Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Review of 'MacHeads' Documentary

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the just-in-time-for-macworld-zomg-zomg dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Just prior to its premiere at MacWorld later this week, CNet has a review of MacHeads, the new documentary film covering the obsessive world of Apple fanboyism. MacHeads features commentary from original Apple employees, the self-confessed Apple-obsessed and girls who claim they'll never sleep with Windows users. Summed up by CNet: 'MacHeads is a superb film that will give Apple haters a few cheap laughs, and Apple fans a few cheap thrills. But it'll entertain both equally, while educating everybody else.'"

17 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Huh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    girls who claim they'll never sleep with Windows users

    They're probably ugly anyway.

  2. Holy water? Garlic? by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Other titles you may also enjoy:

    - People who buy Nike shooes!
    - Maserati: A noble car embiggens the smallest man.

  3. "Trekkies" with a different context by CommandoCody · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More likely, "MacHeads is another cheap 'find a subculture and mock it' film that will pander to Apple haters, and bore or irritate Apple fans. It will broaden the minds of neither, and pass unnoticed by everyone else."

  4. Re:Hmmm... by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

    ps- Speaking of not getting laid, anyone know a hot linux-obsessed lesbian?

    Yes, and she's looking for another one.

  5. Re:Hmmm... by bowl_of_petunias · · Score: 5, Funny

    They do too!

    Well, I've heard rumors...

    I'm pretty sure...

    I can totally prove my point utilizing a clever cartoon and my powers of snarky wit! I just need to find a link...

    click...

    click...

    clickity clack click...

    Drat!

    Oh well, at least I still have my pron.

  6. Fence Burns by vjmurphy · · Score: 4, Funny

    "MacHeads is a superb film that will give Apple haters a few cheap laughs, and Apple fans a few cheap thrills. But it'll entertain both equally, while educating everybody else."

    Wow, that's such a fence-sitting position that it's probably hard on their butts. It's as if they don't want to offend anyone. "While World War II was indeed a deadly conflict, it gave the Allies a few cheap laughs, and the Axis a few cheap thrills, but it'll kill both equally." I think I can use this for my upcoming performance review...

    --
    Vincent J. Murphy
    Spandex Justice
  7. Good God, they're still around? by Phybersyk0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't get this obsession. Back in the day I was a rabid (psychotic) Amiga fan/user. As I matured I realized something, IT'S JUST A COMPUTER GUYS. JUST ANOTHER TOOL. If people were this committed to, say hammers or forstner bits -- you'd think they were completely insane.

    I'm also looking at you, the "yeah, but can it run LINUX" crowd. For fucks sake, people many of you are amongst the most intelligent human beings in the world, you need to be out there breeding instead of developing a goddamn zippo lighter simulator for your iPhone.

    1. Re:Good God, they're still around? by yttrstein · · Score: 4, Insightful

      *were* among the most intelligent human beings in the world.

      I think what you're not considering is the fact that you yourself have aged, and therefore your opinions and perceptions have changed as well. Most people mellow out of the "raging 20s" where everything seems like a social injustice, even if it's some guy in a coffee shop using an OS that they think "sucks".

      It seems to me that it's a problem of relativity. The people you seem to be referencing are very likely right around the same age you were (and I was) when we were ferocious about such things. I was an Amiga person too, and then a rabid Mac owner, then an elite NeXT user, then a smartass Linux user, but eventually I decided, just like you, that it really is just a computer and that there are far more important things to worry about and spend time dealing with.

      And that's why I use OS X.

    2. Re:Good God, they're still around? by h4rm0ny · · Score: 4, Insightful


      Linux users are normally people who have gone beyond what they were presented with and explored other possibilities (else they would be using Windows). That attitude is an indicator of intelligence. Linux also requires having self-educated oneself on how to manage the system for most of us. That attitude is also an indicator of intelligence. So it's reasonable to guess that statistically, Linux users may be from the intelligent segments of society. But it's only a small part of the larger set of intelligent people. Using Linux might be a clue that someone is smart, but using Windows is not a sign that someone is not.

      --

      Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
  8. Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yea but they just coppied Babylon 5.
    Think about it...
    Based on a space station.
    The head honcho of the station had a rank of commander then later on there was a captain.
    Head Honcho(s) had some deep destiny that they needed to follow controlled by an alien race with supernatural powers who talked in confusing language that only became clear once the events have happened.
    A secondary race of aliens who somehow have a more detailed knowledge of these super aliens.
    War against a superior race who at first is considered indestructible and later on in the series killing them becomes a piece of cake.
    Command of a ship that is brand new. Much smaller then the other ships and cannot be recognized as one of the good guys. But chalk full of shooting goodness. Now with some alien technology that makes it that much more devastating.

    It is only the best Trek series because they stole everything from Babylon 5.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  9. Fanboys by nasor · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have a lot of Apple fanboy friends, and they finally convinced me to spend the extra money for a macbook pro when it came time to buy a new laptop. So far I've been seriously underwhelmed. Contrary to the claims of virtually every Apple user I know, my new laptop with OS X doesn't appear to be any more stable than my old Windows XP laptop. It still periodically locks up for no apparent reason, which I can only solve by making it force-quit applications. It still sometimes slows down for no apparent reason (presumably because something is hogging resources). Also, a few weeks ago one of the updates killed my laptop's display somehow and I had to plug it into an external monitor to fix it - which was a huge pain in the ass, because for some inexplicable reason the macbook pro doesn't have a standard VGA port for connecting to external monitors, AND Apple didn't bother to include the necessary adapters with the laptop. Maybe the update was a ploy to see how many people they could force to buy $16 adapters?

    Overall I'm still enjoying my laptop, but I'm astounded that so many people basically lied to me with claims of how perfectly stable and wonderful macs are. I find it very difficult to believe that I'm the only one who has to force-quit applications or deal with inexplicable slowdowns. Surely all these fanboys are having the same sorts of problems. So why can't they just admit it? Why do they have to insist that everything is perfect?

    1. Re:Fanboys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Er... if you're able to force-quit applications, then the operating system hasn't locked up. The operating system is working fine, and the program in question has locked up. Even Apple can't save you from poorly written applications. (although your complaint is perfectly valid if the apps you're seeing lock up were written by Apple)

    2. Re:Fanboys by gad_zuki! · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Im convinced that most people who talk about OSX being superior are windows users who have built up some kind of weirdo OSX fetish fantasy. At my old job I supported several OSX machines and they were as much trouble as anything else. I loved sitting there watching the spinning rainbow do its thing for no reason and trying to navigate to the command line to run top while it was running so slow. There really should be a hotkey to top or a GUI-based task manager equivalent.

      Apple does a good job of forcing a lot of features into its OS but that usually translates into a slow experience, especially coming from XP on an modern machine.

      As far as the lying goes, well, exaggeration is human nature. Its really your job to filter out the BS. This doesnt just apply to computers, but to everything in life.

  10. Fans and haters by Asgerix · · Score: 5, Funny

    'MacHeads is a superb film that will give Apple haters a few cheap laughs, and Apple fans a few cheap thrills. But it'll entertain both equally, while educating everybody else'

    I like this quote. It basically says that if you're not a fan and not a hater, it's because you're not educated properly!

    --
    Life is wet, then you dry.
  11. Re:I prefer to stick to more healthy obsessions by HadouKen24 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think that DS9 was the best of the Treks for reasons which have nothing to do with the above.

    The ethnocentrism and blind idealism of the Federation is brought into view. Though supposedly welcoming and accepting, it views races like the Ferengi with distrust and even disdain.

    Religion is treated more directly and more honestly than in most television shows, period. Almost unimportant (except as an occasional plot device) in the other Treks, now questions of personal religious conviction are addressed. And religious extremism and religiously motivated violence as a result have to be dealt with.

    The question of the legitimate limit of violence when under occupation is brought up--and we don't get much of an answer at all.

    Potential consequences of genetic enhancement are not only considered, but humanized in the figure of an important character.

    In general, DS9 manages to help us get a grip on contemporary problems and worries by putting them at a distance from us (and, to be fair, by oversimplifying and exaggerating them). In doing so, it becomes much more interesting.

  12. I only sleep with Windows users by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 5, Funny

    They're used to lousy performance.
    No mater how bad the sex is, I just promise that next time it's going to be better than ever and they believe me.
    If I "crash" while they're trying to, y'know, get things done, it's no big deal.
    They're used to getting boned in the ass.

  13. Well there's three reasons by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) People who have crap hardware. A number of people I know who got a Mac and find it to be much better find that mostly because they had a really bad PC. It was a cheapie and slow right when it came out, never mind the 5+ years later when this is. Also means they were running a rather outdated OS. So it isn't a surprise that a massive hardware + software upgrade gives a much better experience.

    2) People who have an extremely broken system. Their system is full of crapware and breaks basically all the time. Software doesn't install, etc. They are finding it a major improvement because it was effectively a wipe/reinstall.

    However by far the most common

    3) They are lying to themselves. Seen this time and time again. They want/need to believe that this change is 100% for the better, so they tell themselves there are no problems. My best anecdote for this is from when I was in university, back before OS-X. I was in a friend's dorm room and his roommate and I were discussing computers. He had a Mac. He was telling me that the thing he liked was that "Macs never crash." As he was talking and noodling around, his system bombed. You know, the old bomb error. He clicked the restart and continued on. I interrupted him saying "Wait, right there! Your system crashed!" He then argued that no, it wasn't a crash like Windows does and so on. He was just lying to himself. He'd convinced himself that his system just didn't have problems like Windows did.

    So that's the biggest reason they won't admit it: They really don't acknowledge that they are having problems. They lie to themselves, which then leads them to mislead you.

    The truth of the matter is no consumer computer is perfect, and none likely ever will be. No matter what your OS, when you have an environment as complex and uncontrolled as one where people can install whatever they like, problems WILL happen. Certainly some OSes will have less problems, but anyone who tells you there's no problems is full of it.