'MacHeads,' a new movie about the Apple and Macintosh culture, will premiere Wednesday at MacWorld.
(Credit: MacHeads)It's a long-established truism in technology journalism: That stories about Apple are pretty much guaranteed to do better than just about any other subject.
And why? It's certainly not because of the total size of the user base of Apple products. Rather, as has been very well chronicled in newspapers, magazines, online and in books, the passion felt by the community of Apple users far outstrips its size.
Now, with the release of MacHeads, you can add movies to the roster of media documenting the full fervor of the Mac faithful and their particular brand of do-it-yourself brand evangelism.
MacHeads, a 54-minute film by the Israeli director and producer team of Kobi and Ron Shely, has its world-premiere Wednesday with a screening at Macworld, a suitable place for a film about 25 years (or more) of Mac fanaticism, especially because much of it was filmed at Macworld 2007.
It's also a bit of an ironic location to launch a cinematic discussion of hard-core Mac fandom, given the recent announcement that Apple will end its participation in Macworld after this year, a development that could well spell the end for the last large-scale physical gathering of the very people the movie is about.
In a way, however, the end of Macworld as we've known it plays right into the hands of the Shely brothers, as one of the chief arguments their film makes is that the newest generation of Mac users depends much more on the Internet for community than Macworld itself or the users-group meetings that have taken place in any number of cities around the world for so many years.
Either way, though, one thing is made abundantly clear in MacHeads: As long as there are Mac users, new or old, on working computers or museum pieces, the so-called cult of Mac will stay alive and well.
As a movie, I found MacHeads to be rather uneven. It struck me as haphazardly edited, and it struck me that the filmmakers were never completely clear with themselves whether their movie was about Mac users, their passion, Apple, the computers themselves or the transformation of a small, yet unbelievably vocal community.
Probably, that's because it's about all of the above. But where MacHeads succeeds in amply demonstrating the extent of the feeling the faithful have for their beloved Macs, it suffers from an obvious lack of clarity.
Still, it's kind of fun listening to the so-called MacHeads opening up to the world about their obsession. It's also not at all unfamiliar. I myself am writing this on a Mac, and between my wife and I, we have five Macs, two iPods and two iPhones. And she would probably recount proudly that she nearly dumped me early in our relationship when I told her that I was considering buying a PC for my next computer.
In the film, this distaste for all things Windows takes many forms, some funny and others even more funny.
Early in the movie, for example, the well-known sex author and blogger Violet Blue, says, with only the slightest hint of irony, "I've never knowingly slept with a Windows user. Ever. Ever. That would never, ever happen."
Later, DigiBarn computer museum co-founder Bruce Damer talks about Apple taking on IBM and PCs as "the force fighting against the beige banality."
While the Mac--in its many iterations--is the technological focus of the devotion of the MacHeads, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs is clearly the human form.
And together, Jobs and the products his company makes comprise a church of sorts, with thousands, if not millions, of followers.
"If you go online and look up the definition of a cult," Shawn King, the executive producer and host of Your Mac Life, says in the film, "Mac users are a cult. You know, complete fealty to one leader."
Fealty and devotion often have a physical component, and for some Mac fans, that's a tattoo. MacHeads, then, features at least two cases of users with Apple logos emblazoned on their legs.
But some Mac users clearly think of their computers as an extension of themselves--a sentiment that some might laugh at, but which others will understand fully.
"Only Mac people really put stickers all over their laptops," digital media strategist Deborah Schultz says in the movie, "and I think it's indicative that this is kind of something that is close to me like my clothing and it's an identification."
These days, with Apple flying high on the strength of the massive success of the iPhone, the iPod and the Mac line, it's easy to forget that in the mid-90s, the company was on the verge of failure. And for the 25 million or so Mac users at the time, events at the time like Macworld were a place to come and share their hopes and fears about their future computing.
"You have to be an optimist to be a Mac user," said former MacAddict columnist Joseph Holmes in the film, "because there were those tough times when we thought, you know, maybe I'll have to use a Windows system. Maybe there won't be a Mac in a couple of years. It was kind of tough."
Or, as fellow Mac fan Debroah Shadovitz put it, "We would have entered the dark ages if Apple went away. We couldn't let that happen."
As is the basis for endless business school case studies today, of course, Jobs returned from the Siberian exile of forced life away from Apple, and brought the company back to glory, first with the iMac and then with the company's next--and maybe biggest--game changer, the iPod.
Oddly, MacHeads hardly covers the iPod, and its importance in making Apple what it is today. I think that's because the whole point of the film is to focus on the passion of a niche group of tech users, and the iPod has been such a mainstream hit that it is the dominant portable music player today, hardly the kind of device that establishes the us against them mentality that many of the Mac fans in the film evince.
Yet, the movie feels like it has a hole without a discussion of the iPod, and I think that's evidence of the lack of clarity I talked about earlier--the indecisiveness as to what the film is really about.
Because this is well-covered ground, there is little in MacHeads that would surprise anyone who is familiar with the cult of Mac. Yet, because that community is so visible and outspoken, the movie is bound to have an audience--at least of the already converted. Whether it will appeal to those outside the fold is less likely, to me, at least.
No matter, though. Apple's fan base alone is large enough to give the Shely brothers a sizable potential audience, even if many of those people really just want to see how their kind is portrayed on film.
After all, in the end, what makes the cult of Mac powerful, and interesting, is the people.
"It's the community that you want to talk about," says Shawn King in the film. "Don't love Apple, love the community."
At Macworld 2008, Apple fans got their first hands-on look at the MacBook Air. Without participation by Apple at Macworld after 2009, scenes like this will be a thing of the past.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Apple's decision to make January's Macworld its last offers fodder for endless speculation. But another big question is how this will go down with the Mac faithful who have flocked to this annual event through good times and bad.
To be sure, there will be official Apple events in the future, like the Worldwide Developers Conference. But most fans--the civilians--likely won't be able to gain access to such events, which are usually reserved for press, analysts, VIPs, and developers.
So, as one colleague of mine put it, Macworld has long been the public carnival for Mac fans, and Apple's decision to get out after the 2009 version doesn't bode well for Macworld's future or for the future of a single, mass event for the hardcore Mac community.
"It's a big disappointment," said Leander Kahney, the author of The Cult of Mac and Inside Steve's Brain. "A lot of Mac fans will be royally bummed. It's a huge part of being an Apple fan--looking forward to what Steve (Jobs) will unveil at Macworld. It's like Christmas for grownups."
For Mike Leeds, a Mac technician at a Portland, Ore., college, one of the biggest losses of an Apple-free Macworld will be the chance to hobnob with the company employees who staff the event.
"I got to wander around and talk to the Apple employees that are on duty manning the show," Leeds said. "With luck, you manage to find a particular employee that actually knows the particular issue that you might have, and can give you some background on a) what their plans are for addressing the issue or b) other ways of dealing with it. Half of the time I'm down there...I'm walking around and talking to Apple employees, and that's going to be gone."
For Leeds, then, not having Apple participate in Macworld means he likely won't make the annual trip to San Francisco for the event. And he's not alone.
"It matters a lot that people get to see Jobs," said Kahney. "This is the big show for Jobs' fans. People look forward to this all year. They camp out overnight and take a vacation to go to Macworld and travel from all over the world. It's the big gathering of the tribe."
Further, Kahney pointed out that for many Apple fans, Jobs' keynote speeches have provided a regular sense of spectacle, something worth traveling to San Francisco for, and which will be sorely missing both next month--when Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, gives the keynote speech--and in the future, when Apple doesn't participate.
"Jobs is hugely entertaining," Kahney noted. "There's nothing like it, in tech or anywhere else. It's marketing theater at its best. And with concerns about Jobs' health, people want to see him in the flesh--see if he's OK."
For its part, Apple had no comment related to Jobs' health.
Of course, Mac fans aren't the only ones who would be disappointed by an Apple-less Macworld.
"What a bummer for everyone," Kevin Mathieu, a Bay Area artist who has been going to Macworld for 17 years, said about the news. "From Mac fans to local union workers and local bars," which will undoubtedly lose business.
Still, Kahney pointed out that the faithful will still have places to congregate.
"Luckily, there's the local Apple stores," said Kahney, "which have a ton of community events. They're not just stores. They really are community gathering places, especially the flagship ones in New York and Los Angeles."
But to some, the end of Apple's involvement in Macworld spells trouble for the continuity of the cohesiveness of the Mac faithful community.
At Macworld, Kobi and Ron Shely, two Israeli filmmakers, will be debuting their documentary, MacHeads, which is about the Mac and Apple community. Kobi Shely said a big part of the movie is an exploration of just the issues raised by Apple's Tuesday announcement.
"Apple is on an ongoing process that started back in 1998 when the Internet started to take over," Shely said. "The Mac community was based on in-person meeting places such as the Mac users groups. What's holding it all together is the hundreds, if not thousands, of communities across the world spreading the passion and creating the myths. Their meeting place is Macworld."
But Shely added that while making MacHeads, he found that Apple and its community, while deeply connected, are indeed separate.
"And today I think...is the most significant sign (of) that relationship," Shely said. "The Internet has changed the community. Today the young generation doesn't need to get together in groups. They can get online. But at least they had Macworld. In my view, the Mac faithful will have difficulties continuing the fandom without that direct contact. I hope Macworld will continue to be the gathering place of 'Mac heads' and the shelter for Mac users all over the world."
The film MacHeads, which is scheduled to be released this fall, takes a close look at the culture surrounding Apple and its products.
(Credit: MacHeads)If Tuesday's news of new, more-powerful, Mac laptops wasn't enough to stoke the fires of the Apple faithful, I've got even more to offer.
Tuesday afternoon, the producers of the forthcoming film, MacHeads, released a new trailer. The film is scheduled for a fall release. No word yet on how it will be distributed.
The film, as noted here in January, will take a close look at what Wired writer Leander Kahney has termed the "cult of Mac."
The new trailer doesn't shed much more light on the contents of the film, but for real, ahem, MacHeads, the minute-plus of new footage will nevertheless be catnip.
Featuring video from Macworld, New York's Fifth Avenue Apple Store, the DigiBarn computer museum, and elsewhere, the film looks to be an in-depth examination of just what makes the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and Apple's other products seem like cultural phenomena rather than just consumer electronics.
A kid playing with Electronic Arts' 'Spore' on a Macintosh at Macworld in San Francisco on January 17, 2008
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)
A fully-formed 'Spore' creature. Though the game is single-player, it allows players to download creatures created by others.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)Earlier this week, I ran a story about how video game giant Electronic Arts plans to release its much-anticipated evolution game, Spore, on Macs at the same time as the PC version.
Unfortunately, at the time of the story, I didn't have any screenshots of the game being played on a Mac, and in fact, we had to rely on out-of-date images of Spore taken from game conferences in 2006.
Well, today, I finally was able to make onto the show floor at Macworld here in San Francisco, and while I was certainly interested in much of what was on display--OK, tons and tons of iPod cases and a few other things--what I really wanted to see was EA's small booth and, yes, Spore on the Mac.
After a little bit of searching--I went to the wrong hall at first--I found the booth, and there it was. They had the game playing on an iMac, and when I got there, a kid was playing around with it under the direction of an EA staffer.
Players must start out as a spore, otherwise known as a primordial cell. The idea is that the game has five major evolution levels: cell, creature, tribe, civilization and, finally, space.
The 'Spore' creature creator allows players to choose the various body parts they want for their creatures. They also must earn in-game currency if they want to use more advanced body parts.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)In order to begin, players must create a creature using the innovative Spore creature creator. This allows users to build their own custom character, choosing from a collection of available body parts. This ensures that each player's creatures are unique.
Though Spore is a single-player game, it allows users to upload the content they create--creatures and the like--to a large database that's accessible by other players. That means that while you don't play against other people, you could download creatures created by others.
This means that the game can be infinitely complex, with as many different kinds of creatures as its many players have and will create.
A Sporecast lets players choose from content created by others. That means that it is possible to play on a planet, say, with creatures created by many other players.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)One of the things that makes Spore innovative is the fact that the creature creator--which is the only part of the game that EA was showcasing at Macworld--is very simple to use. While it may take a player a significant amount of time to create a custom avatar in other games, it is possible to make a brand-new, unique, Spore creature in just minutes.
Now, we just have to wait until EA releases the game. The company hasn't said when that will happen, but it's almost certain to be this year. Spore has been in the works for more than three years, with its first public showing at the 2005 Game Developers Conference. Now, with GDC 2008 just around the corner, I think we can expect EA to announce details soon on when the game will be released. So stay tuned.
Players start at the cell level, creating a primordial creature in the creature creator.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)
Players can create spaceships on which they fly to other planets.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)If you want to look at how the personalities of Apple's two co-founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, differ, perhaps one way would be to measure their responses when asked to pose for pictures.
Let's start with Woz. Though he claims to have been acutely shy in his early life, these days Woz is a social butterfly. He shows up at tech event after tech event in Silicon Valley, such as the 30th anniversary of Apple, or the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64, and is almost eager to glad-hand anyone who comes by. Want a picture of you and Woz? Get in line.
Now, let's examine Jobs. Everyone knows he is one of the greatest business and technology visionaries in history. Onstage, say, at Macworld, he has a bright smile and an extremely charismatic and engaging manner. He looks like he'd be fun to talk to. Yet his reputation is for managing by fear and for having little patience for the public.
At Macworld Wednesday, popular technology and sex columnist Violet Blue wrote that she saw Jobs on the show floor and decided to go talk to him.
"I saw that Steve Jobs was just hanging out on the Macworld Expo floor, not in conversation, not talking to anyone, and poking at his iPhone in the middle of the wandering public, so I walked over," Blue wrote on her SFGate.com Open Source Sex blog Thursday. "Thinking a girl--in this case, a fangirl, me--will never get anything if she doesn't ask for it, I lightly touched his arm and said, 'Hi.' He looked at me, and I blushingly asked if it would be OK for me to take a picture with him. I didn't say my name or give credentials or anything else, I was just any girl. He told me curtly, flatly, that I was rude. And turned his back to me."
Moments later, Robert Scoble caught up with Blue and filmed her reaction to the snubbing.
Blue, of course, does not fill in the contextual blanks that might explain whether Jobs was having a bad day, was in the middle of an IM conversation with someone, or anything else. But is anyone really surprised that Jobs would so abruptly snub a fan, even at Macworld? I'm not.
In fact, Jobs is able to maintain his so-called "reality distortion field" in part because he is above us all. We can't engage him in conversation the way we can with Woz. Want to talk to Woz about his favorite video game? Go ask him. Want to ask Jobs a question about, well, anything? Good luck getting through his phalanx of PR people.
You might think that I love to bash Jobs and Apple since I'm writing this. In fact, between my wife and me, we personally have four Macs, two iPods, a couple of AirPorts and, oh, I'm sure there must be more. I had my religious conversion from Windows to Mac nearly four years ago. And I'll be the first to grant that Jobs towers above anyone else in tech when it comes to imagination and understanding what his customers want.
But boy, is the man cold-hearted. What does he expect to happen if he walks the floor at Macworld? He's surrounded by the most fan-boy of the fan-boys. He's going to get approached, swarmed even. If he doesn't want to be, then he shouldn't be on the floor.
The Macworld Expo starts Tuesday, and I'm sure there are countless people out there who simply don't know what to do with themselves in those long hours until Steve Jobs steps onstage at Moscone Center in San Francisco.
As I sat at my desk this afternoon, pondering my next few days, an e-mail came across about free passes to the show, and for reasons that I can't fully explain, it got me writing a little bit of Macworld haiku.
Sure, it's silly, but then, so what.
So I thought I'd offer mine up and give you all the opportunity to share your own with the world (in the comments section). Remember, haiku is five syllables, then seven, then five more.
Macworld Moscone
once a year, very big lines
Will John Mayer sing?
Steve Jobs speaks loudly
Reality distortion
Apple fans bow down
iPod, Mac, iTunes
Who's got the scoop on what's new?
here is one more thing
Blue jeans, black sweater
Is it a new pair each year?
How 'bout the glasses?
A MacBook tablet
That's what I would like to see
Just six days to go
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