So let me set the stage by saying that I love my parents immensely. They are the two most amazing people I know. They have provided me with everything I needed in life, supported everything I have ever done, helped me through rough times, good times, everything in between, and generally, they are just a riot to be around.
But man. Sometimes the whole generation gap rears its ugly head. It usually surfaces when computers are involved. And usually with my father. He thinks he's all "hip" and "connected" because he has a computer and a digital camera. He still uses Windows 2000 as his OS.
So the follks are over at my place the other night to visit the grandson. We have a new PC at home. (Yes, I bought a Windows machine). I did some research and had one built as opposed to buying the "out-of-the-box" model from a big store. So I am showing my dad the benefits of Windows XP as it is fairly slick, and I am starting to get used to it. I'm showing him all the video of Ethan I have downloaded, how i can burn it to DVDs, all the digital pictures we have, the cool video card I bought that is hooked up to the TV...blah blah blah.
I show him some photos of Ethan that I'm kind of fooling around with in Photoshop as a joke. Cutting him out of pictures and putting him in front of St. Peters in Rome, at Flowerpot Island in Tobermory, stuff like that, when my dad says "Have you seen that picture from the tsunami in December?"
Immediately I know he is talking about this:
Fake-diddly-ake!
I tell my wise old father that said picture is a fake. (He has no idea about Snopes) and he says no way because a friend of ours sent that to him. That means it must be real!! Oh dad. You poor poor man.
We have the following conversation:
Me: "Dad. You realize that with Photoshop I can create any photo that I want, real or not right?"
Dad: "Huh?"
Me: "Its just time restraints dad. Given the proper amount of time, I can do anything to any picture I want once it is on my computer"
Dad: "No you can't"
Me: "Oh dad, you have a lot to learn about computers. Come with me."
We go upstairs to my work-from-home Mac and I fire up an old job. Its a brand we redesigned last year, really slick with nice bottle shots on the main panels and end panels. So I open the artwork for the 24 and ask my dad "what do you see?"
He says "a 24". Great. Progress. I ask him if anything unusual pops out and he says no. I then ask him if he wants to take the red pill or the green pill. He doesn't get it. Shock, he hasn't seen the Matrix.
I then proceed to tell him that the bottle pictured on the case doesn't exist. Its all digital. Created in 3D, prettied up in Photoshop and placed on a carton. All before one label or cap was even printed. I open up the main panel file in Photoshop and start going through the layers. I turn on and off the ice, sweat, cap, label, neck label, even the fill liquid inside the bottle and tell dad that we "invented" this digital photo studio for our client because photography for a redesign costs about $25,000 and our process costs about $5,000 and looks the same and can be done in a couple of days instead of a few weeks.
Dad just stood there, dumbfounded. I think I may have caused some sort of brain damage.
So my question is this: Have you guys ever had a conversation where you just couldn't believe the person was that clueless?
I have a few more of these, but I'll save them for later.