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IBM Selectric Sightings

Started by Camazotz Automat, November 02, 2016, 04:40:00 PM

movie:  The Naked Face (1984)

The reception area of psychiatrist Judd Stevens' (Roger Moore) office.

WOTR

Quote from: Camazotz Automat on November 02, 2016, 04:40:00 PM
movie:  The Naked Face (1984)

The reception area of psychiatrist Judd Stevens' (Roger Moore) office.
My living room many years ago... With a bottle of white out beside it.

whoozit

I believe there is one in the beginning of the show UFO during the theme music.

ItsOver

One of my favorites.  Cassidy was so good.

"The 1976 Columbo story "Now You See Him", Jack Cassidy's perfect murder is foiled when the detective reads the killer's motive on the victim's used Selectric II carbon film ribbon."

The Wiki for the Selectric lists a bunch of sightings.

Quote from: WOTR on November 03, 2016, 12:22:20 AM
My living room many years ago... With a bottle of white out beside it.

What color was that bad boy?

(as movie props, beige or cream or gray are often the a selected colors instead of the blue, red, green, etc versions)

PChirp

Quote from: Camazotz Automat on November 03, 2016, 04:03:13 PM
What color was that bad boy?

(as movie props, beige or cream or gray are often the a selected colors instead of the blue, red, green, etc versions)

1986- Parent's home--lovely battleship gray, heavy-as-all-hell piece of machinery---again with the stand-by bottle of white out at hand.   High school was a wonderland.  :D  Good Times.

WOTR

Quote from: Camazotz Automat on November 03, 2016, 04:03:13 PM
What color was that bad boy?

(as movie props, beige or cream or gray are often the a selected colors instead of the blue, red, green, etc versions)
boring beige.  I wonder what ever happened to that beautiful piece of engineering...


Quote from: chefist on November 03, 2016, 08:46:04 PM
Mad Men 2007



I think it would be fair to say that Mad Men caused a lot of renewed interest in the Selectric (prices have risen accordingly!)  They purposely used the wrong year model of Selectric, as the Selectric II did not exist in the time period portrayed, but I think it was a good decision.  There was so much hyper-realism and authenticity to the show that it was cool knowing that there was at least one prop from the future to give the series a back door to the Twilight Zone on some level.

When I saw the movie It Follows - which was crammed with such anachronisms - I was hooked on viewing it again.  Initially, I thought they had made several mistakes.

Physical object impossibilities seem to echo Philip K. Dick's novel's realities.

Unless they are indeed simply prop mistakes made during low budget tax write off film projects.  Heh.

I'm wondering if perhaps there was a Selectric in It Follows.

Now, what is fucking bizarre, is that I just checked the wiki that ItsOver mentioned and discovered Philip K. Dick composed much of his work on a Selectric.

We're all just letters on a page.

tap tap tap tap


Quote from: WOTR on November 03, 2016, 08:41:55 PM
boring beige.  I wonder what ever happened to that beautiful piece of engineering...

Quote from: PChirp on November 03, 2016, 05:45:27 PM
1986- Parent's home--lovely battleship gray, heavy-as-all-hell piece of machinery---again with the stand-by bottle of white out at hand.   High school was a wonderland.  :D  Good Times.

Battleship gray, beige, or IBM electric blue, I sound like Ozzy at the end of a concert with Selectrics filling the stadium seats: "I love you all." 


Dr. MD MD

Surely, there must've been one in the movie War Games. No?  ???

albrecht

Quote from: Camazotz Automat on November 04, 2016, 12:03:21 AM
I think it would be fair to say that Mad Men caused a lot of renewed interest in the Selectric (prices have risen accordingly!)  They purposely used the wrong year model of Selectric, as the Selectric II did not exist in the time period portrayed, but I think it was a good decision.  There was so much hyper-realism and authenticity to the show that it was cool knowing that there was at least one prop from the future to give the series a back door to the Twilight Zone on some level.

When I saw the movie It Follows - which was crammed with such anachronisms - I was hooked on viewing it again.  Initially, I thought they had made several mistakes.

Physical object impossibilities seem to echo Philip K. Dick's novel's realities.

Unless they are indeed simply prop mistakes made during low budget tax write off film projects.  Heh.

I'm wondering if perhaps there was a Selectric in It Follows.

Now, what is fucking bizarre, is that I just checked the wiki that ItsOver mentioned and discovered Philip K. Dick composed much of his work on a Selectric.

We're all just letters on a page.

tap tap tap tap
I often get criticized for creating a "wall of text" or too long in replies but I credit that to actually being taught typing in school, on guess what? Now I hear they don't even teach typing in schools- even though supposedly more jobs and work are computer based. But I guess it is all touch-screen or emocons, or whatever they are called and limited message platforms to 140 characters? I have no idea how they write term papers? To me typing is much easier than pointing on a screen.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

GravitySucks

Quote from: albrecht on November 04, 2016, 05:49:29 PM
I often get criticized for creating a "wall of text" or too long in replies but I credit that to actually being taught typing in school, on guess what? Now I hear they don't even teach typing in schools- even though supposedly more jobs and work are computer based. But I guess it is all touch-screen or emocons, or whatever they are called and limited message platforms to 140 characters? I have no idea how they write term papers? To me typing is much easier than pointing on a screen.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

Best question ever submitted to the IT Help Desk:
"How do I know if I have a QWERTY keyboard?"

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: albrecht on November 04, 2016, 05:49:29 PM
I often get criticized for creating a "wall of text" or too long in replies but I credit that to actually being taught typing in school, on guess what? Now I hear they don't even teach typing in schools- even though supposedly more jobs and work are computer based. But I guess it is all touch-screen or emocons, or whatever they are called and limited message platforms to 140 characters? I have no idea how they write term papers? To me typing is much easier than pointing on a screen.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

Moi auci. My first two years of university I just used a typewriter in the early 90s. Also, all of the hackers/programmers I met back then were of the opinion that real programmers navigate almost exclusively through key commands.  ;) 8)

Jackstar

Quote from: albrecht on November 04, 2016, 05:49:29 PM
I often get criticized for creating a "wall of text" or too long in replies but I credit that to actually being taught typing in school



Also, you're a corporate fascist mouthpiece. Salut.


albrecht

Quote from: GravitySucks on November 04, 2016, 05:53:02 PM
Best question ever submitted to the IT Help Desk:
"How do I know if I have a QWERTY keyboard?"
When I hear some of the Help Desk stuff I cannot believe but I'm told my people who have worked there that, yes, people often are that ignorant or stupid. (Some people swear by the redesigned Dvorak keyboard, most systems allow you to switch. Supposed to be easier on the hands but you have to relearn how to type.)

albrecht

Quote from: Dr. MD MD on November 04, 2016, 05:56:32 PM
Moi auci. My first two years of university I just used a typewriter in the early 90s. Also, all of the hackers/programmers I met back then were of the opinion that real programmers navigate almost exclusively through key commands.  ;) 8)
Yeah, like the masters of Excel do.

Juan

No newfangled Selectric for me.  I use a 1933 Remington Noiseless Portable every day.

Dr. MD MD

Quote from: Juan on November 04, 2016, 06:11:52 PM
No newfangled Selectric for me.  I use a 1933 Remington Noiseless Portable every day.

Sweet! Upload a pic of it!  ;)

WOTR

Quote from: GravitySucks on November 04, 2016, 05:53:02 PM
Best question ever submitted to the IT Help Desk:
"How do I know if I have a QWERTY keyboard?"
One day I'm going to use that.

WOTR

Quote from: albrecht on November 04, 2016, 06:04:56 PM
(Some people swear by the redesigned Dvorak keyboard, most systems allow you to switch. Supposed to be easier on the hands but you have to relearn how to type.)
:o :-[


documentary: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (2015)

About four minutes in, a behemoth beige Selectric is seen in the office of once upon a time Lampoon editor/contributor P.J. O'Rourke.  This is not old footage, but a recent interview, and there's a sheet of typing paper in the machine. 


whoozit


GravitySucks

Quote from: whoozit on April 21, 2017, 09:27:23 PM
Already mentioned it long ago.  Look at reply #2.    :P

Damn.   I had never actually read this thread. Just remembered that it existed. 😎

Don't. Let the bedbugs bite.

whoozit

Quote from: GravitySucks on April 21, 2017, 09:31:12 PM
Damn.   I had never actually read this thread. Just remembered that it existed. 😎

Don't. Let the bedbugs bite.
The hotel is much better than last time.  I was so nice I got an upgrade to first class for free tomorrow.   :)

In movie, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (2018)

A beige Selectric II in Jane Curtin's office.

TV show: Young Sheldon: A Broom Closet and Satan's Monopoly Board (2019)

beige Selectric II in Sheldon's mother's office

movie: I, MADMAN (1989)

White Selectric II in police station

Finally. Something not beige.

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