# White hot anger at "White Noise" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 5, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775 "2005-08-05T20:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/1 "2005-08-05T20:28:25Z")
Grrrr… stupid movie… pointless predictable pile…- Batman would never act like that… goddamned glorifying fucking pseudo-science of what the fuck is EVP anyways - oh, voices of the dead revealed in tape hiss - I’ll fucking show those shit sucking ghosts by turning on Dolby NR… movie freaking-out Mrs. Call who won’t listen to the radio now - make me yell “cite!” 20 times/minute at stupid freaks in bonus material “documentaries” - why the hell’d I watch’em anyways?.. now gotta research so Mrs. Call will sleep with me - convince her it’s bullshit… goddamned waste of time… \ Harumph… ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/2 "2005-08-05T20:32:27Z")
I hope that the movie coming out next year based on the DeLillo novel “White Noise” changes its name so there’s less confusion with this crap. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/3 "2005-08-05T20:35:21Z")
Oh, by the way: [“White Noise”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375210/) and [EVP](http://aaevp.com/) Mrs. Call will sleep with me now (in a room with two clock radios, and a TV screen, computer fan - lotsa white noise generators) thanks to [this guy](http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/evp.html). ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/4 "2005-08-05T21:35:49Z")
I feel ypur pain. I [pitted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=292752&highlight=white+noise) this POS myself a while ago. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/5 "2005-08-05T21:48:44Z")
**Nature’s Call** (and hello and good to meet you), I have no quarrel with the OP – I didn’t see the flick – but I’m a little confused. Are you pitting a horror movie because it failed to horrify you, or because it succeeded in horrifying your wife, or because the shoddy source material put you in a bad temper, which started an argument with your wife that ended with her refusing to sleep with you? I’d never heard of EVP before – it sounds entertainingly stupid. It reminds me of what the man said when someone asked him how he carved wooden horses: “Easy. Take a big stick, and cut off everything that doesn’t look like a horse.” Glad things are working out, though. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/6 "2005-08-05T22:49:24Z")
I think he’s pissed that his wife bought into that “based on a real phenomenon” crap that they were using to promote the picture, and is now to freaked out to go to bed. Not sure what Batman has to do with it, though… ---
**Author:** ![dare\_devil007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@dare\_devil007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dare_devil007)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/7 "2005-08-05T23:09:48Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I think he’s pissed that his wife bought into that “based on a real phenomenon” crap that they were using to promote the picture, and is now to freaked out to go to bed. > > Not sure what Batman has to do with it, though… Well, Michael Keaton played Batman in, uh, some Batman movie and he’s in _White Noise_. At least, I think that’s what the OP means… ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/8 "2005-08-06T03:15:30Z")
> [@dare\_devil007\_](#): > > Well, Michael Keaton played Batman in, uh, some Batman movie and he’s in _White Noise_. At least, I think that’s what the OP means… But what does that have to do with saving ailing car manufacturing jobs with the aid of Japanese investors? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/9 "2005-08-06T03:29:10Z")
It sounds like the DVD includes the “documentary” material on EVP that was used to promote the film. When I first saw the pseudo-doc, I thought it was a mock up in the vein of the _Blair Witch_ special that was used to sell that film. In the thread that I linked to above, I was informed that it wasn’t a staged documentary at all, but a serious presentation of the kooks and enthusiasts that are into this stuff, complete with “real” spooky recordings of dead people. It would obviously be silly to pit a movie just for having supernatural elements to it. There’s nothing wrong with a ghost story just for the fun of it. The irritating thing for me (and it seems for **Nature’s call** as well) was the promotional campaign and the stupid “documentary” material which gives this bunk a credibility it doesn’t deserve and which a lot of people aren’t going to realize is nonsense. Hollywood can make all the ghost stories it wants but I just wish they wouldn’t try to tell me it’s “real.” I’ve always had a similar feeling about the _Amytiville Horror_. That whole story was a hoax. The family _admitted_ it was a hoax. But lots and lots of people still think that was a genuine haunted house. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/10 "2005-08-06T03:44:57Z")
Yes, I was rather incoherent in my utterings… I pit the “glorification of pseudo-science” The movie was weak, but mildly entertaining. I enjoy a supernatural movie that is logically consistent - this movie ain’t… and although bad, that fact is beside the point. It was strange, while watching the movie I was hoping Michael Keaton (formerly the Batman) would go back to the psychic that made a brief appearence (the psychic was a lone voice of reason… um suspension of disbelief anyone?) What angered me was the copy on the back of the DVD trumped up the EVP-as-fact “documentaries” and it just pisses me off that the presumably intelligent producers of the movie would play that card. With the current debate in many school jurisdictions about whether Intelligent Design should be taught as an equal contender to evolution, any promotion of pseudo-science is fucking wrong. Mrs. Call has talked up the movie to our neighbour. (she enjoyed it because the suspense and jump-out-of-the-screen jolts were not too badly done) I just spent the last coupla hours listening to how a wooded area not too far from here is “haunted.” Arrrggghhh! ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/11 "2005-08-06T04:18:21Z")
I don’t blame you for pitting “White Noise”. When the _Hell_ are they going to get a bass player? Oh wait - that’s something else. I haven’t seen the movie “White Noise” but one of the _many_ strange things concerning the “science” of EVP is, what did spirits do BEFORE the invention of radio, TV, tape recorders, etc? Oh I guess they made personal appearances as apparitions and held conversations that way. But if that’s the case and if they’ve adapted to the new electronic technologies, why do they bother to keep making personal appearances as so many “credible” people have testified? Also, are the residents of the spirit world well-educated in the ways of high-tech electronics? What about spirits that chose to express themselves through 8 track tapes or Sony Betamax videocassettes? Would they be screwed out of communicating because these formats have become obsolete? Wow this pseudo-science stuff is pretty hard to fathom. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/12 "2005-08-06T04:29:09Z")
To the OP: I found [this rant](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=203185) more comprehensible than yours, although the e ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/13 "2005-08-06T04:30:35Z")
xplanations have made things clearer. (This really should not count as two posts. I wonder if it could be spliced?) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/14 "2005-08-06T04:35:45Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > But what does that have to do with saving ailing car manufacturing jobs with the aid of Japanese investors? Dunno. Just don’t say his name three times. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/15 "2005-08-06T06:47:39Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Dunno. Just don’t say his name three times. “Mr. Mom, Mr. Mom, Mr. Mom…AAAAAHHHH!!!” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/16 "2005-08-06T14:36:50Z")
A couple of years ago, I went to one those EVP/Ghost Photo sites and was completely horrified! Horrified that I wasted valuable internet time on those pages! Seriously, even tho I believe in the IPU and MSF myself, and I think there are things we may not ever know about our Universe, when it comes to someone actually trying to explain things, they had better differentiate supposition and/or personal conviction from Scientific Method. When they don’t, it just makes me mad. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/17 "2005-08-06T14:56:41Z")
_White Noise_ was quite foolish, and I too absolutely hated the presentation of EVP as a “real-life” phenomenon. The story was very convoluted as well, and I thought that: His apology to his son was an absolutely bullshit thing to do, given his own experiences hunting for messages from his dead wife in static. Way to fuck the kid up for life even further. Having said that, the film did have a few good moments that made me jump, which I enjoy, so that was one positive aspect. And, Michael Keaton is from the 'burgh, so I always feel a bit partial to his movies, even though in recent years they stink more often than not. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/18 "2005-08-06T15:37:20Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > Having said that, the film did have a few good moments that made me jump, which I enjoy, so that was one positive aspect. Agreed! In fact I’d go further: The cinematography was delicious - a clean, subdued palette, understated and beautiful lit. As far as make-you-jump-horror-movies go, this is one of the better ones, with well executed tension building sequences, a couple good creep out visuals, and startle points that were not overly gratuitous as is often the case in the genre. It was foolish in that it lacks logic… [spoiler]- If only a few words get through at first, how did Raymond Price know it was Rivers’ wife? - How is merely listening to static "meddling? - What were the evil three ghosts trying to achieve? - Too lazy to continue with the countless other hunh? moments.[/spoiler] …it was predictable as hell [spoiler] - As soon as wifey was introduced all of us watching simultaneously shouted “she’s dead” with Mrs. Call getting bonus points for saying “and I bet she’s pregnant.” - others[/spoiler] …and other nit-picks. But as **Diogenes the Cynic** correctly pointed out, the rant was aimed at treating EVP as “real” both in marketing (back of DVD) and in the stupid ass “documentaries” in the bonus features. Anything that promotes superstitious bullshit should burned then pissed on. This got me going because it has a much higher appearence of credibility. If [Duane Gish](http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/science/creationism/gish.html) spouts creationism claptrap, it’s no biggie. If Dan Rather did, it’d piss me off. Either the producers of “White Noise” are believers (unlikely), or they are stooping to this brand of “documentary” out of greed. Mrs. Call and I love to have fright night at the movies from time to time, and the marketers could have hooked us (and I suspect many others) without stooping to glorifying pseudo-science - shameful, pitworthy behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/19 "2005-08-09T17:26:57Z")
I have to admit - way back when I was a Little Lacha, I watched an episode of Leonard Nimoy’s _In Search Of_, and it featured EVP, and it spooked the holy hell out of me! Thus, so did the movie. I don’t know if I buy into the paranormal as presented by their “documentary,” but it really brought back an eight-year-old’s fear pretty damned quickly. After the first “whisper,” I was sorry I rented the fucking thing. :wally \<---- me! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775/20 "2005-08-09T17:48:54Z")
> [@Daithi Lacha](#): > > I have to admit - way back when I was a Little Lacha, I watched an episode of Leonard Nimoy’s _In Search Of_, and it featured EVP, and it spooked the holy hell out of me! Thus, so did the movie. I don’t know if I buy into the paranormal as presented by their “documentary,” but it really brought back an eight-year-old’s fear pretty damned quickly. After the first “whisper,” I was sorry I rented the fucking thing. > :wally \<---- me! I _totally_ do NOT buy into this paranormal stuff, or any other paranormal explanations for that matter. But you know what? EVP freaks me out still. No idea why. It’s likely that ‘White Noise’, as stupid as it looks to most people, would scare me too damn much for me to watch it. And I am a “veteran” of watching the scariest movies ever made. There’s just something about EVP that gets under my skin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-hot-anger-at-white-noise/315775.md?page=2)