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Cyber
Line February 19th 2005
Interview transcribed from
original broadcast by reedfem
(Thank you for your hard
work and kind permission)
[The Cyber-Line.com guys were hard to decipher as they tended to talk on
top of each other and not use names. Did what I could.]
DH - David Hewlett
Mod2 - Mick Williams (does most of the interview)
Mod1 - Jerry Carroll (B%)
Mod3 - Erick Guzowski (B%)
Kris - NFI. Linux guru
***
Mod1: We have David Hewlett, who plays Doctor McKay from Stargate:Atlantis.
Mod2: And we welcome you to the Cyber-Line microphones. David, are you
there?
DH: I am indeed, thank you very much.
Mod2: Well, thank you for coming on.
DH: Oh, my pleasure, my pleasure indeed.
Mod2: So, is everything good in Vancouver?
DH: It is. I come to you sort of surrounded by all of my belongings in
boxes. So, I've got a little sea of technology in the living room right now.
Mod2: Okay, so, wait a minute now. You didn't get bumped or anything, right?
You're still getting a paycheck from the show, right?
DH: <laughs> Yes, yes, they've… I'm fleeing the country. <laughs> No, we
come back to start shooting February 28th, so…
Mod2: So, where do you guys shoot the show? Is that in Vancouver?
DH: In Vancouver, yeah. Burnaby, actually, is, I think, is the exact
location.
Mod2: Okay, so are you like, living somewhere else, and then you come in
with the boxes to move in and set up base camp and then
go back home?
DH: Yeah, I'm sort of , I'm in this sort of like denial about, about whether
I'm actually, you know, in Canada or not, because we're down
in Santa Monica
for, for… you know that's where I was living before and then the show
happened, and I was for awhile living in both places. You know, my poor
girlfriend, it was sort of, we arrived at this, at this cute little house in
Santa Monica and then, a day later,
I'm on a plane to Vancouver and I'm gone
for nine months.
Mod2: Oh no.
DH: And then today, actually this is funny, today we had the movers coming
today, and I got a last minute call to do a DVD
commentary for "The Storm"
and "The Eye", the last two episodes. And so she got stuck dealing with the
movers as well this time, so…
Mod2: That's the 2-parter from first season to second season?
DH: It is indeed, yes.
Mod2: Oh, yeah, okay.
Mod1: Okay, David, I have to ask you the redundant question, probably you
get asked a hundred times. Any relation to HP? [Hewlett-Packard]
DH: Uh…no, none at all.
Mod1: Oh, okay.
Mod2: He might own stock, but… <laughter>
Mod1: I just had to ask, sorry.
DH: It's one of the things that I think I probably should look into, because
that could be a great phone call.
Mod1: You know what would be funny, is if at the next shareholders meeting,
he slams the doors open wide and says "I demand a recount!" Because, if
there's a Compaq merger, "I demand…I am the lost son of David Hewlett!"
<laughter> And he starts to roll up
his sleeves and says "Here, take my
DNA!"
DH: <laughs> We got a whole like Mr. Deeds thing happening.
Mod1: Yeah, there you go.
DH: Exactly.
Mod1: Couldn't do any worse than, what's her name?
Mod2: Uh… Carly?
DH: <laughs>
Mod1: And I'm sure he's much taller.
Mod2: She's been gone so long I've already forgotten her name.
Mod1: Well, David, let me go back a little bit here. First off, how did you
get into acting, when did you start? How did you start this trip?
DH: I got…wow, yeah, that's a good point. The trip, it certainly is a trip.
Uhm, it's, I got into it really early, I had this sort of epiphany,
at a
probably far too old age, that I couldn't actually be a Doctor Who Time
Lord. That I'd have to pretend to be one instead. Uhm, and
that was it. I
wanted to act, ever since…as soon as that realization hit, you know, I went
from hiding behind the sofa, terrified of the
show, to actually wanting to
you know, to that's the kind of thing I want to do with my life.
Mod1: So Doctor Who got him started. Isn't that funny, we were just talking
about that in the first hour.
Mod2: Oh yeah…
DH: Oh, were you really?
Mod2: Oh yeah, we were talking about the new show coming out.
DH: Oh that’s… oh that's right, you've got the new guy… who's…?
Mod2: Oh… Eccleston.
DH: Eccleston, right, that's right.
Mod2: And Billie Piper is going to be the companion.
DH: Oh great!
Mod2: And they've got a trailer. In fact, if you go up to bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho
…or go to our site, the cyber-line.com site, you can
click on it, they've
got like a 30 second trailer for the new show.
DH: Oh, fantastic!
Mod2: It's a little teasy trailer.
DH: I've got to do that!
Mod1: That's one thing I really loved, when I was reading your stuff on the
IMDB, it's like, you're…you don't… you really are a
technology geek. You
just don’t play one on TV.
DH: I'm a complete nerd. I know enough to be dangerous. I’m not sure that I…
I'm certainly no genius with it, but it…it… I know
enough to do a lot of
damage when necessary.
Mod2: In the coming breaks, we're going to have to take some inventory on
you and see what you've got.
Kris(?): Welcome fellow hacker.
Mod2: Yeah… could you be a fellow hacker?
Mod1: I think you're being modest, because I read that you actually did some
technology work and web design, that type of stuff.
DH: Yeah, well I did, when the web thing first started, it was definitely
something that really interested me, and I set up a company
and did some, uhm, did like a number of sort of… I felt that the whole blend of film and
television and the Internet was something that I was very interested in at
the time. Uhm…but web design just became, you know everyone and their dog
did it. So, it seemed that, like acting, it was one of those things that I
was always ashamed to say that I actually did.
Mod2: So you're at a cocktail party and you're going <mumbles> "I'm a web
designer."
DH: <laughs> Exactly. And an actor. So like, generally, that kills most
conversation right there.
Mod2: That's funny, because I figured the web designer would have hit you
more than the actor.
DH: It's… <laughs> It depends. If you're not working in either of them, it
generally, you know, it generally doesn't go down well at
parties. It was
one of those things that for awhile there, anyone who wasn't working was a
web designer.
Mod2: Oh, so it's like that joke, "I'm an actor and a web designer, but
here’s your entrée."
DH: <laughs> That’s it… it's kind of replaced… for anybody with any kind of
an affinity for computers, it replaced… it replaced the
uhm, the whole, the
whole waiter approach to acting.
Mod2: Yeah. See, if you're a musician, you've got a ponytail and all the
women want to come around you.
DH: That's it.
Mod2: But then, if you don't, the best thing you've got is to go "I'm an
actor." And they go "Oh, oh… maybe he knows a musician." It could work that
way, but then when you…
DH: There's a lot of famous musicians, exactly, yeah.
Mod2: But nobody knows any famous geeks. And one of them's already married
anyway…so he's like, oh I'm a geek…
DH: There is only one famous geek. And he is very married.
Mod2: And you go "I'm a geek" and they go "Oh, that's nice… Oh is that a
musician over there?"
Mod1: Like that DirectTV commercial, they're playing Star Trek right now.
DH: Although you know, you have the Moby's of the world, too.
Mod2: Oh yeah, that too.
DH: Definitely brings "geek" to music.
Mod2: There you go! Alright, we’re going to take a break. We'll come back
and continue our conversation with David. If you want to
get in on the
conversation as well, 800-992-8721, we'll be right back.
*** news & ad break edited out***
Mod2: Mick Williams of Cyber-Line with you. 800-992-8721. Right here into
the room, host@cyber-line.com. Well, it's kind of like
Stargate Atlantis,
you know in the event that something happens to me, have you seen anybody,
kind of deal .
Mod1: That's kind of in a similar vein, but not as good as that one we
thought where Patrick McGoohan was escaping in the last hour. There you go.
Mod3: Now there's an idea, somebody has got to do a Stargate parody song.
Mod1: I wonder if anybody has? It's been out long enough, surely somebody
has done something.
Mod2: Probably convention filk or something, I'm sure.
Mod2: All right, continuing our conversation with David Hewlett, from
Stargate Atlantis. David, you still with us?
DH: I am indeed.
Mod2: Great. How's that Indian food doing for you?
DH: <laughs> I haven't got it yet.
Mod2: Oh, you haven't got it yet, okay.
DH: We're saving it. We're ready to go.
Mod2: Oh, okay.
DH: Once you guys leave us alone, we're like, we're diving in!
Mod2: <laughs> Well, you can get to it at the bottom of the hour. Now, one
thing we were talking about during the break, which I want everyone to hear,
is we were talking about the episode that aired last night, about having two
versions, of (commander - B%)
DH: "Before I Sleep" is the name I believe.
Mod2: Yeah, "Before I Sleep."
DH: It was a fascinating study, to me, of what… it's like the Invisible Man
syndrome to me. Where it’s like you've got the beauty of the effects allowed
us to have two people, the same person, in different stages of makeup in the
room at the same time and in the same scenes and shots and that sort of
stuff. Uhm…but, as a very good friend of mine pointed out, with the
Invisible Man, where they had
Kevin Bacon walking around in this green suit,
in scenes, during the shooting of that film [you can hear his wife in the
background here correcting him that the movie was "The Hollow Man" not "The
Invisible Man"] Oh, "The Hollow Man" I guess it was…
Mod2: Yes.
DH: …the name of the film. They went on and on about the fact that they had
Kevin Bacon there and they took him digitally out of the
shots, so you could
feel his presence. And as my friend pointed out, it would just be a lot
cheaper if he wasn't there in the first place.
Mod2: <laughs>
DH: And, my point with "Before I Sleep", was just that it's because Torri
was so damned old in it, we could have just hired an old
lady for her.
Mod2: Who would have known, right?
DH: Exactly, you know. But, the fact of the matter is, it's the eyes. I
mean, what was so nice was that you could do close-ups of the
older Torri
and get… and it's her, I mean…
Mod1: I was noticing that, even on the preview clips, I mean as soon as you
saw the old lady, it was the eyes immediately… I mean,
I'm sure they wanted
to do that because they wanted the audience to think, "Oh, that's her."
DH: You just can't fake it. I mean, it's just…yeah. It doesn't matter how
good makeup is, you just… it's always the eyes. That was
always the problem
with animatronics as well… as soon as you get… it's trying to sell those
eyes that's the tough thing.
Mod2: So let me ask you this. How did you end up on Stargate Atlantis? How
did you get that role?
DH: Well, it was… it was… it was bizarre. I got this call out of the blue,
while they were shooting… this was long before Atlantis,
when they were
shooting SG1, and uhm… and they still are. Uhm… and uhm, saying do you want
to come and do this episode of the show? And uhm, so I… I was down in Los
Angeles at the time, and flew up and did this show. Had a great time. Uhm,
you know,
sort of locked horns with Amanda Tapping's character up there.
Mod2: Oh yes…
DH: Uhm… and was just thoroughly obnoxious and a horrible character…
Mod2: Yes.
DH: …and thought, you know, that that was it.
Mod2: But wasn't that what was so fun about it? Because I noticed in
Stargate: SG1, you played an even more annoying version of
that character
than you do on Atlantis.
Mod1: You see, he needs a little business card that says "Have horribly
obnoxious characters, will travel."
DH: <laughs> That's it, that's it. That was my beta annoying.
Mod1: Your character is the funniest character on the show.
Mod2: I know a lot of actors like playing the evil guy more than they like
playing the good guy, is that the case for you?
DH: Well, that's the thing is it's really a nice combination, doing McKay. I
think you know… I think, you know, nice people who get
along with everyone,
frankly, are boring. Uhm… certainly on television anyways. I'm more than
happy to surround myself with them
in real life, but you know, when it comes
to a television show, I mean, or a film for that matter, it's just usually
the meatier roles are
the ones that aren't necessarily the most pleasant.
Mod2: Well, you gotta watch what you do too, because you can't be too nice,
but you also can't be too mean.
DH: Well, that's what… I think that's what they were worried about writing
when we first started. Was just, writing that, sort of, that
wave of
absolute almost sociopath in my… in the way that he dealt with…
Mod2: And that's kind of similar to what happened to the late Johnathan
Harris when he did Lost in Space. Like he played this mean character in the
beginning, and they figured, well they're going to wipe him out in the first
four or five episodes…
DH: Right.
Mod2: …and when he starts becoming this blithering idiot, and of course he
lasts for what, three seasons.
Mod1: That's one of the things I like about the characters, is it seems to
be a realistic balance, because I mean, anybody that is into technology at
all, knows how snipe-ish you can get when you go "No, it won't go that way!"
DH: Well, that's it. That's what it's based on. Is I just know so many
people like that, and I, you know, because of my little dabblings
into
technology and such, I … and I love those people. I love those people.
Mod2: All those people on hold with tech support…
DH: Exactly. It's… that's it, he's tech support. He's worked his way up from
tech support, and now he's just lording it over everybody else.
Mod2: You know, one thing I really like about your character and just the
show in general, is the way you guys quip about other science fiction shows.
Mod1: Oh, the flux capacitor thing…
Mod2: Oh man!
DH: Yeah.
Mod2: Kept going on about how you need a DeLorean for time travel.
Mod1: My favorite quote before that was, "Oh my God, he is Kirk."
DH: <laughs>
Mod2: Yeah. And now we gotta go over one more.
Mod1: The other line that they did that was great, last night, was… gosh it…
Mod2: Are they letting you guys ad lib anything yet?
DH: I'm allowed to… they definitely let me play at times…
Mod1: I'll say, that sounded like an ad-lib when I saw it.
DH: You know, it's… but part of the fun is that you don't need to. It's
that, they write this fantastic stuff, and it is so… the way they write is
very off-hand…
Mod2: But they take your opinion, when you like read something and go, "Oh,
I would never say that!"
DH: Yeah, I mean, but… again, they are so… I mean, I'm also covering my ass…
<laughter> Uhm, they just, I think, the funny thing,
I made a joke about
this, and I think the more I say it, the more I believe it, is it's a… my
character is a bit like a combination of our producers, Robert and Brad.
Like they both, because they're both incredibly smart and they just do not
suffer fools lightly. Uhm, and,
and so I think a lot of the writing comes
from that, that base. They understand geeks, they know how they interact
with people, and
uhm, you know, and the writers that they bring on the show
all really embrace that. I mean, you know…
Mod2: I just had to point out that "Back to the Future" quip that you had,
when… when he comes back and he says "Don't *even* get
me started on that
movie!"
DH: <laughs> That's right, I had a few problems with that… but it was
written. Again, I'd love to take credit for it, and I'm sure I will in a
couple of years, when I've forgotten… but, uhm…
Mod2: How much do they let you interact and write your own lines?
DH: Well… it's usually, the way it works, I mean, I definitely am, I have
a…respect for writers that I've always had and always enjoyed.
I like… I
don't… I feel that they've had more time to figure this stuff out than I
have, so by changing stuff, I feel that it's a disservice to the script for
the most part, because, you know, they've had more time to think about it
than I have. If I come in and start changing stuff,
I may or may not be
doing them a disservice later on. So usually what happens is we stick to the
script, and then at the end of the shot, then you get to play a bit. So you
get to do the little sort of, tail off things, and usually once you've got
one in the can you can goof
around a bit. So, for the most part, I think I
just, you know, I pretty well stick with what's there, you know… so… I feel
like that's my job,
you know, my job is to take what they've got and… and
make it obnoxious.
Mod2: Can you hang with us for a little bit after the bottom of the hour?
DH: Of course!
Mod2: Good, 'cause what we're gonna do is get down to the nitty gritty.
DH: Uh-oh.
Mod2: Everybody we have on, they're the stars, they're in high places,
whatever, but we know that when they go home, they're like the
rest of us,
they take out the trash…
DH: Right.
Mod2: The computer like, spits… and
Mod1: Yell at the kids…
Mod2: …right, and they start hitting it with the baseball bat, so we gotta
know what's in David's machine, where he's going, what's he doing.
DH: Okay.
Mod2: So we're gonna do a little tire kicking here at the bottom of the hour
and we're gonna find out, what does David do with the machine?
Mod1: I'm really impressed by how much you feel indebted to the writers, to
go ahead and give them their due, do you want to
mention their names on the
air?
DH: Yeah, I mean, one of the standout guys is Martin Gero. He's written a
lot of the 2-parters… uhm… but you know Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, who
sort of oversee the whole thing, I mean they're really the… they're really
the ones who get the kudos, because they're… they look over everything. I've
never seen producers so involved in… I mean, they get into writing the nuts
and bolts of this
stuff every single episode they get. You know, uhm, and
uh… and it's just, it's amazing. And they are… hopefully they won't hear
this,
but they're very very smart men. I mean, they're just… but they're so
focused, you know, and it's very humorous to watch them interact
with people
at times, because of that, so… So, you know, my shout out would go to Brad,
Robert and certainly Martin, as well.
Mod2: Before we get to the bottom of the hour, I just gotta know. What kind
of machine do you run anyway? Are you a PC person or a
Mac person? I'm
betting money…
Mod1: Wait a minute… let's take a role here. I think he's Mac. What do you
think?
Mod2: Linux.
Mod1: Linux? Hmmm… what do you think?
Mod3: PC.
Mod1: PC? Hmmm.. . Kris?
Kris: I refuse to answer. <laughs>
Mod1: David, what is it?
DH: I have played with them all, I am now a Mac person.
Mods: Ahhhh…..
DH: But I'll tell you why I love Mac, (it's the OS 10. - B%)
Mod1: OS 10. If it's OS 10, it's Linux. <cheers>
DH: OS 10, you've got the command line, you can do all the stuff you used to
do on the UNIX boxes, you know, 15 years ago, and
it's just… it's fantastic.
Mod1: Kris is happy.
[They talk all over each other here and I had trouble sorting it out.]
Mod2: I think it's a great second choice. <laughter>
Kris(?): But OS 10 is BSD I believe…
DH: I've always… Yes, it is. I always loved the PCs. For years and years and
years I've played with them. The problem was, I never
got anything done
because I was constantly upgrading or reinstalling or whatever.
Mod2: Right. We know about that! Okay, we're going to take a little break
and when we come back we'll find out a little more about
that and what does
David like and where does David go? And some other things as well.
800-992-8721 if you want to get in on the conversation. Host@cyber-line.com,
we'll be right back.
*** short news/ad break edited out here ***
Mod2: Mick Williams of Cyber-Line here with you. 800-992-8721. And 24/7
host@cyber-line.com. Don't forget, we're gonna fire up
the 100,000 watt
blowtorch that is WWCR, international shortwave in the next hour. And in
another call, from the other side of the
pond, in London, we're going to
have on Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and talk about some stuff there as well.
Continuing our conversation with David Hewlett. David are you there?
DH: I am indeed.
Mod2: Good, good, still with us. Good, good, good. All right, now we know
David's got a Mac…
DH: <laughs>
Mod2: …so, obviously, the next thing is, David's got a Mac, he obviously has
to have an iPod.
DH: Of course, yes.
Mod2: Of course.
DH: Again, this… every so often technology comes along that really does
change your life. And for me, the iPod… we were just talking about this, the
PVR, the personal video recorder?
Mod2: Oh yes.
DH: And, uhm… really, it's funny. I mean…I'm… I'm afraid I'm one of those
incredibly… I've changed a little bit now, but I was an
incredibly early
adopter when things… I mean, I had the Newton…
Mod2: Oh man…
Mod1: Oh dude, you are going back.
Mod3?: Tell me, the hacker here, if I snagged your iPod, what would I find
on it?
DH: What are we liking now? Uhm… <mods laugh> I'm trying to think… I mean,
its funny, it's such a weird eclectic taste, and I
keep going and just
getting stuff from other people…
Mod2: Well, you must have Moby on there…
Mod3: Gimme the top two, I mean, you like techo? I mean…
Mod2: Well, we know he likes Moby! So there's probably some Moby on there…
DH: Yes, I like Moby, I like The Shins, I like… uhm…
Mod2: [I have no idea what he said here. Sounded like "Irish Miller" which
made no sense at all]
DH: … another band that's doing some deep stuff, which is very… you know I
was a huge '80s fan, in the '80s…
Mod2: Noooo…
DH: I embraced the '80s a little too much.
Mod3(?): We definitely have to hook up…. Devo?
DH: Uhm, oh yeah!
Mod3(?): I used to DJ in the '80s.
DH: Oh, did you really?
Mod2: Oh yes…
Mod2: What about the London scene from there? Like The Clash, Sex Pistols…?
DH: Oh yeah. Yeah, I get into… it's so funny because I used to get very
annoyed with people who said "Oh, I like all types of music",
but as things
have gone along, I really… Oh, you know who is someone else I love? Cliff
Martinez, he did the soundtrack for "Solaris",
the movie "Solaris" with
George Clooney? I love that stuff! You know, that's just like great sort of,
ambiance, you know…
Mod2: Hmmm, I'll have to check that out.
Mod1: … music.
DH: … the whole movie kind of thing.
Mod2: Now obviously, when you're on the Mac, when you go out on the
Internet, where are some of the websites you like to go to?
DH: Uhm… I'm a big fan of slashdot.org.
Mod2: Oh yeah!
DH: Just…just… there's only so many mods you can keep up with, but you know…
but I do like to sort of keep and eye on that stuff.
Mod2: EFF, maybe? [I assume he means www.eff.org here]
DH: What was that?
Mod2: EFF maybe?
DH: EFF? I haven't… you know, I haven't looked at them for years!
Mod2: Oh, you gotta go over there.
Mod1: Yeah, you gotta support the EFF man, we're fighting that broadcast
flag thing down here.
DH: You know, the EFF I know from like a million years ago, because that was
when I first got on-line in Toronto, it was like uhm…
what was it called? It
was uh… Internex Online or something like that, it was like one of the first
Canadian on-line, you know, dial-up access.
Mod2: Kind of like your version of CompuServe.
DH: Yeah, I was on CompuServe as well, actually. <laughs>
Mod2: Yeah.
DH: But this was like one of the first sort of mom & pop shop kind of thing,
the first ISPs that then took off and they started making a fortune. Uhm,
right at the beginning of the sort of dot.com boom thing… and… but that's
when I was aware of the EFF.
Mod2: I know what that's like, because we got involved with a little mom &
pop internet service provider down here in the Dallas area, when this show
first started up. And it’s a hoot, there is nothing like getting started
with a small technology business.
DH: Well, that's what I wanted to do! I mean, when that first started
happening, I was like "I want to do this. I want to set this up.
I want a
room full of modems and… and an air conditioner and no life."
Mods: <laughter>
Mod1: I wanted to be like that guy who got his house & everything paid for
as long as he was on the internet. He could order his
food, he just couldn't
leave.
Mod2: Oh, Dot Com Guy?
Mod1: Yeah… Where is he now?
Mod2: You wanted to be Dot Com Guy, didn't you?
DH: (There's a) few dot coms that we've all forgotten…
Mod2: Yeah… where is Dot Com Guy now?
Mod1: He had to get married, so he may end up changing his name back…
Mod3?: He's probably "Bag Boy" by now…
Mod1: Yeah, 'cause his wife didn't want to be known as "Mrs. Dot Com Guy".
(Kris?): But you know, the truth of the matter is, all of us in the room,
probably strive to be just like Dr. McKay!
DH: <laughs>
Mod2: Yes!
DH: Only nicer, I'm hoping.
Mod1: No! We like you! It's perfect.
Mod2: We want to be able to trash people when they're bozos.
DH: <laughs>
Mod2: What other places have you gone out to on the net?
DH: Uhm… oh my god, you're really putting me on the spot. I don't know… I
mean, I've got…
Mod2: Oh, go look at the bookmarks!
DH: <laughs> Oh yeah, that’s… I'll just send you the bookmarks.
Mod2: Yeah, cool. Send us the bookmarks, we'll put it up on the web site.
DH: Uhm… I'm a huge Google fan. I love… I just… I… Google is my source of
information.
Mod2: Oh yeah, I know what you mean.
DH: …whenever there's anything I want to look up…
Mod2: Kris, you got something?
DH: I like the Fool. I'm a big fan of the Motley Fool.
Mod2: Oh yeah?
Kris: While you guys were all talking… about you didn't want to have a life,
and I'm thinking, during the '80s, I tried to go into acting,
but
engineering was paying the bills.
DH: <laughs> Well, that's… well… that's so… people say that they're complete
opposites, but I don't know. It's just that… well, I
dunno… it's… I… when I…
I took a couple of years off and I worked at a voice mail company. Way
before, this was before the Internet, when their big thing was like, "Look,
it's like sending messages." What they were doing was, in effect, sending
emails that were voice emails. Through a proprietary system. And I went and
worked for them for a couple of years, and, I actually only came back to
acting
when I got offered a job of a geek doing much the same kind of thing.
Mod1: Oh c'mon… and who says that if you're running an IT department that
you don't need the acting skills to deal with the suits.
DH: Oh God! I mean…well… Business! You need acting skills to deal in
business. I mean… you've gotta… that's the only way to
climb the ladder.
Mod1: Kris's job in engineering, and most actors, you know, they're
waitressing tables while working up or whatever… are kind of
one and the
same. Whereas that actor would be at the table going, "Would you like some
more tea?" his job over here would be,
"Would you like a turbo-charged
engine with that F-16, sir?"
Kris: Exactly.
Mod2: Kind of like the same boat.
Kris: "You want a graphics processor with that?"
Mod1: One is tipped better than the other… that's the difference.
Mod2: But they're both artists. Now, you talked about you did html for
awhile, did you ever do any just kind of straight up programming?
You know,
like…
DH: Yeah. That was my first… that was my first…
Mod2: What languages?
DH: … I loved it, just loved it. Uhm… I mean, I got into C, I was… Again,
never very good at it. It was things like, I would get someone
call up and
say, "Hey, I've got, you know, I've got a number of lottery tickets for the
past 10 years. I want you to write a program that will come up with the most
likely, you know, the most likely series of numbers for a lottery ticket."
And of course, you know, he had this whole theory about how the calculations
were going to be done and everything, and I pointed out that I felt that
perhaps it was a waste of time and his money… but he didn't care. He paid
me, like 50 bucks or something, and I wrote the program for him. Uhm…
Mod2: I have a feeling that's still floating around the net somewhere in
shareware…
Chris: I was into lazy social engineering programming, I never got much past
Basic, then I'd just tell my friends, 'You can't code that
in less than 5 KBs…" I'd have it next week.
DH: <laughs> So… but yeah, that is, it's that sense of pride thing. It's
definitely a machismo thing.
Mod1: I was a masochist, I did it in Assembly.
DH: Oh… See, Assembly is one of those things I always wanted to learn.
Mod1: Now, you said you had the Newton. How far back… like what was your
very first machine?
DH: First machine would have been… it was an 8086 I guess.
Mod1: Okay.
Kris: Oh man!
DH: The old… oh, I shouldn't say that, you know, because I had the
Commodore, which I guess would have been just before that.
Mod2: Right.
DH: Commodore 64, and my dad actually was the one who got me into it.
Mod1: Do you remember the Timex Sinclairs?
DH: Oh! Do I ever! In fact, you know what? My girlfriend's father has one in
the box with the like plastic wrap and everything, just
sitting in London
right now.
Mod2: I've got 5, back at my house.
Mod1: I've got one.
Kris: We're officially geeking out now.
Mod2: Back in the day, when bulletin boards and stuff were just starting
out, I had one of the Timex Sinclair 1000s, I had an RS232
that clipped up
in the back with the 16 Meg upgrade, and I had a CAT Innovation modem… and
we'd take, because of that, you know,
that keyboard was such hell to work
with…
DH: It was a ridiculous thing, yeah.
Mod2: We'd take two number 2 lead pencils and use the eraser tips to hit the
keys, so you could do speed typing.
DH: <laughs> Oh, that's great!
Mod2: So I logged into this guy's bulletin board, and he, the sysop comes in
and goes "Hey, how's it going?" and I was like "Hey,
I'm doing alright." And
so I was like "So whaddya you got over there?" and he says like "I've got a
286 and I've got a 2 megabyte
hard-drive and a 2400 baud modem and yackity
yackity yackity…
Mod1: And it cost me like 5 grand….
Mod2: Yeah, and it cost me like $4000… and he goes "What do you got?" and I
go "Timex Sinclair 1000, RS232 interface, CAT
Innovation 300 modem and 32
megs of RAM." And all of a sudden I'll get this screen and this little
blinking curser…
DH: You had 32 Megs of RAM back then?
Mod2: Yeah.
DH: Oh my God!
Mod2: And it's sitting there, the little curser is blinking after I type out
all of this, and then it goes, "No carrier." End of the line!
DH: <laughs>
Mod2: And the guy is like "Grrrr!"
DH: I used to love the BBS's! Unfortuantely, I think I was like, a little
bit ahead of it. I should be more into this stuff now, like a chat room and
all that kind of stuff. But the bulletin boards? I used to love that. And
the hacker boards, is what I used to go on back then. Dialing in and
just…The Cult of the Dead Cow and all that. All those weird little boards.
Mod2: We used to find people's modems and walk through them. Walk through a
bank, walk through General Cinema…
DH: Oh yeah! But there was nothing wrong with it at the time. Now… you got…
you know.
Mod2: All the government…
DH: …other things to worry about.
Mod1: You've got to go to Defcon…
Mod2: Oh, I'm sorry. I've been reprimanded, I'm sorry, it was 32 K of RAM.
DH: Ah! There you go!
Mod2: Not 32 Meg.
DH: I was going to say, "32 Meg? Where the hell did you put that?"
Mod1: That was one hell of a breadboard, Jack!
Kris: He had that in the trailer out back… a semi. <laughs>
Mod2: We had elves working on that breadboard!
DH: <laughs>
Mod1: Only if you had a thousand of those things…
Kris: Mick Williams brings the power grid down…
Mod1: Well, unfortunately, I see it's time to let Mr. Hewlett eat…
Mod2: Listen, Dave, you ever going to be coming to the Dallas area? Maybe
for a convention or anything?
DH: I'd love to.
Mod2: Well, when you do, man, look us up, because we'd love to have you in
studio.
DH: Oh, for sure, that'd be great. I'd love to do that. And I'd love to see
Dallas. I've never seen Dallas.
Mod1: And be sure and jump in our chat room, when we get off here.
DH: All right… all right… now where am I going for that?
Mod2: Cyber-line.com.
DH: Okay.
Mod2: And down off to the side it'll say "Chatroom".
DH: Right.
Mod2: And click on in and hang out with 'em.
DH: Very good. I’ll give it a go.
Mod2: All righty.
DH: And I'd like to get some Indian food too.
Mod2: You go and eat that Indian food real quick, and dive back in…
DH: Nice talking to you guys.
Mod2: Same here.
DH: All right.
Mod2: And hopefully we'll be getting to talk to you again.
DH: I will indeed.
Mod2: All right!
DH: Good.
Mod2: Bye bye.
DH: Bye bye.
Many thanks again to
reedfem for the kind permission to use all her hard work!
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