Be my hive brain!
August 12, 2008
Good news! I delivered the sixth and final episode of series 3 this morning. With only three weeks till we begin location filming, that’s cutting it pretty fine, but the scripts seem to be in good shape so I’m only waking up in a cold sweat three times a night rather than seven.
That said, they still need work. So I won’t have enough time to contribute as much as I would like to the look of the show. Normally, when I’m finished the scripts, I lovingly pore over T-shirt sites and visit comic shops as ‘research’. This time, that’s just out of the question. Which is what brings me to you guys…
How would you like to help in designing the look of series 3? Specifically, you’d be helping us choose the stuff that litters the main set. I’m talking about posters, comics, fanzines, T-shirts… anything you’ve seen in the last few months that you think is pretty cool or captures the spirit of the show or a particular character. By now, most of you know the kind of things I like…weird toys, indie comics, sci-fi, geek references, internet memes, boardgames…normally I’d delight in tracking down the stuff myself, but as I say, it’s just not going to happen this time round.
In the very first draft of the show I described the set as looking like “a cross between a comics shop and the batcave”. I wanted it to feel like a geek Shangri-La, and in each series I’ve felt we nearly got there. Maybe this time, with you guys involved, we’ll finally nail it.
Please send your suggestions to ben.capel@talkbackthames.tv
We also need to get legal permission to use the stuff, and we need to get it fast, so please include as much information as you can regarding contact details etc etc.
Wow. This is interesting. I wonder how it’ll go?
Why, That\'s Delightful! 
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The people at Anonymous suggested a V mask! Yes! Could you tell Ben where to get one?
I think I just suggested far too many T-Shirts but once I started I kept thinking of new stores and certain shirts.
Hope I got the right idea.
Oh and you can get a V mask at http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=38257
Emailed Ben.
We’ve got a bunch of geeky stuff, ready to go with full permission to use them.
You would beenfit some classic early Internet stuff, e.g. Jennicam poster.
That’s a great idea. Off the top of my head, the best geeky T-Shirt I’ve seen recently was “I see dead pixels” that was featured in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/popculture/78c6/
Thinkgeek also has a lot of other cool related stuff, but I suggest specifically checking out the Penny Arcade store.
http://www.pennyarcademerch.com/gamershirts.html
Penny Arcade rules. And a Leeroy Jenkins reference is a must-have.
Looking forward to the new season.
How about posters for sequels that never made it.
Blade Runner 2: this time its personal(or something actually funny there) etc …
Not sure this is worth emailing to anyone though.
I’m choosing instead to use this section as a ‘shite filter’
I have V mask I can send from the US, it’s part of a costume I put together as V two years ago now. I’d be glad to put it to good use. I’ll email Ben.
You could always ask at Jim Woodring’s store, maybe they’ve got some stuff you haven’t got. You’re more than welcome to use my copy of the Book Of Jim!
http://store.jimwoodring.com/
(I’ve sent suggestions to Ben too)
An entire room where Moss is rebuilding the original ERNIE or Babbage computer out of some amusing substance? Bubble gum. Is Hubbly Bubbly amusing. Theres no ‘K’ in it, so perhaps not.
A herd of 1970’s style flared elephants?
Sorry, forget. Production costs.
Wont be sending those in either, I dont think.
I’ll just get my bellhop costume and my unicycle and I’ll be off. Bye.
Webcomic paraphernalia, such as XKCD, Dinosaur Comics, or Dresden Codak merchandise. But especially XKCD posters.
Large, obnoxious Lego sculptures.
“The Cubes” office action figures. There’s a zombie-office-drone set!
Robot things! A Roomba robot for floor vacuuming, a Clocky robot alarm clock, etc. (I have a Clocky, and we have bonded.)
Nerf toys.
Anything associated with the Ban Comic Sans movement.
The “One Laptop Per Child” laptop.
Anything associated with the Valve game Portal.
I’m project leader for Debian, one of the most well-known Linux distributions amongst developers. We have a range of geek T-shirts available, and I’d be happy to give you some… :-)
This isn’t too much actual help, more of a suggestion, but I’d love to see a big poster of Snake N’ Bacon in the background somewhere. Seriously, that would great.
Sir, you’re getting me far too excited about this. I’ll think on.
Moss t-shirt slogan:
I went to the 2008 Paradox Convention … and I didn’t even get this t-shirt!
c. Charlie Mingles Enterprises 2008. Licensed for use.
For me the most classic piece of nerd paraphernalia is the doormats that have “there’s no place like 127.0.0.1” printed on them.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/6806/
Penny Arcade poster
Anything from elReg’s t-shirt collection, but especially the “My job got outsourced to india and all I got was this lousy t-shirt…”
Looking forward to the new series,
PF.
“Actually, it’s tay-pas…”
http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/hats-ties/9352/
an 8 bit tie! come on!
This will just collapse into a huge geek off, with a huge amount of rubbish sugestions…
In that spirit, i demand copious amounts of lemon party, meat spin & goatse.cx references.
bloody happy face sticker/poster
In my (soon to be former) office we have a many and sundry assortment of cardboard tubes for swordfighting and as stand ins for the tubes that comprise the internets (sometimes we have to explain, so the tubes come in handy).
http://store.artlebedev.com/office/objects/dosugus/
no where near enough cat 5 running around to be a true geeks la.
Big things! Rare stupid things purchased on ebay on a whim while bored, rather than from amazon, maybe. That to me would be true geek shangrila. You’re playing with a horrible space, I always feel, having to stretch out a workplace almost two-dimensionally in front of a studio audience, so big things would maybe distract from the necessarily unrealistic lay-out. Actually what am I talking about, maybe it’s completely realistic, I’ve never been in an IT department, I don’t know. So this is really rude but I’ve never really believed in the sets of the IT Crowd as I have in say Father Ted or The Young Ones, or even Terry and June. I’ve never really thought I was looking at anything other than actors in a set. Sorry this IS rude and uncalled for but it is actually something I’ve been thinking about recently since you brought it up, namely that these wonderfully constructed snowballing absurdities you create merit a weirder, richer locale. Everything looks a bit too realistic, whereas in Black Books or Father Ted the landscape has more clearly ossified into something surreal, well diseased maybe, but with a look that just “chimes” in a way that, maybe because of my total ignorance of IT, the IT Crowd hasn’t found. And the playing styles are so varied, which is great, it’s all great, but it doesn’t make sense to me in a world so vaguely placed… Then again I had the same problem with “Dark Knight”. So not only rude, but pretentious and vague, and unhelpful. Sorry. What a wretched post. But yes, maybe go on ebay and go crazy. Sorry. You’re brilliant.
I don’t know if this is any help but someone got me a stylophone as a nerdy present awhile ago. It’s a guilty pleasure travesty of both music and electronics.
Oh and Darth Tater (Mr Potatoe Head).
Actually you could just come round to my house and take all my stuff.
I think the geekiest thing would be to have toys in the background that they would have played with as toddlers.
The pull along telephone. (http://www.coolestkidstoys.com/images/big_chatter_phone.jpg)
Or a fisher price teaching clock (http://toysonthebrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/fisher_price_clock.jpg)
I also think this would be an awesome shirt
(http://www.hingos.com/patches/images/invincibleblack.gif)
if there is any conspicuous eating they ought to use sporks.
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a rendering of the opengl teapot — anyone into graphics will recognize it
A dartboard with “Clippy,” the dancing paper clip, on it. Doubt if M$ would grant the rights, though.
How about a bonsai kitten in a Mac Cube case gathering dust in the corner? A few years ago there was outrage and uproar and chain letters denouncing Bonsai Kittens (a fake web site explaining how to make them and offering paraphernalia and tools for sale)
When i first saw it it was simpler and they were using the transparent casing of the short-lived Mac cube (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4_Cube): I thought the whole site was a geek joke, an elaborate way of saying ‘this machine is crap’ by finding a ridiculous use for it. If you’ve done this already forgive me i haven’t managed to see all episodes yet.
Here’s a mirror site
http://www.shorty.com/bonsaikitten/index.html
I don’t think it gets much geekier than dusty references to old net phenomena? I have worked with some hardcore coders and they will often go to great lengths to ridicule something that anyone else would barely register, as well you understand Mr Linehan.
The genius at the heart of the operation where I worked was married to a simpleton (loud one-sided conversations were heard on the phone as he instructed her to calm down as he explained to her – himself a little confused – how to use the washing machine), brushed his teeth 4-5 times a day (that I saw), and when I was giving him and another guy a lift, when the front seat passenger got out would scramble BETWEEN the seats to get in the front seat. Lovely chap, wouldn’t hurt a fly. Sprayed profusely when he spoke so you were grateful for the tooth brushing.
But i digress.
I emailed about asking permission for shirts at threadless.com, but I felt I should add asking permission at eatmorekale.com because, while they’re pretty much hippie/rock style shirts, some are just so funny and geeky without trying. And the man who runs it is really nice…
A big stuffed toy linux penguin.
Remember, they are geeks and not too aware of their surroundings so they aren’t going to dramatically change the detritus that is their lair. However, a few updates such as an XKCD poster, a Cat Girl cartoon or broken iPod would be a nice touch.
Have one of the giant iPhone displays, sitting in the corner (obviously stolen by Roy/Moss) just doing it’s thing…that it does…
No one appears to be listening to you saying where to email suggestions to…
hope you get all of these, the IT crowd is great
(You could try to get permission from Valve to make two Portal posters in the form of portals, in which you’d see the otherside of the room, like you do in portal…yeah..)
I don’t know, just an idea.
Hope filming goes well!
My peeps! What can I say? Thank you so much. Except Simon for slagging off the space (kidding…I actually know what you mean, I think).
Just to say, I still haven’t forgiven XKCD for that room full of bouncy balls cartoon, so that’s not getting in (so romantic! So sweet! Ecccccch!), and Penny Arcade is the worst thing in the world ever, so nein danke. These are nerds with taste!
Seriously, though, thank you all for contributing. I hope you’ll be able to see the difference when the show goes out.
As if you need anyone else to back up the suggestion, xkcd things are a must. If there was some kind of recursive reference to one of the comics (like the geohashing) that would be super awesome.
Portal gun. Darwinian statue from the game Darwinia. Gordon Freeman’s crowbar. Things with too many blue LEDs on them. Angry Videogame Nerd stuff or Zero Punctuation. More obscure 8 bit hardware!
Oh bum, I’ve taken far too long to write that post and now look foolish.
I agree wwith the Debian guy. Debian is the basis of Ubuntu so, you know, deep geeky stuff. Put some Debian swirls around!
Ted Steven’s “series of tubes” references on the set would be cool, I remember some kind of art installation on boingboing making fun of it.
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This is nerdcore on two levels:
http://www.dieselsweeties.com/shirts/electricsheep/
I can see Moss possibly wearing it.
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for Eduardo who suggested “a series of tubes” there’s a Creative Commons graphic/poster/t-shirt (complete with illustrator file) that was made available on BB a couple of years ago
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/03/tshirt-design-the-in.html
if not some set dressing, perhaps a t-shirt for roy?
I think I’ve got a 16-bit Sega Mega Drive you can have (my head would explode if I saw a scene where instead of Guitar Hero, the guys were playing Street Fighter 2).
If you want Lego and olde-schoole nerdery, you could contact this guy, who built a Lego Difference Engine:
http://acarol.woz.org/
Um, how about Bob’s Quick Guide to the Apostrophe?
http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html
how about this:
http://www.stonesthrow.com/news/madvillain-box
perhaps not moss or roy’s cup of tea? (but still beautiful, and i think i’ve seen you say that your a madlib fan.)
b
I think a few world of warcraft figures would be ideal
How about one of these T-shirts? It’s to go with a rather geeky podcast of the same name, oddIT, that you can get on iTunes. One of the guys could wear the t-shirt perhaps?
http://www.redbubble.com/people/tuckski/clothing/1342069-1-oddit
get the podcast at http://www.bcs.org/podcasts
The geek hierarchy? http://www.brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html
I can maybe get you a couple of sci-fi-london tee-shirts (only a small amount get made each year) or a poster for the last film festival if that is any help?
How about a Roy wearing a captain hammer tshirt or a captain hammer fan shirt. Hey, anything from from Dr. Horrible would do.
The Yamaha Tenori-On is a particularly cool and nerdy looking piece of equipment that would look good somewhere in the background:
http://tenori-on.yamaha-europe.com/uk/
How about one of my indie music posters from Dublin for Roy?
How about some “Revenge of the Jedi Stuff”. Not sure what Roy and Moss (or Mr. Linehan) would (do) think of Star Wars but if they were fans the would get a kick out of having rare “Revenge of the Jedi” merchendise scattered around the place. You may need to contact Lucasfilm in the UK for permission but they seem to be quite open to things like this.
A link below for a few ideas (Including a T-SHirt)
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/?_nkw=%22revenge+of+the+jedi%22&_fromfsb=&_trksid=m270
A reference about the innovative videogame reviewer Yahtzee of Zero punctuation would be cool:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation
Check out his videos, he has a cult following and he really brings videogame reviews to a whole new level. There are also some T-Shirt from him on sale, this would be great for Roy …
Some Team Fortress 2 references would also be aprreciated by the nerd crowd. ;-)
The geek t-shirt that says it all, and much more is the FreeBSD commandment one:
FreeBSD 4:10 – thou shalt not commit bikesheds
It shows such depth and dates back to the 20th century. True geek chic.
a copy of EDGE magazine.
Well, there’s this girl that’s a favourite on TheDailyWTF:
http://www.bustedtees.com/irish#female
and the t-shirt’s good too (if you actually notice it).
I can’t recommend the xkcd posters (map of internet, online communities) highly enough. Also, the ‘Magic’/’More Magic’ labels (probably too small for TV).
Skizz
Oooof… no-one still read EDGE do they?
Surely with Watchmen coming out next June/July, something to do with that would be needed on the walls?
Hi – I have a website with some geeky photos i took of th London underground. Take a look and would be great if you wanted to use any of them.
The disused tunnels at London Euston Station are cool!!
cheers
http://www.tubephotos.com/?goto=galleries
In work at the moment, I am working on tracking down and removing rogue wireless access points. How about this shirt: http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/illuminated/991e/
Maybe include a few lines in the script:
Jen: Whats that your wearing Roy?
Roy: It detects the presence of wireless access points.
Moss: Basically Jen, if that lights up we’re in deep doo-da.
Other t-shirts I would recommend are: “There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who dont” and “There is no place like 127.0.0.1”.
I get funny stares in work when I wear them.
For the look of the office, I know what you mean when you want it somewhere between the bat cave and a comics shop, and maybe a hint of the bridge from Star Trek?. Take a look at Warlock’s “command center” in Die Hard 4.0. A lifesize cardboard cut out of Bobba Fett, or some other Star Wars charachter. But not one of the main charchters, it has to be a supporting charachter, such as Lando Calrissian or Wedge Antilles. A main charachter would be too straight forward.
Also look at Farrels apartment for ideas. Action Man and Transformer Toys on shelves, lots of Flat screen monitors. One showing a Nagios screen with everything on it Red.
Jen: Shouldnt you do something about that? [points at Nagios Screen]
Roy: Its supposed to look like that. It goes green when something bad happens.
Ill have a think and return with more Ideas later.
Tshirts and gear is always good on the IT crowd, however usage of CAT5 cables in place of string (eg. to pull up your blinds or take your dog a walk) is always fun when you work in IT and anyone in the know will spot it straight away.
How about The Register’s legendary BOFH? Also ZX_appeal and Flying Car.
How about the dear ole “Bastard Operator from Hell” or BOFH? Tees at http://www.cashandcarrion.co.uk/frame_bofh.html?i=7035641&t=BOFH%20Tee%20Black
Or b3ta, Weebl and Bob, rathergood.com?
A Red Swingline Stapler would be uber geeky. (www.redswinglinestapler.com)and maybe even a reference to doing business with a software company called ‘Initech’ or ‘Interode’. (big Office Space fan)
Or how about a poster of Bill Gates’ Mugshot from when he got arrested? It’s a mini poster in my Cube (http://www.thinkgeek.com/7b24/).
http://www.ubersite.com/m/117910…
This is a particulalry nerdy argument that a friend and I had at work over the course of some weeks. (We work at an ISP)
If you use the phrase I coined in my argument in the next season I will literally die laughing. I implore you do it regardless of the damage to my health and impending death.
-P
A ‘Speak and Spell’ – bright orange plastic thing from the early ’80s for the youngsters who don’t remember, as used by ET to phone home.
Preferably modified to ask you to spell swear words…
How about a periodic table table?
http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/
Also, photographs of the Everywhere Girl.
I know a lot of people have mentioned XKCD, and it’s currently in your bad books Graham ;) but can I put in another plea for it?
I’d love Moss or Roy to be wearing one of the XKCD T-shirts, particularly “Sudo Make me a Sandwich” or “Everybody stand back: I know regular expressions”.
Oh, and I also think a “There’s no place like 127.0.0.1” t-shirt / doormat would be good, with the exception that you should update to IPv6: “There’s no place like ::1″…
Have to add to the xkcd recommendations – pity you don’t like the ball pool, as that could be a wonderful throw-away in-joke (Jen opens side door, hundreds of coloured balls pour out, Roy explains it was a ‘dream that was never to be’)
Maybe the online communities map?
And sneak a couple of Graphjam charts (http://www.graphjam.com) in – the nice thing is that these can even work in the ‘upstairs’..
If you _really_ want to go UBER geek, then get one of them in the following T-Shirt.
http://www.cafepress.com/nucleartacos.163046834
The joke that this t-shirt has on it takes a good 15 minutes+ to explain to even highly technical people who don’t understand it.
It’s a _very_ funny joke about character encoding.
An explaination of the joke (if you need one ;)) can be found via here:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001084.html
The only issue is that probably only about 0.0005% of any given audience will actually get the joke.
+1 for XKCD or El Reg too.
More anime references! loved the ones in the last couple of series..the show the guys would love would be Denno Coil, I think…:
http://timmaughanbooks.com/2008/04/11/denno-coil-1-12-2007-review/
A good place to go for anime stuff is:
http://www.jbox.com/
Regarding suggestion of World of Warcraft figures, personally I believe Moss would be dismissive of Warcraft as it’s an inferior rip-off off Games Workshop’s Warhammer.
Some Warhammer related merchandise would be more appropriate and Games Workshop should be easily contactable as they’re based in Nottingham.
http://uk.games-workshop.com/
Mighty Muggs action figures.
I have a whole pile of A4 / fullsize posters I collected from the computer shows in the 80s. If you need anything retro to put on the wall there is a fair choice there.
All IT departments are overrun with 1) old hard disks 2) IDE/PCI cards of various flavours.
Could a large number of hard drives be gaffer taped together into some amusing shape? Perhaps they’ve turned them into furniture?
I don’t think we’ve paid enough attention to poor Richard… Theres “visi goth” (reflective black clothes for Goths so that they don’t get run over when they cross the street at night.) Can’t find the little spoof ad now, but you get the picture :)
“a cross between a comics shop and the batcave”
.bat cave, surely?
I think a life-sized Dalek in the corner of the room would look rather good
I’me never sure if the IT guys are proper geeks or just lame wanabees who are acatulay COBOL programmers or worse.
Proper geeks
Poster of the girl from scrap heap challenge.
Giant diorama of a sf tv show like the one folger did in SG1
Old copies of Mondo 2000 lying around
Hardware junk ideally uber rare stuff btw I once correctly identified a A4 (that’s a V2 rocket) fuel pump from some crash wreckage one of my lecturers asked us to guess what it was.
Home built Flotation Tank (I actually know a guy in BT that had one )
Pervy cool wall of female bloggers like the TG cool wall
Bluetooth/Wifi Sniper rifle
Shrine to Claudia Christiansen
A LART check out BOF on the reg
A walk in tape safe
Lamer geeks
Loads of Linux stuff
Shrine to steve jobs
How about (taken from series 1) . . .
DESK RABBIT t-shirts !!!
oh yes !!!! want one lol
A big lamp.
Homestar Runner (http://homestarrunner.stores.yahoo.net/)
Donkey Kong Jenga! (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/08/11/jenga-is-finally-perfected-all-it-took-was-donkey-kong)
some of these old computer posters: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/08/08/101-classic-computer.html
++xkcd; // as well as the following:
GraphJam
LolCats
http://failblog.org
Linux Cheat Sheet Tshirt and World Wide Web Map from XKCD: http://store.xkcd.com/
And comics from CTRl-ALT-DEL online.
From Spore’s Zazzle store: The poster that shows a monster holding a sign that says “Composed of Matter, Anti-matter, and It Doesn’t Matter”.
http://www.zazzle.com/anti_matter_poster_print-228426776224272499?gl=sporestore
backup tapes… lots of them
weighted companion cube (Portal)
crowbar (Half Life)
nothing from apple. nothing!
also a Spectrum 48k with a Konix Speedking stuck to it connected to an old tv
How about a poster or T-shirt relating to the LHC??
Something with a slogan along the lines of:
I have a hadron for particle physics!
[…] 13. 8. 2008, 14.26 Graham Linehan, hlavní scénárista, si na svém blogu oddechl, že konečně dokončil šestou sezónu kultovního IT […]
T-shirt seen in store:
Do I look like a f@ckin’ people person?
Threadless do some great geeky t-shirts. I was going to recommend the ‘They lied to us’ design, but it’s sold out (I guess you might be able to source one second hand). Then I noticed that they are doing a poster of the design: http://www.threadless.com/print/1374/Damn_Scientists_Print
Also, there this gyroscope ball thingy: http://www.powerballs.com/
Zoe
Linked to this from my blog barmarbybroox.wordpress.com
I like these guys’ T-Shirts
http://www.oddhero.com/tshirts.php
(Company not connected to me in any way shape or form…I just like their T’s. And they seem pretty cool).
How about something from Despair Inc?:
http://www.despair.com/viewall.html
http://site.despair.com/despairwear/
Favourite T-Shirts
“There is no patch for stupidity”
and
“3:14” on the front “Nice one John” on the back
We’ve got a life size cardboard-cutout of Chewbacca in our office. He’s currently wearing a plastic Viking helmet, too, which dangles rakishly over one ear. Otherwise… No2ID and EFF stickers GOOD. O’Reilly books (actual books, not just posters) on shelves… and stacked up on desks with many post-it notes and placemarkers sticking out the back. Comic-wise, personally I’m reading DMZ and Walking Dead at present, plus Toothy of course (2000AD if you need to ask); the big MegaCity 1 “view from a block window” poster (as given free to subscribers a year or two ago) might look pretty good.
Memes of the last year:
LOLCATS! “I can has fourth series?” “Invisbl scriptwriter!”…
“Your shipment of Fail has arrived” and other fail blog images make great small posters… (could do a different one each episode perhaps…)
A world map of the top level country domains
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/190-world-wide-web-map-from-ad-to-za/
maybe a fake photo of them at some kind of geeky convention surrounded by a team of nerds wearing shorts and with big passes round their necks
can you get “Where the hell is Matt ?” dancing figurines ??!
Any reference to Diggnation or Tiki Bar tv would be “cuil”. Im so funny!
http://revision3.com/diggnation/
http://www.tikibartv.com/
The xkcd stuff is really good though, maybe you could give them a second chance :-)
Geek stuff like this Intel doll?!
The original Monster Manual.
Call of Cthulhu stuffed toys.
Get some physics magazines such as Physics Today or Physics World scattered about.
I’ve got a life size card board cut-out of Mr T all blinged out commanding people to grow some nuts. It’s not exactly retro, but it is rubbish and I would be only too happy to offload it and get Mr T back on the small screen – if only as prop to hang coats on.
you could have someone get a tattoo on their neck
Some of the best Nerd T-Shirts around
http://www.offworlddesigns.com/c-14-gaming.aspx
This one being one of the best.
http://www.offworlddesigns.com/p-107-flaming-d20.aspx
Something to do with the Rickroll phenomenon would be good.
There is a selection of Batman T-shirts from French Connection to promote the movie The Dark Knight, one of which I have of The Joker. I can see the character of Roy wearing it as he could be a comics geek.
website: http://www.frenchconnection.com/category/mens+batmantshirts/batman+tshirts.htm
The 3D chess set from Star Trek is a classic: http://www.thechessstore.com/category/.shop_our_store.by_special_departments.star_trek_3d_chess_sets/
Anything featuring the phrase “All your base are belong to us” is also pretty geeky. :)
Anti-static bracelets linked together in a chain — draped from anywhere to anywhere. Cheap, quickly assembled, scalable, reconfigurable, and no copyright issues.
You should have a half dead plant somewhere, IT folk always have the desire to be green fingered but lack the skills. You also need piles of CRT monitors in some corner if you want to show true realism.
I think some Infocom software on a shelf would look right on message. Text adventures rock. Kind of. Everyone knows graphical user interfaces are for wannabes. You should be able to pick some up on the bay fairly easily. If you can work something in from these guys http://textadventuregames.malinche.net/, even better. They’re still writing new text adventures. Moss would be proud.
Found this poster here might work as the characters dont have a clue about I.T.
http://www.allposters.co.uk/gallery.asp?startat=/getposter.asp&APNum=3551362&CID=62508E13CFC64A54BCF9A4A881C0E3FA&PPID=1&search=computers&f=t&FindID=0&P=11&PP=50&sortby=PD&cname=&SearchID=
How about a nice Banksy cross-stitch? http://www.fuldesign.se/gratis/gratis_broderi.html
Not sure about permission for doing it, but street art loving grannies (of which I’m sure there are literally tens) are getting pretty geeky with it.
A reprap in any stage of completion. This is the geek toy by excellence. Hell, I would even do an episode on the thing.
http://reprap.org/
You should seriously email me – My Husbands “Study” is his geeks paradise complete with ZX81 and Commadore64
A different http://www.despair.com/ poster each episode?
I used to work on SFX magazine and have suggested to my old pals they send you any unwanted crap they’ve got laying around the office. Which is meant to be nicer than it sounds.
Most people I know who work in IT have most of their work equipment at home, in some cases when I been round to a co-workers house, it’s almost like being in the office
couple of geeky jokes/ pranks that could be done:
explaining that the switches on power sockets are there to stop electrons escaping out of the socket, which would then mix with oxygen and turn into ozone and poisoning people
showing people how to change the time on the PC by rotating a screw on the back of the PC (works best when the girls who ‘try and change the time’ do this, have short skirts on and are bent down trying to get to their PCs)
Wow, I would so love to see a Plush Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube in there somewhere! (From game called Portal)
http://kotaku.com/gaming/portal/the-official-plush-companion-cube-321259.php
Maybe also a Facecrab from Half-life 2?
http://store.valvesoftware.com/productshowcase/productshowcase_HL2HeadCrabPlush.html
I love being a geek!
When I did Computer Science at Uni, there was a big thing for Scully (Gillian Anderson) from the X-files. Carol Vorderman too. And maybe some old computer stuff, like BBC micro or ZX81 posters.
I’ve got the first 26 odd issues of the long-gone Personal Computer Weekly nicely bound in an original red binder with an old Apple logo on the spine you can borrow!
(Great fun reading through some of the reviews…)
And as you are running close to deadlines, another Doulgas Adams reference wouldn’t go amiss…
Just send a truck round my house and borrow what you want.
From Darth Vader helms and costume (and we’re not talking some fancy dress thing), full Stormtrooper costume, Heroes Hiro sword, even a full Aliens colonial Marines costume with Pulse rifle……….enough film memorabilia (books, figures, toys, posters, etc) to fill two rooms at my house, oh and of course the V mask already mentioned before.
Oh and for the Batcave look…..a full Batman Returns Batsuit……
I’d get a kick outta seeing my stuff on the show. Just send it back afterwards :)
They should have a Steve Ballmer poster on the wall. We did this at our place:
http://www.realbuzz.com/index.php?pageID=3228&ht_do=view&id=2419
One trend that seems to be on the increase is the “Shipment of FAIL”. I nice poster of someone wearing a crappy transformers outfit with FAIL written on it in the background would be good – perhaps even a home made version printed out on an old colour dot matrix and pinned to the wall…
[…] simply “switch it off and on again”. I just read in Graham Linehans Blog article “Be my hive brain!” that he is calling for suggestions to help design the look of the set for the next series, […]
http://www.monkandhisitjunk.com
A nabaztag wireless rabbit.
http://www.nabaztag.com
Well, since people are still making suggestions here are a couple of mine;
1. Anything with Battlestar Galactica. It would be nice to see an old metal toaster with a BSG sticker stuck to its side somewhere in the room.
2. If you have BSG, you need a LOST reference. Especially a disappearing Island reference. Perhaps one of the men could wear a simple shirt with an outline of white rabbit with the number 15 painted in black on its side.
3. I would love to see the IT team reading “The Middleman”, “Y:The Last Man Standing”, “The Runaways” or “Dead Man Walking” comics.
As probably already mentioned…
Ubuntu/Linux posters/merchandise
Firefox posters/merchandise
Monkey Island/Guybrush Threepwood merchandise
Final Fantasy VII merchandise
Heroes merchandise
Just don’t loose those “Home Sewing is killing fashion” posters!
I recommend Archie McPhee for set dressing. You guys really are a bunch of geeks.
Oh and another thing, wouldn’t it be great to use IT crowd to support Gary McKinnon? Surely his campaign passes as geek-related?
hello people, FTFP: “Please send your suggestions to ben.capel@talkbackthames.tv”
n00bz
You need to get the Wii Fit game and board and all the Wii accessories; sweatbands for head and wrist, yoga mat, socks, wii water bottle, wii water bottle holder, etc. This game is Ultra hot right now and all the techs want one. A few sceens with them using it would drum up more interest espically if used during your commercial promos. Like my ideas? Hire me!
The University I work at has a load of old computer hardware on display. They may consider loaning it – drop me an email and I`ll ask them.
Oh, my Lord, I think I’m going to have to turn off the comments now as that’s more than enough to be getting on with. Any further suggestions, please e-mail the lovely Ben.
Peace out, you lovely, lovely people.
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