# Who's the bloke on the main Google page today? Some famous film-maker? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409 "2010-03-22T23:22:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/1 "2010-03-22T23:22:34Z")
Is it some director’s birthday/anniversary? ---
**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:** [March 22, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/2 "2010-03-22T23:28:18Z")
I was puzzled by your post, since I see only the plain Google logo, until I saw your location. It’s not tomorrow yet over here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/3 "2010-03-22T23:29:32Z")
Akira Kurosawa. I didn’t recognize him either, but there’s a tool tip when you roll the mouse over it, and the image is named kurosawa10-hp.jpg. Not shown on the [google.com](http://google.com), BTW. I took it you were using google.com.au. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/4 "2010-03-22T23:34:49Z")
Akira Kurosawa, He made Seven Samuri, Ran, Yojimbo and a lot of others. If you click on the special google images there is usually a link to a google search of whatever they are commemorating. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/5 "2010-03-22T23:35:06Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Akira Kurosawa. I didn’t recognize him either, but there’s a tool tip when you roll the mouse over it, and the image is named kurosawa10-hp.jpg. Thanks for the tip. Yes, it says “100th birthday of Akira Kurosawa”. > [@yabob](#): > > Not shown on the [google.com](http://google.com), BTW. I took it you were using google.com.au. [google.com](http://google.com) defaults to google.com.au anyway ---
**Author:** ![Razrak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/razrak/32/5888_2.png) [@Razrak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razrak)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/6 "2010-03-23T01:05:39Z")
You can click on the image and google will automatically return a search on what the image represents. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/7 "2010-03-23T11:42:54Z")
I usually just mouse-over for the pop-up. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2010, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/8 "2010-03-23T11:59:45Z")
Perhaps not so much famous as [influential](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa#Influence) (which counts for a lot in that line of work, I’d say) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/9 "2010-03-23T12:40:32Z")
They don’t have the Kurosawa logo at their site yet, but the various personalized Google logos can be seen here: [http://www.google.com/logos/](http://www.google.com/logos/) How do you “force” [google.com](http://google.com) to go to the main US page? For example, we see that for Cunctator it automatically redirects to Australia. In my case, it automatically redirects to the French language Google (which doesn’t seem to show the Kurosawa logo) since my OS is set with French as the primary language. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/10 "2010-03-23T14:45:22Z")
Jeez, no link until we get to the 9th post. How can you expect us to know what you’re talking about without providing a link to the site in question? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/11 "2010-03-23T18:27:32Z")
Thanks for the thread. I was wondering too. I had to use the Australian Google for the first time and I didn’t want to look dense by asking who he was. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/12 "2010-03-23T22:06:38Z")
Interestingly enough, in the US we are being treated to the standard Google logo, so I’m wondering why they changed it in Aus, but not here. ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/13 "2010-03-23T22:39:56Z")
Odd…it was on my Google page (UK) a little while ago. Now it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/14 "2010-03-23T22:44:37Z")
kbear: did the Kurosawa logo go away around midnight UK time? That would not be odd. Akira Kurosawa’s birthday is 23 March. ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/15 "2010-03-23T22:59:47Z")
nope, it’s only 11pm here. Last time I remember seeing it was about 8pm ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/16 "2010-03-24T00:01:00Z")
When did the UK switch to daylight savings time? In the USA we switched 8 days ago and Switzerland didn’t change at the same time. So instead of 9 hours difference (California-Switzerloand) we had 8 hours difference. Maybe Google is doing something wrong with time zones? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/17 "2010-03-24T00:47:34Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > When did the UK switch to daylight savings time? It hasn’t. Europe goes onto DST on the last Sunday in March (i.e. 28 March). > [@Arnold Winkelried](#): > > In the USA we switched 8 days ago and Switzerland didn’t change at the same time. So instead of 9 hours difference (California-Switzerloand) we had 8 hours difference. Maybe Google is doing something wrong with time zones? At the moment the difference (California-Switzerland) is 8 hours. The difference (California-UK) is 7 hours. There’s an hour difference between the UK and Switzerland. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-bloke-on-the-main-google-page-today-some-famous-film-maker/533409/18 "2010-03-25T01:34:29Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > How do you “force” [google.com](http://google.com) to go to the main US page? There are a string of links under the search options: > [@](#): > > Advertising Programmes - Business Solutions - About Google - **Go to [Google.com](http://Google.com)**