Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Almost, but not quite, lifelike



No. Look, I'm sorry, but I'm just not falling for it any more. You put up a listing with photos like these:



And you expect us to believe that Tasmania actually exists? Look at this!



This is so clearly computer-generated. Just give up. It's just as realistic as New Zealand (which even my browser's spelling checker knows is made-up.)

Sincerely,
Not Falling For It Any More

(Found by Kelly, who's probably in on it.)

19 comments:

burhanistan said...

I also refuse to believe that in such a place where spinning devils and other improbable fauna dwell a totally normal and in fact bland looking house could exist. This is obvious realtor gaming. The moment you moved in Tasmanian tigers would come out and eat your babies.

Beth said...

Did you happen to see this part "plus there is a second toilet outside."

And if you look at the more pictures there is one of a bathroom, but I don't understand how there is no commode only something under a lid....

Decadent Housewife said...

Is that a dead flying something nailed to the bricked in fireplace?

lifeshighway said...

Besides whatever is nailed to the fireplace (ick)... that is a lovely example of string art on the right. Perhaps it was used to snare the "dead flying something"?

Anonymous said...

I thought a dingo ate your baby?

burhanistan said...
I also refuse to believe that in such a place where spinning devils and other improbable fauna dwell a totally normal and in fact bland looking house could exist. This is obvious realtor gaming. The moment you moved in Tasmanian tigers would come out and eat your babies.

Land of shimp said...

Yikes. I wish I could understand why this place actually inspired a fear response in me.

I don't think it helps that several of the doorknobs are a cool four feet high, which is something I haven't seen before.

Is it a prison for the height challenged?

And...two toilets? I can't even spot one, and there appears to be a derelict shed that houses the second one.

Yup. Still there. Totally afraid of the joint. Don't know why.

Edwina - HouseAHolic said...

I am from Tasmania and can therefore vouch for its authenticity.

I gotta say, I don't get the issue with the listing... Is it the colouring or light of the image? Is it because I'm Tasmanian that I'm immune to the weirdness of this one? It looks like it hasn't been touched inside since 1956, but other than that....

Dammit. I feel so disappointed in myself for not spotting it.

burhanistan said...

Dingos are in Australia proper. I was making a little joke on that old line by twisting it to include an extinct exotic Tasmanian-only creature.

Whoosh.

Julie said...

It's the next suburb from where I live now, and one of the houses I looked at on the net while house hunting recently.

Scary but true, there's a lot of old houses like that here, and they come up regularly for sale.

More scary, the one I bought looks even worse inside, but hey, there's a lot you can do with a can of paint... but it's worth it for the high ceilings, enormous rooms and the rural outlook!

laterose said...

Re: why it looks computer generated.

Personally I don't think this one is as fake looking as other I've seen, but there are some things that do give it an odd fake look.

Number one, shadows. There are no shadows. It's possible to get this look in real life, but it's pretty rare. CG on the other hand makes it pretty easy to get the no shadows look since every 3D program I've used has the lights defaulted to not casting shadows.

Number two, furniture arrangement. It's very... straight. One of my 3D teachers once told us all not to straighten up our scenes because pretty much no one actually keeps all their things at nice right angles. But the computer likes right angles, so unless you go through and slightly rotate everything in your scene, it'll all be at right angles. The only bit of furniture in there that's not at a right angle is the blue chair. Which is suspiciously in two different rooms, almost as though they're reusing models.

Sorry for the length. Can you tell I'm a CG geek?

Susan said...

This is perfectly understandable as a house that was remodeled in the height of fashion c. 1960. I have seen similar ones in the UK. I'm assuming that Australian style c. 1960 is similar to UK style c. 1960.

Anonymous said...

Stagers gone wild.

Land of shimp said...

@Edwina -- for me it is partially an issue of contrasts. The contrast in colors, the crispiness of the appearance of an object is often too stark with CG. That blue chair? Is a very blue chair and despite the fact that place looks like it hasn't been touched since the 1960s, that blue chair doesn't look like it's ever had so much as one butt parked in it for any length of time.

Even if it had been recovered just recently to be that pristine looking every scratch and scrape would have had to be sanded off. It's too freaking perfect to be a forty-year-old anything.

Then if you look at the wires hanging from the light fixtures, they are in a strange, stark contrast also. Very white. Standing out quite a bit visually. Go look at any of the wires on any hanging anything in your house. You know what they all have in common in mine? I very rarely remember to clean them.

I mean, basically a colony of spiders has to have woven some serious housing before I remember to vacuum the darned things, and it isn't like I live in filth, they are just easy to overlook. I sure as hell don't scrub them on regular basis.

Those are supposed to be decades old. Years when smoking was common, even inside a house would have been encompassed, and they are a bright, bright white.

Actually living around things tends to screw them up, and leave marks here and there.

Christina said...

How sad is it that all I saw was the top half of the first picture and immediately scrolled down to see if this was a New Zealand listing? I wasn't that far off though, was I?

Ronda said...

Why is the sink in the bathroom right smack up against the bathtub?

Jacki said...

I live in Tasmania about 15 minutes from this house. I assure you that it is sadly quite typical of older houses in that area. We are house hunting and have seen way to many houses like this in our search.
By the way the Tasmanian Devil is nothing like the ridiculous Disney cartoon!

Erin said...

We had that wallpaper growing up in the 1970's. I'm from NSW, Australia.

Kris said...

If you look at other houses sold in the area for around the same price the condition is typical.

I would think if the photos were fake there'd not be stains on the carpet :-/

If you zoom in on the image showing the fireplace there is a power point on the door frame!!! I've seen some downright dodgy houses in Tassie back when I was renting but that's a first!

We don't have dingos in Tasmania so no baby stealing goes on.

Trish Hunter said...

I think the house is awesome!
For retro folk like myself, it'd be awesome to dress up to create a 60's 70's era house.
Wall paper is coming back in fashion. So good :)