Artist Creates Mac Shrine

uucee writes "Wired has a story on an artist's Mac shrine. Apparently a big Mac fan, the photographer "tried to persuade his assistant to get an Apple tattoo for a photo shoot. She refused, opting for a temporary one instead." No word of a Macquarium being part of the collection." I like the idea of a desk built out of Macs.

Comments

trekkies

[happystink]

That quote where the guy says he thinks the assistant will get an apple tattoo when she's more into macs, that is just so annoying, it changes this guy from "dork with sort of neat hobby" to "aggravating fanatic", and it reminds me of the dental assistant in Trekkies who admits that she dresses up Star Trek-style because the dentist threatened to fire her if she didn't.

Re:trekkies

[SPYvSPY]

One major difference: The guy in the Wired article is constantly surrounded by hot (often nude) chicks.

Re:trekkies

[nizo]

Note to self: the more Macs you have, the more likely the chance that you will be surrounded by hot nude chicks. Apple sales to increase dramatically once a government funded study finally proves this.

Next week

[Anonymous Coward]

Lisa Pedagucci, a successful and attractive business owner, demonstrates her Microsoft Office shrine.

Re:Next week

[bobtheprophet]

Microsoft shrine? Speaking of satanic cults...

Apple tattoos!!!

[The Original Yama]

OOH! Apple Tattoos are so SEXY! What part of her body did she put it on? Anyone got copies of the pictures?

Here's One for PowerBooks

[G0SP0DAR]

with lots of cool pictures of artistically modified Macintosh portables.
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/cristal/apple.html

Ok...

[natron 2.0]

So there are some real fanatics out there...so what? I am sure all of you who are dissing this guy and article are guilty of similar crimes. How many of you go out and find a new game only to become addicted to it, say Warcraft III, and also buy all the marketing extras such as the action figures, books, and what not. I myself do not know enough about Macs to have a definite opinion of them but it seems they are diong something right because they have such a strong cult following and I would have to definately praise Steve Jobs for his wonderful marketing tactics.

Re:Is it just me

[happystink]

Or maybe it's cause they know that they will get guaranteed links from slashdot and dozens of mac sites. They've hit on an easy formula that gets them hits (which they desperately need), and they're going with it. Unfortunately it means we're stuck reading stories like this and "man spills ketchup on dog and it looks like an apple logo!" all the time.

Re:Is it just me

[phillymjs]

Well, when you've got an entire section of your site called 'Cult of Mac' (the name of which I mildly object to), you've got to update it rather regularly.

Plus Wired has its share of Mac fans on the staff-- read the colophon sometime, it's like the freakin' Macintosh Product Guide. :-)

~Philly

...a big Mac fan...

[wneto]

took some time to realize this post was not related to junk food.

What's an Apple II doing in there??

[blakespot]

Mac shrine? What's he doing with an Apple //c 9" mono monitor (one of FrogDesign's efforts) thrown in? See what I mean towards the left in this image from the article.

I love the II but it ain't a Mac.

blakespot

Brand identity

[shawkin]

Real Mac cultists get an Apple logo branded on their forehead.

Doesn't look too good

[cioxx]

To Blockquote the story:

Apparently a big Mac fan, the photographer...

One would think he mummified Big Macs in a grand trubute to Ron McDonald. I smell a lawsuit over the wording of this article.

In other news...

[Reality Master 101]

I love me saw so much that I had my wife get a tattoo in a private place that I won't mention.

Did I mention how much my saw rules over other saws? It cuts at least twice as fast over those cheaper brands that all the other idiots use.

Can't you tell how superior I am because of the saw I use? Can't you tell how much a part of the intellectual elite I am?

God, it's great to be me.

in some strange way...

[buzban]

i'm looking forward to when my ibook is part of that kind of collection. it's sort of funny how things look so sleek and modern and neat when they first come out and then look absolutely dated 15 yrs later.

i guess the most interesting ones to me are the macs (or any other machine) that retain their sex appeal even after all that time...and there aren't too many of those...

Ellen would do it...

[DarkHelmet]

Lima even tried to persuade his assistant to get an Apple tattoo for a photo shoot. She refused, opting for a temporary one instead. "She's only just been exposed (to Macs)," he said. "I think in a couple of years she will go for it."

I bet if you get Ellen Feiss stoned enough, she'll be willing to get the Tat..

I bet Apple would even pay for the ganja, too...

I think I get it now

[van der Rohe]

I used to think Macs and their users were just sort of silly, but after more and more articles like this I think I'm starting to understand the mindset a little better.
It's not really about using a computer any more than, for example, driving a Volkswagen Bug is about driving a car. Issues like functionality, efficiency, etc. are completely secondary to issues like sense of community, warm fuzziness, etc.
Do you think the average Bug driver would scrap their car if the gas mileage was worse than an SUV? It's not about mileage - it's about round.
Do you think the average Mac zealot cares that OSX.2 is slow? It's not about speed - it's about blue.

This isn't really a dis, although I'll admit it's a world I don't begin to understand.

Re:I think I get it now

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Parent was marked as a troll, which isn't quite fair -- it's abrasive, but mostly it shows a lack of comprehension.

Here's the deal: the vast majority of Mac users, including me, are interested in functionality, efficiency, etc. Almost all of us have had substantial exposure to the Windows world (I work in a shop that's just about 50/50, and administer both) and have decided that for our own uses, Macs just work better. The aesthetics are a bonus. A nice bonus, sure, just like it's a nice bonus when you drive a car that gets good performance and good mileage, is highly reliable, and looks good too. But I'd use a PC without regard to aesthetics if there were any PC OS that delivered the ease of use, functionality, and reliability I get with Mac OS X, at a substantially lower cost. Except ... there isn't.

The significant thing about guys like this photographer is not that they're representative of Mac users, because they're not, but that they exist at all. The Mac fails to inspire that kind of fanatic loyalty in 99 44/100 % of Mac users -- but Windows fails inspire that kind of fanatic loyalty in 100% of PC users. Think about that for a while.

A few 'not-Mac' items in there...

[phillymjs]

If you look at the photos closely, you can see a Lisa, a Newton 110-120-130 form factor, an eMate, a PowerCD, and a QuickTake 100- and 200-series cameras. Below and to the right of the Jim Henson poster, it looks like he's even got one of those set-top box prototypes, sitting underneath a laptop.

This is more of an Apple shrine than a Mac shrine, but I suppose it's mostly Mac enough for Wired to be able to call it a Mac shrine.

~Philly

Why????

[IamTheRealMike]

I'd love to gain some insight into the psychology behind people who become fanatical over products. What exactly motivates people to do all these crazy things in the name of a piece of electronics?

Now please don't give me any BS about how it's because the Mac is "so high quality" and "a classy piece of gear" as a Machead once tried to convince me, you can get high quality cars, stereo systems, hell even high quality food, but you don't see people build shrines to the Porsche do you? Or maybe you do.....

If anything I can kind of understand Linux freaks, as it's more a movement (vive la revolution and all that) than a product. But the Mac isn't anything other than some heavily marketed electronics. What motivates these people?

Re:Why????

[flash010]

First, you make a product that really just seems to work well. In fact, it works so well that millions of people credit it with their successes and careers. So you have a core group of people who love and appreciate this product.

Then, you get a huge group of other people to attack this product. It works best if these people have never had to rely on the product, or they use another, markedly inferior one.

The first group circles the wagons, and adopts a seige mentality. Their joy in the product becomes defense of the product.

It's not such a mysterious phenomenon. Gun owners, religious groups, Doom vs. Duke Nukem, Tivo, cattle vs. sheep ranching -- you name it.

Re:Why????

[MoneyT]

Very simple.

1) Community. There's not much more you can say about that. There is a mac community. But you won't find a dell community, or a gateway community, or a windows community. There's a linux community, but a lot of them tend to not like outsiders.

2) It's still the revolution. Jobs may have declared the desktop wars to be over and M$ the victor, but that doesn't stop mac users from defending their territory and trying to expand. We fought a long and weary battle during the desktop wars, it's not s spirit you give up on so easy. Besides, we need something to do since we're not spending our time trouble shooting our computers (sorry, I had to say it).

2.5) Mystic. The first Apple's were made in wooden boxes and made in a garage. It's a legend. PCs just don't have that. The great story behind windows is Bill Gates bluffed his way into DOS and IBM. The closest thing on the PC is Linux, the vision of a college student.

3) Style. Let's face it, when was the last time a PC ever drew looks? PCs are boring (they're getting better) they've become tools. Like the cars you see on the road today. They're all the same, but then you see a car from yesteryear go by and it's all shiny and polished. It may not be the fastest and most efficient car on the block, but it's the one drawing looks. Watch a room where someone opens up a mac laptop. Slowly people wander over and begin pointing at things on the screen asking what things are, what they do, what's this what's that. No PC does that. Macs draw attention.

4) Satisfaction. Macs may not be the fastest machines out there. But they do the job, they do it well, they do it reliably and they look good doing it. It's hard to describe it, but there is something about using a mac that just isn't in a PC. It's like a new toy, but this one never grows old.

5) Loyalty works both ways. Someone here once said that though they will defend the mac against outside critisism, mac users are some of the harshest critics of the platform. We have a way that we like things to be. They have to be part of our system. If ti doesn't shape up the way we want or something is wrong, Apple hears about it and hears us loud and clear. And because we're loyal to the company, Apple tends to listen to us. When was the last time a bunch of people bitching at M$ ever got results? Each change from OS X beta, to X, to X.1 to X.2 has parts that reflect the comments of the users. It's like if someone you had just met today came up to you and said that you need to change some things about your life and went through a list of flaws, you'd write them off and ignore them. But if a friend, who even though you know they'll stick with you no matter what, came up to you and said you needed to change a few things, you would actualy consider the advice.

amateur!

[danamania]

pfft. 35 macs in "five or six years". I hadn't touched the things until mid 2000, and now there's 40 hanging around my apartment. They breed.

(ever seen pizzaboxes mating? it's not a pretty sight)

Misread it....

[evilviper]

When I misread that first line:

Like a lot of U.S. immigrants, Brazilian- porn photographer Caesar Lima started from scratch when he moved to Los Angeles in 1985.

I thought the artice was going to be much more interesting... Oh well.

Another piece of iMac-inspired art

[XNormal]

Here

Hmm...

[rnd()]

This reminds me of those people who become so attached to their pets that when the pets die they have them freeze-dried.

Oh sure!

[psxndc]

If I built a shrine to a Mac I get put on the front page of /., but if I build one tiny little shrine to Heidi Klum containing pictures, autographs, candid pohotos, pieces of her garbage and old phone bills, I get escorted away from her gate by police and get handed a restraining order. I just don't understand...

psxndc

Apple tattoos

[Logic Bomb]

One of the employees at my Apple Store has two Apple tattoos, an "open Apple" and a "closed Apple", on the inside of his wrists. I believe they are on the correct left/right sides. :-)

Re:Apple tattoos

[lemkebeth]

What do you expect?

The people Apple hires for those stores are Mac fanatics!

Mac Genius positions are filled by those who literally would bleed Aqua if it were possible.

So devoted are Mac Geniuses.

Here is the Mac Genius Job descriptor:

[begin quote]

Mac Genius

Ambassador to the local Macintosh community

Do you love Macs and enjoy interacting with other Mac users? Does the thought of working for Apple make you tingle more than those three seconds right after a sneeze? If so, and you enjoy working with people as much as PC's, you might have what it takes to become a Mac Genius.

Millions of users around the world know that when done right, a computer can be much more than a bland box made for the
left side of the brain. They know the elegance and power of the Macintosh.

As a Mac Genius, you'll play host to this remarkable community of people. Whether someone wants a casual conversation about Digital Video or needs an emergency Hard Drive replacement, you'll be there. Your fundamental mission: Ensure no Mac User ever again receives inadequate service or second-class treatment.

Now we realize not just anyone has what it takes to be a Mac Genius. That's the point. You have to be the best. Still interested?

Key Features:

Confidently manages other operating systems, but handles a Mac like Yo-Yo-Ma plays the Cello.

Would rather be in the front row of a MacWorld Keynote than have free cable for a year.

Can delicately identify the difference between a misguided User and an unhealthy Macintosh.

Instinctively straightens the Mac software shelves when shopping at the local computer store.

Genuinely enjoys helping others make the most of their Macs.

Comfortably translates "techno-jargon" into laymen's terms.

Skillfully restores ailing Macs back to full health.

Has been able to find Cupertino, CA on a US Map since the age of 12.

Would move to Timbuktu if they required all computers to be Macs.

Always eager to discuss cutting edge technology and why Macs rule.

Job Description:

Lead an interactive environment where people can gather with their Macs to ask questions and learn new things.

Enrich the Apple/Customer relationship by quickly resolving and documenting technical support events.

Provide ongoing technology coaching to a terrific service oriented sales team.

Help snuff out any new and unusual gremlins by quickly notifiying Apple's engineering teams.

Make Apple's Support Site the best in the business by contributing your own tips and tricks.

Keep your store in tip-top shape and give customers what they've always wanted; a little piece of Apple in their own backyard.

Communicate positively with store team members, customers, channel partners, and headquarters. Remember, you represent the Apple brand.

Be responsible and take good care of Apple's assets.

Maintain a fit and healthy Mac mind and oh yeah, have fun. This is Apple after all.

[end quote]

That is from Apple's own job search.

Couch

[telemnar]

Can't forget the MacII couch: here

The most fanatical brand loyalty...

[DavittJPotter]

Has to belong to Harley Davidson. No other company in the world has the following. Tattoos, vehicle editions, etc.

They're not the best motorcycle technically (stop, I love HD's, don't hammer me) - but they're the coolest/sexiest/most sought-after two-wheeled piece of machinery on many lists.

Why? They have a culture, a 'feel', a mystique that Honda or Yamaha doesn't. Yeah, a YZF-R1 can smoke any Harley. Yeah, a Gold Wing is more comfortable. But dammit, H-D is "The One."

I would imagine Mac zealots/fans feel much the same way. Like with a Harley, don't knock it until you try it. If it's not for you, that's cool. Those of us who 'get it' will keep hope alive for you. ;)

My favorite mac mod

[commodoresloat]

...has got to be the iBong.