# Wait, that's real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103 "2012-01-02T01:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/181 "2012-01-05T23:42:27Z")
> [@coffinjumper](#): > > The trailers for Social Network I saw seemed to focus entirely on facebook. No they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/182 "2012-01-05T23:46:39Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > No they didn’t. I’m not going to argue with you. It was a year ago, that was the impression I got from the ones I saw. It’s possible that’s not what you got out of them, but it was mainly what I noticed. And the main impression they left with me. And honestly I don’t give a shit about the movie or the trailers now, so whatever. I’m glad you enjoyed it, but it’s not for me. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/183 "2012-01-05T23:51:57Z")
> [@coffinjumper](#): > > I’m not going to argue with you. It was a year ago, that was the impression I got from the ones I saw. It’s possible that’s not what you got out of them, but it was mainly what I noticed. And the main impression they left with me. And honestly I don’t give a shit about the movie or the trailers now, so whatever. I’m glad you enjoyed it, but it’s not for me. Who said I enjoyed it? I just can’t figure out why anyone would think that a movie about the creator of the 21st century’s most influential company would be a fake. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/184 "2012-01-06T00:41:33Z")
Years ago, I read a comic that had the television breathlessly pushing all kinds of junky kitchen appliances, such as salad spinners and turnip twaddlers, on the hapless Opus the Penguin. It was obviously a parody of infomercials and the likes of Ronco. Imagine my surprise years later when I was helping to cook, and someone asks me to spin the salad. “Wait, you mean that really exists?” ---
**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:** [January 6, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/185 "2012-01-06T01:08:50Z")
> [@coffinjumper](#): > > I’m glad you enjoyed it, but it’s not for me. I didn’t enjoy it, but it definitely is not a movie about facebook, at least not the way you made it sound. It, to me, was a rather average movie about how a company got formed and many wealthy students arguing over who really started it. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/186 "2012-01-06T03:39:10Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Years ago, I read a comic that had the television breathlessly pushing all kinds of junky kitchen appliances, such as salad spinners and turnip twaddlers, on the hapless Opus the Penguin. It was obviously a parody of infomercials and the likes of Ronco. > > Imagine my surprise years later when I was helping to cook, and someone asks me to spin the salad. “Wait, you mean that really exists?” A rip-off of a classic [Woody Allen nightclub routine](http://www.ibras.dk/comedy/allen.htm#Mechs). ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/187 "2012-01-06T05:13:25Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I didn’t enjoy it, but it definitely is not a movie about facebook, at least not the way you made it sound. It, to me, was a rather average movie about how a company got formed and many wealthy students arguing over who really started it. We are obviously never going to agree or get each other’s view here. To my mind, a movie about the founding of facebook is still a movie about facebook. It’s just being pedantic. And I still don’t care about it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Captain\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_M)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/188 "2012-01-06T16:31:32Z")
Going off the Roger Ramjet example, the animated cartoon based on the video game Earthworm Jim had the main characters dwell in the city of “Turlawk” California. I later found out there really is such a place, only it is actually spelled “Turlock.” ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/189 "2012-01-06T17:17:30Z")
One from **The Dark Knight** that got me, was when Batman kidnapped Lau from Hong Kong. I thought that the “winch on a plane” escape was ridiculous, and would have ripped him in half. It took me out of the story at the time. Turns out the [Skyhook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system) system was developed by the CIA back in the 50s, and was tested first with a pig and then actual live humans (and they remained so afterwards). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/190 "2012-01-06T17:44:55Z")
> [@coffinjumper](#): > > We are obviously never going to agree or get each other’s view here. To my mind, a movie about the founding of facebook is still a movie about facebook. It’s just being pedantic. And I still don’t care about it. To the extent that _Radio_ is a movie about football, or _Lord of the Rings_ is about jewelry, sure. But after reading this thread I looked up some trailers on YouTube, and some did make it seem like it was all about logging on to FB. That’s just bad marketing. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/191 "2012-01-06T17:50:20Z")
In reading the _Illuminatus!_ trilogy, I assumed that the island of [Fernando Poo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Po) was fictitious. But then the whole nature of that book is to get you confused about what’s real and what’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/192 "2012-01-06T18:16:15Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > In reading the _Illuminatus!_ trilogy, I assumed that the island of [Fernando Poo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Po) was fictitious. But then the whole nature of that book is to get you confused about what’s real and what’s not. I knew that Fernando Poo was real, but according to your wiki link there is an actor named Fernando POE. I would assume that was a chain yank, given the relationship of POE with Fair Play for Fernando Poo in Illuminatus, but reality does seem to bend over backwards to mimic those books in the most surprising ways. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/193 "2012-01-06T21:50:42Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > I followed the link to look at the picture, and “extraneous figures” is the understatement of all time. 🆒 There’s not thirteen at dinner, there’s three dozen or more. Its like “Where’s Waldo: Renaissance Edition.” Look at the one called “The Wedding at Cana”. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Paolo_Veronese%2C_The_Wedding_at_Cana.JPG) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Paolo_Veronese%2C_The_Wedding_at_Cana.JPG) Three times as many people and animals, climbing the walls, playing musical instruments, prepping food. The guy in green in the front left appears to only have one leg, and it is twisted into a weird position. Jesus is sitting in the center staring straight ahead with a look of astonishment - complete with lines radiating from his head to emphasize the expression. (Yeah, I know that’s supposed to be his holy radiance, but it still kinda resembles how artists depict astonishment.) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/194 "2012-01-06T22:31:50Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > But after reading this thread I looked up some trailers on YouTube, and some did make it seem like it was all about logging on to FB. That’s just bad marketing. If you are talking about [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53OUHupfqws) one. I actually like it as a short film. It just oozes how ubiquitous Facebook as become in many people’s lives. It’s very “slice of life” for the early 2010s for good or for ill. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/195 "2012-01-07T00:25:03Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > If you are talking about [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53OUHupfqws) one. I actually like it as a short film. It just oozes how ubiquitous Facebook as become in many people’s lives. It’s very “slice of life” for the early 2010s for good or for ill. Oh! I hadn’t seen that one. Wow that’s good. I don’t mean to derail the thread but this was a really interesting movie and the performances by Timberlake and the guy who played the twins were awesome. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/196 "2012-01-07T00:38:21Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > In the U.S., “spastic” is nothing more than an adjective one might use to be insulting or condescending to someone who is clumsy or awkward - there is an inkling that it might relate to something clinical, but it’s a lot more likely that someone would just toss off “jeez, you are SUCH a spazz.” > > As an exchange student in Scotland, I was at a friend’s house with his parents when there was a knock on the door. Everyone was cooking, so they asked me to answer. “Help the Spastics?” was the pleasant opening line from the woman at the door holding out a cup for a donation. > > I lost it (I was a stupid 19yo at the time), burst out laughing and ran back in the house. I had to leave it to my friend’s parents to wash their hands, attend to the folks at the door and give them a BIG donation. > > I have no clue if “spastic” is still legitimately used in Scotland or the greater UK… Yeah, in the US it’s nothing, about as offensive as doofus or something. In the UK though, surrious bidnez. Last year Hasbro was going to sell a Transformers figure in the US with the name Spastic. People in the UK went, well, spastic at the very notion, even though the toy wasn’t even going to be sold anywhere but the US, and so Hasbro relented and renamed the toy. ---
**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:** [January 7, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/197 "2012-01-07T01:16:40Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Yeah, in the US it’s nothing, about as offensive as doofus or something. In the UK though, surrious bidnez. > . [Mario Party 8 got pulled from the shelves over the word spastic, actually. The fixed after realizing their error. Changed the word to erratic.](http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/mario-party-8-back-on-august-3rd) ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/198 "2012-01-07T21:51:53Z")
A friend of mine mentioned to a co-worker she’d just returned from a family funeral in a different state. When asked whereabouts, she answered, “Forks, Washington.” Co-worker got pretty irritated and replied, “You don’t have to make crap up to impress me!” Seems since Twilight is set in Forks, she assumed it was a make-believe town. I have no idea how, “I went to my dad’s funeral in imaginary land,” is supposed to invoke envy. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/199 "2012-01-07T22:42:17Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Look at the one called “The Wedding at Cana”. > [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Paolo\_Veronese%2C\_The\_Wedding\_at\_Cana.JPG](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Paolo_Veronese%2C_The_Wedding_at_Cana.JPG) > > Three times as many people and animals, climbing the walls, playing musical instruments, prepping food. The guy in green in the front left appears to only have one leg, and it is twisted into a weird position. He’s standing on his left leg with his right leg up on the step in front of him. He’s gesturing with his snake (hur hur) towards the woman looking straight out of the canvas over on the left hand side, whose attributes are so astonishing that the guy behind her, the one next to her, AND the woman to the far side of him are all gawking at them as well. The woman at the far end of that table can only pick her teeth and gaze dreamily from afar, sadly… ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103/200 "2012-01-08T03:03:02Z")
I was once the subject of OMG that’s real. Decades ago during univesity freshmen orientation our little tour group of dozen or so incoming freshmen is talking to each other as we are being shown the library, the UC, etc., and I am asked about my ethnicity. I told them I was Roma and about half of group doesn’t know what that is, so I explain. Three people, one a white woman from a small town and a black woman and a black man from urban Houston of all places responded more or less with “Wow, I thought gypsies were just something they made up for fairy tales.” The woman from the small town asked if she could take a picture of me to send home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-thats-real/608103.md?page=11)