Standard nerds! February 14, 2010 9:20 AM   Subscribe

Attention lovers of the IT Crowd!

Graham Linehan is currently producing the new series of the IT Crowd and, similar to last series, is looking for all kinds of goodies to fill up the set: "...send us your poor huddled zines, your artwork, your comics, your T-shirts, your memes. Anything you think should be in there that we might have missed."

I've had the privilege of speaking to many of you over the last couple of years who produce many of things he's looking for so thought I'd throw this your way. Perhaps you can flood the set with Metafilter :)

Disclosure: I don't know GL and I'm not a part of his team. I just follow his blog and thought it a neat idea.
posted by urbanwhaleshark to MetaFilter-Related at 9:20 AM (47 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite

This is amazing.
posted by specialagentwebb at 9:23 AM on February 14, 2010


And dammit, mininova is no longer useful.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:29 AM on February 14, 2010


Oh, man.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:43 AM on February 14, 2010


This is a pretty tenuous post. I actually think the Lego one had more to do with metafilter.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:48 AM on February 14, 2010


P.s. Oh, this is a long shot but…does anyone know anyone who can help us with ‘Star Trek’ clearances? I got this killer bit that I’m reluctant to let go without a fight…

Dude, seriously? Just hit up the cast of TNG on Twitter. They'll know someone, and they might agree to appear on your television programme.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:52 AM on February 14, 2010 [3 favorites]


Wil Wheaton would make an awesome temp. HINT HINT
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:58 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Someone needs to send them a box of metafilter t-shirts like yesterday.
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 AM on February 14, 2010 [16 favorites]


HINT HINT MATT
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 AM on February 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


This is a pretty GREAT post so SHUT UP.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:01 AM on February 14, 2010


I appreciate your point, cjorgensen, but I did clear this with Jessamyn before I posted it. She did suggest that I look at past IT Crowd posts before running with this but I could only find one, and lovers and haters were split down the middle. I saw this as 1) a Metafilter thing, but also 2) a way for individuals to participate in something fun, acknowledging Metafilter in their own way.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 10:03 AM on February 14, 2010


You know, Big Bang Theory once guest-starred Wil Wheaton (as himself!) and famously features nerds in nerdy t-shirts. JUST SAYIN'
posted by Sys Rq at 10:03 AM on February 14, 2010 [3 favorites]


is slowly packing a box of his books and including a full 5 dollar bride to sweeten the deal
posted by The Whelk at 10:09 AM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Heh.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 10:10 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


a full 5 dollar bride

You get what you pay for.
posted by EarBucket at 10:11 AM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Metafilter has been a faithful and supportive member of my Harem.
posted by The Whelk at 10:17 AM on February 14, 2010


Ceiling cat is watching you reboot your server.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:24 AM on February 14, 2010


Ceiling cat is watching you reboot your server.

Have you tried turning him off and turning him back on again?
posted by EarBucket at 10:32 AM on February 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


But how do you turn ceiling cat on?

Oh. Right.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:36 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Have you tried turning him off and turning him back on again?

I took my shirt off and then put it back on, if that's what you mean.
posted by maxwelton at 10:38 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Have you tried turning it off and on again? ... OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing? ... Yeah, you need to turn it on. Err, the button turns it on. Yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes.
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


This is a pretty tenuous post.

What
posted by KokuRyu at 11:01 AM on February 14, 2010


Lovers and haters were split down the middle? If someone's enough of a drudgeon to hate the IT Crowd, they deserve to be split down the middle.
posted by jtron at 11:07 AM on February 14, 2010 [3 favorites]


If there were such a thing as a drudgeon.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 11:16 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


I appreciate your point, cjorgensen, but I did clear this with Jessamyn before I posted it.

I'll bow out then. I don't get the connection, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.

What

Tenuous and now tedious in one post!
posted by cjorgensen at 11:27 AM on February 14, 2010


Metafilter has been a faithful and supportive member of my Harem.

*Ahem*.
posted by Meta Filter at 11:31 AM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


I don't get the connection

Nerds with talent.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 11:42 AM on February 14, 2010


attention, lovers of the IT Crowd...

attention-lovers of the IT Crowd...

attention, lovers, of the IT Crowd,...
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:52 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:55 AM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Coincidentally, I'm also looking for goodies to, uh, fill up the set. Please feel free to send me stuff, and you might see it on television. Hey, anything's possible.
posted by box at 11:55 AM on February 14, 2010


Apparently you need to be some sort of twit to submit suggestions, but if anyone is willing to pass a couple on.

Time Bandits Map
Space Hulk Reissue
posted by ecurtz at 12:09 PM on February 14, 2010


Keyboard cat cross stitch

I'd like to see the FFFFFUUUUU guy [note: site NSFW] get a reference, but I doubt they'd be able to work that in.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:54 PM on February 14, 2010


That's the thing about Arsenal, always trying to walk it in.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:42 PM on February 14, 2010 [6 favorites]


Hey! What is Jen doing with the Internet?
posted by Babblesort at 4:30 PM on February 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


More IT Crowd? eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~

Anyway if they do a Halloween episode they need to make a dalek pumpkin but otherwise I think you people have it covered, and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee more IT Crowd eeeeee
posted by Mizu at 6:48 PM on February 14, 2010


I'll bow out then. I don't get the connection, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.

OK, by a show of hands favorites, how many people here actually remember what a modem is? How many can tell the difference between 300, 1200, 9600 and 14.4k modems by ear?

How many have used an acoustic coupler? A BBS? A door game? Tried to seduce a bar wench in Legend of the Red Dragon?

How many people remember what it means to "dial" a phone?

How many people have worked in IT and/or fixed a computer for their parents, boss, cow-orker, sibling or complete stranger at a coffee house? Have you ever actually unironically said "Is it on? Is it plugged in? Have you tried rebooting it?"

Have you ever played Hard Hat Harry, Commander Keen, Zork, SimCity, Civilization, Escape from Monkey Island, Wing Commander or Doom?

How many have actually paid real quarters in a real arcade to play Tetris? How about Pong? Does the taste of Mountain Dew give you flashbacks?

Does "FidoNet" actually mean anything to you? Do you remember the great AOL crapflood of 96? Do you remember when Yahoo! was just a small list of stuff?

Have you ever chosen coffee over food? Brought your own keyboard and mouse to work? Slept under your desk at work for more than two days in a row, or not slept at all?

Have you ever used a Koala Pad? Did you ever spend extra to buy a math co-processor? Did you install it yourself? Did you use it to take hours plotting crude fractals on a green screen?

Do you remember the first time you used a domestic broadband connection? Did it provoke a state of arousal? Do you remember anything after that or did you simply wake up ten years later wondering what in the hell happened?


The connection is easily read between the lines in the questions above. That fictional TV show is based in real facts - many of whom are living and breathing right here, today.

Somewhere there exists a picture of me in front of my friends old 386 computer, passed the fuck out after a 48 hour dorkfest and curled up in a fetal position on the floor, clutching a genuine Model M keyboard like it was a teddy bear, and probably drooling. Thankfully the web didn't really exist yet. Or Flickr, or Google, or digital cameras.

714 represent, yo. Morrison Hotel, Network23, DigitalDecay, EDI. 8n1, 24/7!

posted by loquacious at 11:59 PM on February 14, 2010 [14 favorites]


I used to quite like the IT Crowd. But then it depicted a trans woman being beaten up and thrown through a window, textbook trans panic, and Graham completely blew off his responsibility for it with hey, it's just lulz.

So now, fuck Graham Linehan.

Sorry to be a downer comment in a non-downer thread. I don't wish to derail, so please memail me if you want to, I dunno, yell at me or something.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:56 AM on February 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Well, that hits home like a kick in the crotch. I didn't know that. I've only seen a handful of episodes, really.
posted by loquacious at 8:44 AM on February 15, 2010


In fairness, said beating character is supposed to be a loathsome, horrible person who killed his wife so there is that. Not like one of Our Sympathetic heroes was involved.
posted by The Whelk at 9:04 AM on February 15, 2010


How many have actually paid real quarters in a real arcade to play Tetris? How about Pong? Does the taste of Mountain Dew give you flashbacks?

I've never played Tetris at a bona fide arcade, but I certainly spent a good portion of my childhood pumping quarters into the machine tucked away in a chalet at the bottom of the North Saskatchewan River valley while wearing ski boots.

For, yes, I am that awesome.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:13 AM on February 15, 2010


loquacious: "Does "FidoNet" actually mean anything to you? Do you remember the great AOL crapflood of 96?"

We had a name for the the flood of new users that appeared every January on our biggest multi-line BBS: Christmas Modem Kiddies, or CMKs. Always wondered if that was a local term or more commonly used. Anyone else heard or used that expression?
posted by Hardcore Poser at 11:32 AM on February 15, 2010


In fairness, said beating character is supposed to be a loathsome, horrible person who killed his wife so there is that.

Also in fairness, the trans woman in question started the fight, gives at least as good as she gets, and is in this cartoon-violence fight with a character who's a thoroughly reprehensible human being who's never, ever held up as someone to admire or emulate in the least.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:06 PM on February 15, 2010


We had a name for Christmas Modem kids, too, but I can't remember what it was outside of newbies. I forgot about that phenomenon. Christmas day was always weirder on a BBS.

Looking back I realize that most of the people I knew from BBSes were either socially maladjusted goth kids, deadheads or ham radio operators, or some damn weird mix of all three with a healthy dose of nerd. I remember at the weekly/monthly meetups for various BBSes there were definite clusters and divisions between the three. The ham radio guys being mostly terrified of the dope-fiending goth kids and deadheads, who mainly hung out with each other just to party.

More than once some confused all-nerd kid would wander into a meetup expecting to simply find other straight nerd kids and would either run screaming or resign themselves to hanging out with the ham nerds.
posted by loquacious at 12:17 PM on February 15, 2010


Also in fairness, the trans woman in question started the fight,

Yeah, I'm not reading that as particularly transphobic.
posted by loquacious at 12:23 PM on February 15, 2010


Also in fairness, the trans woman in question started the fight

At the risk of further derailing, I'll comment on this. I watched that video, and it was just as painful to see now as it was the first time. Almost every word out of both their mouths is one transphobic trope or other, and the entire scene is revolting. Notwithstanding the fact that since I first saw it a friend of mine was beaten to death for being trans.

Seriously, a man saying "you bastard" to a trans woman and then smacking her round the face with a telephone, to a laugh track? "In fairness"? There's no fairness here.

I'm so sick of comedy that "crosses the PC line" from straight white cis able-bodied men; you're totes risking everything for your edgy laughs, boys!
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 12:31 AM on February 16, 2010


ArmyOfKittens writes "I used to quite like the IT Crowd. But then it depicted a trans woman being beaten up and thrown through a window, textbook trans panic, and Graham completely blew off his responsibility for it with hey, it's just lulz."

Maybe this is a jargon "black people can't be racist" thing in terminology but the Arsehole's reaction didn't come across as a trans panic to me. When he finally figured out the what was going on (while in bed with her) it wasn't until the next day that he attempted to calmly (being a narcissistic sociopath probably made this easier) break up with her. Then she freaked out and started the fight. And then the closing line of the fight is about how the relationship is over not a jab at her transsexualness.

The Whelk writes "In fairness, said beating character is supposed to be a loathsome, horrible person who killed his wife so there is that. Not like one of Our Sympathetic heroes was involved."

Unlike say the very first episode where Roy gets his nerd ass kicked, by a woman; something that's apparently a bi weekly event for the IT department. Or the third episode where both Roy and a clown get it. And of course Moss experiences stereotypical nerd bullying in S3E1 with the cliche quiet guy freak out involving firearms at the end.

ArmyOfKittens writes "Seriously, a man saying 'you bastard' to a trans woman and then smacking her round the face with a telephone, to a laugh track? 'In fairness'? There's no fairness here."

Both sides acted like savages. The phone was preceded by glassware to the man's head.
posted by Mitheral at 10:24 AM on February 17, 2010


the Arsehole's reaction didn't come across as a trans panic to me.

I mean that the entire situation is set up according to the tropes of trans panic: the trans woman is the aggressor. Everything, from the lulzy jokes about how she loves doing "bloke" stuff with her (paintball, Steven Seagal marathons, etc., which is like, yeah, those are perfectly fine things for any man or woman to like, and yeah, we know why you put them in, Linehan), to the fact that she threw the first punch, is set up against her.

There are typically two ways in which trans women are portrayed on television, and this was "deceptive transsexual" down the line, including the aggressive act (whether towards the man's body or sexuality) and the violent end. And that's not including the fact that the humour of the whole subplot was predicated on, lol, how he's sleeping with a man and not a woman! And he should have known! Because she likes Steven Seagal and stuff!

I'm prepared to give a decent amount of leeway to portrayals of trans people on the TV, because although we pop up quite a bit we're almost always either aggressors or victims, and I try to see the good in even ham-fisted attempts to get us on screen in an honest fashion. But this was just another trans woman as the butt of the joke.

We get it! We're hilarious! Being with us is a terrible punishment for any virile man! It's okay to beat us and to rape us and to kill us because we totally deserve it.

I was channel-hopping before bed last night and caught a repeat of Mock the Week on Dave, and it was the last round, the bit where people come up and do a single line of stand-up on a given topic. For the topic, "Worst person to be married to," David Mitchell offered, "You know how you thought I was a Thai lady? Well, you're half right." Hilarious! I used to like Mitchell, too, but now it seems I'm obligated to hate him as the fucker just showed that he views people like me with contempt. Yay?

The point of that little aside is that just about all portrayals of trans women are negative, and our colossal murder rate suggests that the general population agrees with the comedians. And if you use our trans status as a joke, you're agreeing with the murderers.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 11:28 PM on February 17, 2010


To clarify my interpretation of "deceptive transsexual":

What I meant by that is not what she said, but what she was and the way she was portrayed. That she outed herself to him at the start was almost a trick of the light; she was beautiful and he fell for her not knowing that she "used to be a man", and it ended in violence. The television show framework is not a neutral space in which Douglas and the trans woman occupy equivalent spaces; the whole framework is biased against her, set up as it is to view her existence as both the butt of the joke and as Douglas' punishment for not paying clear enough attention when wooing her: he was self-absorbed as usual, and paid the price when he developed a relationship with a man.

The very existence of the trans woman being an attack on masculinity, and a punishment to the unwary, is, to my mind, the essence of the "deceptive transsexual" trope, and one of the foundations of the "trans panic" reaction.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:54 AM on February 18, 2010


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