because people never drop something meant to be carried around :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/10 "2009-01-13T13:16:53Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Yes, a great feature, because people never drop something meant to be carried around :dubious: c def 4 whoosh… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/11 "2009-01-13T13:21:50Z")
> [@Martiju](#): > > c def 4 whoosh… > > 😉 oops got me :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/12 "2009-01-13T13:50:01Z")
A funny comment I heard recently about Apple was : When you walk by the Apple store you can actually see the smugness billowing out the door. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/13 "2009-01-13T14:47:54Z")
“It remains to be seen if the Wheel will catch on in the business world where computers are used for actual work and not just dicking around.” Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/14 "2009-01-13T15:22:40Z")
The production values the Onion brings to bear on these video spots never fails to impress me. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/15 "2009-01-13T15:35:15Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > The production values the Onion brings to bear on these video spots never fails to impress me. I’m especially impressed by the female anchor, who does a perfect newscaster elongated-terminal-vowel. “What’s-his-face at the convention, has moooooooore.” ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/16 "2009-01-13T15:40:49Z")
The news ticker is hilarious. “Study finds horseback riding just an expensive form of sitting.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/17 "2009-01-13T15:53:09Z")
I like how the smallest 8 GB version is $2,900. I can’t wait until it comes out in 3 to 15 months. ---
**Author:** ![Alienhand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@Alienhand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alienhand)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/18 "2009-01-13T16:46:13Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Did you see how cool the predictive text sentences are? For example, “The aardvark asked for a ride.” My favorite was “The ass brayed at the moon.” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/19 "2009-01-13T17:26:26Z")
“the assumptive agricultural expert eyed our absinthe suspiciously” ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033/20 "2009-01-13T17:42:33Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > The production values the Onion brings to bear on these video spots never fails to impress me. Me neither. That’s why the video Onion pieces are so priceless. It’s not “an insane amount of work and expense,” because they make it look so real, and the actors play it so real, that if you weren’t listening to what they are saying, you’d think it were just another news piece about “technology.” Then you listen to what they’re saying, and the cognitive dissonance hits you–and that’s the basis for the greatest satire. Once that happens, you see the point they’re making (though that point is often simply about [how inane T.V. “news” is](http://www.theonion.com/content/video/man_who_crossed_nation_in_balloon)). It’s worth all the expense and and work, and it’s a lot more than a mere “sight gag.” > [@DMark](#): > > They aren’t too far off the mark. > Isn’t the whole point of Apple… They’re completely on the mark. “Our goal is create products that are simple to use, and nothing could be more simple than a single, giant button.” “We’re giving customers features they don’t even realize they want yet.” I’ll never understand why Apple users put up with the condescension Apple heaps on them. “It comes in colors.” Really? Then I guess I’ll buy one. What colors do you have? > [@DMark](#): > > … to create a world where people no longer have to understand language and jst srt 2 rt lk illtrt iDiots? Not language, just the very technology they’re using. Apple users have the same needs as any other computer users. But Apple wants to appeal to the people who refuse to even try to understand the very machines they are using. Think different? No, more like, “Don’t think.” > [@friedo](#): > > I’m especially impressed by the female anchor, who does a perfect newscaster elongated-terminal-vowel. “What’s-his-face at the convention, has moooooooore.” Yes, they’ve clearly done their homework. You have to appreciate that attention to detail. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-seems-like-an-insane-amount-of-work-and-expense-for-a-sight-gag/481033.md?page=2)