Dutch siege is a protest against wide-screen TV manufacturer.
March 11, 2002 5:16 AM Subscribe
Dutch siege is a protest against wide-screen TV manufacturer. A gunman is holding hostages in a Amsterdam office.
Apparently he's demonstrating against the manufacturers of wide-screen TV's for selling "creative nonsense".
Who reckons he's just pissed cos he can't afford one?
Heh. This is about a kilometer away from me. If it's still going on after work I'll have to take a little visit.
I hope no one is hurt because this is just too damn silly and I'd have to feel guilty for laughing.
posted by rocketpup at 6:22 AM on March 11, 2002
I hope no one is hurt because this is just too damn silly and I'd have to feel guilty for laughing.
posted by rocketpup at 6:22 AM on March 11, 2002
Dutch media seem to suggest that this guy has a known history of protest against Philips and their marketing of widescreen TVs.
I was afraid that this ludicrous agenda was a cover for something else. It seems that the guy simply is a bit deranged, however. Hope the police can talk him into giving up peacefully.
posted by rocketpup at 6:44 AM on March 11, 2002
I was afraid that this ludicrous agenda was a cover for something else. It seems that the guy simply is a bit deranged, however. Hope the police can talk him into giving up peacefully.
posted by rocketpup at 6:44 AM on March 11, 2002
This may be the first hostage situation inspired by consumer electronics.
Enormous screenplay potential here...product placement...merchandise tie-ins...
Sony's got some big-time catching up to do here.
posted by groundhog at 6:50 AM on March 11, 2002
Enormous screenplay potential here...product placement...merchandise tie-ins...
Sony's got some big-time catching up to do here.
posted by groundhog at 6:50 AM on March 11, 2002
Welcome to Amsterdam. I swear, we have a wacko of every type known to science and some that remain to be discovered. It being Holland, I wouldn't be overly worried about the guy's fate. Likely sentence: a stiff 2 hours of community service watering plants in some park.
posted by magullo at 7:00 AM on March 11, 2002
posted by magullo at 7:00 AM on March 11, 2002
It's over (4:50 pm local). Looks like he killed himself.
posted by thijsk at 7:52 AM on March 11, 2002
posted by thijsk at 7:52 AM on March 11, 2002
thijsk, if that's true, I can't imagine a more senseless act to commit. I hope that man has finally found peace.
posted by tommasz at 8:29 AM on March 11, 2002
posted by tommasz at 8:29 AM on March 11, 2002
I can't imagine a more senseless act to commit
I can -- he could have shot someone else.
posted by aramaic at 8:52 AM on March 11, 2002
I can -- he could have shot someone else.
posted by aramaic at 8:52 AM on March 11, 2002
The ultimate irony here is that this entire episode was probably watched my thousands of people on wide-screen TV's.
posted by jonmc at 8:55 AM on March 11, 2002
posted by jonmc at 8:55 AM on March 11, 2002
The real tragedy here is that the guy was wrong about wide-screen TVs. If only someone had explained letterboxing to him, this catastrophe may have been avoided.
posted by bingo at 10:02 AM on March 11, 2002
posted by bingo at 10:02 AM on March 11, 2002
does anyone know what his agenda was? i'd love to know what this guy's beef with widescreen tvs was.
posted by chrisege at 10:22 AM on March 11, 2002
posted by chrisege at 10:22 AM on March 11, 2002
The ordeal ended at about 1630 (1530 GMT), when the man shot himself twice in the head after asking police for a break in negotiations.
2 shots to the head ?
At least he had the courtesy to not shoot anyone else. I always get pissed when this happens and the gunman shoots a bunch of other people who just happened to be holding down a job to provide for themselves and their families.
Good man, he let the innocent folks go home tonight and only checked himself out.
posted by a3matrix at 11:29 AM on March 11, 2002
2 shots to the head ?
At least he had the courtesy to not shoot anyone else. I always get pissed when this happens and the gunman shoots a bunch of other people who just happened to be holding down a job to provide for themselves and their families.
Good man, he let the innocent folks go home tonight and only checked himself out.
posted by a3matrix at 11:29 AM on March 11, 2002
letterschlocking is a website complaining about letterboxing. Is the webpage owner the same person as the man in Holland? Were they friends? Part of a group of anti-widescreen revolutionaries?
I dunno... both are wierd.
posted by darkpony at 11:33 AM on March 11, 2002
I dunno... both are wierd.
posted by darkpony at 11:33 AM on March 11, 2002
Thanks Darkpony, I've been trying to re-find that troll site since I heard the news, I immediatly thought the man had "fallen" for the letterschlocking site as truth - and gone a bit overboard on it.
posted by dabitch at 12:32 PM on March 11, 2002
posted by dabitch at 12:32 PM on March 11, 2002
Is that link a joke? If not, it shows a complete misunderstanding of what letterboxing is. The image is not squashed, it's reduced so that it can fit onto the TV screen in its original dimensions. The "modified" versions commonly transfered to video have the sides of the image cut off in order to make it more square, so that it takes up the entire TV screen. I really want it to be a joke. Please let it be a joke.
posted by bingo at 1:43 PM on March 11, 2002
posted by bingo at 1:43 PM on March 11, 2002
A double-minded sort of fellow, as it were.
posted by allaboutgeorge at 1:17 PM on March 12, 2002
posted by allaboutgeorge at 1:17 PM on March 12, 2002
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...However, Philips moved out of the Rembrandt tower last summer and is now located next door in the Breitner tower...
In the words of Homer Simpson... D'oh!
posted by robzster1977 at 5:47 AM on March 11, 2002