Interview With "Switcher Girl" Ellen Feiss

Ed over in Accounting writes in with a Macinstein interview with Ellen Feiss, an Internet cult figure of a bygone era. Back in 2002, in the heyday of Apple's "Switcher" ads, the 14-year-old Feiss garnered a bit more than 15 minutes of fame. Her Switcher ad became an instant classic — partly because of the widespread belief that she was stoned while filming it, which she says was not the case. In the interview Feiss, who is now a college student with one movie behind her, talks about pseudo Internet fame, drugs, and acting. She says she's still using the same G4 she had when the ad ran. Nostalgia bonus: the ad is embedded at the end of the interview.

Comments

Re:Apple ads

[jpellino]

"mentioning how Mac software never has problems"

That's not been said in any ad.

The truth is PCs running Windows are more problematic than Macs.

Just yesterday it took a half an hour to get a mainstream quickcam out of the box and showing video. iSight? No longer than it takes to launch the app than needs it.

Use a thumb drive on a Windows PC. As in, go hunt for it once you plug it in - then use it.

Picasa vs. iPhoto. No contest.

Actually, Picasa (and much of the rest of Google's stuff) has saved Microsoft's bacon as far as good app experiences go - Bill and Steve B should face Mt View and pray every morning in gratitude.

Add a printer? 90% of them work in OSX with included drivers.

Need to do something tough in networking? Go buy another version of Windows.
Need to be a media center? Goi buy another version of Windows.

There's more but I have to get to work...

Re:Apple ads

[MightyYar]

Pretentious probably isn't the right word... the people you deride are more ostentatious. They like to show off their nice things. Sort of a "Look, I have the BEST computer!" Pretentious people have a more self-important flavor to them, and certainly a lot of the hipster Mac users fit into that category as well. And of course, ostentatious people can also be pretentious... I think I'm rambling.

That said, I am a Mac user, and I do buy them partially for their looks. To be fair, I also spend extra on the nicer PC cases for my Windows/Linux machines. I just like things to look nice - I guess it could be considered ostentatious, but I've at least convinced myself that I'm not showing off :)

So I think Macs attract the following:

1. People who are pretentious. (The Mac makes me look important.)
   
2. People who are ostentatious. (Look, I have the coolest, nicest computer!)
   
3. People who like things that look good.
   
4. Psuedo-geeks who a unix with a nice interface.
   

I think I'm asking for a flaming with #4. ;p