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Ellen Feiss Interview
An anonymous reader writes "The Wait is over! Ellen Feiss's interview is up! And she really was on drugs, (well, allergy meds.)" She's, like, going to be traumatized about this forever, like.
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Watch her here: http://www.apple.com/switch/ads/ellenfeiss.html
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
For the 234892 of you who will inevitably post 'the server was already slashdotted', the interview was a lot like a standard interview, with questions and answers. Ellen thinks your fascination with her is unhealthy and you should get lives. She doesn't like that she's on your coffee mug. The toothless man in the Feiss look-a-like contest was the funniest. The Dell dude is a doofus. She's friends with the son of Errol Morris and that's how she really got her part. And her ad was filmed at around 10pm and she was on Benadryl, so of course she seems out of it. Also, her really really good paper was about Chinatowns appearing in cities across America. She was asked to appear on Letterman/Leno but declined because she figured her fame would dry up quickly, like going from Leno to Regis to some local public access deal... but she's in talks with MTV and possibly the Farrelly brothers.
That's all from memory and I read it a while ago. Stop complaining about the server being slashdotted or CmdrTaco will come to your house and eat your children.
It seems others are noticing elen feiss's popularity with the geek crowd.
The apple of apple's eye: ellen feiss
... well it's a kind of confusing story, but anyway, they wanted me to be in one of their movies, but since they found out how old I was they don't think I can be in one. Supposedly, though, my agent is "floating my image," quote unquote. I don't know what the hell that means.
.... I thought it was the most boring thing. I got shuttled down to New York, and I got VIP seating, and I was like, "Wow, I'm at the Oscars or something," but then I was like, "No, I'm at Macworld." I met Steve Jobs. He called me by my first name -- clever, huh? It was brief.
her pc crashed, she made the switch, and now she's famous. meet the internet's latest it girl.
By Zachary Frechette
Ellen Feiss is a lot like most 15-year-olds, with one notable exception: Some guy in Holland is wearing a T-shirt with her face on it right now. Actually, a lot of people are wearing that shirt with her picture or drinking coffee from a similarly themed mug purchased on one of Ellen's numerous fan sites. After appearing in a "Switch" ad for Apple computer (www.apple.com/switch/ads), Feiss quickly became an Internet celebrity, spawning stories in newspapers from coast to coast and sparking discussion in chat rooms across the world. There was even a look-alike contest held outside Amsterdam, although most of the entrants were men. Some have argued she seems a bit too, um, light-headed in her commercial, but that hasn't stopped Leno and Letterman from trying to book her (actually, it probably helped). As a sophomore in high school, Ellen still isn't quite sure what to make of her 15 minutes, but between meetings with her agent and MTV executives, she took some time to answer questions for Post-.
How did you get involved with the Apple switch campaign in the first place?
It's kind of a funny story. I'm friends with the son of the director, Errol Morris. I'm friends with his son Hamilton. I went with him after school, him and two of my friends. We didn't think we were going to make ads; we were just going to get the free set food. So we go there, and they're like, "We need a couple more people, so I guess the three of you can make ads." So we all made ads, and me and Hamilton's got picked. I had no idea I was going to do it until I got there.
Is the story you told true?
Oh yeah, it's definitely true.
What was the paper about?
It was about Chinatown, and the formation of Chinatowns in America. I lost like three pages of it; it was terrible. It was a really, really good paper.
Did Apple compensate you for the commercial at all?
I'm not actually sure how much I got paid because it was in installments, and the whole contract was dealt with by my parents, so I'm not actually sure. Oh, and I got an iPod. It's like the coolest thing ever.
What was the initial response of your friends and family to the commercial?
They all freaked out. I called my dad while I was at the set because I had to get him to say that he was my guardian and it was OK for me to do it, and he didn't believe me that I was going to do it. So they all freaked out when they found out I got the ad.
Did you get a lot of phone calls after it aired?
Yeah, a lot of old camp friends, actually.
When did you start getting the sense you were becoming a celebrity beyond the commercial itself?
I was on vacation in Arizona this summer, and when I left everything was fine. It was kind of like, "Oh this is cool, I'm in a commercial," but that's it. And so we left. When we get back two weeks later, it's like a bombard, it was so big. I have like 20 messages on the answering machine from different people telling me about this, random people like people who work with my parents and all these other people. I get back and I'm in The New York Times, and I'm in the L.A. Times, and Letterman wants me on his show, Leno wants me on his show. I'm like, "I just got back from vacation!" It's funny because I get back, and the New York Times is like, "Ellen is unreachable for comment because she's supposedly on vacation," and I was like, "How do they even know this?" It was really kind of scary, actually, a little overwhelming at first.
So do you have any interest in doing Leno or Letterman?
I was offered to, but I decided not to because I thought it wouldn't be so much "Who are you, Ellen Feiss?" It would be more like, "Are you a stoner?" blah blah blah. I did get other offers besides that that I'm getting into. MTV wants to talk to me. They're doing a pilot on me. The guy's going to come to my house in two weeks and interview me, and then show it to the CEO of MTV. I got a lot of crazy offers. I thought if I went on Letterman, it would be like I go on Letterman, and then I go on "Regis and Kelly," and then I go on Channel 5 News, and then it would kind of fizzle out pathetically. MTV's a little cooler.
Any idea what the MTV show would be about?
No, he has no idea. He just said he liked the ads and said I was a cute kid.
Do you think this has the potential to jump-start a career in entertainment?
I don't know. I also got a call from the Farrelly Brothers. They were like, "You know we really like your ad," so they wrote down my name or something. I have an agent now. This guy writes me down -- the producer of all the Farrelly brothers movies -- and he's like this kid is whatever whatever, this ad is pretty funny, so he writes my name down and he's trying to get in contact with my agent. Since I didn't have an agent at that point
So have you made a bunch of new friends at school?
No, it isn't that weird. I get a lot of really obvious comments from people like "Did you know that there are mugs with your face on them?" and I'm like, "No I didn't; why don't you tell me about that?" Just comments like that. It's like, "Thanks for telling me about that."
Are you OK with all the Web sites, and people walking around wearing your face on their T-shirts?
Oh, whatever, I think it's kind of funny. These people don't have lives. I don't know, it was kind of bizarre at first. I went to my Web site but I decided not to read any of the comments because I thought it would be too weird. I heard about some of them, though, so I was like, "Weeell, I'm not going to read those."
Did you hear about the look-alike contest in Holland?
I did! I saw the pictures, too. It was really funny.
Did you have a favorite picture?
The toothless old man was hands down the best, but no one actually looked anything like me.
Has Apple tried to contact you since all this happened?
They contacted me to supposedly advise me. They were like, "We don't really want you to take this anywhere," but I decided to get an agent anyway. I went to Macworld in July. It seems like the kind of thing where if you're not in the biz
Do you have a favorite switch ad besides your own?
Probably Hamilton, just because I know him, and I saw him make it. It was so funny. Me and Hamilton have decided that our new nemesis is Jeremiah Cohick. He's our age, and he's trying to steal our limelight! We decided we don't like him. We're out to get him.
Does it bother you at all that some of your fame might be related to your perceived state of sobriety in the commercial?
It doesn't really bother me. I do admit to looking pretty out of it in that commercial -- I think I look horrible. It was after school, but I was the last person to make the commercial, so by the time I made it it was like 10, so I was really tired. The funny thing was, I was on drugs! I was on Benedryl, my allergy medication, so I was really out of it anyway. That's why my eyes were all red, because I have seasonal allergies. But no one believes me.
Do you feel any connection to the Dell dude?
No, none whatsoever. That guy's a doofus. I get a lot of "What if you guys had kids?" And I'm like, "What if we had kids?" Why would you ask that? What a weird question. They'd probably be blond.
zach frechette '04 forgot to ask if ellen knows janie porche's phone number.
She says "like", like 28 times. I like counted.
I agree! Apple has Ellen Feiss, linux people have Alan Cox and Richard Stallman, neither of whom are too appealing.
What we need to do is wait until Ellen's mac goes bleep, bleep and then shove a slackware cd into her hands. Then she can do commercials for linux.
The funny thing was, I was on drugs! I was on Benedryl, my allergy medication, so I was really out of it anyway. That's why my eyes were all red, because I have seasonal allergies. But no one believes me.
Mmmhmm.
Look, Ellen, I've done a lot of dope during my day. Bunch. Used to grow it, in fact. And I've taken Benadryl, too.
Not once has Benadryl made people think I'm high. Never. I've taken Benadryl, gone to work, nobody even knew. Weed makes people think I'm high. The bloodshot eyes, the lazy movements, the relaxed jaw and speaking style. Fuck, you're wearing a cotton pullover with a hood. Comfy clothes, man. Comfy clothes are all you care about wearing when you're stoned. Detective Rev. says that you were high as a fucking kite but can't admit it because you'll get in trouble.
Can't blame you, but can't believe you, either.
...you mean, that the the advertisment DIDNT use real people telling real stories ?! My god, they should fire all those advertising types because they mislead people...
Hello? McFly?
Go here to see her ad and you can make your own decisions. Warning - if you have a soft place in your heart for cute goofy stoner chicks you just might become obsessed. :)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
damnit, now im gonna have to go back to chasing Natalie Portman with a bowl full of grits.
Pay attention now mods, this is an attempt at HUMOR, not a troll, or flamebait, or offtopic. Thank you.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
At least she can laugh about all of the crazy stuff, like dress-up contests. Too many other people would, "like, freak out because that's really, like, wierd."
Ah to be 15, ignorant, naive, on Benadryl, and an instant celebrity.
"Oh, whatever, I think it's kind of funny. These people don't have lives..."
What's that sound? Ah yes, the sound of 1000 slashdotters being stabbed through the heart.
Well, at least Natalie Portman still loves you.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
Are you OK with all the Web sites, and people walking around wearing your face on their T-shirts?
Oh, whatever, I think it's kind of funny. These people don't have lives.
That's it, I'm taking this T-shirt off. And you can have my mug back.
I just can't get into the swing of the whole "Ellen Feiss" thing. I've invested WAAAY too much time, money, and effort into the "Natalie Portman/Hot Grits" movement to switch now.
Natalie Portman Forever!!! (*waves pennant feebly*)
BlackBolt
Have you used Mac OS X? (Particularly in it current incarnation?) It's ... a really, really good OS. That's why a lot of geeks use it. Good UI + Unix power is appealing to a lot of people.
...) And Apple is engaging in a frutiful give-and-take with the Open Source world. Microsoft has never done anything like this, and never will.
...
How is this bad for Linux? This is called healthy competition. Until Mac OS X, there really was no good UI for a desktop Unix-y OS. Linux desktops have improved dramatically since OS X was released, at least partly due to the fact that the developers have OS X as a benchmark of how good a Unix desktop can be. (Granted, they'd be improving even faster if so many developers weren't trying to clone the awful Windows interface, but that's another matter
Mac OS X and Linux are good for each other. More Unix-y OS users out there to provide a market, more developers writing software that can be ported to each other's platforms, more people getting the idea that Unix is not something scary and dangerous
If Apple ever has 90% market share -- hell, if Apple ever has 50% market share -- you'll have something to worry about. Right now, Linux and OS X are natural allies.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
But she says in the article, it was a true story...
- Oliver
The right to bear arms is only slightly less stupid than the right to arm bears...
I have to agree. I run Linux on all my servers, and love it, but OS X on the desktop really rocks.. I haven't had so much fun with my machine (A dual G4 powermac) since my Amiga 1000. It's also quite depressing when I have to work on a windows machine again, but I am very enthousiastic about OS X, it's easy, but if you want to do more complex stuff, that is also very well possible.
Mirror here Oh, and YOU'RE WELCOME (sorry, computer guy joke)
"I got shuttled down to New York, and I got VIP seating, and I was like, "Wow, I'm at the Oscars or something," but then I was like, "No, I'm at Macworld.""
:-)
"I also got a call from the Farrelly Brothers. They were like, "You know we really like your ad," so they wrote down my name or something."
"Supposedly, though, my agent is "floating my image," quote unquote. I don't know what the hell that means."
Kids...
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
But what about: (From the article)
Post:Is the story you told true?
Ellen: Oh yeah, it's definitely true.
Post:What was the paper about?
Ellen: It was about Chinatown, and the formation of Chinatowns in America. I lost like three pages of it; it was terrible. It was a really,
If the story is true, it doesn't matter if she knows the son of the director.
Classic parodies of Ellen Feiss
How are the two mutually exclusive?
She was writing a paper, lost it, and had to rewrite it. This lead to the purchase of an Apple PowerBook.
She was later picked for the Switch ad by pure chance and happy (?) coincidence. Apple asks her to write the "letter" to share the story behind her switch.
Thus they're both true. You misapplied cause and effect to imply an effect that wasn't there.
Seems like you're not the first to ask this. From the interview, and I quote:
"What a weird question. They'd probably be blond."
-- james
So I was on slashdot, composing the greatest troll in the world, and the post comment form was like "slow down cowboy", "invalid formkeys", "you're using too many caps, it's like yelling", "lameness filter encountered, post aborted", and I was like "hunhhhhh?"
/switched to kuro5hin.
And then when I hit the back key to try to repost my whole troll was gone.
And it was... like.... a bummer.
I'm A. Troll, and I
It's a reference to Conan O'Brien's "In the Year 2000" segments where they photochop people's pictures to make some hideous rendition.
Actually, I don't know if that's part of the ITY2k segment or not... But anyway, it's a reference to Conan O'Brien.
Sure win2K and XP are more stable, but after tons of install/uninstalls of apps and programs the thing starts to seriously slow down and munge itself. Since 95 I've had windows corrupt it's own dll's atleast 2x a year on all the systems. This isn't even counting production boxes at work that have mysteriously killed IIS dll's.
The thought of having to tech support my Son's computer is beginning to make me throw up. He already has a skill for crashing win2K and XP by pressing down on a half dozen keys for a minute. Toddlers and young children don't know that microsoft didn't design the keyboard as a ladder or piano. All they know is when I push down on all the keys with my palm, the box makes lots of funny noises. I've seen young children bang on mac keyboards without causing it to lock up hard. Sure the ads are stupid, but many people consider themselves computer challenged. If buying a mac means I don't have to re-install windows on my Son's box 5x times a year, I'm there. I rather not waste 4 hours per install, when I could be doing other things more fun.
I got shuttled down to New York, and I got VIP seating, and I was like, "Wow, I'm at the Oscars or something," but then I was like, "No, I'm at Macworld."
That's how everybody feels at Macworld, sweetheart...
teeker
Can we please get a slashdot interview with her, so we can ask some questions????
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
There must be nothing scarier than being stalked by the Mac community ...
Warning - if you have a soft place in your heart for cute goofy stoner chicks
Doesn't everyone have a soft place for cute goofy stoner chicks?
I just assumed that was a universal maxim, like how art on sci-fi magazines and novels has nothing to do with the stories to be found inside, or how mice, no matter how optical, self cleaning, nanotech, will always need to be cleaned at the crucial moment of the game winning frag...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
It's a bit off-topic for an Ellen Feiss thread, couldn't agree more regarding Linux's tendency toward Windows look-alike interfaces. This would apply to both the desktop and the way applications work.
l in es/HIGuidelines-2.html
I understand why Linux developers look to Windows. It's a familiar environment for most users. But I think we don't give users enough credit: provide them a well thought-out, consistent, attractive interface, and they'll do well. Of these three atrributes, consistency is the key.
The cool thing about the Mac interface is that everything works the same. No matter what you're running, you'll know where to find things. Windows behave consistently from app to app. Once you've spent a couple hours on a Mac, it's a BETTER pointy-clicky interface than Windows.
Mac developers design their interfaces with the Macintosh Human Interface guidelines in mind. I wish there were something similar in the Linux world:
http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/mac/HIGuide
Ah, yes: we must maintain our choices. No consistent interface for us. Long live the Revolution.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
Ellen: "So I like took this pregnancy test and it was like *beep* *beep* *beep*!"
Dell Dude: "Dude, you're getting an abortion!"
-FF
(Going to hell for that one...)
SQUEAK, the Death of Rats explained.
Let me explain in hex...
B00B5
Please don't post spoilers without indication in the subject line. The interview has not yet been released in zimbabwe, so some of us have not been able to read it yet.
That's the last straw. Did we really need to know the destination of your oral fluids???
I'm now officially declaring a JIHAD on those spawns of satan, Joke Congratulation Posts.
Jokes? Fine. I've no problem with them. A lot of jokes on slashdot are at least a good attempt at being amusing. But joke congratulation posts? Whether satirical or straight, they just blow goats.
I'm sorry. I'm now going on a one-man crusade to mark all joke congratulation posts, irrespective of their origin, as -1 Overrated. You may call me sad and pathetic, you may call me strange - but I retort that those who post Joke Congratulation Posts are even sadder!
Female Prison Rape in NY
Jesus, were you EVER a teenager? Did you EVER use slang that old people didn't approve of? Who the fuck cares how many times she says "like" in the interview or how she talks?
My sister is in high school, talks EXACTLY like this girl, and has a 4.79 GPA. Just because the interviewer decided to keep all the slang and "likes" and "uhhs" in the transcription doesn't mean the American School System Is Going To Shit. It only means this girl hasn't taken her Public Speaking course yet. She seems pretty intelligent, mature, and courteous to her international detractors for a 15-year-old.
Besides, do you think maybe, possibly, the interviewer transcribed it that way for **effect**? It was done this way so people like you could look at it, shake your head gravely, and make some witty remark on Slashdot about That Stoner Chick.
Take the stick out of your Anonymous Coward ass and quit looking down your nose at someone none of us have met.